Hi everyone, I'm extremely green to the whole savings game, but at 25 years old, I feel confident that I'm in a fortunate position. I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to maximize my frugalness and see a return. My current job, as you will see below, won't allow for a super early retirement. But before I get into where I'm stuck, let me provide some background:
Salary: 35k/year (new job in action sports industry where people are in it for the passion, not money haha)
Additional income: 5-10k (I shoot/edit video on the side, trying to build name for myself, already invested in the necessary gear)
No debt and no savings
I did some heavy digging through my financials and I can get by saving 15k to 20k a year. If you'd like me to provide hard numbers on how I got to this, I can provide estimates.
It looks as though in the next 6 to 10 months I'll receive another 5k bump to my salary. Still very little, but will add to my savings since I don't plan on spending it;) There isn't too much growth in the sport we manufacture for, so if I stick around for a long time, I don't expect to make that much money, even if I dedicate my life to the company! haha
Here's where the fork lies in the road: I can continue with my work and have great work life balance with surfing and traveling internationally comped by the company I work for, which is a tremendous opportunity. My boss is a great friend that I knew years before I started working for the company. But I also am not that motivated by the work and the industry. It's easy. I sit at a desk, do some sales, talk to dealers and customers, and no one breathes down my neck.
Or...
I can go back to school in South Florida and become a fire fighter. Being from Miami, I have a lot of connections for side hustles on my days off and the South Florida fire department pays much more than other parts of the country (est. 60k FF/paramedic). I have a good friend who has been in the department for almost a decade and should be able to pull strings for me (fingers crossed even though he tells me to rest assured). I figure with the fire fighter gig, I can still stay active and not be stuck behind a desk, plus have the opportunity to make more money, save, and retire earlier. Plus I could see myself enjoying the job as well, but who knows!
In this situation, do you stick with what you know and what's comfortable (hoping things work out) or try and shake things up a bit make more and save more? Thanks for the help everyone. Just been beating myself up over it and figured this audience would have some experience with this situation early on in their career.
-Steven
