I’ve heard it asked before, and it’s worth asking oneself regularly:
If your life were a book, would you read it?
It’s pretty incredible to look back, retrospectively, and see a number of chapters of my own book now written.
And it’s just as amazing to look forward and see that the chapters yet to be written are likely to be the best yet.
But first, I’ve often framed the journey to financial freedom as a climb up a mountain, so let’s see where I was, where I am, and where I’m going.
The Climb
I’ve spent more than six years of my life climbing Mt. Freedom.
Starting out in early 2010, at 27 years old, I found myself worth a negative amount of money. I was literally less than zero. Below broke. Children and animals were worth more, financially, than I was.
How did I end up like that?
Not being conscientious at all about my general decision-making process, and specifically as it related to money.
Moreover, it wasn’t long before this point in my life that I was laid off from my dealership job – I was working in the auto industry just outside Detroit in 2009, meaning I couldn’t have been in a worse industry at a worse place at a worse time.
That’s really only part of the story, though. I spent more than I earned. I didn’t budget. I chased consumerism, thinking it would make me happy (even though it turned out time and again that it didn’t). I made bad choices, putting the future me in a terrible position.
So when sudden and unexpected unemployment compounded a situation that was already pretty bad, I found myself in dire straits. Furthermore, it was then that I realized that I wasn’t at all in control of my money, my time, or my life. All it took was an employer to decide that I was no longer useful to throw my whole life into a tailspin.
Finding this unacceptable (who can blame me?), I embarked on a journey that has transformed my life in many, many ways.
I moved to sunny Florida in mid-2009, where I found better jobs that paid more, not to mention a more dynamic economy. Saving money via a 0% personal income tax rate also seemed like a no-brainer. And I knew that if I were to ever get rid of my car, it would surely be easier and more enjoyable to use public transportation if it weren’t freezing outside for half the year.
I started cutting expenses to the bone not long after the move, eventually selling my car, moving to a cheaper apartment, and eating (more than) my fair share of ramen noodles.
I rode the bus – to a luxury car dealership (my place of work). The irony.
Nights out on the town were replaced with quiet evenings at home. Safer, cheaper, and more intimate.
Our living space was substantially downsized, both in terms of the level of luxury and size. Home became cozy.
In the process, my savings rate skyrocketed well past 50%.
I was then regularly buying high-quality dividend growth stocks with my excess capital, slowly building the six-figure portfolio I now control. By the way, I call this portfolio the Full-Time Fund. It’s an apt name – it works full time so I don’t have to!
But backing things up, the portfolio started off meager, as I had meager means – 2010 was the first year I was able to crack $40,000 per year in income. However, the Fund was starting to generate income all by itself almost right from the start, further bolstering my savings rate and capital availability. A small snowball was starting to roll. The climb was becoming a bit easier.
In early 2011, unable to find anyone doing quite what I was doing and willing to openly share the ups and downs of such a transformation, I started a blog, Dividend Mantra, to document this climb in real-time.
Perhaps audacious in hindsight, as I didn’t have any prior climbing experience, but I knew I wanted to reach the top. I knew I wanted to be free. I knew I wanted to be in control of my life.
To control my life, I need to control my time. And since time is money, I decided to build enough passive income to become financially free.
I knew I’d be willing to do whatever it took to change my life, to gain control of my life, to be free. And I figured if I could inspire others in the process, it’d make the journey that much more worthwhile.
A Journey Or A Destination?
Now, I’ll be honest. I wasn’t totally sure what to expect once I got to the top. At least, not at the beginning.
Perhaps there’s a part of me, back when I was still very young and naive, that thought all of my troubles would be solved. It was almost as if I thought that doves would fly out of doorways everywhere I went, like a music video. I’d be a rock star!
Financial freedom was a destination. And if I could just get there, life would become extremely easy. I’d have all the answers. Problems would just melt away.
Well, I then kind of came upon the notion somewhere in there, maybe a few years in, that financial freedom was both a journey and a destination. There’s certainly a destination aspect to it – you’ve arrived once you’re financially free. But there was also the journey aspect, too, as the climb was just as much part of the solution. Without the hard work, it’s difficult to really appreciate the rewards on the other side. Money without the knowledge, appreciation, and experience is almost worthless.
However, I can now say, after climbing this mountain, that it’s actually not quite either one. It’s neither a destination nor a journey.
Financial freedom is simply part of an overarching journey.
It’s just one chapter of your life’s book.
The View
I’m now financially free. I reached the “crossover point” (passive income/expenses) just before turning 34 years old.
The passive income I earn – most of which is dividend income – is enough to cover my core personal expenses. Plus, I’ve set aside an auxiliary fund to cover any temporary gaps or large one-time expenses that may come up. And knowing that almost every single company I’m invested in has a fantastic track record of growing profit and dividends for years on end, it’s highly likely that my passive income will only grow from here (faster than the rate of inflation, at that), further increasing my level of freedom. With that growing freedom comes more opportunities.
Attaining this level of freedom at 33 years old – seven years ahead of schedule – is remarkable. (I was originally aiming to hit the mark by 40.)
Knowing that I don’t ever have to work a job I don’t want to is an amazing feeling. It truly is. It was, after all, the hatred I felt for my job that, in large part, motivated me to become free in the first place.
Owning my time and creating my own daily schedule is most certainly the greatest luxury I’ve ever had the pleasure of indulging in.
