Above, you can see my beautiful (almost) home town of Rothenburg in Bavaria, Germany. I grew up 10 miles from there and lived in that general area until I was 24 and emigrated into the US. It’s very pretty and funnily enough, one of the first pictures that came up on stock photos when I searched for “Bavarian” content for this website, and that’s why it’s on the cover page, too. It’s also my wife’s favorite town in Germany – but that’s probably because she hasn’t seen much else and is besides the point.
As of writing this I live in Michigan, 32 years old, and as of this year 2024, I am Financially Independent or FI, soon to be dad to our first baby girl, and wondering how to spend my time when I finally retire from my soul-crushing engineering job in the automotive supplier industry which prompted all of this, but more about that later.
And this is what the blog will be about – Financial Independence, and everything that comes with it – at least I think that’s what it will be.
For those who don’t know what FI is, it’s when your monthly “passive income” (sometimes it feels like anything but passive) exceeds your monthly expenses. This allows you to tell your employer to go pound sand and do your own thing (which was my main motivation when I started on this journey). My wife and I reached FI after about 4 years of ultimate hustle in the Metro Detroit area, but also more about that later. Ideally, and if I continuously manage to motivate myself to write on here, you will be able read about my journey to FI, Bavarian frugalism anecdotes, budgeting tips, the occasional spreadsheet, and whatever else fits that general genre. To encourage you to live the good life, while at the same time aggressively saving and investing for your own financial independence future – because lives aren’t meant to be spent in cubicles, working the best hours of each week away for a corporation or employer who likely gives very few fucks about you in the grand scheme.
Now whether or not this qualifies me to write a blog? We shall see… But if this resonates, don up your imaginary lederhosen, read on and you might learn something to help you get there faster yourself!
Prost,
-Daniel
