October 23, 2024

Ignoring the Rules and Paving Your Own Path to FIRE | E152 Diania Merriam

51 minutes

I love FI because it allows me to break the rules and live outside the norm. Like, no one has time for 40 years of traditional employment. But little did I realize I left one set of rules only to get caught up in another - the rules of personal finance.

For example, let's look at one popular idea, “spend less than you earn and invest the difference.” My friend Jeremy Schneider says this all the time and for the most part, he’s right. This is a great principle and one of the pillars of building wealth. But where we go wrong is when we get too fixated on a rule and let it box us in. Do we have to spend less than we earn…every year? No, we realize that is a silly idea. If you want to plan a year of travel, take off time to raise a newborn, or work on launching a business, that might be a year you spend more than you make…and that’s okay.

I’m not saying Jeremy hasn’t had a year where he’s spent more than he’s earned. Knowing him, I’m guessing he’s had a couple but sometimes these general guidelines create a limited mindset. Another example is the 4% rule. This one boxed me in for years making me think I needed to reach my FIRE number before I could retire.

I’ve been rethinking that a lot recently and one person who has impacted me is Diania Merriam. Through her 20s and early 30s, Diania worked in sales. In the midst of one of her peak earning years, she decided to take a 2-month sabbatical to walk 500 miles across northern Spain. A few years later, she quit that job entirely and retired from her corporate career at 33. Diania then founded the EconoMe Conference, a party about money. The conference wasn’t profitable the first few years but Diania didn’t care because she felt like organizing this event was her calling. She is the definition of rewriting the rule book which is why I wanted to have her on the show.

I’m hoping through her story, you identify a personal finance rule that might be limiting your thinking. We get into topics like how to get your employer to say yes to a sabbatical, getting comfortable leaving a high-paying job, right-sizing work, and more.

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