Welcome to Teach, Money, Life! We are glad you are here! We created this blog/website to share in our personal journey to financial freedom as a family, steps we took along the way and helping tips/thoughts to assist our readers on their own journeys.
Primarily, you’ll be hearing from me, Mr. P, as my wife isn’t the biggest fan of writing publically (or at all!). We just welcomed our first born child to the world at the end of May of this year. He is just over two months now and growing so fast! Our life has changed so much over the past three years and will be sure to continue to change even more with each coming year.
About Us
Both Mr. P and Mrs. P work in schools in upstate New York. Mr. P is a middle school social studies teacher by trade, and Mrs. P is a social worker at a private school for adolescent girls. They were drawn to schools and working with children as they seek to make a difference in the live shows of others.
Mr. P grew up in a very small town in the Adirondacks, where he was inspired by an incredible social studies teacher to become a teacher himself. Mr. P has always aimed to make social studies education engaging and fun for middle school students.
Mrs. P was a little more unsure of her eventual career path. After her first two years at college, she had to declare a major and chose social work for its ability to help give back to others. Once into her program, she excelled and loved her coursework. She eventually went on to pursue her M.S.W from Syracuse University and obtained that in just a short ten months. After graduating, she sought to find a position in a school that would put her on a similar schedule as Mr. P and allow them to enjoy their love of traveling together.
Baby P is just over two months old at the writing of this post and he is growing like a weed! He was born at 9.5lbs and has now eclipsed 14lbs! He is starting to smile, play with his hands and hold his head up on his own without support. Everyone always says that you cannot imagine how your life changes when you have a child, no boy were they right! Overnight, nothing seems nearly as important as touching his little hands or kissing his little forehead. Unfortunately, sometimes this additional attention takes away Fromm time with our first babies, our fur babies! Our dog, Wrigley (Mrs. P is a Yankees fan and Mr. P is a Red Sox fan), and our cat, Tonks (both huge Harry Potter fans and so much so, that the nursery is decorated in Harry Potter memorabilia).
Our Goals to Reach Financial Freedom
Mrs. P and I have finally decided to take the plunge and really buckle down for a bumpy road. We had bought our house a year ago, welcomed our son two months ago and started to pay down our student loan debt. During all of this, we decided we needed to get serious about our financial and family goals. I have always been a consumer of personal finance knowledge and ever since I was eleven, I had meticulously planned my finances to retire early and get rich. Well, it’s unfortunate to say, but I am a tad behind on these goals. Our main goal is financial freedom for ourselves and our child(ren).
For us, financial freedom means that our debt obligations (student loans and auto loans) are paid off, we have a functioning and responsible budget, our saving savings rate is more than our expenses, and passive income (now or in retirement) surpasses our essential expenses. To us, this will be a state of financial freedom. Freedom from worry, freedom from stress, and the ability to know that our finances will allow us to put our family happiness first before all else.
As a teacher in New York State, I am blessed with a fantastic pension that will pay out 60% of my final average salary if I teach in NY for 30 years. Luckily, I will no longer need to pay into the NYSTRS (teacher retirement system) after July 2019, giving my income a 3% boost permanently. In addition, if all goes well, I will be able to claim social security as well. My plan is to work until I can retire without penalty at 55 and begin receiving my pension. My plan is to supplement that income with income from passive income streams like investments in stocks, real estate, blogging/online businesses, etc. However, we hope to achieve financial freedom prior to our retirement.
Our Plan
To achieve this we have created the following plan:
1) Pay off student loans and car loans within 7 years ($110,000ish)
2) Begin investing in a Roth IRA invested in index funds (aim for $25,000 saved in 5 years)
3) Once debts are paid off- ramp up saving and investing to the maximum possible and begin investing in taxable accounts as well
4) Create multiple passive income streams to generate an income equal to 25%+ of our income within five years- use this income to pay down debts and then invest
Stay Tuned
Stay tuned for future posts documenting our journey and with our current net worth, debts, expenses, income and budget! Let us know what you think of our goals. WE WOuld love to hear from you and get any advice or suggestions you may have! Connect with us here in the comments, email list, email directly, or on our social media accounts (Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter !)