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10 Questions with Solving Finance!!!

December 17, 2016 by Mr. 1500 Days 10 Comments

This is the 74th edition of our guest post series called 10 Questions. It also will be one of the last. Everything must come to an end and 10 Questions will say ‘”Good bye!” near the end of 2016. If you’ve already sent me your answers or told me that you’re going to be doing so, don’t worry; I’m still going to publish you.

Today we talk to Solving Finance, a man who is absolutely obsessed with finance, loves tennis and chess, ridiculously corny jokes, and exclamation points!!!

He worked all through college while maintaining an honors-level GPA so he could graduate debt free.

He started his blog because he wanted to share his experiences with money and finance.

Solving Finance, it’s all you.

solving_finance_-_solving_finance__one_post_at_a_time

Tell me about your blog and why it’s great.
My blog is about solving finance, one of life’s greatest mysteries and to document my journey to financial independence. I’ve been fortunate enough to have a $40,000 net worth by the time I finished college at the age of 21 through hard work and smart choices. I feel like I’ve been HANDED an opportunity by being able to live in a developed country and I want to make sure that I don’t waste the opportunity given to me.

recent_10_question_interview_submission_-_carldjensen_gmail_com_-_gmailI have a unique perspective on personal finance coming to the United States as an immigrant and write posts from a personal experience standpoint. My post that was featured on Rockstar Finance isn’t a usual thought that goes into making purchasing decisions. I have a lot of ideas that I have drafted that provides a different angle when it comes to personal finance.

I cover different topics such as negotiation, budgeting, saving, networking, etc. I just started working in Corporate America 2 months ago so it’s been interesting practicing the “have a great work ethic” attitude I’ve been preaching by juggling blogging, networking, and working full time.

What post are you most proud of and why?
I’m very proud of my recent post, using motivation to work for you. My mom’s side of the family lived in poverty and I hope to have gotten my story out there to be able to inspire people to do anything that they possibly can to avoid poverty. All of my decisions that led me to have a $40k net worth while in college double majoring and triple minoring stems from this motivation. I have it written down and taped to my wall so that I never forget.

The fact that my parents risked so much for me is the reason why I’m so motivated to get to early retirement and give back to my parents. They’ve risked their jobs (if the company found out my parents got me a green card, our family would probably be in ruins) so that my brother and I could thrive in the United States. I would hate myself if I didn’t get to where I wanted to be when I was in full control of the situation and my choices.

1500 Days is about early retirement. Do you have early retirement dreams? At what age do you think you will retire?
Oh man, I can’t wait until I retire early! (and that’s me saying that after working 2 months). I want to retire at the age of 35, 13.5 years from now. I have a couple of goalsthat I want to achieve to get to millionaire status and hoping to live off the investment income that I get from the million that I could generate.

When you are 90 and look back on your life, what do you hope you have accomplished?
I really hope that I get to live to 90 🙂 healthcare is evolving at lightning speeds! I hope to have accomplished something that gives me no regrets. That’s all I want in life, for me not to have regrets. I can’t live with the fact that I was the reason why I didn’t do something that would have been smart and fun of me to do. For example, I was very bad at telling people what I want, I’ve changed that and now I try to fight for everything that I want.

On the flip side, I try to avoid putting my time and money into projects that I know won’t provide a lot of value or is too risky. I’m a proponent of spending your time that gives the highest value and if I avoid certain things that would have been smart and fun but too risky for me to do, I wouldn’t have any regrets!

How do you handle people with different views on money, ie spendy people?
I ignore them. My friends all go out every weekend and call me a cheap “fill in the blank” (hopefully jokingly) that I don’t go out as much as them but I don’t get sucked in to that lifestyle. I don’t want that holding me back so I reason that isn’t generating the highest value for my life. I’m doing everything for my parents who I’m going to give everything to once they retire (the company that my Dad works for will almost force him to retire at 60).

Did you grow up with money? How did your money situation growing up influence you?
My family was middle class. We lived comfortably with no particular money troubles but we didn’t live with a huge surplus either.

You could call me almost a greedy kid when I was little. I lived for the surplus. When I got a dollar, that’s a dollar that went into the piggy bank. I am heavily influenced by my mother who didn’t buy me a lot of stuff. She would say something was “too expensive.” Also, she would say almost everything I brought to her was expensive (even stuff that costs $1!) so I learned to take her advice with a grain of salt.

Did your parents teach you about money as a kid? How so?
They indirectly did. They lived extremely frugal lifestyles by saving pennies where they could. However, over the years I’ve noticed that they didn’t know how to buy. They would buy the clothes that charged a brand premium but look for ways to use less electricity to save pennies. They saved pennies but they looked for ways to spend dollars, which is something that I’m trying not to do.

