The Financial Independence Show

Today's episode is an extra special Valentine's day episode; Cody and Justin throw out all common sense by letting their significant others come on and give you an unfiltered behind the scenes look at what it's like to date someone so determined to retire young.

While the girls take plenty of jabs at the guys, we think you'll also get some great insight on how to make money conversations with your significant other much more productive and approachable.

Running behind on a Valentine's day gift? Just fire up this episode and grab a glass of wine for the perfect date night!

Oh, and don't forget to say happy birthday to Cody!

Episode Summary

Laura’s parents weren’t into personal finance but she did understand being frugal and buying only what you need

Leslie’s mom was big on spending money on experiences and things that were important but at the same time spending smart

When Leslie first met Justin she noted how he asked even on the first date was asking questions about what her spending habits are

Justin also used a coupon in combo with $2 beer night on their 2nd date

Laura talked about her first dates with Cody involved using these free vouchers from Cody’s dad

Laura sometimes felt like she was being difficult because she knew she was recommending a restaurant or activity that Cody wouldn’t normally do

Then they start tackling positives on meeting someone so frugal

Leslie talks about how much more travel it has opened up a ton of travel and how it’s not so much about the total of money but more about maximizing the money so maybe you go on two trips instead of one

Laura talks about how dating Cody has changed her habits in relation to finances

A common theme is being more intentional with money but at the same time teaching the guys to not stress so much over the small stuff

Leslie talks about the importance of us splitting things and how you don’t have to feel like one person is pulling the weight

Justin and Leslie say they probably speak about money in some form almost daily

Laura mentions that sometimes it can seem overwhelming to talk about finances so much but she appreciates it and it’s better to be aware

Then the guy’s swap the conversation to how the ladies have changed their lives

Cody mentions things like charity and international volunteering

Justin talks about opening up a little on the groceries and when something seems important to Leslie to just do it since they’re already so optimized

Justin and Leslie discuss how their financial discussions first started which was spurred about because of Leslie changing jobs

For Laura, Cody tried initially with straight numbers which didn’t really work but then once he introduced her to travel hacking it had her hooked

The approach of bland numbers was also an unsuccessful attempt by Justin but he too realized the outcome was key. They started focusing on how they wanted life to be and things were a lot clearer

Laura talks how Cody talked her into going to Camp FI by spinning it into a vacation

Then they talk about how important it is for the guys to also support their passions

Laura dreams of working in public works in places like Cambodia

Then they discuss how the ladies feel and trust the numbers that the guys are steering to and how they’d feel about not working for upwards of 60 years

Leslie & Laura feel confident and also recognize how flexible they and their careers are

They then discuss what people who aren’t as focused on financial independence or as experienced would like to hear from things like the podcast

Laura & Leslie talk about tips to get your spouse on board with a journey to financial independence such as recognizing things that are important to the other person and not crossing that line when drawing down expenses

Key Takeaways

Appreciate their sacrifice: It's often easy to look at yourself and feel proud of how you might be shaping up the finances for you and your significant other and totally forget the sacrifices they make by accepting this lifestyle you're presenting. Sure it's a responsible choice but that doesn't mean it's an easy one.

You're not normal: W Don't get me wrong, being normal is overrated but it's important to have some self-reflection. Understand that the life you want to live is a strange one that might even seem insane at first so be patient and don't expect full agreement on day one.

Middle ground marks the spot: A  You probably notice a common theme with these key takeaways and the episode in general. Meet your partner in the middle. On these financial journeys, we can develop tunnel vision and so focused on numbers that we forget the emotions associated with them. Monitor your partner's feelings, adjust when needed and remember that your working career is hopefully short but this relationship needs to last forever.

Call to Action

Go discover what your partner really wants in life, what does a perfect day look like, what are their passions? Now use these as the motivation to have them get in lock-step with your financial journey and  yes... you might even have to back away from those beautiful spreadsheets.

Join the Community

We’d love to hear your comments and questions about this week’s episode. Here are some of the best ways to stay in touch and get involved in The FI Show community!

Sign up for our exclusive newsletter

Join our Facebook Group

Leave us a voicemail

Send an email to contact [at] TheFIshow [dot] com

If you like what you hear, please leave a rating/review!

