Welcome to Michael-May.co.uk! I am the author, Michael May. Long story short – I went from zero savings and significant debt after graduation to saving over 85% of my income in just a few years. The goal? Financial independence ASAP. I am full-on embracing EVERY aspect of a financially responsible, engaged, frugal lifestyle – from the razor blades I shave with to retirement account optimization. And I’m chronicling the journey on this blog.
If you’re new here, you can find every post by category & a full list of every post in order, if you’re ambitious and want to start from the beginning. 20somethingfinance recently hit the 5-year landmark and has become one of the most popular personal finance blogs in the world.
By the way, if you’re rich, poor or indifferent – it doesn’t matter – this is a finance blog in my name (the blog is stuck with the name), but it’s written for you. Old or Young (I’m now 30+) . Learning and sharing knowledge of personal finance has no age restrictions.
Now, on to the more detailed and dramatic story on why this blog exists…
The Best Years?
One year and 300 applications after graduating with my business B.A. from Salford University, I hit the workforce, and started making £30k per year while working 50-60+ hours a week at a job that did not even require a college degree. Meanwhile, my mobile, cable, internet, utility, car, fuel, rent, insurance, credit card, student loan, and food expenses were eating all of my income. Savings were non-existent.
When exactly did it become the standard that the best years of our lives – our twenties (and even thirties, forties, and fifties), turn into the years where we work 60 hours a week to simply keep up with our bills? When did weekends turn into “free time” where we catch up on work we fell behind on during the week and chores around the house?
Feelings of stress and frustration about a lack of savings for the future started taking over my life. Time, was seemingly passing me by. My soul was being choked away by the following the path everyone else was – conforming into a corporate commodity in order to pay off ridiculous consumer indulgences. The prospect of 40-50 more years of THIS? Unthinkable.
Taking a Stand
I had to do something. I realized that if I were going to have any shred of enjoyment in life, I needed to veer off the comfortable path. But my finances were holding me back. So what did I do? I started hacking them.
I got married and had a cheap wedding that cost under $2,500. I sold my over-sized house and moved to take a higher income job. Instead of buying a bigger home, I bought a smaller one. I then sold our second car to get rid of the payments and started biking to work. I sold half of my personal belongings. I cut my phone bill in half and cut my cable bill. I became vegetarian, saved money on groceries, and stopped dining out almost entirely. I maxed out my 401K. I stopped trading and started investing. I stopped paying for my company’s traditional PPO health insurance and switched to a HDHP and HSA, so that they started paying me.
I re-organized my wallet and started using credit cards to my advantage. I switched to products and services that saved me a lot of money vs. ones that only took money away. I was reversing the consumer accumulation life cycle. “Stuff” and material status stopped mattering to me entirely.
As a result, my income started increasing, while my expenses declined drastically.
I eventually reached a personal savings rate over 85% of what I earned – 21 times the average U.S. savings rate of 4%. In short, my finance hacking was allowing me to save, in just two years, more than most do THEIR ENTIRE CAREER. This simple math will open up huge possibilities for my future.
It was still the most expensive day of my life though!
Was I Feeling Depressed and Deprived?
Quite the contrary. I felt excited, awake, driven, and determined. Instead of fear and resentment, I started feeling hopeful about the future. There was a fire burning inside of me to go even further.
Financial independence became an inevitable path, not just a dream.
Today, I’m well along that path.
The downsides? There are none. I have easily adjusted. I have all the stuff I need, and more. And I’ve become more creative, less materialistic, and much more satisfied in life.
I have a comfortable home, a great wife, a dog named Murdock and two cats. My wife and I home brew, we backpack, we couchsurf, we eat great food, we travel, we cook, we entertain, we’re in good health, and we have zero debt. We’re not missing out on a thing that matters – except one – time.
My prize possession
Striving for Financial Freedom
Ultimately, my goal is to achieve complete financial independence so that I can buy back and take ownership of the asset that offers us the most opportunity in life: Time.
If you get fired up about:
- financial independence & partial or early retirement
- hacking your spending to extremely low levels (less than $10k/yr. per person)
- reducing wasteful consumption and minimizing your impact on the environment
- learning the basics of personal finance & sharing ideas with others
- being healthy, wealthy, well-rounded, generous, and fighting for and setting your own path in life
… then you are in the right place.