April 2018
Let me be clear, the last thing I want to do is tell you what to do with your money. What I want everyone to understand is the basics of how money works. I also want people to know that there are options for things to do with your money besides spending it, and how those other things work, and what the results of not spending your money look like. From there, if you want to continue spending your hard earned money, so be it. My site will not go into great specifics on how to save money on groceries, or complex investment strategies. There are plenty of other website that already do this. This blog will mostly be my take on personal finance in general, maybe with a few rants thrown in here and there. I like to keep my life simple, so my advice will be simple. If I’m given the option of doing a,b,c,d,e and f to save $100 a year, or the option of doing a,b, and c to save $55 dollars a year, I’m probably going to stick with the easier option most often. I will admit I’m lazy. Which reminds me I heard someone say the other day that lazy people always find efficient ways to do things, so yes, I am lazy efficient. Sometimes being efficient means saving less (maybe even spending more) money on occasion, but that is ok, with the very general assumption that I find value in spending money on this thing.
I stated this blog out to mostly focus on early retirement, and while that is still a goal of mine, I guess it’s not a goal for everyone, and that is alight (although highly disappointing). After initially hearing about early retirement, mainly from Mr Money Mustache, I thought it was one of the greatest things I’d ever discovered. However when I started sharing this new found information with friends, co-workers, and family there was (and still is) much ridicule and skepticism, so they clearly did get the same level of enthusiasm as I. Even my wife isn’t on board with the idea (which is extremely disappointing to say the least), however I will continue to press on to the best of my ability. It may also make for some interesting posts as we disagree with finances going forward.
Finally, I just want to be clear about my wife and I’s income. We have a combined of approximately $110,000 (I don’t share the actual amount since I blog anonymously), which seems to be an upper middle class income (very hard to find a source to pin down middle class income these days it seems). I want to be clear about this for two reasons. First, a lot of blogs out there seem to originate from individuals or families with high incomes, and I mean high incomes right off the bat out of college. Some of these same blogs also generate a fair amount of income on their own (via adds or referrals). There is nothing wrong with that, and I’m not saying this blog will never do this, but this blog currently generates $0 (shocking!) However, I don’t think it’s really appropriate to humble brag how you paid off your $40K student debt in less than a year when you were making $100K per year, and your wife was “only” making $40K per year, since those types of income don’t apply to most people. Second, there is a blog out there (more than one I’m sure) where the writer(s) claim (or claimed) to be “middle class” with typical income, and it was recently discovered that their “typical” income was over $200K, not to mention their blog income. So I think it’s fair to say that this particular blog was being a bit disingenuous, to say the least. I also want to be clear that we have never won any significant lottery prize, received any large inheritance, we did however each pay for all (me) or most (her) of our university educations….. via student loans!
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I’ve left my previous About text below, for historical purposes, and just so you can see not much has really changed, obviously I’m a bit older now.
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April(ish) 2014
Why am I the fake cheap? Well it just reinforces the theme of this blog. Anyone can do this, and there are even times when I spend more than is needed. For example, my friends, family and co-workers all know how “cheap” I am, so if I spend more money than necessary, everyone will say “You aren’t THAT cheap, you paid more than I did.” or “You spent that much on that, that is way to much!” So you CAN do better with your money, and do it easily! Despite these incidents of overspending or the OCCASIONAL indulgence, I find myself in a financial position superior to may others.
I am in my mid 30’s, married, and have 1 child. I currently work in a financial administrative position, and also have experience on the financial sales side of things as well. I also hold a business degree majoring in finance. So I know a thing or two about this stuff. Our family income is very average, and we have never received any major financial assistance from relatives, an inheritance, 0r win the lottery, we are doing this on good old fashioned honest salaries.
I have decided to take the anonymous route with my blog for now. I’m sure my blog wont remain anonymous forever, but I’m going to start that way, hopefully I get a few months out of it. I may occasionally throw things out there that may be a bit “controversial” for friends, family and co-workers, and I’m not really comfortable with just advertising my financials to the world, along with my name, at least not right now. I also want to point out that anything I state on this blog will be based on truth, there maybe some detail changes here and there, but nothing material.
Please comment below if you have a topic you would like me to cover. I also welcome all comments you my have, so fire away!
The Fake Cheap 