Freed by 50

I’ve been poor before.  Not all that long ago I was a recent college graduate with a degree in computer science living on unemployment in the post dotcomm and 9/11 New York metro area.  I’d gratefully lost my first job as a C programmer and the seemingly decent income that went with it.  I had a new car, an apartment I couldn’t sublet for the full rent amount, $3k in credit card debt to cover the Ikea furniture for the apartment I no longer lived in, and $20k in college loans.  The booming silicon alley tech market in New York City was suddenly gone and I was rudderless.  That was the first time I was poor and I had no fear of it.

Three years later I’d finally “recovered.”  I had a solid job as a web developer and network administrator.  The old apartment was long gone.  I was now up to $5k in credit card debt.  I had another new car which cost me a $3k down payment on the lease to keep the payments down.  I’d taken some computer certification courses in order to change career paths from being a programmer to a network administrator.  I’d also taken on another $12k in student loan debt to cover them.  My outstanding student loan debt hadn’t budged, because I’d been paying minimums.  Since I was doing so well and had recently inherited money, I did the sensible thing and bought a condo.  I was 26.  It was 2005.  I lost my job the day after I signed the mortgage.  That was the last time I was poor.

Although I’d stacked the deck heavily against myself, I was determined to dig out.  I should have sold the condo in 2007, but I was given bad advice and hung on.  Thankfully I’d hedged my bets and gotten a roommate who was paying half my mortgage.  I landed a decent paying job that I hated, but it gave me the opportunity to pay more than minimums to my various debts.  When the housing crash came, I was barely hanging on.  It was the fear of being poor again that pushed me.  I knew I could do better than just getting by.

By the time I met the woman who would become my wife I was trending upward.  I was on my fourth roommate in the condo, I’d used credit card transfers to lock my highest interest loans at 2.9% forever, and I was looking for a better job.  Later that year the opportunity came and I seized it, nearly doubling my income.  My then girlfriend and I were combining forces to eliminate our substantial financial issues.  With a combined $112k in student loans, a $12k car loan, my horrible 5/1 + HELOC mortgage situation, and $7k in credit card debt we had quite the hole to dig out of.  We were making over $100k combined, but that fear was always there.  I could lose all I had at any moment.  I had to push harder.

In 2012 we got married and paid for our wedding and honeymoon in cash ($35k!).  The car loan, credit cards and HELOC were gone.  Our student loans were down to $80k.  We even saved enough to put a 10% deposit down on an amazing house while also covering the $7k loss we took finally unloading the condo.  Although we had quadrupled our living space and costs, we were still well above water.  For the first time in my life, I had a true savings…enough for my wife to change careers and not work for three months.  I had gotten promoted and we were now making around $160k.  I was now taking big swipes at the student loans whenever possible.  But I was working at a company well known for quarterly layoffs and fear drove me to keep a three month emergency fund while always looking for a new opportunity.

By the time I changed jobs the emergency fund had ballooned to six months and my wife was calling me a crazy person.  It’s a fine line between crazy and scared.

It’s almost 2019 as I write this.  I’m not poor.  Not even close.  It’s been almost 14 years since I was poor.  It feels like yesterday.  I never want to be poor again.  I want to insulate myself so it can’t happen again.  I’ll never see an inheritance from anyone.  I’ll never have someone else as a safety net if I fall.  I’ll never have a pension.  So I have to make my own safety nets.

I’m determined to stave off the fear by making sound financial decisions that set us up for long term success.  I’m 40 now, ten years from my goal of freedom by 50.  I know I can make it, and I’m going to replace the fear with hope.