Category Archives: Lifestyle

Overemployed on Purpose

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I was at a conference recently where a speaker talked about being “overemployed.” In his case, he was holding two simultaneous full time W-2 jobs. Both were project-based and largely virtual, and his argument was that as long as he delivered what he was contractually obligated to deliver, the rest of his time was his own.

I don’t disagree. To me, the key distinction is output versus presence. If an employer is getting exactly what they paid for, then what someone does outside of that agreement isn’t really their concern. If work is being neglected, that’s a performance issue. But if expectations are being met, it’s harder to argue there’s something unethical happening.

Katie and I have had our own version of overemployment during our FI journey.

I’ve never held two full-time W-2 jobs at once, but I’ve often combined one full-time position with multiple 1099 roles—some of which approached full-time hours. Peak crazy was during COVID. At one point I was teaching a full-time university role (online), adjuncting at two other universities, and consulting with K-12 schools around the country on their transition to virtual learning. Meanwhile, Katie was working her W-2 job, teaching online, and doing the occasional tutoring gig.

Seven different jobs between the two of us.

It sounds intense (and it was) but it worked… for that season.

Why It Helped

Katie and I have always had a household budget based on our regular jobs, but made a deal early in our relationship that whoever brought in extra income could spend half of it however they wanted…with no questions, no recriminations.  For me that meant paying for graduate degrees and investing more.  For Katie it meant a couple of additional luxuries or bonus travel.  In the end, multiple income streams really accelerated our savings rate. There were years we exceeded 50%. That kind of margin dramatically changes the FI timeline.

Maybe even more importantly, it also made the transition to early retirement gradual instead of abrupt.

We didn’t jump from full speed to zero. We pruned.

  • The adjunct roles that weren’t leading anywhere..
  • The W-2 where you and the new boss didn’t see eye to eye
  • The projects that weren’t fulfilling.
  • The gigs that weren’t profitable enough to justify the effort.

It’s a lot easier to “retire” when you’re walking away from one of several income streams instead of cutting off your only paycheck (link to “Winding down to FIRE post).

There’s also a psychological shift that happens. When no single employer controls all of your income, you feel freer. You’re less afraid to say no. You’re less likely to tolerate work you don’t enjoy. That optionality is powerful.

Right now, I’m still holding onto one last 1099 gig. It’s flexible. It’s interesting and meaningful. It pays well. Maybe next year I’ll satisfy the Retirement Police and drop even that 🙂

But I don’t feel rushed.

A Word of Caution

This only works if it’s intentional. There’s a difference between strategic overemployment and burnout. We’ve had seasons where the calendar was too full. The key is knowing your “why.”

For us, the goal wasn’t to work more forever. It was to create flexibility. Overemployment wasn’t the destination. It was the bridge.  Sometimes the fastest way to freedom isn’t quitting. It’s stacking wisely… and pruning deliberately.

Have you ever held multiple roles at once? Did it feel empowering?  Or exhausting?

An Unpopular Opinion About Restaurants

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Some of our friends like to tease us because we don’t eat dinner at seven or eight o’clock. Instead, we usually go out for lunch or have an early dinner. Part of this comes from my preferred eating schedule. I tend to skip breakfast, eat one full meal, and then have a smaller meal later in the day. Eating earlier just fits that rhythm and I end up feeling better when I am not going to bed with a full stomach.

But there’s another benefit. It’s often much cheaper.

In fact, if we’re careful, eating out can sometimes approach the cost of cooking dinner at home. That’s especially helpful right now because the kitchen in our beach condo is… let’s call it “compact.” Cooking full meals there isn’t super practical. Luckily, over time we’ve developed a few habits that make restaurant meals surprisingly affordable.

Timing Is Everything

One of the biggest advantages of flexible schedules is being able to eat when restaurants are trying to attract customers.  Lunch menus are almost always cheaper than dinner menus. Early bird specials, weekday specials, and even senior menus can dramatically lower the price of a meal. Many restaurants offer essentially the same food earlier in the day for several dollars less per plate. When you aren’t tied to a strict work schedule, it’s easy to take advantage of that.

Split the Entrée

American restaurant portions are enormous. Katie and I frequently split a single entrée, especially at lunch. In many places, one plate is easily enough food for two people. Not only does this reduce the cost of the meal, it also avoids the “restaurant overstuffed” feeling that often follows a big dinner. Sometimes we’ll add an extra salad or soup for one of us or add an appetizer (Queso!) if we need a little more food, but often the single entrée works just fine.

