I am glad that you’ve found my blog! You have joined others who want to improve their financial life and progress to living life on your own terms. This site is all about reaching FREEDOM through having money. Independence is the best thing ever and not being beholden to someone is a feeling that can’t be beat.
I started this site at the age of 25 after being hooked on the entire personal finance FIRE movement. I have used the simple steps preached by personal finance bloggers and alike to better my own financial life.
Before reading personal finance blogs, I was not great with money. In fact, I was average at it. I knew the basics such as you should spend less than what you earn, you should have a credit card to build credit, and you should avoid debt (like the plague).
Ok, ok, maybe don’t avoid it like the plague, but you get the idea. But overall, I was just like everyone else with general ideas on good personal habits, not specific ones. I was blown away after I found a whole other community dedicated to personal finance.
I used to think money was evil, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. When you master the money game, you don’t see money as a bad thing.
The Spark to Reaching Financial Independence
Only after I read personal finance blogs and engaged with the personal finance community did my net worth start to take off. It still boggles my mind that there were total millionaire strangers providing all this advice for FREE. On top of it being free advice, it was the correct advice.
After taking mental notes and learning the steps each person took, I began to optimize my own finances. I began to not only save my paychecks but invest my paychecks in low-cost ETFs. There’s a way to make extra money without having to do extra work? Sign me up!
I began buying on a credit card to get cash back instead of just finding the best deals and waiting until a sale happened. Additionally, I used cash back websites to get even more cash back. I received an even bigger discount.
Furthermore, negotiating and haggling became common in my vocabulary, even when it was easier to pay full price.
I graduated college at age 21 with $40,000 in cash that I saved from internships and part-time jobs. Even though that sounds great, I knew that I could optimize my finances even more. I can honestly look at someone and talk about how much of a personal finance junkie I am.
The fire is already in my belly and nothing can take out the spark that I experienced. I am so passionate about helping others do the same with their own financial situation as well. Everyone has the potential to reach it at diverse income backgrounds.
If you live in a developed world, you won the geographic lottery. You have all of the free tools necessary to get there.
I Became Healthily Obsessed With Money
Four years after graduating from college, I grew that $40,000 nest egg to $250,000 with no plans to slow down anytime soon. That does not mean that I have not failed. I failed a lot and made a ton of regrettable decisions in my personal finance journey. There’s still tricks I’m learning from other people’s playbooks.
When I graduated college, I started my finance career with a $52,500 salary. After maximum 401k contributions, HSA contributions, taxes, and insurance payments, it was approximately $25,000 after-tax.
Not too shabby from my college days when I was earning $11,000 a year. When you increase your income by 127%, you start to feel like you are living like a king!
Since then, I’ve more than doubled my gross salary to ~$110,000. These days, my personal finance these days is like a well-oiled machine that’s on autopilot. After many years of practicing good personal finance habits, it’s engraved into my mind on exactly what to do in a purchasing situation and I rarely hesitate on knowing what is the right or wrong decision to do.
I live as frugal a life as I possibly can. Although making more money is more desirable than saving money, it’s just as helpful. Even if I would love to buy a new car, I still drive a 2015 Nissan Versa Note beater car I bought in 2016 with 40,000 miles on it.
There’s not a lot in the world that I need to keep me happy and I plan to keep it that way.
Why Listen to Filled With Money? Who Are You Anyway?
One of the biggest selling points is that a lot of the other personal finance blogs are millionaires. They already made it. With Filled With Money, you get to actually see a progression or decline of my net worth. I am someone who is in the middle of my journey and every failures and successes will be documented.
Here are some bullet points about myself to make it helpful.
* Sold gum and candy in elementary school to make an extra $1
* Worked a minimum wage job at the failing Sears
* I’m an immigrant
* Graduated with a degree in Finance
* Built a net worth of $40,000 by the time I finished college at 21
* Working in finance for 5 years and counting
* Saved and invested his way to a $250,000 nest egg by 25
* Have a goal to be a millionaire by 30
* Loyal to anyone who’s helped me out
I’m someone who’s been through the beginning stages of the financial independence journey. I’ve made every mistake in the book and then some and highlighting these will help you avoid the mistakes.
There is always a way for you to have more money. Yes, money isn’t everything. However, as someone who’s been poor and who’s been rich, let me tell you. Rich is better. If given the choice of having more money or having less, it’s not a bad idea to choose more money.
Whether it’s ideas on how to cut down debt, making more money, or changing your budget, I’m here for you. It’s never too late to start bettering your financial life.
