Welcome to the Mindful FIRE Podcast, where we explore living mindfully on the path to financial independence and beyond.

On today's episode of the podcast, I'm excited to bring you a really special guest. Sarah McCrum. Sarah was introduced to me by a former guest Morgan Bricca. Morgan joined us on episode six, seven and fourteen of the podcast.

Sarah is an author educator and business innovator. She's the founder of Liberate Humanity, which is a place for learning and sharing the skills for liberation of the human spirit. Sarah has spent more than 20 years teaching and coaching business owners and their families.

She is the creator of the innovative program “Thank You Money” based on the principles of her book, Love Money, Money Loves You.

My conversation with Sarah was so interesting that we talked for almost two hours so I wanted to break this episode into bite sized chunks for you.

On part one of my conversation we cover a whole lot, including her journey with money, which led her to write the book, Love Money, Money Loves You.

She shares how she had to put these principles into practice in her own life when she moved from the UK to Australia, with her husband, and essentially had to start over from zero. And how she used these principles to grow her wealth and her business after starting over.

I absolutely love this conversation with Sarah and I'm so excited to share with you.

In today's conversation we discuss:

• Sarah’s journey and what she’s up to in the world
• Sarah’s journey with money and how the book love money, Money loves you came into the world
• Money as currency of connection between humans and connection and creativity
• How money flowing from one person to another is a connecting and loving energy
• How we can maximize our value by changing the way we relate to money.
• How do we find that balance between, being open to receiving and having a vision for our life, but not getting so caught up in one or the other that we really lose the balance.
• Enjoyment as a kind of barometer of success
• How we can cultivate the capacity for enjoyment
• What piece of advice Sarah would give to someone early on their path to financial independence
• What piece of advice Sarah would give to someone getting started with meditation and or mindfulness
• How people can connect with Sarah online and learn more about her book and her workshops

Connect with Sarah McCrumb

• Sarah McCrum’s Personal Website
• Liberate Humanity
• Love To
• Sarah’s Book Love Money, Money Loves You

More from The Mindful FIRE Podcast

• More Inspiring Interviews
• Free Guided Meditations

Books I recommend

• Sarah’s Book Love Money, Money Loves You
• The Simple Path to Wealth

Join the Mindful FIRE Legends community at MindfulFIRE.org/join.

PS: Introducing the… 🔥 FIRE Starter Group Coaching Program

You did the “money” part. You saved, invested, and built real options. But if you’re being honest… FU money alone isn’t enough—and you might still feel stuck in “one more year syndrome,” unclear on what you actually want next.

In 10 weeks or less, we’ll help you get clear on what you want—and start living it now—using envisioning, mindfulness, and practical mini-experiments (not endless overthinking).

Interested? Let’s chat: https://mindfulfire.org/chat

🔥 WHO I’m creating this for

This is for you if you’re at or near FI (Coast FI or full FIRE) and:

• You feel stuck after “doing everything right,” but you’re not sure what you’re optimizing for anymore.
• You’re caught between freedom and overwhelm (“I could do anything… so I do nothing”).
• You want clarity and momentum—but you don’t want someone to tell you what to do.

🔥 WHAT we’ll do together (over 10 weeks)

In a small group (mastermind-style), you’ll:

• Get clear on what you actually want (beyond expectations, comparison, and “shoulds”).
• Create a big, meaningful vision for your next chapter—one that fits who you are now.
• Learn the brain science behind envisioning (why it works, and how to use it).
• Turn yo...

Welcome to the Mindful FIRE Podcast, where we explore living mindfully on the path to financial independence and beyond.

Today’s guided meditation is all about creating space within your busy life to invest in yourself.

Something powerful happens when we slow down, sit down and turn our attention inward.

Like a snow globe being set down on a table, we allow our mind and body to settle and we can start to see more clearly what’s going on inside.

I hope you enjoy.

More from The Mindful FIRE Podcast

• More Inspiring Interviews
• More Guided Meditations

PS: Introducing the… 🔥 FIRE Starter Group Coaching Program

You did the “money” part. You saved, invested, and built real options. But if you’re being honest… FU money alone isn’t enough—and you might still feel stuck in “one more year syndrome,” unclear on what you actually want next.

