Hi there! My name is Fleur. Welcome to my blog: From Penny to Many. I am a Dutch travel junkie who was able to break free from full-time work mode. I retired before I turned 40 and now blog about the adventure of financial freedom. I am happy to share a little bit more about myself on this page.
I was born in 1980 in the Netherlands. Growing up, I always knew I wanted to travel the world. When I was younger, I wanted to be a jet fighter pilot and one of my first school projects was about the explorer Marco Polo who traveled to Asia. I always liked adventure, change, and new experiences so it was obvious that I wouldn’t spend my whole life in one place. The world was out there and I wanted to discover it!
The world was out there and I wanted to discover it!
But first, there was school, then university, then my first job, a career move, and before I knew it, work was my main activity taking up the most amount of hours. In 2011, I started my own company (Ynnovate) when I discovered the need for more innovation in the public sector. At that same moment, I also started saving money, because as a starting entrepreneur, I wanted to have a financial buffer.
The dream of a travel junkie
My dream of exploring the world didn’t vanish, but it did get pushed to the background a little bit. Work was important to me and I was ambitious and loved growing my company. But, after a while, I began to dream more about the future. A lifestyle that consisted of travel, discovering the world, and getting as many experiences as possible. Being in my thirties, I felt like time was running out. That life was going so fast and there was still so much I wanted to do.
I felt like time was running out. Life was going so fast and there was still so much I wanted to do…
With my travel junkie dream in mind, I set off on a journey to create a sustainable financial situation in the long term. I can still remember the holiday in Italy where I and my former boyfriend sketched the whole master plan on a little piece of paper while sitting at the beach.
The masterplan: financial freedom
The master plan was all about being able to travel full-time, without depending on income from a 9 to 5 job. We started saving as much money as possible to invest in assets to generate a steady passive income. It required making serious sacrifices in the way I was spending money, but the plan worked! In only eight years, we were able to stop working, we bought a beautiful catamaran and sailed Europe for 1,5 years.
Boat life slowed me down and allowed me to focus on simple things. People, nature, writing, and sharing experiences. Because of that, I learned to understand myself more and discover what is important to me in life. I grew more as a person and I am beyond grateful that I took the steps in life that allowed me to experience that.
Freedom travel lifestyle
I am now financially free, which means I am technically retired. It is a weird experience at my age, but it is also very rewarding to get to this point. I am not a millionaire. And believe me, to lead a freedom lifestyle, you don’t need to be. You dó need to learn how to manage your personal finances successfully. Setting a goal, cutting expenses, saving money, and most importantly: investing. In other words, all the hard work.
Being financially free gives me the opportunity to live my life without having to worry about money. With this blog, I want to enable as many people as possible to achieve that as well. It isn’t impossible, you just need to know how to do it. That’s why I created the Design Your Financial Freedom Toolkit to help you set the right steps towards financial freedom. Hopefully, it is a source of knowledge and inspiration.
I am not a millionaire. And believe me, to lead a freedom lifestyle, you don’t need to be.
FINANCIAL FREEDOM COACHING PROGRAM
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