I encourage you to join me in my personal finance journey and follow me to becoming a millionaire. Let’s fill our wallets with money for a better life and gain FREEDOM!
Contact Info
Feel free to contact me for any interviews, I want to help as much people as I can about early retirement, debt management, and better their overall financial life in general. This blog was entirely created for my readers and the more readers I can help, the better.
Email: moneyisfilled [at] gmail [dot] com.
Disclaimer
Filled with Money is for informational and entertainment purposes only. DO NOT base any financial decisions on anything I say, I am not a licensed professional. Seek out a financial or medical professional before making any financial or medical decision. The opinions I post on the blog are my own.
Privacy Policy
Filled With Money found at https://filledwithmoney.com/ (“Website”) is governed by the following privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”).
We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it. The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to inform you what personally identifiable information we may collect and how it may be used. This statement only applies to this Website.
WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT AND HOW IS IT USED?
Information You Voluntarily Submit to the Website: We may collect personal information from you such as your name or email address. For example, you may voluntarily submit information to the Website by leaving a comment, subscribing to a newsletter, or submitting a contact form. In addition, you are able to create a user profile, which allows you to create a username and password. We will store the username, but your password will not be visible in our records.
Information We Collect from Others: We may receive information about you from other sources. You may link your Facebook, Instagram, and/or Google accounts to your user profile. If you choose to link your Facebook, Instagram, and/or Google accounts to your user profile, we will receive your name, email address and profile picture associated with that account. The Website utilizes the Facebook commenting system, so if you choose to comment on a Website post, your profile picture will appear.
Automatically-Collected Information: We automatically collect certain information about you and the device with which you access the Website. For example, when you use the Website, we will log your IP address, operating system type, browser type, referring website, pages you viewed, and the dates/times when you accessed the Website. We may also collect information about actions you take when using the Website, such as links clicked.
Cookies: We may log information using cookies, which are small data files stored on your browser by the Website. We may use both session cookies, which expire when you close your browser, and persistent cookies, which stay on your browser until deleted, to provide you with a more personalized experience on the Website.
HOW YOUR INFORMATION MAY BE USED
We may use the information collected in the following ways:
- To operate and maintain the Website;
- To create your account, identify you as a user of the Website, and customize the Website for your account;
- To send you promotional information, such as newsletters. Each email promotion will provide information on how to opt-out of future mailings;
- To send you administrative communications, such as administrative emails, confirmation emails, technical notices, updates on policies, or security alerts;
- To respond to your comments or inquiries;
- To provide you with user support;
- To track and measure advertising on the Website;
- To protect, investigate, and deter against unauthorized or illegal activity.
THIRD-PARTY USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We may share your information with third parties when you explicitly authorize us to share your information.
Additionally, the Website may use third-party service providers to service various aspects of the Website. Each third-party service provider’s use of your personal information is dictated by their respective privacy policies.
The Website currently uses the following third-party service providers:
Google Analytics – this service tracks Website usage and provides information such as referring websites and user actions on the Website. Google Analytics may capture your IP address, but no other personal information is captured by Google Analytics.
At this time, your personal information is not shared with any other third-party applications. This list may be amended from time to time in the Website’s sole discretion.
Except when required by law, we will not sell, distribute, or reveal your email addresses or other personal information without your consent; however, we may disclose or transfer personal information collected through the Website to third parties who acquire all or a portion of our business, which may be the result of a merger, consolidation, or purchase of all or a portion of our assets, or in connection with any bankruptcy or reorganization proceeding brought by or against us.
ANONYMOUS DATA
From time to time, we may use anonymous data, which does not identify you alone, or when combined with data from other parties. This type of anonymous data may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses. Examples of this anonymous data may include analytics or information collected from cookies.
PUBLICLY VISIBLE INFORMATION
If you create a user profile on the Website or leave a comment, certain information may be publicly visible. To create a user profile, you must choose a username and password and input your email address for profile confirmation. Your email address will never be available publicly. At your option, you may also add an avatar, a profile description, and a link to your website.
You may also choose to link your Facebook, Instagram, and Google Account.
Users may see your username, avatar, profile description and website information.
COOKIES
The Website uses cookies to store visitors’ preferences, record user-specific information on what pages users access or visit, ensure that visitors are not repeatedly sent the same banner ads, customize Website content based on visitors’ browser type or other information that the visitor sends. Cookies may also be used by third-party services, such as Google Analytics, as described herein.