In 10 weeks or less, we’ll help you get clear on what you want—and start living it now—using envisioning, mindfulness, and practical mini-experiments (not endless overthinking).

Interested? Let’s chat: https://mindfulfire.org/chat

🔥 WHO I’m creating this for

This is for you if you’re at or near FI (Coast FI or full FIRE) and:

• You feel stuck after “doing everything right,” but you’re not sure what you’re optimizing for anymore.
• You’re caught between freedom and overwhelm (“I could do anything… so I do nothing”).
• You want clarity and momentum—but you don’t want someone to tell you what to do.

🔥 WHAT we’ll do together (over 10 weeks)

In a small group (mastermind-style), you’ll:

• Get clear on what you actually want (beyond expectations, comparison, and “shoulds”).
• Create a big, meaningful vision for your next chapter—one that fits who you are now.
• Learn the brain science behind envisioning (why it works, and how to use it).
• Turn yo...

Welcome to the Mindful FIRE Podcast, where we explore living mindfully on the path to financial independence and beyond.

On this episode I'm joined by my friend, Sean Alexander Hickle, entrepreneur and founder of SimpleApproach.US, an online personal training program.

In this episode, Sean and I explored the idea of thinking about our health and our fitness as an area of investment equal to that, of our finances or any other area of our life that we invest in.

Over the last five years, Sean has trained all kinds of people from actors and models to business people, and even billionaires on how to develop their physical fitness.

In today's conversation we discuss:

• How Sean and I met randomly on a plane
• Sean's backstory and fitness journey
• How to think about health and fitness as an area of investment for your life
• The Centenarian Olympics and thinking long term
• How getting started with fitness doesn't need to be complex
• Applying the Pareto principle (80/20 rule) to health & fitness
• How Ockham's razor applies to health & fitness
• How investing in your physical fitness affects other areas of your life
• How building this habit impacts both self-confidence and work ethic?
• How getting your reps in and thinking long term mirrors a meditation practice
• Practicing solitude
• Sean’s advice to people early on path to FI
• Sean’s advice to people new to meditation

Connect with Sean Alexander Hickle

• Website: SimpleApproach.us
• Sean on Instagram (@seanalexanderr)
• Sean on TikTok (@seanalexanderrrr)
• Sean on LinkedIn

Books From The Episode

• The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins
• Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod
• The Elements of Investing by Charles D. Ellis
• Solitude by Michael Harris (Available for free on Hoopla)

More from The Mindful FIRE Podcast

• More Inspiring Interviews
• Free Guided Meditations

Join the Mindful FIRE Legends community at MindfulFIRE.org/join.

PS: Introducing the… 🔥 FIRE Starter Group Coaching Program

You did the “money” part. You saved, invested, and built real options. But if you’re being honest… FU money alone isn’t enough—and you might still feel stuck in “one more year syndrome,” unclear on what you actually want next.

In 10 weeks or less, we’ll help you get clear on what you want—and start living it now—using envisioning, mindfulness, and practical mini-experiments (not endless overthinking).

Interested? Let’s chat: https://mindfulfire.org/chat

🔥 WHO I’m creating this for

This is for you if you’re at or near FI (Coast FI or full FIRE) and:

• You feel stuck after “doing everything right,” but you’re not sure what you’re optimizing for anymore.
• You’re caught between freedom and overwhelm (“I could do anything… so I do nothing”).
• You want clarity and momentum—but you don’t want someone to tell you what to do.

🔥 WHAT we’ll do together (over 10 weeks)

In a small group (mastermind-style), you’ll:

• Get clear on what you actually want (beyond expectations, comparison, and “shoulds”).
• Create a big, meaningful vision for your next chapter—one that fits who you are now.
• Learn the brain science behind envisioning (why it works, and how to use it).
• Turn yo...

Welcome to the Mindful FIRE Podcast, where we explore living mindfully on the path to financial independence and beyond.

In this guided meditation we envision what we want our ideal life to look like and how we want to show up in our life 3 years out.

I hope you enjoy it.

FOLLOW for more guided meditations and inspiring interviews. 

