Financial Independence with the Happy Hour Ladies
Financial Independence with the Happy Hour Ladies
Today is the last Friday of the month and my regular listeners know that on the last Friday of the month, I host the happy hour on the podcast where I gather great friends with me to drink cheap drinks and talk about money topics.
This month on the podcast, I had the theme of financial independence, so the Happy Hour ladies join me to discuss their thoughts on the evolution of the FI movement, how they think about FI, and whether or not it is something they are working toward.
What are we drinking?
Melanie from Dear Debt, Lola Retreat, and MentalHealthandWealth.com — Chai Rooibos Tea
Tonya from Tonya-Stumphauzer.com — Sheperd’s P’Nutty Peanut Butter Whiskey on the rocks
Liz, Mrs. Frugalwoods, from Frugalwoods.com — On hiatus
Shannon — Callia Malbec Syrah
Podcast Notes
Melanie started blogging in 2013, and the first time she heard about financial independence (FI) was within six months of blogging. People were talking about Mr. Money Mustache and she wondered how people could be FI.
Tonya doesn’t remember when she first heard about it. She started her blog in 2012, and she heard about FI once she started her debt-free journey. Mr. Money Mustache was who she first associated with FI.
Shannon first heard reference to FI when she was at Merrill Lynch. She always said she was never going to retire, because that idea didn’t appeal to her. The first time Shannon saw FI in practicality was when she started blogging. It was all about the uber-frugal path and that didn’t appeal to her either. The only way to FI seemed to be very extreme.
Melanie didn’t hear about baristaFI and slow FI until the last few years.
Shannon used to read Liz’s blog out of curiosity, but she didn’t want to live like her.
What you didn’t see was behind the FI blogs, they were pulling in $300,000 to $400,000 a year. FI always seemed to be applicable only to people who were married, or engineers, or living in low cost of living areas, or making more than $200,000 a year.
FI bloggers used to have a tight knit community and they traveled in a pack. This started to shift about four or five years ago and the community started to grow, which brought more diversity.
The original FI movement turned from retiring early to working because you want to work, not because you have to. It was about having a lifestyle that was financially healthy. It is now about working in a different way and it is more inclusive.
There are multiple types of FI. Barista FI describes someone who isn’t fully FI, but has enough income from passive investments that they don’t need to make as much income. Coast FI describes someone who has enough money invested that they don’t need to invest any more money. Slow FI describes someone who makes financially healthy choices with the intention of reaching FI eventually, but focuses on the journey.
Tonya is on the sloth FI path, which means she might get there when she is 100 years old. Shannon is biz FI, which means she needs to sell her business in order to reach FI. Shannon has five million shares of Financial Gym stocks.
To figure out your FI number, take your monthly expenses and multiply that by 12, and multiply that by 24. If you need $2,000 a month, $24,000 a year, your FI number would be $576,000. If you are at $6,000 a month, you will need $1.7 million.
Try out different strategies and lifestyle choices to see if you can decrease your monthly expenses. Some clients at The Gym need to change jobs to save money, because they spend too much when they are miserable in their job. They may take a pay cut, but they end up spending less, because the spending triggers are gone.
It isn’t easy, but wouldn’t you rather take your foot off the gas earlier than keep up the rat race?
Melanie is currently pandemiFI — trying to survive the pandemic, while staying debt free and healthy. She is interested in being FI earlier than her 60s or 70s, but she wants to create a life that she enjoys now that she doesn’t need to escape from.
Tonya doesn’t have a FI date, because as a freelancer, her income is sporadic. It is very challenging to pick a date. She tries to balance being frugal while enjoying life. She does have money saved, but she doesn’t have a specific plan.
Shannon has everything invested in The Gym. If something happened to The Gym, she is open to living in a very low cost of living area to save on living expenses.
Tonya turned 50 this year and she like the idea of forging her own path. She has made peace with all of the “shoulds”.
Just like everything in personal finance, FI is personal. You need to find the way that resonates with you.
Life is today and you need to find a balance. Don’t delay happiness now for a life that may not be there later. Why do you get out of bed every day? Work toward choice and flexibility.
Find out what your purpose and passion is now. Try your best to enjoy life now while also saving for the future. There are different paths to get to FI and it is very achievable. There are certain life choices that make FI easier to reach, and you need to figure out what choices you are comfortable with.
TAKEAWAY: My biggest takeaway is that no matter how fast or slow you are pursuing it, everyone should have financial independence as a life goal, in the sense that you want your finances to give you the freedom to work because you want to work and not because you have to work.
This pandemic has impacted all of us in a number of ways, and, in particular, it’s taken a toll on our business at The Financial Gym. With a number of our clients impacted by layoffs and furloughs and others concerned for their financial future, The Financial Gym could use as much help as possible. If you’ve considered joining The Gym, there’s no better time than now, as we have a number of promotions happening. If you’ve ever thought about gifting a membership, financial health is the perfect holiday gift for all. So head over to, or send friends to, financialgym.com.
If you have any topics you would like for us to talk about during happy hour, please feel free to email me at shannon@fingyms.com or tweet to me at blonde_finance or join the private martinis and your money Facebook group and let us know. Until next time, take care!!