A secret identity is a person’s alter ego which is not known to the general populace, most often used in fiction. – Wikipedia
This blog, like most others focusing on the topic not only of Financial Independence but also of Retire Early (FIRE), are anonymous. I talk about my life, my family, my past and my professional path so that if you knew me and read it, you’d probably know who I am. But most of my readers don’t. And that is how I prefer it.
Why an anonymous FIRE blog
Well, I don’t want my boss (nor my boss’ boss) to know so as to avoid career and salary suicide. They may think I would take it easy, that I am not hungry enough, that I will become a slacker. Which is not true, at least not till I’m 99% of the way there.
Most bloggers pre and post FIRE take this stance.
This means that the majority of people – family, friends, colleagues – that I spend most of my time with don’t know about my blog, my secret identity.
That is a real shame. They probably think my life is so much less interesting because I don’t travel to exotic places or go to festivals as much as they do, nor do I shop and get drunk as much. Instead I save between 50% and 60% of my income, invest it and get goosebumps watching my passive income stash grow magically by itself.
I assume that at some point someone will find out my real identity. Until then some things I only write about when they are comfortably in the past and cannot come back to haunt me.
There is so much I’d love to tell you right now, my dear readers, but patient we must all be.
The purpose of this blog
The aim is twofold:
- Accountability. This blog helps make me accountable and force me to stay on track. If I think about something enough to write it here, then I must make it happen. And so far this system has worked pretty well!
- Education. I feel so empowered by the process and by the idea of not working till I drop dead, that I feel the urge to share my experience, to spread the word. This shit is too good not to talk about it! But being anonymous, I can’t just walk out of the door and scream to whomever will listen.
Education
Without any claim of statistical correctness, I think the most frequent regret among FIRE seekers is not to have started sooner. That is certainly my main regret in the category.
Mass media seem to think FIRE will drive loads of reader traffic is they cover a story or two, but tend to focus on the negatives or the not-so-relevant.
How do we capture people before they get to the infamous moment of googling “I hate my job”?
Psychology teaches us that people listen to and follow more frequently people they know or admire. That is where influencers and social proof come into play – people see themselves reflected in them and want to emulate them.
Yet this is more difficult to do when hidden behind my secret identity like this blog.
I want to inspire more young people to start earlier, and I don’t mean by lobbying for a school curriculum change as that would force me to drop my anonymity.
The main trick for me was to find the right investment vehicle that actually showed me my money being multiplied – not just by peanuts, but by an amount large enough to make me want to invest more money.
How do we reach more young people in this unstable moment in time to help them see the benefit of financial independence? Besides keeping up with my blog and nurturing my relationship with other FIRE aficionados, I don’t have a proper answer yet, but would love to hear your thoughts on it.
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