A Late Starter's Journey

After many, many years, I finally paid my very last bill for 1 credit card. That was a tough and something that I have struggled with for most of my adult life.

It was one of my best life's decision, actually, to JUST.STOP.CHARGING. Paying in cash made me more aware about my spending. And it was great motivation to see my credit card bill getting smaller and smaller every month, making me more eager to pay it all off as soon as I can. It took a long time, saving even the extra change lying here and there, but it was sooo worth it.

I still have another 1 to go which, hopefully, will also be fully paid before the year ends.

In my journey to financial independence, I have followed a bunch of blogs on personal finance, minimalism, and the like, and have read a couple of books from financial experts like Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman, etc. Admittedly, I have struggled with my finances almost all of my adult life, particularly consumer/credit card debt. I shopped for all reasons imaginable – celebration, when I’m happy, to temporarily ease sadness, because it’s 20% off, and a lot more.

As I grew older, shopping wasn’t as fun anymore so expenses turned to eating out with family and friends (because they say relationships are important) and travelling (because they say memories are important).

I’ve been in my work for a while – a good and stable one in a government office here in my country. It’s not as high-paying as I wished it would be, but the perks and work conditions are great and I love what I do. I plan on retiring by age 60 which is about 15 years from now. Being in my work for a while now, I have seen colleagues resign/retire and there are people in my Department who are retiring in a year or two. Talking to them, there are those who are lucky to be excited and looking forward to retirement (goodbye stress and goodbye waking up early), but sadly, there are also people who have not prepared well for retirement and still not ready to say goodbye to their salaries.

To fulfill my plan of retiring comfortably and abundantly, I have to take serious steps now to make it happen. So here I am to chronicle my journey…