Photo: The view from the top of a mountain in Saguaro National Park in Tucson, Arizona.
Recently, I have been thinking about putting our financial story in a blog. So today, I begin my first post explaining our journey along this wild ride called life. I will focus mainly on finances, but there are many things about finances that affect every aspect of our lives.
Who am I?
I am a math teacher in Houston, Texas. I moved to Houston in 2009 from Nebraska. I love the state of Nebraska and I am a huge Husker fan, but I saw an opportunity to get paid as a student teacher and jumped at the opportunity. I did such a good job as a student teacher that they offered me position and I have been a full time teacher for five years now.
I met my beautiful wife in Texas and we got married two years ago. She works as a nurse and is currently working on her degree to become a nurse practitioner. My wife started working on her master’s two months after we got married and then I started working on my master’s five months after we got married. Many people thought that we were crazy to start our marriage off like this. It was hard work, but we managed to grow throughout this experience. I will graduate in August of 2015 and my wife will finish in December of 2015. Thank the Lord, we are almost done!!
Our first two years of marriage have taught us many lessons. We hope to share many of these lessons throughout the rest of this blog. We have grown together, because of our communication about multiple topics, including finances, family, children (when to have them) and sports. Speaking of children, I have always stated, “Our child for the first two years of marriage will be grad school.” That statement had a dual meaning, with one being financially and the other being time. Children and grad school are similar, because they cost a lot of money and they take up a lot of time.
Why Summit of Coin?
Where did this blog name come from? I was toying with either financialturtle.com or summitofcoin.com, and I was actually leaning towards financialturtle.com, because turtles are my favorite animal. I also liked the idea that a turtle is slow and the way to become financially independent is slow and steady. Although I found another financial blog with turtle in the name, and I wanted my website name to be different. So, I went with summitofcoin.com.
I chose summit, because I love nature and I love going on hikes. I was thinking about the idea of hiking up a mountain. The hike is tough. The hike is tiring. The hike is beautiful. The summit is amazing! Those four things are the basis for the title of this blog.
The hike is tough and tiring!
Hiking up a mountain is difficult work. When hiking up a mountain, you are always going up. You are working your legs. You are pushing your body up switchbacks as you are panting. Similarly, getting to financial independence is tough and tiring. You have to work like a dog to get out of debt. You need to find as many ways to save, invest and be frugal. Getting to financial independence is many years of hard work and dedication.
The hike is beautiful!
Even though the hike is tough and tiring, you can’t help but notice the beauty of nature. I remember hiking up the mountains in Saguaro National Park and admiring the beauty of the Saguaro cactus. I also remember marveling at the sight of the ground below. The higher you get, the better the view. This part of hiking is connected to the part of your financial journey, where your saving like a madman and making huge progress toward your goals. You are almost financially independent. This part of the journey is where you are just enjoying the ride.
The summit is amazing!
This is the point where you achieve financial independence. This is the goal of everybody who wants to retire. This is the point in which your money is working harder than you. On a hike this is where, you get to just sit and enjoy the view. Then you start to hike down the mountain. At this point, you don’t have to work as hard, because gravity is in your favor.
Essentially, the Summit of Coin is reaching the financial summit. This is the ultimate goal of this financial journey that my wife and I are on. Come along for the ride.