The FI show on iTunes

The FI show on Android

Links from the Episode

Camp FI

Travel Rewards

 

Contact Leslie & Lauren:

Leslie: Check out her beautiful Instagram account and watch out for behind the scenes content with Justin

Instagram: @LeslieHGreen

 

Lauren: Shoot her an email with questions about international works or how she survives Cody's relentless energy

Email: lkowalchek16 [at] gmail [dot] com

 

Learn More About Your Hosts:

Fly to FI (Cody’s Blog)

Saving-Sherpa (Justin’s blog)

Today's episode is an extra special Valentine's day episode; Cody and Justin throw out all common sense by letting their significant others come on and give you an unfiltered behind the scenes look at what it's like to date someone so determined to retire young.

While the girls take plenty of jabs at the guys, we think you'll also get some great insight on how to make money conversations with your significant other much more productive and approachable.

Running behind on a Valentine's day gift? Just fire up this episode and grab a glass of wine for the perfect date night!

Oh, and don't forget to say happy birthday to Cody!

Episode Summary

* Laura’s parents weren’t into personal finance but she did understand being frugal and buying only what you need

* Leslie’s mom was big on spending money on experiences and things that were important but at the same time spending smart

* When Leslie first met Justin she noted how he asked even on the first date was asking questions about what her spending habits are

* Justin also used a coupon in combo with $2 beer night on their 2nd date

* Laura talked about her first dates with Cody involved using these free vouchers from Cody’s dad

* Laura sometimes felt like she was being difficult because she knew she was recommending a restaurant or activity that Cody wouldn’t normally do

* Then they start tackling positives on meeting someone so frugal

* Leslie talks about how much more travel it has opened up a ton of travel and how it’s not so much about the total of money but more about maximizing the money so maybe you go on two trips instead of one

* Laura talks about how dating Cody has changed her habits in relation to finances

* A common theme is being more intentional with money but at the same time teaching the guys to not stress so much over the small stuff

* Leslie talks about the importance of us splitting things and how you don’t have to feel like one person is pulling the weight

* Justin and Leslie say they probably speak about money in some form almost daily

* Laura mentions that sometimes it can seem overwhelming to talk about finances so much but she appreciates it and it’s better to be aware

* Then the guy’s swap the conversation to how the ladies have changed their lives

* Cody mentions things like charity and international volunteering

* Justin talks about opening up a little on the groceries and when something seems important to Leslie to just do it since they’re already so optimized

* Justin and Leslie discuss how their financial discussions first started which was spurred about because of Leslie changing jobs

* For Laura, Cody tried initially with straight numbers which didn’t really work but then once he introduced her to travel hacking it had her hooked

* The approach of bland numbers was also an unsuccessful attempt by Justin but he too realized the outcome was key. They started focusing on how they wanted life to be and things were a lot clearer

* Laura talks how Cody talked her into going to Camp FI by spinning it into a vacation

* Then they talk about how important it is for the guys to also support their passions

* Laura dreams of working in public works in places like Cambodia

* Then they discuss how the ladies feel and trust the numbers that the guys are steering to and how they’d feel about not working for upwards of 60 years

* Leslie & Laura feel confident and also recognize how flexible they and their careers are

* They then discuss what people who aren’t as focused on financial independence or as experienced would like to hear from things like the podcast

* Laura & Leslie talk about tips to get your spouse on board with a journey to financial independence such as re...

In today’s episode, Cody and Justin bring you an incredible story that starts in poverty but ultimately dismisses a strict following of frugality. Dom was raised in unfortunate circumstances but quickly started latching onto mentors at a young age. He even had a pretty successful business selling candy bars at school as a young kid.

Since those days Dom has continued to sharpen his skill and has outlined a method for gaining promotions and raises at a high degree of success. He now brings in over $300k per year and is ahead of schedule on his amazing goal of $10M!

He also gives an interesting take on becoming an "Intrepreneur" where you still work for someone else but with the autonomy and compensation you desire.

Episode Summary

Grew up on welfare

Parents were drug addicts

His dad spent a lot of time in jail for producing meth

He gained sight of the FI movement through “Rich Dad Poor Dad”

Finds his motivation from people who are more successful than himself

In 6th grade, he found out about a place that gave you free pizza if you folded boxes

He got to know the owner who was his first mentor

At the pizza place, he learned about inventories and staffing

That little job also helped him understand the correlation between the amount of work you put in and your reward

He started selling candy in elementary school and was making 60-100 dollars per week just selling candy

Around 2014 he started noticing extreme frugality wasn’t working for him and he went to a 50/50 model where he saved 50% of his income and spent the other 50% guilt free regardless of income

