Thanks for visiting my about page. Please, let me introduce myself.
My name is Tony, and I was born in 1985 in Spain. I now live in I lived almost 7 years in the UK, but now I am back in Spain living with my West Sussex, England girlfriend fiancée and working 100% remotely.
Because I grew up poor, I had always thought that I have to work hard to make a living and survive in this ‘cruel’ world. In fact, I was not that wrong at all, but what I didn’t know is that I can actually change the course through investing, turning modern “slavery” into wealth and well-being for my family and the futures generations to come.
Things have changed quickly over the last years, the internet and technology have arisen and completely changed the way we live, and best of all, has given us the chance to seek an opportunity, do research, connect, communicate with others, learn, invest and many other possibilities. Now it is easier than ever, now it is the time to lead the path in the right direction — becoming financially independent. My number? One million euros.
What is this blog exactly about?
In this blog, I plan to document every single step I make to archive my goal, showing total transparency on where I allocate the seeds that will grow as trees in the long term.
As Warren Buffett says:
You will see what investments vehicles I use, what returns or losses they add to my portfolio, and what mistakes I make (and hopefully learn from them).
And its purpose?
Tell me who you go with and I will tell you who you are
As this English saying suggests, getting surrounded by like-minded people is important to be committed to your goals. In my daily life, I find it difficult to meet people that look after archiving similar goals to mine. Time to give it a go on the web and be a part of this growing community. However, this is not my only reason:
- Help and inspire others to improve their wealth.
- Learning, learning, learning! (about writing, investments, and other people).
- Track my journey and stick to my goals.
- Contribute to charities (if this blog would ever become profitable).
Put differently, the purpose of this blog is not to teach you how you can become financially independent, but more about how to teach me how to do it. I believe that by documenting my journey online, I also give the chance to show others what worked and what didn’t. I am hoping learners can use my experiences to make better decisions and gain inspiration to accomplish their own goals.
Why did I begin investing?
During my English learning process, I added a new habit to my life — Reading. My partner has this habit too, which helps me to stick to it on a deeper level. The book that opened my eyes about the topic of finances was Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki, which is a great introductory and inspirational read for beginners. Before reading Kiyosaki’s book, most of my money was in a saving account returning a 0.25% interest rate.
Want to know more about me?
My deepest passions are designing and investing. I spend weekdays working as a design engineer and weekends and free time reading about topics that interest me (investing, self-development, engineering), travelling, visiting, exercising, and socializing. I feel generally happy, but it hasn’t been always like that.
Rolling back a few years…
At the age of 20, I joined the university to study mechanical engineering for 4 years. I finished at the age of 25, right after the global financial crisis began (2008-2009). That was luck, wasn’t it? Real-life was waiting for me just at the time of being in a terrific competitive environment. To give you an idea, unemployment rates in Spain at that time were above 22%. Going to work felt more like joining a battlefield as opposed to a team-friendly working place, at least that was my experience within the industrial field.
That obliviously didn’t bring any happiness to my life but had to still be grateful for having a job. My determination and eagerness to learn and achieve kept me going on for 4 years until I reached a point of extreme misery. My relationships were going nowhere and my efficiency at work decreased like an object in free fall. In addition, my mum was ill and needed my attention, and I have no siblings who could help me to handle the situation. I suddenly felt like having to climb Everest right from the bottom to the top with a completely exhausted soul. I had no meaning and no purpose at all, I was literally totally lost.
My move to England
That was my turning point, had to find the way to get my spirit back, to be me again, so I could overcome that hill and become a stronger version of myself. My mum began to feel better, there was not much I could do for her. It was the time to sort me out, to get answers. I decided to move abroad for some time and start digging out my new me from scratch. England was my choice. I spent the first year preparing my English, learning the new culture, meeting new interesting people (including my girlfriend) and having new experiences, it was such a wonderful time!
During that time I clearly realized that having materialistic possessions, such as a car, the latest technology smartphone or TV wouldn’t make the most out of me but instead living experiences and following passions. One year went by quickly and I felt like it wasn’t enough, I still wanted to learn more while living on British lands, so I let my work experience in the UK begin. It started similarly to any other foreigner. I worked in the hospitality sector and moved into engineering thereafter. I started my one million journey in 2017.
Last words about me
I would describe myself as being introverted, a person who likes socialising but not being surrounded by people all the time, I need some time to recharge and do my things like reading, watching informative and educational videos, exercising, meditating, and writing.
My story on the CashFlow Cop’s Humans of FI
Do you still want to know me better? Then you can read my story on the CashFlow Cops Humans of FI series
Contact
Do have any questions or would like to get in touch with me? No problem, you can email me at tony (at) onemillionjourney (dot) com or message me on Twitter.
Disclaimer
The information contained in onemillionjorney.com is about documenting my personal journey towards one million, therefore it should be used for entertainment and educational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice, because I neither know your goals nor your personal situation, and you may need to consult a professional financial advisor to do so.
This website may use affiliate links. If you decided to invest by clicking on one of them, I might get a commission. In some cases, you will get a bonus too.