More from The Mindful FIRE Podcast

More Inspiring Interviews

Free Guided Meditations

PS: Introducing the… 🔥 FIRE Starter Group Coaching Program

You did the “money” part. You saved, invested, and built real options. But if you’re being honest… FU money alone isn’t enough—and you might still feel stuck in “one more year syndrome,” unclear on what you actually want next.

In 10 weeks or less, we’ll help you get clear on what you want—and start living it now—using envisioning, mindfulness, and practical mini-experiments (not endless overthinking).

Interested? Let’s chat: https://mindfulfire.org/chat

🔥 WHO I’m creating this for

This is for you if you’re at or near FI (Coast FI or full FIRE) and:

• You feel stuck after “doing everything right,” but you’re not sure what you’re optimizing for anymore.
• You’re caught between freedom and overwhelm (“I could do anything… so I do nothing”).
• You want clarity and momentum—but you don’t want someone to tell you what to do.

🔥 WHAT we’ll do together (over 10 weeks)

In a small group (mastermind-style), you’ll:

• Get clear on what you actually want (beyond expectations, comparison, and “shoulds”).
• Create a big, meaningful vision for your next chapter—one that fits who you are now.
• Learn the brain science behind envisioning (why it works, and how to use it).
• Turn yo...

Welcome to the Mindful FIRE Podcast, where we explore living mindfully on the path to financial independence and beyond.

On today's episode, we’re diving into Part 2 of my conversation with FIREy Philanthropist, our first anonymous guest. FIREy Philanthropist wanted to remain anonymous because they practice stealth wealth, which means they don't tell their neighbors, friends, and really anyone outside of a close group of friends that they're rich and have retired early.

Today, in Part 2, FIREy and I discuss some of the specific money and finance strategies he took to speed up his path to financial independence retire early (FIRE). Below are a list of articles that FIREy shared, which go into the concepts in more detail. Make sure to do your own research and consult financial professionals you work with.

In Part 1, we learned about FIREy Philanthropist’s journey to reaching Financial Independence (FI) and retiring in his early forties from a career in tech. We hear the mindsets that helped him get there and what he’s been up to in the world of philanthropy since retiring.

In today's conversation we discuss:

• The money moves FIREy Philanthropist used to speed his path to FIRE
• The mega backdoor Roth explained
• FIREy’s thoughts on holding the stock given to you by your company
• Why was designing your home important to you and how did you make that happen?
• Donor Advised Fund (DAF) as a powerful tool for philanthropy that saves taxes
• Potential tax advantages to of donating money to a non profit using a DAF
• Interesting ways to minimize capital gains
• What piece of advice would he would give to somebody early on their path to financial independence
• What piece of advice would you give to someone getting started with meditation or mindfulness
• How you can contact FIREy with your questions on FIRE ([email protected]

I really enjoyed this conversation with fiery philanthropists and I learned so much about the ins and outs of financial independence, how to know when you're at the point where it's okay to retire early and to feel confident in that decision.

Connect with FIREy Philanthropist

• Email questions to [email protected]

More from The Mindful FIRE Podcast

• More Inspiring Interviews
• Free Guided Meditations

Books I recommend

• The Simple Path to Wealth

Disclaimer: This should not be taken as financial advice.

Important Note: It’s important that I call out that none of this conversation is or should be considered financial advice. It’s for entertainment and education purposes only. Make sure to explore these concepts on your own and with financial professionals you work with.

Join the Mindful FIRE Legends community at MindfulFIRE.org/join.

PS: Introducing the… 🔥 FIRE Starter Group Coaching Program

You did the “money” part. You saved, invested, and built real options. But if you’re being honest… FU money alone isn’t enough—and you might still feel stuck in “one more year syndrome,” unclear on what you actually want next.

In 10 weeks or less, we’ll help you get clear on what you want—and start living it now—using envisioning, mindfulness, and practical mini-experiments (not endless overthinking).

Interested? Let’s chat: https://mindfulfire.org/chat

🔥 WHO I’m creating this for

This is for you if you’re at or near FI (Coast FI or full FIRE) and:

• You feel stuck after “doing everything right,” but you’re not sure what you’re optimizing for anymore.
• You’re caught between freedom and overwhelm (“I could do anything… so I do nothing”).
• You want clarity and momentum—but you don’t want someone to tell you what to do.