They now spend $110-120k per year

He interned with a company in college and would eventually take a job with them as a financial analyst

He really focused on outworking his coworkers and worked 80-90 hours a week for his first 7 years out of college

Some of those hours were on the side learning new skills and not just on his job

He talks about the importance of marketing whatever your skill is

Knowing what you’re good also means being very self-aware

A great quote he had was “failure isn’t because you didn’t have the resources, it’s because you didn’t have the resourcefulness”

He also talks about how important “Luck” is but refers more to being prepared when these seemingly random opportunities come along

The skill he learned was being the translator between the Financial and IT sections of the company

To help find your own skills you should hone in on, ask other people what they think you’re best at, what are you getting complimented on.

He gives tips on getting pay raises and when it’s time to just jump ship

He actually recommends sitting down with management and agreeing to what it would take for a raise or promotion and what your pay increase would be and have them sign off on it, email it to them, and track throughout the year

sign, scan and email it to them and then come in at review time with evidence that you met it and asking when the raise is happening? I mean I love that but never heard of it and secondly when you’re swapping jobs, do you have a time frame like X number of months prior to leaving that you start scouring linkedIn, are these contacts from your current business, how does finding that next job look?

He used this method at one point to gain a $60k a year pay increase and promotion

Dom was able to make this deal by implementing a strategy that would save the business 60k every year indefinitely

He also recommends staying in touch with recruiters to check in with periodically to see what other people are making at a position similar to yours

This also leads into a term he calls “Intrapreneur” where he’s more than an employee and has earned a lot of autonomy

He has since negotiated a stake in the company and bonuses so he has the best of both worlds

While he has to work a lot and across a lot of time zones he’s able to work from anywhere and at any time so he blends work into his life instead of simply balancing the two

He and his wife intentionally waited until 32 to have their first child so they had the flexibility and wealth to be able to go down to a single income if they needed

The 10M dollar plan he made was a 20-year plan he started in 2015

Key Takeaways

Practice the work-life blend: Dom doesn't believe in the work-life balance. Instead, he practices what he calls the work-life blend. The time he spends working on his day job is indistinguishable from the time he spends working on his other tasks since each individual task is a separate fulfilling job in itself.

Mentors are everywhere: Who would have thought that Dom would learn some of his most valuable lessons from the owner of the pizza shop he worked at? Never underestimate people and absorb as much information as you can.

Frugality is relative: Although Dom spends between $110,000 and $120,000 per year, he still is able to save between 57 and 60% of his income. Financial independence definitely isn't all about deprivation and frugality and personal finance is personal. Find a level of spending that makes you happy while you save as much as you can.

Call to Action

Figure out how to earn a raise and create a concrete plan to get there. Draft a clear strategy with tangible checkpoints and check in with your boss at the end of the year once you've met them.

Join the Community

We’d love to hear your comments and questions about this week’s episode. Here are some of the best ways to stay in touch and get involved in The FI Show community!

Sign up for our exclusive newsletter

Join our Facebook Group

Leave us a voicemail

Send an email to contact [at] TheFIshow [dot] com

If you like what you hear, please leave a rating/review!

The FI show on iTunes

The FI show on Android

Links from the Episode

Dom's Blog

 

Contact GenY:

Twitter: @GenYFinanceGuy

 

Learn More About Your Hosts:

Fly to FI (Cody’s Blog)

Saving-Sherpa (Justin’s blog)

In today’s episode, Cody and Justin bring you an incredible story that starts in poverty but ultimately dismisses a strict following of frugality. Dom was raised in unfortunate circumstances but quickly started latching onto mentors at a young age. He even had a pretty successful business selling candy bars at school as a young kid.

Since those days Dom has continued to sharpen his skill and has outlined a method for gaining promotions and raises at a high degree of success. He now brings in over $300k per year and is ahead of schedule on his amazing goal of $10M!

He also gives an interesting take on becoming an "Intrepreneur" where you still work for someone else but with the autonomy and compensation you desire.

