Why, hello there! Thanks for taking the time to check out Nerdy Finances. I’m Lu, and I’m a 22-year old financial analyst and founder of this site. I love talking (and maybe oversharing) on my passion for personal finance and financial independence. I’d yap about these topics all day if I had the chance – so here I am.
I created Nerdy Finances to help young people get a head start on managing their finances. After all, it’s never too soon (or too late!) to start saving and investing wisely.
My primary goal for this blog is to continuously deliver humorous, digestible content on:
- the best way for young people to start building wealth
- must-know investing topics
- the best financial tools to manage your money
- tips to saving more money
- side hustle ideas
- productivity
I’ll also throw in more niche content on:
- my experience as a public finance investment banker
- career advice (particularly for the finance industry)
- book summaries for productivity/personal finance books
- testing material as I make my way through the Series/SIE exams and the CFA charter
…and more! If you’re interested in seeing a post on a specific topic, leave a comment or reach out to me at any time.
I believe that once you learn to manage your finances, money will work for you, and not the other way around. That’s part of the concept of financial independence, which is the main focus of this site.
What is Financial Independence?
Financial independence is the first part of the FIRE abbreviation, which stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early.
It’s the principle of living well within your means. With the money you save, you can invest it into passive income streams. These are investments that, once set up, will generate money for you with only occasional effort on your part. Here are some of the most common examples of passive income:
- Stock dividends
- Interest on bonds, high yield savings accounts, and CDs
- Real estate investments
- Content creation (like this blog!)
You continue saving and growing your money until you’re able to make enough passive income to cover your cost of living. That’s your FIRE number. For each person this number is going to be different. For example, if you live a simple lifestyle and need just enough income to cover necessities like food, rent, and simple pleasures, you’re going to need less money to FIRE than someone who wants to live a posh and luxurious lifestyle.
Regardless of what kind of life you want to live, once you hit your FIRE number, you can spend your time however you want.
This means if you don’t enjoy your day job, you can kiss that job goodbye.
Once you make enough passive income to cover your cost of living, you can retire for the rest of your life (if you so choose). That’s the second part of FIRE: retiring early. I personally love to keep busy, so I’ll probably spend my free time trying to:
- scratch an entrepreneurial itch and start a business
- pick up some new hobbies
- search for that dream job I’ve dreamed of where I do what I love and get paid well to do it
- simply have the option of saying no to any job I don’t find interesting or taking a break when I feel like I need one.
If this sounds interesting to you, Reddit has a ton of great communities for FIRE and personal finance. Here are some of my personal favorites here:
- r/personalfinance A place to discuss any questions you might have regarding taxes, specific questions relating to your circumstances, or get advice from 14 million other people.
- r/FinancialPlanning Very similar to r/personalfinance, but with a slightly different audience.
- r/FatFIRE A subreddit meant for high net-worth individuals and their journey towards their definition of FIRE. Non high net-worth individuals are welcome to join so long as they respect the rules of the sub. Very motivational.
I’m currently on a long, looooong journey towards financial independence and I intend to share my journey and experience I gain along the way right here on this blog. Come by often if you want to check out my progress! You can also subscribe to get a monthly feed on what’s new. Hope to see you around!