Today’s interview is with Josh who blogs at Money Life Wax. I’ve followed his blog for about a year now and I’m so happy that he agreed to do our interview! If you haven’t already, I highly recommend following his blog. To read previous interviews, click here.

Personal

Name: Josh Hastings

Age: 32

Your home location: Loudoun County, Virginia (Northern, Virginia)

Career/Source of regular income: High School Teacher & my wife is a Physical Therapist

What do you do for fun?  Anything outside that is active, work out, read, social get togethers and anything WVU related.

Success Tips

What has led to your success?

The definition of success truly varies person to person, but if you look it up, success refers to the accomplishment of a purpose, desired aim or goal. So while many regard popularity and even financial achievement as success, for me the definition of success is different. Living a life of purpose, spending time with the people I care about and having the freedom of choice is success to me. This lose definition has resulted in putting a large amount of effort towards my wife and I’s financial well being.

Since November 2016, when we had $261,000 in student loan debt, we have been able to reduce that number to $114,000. The reason? Our WHY is stronger than ever and we know exactly what we are going after.  

Advice to people trying to achieve success?

For someone looking to accomplish anything, whether it is something simple or really complex, first realize that if it matters to you it matters! What I mean by that is sometimes we end up in a never ending cycle of comparison that ultimately leads to never achieving “Success,” no matter how you define it.

So the biggest factor when it comes to your success, don’t ever compare yourself.

How do you measure success?

Just my opinion, but financially speaking you can measure success when you reach a goal. However, in most areas of our lives is success really even quantifiable? Success is forever fleeting, but in a good way. If you have a goal of  paying off your debt and you do, well then you’re successful by your standards. Chances are that after you reach that success, you will want more, hence the fleeting part.

What are your success habits?

Some of the success habits I have include reading daily, writing down my affirmations every morning as if I have already accomplished my goals, doing something daily to move my future forward and uplifting at least one other.

I also workout 4-5x per week, which is actually more of a reward. Bookending my days is something I am working on, but having a plan and setting daily goals is something that keeps me on the up and up. Lastly, write down your 5 biggest wants in life.

Financial Independence/Retirement Plans

What does financial independence (FI) mean to you?

Financial independence to me is ability to say yes to your desires, wants and needs, instead of no. What I mean by that is if you just need $50,000 a year to live happily ever after and you have an income stream that you control that can do that, well then you’re financially independent.

To further elaborate, being debt free, owning a few passive income streams and not having money impact every decision you make, aka the ability to say yes more is financial independence.

Do you have plans for financial independence/retirement?

When my wife and I are asked about the early retirement thing I always say this: At the moment we love what we do and we enjoy teaching (me) and being a physical therapist (her). However, that being said we do want to get to a financial independence level where we have met our number, paid off our debt and created several passive income streams.

Nowhere does it say you have to be jobless to be financially independent. However, having the option to stay home with kids or even work on a part time level is a nice fall back plan.

Why do you want to achieve retirement/financial independence?

We all have one life to live. You have to sit and ask yourself is what you’re currently doing truly making you happy and are you living a life on purpose? If the answer is yes, then keep doing what you’re doing.

If that answer is no, well then why are you doing it? Financial independence allows you to make choices and decisions based on what you want to do that align with your values.

If you had to start over, what’s the most important thing you would focus on?

Wow, what a deep question. I am very grateful for everything that has occured in my life because I look at it all as a learning lesson. So I wouldn’t change anything. That being said, if I could tell my 18 year old self it would be this:

1. Grow and scale an internet business and put 50+ hours a week into it
2. Workout more in college and learn as much as possible
3. Invest early and often
4. Live at home longer
5. Have an 80% save goal from 18 to 26

What tips do you have for others who want to grow their income?

Just do something. That is where everything starts when it comes to money. While many might be stuck in their own head figuring out “What” and “How,” in reality, just go do something. Set a goal to make $75 selling some old junk.

Set another goal to make $100 and do it. Taking action will place you on a path of moving forward. You can start by making a goal to earn $500 extra per month, then look to grow that monthly.

Do you have any sources of income besides your career? If so, can you list them?

Full time I am a teacher in my 10th year, my wife is in her 5th year as a physical therapist. Outside of that we own an LLC that houses a digital marketing company that works with 1-2 clients and our blog Money Life Wax. Additionally, I have done some exterior home sales and business consulting. Our long term goal is to scale our LLC and invest in several rental properties.

Do you have a budget? If so, how do you implement it?

YES! We have a budget that is pretty strict and includes all of our fixed and variable expenses. We just set out goals and use credit cards to track. For example we have a gas card, a food card and a spending card. As long as we stay below those limits we know we are on our budget! I only recommend this approach if you know you have the discipline to make it happen!

What is your investment philosophy/plan?

This might sound cliche, but start with investing in yourself. Recognizing the fact that 9 in 10 lose money playing individual stocks I would say invest in yourself first. After you invest in yourself (Paying off debt, starting a business, etc) then look into real estate and other investment sources.

Our philosophy: Pay off all immediate debt aside from mortgage. Max out 401K with matching, use all raises to further make 403/401 contributions. Once debt is gone, invest in life insurance policies, stock index funds.

Do you give to charity? Why or why not? If you do, what percent of time/money do you give?

We give money to the church we go to and from time to time we donate to specific causes. For example, we gave a $100 check to a school event raising money for wounded 1st Responders. Our personal belief is to be in a financial position to say Yes when asked about donations we care about. Additionally, we volunteer several times a year helping the less fortunate.

Our charity belief system is to get in a financial position where we can give away 20% of our income. For us, this means paying off our debt!

Other comments:

At the end of the day do whatever makes you happy when it comes to money. Just don’t justify or rationalize your current position because of things that have happened to you in the past or already occured.
Enough clever rationalization will keep you right where you’re at, which for many is just good enough. But there is a great life out there waiting for all of us, we just have to put some action in to find it. Focus on earning, saving and stop making money so darn complicated… it’s not!