Look, I’ve eaten the finest steaks. I’ve seen the other side of the world. I’ve driven some of the nicest cars man has ever made. I’ve been in giant mansions. But waking up when my body tells me it’s ready and casually beginning my day without a care in the world is… priceless.
Financial freedom goes like this: I wake up when I want. I spend time only around those that provide me great company. I have no dress code. I write a little. I read a lot. I think constantly. I spend time with our puppies. I exercise. I eat when I’m hungry. I go to the beach when the weather is nice. I get lots of sunshine every day. I take long walks everywhere (I own no car). I go to bed when I’m tired.
Summing it up, I pretty much do what I want, every day. I answer only to myself. I’m my own boss – and I’d like to think I’m a pretty good boss. (I give myself glaring reviews!)
But I can tell you this: no doves fly out of doorways, marking my entrance. Music doesn’t play everywhere I go. I have no hype man. The world keeps on spinning like it always has.
I’m still just me. I’m still Jason.
And so after an initial honeymoon phase of a few months or so where I kind of patted myself on the back, I started asking myself: now what? What’s next?
So I looked out in front of me, gazing upon the view I worked so hard for.
And you know what I saw from the top of Mt. Freedom?
More mountains!
It’s an entire range of mountains, folks.
Now, none are as high as the one I’m standing atop. At least, I don’t see any as high as this.
But there are others out there. A lot of them.
These mountains represent challenges, opportunities, possibilities. They’re relationships. Ventures. Experiments. Travels. Passions. Pursuits. Experiences. Long stretches of leisure. Victories. Setbacks. New ideas that can change the world… or new ideas that never leave the incubation stage. Capital, physical, and emotional long-term investments. Moments that haven’t yet come to pass. Chapters waiting to be written.
It’s a view I wasn’t quite expecting, though perhaps I should have. Either way, it’s an incredible perspective to now be blessed with.
What’s Next?
I spent five years of my life blogging about the climb, writing more than a thousand articles and a best-selling book in the process. I covered just about everything I could over that time frame – the ups and downs, the money I earned and spent, every investment made, every dividend collected and reinvested, the dividend growth strategy in general, and how all of this holistically fits together. I read plenty of books and articles written by people that had already made the climb, retrospectively showing how they did it. I instead wanted to show what the climb looked like in real-time for a regular Joe.
And now I’m at the top. I made it to the summit.
However, I now see that it’s not the only mountain around.
But this is a good thing. Financial freedom is just one challenge of many. And so I now hope to spend future years not only sharing the benefits of being atop the tallest mountain around but also discussing, perhaps, other climbs down the road.
I want to share what financial freedom looks like so early in life. What’s the point of climbing this mountain anyway? What’s the point of getting to the top? What is life like post-financial freedom?
If Dividend Mantra was the how, I plan for Mr. Free At 33 to become the what and the why.
With that in mind, I hope to share daily insights, certainly, but I also hope to share ideas that develop over time on how to best leverage this position in life to not only maximize my own happiness and quality of life but others’, too.
Of course, I’ll continue, as well, to discuss stocks because investing is still a large and exciting part of my life.
Conclusion
But I foresee, more than anything, an ongoing dialogue about what all of this is for. I’m incredibly proud of being a driving force behind this huge community that has sprung up over the last few years, where there are so many people climbing their own mountains and sharing their journeys with the world. But I also think there’s a dearth of quality content as it relates to what this is all for, once one is on the other side. Why make the climb? What now?
This is all indeed incredible. I consider myself very fortunate to be not just financially free myself but also in a position to share everything with you readers, to help inspire and motivate others.
However, I now realize that financial freedom is neither a destination nor a journey, in the singular sense. Financial freedom is simply part of a larger journey… part of life, if you’re lucky and willing to take on the challenge. It’s just one chapter of your book. A great chapter, no doubt about it. But it’s quite possible that the greatest thing about this chapter is that it can make all future chapters that much more exciting and flexible. The book kind of goes from an instruction manual to a thriller.
If my life were a book, I think it’d be worth reading. And like a good book, life isn’t completely linear. Life is dynamic, with ups and downs… ebbs and flows. What’s great about financial freedom, however, is that it gives you the flexibility to end a chapter when it’s no longer fun. Write new chapters. Change the story. Financial freedom gives you the control. You become the author of your own book.
Financial freedom is not the end, folks. It’s just the beginning!
What do you think? Is financial freedom just one chapter? Are you looking forward to writing even better chapters after you reach financial freedom?
Thanks for reading.
Image courtesy of: lekkyjustdoit at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
Good to have you back, sharing your thoughts.
Jason,
Thanks so much. It’s good to be back! 🙂
This site is going to go in a new direction. I’m looking forward to discussing some new concepts, focusing a lot less on the investing side and a lot more on the life side. Life is far more than money, as we all should know by now.
Hope you enjoy what’s coming up.
Cheers!
Cool to have you back, Thanks, and looking forward for many New “Recent Buys” 🙂
Regards
Markus
Markus,
I hope I don’t disappoint, but I’m not sure how many articles like that I’ll be publishing. This site is going to go in a new direction, whereby I’m focusing a lot more on the pursuit of happiness and living a purposeful life. Investing/stocks/money should just get you where you’re going. This site reflects personal growth. 🙂
Hope to see you around!
