Harvard MBA joining the fastlane

[ekateriv]

I'll start off by saying I’m not a trust fund baby. I was born to a teenage mother and have sort of defied all odds - really an outlier in my family, school and broader circle. When I started off I had pretty much no professional support circle and I made myself look stupid many times . My biggest learnings have come through books (back in college I read 30+ a year, now it’s sadly far less) and online communities and quite honestly so many people who will never know who I am have transformed my life for the better already.. Of course, ideas are one thing, execution is a whole different game. I have been through hell and back while doing un[der]paid internships, eating ramen noodles just to pay for my admissions tests and applications, and combining extracurricular activities with part-time jobs with schoolwork. I’m in my late twenties and out-earning my parents multifold. I have been a great beneficiary of the system - got three degrees and all of them had significant scholarships. Still my MBA got me into six-figure debt, that I’m working towards erasing. This year I’m ready to join the fastlane.

Wait isn’t Harvard MBA the fastlane itself?

I could probably write an entire book about this, but the short answer is no. If that’s the case in theory I should be retired by now. Overeducated with a both engineering and a business degree and a decent amount of energy still in my bones, but here I am. In fact, most graduates not only exchange their life for money, but they also do a terrible trade with it at least early on. Think consultants, bankers private equity associates - they log a solid 70-100 hours a week, travel for work extensively (trust me it sucks!) in their early thirties and get paid anywhere between 250 to 500k a year. After New York / SF taxes only half of that is left over and I don’t need to tell you about cost (and peer expectations) of living in those places. Pretty much everyone I know has joined the slowlane and many feel like (on this kind of salary) they cannot afford to have kids. Did I tell you these people often work weekends? Talk about the value of time.

I’ve always been pretty skeptical of the script and it’s one of the reasons I chose to move away from HCOL city, keep renting and have always viewed get rich slowly as a scam. I work in the asset management industry myself, but literally look at my retirement balances and laugh because I always had the feeling it’s not gonna pay for more than a coffee by the time I’m ready to “retire” at 65. I have an emergency fund, but I am not too preoccupied with saving up for e.g. a downpayment (lol). Our $$$ goes into freeing up our time and preserving health (nanny/maid, cleaning service, quality meal kits and fitness), hobbies and we do a bit of VC investing on the side as a family. I also do a bit of crypto investing with a tiny fun/educational fund that's not gonna make a difference in my life. In my case I also have loans to pay that I tend to essentially pay ahead, i.e. I don’t need to make a payment until mid this year and when I get my bonus I just put pretty much all that money towards prepaying it down further. I expect to be done in another 12-18 months, which is when I aim to quit my job.

By all means, I have a pretty good setup going and I’m grateful that I do. I earn way ahead of the vast vast majority of people, my hours aren’t too bad etc. Why would anyone quit this kind of lifestyle you’d ask? Now I’m a mathematician at heart and a common way to mathematically prove something is to explore the extreme cases. So I think I’ve explored the best-case scenario and still…as MJ writes in Unscripted I keep getting the feeling that there must be more to life.

More specifically my F*ck this event came after our firstborn arrived and well before I read MJ's books. Last year before Christmas my manager went on a holiday - he typically takes the entire December off and conveniently offloaded a bunch of (near impossible) to meet deliverables on me and a junior colleague and went MIA. He basically ruined the whole December season which is normally a time of reflection and happiness in my family. This year I was on parental leave and just out of curiosity logged in on my email to check any announcements etc. and there it was - my manager DID it again this year, except it wasn’t my problem this year as I was away. Last year it was annoying, but if I was at work this year, during my baby’s first Christmas, I would go nuclear.

Being away from work has made me realize how much I hate it. Someone once told me the litmus test should always be looking up to your superiors and asking yourself if you want to be them/in their position. The answer at any of the jobs I"ve held has always been no, even though I've worked for some pretty coveted employers. If I’d tell people that I don’t want to get promoted just to get longer hours/stress for marginally more money, I’d probably get blank stares in my professional circles. Everybody’s chasing the next promotion and bonus while busy upgrading their lifestyle, acting like that next big milestone is actually going to materially change their life [for the better]. However, if you run the numbers, it’s quite obvious that it’s not going to happen. When I read MJ’s first book I finally felt a little less crazy.

The truth is I still have loans to pay and my visa status depends on my job until at least the end of this year, but if there’s one thing I’ve learnt in my life is that anything is achievable BUT if you want to maximize success and minimize headaches you need to plant the seeds months or ideally years ahead. I want to be in the best position to quit next year and the way to do it is by setting the groundwork now. Another way to think about this is by recognizing that the best way to make good decisions is by not being under pressure to make bad decisions. I’m no stranger to hard work and I don’t really care about what other people think either. As said, I’ve made a fool of myself plenty of times but as long as I’m learning none of it matters. I agree with MJ DeMarco that at the end of the day it’s all about mindset. Think like you thought yesterday and you’ll get yesterday’s results. So I’m here to immerse myself into a different kind of thinking and learn from all of you. I’m glad that I discovered the books and the community now, still relatively early in my life, as I still have a shot at seeing my kids grow up and most importantly teach them through example how to create value and live a life that sets them free.

I’m of course happy to help, answer any questions about the MBA (lol), anything finance/investing related or whatever else may come to your mind. Here’s to a great year!

 

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[T. Davis]

Ximduni!!

 

[Matt Sun]

Ximduni vu vji gusan Ilevisow. O dep evvitv vjev xovj e tztvinevobif catopitt et NK fitdsocit ov zua dep neli nupiz iwip xjomi zua tmiiq (us xjomi xevdjoph zuas loft hsux). Ov ot jesf cav vuvemmz xusvj ov. Huuf madl up vji kuaspiz !