A quick post. This blog has been a hobby of mine now for the better part of this year, but in reality it’s been a few years in the making. I recently shared one of my articles with a friend and he in turn shared it with a group of firefighters online. I watched my total views skyrocket and a few of you even started to follow this blog. I’m incredibly humbled by the amount of love and support that everyone has sent and I hope you all get something out of this. I figured as a first post for anyone new to the blog, I figured I’d give a brief overview of who I am, what I believe, and what I wish to accomplish with this blog.
First of all, my name is Tanner Bixler. I grew up in San Diego in a fire service family and from an early age I knew exactly what I was going to do with my life. I was going to be a firefighter, but my father insisted I get an education first. I picked UC Davis because they had a resident fire program. I picked economics because that was the degree that would get me out of school the fastest. I loved being a firefighter. I hated the financial world. I graduated from Davis in 2009 in the grips of the Great Financial Crisis. It was not a great time to be in economics or the fire department. I joined SDFD. My academy class was the last before a three year hiring freeze. We endured a horrible public sentiment towards us due to our “lavish benefits package and overtime.” I’ll never forget being flipped off and having a cup of hot coffee hurled at me one morning. The driver was in a suit. He drove a brand new Mercedes Benz. Yeah, that was a sign of the times. Our economy recovered. The hate towards us faded, but I have to tell you, even in those dark times, I still loved my job. Times are headed towards doom and gloom. I see people that I care about loosing faith in the job, our leadership, and system we swore an oath to protect. It’s hard to blame them, but it’d be unforgivable to not try and do something about it. So this is my effort. I’d first like to throw a few things out there that I believe.
-Inflation is on the rise. We are getting priced out of many things and this will push us into speculative and irresponsible investing strategies just to keep the lights on. I would like to give as much information as possible about how to minimize risk in investing and how to weather inflation. I would like my readers to know that every dollar spent investing should be strategically placed. The era of every investment going up and up and up may continue a few more years, but eventually the party will stop. If you haven’t planned for risk, you could loose it all. You’ll find what I have been working towards in the “Strategy” section of the blog.
-Investing can be confusing. When starting out in investing, there are so many phrases and terms to navigate. If it seems confusing, don’t worry. There are many simple concepts that are purposely made complicated in order for you not to get the most out of your investments. My goal is to decode these concepts in the “Tactical Terms” portion of the blog. Got a term or concept you’d be interested in learning? Please let me know. You all learned how to do some extraordinary things in the fire service. Learning some basics in investing should be easy! I want to do everything I can to make it that way.
-Our freedoms of a flexible schedule are being compromised. Due to unprecedented staffing challenges, our freedom to go home on our days off or even take a day off for that matter are being compromised. There is no easy answer or solution. I will add a “Spit Ball” section of this blog, I’d like to highlight morning meeting table conversations and turn them into studies and theories about how we can ensure the flexibility of this great profession. Perhaps there are other economics/finance related issues that you’d be interested in. Please let me know if there is anything you’d like me to explore.
-I have some huge limitations. I’m a guy who threw away an economics degree to become a firefighter. My method is far from perfect, so I’m happy to share my mistakes and my successes in the “My Story” section of the blog.
What this blog isn’t
This blog is not investment advice. This blog is just simply my personal view on how these crazy forces of political and economic insanity are forcing us to become investors in order to get by. It’s either that or we work half the year. This is my reaction after scratching my head in disbelief. I’ve noticed an uptick in people buying stocks, real estate, crypto and other investments with very little idea of what they are doing. This is me dusting off my old Econ books….I don’t have all the answers by a long shot, but I want to give you some tools to make better financial decisions and to teach them in ways a firefighter could appreciate. The decisions are ultimately yours to make. We were all given the knowledge to go running into a burning building? Armed with the right training it’s pretty straightforward forward and doable. Skip on the legwork and it’s only a matter of time before disaster strikes. Investing is no different.
I want nothing more than to see every one of my brother and sister firefighters be happy an thrive financially. Again thank you all for the support. I hope you and your families find all the happiness and prosperity that is well deserved. I hope you enjoy this blog.
-Tanner
The Firefighter Economist 