After recently graduating from professional school, I was finally able to practice something I have spent 26 years building. However, it didn’t take me long to figure out that even after the grueling years of school are finished, everything isn’t roses and champagne. There are long, demanding days, mental and physical burnout, and the constant stress of treating patients and meeting their expectations.
I soon found myself loathing to go to work every morning and looking for ways out of my current situation. It baffled me how something I had dedicated a quarter century to become, could possibly be the last thing I ever wanted to do. Part of it was the clinical learning curve of the profession, part was the environment I was in, and part was the aspect of dealing with all walks of life to get through my day.
I spent numerous hours, days, weekends discussing with my family whether I should change my job or even, my profession. Leaving would possibly offer happiness and satisfaction in a different career. However, leaving would bring a lot of uncertainty, no guarantees, and likely a huge pay cut. I have always been a planner and never succeeded by “going with the flow”. I thrive on stability and predictability and have trouble adapting when curveballs are thrown my way.
After much thought and debate, I realized my job, although not ideal, gave me tremendous earning potential and stability. I decided that in order to do what I want, whenever I wanted, I needed to attain financial freedom. By maximizing my earning potential for as many years as I could last, I could buy myself a much earlier retirement and thus, do what I want, even if didn’t earn me a dime.
Stemming from my desire to achieve financial freedom, I found myself constantly reading about personal finance in my spare time. It seemed that hours could pass and I was still intrigued. I read numerous blogs, books, articles, and magazines on various financial topics including achieving early retirement. The more I read, the more I wanted to learn.
Most of my peers picked up a Cosmopolitan, and I reached for a Kiplinger’s instead. I began to talk so much about it that others would reach out to me for basic financial advice and guidance. As I became more knowledgeable on my own journey to financial freedom, I truly realized how many of my peers neglected a basic foundation on these matters and how poor their financial fitness truly was.
I reached a point where I knew I had to do something more with my newfound passion in personal finance. Given that my full time job was not fulfilling my true interests, I knew exploring options in personal finance would fill the void. After reading several personal finance individuals’ blogs, it seemed obvious that I had to create my own. I believed that a blog would allow me to channel this passion to engage with others who share my interests as well as bring others along on my personal journey to financial freedom. It could also give beginners a chance to learn how to gauge their financial fitness and improve it.
I decided to sit down and devise a general outline on how I was to reach this financial freedom. I knew over time things could be added or removed; however, writing down a goal and having a plan is essential for execution.
The outline to my plan was:
- Income Generation
- Budget Development
- Short Term Goals: Buying a Home
- Long Term Goals: Early Retirement
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“Achieving Freedom Through Financial Fitness.”
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