Skip the Alcohol

One of the biggest hidden costs in restaurant dining is alcohol. A single cocktail can easily cost $10 to $15. Two drinks each can double the price of a meal. We don’t drink alcohol so this is no great sacrifice for us, but it keeps the bill dramatically lower than what some of our friends experience. Diet soda is my vice, but even there I’m careful. When a soda costs $5+ after tax and tip, I usually skip it. At that price, I can buy drinks for a week at home.

Fast Casual Is a Sweet Spot

Fast casual restaurants can be a great middle ground. They’re usually healthier than fast food, but significantly cheaper than traditional sit-down restaurants (and not just the price of the food.  As a former waiter/bartender, I tend to tip on the high range so eating in a place with with no service can be an automatic 20-25% discount). And many of them offer high-quality food with customizable options. It’s not fancy, but it’s often exactly what we want.

Gift Cards = Instant Discount

When we know we’re going to eat somewhere frequently, we look for discounted gift cards. Costco and Sam’s Club often sell restaurant gift cards at about 20 percent off face value. Buy a $100 gift card for $80, and you’ve immediately reduced every meal by twenty percent. You can find similar deals online, but the warehouse clubs make it easy.

Loyalty Programs

We also sign up for loyalty programs at places we visit often. I’m not going out of my way to spend money just to earn points. But if we’re going to eat somewhere anyway, letting them track our purchases often results in free appetizers, discounts, or occasional free meals. If the restaurant benefits from my repeat business, I’m happy to sit back and collect the perks.

Stacking the Savings

None of these strategies is revolutionary by itself. But when you combine them, the savings add up.

  • Early dining prices.
  • Splitting entrées.
  • Skipping drinks, especially alcohol.
  • Discounted gift cards.
  • Loyalty rewards.

Start stacking those all together and the cost of eating out can start to approach the cost of cooking at home. And sometimes it’s actually cheaper than buying groceries for a meal you have to prepare and clean up yourself. That might be an unpopular opinion in FI circles. But when you enjoy the experience, control the cost, and avoid the dishes?

Here is an extreme example:  I like Torchy’s Tacos and, once a year around Christmas, you can qualify for a “Golden ticket” card that gets you free queso for the entire next year.  You just have to spend $200.  Seems like a lot, but I just buy a gift card for that amount (and earn Torchy’s rewards points as well as 4x CC points).  Throughout the year I will go in for breakfast occasionally and get free queso and buy a taco or two, using the gift card (and receiving additional rewards points).  Katie and I also go in for lunch/dinner occasionally, especially when there is a special (of course I get e-mails about specials when they are trying new items or encouraging additional benefits).  Last year… stacking free food, loyalty rewards, CC points, food specials (and avoiding the bar), allowed us to eat there more than two dozen times!  And I had to work to finish the original spend.  Maybe that is extreme, but eating almost 30 meals for $200?  In 2025?  It feels like a pretty good deal to me 🙂

What are some ways that you have saved money so that you can splurge on meals out?

National Parks: America’s Best Travel Bargain?

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National parks are amazing.  Nature. Beauty. Solitude.

When a country decides that a particular place is so unique that it deserves to be preserved at the national level, that’s a pretty good signal that it’s worth visiting. You’re very unlikely to be disappointed no matter which parkland you set your sights on.

It doesn’t hurt that national parks are also some of the most affordable places to travel. After all, nobody had to build expensive roller coasters or animatronic dinosaurs to convince people to come see the Grand Canyon or hike through Yellowstone. The appeal is completely natural. And many of the costs that do exist are taxpayer-supported, which means access is surprisingly inexpensive. In fact, for about $80 you can buy an annual National Parks pass that covers entry to almost every national park in the country for an entire year. Visit just three or four parks and the pass practically pays for itself.  That’s a pretty good travel deal.

The Ones We Missed

Sometimes I regret that during our whirlwind quest to get our boys to all 50 states before they graduated high school, we were often moving too quickly to detour into national parks, but when you’re trying to knock out a lot of states in a limited time, efficiency starts to win over exploration.

As a result, my personal national park count is only 13 out of the 63 parks currently in the system. That number always feels a little low when I see maps from people who have visited all of them.

