ChooseFI

043R | In this podcast we discuss our takeaways from Episode 43 with Fritz from the Retirement Manifesto plus an in-depth discussion of the Roth IRA conversion and Mega Backdoor Roth, and taxable income scenarios for retirement contributions. In Today's Podcast we cover: Our big takeaways from Episode 43 with Fritz from Retirement Manifesto Brad as a 'Mystery Reader' for his daughter's class plus their trip to Natural Bridge State Park and a FI lesson for his daughters How to tackle drawdown strategies and how that opened our eyes The concept of balance that Fritz brought up in Episode 43 How we each have a different path to Financial Independence and we have to find what we each value and how much safety we require How important the math is, but also how the personal side is an important part of the equation Jonathan's decision to pay off his student loans early and how this may not have been optimal mathematically, but was the "right" decision for him Feedback from the audience on the episode, but specific points from Danny Questions surrounding inflation on your safe withdrawal rate and early retirement Feedback from the audience about delaying social security The distinction between the Roth IRA conversion and the Mega Backdoor Roth IRA The tax issues surrounding the Roth IRA conversion Practical Application of the Mega Backdoor Roth Vishal and Brad share the nuances of trying to navigate the Mega Backdoor Roth: They need to allow for after-tax contributions and in-service distributions/withdrawals Explanation of the Mega Backdoor Roth Email from Zac about the value of using pre-tax or post-tax retirement contributions when you're already in a low tax bracket Where is the line where we'd consider putting into a pre-tax or post-tax retirement account? A scenario of someone with a $25,000 income and where they'd fall in the tax brackets and how to lower that A scenario of an individual with a $60,000 gross income and what they should consider with their retirement contributions How would Brad and Jonathan choose if they were in this situation? Itunes reviews and book giveaways The Vault is live Click Here for Access Links from the show: Retirement Manifesto FI by 40 Millionaire Educator Mega Backdoor Roth article by the Mad Fientist Post from Vishal from Everything about Education about Mega Backdoor Roth The Wealthy Accountant Books Mentioned in the Show: Hiking to Waterfalls in Virginia

043 | In this podcast we have a far-ranging conversation with Fritz from the Retirement Manifesto about retirement drawdown strategies, his 'buckets' system, and his upcoming retirement. In Today's Podcast we cover: Retirement drawdown strategies with Fritz from Retirement Manifesto How Fritz focuses on what life is about after retirement such as how you're going to spend your time Fritz is 9 months away from retirement himself A background on his story in corporate America and his path to FI and early retirement The difference in perspectives between retirement dates and savings rates between the FI community and the population at large What would Fritz's path have looked like if he found the FI community decades earlier Fritz stayed with the same company for 32 years and has a traditional pension Where did his interest in retirement spreadsheets and the blog come from? How writing a blog helps develop and formalize your own thoughts and plans What to consider when building your own retirement drawdown strategy The Three Bucket Strategy for retirement drawdowns and how Fritz separates his own holdings by these buckets What a simplification strategy looks like and how to avoid taxation with this simplification How you can create a net neutral taxable position by specifically identifying losses and gains to sell when trying to simplify How Fritz plans to use Roth conversions while he is in a zero-income position for a 2 year period and pay $0 in tax on the conversions Explanation of the Mega Backdoor Roth and how Fritz is utilizing it The equity to bond split that Fritz uses plus how to consider asset allocation and risk Why does Fritz use a 60/40 Stock to Bon split when he has a pension and social security coming? Why Fritz believes you shouldn't take more risk than you have to Fritz's thoughts on delaying a pension and social security to get a guaranteed return A hypothetical early retiree example and how Fritz would think through this example and advise them The uncertainty of health care in early retirement How they can track their annual spending by putting money into "Bucket 1" What annual tasks do they do with a 'year in review'? The variable approach to withdrawal rates and flexibility The value of protecting your Roth accounts to let them grow as long as possible Life insurance policy discussion The flexibility to take fun seasonal jobs if you wanted an adventure Health Insurance and long-term care insurance discussion

042R | In today's Friday Roundup we discuss Episode 42 with JW from The Green Swan, plus various discussions about community and feedback from the audience. In Today's Podcast we cover: A discussion of Episode 42 with JW from The Green Swan Scott Rieckens and his crew from the documentary Playing With FIRE were in Richmond this week filming our podcast, lives and a Richmond FI get together The importance of community in the Financial Independence world and the volunteers we've received to be 'community leaders' for Choose FI meetups How we're going to setup Slack for the Choose FI community and we need someone to help organize it The future Choose FI Vault that will be a digital locker for useful files for the community The decision JW made to buy a business with his brothers and how unconventional that is How you need to consider all possibilities when going into business with anyone Brad and Jonathan didn't have the discussion of all future possibilities and didn't put together an operating agreement, but are now going to do so thanks to JW's advice Feedback from Lucas on the Green Swan episode about not relating to a high dollar value acquisition A question from Lucas on how this differs from buying an individual stock and if they had an unfair advantage by being CPAs and MBAs We all have a unique path to FI You need to see how different investment and business opportunities fit into your life and with your own risk profile Calculation based on getting a return of 8% versus 16% over a 15-year period How hustle can be as or more important than any skills or certifications you have How putting skills from various areas together will help you succeed dramatically in life Different ways to improve a business from Jonathan if you're a lifelong learner Announcement of the next Camp FI in Williamsburg, Virginia in April 2018 "Collect skills not stuff" motto from Jonathan and how he wants to explore a "Maker space" for a community of learners The sharing possibilities of having pooled resources with neighbors or communities The new Mr. Money Mustache World Headquarters for people with the FI and entrepreneurial mindset Buy Nothing Project and how it relates to "the alley will provide" Travel Rewards update on changes to card opening options Itunes reviews of the week Links from the show: The Green Swan Playing With FIRE Slack ChooseFI Vault Camp FI mid-Atlantic in Williamsburg, VA from April 13-April 16 2018 Mr. Money Mustache Buy Nothing Project

042 | In Episode 42 we have a wide ranging discussion with JW from The Green Swan about his FI path, going into business with family, buying an existing business and much more. In Today's Podcast we cover: A discussion with JW from The Green Swan about financial independence and busing buying and ownership How JW got involved in the FIRE community A discussion of life insurance and how much someone in the FI community really needs to think about They were already on a path to financial independence even before finding the FI community online How JW approached college with the mindset of graduating early JW's dad passed many of the tips and tricks of the FI community to him in his teens JW's relationship with his older brother made a big difference in his FI journey and they long talked about buying a business The concepts discussed in the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad and how it could help you get multiple streams of income JW and his brothers were saving for many years in anticipation of buying a business How they researched the options of buying a business How they could step in and grow the business they intended to purchase What did they do to fix the culture in the business and reassure their employees about the future of the business How did they know they could add value to this or any other company? How they structured their legal entity to optimize most efficiently They are investigating purchasing a similar business to expand their business What does the path look like for each of the four brothers and how have they navigated the sibling dynamic? They entered the business with 'eyes wide open' to the potential to damage their family relationships They built an operating agreement with all potential future possibilities so they could navigate future issues. It was important that they did this from the outset The unexpected joys and crazy things that happen when you own a small business with many employees and JW's examples How are they funding a future potential acquisition? How do these businesses impact JW's financial independence number? He is calculating his FI number without even considering the income or equity in the businesses Hot Seat Questions Favorite life hack is listening to podcasts and audio books at 2x speed He wishes he would have done 'house hacking' like his father did when he was younger

In this Friday Roundup we discuss Episode 41 with Paige and Sam on extreme frugality, radical insourcing and the high cost of living path to FI plus a voicemail from Big Ern and members of our community. In Today's Podcast we cover: The discussion of Episode 41 with Paige and Sam about reaching early retirement through extreme frugality and radical insourcing in a high cost of living city like Los Angeles Jonathan's story about visiting his childhood library and trying to find old computer games Book recommendations from the ChooseFI Facebook group The list of obstacles that could have stopped Paige from reaching financial independence, but she overcame anyway It's easy to make excuses, but your journey almost invariably will be easier than Paige's The aspects of high cost of living that would be universal to other people: Defraying the costs of housing by sharing an apartment "The alley will provide" as a perfect quote for ChooseFI and a way to think about not buying new items Making a fun game out of buying "new" items (new to you) at a garage sale The important of collecting skills instead of stuff plus a list of random skills you can pick up Don't be complacent with the knowledge and skills you have. Always look to learn. There are so many free ways to get entertainment in a big city A big takeaway was that Sam's parents cut the friction and helped him get started investing The hardest part is to take action, so helping other family members can help their lives dramatically. Jonathan thinks about this with his siblings Don't let the perceived complexity of task overwhelm you and cause you to not take action. Just break it down into steps and take action. Andrew shared how he and his wife break down the ChooseFI podcast every Monday where they discuss with their kids in a fun way How Brad setup a Vanguard investment account for his kids in 2017 Are there tax implications for investing for your children? Discussion of Paige and Sam's housing situation Paige's "mistake" that was right for her You have many levers to potentially pull and not everyone needs to make the same choices, but you need to not make excuses Cutting expenses is the low hanging fruit of the path to FI. Changing your income is not as immediate Buying used takes the mental anguish out of purchasing and perfection Jonathan's life hack for purchasing at Amazon: Camel Camel Camel Case study for how to use Camel Camel Camel Don's call that he officially reached financial independence! Call from our in-house expert Big Ern about how to mitigate sequence of returns risk Winner of the side-hustle competition: Tallis who is providing dance classes to those with Parkinson's Disease Call from Dave about the business he created Itunes review book winner Links from the show: Classic Reload video games Freecycle Frugalwoods Camel Camel Camel Early Retirement Now Case Study in Part 11 of the Safe Withdrawal Series The Stock Series at JL Collins NH PopUp Business School Books Mentioned in the Show: The Lies of Locke Lamora Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss

041 | In today's podcast we discuss the High Cost of Living Path to FI with ChooseFI community members Paige and Sam who live in Los Angeles and have been pursuing FI in a HCOL with sub-$50,000 per year jobs. I n Today's Podcast we cover: Episode 41: A conversation with Paige and Sam about pursuing Financial Independence in a high cost of living area on a lower income Paige pushed back on our limiting belief that you "can't" achieve financial independence on a low income in a high cost of living area Sam introduced Paige to MMM but Paige ran with it from there Paige's back story Paige had a negative net worth in her mid-40s Since Paige has earned and lived in the $30,000 range she is used to that and now that she's making more she can save that difference Paige intends to hit early retirement in 2025 and has a 50% savings rate She uses her Roth IRA as an "emergency fund" since she can withdraw the contributions at any time tax and penalty free Sam's story behind retiring "early and often" He did not have student loans and also his parents modeled investing for him well before he was earning income himself Sam's parents always put gifts and other money into his investing account instead of giving it to him to spend Sam is technically at his FI number, but he does still continue to work Sam's history of his apartment renting in Los Angeles and sharing apartments with roommates to lower the costs (over a 20+ year period) Sam has never made more than $50,000 in a year Having to be slightly more intense to reach FI in a low cost of living area. The best way being to live with roommates and not having a car payment They don't buy new items – the "alley provides" and they can find free stuff on the street or at Goodwill, etc. They are very deliberate and intentional about saving money on food and groceries Limiting beliefs on why people like Paige and Sam couldn't retire early and pursue financial independence and why they rejected them The big three items they can control: Housing, Transportation and Food There are so many free activities in a big city, so it is easy to keep a nearly $0 entertainment budget in a city They are not minimalists at all, but they just don't buy new things. Sam is an extreme DIY-er and picks How did Sam become a DIY-er? You don't have to agonize over decisions when you aren't trying to maximize or perfect each buying decision How they approached their home buying decision differently with the mindset of people who can fix essentially anything Buy a house that is just bad enough that the flippers don't want it – per Paige What is the long-term play for their new house? Do they intend to buy other homes to fix and sell? Extreme ownership of your decisions and knowing what you want Paige's plan for early retirement and how to make it to 65 and social security where she'll get a 'big raise' Hot Seat questions

