Why Independence Engineered

According to Merriam Webster dictionary an engineer can be

A person who is trained in or follows as a profession a branch of engineering.

Another definition, according to dictionary.com, would be:

A person trained and skilled in the design, construction, and use of engines or machines, or in any various branches of engineering.

While yes this is often the traditional definition of an engineer, I often see myself and my job as one who solves problems.  To that extent I would say to you, my fellow readers, are engineers! 

This blog was founded to help people engineer solutions and solve problems.  Some of these problems that I want to help people tackle are how to best save for retirement and how to optimize those savings.  To me “optimization” is the key word here. 

In my job, I often think about ways to do things more efficiently and effectively; that there is always a better way to do things.  I feel like this is the same mindset that should also be applied to our finances, retirement, or setting up for financial independence. Here, I feel like there has to be a better or more effective way to save money and allow that money to grow efficiently for you with a minimal amount of work or hassle.

While one might say why do a personal finance blog when there are probably thousands like it!  To that I want to respectfully allude to the United States’ Marine Corps’ Rifleman’s Creed.  “This is my blog.  There are many like it, but this one is mine.” 

With that said my main reason for setting up this blog is primarily to start off as a place for my close friends to have a resource where they can learn about retirement, personal finance, and financial independence among other things.  Too often I meet with friends or people my age who don’t have a clue about “adulting” or retirement, or I just don’t have enough time over a coffee or lunch to talk in detail about my personal finance ideas and etc.  

Unfortunately in America, there really isn’t a required general education class that teaches everyone how to “adult” and think about retirement or basic financial literacy.  I hope this can be a space which will serve somewhat as a landing spot and resource for not only my friends but to hopefully you other readers out there. 

During my time as a Vietnamese school teacher and as a graduate student, I was often told that you don’t truly understand a concept until you can teach it and teach it well.  While there are many financial blogs out there, I often have found myself not understanding complex financial talk or lingo and have often had to do further research and reading. 

My goal is to break down the topics such as retirement, financial independence, and personal finance down to its basics and help you and myself make sense of all of this.  Some of the basics with regards to financial literacy and retirement I will explore in a series called “First Principles”.   As the topics get more complex you can expect another series called “2^nd Order”. 

Don’t worry!  Again, I’m going to do my best to explain and break down everything, but as we build on the basics I think it is important to add and explore the complexity of personal finance.  I know personal finance can be dry and boring, but hopefully you fellow engineers connect with my style of writing and storytelling.

Lastly, while this blog may be about personal finances to some extent, I hopefully want to share with you some nuggets of wisdom from my personal experiences. I want to share my experience, strength, and hope.  It is my hope that this blog can serve as a blessing to you all.

So then my fellow engineers I absolutely welcome feedback and look forward to hearing back from you.  What are some topics that you would like to talk about or would want me to address?