Episode Summary

Grew up on welfare

Parents were drug addicts

His dad spent a lot of time in jail for producing meth

He gained sight of the FI movement through “Rich Dad Poor Dad”

Finds his motivation from people who are more successful than himself

In 6th grade, he found out about a place that gave you free pizza if you folded boxes

He got to know the owner who was his first mentor

At the pizza place, he learned about inventories and staffing

That little job also helped him understand the correlation between the amount of work you put in and your reward

He started selling candy in elementary school and was making 60-100 dollars per week just selling candy

Around 2014 he started noticing extreme frugality wasn’t working for him and he went to a 50/50 model where he saved 50% of his income and spent the other 50% guilt free regardless of income

They now spend $110-120k per year

He interned with a company in college and would eventually take a job with them as a financial analyst

He really focused on outworking his coworkers and worked 80-90 hours a week for his first 7 years out of college

Some of those hours were on the side learning new skills and not just on his job

He talks about the importance of marketing whatever your skill is

Knowing what you’re good also means being very self-aware

A great quote he had was “failure isn’t because you didn’t have the resources, it’s because you didn’t have the resourcefulness”

He also talks about how important “Luck” is but refers more to being prepared when these seemingly random opportunities come along

The skill he learned was being the translator between the Financial and IT sections of the company

To help find your own skills you should hone in on, ask other people what they think you’re best at, what are you getting complimented on.

He gives tips on getting pay raises and when it’s time to just jump ship

He actually recommends sitting down with management and agreeing to what it would take for a raise or promotion and what your pay increase would be and have them sign off on it, email it to them, and track throughout the year

sign, scan and email it to them and then come in at review time with evidence that you met it and asking when the raise is happening? I mean I love that but never heard of it and secondly when you’re swapping jobs, do you have a time frame like X number of months prior to leaving that you start scouring linkedIn, are these contacts from your current business, how does finding that next job look?

He used this method at one point to gain a $60k a year pay increase and promotion

Dom was able to make this deal by implementing a strategy that would save the business 60k every year indefinitely

He also recommends staying in touch with recruiters to check in with periodically to see what other people are making at a position similar to yours

This also leads into a term he calls “Intrapreneur” where he’s more than an employee and has earned a lot of autonomy

In today’s episode, Cody and Justin bring you an awesome episode full of philosophical discussion to go along with the background of Grant Sabatier who went from $2.26 in his checking account to $1.25M in 5 years!

Our main hope is you come away with a little more insight into Grant's brain as we tackle some interesting questions like

Do people optimize too much?

Can a journey to FI be harmful?

Does someone need to know their why?

Is becoming an entrepreneur the answer?

If you enjoyed this episode or want to get to know more about Grant, we encourage you to pick up his new book Financial Freedom today!

Episode Summary

Graduated with philosophy degree

Bounced around 4 jobs after college

Was laid off twice

Spent what money he had going on a big trip to Africa

Ended up back at his parents with $2.26 at age 24

He was also carrying credit card debt

His parents gave him a 3 month time limit to figure things out

This was during 2010

He started googling for books about money and landed on Your Money Or Your Life as well as Automatic Millionaire

Grant realized if he was going to be trading life for money, he became focused on how he could make as much as possible

He sat a goal to make $1M and retire as soon as possible

A few weeks later he discovered Google Mobile Ads as well as a free certification course

He was immediately hired upon completion

He started making $50k

It was until 2.5 years later that he found others on the path to financial independence at a young age

He working extremely hard working 7 days a week most of the time

He started building websites plus flipping VW vans and mopeds, and flipping domains

Today he still has over 800 domains

He began to gain a lot of traction with his main job of managing Google campaigns

He attributes this to understanding how he's perceived, knowing what value he brings, and understanding what his clients need to do to impress their boss

One tactic he had was actually writing messages for the client to express how this deal would be good for them

Then he talks about how easy it is to see the difference between someone just putting in a lot of hours and those they put out quality work

The discussion then swaps to skills which Grant refers to as the future currency

Also to make sure that you learn skills that may not tie together at surface level like analytics, sales, and coding

Great quote I don't know how to do that is no longer an excuse in this digital age

He talks about how at 18 when graduating from high school, you simply don't know what you want to be so a structured plan can be tough but you have a huge opportunity to take risks

He argues that too much personality finance writing is about cutting out things that we enjoy or being too afraid of debt

To worry more about making more money vs stressing about something like student loans

He talks about knowing where you want to go and then focusing on how much you need to make to get there instead of settling on what you think you're worth

Grant talks about knowing where you want to go and then focusing on how much you need to make to get there instead of settling on what you think you're worth

He also talks about the risks of climbing the corporate ladder and what that can do to your life and family

Then we talk about over optimizing our lives and our budgets

This ties into how much of our life we miss by not living in the moment and how Americans struggle with this more than some countries

He also admits that he gave up to much life and experiences by being so hyoerfocused on retiring