I plan to donate 50% of my onemillionjourney.com blog income throughout 2021 and at least 25% after this period. I will show it with full transparency at the year-end.
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ABOUT ME
Hi there! It's Tony here and I am hoping to post my journey towards one million euros.
NET WORTH GOAL
Wauw, Tony! What an interesting story indeed! It sounds like you’ve come along way in a very short period of time ?
I found it especially interesting that “Poor Dad Rich Dad” was your first inspiration to start this journey, as that was the case for me too. I bought 5 examples of his book (I red it on my Kindle) and his game “Cashflow”. I played it for the first time with 5 friends the other day. One guy asked if he could borrow the book, so I gave him a copy. I gave another copy to my little brother. I now have 3 left to give. I hope to inspire others to start investing as well ?
Good luck on your journey, it seems you’re on the right track! I will follow you closely ?
Hi Nick, thank you!
Yes, it was indeed the one that started all! It’s very inspiring, but I am not sure if rich dad really exists or is just an invention. I played the game online with my girlfriend until she got tired of it (it didn’t take her long, hehe). I knew you read it cos you’ve got a post about it, discussing if our house is or not a liability ;). After reading the first one I read the second and third, ‘the cashflow quadrants” and “guide to investing”. I found the third one to be extremely repetitive and a little pushy to get you on a seminar event (indirectly).
I’m very glad you commented Nick, I have been following you for a while, and you were actually one of the bloggers that inspired me to start with it and you didn’t even know about it hehe. Take care
PD: on the game I got rich quicker than here!
I’m glad you got inspired! 🙂
I also red The Cashflow quadrant and started on the “guide to investing”, but I’ve always got somewhere between 4-5 books going at the same time, and I quickly lost interest in the guide to investing. We should not forget that Robert build an empire out of his books after all – he probably started writing books to inspire people, and then he continued, just to make more money basically 😛
I sort of see the same thing happening with a lot of the successful FIRE bloggers – they start it out as a passion project, and to inspire others – then they learn that they can make money off of it, and then start monetizing their blog. And that’s typically when I loose my interest in those kind of blogs hehe. I don’t mind a banner here and there (like you have the Grupeer one, and I have Envestio), but once the content start being full of marketing bias, I’m out! 😛
Anyway, I really like your WP theme and your graphs are awesome! Keep up the good work! 🙂
Haha, it happens very often when you enjoy reading and have a long amazon wish list hehe.
Yes he did, he may started with good intentions and got carried along the way, as the Fire bloggers example you mention. I am new into this but I feel like 50% of this blogs are fake, but can’t know really for certain.
I agree, one or two banners it’s fine, but a blog full of advertisings doesn’t make a nice reading experience.
I you want, we can exchange your writing skills by my WP theme ,hehe. I bet the first has more value!
Pleased to meet you and see you around Nick! 🙂
Nice to meet you Tony, I wish you good luck with your goal ?
Just mind that along the route you’ll discover that the Million is not the end goal but another starting point ?
My pleasure and thank you!
That sounds very convincing, I still see the first million so far away that I can’t even imagine to set it as a future starting point. Everything can happen, hehe
I really liked your blog! Your attitude towards investment and income (donating a blog income..!) is amazing.
However, I didn’t find it nice that all moving/sliding header on the article. It’s a bit annoying even though the quality of article is great 😀
Oh thanks Amy for your feedback, you’ve made my day, much appreciated 🙂
Oks, easy solution I will remove it shortly 😉
We’re the same age and with the same mindset, I hope you reach your goal soon and that you may be happier than ever!
I’ve spent quite a lot of time in Spain several years ago and found a lot of close friends there, your energy is amazing! Just a pity that there’s no “botellon” where I live 😀
Thank you, appreciate your kindness. I apologize, I did not realize I did not answer this comment.
We tend to have a positive energy, it comes as a pack in our own culture I’d say, but as anywhere in the world, you find all sorts of people.
Where I live now there isn’t a ‘botellon’ neither, but in Brighton UK (where I used to live) there know well what it means! hehe
Hey John,
I’ve just come across your blog on google, I work as part of the marketing team at Joslin Rhodes (we’re a retirement planning company in the UK) . We focus on lifestyle financial planning, our main goal is helping people to retire earlier than they thought was possible.
We’re in the process of producing a roundup blogpost on “The Top 10 Expert Tips to Early Retirement”.
We think you’d be a great addition to our blog post.
If there’s one top tip that you could give to someone to help them retire early what would it be?
If you can give us a nice short answer to this question, we’d love to feature your answer on our post and link back to your site!
Hope we can make this possible!
Kind regards,
Tom
Hey Tom.
Thanks for getting in touch. I am honoured to contribute.
My one top tip to help someone retire early goes as follows:
“Stablish the habit of spending less than you earn and investing the difference as soon as you start generating income. Most valuable things in this life compound over time, and money is one of them. The earlier you get the ball rolling the earlier you’ll be able to retire if you choose so ”
Kind Regards,
Tony