Who I am, Why I’m Here and Why I Write

Yesterday, I enrolled myself in the Blogging 101 and Writing 101 e-courses here on WordPress. Although I originally launched this blog back in April (the day before an exam – everything suddenly becomes super important when you’re supposed to be studying for an exam you really don’t want to be studying for) I’ve only started trying to get it up and running this week.

Although I was pretty active on my Xanga at the peak of its popularity, it’s been awhile since I’ve blogged regularly, and even then, I was blogging for a very different audience (i.e. select friends only) and for a vastly different purpose (i.e. mostly to get myself through my teenage angst and puppy love heartbreaks).

I think the answer to Who I am is outlined pretty well on my About page. I’m a 26-year old Canadian living in Ontario who finally finished her undergrad degree less than 3 weeks ago. I’ve been married for 3 days longer than my puppy has graced the universe with his presence. I have been obsessed with finances probably since I was about 16 – I get it from my dad, who used to be a Financial Controller. I bought my first car in cash when I was 19, then bought a brand new condo a few months later.

Kaiser, our Doberman puppy, patiently waiting for permission to devour the cake I baked for his first birthday while we sang him Happy Birthday. (April 2015)

After dating my then-boyfriend for a grand total of 10 months, we bought a house for the absurd amount of $560,000. I was 22 at the time. Looking back, I now see why that might’ve appeared absolutely insane, but we haven’t regretted it for a second. The house is now worth $800,000, give or take, and up until we asked one of the roommates to move out back in June, we were also bringing in a rental income of $26,400/year. That amount has now dropped to $19,200.

When the condo finally closed last year, we sold it at a decent profit, paid off any outstanding loans to my parents and grandparents (we had borrowed some money up front for the condo and house down payments), invested a large majority of it, and used the rest to allow me to not work for 15 months while I went back to school full time.

In the last few months, we’ve accumulated over $11,000 in debt, but I’m not overly worried since our overall Net Worth is still healthy and I was extremely fortunate to find a high paying contract job the week after I had finished school.

I’m taking my CSC (Canadian Securities Course) now so I can start down the path of becoming a Personal Financial Planner, and my end goal is to be Unchained by 55 (i.e. financially free and retired!) Of course, in the grand scheme of things, my goal is to help YOU achieve your financial goals too.

Why I’m Here and Why I Write

Mostly to track my financial progress, keep me accountable for my career goals as well as our financial ones, and connect with others interested in Personal Finance. Maybe even inspire a person or two to develop an interest in their finances and achieve things they never thought possible! On the writing front, because like any skill, if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it. Looking back on my old Xanga posts, I found myself to be so much more eloquent. Maybe because teenage heartbreak inspires much better writing, but probably because I wrote a lot more often.

My primary aim is to get ourselves out of debt, which I will be focusing on heavily over the next few months with regular progress updates. I’ll also be writing on anything and everything I learn on Personal Finance, and also share things I think others may be interested in that would save time and/or money. I love cooking and I love eating, so left unchecked, I will spend an unholy amount on food. Now that I’m focusing on cutting back our expenses (i.e. cooking more, eating out less), I’ll also be sharing recipes along the way.

I do hope you’ll join me on this journey. It’ll be a long and challenging one, but I promise it’ll be worth it!