ChooseFI

079 | Tim & Amy Rutherford talk about early retirement, living with lower expenses and a busier schedule of fun, free activities, and what life changes they made to get there. How did Amy and Tim meet and what were their spending habits at the time? What did "frugal" look like for Amy and Tim initially? With enough money in the bank, cutting their spending gave them an opportunity to retire almost as soon as they became aware of financial independence. Managing spending is equally as important as replacing income when it comes to reaching financial independence. Optimizing life is one of the most enjoyable things Amy & Tim ever did. What factors did Tim & Amy consider prior to leaving the workforce? Physical health Mental health How did a chart help Amy get excited about saving? "What's tracked and measured can be improved." There are fun, free activities in every part of the world. How do Tim & Amy fill up their days now that they're retired? Walking Inviting friends for dinner Finding local activities Who are Tim & Amy's "tribe" and how do they find them in new cities? What does it look like for Tim & Amy to be house sitters? They watch houses and pets, for free, with a place to stay for free. How much are Tim & Amy spending now, and how did they get there from $115k? Tim & Amy are actually living below their current budget – they aren't missing out on things they wish they weren't. "I want to walk the world while I still can." How do Tim & Amy describe their retirement? Would Tim & Amy consider selling their house and traveling full time? How would people get started with house sitting? House Sitting Magazine House Sitting World Tim & Amy buy experiences instead of things. For the links to resources mentioned in this episode, go to http://ChooseFI.com/079

078R | Lots going on in this episode with a recap of Episode 78 with Travis Hornsby about Student Loan Debt Repayment Options. But also, Brad sold his house and Jonathan has become a "rockstar" at selling things on Craigslist. For more information, visit the show notes at http://ChooseFI.com/078R

078 | Travis Hornsby, founder of StudentLoanPlanner.com, talks early retirement, traveling Europe, and developing a passion for helping people crawl out of student loan debt. What you'll hear on today's show: Why did Travis attempt retirement at 25? If you're unhappy before reaching FI, will you be happy afterward? Where did Travis' frugal tendencies come from? How did Travis get paid to go to college? Do many universities offer full scholarships, and where should students find that information? Does attending an Ivy League university make a difference? Travis retired with $230,000 saved, with a plan to spend just 20k a year. Did Travis have a long-term plan for his retirement? Living expenses in the United States are high relative to many other places in the world if you're an adventurous person. Why did Travis' job performance improve after he decided to quit his job? If you're on the path to FI but haven't made it yet: develop a product or service that you're passionate about and give yourself a year or two of buffer during which you don't depend on income from your venture. How did Travis commit himself to helping people with student loan debt, having never been in debt himself? How much research did Travis have to do in order to ensure his student loan spreadsheets were accurate? Why didn't Travis' father-in-law give his initial blessing to Travis marrying his daughter? How did the Student Loan business grow? If you have less than 100k of student debt, your best option is likely to refinance for the lowest possible interest rate and pay it back as quickly as possible? If you owe less than double your salary and you're not working at a not-for-profit or for the government, you should probably refinance. If owe more than twice your income with federal loans, there are loan forgiveness options, depending on your type of work. Is loan forgiveness guaranteed, and who can qualify? Adjustment to loan forgiveness policies will impact students taking loans beginning in July 2019. How do Travis' suggestions change if someone has private loans? Federal loans provide the most flexibility for repayment or forgiveness. Two recommended choices: Pay back loans as aggressively as possible Pay minimums, maximize forgiveness Resources mentioned: Student Loan Planner Travis@studentloanplanner.com Physician on Fire Mr. Money Mustache: From Zero to Hero For more information, visit the show notes at http://ChooseFI.com/078

