Earlier this week I was the recipient of a Liebster Award Nomination by Wallet Engineer.  Thank you for nominating Leisure Freak.

I of course googled “The Liebster Award” to find out more about it. It is given to bloggers by bloggers to learn more about them and their blog and to also introduce themselves to the blogging world. If you’re nominated for the Liebster Award you are supposed to create a new post for your site, import the Liebster Award medallion and list who nominated you with a backlink to their site and answer the questions given to you from the nominator. Then the nominee blog nominates five other bloggers for the Liebster Award and gives them five questions of their own. You can google Liebster Award rules for more info but it’s fairly informal and has apparently changed a little over the years as there are slight differences found in definitions and rules.

I do accept the Liebster Award Nomination and award from Wallet Engineer and I thank you. It took me a few days to announce my acceptance of the award, not because of answering the questions Wallet Engineers gave me but because I wanted to go on a Liebster Award nominee search and find 5 blogs that I have never seen or read before so that I could expand who I follow and then come up with my own five new questions for my nominees. I reviewed many sites but landed on five that had something I found interesting and new to me, different areas of North America or a different way of looking at things. All slightly varied just as my interests are and they are listed along with their nominee questions below my answer to Wallet Engineer’s questions to me.

Questions for the nominee (Leisure Freak):

1) When and why did you decide to retire early/become financially independent?

I was 40, a husband and father of 3 teens. We had lived a fairly frugal life and were well on our way to being debt free other than our mortgage. I was 20 years into a telecommunication career and at that time just made lead engineer. I was looking forward to a lifestyle with less stress and decided early retirement was exactly what I wanted to go for. We drew up a 10 year plan with the aid of a financial advisor and executed it. It didn’t all go as planned and there were some devastating setbacks both personally and financially but the stage was set and the plan was sound enough to retire early. I do love this freedom.

2) Did your parent/guardian teach you, directly or indirectly, about the value of money, keep finances, balancing a checkbook, etc. ?

Not directly but just by the life we had. I grew up lower-income and until I started working never had money. My father worked 2 full-time jobs and my mom was the housewife of old. There was never extra money but we had a modest home and never went without meals. If something broke you had to learn how to fix it or go without. My father hated debt and I guess I inherited that from him. I think that never having money and seeing others who did is why I had an early savings habit and would not spend money foolishly. I was a cash only guy until I was a senior in high school when I got a part-time job working for a bank’s operations center. I micro-filmed all the checks being deposited that had come in from all the branches. As part of that job I was given a checking account and credit card and it was a condition of employment that you never went into overdraft, never exceeded your credit limit, or missed credit card payments. Jobs were very hard to come by so I learned financial discipline and responsibility out of necessity.

3) Can one become financially independent regardless of any external factor (health, education, social class you were born into, etc.)

Yes, I think anyone can with the right financial discipline and a strategic plan, but of course they must have the opportunity to be able to work at something to get anywhere. If all doors are closed because they get in their own way or society does, had a limiting disability, or a never-ending rotten job market, etc., without a way to make money you have no chance. However if you can work and earn enough to support yourself then you should be able to find ways to live below your means. If your means are not enough then do whatever you need to improve that. That said, coming from a lower-income family and not having a degree I did have obstacles. I started my telecom career at the bottom and not having that degree did hold me back but I was able to work my way up over a 15 year span leveraging my capabilities and energy, taking any classes offered by the company or night school. Coming from a low-income background gave me frugality and a saving habit but also a scrappy attitude. When I was told no or that something was impossible that I really believed in it I would go for it anyway. However it took years to get through the system of “no” so I needed a lot of patience. I always knew the more you can earn over your lifestyle costs the more you can save so I was driven to make it happen. If I could do it anyone should be able to do it but it does take having patience and long-term vision.

4) What is your proudest moment?

I have many. The birth of my children, buying my first home, being promoted to Lead Engineer, the day I realized there is more to life than being a career-driven wage-slave and decided to retire early to a lifestyle with a passion-driven mindset.

5) If you could go back and make changes to your current financial path, what would you do?

I was saving a pretty decent percentage of my income while eliminating all debt and paying our way through everything associated with raising a family but I wish I would have invested more aggressively in my 20s and 30s than I did. My 401K had limited investment options for most of that time back then but I did delay investment changes and didn’t pull the trigger in that regard. I didn’t embrace the risk and reward of stock investing until I was 40 after guidance from a financial advisor on my desire to retire early while I was still young enough to enjoy it.

Nominees:

Tawcan, Quest for joyful life & financial independence

Encuruj, Encouragement is Personal

No Pension will Travel, Our journey to “Free at 55” – traveling the planet without it costing the world.

Kathy’s Retirement Blog, Retirement is a journey, not a destination

Healthful Saver, The Quest for Healthy Savings and a Healthy Lifestyle

Questions for the nominees:

1. What made you decide to start blogging and expanding on your tag line, what is your primary message you want your blog to give to its readers?

2. I am a car-freak and crazy about road trips. What memorable road trip have you taken in your life, why is it memorable, and if you may, what kind of automobile did you take it in?

3. I believe that a person’s character and kindness is a better way to decide if you would want to know and be around them than the amount of money they have or don’t have. What 2 characteristics do you value when deciding to get to know someone new?

4. If money was not considered or what your education was in and you could have chosen a career or way to make a living that you are passionate about, what would you have been or done as opposed to what you did do for most of your working years?

5. I nominated your blog because I saw something that said you aren’t stuck in a rut and you live a full and freedom seeking life. I always say that life should be and is an adventure. Unfortunately some people never see that. What is it that makes you see life differently than the everyday Joe or Jane stuck in a rut?