About Faithie
You Can Succeed At Any Point, At Any Age In Your Life!
That’s me front row right at 8 years old in 1967. What would I say to that little girl? “Don’t be so afraid. I love you. You can do it.”
about
Our Mission
THE GOOD LIFE
Hi. My name is Faith Nelson. Welcome to my blog byFaithie.com. I started this blog because it’s never too late to change. This blog covers ways I am leveling up finance, health, and personal development to live a better life. My personal experiment is: Can I become financially independent in 7 years? Can I pay off debt and build retirement savings without sacrificing quality of life? Can I become financially independent in such a short time doing things I love? My goal is to do all that without destroying my big-picture goal of living and serving from now on with joy and love.
As a child, I had no model for financial management. My glass was always empty. Money was scarce for my people. Decades later, I am 64 years old and close to retirement age with no savings or investment dividends to draw on. Fortunately, I have a model now: Gen Y. They want to gain financial independence and retire early. They are not waiting for an invitation. Neither should I. Go!
When I was a child, my indicator weighed heavily on the pessimistic side. If I fell once on the playground, it meant I would fall again and again. I am a work in progress. I started meditation and contemplation in 1991 and have been doing them ever since. It looks like a long time, but I am still in the self-knowledge phase. Until recently, the roots of “blessed are the poor” still controlled my subconscious mind. I used to think it meant you must be poor to be blessed. Let’s see about growing a more nurturing garden.
Everyone’s road to personal transformation is unique. In college, I did Symbolic Logic in college to avoid Algebra. Now, a romance with the compound interest formula is vital. It’s necessary. This blog will look at ways to establish new behaviors, grow income, pay off student loans, pay Caesar annually, grow wealth, travel in comfort, vacation in the Caribbean during mango season, do annual spiritual retreats, buy a full-body door-mount infrared Joovv light kit, buy superior health insurance and eat glyphosate-free food. I might as well go for it. What is there to lose? My dream is for this blog to plant a seed and help people who are in my situation.
THE FIRE MOVEMENT
Rock stars out. FIRE people in. Can I be a card-carrying member of the financial independence retire early (FIRE) community? No. I am 64 years old and retiring is not an option. Some gurus in the financial independence movement practice a bit of ageism and use adults my age as cautionary tales. “Don’t end up like __________!” personal finance experts say on the speaker circuit and on their podcasts. I don’t care. My intent is to borrow from their tactics. The blogger Purple on apurplelife.com grew her wealth in less than ten years. She is very careful to remind the reader that she didn’t have big debt. I am starting out with roughly $255,000 of debt. That’s big debt, mortgage and student loans included. However, I am intensely curious about whether or not I can get rid of it. I just need to turn that curiosity into action, hence the blog. What stops the action?
THE EGO SHOULD BE OUR BEST FRIEND
The Ego’s beliefs stop us from taking action. The ego is irrational and reluctant to learn new things, and it will tell you red is blue to keep you ‘safe’. Some tools have given me workarounds—ways to align with my higher and take action. Gut checks are the best workarounds. Gut checks are internal guidance. They calm the ego. I have done self-hypnosis and floatation. I have used Grandfather and micro-dosed psilocybin. Anything for some ego death for a few moments. But the tool that moves the needle most is contemplation. I continue to learn that we can’t live without the ego. Who’s going to do the eating, the eliminating, and the running from bobcats and gators? My goal is a peaceful coexistence, where the ego is my very good co-worker and friend who thinks my personal development plans are to die for. It’s a process.
tHE ROAD TO AMERICA
I grew up in Jamaica with five brothers and one sister, some related by blood and some adopted. At six years old, I lost my adopted father in a fire. Can you see the bewilderment and disruption? As time passed, I got pissed instead of motivated to solve problems. My curiosity about self-transformation began at nineteen years old. One day, just before a solo performance, anxiety — the open-mouthed, breath-sucking kind—bubbled up from the depths when I looked at my ugly, crushed clothes in the mirror. Everyone was going to know I was poor. I mumbled and fretted and twisted my hands. The event speaker, Dr. Elma Lumsden, yanked me out of the emotional dive in less than two minutes and I went on stage, head high like a superstar. I was hooked. How had she done that? I needed to know so I could do it myself.
Soon after, I became a working actress and singer in Jamaica.
Contemplation, a spiritual practice, has helped me dial down the rage and self-centeredness in 40 years. It has helped me pump up the natural joy and encouraging self-talk. Some miraculous events made it possible. My voice teacher, Noel Dexter, had already become my mentor and surrogate father in high school. He would make decisions when I couldn’t make them. He got me a job interview at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, twice. I got the job. When I turned 23 years old, I received a foreign service assignment to the Jamaican Embassy in Washington, DC, as the registrar and librarian. While at the embassy, a visitor came in to do some research. The guest turned out to be a sister I never knew existed. I was twenty-four then. Epic. A few days later, I met my dad. Can you see it? WWII of the mind. I got five new sisters and a brother. Dr. Seuss says it best, “Oh, the places you’ll go!”
SOME MORE FUN THINGS
Along the way, I worked at Black Entertainment Television. Can we talk about the music emersion, The Who, Chaka Khan, Cher, The Eagles, Journey, Toots and the Maytals, Herbie Hancock, Charlie Hunter, Betty Carter, Al Jarreau, Earl Klugh, Janet Jackson, U2, Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, Celine Dion, Natalie Cole, the endless parade of gifted musicians? I have also freelanced as a copywriter and also as a consultant to an independent author and publisher. Once, I sang a tribute to Reggae superstar, Jimmy Cliff. I died and went to heaven. Another time, I sang the American and Jamaican national anthems at a Caribbean event in the White House. Well, to be honest, it was the Old Executive Office Building next door to the White House.
In 2018, I pivoted. I wanted to make my future social security benefits a liveable monthly amount. I did the prerequisites for nursing school and worked at night as a CNA. I loved looking after the elderly—one at a time. Then the unwelcome guest, you know who, Covid. I marched through my first semester of nursing school spring 2020, worried, wearing a fogged-up visor, and rebreathing some of my CO2 through that tight, thick N-95 mask. Don’t believe the nursing textbook narrative. Some rebreathing is happening under that mask. Technicians fit the mask to your face to create a tight seal! I wasn’t fit enough for it. Nursing School + Corona + CNA at Night = the horror movie antagonist, Annie Wilkes on steroids.
AND HERE WE ARE!
Another seismic shift happened during my first semester of nursing school. My mom came to live with me. Honestly, my mom came at the right time. Nursing history is fascinating but could be delivered in a more palatable form, a historical fiction novel or documentary. The same thing with every clause of HIPAA. Well, I learned one thing: the change of direction wasn’t quite right. Thank you, Force. I’d rather get enthusiastic about routes to financial independence.