This goal of Her Good Cents is to help make money (earning, spending and saving) less scary for you and help you realize you can achieve financial independence, retire early and launch your best life. Over the course of my life, I have earned, spent and saved a ton of money and have learned many lessons, some harder than others. Money gave me great anxiety until I figured out what made most sense financially for me and my family. Throughout my routine posts, I hope to give you a little less anxiety about your financial security.
So who am I? Well, I’m Sean. I’m a wife and mother of two with a full time job in communications for the aerospace industry, and two blogs – this one and The Average Supermom. Being a communicator, I love to write, design, talk, take photos – anything creative. But I learned early on that money fascinated me, too. Why did some people have so much while others were the complete opposite? How do you make what little you have work for you? These questions were always in the back of my mind.
I didn’t come from money, neither did my husband. Quite the opposite is true, in fact. Both of us went through our own struggles in adolescence that I won’t go into here, but we met when we were enlisted in the Air Force. He joined so he could eat, I joined to escape a life I wasn’t happy with and pay for college. We have both made 20+ year careers out of this decision.
I have no debt … now
We bought our first house when we were 25. We both have zero school debt, I have a master’s and hubby has a bachelor’s. But over the course of the duration of our marriage, we have racked up a significant amount of debt and paid it off, only to rack up more and pay it off again and again and again. Only in the past handful of years have we found methods to avoid debt (or pay it off very quickly). We are now 100% debt free except for our mortgage and both kids have a good amount for college.
Maintaining a debt-free life is a challenge. It means we keep good budgets and pay attention to where our money is going. We don’t buy a lot of new things or try to keep up with our neighbors and friends. One thing we do spend on is travel and experiences, but we budget for that.
We want to retire early
After working into our early 40s, we realized that we don’t want to retire 20 years from now, we want to retire soon. Right now, we are on a five year plan to achieve financial independence and retire early – earlier than we could have anticipated a decade ago.
I will be learning about money with you
I’m not a financial professional or expert, but I have decades of practical experience in budgeting, saving, spending and earning money. I love reading articles and learning about the latest trends in finance and getting educated on the fundamentals. Through my research, interviews and practical experience, I will give you tips on launching your best financial life.
Aside from helping others, I also hope to give myself some level of accountability because, honestly, money still gives me anxiety. So while I hope to ease your fears about your financial future, I’m hoping to ease mine as well.