Welcome, Financial Freedom Junkies

#1 "Financial Freedom is Realistic" was unpublished for years, but now I’m bringing these ideas to life. I’m Adam, a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and real estate investor. From music major to forensic accountant, shaped by my Hispanic upbringing, my journey has been unique. My professional education and personal experiences allow me to help everyday people (like you) make informed financial decisions, understand their relationship with money, and develop a positive money mindset to achieve their current and future financial goals. Your path to financial freedom is more achievable than you may think, and I believe this podcast is the beginning of your roadmap.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I want to tell you a story.
My life changed onOctober 13, 2021.
That day I began drafting ablog post titled Financial
Freedom is Realistic.
I even crafted a tagline,The Path to Financial
Freedom is More AchievableThan You May Think.
You Just Need the Right Roadmap.

(00:22):
I went on to write about howeverything nowadays seems
so polarizing, so divisive,and understandably so
because it, well, it sells.
But what if we What if youreally shouldn't be buying it?
I'd like to let that sitwith you, but I want to
read the end of that blogpost for you because it

(00:43):
directly ties into this show.
So here it is.
If you're looking to drasticallytransform your current, and
hopefully future, financialposition for the better, and
you need an authoritarianto tell you exactly what to
do to progress regardlessof your preferences and
habits, I apologize if Iwasted your time already.
There are plenty ofresources out there for you.

(01:06):
But, if you're looking forrealistic ways to improve
your financial life or thelives of others, and you're
fine taking what works anddisregarding the rest, you've
reached your destination.
You'll learn to enjoy the rideat your own pace, and know that
sometimes you have to hit thebrakes to go full throttle.
Now, I never published thatblog post, but I think I

(01:32):
made a commitment that day.
And it was my first attempt toshare something that I firmly
believe is lacking in theworld, or at least in the USA.
Well, here we are nearlythree years later, and
I'm finally ready to talk.
Those of you that knowme already know that
it, it takes me a whileto get my thoughts out.

(01:53):
I promise I'm getting better.
Now, if you don't know me,you're probably wondering
who I am and what we'retrying to accomplish, why
I created this podcast.
Well, I'm Adam Fernandez.
I'm 29 years old.
I'm Cuban Dominican.
My mom's parentswere born in Cuba.
My father's parents were bornin the Dominican Republic.

(02:14):
But I was born and raisedin Miami, playing soccer
for about 12 years.
Um, and that's futbolor football in most
other countries.
I began college studying music.
I was actually a piano major.
I think I was I didn'tnecessarily realize at the
time, but I was followingin my brother's footsteps.

(02:37):
He's a singer, songwriter,musician, but after a lot of
reflecting, it felt more like ahobby than a passion, so I did
some brainstorming, and ladiesand gentlemen, this is, uh,
this is before Google Geminiand ChatGPT and Claude, even
though it seems like forever agothat these things have been out.

(02:59):
So I started brainstorming aboutcareers for people that are good
with numbers, because, well,that was, that was true for me.
Funny enough, I decided topursue forensic accounting.
So I got my bachelor's andmaster's degree in accounting,
and ultimately I became a CPA,a certified public accountant,
and a certified fraud examiner.
Now, while in my bachelor'sprogram, in 2016, I joined

(03:19):
a club called The HonorsInvestment Portfolio.
We called it HIP.
The aim was to learn aboutthe investing process and
for members to manage theirfinances effectively and make
rational financial decisions.
We discussed stocks,bonds, foreign exchange,
forex, uh, you name it.
And we even invested througha virtual account, that's
fake money, and a liveaccount, our real money.

(03:43):
Well, HIP changedeverything for me.
It changed, changed the waythat I, , that I study money.
So I guess you could say thewheels were really set in
motion in 2016, maybe not 2021.
But anyway, I haven't stoppedlearning about money since
then, and I've learned a lot.
So as you can probably guessby now, the purpose of the
show, simply put, is toguide you to make educated

(04:06):
financial decisions, tomake better decisions with
your money, and ultimatelydesign the life you love.
I truly believe you can.
So how will we do that?
What's coming?
What's, what can youexpect in future episodes?
Well, we've got a lot to cover.
So here we explore all thingspersonal finance, saving,
investing, debt management,talk about tax strategies,

(04:30):
real estate, which I've,my wife and I have been
involved in, wealth building,entrepreneurship, just about
anything else that will benefityou in a financial capacity.
But even when you're wellinformed, all of this knowledge
is really useless if you don'thave the right money mindset.
Believe it or not, we all havea relationship with money,

(04:51):
and you've got to understandyours to close the gap between
your goals and reality.
In terms of the format,it'll be a mix of solo
episodes and interviews.
I will interview financialexperts and everyday
people just like you.
I want this to beconversational,
informative, and I justwant it all to be genuine.
Now, that's basically thegist of it, but I don't want

(05:11):
you to leave empty handed.
I want you to walk awaywith something, or at least
consider something, I'velearned since I began on this
journey to financial freedom.
And I think it'll be mostimpactful if I summarize some of
my major life events after 2016,when I was involved in HIP.
I'll try to be as close to anelevator pitch as possible.

