The basics: I’m Adam, 37 years old, a software developer, turned product manager, turned retiree and blogger writing about for investing, minimalism, mindfulness, and financial independence.
I grew up in Florida where I lived for 35 years. A little over a year ago I moved to Salt Lake City (for work & adventure) and have been enjoying it so far. Read more about me.
This page is inspired by Derek Sivers concept of a “now” page – a place that lists out exactly what I’m currently up to. If you’re interested in this idea, I encourage you to create one for yourself! You’ll be in good company with a bunch of others.
The Now
Here’s a look at what I’m up to right now as of November 20, 2019.
At a high level, here’s where my time has been going at a project-wide level. I seem to get very interested in something for a few months, then let it quickly fall off. (example: training for a half marathon in July then not running at all after that).
At a high level, there’s the tl;dr of everything I’m up to:
- Figuring out what my week to week schedule is ever since I left my job back on December 14, 2018.
- I’m married, no kids and live in an apartment – so I have a very flexible schedule!
- Recovering from a vasectomy on November 1st. So far so good!
- Writing here on Minafi about once a week (join Minafi to receive notifications of new articles).
- Learning more about data visualizations, D3, and storytelling with data.
- Current data visualization:
- Showing investment fees impact on a portfolio.
- Current book/learning mechanism:
- Current data visualization:
- Going to CrossFit ~3x a week, hiking once a week and going for a run once a week.
- Current goals:
- Better my 5k run time from 28 -> 25 minutes
- Increase my max snatch weight from 125lbs -> 155lbs
- Develop the ability to do muscle-ups consistently.
- Current goals:
- Trying to hike every week or two before it starts snowing (then I’m hoping to start snowshoeing!)
- Attempting to get good at cooking one good dish each month.
- Watching way too many Zelda Randomizer videos on YouTube.
- Giving my dog Lily many cuddles and taking her for long walks.
- Working on a paid course here on Minafi about investing.
Current Projects
I love working on projects. By projects, I mean anything that involves some planning followed by execution. Something I can get excited about and then work on – likely over weeks or months.
For example, hiking a single 4-mile trail likely isn’t a project (unless it’s on the other side of the country). “Going for a hike in every canyon in the Sale Lake City Valley” would be a great project though! It involves planning, has a longer time horizon and is just plain fun!
Projects can have quite a few dimensions too. Earlier this year I categorized different potential projects into creative and physical dimensions. These were the categories that made the most sense for me:
- Creative – Write a book, start a blog, launch a website.
- Physical – Running a marathon, exercise, weight loss.
- Educational – Learn a language, take a course.
- Fun! – Things that are just outright fun.
- Travel – Places to go, things to see
Projects can span many categories too! If you’re learning how to make a table for your house to replace a broken one that could classify as a creative project, an educational project and a financial project.
This classification makes sense for me, but what makes sense for you might be completely different. You can classify projects by time commitment, by potential enjoyment, by mental health benefit – anything really.
I was recently reading about what Jacob from Early Retirement Extreme has been up to over the last 10 years since he stopped working. Jacob was one of the grandfathers of the early retirement movement, even before the FIRE acronym was created. In the 10 years since he left his job, he’s done so much! He learned how to sail with a professional team, taught himself woodworking, became proficient in Japanese sword fighting, joined an inline hockey team, worked professionally as a quantitative analyst and a lot more. 10 years is a lot of time – just ask Bill Gates.
Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.
Bill Gates
What’s interesting to me about Jacob’s recent decade is that there’s little to nothing about money. He spends relatively little ($7,700 a year somehow) and has plenty to live the rest of his life. He’s in a position similar to me, where the focus is on what to do next – where next in this case is the entire rest of his life.
His post got me thinking though – will I remember what I did 10 years from now? And how will I challenge myself to continue trying new things? One way is by celebrating my wins and setting new, ambitious projects to work on.
2019 Completed & Current Projects
Creative Focused
-
Minafi
- All year: Published a post every week or two. Sent weekly/bi-weekly emails.
- April: Switched Minafi from WordPress to Ruby on Rails, allowing for more flexibility and fun.
