Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:02:55 — 43.5MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | RSS | More
Have you made a mistake in your financial life?
You’re in good company! Today’s guest is Joel from FI180. Joel and his wife made tons of mistakes with their finances – a huge wedding, a house bought at the height of the housing bubble, going out to eat all the time and unexplainable trips to Target.
But one day, they saw the light and turned EVERYTHING around. Their spending went down and their savings went up, up and up! Joel was able to quit his super stressful software engineering job and have some time off to recover, something he couldn’t have done if they were still spending every dollar that came in.
You’ll love their turn around story!
We also chat about…
- the milestones of FI
- differences between FI and work life
- what’s going on with Gwen’s rental property
He was an absolute delight to speak with! Enjoy this chat with Joel, and please subscribe to us in iTunes if you enjoyed it!
Show notes and links from today’s episode
- Miss Mazuma’s episode on FIRE Drill
- Joel’s totally amazing chart of FI Milestones
- Gwen’s review of Liberty Healthshare
- fi180.com <– Joel’s website
Key takeaways from our chat with Joel from FI180
1 – You can recover from anything
Joel and his wife bought a house in Florida at the very peak of the housing bubble in 2007. Pretty much the moment they moved in, the house value plummeted and they went underwater on the mortgage.
They tried to rent it out to recoup some of the losses, but a series of bad tenants and shady property managers torpedoed that idea. They finally sold the property for a loss of $40,000. This turned out to be the best action they could’ve done as they stopped bleeding money every month. Being free from the property allowed them to focus on the things that mattered and make money.
2 – Unexpected lessons could pop up after quitting work
Joel took 2-3 months to de-stress from his awful software engineer job. Residual stress popped up again and again even after he thought he recovered from the horrific experience.
Gwen didn’t realize some personal issues had been pushed by the wayside while working until she quit. All of the sudden, she was forced to face those issues head on and deal with them before they caused problems.
3 – Routine is best
After recovery, Joel set up a routine. For 4 hours a day, he structures his time and works on projects. The next 4 hours are unstructured and allow him to follow what interests him or do things around the house.
Gwen discovered a routine is key to getting things done after work. She structures her days around her productivity hours – the morning is spent on the computer doing work for the blog and podcast, and the afternoon is spent doing hands on work like housework or stained glass.
4 – Healthcare hacks
- You don’t need x-rays every single time you go to the dentist. Ask your dentist if you can go longer between x-rays.
- For elective or non-emergency surgeries or procedures, call different places ahead of time and ask what their prices are. If you can, get an MRI or other scan at an office instead of the hospital. They’ll be far cheaper!
- Before paying, ask if they have a cash discount or uninsured price. Some offices will have lower prices if they don’t have to deal with insurance.
Questions? Like or dislike? Leave us a comment!
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