Users may, at any time, prevent the setting of cookies, by the Website, by using a corresponding setting of your internet browser and may thus permanently deny the setting of cookies. Furthermore, already set cookies may be deleted at any time via an Internet browser or other software programs. This is possible in all popular Internet browsers. However, if users deactivate the setting of cookies in your Internet browser, not all functions of our Website may be entirely usable.
ADVERTISING
Display Ads
We may use third-party advertising companies to serve content and advertisements when you visit the Website, which may use cookies, as noted above.
Retargeting Ads
From time to time, the Website may engage in remarketing efforts with third-party companies, such as Google, Facebook, or Instagram, in order to market the Website. These companies use cookies to serve ads based on someone’s past visits to the Website.
Affiliate Program Participation
The Website may engage in affiliate marketing, which is done by embedding tracking links into the Website. If you click on a link for an affiliate partnership, a cookie will be placed on your browser to track any sales for purposes of commissions.
filledwithmoney.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and links to Amazon.com. As part of this Amazon Associates program, the Website will post customized links, provided by Amazon, to track the referrals to their website. This program utilizes cookies to track visits for the purposes of assigning commission on these sales.
Newsletters
On the Website, you may subscribe to our newsletter, which may be used for advertising purposes. All newsletters sent may contain tracking pixels. The pixel is embedded in emails and allows an analysis of the success of online marketing campaigns. Because of these tracking pixels, we may see if and when you open an email and which links within the email you click. Also, this allows the Website to adapt the content of future newsletters to the interests of the user. This behavior will not be passed on to third parties.
EZOIC SERVICE PRIVACY POLICY
filledwithmoney.com (“Website”) uses a third party technology called Ezoic.
INFORMATION ABOUT OUR ORGANIZATION AND WEBSITE
Ezoic is committed to protecting your privacy. We will only use the information that we collect lawfully in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (Regulation (EU) 2016/679).
Ezoic’s principal activities are:
- Website analytics
- Website personalization
- Website hosting
Our privacy policy covers Ezoic Inc., Ezoic Limited and this Website:
Ezoic Inc.
6023 Innovation Way, Carlsbad, California, United States
Ezoic Limited
Northern Design Centre, Abbott’s Hill, Gateshead, NE8 3DF United Kingdom
DATA
In order to provide our products and services and related support, it is necessary for Ezoic to transfer your personal data outside of the European Union. In such case, the data controller for this data for EU residents is Ezoic Inc. having it’s registered offices at 6023 Innovation Way, Carlsbad, California, United States. All questions of requests regarding the processing of data may be addresses to data@ezoic.com
PROVIDING VISITORS WITH ANONYMOUS ACCESS
If you do not consent to such collection, you can access this website without disclosing your personal data.
AUTOMATIC COLLECTION OF INFORMATION
Ezoic records data about the individuals and the traffic to this website. Ezoic is this website’s limited agent (and data controller in the EU context) for the purpose of providing Internet data and optimization services. Ezoic may use this data to improve its service or enable other services (e.g., using visitor traffic logs or data posted through the service to improve the optimization of other websites).
Personal Information
Ezoic may collect personal information as defined in GDPR (such as IP address and a unique id in a cookie) about visitors to your website for the purposes of statistics, analytics and personalization. In addition, Ezoic works with numerous third parties for the collection and storage of data and the providing of analytics and advertising services.
Use of Personal Information
| Purpose/Activity | Type(s) of Data | Lawful basis for processing |
|---|---|---|
| To improve user experience | IdentityTechnicalUsage | Your information helps us to provide you with a more pleasant, efficient experience on this website that may be customized to how you or others respond to content and ads on this or other websites. |
| To improve ad performance | IdentityTechnicalUsage | Your information helps us to optimize the placement, size, timing and number of ads displayed to you. It enables us to make smart decision that help this website owner earn money but reduce the disruption of ads on your experience. |
| To improve content creation | IdentityTechnicalUsage | Your information helps us learn what content you care about and enjoy and, the style of content you like and what you engage the most with. This helps us produce more content and features that you might like. |
| To improve website performance | IdentityTechnicalUsage | Your information helps us measure various performance metrics about our site, such as site speed, so that we can improve the performance of this site. |
PROCESSING OF DATA AND CONSENT
We will process the data we collect about you to improve the operation of this and other websites. This information helps us make decisions about what content to show, how it should be formatted, the number, size and placement of advertisements and how content should be delivered to individuals. THis information is also used for analysis of performance and reporting.
USE OF APPLICATION LOGS
Our servers automatically record information (“Application Log Data”) created by your use of this website. Application Log Data may include information such as your IP address, browser type, operating system, the referring web page, pages visited, location, your mobile carrier, device and application IDs, search terms, and cookie information. We use this information to diagnose and improve our services. Except as stated in section (Data Retention), we will either delete the Application Log Data or remove any account identifiers, such as your username, full IP address, or email address, after 48 months.
