I thought I would take the time to write about how I arrived at a net worth of 25K at 33 years old. According to Federal Reserve Board’s 2004 Survey of Consumer Finances (Source), the median net worth for those in my age group, between 30 and 39 is $44,200.

Understand the median net worth is not a perfect measurement because it covers a 10 year age range and last month I was only 32. As long as I continue my goal of achieving a yearly net worth growth of 30%, I should reach the median by the time I turn 35.

Right now, I live on Cape Cod with my parents. Don’t worry, I am not a free-loader. It is only with the mutual understanding I pay my fair share of the expenses at home. At this age, I am a firm believer in pulling my own weight around the house including my financial weight. However, this will not be the case for much longer when I get everything squared away for my next move.

To make a long story short, I basically arrived on the cape from Denver, Colorado where I lived for 5 years with nothing but a few assets including a retirement portfolio worth about 10K and some stocks worth about 1K. It was not a bad start considering everything I had to put up with to that point.

People often ask me “Why did you move to the cape?” Simply put, it was a chance to recoup and regroup myself (a slight variation of “R&R”). That is where the story comes in.

The Red-eye Flight

The night I left Colorado for the east coast, it was nearly a full moon and the Front Range was blanketed in snow from a snowstorm the day before. That night marked the cumulation of my 5 year effort at living on my own thousands of miles away from where I grew up.

It was my first taste of the “9 to 5″ life where I worked for a Fortune 500 company. It was this experience that opened my eyes to the daily routine of the employee lifestyle which was a stark contrast from the “wildstyle” I lived for the previous 5 years.

Amidst the memories of the terrific times I shared with my friends in Denver and throughout the Rocky Mountain Range of Colorado, I managed to experience valuable lessons regarding personal finance management. By no means was it an easy experience.

I moved to Denver with a few thousand dollars, a brand new car that had a $13,000 loan on it, no jobs waiting for me, and a small credit card balance. When I arrived in Denver on July 4th, I was 25 and fresh off the “wildstyle” path I was living for a couple years. All of that is for another post.

So when the sun came up, I was looking out to sea as the plane was circling Logan Airport on its’ approach to the runway. I was not thrilled to be coming “home” this way. I had a goal in mind when I left home which was to never return.

The funny thing was I did not return home, the home where I grew up. My parents had recently retired and moved away from the old neighborhood to the cape where my brother and his family also lived.

On one level, I did return home to where my family is and on a different level, I never went back. Regardless of where home was, I knew it was time to leave Denver, I no longer had any debt, but I also no longer had any source of income.

At this point, I had two choices, either take on debt until I found a source of income or accept the simple fact it was my pride that did not want to return home. I already knew from my experience in Denver how difficult it can be to recover from debt.

I did not want to head back down that path again so I told myself to suck it up and ask whether I could go home again or not. It was not an easy request to make. It is my belief that at 30 years old, no one should be living with their parents if they are fully capable of living on their own.

I also arrived right at the beginning of the “dead” season on the cape in December. During the off-season in many vacation spots, half of the businesses are closed for the season which makes it difficult to secure employment. On top of that, the cost of living on the cape is higher than the cost of living on the mainland.

I was fortunate to secure a part-time gig with a regional grocery chain I had previously worked for. It was during this time when I landed a second part-time gig at a regional treatment center. This second part-time gig soon turned into a full-time job which provided me the income stream I needed to start my R&R.

Make no mistakes about it, I was not home to relax. I still have a fury within me to leave home for good, to become financially independent on my own. It is because of this desire I gave myself a 3 year limit on my R&R. This is my third year on the cape and I am finally starting to get on my way because of my efforts to control my personal finances.

As I mentioned before, I was not without assets. As soon as I secured the full-time position, I signed up for my company’s 403(b) plan (the non-profit answer to 401k) and started making my contributions.

Slowly, month by month, the years began to pass and I saw my net worth begin to start rising. It was not until I first read the book, The Four Laws of Debt-Free Prosperity when I knew what I had to do.

Stay tuned to find out what it was that had to be done.