After 18 months of living off savings, I’ve emerged from the hole. The journey from a six-figure income to zero has been filled with lessons, strugg

18 Months In The Hole 🕳️ - by Matt Yao

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2024-10-04 23:00:04

After 18 months of living off savings, I’ve emerged from the hole. The journey from a six-figure income to zero has been filled with lessons, struggles, and realizations. One moment I was slinging $1K into random stocks and the next I found myself staring at a wall of canned beans scrutinizing whether it’s worth it to get organic.

As an only child of immigrants, I grew up with an abundance of food on the table and toys on the floor, and saw the pervasive role of money in our everyday existence. Money, like gravity, was impossible to ignore. It’s why I begged my parents to buy me a 5 pound chocolate bar at Hershey Park (great value). It’s why I worked minimum wage jobs throughout high school.

I grew up expecting to always work. I didn’t know any adults who worked seasonally, and even those who owned businesses worked harder than their employees. Even the phrase “earn a living” assumes that living must be earned. Not working was not normal.

When I first embarked on this amorphous adventure of zero income, I had no destination or even a trailhead to follow. I prepared financially for around a year of wandering, but as time passed, I felt a quiet confidence that I was on the right path, even if it would take longer than anticipated. I found myself naturally cutting costs to extend runway.