Live Q&A: Building your freedom plan (on any budget)
Mariah Hay knows that getting on top of your finances can be the difference between freedom and frustration.
She’s offered to share how she gained the clarity around her financial picture to leave the burnout-inducing grind of a career in tech in a free upcoming webinar and Q&A. You’re invited to join us for this conversation at noon ET on Wednesday, Jan. 28.
Hay spent the decade between her 30th and 40th birthdays rocketing up the ranks (and raking in “outrageous” salaries) in a series of tech and tech-adjacent companies. But what looked like success came with a cost.
“I was exhausted,” she said. “But I thought in the back of my head, ‘Who am I to change this path that I'm on with the money, with the scope of responsibility,’ even though I was drowning internally.”
It got to the point where, when she wasn’t working or traveling, practically the only thing she did was sleep. Her “vacations” usually piggybacked on work trips, and she was still harnessed to Slack the whole time. She knew she needed to make a change.
“The one thing I was doing outside of work was trying to learn as much as I could about personal finance and investing,” she said. “The only way I see out of this is if I can achieve financial independence and step away."
Eventually, that’s what she did. Hay took a hard look at her finances, and calculated whether she could afford to leave her job without jumping immediately into something new. When it turned out she could, as long as she kept a careful eye on spending, she quit that job. Ever since, she’s been operating her personal finances like a small business, pulling the numbers every month.
Making your money work for you
Since leaving her tech exec career, she’s explored different opportunities, including teaching and helping companies with onboarding. She’s found a sense of ease that was missing in her life before – and when she and her partner took a ski trip, it was a true vacation.
Anyone can apply these lessons, regardless of whether they’ve been pulling in a tech executive’s salary, Hay said. It starts with understanding your cash flow and exploring simple investment strategies. “It’s making the money that you make work for you rather than feeling like the only reward you get is if you spend it on something,” she said. “Prioritize yourself, prioritize very small nuggets of education that can make a huge impact.”
I hope you can join us later this month to learn more about Hay’s path to financial freedom, and how you can take control of your financial life. Register here.
Happy navigating,
Bridget
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Bridget Thoreson
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