Dirtbag Financial Plan

Hi Steph,

I just read your blog post “Dirtbag Economics” and I wanted to learn more about your financial plan. I’m a grad student, 24 years old, living in a big city and working a soul-crushing office job that I want to quit almost every day. So I’ve told myself I’m going to work really hard to save for the next two years and finish my masters degree, and then I’m going to buy myself a car and spend a year driving around and hitting all of this continent’s best climbing destinations. But two years seem like such a long time… I want to go now! I was wondering, did you save anything for the long-term while you were on the road? Maybe in case you one day wanted to go back to school or buy a home or have kids or just not live like a dirtbag anymore? Did you have a retirement savings account? I know these questions might sound silly, but I’m torn because I’d really like to quit my unsatisfying job and climb my heart out, but I’m also worried about growing older and coming back to the workforce just to work another meaningless unsatisfying job. Do you have any advice? Also wanted to say I’m a huge fan of your climbing, flying, writing, and lifestyle 🙂 You are inspiring.

Thanks!

Michelle

Hi Michelle,

I think your plan is good, and these are really tough questions. I grew up in what I now know was a pretty unusual environment. My parents are serious planners, and they were determined to stay out of debt from the start. My dad is an engineer, and my mom was a teacher (retired now). They rented a house in Ohio after they married, and they lived only on my dad’s salary as an engineer for Motorola, saving all of my mom’s income (and much of my dad’s). When they had enough money saved, they moved to Illinois and built a house which they paid for in cash. Then they had my brother and me, which was all part of the plan–they didn’t have us until they had a house that was paid for and enough savings to make up for the time when my mom was pregnant and taking care of infants. My mom always continued to teach, and they always continued to save her income and live on less than my dad’s salary. Later my dad worked for Cessna, so we moved to New Jersey. And after that, the University of Maryland Research Foundation. My mom always taught wherever we lived.

We were embarrassed as kids, because my parents drove old cars that my dad repaired (being a mechanical and aeronautical engineer, it was easy for him) and never considered having a car loan. We lived in pretty affluential suburban areas, chosen by my parents because the public school systems were well ranked, but we were the kids who lived in the most modest house, who didn’t have a lot of fancy, brand name clothes or the latest trend toys (some will remember Cabbage Patch Kids, Atari, Nintendo, Benetton, Esprit, etc…we didn’t have it). We didn’t even have a color TV until I was almost out of high school. We did have piano lessons and judo lessons and lots of academic support, of course. As kids, this was hard for us socially, but my parents believed in education as much as they did not believe in debt, so this was how they planned it.

I started working as a baby sitter in the neighborhood when I was 12, and continued babysitting up through my master’s degree. I also had many part time jobs aside of babysitting throughout my school years: I worked in a framing store, a video store, a coffee shop, a convenience store, at an REI, in climbing gyms, and eventually as a teaching assistant in grad school. Growing up I was taught to save what I earned and save up for things I needed, and I didn’t know that most people have mortgages, car loans and credit card debts, which was actually a real shock to discover when I got out into college.

When I was accepted to University of Maryland for my bachelor’s degree, it was on an academic scholarship and in-state tuition, which is why I went there. And when I went to Colorado State in Fort Collins for my Master’s degree, I received a teaching assistantship which led to in-state status there. This paid my tuition and a stipend of $800/month (only during the semesters) for teaching freshman writing, which I was able to use for rent, food and living expenses–of course as a college student I was on the university health care plan, which was great. I was also awarded an academic fellowship of $6000. Because of my upbringing, I immediately put away that fellowship money and never touched it: I had to skimp a lot on things like groceries during grad school, but it never occurred to me to dip into the nest egg. Like you, I thought about the future and I never would have run my personal finances down to zero or below.

When I finished grad school and started to live out of my car, part of the reason I made that decision was because I was waiting tables to earn money and then guiding, and then receiving some very small climbing sponsorships. My income was not enough to pay for health and car insurance (which have always been non-negotiables for me), buy food and gas and go on extended climbing trips and expeditions, if I had also been paying rent somewhere. So I simply cut out the thing that wasn’t necessary: rent. And during that time period, I learned about Roth IRAs. And of course, like you, I was starting to have some worries about the future. So while I was living in a truck, I was making small contributions to a Roth IRA and saving money–since my annual income was significantly below poverty level, it made a lot of sense to use a Roth.