077R | An second part to the conversation between ChooseFi community member Tallis, who teaches dance classes in retirement facilities, and Pop-Up Business School founder Alan Donegan, to help get Tallis' side hustle off the ground. Precursors to this episode: Episode 30 and Episode 56. Tallis gives an update on her side hustle to-do list. Client feedback: the questions you ask impact the results you'll get. What is the best way to sell Tallis' dance classes to the retirement facilities. Tallis continues to wonder how to best monetize her service? Tallis hopes to facilitate workshops to train dance-class teachers. Alan and Tallis previously discussed securing sponsorship, potentially from pharmaceutical companies. Currently, Tallis' dance class is endorsed (and paid for) by the American Parkinson's Disease Association, so classes are free for participants. Could Tallis collect a fee from participants? Most important considerations right now: how is going to pay, and how much to charge? Different payment models can impact clients' commitment to the classes. Training an organization to facilitate its own courses will pay significantly more than providing courses directly to individuals. How can Tallis decide on a price for her workshops? People equate cost to value: if you charge too little, they'll think the product isn't valuable. Alan recommending contacting potential clients (retirement communities) that are well outside her target geographical location in order to practice her pitch and get feedback on potential pricing. Pricing has a lot to do with confidence. Successful business models have repeatability. Marketing is rarely starting from the ground up: find other businesses in a similar space, or businesses that are doing something that you think would be really effective the space you're targeting and start there. Pitch tip: don't allow your voice pitch to go up when giving your price. Use a statement tone that sounds confident – even from beginning to end of your sentence. What's up next: get feedback from local contact about other offerings. Go big! Don't offer your service to just a few potential clients. Expect that it'll take 1-5 months to get the program from start to point of sale. The only way to know if your business will be successful is to ask people to buy; before that moment, feedback is hypothetical. Tallis is part of the Des Moines ChooseFI local group – contact her there.

077 | Experienced travel hacker and world traveler Marla Taner shares story of reaching financial independence, and her best tips for getting to Hawaii, Costa Rica and the Caribbean with minimal expenses, using credit cards points and air miles. ——————- Thank you for being a part of the ChooseFI community! 🙂 If you want to support us, here are some easy ways: 1) Leave an iTunes review: http://www.choosefi.com/itunes 2) Use our page to sign up for travel credit cards Note: We may receive a commission if you are approved for cards on this page 3) Most importantly, find your friends, coworkers, and family members who may be open to this message and tell them about the podcast! (Episode 21 is a great starting place) As Jonathan would say, "The FIRE is spreading my friends!"

076R | Brad and Jonathan brainstorm ways to implement local adventure into their own lives and the lives of the ChooseFI community. Also, achat about high school reunions, local libraries, and a few clarifications about 401k contributions. Jonathan's 26-year-old sister just hit an 85% savings rate. Living at home can be super helpful to the recent college graduate, or young person entering the workforce. Getting to $100k net worth is the hardest part: after that, compounded interest starts working for you. Brad signed up his daughter for www.code.org, a website that teaches coding paired with Minecraft. Review of Monday's episode with Mrs. Adventure Rich. Getting the right mindset is the most important part of getting on the path to financial independence. How does Brad feel about not having a FI number or date? Is the pursuit of financial independence a race or a journey? What was positive about the way Mrs. Adventure Rich's coworker introduced her to FI. How has Mrs. AR lowered the barrier of entry for local adventures? How can local ChooseFI groups apply these ideas to exploring their own cities? How does the idea of exploring your own city connect with the idea of intentionally creating memorable moments, as introduced by Chris in ChooseFI episode 71. Adventure is anything that makes you feel like, "Hey, this is really living." Have we traded adventure for convenience? How can someone plan for those things that truly bring value to their life? Check out ChooseFI episode 37, with Scott, talking about rolling out the red carpet for the valuable things in your life. Follow up from Robert, from The College Investor: how much student loan debt has the ChooseFI community paid off? Voicemail from Suzanne: in addition to physical books, her local library often provides access to online newspapers, to online language programs, STEM programs for students, as well as actual after-school programs for students from the public schools. Voicemail from the Peerless Money Mentor : the local library in Baton Rouge, LA, provides some access to Treehouse coding courses. How would Brad or Jonathan describe their lives at a high school reunion? Once you have all your financial needs taken care of, what do you want to do? What's your purpose? Email from Danny: how do employer contributions impact a 401k? Employer matched contributions do not count toward the $18,500 yearly limit for your 401k. There are some additional ways to maximize full contributions to your 401k, up to $55k a year. Additional links: The Reluctant Frugalist

