Dear Reader, your humble blogger here has long been hard to impress or surprise. He’s seen his fair share of great things . . . and goofiness. Experienced a decent amount in his many, many, . . . many years on this blue marble we call Earth. And developed a rather expansive view of humanity such that it takes an impressive feat—for good or ill—to surprise him.
Yet every once in a while, something does charge the wires in my brain so powerfully that it triggers a noticeable tremor. And on even rarer occasions, an explosion.
Stream of consciousness
A steady stream of happy said explosions happened during the year or two after I discovered FIRE in 2016. Like when I read Mr. Money Mustache’s post, “The Shockingly Simple Math Behind Early Retirement.” And Paula Pant’s, “Renting is Throwing Money Away … Right?” And Go Curry Cracker’s, “Never Pay Taxes Again” And the Mad Fientist’s, “How to Access Retirement Funds Early” And Root of Good’s, “How to Pay for College While Early Retired.” And dozens of other posts by these bloggers and dozens more by yet other writers.
Those explosions happened not only because I was learning so much that I was deeply interested in. But because so much of the information was so far outside the norm and compelling that it challenged and persuasively contradicted so much that I’d either thought true or took for granted. I giddily started executing on many of the strategies and tactics in my own life with the excitement of a five-year-old given free reign in a candy store.
At some point, however, I gained most of the knowledge that I needed. And learned and executed on most of the strategies, tactics, and tricks open or appealing to me. I still loved (and continue to love) reading FIRE-focused blogs. But head-exploding moments became increasingly rare.
The thrill is back
I’ve written about how difficult it’s been for me to find people who are fired up by FIRE as I was/am. That’s surprising to me, and makes me sad.
But in 2021, I fiiinnnally met a few such people. Some of these folks were on the journey and super excited. We spoke the same language and shared similar passions.
Others had never heard of FIRE and knew little about good personal finance habits, and were highly intrigued by what I told them. I was the teacher, and they were the eager students.
In each instance, something wholly unanticipated happened to me. I got a super-excited feeling like that I’d experienced when I read all those mind-blowing blog posts in 2016 and 2017. What a thrill!
I wrote last week about a college student whom I’m teaching about personal finance, FIRE, and many other related topics. I’m having a ball. No moreso than when I see his head explode. I’m finding myself vicariously experiencing his head explosions. I love it.
Getting this old feeling back has been fantastic.
And in the end . . .
Dear Reader, fear not for your humble blogger. These mind-blowing experiences are, of course, figurative. I’d not be so excited if they weren’t.
Great that you are passing on what you’ve learned and experienced one on one as well as in your posts. I mentor engineering students at my old university and always try to impress on them some personal finance. I don’t know if they are getting it or not but it’s worth a try.
I’m actually involved in some formal mentoring programs, too. I aim to have personal finance make an appearance in those instances, too.
Great post, that is one lucky, and smart college student that he gets to learn about Fire from you! I’m trying to teach the underprivileged, in my neck of the woods, about becoming financially independent. Since school won’t teach it, we must take matters into our own hands!
Yeah, the state of education in the US (and, as far as I can tell, the rest of the world, too) as to personal finance is just spectacularly awful. It’s sad that a dingbat like me has to fill the breach.
Well its a noble cause, hopefully you’re creating a positive impact on a fortuitous number of frontal lobes.
Hopefully. If, some years from now, I get one or more surprise invitations to a nice dinner that my guest offers to pay for, I’ll know that my efforts paid off. 😉