Right now, though, I’m okay with that.There are some amazing people documenting their journeys through every national park (like Renee Roaming or the couple behind Trip of a Lifestyle). I love following their adventures, but visiting all 63 parks isn’t our immediate goal. For now, we’re happy to encounter them organically as part of our slomadic journey.

A Day Trip to Congaree

That brings us to this week’s trip to Congaree National Park in South Carolina. One guidebook we checked out described Congaree as “the least popular national park.” That may or may not be fair, but it definitely made us curious. We had beautiful weather, so we packed up and drove from Myrtle Beach for a long day trip.

Getting there is part of the experience. For a while it feels like you’re just driving through rural South Carolina at random.  Down narrow roads, unmarked turns, mailboxes that seem disconnected from any visible house. And then, almost out of nowhere, the park entrance appears.

Congaree is different from many national parks. There aren’t scenic drives winding through mountains or overlooks where you can simply park and take in the view. This park is about being in the landscape.  As soon as you leave the visitor center, you’re walking.

It’s a swamp.  Ok, they repeatedly call it an “old growth bottomland hardwood forest”, but it is a swamp :). Which means bug spray is highly recommended (even though the park’s famous “Mosquito Meter” rated the day as only mild). 

Fortunately, Congaree has a raised boardwalk trail that lets you explore much of the park without sinking into the mud. It winds through towering hardwood forests (love those loblolly pines!) and past bald cypress trees rising out of the water. Part of the loop was under construction when we visited, so we got to go off the boardwalk and onto a dirt trail for a while. That meant stepping over cypress knees, dodging muddy patches, and occasionally wondering whether we were still on the trail.

But that’s the point. National parks aren’t meant to be perfectly polished experiences. They’re meant to remind you that nature is still bigger than you are.

Number Fourteen

By the end of the day we had checked off National Park #14. Not exactly a speedrun. But honestly, that’s fine. One of the unexpected gifts of this stage of our life is that we don’t have to rush anymore. Instead of racing through destinations, we can take the long walk, read the interpretive signs, and linger on the boardwalk a little longer.

The parks will still be there tomorrow. As we continue moving around the country, I’m hoping to gradually add more of them to the list. Not because I need to collect all 63 and not because they might just be the best travel value in America.  Because I can honestly say that I have enjoyed every one I have been to.

Beautiful places. Minimal cost. And nothing on the itinerary except the next step on the trail.

Eric on a loblolly pine.
🩷

The Cost of Staying Fit on the Road

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One thing I didn’t fully anticipate when we started this “slomadic” life was how complicated gym access would become.  When you live in one place for twenty years, you pick a gym and forget about it. When you move every few months, the equation changes. Suddenly you’re comparing day passes, initiation fees, commute time, and whether the place even has the equipment you actually use.

A lot of nomads default to Planet Fitness, and I understand why. For around $15 a month (sometimes $25 for the “Black Card” with nationwide access), it’s cheap and ubiquitous. You can find one almost anywhere in the country. For someone focused on treadmills and weights, it’s a simple solution and for some “van lifers” it is worth it just for the showers 🙂 

The problem? We swim.

Most Planet Fitness locations don’t have pools, much less lap lanes suitable for serious swimming. For me, that makes the bargain less attractive. After all, saving money only works if the service provided actually fits your needs.

Omaha: The YMCA Win

When we were in Omaha, I joined the downtown YMCA. It was a great facility. Clean, friendly, good lap pool, and within walking distance of our apartment. The cost was $30 a month which was absolutely reasonable for what I was getting.

It checked all the boxes:
• Lap swimming
• Strength training
• Classes (if I wanted them)
• Convenient location

For that price, I didn’t think twice.

Myrtle Beach: Sticker Shock

When we arrived in Myrtle Beach, I assumed I’d do something similar. Some teachers I work with here recommended the local YMCA, so I checked it out.

The facility was fine, but the pricing made me pause. Adult memberships start at $69 a month, plus a joining fee of $50. That’s not outrageous in the grand scheme of things (and to be fair, it includes a pool, fitness center, and classes) but for someone who is constantly coming and going, it felt a bit steep.

The bigger issue? Location. It would have been a 20–25 minute drive each way from where we’re staying. That’s nearly an hour round trip before I even get in the water. For a morning swim, that matters.  After all, at some point, you’re not just paying in dollars, you’re paying in time, convenience, and other friction points.