Take care.
Do not look back! You are genius to us!
bbpsingh,
Just a regular guy. 🙂
Hope you enjoy the upcoming content. It’s really some of my best stuff yet.
Cheers!
Great to have you back, posting!
Nicola,
Thank you very much. It’s great to be back at it. I’ve had a lot of ideas build up over the last six months or so. Should be fun to get a dialogue going. 🙂
Hope all is well!!
Cheers.
Yes, great to have you back. You are the reason I changed my journey from buy/sell whenever to strictly buying quality dividend stocks. Growing wealth one contribution at a time! Thanks.
Dewey,
Glad to hear that. It sounds like it’s working out for you. That’s what it’s all about… buying time. 🙂
Keep it up!
Best regards.
So glad to see a new blogging home for you again. I’m already famaliar with your story, but it was really nice to read through it again. Best wishes, Jason!
Camille,
Hey, I really appreciate you taking the time to read through that. It’s not short, but life has its ups and downs. 🙂
Mostly ups these days, which I’m grateful for. Truly blessed. And I’m excited to share the perspective I have on things now kind of being on the other side, all these years later.
Hope you enjoy what’s coming up over the next couple years. And I hope life is treating you just as well over there!
Best wishes.
Jason –
Welcome back! Great first post and excited to find out more on the what and why and what’s next for you. Back in business!
-Lanny
Lanny,
Thanks, bud! It’s great to be back at it. 🙂
I’m more excited to actually have these conversations with everyone than I am to write the content. It’ll be so fun to see what we as a community come up with. The best is yet ahead, that’s for sure!
Cheers.
Jason,
Of course. What’s sweet is it’s another platform you can use for, funny to say, “you”. You can show the world what’s gong on, the interworkings of being financially free – and this is the best platform right now. I would be curious to see if you start a podcast of some sort as well!
Also – hope this begins to build your daily trade alert traction, twitter and the book, which I am wondering when the community will be able to get their hands on “part deux”… eh? haha Sorry, a lot in this comment at once! I am sure your mind has been flowing with article posts, and I can only be close to guaranteeing we will be seeing them all here on the site.
-Lanny
Lanny,
For sure. One should really be the “first citizen” of one’s own blog. You should be doing it for you first and foremost. If you’re not doing it for you, it’s probably not going to last. If you are, it’s so much easier to use that passion and fire to help/motivate/inspire others. 🙂
As for the second book, I don’t have a definitive timeline quite yet. But this blog is basically the foundation of the content for it. As the content really builds out and I’ve got something pretty strong to work with, I’ll probably start looking at crafting it. Of course, I’ll want to keep something set aside just for the book. So we’ll see. Very exciting to think about that. To actually see a trilogy like that come together – I don’t think there’s anything else like that out there. I don’t think anyone’s done something quite like that.
I’ve definitely been busy writing, though. A lot of the content for the next six or so months is already written. It’s nice to have that library of content to draw from, at which point I can bolster it with new stuff here and there as new ideas pop up. A lot to look forward to!
Life is good, my friend.
Cheers.
WB Jason!
Loris,
Thank you. Much appreciated!
Hope you enjoy the new project. 🙂
Best regards.
Jason
Good to have you back, and in full power 🙂
Sharon,
Glad to be back! 🙂
Hope all is well.
Take care.
I’m so happy you’re back, Jason! Cheers to inspiring people on this next chapter of your journey!
Kate,
That’s very sweet of you. I’m happy to be back. I know I won’t be able to write like this forever, so I’m really cherishing it while it lasts. Always changes in life. 🙂
Being on the other side of the mountain is a lot of fun. It’s great to have this newfound perspective on life/money/happiness. Without it, I wouldn’t have started this whole thing. It’ll be different than what I was doing before, but I think personal growth is something everyone should strive for.
Appreciate all the support. Hope all is incredibly well!
Best wishes.
It’s great to see you blogging again Jason. I have kept up with you through Twitter during your transition. While not a blogger myself, I am certainly a member of the dividend growth investing club and largely due to the Dividend Mantra blog. I’m excited to see this new blog as well as the slight shift in focus.
Joe,
Hey, you don’t have to be a blogger to be a part of this community, nor do you have to be a blogger to do amazing things in life. That’s for sure! 🙂
Appreciate you following along during the transition. And the transition, by the way, was really necessary for me to have these ideas. Taking time away from writing so much and hitting the mark I was aiming for has given me a new perspective on things. So this blog will be a lot less focused on money and stocks and a lot more focused on life and happiness. The shift in the content reflects a shift in life priorities.
But I still do the freelance writing, which I’ll include excerpts of here. So there’s still plenty of that.
Hope you enjoy!
Cheers.
Glad to have you back Jason! I think financial freedom will be a tool that I will use to write many more great chapters.
FF,
Definitely. To write just about the same stuff (save, invest, save) would mean that we don’t change… that life doesn’t change. And that’s just not true. It’s disingenuous, to be honest. I actually don’t follow that many blogs anymore because of that. It seems like everyone is writing the same stuff over and over again, even if they’re really growing as people. But the status quo is easy. And sometimes it’s a business call.
I’m not restrained by any of that. So it’s fun to go in a new direction. 🙂
We’ll see how it goes!
Cheers.