- June: Spoke to finance teachers on a panel about FIRE with Vicki Robin.
- July: Launched a basic fund directory that enables embedding funds here within a post (ex: $VTSAX).
- September: Spoke at FinCon 2019 about creating great content.
- September: Was on the What’s Up Next Podcast talking about Startups and their role in FI.
- October: Launched the web version of The Minimal Investor Course.
- Goal for December: Launch Minafi Investing Bootcamp
- ? ? Learn and Build Unique Data Visualizations
- May: Launched Exponential Growth Calculator
- June: Launched The Periodic Table of FIRE!
- September: Launched An Interactive Guide to Portfolio Diversification
- Read a bunch of books:
-
Next:
- Fees visualization.
- Fund card showcasing the details about a fund/stock
- Personal Projects Bump chart.
Education Focused
-
? Learn to Cook My Favorite Restaurant Dishes
- January: TurkeyChili
- March: Ethiopian Doro Wat
- April: Korean fried chicken
- May: Pad Thai
- June: Mapo Tofu
- September: Char Siu Bao (BBQ Pork Buns)
- October: Bison Chili
- ?? Learn to Speak, Read and Write Japanese
-
? Read the Greatest 100 Science Fiction/Fantasy Books
- Read 51/100 so far!
Physical Focused
-
⛷️Learn to Ski black diamond slopes
- January – March: Skiied a bunch at Deer Valley, Brighton, Snowbird and Alta on an Ikon Pass.
- Note: I never got great at skiing or felt like I absolutely loved it. I might try going again in a season or two and taking lessons.
- ?Run a Half-Marathon
-
March – July: Ran consistently 4x a week.
- Increased my max distance ever run from 5k -> 22k (half marathon)
- Lots of practice running uphill and downhill all around Salt Lake City.
- April: Ran my first ever 10k
- April, May, June, July: Ran the most of any month in my life, each month topping the last.
- July: New running PR for a 5k @ 28:30
- July 24, 2019: Ran the Pioneer Day Half Marathon in 2:08!
- October – ?: Running 1x a week trying to get 5k time down.
-
March – July: Ran consistently 4x a week.
-
?️ Be able to do every CrossFit workout RX (in a reasonable time)
- August: Rejoined CrossFit after taking a break for skiing/running since December 2018.
- October – ?: Started practicing pull-ups or snatch before/after every workout.
- ?⛰️ Hike to every major peak in Salt Lake City Vally
- April: Grandeur Peak
- May: Black Mountain, Thayne Canyon Trail (incomplete), Fifth Water Hot Springs, Adam’s Canyon
- June: Mount Olympus
- July: Lake Blanche
- August: (various trails in Moab)
- September: Bells Canyon to Lower Falls
- October: Cataract Gorge, Thaye Canyon Trail (Complete this time!)
Travel
- January – Showing a friend all around Salt Lake City.
- March – Spent a long weekend in Las Vegas with Mrs. Minafi seeing as many shows as we could, eating delicious food and taking in the city.
- May – Spent my birthday weekend in Yellowstone National Park staying at the Old Faithful Inn.
- June – October: Various backpacking trips around SLC.
- July – Enjoyed a fun trip to New York to see family and friends and take in a few shows.
- August – Explored Moab, Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse State Park for Mrs. Minafi’s birthday.
- September – Spent an entire week in Washington D.C. for FinCon 2019 and to check out the city.
- October – Showing a friend all around Salt Lake City.
Fun Focused!
This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means. Hanging out with friends, playing board games, watching movies/Netflix – that’s all assumed. There are a few things out of the usual schedule.
- January: Volunteer at the Sundance Film Festival
- April: FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention
- June – July: Watched a bunch of Women’s World Cup
- July: Pink Martini Concert
- August: Saw the Book of Mormon live from the front row (won the ticket lottery!)
- September: Babymetal Concert, TedX Salt Lake City
The Future
I keep an updated post of my life’s bucket list: 101 Things I Want to Know, Have, Do or Be. Having this list of things helps keep me focused and serves as a reminder that I need to act [do the work] to accomplish these things.
