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Starting The Financial Panther Blog

Last Updated on September 23, 2016June 28, 2016 9 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links.Financial Panther has partnered with AwardWallet and CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Financial Panther, AwardWallet, and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

Most blogs like this start from the same point, the writer is in debt and documents his or her journey out of it.  If I had started this blog two years ago, I’d be starting from the same point.  I graduated law school in May 2013 with $87,000 in student loans.  My net worth at the time was negative $87,000.

2 weeks ago, I paid off my student loans in full.  My net worth today is approximately $50,000.  Going from negative $87k to plus $50k seems pretty good in my book.

Paying off my student loans as quickly as I could was one of the best things I could’ve done.  It gave me the freedom to leave my job at a large law firm, in which I was really struggling – personally and professionally – and to start a new job with the government that is hopefully more rewarding (but at a much lower pay).

So with my student loan debt paid off, why start this blog now?  I have multiple reasons:

  • Reading about other people’s journeys getting out of debt and reaching their financial goals has been a true inspiration for me.  I hope that I can give back to the personal finance community by sharing my own experiences and dreams.
  • I’ve still got a long way to go to reach my financial goals.  I have a significant other from whom I will eventually inherit six figures of student loan debt once we are married next year.  My hope is to continue to document my (our) journey, and hopefully, to be a resource for you, the reader.
  • I’ve learned so much about personal finance in the past year.  I first truly became aware of personal finance in 2015.  During my personal finance journey, I’ve watched many of the young lawyers who worked around me or graduated with me trapped in student loan debt and having no idea what they are doing with their finances.  I hope that this blog can be a resource to teach other young professionals things that I had to learn on my own.

I think those of us interested in personal finance have an innate desire to share our knowledge and experience with others.  I know in my own life, I find myself regularly sharing my thoughts and opinions to my friends and family on all sorts of personal finance related topics.  So I thought it made sense to blog about it.

I plan to cover a number of topics related to debt, investing, side hustling, really anything  personal finance related, from the perspective of a young professional couple.  I really hope that this blog can inspire you and help you in some way.

Thanks for following me on my journey.

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More Recommended Ebike/Scooters

Check out these other ebikes/scooters I've had the chance to do a review for:

  • GEN3 Outcross Bike – The GEN3 Outcross is a solid, affordable fat tire ebike that does a good job of doing what I need it to do. It works great for city riding, giving me a smooth ride in all conditions. It’s works really well as a winter ebike since the fat tires give it good traction over snow and ice. Check out my GEN3 Outcross Review.
  • Himiway Escape Bike – 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 Bike – 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Moomoo (15 free stocks, $100 cash reward, 1 stock of Tesla or Google) – Moomoo is a free investing app currently offering 3 different referral bonuses if you open an account using a referral link. Read my Moomoo referral bonus guide for more information.
  • Webull (24 free stock shares) – Webull's current promotion gives you 24 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.
  • 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.

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.

  • GO2Bank ($100) - 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 $100 referral bonus.
  • 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 ($750) – 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.
  • 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.
  • Fifth Third Bank ($225) – 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.
  • Fairwinds Credit Union ($100) – Fairwinds Credit Union is offering a referral bonus for users that sign up using a referral link. Fairwinds has no fees or minimum balance, so this is a particularly easy bonus to earn. Since this is a smaller credit union, my gut instinct tells me this offer won’t be around long, so if you’re in a position to meet the bonus requirements, grab this bonus before it’s gone. Here is my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Fairwinds Credit Union 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 ($35) – Varo is a free fintech banking app similar to Chime or Current. It’s currently offering a $35 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.
financial panther

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.
  • US Bank Business. US Bank is currently offering new business customers a $750 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.
  • DCU. 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 savings account that gives you 6.17% interest on your first $1,000.
  • 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.

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Filed Under: My Story

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. zeejaythorne says

    June 30, 2016 at 11:15 pm

    That is really impressive in two years! Congrats on not being stuck in the golden handcuffs. Definitely looking forward to what you’ll be writing about.

    Reply
    • Financial Panther says

      July 11, 2016 at 5:41 am

      Thanks Zeejay! I’m a newbie in the blogging world but trying to figure things out as I go. Big fan of the PF community and I thank you for stopping by!

      Reply
  2. Dollar Engineer says

    July 13, 2016 at 10:57 pm

    FP pretty amazing recovery on your net worth in such a short amount of time, and looking forward to your future posts as well. The site looks great! Simple and easy to read are always a plus.

    Reply
    • Kevin @ Financial Panther says

      July 14, 2016 at 1:49 am

      Thanks Dollar Engineer! Still figuring out the tech side of things, but happy I at least got myself started.

      Reply
  3. Dividends Down Under says

    July 29, 2016 at 5:36 am

    Congrats on achieving so much in such a short amount of time, keeping that attitude for the rest of your life will do you wonders 🙂

    Also, congrats on the launch with the blog – good luck, it has a nice layout.

    Tristan

    Reply
    • The Financial Panther says

      July 30, 2016 at 2:21 am

      Thanks Tristan!

      Reply
  4. Mr. All Things Money says

    September 1, 2016 at 11:53 pm

    Congrats and great job on getting rid of the student loan so quickly and building positive net worth. I wish I had known how to invest intelligently when I got my first real job, but I had to learn the hard way as we didn’t have any financial blogs. Internet was in it’s primitive days.

    Reply
  5. Max @ Max Out of Pocket says

    January 25, 2020 at 10:46 am

    87K. Nice work.

    I was lucky enough to graduate without any loans. I opted for community college for my first two years. It sucked at the time since all my friends went “away for school” but I am still reaping the benefits of it financially. It definitely didn’t hold my career in healthcare back at all.

    I agree, it certainly motivated me reading about people’s financial journeys when I stumbled across personal finance blog back in 2013. Thanks for sharing.

    Max

    Reply
    • Financial Panther says

      January 27, 2020 at 12:31 am

      Thanks!

      Reply

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