Hi! My name is Lawrence, the creator of the Financial Literacy Education blog, The Neighborhood Finance Guy (TNFG), and one of the three co-hosts on The Financial Griot podcast. My wife and I created this website back in July 2020 and have been paying debt and normalizing happiness ever since 2012 and 2013 respectively.
The end goal is to ‘Make Money, Make Sense‘ in our lifetime.
*To be honest, she created the website for me. But don’t tell her.
TNFG mixes A dash of Debt Free Journey + a hint of FIRE Movement = Net Max Financial Plan
We paid off over $250,000 worth of debt so far. From student loans to credit card expenses.
We are far from being completely Debt-Free but we are on the journey to be Financially Independent and Retire Early, at the same time.
For both of us, our estimated clock-out year is 2038. It’s challenging since we are 1st generation Haitian Americans but we will pull through. As we do, we will share as much as possible to make generational wealth more attainable for others.
TNFG’s 1st Generational Wealth Builders
I was raised in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, tricked into going back to Miami, Florida at 9, signed up for the US Marine Corps (Semper Gumbi), and accumulated over $100,000 in student loans at “the Florida State University”. Check it out, I’m an FSU Alumni Notable ‘Noles (2017).
Suffice it to say like my grandfather, I have stories for days.
I’ll be sharing lessons learned from resume building, interviewing, geo-arbitrage, budgeting, wealth preservation, tax planning, and wealth building. Ultimately, I set out on a journey to prove that you can break down wealth inequality in less than 15 years.
My first real job paid $23,000 per year before taxes (Barely $1,000 per month)
Money was tight and paychecks were bi-monthly.
On the other hand, my wife grew up in Orlando. Strangely we went to the same college but didn’t meet until we moved to DC. She walked away from college with $20k worth of debt!!! However, she struggled with managing money monthly while making an average of $40,000 annually over 5 years in the DMV.
We work (as a couple) because we care more about what we can give to the world versus what the world can give us. We don’t dwell on what’s wrong or what can’t be done, we favor what we can work on and what can be fixed. Like everyone else we got tired of being on the receiving end, it’s high time that we made money make sense. That’s the TNFG motto by the way.
BUSINESS INSIDER, WRITTEN BY ANNE-LYSE WEALTH
How the Neighborhood Finance Guy Sets Annual Net/Max Financial Goals
The 1st TNFG goal is to be a millionaire and financially independent (FI) by 2025. I crafted the Net Max Financial Plan and it is working.
Building wealth and enjoying life is so much easier than advertised. With each post, I break big ideas down into digestible bites. We know it works because we became Millennial Millionaires in less than 7 years.
Feel free to use the Net Max Financial plans and give me your epic feedback after 3 years. Without a doubt, your lifestyle results will be noticeable.
At this time, we’ve been featured in NY Times, Business Insider x2, The Motley Fool, Yahoo Finance, GoBanking Rate, Bankrate, HerMoney, NPR, and WLRN (via Twitter Spaces) and one of the Top 10 Best Debt Free Blogs in 2023.
The list goes on:
- the AskLovely Podcast,
- Paychecks and Balances,
- His and Her Money Podcast,
- Marriage, Kids, and Money,
- Journey to Launch,
- The Black Financial Initiative Part 1 and Part 2,
- The Flavor Podcast,
- MulTYversed Episode 36 –Show Me the Money,
- The Dreamers Podcast, and
- It’s My Money with Patrina Dixon
Furthermore, we hope to be featured on Forbes, CNBC Millennial Money, Black Enterprise, MarketWatch, or whoever wants to run the story. Or even earn a PLUTUS award?!!? <– /https://www.plutusawards.com/ ->
The Neighborhood Finance Guy was nominated for 2021!!
But we lost! (But with joy) but I’m still dropping gems in featured articles such as Good Financial Cents’ “9 Financial Moves After a Maxed Out 401k.” And here’s one of my favorites, Free Roth 401k Calculator (by Derek Sail from Life and My Finances).
My wife and I are tracking our Net Worth (well I am) to show people that normal 9-5 employees can attain millionaire status.
Feel free to follow along with our monthly series that breaks down all wins and losses (in the links below). Additionally, since some folks asked, we put our total investment portfolio on Google Sheets so you can see what we have—updated quarterly.
Check out our annual net worth numbers below and our estimated trajectory. The latter is more fun to guess. If this is merely a game of numbers, then I can play. It’s time to “roll the hard six.”
TNFG Annual Net Worth Tracking Sheet
| Annual Take-Home Income | Annual Expenses | Year-End Net Worth | Growth/Loss in Dollar Value | Growth (+) or Loss (-) as a Percentage | |
| 2012 | $27,903 | $28,692 | *-$125,000 | — | — |
| 2013 | $25,620 | $23,376 | -$111,077 | +$13,923 | +11.14% |
| 2014 | $43,503 | $34,766 | -$85,300 | +$22,777 | +21.08% |
| 2015 | $44,110 | $29,488 | -$51,437 | +$33,862 | +39.70% |
| 2016 | $41,721 | $25,995 | -$56,724 | -$5,287 | -10.28% |
| 2017 | $44,666 | $37,271 | -$23,747 | +$32,977 | +58.15% |
| 2018 | $50,062 | $34,917 | $116,719 | +$140,466 | +591.51% |
| 2019 | $57,478 | $35,335 | $236,764 | +$120,045 | +102.85% |
| 2020 | $89,480 | **$71,167 | $453,716 | +$216,952 | +91.63% |
| 2021 | $100,826 | ***$65,267 | $661,254 | +$207,538 | +45.74% |
| 2022 | $113,672 | ***$82,481 | $755,178 | +$93,924 | +14.20% |
| 2023 | $135,561 | ***$108,809 | $1,116,137 | +$360,959 | +47.80% |
| 2024 | $137,500 | ***$90,500 | $1,647,617 | +$531,480 | +47.62% |
| Est. 2025 | $125,000 | ***$97,375 | $2,050,000 | +$400,000 | +24.24% |
^Total as of 11.26.24
**Married in 2020 – Full wedding costs ~$40,000
***Home renovations for +$40,000 (2021), +$10,000 (2022, 2023, 2024), and est. +$40,000 (2025)
TNFG Financial Freedom Outlook through 2038*
| Est. | Year-End Net Worth | Growth/Loss in Dollar Value | Growth (+) or Loss (-) as a Percentage |
| 2026 | $2,500,000 | +$450,000 | +21.95% |
| 2027 | $3,125,000 | +$625,000 | +25.00% |
| 2028 | $3,875,000 | +$750,000 | +24.00% |
| 2029 | $4,500,000 | +$625,000 | +16.13% |
| 2030 | $5,125,000 | +$625,000 | +13.89% |
| 2031 | $5,250,000 | +$125,000 | +2.44% |
| 2032 | $6,150,000 | +$900,000 | +17.14% |
| 2033 | $7,375,000 | +$1,225,000 | +19.92% |
| 2034 | $8,125,000 | +$750,000 | +10.17% |
| 2035 | $8,400,000 | +$275,000 | +3.38% |
| 2036 | $8,000,000 | -$400,000 | -4.76% |
| 2037 | $8,125,000 | +$125,000 | +1.56% |
| 2038 | $9,000,000 | +$875,000 | +10.77% |
*Red Highlights are projected down years <13%
**Estimates as of 12.01.2024