Respect for giving your blog another twist. It would have so easy to monetize your stock reviews though you decided to simply share them with everyone, which had a big (positive) impact on many of us, including myself.
Now stepping away and moving in another direction is brave and puts a mirror in front of us: your leadership for financial freedom forces us to think twice how we could achieve this going forward. Will it become fully DIY on our side or will we be able from time to time still enjoy your stock reviews? My hope is the later so that readers who have climbed the other mountains can share their journey with yourselves, providing each other energy, vision and joy to embrace life. Good luck with your new journey!
Lieven,
Appreciate that. And I’m glad you pointed that out. Indeed, I was offered to write for a membership site, which would mean that I’d be doing a lot more analyses in exchange for a subscription. But I ultimately decided against that (although a few prominent writers in this community moved over to that). To each their own. I just didn’t want to do that. I want my content to impact as many people as possible. Likewise, I don’t want to feel like I owe anyone anything. It’s kind of “take it or leave it.” If I’m giving up money, I’m okay with that. 🙂
Your comment about the mirror is apt. I took a look at myself, too. Am I growing? What do I want? What’s the point of all of this? I think it’s easy to just keep writing, saving, and investing, but sometimes you lose sight of why you’re doing it all. And so this is me slowing down, focusing on life and happiness. Financial freedom should be about the pursuit of happiness (via more time, which affords more opportunities to do what makes you happy), not the money/stocks. Investing is certainly one aspect of my life that I really enjoy, but it’s just that: one aspect. One aspect of many.
I’m not sure how many analyses I’ll publish in the format of how I was doing it before (Recent Buys), but I still do the freelance articles. I uncover an undervalued dividend growth stock each week, which is a lot of fun. In fact, I’ll be publishing an excerpt of this week’s article momentarily. And I’ll continue to do that for as long as I write those articles (which I hope is a long while yet).
Here’s to the next chapter for all of us!
Best wishes.
Welcome back Jason! The book is a great reference here because reaching financial freedom opens the door to all the possibilities that you wanted (and often were too afraid) to pursue. Looking forward to reading about the next chapters in your life and reading about what the view is like above Mt. Financial Freedom! Looking forward to following along.
Bert
Bert,
Thanks, man! Great to be back.
Yeah, the book (and, of course, Dividend Mantra) is kind of the how. It’s the journey up the mountain. How do you do that? What does that look like in real-time? How hard is that? What does it require? I’m glad I was able to talk about that as much as I did. And inspiring so many people to take on their own journeys (and, of course, blogs) has been an even bigger blessing. But after 700 articles, a book, 20,000 comments, and so on, I’m just as excited to tackle what’s next. It’s really more ambitious, and that challenge excites me. We’ll see how it goes!
Hope all is well up in the Cleve! 🙂
Cheers.
A new chapter on the 15 year anniversary of 9/11. Glad you are back. I hope you will incorporate the statement “freedom from a job I don’t like, to buy things I don’t need, to impress people I don’t care about” in your future articles. That was my favorite part of DM.
JT Houston,
Ominous timing? Hope not! 🙂
I’ll have to keep that suggestion in mind. I already have the next six months’ or so worth of content written and planned out, but I’m sure I’ve incorporated something similar to that in there. I now have that freedom, which is great. It’s no longer a tagline; it’s now instead a way of life. I’m truly blessed. Truly.
Hope you enjoy what’s to come!
Best wishes.
Welcome back Jason! I think I am going to find this new direction on this new site perhaps more inspiring than your dm site. Best of luck and thanks as always for the inspirational writing.
Rob,
Thanks so much. I’m so glad you feel that way.
I know that some old readers won’t like this new direction. Some will. Some (like you) may like it even more. In the end, I have to be genuine to myself. If I’m writing just to fulfill some kind of expectation, I’m no more free than when I was working in the auto industry. So I feel free in more ways than one here. Definitely free of expectations now starting up something new. We’ll see how it goes!
Thanks for dropping by.
Cheers.
Awesome to see you back Jason!
TER,
Thanks so much. Great to be back at it with something new! 🙂
Cheers.
I want to start off by saying that I’m glad you’re back blogging. You have been a huge inspiration. That being said, do we get an explanation of what happened?
blahblah098,
Glad to be back! I still have a few ideas left in the tank before I hang it up for good. 🙂
I actually wrote something about that on Facebook a while ago. Maybe February? And I explained it on the ‘My Story’ page here on the blog. TL;DR: things just didn’t work out. That happens sometimes. I was heartbroken about it at first, but it turned out to really be a blessing in disguise. I already had some ideas in mind in terms of wanting to do some different things with the content, but I kind of had some legacy expectations. That’s why I mentioned that I’m now free in more ways than one. Being free of certain expectations is just as great as any of the rest of it. I can just be me. And that’s exactly what this blog will be.
Thanks for dropping by!
Cheers.
I’m glad to hear that you are doing well. I look forward to reading all of your new content. I truly felt a void when DM went south. Onward and upward.
Welcome Back! Look forward to your future posts, Mr Free at 33 =) . Long time follower.
TDM,
Thanks for all the support. Hope you enjoy what’s coming up. The content that’s going to be published over the next year is going to be some of my most thoughtful. 🙂
Cheers!
Great article. Financial freedom is a journey and dividend growth stocks is a key element for many of us on that journey. Your story is one of commitment to making goals happen,with money being a paet of the fuel needed to make happen.