040R | In today's Friday Roundup we discuss our takeaways from Episode 40 with Noah and Becky from Money Metagame, plus voicemails from the ChooseFI community and our in-house expert Keith from the Wealthy Accountant. In Today's Podcast we cover: Discussion of Episode 40 with Noah and Becky from Money Metagame about the Gap Year Jonathan took action and followed Geoff's advice to start culling his closet and decluttering his life Jonathan is struggling with how to categorize and track his donations For tax purposes you definitely do want to track your noncash donations It's always easier to track things along the way as opposed to doing it all at the end of the year How is Jonathan mentally approaching the process of decluttering his life? How Brad would approach cleaning out closets by making a game out of it Noah and Becky found FI at a young age and incredibly have not made any major financial mistakes in their lives You have more and more power in your life as you go along your FI path and reach your Milestones of FI. It isn't an all or nothing thing. Becky realized she was getting burned out and was able to make a decision to leave her job based on a position of strength Becky and Noah have no fear moving forward and that is incredibly inspiring You don't have to maximize every dollar but can focus on what brings you happiness How a ChooseFI app would add value to the community and an ask whether this would provide people value Announcement of the two finalists for the Startup Business Competition with Alan Donegan: Rachel and Tallis Discussion of the phrase 'Side Hustle' and how Brad hasn't liked that phrase Voicemail from Alex with a question for Keith from the Wealth Accountant on retirement plans available to self-employed individuals Response voicemail from Keith from the Wealthy Accountant Life hack from Noah from Money Metagame on how to save on movie tickets Voicemail from Nicholas about the positive changes he's made in his life in the last 5+ weeks since he found ChooseFI Discussion about the value you receive from cards on an ongoing basis Itunes review for the winner of the book drawing Links from the show: Money Metagame Sell My Comic Books website ESI Money Frugal Professor PopUp Business School The Wealthy Accountant Advance Screenings for movie tickets The Points Guy: How Closing a Credit Card Impacts Your FICO Score

040 | Today we have Noah and Becky from Money Metagame on the podcast to discuss their story, their upcoming 'Gap Year' of travel plus an incredible college hack they used to get full-tuition scholarships. In Today's Podcast we cover: A discussion with Noah and Becky from Money Metagame Noah and Becky's history behind their path to FI Travel Rewards was what initially got them into the world of Financial Independence How Noah introduced this idea to Becky originally Becky was originally hesitant but after seeing some stress in their lives became more open to it How the personal finance and financial independence sub-Reddits became Noah's go-to sources for information The story behind the name Money Metagame How Noah and Becky both got full-tuition scholarships to Purdue University through the Evans Scholars program How they found out about this program to get these college scholarships The background on how others can benefit from this scholarship opportunity What was the thought process behind them buying a house in Seattle upon moving there? The mortgage on their house was actually less than what they were paying in rent What was the process behind them getting rid of PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) on their home? After they found the concept of FI they started maxing out their 401ks, HSAs and Roth-IRAs, plus regular brokerage accounts Their savings rate went from 6% in 2014 to 58% in 2015 after finding FI. It has since gone up from there Becky wasn't happy in her job and that gave them the push to quit their jobs and take a 'Gap Year' to travel around the United States They are past "Half FI" on the list of FI Milestones What do they plan to do with their home in Seattle? What did the conversation look like when they told their family and friends? Could Becky dial back certain aspects of the nursing profession and only focus on the parts of the job she loves? Noah's decision to leave his particular company and job What do they have to consider when embarking on a trip like this? There is room for FI optimization since they'll have minimal income in 2018 How does the interplay work between realizing "income" through capital gains and getting subsidized health care What does their trip look like in general and what are their plans for the actual travel? They will be focusing on lower level redemption hotels through Hyatt, Starwood and IHG How will they get their mail while on the road? What scares them about this trip and experience? This was all possible because they found FI Information on their honeymoon to Fiji as their best travel rewards win Does it make sense to use miles for business class or first class? Hot Seat Question

039R | In today's podcast we discuss Episode 39 with Gwen from Fiery Millennials, plus a 'Cruise Control Path to FI' case study example and voicemails from our community members. In Today's Podcast we cover: The Friday Roundup after Episode 39 with Gwen from Fiery Millennials A whole new FI world for Brad and Laura after their youngest daughter went to kindergarten They have the opportunity to live more of a FI lifestyle and have to now figure out what that looks like Second Generation FI and examples of Brad's kids exhibiting their behaviors ChooseFI is an opportunity for Brad and Jonathan to share these stories with their kids and also document their FI paths Gwen's lightbulb moment she had during college and how that changed her trajectory How intelligent Gwen was with her college decision and pursuing a full scholarship Brad should have focused his own college search on places where he could have gotten a full merit scholarship The concept of the 'cruise control path to FI' Second Generation FI Case study example of how savings would work maxing out their 401k from 22 to 32 The value of compounding over decades The importance of starting to save early and the concept of time as a Pillar of FI The ability to put money into your kid's Roth IRAs even if they are under 18. We need to do more research on this to document what's allowed Example of putting $5,500 into a Roth IRA for a five year stretch from 13 to 18 and what it would be worth at age 60 Jonathan's example of contributing to a 401k from 32 to 60 You have to get started and take action today, even if you've made the "wrong" decisions in the past Gwen's desire to build up the FI community is incredibly impressive Announcement of the last three finalists for the PopUp Business School competition with Alan Donegan Voicemails from the three finalists Voicemail from Justin about the career path of an air traffic controller as a path to FI making significant money without a college degree Itunes book giveaways Links from the show: Fiery Millennials Go Curry Cracker The Wealthy Accountant PopUp Business School USAJobs.gov

039 | In today's podcast we have a conversation with Gwen from Fiery Millennials about her millennial path to FI plus some hacks that she used to save on college and increase her savings rate. In Today's Podcast we cover: Our guest on Episode 39 is Gwen from Fiery Millennials Was Gwen from the generation that grew up with electronics from day 1? A background on Gwen's story saving money when she was younger. She saved 50% of her income Gwen pursued dual enrollment classes and entered college with 23 college credits Gwen did the research with the college first to determine what credits would count Brad's example of programs that exist in Virginia and likely other states where you can attend a community college and transfer to a state university Gwen joined the Air Force in the Air National Guard to pay for college, but actually got a merit scholarship from her college Gwen still has 8 semesters of free college remaining for the future due to these dual scholarships How did Gwen find the concept of Financial Independence? Finding FI helped Gwen keep on the path and be conscious of her consumerism and save more Gwen's search for an internship via job hiring boards or job fairs What's the difference between searching on the job board and the job fairs? How to look professional and make a positive impression at a job fair Your FI path is dramatically easier when you do things right from the beginning Gwen was maxing out her retirement contributions How you can be on cruise control if you do the right things the first 10-15 years of your career Gwen had a roommate when she got out of college so she was only paying $450 per month in rent Gwen pursued rental real estate after attending the Chautauqua She landed on the idea of 'house hacking' for her rental property She bought a triplex and the rental from the 2 other units more than pays for her rent, so she is paying $0 out of pocket for living expenses Gwen feels she may have rushed into buying a property since she bought the second property she looked at Gwen is maxing out her 401k, HSA and Roth IRA and then additional savings go towards future down payments Gwen's savings rate should be around 80%, but extraordinary expenses on her rental home bring it down around 50% Gwen still has her car from college and she intends to hold it for years to come What are Gwen's plans for the future? Hot seat questions

038R | In today's podcast we discuss Episode 38 The Why of FI plus we announce three of the finalists for the business building competition with Alan Donegan of PopUp Business School and a voicemail from community member Geoff. In Today's Podcast we cover: Discussion of Episode 38 on the Why of FI Jonathan's Frugal Win of the Week at Costco by saving on protein bars Jonathan's nutrition goals and the underlying concepts of simplicity and removing decision fatigue How unusual it is that the FI community is outside the mainstream by saving money whereas the norm is spending every dollar you have The elevator pitch for Financial Independence Brad believes the psychology behind the Why of FI is more important than the actual numbers Numbers will always be a focus as is saving money, but the psychology is essential How has Jonathan's focus changed since the beginning of his FI journey and since the beginning of ChooseFI Jonathan has latched onto the ideas of simplicity and happiness The new concept of the FireWalker, as coined by our community member Cody Has Jonathan shifted from being a spender fundamentally? How has the journey impacted Brad? Brad's thought about community and connection matter more than he even thought The connections that are made possible due to the ChooseFI community Local community meetups and our request for community leaders throughout the country and world Everything is connected with FI as a life optimization strategy Voicemail from Geoff about sequence of return risk and working towards a minimalist lifestyle and how to optimize life What do you have control over? Focus on that Cutting expenses and getting your lifestyle creep under control The 4% rule explained Geoff's plans for different scenarios and his budgets Geographic arbitrage for moving to low cost of living area Think in advance for different situations you may face in the future Competition with Alan Donegan from PopUp Business School: We play 3 of the finalists that were picked by our panel Giveaway winner for the free Camp ticket in Florida in January Book giveaways Vote for the Plutus Awards to support the many bloggers who are active members of our community Links from the show: Impact Theory Quest Nutrition Retirement Manifesto JL Collins Stock Series The Shockingly Simple Math Behind Early Retirement Dominick Quartuccio PopUp Business School FI 180 Vote for the Plutus Awards

038 | In today's podcast we discuss one of our most important topics: The Why of FI. Why we pursue this path, why we think it's a life 'superpower' and how it can help you escape the hamster wheel of life decades earlier than most people could ever dream. In Today's Podcast we cover: Discussion of the Why of FI as an introduction to the concept of Financial Independence and why we've chosen this path and this community Jonathan's explanation of the "hamster wheel" and what the normal 'American dream' looks like and why this will keep you chained to this treadmill for decades to come This is not a pursuit of freedom, but a pursuit of "stuff" You're working full-time to afford these things that you can't use because you're working all the time The important thing to focus on is what makes you happy Time is your most important resource This is not about liking or hating your job. This is about freedom and taking the power back in your life The concept of drifting and Jonathan's questions that can help you highlight this feeling in your life It is so hard for most people to find a way out of this life because they don't have the time, energy or resources to figure a way out. But FI is the path out! FI is a truly optimistic message where everyone can make a difference going forward in their lives Instead of buying stuff, we're looking to buy our magic 'perpetual money making machine' We try to keep our savings rate as high as possible and investing in low cost index funds This is not a get rich quick scheme. You need to learn what you don't know to get on the path to Financial Independence FI is about math and your savings rate FI is not about deprivation through frugality, but about making smart choices and optimizing things in life How Brad saves a significant amount of money by being smart about a handful of things like house, car, cell phone, cable and food Jonathan is a 'reluctant frugalist' but he has seen the value in pursuing FI FI gives you the power to choose what you do with your time and if you intend to work going forward You can start tomorrow to save money and pursue this path Now you can focus on what you actually want to do with your time in the future Most people's lives would collapse within 3 months if they lost their jobs, but pursuing FI changes that entirely and gives you power to choose what you do You also have flexibility that would have been previously impossible

037R | Today we discuss Episode 37 with Scott Rieckens, the filmmaker behind the FI documentary Playing with FIRE, plus emails and voicemails from the community and a discussion of reaching FI in a high cost of living area. The great American Eclipse and our viewing Brad's vacation and how they spent $0 on hotels for 16 nights The value of slow travel and why it makes vacation dramatically better. Vacation doesn't have to be stressful How expectations management is so crucial to life and on vacation Time is such a crucial tool Scott's slow travel with his family and the yearlong adventure they are on visiting family and friends while filming the documentary There should be creativity and excitement in your future and your decisions The list of things that made Scott's wife happy on a weekly basis and how this was an inspired decision by Scott Sell your value first and then grow your network. How Scott did a masterful job at this by creating a network and even leaning on our network How Brad connected instantly with Scott and wanted to help him This documentary can help take the concept of FI to the mainstream Email from Paige on limiting beliefs and how it isn't "impossible" to live in a high cost of living area for under $50,000 per year Paige thinks that you may need to be a "little more intense" to hit FI on a low income, but that it is certainly possible and it is all about savings rate How we all have limiting beliefs that we need to work through to "think about a problem a little bit differently" Brad's decision to leave Long Island, and how that helped the path to FI. But could they have been more intense and stayed and still reached FI? You can be on the path to FI moving forward no matter where you've been or what "bad" decisions you've made in the past There's no perfect person or situation for FI – just try to be a little better going forward to make positive changes Email from Art Vandelay and how they love the show and have made a lot of positive changes since listening. Should we stop the FIRE from spreading? We need local leaders for ChooseFI local meetups so please reach out to us Voicemail from James about his successful trip from Nashville to Europe using travel rewards points Voicemail from Rachel about how to hack your TSP to save money on your student loans

