My name is Jacqueline – but my friends and family call me Jacq – if you’re here, that means you’re my cyber acquaintance, so you can call me whatever you want since I have a pretty thick skin.
I’m 46 years old and have two great boys who are 23 and 11. They are as different as chalk and cheese. The oldest is unflappable and unmaterialistic, the youngest is a super-saver salesperson. I call the oldest The Buddha and the youngest The Dumpster Diver. One keeps me thinking, the other keeps me laughing (and negotiating).
I also have two fur kids – a 4 year old golden retriever and an octogenarian cat with attitude (don’t they all?) I’m a lone woman in a sea of testosterone – except the pets are neutered.
I reached my cross-over point (income from investments > expenses) for financial independence a couple of years ago, took a few months off from working, worked part time for a bit, took some more time off to travel. Right now I’m not working and spend my time doing house and creative projects and live off of savings. Am also stalking networking with a couple of friends that I’ve worked with before and would love to work with again.
I’m trained as an accountant but spent years trying not to be an accountant because I’ve always had a huge number of interests and a desire to escape from the 9-5 life. This led to years of underearning, financial and mental struggle. It wasn’t until my late 30′s that I embraced my inner geek-accountant, embraced the idea of financial independence and realized that it was okay to be great at something that didn’t change the world and definitely wasn’t glamorous. It was only then that my career took off and I started saving like gang busters.
Fortunately, my hobbies and interests aren’t very expensive (except the skiing) – reading, blogging (of course), hiking, a bit of travel in the RV, time with pets and kids.
My goals for the next year or so are to sell my 5 bedroom mini-McMansion, buy a low maintenance townhouse (mortgage free!) closer to work and friends and save up for a small acreage outside the city to escape to on weekends and during mini-sabbaticals in the RV – and possibly build an off-grid cabin there someday. More importantly, I want to enjoy (almost) everything I do – I’ve been an outcome / goals person for forever, but am finally learning that wonderful things happen when I enjoy the journey as well as get to the destination.
Above all, what financial independence has bought me has been the ability to have choices. To work because I want to work, not because I have to. To not have to put up with any B.S. when I do choose to work. To take time off and travel because I want to. To have enough money to not worry about any curve balls the future may bring. That’s what I wish for all of you too.
