Flexible FIRE with Terri and Nicole

Jan 7

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During this episode of Financially Naked: Stories from The Financial Gym, our host is Terri Bennett, Level 2 Financial Trainer. Joining her for a conversation about their paths to the FIRE movement, and what its means to them, is Senior Full Stack Developer and Tech Lead, Nicole Lamanga.

Podcast Notes

Terri and Nicole got to know each other at a client appreciation party, and they found they were both on the path to FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early). This doesn’t necessarily mean they will not be working, it means they can cover all of their expenses with the money they have saved and the gains they are making in whatever vehicle they are in.
If you can save 25 times the amount you spend in one year, you can continue to live off of that amount by drawing four percent per year. It is doable.
Nicole read Mr. Money Mustache’s post called, The Shockingly Simple Math Behind Early Retirement. She didn’t believe it was possible until she did the math.
Terri was moved by Vicki Robin’s book. What are your goals? What do you want to accomplish in your life? What do you want to spend your life doing? What are you spending your money on?
Our paychecks are a calculation of our life’s energy and what we spend it on is what we are spending our lives on.
What we make an hour is different than what we actually make an hour. Often, we are sacrificing our future life to buy things now.
When Terri was young, she worked enough so she could take several mini retirements to travel for six months or pursue a goal.
Saving money is more than not spending money. It is something you can do in deliberate ways, so it can work for you in passive ways.
It was easy for Terri to equate small purchases with taking her further away from big goals that she had. When she was acquainted with the FIRE community, the idea of early retirement didn’t seem crazy to her.
Nicole isn’t a big spender, however, when she found FIRE, she was in the hole and it took her four or five years to pay off her debt and get on track.
The digit app was helpful for Terri in saving money. It was interesting for her to see how the small purchases really add up.
You need to grow the gap by reducing your expenses or increasing your income. If you are only looking at the numbers, you are missing the point. It isn’t about deprivation.
Ramit Sethi says to spend lavishly on the things you care about, and don’t spend anything on the things you don’t care about.
For Nicole, having a FIRE mindset, and saving and investing, has allowed her to make choices that she otherwise could not have made.
Saving 50 percent of her income gave Terri the freedom to pursue a job at The Financial Gym.
Being able to live an intentional life that is in accordance with your values and principles is the goal. It doesn’t necessarily mean not working, but doing work that is most important to you.
The urge to optimize may detract from the FIRE journey.
Nicole originally wanted to retire in 10 years, but she wanted a change. She came to The Gym, knowing it would set her back two years, but it was worth it.
Nicole wants to retire to a log cabin in the mountains with two horses and write.
Terri is about 10 years away from FIRE. It has more to do with doing what she wants to do with her time. She sees herself being a bigger part of her community.
You need to balance putting off what you want to do in the future with what you want to do today. Tomorrow is not guaranteed.