037 | In today's podcast we speak with Scott Rieckens, the creative force behind the upcoming FI documentary called 'Playing With Fire' and we learn about his FI journey and this exciting project. In Today's Podcast we cover: A discussion with Scott Rieckens, the creative force behind the upcoming FI documentary 'Playing With Fire' we've discussed on previous episodes Scott is devoting the next year of his life to create this documentary about the FI community Scott's background story and how he found FI How they were on the 'hamster wheel' just working to pay for the lifestyle they were living The importance of a side hustle or entrepreneurship Scott consumes a lot of media, including podcasts and found the Tim Ferriss show especially valuable Lifestyle creep in their living arrangements in Coronado How Scott found Mr. Money Mustache and the FI community through the Tim Ferriss podcast Living a life of happiness while pursuing Financial Independence You don't need $10 million (or a similar amount) to retire early How Scott enjoyed the positive nature of the FI community How Scott presented the FI concept to his wife and the thought of 'why isn't everyone doing this?' How Scott framed FI to his wife with the focus on happiness Looking at expenses in the framework of a 10-year timeline Scott's wife's list of the things that make her happy on a weekly basis Considering moving out of Coronado and California generally: Geographic arbitrage How your entire life costs less when you leave a high cost of living area How they approached the decision to move out of Coronado and what that process looked like How moving allowed Scott to take a year of his life to create the FI documentary Playing With Fire Scott's wife was not only on board with the decision, but she wanted to travel in a camper and go on an adventure Pursuits that matter to them that they now can pursue on the journey to FI The timeline behind Scott's FI journey and decision to create the FI documentary Scott's surprise that no FI documentary already existed and his start approaching us at ChooseFI to discuss the project How the idea of FI can be life-changing for so many people How this documentary can help spread the message of FI How he decided to call the documentary 'Playing With Fire' Hot seat questions Scott's biggest financial mistake was taking on too much student loan debt Scott would have 'house hacked' to buy property in his college town if he could do it all over again

036R | In Today's Podcast we cover: Discussion of the community aspect of Episode 36 with JL Collins There is a yearning and desire for community meetups with other members of the Financial Independence community The spread of these community meetups and longer Chautauqua and Camp events throughout the world The ever growing FI community in the Richmond, VA area where Jonathan and Brad live How much money could we all save if we had like-minded people in our communities? Discussion of Millennial Revolution's article The Five Types of People You'll Meet on Your Way to FI Spreading the concept of FI with people who may be predisposed to it who are already in your life The new MMM Headquarters in Longmont, CO that Pete just opened and the value of that community Voicemail from Chris from our community on how he has saved over $146,000 since listening to ChooseFI a few months ago just by making small changes in his life Voicemail from Aaron in San Diego on VTSAX and potentially diversifying with other index funds for small and mid-cap funds Hard L's comment on the Vanguard Wellington fund and why he thinks it compares favorably to VTSAX and Jonathan's response to this actively managed fund and why we don't necessarily recommend it Voicemail from Tinian from Life Outside the Box on using a daily journal each morning to set his intentions for the day and to express gratefulness How to support ChooseFI Travel Rewards voicemail from Marilyn on how travel rewards helped her imagine possibilities for her future Explanation of the show notes for the ChooseFI podcast Frugal Win of the Week from Gwen from Fiery Millennials Frugal win of the week from Sara Itunes Reviews of the Week and book winners Links from the show: The Five Types of People You'll Meet on Your Way to FI at Millennial Revolution Introducing the MMM World Headquarters Building Life Outside the Box.me Marilyn's episode on Radical Personal Finance Marilyn's Infant Dental Center Fiery Millennials Zenni Optical Books Mentioned in the Show: The Five Minute Journal

036 | In today's podcast with Jim Collins from The Simple Path to Wealth and JL Collins NH, we discuss the Chautauquas, in-person events plus an 'Ask Me Anything' series of questions from our ChooseFI community. In Today's Podcast we cover: Part 3 with JL Collins from JLCollinsNH, the Simple Path to Wealth and Stock Series fame Jim's discussion of Alan from PopUp Business School and how the UK Chautauqua came to be The value of in-person events like Camp Mustache and the Chautauquas Ask Me Anything segment with Jim with questions from our audience and private Facebook group Question from Amber from our Facebook group about the value of annuities, reverse mortgages and fixed income items Jim only recommends investing in stocks and bonds. The goals that Jonathan spoke of in the question can be balanced by allocating different percentages to stocks and bonds Jim believes annuities and reverse mortgages are laden with fees that make them poor investment vehicles Annuities pay a guaranteed income which appeals to many people, but since you are buying them from an insurance company you are buying this contract and you will never see your principal ever again. That is the annuity contract The insurance company is betting on your death essentially based on actuarial tables for the annuity Question from Emily on international equity allocation Jim doesn't see the need to hold international funds because VTSAX contains a significant international allocation with US multinationals, the expense ratios are higher and there is more risk because of lack of transparency in emerging economies Question from Jeff on when to move from 100% equities to holding some bonds Question from community member Brad on how to mechanically rebalance your funds Jim does his rebalancing within his IRAs so there is no taxable event He rebalances approximately once per year Question from David on being too aggressive and Japan's prior decades performance Jim believes what Japan is going through is a "Black Swan" event and this is theoretically possible this will happen to the US Questions from Felisa on Jim's thoughts on inflation Some inflation is normal and to be expected, but runaway inflation is extraordinarily scary Question from Matt on why Jim is in a different bond fund than he recommends on his site The Key to the Simple Path to Wealth is buying and holding for the long term You always need to approach your life and FI journey with an open mind and be willing to be flexible and change as the facts change Simplicity and flexibility

035R | In today's podcast we discuss our takeaways from Episode 35 with Big Ern from Early Retirement Now, plus paying off mortgages and student loans early and frugal wins of the week from the community. In Today's Podcast we cover: The Friday Roundup after Episode 35 with Big Ern from Early Retirement Now This episode was long awaited, but was necessary to wait for until we provided the background of FI for the audience Ern's information made us both feel more hopeful for the future of FI and sequence of returns risk Both 'savers' and 'early retirees' can't both simultaneously win with the sequence of returns risk Savings rate is the most important part of living a FI lifestyle and succeeding with long-term savings The concern with sequence of returns risk is only when you see a prolonged and significant drop in the markets. To the tune of 5+ years and 20%+ drop Question from the audience to Big Ern about inflation being included in the safe withdrawal rate and Ern's response Ern does indeed take inflation into account when he performs his calculations How does preserving your capital factor into "success" when looking at your FI plan? How does inflation factor into it? Your personal look at what constitutes success – it always depends on "facts on the ground" for your personal situation Should you pay off your mortgage early? How sequence of return risk factors into this decision The math suggests you should always invest the money and not pay off your mortgage early However, there is a great psychological allure to paying off your mortgage What would have happened if Jonathan had invested his money in VTSAX instead of paying off his student loans? Dollar cost averaging versus lump sum investing Input from Danny from our Facebook group on flexibility and early retirement The value of mentally rehearsing what would happen in a downturn to avoid selling at the bottom How are people taking action in our ChooseFI Facebook community this week to improve their lives in one simple way Travel Rewards voicemail from Andrew about his successful trip to Argentina How to win with travel rewards: flexibility with your dates of travel, plus planning far enough in advance, being ready to pull the trigger when you find availability and then looking at all your options when booking with UR points Frugal win of the week from Ashley: 300,000 miles on her Toyota in 18 years! The value of finding a trustworthy mechanic ChooseFI meetups are popping up across the country Itunes reviews of the week Links from the show: Early Retirement Now JL Collins NH Dominick Quartuccio (link for the book Design Your Future)

035 | In today's conversation with Big Ern from Early Retirement Now we discuss safe withdrawal rates, sequence of returns risk and much more. In Today's Podcast we cover: A wide ranging discussion with Big ERN from Early Retirement Now on sequence of return risk and safe withdrawal rates This is Big Ern's first podcast! And a thank you to him for helping with Paul's case study Ern's thoughts on social security Ern's origin story and his thoughts on early retirement He had a student loan that he invested since he went to college for free. So he ended up with a positive net worth after graduation Why do we need to be concerned with sequence of return risk? Ern says that sequence of returns risk is the "reason why people run out of money in retirement" from getting unlucky with low returns in the first 5-10 years What are "real returns"? Adjusted for inflation The years to worry about having poor returns are the first 5 to 10 years and it has to be prolonged and significant Hypothetical example of the 4% rule and what Ern thinks about it Resources to game out your chances of success Example of sequence of returns risk for an early retiree who is withdrawing money from the portfolio How sequence of return risk impacts the saver and buy-and-hold investor If you're a saver during downturns, you benefit significantly Buy and hold investors should not be impacted as long as they didn't sell during the downturn Talking through the 'stubborn' 4% withdrawals and the impact on success of early retirement. Ern's look at the real-world ramifications of a market drop and withdrawals 'If you're unlucky, you can get screwed twice by sequence of return risk' example How to alleviate sequence of return risk Mortgaging your future contributions by buying on margin and front-loading Spreading out your contributions to the equities market over years lowers your sequence of returns risk Ern's thoughts on front-loading and a description of his investments Thoughts on Bogle's prediction that 4% returns can be expected in the near future The "4% rule of thumb" What worries Ern about someone retiring early in the next 10 years? What do you do if you inherit $100,000? Ern's thoughts on 30x expenses saved up and what his safest safe withdrawal rate would be

034R | In today's podcast we discuss our thoughts on Part 2 of the Stock Series conversation with JL Collins, risk tolerance, doomsday scenarios and rebalancing. In Today's Podcast we cover: The Friday Roundup and the episode Part 2 of our discussion with JL Collins from The Simple Path to Wealth and JLCollinsNH What do you do when there's a large crash in the stock market? Big takeaway from Jim's episode You can't sell at the bottom, so you need to steel yourself mentally beforehand If you're starting investing, one of the best thing that can happen to you is a market crash You can't time the market There are doomsday scenarios, but since they are so rare it is silly to plan for the absolute worst case and ignore the other 99.9% likelihood Follow the math when making the best decision with the information at hand Question from Kevin about when to "take all your chips off the table" That event would have to be extraordinary and destructive for our country and economy Spend less than you earn and invest in broad based index funds Feedback from Nancy on asset allocation and comfort with volatility and her belief that you shouldn't take a lot of risk if you don't need to Jonathan's example of rebalancing and a hypothetical $1,000,000 portfolio and a 50% market crash Equities will return significantly higher than bonds over the long term. Bonds do "smooth the ride" but lower long-term returns You want to rebalance in accounts like IRAs, 401ks that won't trigger a taxable event Brad's example of his parents investing strategy Over the long term which option is truly riskier? Investing in stocks and facing volatility or lowering your expected return by investing in cash or bonds The 4% rule is based on getting a return while pulling out money each year, so you can't just stick it in cash and expect the money to last forever The power of the 'perpetual money making machine' to last forever ChooseFI was mentioned on Forbes as one of three financial podcasts for people of all ages to listen to We need panelists to select the finalists for the business building contest with Alan Donegan Lance on our Facebook group pulled the trigger on FI today – congrats! What did Brad and Jonathan put into place this week as one life optimization? Jonathan's salad hacks Jonathan is now saying "stimulus and response" out loud when finding something habitual in his life ChooseFI is not just limited to finances. It is a life optimization project Voicemail from Scott (Brad's brother) Frugal wins of the weeks Itunes reviews of the week

034 | This podcast is Part 2 of the Stock Series discussion with JL Collins, author of The Simple Path to Wealth and the website JLCollinsNH; we discuss the Great Depression and the mindset you need to be a successful long-term investor, plus how to allocate between equities and bonds. In Today's Podcast we cover: Part 2 of the Stock Series conversation with Jim Collins If you have not yet listened to Part 1 you can listen to it here Be sure to check out the associated Friday Roundup here for Brad and Jonathan's take-aways A discussion of what happened during the Great Depression and the Crash of 1929 A large portion of the crash was due to many people buying stock on margin Jim's explanation of leverage and buying stocks on margin Jim's Four Lessons to watch out for Making peace in your mind when a crash/correction happens. What caused it? Psychology or something legitimate? Unless you believe the US economy has permanently collapsed, then "the market always goes up" over time according to Jim Jim says the best thing that can happen to a young investor is a market crash as you get to purchase stocks "on sale" for potentially years Savings rate is the most crucial aspect for the FI community since it allows you to continually invest in good markets and bad Bull markets and bear markets are a part of life. We need to toughen up mentally to prepare for both Jim's explanation of the 40 year period starting in 1975 showing the calamities that happened and yet how far the market increased Nobody knows what the next 40 years will hold, but we have a dynamic economy What stage of investment life are you in? It varies depending on your age Wealth building and wealth preservation stages and the discussion surrounding both When you're in the wealth building stage you need to have your psychology correct: Keep pumping money into the market and take advantage of sales when the market goes down 100% equities in the wealth building stage per Jim When you stop working for money you are in the wealth preservation stage What percentage should you have in stocks and bonds in the wealth preservation stage The more you have in bonds the smoother your ride will be, but the lower your return will be Your tolerance for volatility will determine your percentage in equities and bonds Would Jim ever consider going back to 100% equities? Mathematically you are always better off in stocks than bonds over the long-term Even Jim contemplated selling during recent market plunges, so everyone is susceptible to this