🔥 WHAT we’ll do together (over 10 weeks)

In a small group (mastermind-style), you’ll:

• Get clear on what you actually want (beyond expectations, comparison, and “shoulds”).
• Create a big, meaningful vision for your next chapter—one that fits who you are now.
• Learn the brain science behind envisioning (why it works, and how to use it).
• Turn yo...

With so much going on in the world right now, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Each and every one of us is affected by what’s happening.

Welcome to the Mindful FIRE Podcast, where we explore living mindfully on the path to financial independence and beyond.

Today’s meditation is a practice of creating space in our lives. We practice cultivating a space of refuge in our busy lives amidst all the challenging and difficult things happening in our world. In this space of refuge we can just leave everything at the door and just be with ourselves in this moment.

We begin this meditation by intentionally leaving everything at the door and we connect with how you are feeling in this moment in your body, mind and heart.

After some time resting in this space of refuge we transition into some loving kindness, compassion practice for ourselves, those affected by the recent gun violence and then all beings.

I hope you find it helpful. Please subscribe for more meditations and inspiring interviews.

This guided meditation was recorded during our weekly community meditation on Fridays at 2:30 pm ET. We’d love for you to join us live for a short meditation and time to connect and ask questions. You can sign up at mindfulfire.org/meditate.

More from The Mindful FIRE Podcast

• Inspiring Interviews
• Free Guided Meditations

PS: Introducing the… 🔥 FIRE Starter Group Coaching Program

You did the “money” part. You saved, invested, and built real options. But if you’re being honest… FU money alone isn’t enough—and you might still feel stuck in “one more year syndrome,” unclear on what you actually want next.

In 10 weeks or less, we’ll help you get clear on what you want—and start living it now—using envisioning, mindfulness, and practical mini-experiments (not endless overthinking).

Interested? Let’s chat: https://mindfulfire.org/chat

🔥 WHO I’m creating this for

This is for you if you’re at or near FI (Coast FI or full FIRE) and:

• You feel stuck after “doing everything right,” but you’re not sure what you’re optimizing for anymore.
• You’re caught between freedom and overwhelm (“I could do anything… so I do nothing”).
• You want clarity and momentum—but you don’t want someone to tell you what to do.

🔥 WHAT we’ll do together (over 10 weeks)

In a small group (mastermind-style), you’ll:

• Get clear on what you actually want (beyond expectations, comparison, and “shoulds”).
• Create a big, meaningful vision for your next chapter—one that fits who you are now.
• Learn the brain science behind envisioning (why it works, and how to use it).
• Turn yo...

Welcome to the Mindful FIRE Podcast, where we explore living mindfully on the path to financial independence and beyond.

On today's episode, we're doing something a little different. We're having our first anonymous guest, FIREy Philanthropist.

This guest wanted to remain anonymous because they practice stealth wealth, which means they don't tell their neighbors, friends, and really anyone outside of a close group of friends that they're rich and have retired early.

FIREy had a lot of great wisdom to share from his experience retiring early and we chatted for almost 2 hours. I have edited our conversations into two 45 minute episodes.

The first part, this episode, focuses on his journey to retiring early from a 21 year career in tech in his early 40s, how he made it happen, what was the experience like and what’s he up to afterwards.

I really enjoyed this conversation with FIREy Philanthropists and I learned so much about the ins and outs of financial independence, how to know when you're at the point where it's okay to retire early and to feel confident in that decision.

In today's conversation we discuss:

• What things really helped FIREy Philanthropist to reach fire in his early forties
• Acknowledging unearned privilege, its impact and achieving fire
• FIREy’s thoughts on avoiding lifestyle inflation
• How he knew when he had enough to retire early
• How he knew when to pull the trigger and retire early.
• What are you spending your time doing and what makes you happy in this post-fire life
• Which causes FIREy Philanthropist dedicates his time, energy and money to
• Volunteering as a tax preparer

Connect with FIREy Philanthropist

• Email questions to [email protected]

More from The Mindful FIRE Podcast

• More Inspiring Interviews
• Free Guided Meditations

Books I recommend

• The Simple Path to Wealth

Disclaimer: This should not be taken as financial advice.

None of what we discuss in this episode should be considered financial advice. You should always do your own research and talk to professionals that you work with.