You can be just as addicted to saving money as someone who is addicted to spending it and both are dangerous

His wish is that everyone who finds themselves in a job they didn't love would take 6 months off without a concrete plan to discover your passions

Becoming FI in 5 years was extremely stressful for Grant

His hope is that FI helps more people help others

He talks about getting to level 3 of finances being so important which he calls breathing room

Breathing room is 6 months to 1 year of expenses saved and you should focus on that before big trips and experiences and then start exploring life

Then he discusses what worry him even more which are people who are happy enough, that make decent pay but aren't truly fulfilled

After, we get into a really interesting discussion on how we perceive time differently at different ages because at age 7 we've already experienced half of life's new experiences

Then again at age 26 we find time flying by because we're at 80% of life experience and how we fill so much more alive when traveling to new destinations

We then swap to the topic of the importance of existing and soaking in life and true happiness while we're working so hard towards financial freedom

We end our episode talking about working with our spouses and selves to understand what a truly perfect life would look like beyond the number

Key Takeaways

Skills are future currency: Grant speculates that, in the future, our economy will operate in such a fashion where each of us represents our own little "island" of talent. Our skill sets and capabilities will determine how much we earn and succeed. Start learning some new skills and building your future currency net worth!

Take a step back and breathe: After Grant set his goal of accumulating $1.25M, he turned his engine on hyperdrive. If he could turn back time, he says that he would have taken a step back to breathe and to realize all of the freedom he had already created at that moment in time. Enjoy the journey!

Budgets Shouldn't Restrict You: If you feel extremely deprived on a budget like Grant did, it might not be a great option for you. Instead, get the big things right (housing, transportation, and food) and then spend your money on the things that truly bring you joy. You don't have to cut out your Starbucks!

Call to Action

Take a step back and look at your life from the outside: Is this the life that you want to be living? If not, what steps can you take to move in the right direction?

Join the Community

We’d love to hear your comments and questions about this week’s episode. Here are some of the best ways to stay in touch and get involved in The FI Show community!

Sign up for our exclusive newsletter

Join our Facebook Group

Leave us a voicemail

Send an email to contact [at] TheFIshow [dot] com

If you like what you hear, please leave a rating/review!

The FI show on iTunes

The FI show on Android

Links from the Episode

Financial Freedom: A Proven Path to All the Money You'll Ever Need

Millennial Money - Grant's Blog

 

Contact Grant:

Twitter: @millennialmoney

Instagram: @financialfreedom

 

Learn More About Your Hosts:

Fly to FI (Cody’s Blog)

Saving-Sherpa (Justin’s blog)

In today’s episode, Cody and Justin bring you an awesome episode full of philosophical discussion to go along with the background of Grant Sabatier who went from $2.26 in his checking account to $1.25M in 5 years!

Our main hope is you come away with a little more insight into Grant's brain as we tackle some interesting questions like

* Do people optimize too much?

* Can a journey to FI be harmful?

* Does someone need to know their why?

* Is becoming an entrepreneur the answer?

If you enjoyed this episode or want to get to know more about Grant, we encourage you to pick up his new book Financial Freedom today!

Episode Summary

Graduated with philosophy degree

Bounced around 4 jobs after college

Was laid off twice

Spent what money he had going on a big trip to Africa

Ended up back at his parents with $2.26 at age 24

He was also carrying credit card debt

His parents gave him a 3 month time limit to figure things out

This was during 2010

He started googling for books about money and landed on Your Money Or Your Life as well as Automatic Millionaire

Grant realized if he was going to be trading life for money, he became focused on how he could make as much as possible

He sat a goal to make $1M and retire as soon as possible

A few weeks later he discovered Google Mobile Ads as well as a free certification course

He was immediately hired upon completion

He started making $50k

It was until 2.5 years later that he found others on the path to financial independence at a young age

He working extremely hard working 7 days a week most of the time

He started building websites plus flipping VW vans and mopeds, and flipping domains

Today he still has over 800 domains

He began to gain a lot of traction with his main job of managing Google campaigns

He attributes this to understanding how he's perceived, knowing what value he brings, and understanding what his clients need to do to impress their boss

One tactic he had was actually writing messages for the client to express how this deal would be good for them

Then he talks about how easy it is to see the difference between someone just putting in a lot of hours and those they put out quality work

The discussion then swaps to skills which Grant refers to as the future currency

Also to make sure that you learn skills that may not tie together at surface level like analytics, sales, and coding