033R | In Today's Podcast we cover: Unpacking Episode 33 with Dominick Quartuccio and our takeaways from the episode Intentionality allows you to purchase your freedom, and we want to expand that intentionality beyond just personal finance Our focus on living a happier, more content and optimized life The ultimate luxury is the 'perpetual money making machine' to provide time and focus on what matters in life How Dominick spent $28,000 this year on personal development. Have you spent any time or money on your own personal development? Spending on things that you value, and directing money and resources as such How to improve your life for $0 and learn and grow Brad's challenge: Make one change in your life this week that will make your life better Break some negative habit and disrupt it in your life this week Jonathan's change this week: Eating carrots and salad without salad dressing Meditation and breathing. Take one deep breath. Brad's description of his meditation practice What gets you excited or nervous about life coming up in the near future? How are you expanding your horizons? How Jonathan has learned by starting ChooseFI and how it has been the excitement in his life this past year Discussion surrounding guilt over not feeling content with your "perfect" life Limiting beliefs: Don't let them hold you back and also go back and analyze the beliefs and stories you have been carrying with you your entire life The value of making small changes over time to improve your health Jonathan's search for better tea Feedback from the audience on Episode 33 with Dominick Frugal Wins of the Week: Holly saved money by not going to the movies and bought the game Outburst Adlay fixed his air conditioner after watching videos on replacing a capacitor on YouTube Quote from Paige how she only has control over her spending and savings rate Discussion about contest with Alan Donegan on building a business Voicemail from Jessica with new segment we're calling "Highlighting the Hamster Wheel" Voicemail from Royce who used our voiceover guy for his side hustle contest submission Voicemail from Thomas about a side hustle to teach English to Chinese students Itunes reviews

033 | In today's podcast we speak with Dominick Quartuccio from DominickQ.com and the author of the book Design Your Life about disrupting your behaviors and 'creating a future you can't wait to live into.' In Today's Podcast we cover: Our guest is Dominick Quartuccio the author of Design Your Future who is here to talk about 'designing a future you can't wait to live into' This is a very personal episode for Brad, as Dom is a close friend and the person Brad goes to for advice and motivation FI is focused on freedom and that is what Dominick focuses on, but with an emphasis on energy People in Dominick's world were asking questions about 'where to go from here', even though they seemingly have everything Community is such an essential aspect of life We all need to be intentional and not drift through life Dominick's explanation of the term 'drift' as defined by Napoleon Hill and what happens if you live an unintentional life How to know if you're drifting in life? Are you reacting based on fear? Progress is an essential aspect of being a human What is on your life horizon that gets you 'excited like a kid on Christmas morning'? How beliefs impact how you live your life and how Dom's belief held him back from leaving his corporate job Systemic spending. How Dom's gym impacts his entire system An awakening: Most are unintentional, but Dominick advises looking for intentional awakenings Disrupting: How to disrupt your behaviors, stories, etc. Possible disruptions would be to abstain from a behavior for a period of time ("no Netflix for 60 days", etc.) 'The space between a stimulus and the response' How to interrupt your normal response after a standard stimulus How 95% of your thoughts, feelings, behaviors, etc. fall below your conscious thinking How the 5% of conscious thought can impact and change the 95% of habits, behaviors and become habitual How to design the future you can't wait to live into Writing your own eulogy to focus on the 'celebration of life' How long do you want to live? What do you want to experience in life? What did you leave behind – what lives on beyond you? Shifting your focus to realize you have 'ultimate authority' over your life Dominick's Eulogy A 90 day action plan to set a defined goal to help design your future The value of small changes and process improvements over time What happens to your energy when working through a 90 day plan and tips to sustain the plan How to curate an internal state that makes you stronger Hot Seat Questions Meditation is Dom's favorite life hack Dom's biggest financial mistake: spending too much money launching his business

032R | In today's Friday Roundup we discuss Episode 32 with Joel from FI 180 on the 'Milestones of FI', plus a life hack voicemail from Noah and Frugal Wins of the Week from our Facebook community. In Today's Podcast we cover: The Friday Roundup after the Milestones of FI episode with Joel from FI 180 We're having a FI get together in Richmond and hope to expand beyond Richmond The gamification aspect of personal finance and the milestones When your 'financial freedom clock' starts and discussion of where certain types of debt plays into the calculation Financial freedom clock equals positive net worth and all junk debt is paid off Milestone two is when you have a $100,000 net worth (when Personal Capital starts calling you for a personal consultation) The next milestone is 'FU Money' and there is discussion on where this fits into the continuum as the concept is nebulous Should there be a milestone before $100k net worth and FU money? Adding in 'checkpoints' along the way on the journey to FI in addition to milestones Milestone four is 'Half FI' which means you have 12.5x your annual expenses saved up Milestone five is 'Lean FI' which means you have enough to cover all your core expenses for life (not including your discretionary expenses) The discussion surrounding the math and psychology of paying off your mortgage or not paying it off The next milestone is the "crossover point" where your investments earned more than you did from working in a given month The many catchphrases of Brad and Jonathan Milestone 7 is Flex FI, followed by Financial Independence as Milestone 8 and Milestone 9 is Fat FI The power of the concept of Flex FI and how you have an 82% chance of succeeding even at this milestone The conversation surrounding where Brad is on the path to Financial Independence and where the side hustle factors into the calculation Our ask that the community helps us refine the milestones and checkpoints How Joel's FI journey and drawdown strategies can be a case study going forward Voicemail from Noah from Money Metagame on hacks to save on utilities Take action and make the calls to compare prices on auto insurance, utilities, etc. Frugal win of the week from Michelle about unclaimed property Frugal win of the week from Vicki about Magical Iced Coffee Input from Don and Scott about buying cards and gift giving Focus on our discussion about gift giving from a prior episode and the Five Love Languages

032 | In today's podcast we discuss the Milestones of FI with Joel from FI 180; this is a new look at the path to FI and the milestones along the way. In Today's Podcast we cover: The 'Milestones of FI' with Joel from FI 180 We welcome Joel as our first repeat guest on Choose FI The Milestones of FI as a 'master's degree' journey after Dave Ramsey's baby steps Joel plans to be fully FI in January 2018 Joel is completely debt free and is shooting for $25,000 per year in other spending FI creates a "magic money making machine" that spits out yearly 'checks' (the 4% rule) FI is the ultimate luxury purchase to save for this 'magic money making machine' The Dave Ramsey Baby Steps explained To get started on the Milestones of FI: Debt Free and/or $1 of positive net worth First FI Milestone: $100,000 net worth when you first start getting calls from Personal Capital to setup a phone consultation 2nd FI Milestone: 'FU Money' set; 2-3 years of yearly expenses saved up 1st and 2nd milestone can be similar depending on your yearly spending The 3rd milestone is 'Half FI' which puts you halfway to FI in total spending, but actually more than that in terms of time on your FI path The path to FI is not linear and Joel explains Milestone #4 is 'Lean FI' which means you have enough money to stop working forever if you cut out the discretionary aspects of your budget (about 30% of Joel's budget) Lean FI is an 'emergency fund that would last forever' as it covers your housing, food and other essentials Lean FI is perfect for people with a side hustle to do it with no risk The 'crossover point' could be another Milestone of FI. This is where your portfolio increase is more than the income you're earning from your job The next milestone is 'Flex FI': This is a '5% rule' or 20x your annual spending in your total net worth Flex FI is only viable for people who can build flexibility into their lives from year to year depending on the market returns, etc. FI is not one milestone but a smooth continuum towards this goal Flex FI has an 82% chance of success according to the Trinity Study (75% stocks, 25% bonds) Financial Independence is the 7th 25x your annual spending. All the work you do after you reach FI is completely optional. Now you can do what you want with your time. When you reach FI you can pick and choose what you want to do at work and in life The 8th milestone is 'Fat FI': This is 30x your annual spending which is the "closest thing to a sure thing" you can get in life Where is Brad in milestone continuum? Where is Jonathan? What does Alexis and Joel's milestone celebration look like? Links from the show: The Milestones of FI at FI180.com Mad Fientist's FI Laboratory cFireSim Early Retirement Now Fiery Millennials Personal Capital (affiliate link) Slowly Sipping Coffee

031R | In today's Friday Roundup we discuss travel rewards, flipping holidays upside down, buying presents, the upcoming FI Documentary and much more. Submit your applications for the contest to win a one-on-one business coaching relationship with Alan Donegan from PopUp Business School Brad's slow travel vacation through New York State this August How we'll publish episodes while on vacation and living a FI lifestyle Discussion of Episode 31 on travel rewards What to do with your strategy after Chase cards Clarification of Brad's past and future travel rewards strategy Noah's feedback about an alternate option for staying under the Chase 5/24 rule Feedback from the audience: Pastor FI on how he switches Mother's Day and Father's Day Feedback from Frank on not doing things on holidays or other busy times. Don't wait in line "with the lemmings" If you're busy all the time, you need to come up with strategies to make your life better How Jonathan feels that buying cards for holidays are a terrible waste of money Brad and Laura don't exchange presents for any holidays/birthdays/etc. Jonathan's spending habits for presents for his friends and family How essential the concept of progress is in the pursuit of FI and the pursuit of happiness Voicemail from Scott Rieckens on how he's starting a documentary about the FI community How we can grow the FI movement through this documentary and by spreading the word We're going to have Scott on the podcast and he's going to tell us about his Kickstarter campaign for the documentary Question from Bonnie about tax implications in early retirement Response from Keith from the Wealthy Accountant Follow up from Brad on action he took to sell his comic book collection Email from David how he wants to hire Jonathan's wife Dani to do an audio book version of the book he intends to publish Frugal wins of the week from our community Can you share items with your neighbors and save money?

