Category Archives: FIRE

FIRE.180 Health,Happiness,Helping

I think I’ve fine-tuned a previous thought.

I hear non-stop all these people saying FIRE is bad and “retiring” should not be the goal and it probably isn’t good for you, blah, blah, blah.

Let me tell you what’s not the best for someone; going to work every day and giving away the majority of your life’s time and energy just to earn capital that you can give to someone else for goods/services—many of which most of us may not need.

I’m not talking about Jacob Lund Fisker-Early Retirement Extreme level of repairing one’s shoelaces or whatever level he employs/employed to live off of $7000 per year. I’m just talking about working/grinding to be a cog in the machine of capitalism. I think Jacob is living the way he wants. That’s perfect. I do believe he’s changed his living/spending structure over time as well—that makes sense as your change.

So much talk from all these people about “purpose” and “goals.” What if someone has goals that aren’t related to saving our 25,000 mile circumference planet? Like any effort I put into that will make a grain of sand difference. (though I do my own little things to help just in case)

Whoa, that all sounds so negative. It’s not me being negative, it’s people pushing their grandeur purpose towards others.

It comes as no surprise to me that my priorities are all three very internally focused. I’m an only child. I grew up in Alaska where you were most often required to take care of yourself. People tend to be somewhat self-sufficient. Just leaving the house for a majority of the year could result in death if you didn’t plan well. I have the feeling freezing to death, or animal attacks would be horrible.

When I think about my priorities—not purpose—I seem to stick with three overarching areas of focus: Health, Happiness, and Helping.

Health Thinking

I understand our time on this planet is limited. I understand that our ability to use this time in the manner we chose is also limited. My thoughts are to keep my body fit and hopefully healthy so I can enjoy doing the activities I chose.

Happiness Thinking

I believe an optimal state of being should entail a high enough level of happiness. While I believe a sickly person can be happy, I feel it is easier for me to maintain more happiness while I feel healthy and fit.

Helping Thinking

I believe in using my knowledge, skills, and abilities to help others as I can. This always depends on my schetchle but I do take time to help make other’s lives better when I can. This helping focus definitely starts with my family and friends, but often extends to others I know, or who contact me for help.

I find it’s easier to help people when I’m in a happy mode. It is also easier to help people when I am in a healthy mode.

If I were a graphics person, I think this could be a pyramid (of effort and/or time). A base of Health, a middle of Happy, and a top of Helping. Come to think of it, that is how I structure my time allocation and focus.

Are “priorities” the same as “purpose?” Does it matter? Does it matter what someone chooses to do with their time and energy, and money? It certainly does to them. I don’t think someone else’s desire for everyone to have purpose or passions (or any other OPINIONS) should be pressed onto others, especially onto me.

$lackers rule!

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice. I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be. You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice. This post is not a piece of literary mastery, just a random thought I had.

FIRE.179 thrEEE

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What is money for?

Why do we save our money? Is the deference of spending vital to any part of our life?

I made it a point to search out answers to these questions…no, I didn’t! I just wonder sometimes, what do I want/want to do?

I’ve come up with thrEEE answers:

Easier, Enjoyment, Energy

I do maintain a Do Not Forget List. It’s not a ToDo List. Interestingly, I find the act of keeping track of “things” is almost as good as the purchase, yet the list does not help with the “doing” activities. I need to get my ass in motion a little more, not exercising motion, but explorative motion.

Lately, I’ve given much more thought to how my money (the “army of dollar bills that march off to work each day”) should serve (I accidentally typed “service”—perfectly applicable) me.

I’m a thinker. Not some change-the-world-with-my-brilliance thinker, but I wonder a lot. I wanted to set a direction for my money. Give our money a Mission Statement, or at least a motto. At the moment, it now has thrEEE goals to achieve.

Easier

Why not use your money to make things in your life easier? For instance, correct tools/technology to help with different tasks. Here’s an example we don’t think about until it breaks. The use of my microwave for food prep comes to mind—even though some would same it uses bad “energy,” I find the microwave oven to service two important functions—make my life easier and I eat sooner/saving time. To heat canned soup I don’t need a pot or a hot stove that warms the kitchen and causes my AC to run more—saves money too.