Floyd,
Appreciate it. Glad you enjoyed it!
Indeed, commitment is absolutely necessary. You have to want it and you have to stick with it every day. I remember some weeks where I was working 100 hours per week (full time both at the dealership and on my writing). So it wasn’t easy. But it sure was worth it. 🙂
Best regards.
Hi Jason,
Glad to have you back. Every Sunday I look forward to reading your undervalued stock of the week. I was a follower of yours on Mantra and also the book. You’ve turned me on to this wonderful world of dividend investing. I had my first $400 month recently and it’s very exciting. One thing I always wondered about what was what do you do in regards to health care?
Jackal,
Wow. Congrats on the first $400 month. That’s fantastic! I was there in your shoes not long ago. Keep at it!
For health insurance, I’ve written about that on Dividend Mantra. Generally, I seek out high-deductible health plans (HDHP). I prefer lower monthly cost at the expense of a higher potential annual limit considering my age and overall health.
Cheers!
Jason I am so excited to have you back writing with your own blog. It has been missed let me assure you.
I am still on my first mountain to get out of debt, then investing and hopefully I’ll get to financial independence. Hey I’m 27 now so maybe I’ll mirror your time frame though I doubt it.
Anyway really looking forward to reading your new articles, how often you think you’ll be posting?
Tyler,
Best of luck climbing out of that hole. I know how you feel. I STILL have student loan debt, though I’ve purposely been kicking that can down the road for as long as possible. And I continue to do so. Still, I’d much prefer the 18-year-old version of me never took out loans and/or never went to college. But we live and learn. 🙂
As for a posting schedule, I’m thinking along the lines of two per week, with one being my freelance article. So I’m probably going to publish one article here on Wednesdays and then publish an undervalued excerpt each Sunday. That’s one less article per week than what was going live over at Dividend Mantra, but I’m frankly quite comfortable with a slower schedule these days. Living a full life. Very blessed.
Hope all is well. Keep at it over there, man!
Best wishes.
Good to have you back Jason!
The website looks great and you seem like you have some new life in you.
Looking forward to your inspirational words of wisdom!
DV,
Hey, thanks for dropping by. Great to be back. 🙂
Thanks for the kind words. Having the break from writing so much (I was doing 25+ articles per month there for a while) has been a real blessing. It’s given me fresh perspective and plenty of time to reflect on some ideas that have brewing for a while. I now have a library of content to start this blog off with, which is just great. And I’ve been able to move things in a new direction, in terms of content, without worrying about legacy expectations. I’m quite free, which is why I named the blog as such.
We’ll see how it goes. Excited to put some new things out there and talk about what life is like once one really doesn’t worry about money any more.
Take care!
Welcome back Jason with the new blog!
Your blogs are very inspiring and we miss you very much since you left Dividend Mantra. Please continue to write your inspiring stories or blogs!
Murty,
Thanks so much. I hope you continue to drop by and enjoy everything that’s coming up!
Cheers.
Great to have you back. And remember on the trilogy (book), the third one always sucks.
Chad,
Thanks, man. Great to be back!
I’ll keep that in mind. Maybe just stick to two books, huh? 🙂
Cheers!
Finally! The man is back!
Ronald,
I’m back! 🙂
Feels good to get some new stuff out there. And I’m enjoying working with Daily Trade Alert, too. This gives me the best of both worlds. I get to focus on stocks for them and explore some more personal musings here. We’ll see how that works out.
Stay in touch!
Take care.
Welcome back Jason.
Thoroughly enjoyed your last blog as I read everything I can on dividend growth investing.
You sound fully charged and ready to go. I am retiring in 3 months and all my saving and investing should carry me thru. Looking forward to reading and sharing with you.
NRG,
Thanks for that. Appreciate the support and kind words.
I’m looking forward to that, too. The content is nice. But I think the real value of this place (or any other blog, really) is the dialogue we can have with each other. And what I’m aiming for is for the content to be just kind of a launch pad for all of us to discuss things and inspire each other to live better lives and improve the world around us. So much is possible! 🙂
It’s the final countdown for you (cue the Europe song). Best of luck with that. Very exciting stuff. I think you’ll find that the money is really the easy part. It’s everything else that’s more challenging. And that’s what this site is going to be about.
Best wishes!
Jason! Glad to see you back on your own site again.
Just wanted to say thank you for everything you have done. I found out about you two years when my wife and I had our first child. It clicked in my head that, how in the hell do I retire and support my family in the future? I then googled about stocks and investing for growth and I’ve never been happier with Google after I found your dividend mantra site. I talk about stocks all the time and try to encourage my coworkers to do the same because there’s more to life than the 9-5 and you can do something about it.
I look forward to reading your new content!
Sincerely,
Evan
Evan,
Thanks so much!
Glad you took action over there. That’s sometimes the hardest part for people. Waking up and seeing the light… it’s not easy. It’s not easy to swim against the current and do something different. People like to fit in and do what everyone else is doing. It takes courage to walk your own path. Congrats!
I hope to see you around. And I hope you enjoy the new platform. 🙂
Best regards!
Jason,
Congratulations on your new site! 😀 As a reader of your journey from the early days, I am so incredibly excited! I cannot get enough of your writing and insights. You are a true motivator and we lucky to have access to your journey. I wish you all the success in the world!
