Courtesy of Katie Oelker
Katie Oelker runs a financial-coaching business from home in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
- Katie Oelker lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her husband and two kids.
- Oelker, 33, is a financial coach, blogger, and podcaster. Her husband, 35, works in sales at a technology company earning a six-figure salary.
- For Business Insider's "Real Money" series, Katie tracked their spending for a week.
- During the week, they spent a total of $1,423 on a big hospital bill, grocery delivery from Costco, and monthly subscriptions.
- Want to share a week of your spending? Email yourmoney@businessinsider.com.
I caught the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) bug earlier this year, and have been obsessed with becoming debt free since.
I'm not really all that into "retiring" early at this point, being that I have my own business and love what I'm doing, but I do love the idea of not owing anyone money. It definitely drives the way I use and view money.
Growing up, I was taught about money early on. My mom got me my first credit card at age 16 so I could use to pay for gas once a month and start establishing a credit score. She also bought me "The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous and Broke" by Suze Orman when I was in college, and I was hooked. After college, my dad told me to open a Roth IRA and fully fund it. I didn't know exactly what I was doing, but I'm glad I started when I did as saving that early made it possible to buy our first home.
My husband works at a local Minneapolis technology company in sales and makes a six-figure salary, which is great as it allows me to stay home with our kids, a two year old and a five month old.
I never figured I was the type to want to stay home, but I love it (most days). I know it's not for everyone and it certainly hasn't always been easy financially, but we can make it work and I'm grateful that I'm able to build my business with my babies at home.
I recently started my financial coaching practice back up after baby No. 2 and work around the kids' nap schedules and on evenings. It's chaotic but I love it. I also blog about personal finance matters and run a podcast geared towards women called Financially Free Females. I used to teach business education courses at the high school level and was a financial planner for a few years before calling it quits to stay home and do my own thing, so what I'm doing now is a great intersection of these worlds.