My Personal Finance Journey: Why Trajectory To Wealth was created.
Hello there! I’m Nate, and I’m thrilled to share my personal finance journey that led to the creation of TrajectoryToWealth.com.
I haven’t always had a passion for discussing finance-related topics. In fact, it wasn’t that long ago until I actually developed a sense of financial literacy, or at least the need to improve it.
But fast-forward to now, discussing finance-related topics and working towards building my financial well-being is a huge passion of mine.
So let’s take a trip down memory lane and dissect the origins of my financial literacy (or the lack of).
The Genesis of My Personal Finance Journey
During the pandemic scorned year of 2020, I was a final year student grappling with the pandemic’s impact, stuck in one of the World’s longest lockdowns in perhaps the most important academic year of my life.
To add more fuel to the fire, I would soon become jobless due to staffing cuts in wake of the pandemic sentencing me to a life (or at least a year) full of redundancy.
With only moderate savings to my name, I knew something had to change. To put it bluntly, I was sh**ing bricks thinking about the position I was in.
But as is the case with most things in life, it takes a roundhouse slap in the face to re-evaluate some of your long-standing ingrained ideologies.
For me, that meant reviewing what it meant, or at least what it took, to avoid finances becoming an overwhelmingly pain-stricken burden that negatively affects our lives as it has proven to for so many others.
So how is it, that in the heat of a pandemic that left me locked up, isolated and jobless — could I have stumbled upon the building blocks that kickstarted my financial journey?
The Silver Lining of the Pandemic
We often grow up thinking there is a simple formula for financial success:
Study hard, get a good job, earn a high wage, be financially well off for the rest of your life, right?
At least that’s what I grew up thinking.
But if the craziness of a year that was 2020 taught me anything, it was that life doesn’t always work out so easily.
The Pandemic's Disruption
In 2019, before the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was fortunate to receive a scholarship to complete my studies abroad, an opportunity I had eagerly anticipated worked hard to secure.
Here’s the kicker though, in early 2020 my scholarship was cancelled due to COVID, so after all the work I put into attaining the scholarship only to find out I would no longer be able to relocate abroad – was extremely disheartening.
The reason I mention this is because at the start of 2019 I had to delay taking some courses for my university degree such that I could complete them instead at the univserity abroad (at the time my scholarship hadn’t been cancelled).
This meant delaying my degrees completion by a year.
Ultimately, with my scholarship and trip abroad no longer going ahead, this left me entering my final year of studies in 2020 with only a select number of subjects left that I actually had to complete.
So having already established study habits and time management skills from my previous 5 years at university, I entered my final year with quite a bit of time on my hands.
So, when I was made redundant from my job in early 2020, it was the first time in my university career that I found myself with considerable amounts of spare time.
The Unexpected Opportunities: Finding Light At The End Of The Tunnel
This unexpected free time turned out to be the launchpad for my personal finance journey.
I decided to use this time to enhance my financial literacy, an area I thought I was quite adept in, thanks to the finance electives I had taken during my university days.
But boy, was I in for a surprise! I was astounded by how much I didn’t know about even the most basic financial concepts, concepts that could significantly shape one’s financial future. I found myself completely engrossed and fascinated by the wealth of financial knowledge I was uncovering, however confronting it may have been.
Every new financial concept I stumbled upon was like a treasure, urging me to dig deeper.
This newfound knowledge and the thrill that came with it is something I’m eager to share with you through my blog.
The Reality of My Financial Status
Now, you might be expecting me to tell you that I’ve become a multi-millionaire at 27. That’s usually how these articles go, isn’t it?
Well, that’s not my story.
Quite the contrary, in fact.
I’m just your average 27-year-old with a modest bank account, some investments, and a 2013 Nissan Pulsar. .
In other words, nothing out of the ordinary compared to your everyday 27 y/o, and in fact in many cases, probably less.
But I do have one thing that sets me apart.
My passion for reaching financial independence and a clear path to achieve it.
The Driving Force Behind My Quest for Financial Independence
There are an infinite number of reasons why someone may want to reach financial independence.
And for me, my motivation for financial independence is deeply personal.
I’ve witnessed the strain financial issues can put on relationships, so the motivating factor for me is to never let money get in the way of forming or maintaining strong and lasting relationships with those who I love and care about.
I’ve seen firsthand the devastating effect that money can have on relationships – arguments stemming from mismanaged finances, to much more devastating consequences where family members have cut ties with other family members because of money related problems.
Because of these experiences, I’ve always sworn that I will never let that happen to me.
And although money is certainly not the answer to all problems, it is definitely a fuel that can create an abundance of them.
The best way to mitigate a risk is to elliminate it entirely.
That’s why I am set on reaching a financially independent lifestyle, so that money never forces a divide between those who are closest to me.
But another motivation of mine to reach financial independence addresses a long-term vision that I have in relation to personal fulfilment.
And that vision is to not have to rely upon a wage of X dollars to meet my living expenses – but not for the reasons that you may think.
Let me explain.
I am an aerospace engineer by profession. The reason I am hoping to increase my wealth and not have to rely upon a wage is not so that I don’t have to work anymore.
In fact, it’s the opposite. My work is synonymous with my life.
I love my profession and I don’t think I will ever want to stop working.
So the reason I don’t want to rely on a wage that pays me enough to get by is because I don’t want to have to sacrifice opportunities that could provide me with personal fulfilment, purely because of the wage attached to that opportunity.
I want the opportunity to pursue roles and responsibilities to work on technologies that I am extremely passionate and excited about, and not let the wage attached to those opportunities prevent me from doing so.
I know that may sound absurd since most people typically want to reach financial freedom so they don’t have to work, but these are my reasons, so the question is, what are yours?
The Birth of TrajectoryToWealth.com
My ambitions moving forward are to build this site and to share my experiences, educate others about finance, and show that financial independence is attainable for anyone, regardless of their profession or salary.
Join Me on This Personal Finance Journey
Now that you know a little bit more about me and what drives my passion, follow along for future posts and updates.
We will discuss things such as (but not limited to): intelligently managing money, investing, side hustles, passive income methods and lifestyle changes that relate to finances.
Importantly, my emphasis will be to try and break down the barriers of why so many people resist these money topics, whether it be out of fear or simply a lack of understanding.
Most importantly, this won’t be a get rich quick scheme where I ask for your money (nothing infuriates me more than when people do this) or advocate projects without deep diving into them first and discussing the risks involved.
Remember, I am really only starting to build up my own wealth as well so the majority of the things I discuss will be accessible by your average Joe.
Thanks for your support.
– Nate
If you’re interested in learning how you can get started on your investing journey without needing to spend huge amounts of money or time researching, then check out my below post!
Essential Things To Consider Before You Start Investing
There are a number of essential things to consider before...
Read More