Sincerely,
Ian
Ian,
As always, I really appreciate all the support. It’s truly great to be back! 🙂
I wish you and your family all the success in the world, too. I’m just so optimistic about the future. There’s so much that we can accomplish, you know? Just so much. It’s sometimes crazy to think about what’s possible.
Thanks for dropping by!
Best wishes.
Jason,
Love the direction. Always wondered with your life journey if at your age you think you will have your own child.
Great to have you back!
Paul,
Really glad you’re enjoying the new direction!
I actually have an article already penned that indirectly (but without doubt) answers your question. I’m not going to go too far with that right now, but the shortened answer is no. That’s something I decided some time ago.
Thanks for dropping in!
Cheers.
Hi Jason!
The new site is looking good! Great to have you back blogging. I have been following along from FB and twitter. And thank you for the DTA articles that you have been writing. Enjoy this new chapter that you’ve just started and many more to come!
Sampo,
Thanks so much. Appreciate you following along!
It’s definitely a new chapter here. And, really, life is just a collection of chapters. The great thing about financial freedom, however, is that it puts you in control. You become the author of your own book. So when something is no longer making you happy, you’re able to end that chapter and move on to something else. While certain elements of our lives are always under our control, spending most of our waking hours at work means there’s a large element that’s not. So that’s what this is all about. 🙂
Thanks for dropping by!
Cheers.
Jason,
I am so glad you have a forum again. I really enjoyed your first three posts. You have been a inspiration to many people around the world, I started my own blog being based in South Africa after being inspired by your writing, although I have been following the FI path for many years.
I think the new direction towards introspection is excellent, as they are questions I ask myself too. Most of us following this path will undoubtedly reach FI, but no one is really taking a deep look at what then?, and looking at the more important aspects of life.
Good luck!
Ross
DT,
Thanks for the kind words. And I’m so glad I was able to inspire you in that way. Blogging is an excellent platform. It means you’re accountable, which certainly means you’re motivated. And you give your voice a vision, potentially inspiring others. So on and so forth. It’s like a chain reaction. 🙂
This is definitely going to be introspective. I think there’s only so much I can say about dividends and dividend growth investing. While I’m still excited to talk about all of that, because investing is still a large part of my life, I think it’s important to realize that the money is just there to get you where you’re going. Those who focus completely on money and investing will likely be disappointed when they get to the other side if they don’t have anything else going on. I felt there was an opportunity there to open a whole new conversation. Should be fun!
Best of luck to you as you continue climbing your own mountain. It’s tough but totally worth it.
Best wishes.
Welcome back Jason!
I did not see a follow button? Maybe it´s there, i were so eager to start reading so i might have missed it. 🙂
Allt gott
/DanielWikstrom
Daniel,
I don’t have any email subscription or anything like that. I’m taking a minimalist approach with this blog. This blog is actually a reflection of my writing, as I enjoy many facets to life other than writing – facets which I’ll continue to share. I eat my own cooking, you know? As such, I’m going to be spending less time with this than I did with Dividend Mantra.
You can certainly add it to a feed reader. Or you can just stop by a couple times a week and see what’s going on with the dialogue we’re having. 🙂
Best regards!
Glad to see the one and only Jason Fieber has returned to the blogging world. Hasn’t been the same since you left Dividend Mantra. Looking forward to see what comes next from you!
Sincerely,
ARB–Angry Retail Banker
ARB,
Thanks for that. Appreciate it. I’ve definitely missed being a part of the community. Unfortunate things didn’t work out, but it’s actually been a blessing in disguise for me. I’m now free to really explore a new perspective. A new start. It’s exciting! 🙂
Hope you enjoy the new platform. I think some were expecting me to cover dividend growth investing and the climb up for the rest of my life. But if you never reach the top and explore the view, what are you doing? What’s the point of that?
Life is a lot more than money. In fact, I’ve found it’s pretty much everything else other than money that drives happiness. Money just buys you the time to enjoy those things.
Hope you enjoy all that’s yet to come!
Best wishes.
Glad to have you back writing again. Enjoyed your first article and I look forward to reading the rest of your posts.
Chad,
Great to be back!
I still have a few great ideas in the tank that I want to share with the world. Want to make sure I “put it all out there” before I hang my blogging hat up for good. 🙂
Glad you enjoyed the article. Hope you enjoy all that’s to come!
Best regards.
So glad to have you back. Looking forward to reaching the top of my own mountain and becoming the author of my own life. So excited! Thanks again,
AJ,
Thanks, man. I’m really glad to be back in the community. I feel like there’s so much that’s possible, so it’s nice to be writing and putting some of these ideas out there.
I can tell you for sure, now being on the other side, that it’s all worth it. It’s not some momentous shift or anything where the skies open up, but being able to do what you want, when you want, and with whom you want is a real gift. It’s writing the stories you’d want to read. Making changes on the fly. Doing what makes sense. And when when something no longer makes sense, you’re free to do something else.
Best of luck as you continue to climb your own mountain! 🙂
Cheers.
Welcome back to the blogging world. Looking forward to your articles.
IP,
Thanks for the warm welcome. It’s great to be back.
Hope you enjoy all that’s yet to come!
Take care.
Good to see you have your new platform up and running. It looks great and I think we’re all excited to read your material and share our thoughts back and forth.
