With the end of one decade and the start of a new decade, I thought now might be a good time to take a look at the past ten years of my life and reflect on where I came from and how I ended up where I am today.Â
A decade is sort of a strange unit of time when you’re not that old. On the one hand, it doesn’t really seem like that much time has passed. I’m 32-years old as I write this and even though it’s been ten years since I graduated from college, it still doesn’t feel like that long ago that I was a 22-year old recent college grad living at home, working two minimum wage jobs, and trying to figure out what I was going to do next.
On the other hand, this past decade is a long period of time that covers essentially my entire adult life, including some of the biggest moments of my life such as getting married, becoming a lawyer, and getting my first real job. That makes it a very significant and formative decade for me, and my guess is that for many of you reading this post, this past decade might have been one of the most impactful decades of your life as well.Â
Looking back, it’s remarkable how much my life veered off the path that I thought I’d been following. I graduated from college with a very traditional view of what a successful life meant. That is, go to school, get a good job, buy a big house, then work for the next 40 years and retire when you’re old. When I went off to law school in 2010, I thought I had taken the first step towards that. And I spent most of the decade chasing that idea of the good life.
When I think about it, that might be what really changed the most for me over the past ten years – my view of what a good life looks like. Rather than valuing the traditional markers of success, I started to value the intangible things – time and freedom specifically, above all else.Â
With all that said, let’s look back over the past decade of my life and see how I ended up where I am today. My hope is that this trip down memory lane might help you too as you enter this new decade.
Note that due to the length of this post, I had to divide this decade-in-review into two posts. This post is Part 1 and covers my time after I graduated from college and went off to law school. Part 2 will look at my life when I started working, discovered financial independence, and then made the big decision to quit my job in early 2019 to do my own thing.
Graduating Into The Great Recession
When I think about the term millennial, I usually think about those of us that were most heavily impacted by the great recession – i.e. those us that graduated from college right in the heart of the great recession from 2008 through 2010.Â
That’s where I was at. I graduated from college in 2009, just a few months after the bottom of the recession. When the new decade started, I was living the way a lot of my peers lived – at home with my parents and vastly underemployed. In this case, I worked two-minimum wage type jobs – one at a golf course and the other at a currency exchange at the mall. I’d taken the LSAT the previous year and was applying for law school, so my plan was to work these jobs for a year, then head off to law school in the fall so that I wouldn’t seem like a failure.
In retrospect, 2010 was one of my better years in terms of feeling fulfilled with what I was doing. I worked a lot of hours – 6 or 7 days a week and 60 hours per week between my two jobs. But even though I worked a lot of hours, it never really felt like I was working. When I think about it, it’s because both of these jobs – even though they weren’t “real” jobs – did something really important for me. They gave me autonomy and they let me do what I wanted to do. It also helped that I found these jobs to be pretty fun.
Here’s what I mean. At the golf course, I basically just ran the entire pro-shop by myself and I didn’t have a boss that looked over my shoulder. Indeed, the vast majority of the time, I was the only one working. The currency exchange was the same thing. I ran the little currency exchange kiosk by myself and when there were no customers, I was able to work on my own things. Indeed, in 2010, I actually started up a blog since I had so much time on my hands at work – a fan blog about Sean Bean in which I analyzed his movies and explained how he was misunderstood in them (this blog no longer exists, but maybe I should try to bring it back).
I think it’s these jobs that made my legal jobs so unsatisfying. I had so much freedom during the early part of my life – and then I didn’t have it anymore when I got my first real job after law school.
In terms of money, none of my pre-law school jobs paid well. I made minimum wage at the golf course and I think I made about $13 an hour at the currency exchange. The key, however, was that because of how much autonomy these jobs gave me, I was able to essentially spend all of my time at work doing my own things, which made these jobs feel much more valuable. I studied for the LSAT while I was working and I completed all of my law school applications at work as well. It was like I was getting paid to study for the LSAT and apply to law school.Â
In 2010, I ended up making a little over $10,000 working until July or August. It obviously wasn’t a lot of money, but I had basically no expenses since I lived at home. Of course, since I knew nothing about money, I spent just about everything I made (although to be fair, I also made basically no money).