(05:33):
So in the summer of 2017, I wasfinishing my bachelor's degree,
working a full time internshipat a public accounting firm,
and I was studying for andultimately I passed the
Certified Fraud Examiner's exam.
Now, the accounting firmprovided me with an offer
to come back full time as anassociate, but they said, we
know you're going to do yourmaster's program, just go ahead
and do your master's degreeand come back when you're

(05:53):
done with that in a year.
But I wanted to continuelearning, getting some on the
job training, so in the fall Igot another full time job, and
I started my master's program.
In the winter I startedstudying for the CPA exam.
Now on to 2018.
Well, in February,I got married.
In March, I really startedto feel the pressure weighing
heavy on my shoulders.

(06:14):
And my, my mental healthwas really suffering a lot.
So I decided to quit my job.
Of course, my wife andI had spoken about it.
We said we have money in thebank to cover X amount of
months of living expenses.
And I committed to treatingstudying for the CPA exam
like a full time job.
And I did.
So in the summer, Ipassed my CPA exams.

(06:34):
I finished my master's programand got my master's degree.
A whole lot happened in a year.
And a few months later,we decided to move
to East Tennessee.
Just to mix thingsup a little bit.
I chose to leave the jobof my dreams at the time,
working as a forensicaccountant for Ernst Young,
EY, one of the four largestaccounting firms in the world.

(06:55):
Because they didn't, theydidn't have an office near
where I was moving to,and remote work wasn't a
viable option at the time.
Now I'm not suggestingyou uproot your family.
But it was a decision thatmade sense for us because
we were confident aboutthe opportunity it would
provide for us in the future.
But that included leavingall of our family behind

(07:17):
and we were all close, whichwas a massive sacrifice.
we felt we werewilling to live with.
It was a really difficultdecision, but we did it.
So shortly after moving,I got an auditor position
at an accounting firm,which taught me a lot.
Then a few years later, I gotan amazing opportunity to work
at Warner Bros. Discovery.

(07:37):
Well, somehow thingscame full circle and now
I'm doing investigativeauditing work again.
I've been so fortunate to learnabout corporate money for nearly
a decade, and I've seriouslystudied personal finance
for about 10 years as well.
And more on the personalside since we moved.
Between January 2019 andFebruary 2023, in about 4

(07:59):
years, my wife and I bought3 houses, two of them
rental properties, and webecame parents to two boys.
It was a lot.
especially considering mostof that happened during
the COVID 19 pandemic.
So it was very difficult, but itwas strategic and the planning,

(08:21):
well, not just planning, butplanning and action put us
in a place financially thatwas honestly unimaginable in
such a short period of time.
Had we not been so intentionalwith our money, including
during the time we were livingoff of one income while I
studied to become a CPA, wewouldn't have saved $60,000

(08:43):
before moving out of Miami, wewouldn't have been able to buy
our very first home as soonas we did, and we definitely
wouldn't be where we are today.
Makes me think of that quotewhere a lot of us overestimate
what we can do in one year,but we underestimate what
we can do in a decade.
And of course, thiswasn't nearly a decade.
We're talking four years,about five years now, but

(09:06):
it's been pretty crazy.
So I guess the moral of thismini journey is that sacrifice
can truly impact livesbeyond your wildest dreams.
That's, that'swhat it did for us.
And so I think part of thereason I'm doing all this
is to not only help you.

(09:27):
achieve your goals, helpyou uncover what financial
freedom means to you, but alsolearn where you're willing
to sacrifice because we allgot to sacrifice sometimes.
And hopefully the sooner youmake sacrifices, the better
off you and your family willbe in the future and for
years and years to come.
Anyway, thanks somuch for listening.

(09:49):
I'm so excited forwhat's to come.
and learning how wecan best serve you.
If anything I said resonatedwith you and you want to
learn more, please followthe show, share with others,
and let me know what youfound most interesting.
Also, please feel freeto follow me on other
social media platforms.
I am @ FinancialFreedomJunkieon Instagram, YouTube.

(10:12):
I'll include links inthe description below.
I truly appreciate you.
Thank you for being here.
And I'm excited for what'sin store for all of us.