Hello and welcome to my personal finance blog!
I’m not your typical retired finance blogger who has lived fiscally responsible and retired early.
Quite the opposite!
I’m a recently divorced 42-year-old Gen-Xer raising three kids between the ages of 10 and 17. I’ve been working in technology for about 20 years, with the last 10 focused on financial, budget, and P&L management. I also have a Master of Business Administration.
Along the way I’ve made many mistakes in my personal finances. Unfortunately, these mistakes were not the result of ignorance, but willfully doing stupid things.
The culmination of many years of living at the edge of my income, a few major career setbacks at critical points, and a financially devastating high-conflict divorce has left me in a rather unenviable position. However, I know that I’m not the only one in this boat. So, I’ve decided to go ahead and share the experience with all of you!
For now, I’ll just be known as “One Nickel”, since I don’t have “Two Nickels” to rub together. I still hold down a 9-5, so I want to maintain a bit of anonymity that will let me be more specific about financial details.
Depending on your situation, there are a couple of ways to approach this blog:
- Cautionary tale of how you can end up if you make the same mistakes that I did.
- Hopefully an inspirational tale of how you can turn around a complete mid-life financial wipe-out.
- Glean some wisdom out of the research that I do and the accompanying results (or lack thereof).
Regardless of how you approach this blog, I hope that you find value and/or entertainment from what I share about my path.
Life is a journey and I hope you choose to share the road with me for a while!