10 Questions with The Mini Millionaire

Today is the 8th edition of our new periodic guest post series called 10 Questions. We have a list of 17 NEW questions we pose to fellow financial bloggers, and they are free to pick and choose 10 or answer all of them. Let us know if you would like to be featured in a future edition of 10 Questions. (If you have already answered the first set of 10 questions, please feel free to answer these new ones.)

It’s been a while since I posted a 10 Questions. Life is busy, so I let it slip. I have quite a backlog now, but I promise that I haven’t forgotten about anyone. Watch your email.

Today’s post features The Mini Millionaire. The Mini Millionaire has impressive goals and dreams. Also, anyone who enjoys Lego and snowboarding is a friend of mine.

Tell me about your blog and why it’s great.
My blog is The Mini Millionaire it stems from some life planning I did around 2 years ago now where I listed the year in one column, my corresponding age in the next, and space for five things that I would like to achieve on or before that year – or reaching that age.

One of the first idea’s I had was to become a millionaire by the time I was forty – I’m currently 22.

At the same time I was just finishing up with University and looking at starting a more minimalistic life. So with research on minimalism and financial independence research from blogs such as 1500Days, MMM & TheFIREstarter I was inspired to create my own blog sharing my own journey on the road to financial freedom.

Tell me how you’re going to change the world with your blog (dream big or don’t dream at all!)
Blogging for me isn’t about the hits, views, comments and other statistics. At first it was about me taking ownership for what I have set out to achieve, a place for me to process results, and make plans. Since then it’s become more about sharing what I’m doing, and the results I’m having not just in a financial sense but in a lifestyle sense too. MMM & 1500Days have completely transformed my life for the better, I only hope I can transform someone else’s.

Do you enjoy writing?
Surprisingly yes!

I didn’t think I would. I’m not much of a wordsmith to say the least but I find that writing it all out really helps me process and think of new ideas and challenges – My latest being to list and complete 101 different ways to earn more money. I’m always looking forward to writing the next post; in fact I’d do a new post everyday if I could.

1500 Days is about early retirement. Do you have early retirement dreams? At what age do you think you will retire?
I guess this depends what you define as retirement.

I currently work for myself and for someone else; if I quit the working for someone else then I’d see myself as retired.

I hope to pay my mortgage off somewhere around 2020 by which point I’ll be 27 and provided I’ve got a steady stream of income elsewhere I’d be more than happy to ‘retire’ and start doing my own thing 24/7.

If blogging isn’t your full time gig, what is?
I graduated with a degree in Computing in Business, however I now do nothing of the sort. I currently work as a Chat Host for a Bingo site and I’m self employed selling Lego (yes, the Danish interconnecting bricks) to the masses.

How do you handle people with different views on money, ie spendy people?
The more involved I get with my own financial independence and what drives me to happiness, the less I want to be around many of my old friends who work in corporate jobs living for the now. This mainly stems from the fact we have to hang out in an expensive bar, restaurant or go out to an expensive club and that’s not who I am anymore.

I guess the biggest thing is how do I handle those with different views on money who I can’t distance myself from i.e. My parents. They both retired with ill health in there 40’s and I’ve never seen them work which I suppose must be one of the drivers for me not wanting to work myself. They have been known to both go to the supermarket on the same day either bumping into each other in the process or coming back to find the other one has already been. However they’ll still choose to have a take-away – an event, which occurs three or four, times a week.

My parent’s think I’m nuts!

I think they’re nuts!

They don’t want to change their lifestyle, and I don’t want to change mine so we just get on with it I guess. Surprisingly there’s very few arguments about money or lifestyle, my dad and I are both financially driven I guess it’s just for different reasons. He’s driven to spend it, I’m driven to save it.

Did you grow up with money? How did your money situation growing up influence you?
There’s no denying I was brought up with money. I got everything I ever wanted as a child, but I was taught to appreciate it, earn it, save for it. Which has made me into who I am today. On the contrary my only brother was born five years later, like me he got everything he ever needed or wanted as a child, but they couldn’t be bothered to teach him all the values they taught me.

We are now complete opposites, he’s lazy, he appreciates nothing (there’s an incident with a macbook they got him for Christmas which he dropped and smashed a week later) and will spend anything and everything aged just 18.

Did your parents teach you about money as a kid? How so?
I don’t remember particular lessons, more just snippets of my life that are money related. For example my grandma giving me £1 and explaining how I could spend it now, or I could save it for something much bigger and better.

What do you do for exercise?
I love to snowboard; it’s just a shame that it’s an expensive sport here in the UK.

Your own question?
For the last question I decided to go with my own question. I love to travel, and there’s a long list of places I want to see (before I have children) so my question has to be…
If you won £1,000 in travel vouchers where would you go?

With good planning, and flexibility £1,000 can get you pretty far from the UK. I’d choose to hit Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia with any spare change taking me over to Australia. Although the flights to South East Asia can be more expensive than a traditional holiday the cost of living over there is so cheap you can stay 10 nights in a 5-star resort for around £250 per room (room based on 2 people sharing)

My current budget actually includes savings of £160 a month, which is solely dedicated to traveling.

Thanks for your submission today Mini Millionaire! Best of luck on your journey to a million. In the meantime, perhaps we’ll meet someday on the slopes one of these winters…