My First Year Of Law School
The next defining years of my 2010s were from 2010, when I started law school, to 2013, when I graduated from law school. Law school itself was an interesting beast. I was miserable during my first year, mainly due to personal issues that I was dealing with, along with the stress of law school and moving to an entirely new city that I was unfamiliar with.Â
One of the things that made that first year of law school particularly stressful was my student loan burden. I ended up getting a half scholarship, but even with the scholarship, I was still taking out between $20,000 to $30,000 of student loans per year to cover living expenses and pay tuition. Law school also has this weird thing where your first semester seems to define your ability to get the coveted “biglaw” job, which is one of the high paying associate jobs at the biggest law firms in the world.
This was right around the time when student loans were becoming a big deal and getting a lot of attention in newspapers and mass media. My biggest fear was taking out all of these loans and then finding myself with no job and no way to pay the loans back.Â
What this meant is that I buried myself in studying that first year, literally studying 6 or 7 days a week for 12-14 hours per day. I wasn’t doing great from a mental health perspective. But strangely, I was fine with the actual studying part. School has always been something I’ve liked because it’s a lot like my “fake” jobs that let me do what I want. You have general parameters to work with, but for the most part, it’s up to you to decide when, where, and how you want to do your work.Â
All of that studying and work did pay off, as I ended up getting nearly straight A’s in my first semester. My second semester also went very well and it put me in a position where, based on my grades and my school, I was likely going to land a big law job, which would make it possible for me to pay off my student loans.Â
In terms of living during that first year of law school, I lived in a 2-bedroom apartment with one of my best friends, where we each paid $497 per month. During the summer, I moved back home to do an unpaid internship at a big federal agency, but I continued to pay rent back in Minnesota. I made a few bucks during 2011 by working at the golf course on the weekends, just so I’d have some spending money and so I could play free golf. For all of 2011, I made $526 and supported myself for the year by taking out student loans.
Taking It Easy During My Second And Third Year Of Law School
Interviews for big law jobs start in the summer after your first year of law school. In other words, the entire decision on whether you’re good enough to work at a big law firm seems to get made based on one year of grades, which are almost all decided by a single test at the end of the semester. It seems like a silly system to me, but I don’t make the system, I just live in it.Â
I ended up getting an offer at one of the larger firms here in Minneapolis, which basically made me feel like I was set for life. My second year of law school was busy, but a lot of the stress was gone. I stopped studying 12 hours a day and instead started to enjoy myself more and took steps to get myself back in a healthy mental mindset.
This is when I met my wife, as I started putting myself out there again after spending an entire year doing basically nothing but studying. She was in dental school. I was in law school. We were two 20-somethings that looked like a future power couple.Â
In my second summer, I worked as a summer associate at the big law firm, making an equivalent of $110,000 per year. By the end of the summer, I had made a little over $20,000. And as I had done in the past, I basically spent it all and had nothing to show for it by the time school started again in the fall.
My third year of law school might have been my best year of school ever just in terms of enjoying myself. I ended up getting an offer to return as an associate at the biglaw firm after graduation, which made me feel like I had it made. Instead of hustling, I could just chill – which is exactly what I did. I spent most of that third year doing my own thing, mainly watching football and playing video games. Had I known better, I would have tried to do something more productive, but I wasn’t woke yet to all of this online stuff. The only thing I knew was that to make money and be a success, I needed a good job. And I had that now.
And then I graduated from law school and after a summer off, it was time to start working and enter the real world after spending three years riding out the recession and taking out student loans. During my last two years of law school, I lived in a house with a bunch of roommates and paid $500 per month with utilities included. After graduation, I moved out of that house and moved in with my girlfriend (now wife). We moved into a 1-bedroom apartment that cost $1,150 per month, which we split down the middle (so I paid $575 per month).
Those three years of law school ended up costing me $87,000 in student loans, which actually wasn’t that bad considering that most of my classmates likely took out closer to double what I had taken out in student loans. All of my student loans were at an interest rate between 6.8% and 7.9%.
Breaking it down here’s all of the income I made after I graduated from college and while I was in law school:
- 2010: $10,822
- 2011: $526
- 2012: $20,160
My job was scheduled to start in the fall of 2013, but first I had to take the bar exam. I spent the entire summer studying for the bar, which I enjoyed doing a lot because of how much freedom it gave me. I’d bike out to a coffee shop during the day, study and take practice exams, then come home and do my own thing in the evening (seems sort of like what I do now).
I had a pretty big student loan balance sitting there, but didn’t know what it was at. I also knew that I had some big paychecks coming soon, but I had no idea what I was supposed to do with that either. Eventually, I’d stumble onto the personal finance world. And that would eventually lead me into the financial independence world. My future would not be the same after that.