031 | In today's podcast we discuss Part 2 of our Travel Rewards series including what to do after you've focused on Chase credit cards plus whether you should focus on one trip or a general strategy. In Today's Podcast we cover: Part 2 of the travel rewards podcast series on where to go when you're done with the Chase credit card options Does it make sense to go after cards for a particular trip like Walt Disney World or should you focus on Chase cards while you are under the "5/24 rule?" Brad and his wife Laura are both trying to get back under 5/24 and waiting to open up cards If you are doing this with a spouse you can realistically open 10 Chase credit cards (5 each) What cards would you get from other banks such as American Express, Citibank, Barclaycard and Capital One? American Express has a one bonus per card per lifetime rule Amex has a transferable points program called Membership Rewards that is a quality program (similar to Chase Ultimate Rewards) The transfer partners we like from Chase Why we like "fixed value" cards such as Arrival Plus and Venture To branch out beyond Chase cards or not? If you're a member of the FI community it would be hard to ignore the Chase cards to focus on a specific trip like Disney For people not aware of travel rewards, a "quick win" like booking the Disney Dolphin hotel is a great way to get huge value from your points Buying Disney tickets from Disney does not count as "travel" for credit cards, so you need to use Undercover Tourist (or aRes Travel for Disneyland) Orlando International Airport is a huge hub for Southwest, which is our favorite airline rewards program Southwest does not limit award ticket availability – it is just based on cash price You have a lot of flexibility with Southwest Airlines miles Flexibility will help you succeed with travel rewards

030R | In today's podcast we have the biggest announcement in the history of ChooseFI thanks to Alan from PopUp Business School, so be sure to listen and get your responses in ASAP. Brad's thoughts on not doing what everyone else is doing: July 4th, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, etc. Jonathan's wife loved the episode with Alan and she is going to use these skills on a side hustle herself You don't need a lot of money to start a business – the big takeaway from the episode for Brad Bartering skills and maximizing unused resources were two takeaways for Jonathan's wife Mutual benefit from establishing relationships even when you can't see where the value might come from Sell your value first and then create the product or service You won't know if your product or service is legitimate until you actually make people buy. That's the only real feedback Feedback from Luis on the ChooseFI private Facebook group on his wife's side hustle How Brad's business history set him up for success, as he failed and learned along the way How to find low-cost ways to attempt new businesses The different mental approach when using a side hustle as a means to get to FI Brad's personal approach to his side hustles and what would happen if they 'went away' Huge announcement of a competition: Alan will work with one winner one-on-one for 12-24 months to help them build their own side hustle business Submit your voicemail submission on our website and tell us why we should select you How this will impact the entire ChooseFI community We'll bring in our other in-house experts on this project as well Small world stories of meeting other members of the FI community Email from Evan from Bellingar Estates Winery in Oregon What to think about mentally in good times and bad in the financial markets

030 | In Today's Podcast we cover: How Alan Donegan of PopUp Business School has turned starting businesses on its head similar to how FI has turned personal finance on its head and caused us to think differently How starting a business is truly one of the 'pillars of Financial Independence' Brad and Jonathan started up their own business with ChooseFI based on similar principles to what Alan is teaching You need to know what you're running to in FI and not just what you're running from with your old job Alan's FI journey and his goal to get to FI by the age of 40 How Alan was nearly scared off from starting a business by the course he took through the British government with Business Link Started up PopUp Business School with his business partner Simon Why Alan believes you don't need any startup capital, business plans, etc. to start a business Story of a popup café/restaurant in London and how this person didn't spend a dollar to get started The value of networking and genuine human connection What stops you from starting a business? Money is the biggest issue. Confidence and scared that it will fail are two others and knowing what to do on a day-to-day basis The value of learning with no risk 5 ways to start a business with no risk #1: What can you get for free? Actionable steps: Search on Google "where can I get X for free" #2: What can you borrow? Story of minivan rental business and how they borrowed the minivan and saved 99% of the original business plan amount The only way to truly test your business and get an honest response is if you ask for a sale and see if they buy #5: Sell Your Value Before You Create It: Sell the idea first, get the money, then produce the content/product Story of Dennis selling lasagna and collecting the money first in order to purchase the ingredients #3: Could you barter instead of using money? In order to feel comfortable asking for things, focus on relationships and giving value. We all have skills that others would value #4: Sell stuff you already have Another option is to sell someone else's stuff and split the profits! Brad's idea for an online consignment store How passion and helping others motivates you to work on your business How Alan's business is helping those who most need the support and how people pay $0 to attend PopUp Business School Hot Seat Questions Favorite life hack: Geographic Arbitrage

029R | In today's Friday Roundup we discuss our key takeaways from Episode 29: The Reluctant Frugalist vs. the Aspiring Minimalist, plus feedback from the audience as well as two of our in-house experts. How Jonathan used travel rewards points to book two round-trip flights to South Africa to visit his wife's family. Only 128,000 points! How to think through a travel rewards redemption and where to start The essential nature of the psychology when considering financial independence How to approach your spouse/significant other about FI and what to avoid – namely the word "retirement" What is Brad willing to spend significant money on? Email from Bo about a new term: A 'Valuist' and how this applies to Brad Feedback from our Facebook group from Christopher about a 'false dichotomy' Feedback from Jessica – there are no rules of being a minimalist, it's a journey and a mindset Voicemail from Geoffrey about reducing stuff and choice with a cool challenge with your clothes How the KonMari method tidying has transformed lives How to have a conversation with friends and coworkers about FI when they know nothing about it The difficulties of talking about FI at work and how to navigate that Know your audience when discussing FI and figure out an approach that will resonate with people Update from in-house experts: Millionaire Educator released his 2017 Free Money tables Big Ern responds to Mark's question on the pluses and minuses of ETFs and mutual funds and how to choose between the two New in-house expert: Noah from Money Metagame who will share life hacks Voicemail from Noah about how to save on purchases using discount gift cards as payment Voicemail from Marilyn challenging the 'sacred cow' of always buying used cars and how it can be a smarter decision to buy a less expensive new car that you plan to keep for a long time Can a car loan make sense if you have a lower interest rate? How to negotiate on purchases by mass emailing multiple competitors and Brad's challenge to the audience Frugal wins of the week from our private Facebook group Book giveaway and iTunes review Links from the show: Decision Fatigue article at Wikipedia Headspace Mad Money Monster: Early Retirement Resistance - When Friends Push Back 1500 Days ESI Money Mr. Money Mustache Millionaire Educator's 2017 Free Money! Tax tables Early Retirement Now Money Metagame Gift Card Wiki Books Mentioned in the Show: The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

029 | In today's podcast we go through a discussion of the mindset differences between a 'reluctant frugalist' like Jonathan and an aspiring minimalist like Brad. In Today's Podcast we cover: The reluctant frugalist (Jonathan) vs. the mindset of the aspiring minimalist (Brad) How both these mindsets are valid and strong approaches to the concept of Financial Independence How do you talk to your spouse or significant other about financial independence? Voicemail from Royce about how he can get his wife on board with FI? You need to have a conversation with your significant other about what you want out of life and where you want to go as a team The pursuit of FI can bring you closer together as it can make you wealthier and happier Jonathan's story about FI and his wife plus a story of the 'addictive nature' of buying stuff How Jonathan changed his entire life with the pursuit of FI FI as the ultimate life hack You need to see the other person's motivation and incentives when trying to persuade them Being near or at FI transforms your relationships with your family and friends How Brad aspires to be a minimalist and live in a hotel Excerpt from Physician on Fire's article: Minimalism vs. Frugality Frugality and the scarcity mindset How people outside the FI community have to deal with a cash flow scarcity mentality The differences between a minimalist and a frugal person How free your brain becomes when you remove the clutter from your rooms and your life How Brad's daughters are different by nature regarding minimalism and clutter Would you throw out all the items in your house that you haven't used for some set period of time? 90 days? 1 year? The sharing economy has changed the value of ownership Jonathan's board game obsession and the value he gets from buying things What a week in Jonathan's FI future life looks like A minimalist buys one item that fulfills multiple purposes, but is quite expensive and high quality Brand names: Is there any value? Can you actually find a break-even point on certain purchases? The wardrobe differences between minimalists and frugal people How your brain operates better when you don't make as many decisions and avoid 'decision fatigue' A minimalist doesn't want a lawn/yard whereas a frugal person enjoys doing it themselves

028R | In today's Friday Roundup we discuss tax-deferred accounts, the Roth IRA conversion ladder, frugal wins of the week, an 'expert answer' from the Millionaire Educator as well as the Hot Seat with community member Chad! In Today's Podcast we cover: The Friday Roundup after Episode 28 where we discussed the order of operations for savings as well as the available 'buckets' Brad's discussion of his new health targets: CrossFit and Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and how he saves money through a Gracie Garage Our preference is to fill your tax-deferred buckets as much as possible Message from Amy on the Facebook group on maxing out Roth IRAs How the FI community thinks differently in regard to Roth IRAs and investing in general Explaining the Roth IRA conversion ladder Voicemail from Stephen about the Roth IRA conversion ladder and how the calculation changes when you are making income in FI The essence is living a frugal lifestyle and everything else takes care of itself Brad's explanation of how to mentally approach having income in FI and even having a higher income than you anticipated Frugal wins of the week: Call from Eric from our Facebook group about how he saved big on his Chicago apartment The love for the InstantPot from the ChooseFI community Anne Marie raised the deductible on her insurance and saved money on her premiums; Brad saved on car insurance with Geico Congrats to Eli on his new baby and the newest 529 account! Question from Scott about 457s and pensions to help with early retirement and the expert answer from the Millionaire Educator Voicemail from SaraEllen about how to save as a solo entrepreneur in the legal profession and by extension to other professionals as well How you can save on office space by using a coworking space The Hot Seat with ChooseFI community member Chad How people in the FI community can consider giving back Favorite life hack: Using Swagbucks The danger of cosigning on someone else's loan If Jonathan loans someone money he mentally writes it off as never being paid back and that's how he approaches the decision to loan money Voicemail from Eron from San Diego on financial advisors and the potential benefits A fee only financial advisor would be the best option for most people (especially in the FI community)

028 | In today's podcast we discuss the four different "buckets" available to savers plus an in-depth look at the Roth IRA and the 'Backdoor Roth.' In Today's Podcast we cover: The order of operations for how you should approach the different "buckets" available to you both for retirement accounts and for your taxable savings Four basic ways for your retirement and investment funds to be taxed Best case is an account similar to the HSA which is not taxed when you put the money in nor when you pull it out Option 2 is the Roth IRA which is taxed upfront but not when you pull the money out Option 3 is a traditional IRA, 401k, etc. where it is not taxed when you contribute but is taxed when you withdraw Option 4 is your regular savings/investment accounts We focus mostly on tax-deferred retirement accounts because that is the best way to lower your taxable income in the current year and reduce your tax liability. Because of advanced FI concepts such as the 'Roth IRA conversion ladder' there is a chance you can pull this money out nearly tax free once you reach financial independence You want to max out your tax-deferred options The FI community looks at this problem differently than traditional financial planners and doesn't focus on the Roth IRA generally Roth IRA makes sense if you are nearly certain that your tax rate will be higher in retirement than it currently is now (think children under 18) The issue is this is unknowable at the time of contribution (unless you are at a 0% rate) You can pull out your Roth IRA contributions at any time tax and penalty free Flexibility of your bucket #4 (taxable savings) is a big positive of that investing option over a Roth IRA The concept of a marginal tax bracket and an understanding of how your income is taxed Financial planners focus on the 'tax diversity' play of the Roth versus traditional retirement accounts Income limitations do exist for the Roth IRA There are also contribution limitations yearly for these accounts How to reduce your Adjusted Gross Income on your tax return to qualify for a Roth IRA The Backdoor Roth IRA option for high income individuals Discussion of the White Coat Investor article on the Backdoor Roth IRA and how you can convert your money from a nondeductible traditional IRA to a Roth IRA (the 'backdoor' Roth) Avoiding the pro-rata calculation How to contribute to the traditional IRA account as a nondeductible contribution and then convert it to a Roth

027R | In today's podcast we highlight our takeaways from Episode 27 with Jay from Slowly Sipping Coffee, plus we discuss the 'Mount Rushmore' of FI and help debunk a lot of the misinformation surrounding the value of the mortgage interest deduction. In Today's Podcast we cover: The Friday Roundup bringing in many aspects of our audience and community plus our thoughts on the Episode 27 with Jay from Slowly Sipping Coffee How to join the Choose FI Facebook group Looking at the great team of Mr. and Mrs. Slowly Sipping Coffee and how they gained flexibility and freedom How they made a game out of personal finance and that enabled them to save big on their credit card bills Just by being more conscious of their spending allowed them to save over 50% of their discretionary spending How 'grazing' by shopping at stores like Target can help fuel lifestyle inflation It's important how we spend our time. Batch processing with intentionality is a way to fix our inefficient use of time How Jonathan can come up with a system in his life to find a work/life balance between the ChooseFI site and podcast and his 'real' life Multitasking is not a real thing What does your life look like post-FI? And when do you start thinking about that life? The Mount Rushmore of Financial Independence: Who do we put on that list? Who would you as the community put on the Mount Rushmore of FI? What do you want to do with your time when you reach FI? Fully Funded Lifestyle Change as an alternative to "retirement for the sake of quitting work" Risk tolerance and cFiresim Article submitted by Luis on CNNMoney on a couple who achieved FI Hot Seat conversation on the Facebook group The power to spread the message beyond of FI beyond this community Message from Austin who is a former student of the Millionaire Educator Voicemail from Ed Mills from the Millionaire Educator on ways to get your children involved in saving money Voicemail from Juan from Finance Clever about the value (or lack thereof) of the mortgage interest deduction and only getting value from it if your itemized deductions are above the standard deduction Brad's example of the benefit of itemized deductions Feedback from the audience from Grumpus Maximus about retirement calculators and one in particular from Darrow Kirkpatrick at CanIRetireYet.com Voicemail from Kris with incredible feedback about the action she took after hearing Noah's voicemail about removing escrow accounts Voicemail from Steve about the importance of umbrella insurance policies plus feedback from Tiffany about the same More information from Ken about ESPPs and call options