076 | Mrs. Adventure Rich talks about making the choice to live an adventurous life, her family's pursuit of financial independence, and finding a balance between maximizing financial opportunities and living a happy, fulfilling, high quality of life. ——————- Thank you for being a part of the ChooseFI community! 🙂 If you want to support us, here are some easy ways: 1) Leave an iTunes review: http://www.choosefi.com/itunes 2) Use our page to sign up for travel credit cards Note: We may receive a commission if you are approved for cards on this page 3) Most importantly, find your friends, coworkers, and family members who may be open to this message and tell them about the podcast! (Episode 21 is a great starting place) As Jonathan would say, "The FIRE is spreading my friends!" ——————- There are a lot more details over at http://ChooseFI.com/076

075R | "Personal finance is becoming financial independence." Financial independence doesn't necessarily mean retiring early; it means allocating your resources in the way you see fit. This is just a taste of what we discuss in this recap from Monday's interview with Brian Feroldi from The Motley Fool. Jonathan talks about blowing his budget on breakfast at the cold bar in Wegman's, while Brad thinks that grocery shopping at Wegman's is the same cost as Walmart. Brad talks about meeting strangers who also in the FI community. Brad and Jonathan wonder if financial independence is on the edge of mainstream adoption? "Personal finance is becoming financial independence." Financial independence doesn't necessarily mean retiring early; it means allocating your resources in the way you see fit. Review of Monday's episode with Brian Feroldi, about individual stock investment. Do Brad and Jonathan own individual stocks? What are the challenges to getting started with individual stocks? Are individual stocks better as a hobby? What are the strengths of the way Brian described investing in individual stocks? A comment from Ray, in the ChooseFI community, that individual stocks requires too much individual management. Cody wonders whether the current bull market might be playing in favor of individual investors, without having yet felt the consequence of the inherent risk? How does Jackie, another ChooseFI community member, evaluate investment opportunities, and how did she get comfortable making investment decisions? Tim reiterates the value of the Motley Fool, and the recommendations they make. Frank, another community member, is concerned about a new investor's learning curve: the time and money it takes to learn enough about individual investing to find success. Is it possible to recognize large-scale Enron-type fraud by looking at investment research? If you hold stocks from companies in similar fields, would it be better to simply hold a sector index stock? Mr. 1500, Karl, worries about long-term investing with individual stocks. Knowing when to sell individual stocks is an almost impossible task. How are Brad and Brian getting their children started with investing? How much did the ChooseFI community respond to the Treehouse scholarship proposal? How can ChooseFI potentially connect students to mentors? For more information, visit the show notes at http://ChooseFI.com/075R

075 | Brian Feroldi talks through the advantages and disadvantages of individual investing, the realistic expectations for performance, and his strategies for beating Wall Street. Professional money managers operate under different parameters and mindsets than an individual investor Stockbrokers must make decisions based on short-term returns What other disadvantages do professional money managers face, in contrast to individual investors? How do professional money managers truly spend their time and earn their money? ...and more at https://ChooseFI.com/075 ——————- Thank you for being a part of the ChooseFI community! 🙂 If you want to support us, here are some easy ways: 1) Leave an iTunes review: http://www.choosefi.com/itunes 2) Use our page to sign up for travel credit cards Note: We may receive a commission if you are approved for cards on this page 3) Most importantly, find your friends, coworkers, and family members who may be open to this message and tell them about the podcast! (Episode 21 is a great starting place) As Jonathan would say, "The FIRE is spreading my friends!"

074R | An update the community on recent activities, discussion about the opportunity cost of college and potential alternatives, a ChooseFI scholarship announcement, and a few voicemails from the ChooseFI community. Brad recaps his trip to the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha, and a visit with the ChooseFI local group in Omaha Jonathan shares how he recently cut his grocery costs by nearly $700 ...and more can be found at http://ChooseFI.com/074R ——————- Thank you for being a part of the ChooseFI community! 🙂 If you want to support us, here are some easy ways: 1) Leave an iTunes review: http://www.choosefi.com/itunes 2) Use our page to sign up for travel credit cards Note: We may receive a commission if you are approved for cards on this page 3) Most importantly, find your friends, coworkers, and family members who may be open to this message and tell them about the podcast! (Episode 21 is a great starting place) As Jonathan would say, "The FIRE is spreading my friends!"