The Rec Center Surprise

So I started looking at local recreation centers. Their monthly rates were significantly lower than the YMCA, and several were much closer. After a bit of research, I found one that opened at 6:00 a.m., perfect for getting a swim in before work.

Then something interesting happened.

The staff member I spoke with suggested that, given how often I travel, I might be better off paying the $3 daily rate instead of committing to a monthly membership.

Three dollars. That changes the math.  If I swim 10–12 times a month, that’s $30–$36 total. No initiation fee. No guilt when I’m out of town. No feeling like I’m “wasting” a membership.  Katie can even join me when she gets the bug without needing to commit ahead of time.

I combined that with:
• The workout room included at our resort
• Free walking and running on the beach
• Occasional bodyweight workouts

And suddenly we had a flexible, low-cost system that fit our lifestyle much better than a traditional membership.

The Real Lesson

Of course this isn’t really about gyms. It’s about intentional spending.

Planet Fitness is a great solution…for some people. The YMCA is a great solution…for others. But in a “slomadic” life, flexibility often beats optimization.

In Omaha, $30 a month at the Y was perfect.
In Myrtle Beach, $3 per visit plus beach workouts is better.

Same goal. Different environment. Different answer.

One of the hidden challenges of early retirement and slow travel is that we constantly have to re-evaluate our assumptions. What worked in one city may not make sense in the next.

And that’s okay.

The goal isn’t to find the cheapest option. It’s to find the option that aligns with your priorities — fitness, convenience, budget, and enjoyment.

For me, swimming in the morning and walking on the beach in the afternoon beats driving across town to justify a membership fee. Sometimes the best financial move isn’t committing to the lowest price. It’s choosing the most adaptable solution.

What about you? If you travel, or even if you don’t, how do you handle fitness access? Monthly memberships? Day passes? Home workouts? 

How Much Did the First 24 Hours in Myrtle Beach Cost? (And How It Compared to Omaha)

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A few months ago, I broke down what our first 24 hours cost in Omaha, Nebraska (How Much Did the First 24 Hours). Since we’ve now settled into Myrtle Beach for our next “slomad” stint, it felt fair to run the numbers again.  Same experiment. Different city. Slightly different results.

Lodging

In Omaha, we paid $1,500 per month for a furnished two-bedroom apartment with utilities included — about $50 per day.

Myrtle Beach is almost identical… with one small twist. The condo is also $1,500 per month, but there’s a 7% tax. That brings the total to $1,605 — or about $53.50 per day. Not a massive difference, but worth noting. Taxes matter, especially when you’re stacking medium-term stays.

Exercise

In Omaha, we signed up for the downtown YMCA almost immediately. It was walkable, affordable, and had a pool. Done.  Myrtle Beach was different.

I was working a lot during the first week, so I didn’t rush to find a gym. Instead, we walked on the beach. Free. Hard to beat that.  (We eventually found a swimming solution – more on that in a future post – but for day one, the Atlantic Ocean and our feet were enough.)

There’s something funny about paying for a treadmill when you’re living in an apartment overlooking miles of sand.

Library

In Omaha, we walked into the downtown public library on day one and got cards immediately.

In Myrtle Beach, we already knew the downtown branch from a previous visit. They even have a “snowbird-friendly” policy, which is perfect for medium-term residents like us. But here’s the difference: convenience.

The library here is a little further from our place, so we didn’t rush to get a temporary card. It can wait a couple of weeks. Of course, that’s the beauty of slower travel.  Not everything has to be solved on day one. Cost so far? $0.

Household Goods & Groceries

This is where the contrast really shows up. In Omaha, the apartment was set up for medium-term living. Starter consumables, decent storage, plenty of space. The Myrtle Beach condo? It’s clearly optimized for short-term rentals.

If you’re staying for a weekend, you don’t bring much. If you’re staying for two to three months… you bring more.  So our biggest purchase this time was storage.

  • A five-shelf storage rack to serve as a pantry and extra storage for non-clothing items
  • A shoe rack for the entryway (Beach life means shoes-off living, and we needed a system.)
    • We did buy a floor mat.  I argued for the Christmas mat that almost matched the one we bought for Omaha.  It was on clearance for $5 🙂 

Total for those three items: $59.

