Hey, I’m Mrs. Goldilocks, a working mother living in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan area, with my loving husband and a little 3 years old baby boy (yes, Little Goldilocks will always be a baby for me, but I know in reality, he is already a little boy).
By day, I work in providing technology solutions to my clients. I started as a code monkey, and I now share more project management responsibilities. Regardless what I do during the day, I have other jobs as a mother, a wife, a daughter, a daughter in law, a landlord etc etc; in my spare time (or when my mind drift off to thoughts unrelated to work during the day), I always want to know how to do better in all my roles in life. I’m into the latest research in child development so I can help Little Goldilocks to reach his potential while constantly reminding myself not to become a tiger mom. Or, reading about behavioral economics helps me understand myself and others better. At the same time, I am also very much into personal finance topics, i.e. should I 1) pay off my mortgage as early as possible, 2) convert my starter home as a rental, 3) purchase properties with the sole purpose to rent them out, 4) invest in 529 or a prepaid college fund, or 5) join the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement.
I’m on a very common path of life, so the questions I have or issues I run into are probably relevant to a lot of people. I have a few close friends whom I can discuss these questions and issues freely. However, in most social occasions, topics such as parenting or personal finances can be rather touchy (think about politics and religions) so it is unlikely that we can discuss openly and in depth.
Once, a mother of two preschoolers told me that she didn’t put any money into 529 for her kids because she found that the idea of investing in an account with the sole purpose of paying for college was too restrictive. Or, a family with 3 girls and an annual income of $300K said they didn’t park any money into 529 as well. Even though our state has an annual limit of $2,500 income tax free per child per contributor (husband and wife count as two contributors) towards the state 529 plan, they decided not to contribute. I don’t agree with their decision. But at the same time, I don’t feel that it’s appropriate to continue the discussion, especially when the other parties do not seem to be interested.
However, these are very important topics and wouldn’t it be nice if we can pick each others’ brains?
I named this blog as Mrs. Goldilocks. Maybe a lot of people associate Goldilocks with a little girl running away from bears. For me, Goldilocks represents the perfect sweet point with balance and harmony. We all try to find the perfect balance in life, jobs that offer learning opportunities BUT not too overwhelming to the point that we have to sacrifice family or personal time. Or, we read tons of reviews on products so that we can pick the ones that provide the best value for our money.
But in reality, we all know we can’t strike the best deal or make the best choice every single time. I would like to use this blog as a platform to share my journey in finding my Goldilocks. And I hope these little recordings of my experience may be helpful to others as well!