
I'm a personal finance blogger who got started in 2008 because I liked a lot of what I was reading, and thought I could make a contribution or two of my own to the blogging community. I am a mid-30's guy from Michigan, USA. I have a beautiful wife and a son that was born in 2009 and a daughter born in 2011. I work in the computer (IT) industry. My wife is a stay-at-home mom to our children, and previously had worked in child care, so I know that our kids are in the best possible hands! My personal finance journey has been thankfully low-key, compared to many bloggers out there. I never got immersed in credit card debt, never got caught up in a real estate scheme. I gained and lost quite a bit of money in the tech bubble, and since then have been more conservative. Our biggest goal is to become debt free, with the exception of our mortgage. As of early 2010, we had paid off all our car loans, and were working to pay down the student loan debt by the end of 2012. If we can meet this goal and not take any new debt on in the meantime, we will have reached that goal and will be able to set more. We save 10% towards retirement. We also put money aside for expected expenses (being a homeowner, there are a lot of those). We save for our son's future college eduction. We have an emergency fund in the event that something bad happens. I had a teacher in college who always reminded us that "It's a great day to be alive!" and I try to remind myself of that often and to remember that every day is a blessing.