Here’s a strange one, using a smart programmable remote control. I no longer have to search for the exact device clicker. I can also program macros to turn on/off everything at once. Want to talk about easier, I don’t have to get off the couch to change channels or power the device like in the old days.

Here is a similar idea using your money for things you don’t like doing. Some people hate house cleaning or yard cleaning.

Some people don’t want to go to the grocery store. I’d rather pay $8/month and have Walmart pick my groceries and bring them to my house. That saves me 30 min of driving, 30 minutes of shopping in a crowd, and possibly avoiding some crap I would have purchased and eaten. Seriously, eight dollars for approximately 2 hours per month of basic food stocking time savings! Plus, that $8 also has additional services and features.

We also share the Walmart service with my mom so there are closer to six deliveries per month and it allows me to keep my mom stocked with food even if I’m out of town. TOTALLY makes my life easier.

Mark Trautman and I are working on our FUnbUCKET spending—pushing each other to spend some of our savings for good. Mark also pushed me to make the monthly bill-paying process EASIER and allow automation so I didn’t use (waste) 60-90 minutes on the 1^st of the month to push my bill payments. He was 100% correct on removing that task from my list (technically what would definitely be a do not forget item).

I can give examples of Amazon Prime, streaming video services, retirement/financial planning, Rock Retirement Club, auto bill pay, security cameras with cloud storage, etc. Re-reading this, I see how my examples are really small….much like my little life.

Enjoyment

The thought of using deferred spending to bring enjoyment, excitement, and fun into your life is a fantastic goal.

I’ve written about my surprise enjoyment of Kathy’s Peloton bike. I’ve found enjoyment in the upgraded Peloton membership required for the bike, even with the increase from $13 to $44 for all the additional content.

I recently spent a huge $500 for a much nicer guitar than I’m used to and then realized that it sounds and plays so much better than the $200-300 guitars. Bashing away sounds so much more metal with my goth explorer.

I purchased my first new vehicle because I wanted current safety features and protection. I honestly get enjoyment when I drive my wife’s Venza because I know I spent wisely (in many ways) and it’s almost like driving a spaceship (sounds like it) compared to my 2000 truck and 2001 suv which I still drive most of the time. It also falls in the “easier” category for lane-keeping, adaptive cruise control, and iphone controls, etc.

Here’s a random item, I bought new exercise socks that have thicker soles. These are so nice when I spin since I stand so much doing Kathy’s drop saddle spinning style. Less pounding on my old(er) feet…same when I run with them. These were a wonderful $6 for 6 pairs purchase that I didn’t really need. Yeah, my life is strange.

Energy

Deeper than the enjoyment from above, I want to use the money for things that bring me—or increase—my energy.

At your very core, you have things that give you the purest of enjoyment and light you up. You have things that if denied are not enriching your soul, your basis of energy.

Do you have a way to use your money to energize your soul?

I bring this “E” back around to using your money to fund or enable some of your Top 10 Favorite Things. I don’t need to say much more, but if you have the 10 things that make your soul happy, shouldn’t that be a great place to put some of your resources…both time and money.

Action

Go gEEEt it !!!

FIRE.178 CSO

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Chief Spending Officer is the newest term I’ve come up with in our household.

I was trying to figure out what to spend some of my Playcheck on and struggling as usual with the task (sadly). My wife offered to help and she said “I have things I want to buy.” How is it that she has no problem coming up with things she wants to buy?

I have mentioned our christmas list. I think that’s a great idea for always tracking things that you want for yourself (and others) with the holiday gift mentality in mind.

I also have my “Don’t Forget List” that has tasks, things to learn, and things to buy, but it’s more geared toward everyday stuff.

Here’s the strange part. I often lay in bed at night, or first thing in the morning, and think, if I could do anything, or buy anything, what would it be? I can’t really answer that question. Not realistically at least.

It seems as if I feel like I have much more than I ever wanted–full-time, free time—being by far the best possession.

