Let me lay out a bit of the ground work before I ask your thoughts.
I'm young (24). I have a well paying job (60k/yr). I have a SO (8k/yr). My monthly expenses should be in the range of 2250/mo, but we just moved so we'll see if that's true in December. When I was young, I had a goal: do well in school. Motivation? Being a show-off. Never did homework, aced tests, you get the idea. Come junior year in high school, I start thinking about what to do after high school. Parents pushed me towards engineering where I would have preferred physics. Over the summer, I took a class at the local community college (and did throughout senior year as well). I would always come early to class (like 30 mins early), even though I knew how long it took to get there. Super anxiety about being late, fucking up, etc. I just snapped one day because I couldn't take that pressure, but snapping meant I lost whatever drive I had at the time.
Why mention this? It's to explain that I've spent 7 years without drive. I had college paid for me, my career path initially decided for me and I didn't speak up. I was too afraid to fail. I dragged myself through college at the expensive school as opposed to the state school I had 3/4 scholarship in because I wasn't paying for it and the expensive school was the same one my mother had gone to. So I graduated with a BS EP in 2011 (3.5 years, 2.85 gpa).
No work to be found, but not really motivated to find work, kind of lost (still). Accidentally got a job through my cousin in IT consulting doing stuff I never even considered or knew anything about. Company culture kinda sucked and I got fired 'cause I didn't fit in (boss didn't like me basically). Got a new higher paying position as a rival firm with a better culture and better people. Still felt lost. I want to have a job with a purpose, and I have no purpose being here. It pays the bills and then some (thanks forum), but I don't work as hard as I would if I felt like I was actually helping people. Reality is, companies come to my firm to build new IT systems for thousands of dollars for a 0.5% edge over the competition and to hire less people. What I do hurts more people than it helps IMO.
I talked to a couple friends from my old job, and they pushed me to take a long think about what I wanted to do in life. There is where I encountered problem #1. I love too many things. Far too much interest me, and I couldnt out one thing ahead of another in any great sense. My goal, like everyone else here, is to be financially secure. That isn't a purpose to work, though. I could do retail and survive just fine with far less stress and hours and all of the trappings of professional life.
I hate to lose, so I kept thinking. I thought about a lot of things, and I came to thinking about this forum. I thought about MMM and his story. I know I can do what he did, if not in his way. Finance and money matters have always interested me. I love to plan, to find a way to do something even if it seems impossible. I was able to kill my expenditures from nearly 3500/mo to 2250/mo, so I know personally that it is possible.
I know I can be financially independent by 40 at my current career path. But when I am 40, do I want to look back and say 'wtf was I going?' Of course not. I want to do something I can look back on and be proud of it or at least happy I spent those years doing what I did. I do not want to be financially independent through misery. Stoicism has its uses, yes. One may even apply it to this situation, but realistically, if money were no object, what would I do? I would think about money and make plans (classic INJT). It's what I'm good at, it's what I enjoy.
Surprisingly (or not), this job exists. Even more surprisingly, it's called 'financial planning'.
So here's the main part if you are skimming. Have any fellow mustachian said had similar stories to this, and if so, what did you do? Do you continue for high pay or head out into the unknown while fearing failure. For mustachians in the field of financial advisor, cpa, financial planner, etc, how the hell would one start down this path in the firs place? I see forests but no trees at this point. What are some resources to at least leave me with a better informed decision?
Sorry for this long-winded blog post, but I want to work with purpose instead of doing the bare minimum as I tend to do otherwise. Any thoughts/comments/help appreciated.