By trade, I am a DevOps Engineer working for a market-leading company serving customers globally. I obtained an honours degree in Computing in 2018 while working full time and have a passion for most things I.T-related.
I have been married for 20 years and have three children. Our eldest has been living in Canada for the past couple of years and has travelled to lots of interesting countries both before and after graduating from St Marys College, Twickenham. Our middle one has just finished sixth form and is taking a year out, while our youngest has just started her final year at high school.
We live in a really lovely suburb of Norwich in the East of England. Just a few miles from the city centre and about a 40-minute drive to the coast where we have a choice of great beaches.
Although I have always held an interest in finance, the concept of living frugally and becoming financially independent has come to me only recently!
I come to FI/RE with a variety of the good – ISA, Monzo with various savings pots, companies pensions, but also the bad – credit card debt, small phone loan and student loan. We have a mortgage too but I exclude that from the debt – that’s next level stuff after I’ve got the consumer debt sorted!
My goals are to live within my means and to avoid lifestyle inflation, try to make the right choices and consider the impact of the environment, and to put my money to work so that I no longer have to depend on a job to sustain myself and my family.
What’s this about?
What is frugality?
Frugality is living a simple and thrifty life, particularly in terms of money – it is not the same as being stingy or tight!
What about financial independence?
Financial independence (FI) is not about having limitless amounts of money and swanning about on yachts in Monaco. It is the point at which your passive income surpasses the level of expenses.