Hi,
I’m FU MON CHU
Why FU MON CHU? I know it’s a bit cringy, but it just came to me when thinking of a pseudonym linked to the theme of this blog page – so I just went with it.
The thinking behind it was a play on the blog title and the terms ‘F U Money’ and ‘Choose FI’ often associated with financial independence.
Therefore the name came from – FiUkMONey, CHUse financial independence.
My Situation
I’m a married man in my late forties with a large family of 6 children, ranging in age from 9 to 19.
Even though I have been interested in finance for quite a few years, I only discovered the concept of FI and the FI community in late 2017 and had my ‘lightbulb’ moment as a result.
Although I do have some pension savings in a SIPP and investments in buy to let, we have generally been living month to month with no real spare cash flow to build anything up.
I have discovered FI quite late in life (I wish I’d known about this 30 years ago when I started work) and I am desperate to implement the principles into my remaining working life. Hopefully, I haven’t left it too late for myself. I aim to get to FI within 7-8 years, to coincide with the time I can draw on my SIPP.
My greater motivation is to ensure my kids are aware of FI, especially my eldest, who at 19 has just recently started in the world of work.
I don’t want my children to follow the mainstream path of go to school, go to uni, work for 40 years and retire at 67 with no time or money left to enjoy anything. I’m looking to set them off on a plan to FI, with the view that they will be able to achieve FI in their 30’s.
The plan of this blog then is to record my family’s FI journey, illustrating how people may achieve FI in different circumstances, whether that is someone who is just starting out in their working life, or late starters on the FI path with families to consider.
As I said I’m new to FI and I’ve never written anything before so I will no doubt make many mistakes.
Thanks for visiting
FU MON CHU
Hi, welcome to the community. Love the blog and look forward to hearing more.
Hi Ms ZiYou
Thanks for the first comment on my blog. Glad you like the blog
You are welcome – are you on twitter?
No. Havent worked out how to use it yet
Hello
Just read through your entire blog and really enjoyed reading the posts by both you and Mrs Fu. Will Little FU #1 be posting too at some point, to make it a real family affair?
I too had my light bulb moment after coming across MMM in 2014. I mentioned it to my then boss, about how I was going to plan my early retirement – he replied, “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet!” Fortunately, I did believe!
Wishing you all the best with the blog and look forward to reading more about your plans and your journey.
Hi weenie
Great to hear you enjoyed reading my blog.
Little FU#1 is on board with the idea but i’m not sure yet if he fully understands what it is all about and how important it is. These young ones have different things on their mind.
I’ve been reading your blog for a while now and your posts have really helped give me inspiration and ideas. Thanks
Hi Fu Mon Chu!
Welcome to the wonderful world of FI (and blogging!)
Sounds like you have a really interesting and unique situation in the FI blogging community being so late to the game and having such a large family, it will be really interesting to read your experiences and especially how the older kids get involved in the whole thing. My daughter is two so I’m obviously keen to pass on all the knowledge I can as and when it’s needed, but think I will need to be careful so as not to shove these sort of things down their throats otherwise they will get bored, stop listening to boring old Dad, or worse still even rebel against the ideas.
So yes I will be reading with interest how it all pans out for you guys 🙂
Hi FIREstarter
Thanks for calling by and reading my blog. I’ve already read most of your blog and it has really helped me. I’m way behind your great blogging skills though as I’m no writer.
Like you I want to pass all this new knowledge on to my children and I’m wary of shoving down their throat too much. Hopefully they’ll take it on board.
cheers
Welcome on board HMS FIRE. It sounds like you’re getting into the swing of things just nicely. The biggest part I found was creating the dreaded budget! Once you’ve got that, the world is yours. Definitely get Little Fu to understand the wonders of compound interest, if they see how effective it can be, you probably won’t have to do any more work.
I started by devouring the Mr Money Moustache and Monevator blog before putting in place my own plan.
Take it easy 🙂