Welcome to The Ultimate J.O.A.T.!

Short Version: Welcome to my attempt at a "no frills" blog regarding specific thoughts around personal finance - things like my personal strategy, credit cards, retirement, etc. I hope my perspective may be of use to you.

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Long version: Hi, it’s still me! I’m Tanya, and I’m extremely passionate about the Financial Independence (FI) movement. Life has so much to offer, so on this journey, my ultimate dream is to experience it by being a Jill of All Trades (J.O.A.T.). As many say, personal finance is personal, so I’ll get personal with ya!

First, I discovered FI because of my relationship with my career. I’m on an ever-evolving journey to decouple my identity from my corporate self. I’m ambitious and have been lucky in my career; I’ve achieved a lot in a short amount of time. However, the downsides of that ambition eroded my endurance, and I began questioning how long I could last. Assuming the “normal” retirement age of 65 and the “normal” trajectory of working right after you graduate (I was 21), I was through with working in 2021 yet I was only 18% in. How could I possibly last 36 more years?

Second, I had an early, tumultuous relationship with money. My family grew up lower-middle class, so by the time I left college, I wanted to take care of myself. However, predatory student loans to fund out-of-state tuition (think over $130k after four years, with at least a quarter of it carrying >8% interest rates) bred poor spending habits. I’ve always led a frugal lifestyle (for me, it comes from being raised Chinese), but this was the worst financial decision I’ve ever made. With growing feelings of shame toward money, that also kicked off a large volume of medical debt that went into collections, impacting my credit score for years. This was around 2013–14.

Fast forward to today: my partner and I are the most financially healthy we’ve ever been. Being ambitious at work (as well as privileged to have those opportunities) has earned me plenty of bonuses and promotions that helped pay down debt. I’m FREE of student loans, and my credit score is over 800. I’m maximizing the credit card game to travel at a huge discount - and sometimes for free. And as of sometime in 2024 or 2025, we’re officially CoastFI!

As for this blog? Perspective is one of life’s greatest resources. I hope my stories and learned lessons may be of use to someone one day! I’m also a Type A, “get to the point” kind of person. So not only can you consider these posts an intersection of personal finance (everything from maximizing frugal lifestyles to credit card strategies), professional advice, and life philosophies, but I’ll do my best to maintain a “no-frills” style of writing. Think a recipe post without the paragraphs-long story. More to come!