Welcome to the OMB! I’m Matt, the primary content creator for this site. I started this site a long, long, time ago in a galaxy far away, at least it seems that way based on the year we’re having. This site started in September of 2006! So technically, I’m approaching 14 years of paying for hosting fees!!
This site was dormant or mostly dormant for years of that time. I would write one or two articles per year. That’s not enough to get much of an audience or notice.
Initially, when I started this site, I figured that having a million dollars in relatively liquid assets (index funds) would allow me to live off the growth. At the time, there was no FIRE movement, but the idea to be financially independent was. I was 28 at the time and still carrying sizable debt around, so the purpose of the site was to chronicle my journey as I learned about personal finance.
Then life happened, a variety of jobs, progressively more pay. A marriage (still going strong), A child (still living – but we’re approaching tween years). A dog. And a few properties later. Oh yeah, I almost died in there as well, that’s a long story.
I am light-years from where I was when I started the site; I was close to 50K in debt now I have none, actually aside from the mortgage we’re pretty much debt-free. There have been a lot of ups and downs, and I’m sure there will be more.
I will continue to share our journey as we keep aiming for that One Million and Beyond because that One Million is still a great deal of money.