Dear Readers,          

Welcome to our blog! We are Kristy and Ade. Glad to have you here! Grab a cup of tea, coffee, or your favorite drink, and take a journey with us!                   

On this blog, we will focus on wealth – how to build, keep, multiply, and distribute wealth; the possibilities are endless!

We will document and share our life experiences around building wealth and personal finance. We also hope to learn and grow through this experience. Hey, if you are not growing you’re dying! 

ABOUT KRISTY

IN THE BEGINNING

My journey with wealth-building started a long time ago when I was a teenager. I am in my 40’s now. My parents worked government jobs and had no other income source. Money limited resulted in tough times. Then to make matters worse, my parents were very large-hearted and kind people. Despite the limitations of our financial condition, our home was wide open. They welcomed, trained, and took responsibility for many cousins, nieces, and nephews. This made the limited amount of money we had even smaller.                   

I remember growing up sometimes not knowing where the next meal was going to come from. Going to college was an ordeal. By the time I was in college, my father lost his job. He did not have any income or significant assets. The entire burden fell on my mother. With five children in school and numerous dependents, it was a very heavy load. There were times I cried not knowing how we would pay my tuition or how I would have money to eat and meet my needs. 

LESSONS FROM THE HARD TIMES

Growing up under this harsh reality did two things for me. First, it made me a hustler.   I had to find creative ways to get money. I engaged in trading of goods and services and started a company that provided tutoring services to college and high school students. These hustles helped me take care of my needs and pay my way through college.

Another thing it did for me is that it created a resolve in me not to be like my parents. Just to clarify, they are great parents and I would never ask for better parents. However, the constant financial pressure they faced was a pain to behold. I decided very early on to build multiple streams of income, develop an entrepreneurial mindset, and have more than enough to take care of my needs and the needs of those around me

A NEW BEGINNING

Several decades have come and gone. I have accomplished the American dream.  I have multiple houses that bring in rental income. I have a solid well-paying job, several money-making business ventures, and enough to take care of my needs in retirement.  I can decide to stop working now and still have enough from residual income sources to take care of my needs and wants. 

This blog will help people like me who have seen poverty; who want to change the trajectory of their financial history; people tired of being broke who aspire for more. If you can relate, this blog is for you! C’mon, we have a lot to learn and earn together!

Ready to start? Put on your thinking cap and let the journey begin!

ABOUT ADE

My story is actually similar to Kristy’s. The major difference being how the challenges caused by finance that I observed around me determined the type of relationship I wanted to have with money. I wanted to be the master in the relationship; to have money work for me; to have it serve my wishes and not the other way around. I did not want life decisions constantly being determined by a lack of money.         

IDEOLOGY    

It’s my belief that the key to a good, happy, and fulfilling life are the simple things. Especially when it comes to personal finance.            

I believe we as human beings all share the desire for happiness, freedom, and liberty. I however do also think that we all serve some master. 

“I serve no one but myself!” You might shout, but alas, masters are not just people. They include desires, emotions, etc.            

“What does all this have to do with personal finance?”, you might ask. 

Well, your personal finance, its health or languor, its management or frailty, plays a huge factor in the type of master you might serve. Wealth gives you more leverage, freedom, and choices in picking your master(s). Lack wealth, and the forces that be will usually assign to you your master(s). Think hiring a defense lawyer versus being assigned a court-appointed one. Does that paint a vivid picture?                  

MY VISION

I came to the realization in my late twenties that I:          

• Wanted to have good choices. 
• Wanted to build wealth in such a way that afforded me a life with good choices. 
• Did not want to have debt that would limit these choices. 
• Did not want to have the universal financial problems of unending debt normalized and accepted in our society.   
• Wanted to be a producer more than I was a consumer, or at least consume significantly less than the average person.            

These are some of the motivations that inspired us to explore building blocks for wealth.                  

Hope you find our ideas insightful and enjoy this blog as much as we enjoy creating it. See you around!