I started my new job is electrical engineering. As a part of the package, I was enrolled in 401k "retirement" account with mandatory fee based financial advisor. My advisor recommended that as a young person, I should adopt a "very aggressive" investment portfolio. Not knowing any better, I signed up the forms so I could get on with more interesting stuff (like my job).

Still happy with my job...

With the stock market tanking, I take a closer look at my 401k account: Surprisingly, I am on track to reach my retirement goal (a set percentage of my salary). Footnote reveals the following assumptions: Retire at 68 with life expectancy of 75 years. This really was not my plan! Meanwhile, I am paying over $300/year to my financial advisor that I have not seen since signing up two years ago.

2009 

I decide:

1. That I want to be able to retire a lot sooner than at 68 with enough money to last my lifetime no matter how long I live.

2. To accomplish #1, I need to take control of my finances. I start to read and all I can find about investing. I also start investing in index funds.

My index funds had done well in 2009. But I realize that this really was just lucky timing. I also realize that I could have done better by buying undervalued quality stocks instead of broad based index funds. I adopt the KISS investment strategy.

Started this site.