Groceries were $72, slightly higher than Omaha’s $52 first trip. The kitchen here is… compact. Let’s call it “cozy.” We don’t plan on cooking as much from scratch here, but we still need to have some cheap and filling meals we can prepare quickly so we aren’t eating out all the time..

The difference this time? Experience.

We brought more starter items with us (salt, pepper, Ziploc bags, odds and ends) so we didn’t have to repurchase as many basics. That small learning curve saved us money.

Dinner

In Omaha, we celebrated move-in day with a $37 buffet dinner.

In Myrtle Beach, after unpacking and installing storage racks, we kept it simpler. No celebratory splurge. We grabbed Chipotle after shopping and ate it on our new balcony.  Sometimes familiarity lowers the need for ceremony.

Myrtle Beach Day One Total

Lodging (daily equivalent): ~$53.50
Household storage: $54
Groceries: $72
Exercise: $0
Library: $0

Total: $179.50

Slightly higher than Omaha’s $152.15, but most of that difference was one-time storage purchases.

What’s the Real Difference?

The bigger contrast isn’t the dollars. It’s the feel.

Omaha felt urban, organized, infrastructure-ready. Walkable YMCA. Library next door. Plenty of space.  Built-in systems.

Myrtle Beach feels seasonal and recreational. Designed for short bursts of visitors rather than medium-term residents. More driving. Less built-in storage. More improvisation.

But it also offers something Omaha didn’t: A free, beautiful, natural gym outside our door.

Each city comes with tradeoffs.

Omaha had better infrastructure.
Myrtle Beach has better sunsets.

The startup costs are similar. The experience is different. And that’s part of the experiment.

When you slow travel, you start to see how much of your daily spending is shaped by the environment. Not just cost of living, but design of living.

We’re still collecting data, but one thing is clear: the more moves we make, the smarter (and cheaper) our transitions get.

Turns out you can amortize experience, too 🙂

The Superpower Behind Our Financial Independence

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I was at a conference recently where a speaker talked about the health benefits of getting outside and walking in nature, enjoying views, spending time near water, etc. The science is pretty clear: time outdoors lowers stress, improves mood, and boosts overall well-being.

But as I listened, I found myself thinking about something slightly different. It made me reflect on how two teachers got to financial independence so early. People often ask me for “the secret,” expecting some kind of financial arcana…a special investment strategy, insider knowledge, clever tax loophole, etc.

True FI people know the reality: Ninety percent of the money formula is simple. Over time, spend less than you earn and invest the difference.

That’s it.

The math isn’t complicated. The hard part is this: How do you spend less than you earn and still live a genuinely happy, fulfilling life?

Our Real Superpower

Katie has a phrase for this. She calls it our “low coolness threshold.” Simply put, we find joy in simple things. We don’t need the newest, most exclusive, or most expensive version of everything to feel like we’re living well.

Take Hawaii, for example. My work frequently takes us there.  It is a place that can drain a bank account quickly if you let it. There are helicopter tours, guided excursions, luxury dinners, private charters… all incredible experiences.

And we’ve done some amazing things there. But most days? We’ll grab snorkel gear and head to a public beach. We’ll pack lunch and have a picnic in a park. We’ll hike, swim, or just sit and watch the sunset.

But we don’t see it as deprivation. We do it because we genuinely enjoy it. That’s the key. It isn’t sacrifice if it’s what you actually prefer.

The Hedonic Treadmill

The ChooseFI community talks a lot about the “hedonic treadmill” or  the idea that as your income rises, your expectations rise with it. What once felt luxurious becomes normal. Then insufficient. Then embarrassing.

You upgrade the car. You upgrade the house. You upgrade the vacations. You upgrade the restaurants.

And suddenly your higher income doesn’t make you wealthier.  It just makes you more committed, more stuck in “the middle class trap.”

That treadmill is expensive. Keeping up with the Joneses isn’t just emotionally draining. It’s financially destructive. Our “low coolness threshold” has quietly protected us from that.

We bought an older starter home and didn’t upgrade. We drove used cars for over a decade. We skipped the flashy experiences in favor of the ones that felt meaningful.

Not because we’re anti-fun, but because we actually like simple.

Nature as a Financial Strategy

Here’s what struck me at that conference:

Stopping to smell the roses isn’t just good for your mental health. It might be the key to financial independence.