Having said that, I found it really helpful to get the perspective of someone who's traveled the path and reach financial independence and gave me a lot of things that I'm going to explore in my own research and with the professionals that I work with and I recommend you do the same.

Join the Mindful FIRE Legends community at MindfulFIRE.org/join.

PS: Introducing the… 🔥 FIRE Starter Group Coaching Program

You did the “money” part. You saved, invested, and built real options. But if you’re being honest… FU money alone isn’t enough—and you might still feel stuck in “one more year syndrome,” unclear on what you actually want next.

In 10 weeks or less, we’ll help you get clear on what you want—and start living it now—using envisioning, mindfulness, and practical mini-experiments (not endless overthinking).

Interested? Let’s chat: https://mindfulfire.org/chat

🔥 WHO I’m creating this for

This is for you if you’re at or near FI (Coast FI or full FIRE) and:

• You feel stuck after “doing everything right,” but you’re not sure what you’re optimizing for anymore.
• You’re caught between freedom and overwhelm (“I could do anything… so I do nothing”).
• You want clarity and momentum—but you don’t want someone to tell you what to do.

🔥 WHAT we’ll do together (over 10 weeks)

In a small group (mastermind-style), you’ll:

• Get clear on what you actually want (beyond expectations, comparison, and “shoulds”).
• Create a big, meaningful vision for your next chapter—one that fits who you are now.
• Learn the brain science behind envisioning (why it works, and how to use it).
• Turn yo...

Welcome to the Mindful FIRE Podcast, where we explore living mindfully on the path to financial independence and beyond.

This guided meditation was recorded during our weekly community meditation on Fridays at 2:30 pm ET. We’d love for you to join us live for a short meditation and time to connect and ask questions. You can sign up at mindfulfire.org/meditate

Today’s meditation is in response to the recent horrible gun violence incidents in which so many innocent lives were cut short, because of the gun laws in this country. I am feeling sad, angry and frustrated as I imagine many others are feeling.

In this meditation I invite you to create space for you to connect with how you are feeling and how what’s going on in the world (and its so much) is feeling in your body, mind and heart.

Then we transition into some loving kindness, compassion practice.

We begin with ourselves and then offer our kindness to those in Uvalde, Buffalo, California, and Toronto.

Then we expand to all humans living in the United States, since in reality we are all affected by gun violence.

I hope you find it helpful. Subscribe for more meditations and inspiring interviews.

Join our community at mindfulfire.org/meditate

On today’s meditation we focus on

More from The Mindful FIRE Podcast

• Inspiring Interviews
• Free Guided Meditations

PS: Introducing the… 🔥 FIRE Starter Group Coaching Program

You did the “money” part. You saved, invested, and built real options. But if you’re being honest… FU money alone isn’t enough—and you might still feel stuck in “one more year syndrome,” unclear on what you actually want next.

In 10 weeks or less, we’ll help you get clear on what you want—and start living it now—using envisioning, mindfulness, and practical mini-experiments (not endless overthinking).

Interested? Let’s chat: https://mindfulfire.org/chat

🔥 WHO I’m creating this for

This is for you if you’re at or near FI (Coast FI or full FIRE) and:

• You feel stuck after “doing everything right,” but you’re not sure what you’re optimizing for anymore.
• You’re caught between freedom and overwhelm (“I could do anything… so I do nothing”).
• You want clarity and momentum—but you don’t want someone to tell you what to do.

🔥 WHAT we’ll do together (over 10 weeks)

In a small group (mastermind-style), you’ll:

• Get clear on what you actually want (beyond expectations, comparison, and “shoulds”).
• Create a big, meaningful vision for your next chapter—one that fits who you are now.
• Learn the brain science behind envisioning (why it works, and how to use it).
• Turn yo...

Welcome to The Mindful FIRE Podcast, where we explore living mindfully on the path to financial independence and beyond.

On today's episode, we're doing something a little bit different. Last week on episode 64 of the podcast, we were joined by Nirav Shah, a meditation teacher, philanthropist and early retiree.

Nirav was kind enough to share one of his guided meditations with us and I'm excited to share it with you today.

He calls this meditation the "Black and White Meditation".

I hope you enjoy it and I welcome your feedback.

