Hi. My name is Shawn Roe, and I’m a father, husband, and UX Content Strategist. I seek to inspire through simplicity. I spent at least 7 years living and teaching English at universities in South Korea. Somehow, I was able to travel to more countries before I turned 30 than I thought I’d see in my life. My goal is to inspire others by sharing what I’ve learned through stories about:
- Travel (Asia, US, S. America)
- Money (personal finance, saving, and investing)
- Random how to’s
About me:
I was born and raised in Virginia on the east coast about a 15 minute bike ride from the beach. After playing on nationally-ranked baseball teams and being the President of my high school, I got into and graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology and a minor in Astronomy. I taught English at a few universities in South Korea while writing content and designing websites. After moving back to the US, I landed an amazing job at one of the best places to work. In 2019, I finished my Masters in Liberal Arts with a concentration in digital media design from Harvard Extension. I’m married to my best friend and together we’re raising the coolest little boy and most fearless little girl in the world.
Travel – I’ve been fortunate enough to see more of the world that I ever dreamed. Here are some of the places I’ve been and things I’ve done:
- Climbed the Great Wall in China
- Hiked to the top of Mt. Fuji in Japan (in a typhoon like a fool)
- Surfed in 5 different countries including Indonesia, Australia and Costa Rica
- Drove New Zealand from top to bottom
- Drove cross-country in the US three times
- Lived a mile from the Pacific Ocean in SoCal
- Volunteered as a plumber in Peru
- Hiked the Salkantay Trail to Machu Pichuu
- Drank Guinness in Dublin, Ireland
- Sky-dived with my mom
- Scuba-dived in the Philippines, Thailand, New Zealand, and Malaysia
- Rode a camel in Mongolia
- Rock-climbed in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
- Saw Angkor Watt at sunrise
- Saw the Andaman Sea at sunset
- Learned to paraglide and completed 7 solo flights
I consider the life I’ve lived to be lucky and 100 times more adventurous than I ever imagined. Most importantly, I’m grateful to have loving, supportive, and inspiring friends and family by my side along the way.
Money – I’m debt free and plan to stay that way for the rest of my life (not including mortgage debt). I’ve started a bunch of businesses and most have failed. One was a success and paid for my masters degree! I’m a believer in investing in index funds and plan to retire at an age younger than my parents when they did. I’m a budget lover and religiously organize my finances to make sure I can save for all my goals including traveling the world.
How to’s – I’m constantly learning how to do fun and useful things, so I figured I’d attempt to share some with the world. My most popular how-to article is How to Create a Super Bowl Betting Chart, which gets 1,000’s of hits every year around Super Bowl time. I’ll try to write more fun articles like this.