More Recommended Ebike/Scooters
Check out these other ebikes and scooters I've reviewed:
- Urban Arrow Ebike – Last year, I made one of the largest purchases I’ve ever made – I bought a $9,000 electric cargo bike from Urban Arrow. In my Urban Arrow review, I will discuss what it is and why I decided to buy this bike, as well as discuss how impactful a bike like this can be on your journey to financial independence.
- Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Ebike – The Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is a fat-tire ebike that I’ve had the pleasure of riding for a while now. It has amazing power, great looks, and awesome range. If you’re looking for a great fat-tire ebike that offers a lot for the price, the Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is definitely one for you to consider. Check out my Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Review.
- Hovsco HovBeta Ebike – The HovBeta is a folding ebike with great specs and a lot of interesting features, and importantly, it’s sold at a good price point. I’ve had a blast commuting with it and using it to do deliveries with DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. Check out my Hovsco HovBeta Ebike Review.
- Vanpowers Manidae Ebike – The Vanpowers Manidae is a fat tire ebike that I’ve been riding as my primary winter commuting bike and have also been using it to do food delivery with apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. After clocking in a decent number of miles with this ebike, I wanted to write a post sharing what my experience with the Vanpowers Manidae ebike has been like. Check out my Vanpowers Manidae Review.
- Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding EBike Review – A Great Value Folding Ebike – The Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding Ebike is an entry-level folding ebike that offers a lot of value for the price point. I’ve been riding the Sohamo S3 for a while now, putting the bike through its paces, and I have to say, this bike has exceeded all of my expectations. Check out my Sohamo Review.
- KBO Flip Ebike – The KBO Flip is an excellent bike. I’ve had a great time riding it and think it’s a versatile bike that can be used for a lot of purposes and can fit a variety of lifestyles. It’s worked out great for me as a general commuter bike and as a food delivery bike. Check out my KBO Flip Review.
- Hiboy P7 Commuter Ebike – The Hiboy P7 is an excellent electric commuter bike that’s offered at an affordable price point. The range and speed of this bike are both very good, so you won’t have any trouble getting anywhere you need to go with it. As a food delivery vehicle, this is also good – with how much range it offers, you’ll be able to work all day on a single charge. Check out my Hiboy P7 Commuter Electric Bike Review.
- Himiway Escape Ebike – The Himiway Escape is an interesting bike for anyone looking for a moped-style ebike. If you’re a gig economy worker, the Himiway Escape is particularly interesting and it’s possible to think of it as an investment, especially if you can opt to do deliveries with the Himiway versus using a car. It’s not cheap, but you can definitely make your money back when you compare the mileage you’ll put on your car versus using an ebike. Check out my Himiway Escape Bike Review.
- Espin Sport Ebike – The Espin Sport is a good ebike for someone who is looking for an ebike that feels and rides more like a regular bike. There are many ebikes that are really only bikes in name. In reality, they’re basically electric mopeds. The Espin Sport, by contrast, is a bike you could probably ride without the battery and you’d feel like you’re just riding a regular bike. Check out my Espin Sport Review.
- Varla Eagle One Scooter – The Varla Eagle One is an excellent scooter that can make sense for a lot of people. It can work as a primary mode of transportation. You can use it to work on gig economy apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. And it can also be a recreational vehicle if you’d prefer to use it for that. Check out my Varla Eagle One Review.
- Varla Falcon Scooter – The Varla Falcon is an excellent scooter that offers a good amount of power at a lower price point compared to more powerful scooters. It’s not exactly an entry-level scooter, nor is it a high-powered scooter. I think it fits somewhere in-between those two categories – an intermediate scooter if I had to give it a category. Check out my Varla Falcon Review.
- Hiboy S2 Scooter – The Hiboy S2 is an excellent entry-level commuter scooter that's perfect for someone looking to save some money in transportation costs and improve their commute. Check out my Hiboy S2 Review.
- Hiboy S2R Scooter – The Hiboy S2R is one of the more interesting electric scooters I’ve been able to test out. It’s not a high-powered scooter, but for an everyday transport option, it’s very useful, especially given some of the unique features that it has. Indeed, for the price, the Hiboy S2R might be the best value scooter I’ve used. Check out my Hiboy S2R Review.
- Fucare H3 Scooter – The Fucare H3 is a fun scooter and I’ve enjoyed testing it out. For a daily commuter or quick trips or errands, the Fucare H3 is probably the scooter I’ll use. It’s portable and easy to maneuver, so it’s just easier to take on the road when I need it. Check out my Fucare H3 Scooter Review.
