I make no secret of the fact that I don’t earn a ton and happen to live in an expensive city. In fact, that’s a huge part of the reason why I blog: I didn’t see anyone else blogging who had a similar background and story to mine. So I decided to start blogging to hold myself publicly accountable and to tell my story.
In amongst the six figure earners in the FIRE community (or honestly, even the people pulling in high five figures), it’s incredibly easy for me to feel like an impostor. I don’t think I’ve ever explicitly said so, but my last COL increase put me at just under $45,000. I’m lucky if I can reach a 40% savings rate most months, and I’m certainly not going to be financially independent before I’m 30, so who the hell do I think I am to be adding my voice to this space with my non-profit salary?? Often it seems like I am never actually going to reach financial independence.
But that’s why I’m documenting my journey, as a way to show people (AND myself!) that it is possible. It’s going to take time and lots of creativity both in terms of earning money and lifestyle design. But I believe it’s possible, and that in and of itself is reason to be writing and—dare I say it?—reaching for financial independence for myself.
When Gwen and J were interviewing me for FIRE Drill Podcast, they asked me if I had any resources or recommendations for people with lower incomes. And I blanked. I couldn’t think of anything terribly significant off the top of my head, even though I write as a person who makes a middle income. Why don’t I have any significant resources I can point people to? I ended up saying there’d be a project called The Money Middletons launching soon, so to keep an eye out for that.
Well, it’s happened: The Money Middletons launched today. Continue reading “Personal finance for people with moderate incomes? Meet the Middletons”