FAQ #6: How Do You Make Your Financial Plan? (coming)
1. Are you really a millionaire?Yes, in September of 2016 we finally passed the $1 million mark. That number represents all the assets in our household. Our next goal is for both Edwina and I to amass $1 million individually. Then, we'll both be millionaires. We are also trying to help our son on his path to FIRE. Here is our most recent net worth update.2. Did you really build your wealth by working as a teacher?Yeap! Most of our wealth was saved working as public school teachers in Georgia. The first $100,000 of our wealth was earned while working as teachers in Saudi Arabia. While we worked in other professions earlier in our lives, we did not start building wealth until we both became teachers.3. Who is Ed Mills?Ed Mills is an old pseudonym for the Millionaire Educator. In real life, I'm Gerry Born. 4. Why are you guys working again?After spending the 2017-18 academic year in Merida, Mexico, our son expressed an interest in returning back to the U.S. to study. That led us back to Statenville, Georgia where we taught from 2009 to 2012 (read all about it here). We bought a house, a car, and eventually a TV. Soon after, we were also offered our old jobs back at the high school, around a 100-yard walk from our home. So, it was hard to turn down the opportunity to teach at a good school and to save a lot of money at the same time. An extra bonus: I got to teach our son in two middle-school classes!Class of 2024!Update: At the end of the 2019-20 school year, my wife re-retired from teaching and she's been "retired" ever since. I called it quits again at the end of the 2020-21 school year. All in all, we benefited greatly from our return to Echols County: we got to live in an awesome community, paid off our home, grew our wealth (2018 to 2021!), earned more years towards our pensions, and, most importantly, our son got to graduate from an awesome school. 5. What is the ultimate goal of your blog?The goal of this blog is to help teachers, and other working-class individuals, realize, understand, and act on the fact that it truly is possible to build wealth in the U.S. via a "normal" job. The ideas on this blog should help 1.) traditional teachers aspiring to work 30+ years, 2.) late starters aiming to accelerate their financial progress, and 3.) unconventional oddballs attempting to achieve financial independence after only 5 to 15 years of work. Ultimately, the ideas presented here should help readers dominate their financial affairs so that they can live the good life free from persistent money worries.
4. Why are you guys working again?After spending the 2017-18 academic year in Merida, Mexico, our son expressed an interest in returning back to the U.S. to study. That led us back to Statenville, Georgia where we taught from 2009 to 2012 (read all about it here). We bought a house, a car, and eventually a TV. Soon after, we were also offered our old jobs back at the high school, around a 100-yard walk from our home. So, it was hard to turn down the opportunity to teach at a good school and to save a lot of money at the same time. An extra bonus: I got to teach our son in two middle-school classes!