I couldn’t think of a better way to begin my writing than by discussing my general thoughts on money and how it interacts into all of our lives. This is the first blog of Backstop Financial and one that has taken me too long to begin. Often, I find myself overthinking with no outlet besides my wife (she is tired of it), and I believe that getting these thoughts out of my head and onto paper (screen?) will not only help myself but hopefully a few people who come into contact with them who may want to take control of their financial life. I am a Certified Financial Planner based out of Tampa, FL who has a career in helping individuals become work optional. My goals for this blog are to become a place where you can find financial advice that not only help you monetarily but also psychologically. Morgan Housel has played a massive part in sparking this journey for me, as I occasionally find myself in conflict with what I want psychologically (peace, freedom, autonomy) and what I want monetarily (8 figure net worth, Hustle, Luxury) . This post will be one of the few where I focus on my background and myself at this level. Moving forward, posts will be centered around how you can change your financial life, build a better mental relationship with wealth along the way, and some overall life considerations as well.

At this moment I find myself working in a job that I tolerate. Not love, not hate, but tolerate. Perhaps you find yourself here as well. Early on in my professional life, the biggest challenge I face is I’m still in the first stages of my career, have climbed the ladder of corporate America, and making just enough money to be fearful of starting something new that I know I would be more passionate about (this blog post is a good step), however not enough to be considered “rich”. Granted, if I did this for another 10 years and continued to save and invest 20+% of my income, there’s no doubt I would be, but 10 years is a long time to simply “tolerate” anything in life, in my opinion. We all deserve to be passionate about what we do but even I will admit sometimes sacrifice, especially in your 20s and 30s, is necessary a lot of the time while building skills. What I really want for my future self is to own my time. For most people, this comes at age 65+ after working for 40 years, at which point they “retire” and begin to do the things they are passionate about and have waited for. For whatever reason, one that I believe may be due to an entrepreneurial spirit, is simply not an option for me. Let me make it very clear – there is nothing wrong with working for 40 years. Plenty of people do this and live an abundant life. My hope is to show people there may be other options than what you may have come to accept due to your own personal experiences. Money does not and will not ever correlate directly to increased levels of happiness with the exception of meeting your basic necessities (more to come on this topic in future posts). However, what it can be is a tool that allows you to live the life you want to live and also be “the great enhancer.” Enjoy, listening to music with your friends? Money allows you to go to a concert with them of your favorite artists. Enjoy Saturdays with friends binging college football? Money is the tool that lets you pick your favorite game each week to travel to for the weekend. Enjoy cookouts with your friends and family? Money is the enhancer that allows you to do it in a beautiful home and a patio of your dreams. This is how I view money. A tool – an experience creator. If you ask for more from it, I assure you it will not. One of the greatest privileges for a young person is to be rich enough to buy whatever they want so they can realize money won’t buy fulfillment, so they can spend the rest of their life chasing what actually makes them happy: family, time with friends, experiences, deep relationships, meaningful work. There is no doubt that this view of mine has been formulated by decades of watching my parents, friends, colleagues, teammates in college, and even random strangers interact with money. Someone who was born into extreme wealth may view money in a completely different way just as someone born into poverty may also have a different relationship with money. It is one of the reasons I am always quick to say that there is no one “right” way to view money. We are all products of our environment, where and who we were born into, the people we spend our time with, etc. Many financial experts, advisors, and even individuals believe they have “their way” and will not change even in the face of data or rationale that they could be wrong. A question I have begun to ask that Morgan Housel first introduced me to is “What have you changed your mind on in the last decade?” A decade is used because it forces you to think bigger. One example that comes to mind is politics (uh-oh). I would argue that if there is not at least one stance that you have changed your mind on within your political party over the last 10 years, then are you really thinking independently? Or are you simply following a party that you affiliate with? Should we not evaluate every political issue regardless of what side our party is on? I am going to stop here before I get cancelled, but hopefully this forces you to think deeper. I challenge you to find something big in your life (not who is better between MJ and LeBron – Hint: it’s LeBron) and look at it from another perspective and just evaluate, yes just evaluate, others’ opinions and where they are coming from. This may be a hot take, but if we used that lens more often in life, I believe we could begin to solve more of our world’s problems. Even if your mind doesn’t change (we are all entitled to our opinions), at least we can move closer to understanding our opposition.

If you are reading this, there is a good chance you are finding this after months or even years of blog posts. Hopefully this is the worst my writing ever is and I continue to improve in that department. Future blog posts will be much more centered around financial considerations in your life as well as how to interact with money from a psychological view point. Thank you for stopping by and happy reading!

– Anonymous for Now

Backstop Financial