Great quote I don't know how to do that is no longer an excuse in this digital age

He talks about how at 18 when graduating from high school, you simply don't know what you want to be so a structured plan can be tough but you have a huge opportunity to take risks

He argues that too much personality finance writing is about cutting out things that we enjoy or being too afraid of debt

To worry more about making more money vs stressing about something like student loans

He talks about knowing where you want to go and then focusing on how much you need to make to get there instead of settling on what you think you're worth

Grant talks about knowing where you want to go and then focusing on how much you need to make to get there instead of settling on what you think you're worth

He also talks about the risks of climbing the corporate ladder and what that can do to your life and family

In today’s episode, Cody and Justin bring you the boss we all strive to be. She realized being a lawyer wasn't in her future and swapped career paths to the tech industry and never looked back. While she makes a hefty income with her day job, she maintains a dedication to side hustles.

We also loved J's alternate take on Financial Independence by not rushing it. She loves her jobs and wants to be very stable. Just another great example of the many paths to FI.

Episode Summary

Studied political science in college

She thought she would become a lawyer

Became a legal assistant at age 22

She was in Boston and then moved back in with her parents

Some of her friends started blogging

She started her own blog about studying abroad to help students figure out where they should study

She finds an internship for the U.S. Olympic committee for digital marketing

Started working at USOC in 2012

All the experimenting with her blog directly translated with her new internship at the USOC

She turned that internship into a full time position where she would work with the field hockey team

She still uses a lot of the same strategies she did with her first blog including hiring out some posts on areas she isn’t as familiar with and  using keyword planning tools

One strategy she uses is to write content that’s funny and slightly controversial

She talks about the power of pintrest as the “Google of Pictures” and allows for tons of free advertising

J talks about how important it is to experiment with posts and pictures early on when your readership is low to figure out what works

She felt like the USOC job was great but wanted to learn from a bigger company

Her focus was on tech jobs in a fortune 500 company

She landed a job with an insurance company in Colorado as a project manager

She cited her management of a website that she helped a startup create with $15k as project management experience which allowed her to land the job

Her job was working with engineers to develop internal software

She got her Master’s reimbursed and got it in Information systems

Worked there for 3.5 years

She networked at the Grace Harper celebration

There she interviewed at a Silicon Valley tech company and made the move to California 9 months later

She received the AnitaB.org scholarship to Grace Hopper Celebration

She got a pay bump from the move to California

Although the standard of living there is more expensive she actually lowered her expenses in Colorado by living in a tiny 1 bedroom

At that time they were in debt from student loans and other various debt

They became debt free in 2016

After a year of living in Silicon Valley she realized it was not for her

She moved to the pacific northwest where she feels she can get the best of both worlds

She loves her job so much now that she’s not hyper-focused on the retire early portion of FIRE

There is a desire to spend more time with family but she worked a deal with her current job to work remotely from time to time in an office near them

J’s list of best side hustles: Air BnB, Turo, and her new favorite -- Etsy digital downloads

Key Takeaways

You can never learn too many skills: J went to college for political science and now earns a majority of her money through tech and blogging. She was able to increase her perceived value by constantly gaining new skills!

Design your lifestyle: Taking "risks" yields rewards. J was never afraid to take a leap at a new opportunity. Whether it was moving across states, trying new jobs, or finding a new role, her ability to take these risks vastly improved the trajectory of her life. Don't be afraid to take calculated risks!

Enjoy the FI journey: You don't have to hit your FI number or reach your cash flow goals as fast as possible. J explains how she is enjoying her journey and soaking up as much as possible along the way.

Call to Action

How can you design your ideal career? Work to maximize your perceived value and leverage it to gain options.

Join the Community

We’d love to hear your comments and questions about this week’s episode. Here are some of the best ways to stay in touch and get involved in The FI Show community!

Sign up for our exclusive newsletter

Join our Facebook Group

Leave us a voicemail

Send an email to contact [at] TheFIshow [dot] com

If you like what you hear, please leave a rating/review!

The FI show on iTunes

The FI show on Android

Links from the Episode

Millennial Boss

FIRE drill podcast

Grace Hopper celebration

Airbnb

Turo

Etsy

Rover

Pinterest

 

Contact Millennial Boss:

Twitter: @MillennialBoss

Instagram: @MillennialBoss

 

Learn More About Your Hosts:

Fly to FI (Cody’s Blog)

Saving-Sherpa (Justin’s blog)

In today’s episode, Cody and Justin bring you the boss we all strive to be. She realized being a lawyer wasn't in her future and swapped career paths to the tech industry and never looked back. While she makes a hefty income with her day job, she maintains a dedication to side hustles.