DATA RETENTION
The personal information we collect is retained for no longer than necessary to fulfil the stated purposes in section “PROCESSING OF DATA AND CONSENT” above or for a period specifically required by law or regulation that Ezoic is obligated to follow. Personal data used to fulfil verification of certain types of services such as SSL certificate, payments, and billing will be retained for a minimum of 5 years depending on the class of product or service and may be retained in either a physical or electronic format. Even if you request deletion or erasure of your data, we may retain your personal data to the extent necessary and for so long as necessary for our legitimate business interests or performance of contractual obligations. After the retention period is over, Ezoic securely disposes or anonymizes your personal information in order to prevent loss, theft, misuse, or unauthorized access.
CONFIDENTIALITY / SECURITY
We have implemented security policies, rules and technical measures to protect the personal data that we have under our control from: unauthorized access improper use or disclosure unauthorized modification unlawful destruction or accidental loss. All our employees and data processors, who have access to, and are associated with the processing of personal data, are obliged to respect the confidentiality of our visitors’ personal data. We ensure that your personal data will not be disclosed to State institutions and authorities except if required by law or other regulation
DATA ACCESS & DELETION
You have the right to view information that we have collected about you and to request deletion of any personal information we may have. You can use this data lookup tool to complete these actions.
Below is a list of usage, technical and identify metrics that are commonly stored and processed when you use this website
| Your location information, including country, state, city, metro and postal code |
| The webpage your were at before this website |
| The type of browser you use and the version |
| The brand and operating system of your device |
| What time zone you’re in and what time it is there |
| What pages on this site you visit |
| How you interact with this website, including time spent, how much you scroll and your mouse movements |
| The size of your devices screen and the size of the browser on that screen |
| What content you share on the page |
| If you copy and paste content on this website |
| What ad or link you clicked on to arrive at this website |
| The type of internet connection you use and your ISP or service provider |
| How long it takes for this website’s content to get transfered to your browser, load in your browser and render |
| The weather where you are currently located |
| Your age and gender |
| Your ip address |
| A unique id so that we can recognize you |
| What ads you click on |
Cookies
Data Usage Purposes
Necessary
Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. The website cannot function properly without these cookies.
Preferences
Preference cookies enable a website to remember information that changes the way the website behaves or looks, like your preferred language or the region that you are in.
Statistics
Statistic cookies help website owners to understand how visitors interact with websites by collecting and reporting information anonymously.
Marketing
Marketing cookies are used to track visitors across websites. The intention is to display ads that are relevant and engaging for the individual user and thereby more valuable for publishers and third party advertisers.
Below is a list of cookies that are commonly set on this website.
| Cookie Name | Category | Description |
|---|---|---|
| wordpress_test_cookie | Necessary | WordPress sets this cookie when you navigate to the login page. The cookie is used to check whether your web browser is set to allow, or reject cookies. |
| ez_pub_site | Necessary | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to only show the site with Ezoic’s features enabled. |
| ezCMPCookieConsent | Necessary | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to track when a user consents to cookies. |
| ez_rdr_count | Necessary | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to track redirects |
| ez_rdr | Necessary | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to track redirects. |
| ez_view_original_only | Preferences | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to show the original site without Ezoic’s features. |
| ez_view_optimized_only | Preferences | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to show the optimized site with Ezoic’s features. |
| ez_view_optimized_only | Preferences | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to show the original site without Ezoic’s features. |
| speed_no_process | Preferences | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to turn off site speed features for this user. |
| sitespeed_preview | Preferences | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to allow this user to preview certain site speed features. |
| ez_ad_position_version | Preferences | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to determine if they use the Ad Tester product for this user, used by the Ad Tester extension. |
| ezpicker_showall | Preferences | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to tell the ezpicker app to show all placeholders. |
| ezpicker_nocache | Preferences | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to tell the ezpicker app to run without using the cache. |
| ezpicker | Preferences | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to turn on ezpicker |
| ez_autoinsert | Preferences | Used by Ezoic to determine if this user should see auto-inserted ad placeholders. |
| _gid | Statistics | Used to distinguish users by Google Analytics |
| __qca | Statistics | Collects anonymous data on the user’s visits to the website, such as the number of visits, average time spent on the website and what pages have been loaded with the purpose of generating reports for optimising the website content. |
| _ga | Statistics | Used to distinguish users by Google Analytics |
