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My Story
Hello friend! I am happy you dropped by my blog to learn about my personal journey toward financial freedom, investing, and intentional life design. I remember the first time I made money from a “real job”. Growing up in Northern Maine most kids worked on the farms to pick potatoes for the community. In fact, our local school district would close the schools for three weeks so the kids in the community could work the farms. I was around 10 years old when I worked on Big Red’s farm (the guy looked like you imagine). I would wake up at 5am and head down to the local corner store to catch a ride on the back of a pickup truck. I have no idea why my parents allowed this to happen but it was a different time I guess! In the fields I would wait for the tractor to dig up the soil for me to pick the potatoes by hand and place them into a basket. Once the basket was full, I would dump the potatoes into a large barrel and place a tag on it so I could get paid for the hard work. After three weeks of back breaking hard labor I finally got paid my first pay check! A whopping $14.
This taught me an important life lesson. Working for money is sometimes hard and the reward for hard work sometimes doesn’t match the effort. Many years later I realized that I wanted to have my money work for me vs. me working for my money. I decided to become a pharmacist like my father before me and his father before him. In fact, there are five pharmacists in my family! The profession has given me so many opportunities in a career that has spanned retail, hospitals, non-profits, publishing, teaching, and a software company. In each step in the journey I invested in retirement and – more importantly – I invested in my learning.
The path to financial freedom is a marathon and we are all at different points in our journey. I recommend starting at the “Basic” level (below) for any newbies to financial literacy. “Advanced” level is typically for professionals in the wealth accumulation phase of their career. The “expert” level is the master level and is the last phase before retirement. I hope you enjoy my blog and following me along this journey!
– Christian Hartman, PharmD, MBA
Financial Freedom Journey
- Basics
- Advanced
- Expert
- Create a budget
- Track your expenses
- Set aside $1,000 for emergencies
- Set good habits
- Pay off credit card debt
- Save/invest at least 10% of your income
- Pay off all debt (not including mortgage)
- Save 3-6 months of expenses for emergencies
- Invest 15% of your income
- Open an HSA and invest it in the stock market (Read this and this)
- Open a Roth IRA
- At a minimum, contribute up to the 401k match
- Pay off your mortgage
- Maintain 3-6 month emergency fund
- Invest at least 20% of your income
- Save for your child’s college
- Do Roth IRA conversions
- Sell less of your time
Financial literacy takes a commitment to lifelong learning that matches your stage in life. Here is a collection of books, podcasts, and blogs that I recommend to anyone!
Recommended Resources
Afford Anything by Paula Pant (iTunes, Google Play)
Your Money, Your Wealth (iTunes, Google Play, YouTube)
Stacking Benjamins (iTunes, Google Play)
Favorite Products and Services
- Make Money
- Track Money
- Invest Money
- Share Money
- Save Money
Airbnb – Rent our your home, a room in your home, or a second home
BlockFI – 9% APY savings account
Earny – Browser extension for cash back on purchases
Honey – Coupon codes for online shopping
Evernote– Information storage and retrieval tool. Great for HSA receipt tracking!
Mint – Financial account tracking, budget, and credit monitoring
YNAB – Comprehensive budget planning solution
CoinTracker – Cryptocurrency ledger to track digital wallets and short/long term cap gains for taxes
Webull – Modern investment trading platform. Two free stocks when you sign up.
Lively – HSA savings and investment service provider
Blooom – Robo advisor for 401k and IRA portfolio management
Coinbase – Crytocurrency marketplace and wallet
Cash App – Send and invest money on you mobile phone
Stash – Robo advisor for beginner investors
Cash App – Send and invest money on you mobile phone
BlockFI – 9% APY savings account
Social Media and Contact Information
DISCLAIMER: Some of the links on this page are affiliate partners. The PharmD Investor receives commission for referrals to some of the products and services shared.