Meet Tim

I was born on a hot August night in Duluth, Minnesota, overlooking Lake Superior...starting my love affair with lakes. Early in life I was introduced to Lake Vermilion, near the Boundary Waters, and all my life I knew I had to end up there.

But my father was transferred to Minneapolis when I was 9 years old and I grew up happily in a happy little suburb full of kids playing games. Sports pretty much consumed my life...that and reading. Until my senior year of high school when I inadvertently got the lead in a play at an all-girls private high school...whew...and met Mary...well more than just met Mary.

We got married during my first quarter at the University of Minnesota with the reluctant blessing and best wishes of our parents. We were on our own. Thus, we were very practical and pragmatic and only had two children while I was in school...but I did manage to graduate...and without any loans or debt. Don't ask me how, but I did work my little butt off.

So without any debt, we were able to sell the mobile home we owned and buy a cute little house in a cute little neighborhood, Edina Morningside, adjacent to the Country Club district. I took a position in an experimental school teaching English, Improvisational Theater, Creative Writing, and just about anything else I wanted. It was a gas.

After three years, we decided to try country living and squatted in an old farm house tending to the absentee owner's horses and cattle. We sold the Morningside house and put the proceeds into a liquid investment. Man, the relief to have a cash reserve! We realized the stress we had been under all those years living paycheck to paycheck.

The "experiment' at my school ended, so I took a sabbatical and Mary and I taught at a school in Bogota', Colombia. While there, we adopted Alexandra...so now three children, and got pregnant with what turned out to be twin girls. Two to five in a year!

So, broke again and back to the U.S.. With a little help from my in-laws who took pity on us, I'm afraid, we bought an old farm...and I continued teaching. I loved teaching and coaching; wouldn't have done anything else....until I was abruptly introduced to the "pink slip:" declining enrollment hit my school district.

So, we sold the farm, making out very well, financially, and moved back to the city. I took a job training at large financial planning company and started my own planning practice, eventually forming Munkeby Financial, Inc. with my son, a good friend and my daughter...again, working my (still) little butt off.

The diligence and hard work had paid off as I became "independent' at age 40. I still loved helping people work toward their own "financial" independence, but I was able to make coaching my twins a priority in my life. That paid off too, as we were able to take first place in our elite soccer league, and won two national tournaments.

Mary and I now live most of the time at ... you know... Lake Vermilion, where I found a small resort with five cabins...five kids, five cabins - works out pretty good. I spend much of my time speaking at schools and universities to graduates entering the workforce. They are inheriting a mess. They desperately need to know what to do to escape the financial doldrums we currently find ourselves in and to become financially independent themselves. More than any generation in history, they are on their own.

So...I have written this little book, If I Had a Million Dollars: How to Achieve Financial Independence Before Your Parents Do. If you're new to or soon to enter the workforce, I think it's a good idea to read it. You should be able to get through it as it was intended to be an easy read...and, hopefully, understandable and motivational. I hope your life will be happier for it.