More Recommended Investing App Bonuses
For additional investing app bonuses, be sure to check out the ones below:
- M1 Finance ($100) – This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account. Check out my M1 Finance Referral Bonus – Step-By-Step Guide.
- Webull (20 free stock shares) – Webull's current promotion gives you 20 free shares valued between $3-$3,000 each if you open an account using my referral link. Here’s a guide I wrote about how to earn your free shares using Webull.
- Moomoo (15 free stocks) – Moomoo is a free investing app currently offering 2 different referral bonuses if you open an account using a referral link. Read my Moomoo referral bonus guide for more information.
- Robinhood (1 free stock) – Robinhood gives you a free stock valued between $2.50-$225 if you open an account using my referral link.
- Public (1 free stock) - Public gives you a free stock valued between $3-$70 if you open an account using my referral link.
- SoFi Invest ($25) – SoFi Invest is an easy brokerage account bonus that you can earn with just a few minutes of work. Use my SoFi Invest referral link, fund your SoFi Invest brokerage account with $100 and you’ll get $25 of free stock. I also have a step-by-step guide for the SoFi Invest referral bonus.
More Recommended Bank Account Bonuses
If you’re looking for more easy bank bonuses, check out the below options. These bonuses are all easy to earn and have no fees or minimum balance requirements to worry about.
- Upgrade ($150) – Upgrade is a free checking account that’s currently offering a $150 referral bonus if you open an account and complete a direct deposit. These bonus terms are easy to meet, so it’s well worth doing this bonus as soon as you can. Here’s a post I wrote with more details: Upgrade $150 Referral Bonus – Step By Step Directions.
- SoFi Money ($275) – SoFi Money is a free checking account from SoFi. They’re currently offering a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi account with a referral link and deposit $10. You can also make an additional $250 as well if you complete a direct deposit. This is a good bank that is also 100% free, so you won’t have to worry about managing this account. Here’s a post I wrote with instructions on how to earn your SoFi Money bonus: SoFi Money Referral Bonus: Step By Step Guide.
- Chime ($100) - Chime is a free bank account that offers a referral bonus if you use a referral link and complete a direct deposit of $200 or more. In practice, any ACH transfer into this account triggers the bonus. This bonus is easy to earn and posts instantly, so you’ll know if you met the requirements as soon as you move money into the account. I wrote a step-by-step guide on how to earn your Chime referral bonus that I recommend you check out.
- US Bank Business ($800) – This is a fairly easy bank bonus to earn, since there are no direct deposit requirements. In addition, you can open the Silver Business Checking account, which comes with no monthly fees. Check out how to earn this big bonus here.
- Fifth Third Bank ($350) – This offer is limited to customers in the following states: Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, West Virginia, and South Carolina. If you don’t live in one of those states, you won’t be able to open an account online but you can still open an account in-branch if you happen to be visiting a city that has a branch. This is a fairly easy bank bonus to earn, especially since there are plenty of data points showing what will trigger the direct deposit requirement. In addition, you can open the Fifth Third Momentum Checking bank account, which comes with no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements. Read my guide on this bonus here.
- GO2Bank ($75) - GO2Bank is an easy bank bonus that I recommend people take advantage of if they have an easy way of meeting the direct deposit requirement. I like that it’s easy to open the account and that the bonus pays out quickly. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your GO2Bank $75 referral bonus.
- Current ($50) – Current is a free fintech bank that’s offering new users a $50 referral bonus after signing up for an account using a referral link. Current is an easy bonus to earn and also gives you access to three savings accounts that pay you 4% interest on up to $2,000. That means you can put away up to $6,000 earning 4% interest. That’s very good and makes Current an account I recommend to everyone. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Current Bank bonus.
- Netspend ($40 + 5% Interest Savings Account) – Netspend is a company that provides 5% interest savings accounts. If you sign up using my referral link, you’ll get a $40 signup bonus once you make your first deposit into your Netspend account of $40 or more. That means you get a 5% interest savings account and a free $40 to start! Make sure to check out my in-depth guide on how to set up these accounts.
- Digital Federal Credit Union ($20) – Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU) is a free, nationwide credit union that I recommend to readers for two reasons. First, DCU has a $20 referral bonus if you open a free DCU checking account with a referral link. Second, DCU has a saving account that gives you 6.17% interest on your first $1,000. Check out my in-depth post on how to set this account up.
