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Eyes on the Goal

Personal finance and other stories for freedom seekers

How My Desire for Financial Independence Began?

27. November 2016

How it all began?

My early money experiences

As a little girl growing up in Bulgaria, the message was clear:

Bad times are coming, money doesn’t grow on trees! If you want to have something, you have to work for it. – my mom

Don’t get me wrong, my family was not poor. We have always had enough food to put on the table, a roof over our heads, books for school and we went on vacation twice a year.

But all expenses were kept to the minimum. No excessive spending was encouraged.

I was always taught to find the best value for money. I remember noting down the quality and the price of the products at the market when I was sent to do the groceries shopping at the age of 9-10. I was doing the foot work circling around the market various times until I found the best quality for the best price or okayish quality for low price.

I was never given pocket money. Whenever I needed to buy anything be it school supplies, public transport tickets, a birthday present for a friend, shoes or ice cream, I had to ask my parents for money. This felt like begging and I didn’t like it a bit.

My classmates went on school trips to France and England but it didn’t even come to my mind to ask my parents to finance that. I didn’t ask for the “big things” because I knew I would get a “no”. And who likes to get rejected?!

My first steps to independence

It must have been at this time when I somewhere deep in myself I decided to start making my own money as soon as possible. I wanted to free myself of the limiting situation.

I worked hard to get the best grades at school and I received a monthly school grant. The amount was small but it gave me the first glimpses of what this financial independence might mean to me.

Later on in my 9th grade, I must have been 15 or so I found my first summer job. It was a fast food restaurant on a busy street. I did the cashier and once in a while, I waited tables. Every consecutive summer I worked for a couple of months during my school holidays. Around my 20th year, I didn’t need to ask my parents for money any more – I had enough to live on my own.

Fast forward to 2016

I live in Berlin in a beautiful rented apartment. My job pays well for my lifestyle, enough to grow my savings, to have an emergency fund, to invest in the stock market. Thanks to my frugal parents I even have a real estate investment back in Bulgaria.

I have and I am traveling the world. I live a minimalist lifestyle. I save as much as I can and I invest it.

I have reconnected to my childhood dream of doing whatever I want and being able to pay for it myself. I am extremely thankful to my parents for keeping the financial framework around me tight and taught me that if I want to something, it’s up to me to go and get it. They have given me the most valuable – education and a home I always know I can go back to no matter how badly I ‘fail’. Thanks, mom, and dad.

My goal of financial independence

Now I want to take it even further – I want to free myself of the need to ever work again. Yes, that is right, my goal is to become financially independent in 5 years, the latest in the beginning of 2022.

This means that I will have my basic expenses covered and I will have the freedom to work on whatever project I choose, with whomever I want and to contribute to this beautiful world in whatever way I find fit.

This blog is for me to keep my eyes on the goal. Like when I was a child and it didn’t even come to my mind to ask for the “big things”. This blog will be a reminder for me of my next “big thing” and it will be a proof that it’s possible.

Spread the ❤

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4 Comments / Filed In: Updates on the Goal
Tagged: life experiences

Comments

  1. Anna says

    18. December 2016 at 11:43

    Well done starting this blog, Kate! Beautiful and informative, I am looking very much forward to future articles. Thanks for the inspiration!

    Reply
  2. kate says

    18. December 2016 at 12:03

    Hi Anna 🙂 Thank you for your kind words.
    I enjoy the creative process very much.
    Every blog post topic ‘cooks’ inside my brain for a week. I am extra observant on what’s going on around me and what exactly I want to say. On the weekend I write it all down. The words and pictures come together.
    Stay tuned – I have a backlog of topics coming up 😉

    Reply
  3. Joachim says

    17. January 2017 at 17:53

    Hi Kate,
    how a some kind of tight and strict childhood can motivate to reach something and gives power to put all the energy into this.
    Great dream, I wish the best and believe, you are at a very good path!

    Best
    Joachim

    Reply
    • kate says

      18. January 2017 at 15:14

      Hallo, Joachim! 🙂

      The boundaries gave me something tangible to push against and to test my powers. My mother was determined not to raise a spoiled little brat, and she encourages me to go and do my own thing: “When you get your own house, you do whatever you want. While you are living in mine – you will follow my rules!”

      Elizabeth Gilbert puts it best: “It’s a life, it’s not a womb” in her Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear book.

      See you on the path!
      Kate

      Reply

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Hi, I am Kate App

Welcome from Kate App
I will take you on a journey past Financial Independence 2022 💸
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