My Path to FI: Part 1, Early Years
One of my first declarations about money occurred when I was 6 years old. My cousin and I wanted to go ride some go-karts near his home, but he was worried because of the cost. I emphatically declared, “Don’t worry about the money; as long as we’re having fun, that’s the important thing.” My mother jokingly reminds me of this statement often. The funny thing about this statement is that despite having no idea about financial independence (FI) at the young age of 6, this is the kind of statement many of us hope we will ultimately be able to say once we reach FI.
Each of us has a unique relationship with money. A relationship that has been molded and shaped over the years through various life experiences. My goal in this series of posts (My Path to FI) is to share with you my personal money experiences so you can better understand my perspective and hopefully learn some useful lessons. This first post focuses on my family as I was growing up and what lessons I learned about money through high school.
If you had asked me several years ago what socioeconomic class my family was in when I was growing up, I probably would have told you middle class. There are 5 boys in my family and I am the oldest. We lived in a ~1600 square foot home, had two average cars most of my life, went to public school, and for vacations we typically drove to a neighboring state to visit extended family. I thought we lived in a pretty average American household. However, now that I’m a little farther along in life and know more about money, I have come to realize that we struggled quite a bit to maintain that level of lifestyle.
I was born in Provo, Utah in 1979. When I was 1 year old, after my father finished his undergraduate degree, we moved to Boston, MA. My father completed graduate studies there and five years later we moved to Mesa, AZ, where I grew up. My father worked as an investment banker, which means he raised capital (money) from various investors and used this money to invest primarily in real estate. Initially, times were very good. My next youngest brother and I (my other siblings weren’t born yet) distinctly remember that period, specifically the Christmas of 1987. We had never seen so many toys, and couldn’t believe we were getting them for Christmas. My family also purchased a cabin in Pinetop, AZ to vacation in. But within the next year the real estate market in AZ took a serious downturn and investors wanted their money back. Many of them filed lawsuits against my father. He turned away from investment banking and real estate and jumped between various different jobs over the next decade. Money was no longer abundant and our lifestyle drastically changed.
I don’t ever remember not having enough food to eat or a place to live, but I know that money was a constant stress for my family, especially my mother. Bill collectors would call on the phone. Previous business partners would come to the house demanding money for land payments or for whatever lawsuit was going on at the time. The bank threatened foreclosure on our home more times than I can remember. I would often see my mother crying over the stress these burdens placed on her. Yet, despite these struggles, my parents loved us, took care of us, taught us the importance of a good education, and taught us the value of hard work.
Learning to Earn Money
My first experience with earning money was when I was 12 years old. Summer scout camp at Camp Geronimo cost $120. I needed to earn the money to pay for that myself since it would be too much of a financial burden on my family. We had a bread mixer at home, so my mom taught me how to make bread that I could sell around the neighborhood. I remember each batch made 4 loaves and I sold each loaf for $1.50. It cost $1.50 for the ingredients to make the bread, so I made $4.50 per batch. I earned about half of the money this way. For the other half, I made homemade pizzas with my grandma and sold those to neighbors and family friends. At that young age, I learned it was possible to make money with a little bit of skill and hard work. I also learned the satisfaction of earning your own money for something.
To supplement our family income, my mother started her own handicraft business making rustic wood crafts and selling them at local boutiques. She was having someone locally cut, sand, and drill the wood for her to make these crafts. Through taking wood shop in 7th grade, I learned the basic woodworking skills needed to cut, sand, drill, and paint the wood for my mom’s business. She stopped paying someone else, purchased some basic woodworking tools, and started paying me to do it. I used this money to buy my own school clothes that year, which I did from 8th grade on through high school. Again, I learned that applying basic skills I had acquired could generate income with a little hard work.
Jobs in High School
In high school our family’s financial struggles continued and I needed to turn outward for money. My best friend and I decided we wanted to get jobs. We needed money because we wanted to take dates to a school dance. Given our young age, school schedule, and lack of any significant skills, we didn’t have too many opportunities. We ultimately decided to take jobs as dishwashers at a local restaurant through an ad we found in the paper (remember, no internet back then). We had no idea about the type of job it would be, how hard the work was, or the people we’d be working with (most of them were recently out on parole, no joke). I made minimum wage at the time, which was $4.35/hr, and it was some of the hardest work I have ever done. After we had earned enough money for the upcoming dance, we quit after about 3 weeks. The funny thing was we were among the most senior dishwashers there after that short period of time, if that gives you any idea of the type of job it was. The next job I was able to find was working in a bread bakery during the summer. I washed the big basins the dough was mixed in and helped cut and shape the dough before baking it. The pay was not much better but I enjoyed the work and the people there. Unfortunately I was being paid under the table and ultimately the owner said he didn’t have enough work for me to keep coming.