If you can train yourself (or discover within yourself) that a sunset is as satisfying as a luxury rooftop bar, you’ve unlocked something powerful. If a beach picnic feels just as good as a $200 dinner, you’ve reduced the cost of happiness. If a morning walk in a park competes with an expensive hobby, your savings rate increases without feeling like a sacrifice.

That’s not frugality for its own sake. That’s alignment.

The Bigger Picture

Financial independence doesn’t require monk-like discipline or joyless living.It requires clarity about what actually makes you happy and then intentionally spending on things that actually impact your happiness.

For us, that clarity has been a superpower. A low coolness threshold. 🙂

The world will always try to sell you a more expensive version of enjoyment. Bigger. Better. VIP access.

But sometimes the most profitable thing you can do is sit outside, breathe deeply, and realize you already have enough.

How Do You Pack for Months Away from Home?

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3 Feb 2026 This post was written last fall. We are now preparing to do it again this week when we move to Myrtle Beach!

When we started planning this nomadic adventure, the question came up: How on earth do you pack for months away from home?

Surprisingly, it’s not that different from how I pack for a week-long business trip… at least in some categories. After all, laundry and Amazon delivery still exist in other states. And, if I’m honest, even when I’m home for months at a time, I usually catch myself wearing the same rotation of clothes over and over… the ones that are rewashed and put back on the top of the pile.  Here’s how it breaks down.

The Almost-the-Same Stuff

Clothes
 My “packing for months” wardrobe looks a lot like my “packing for a week” wardrobe, just with a few extras to account for different weather. If it works in July, I throw in a hoodie for October. Done.  (In some places those of us who are 6’7” and 270 lbs have to be careful because there isn’t a ready market for extended size clothes if we need to buy something in a pinch, but in Omaha? I think I will be OK) 

Katie says: I bring my big pink suitcase, Bertha, that I usually bring to Hawaii. It holds my clothes, swimsuits, snorkels, water shoes, sunscreen and the like. I also bring the medium and small pink suitcases and a blue one as well. Also some duffle bags. I have to have SOME variety in my clothes!

Technology
 I’ve already got my go-to travel tech bag: laptop, chargers, cables, noise-canceling headphones (for planes), bone conduction headphones (for everything else). The one new addition for this trip? A green screen backdrop. I bought it during COVID for working from home, and it’s been a lifesaver for quick, professional-looking Zoom calls, no matter what shenanigans are happening behind me.

Katie says: I pretty much do the same thing. I have a travel monitor as well as some tech stuff for my cameras.

Entertainment
Sure, most of our fun will come from exploring new places, but I’m also bringing a hard drive full of movies to go along with our subscription services.  Over the years, I have converted most of my books to digital, so my library lives on my phone already. It was a little sad selling my physical fiction collection to Half Price Books for pennies on the dollar, but at least my professional library found a good home.

Katie says: I brought coloring stuff to Nebraska but did not use it. I found myself taking pictures all the time and then editing those so I could share them with the world. I also had lunch with my cousin Scott if Eric was working. One thing about Omaha was that the entertainment was RIGHT THERE!

The Pretty-Different Stuff

Recreation
Katie and I love stand-up paddle boarding, so earlier this year we swapped our DFW paddle club membership (which we loved) for a couple of inflatable boards. They’re coming with us. We also swim for workouts, so our swim bags—goggles, suits, fins—are on the list. Omaha has a few good lap-swimming spots I’ve already scoped out.

Home Comforts
We’re renting furnished places, so we don’t need to bring much, but a few things made the cut: pillows (Katie is picky, and I like extras), our own sheets (because why not?), and our refrigerator magnet collection. We’ve been collecting these on road trips for years, they pack easily, and they’ll make any kitchen feel like ours. One splurge item: our countertop ice machine. I’ve gotten way too used to having perfect ice for my daily diet sodas.

Katie says: This really made us feel like we had a little bit of home with us. Plus we used our Roku and all of the Backdrops on there are the ones we had at home so that made my heart happy.

Consumables
We’re not loading up the car like a Costco delivery truck, but we will bring a box of some bulk items we already own and don’t want to rebuy immediately, plus some brands that might be harder to find.

Final Thoughts

Packing for months of nomadic travel sounds intimidating, but when you break it down, it’s not much different from a long vacation. Clothes, tech, and a few comforts from home—plus the paddle boards. Always the paddle boards.