It’s funny to me now because I’ve seen people who either have no savings or are actually in debt, driving nice cars and living in apartments or houses. In my twenties I was living in a truck, buying clothes at the thrift store and eating refried beans and tortillas for every meal, but I had my fellowship in a savings account and a little IRA started….now I realize that’s pretty weird! But it was clear to me that I was certainly not in a career path where I could expect anyone else to provide me a pension or a future, and it’s always been my top priority to maintain my freedom and to take care of myself. And the first step to doing that is living beneath your means.



Over time I’ve seen that unless you have a government job (which knowing what I now know about pensions, starts to sound pretty unbelievable!) or were lucky enough to be born into a rich family, you are pretty unlikely to have true security from any career. The best thing I think everyone can do is to stay out of debt from the get go. If you have acquired debt during school or from credit cards or a living situation, my advice is to focus all your attention on paying it off. If this means investing a little bit up front in a van so you can live out of it and cut your fixed expenses, I think that’s a great idea for anyone! Once you’re clear of debt, develop the habits to keep your expenses less than your income, and save as much money as you can. Climbing fits really well with this approach to life, because climbing is inherently not that expensive compared to a lot of other recreational or healthful activities out there. The main thing you need is time and cliffs.

I know you want to cut loose right now. And there’s definitely an argument for seizing the day and following your heart. You can seize the day–but it also doesn’t have to be immediately, right this second. I think having patience and waiting until you have all your ducks in a row is always a good way to go about things and also takes away some of the stress to allow you to really enjoy what you’re doing when it’s time. I went through college and a master’s program, working a pile of jobs I didn’t like much, before I cut loose and lived on the road–and even then, I spent chunks of time working between travel phases. I never had $0 in the bank, though I knew plenty of climbers who did. I just couldn’t do it like that.

My brother took a very different path: he went to med school (on a partial scholarship) and became an ER doctor. He spent over a decade going through med school and residency hell and then working in positions with too little time off and too much responsibility, and he was frustrated and overworked for a long time. But now he has a lot of freedom and financial stability, and he is really happy with where he’s at. Twenty years later, he’s on the Alta ski patrol, works as an ER doc with great hours in Salt Lake City, and paraglides, base jumps, flies wingsuits, skis and climbs a LOT. My boyfriend Ian went to school for industrial engineering, got an engineering job in DC, quit, went back to school for a nursing degree, then lived in a van and worked as a skydiving tandem instructor to pay off the school loan, and just got a nursing job in Moab with a lot of flexibility, time off and potential for job advancement.

There are many different paths to finding happiness and a good work/life balance–I couldn’t say that any one way is the right way.

When you’re debt free and you have a little cushion saved, I think it makes a lot of sense to take off for a while and live the climbing life. It’s not very expensive to travel out of your car/van for an extended time period, and it will keep you in touch with what really matters to you, be an amazing experience, and will also show you that there is a lot of downtime and boredom involved with living on the road full time 😉 It will give you the time and clarity to see what makes the most sense for you when you feel ready to focus on career–you’ll be able to identify what path will fulfill the things that are most important to you, whether it’s living in the right location, applying a particular skillset, earning a certain amount, having a flexible schedule, or finding a certain amount of job security. As long as you’re free of debt and have built a little bit of financial stability for yourself, I don’t think you can go wrong with taking some time to follow your dreams and get the perspective to decide what’s next. And you can change your direction at any time–it’s okay to follow one idea and then come up with one that fits you better as time goes by. Everything takes time, and sometimes a scary step into the unknown or a phase of patiently working for an idea that you have, but life is long 🙂

Steph

p.s.

A reader who was shy to post herself just messaged me with the great suggestion of looking for a job in a location that would have more outdoor activities: then days off and pre-/post-work time can be spent doing the things you love which might make you a lot more stoked on your job too while putting your ducks in a row for a big road stint. That is also a great suggestion!