Who
Hi, my name is Mika Koivisto. I’m business owner, IT consultant, investor and dad to two boys. My goal is to become financially independent but not to retire early. I love what I do but I also know what kind of freedom of choice having solid financial situation gives.
I don’t have financial background but I have studied it on my own from books, seminars and courses. There is always more to learn even though I’m probably nearing the 10 000 hours they say to become an expert. Quite fittingly I have been involved in the finance sector since 2017 also through my IT consulting work.
This blog documents my journey to financial independence and beyond. It’s going to give you ideas and tools to improve your financial situation.
My Story
I wasn’t always as interest as now about finance and despite reaching quite high salary I wasn’t investing really in anything but stuff I didn’t need. I’ve been always able to keep by budget quite balanced so I wasn’t spending more than I could pay but I sure spent it pretty much all. My buffer/emergency fund was never more that 5000€ and I just relied on being able to use credit card or take loan against my apartment I had bought. That apartment eventually became rental apartment but the income from that wasn’t reinvested but rather spent.
While I was living in USA I suddenly realised that this can’t go on. I had no social security or safety net I had back home in Finland and in case I had been let go I’d be on my puny savings that wouldn’t even cover the move back to Finland. That happened in 2012 and that is when I started systematically to pay off my debt, increase my emergency fund and learn about investing in stocks. Already the next year I had decent emergency fund I made my first investments on the stock market. I also discovered Peer-to-Peer lending then and have been hooked on it ever since. In spring of 2014 I had paid off my car (a 2011 Mustang), motorcycle and consumer debt. Right around that time me and my wife decided to go back to Finland to start a family and wait for our petition for permanent residency.
Since spring of 2013 I’ve also systematically followed the growth of my net worth and investments by doing mini financial report monthly. I still do those reports to myself but now a days I’m more focused on the income my investments generate. I post a monthly portfolio update to go over where have I invested and what income they’ve generated for me.
In 2017 I left my high paying software development job and started to work on my own as consultant and that is when we decided to ditch our plans to live in USA and stay in Finland. That wasn’t easy decision but it’s the best I’ve done and couldn’t be more happy. I’ve been able to combine my passion for finance and tech skills and currently am consulting in the largest Finnish bank. I’m the lead designer for their PSD2 APIs and our team is doing also other public facing APIs for the retail bank.
In Media
I’ve been interviewed by various Finnish business journals and news papers and I also had a talk about long term investing on the biggest Finnish investment convention Sijoitus Invest.
- Iltalehti – Mika Koivisto tavoittelee taloudellista riippumattomuutta (Finnish)
- Seura – Saatko veronpalautuksia? Näillä bloggaajien vinkeillä laitat rahat poikimaan (Finnish)
- Aamulehti – Mika Koivisto, 40, sijoittaa kaikki poikansa lapsilisät (Finnish)
- Kauppalehti – Mika, 40, haluaa jälkikasvustaan eläkeläismiljonäärin (Finnish)
- Talouselämä – AL: Mika, 40, on laskenut, miten hänen 2-vuotiaasta pojastaan tulee eläkeläisenä miljonääri (Finnish)
- Arvopaperi 6-7/2018 – Sijoitin viimeksi, online version. (Finnish)
- Taloussanomat – Sijoitus Invest 2018 investment convention talk (video). (Finnish)
- YLE Puhe Pörssipäivä (radio show) – Pitkäjänteisen sijoittajan polulla vaurauteen (Finnish)
Contact Me
You can reach me at mika [at] myjourneytowealth.com. I’m also on twitter @MatkallaVauraut (Finnish). On Instagram I post more personal stuff in English. You can also follow me with RSS feed.