027 | Today we welcome Jay from Slowly Sipping Coffee to the podcast to talk about his reluctant path to FI, the amazing Mrs. SSC and a Fully Funded Lifestyle Change. In Today's Podcast we cover: Our interview with Jay from Slowly Sipping Coffee How they came up with the name of their blog and how they'd enjoy 'slowly sipping coffee' in a more relaxed and free Friday morning The origin story of their Financial Independence journey: SSC googled and found Mr. Money Mustache SSC already had a spreadsheet where she tracked everything and believed they could retire at 45 before finding the concept of FI How Jay resisted the concept of financial independence because he thought living off $25,000 would be absolute deprivation The Lightbulb Moment where Jay finally saw the light and started believing in the spreadsheet They set up challenges to cut credit card spending and they reduced spending just by being intentional Eating food at restaurants was a huge portion of their prior budget that they were able to cut Costco can be a great way to save money or it can be an expensive indulgence How Mrs. SSC is the CFO of their household and the 'best financial decision' Jay has ever made How the possibility of layoffs made them consider their lifestyle and what that would look like in FFLC The psychological value of knowing they will 'come out on top' even if something bad does happen Have they spoken about Financial Independence and their blog in their real lives? How their friends, family and coworkers react to their FI plans Jay's mentees and how he is trying to educate them on all things financial How to balance risk with a safe withdrawal rate – Mrs. SSC's thought process as compared with Jay's How you can always keep working due to fear and wanting to pile on your nest egg, but Mrs. SSC's rebuttal to that You can get to FI without having a six-figure salary Hot Seat questions Favorite life hack: Roasting his own coffee Biggest financial mistake: Cashing out a 401k for absolutely no reason Advice to your younger self: Don't spend more than you earn and don't use student loans for additional expenses

026R | In today's podcast we discuss our takeaways from Episode 26 with Physician on FIRE plus some exciting developments in the Financial Independence world as well as feedback, questions and comments from the ChooseFI community. In Today's Podcast we cover: The Friday Roundup after the Physician on FIRE interview from Episode 26 Information for the high income professionals and how it's important to give details for that aspect of our audience Does the perfect answer exist for high income professionals pursuing FI? It might not be possible to defer enough money to get them out of that high marginal tax rate "A dollar saved is two dollars earned in the 50% tax bracket." A brilliant quote from Physician on FIRE Everything comes down to living a frugal lifestyle "Doesn't your spouse deserve a really great lifestyle?" asked the White Coat Investor. "Well yes, and she'll have one, but she deserves my time." Responds PoF. The fundamental flaw in the 'retirement calculators' that are published online for "normal people." Your current income is not relevant when considering your retirement number. It is all about your expenses. For new physicians, you need to avoid the blowup in spending on cars and expensive homes when you get that first big paycheck You need to keep your fixed expenses down to a manageable level and you can splurge at the margins on other things Don't fall into peer pressure to live an expensive lifestyle. Maybe move to a smaller town and practice geographic arbitrage in the US Brad's own geographic arbitrage in his life moving from Long Island to Richmond, VA Optimized charitable giving with a 'donor advised fund' Discussion of the 'backdoor Roth' that Physician on Fire mentioned on the episode and the applicability for high income earners A new Camp Mustache event was announced for January 2018 and the tickets are available The ChooseFI private Facebook group is running and extremely vibrant and we'd love for you to join us Scott Rieckens contacted us about a documentary on the FI community that he is embarking on The FI community is on the verge of a breakthrough in the US Brad's mom is listening to the podcast and had a frugal win of the week Feedback from PastorFI: College hack for student housing Discussing the call from Mark from Student Loan Freedom from Episode 25R about permanent life insurance Feedback from about Ken's prior call about the ESPP from Olaf. He clarified the tax treatment on the purchase through the Employee Stock Purchase Plan Don't let paying taxes get in the way of making a smart financial decision Noah from Money Metagame's call about how to remove escrow to potentially save hundreds of dollars per year Part 5 of the case study with Paul including Paul's feedback on his daughter's college plans plus Paul's summary of the case study Frugal Wins of the Week from the ChooseFI Community Itunes Reviews of the Week and Book Winners Links from the show: Physician on Fire Frugalwoods article on Donor Advised Funds Camp Mustache tickets Join our private Facebook group Scott Rieckens website Mr. Money Mustache on the Tim Ferriss podcast Student Loan Freedom KeepThrifty.com Money Metagame Mutual Assurance Society of Virginia ToDoIst Early Retirement Now Google Docs from Big Ern at Early Retirement Now: Google Doc master file for Safe Withdrawal Rates Big Ern's explanation on how to use this file Doc with Paul's case study numbers with Social Security Doc with Paul's case study numbers without Social Security Fiery Millennials

026 | Today we welcome the Physician on FIRE to the podcast to talk about his path to FI as well as tips and hacks for other high income and medical professionals to get on the path to Financial Independence. In Today's Podcast we cover: Our guest on the show today is Physician on Fire, who is here to tell us his story as well as some Financial Independence hacks for doctors and other high income individuals His message is for people with high incomes who aren't looking to live an ultra-frugal lifestyle What does a conversation look like with a fellow physician in person or on his blog? How difficult is it to delay gratification and not spend significantly when physicians get their "first big paycheck" after many years of not making much money He recommends physicians paying down their student loan debt so it isn't hanging over your head Physician on Fire's own personal history and path towards Financial Independence He took a "permanent" job at a hospital, which went out of business after 4 years when he lost his job He was financially independent on paper after about a decade of working as an anesthesiologist, but didn't realize it until he read an article about Mr. Money Mustache How Brad and Physician on Fire each had moments early on in life where a compound interest calculation opened their eyes to the power of compounding over decades What was Physician on Fire's plan before he read that article about Mr. Money Mustache? He has a "bigger" FI number than many people, but he wants a margin of safety and wants to potentially spend more in early retirement than he spends now Could he potentially "retire" from medicine and still come back if he so desired? Are there ways he could make his job better and focus on the aspects of the job that he enjoys? Dealing with high marginal tax brackets and working additional time How does FI impact his "real" life? His wife is excited about the FI lifestyle of living abroad and having more time with POF. Physicians who don't live in the high cost of living areas on the coasts actually make more money and have lower cost of living Strategies for high income earners pursuing FI: lower your taxable income as much as possible with tax-deferred retirement and HSA accounts Backdoor Roth for high income earners. You can do this for yourself and your spouse up to $5,500 each His distinction between financial independence and financial freedom and the plan to get there How he is donating half the profits from the blog through a Donor Advised Fund Hot Seat questions Favorite life hack: Geographic Arbitrage Biggest financial mistake: Building their 'dream home' and losing $200,000 upon selling it Advice for someone starting out in the medical profession: Be smart with the large expenses like housing and cars

025R | In today's Friday Roundup we discuss Episode 25 with Keith from the Wealthy Accountant, Part 4 of the case study with Paul including a look at his line-by-line expenses, plus questions and feedback from the audience. In Today's Podcast we cover: Friday Roundup after Episode 25 with Keith from The Wealthy Accountant The firehose of information that Keith unleashed was incredible! Feedback from the audience about Keith's episode The value of an S-corp election for small businesses How to find a top tier accountant with passion for helping you When should you form an LLC when starting a side business and are there any benefits of doing so? Danielle's feedback about our working of "taxable savings." She used "post-tax savings" which we really like Dominic's feedback about reinvesting dividends Careers that help you get to FI: Nursing and feedback from the audience on why this is such a positive career on the path to Financial Independence Announcing the ChooseFI private facebook group! Discussion of Camp Mustache Brad's FI conversation in real life with his friend Justin about $2 per person per meal for dinners How to portion out dinners to save money Laura is going to share her recipes in the new private Facebook group Frugal wins of the week from Jake and Brad Mark Resnick from Student Loan Freedom: Voicemail with a hack on saving money on student loans Discussion of Mark's voicemail and our request to get one audience member to work with Mark on student loan forgiveness programs Voicemail from Bryce on hacking college How Brad and Jonathan wish they had the knowledge Bryce passed along when they went to college How to start planning early to apply for these scholarships Case study update: Going through Paul's expenses and analyzing them. What does his post-FI expenses look like? Paul's expenses drop significantly in his post-FI life $23,000 of his $73,000 annual expenses were on vacations and this can drop significantly in a post-FI life by using travel rewards points and pursuing slow travel Looking at Paul's actual expenses and what else is "fluff" on top Our update on future case studies: We can't do these once per month. More likely 3-5 per year. Jason from Winning Williams is putting together a 'crowdsourced FI plan' excel sheet Travel rewards question on how to save on cruises. You can use a 'fixed value' card to offset cruise expense Itunes reviews of the week and book giveaway Links from the show: Wealthy Accountant Aubrey's blog: moneyenergyfreedomlife.com Dominic's link from Bogleheads on reinvesting dividends Emiko: Beetsandlilacs.com ChooseFI.com/Facebook to get access to our private Facebook group Winning Williams Money Metagame Seonwoo's site: FIby40.com FI180 Popup Business School Dash Go Rapid Egg Cooker Student Loan Freedom

025 | In today's podcast we have Keith from The Wealthy Accountant on the show to discuss tax optimization for individuals and small businesses with plenty of tax tips for your FI tool chest. In Today's Podcast we cover: Keith from the Wealthy Accountant presents his tax optimization strategies for individuals and small business owners Keith is the most knowledgeable accountant we have ever met. We met him in Florida at Camp Mustache and his exuberance for tax optimization was infectious Keith became the official accountant of Mr. Money Mustache after a presentation at Camp Mustache in Seattle A discussion of how to save FICA taxes by being taxed as an S-Corporation instead of as a pass through entity such as an LLC Keith's discussion of potential tax law change based on the President's proposal For people starting a business, where would Keith start? Business structure, getting kids and spouses involved, etc. Keith believes when you have business income over $50,000 that you should be an LLC taxed as an S-Corp Is there value for someone over the FICA cap in their 'day job' for their business to be treated as an S-Corp? Home office deductions vs. renting part of your home to your business entity and how to make it official with a formal contract What Keith recommends for retirement savings and the rules you need to understand whether you are an employee or if you own a business Keith's recommendation to speak with your HR department to max out your 401k if they only seemingly offer a certain percentage of your income Tax optimization strategies for real estate investors including the tangible property rules and how to benefit from expensing items that would have otherwise needed to be depreciated Cost segregation studies and how that can save you money on depreciations Healthcare for small business owners and the lack of options Discussion of Keith's writing at The Wealthy Accountant. The goal was for people to "think like an accountant" and to live your life 'right.' He believes in saving half your income and investing in broad-based index funds. If you do those 2 things you'll be successful

024R | In today's Friday Roundup we discuss Episode 24 with Joel and Alexis from FI180 as well as some expert voicemails from Chad Carson about real estate plus Ken talking about ESPP options. In Today's Podcast we cover: Friday Roundup after Episode 24 with Joel and Alexis from FI 180 Camp Mustache tickets for January 2018 are available for sale, so come and join us! The letter Joel wrote to his younger self and the emotional value of it The sacrifice for living an opulent lifestyle is too great in our opinion as you have finite resources and have to make the best choices Joel and Alexis had a true choice and inflection point where they chose Financial Independence They looked at FI as a game and had fun trying to gain a quicker path to FI. It made them happier and brought them closer together The 72 hour no buying rule that Liz from Frugalwoods informed us about Brad's new favorite card game: Monopoly Deal Feedback from the audience: Austin's email about his path to FI with a career that didn't require a Bachelor's Degree. He is now earning 6-figures at 25 years of age Itunes review from Derek who is teaching his 5th grade students how to look at money, index fund investing and much more. Geri's question about reinvesting dividends when you invest in mutual funds. You generally want to reinvest the dividends Question from John about investing in VTSAX in a "taxable" investment and what bucket to put it in? Our advice is to open a standard brokerage account and invest in VTSAX Index fund investing is the most tax efficient investing since there is low turnover and thus lower capital gains that would be taxed in the current year Email from Matt describing how he's thinking more deeply by listening to our show and reading FI blogs ChooseFI mentions on other blogs FI hack from Ken on ESPPs and Jonathan's response since he can benefit from it at his job and purchase his company stock at a 10% discount Follow up from our in-house expert on real estate: Chad Carson who gives us a background on how to evaluate the financials behind a rental real estate purchase Travel rewards question about how to review flight and alliance award options. Our thought is to look at traveling differently and build in flexibility and find saver award availability Travel rewards question about combining Chase Ultimate Rewards points Hot Seat intro music update Itunes reviews and The Simple Path to Wealth book giveaway Links from the show: FI 180 Monopoly Deal card game Winning Williams The Green Swan article: Never Pay Taxes Again Done by Forty article: Spending is Arbitrary Ken's blog: TheOptionToSell.com Chad Carson's articles: How to Run the Numbers for Rental Properties How to Travel & Invest in Real Estate - 10 Essential Tools of the Trade Award Hacker