- Novo Bank ($40) - Novo bank is a free business checking account that’s currently offering a $40 bonus if you open a Novo business checking account using a referral link. In addition to being a good bank bonus, Novo is also a good business checking account. It has no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements and operates a good app and website. Indeed, it’s the business checking account I currently use for this blog. Check out my post on how to easily open a Novo account.
- Varo ($30) – Varo is a free fintech banking app similar to Chime or Current. It’s currently offering a $30 bonus to new users that open a new Varo account with a referral link. The bonus for this bank is very easy to meet, all you need to do is spend $20 within 30 days of opening your Varo account. Check out my step-by-step guide to learn how to earn this bonus.
Kevin is an attorney and the blogger behind Financial Panther, a blog about personal finance, travel hacking, and side hustling using the gig economy. He paid off $87,000 worth of student loans in just 2.5 years by choosing not to live like a big shot lawyer.
Kevin is passionate about earning money using the gig economy and you can see all the ways he makes extra income every month in his side hustle reports.
Kevin is also big on using the latest fintech apps to improve his finances. Some of Kevin's favorite fintech apps include:
- SoFi Money. A really good checking account with absolutely no fees. You'll get a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi Money account with a referral link, and an additional $250 if you complete a direct deposit.
- 5% Savings Accounts. I'm currently getting 5.25% interest on my savings through a company called Raisin. Opening a Raisin account takes minutes to complete, it's free, and all of your funds are FDIC-insured. I explain how it works, why I'm now using it to store my emergency fund and any other cash savings I have, and why I recommend everyone check it out in this review.
- US Bank Business. US Bank is currently offering new business customers a $800 signup bonus after opening a new account and meeting certain requirements.
- M1 Finance. This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account.
- Personal Capital. One of best free apps you can use to monitor your portfolio and track your net worth. This is one of the apps I use to track my financial accounts.
Feel free to send Kevin a message here.
I always enjoy reading origin stories. It’s not often we get a glimpse into the past to see what prior paths people have trodden. And to Steveark’s point above, it’s fascinating to see all the different backgrounds that have lead FI people to come together. Looking forward to part two.
Thanks! What’s really interesting I think is just how different our lives turn out. We all have these plans, but they rarely turn out how we think they will.
So strange how different we all are. I knew I’d be a chemical engineer from the time I was thirteen years old, and never strayed from that path. Did that and lived my job for several decades before retiring slightly early. I really can’t imagine people reinventing themselves along the way. But it is fascinating to see people who do!
That’s great that you found what drove you. I think for me it’s just that I went into my career not really because I wanted to, but because I thought it was the right move. Graduating in the Great Recession really was different – it really felt like there was no way I could ever get a job unless I went and got some sort of professional degree. If I graduated today. it’d be a very different world.
I’m a big Sean Bean fan. I liked the Sharpe’s Rifles series of films and the Red Riding films. He was also great in Goldeneye. I think you revive that blog.
I’ve heard this aphorism about law school. Please confirm. In the first year, they scare you to death. In the second year, they work you to death. In the third year, they bore you to death.
Yeah, I’ve been thinking about reviving that Sean Bean blog. Is was pretty funny and I wrote long-form content on it.
And yep, that’s right about the three years of law school. Honestly, we don’t need a third year. It could easily be two years and save a year of tuition.
Hey Kevin, great story! Your story mirrors mine, except that I am still paying law school loan. I also graduated college in 2008, during the great recession. I could not find a job, so I volunteered with Americorps VISTA for a year. Then I began law school in 2010, graduating i 2013.
I can relate with the high stress associated with law school, escpecially the first year. But like I did well my first year.
Now, I am attorney who’s trying to get out!
Overall, thanks for sharing your story with us.
Hey Joel, sounds like you have a similar background to me. It’s funny how different graduates are now compared to when we graduated. I remember back in 2009 my friend who went to an Ivy League school got a real job out of college. It paid him $40k a year and we thought he was loaded!
Good luck on the transition. If you have the skills to be a bigshot lawyer, I’m sure you have the skills to do just about anything!
Thank you, Kevin! I have been working on it every day. It’s just a matter of time, really. I don’t have an exact date in mind, but it will happen sooner than later.
Thanks for sharing. I think it’s an amazing story and proof that it doesn’t matter what school you went to. What it matters is where life takes you and have you handle it.
I think even more important is just how unknown the future is. I went into the first half of the decade thinking my life was going to turn out a certain way, really based on nothing. I didn’t know how much things would change and how much I would change.