The background

Everyone says I am tight. It’s true, new clothes, holidays and cars do nothing for me but investing is another story. The idea of putting my money out to work, by owning the smallest slices of companies that then will either pay me through dividends, appreciate in value or perhaps fall is fascinating.

For me investing and pensions are cool, i’d rather have those two extra shares in Apple over those £500 Alexander McQueen trainers one of my coworkers loves to wear. Everything is a choice and I have chosen to share my journey to financial independence, I don’t know if or when i’ll get there but i’ll give it a good go.

There are many content creators out there who have achieved financial independence each with their own story to tell. When learning about how they have achieved it, I always want to know 3 things – Why, when and how.

Why – Why do all these people pursue financial freedom?

For me it clicked in August 2019 – I do not want a “normal career or life”. I cannot imagine working another 40 – 45 years and retiring in my late 60’s or even at 70. I can’t even imagine working another 10 years without a clear goal.

When – When did they start?

A lot of the stories already out there are from people who started in the years following the financial crisis of 2008-2009. They made their first purchases when the markets had just crashed, stocks were cheap as were houses and the years that have followed have been some of the best in history.

How – How do all these people do it ?

This one is usually fairly easy to work out they usually either have investments, property or are involved in crowd funding.

So what does this mean for me?

For me the motivation to start comes from a desire to be able to live life on my own terms, the how is initially passive investments (more on that later) and the when, well this one is tricky, the stock market hasn’t just tanked and property is extortionately expensive but I don’t have a crystal ball so I might as well just start now.