We notice a lot of frugal people are into board games – what is your favorite?
TABOO!! It’s not necessarily a board game but man that game can get funnnn (and competitive, I’m sure I got some judging looks when I play because I get very competitive). Settlers of Catan is a very fun game too!

What do you do for exercise?
I run 3x a week outside after coming home from work. I also do body weight exercises like push ups, squats, and the like. It’s helped me sleep much more intensely which lowered the amount of time I need to sleep. However, I love sleeping so I sleep the same amount anyways!

What is the best thing you’ve read lately?
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. He’s a phenomenal writer who communicates ideas very nicely and I am convinced about a lot of ideas that he argues in his book. It’s analyzing how trends happen and I thought it would be more technical in nature but he analyzes more of the psychology and human effects of how trends happen. Interesting thoughts!

Thanks so much for sharing, Solving Finance! Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or over at SolvingFinance.com.

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Filed Under: 10 Questions Tagged With: 10 Questions, Debt Free Life, Solving Finance

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Biglaw Investor says

    December 17, 2016 at 5:23 am

    Nice to see you here Solving Finance. I think you have a great story and are well on your way to great financial success.

    Reply
    • Finance Solver says

      December 19, 2016 at 8:25 pm

      Thanks Joshua! I hope that will be the case, but I have a long ways to go so we’ll see 🙂

      Reply
  2. Full Time Finance says

    December 17, 2016 at 5:48 am

    It’s very noble to want to take care of your parents. That being said make sure you don’t compromise your situation in that pursuit. Not saying you will, but I’ve seen it happen often. Based on your progress you have a very good foundation for doing well financially. Your on a great path.
    Full Time Finance recently posted…How to Setup an Investment PlanMy Profile

    Reply
    • Finance Solver says

      December 19, 2016 at 8:25 pm

      Thank you! I’m glad to have stumbled on the personal finance community on the internet, because it’s shaped a lot of views that I have today. Internet is a wonderful thing.

      Reply
  3. Team CF says

    December 18, 2016 at 7:58 am

    Great to learn a bit more about you from this interview, as noted above, noble of you to want to take care of your parents!
    P.s. Catan is awesome! Should do that game again one of these days.
    Team CF recently posted…The TricycleMy Profile

    Reply
    • Finance Solver says

      December 19, 2016 at 8:26 pm

      Catan is a fantastic game! I’m glad my friends introduced me to it, I had no idea how popular it was.

      Reply
  4. Jon @ Be Net Worthy says

    December 18, 2016 at 8:32 am

    This was a nice interview Solving Finance! I really respect how you want to help out your parents and how that is driving you to build wealth. Well done!
    Jon @ Be Net Worthy recently posted…Avoiding A Financial Hangover This SeasonMy Profile

    Reply
    • Finance Solver says

      December 19, 2016 at 8:27 pm

      Thank you! It doesn’t even come close to everything that they’ve done for me. It’s a start and hope that I can deliver. I also liked hearing your story as well, Jon!

      Reply
  5. Finance Solver says

    December 19, 2016 at 8:28 pm

    Thank you again for the opportunity Mr 1500days, I appreciate it! 🙂

    Reply
  6. Jan says

    December 26, 2016 at 3:14 pm

    Thanks for guest post SolvingFinance. I really liked your post. It’s great to hear about your background and what motivated you. I also have parents that were very frugal and I think it came from their parents (back during the depression). It’s always hard to appreciate what you have.

    Jan@ http://www.befreeandwealthy.com.
    I just posted about how can kids earn tax-free money: http://www.befreeandwealthy.com/2016/12/25/how-can-children-invest-tax-free/

    Reply

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Freedom!

My goal was to build a portfolio of $1,000,000 by February of 2017; 1500 days from the birth of this blog (January 1, 2013). And hey look, I’ve since retired!

Investments only (primary home excluded)
1/1/13 (The Start): $586,043
1/1/14 (1 Yr Later): $869,635
1/1/15 (2 Yrs Later): $987,351
1/1/16 (3 Yrs Later): $1,057,961
1/1/17 (4 Yrs Later): $1,257,128
1/1/18 (5 Yrs Later): $1,527,701
1/1/19 (6 Yrs Later): $1,549,440
1/1/20 (7 Yrs Later): $2,035,040*
1/1/21 (8 Yrs Later): $3,379,746**
1/1/22 (9 Yrs Later): $4,762,642
1/1/23 (10 Yrs Later): $3,112,821

2023: Investments only
1/1: $3,112,821

Overall
2023 investment gains: $0
Investment gains since 1/1/2013: $2,526,778
Net worth***: $3,342,821

* The big jump between 2019 and 2020 was partly because we bought another home, but kept the previous (much more expensive) one as a rental. We have since sold it.

** Tesla.

*** Includes our primary home equity in addition to our investment portfolio.

Finally, we still have about $290,000 in mortgage debt (which I love!). No regrets about the debts!

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