Financial Independence Podcast

It's easy to think that early retirement will be the answer to all your problems.

After all, how could you not be happy when you don't have to work anymore?

I've written about why early retirement is not a magic bullet but what if it actually makes your life worse?

On today's episode of the Financial Independence Podcast, I interview a reader named Tony who found this to be the case.

He's since decided to go back to the same career he retired from and is enjoying work (and life) more than ever.

During the interview, we dive into the overlooked benefits of work and the downsides of early retirement.

We also explore serious issues that aren't talked about enough, like depression and mental health.

Huge thank you to Tony for sharing his deeply personal story with us.

Highlights:

• The benefits of having a job that are hard to find elsewhere
• Why early retirement won't magically fix all your problems
• The importance of building human contact into your early retirement plan
• The dark side of having a driving passion and purpose
• Signs that you need to seek help for your mental health problems
• What it's like going back to work after early retirement
• The Office Space Effect and how FI can make you a better (and happier) employee

I made two big mistakes when I was pursuing financial independence…

The first was I put off happiness until I hit FI.

The second was I also put off my health.

In today's episode of the Financial Independence Podcast, I chat to my personal trainer, Doug from Monumental Strength.

Doug has spent the past two years taking me from a puny computer programmer to a strong, healthy weightlifter!

It's been a fantastic journey, with numerous unexpected benefits, so don't wait until FI like I did. Start focusing on your health now and drastically improve your journey to FI (and your life beyond)!

Highlights:

• Why lifting weights is a perfect activity for improving your health
• How to build a good workout plan
• Why free weights are better than machines
• What to eat if you want to build muscle
• Why weightlifting is better than running for burning fat and losing weight
• How to progress to doing more difficult lifts
• The benefits of intermittent fasting

A challenging aspect of early retirement is the loss of identity you may experience when leaving a career you've spent a big chunk of your life building.

However, one of the most exciting parts of early retirement is that you have the time, money, and freedom to create a completely new identity!

How do you do it though?

Today, I had the privilege to speak to the writer who has been most helpful to me as I've started building my own new identity – James Clear.

In this episode, we discuss habits, deliberate practice, and how to best create a meaningful and purpose-driven life!

Highlights:

• What makes life meaningful and how to live better
• The importance of social connections
• How to deal with the "pain of discipline"
• The physics of productivity and why habits are so powerful
• The importance of having an easy on-ramp to a task
• Why a habit must be established before it can be improved
• How to find a keystone habit that can improve multiple areas of your life
• Why you should optimize for the starting line rather than the finish line
• The downsides of habits
• What is deliberate practice and why it's important
• How habits can change your identity
• Why rewards are good (but only if they don't conflict with your new identity)
• What is intermittent fasting and why it's beneficial

If you've been reading about financial independence for a while, you've likely seen that the topic is getting more popular lately.

Although FIRE (Financial Independence / Retire Early) is far bigger than it was when I created this site in 2012, it's still nowhere near mainstream.

That may change though…

A full-length documentary called Playing with FIRE is currently in the works and the film has the potential to reach millions of people that blogs or podcasts never would.

This is a huge deal.

I was asked to take part in the film and was lucky to get to know the talented people behind the documentary.

On today's episode of the Financial Independence Podcast, I'm excited to welcome the director and executive producer, Travis Shakespeare!

Listen to hear how the documentary came about, discover what Travis has learned about FI after spending the last year creating this film, and find out when you'll be able to see it!

Chad Carson from CoachCarson.com joins me again on the Financial Independence Podcast to talk about the various strategies you can use to retire early with real estate!

Highlights:

• The best real-estate strategies to use to reach financial independence and retire early
• How real estate can be a good investment while also enhancing your lifestyle
• What is the Mad Fientist's Peak Arbitrage™ strategy and is it a good idea
• Why you should buy utility but rent luxury
• Thoughts on internet-based real estate investing companies (e.g. PeerStreet, RealityShares, etc.)
• What you should look for when buying a long-term "Buy and Hold" rental

I can't believe it...

It's already been two years since I left my full-time job!

To celebrate this special anniversary, I decided to release a podcast episode containing my thoughts on my second year of freedom.

Find out what a day in my life is like now, hear all the ways early retirement is different than I expected, and discover the most valuable lessons I've learned since leaving my job!

On August 1st, 2018, it will be exactly two years since I left my full-time job as a software developer.

To celebrate, I've decided to release two podcast episodes that contain all the valuable lessons I learned during my first two years of freedom.

Today's episode contains everything I learned during my first year and on Wednesday (August 1st), I will release everything I learned during my second year of freedom.

It's been a wild ride so hope you enjoy the first of these two episodes!

On today's episode of the Financial Independence Podcast, I'm joined by the president of biggerpockets.com and cohost of the BiggerPockets Money Show, Scott Trench!

Scott breaks down the journey to financial independence into three stages and explains what you need to focus on at each step (and why)!

Highlights:

• The three stages of wealth creation on the path to financial freedom
• Why it doesn't make sense to worry about investing right away
• How to create a "financial runway" and use it to your advantage
• Why you should try to find a "scalable career"
• How to turn your biggest expense into an income-producing asset
• The one question to ask before buying your first house hack
• The multiple benefits of adding side hustles along your journey

My good friend Marla Taner joined me on the Financial Independence Podcast to go deep into some early-retirement topics that aren't often discussed.

Marla and I met in 2014 at Camp Mustache and we've had a lot of fun (and sometimes heavy) conversations over the years so I thought it'd be great to record one for the podcast!

Highlights:

• How to deal with a sudden early retirement
• Rethinking travel after leaving work
• Finding happiness from within
• Dealing with losing career identity and external validation
• How to care less about "success"
• The effort of happiness
• Focusing on progress rather than the end goal
• Doing the work to figure yourself out
• Justifying the decision to retire early

Last August, I was down in England with Vicki Robin (author of Your Money or Your Life) for the FI Chautauqua.

We were chatting about the new version of the book she was working on (which is out now!) and she mentioned that she created a game called "Money Talks" to go along with the new edition.

The card game consists of 52 different cards, each containing a different money question or topic. The idea is, you can use the cards to initiate conversations about money with family, friends, etc. (as you are probably aware, money doesn't often get discussed in real life so this game attempts to change that).

I thought it was a great idea so I asked Vicki if she'd be up for playing the game with a handful of Chautauqua attendees and I'd record it for an episode of the Financial Independence Podcast.

She agreed and that's what I'm sharing with you today!

Big thanks to Vicki Robin for teaching us how to play, to Ettington Park for the fantastic venue, and to Eduardo, Laura, Kimi, Matt, Brandon, Jason, Lena, and Meghan for taking part!