Welcome To Radical FIRE
Welcome to Radical FIRE, I am very excited to have you here! In this blog post, I will welcome you to Radical FIRE and tell a bit more about myself.
In short; I am 24 years old and living in the Netherlands. I studied Business Economics and completed my master’s degree in Corporate Finance in 2017. I’ve studied at Chapman University (Orange, California) in the US for a semester, have been traveling for 4 months in South America by myself and I am planning to travel to Central America in September.
My intention with this website is to educate people around Financial Independence and Retire Early (FIRE). I want to empower you to take control of your finances. I believe everyone can be financially independent and retire early if they want it.
This Radical FIRE community is where I’ll hope to find like-minded people who are sharing a similar view! If you have a passion for your personal finances and the FIRE movement, this is the place for you!
Radical Jobs
Since the age of 13, I started working. I was picking grapes at a farm nearby, where I would get my money in cash every week (very legal). After later, I delivering the local newspaper once per week, making around €2,50 an hour. Later I would start working at the supermarket, where I started to earn €400-€500 per month. When I went to university I had the best job EVER, sitting at the reception desk for €11 per hour and the ability to spend time studying. Dream job!
Besides that, I participated in experiments at university. I had to pay for my tuition myself, and I didn’t want to get an enormous student debt. So I went into fMRI machines, did language experiments, even got Malaria once (all very safe, my friends thought I was crazy, oh well). In the end, I finished with a student debt of €19.000, which is okay!
[Related Read: Why I’m Not Paying Off My Student Debt]
I spend a lot of money while studying in the US and traveling through South America, really worth it if you ask me!
Radical Reality Check
After I did all the fun stuff that you can imagine, I returned from my travels in South America at the end of December. Just in time for Christmas, I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!
In April I started working as a financial consultant, I love finances and numbers! However, the 9 to 5 life is not really my thing. I really love to be independent and to determine for myself when I do things, and what I do. Well, that’s not really the case when you work for a boss.
I had my reality check back in November. I really really didn’t like where I was anymore & the thought of having to do this until I’m 72 (yes, really, the Dutch retirement system went crazy) made me unhappy. So I decided I was going to change something: I wanted to start my own side hustle.
About a month later I took the leap and started the blog. I really want to get my voice out there and empower others to make the same changes in my life!
I would love if you would stay updated by subscribing to my email list, to never miss a word I write:
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Fun Facts About Me:
Wow you’ve read all the way until here, well done! Here are some fun facts about me:
- I love Christmas so much that I let my partner wear an inflatable Santa suit, it was both hilarious & the best day of my life!
- I LOVE DOGS, they are the best
- In Peru, I had a hiking buddy for a day – Bruno – the dog you see on my profile picture. It wasn’t even my dog, it just hung out with me for the entire day. The best day EVER!
- I cannot live without chocolate, even though I try sometimes
- I love to travel, I’ve been to Northern America, Southern America, Africa & Europe (obviously). This year I am planning to visit Central America as well through mini-retirement from work
- My dream life would be living out of my RV, traveling and writing blogs all day every day
You can start by reading my general articles about investing:
- Investing for beginners: the how-to guide for stocks
- Investing for beginners: the how-to guide for bonds
- And lastly: Investing for beginners: the how-to guide for ETFs
Welcome to Radical FIRE, thank you for reading!
Do you want to know anything else about me? Please let me know below!
Founder of Spark Nomad, Radical FIRE, Journalist
- Expertise: Personal finance and travel content
- Education: Bachelor of Economics at Radboud University, Master in Finance at Radboud University, Minor in Economics at Chapman University.
- Over 200 articles, essays, and short stories published across the web.
Experience: Marjolein Dilven is a journalist and founder of Spark Nomad, a travel platform, and Radical FIRE, a personal finance platform. Marjolein has a finance and economics background with a master’s in Finance. She has quit her job to travel the world, documenting her travels on Spark Nomad to help people plan their travels. Marjolein Dilven has written for publications like MSN, Associated Press, CNBC, Town News syndicate, and more.
So looking forward for your posts!
Thanks Fer, nice to hear!
Welcome to the blogging world! It’s definitely exciting. Blogging is a lot of work, but for me it’s worth it. I get to interact with so many people I can learn from. If you like that, you will definitely like blogging!
Good luck, I’ll be subscribing.
Thanks for your reply and subscribtion B, appreciate it! It’s a whole new world for me, I’m exploring as I go so we’ll see where we end up!
The blog looks great! Excited to read your stuff.
Thanks, excited to see you more around here!