Finding Fire

Life is often a series of inflection points. Some are large, obvious and impact your life in ways that ultimately ripple through generations to come. Others may be smaller and less obvious, but they can have a lasting impact none the less. Today, I wanted to share a couple of important inflection points in my life that have ultimately lead me to becoming a HENRY (High Earners that are Not Rich Yet), discovering FIRE and ultimately deciding to make chasing FIRE a part of my life.

Inflection Point 1: Hard Work & Understanding Your Value

“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”   – Tim Notke

Many high profile athletes including Kevin Durant and Tim Tebow have popularized this quote by citing its importance in their personal and professional lives. I also have an appreciation for the wisdom within the quote and can attest to it’s importance in my life. I would like to think that I am talented in some areas, but I would not attribute my professional success to talent. I would attribute it to hard work. It was in college that I learned the true value of hard work.

Throughout college, I held multiple part-time jobs to assist in funding college as well as the college experience. For many college students, paid work is relatively easy to come by. Great paying work is a different story. During my sophomore year of college, I took a job in a local gym working the front desk, maintaining locker rooms, cleaning restrooms, etc. Over the next few years, I worked hard and continued to increase my scope of responsibilities. My employer often praised me for my work ethic and assistance in areas outside the scope of my role. As I transitioned into graduate school, the time required within the role as it was defined became too much. One day shortly into graduate school, I approached my employer to submit my resignation citing my need to pursue a better paying position with less of a time commitment. This conversation did not go as anticipated. Instead of accepting my resignation, my employer instead insisted that I reconsider and asked that I sleep on the decision and return the next day prepared to discuss what it would take to keep me through graduate school. I was initially very surprised considering the job was just a part-time college side hustle that any college student could do. Nonetheless, I went home and thought about the ask. The following day I returned. 

Citing my work ethic and productivity relative to others on the team, I asked if they would be willing to no longer recruit for the multiple open positions and instead pay me the additional wages. I knew I could do the work of three or four people and could likely do it better. I knew there were costs associated with hiring and training.  They also knew that. They agreed. 

I then asked if they would be willing to revise the position from an hourly wage to a salaried wage. I knew I could do the work faster and more efficient than the time allotted to complete the job. I knew it didn’t matter how long it took to do the job but rather it simply getting done and getting done right. They also knew that. They agreed. 

I then asked if I could change my work schedule to accommodate my graduate school studies. I knew that I could reduce the timeline required to complete assigned tasks even further through scheduling efficiency. Less interruptions meant more efficiency. They also agreed. 

When it was all said and done, I stayed through graduate school. How could I not? By nearly quadrupling my hourly wage, making me a salaried employee and allowing me to dictate my own schedule, I had parlayed a low paying interim college job into something that ultimately paid me more per hour than any position I held for the first 5 – 7 years post-graduate.

That day was an inflection point. I learned the real world value of hard work. I learned that my idea of a “normal work ethic” was in fact not “normal”. I learned that understanding your value is as important as creating your value. I learned that negotiating from a position of strength is invaluable. These principles have served as the foundation of my career success thus far and propelled me to become a high earner and thus a HENRY.

Inflection Point 2: Losing It All: A Valuable Lesson

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin

My father took several college courses but ultimately did not finish college or subsequently attain a degree. Despite the lack of a formal education and degree, he was and still is a lifetime learner. His passion for reading and exploring the unknown was mostly driven by a healthy curiosity of the world and the desire to continually learn and grow. This passion for learning and the unknown was a key driver in my father choosing to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams leading him to create and grow a successful business throughout much of my childhood. As an entrepreneur without a formal education in his chosen field, independent reading for the sake of learning was a necessity. Books (and eventually the internet) were a way to learn the foundational knowledge necessary to form and run a successful business. As an observant child, I picked up his passion for reading, learning and self-improvement. Seeing my father build and grow a business from nothing simply by educating himself through reading would end up impacting my life in many ways. In the end, his passion project ultimately fueled the middle class lifestyle that I was so fortunate to grow up within. However, it was also the failure of this business during my late adolescence that would arguably have a greater impact on my life and its trajectory. 

Due to a series of unfortunate events, many of which were driven by factors outside of my father’s direct control, the business that had been a large part of my childhood went bankrupt. The loss was absolutely devastating. My father lost his life’s work professionally. He lost his livelihood. My parents lost their home. They lost their retirement savings. They had to start completely over.  My father suddenly had to start his career over. He had a track record of success. He had knowledge in his particular industry. He had real-world experience. However, he had no formal college degree in a world that now demanded it simply to get your foot in the door. To say it was a challenge, would be an understatement. He spent years trying to rebuild and reboot his career, and to this day still has not fully recovered professionally or financially. Despite this, my parents could have let these events destroy their spirit, destroy their relationship or destroy their life. They did not. They persevered.

