Puck (36): ‘The life I had didn’t make me happy: money was the way out.’

She earned enough, but she was not really happy in her job. Leaving was not an option – because no savings – until Puck (36) was introduced to investing. The death of her mother made her dare to choose for herself. ‘The life I had, I didn’t want anymore: money was the way out.’

• Married, lives in Bern
• Crazy about fashion, travel and writing
• World trip planned

‘Before my journey to financial freedom began, I had a super job with a super salary. Still, it felt like I was in a golden cage. I was spending money on short-term things – clothes, trips – and barely had any savings. It felt oppressive and vulnerable at the same time: if I wanted to keep living this life, I had to keep this job forever. And I didn’t really want that. Looking back on that job, with the knowledge of today, it was not a safe working environment for me as a woman. Unequal power relations, micro-aggressions, I now understand why I wanted to leave so badly back then. But I, despite that super salary, didn’t have a penny to spare. And so I couldn’t go anywhere.

Investing

‘In 2019, my mother passed away. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I wanted to live on my terms. Meanwhile, I had been introduced to investing through a colleague. I realized: this is my way out. I started reading up and saving fanatically and also investing. Spending less money turned out to be key for me. In 2019, the same year my mother passed away, I bought my first investment property. AND I finally quit my job. Despite the grief for my mother, I thought, and now I’m going to enjoy myself.

Behavior

‘Because I was earning so well, I was financially stable pretty quickly. But good job or not, if you do nothing with your money, you are not really rich. Ultimately, it’s about behavior. How do you handle your money? Do you throw it down the drain, or do you dare not spend anything at all? And what does that say about how you think about money? My husband marvels at how little money I spend. I simply do not find it necessary, do not find much worth the money. What a difference from ten years ago, haha.

Nomadic existence

‘I met my husband on the plane from San Francisco to Amsterdam. Yes, it really is such a typical, romantic story. I commuted for a long time between Switzerland, where my husband is from, and the Netherlands. When I quit my job, I practically led a nomadic existence. I sublet my house when I went to Thailand and had an Eat Pray Love adventure in Rome. I was living off the income from my investment properties and from my savings account. I didn’t have a permanent place to live for a long time, but now I feel the need to build something with my husband.

Money is serving

‘We both have a lot of money in investments, which are going like clockwork. But if you want to buy your own house in Switzerland, you need a lot of your own money. Especially since my income, which is registered in the Netherlands, does not count. To finance our home, we need to sell our investments. A difficult choice, because in investing, time is important: the longer you invest, the more it yields relatively. But I don’t want money to influence my choices. My quest for life’s happiness must be guiding. Money is subservient to this. It is the means of being able to make the choices that make you happy. And if that is currently a house of my own, rather than a small rental apartment, I want to go for that. When it comes to money, I think many women find it difficult to make choices. But there is no such perfect financial choice. There is always risk and your life is constantly changing. If it gives happiness in this moment, that’s it, and you should go for it.’