We also loved J's alternate take on Financial Independence by not rushing it. She loves her jobs and wants to be very stable. Just another great example of the many paths to FI.

Episode Summary

Studied political science in college

She thought she would become a lawyer

Became a legal assistant at age 22

She was in Boston and then moved back in with her parents

Some of her friends started blogging

She started her own blog about studying abroad to help students figure out where they should study

She finds an internship for the U.S. Olympic committee for digital marketing

Started working at USOC in 2012

All the experimenting with her blog directly translated with her new internship at the USOC

She turned that internship into a full time position where she would work with the field hockey team

She still uses a lot of the same strategies she did with her first blog including hiring out some posts on areas she isn’t as familiar with and  using keyword planning tools

One strategy she uses is to write content that’s funny and slightly controversial

She talks about the power of pintrest as the “Google of Pictures” and allows for tons of free advertising

J talks about how important it is to experiment with posts and pictures early on when your readership is low to figure out what works

She felt like the USOC job was great but wanted to learn from a bigger company

Her focus was on tech jobs in a fortune 500 company

She landed a job with an insurance company in Colorado as a project manager

She cited her management of a website that she helped a startup create with $15k as project management experience which allowed her to land the job

Her job was working with engineers to develop internal software

She got her Master’s reimbursed and got it in Information systems

Worked there for 3.5 years

She networked at the Grace Harper celebration

There she interviewed at a Silicon Valley tech company and made the move to California 9 months later

She received the AnitaB.org scholarship to Grace Hopper Celebration

She got a pay bump from the move to California

Although the standard of living there is more expensive she actually lowered her expenses in Colorado by living in a tiny 1 bedroom

At that time they were in debt from student loans and other various debt

They became debt free in 2016

After a year of living in Silicon Valley she realized it was not for her

She moved to the pacific northwest where she feels she can get the best of both worlds

She loves her job so much now that she’s not hyper-focused on the retire early portion of FIRE

There is a desire to spend more time with family but she worked a deal with her current job to work remotely from time to time in an office near them

J’s list of best side hustles: Air BnB, Turo, and her new favorite -- Etsy digital downloads

Key Takeaways

* You can never learn too many skills: J went to college for political science and now earns a majority of her money through tech and blogging. She was able to increase her perceived value by constantly gaining new skills!

* Design your lifestyle: Taking "risks" yields rewards. J was never afraid to take a leap at a new opportunity. Whether it was moving across states, trying new jobs, or finding a new role, her ability to take these risks vastly improved the trajectory of her life.

In today’s episode, Cody and Justin bring you the creator of what we believe will be the future gold standard of Credit Card rewards accumulation, tracking, and redemption. Anik Khan started creating businesses at age 14 where he would redesign websites for thousands of dollars. He would go on to college to pick up management skills and work a few years as a management consultant before starting the rewards app called Max Rewards. The app is currently in beta but should be ready in March 2019.

You can gain early access by going over to Max Rewards and hitting download. Make sure you let them know the FI Show sent you!

Episode Summary

Came to the U.S. when he was four through a lottery program his dad earned

He grew up in New York on a low income

He started looking for ways he could help contribute to the family

When he was 12 he started learning HTML

He actually ended up redesigning his middle school website

At 14 he started up a website to launch his own business

Some of these jobs would pay up to 19k for a project

His mom was worried he was up to something illegal

Throughout high school he got paid around $50k and $30k of that was profit

This business started around 2005

He goes to his mentor to try and borrow $50k to really kick his business off but his mentor knew he wasn't ready because he didn't know management

So he goes to college and interns with some medical offices

He looked into starting a business to replace college learning management systems but realized it would be a very long time before it could become profitable

After college, he got into management consulting

Through his consulting at Accenture he started traveling a lot

With a recommendation from his boss, he started looking into travel rewards

From there he built models to track the best cards to use

He's earned over $20k in travel rewards

Sometimes he would even check in and out of hotels around a town while traveling to get more bonuses

He also talks about stacking discounts and rewards

This led him to his current venture called MaxRewards

This app provides a much deeper analysis of which credit card is best for you than any currently offered

Then the app helps you track which cards to get next, how to get the bonuses, what rewards you have left to use, and which card is best to use when

