Filed under: Taboo topics we do not talk about #money
I wish more people talked openly about money, so I thought I’d start writing about it.
Salaam, I’m H, the almost thirty something living in the DMV (close enough to DC for rent to be stupid expensive, far enough to have excellent access to ethnic markets as needed.) By day, I work in The Tech Industry. LOL. (I’m a Pakistani muslim, what did you expect?). And every other waking moment I’m baking, booking travel, visiting family, playing with design, and reading endlessly about how to retire when I’m like, 40.
Yes, 40.
Listen, I cannot possibly fathom waking up at 5:30am everyday and using my most productive morning hours to work for someone else. Or work at all. Especially when most of work is not the actual work I enjoy doing, but endless meetings, playing office politics, and a lot of what feels like group projects from college (nothing drives me crazier than people who don’t pull their own weight).
So I’m trying to retire at 40. And buy a house. And create some generational wealth. And trying to no longer be the sandwich generation. All without a six figure salary, selling my soul, investing in companies with questionable ethics, AND without…
Wait for it…
…
without…taking on an interest bearing loan for housing. Aka, avoiding a traditional mortgage.
Whoa.
Putting it on paper makes it feel real.
I want to chronicle my journey, to demonstrate it’s possible (or maybe it’s not, only Allah knows). But I at least have to pour my soul into trying and I know this will help me feel accountable. I’ve been reading personal finance books and blogs for years now, and the thing that’s missing in this space is the personal-finance-as-a-muslim thing.
There’s non-negotiables we have that others don’t, like by default we live in more urban areas because we live near a masjid, or in areas with a high muslim concentration. We also can’t take on interest bearing loans, or profit from interest, so that rules out a lot of traditional investments, like mortgages or interest earning checking accounts. And finally, we have other specific expenses, like charitable giving and regularly visiting parents, and occasionally helping them out since they often sacrificed their own retirement funds to put us in good schools.
So I’m starting here, and I’ll update soon with my current financial standing (no, I’m not starting with 100K in the bank). My main goal is to document my own journey, and meet others also on it.
Thanks for reading!