Get in Touch with Nirav

- Nirav's New Book - Shortcut to Serenity

- Nirav's Website - meditativeman.org

- Nirav's Free Guided Meditations

- Nirav Shah on LinkedIn

More from The Mindful FIRE Podcast

- More Inspiring Interviews

- Free Guided Meditations

PS: Introducing the… 🔥 FIRE Starter Group Coaching Program

You did the “money” part. You saved, invested, and built real options. But if you’re being honest… FU money alone isn’t enough—and you might still feel stuck in “one more year syndrome,” unclear on what you actually want next.

In 10 weeks or less, we’ll help you get clear on what you want—and start living it now—using envisioning, mindfulness, and practical mini-experiments (not endless overthinking).

Interested? Let’s chat: https://mindfulfire.org/chat

🔥 WHO I’m creating this for

This is for you if you’re at or near FI (Coast FI or full FIRE) and:

• You feel stuck after “doing everything right,” but you’re not sure what you’re optimizing for anymore.
• You’re caught between freedom and overwhelm (“I could do anything… so I do nothing”).
• You want clarity and momentum—but you don’t want someone to tell you what to do.

🔥 WHAT we’ll do together (over 10 weeks)

In a small group (mastermind-style), you’ll:

• Get clear on what you actually want (beyond expectations, comparison, and “shoulds”).
• Create a big, meaningful vision for your next chapter—one that fits who you are now.
• Learn the brain science behind envisioning (why it works, and how to use it).
• Turn yo...

Welcome to the Mindful FIRE Podcast, where we explore living mindfully on the path to financial independence and beyond.

On today's episode, I'm joined by my new friend Nirav Shah. Nirav is a certified mindfulness meditation teacher, and he started the meditation blog, meditativeman.org. After retiring at the age of 49 from a career in technology.

Nirav extremely passionate about helping people find the elusive peace within and to that end has recently written and released a book called Shortcut to Serenity.

In today's conversation we discuss:

• How Nirav retired early from his career in technology
• What led Nirav to give up his successful business to retire early
• What Nirav is up to in retirement?
• Why generosity and philanthropy are so powerful
• "The Mexican Fisherman Story"
• What is enough?
• Nirav's thoughts on "Generational Wealth"
• The importance of financial literacy
• Second generation financial independence

Get in Touch with Nirav

- Nirav's New Book - Shortcut to Serenity

- Nirav's Website - meditativeman.org

- Nirav's Free Guided Meditations

- Nirav Shah on LinkedIn

Links and Resources

- Episode 35 with JG Larochette of The Mindful LIfe Project

- Choose FI Podcast

- Free Financial Independence 101 Training

- Free Choose FI Pre-k - 12 Financial Literacy Curriculum

- Foodforthoughtdenver.org

Books Mentioned

- The Simple Path to Wealth

- Shortcut to Serenity

More from The Mindful FIRE Podcast

- More Inspiring Interviews

- Free Guided Meditations

Join the Mindful FIRE Legends community at MindfulFIRE.org/join.

PS: Introducing the… 🔥 FIRE Starter Group Coaching Program

You did the “money” part. You saved, invested, and built real options. But if you’re being honest… FU money alone isn’t enough—and you might still feel stuck in “one more year syndrome,” unclear on what you actually want next.

In 10 weeks or less, we’ll help you get clear on what you want—and start living it now—using envisioning, mindfulness, and practical mini-experiments (not endless overthinking).

Interested? Let’s chat: https://mindfulfire.org/chat

🔥 WHO I’m creating this for

This is for you if you’re at or near FI (Coast FI or full FIRE) and:

• You feel stuck after “doing everything right,” but you’re not sure what you’re optimizing for anymore.
• You’re caught between freedom and overwhelm (“I could do anything… so I do nothing”).
• You want clarity and momentum—but you don’t want someone to tell you what to do.

🔥 WHAT we’ll do together (over 10 weeks)

In a small group (mastermind-style), you’ll:

• Get clear on what you actually want (beyond expectations, comparison, and “shoulds”).
• Create a big, meaningful vision for your next chapter—one that fits who you are now.
• Learn the brain science behind envisioning (why it works, and how to use it).
• Turn yo...