The Awakening of FU MON CHU

Despite being reasonably financially savvy, or so I thought, I was surprised to realise I had been sleepwalking on a financial hamster wheel for the past several years.

My financial education had come mainly from mainstream media sources, such as business and money columns in newspapers, magazines, and websites such as MSE.

I had a rough plan for retirement and had opened a SIPP pension. I also have a couple of company-owned buy to lets. This would form the basis of my retirement, or so I thought.

Up to late 2017 I have gone through life not really questioning the normal ‘retire at 65/67’ mindset, never mind being able to retire in your 50’s, 40’s or even 30’s.

The ‘lightbulb’ moment finally arrived in late 2017.

I had been following Tim Ferris for quite a while and listening to his podcasts since I bought the 4 Hour Work Week. I vaguely remember him doing a podcast with somebody called Mr. Money Mustache. To my loss, I was very busy at the time with work and I didn’t really take much notice of what was said in the podcast and the message didn’t really register with me at the time.

However, it wasn’t until it was quite a while later that I happened to come across a link to Mr. Money Mustache through a Monevator post. I recognised the name and happened to click on a link to the MMM blog. I read the post and was blown away.

I proceeded to consume all the MMM blog posts and was converted. During this time I was endlessly ribbed by my kids- ‘OMG dad… are you reading Mr. Money Mustache again? At least it’s not the Tim Poois podcast!’

Poor Tim Ferris. My kids hate Tim Ferris because I have listened to him in the car rather than Stormzy!

I realised I had lived my life as a drone worker on autopilot, not knowing there was an alternative path. That path was FI. What the hell had I been doing all these years and where had all the money gone?

I immediately vowed to put in place a plan to achieve financial independence as soon as possible.

Now I just had to run it past the wife…