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31 years.
That’s the age FIREcracker and The Wanderer from Millennial Revolution retired from the rat-race to travel the world and live/work on their own terms.
If that wasn’t impressive ENOUGH, they’ve also discovered numerous passion projects to spend their time on, including apps for a local non-profit, writing childrens’ books, as well as their blog (which has reached over 2 million people).
On this episode, we chat about…
- their journey from stressed software engineers living in an expensive city, to financially independent world-travelers.
- the importance of finding fellow FIRE friends
- what do you DO in early retirement?
- Real estate investing difficulties and opportunities
- The 3 paths to FI
Enjoy! Let us know what you think in the comments?
Show notes and links from today’s episode
- Their blog -> Millennial Revolution
- Financial Samurai – got fired just in time for FIRE. Now a brilliant blogger 😉
- Go Curry Cracker and their houseboat (sooo awesome)
- Paula Pant’s Why the One Percent Rule Matters (When Buying a Rental …)
Key takeaways from our chat with Millennial Revolution
1 – The answer to “What do you do in early retirement?”
“We’re actually busier in retirement than we were working.”
This is actually a common theme among our podcast guests, and it should be no surprise!
The point of retiring is NOT to not work, it’s to free up your time and give you the ultimate decision of what to work on.
Start that business you’ve dreamed of. Volunteer at shelters. Write more. Be productive.
FIREcracker and The Wanderer have several passion projects they’ve embarked on, but they don’t really consider it “work” work.
“The projects we work on now are driven by passion and a love for the work. Thus, we are actually far more productive than we were when we were working for a paycheck.”
Who doesn’t want that??
2 – It’s nice to have a FIRE friend (or several?)
Many people with dreams of early retirement don’t really inform their employers about such dreams (because it usually involves quitting said employer).
Furthermore, often our own family members or childhood friends just don’t….understand.
Financial independence and early retirement are alternative lifestyle, lifestyles that make us different.
Different, and lonely even.
That said, it’s nice to have friends who think and act the same way we do!
- If you find FIRE friends in your hometown, hold on to them for dear life.
- If you don’t have those, join us in the Facebook group. You’re pretty much guaranteed to have link-minded friend there 🙂 🙂 🙂
3 – Semi-related: FORGET the FIRE haters
The more you share your life goals (working for yourself, retiring in your 20s, 30s, 40s, starting your own business, whatever….you’re going to catch flack.
“Oh you’re taking off a year to travel. That’s so cute! See you when you come reapply to work 14 months from now! *wink wink”
“Oh good luck! *snicker.”
“You’re doing what? Ok. Well that’s nice…I could never do it. I always want to be productive for society.”
Forget these haters, and stick to your convictions.
Not every one will understand your life path, nor do they need to. Be strong.
4 – You probably already know rental properties are NOT passive investments, but…
They’re really not.
Let’s not even dive into managing tenants (or even management companies), time spent researching properties and doing the math, dealing with banks, etc…let’s just talk money.
Mediocre real estate investors are constantly getting the math wrong, to the point where they might not be making ANY income, let alone passive income.
They might fail to consider one-time or rare expenses (a new roof, even amortized over 5-10 years, makes a dent in monthly cash flows). Same with taxes, insurance, month-to-month R&M, vacancy expense, and a whole slew (spelling?) or other expenses.
Just be careful and do your homework, potential real estate investors. It’s not to be taken lightly.
5 – The 3 paths to FI
- earning power
- savings power
- investment returns
In order to become FI, The Wanderer says you should be good at two of these paths, and really, really good at one of them.
And don’t be bad at any of them.
We. love. this.
This is a great little simplification that hopefully inspires to keep pursuing FI. You don’t have to follow an EXACT path that one of our podcast guests have taken. Just remember the 3 paths to FI.
Which part of triangle are you best at?
Which part could use more work?
Which part do you enjoy working towards the most?
All great questions to help YOU figure out YOUR path to FIRE.
Let’s do it.
Did you find this helpful? Please leave us a comment below with your thoughts on the episode, interview…or really just anything!
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