From here on out is a bit of a roadmap of a few things from my 101 Goals list that I want to focus on in the next 1, 5 and 10 years!
In the Next 1 Year
The goal is to complete these by January 1, 2021.
Turn Minafi into a profitable business
I want Minafi to be able to support itself through its own means. It has successfully become a creative outlet for me to explore and try new things on, but I don’t want it to be a drain on our existing resources. In order to continue as a creative outlet going forward, it’ll need to be able to support itself and even grow as I want to try new things.
What Minafi doesn’t need to do is make a ton of money. I don’t want this to look like a stressful business with employees and lots of requirements.
Why?
- To keep working on Minafi long-term, it needs to support itself rather than being funded by my savings.
- To provide more peace of mind for our long-term budgets and financial forecasts.
- To help people learn how to invest confidently.
- Create a platform to have fun and build on.
Possible actions:
- Launch a number of paid courses.
- Learn how to use Facebook ads to drive traffic to Minafi
- Focus on SEO for investing related terms.
- Guest post on other blogs with a focus on investing.
- Create the best tools out there for learning how to invest.
What does success look like?
- I’m able to work on Minafi only when I want to.
- I’m able to take a 3-month break at a days notice
- Minafi revenue can keep the site running.
- Minafi profit is enough to fund experimentation and research in future areas.
- Minafi profit is enough to fund our household expenses.
- No employees outside of myself. Contractors would be OK.
Become the fittest version of myself
In order to live a long and healthy life, I need to be in great shape.
Why?
- To live a long, productive life
- When I’m healthy I have more energy to do other things
- When I’m in shape I spend less time obsessing about losing/weight
- More confidence and willingness to do things on camera
- I tend to be happier when I work out
- It’s a lot easier to get fit now, compared to if we travel/move and need to get into a routine from scratch
Possible actions:
- Go to CrossFit 3x-5x a week.
- Start weight training in addition to CrossFit to help strengthen weak areas.
- Spend 15 minutes before or after the workout working on weaknesses or strengthening areas.
- Focus on one movement for a week at a time and work on it MWF.
- Try rock climbing at a local gym?
- Continue limiting alcohol
- Don’t drink 2 days in a row
- Limit drinking to 2 drinks
- Track calories eaten and weight over time
- Try intermittent fasting?
What does success look like?
- Continue running the 5k and 10k distance
- Get my 5k time down to <25 minutes
- Get my 10k time down to <50 minutes
- Run a mile in <7 minutes
- Be able to do a bar and ring muscle-ups consistently in a workout
- Be able to do a bodyweight snatch (155 lb?)
- Get down to a healthy and strong weight (maybe 155 lbs?)
- Complete Murph in 2020 in under 50 minutes
- Be able to do bodyweight x 1.5 clean and jerk (225lb?)
In The Next 5 Years
By January 1, 2025.
Experience Slow Travel
Try living somewhere else for a long enough time to understand how I like it. That could be one month, 3 months or longer – but long enough to know how I like it.
As for where? I’d love to try living in another country for 1-3 months. This could be all of the time in one place, or spread out amongst a number of places.
Possible actions:
- Choose a place (or multiple) for slow travel.
What does success look like?
- I have an understanding of what it’s like to not have a home.
Take an extended trip in nature
Ever since I read “A Walk in the Woods”, I’ve had an obsession with taking a long hike. I can’t seem to get the idea of out my mind. I’d love to take an extended trip to fully understand how much I enjoy (or don’t) that type of a trip.
Possible actions:
- Go on a week+ long camping trip.
- Hike a major trail, like the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, Incan Trail, Everest base camp trail or the Nakasendo Way trail.
What does success look like?
- I’ve experienced an extended trip in nature, unplugged from society.
- I have an understanding of how how much I enjoy (or don’t enjoy) time in nature.
Learn enough Japanese to travel confidently
Why?
- asdfa
Possible actions:
- Continue taking Duolingo
- Find a local in person class, or an in-person class online
- Find workbooks and things to
What does success look like?
- I’m able to understand manga and anime
- I’m able to have a basic conversations in Japanese
- I’m able to understand travel signs, menus and common
In The Next 10 Years
By January 1, 2030.