I find the idea of buying smaller neat things to be easy on my mind/stress. We could buy $50 items all week long. We can buy $500 items every week, or $1000 items every month without hitting our MoJo ceiling.

I think about how the splurge Peloton bike at $800 had no impact. I think about a $500 guitar or a $500 edelbrock carb. No impact. A $2000 scooter or motorcycle purchase, had no impact (motorcycle since sold-no impact either). I could even buy a $2000 ebike or 84” TV or a new laptop. I find I don’t really want many more things, at least not very often.

It kind of comes back around to when I wanted some thin, light-colored, stretch jeans a few months ago. I went to the outlet mall for hours and bought a $10 pair that was close but not perfect. It was my 3rd purchase and none are perfect. I should have just bought the right jeans brand new for $30-40. What is wrong with me? I didn’t even start talking about the 6 pairs of exercise socks for $8 or $10 dilemma.

It’s the large items that hit the accounts hard, but the small item purchase deferring are still ingrained in my being.

When I lay in bed I think, I could have a C2 corvette if I wanted. A bad-ass ’67, 427. I could have a new mid-engine vette if I wanted. What the hell would that help? Kathy already has a fleet of muscle cars and I don’t drive them, ever. (Note: I did drive the 69 Mach1 with the new edelbrock cars and 2nd gear was awesome when the tires broke loose-on accident of course).

The carb, the new hurst shifter, the peloton, the new flooring at the beach…all Kathy’s activities fully implementing her role as the CSO. (Insert: her first class 2A seat)

And, I will be very clear here. She deserves every single bit (dollar) of those items if they make her life awesome.

I love my life the way it is. I do have “things” on my Don’t Forget list. In many ways, that’s almost as good as getting some of those new things.

Final note: I’ve been good at giving away money and helping those around me who I think deserve something, and could use something, and for some reason, I’d rather they have some of my money than me. But, I am not as good at that as my friend Mark. When I think I’ve given well, he’s given better. He’s always better. I’m always trying to do/be better.

FIRE.176 Full Time Free Time

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The concept of Full Time Free Time flew out of my mouth on a Zoom the other day. I thought, yep, that’s how I roll. I think it sums up what my LifeInFIRE is all about. I’m aware that others may get different results.

Free time can be used for anything. You can do nothing or attempt to do everything—that you want.

I will share two moments of my day and how my brain signals are activating.

Morning wake up. When I wake up I usually check my morning heart rate and heart rate variability. These two numbers then feed into my sleep metrics for my apple watch and Oura ring. I then review my sleep stats to see if I did fine. Usually, my sleep is in the 85-95% range of each tool. That’s pretty good for a Type A minus personality…a 91% student.

I then pull in my new podcasts and check my gmails for anything interesting.

I usually spend 5-10 minutes just thinking about my life, my day, and whatever I think in my head and kind of get into a full-on gratitude state. “Find The Positive” is something I work on…once in a while. This is the part of the day where full-time, free time is felt in my core being.

One thing I never do anymore is cancel my workout if I feel tired. I used to do that a long time ago and often found out that once I was up and moving around I felt fine and could do my planned workout.

Did I mention that the timing of this process, opening my eyes through getting out of bed, happens whenever I want?. I then do my morning commute and then sit by the pool and read for a while, while listening to cars drive down my street headed for work.

At some point after this, I do some of the things I want to do that morning. These are rarely planned ahead of time,

Falling asleep at night.

When I go to bed at night—which can be at any time I want because the morning comes when I wish—most of the time I lay there and think about tomorrow’s freedom. Then I think about today’s freedom and try and the greatness of this previous day. Often, I lay there and think “If I could do anything, what would it be?”

When I think about the fact that I start and end my day by thinking about my amazing—yet simple—life, It makes things even better.

So back to my evening question of “If I could do anything…” When I stop and think about this question, am I asking: am I able to do what I dream, or am I dreaming? In other words, am I trying to plan for the future or am I relishing the present?

I’m not going to waste your time with my philosophical answer, other than, I wish it to be the former.

HOW?

Those reading this who’ve saved up for decades know this is not bragging. Those who’ve lived below your income and enjoyed life—with no or little deprivation—probably face this dilemma as well. It is the can I/should I do/buy ABC thing.