024 | Today we have Joel and Alexis from FI180.com on the podcast. They changed their financial lives dramatically, going from spending over $100,000 per year to having an 85% savings rate and on the path to FI in just a few short years. In Today's Podcast we cover: Joel and Alexis from FI180.com tell their story of how they went from spending over $100,000 per year to having an 85% savings rate FI can only be a few steps away and this story is the perfect example They bought new cars, a new house and didn't track their spending at all In 2014 Alexis was in a terrible car accident and that led to the awakening that changed their financial lives. They took the $10,000 they received from the car and invested it in Vanguard The costs (financial and health) and opportunity costs of a long commute Every month they tried to make one change to improve their finances Their savings rate was only 7% at their lowest and last year it went up to 85% (since lowered to about 75%-80% to add happiness) Joel's brother is also on a path to FI now and is "racing" them to FI It isn't a race though – it's about enjoying the journey and finding happiness Their happiness has increased after finding this path to FI. "Happiness is the goal" "We were using our spending as a way to try to numb the effects of a workday" They have learned how to cook at home and save money and eat better. Previously were going out to eat twice per day! Line items from their 'Our Savings Snowball' article on what they were previously spending and what they are spending now The awakening when they chose to pursue FI after the car accident in 2014 There are certain things that are in your control and others that aren't. Focus on what is in your control Hot Seat Questions Favorite blogs: Mr. Money Mustache and The Wealthy Accountant Favorite life hack: Alexis was not allowed to go shopping without a list and couldn't buy anything not on the list. As well as not using a shopping cart or basket Food shopping game called the "$3 rule" where they tried to see how many "luxury items" they had over $3 at Aldi each week How to save big at Aldi on your food bill

023R | In today's Friday Roundup we discuss career hacking with ESI Money, Big ERN's analysis of Paul's case study, plus hear our answers to an interesting question posed by audience member Jason about the value of frugality. In Today's Podcast we cover: Friday Roundup after Episode 23 with ESI from ESI Money Looking at compound interest on the earnings side of a career instead of just on the savings side ESI is now an author on Business Insider. Our question of how he made that connection What jumped out to us from the episode with ESI? Starting at a higher salary, managing the boss, etc. Commonalities of career paths for people pursuing FI and for Second Generation FIRE? Options for seasonal work (such as tax preparation) while pursuing FI Managing the boss: Telling your boss you want to be a high performer and how to quantify it How this sets you up to 'win' either in this current job or to land a better job elsewhere The power of networking for Choose FI and our growth Personal relationships matter, even in a digital and connected world Itunes review about us "mainlining the secret truth of the universe" Our definition of FI being 25x your annual expenses. There is also the conversation of 'safe withdrawal rates' Big ERN's feedback on Paul's case study and his in-depth analysis of Paul's early retirement plan ERN's calculations plus his look at the real-world implication of social security on Paul's plan Paul's response to our question about his $70,000 per year of expenses. A full $23,000 is based on travel they took last year With "slow travel" and intentionality they can reduce the cost of their travel while actually traveling more Excluding travel their post-FI expenses are actually only $37,000 Many expenses are reduced once you reach financial independence and Paul has actually identified many of those reductions Feedback from the community: Jason posed a question to us about what we're "missing out on" by pursuing FI and if the finer things in life are something we should pursue Brad thinks that pursuing FI is a 'superpower' that enables him to live a life he enjoys. And if that means "sacrificing" BMWs and Maine Lobster to get there, it is a trade he's more than willing to make If money is no longer an issue, what changes then? That is the real question Responses from the community on Jason's question and how they would spend their money College hacking article coming from Edmund Tee on Choose FI Frugal wins of the week from the community Life hack from Steve on life insurance Itunes reviews and winners of The Simple Path to Wealth Links from the show: ESI Money ESI's article on Business Insider: I retired at 52 with a $3 million net worth — here are the 10 worst money mistakes anyone can make Early Retirement Now

023 | ESI from ESI Money is on the podcast today talking about Career Hacking and how you can set yourself up to earn millions more over a working career with seven simple steps. In Today's Podcast We Cover: ESI from ESIMoney.com is here to discuss ways you can increase your earnings through Career Hacking ESI retired at 52 and reaching "financial independence" in his early 40s. He lives in Colorado, which is where many FI bloggers live Your career is a multi-million dollar asset and it is important to focus on maximizing your earnings There are steps you can take to increase your lifetime earnings while in the same job Start with a higher beginning pay and how to get there Start with a career that has a higher opening pay; negotiate your starting salary; increase your pay through education/degrees How we can use this knowledge and apply it to our kids for 'second generation fire' How to get higher than 3% raises per year and how that can lead to millions of dollars of extra income through a career Seven actionable steps to earn more money on yearly raises and grow your career Step 1: Perform as well as possible in your job Sit down with your boss and discuss expectations and make them quantifiable Document your success and keep your boss informed, which helps "manage your boss" Step 2: Be likeable or 'more likeable' People like to reward and promote people they like, so be nice and considerate Step 3: Networking is essential You need to help others as much as possible so they will be willing to help you in the future ESI's actionable tips on how to use LinkedIn to create and foster a network of valuable connections. How ESI reached out to his network when he was looking for a new job and he landed a job in Colorado through the network Step 4: Be more attractive Dress a little bit nicer and pay a little more attention to your appearance; "date your career" Step 5: Continue learning and developing your skills How Warren Buffett believes public speaking increases your career value 50% Scott Adams' 'talent stack' to create a valuable set of skills for your life and career Trying to get better at life skills a little bit at a time every day Step 6: Manage Yourself Life skills you need to navigate life and your company politics, etc. Create a system to getting things done in life for personal motivation and drive Find yourself a mentor to guide you How ESI uses a system he learned early on in his career to manage himself How Brad and ESI both use ToDoIst to manage their lives Step 7: Market Yourself How you can get huge pay increases when you move to a new job and how to find new options Hot Seat

022R | In today's Friday Roundup we discuss the True Cost of Car Ownership, how to maximize your travel rewards points plus a big announcement on a new in-house 'expert' for ChooseFI! In Today's Podcast we cover: Episode review of our podcast Episode 22 on The True Cost of Car Ownership Your best-case scenario is buying a 5 to 10 year old gas sipping car Even a low cost car is going to cost you at least $2,000 per year Your fixed structural expenses move the needle significantly on your path to FI, and the car is the easiest one to change. Comment from Matt on how he introduced this to his algebra class on why buying a new car is a bad decision and what it amounts to when compounded Second generation Fire: Starting out right and not buying an expensive car (plus house hacking) will set people up for Financial Independence by 35 Question on Saverocity about living close or far from work and how that impacts your path to Financial Independence Is bicycling a pillar of FI or is it unrealistic for the vast majority of people and might even turn people off from pursuing FI? In a post-FI lifestyle, does bicycling make more sense? Comment from the audience on Cargo Bikes Voicemail from Rebecca on what to do with her car situation Our thought is that it makes sense for Rebecca's life and financial situation to move towards the Honda Fit Our final thought on cars: Don't buy a new car; buy a used car and drive it into the ground Choose FI is bringing on in-house experts on real estate, taxes, business building and all things number crunching Alan's brainstorming ideas for helping the community build businesses Should building a side hustle be a Pillar of FI? Travel Rewards question from Noah: Should he cash in his miles & points and invest them in VTSAX or save them for future travel? Brad's advice is to save them for future value where the value can be 2x-4x or more How the Millionaire Educator takes his rewards points to invest in an ESA fund Travel rewards question from Satya on travel to India using Chase Ultimate Rewards points Feedback from the audience: Kevin's follow up to Friday Roundup 18. He spoke with his wife and she just wants to spend more time with him where she gets his full attention Human connection is the most important aspect of happiness FI in the news: Our upcoming guest ESI from ESI Money was featured on the Washington Post FI in the News: Article that Brittinni sent in about net worth being the key to wealth, not income Frugal Wins of the week from the audience Aaron's feedback about the true cost of car ownership and he teased us with how he sells boats for a profit Final word on Jonathan's pullups

022 | Do you know what your car is actually costing you each year? What about over an investing lifetime? In this episode of the ChooseFI Radio Podcast we cover the True Cost of Car Ownership and you'll be absolutely amazed at the numbers. In Today's Podcast we cover: ChooseFI: The Ultimate Guide to the True Cost of Car Ownership Your car payment is a terrible way to spend your hard earned money We'll present two different perspectives: Brad will show the long-term compounded cost of buying/leasing new cars continually versus holding a car for 15 years while Jonathan is going to present the yearly cost of your car Brad wanted to see what it was costing someone to constantly "manage their car payments" at a set number forever by buying/leasing new cars This example is too conservative so a FI person would actually save even more money! In Brad's example the FI person is buying a new car every 15 years. They have payments for the first 5 years and $0 car payments the final 10 years. Person B is constantly paying $300 per month. This is a 45 year study, so Person A bought 3 new cars in the 45 year period At the end of the 45 year period, Person A's savings compounded to be worth $742,000 versus Person B who was constantly paying $300 per month. Takeaways: Don't buy new cars and continue to drive your car as long as possible with no car payment! Most people can't truly afford an expensive car and house even on a large salary. This is a true key to FI Astounding that $300 per month for 30 out of 45 years are ending up with $742,000 while most people don't have anywhere near that much money after a lifetime of working and "saving." That also shows how little money most people are saving Jonathan's bad track record with buying cars in his life The True Cost of Car Ownership Calculator Jonathan's example for yearly car cost compared a new car for $30,000, a 5 year old car for $15,000, and a 10 year old car for $5,000 Went through yearly depreciation calculation for Jonathan's three examples Went through a calculation of annual opportunity cost of the year-by-year amount lost at 8% annual return if you would have invested based on these 3 examples Calculation of maintenance, insurance, taxes, inspections, etc. Also calculate the cost of gas each year depending on the type of car The 20 year difference from having a used car versus a new car is almost $250,000 Jonathan's determination is you should buy a 'gas sipper' that's at least 5 or 10 years old

021R | In today's episode of the Friday Roundup we review our discussion of the Pillars of Financial Independence, take questions and comments from the community and go in-depth on Paul's live case study. In Today's Podcast we cover: Review of Episode 21, the Pillars of Financial Independence What areas of financial independence did we leave out of the episode? Might have under-discussed savings rate as a pillar of FI Choose FI as one of the '5 people you spend the most time with' The value of $100 savings per month after 20 years or 40 years Can Jonathan really do 50 pullups? Comment from the audience: Charlotte mentioned Geographic Arbitrage as a pillar of financial independence Comment from the audience: Mary suggests that taxes are the largest line item in your budget, not housing like we mentioned Comment from Frank: He thinks we can do an entire episode on how to educate your children on money Comment from Matt: The expense ratio on Vanguard's VTSAX fund was just lowered to 0.04% FIRE in the News: Anti-frugal event that Isaac showed us and Financial Panther's list of best new podcasts The value of travel rewards for people in the FI community Frugal wins of the week from the audience: Andrew starting his own Gracie Garage, Tom's list of incredible life changes, Cassie's reduction in car insurance, Neal maximizing gift cards that were lying around the house, Tanner saving on free and used items, Heidi cutting cable Live case study from Paul – his responses to our questions from last week's episode Paul's response to "how much do your expenses cost you each year" Paul's response to the question, "do you want to quit your job?" Paul's response to "what does your post-FI life really look like?" Brad's thought that the pursuit of FI is not about money – it's what you value in life and finding happiness both in the journey and post-FI Frank's question to Paul about what they have planned for his daughter's college education Will $43,000 of savings be enough to fully fund a four year college education? Thoughts on college education and the value of that education Question to Paul about what is psychologically holding him back Question to Paul about his plans to include Social Security into his FI plan Question to Paul about the breakdown of his investment accounts between different 'buckets' Paul's plan for a Roth-IRA conversion ladder Paige's comment about the 'Age of 55' rule for distributions from your 401k if you are 55 or older after your separation from service Our follow up questions for Paul based on his case study Itunes reviews and book giveaways Links from the show: Money Confident Kids article: Parents are likely to pass down good and bad financial habits to their kids Article from Isaac: Fyre Festival: When a $12,000 luxury festival in paradise turns into chaos Financial Panther article: 9 Best New Personal Finance Podcasts Seonwoo's article about FAFSA: How a Millionaire Retiree Could Get as Much Aid for College as Someone Who's Broke

