Hey there!
Welcome to my financial blog!
It is a pleasure to have you here and hopefully I will be able to somehow contribute to your financial success.
I write about my journey to financial independence which is more like a twisty road rather than a highway. It requires learning, measuring and evaluating to hopefully succeed in achieving early retirement.
So Who Am I?
I’m Fernando, I’m a millennial and I’m just another expat living in Luxembourg. I am also the human behind the The Financial Rocket.
Born in Brazil but raised by a middle-class Portuguese family, I graduated in engineering and I have been an expat since 2012. I worked and lived in 5 different countries across Europe so I have been quite a nomad.
Since very young I was always a “saver” but not an investor. I was always averse to risk and afraid to lose money. Only years later I started investing but started rather conservative.
I started by investing in products with a guaranteed rate of return and only for short periods because of my “no risk culture”.
However, I dramatically changed my mindset around personal finance after discovering the concept of FIRE (Financial Independence and Retire Early). It is not magic or any other “get rich quick” scheme but rather a mindset combined with an action plan.
Every single person can achieve FIRE by being a consistent saver and by letting the compounding effect do its job.
Financial Independence
Being financially independent is my end goal. That translates to a point in my life at which my investments or assets generate enough cash flow to pay for my living expenses.
Then the traditional 9-to-5 job becomes redundant and optional. I can then focus on family, friends, and hobbies without stressing about paying my bills.
“If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.”
Warren Buffet
It’s easy to imagine a life where you do not have to work for obligation anymore but rather for pleasure.
How many of us can actually do it? Not many.
Most of us just work, eat, sleep and repeat for more than 40 years. Then we wait for the pension to finally live “free”. This lifestyle does not sound attractive at all.
While this is everyone’s path, I prefer to take some financial decicsions to accelerate retirement and be free while being young and healthy.
Why Write About It?
The first of many goals of this blog is to serve as a diary of my FIRE journey.
The blog will tell a story as it happens and in the future it will allow me to look back to where I was and what I have done throughout the years. How I made mistakes, what I have learned and the challenges of self improvement.
“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
Warren Buffet
The blog might also motivate other people to save more money, to learn about personal finance, and start their own journey to be financially free.
In a more and more superficial society, for me, true wealth is about freedom. Being wealthy is not about driving a Ferrari or having a mansion in Ibiza.
Instead, having the freedom of choice to do whatever we want, when we want and how we want without financial constraints, that is the true wealth!
We might not realize it but we live in constant fear…
What if I lose my job? What if I cannot pay my mortgage anymore? Will be my pension enough to cover my needs?
“The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.”
Aung San Suu Kyi
As many other FIRE enthusiasts, I have decided to take control of my financial life and remove the fear factor of my life.
By sharing my financial journey, is my intention to be able to inspire others to follow their own quest. I hope to meet other like-minded people and learn from all them.
Wherever you are, if this blog added some value to your life do not hesitate share it with the people that you care about and why not to send me a message as well.