Let’s talk about ability. If you saved and deferred your gratification on spending, then you essentially have deferred spending accounts. Mike Piper’s book on Enough basically states, your money has two options, 1) you spend it or 2) you give it away somehow.

It is very clear: you cannot take your money with you after your heart stops beating. It may be a really good idea to plan for its use (all, most, some, a little, contingency) ASAP.

What is the point of money? Money is for transactions. That can be traded for ABC, paid in taxes, for others to use for ABC, etc. Who do you want to determine what transactions your earned money is used for?

I suggest the most valuable commodity is (healthy) time. For the past 9-years (actually 30 yrs of income) I have chosen to balance my money with my time. In our current state, we (seem to) have enough money set aside to own all of our time, therefore, we are full-time, free-time.

Repetition?

I know many of the thoughts above have been shared in my blog thoughts before, but the fact that I’m consciously still thinking about this topic almost 9-years into FIRE seems like this is a prevalent theme in my current existence.

I thought the term existential was a crisis of being or not-being after death. How important one is to the world during and after life. I thought I had no concerns about my personal existentialism, as when I’m gone, I’m gone-dust and floating energy. But the Google tells me existentialism is more about ones now and how someone interprets or handles their now. At least that’s what I’m taking from the three “open link in new tab” actions I took when “learning” the definition of existential. Hmmm, interesting. (side note: I’m always learning. I’m a learner. I find this practice fully enveloping)

So if Oxford says “the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will” is the definition, then wow, full-time, free-time might just be a huge foundational piece of my existence.

Should your time be required to be productive? Should to always be bettering something? Can someone’s self-worth be acceptably linked to their own internal desires with no outside pressure of consequence from some social police? I believe if you are enjoying life, the odds are that your great attitude will flow to others at the very least.

How do you think about your resources and time?

FIRE.175 Accidental Job 3

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Last post I wrote about two of my cool accidental jobs. In this post, I’ll share my coolest accidental job.

Relevance

I read a LOT of articles about money and retirement. I also think a lot. For instance, as I typed the previous sentences I realized that the word “read” could be current or past tense. I find that an interesting concept of language complexity because I used to (past tense) read a lot more than I do now. I do still read (current tense) but often so much of the information in articles/posts seems to be the same 7 topics rehashed over and over and over. Or worse, the articles are too basic (or incorrect in my opinion or state of life) for me to use my time precious time on.

I frequently searched podcast titles for “retirement” or “money” or “financial” to see if there were new shows I wanted to check out. In 2014 I found the Retirement Answer Man. At that time, I was just transitioning/graduating from my work career and thought it was a great show for my phase of life.

Supporting

Somewhere along the way I talked with Roger Whitney and did an episode about preparing for and being in retirement. A couple of years later I signed up for Roger’s 4-week group session to create a retirement plan using his professional structure.

I did both of the above activities because I wanted to help Roger—in my small way—because he was helping all of us with our retirement journey.

In the fall of 2018, Roger created a vision for a paid membership club for people wanting to Rock Retirement. The Rock Retirement Club started with a small group of Alpha (test) members, approximately 30 of us, to test everything out and see how the communication would work.

Again, I signed up to give back to Roger and support his vision.

In the spring of 2019, Roger was in town and I met him and we talked about the club for an hour or so. Some of our discussion was on functionality, but some was on my status of already being in retirement, vs leading up to career graduation.

Suggestions…then ownership

I suggested we expand his Zoom meetup offerings/teaching to have a member-led discussion where members could ask their questions and share their thoughts/ideas/experiences on topics. I said it could be similar to us “meeting in a coffee shop and talking.” I was thinking of a members-to-member activity.

Roger said my idea sounded good and told me to start it up for the members. So in March, we had our first “Coffee with Kevin” meetup where everyone could share what they were thinking about.