If you had asked me at the time if I would define this series of events as a major inflection point in my life, I would have likely said no. After all, by the time this all materialized, I was no longer living at home as I was out of college and starting my career. However, when looking back now, this was arguably one of the most important inflection points in my life. It led me to search for more. After all, what is the point of success and being a high earner if it can all be taken away in an instant? I learned the importance of perseverance and not letting a failure, albeit a big one, define your life. I learned that if you do not adequately prepare, one small event or series of events can destroy years of hard work and completely re-define your life. I learned the importance of having a plan and a safety net. I learned the importance of formal education. In short, I learned that I never, ever wanted something like this to happen to me. I wanted options. I wanted security. I wanted to have the option to pursue my passions without the risk. I didn’t know it, but what I wanted was financial independence. What I wanted was FIRE.

Inflection Point 3: The Currency of Life is not Money but Time

“The rich invest in time. The poor invest in money.” – Warren Buffett

I am sure everyone can relate to being a child and someone older in their life telling them that life is short and that it will pass by faster and faster as you get older. As a child, these words are foreign as you have your entire life ahead of you. As an adult, the advice begins to take on more meaning but it often does not fully register until something happens that shakes you to your core. It is unfortunate that many people discover how short life truly is when it is too late. 

For me, I received a reminder of just how short life can be right before the birth of our second child. During a routine wellness visit in my 20s, I was abruptly and unexpectedly reminded of my mortality and the inevitableness of death. Being told you have cancer, regardless of the type, stage or outlook has an impact on a person. This news, in conjunction with the impending birth of a child, had an immediate impact. Thankfully, it was treatable, and I was given a second chance, now able to see more clearly.  It was another inflection point. I was stuck asking myself tough questions. Questions lead to more questions and eventually I was hit with an unsettling realization: time is very finite.

The average age of a male in the US is 78.5 years old. That is ~ 28,653 days or ~ 687,660 hours. If I get the recommended 8 hours of sleep each night (~ 229,220 hours in total) that leaves ~ 458,440 hours. As a HENRY, I have devoted a lot of time to progressing my career to become a high earner. 50+ hour work weeks up to this point. Often times more. This will likely not change as I continue to pursue my career goals. If I were to work until the normal retirement age of 65, that is 43 years of 50+ hour work weeks (~ 107,500 hours in total). That leaves ~ 350,940 hours of life not working or sleeping. Put another way, I only have ~ 232,680 hours or 9,695 days prior to the retirement age of 65 that is not spent working or sleeping. Don’t get me wrong. I look forward to retirement as much as the next person, but retirement is not guaranteed. 78.5 is not guaranteed. Arguably the best, most productive years of my life are going to be spent working. There had to be an alternative…other options. A non-traditional path where living weekend to weekend was not the reality. I was thirsting for answers…a new reality… a new truth…a new paradigm.

Inflection Point 4: Finding Fire

“This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill — the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill — you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.” – Morpheus in the Matrix

You may be thinking at this point, I decided to take immediate action and in doing so I discovered the FIRE movement shortly after our second child. You would be wrong. Like many people, my self described epiphany was quickly drowned out by the reality of day to day life. As life continued, I just could not shake the feeling that I was operating in a system defined by others, but I didn’t have any answers or necessarily know how to change it. I was NEO in the Matrix searching for more, but not knowing exactly what I was searching for. It wan’t until one Saturday morning a couple of years later that the additional catalyst I needed took hold.

It was a normal Saturday morning, not unlike other typical Saturday mornings. However, this particular chilly autumn day would become yet another very important inflection point in my life. I read through a link about the FIRE movement. At first my reaction was negative, due primarily to my limiting beliefs. However, as the days started to pass, I could not let go of the possibilities generated by the idea of financial independence. The idea of work becoming optional. The idea of taking back MY life and MY time. It began to consume me. 

I immersed myself in the study of financial independence and the underlying principals. Not only did I begin to learn about the pillars of FIRE, but I also discovered an unknown passion for investing. In short, I discovered a new paradigm. A paradigm where I could leverage the principles of FIRE to take back MY time. I realized that because I had become a HENRY, the pursuit of FIRE in the traditional sense could be pursued via a different path. As a high earner, I did NOT have to make great sacrifices today for a better tomorrow. In fact, I could save for a better tomorrow while still living my BEST today. The transition took place rapidly. I had finally discovered a new truth. A new mission. I had found what I had been searching for but had been unable to find. I had found FIRE… and I could not unsee it. It became a part of me. I began to chase it…

So where do we go from here…

The quote from Warren Buffett above bears repeating, “The rich invest in time. The poor invest in money.” The difference between the rich and the poor is largely driven by how they spend their time. No matter who you are or how wealthy you are, we all have the same amount of time. There are only 24 hours in a day. What you make per hour is important to your long term financial stability, but the key to becoming rich is investing in assets that make you more money than your time alone can provide. You do not have to own the system to become financially independent but you have to understand the system. You have to know how to navigate the system. You have to know how to control and leverage the system. Thats where I believe I can help.

As I said in my last post, I started this blog as a way to document my journey as I progress from an average HENRY to FIRE. I want to share my personal progress, lessons learned and continued challenges along the way. I want to share what I have learned about the pillars of the FIRE movement and personal finance through the lens of a HENRY. A HENRY who seeks to maintain a comfortable, high income lifestyle while achieving financial independence. Together I want to share how you too can challenge the paradigm of a traditional retirement and live a happier, more fulfilling life both today and tomorrow. Together, we can go from a HENRY to FIRE.

Regards,

– Henry