Who I am

Hey gang, Pedro here! I am an Active Duty Army Officer living in Germany who enjoys living life! I frequently participate as an age-group athlete in triathlon events (mostly 70.3 or half-distance), reading about finance, and travel with my family. Stationed in Germany, it is super easy to get around Europe! My family and I have taken advantage of this for the nearly two years we’ve been here by visiting over 15 countries thus far. I consider myself a jack of all trades. I am not the most knowledgeable about any one topic, but I know enough and where to find information to be interesting at a cocktail party!

“Expertise”

Why should you listen to me? Great question. I often ask why my kids don’t listen to me as often as I’d like, but maybe that’s for another blog entirely. I have a long history of education, self-exploration, and mistakes made throughout all topics triathlonpulse will write about. I have an undergraduate degree in Economics with a concentration in Finance from Buffalo State University. Before joining the Army, I worked in the finance industry for 10+ years in positions ranging from currency trading back-office support and fixed-income analytics to managerial accounting and user acceptance testing. Once upon a long time ago, I successfully received my Series 7 & Series 63 licenses from FINRA as part of my fixed-income job.

Throughout my career, I’ve counseled and helped numerous Soldiers (peers, subordinates, and superiors) manage their money best. I do this not because I get joy out of seeing highs and lows in the finance world but because people I work with see how financially independent my family and I are and are genuinely intrigued as to how to get debt-free and build a hefty emergency fund.

I have competed in numerous triathlons, my favorite being Ironman 70.3 Voliugmeni in Greece in October 2022. I have worked with private coaches and group coaches, just using a plan from Training Peaks, and even now, using an AI-driven training program. I’ve done much research on triathlon training, and I look forward to sharing some of those nuggets with you!

Regarding travel, as I mentioned, we’ve been to over 15 different countries in less than the two years we’ve been here. Much of that is by our proximity to Western European countries. More importantly, planning and timing are massive in my ability to take frequent trips in a fiscally constrained life that I try to live.

Bottom Line, I am here to help, amuse, and share your pain/anguish/agony regarding the three things this blog will focus on Triathlon training, personal finance, and travel.

Trust

Trust is the bedrock of any relationship, which rings true for this blog and everything that comes from it. I am dedicating my time to providing my readers with actionable action that they can use to improve their lives, whether through finances, fitness, or the enjoyment of seeing the world. I must be extremely clear, though: I am not a certified fitness coach, financial advisor, or travel agent. I am merely a guy who has read a lot and experienced a lot about what I like to talk about. My advice is simply that, just advice. Any action you take based on anything I have written, I cannot recommend enough that you run it by a financial professional, your doctor, or anyone else more credentialed than I.

You can find my privacy, cookie, etc. policies at the footer of this page. Throughout this site, there may be links to purchase items. If you buy these items, I will receive a small commission. This has no impact on your purchase prices, but it helps me in keeping the content fresh on this site and allows my wife to give me more time to spend building it 🙂

My Story

Personally, finance has always been a rough issue for me. I grew up extremely poor, not knowing whether or not I would have a decent meal every night. My parents worked very hard but were just dealt bad cards hand in hand. They did the best they could and did what money can’t buy…they instilled a work ethic in me and my three brothers that I still personify today. I worked as soon as I legally could, sometimes taking on numerous jobs. My goal was to live like a typical high schooler, but I had to be able to buy everything myself because my parents couldn’t.

I worked with my brother washing limousines and paid with empty bottles I’d collect from cleaning. Doing that for an entire summer allowed me to pay for my 11th-grade class trip to Toronto, Canada! In college, I was still not educated about money! I went from credit card to credit card, racking up debt. Fast forward to 5.5 years later, with one bachelor’s degree, $30k in student loan debt, and probably $20k in credit card debt, I landed a job paying $25k/year.

Without going too in-depth (I’ll likely write a longer blog post about this), it took me a while to get to financial safety, and it was only by hard work, sacrifice, sticking to a budget (and I went through plenty of types), and staying accountable.

Now, I have no debt, have healthy retirement savings (which I continue to contribute to), do not live paycheck-to-paycheck, and make purchases without the crippling fear of whether I can afford it. My psychology towards money had to change, and if it hadn’t, whenever I got myself out of debt, I would’ve ended up right back in the thick of it.

How to contact me

I’m fairly easy to get a hold of. I monitor this website frequently, but you can also find me via various social media platforms, which you will find below. I hope you find this site helpful, and if you do, please pin, share, and spread the word so that I can help others!

With love and peace,
Pedro Diaz