As of this writing, we’ve had 52 sessions. The club has grown to almost 1200 members (amazing, wise, helpful, exciting people). We have a growing international presence. I improved and shifted to many evening meetings titled “Cocktails with Kevin.” (note: strangely, I don’t drink coffee or cocktails)

Over the past few years of helping with the club meetings, I’ve been able to become an official “RRC Coach” leading, motivating, bringing people with similar interests together, and working on Special Operations projects when applicable. I spend a couple of hours on Saturdays helping the club and its members. It doesn’t sound like much time, but to me, every day is Saturday. This why having a schetchle is so important.

Self Improvement

So much of the above writing contains an ongoing process of self-improvement. It’s not always intentional but it seems to be a common thread.

Because I have interests and a passion for Retirement Planning, I earned my Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor CRPC certificate. I chose the formal CRPC program because it’s the retirement subset (1/3) of the CFP, the gold standard in financial planning.

This certificate is a way to give respect to RRC members and others I share my retirement thoughts with.

Playcheck

Mark Ross, the Kind Provocateur coach in the club who asks amazing questions often says there are three types of work 1) work for a fee 2) work from free and 3) work for me. In a way, I do all three, all the time.

I do earn a small salary in my RRC role as a thank you. I dedicate that as my “playcheck” and require myself to track and spend that money on specific categories. I often consider my playcheck for things I would not normally purchase except that I require myself to spend that unplanned money above and beyond my normal fun spending. (This is all different than a “fun bucket” and/or “MoJo” spending).

In actuality, I don’t spend that much each month on stuff, maybe a few hundred dollars, but to me, it’s like being free to say “yes” with only a little analysis before spending.

Valuable

I write this post for a few reasons. Often our skills—in early Retirement or not—are desirable enough that employers and others would love to have your efforts assisting their vision. For many who FIRE, employers can tell, see, and feel your strengths and success. This may give you more opportunities to keep yourself (extra) busy or require you to build us your “no” skill.

I’ve had a lifetime of working in a manner that I structured to meet my desires from the smallest organizations to a Fortune 50 company. I don’t know how that is, but I believe it was because I delivered for my leadership so they could meet their goals…while always focusing on servicing my customers.

Last thought: I don’t think the word “toxic” appears in my vocabulary. I’ve always found the good in things even though I do maintain cautious pessimism just to be careful. It could be my risk aversion yet successful striving.

FIRE.173 Best Purchase

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I’ve written about the good things in FIRE, the good things in life, and many positive thoughts.

Today I was thinking about my wife’s Peloton bike we purchased in Nov 2022.

Quickly; my wife has been spinning 3 times per week since 2007ish. Ten years ago they were getting new bikes so she purchased one of their old and ridden very hard bikes for $200 just so we had a bike at home for “extra” rides. We took this Rusty bike to our mountain home for a few years which was perfect for when she was away from her spinning studio. That bike came back to Phoenix in the mid-20teens.

When covid hit her spinning studio closed down. It closed down within a couple of weeks. That made sense because fewer people (ladies) were riding there each year. See, it was a dark, hard-ass, drop-saddle riding style and very basic environment. Just hardcore spinning. I think many of the ladies either found it too hard or moved on to the new glitzy studios.

Peloton was awesome by giving free access for 90 DAYS to their online app for people locked down (or just wanting to exercise more/differently). Kathy used Rusty for a few months and then we bought a commercial-grade (hotel gym) level bike for $600+. That was a great improvement. It came in a few weeks because people were buying cheap bikes or waiting for months for Peloton bikes close to $2000+$40/mo subscription.

I noticed in the fall of 2022 that Kathy seemed to have no intention of going back to a spinning studio. We were on a trip and she rode a Peloton at the hotel using her ipad on the handlebars and really liked “the ride.”

I asked her about getting a Peloton bike and she said she’d love one but she’d want the $45 membership. I said that was fine because her studio was $100/mo + gas, + driving time 40 min round trip at best. She showed me the specials Peloton had in emails $1400 or so with shoes, weights, mat, etc.

We looked on craigslist and facebook marketplace now that it was 2 ½ years into the pandemic and there were dozens of bikes for sale. We messaged a few people and went to look at a version 3 bike that had 37 rides on its software. The lady waited for it during covid and then went back to her (glitzy) spin studio when it re-opened. (AZ reopened quickly). $800 cash, popped it into my truck, and drove 20 miles home.