I continued to look for jobs that summer, but just couldn’t find anything that seemed like it would work. I either didn’t have enough experience, lacked certain skills, I wasn’t old enough, or it was too far away (I didn’t have a vehicle). However, just when I was ready to give up hope, I literally hit the jackpot. I got a job at a local sandwich and ice cream shop near my home where a lot of my friends from high school would hang out. There were ~14 employees there, which consisted of 13 girls . . . and me. Dream job, right? The food was delicious, the work was fun, the people were all great, and I could see my friends when they came in to hang out. I couldn’t believe I was getting paid for this, and the pay was even better at $7.00/hr, which really felt like a lot of money. I worked hard, did my best, and ultimately I was promoted to shift manager and got a little raise. But the best part was the family I was working for, the Smiths. They were just good people that worked hard and were down to earth. They took me under their wing and I felt like in some ways I became part of their family. I would ultimately end up working for this family for the next 7 years, and the friendships I developed with them are still very special to me to this day.
The personal relationships we develop through our work can be much more valuable than the pay we earn
As high school continued, I wanted to work more hours. So, the Smith Family let me begin working at their doughnut business as a doughnut packer in addition to the sandwich/ice cream shop. Now let me explain what a doughnut packer does. The business made thousands of doughnuts every day (~40,000 per day at the high point of my time there), which would then be distributed throughout the night by a crew of drivers to gas stations, grocery stores, and other businesses for sale the next day. When the doughnuts are made, there are racks of each kind of doughnut: racks of glazed donuts, racks of chocolate covered donuts, racks of buttermilk bars, etc. Our job as doughnut packers was to fill orders by taking the ordered number of each type of doughnut, placing it on a tray, and getting it ready for the drivers to take out during the night. A typical order may have a total of 12 -30 doughnuts, with 1-4 of each variety of doughnut. My pay was determined by the total number of doughnuts I packed; I was paid one penny per doughnut. That may not sound like much, but when you became quick and efficient, it really added up. I averaged $12-16/hr and when I was moving really fast I could get up to $20/hr. Each time I worked was only 2-3 hours, but the money really started to add up. The Smiths also opened up another restaurant and I worked a grill there part time as well.
Fundraisers & Scholarships
During my senior year an excellent opportunity came up to go to Japan for a 3 week foreign exchange trip. I am half Japanese, had been taking Japanese in high school, and really wanted to go. However, it was an expensive trip, costing more than $1000, not including spending money. I knew this would be too significant a financial burden on my family. Money continued to be tight and my dad’s truck had recently been repossessed and was abruptly towed away from in front of our house late at night. Our Japanese club at school was discussing organizing fundraisers and I knew I could find a way to earn enough money. I began carrying a bag of candy everywhere I went at school, selling each box for $1. I was able to keep half of the money and made about $500 doing this, meaning I sold more than 1,000 boxes of candy. Our club organized a “Kiss the Pig” contest in which one of several volunteer teachers would have to kiss a pig in front of the student body during an assembly. We sold tickets during lunch times and the winning teacher ultimately did kiss the pig. We also organized a massive garage sale. I collected donations from all over our neighborhood and from family friends, as did other club members. We put all of this junk (hey, one man’s garbage is another man’s treasure) together and sold it at a super garage sale on a Saturday morning. With these and a few other fundraisers I was able to completely cover the cost of the trip to Japan, and I used income from my part time jobs for spending money. It ended up being an absolutely amazing experience and one of the highlights of my youth.
During this time I continued to stay very busy in school as well. I took numerous AP classes and played a few different sports. However, over time I realized I was much more talented in the classroom than on any playing field. My best chance to get scholarships for college was to focus on my grades. So, I decided to quit sports entirely, concentrate on my academics full time, and began applying for academic/merit based scholarships. During my junior and senior years I applied for nearly 30 scholarships and received about half of them, including full tuition scholarships to Arizona State University and Brigham Young University. I ultimately decided to go to ASU because most of my cash scholarships were from local organizations and required I attend an Arizona school. I graduated from high school in 1997 with a full tuition scholarship to ASU, more than $10,000 in scholarship money, and hopes for a bright financial future.
That wraps up my history with money from childhood through high school. Here is a summary of some of the financial lessons I learned:
- Financial struggles/hardship can place significant strain on a family
- It doesn’t require money to have a loving home and teach your children hard work
- Learning to love hard work will be a blessing to you for the rest of your life
- There is great satisfaction and self worth found in earning the money for something yourself
- The personal relationships we develop through our work can be much more valuable than the pay we earn
- Despite obstacles and hardship, I believe anyone can find success through persistence, determination, and hard work
If learning more about my background and history with money interests you, please go on to the next post in this series, My Path to FI: Part 2, College Years.