021 | In this episode of the Choose FI Radio Podcast we focus on the essential Pillars of Financial Independence including index investing, affordable housing, the psychology of FI, tax optimization and more. In Today's Podcast we cover: ChooseFI Episode 21: The Pillars of Financial Independence While we intend to focus on the roughly 10 pillars of FI, we assuredly have missed some so we hope the audience sends us the ones we've missed Low-cost index fund investing is the way to go with investing in the stock market over decades and the best way to grow your wealth We love Vanguard and VTSAX but Schwab and Fidelity have similar funds with similar expense ratios Even the Mad Fientist realized that he couldn't out-research the market and stuck with index funds while he pursued tax optimization strategies to grow his wealth even faster Another sub-pillar is to not try to time the stock market. You will screw it up since you need to be right on the buying and selling side Affordable housing as a pillar of Financial Independence, since this is the largest line item in your budget Even if you live in a high cost of living area, you can still pursue FI. You just might need to think a little bit differently Sometimes pursuing FI requires tough decisions Car ownership as a pillar of Financial Independence We do not believe in buying new cars – let someone else pay for the depreciation the first few years Look for fuel efficient cars that are inexpensive to repair Your food budget as a pillar of Financial Independence You should focus on $2 per person per meal as a guideline for home cooked dinners Most pillars of FI come down to thinking a little bit differently and being a little bit smarter Jonathan lost 25 pounds during his 3 month challenge to lose weight before his son's birth Tax Optimization as a pillar of Financial Independence Max out your tax-deferred accounts is the advice for the FI community since you theoretically can take it out without paying taxes on it if you use the strategies we've previously described Hacking your college education as a pillar of Financial Independence Ways to save a significant amount of money on a college education Travel Rewards maximization as a pillar of Financial Independence Use rewards points to help travel the world for nearly free. You must pay your cards off on time and in full every single month Cutting the cord on your cable subscription as a pillar of Financial Independence Intentionality and how you choose to spend your money is important when assessing FI Reducing your cell phone bill as a pillar of Financial Independence Making a small 'hard choice' to save big money and have an 'easy life' The 4% Safe Withdrawal Rate explained Philosophy as a pillar of Financial Independence Unconventional thinking – looking at a problem differently that can help you live the same lifestyle as everyone else while getting wealthy instead of living paycheck-to-paycheck Maximizing the rules: Knowing the rules of the game and planning in advance Planning and creating a framework for life makes everything easier Patience is what makes FI "incredibly difficult." This is the simplest concept but it takes many years For every $100 you can cut from your budget each month, if you invest that money and earn an 8% return over 20 years it is worth $60,000. Understand the math behind the decisions and know that even small decisions can earn you large results

020R | In today's Friday Roundup we introduce our first crowd sourced case study from a listener and we have a challenge to you: Implement one life hack this week that will make your life easier and less stressful and send it to us at [email protected] (or leave a voicemail on our homepage!) and we'll read it on next week's Friday roundup. In Today's Podcast we cover: Our first Friday roundup after a non-guest episode which leaves lots of time for audience input, questions and voicemails We want the podcast to be 'By FIRE for FIRE' and make it truly crowdsourced Jonathan and Brad are living a normal middle class lifestyle, just smarter. We aren't doing anything especially different – just optimizing Brad and his wife Laura had a conversation about what makes their spending different than their friends and neighbors While the fixed expenses are essential (home, cars, cell phones, cable, etc.) the discretionary expenses also make the difference between a non-FI mindset and one pursuing FI How Brad's kids are not constantly 'wanting' new toys, to redecorate their rooms, etc. It wasn't intentional on the parent's part, so the thought is that they saw the lack of wanting modeled in the house Jonathan's frugal win of the week: He superglued a broken lamp in his house and it is still working 1.5 years later! Upgrading your house not only wastes money, but it wastes a ton of valuable time searching for these items and getting it "perfect" Stressed lives and an ask of the audience: Implement one life hack this week that will make your life easier and let us know about it! It's so easy to get bogged down in the details of life, business, etc. that you miss the truly essential items that could move the needle and make a difference Brad focuses on things he can get better at over a period of many years such as Brazilian jiu-jitsu and stretching/mobility "You are going to be the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with" and discussion surrounding it Feedback from Deidra: She recommended SBLI for life insurance after hearing our Episode 20 show Brad had a conversation with a friend of his this past weekend on FI and on his plan to retire in 16 years with a pension, fully paid off rental homes and his primary residence paid off, plus 401k and 457 balances Voicemail from Harrison: Info on an alternative to Vanguard and VTSAX. He recommends SWTSX which has a lower expense ratio and no minimum balance Voicemail from Paul: Part 1 of 3 as a live case study with his life Our questions for Paul for Part 2 of the case study Voicemail from Isaac with a question on travel rewards and how to deal with Chase's 5/24 strategy Feedback from Nia – international perspective and info for UK listeners Itunes reviews and the 2 winners of The Simple Path to Wealth Where ChooseFI is going: Ideas from the audience and future episodes Links from the show: Todoist SBLI life insurance Mutual Assurance Society of Virginia UK Monevator Blog - How to Invest Books Mentioned in the Show: The One Thing by Gary Keller The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins

020 | The Entry Level Middle Class Lifestyle is a tool that you can use to supercharge your path to FI. Jonathan and Brad go through their expenses one line item at a time. Then they start the conversation about a FI approach to insurance, with an emphasis on life insurance In Today's Podcast we cover: What Jonathan and Brad's lifestyle and budget look like. We go in-depth into our actual spending and budget line items What have we talked about previously? How to crush your food budget, how to get fit while being frugal, basics of investing, how to save 75% of your income, tax loss and tax gain harvesting, travel rewards and the unfair advantage for teachers. Housing prices and mortgages for Brad and Jonathan Jonathan was looking for an older neighborhood with a generational shift going on with kids coming in Brad's net cost per month is under $800 per month on his house in a great school district in the Richmond-metro area How to maximize insurance: be sure to shop around and get quotes and don't be complacent. Also determine realistically how much coverage you need and don't just follow the advice of your agent. Increase your deductible as much as possible to save money. Life insurance: Get term life insurance until you don't need the insurance any longer (when you're at Financial Independence). The insurance agent will always attempt you to buy whole life insurance; in the vast majority of cases term life is the best possible option. Once you're at FI, you can self-insure since you don't need the lump sum Car expenses: Jonathan mentioned the forthcoming 'true cost of car ownership' article Jonathan does currently have a car payment Brad has not had a car payment on either car for well over 5 years Cell phones: Jonathan has Project FI and Brad has Republic Wireless By being smart about your cell phone you should easily be able to save $100 per month "Easy choices, hard life; hard choices, easy life" Cable bills and internet packages from Comcast and Verizon Jonathan buys an internet-only package from Verizon What happens when you give up screen time entirely? Talk, play board games, etc. Gym memberships: Brad pays $20 a month for Crunch fitness. Jonathan does not have a membership any longer. He paid $1,000 to build a top-notch home gym for a one-time cost Brad now does Brazilian Jiu Jitsu through Gracie University and the free Gracie Garages Take a step back and see what you can work on long-term to get better at life? Keep track of your food and alcohol budget and it will help you cut down Where do we spend that might be "frivolous" but where we get a lot of value? Financial independence is not deprivation. It is about being intentional

019R | In our Friday roundup Jonathan and Brad discuss the highlights and takeaways from the Monday episode with JL Collins. Then the podcast is opened up and crowd sourced to the community. Find out the specific travel reward perks that are available for active duty military and how to get started with VTSAX if you don't have $10,000 to invest The Friday Roundup #8: Review of podcast with Jim Collins Jonathan's baby was born! And he's here recording the Friday Roundup two days later 2nd Generation FIRE and the impact on Jonathan with his new son The value of starting a child on the path to FIRE from the very beginning Index investing as one of the main 'pillars of Financial Independence' Jim's Stock Series changed the trajectory of Brad's investing life and will benefit him to the tune of millions of dollars in his lifetime There are no investing gurus out there who will help you outperform the market over decades when including fees into the calculation Jim is such a fantastic storyteller Fidelity study of the classes of investors who do the best: dead people and those who forgot they had accounts The best thing that can happen to someone who is young is for the market to drop while they are pumping money into the market. Index investing: Losers can only go down 100%, but winners can go up indefinitely. The index is self-cleansing Why stock picking contests promote the wrong behavior The stock market always go up over decades. You only lose money in the market when you try to "dance in and out of the market" Warren Buffett will invest in a Vanguard S&P 500 index fund Vanguard is growing faster than all of its 4,000 competitors combined (to the tune of 8.5x) Feedback Stitcher reviews – thank you for leaving them and letting us know they exist! Sharing ChooseFI with friends and family Feedback from Steve and Amy on the action they've taken since first listening to ChooseFI How police officers and firefighters can access their 401K's without penalty Travel Rewards and Investing Questions Travel rewards question about travel in Europe for hotels and Ryanair from Anthony and Abby Question from Alyssa about different retirement account options and different investing options and how to get started for younger listeners who don't have $10,000 to invest in VTSAX in one lump sum The standard advice doesn't apply for people on the path to FI, so they should max out traditional IRAs and 401k instead of Roth-IRAs Links from the show: The Stock Series at JLCollinsNH.com ChooseFI podcast with JL Collins Vanguard is Growing Faster than Everyone Else Combined at the NY Times Neal Landfield article HR2146 how cops, firefighters and EMS can access their 401Ks without the 10% penalty Friday Roundup 7 talk about hotel redemption options including Hyatt and Starwood AwardMapper to see reward hotel options Award Wallet to track rewards programs for free Books Mentioned in the Show: The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins

019 | In Today's Podcast JL collins from JLcollinsnh.com joins Jonathan & Brad on the podcast to bring the Stock Series to life. The Power of Index Investing is one of life's greatest secrets & JL Collins is the ultimate travel guide. This multi part series turns the stock series into an interactive audio companion and this first part is sure to compel you to stick around for each additional entry The Stock Series | Part 1 Our guest: Jim Collins from JLCollinsNH.com The Stock Series Part 1: "There's a Major Market Crash Coming!!!! And Dr. Lo Can't Save You" Lo claimed that "buy and hold investing doesn't work anymore" and that raised Jim's ire quite a bit which led to the Stock Series An overview of the Stock Series and how Jim would explain it Jim's eight rules that you need to understand in order to succeed with long-term stock market investing "The Market Always Goes Up" which is very counterintuitive to people, but over the long-term it invariably does The market is always going to stumble or have corrections and you can't predict when they are going to happen and you have to accept them. Nobody can possibly predict or time the market The stock series came out of a series of letters to his daughters on financial education When it comes to investing (once you get the basics down correct) the less you pay attention, the better off you'll be. Fidelity study of the best classes of investors based on performers: Dead people and those who lost their accounts! You can't panic when the stock market goes down significantly. You must "know yourself." If the market is already down 50% would you still be able to hold the course and not sell if you still thought it was going to do down an additional 2/3's? Quotes from Warren Buffett about not being fearful and buying when others are selling For a new investor who is investing significant money each month, the best thing that can happen is a huge plunge in the market because they get to purchase new shares on a huge sale In a wealth-preservation state, you should consider buying a percentage of your portfolio in bonds Jim has a 25% bond allocation, which is actually considered very aggressive for his age Warren Buffett quotes about investing in low-cost mutual funds from Vanguard How does index investing deal with winners and losers in the index? Downside of each company is limited to them losing 100%, but the upside is unlimited The Dow Jones is not the "market." Just an index with 30 large companies Stock picking contests in schools in the US are fundamentally looking at it the wrong way and are incentivizing short-term thinking Hot Seat Questions Favorite blogs: Mad Fientist, Go Curry Cracker, Millenial Revolution, The Wealthy Accountant Favorite life hack: Public Libraries and geographic arbitrage Biggest financial mistake/advice you'd give your younger self: Understand the power and value of index fund investing much earlier