Finding Community Through ChooseFI Local Groups

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Today I had the chance to meet with the ChooseFI Nebraska group to facilitate a conversation about the Pillars of FI, domestic slow travel, and how we can all intentionally design our ideal lives. I’ve always enjoyed connecting with other members of the FI community, and this group was no exception. Back when we lived in Texas, I loved my local ChooseFI meetups, and it’s been great to find a new community here in Omaha. Having a built-in group of like-minded people makes this early retirement experiment not just more sustainable, but also more enjoyable.  After all, FI is more fun with friends 🙂 

What Are ChooseFI Local Groups?

ChooseFI local groups are free, community-based meetups that connect people who are pursuing financial independence and a more intentional life. You can find one in almost every major city (and many smaller ones) around the world. They’re made up of people from every stage of the FI journey: some are just starting to budget, others are fully retired, and most are somewhere in between.

The best part? There’s no selling, no judgment, and no one-size-fits-all advice. Just real conversations about what’s working, what’s not, and how to design a life you don’t need to escape from.  The formats vary.  I have seen social meetups, watched people get “financially naked” for case studies, watched presentations on specific topics , but the common denominator is people working to improve their lives and helping others along the way.

If you’re interested in finding your local group, visit local.choosefi.com. You can search by state or city, join your local Facebook or Meetup page, and start connecting with people near you who share similar goals. Whether you’re looking for accountability, motivation, or just a few new friends who don’t think saving for the future and talking openly about money is weird, it’s a great place to start.

A Big Thanks to the Nebraska Crew

A huge thank-you to the ChooseFI Nebraska organizers for making me feel so welcome. The discussion we had around the Pillars of FI, lifestyle design, and the balance between work and freedom was a reminder of why this movement matters so much. I left inspired, encouraged, and grateful to have found a community that gets it.

For those who asked for a copy of my presentation, you can find the slides here

Your Turn:
 If you’ve ever wondered what FI looks like in real life (or just want to talk about financial freedom without putting your friends to sleep) you are welcome to reach out to me or just find your local ChooseFI group and show up. You might walk away with a new strategy, a few laughs, or even a friend who reminds you that you’re not crazy for wanting something different.

The Pillars of Financial Independence

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I just finished listening to a ChooseFI podcast where Brad Barrett and Jackie Cummings Koski went back to the basics of Financial Independence and it made me reflect on my own FI journey. I’ve been listening to ChooseFI since it first started almost ten years ago, and the idea of the “pillars of FI,” or the basic principles that, if embraced, will inevitably lead to financial independence really resonated with me on my path to early retirement.

The FI community doesn’t use the language of these pillars as much anymore, but it stuck with me. Over the years, Katie and I have tried each of these pillars out with varying degrees of success. Today’s podcast conversation prompted me to take stock and reflect: which ones actually made the biggest difference for us?

1. Low-Cost Index Fund Investing

Instead of trying to beat the market, we stuck with broad, low-fee index funds. This alone saved us a fortune. Early on, I got suckered into a high-fee annuity that bled me dry with commissions and surrender charges. Switching to index funds like VTSAX completely changed our trajectory.  Our nest egg would be only a fraction of what it is today if we hadn’t gotten smarter about this one.

2. Affordable Housing

Housing is usually the biggest expense, so keeping it under control matters. Many in the FI world “house hack,” but being a landlord never appealed to me (One of the reasons we are traveling now is so I don’t have to take care of my own home, much less one that renters are living in 🙂).  Our version of this pillar was simple: we bought an older starter home when we got married and resisted the urge to upgrade along the way.. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was cheap, easy to maintain, and close to work. That decision freed up thousands each year for investing.

3. Buy Gently Used Cars

Cars lose value fast. We’ve driven used cars for 8–14 years each (and counting.  Bertha is still chugging along as our back in Dallas car), avoiding car payments while watching our savings grow. No regrets here—this one was an easy win for us.  What is the point of having a pretty car and then parking it in a high school lot every day? 

4. Crush Your Grocery Bill

Early on, meal planning and cooking at home saved us hundreds every month. Now that we’re in a more comfortable spot (and aren’t feeding two kids), we’ve loosened up on this one. It was a powerful lever in the beginning, though.

