Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:49 — 18.5MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | RSS | More
Olá! We’re thrilled to bring you another FIRE enthusiast, money blogger, travel rewards (expert-level I’d say), and overall amazing dude.
Meet Noah from Money Metagame.
Noah is about to embark on a gap year, so this proved an excellent opportunity to discuss setting that up, how it’ll look on a resume, as well as a dive deep on the financials and how it might affect early retirement.
Also, he and his wife took a worthy-of-viral-pinterest $14,000 honeymoon to Fiji, New Zealand, etc, flying business class the whole way….
For less than $500 total.
In this episode we discuss:
- how a gap year might affect your target retirement date
- how he’s manage to build an incredible amount of miles/points (travel rewards 101)
- why he’s used over 60 credit cards over the past few years
- the different savings vehicles you can use to save for FI (important!)
- how he aspires to be a professional obstacle course racer 🙂
This is a great episode for investors (specifically those building for FI), as well as current and future travel rewards enthusiasts. Enjoy!
Show notes and links from today’s episode
- Noah’s blog: Money Metagame (and on Twitter!)
- Reddit’s travel rewards subreddit –> /r/churning
- Chase Sapphire Card (preferred) – Great everyday CC for transferrable points.
- The Flight Deal – One of Noah’s favorite sites for grabbing low-fare price alerts!
- Southwest Companion Pass info
- Tough Mudder – one of the obstacle courses Noah has been into. This scares us 😉
- Are you in our Facebook group yet? Come join! We have cookies.
Key takeaways from our chat with Noah at Money Metagame
1 – The details of planning for a gap year (i.e. mini-retirement)
One of the goals of early retirement is to….retire early.
Still with me? Good.
Taking a gap year, or any extended break from work and income, usually delays your targeted FI date.
So the question is…it worth it? The short and long answer is “it depends completely on you.”
In Noah’s own words, any delay or change in his targeted retirement date “is worth the experience.” He and his wife plan on driving around the country, staying in hotels, adventuring, exploring.
They might not be able to do that later in life (different circumstances, jobs, kids, old age). Since they have the opportunity to take the gap year now, early retirement can wait. Goals change, and “it’s the right time in our lives,” in Noah’s case.
Would you delay FIRE for a year for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? Food for thought.
2 – Explaining a gap year in your resume
Frankly, just be honest.
“I took a year off to travel the world” likely makes you more desirable to an employer, rather than the other way around. If anything, a hiring manager would respond with “how’d you do that??”
You can always find more work. Don’t stress over the resume.
3 – Travel rewards are real.
Noah is a master at juggling credit card spending bonuses, finding cheap flights, nabbing access to private airport lounges, etc…
But the takeaway is this: it’s doable for the rest of us as well.
You don’t need to juggle 60+ credit cards, but you get plugged into various low-fare alert sites right this second, for free.
Check out the links above for some resources Noah mentioned, and take advantage of one!
Even if you don’t have specific travel plans, why not try for one CC spending bonus anyways? (just pay off the debt in full every month of course…). Those miles might come in handy sometime soon.
Also, Southwest Companion Pass (more info here). Enough said.
4 – Where does the money you save for FI go?
Noah was grateful enough to share a great deal on the savings vehicles he uses for FI.
To sum up…defer taxes.
- Max-out 401ks through our work. This is the easy part most have taken care of.
- HSA account – normally for spending on health, doctor visits, etc…it can also be used as an awesome tax-savings retirement account. Most HSAs allow you to invest the money in your account. Tax-free going in, no taxes as it grows, and tax-free coming out when you spend it on health-related items. Pretty smart.
- Back-door Roth – high income earner? You can still hack your way to contributing to a Roth IRA. (resource 1, resource 2)
- Brokerage Account – A savings account where you purchase stocks. Simple. (Vanguard, Fidelity, etc) Noah (and loads of other FIRE bloggers preach Index Funds).
5 – Are Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies mainstream now? (and should you invest?)
Noah has not invested in Bitcoin, despite the widespread popularity of BTC as an investment vehicle (largely due to huge returns in recent months/years).
The question is for investors is…
Where are we at in the timing?
Once the mainstream society is clued-in to well-performing stock or other investment, it could be a sign it’s no longer favorable to buy. Especially for short-term.
“Once everyone’s talking about, you should be pretty hesitant.” <–quote from Noah.
Good investment advice. Be careful out there people.
Questions? Like or dislike? Leave us a comment!
Want to use travel rewards for your next vacay? Ever dreamed of taking a gap year from full-time work?
Comment and let us know!
Continue the discussion of this episode in our private Facebook group for Fire Drill Podcast Community members. (It’s invite only).
Want to support the podcast? Here are three things you can do.
Join the FIRE crew and change your life
Subscribe and get emails about new episodes of FIRE Drill Podcast.
Leave a Reply