I would say “welcome back” but I’ve made sure to stick with you via Facebook, Twitter, DTA etc. Mr. Free @ 33 is a new chapter for us all 🙂
Best of luck
Regan,
Thanks for that. It’s great to be back!
It’s indeed a new chapter. DM was the climb up. This is the view. So it’s going to be a bit more exploratory and introspective, simultaneously. Growing and changing is just part of life. I once wrote an article about living multiple lifetimes. Well, I’m still in the “blogging” lifetime, but I’m definitely entering a new era of that lifetime. I want to make sure I leave it all out there before I hang up my blogging hat for good. 🙂
Hope you enjoy the new direction and content. As always, I’m going to put my all into it.
Cheers!
I’m happy to see you blogging again, and I look forward to the new direction you’ll be taking with your writing. There are quite a few blogs about getting to financial independence, but few about what happens after, so it will be great to have another perspective.
jd,
Happy to be back at it. I know I won’t be at this forever, but I also didn’t plan on just pulling a Houdini. Still have a few ideas left in the ol’ tank that I really want to share. 🙂
You hit the nail on the head there. There’s kind of this saturation in the blogosphere with blogs that are kind of following the trail that I (and certainly a few others) blazed. While wonderful, and while I’m so proud of inspiring others to take their torch and run with it, I feel like it’s time to do something new. It’s just how I’m built. So this blog will be reflecting personal growth. Super excited to tackle some more philosophical and psychological perspectives. At the same time, I also write quite a bit about stocks for Daily Trade Alert, so I’m happy I can continue sharing that, too.
Hope to see you around. And hope all is well!
Cheers.
It’s great to see your site up and I am very inspired by this post. You are exactly right, the view from the top is that of a mountain range in the distance with other challenges and opportunities out there. I’m right there with you, more or less, on the mountain having crossed FI recently. I’m still at my job, which is still rewarding as of now and already am on to another mountain of adventure as a passion project.
It should make fore a more enriching life and I feel happy to be able to go back and read the chapters in my own satisfying book.
-Mike
Mike,
That’s great, man. I’m so glad you recently reached the top of your own mountain. Congrats! 🙂
Yeah, I think there’s this really young, naive version of me that once existed that maybe thought that life would automatically just turn into this thing where there’s rainbows everywhere I go or something. But financial freedom is actually just a jumping-off point to new adventures, new challenges, new purpose, new relationships, etc. And that’s what I now see. I just see opportunities.
But the funny thing is that I’m so glad about that. Life otherwise would be boring and practically meaningless.
Sounds like you’re looking forward to future chapters, while also having the ability to reminisce about past chapters. It’s a great spot to be in.
Enjoy!
Best wishes.
Hey there,
Just wondering how is it that you are financially free if your portfolio makes 9k-11k per year based on dividends. Are you saying that your spending is at that level?
tbonez,
Right. A passive income update will be live in mid-October, and I’ll show core personal expenses at the same time.
Although my passive income exceeds all expenses it has to, I’ve found it to be really not all that important. People get too focused on the numbers. That’s another subject I’m going to address before the end of the month. 🙂
Cheers!
Ahhh!!! Great! I’m glad to see you back. I was missing your posts. 🙂
Allan,
Thanks, man! I’m really glad to be back. 🙂
Plenty more to come. Hope to see you around. And I hope all is well!
Best regards.
Great to see you’re back Jason. Looks like I’m not the only one who missed your inspirational posts! Looking forward to read more, especially about how it all started. As we all know, starting is the most difficult!
Thanks for keeping us posted through Twitter. That helped.
Good luck!
DfS,
Thanks so much. Very kind of you. I’m really glad to be back. I know I won’t be writing like this for another 10 years, so I’m super happy to have this opportunity to get some ideas out before I hang my blogging hat up for good. 🙂
As for writing about starting, I’ve really already covered that with about as much depth as I possibly can. My book goes over that quite a bit. Or one can certainly go through the old archives of Dividend Mantra, where there are 700 or so articles covering the climb in real-time. I can only say so much about it. As we save and invest, we move past the starting line. We grow. We change. We eventually hit our goals. To keep talking about starting would be disingenuous.
Moreover, I discussed it all again when I went over My Story here: https://www.mrfreeat33.com/my-story/
I also discussed on that page what this blog is going to be about. Hopefully, you’re excited for a more introspective and philosophical look at financial freedom. If not, I wish you luck!
Cheers.
Thanks for your long response!
I’m more than happy to follow you on the next episode of your life, that’s why I’m here in the first place. 🙂
Reason why I brought the subject up, is that I would love to see you inspire more starting investors, like you did inspire me when I started 2 years ago.
Back then, I would skip stories from people with $200k~$500k portolios, because I could not relate to them at all. It’s not very hard to keep the snowball growing when it’s already bigger than an average house, you know.
Most – if not all – of the people that commented on this particular blog will know you are Didivend Mantra and probably already know the entire story, but many newcomers might not.
Your story page helps and linking to your old blog as well as your book helps as well, but I think it wouldn’t hurt to take us back to the early days every now and then.
Best wishes to you, no matter then content. 🙂
Great to have you back Jason. You were the first DGI blogger that I ever read, but you’d left Dividend Mantra before we’d started our blog (DGI investing in Australia :)). Can’t wait to read about how your life is going now.
