Hello, I’m Cachey. I’m a software engineer who has spend way too many hours reading about personal finance and investing. I didn’t do much with anything related to investing or retirement until I was 24 and had to move across the country (from Colorado to Maryland). I was with a company that had a questionable 401k (in terms of fees) so I decided to learn more about what I could do.

I’m a slow, stubborn, and apprehensive learner, at least when it comes to finances. I’ve spent years lurking on forums, reading blogs, and trying to find out how to set myself up for retirement with the least amount of work (I also consider myself to be lazy when it comes to personal finance).

I came to realize a lot of my coworkers and friends were in similar boats as I was. There’s a lot of books, advice, forums, etc that have a huge range of audience, but I never felt like I was the target audience (that being an slightly obsessed with numbers engineer with a love of spreadsheets).

There are a lot of very popular financial books out there that do a lot of shouting, but little teaching in exactly what is what when it comes to personal finance. I also realized while there are tons of blogs out there, there aren’t any that seemed to really speak to me and what I wanted to accomplish. Many blogs I’ve read tend to be shouty or show offs without trying to actually impart a way to actually empower readers on how to start on their own (I suppose this is why all blogs, including this one, have a “entertainment purposes only” disclaimer). There’s only so many times you can gloat about how little you spent, while racking in the adsense money, before it sounds a little stale.

To make a long short, I decided to finally write the blog I wish I had encountered when I graduated from school.

Many engineers (software, hardware) tend to have high incomes. This doesn’t necessarily mean they have high wealth. Engineers, particularly FANG (or whatever the term de jour may be), also tend to have extremely high salaries, lots of stock, and lower debt than other high paying professions (such as medicine or law). This can make engineers a particularly attractive target to less than honest and unethical financial “professionals”.

I feel it’s important to know a little about finances, because like it or not, we all have to worry about how we’ll set ourselves up in the future for retirement.

So the goal of this blog is

• To help increase the knowledge of finances among my fellow engineers (and anyone else wanting to gain knowledge)
• Give myself another creative outlet for when I’m not playing games

Welcome, and I hope you find something of value here!