The Shape of Things to Come

The Preface

There are thousands of blogs about blogs, rules and guidelines, tips and tools, and most importantly.... opinions. In the near future, I am sure I will visit a few of them, but in the meantime, if it's ok with y'all, why don't we just get started?

I am a no-nonsense kind of guy. I do not have time for pretense or fluff and you'll get none of that here. I will try to be concise but I will not spare words for ideas which I feel need extra attention to be properly fleshed out. You should plan to have fun. An explanation of puns and wit will likely not be given and if you think, "Oh, Dear! Did he just publish that on the interwebs!?" then you can likely rest assured it was in fact a joke. But if it makes you feel better, you're more than welcome to take offense. (← example of a ‘joke.’ Another example of a ‘joke’ would be earlier when I wrote the most important things are opinions.)

The Intro

It truly helps to have a context for what you're reading. Some literature can be downright offensive or incredibly obtuse if not put in proper context and while I hope this blog is neither of those even when taken out of context, I will provide you with a bit of background on myself. The rest you can pick up as you go.

I slid into the fourth decade of my life a couple years ago, but honestly it feels like I’ve been there for a lot longer. As of late summer 2019 I am unemployed, which is to say, I’m a stay-at-home-dad and am putting full effort in real estate investing. The years have not been good to my body, and regardless of how skilled I am as an automotive technician, continuing in that profession is just not viable. Also in the summer of 2019, my family and I moved to North Carolina. It has provided us a nice point from which to “start over” (and that idea will certainly be a full post in and of itself). Organizing and systematizing are my things and you will see that reflected in the content of this blog.

The Whys and the Wherefores

I have a two-fold goal for what I’m doing here. Firstly, this blog is for me. I used to write a lot in college. It was primarily poems and prose, but I had a few short stories and was starting to really dig the descriptive & narrative essays. Then the busyness of real life, and having to work and pay back my student loans, sucked dry most of my time and inspiration. So this is a way for me to start writing again and while it is not my favorite style, I daresay the proclivities for said creative writing will shine through a bit. Not only that, but it will also provide me a platform from which I can share my adventure towards simplicity and financial independence.

Secondly, I hope to provide you, the reader, value. Life has a way of coming at you sideways and we can all learn from each other. The largest part of wisdom is learning from other people’s mistakes before making them yourself. When I find a great recipe or a more efficient way of doing the mundane I will share it with you. More importantly, I’ll show you how I messed up and how you can avoid that same mistake. I really do hope you will profit from following me on this adventure. If there is something I can do to put more value for you into this site or to help clear up a topic, I encourage you to click on the email link and send me a letter. I will do my best to address it!

The Meat and Potatoes

This blog will focus on two main topics: Financial Independence (FI) and simplifying life. This will be done within the context of a midlife guy, with a wife and two young kids, looking to clear the clutter and create income via real estate investing. I plan to have many posts clarifying and exploring the vast ideas of FI and simplicity, but for now I will briefly define and summarize.

Financial Independence, simply put, is the idea of not having to rely on a “job” to pay the bills. This can be done a thousand different ways and even the term “independent” can have many different meanings, or iterations, for different people. I think most people in the FI world would agree that basically if your passive income is equal to or greater than your bills and expenses then you are financially independent.

Simplicity is my idea. That’s right, you heard it here first! There’s no way anyone else on the Internet has thought of it, much less written about it. So you, my friend, are in luck!! Simplicity is like a tamed, dialed back, relaxed-fit version of minimalism. I want to say that simplicity is really minimalism, because that play on words would be great, but it’s not. For most of us it is realistic minimalism. I’m all about streamlining my life and creating efficiency but there are a lot of things I, and I imagine you as well, will not give up. That said, there are degrees of minimalism, but let’s be honest… by definition the word kind of means as little as possible. Regardless of your view on it, I’m sure you can agree there are indeed few out there who couldn’t stand to pare down a bit.

The Farewelcome

In closing, I would like you wish you a very fond farewell and an even greater welcome!! This end is just the beginning and I can’t wait to see what adventures lie ahead of us.

[Quickly, before we’re done, I want to touch on something that really bugs me. The idiom “I can’t wait to see…” is ludicrous. I get that it conveys excitement and eagerness, but it is just so silly. At least when someone says, “don’t hold your breath” you, in fact, can hold your breath even if it is not long enough, but not only can you wait to see, you have to wait to see… you really don’t have a choice. That’s just how time works.]

So for those of you following this from the start, cheers! Thank you for joining me in the journey.

Farewell.

And I mean that too. I hope and pray that you fare well, that you are blessed, and that you bless in return.


Until next time
Keep your eyes up and your arms out