He talks about the false information about opening up credit cards having sucha negative impact to credit scores

In reality, it will probably help you or stay the same

Anik starts talking about future phases of the apps that focus more on redemption instead of just accumulation

This app is shaping up to combine many different applications into one extremely powerful rewards application

They are starting to open the app up for beta testers currently

The app is set to launch sometime in March

You can get priority access to the app by going to Max Rewards and using The FI Show as a note when signing up

The app is also completely free

In the future, the reward redemption portion will be a premium feature

This app has a bright future which started by winning the FinTech competition at FinCon this year

Key Takeaways

You may not be ready: Anik wanted to jump in head first for his first business but a mentor let him know that he needed to learn more first. There's a fine line between taking that first step and overextending ourselves. It's ok to stop and prepare so that our first big venture is a success.

Listen, Learn, Iterate: I love how Anik talks about where Max Rewards is going after getting the basics solid and getting feedback. Just like agile software development, our lives should be a steady improvement with tangible outputs.

Convenience is coming: One of the biggest reasons people shy away from tactics that are often associated with FI is because it's not convenient. While we could argue for and against that idea all day, what is obvious is that life is getting more convenient on its own through apps like Max Rewards. I think it's better to do what it takes to get our finances right now so that we can enjoy the life of convenience that I believe the future will bring.

Call to Action

Go sign up for Max Rewards today and become a part of the newest travel rewards tool on the market

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Links from the Episode

Max Rewards

Cody and Justin's Recommended Cards

Southwest Companion Pass

 

Contact Anik:

E-mail: [email protected]

Twitter: @MaxRewardsCo

 

Learn More About Your Hosts:

Fly to FI (Cody’s Blog)

Saving-Sherpa (Justin’s blog)

In today’s episode, Cody and Justin bring you the creator of what we believe will be the future gold standard of Credit Card rewards accumulation, tracking, and redemption. Anik Khan started creating businesses at age 14 where he would redesign websites for thousands of dollars. He would go on to college to pick up management skills and work a few years as a management consultant before starting the rewards app called Max Rewards. The app is currently in beta but should be ready in March 2019.

You can gain early access by going over to Max Rewards and hitting download. Make sure you let them know the FI Show sent you!

Episode Summary

Came to the U.S. when he was four through a lottery program his dad earned

* He grew up in New York on a low income

* He started looking for ways he could help contribute to the family

* When he was 12 he started learning HTML

* He actually ended up redesigning his middle school website

* At 14 he started up a website to launch his own business

* Some of these jobs would pay up to 19k for a project

* His mom was worried he was up to something illegal

* Throughout high school he got paid around $50k and $30k of that was profit

* This business started around 2005

* He goes to his mentor to try and borrow $50k to really kick his business off but his mentor knew he wasn't ready because he didn't know management

* So he goes to college and interns with some medical offices

* He looked into starting a business to replace college learning management systems but realized it would be a very long time before it could become profitable

* After college, he got into management consulting

* Through his consulting at Accenture he started traveling a lot

* With a recommendation from his boss, he started looking into travel rewards

* From there he built models to track the best cards to use

* He's earned over $20k in travel rewards

* Sometimes he would even check in and out of hotels around a town while traveling to get more bonuses

* He also talks about stacking discounts and rewards

* This led him to his current venture called MaxRewards

* This app provides a much deeper analysis of which credit card is best for you than any currently offered

* Then the app helps you track which cards to get next, how to get the bonuses, what rewards you have left to use, and which card is best to use when

* He talks about the false information about opening up credit cards having sucha negative impact to credit scores

* In reality, it will probably help you or stay the same

* Anik starts talking about future phases of the apps that focus more on redemption instead of just accumulation

* This app is shaping up to combine many different applications into one extremely powerful rewards application

* They are starting to open the app up for beta testers currently

* The app is set to launch sometime in March

* You can get priority access to the app by going to Max Rewards and using The FI Show as a note when signing up

* The app is also completely free

* In the future, the reward redemption portion will be a premium feature

* This app has a bright future which started by winning the FinTech competition at FinCon this year

Key Takeaways

* You may not be ready: Anik wanted to jump in head first for his first business but a mentor let him know that he needed to learn more first. There's a fine line between taking that first step and overextending ourselves. It's ok to stop and prepare so that our first big venture is a success.

* Listen, Learn, Iterate: I love how Anik talks about where Max Rewards is going after getting the ...