First, Kathy loves her Peloton. She loves the classes more now that she has the display with the tension and leaderboard. Great Purchase.

Here’s the amazing part for me. I found that *I* LOVE the bike system.

I used to ride the commercial bike when the weather outside was crappy. I ride 25 miles each week, 80 minutes or so around the Phoenix neighborhood (or in Encinitas, along the ocean on the Coast Highway). I’d ride the $600 bike and read books or listen to podcasts. It was a nice workout and I pushed myself somewhat. Actually, more than the road bike allowed because of lights and traffic.

With the Peloton, I get a display system that is dangerous for a data geek like myself. I get time to track intervals, I get a detailed resistance to know when I’m pushing med, med+, hard, or hardddd. If I do a recorded class (never done a live class), or a scenic ride, I get the leaderboard with anyone else doing the ride in real-time as well as the all-time rider stats.

The leaderboard is amazing technology. It knows exactly what minute you are in the ride duration and your output level expended in the ride so far. It then compares you to everyone else’s effort at that same moment from their ride. It allows you to compete with hundreds or thousands of people every second of your ride. FREAKING DANGEROUS.

For some reason, I have the desire to always push for the top 3% of all-time riders I consider that podium level, 3rd place. Once, I hit that lever during the ride, I push for the top 2, then 1.5% (double my 3% goal). Sometimes I get into the 1% all time, but that always burns my quads. Love it!

In addition to those metrics, I did the power zone test ride to get my personalized power zones so I can tell which of the 7 zones I am riding in at any given moment. I also synced my polar HRM so it shows my HR and the 5 HR zones.

It’s like I’m riding in an exercise cockpit with data everywhere.

Oh, and to make the rides even more huge, I put a 43” TV on the wall in front of the bike and Peloton will cast to the TV and mirror the bike’s 22” display on the wall. That’s great if I want to have a book or magazine resting on the 22” monitor. And, the TV is connected to a large soundbar helping give the music some extra oomph/thump. Imagine me riding to a German heavy metal ride. “Und Metallica…”

Beyond the bike, Kathy also does more class types and “challenges:” strength training, yoga, stretch, meditation, etc. She can cast the strength classes to the TV which is easier than using an ipad or roku/fireTV app. When traveling we’ve been able to download classes to our devices for the times we may not have internet. However, this hasn’t been working right lately and I need to look into that. Some days you need a meditation class on your phone to keep your streak alive. Yes, I did get sucked into that streak/challenge stuff.

I also use the iphone app for “outdoor running,” “strength,” and “cardio” for other workout time/logging. “Cardio” is for hockey.

I truly think this may be one of the best purchases we have made. It is definitely, without question, the most surprisingly wonderful purchase I’ve ever made. So many great features for something I/we’ve done for decades. I am even more excited by the fact that this purchase should enhance our health (we both have to force ourselves not to peg our HR in zone 5 which would be a crazy effort).

Oh, one last thing. I love when my 50’s profile crushes riders in their 30’s and 20’s. I don’t know their story and good for them riding, but I’m coming up on you and I’m going to pass you!

I don’t have to win. I just don’t want to lose.

P.s. I don’t own any peloton apparel or gear, but my wife has MANY spinning outfits. I look like a mess on the bike, she looks AMAZING! What an ecosystem they’ve created.

FIRE.172 7 years

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I’m just thinking. Emotional thinking? What am I thinking? Is my time being used (mostly) for what *I* want?

I’ve been typing my random thoughts for SEVEN YEARS now. Seven years is a long time!

College

Seven years is longer than I was in college, and that felt like a very, very long time. I can’t even recall the details of the different classes I took, never mind the information in many of those classes. Actually, I bet I can’t remember half of the classes/titles. Now that I think about that, that’s probably not a great statement. I guess it’s a good thing that my undergrad was only $14k and my MBA about $6k. I made that money back in my career and the opportunities those degrees allowed me to achieve.

Over Post ?

