about us

My story

Following 23 years of active duty service in the Army, it was time to begin preparing for the inevitable. Retirement. I had spent 20 of 23 years in the US Army Special Operations community, and had developed a unique set of skills. It was a life full of travel, excitement, and adventure, but I was burnt out, sustained numerous injuries and was ready to move on. After years of serving in leadership positions, I craved a low stress job. I wondered – Can I maintain my standard of living working as a Walmart Greeter?

All joking aside, it raised the question of whether or not this was actually possible. With a military pension and potential disability in my future – how much would I need to make in order to maintain my family’s current lifestyle? Before I focused on a job, I needed to know how much my lifestyle cost each month. If not as a Walmart greeter, what else could I do? How can I make the most amount of money doing the least amount of work possible? 

For me it was no longer about rank, prestige or job titles. It was about quality of life and getting my time back to pursue the hobbies that I never had time for, while doing work that was meaningful and rewarding. I studied my money. I did the math and knew the monthly cost for my lifestyle. I went down the rabbit hole of all things money and became obsessed.

I lived walking distance from a library and read books while simultaneously listening to audiobooks. I listened to podcasts everywhere I drove and stopped listening to music altogether. I stopped watching the news and completely changed my social media. My feed was filled with money tips, while I networked with other nerds.

I would learn something new and immediately put it into practice. I made small changes with my money that led to bigger changes while cutting expenses and automating everything. I studied real estate investing and purchased a home. I grew more confident and eventually took full control of my finances from my financial advisor, growing my net worth by $250K+ in less than two years just short of $1M. 

I was no longer apprehensive or scared about retirement, instead I was excited for the endless opportunities to create a life I truly wanted and ready for the next step – The Military Transition Assistance Program (TAP).

The turning point

My TAP class consisted of senior ranking service members who were all retiring after serving 20+ years. All classes are given a 4 hour block of instruction on their personal finances. For many, it was their first personal finance course since joining the military. It was an eye opener. One classmate had realized that they were financially unprepared to retire and would have to rescind their retirement request. Another couldn’t account for over $1000 in their monthly budget, while another classmate literally broke down crying because they finally saw how much they were in debt.

This bothered me. I wasn’t smarter than the average Soldier and I didn’t consider myself any different from my classmates. In less than a year, I had learned so much about money and simultaneously put everything I learned into practice. I’m not a mathematician, I have no finance background, I use calculators and still use my fingers when subtracting. I was literally using 5th grade level math with my finances and knew that if I could change my money situation, so can ANYONE.

Because I’m a dork, I was answering all the finance questions in class, putting a target on my back. Before I knew it classmates were approaching me about money. Throughout the week, others started asking more questions and I pushed them away because I am not a financial advisor. I eventually got cornered asking how I had learned so much and again pushed back because I didn’t feel qualified to be giving any kind of financial advice. But it was because of the fact that I was no different from my classmates that they realized they could do it too.

Fudog finance is born

I begun interviewing with Financial Advising firms and talking with others in the industry to see if this was the line of work I wanted to get into. My drive was to help educate the regular, everyday person in their finances in order to start living life on their own terms. What I found in the industry was far different. Compensation was based off commission and selling products to clients they didn’t need in order to get paid. There was little education to the client and I wasn’t helping them like I thought I would be. I was looking for clients with high net worth and money to invest, versus the regular, everyday person who wanted and needed to understand their money. I interviewed with other companies and found more of the same. Rather than educating or helping others, I would be the middle man earning commission for pushing clients to buy other services and invest. So I decided to step out on my own.

This was about more than educating people about money, it was about helping EMPOWER others to grow CONFIDENCE in managing their money INDEPENDENTLY and connecting. I discovered that helping others while making new friends made me feel alive. My purpose is to help others discover the greatest version of themselves, so that together we can live to our highest potential and inspire others to do the same. Fudog Finance is simply one way of doing that, and I’m happy to have you join me.