“Buy now, pay later” was a shocking concept to her, and she passed this mindset on to me the fact that mindless consumption wasn’t a part of my life growing up has helped me internalise the FI concepts very quickly.ĭespite this, I felt afraid. What’s more, I’m an only child, so my parents could concentrate all their resources on me.įortunately, they are sensible people, and they instilled good habits in me from a young age, my mother spoke to me about moderation and not spending more than you owe. I grew up in rural Switzerland, and until I was in my mid-20s and independent from my parents for the first time, money wasn’t a big concern for me.īecause my father was a lawyer and my mother inherited a lot of assets from her family, there was always enough in our household. Having a variable income really forced me to focus on my finances and plan for monthly fluctuations in my profits. For me, the trigger was becoming self-employed. Some of us grew up in poor families that had to struggle for survival, while others internalised a parent’s spendy ways.Īlmost everyone on the FI path can pinpoint the reason why they are interested in being independent from a job.

“Why didn’t I think of this before? It’s so obvious!” I thought.īy the time we’re an adult, we all have a “money story”. Everything he wrote just made sense to me. How did I find out about Financial Independence?Īs soon as I began reading, I knew I’d found something special. But in recent years, the movement has attracted more people from all walks of life.Īs part of Lifestyle series, I will share why and how I started pursuing financial independence and how the concept has shaped my life today, we’ll discuss the discovery process. When Financial Independence (“FI”) first became popular, most people interested in the concept were engineers or those in stable, high-powered jobs.

Some of our readers are also part, or interested in, the Financial Independence, Retire Early Movement (also known as “FIRE”). is dedicated to making you Financially Independent here is Kathrin’s story.

Money moustache shockingly simple math