Tristan
Tristan,
Best of luck with both your blog and investing. Australia strikes me as a wonderful country. I doubt I’ll ever see it myself, but the quality of life over there seems pretty amazing (if you can afford it). Having that passive income built up will only improve upon that for you. 🙂
Thanks for dropping by!
Best wishes.
Welcome back sir!!!
J. Money,
Thanks so much, man!
Appreciate you stopping by. I know how busy you are (boy, do I ever!), so it’s definitely appreciated.
Hope all is well!!
Best regards.
Great to see you back with a new blog.
I was aware of bits of your background story but enjoyed reading it in more detail – what a climb, what an achievement – very inspirational! Look forward to reading more of your writing.
weenie,
Thanks so much. Really appreciate the kind words. I’m glad to be back at it, too, and I’m hoping I can continue to inspire and motivate with a new platform. Definitely looking to take things in a slightly different direction, building on what I’ve already done and talked about. Should be a lot of fun. Won’t be at it forever, so I want to make sure I leave it all out there. 🙂
Hope all is well over there!!
Best wishes.
Hi Jason,
Was an occasional reader at DM and liked what you did over there. It’s great to see you back writing at somewhere you have full editorial control again, and interesting to read how all of that panned out.
Kudos on quitting the job and following your dreams, hopefully I will be able to follow you in the next year or two, just need to get the nest egg a little bit bigger before I feel comfortable pulling the trigger on it!
Yours is a fascinating story and a shining example of the fact that practically anyone can achieve financial freedom if they really put their mind to it.
All the best, from another UK FI chaser 🙂
firestarter,
Thanks! It’s definitely nice to be back. While it was a little heartbreaking to see things not really working out, it’s actually been a blessing in disguise. I’m able to now go in a new direction with the platform, reflecting personal growth. We should all hope to grow over time, and so our perspectives should also change. I try to keep things genuine and authentic, and so this is an extension of that.
Wish you the best of luck as you continue to get closer to where you want to be. Of course, financial freedom is really just one chapter. And the money is easy. It’s all the other stuff that’s hard (but fun).
Thanks for stopping in!
Take care.
Jason – so glad to have you back in action in the blogosphere! I appreciate your blend of financial info and personal story (plus your writing style is quite good). You just made my day!
Marcia,
Aww, thank you. That’s sweet of you. You made my day, too! 🙂
Appreciate the kind words. I put my heart and soul into my writing, and I live and breathe what I write. So I’m happy to be in a position to share.
Stay in touch!
Best wishes.
Welcome back, DM. . . errrrr. . . Jason! Looking forward to checking up with you on the new blog, and the ideas and conversations on the comments therein.
I hope to join you in a couple of years! Still steadily saving and accumulating my own Freedom Fund after a couple of setbacks myself. I will get there eventually!
Daniel,
Thanks so much. It feels really good to be back. I know that my ideas are finite, and so this “lifetime” of writing is probably limited, but I’m really excited and blessed to be in a position to get a larger conversation started. What’s super refreshing about this new platform is taking that conversation in a slightly different direction. 🙂
Best of luck as you continue to climb your own Mt. Freedom over there. Always setbacks. But determination will move you far past those setbacks and beyond your wildest expectations.
Cheers!
Great to see you are back, just read your “my story” and it’s been quite the ride. Impressive to read how you have overcome all the setbacks in life and came out ahead. Good for you, will be following you along again as in the good old days (had been an avid reader of DM since about mid 2014 until the time you moved on).
Wishing you well in the future and with the new blog!
Team CF,
Appreciate the kind words and support very much!
It’s definitely been a hell of a ride. My ups and downs have probably been a bit more severe than most people experience in life. I guess I don’t know any other way, so it’s just kind of natural for me at this point. Either way, I’m truly grateful to be where I’m at. A lot of hard work went into it, but I was also very fortunate in ways.
I hope you’re experiencing just as much (or more) success!
Best regards.
Bookmarked and ready for the next chapter. Followed DM for a couple years and have really missed your writing the past year. It’s amazing Jason… it’s not just your own life you’ve saved! Cheers
Charles,
Thanks so much for that. I really appreciate the support and very kind words. I’m glad you enjoy everything I put out there. I’m only here to help, share, and inspire. If my work can inspire others to positively change their lives, that’s just a dream for me. I’m really blessed.
Hope you continue to enjoy all the content that’s to come. I’m not sure how many ideas are left in my brain, but I’ll continue to put them out there for as long as they continue to generate. 🙂
Best wishes!
Hey Jason, am from Africa and your journey really inspires me alot, I happen to be financially independent too at just 25 but looking forward to take on more challenges, pursuits and passions in life, hope you continue with that guidance sir
Joel,
Thank you very much. Appreciate the support.
Wish you the best of luck over there in Africa. And I hope you continue to stop by and enjoy the content. 🙂
Cheers.
I love this! It does explain quite a bit about the journey for Happiness as well as the empty feeling I’ve heard so many describe when standing at the top taking in the view.
It feels like a destination to me because of how long it takes to get there and the fact that not many people ever reach it however I’m excited to see how my perspective changes when I reach it!
Writing from Phoenix, AZ, USA.
The Millennial,
I hear you. I once saw it as more of a destination, too. But as you get closer, and as you simultaneously grow older/wiser, you start to see it as more of a beginning than an end. Just a really interesting chapter in what otherwise should be an amazing book of your life. 🙂
Cheers.