| ezCMPCCS | Statistics | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to track when a user consents to statistics cookies. |
| ezosuigenerisc | Statistics | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to uniquely identify you across different websites on the internet so your experience can be customized. |
| ezosuigeneris | Statistics | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to uniquely identify you across different websites on the internet so your experience can be customized. |
| ezds | Statistics | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to store the pixel size of your screen to help personalize your experience and ensure content fits. |
| ez_recommended_pages | Statistics | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to track users visiting from the recommended pages widget. |
| AMP_ECID_EZOIC | Statistics | Used by personalization and analytics company Ezoic for statistics on Accelerated Mobile Pages |
| ezouspvv | Statistics | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to track how many pages a user has visited. |
| ezouspvh | Statistics | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to track how many pages a user has visited since their last visit. |
| ezouspva | Statistics | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to track how many pages a user has visited all time. |
| ezepvv | Statistics | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to track which pages this user has viewed. |
| ezohw | Statistics | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to store the pixel size of your browser to help personalize your experience and ensure content fits. |
| ezdg | Marketing | Used by the analytics and personalization company, Ezoic, to store demographic information like age and gender. |
| __gads | Marketing | Used to register what ads have been displayed to the user. |
A list of Vendors that may be used on this website
Contacting Us
If there are any questions regarding this privacy policy or you wish to unsubscribe from our site and services you may contact us using the information below or by writing to us at:
2885 Sanford Ave
Grandville, MI 49418
USA
Summary of Requests
If you’d like to see a summary of the requests to know user information, requests to delete user information and requests to opt-out of ccpa compliance that this business has received:
https://g.ezoic.net/privacy/filledwithmoney.com/annualRequestSummary
regarding filledwithmoney.com
RIGHTS RELATED TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
Opt-out – You may opt-out of future email communications by following the unsubscribe links in our emails. You may also notify us at moneyisfilled [at] gmail.com to be removed from our mailing list.
Access – You may access the personal information we have about you by submitting a request to moneyisfilled [at] gmail.com.
Amend – You may contact us at moneyisfilled [at] gmail.com to amend or update your personal information.
Forget – In certain situations, you may request that we erase or forget your personal data. To do so, please submit a request to moneyisfilled [at] gmail.com.
Please note that we may need to retain certain information for recordkeeping purposes or to complete transactions, or when required by law.
SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION
At no time should you submit sensitive personal information to the Website. This includes your social security number, information regarding race or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, health information, criminal background, or trade union memberships. If you elect to submit such information to us, it will be subject to this Privacy Policy.
CHILDREN’S INFORMATION
The Website does not knowingly collect any personally identifiable information from children under the age of 16. If a parent or guardian believes that the Website has personally identifiable information of a child under the age of 16 in its database, please contact us immediately at moneyisfilled [at] gmail.com and we will use our best efforts to promptly remove such information from our records.
CONTACT INFORMATION
At any time, please contact us at moneyisfilled [at] gmail.com for questions related to this Privacy Policy.
Disclosure – The Full Monty
This blog is not primarily financially driven. I started the website to build a community and learn from smart readers.
Regardless, beginning December 1, 2009, the FTC requires bloggers to disclose whenever there could be hidden interests or unspoken biases related to recommendations. So here goes…
First, the obvious: I am not a financial advisor.
Second, the less obvious: Per the FTC rules, if I interview someone and they grab the bill for lunch, I would need to disclose this. Ditto if I use an Amazon link that gets me 8 cents instead of an Amazon link that gets me 0 cents. If someone gives me a comfy t-shirt with a logo and I wear it in a photo, same deal. Disclaimers all over the place. This would be tedious for me and even more tedious for readers. But rules is rules. To cover my ass and preserve your reading experience, please assume that, for every link and product I use, the following all hold true:
Last updated: August 16, 2020
I love what you’re doing over on your blog. I have a small YouTube channel about investing (Paul Clark Taking Stock Investing), but I am also looking to get more exposure by contributing free guest articles to existing blogs. Would you be interested in me submitting an article for you to potentially post on your site?
Hello Filled with Money,
I discovered your site on another great personal finance blog. I’m always interested in reading a good blog in the personal finance space. We are a community full of educators, risk-takers, enthusiasts, and life changers. I’d be happy to guest post for you as well or offer you a guest post on my site.
Congrats on your progress. I am rebooting a blog I’ve had for a while called Getting Canned about dealing with job loss. If you’re interested in collaborating feel free to reach out.
That’s a good subject to blog about! I just checked out the blog. It looks good!