5. Tax Optimization

When we could, we took full advantage of accounts like 403(b), 457(b), but we prioritized funding our Roth IRAs. As teachers in relatively low tax brackets, paying taxes up front made more sense to me than deferring them. I can’t imagine our tax rate being much lower in the future.

6. College Hacking

We cash-flowed our own advanced degrees with side hustle money. For our boys, we wanted them to have skin in the game so we set a boundary: we’d cover the equivalent of two years at community college plus two years at a state school. If they graduate for less, they keep the difference. Kid #1 used every penny; kid #2 has a path to graduate early and spend the difference on grad school or pocket the savings. Either way, the cost was predictable for us.

7. Travel Rewards

This hasn’t necessarily sped up our FI path, but it certainly has made the journey more fun. In our version, we’ve leaned heavily on travel hacking to fund dozens of budget-friendly trips rather than blowing money on a few luxury ones.

8. Cut the Cord and Premium Cell

We ditched cable years ago, but have added so many streaming services back that I don’t think we actually saved much. Same with cell phones.  We could optimize here, but at this point, we’re fine with the splurge.

9. Multiple Income Streams

This was huge for us.  Some years we had the equivalent of three full time salaries!  Side hustles paid for extras (like advanced degrees and travel) and also boosted our investments. Our family rule: half of any side hustle income went to the family budget for extra fun or unexpected expenses, half was personal money for the earner. That balance kept us motivated and moved us much faster toward FI.

10. Savings Rate & The 4% Rule

At the end of the day, Financial Independence comes down to saving enough so your investments can cover your expenses. Some years we hit a 50% savings rate; other years, one or both stepped away from W2 work to invest time into a side business and our rate dropped. The point is, we always had the basic framework in mind: spend less, invest more, and track progress against the 4% rule.

Looking back, every pillar helped in some way, but for us the biggest levers were multiple income streams, keeping housing and car costs low, and investing in low-cost index funds. Those three principles alone got us most of the way to where we are.

So what about you? Have you seen this list before? Which of these pillars could have the biggest impact on your financial path?

Something’s Got to Give

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HNL–LAS–OMA–DAL–BNA–MYR. Six airports. Four days.

Yes, some of those were just connections, but I still ended up sleeping in a different bed four nights out of five. Right now we’re in Dallas for a bridal shower, which meant my presence wasn’t exactly required. So I slipped away to my old pool for a swim, trying to shake off the travel rust.

That’s where I ran into an old friend who looked at me like I’d dropped out of the sky (and I guess I kind of did) “I thought you guys were in a different state! Don’t you get tired of traveling so much?”

I gave her a non-committal answer and turned the conversation back to her and the things that she has going on, but I thought about her question while I was working out. The answer is, unsurprisingly, both yes and no.

Travel is incredible. It brings professional opportunities, new places, and connections with people all over the country. But the instability that comes with it? That part can be exhausting. And yes, I fully recognize the privilege in saying that. Complaining about working in Hawaii and Myrtle Beach, or about driving our old car or having to borrow goggles because my new things is stashed in another state? These are very much first-world problems. Still, when you’re navigating early retirement, these are the kinds of challenges you eventually face.  Even for people not on the FIRE path, there’s a universal question here: how do we choose between competing priorities?

Work. The work of “adulting” we all have to do (Bills, Doctor’s appointments, maintenance of our possessions, etc.). Family and friends. Hobbies. There’s never enough time for everything. And too often, the culture in the U.S. pushes us to put our careers first, no matter what it costs the rest of our lives.

I assumed things would feel different once Katie and I retired. But the truth? We still have to make choices, and we still wrestle with whether they’re the right ones. I’m not immune to “one more year syndrome” — the temptation to take on another contract, another job, another project, especially when the offer comes from a cool place or an organization I’d love to help.

Katie and I are slowly learning how to say no. This year, I stepped away from my adjunct professor role, and she gave up her virtual teaching gig. Those were steps in the right direction. But is it enough? We’ve already talked about limiting how much contract work I take in the future even further, so we can actually enjoy all the fun places we’re trying on for size instead of rushing through them.

So here’s the question I’ll leave you with (whether you’re retired or still deep in the 9-to-5): How do you decide between competing priorities? Do you use a system? A rule of thumb? Gut instinct? I’d love to hear how everyone else navigates the trade-offs in their own lives. Drop a comment below or send me a message.  Your strategies might be exactly what I need or what someone else in this community needs to hear.