I should get back on track. Why did I recognize the significance of this date? I’m thinking because I’ve spent (used/wasted) a lot of time typing random thoughts onto a black-and-white page. Over 170 random thought postings, and get this, with over 160 MORE thoughts started. My content document shows 333 topics listed. That makes me think 1) I have a lot of thoughts and 2) maybe I should direct that brain power towards something/anything more valuable.

“Valuable?” Is typing one’s thoughts a valuable exercise? Is that valuable for me as the typer? Is that valuable for anyone reading? Is that valuable for the future of the universe? (I’m assuming that these 1’s and 0’s will be in the ether as long as we have electricity, or as long as storage–magnetic, optical, solid state–allows.

Break Time ?

I’m reminded of common terms for seven: 7th inning stretch, 7 –year itch, and I have to wonder if those have any implication to my current state of mind?

Am I wasting my time typing my random thoughts into the interweb? Does it really take that long to post two thoughts per month? Two thoughts out of the hundreds of topic ideas I’ve already started?

Is it the best use of my few hundred dollars per year for hosting? Could I use that money for something better? Use that money for something more enjoyable? Use that money for something more productive?

Am I writing this post because I just keep realizing that I just don’t like commitments or schedules, even those that I self-impose?

Wow, that’s a lot of thinking. I can tell I’m not like my niece who’s pursuing a philosophy degree. I can’t even imagine thinking more than I already do. I should conserve–or should I strengthen–my brain power?

If my posts slow down, it’s because I’ve wised up.

FIRE.171 EconoMe

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I was feeling the dreaded FOMO a couple of months ago when I saw many of my FI friends were going to the 2022 EconoMe conference in Cincinnati in March. The conference was officially on Saturday and Sunday.

I thought I should find a roommate and go. Go, so I could check in with past friends. Go, so I could meet some content creators I wanted to thank. Go, so I could meet some new amazing people. And, also, but last on my list, go, so I could learn some new things.

This was the third year of the conference and you could tell it was finely tuned for a great attendee experience.

1) the session structure was very, very good. There were 20-minute keynote talks on the main stage each morning for 60-80 minutes. After a 2-hour lunch break, there were 2-hour deep dives into very specific topics. Then an hour break followed by a 1-hour time slot for topic breakouts. This was the schedule for both Saturday and Sunday.

2) the speakers were all quite good to excellent. They had passion, knowledge, and plenty of experience. They created information flow and discussions. The attendees had plenty of knowledge to add.

One very important takeaway I often have at any FI event where people are paying to attend; the attendees are knowledgeable and I can learn from every single one. I don’t have to agree with all they say/do, but I always respect their opinions/positions and learn.

Besides the sessions, there were plenty of additional events to attend and hang out and have discussions with anyone/everyone. It’s amazing to walk up to ANY PERSON and just say “where are you on your FI journey” and immediately be in a great conversation with a thoughtful and intelligent person.

We had pre-event activities Friday morning, early and late afternoon, then evening. There were activities Saturday and Sunday evenings. There were late evening “sessions” in the hotel(s) breakfast/lounge areas. Many people were visiting until well after midnight.

I will admit that I wasn’t really as interested in the keynote talks because I wanted to visit and meet people, but I was so very impressed at many of the talks. The perspectives, experiences, and successes (and challenges) were so insightful.

If so many of the attendees weren’t so financially secure to leave their careers they would surely be leading many organizations. But instead, we’re all working to help each other lead our most amazing lives.

Here’s a strange thought. Since this was so interesting, with so many great people, I asked my wife if she wanted to attend next year. There are enough people you’re not confined in a room for hours like a happy hour with a local group, or in the woods all weekend like the amazing CampFI events. At EconoMe you can hang out visit, just listen, or do whatever and nobody will notice. I’d bet a large percentage of the attendees are introverts and feel comfortable because they’re around their people. Have you found your people? That group of like-minded people you can just walk up to and start talking? A group that will open up and let you join right in? EVERYONE let everyone jump right into their circle, every time. That’s special.

I forgot. One thing that was very interesting to me is that I never heard anyone talking about basketball scores. Almost everywhere else I go in March it’s all basketball talk. At Econome, all the talk was about living great lives!!!