Funding the Adventurous Life
We now find ourselves approaching the mid-year point of 2021. So, how about we check in on those simple, yet highly effective methods for actually saving real money? I’m taking a break from my typical long-form post while we travel, so hopefully you’ll find this one straight and to the point.
Continue reading “Mid-Year Financial Check & All the Latest”
When I first discovered financial independence, the thought to retire in my 30s warmed my soul like a batch of hot stew on a late February night. If I could rely on the wondrous and fantastic powers of compound growth to build a bitchin’ snowball of money, I’d never need to work again.
And it was never about the money. It was about the life. I yearned for a life spent in pursuit of passion, surrounded by a vibrant and meaningful community, with copious time to immerse in nature, climb, travel, and most importantly…sleep. The rigid and mechanical pipeline of school to work was cracked and beginning to leak.
So, what’s not to love?
Continue reading “Six Important Reasons Not to Retire Early”
Good morning. My ankle is doing much better. Sorry to alarm some of you with last week’s post. The photo was bad, but I’m fairly certain it’s only a sprain. Much more importantly, this week I want to welcome Eliza Marsh.
In this week’s interview, we discuss how Eliza has balanced a career with extended travel, and some of her unexpected surprises of life on the road. We examine how she manages full-time remote work, and how she recently stumbled on a new and exciting path towards saving for financial independence, which she rightfully recognizes as a great privilege. Perhaps most importantly, we’ll see how Eliza has completely reframed her mindset around money, her future, and how she plans to use this great gift of financial freedom.
Continue reading “Eliza Marsh: We Can Make This Happen”
This week I am very pleased to bring you an exciting interview with a climber and young professional that you don’t know: Neil Phillips.
As a matter of fact, I’m 100% positive that you don’t know Neil Phillips, because that’s not his real name. And I get that too, because I also don’t use my name. Money and jobs and the internet are like oil and vinegar. They don’t mix. As a matter of fact, we’ll discuss a bit about the taboo of money, and why Neil and I think it’s so damn hard to discuss personal finance.
Neil is a young professional, rock climber, and has many interesting stories and suggestions for anyone trying to get the upper hand with their money.
In this interview we discuss Neil’s desire for financial strength, his story of eliminating debt, pursuing financial independence, and preparing for a year-long road trip. And of course, we even have some good-ole-fashioned climbing talk.
Let’s go!
Continue reading “Neil Phillips: Money as a Means to an Incredible Journey”
The global coronavirus pandemic flipped the world on its head: spreading tentacles of infection led to a stock market collapse and unprecedented unemployment for those not fortunate to have remote work. A thick, dry underbrush of discontent and polarization grew unchecked for months, sparked by a series of lightning strikes, resulting in a raging inferno. People amassed on the streets in search of change, driving each side someplace closer to their dreaded corners of hate.
With a new decade came so much promise, yet the rate of change experienced in the first seven months of 2020 feels like that new decade has already come to pass. So much to consider in seven months.
But with all this negativity can come so much promise. While there can be an element of guilt to consider silver linings, we must. We must always look for promise and hope in times of darkness, for every night eventually turns to day.
One such ray of sunshine is the movement towards a more permanent remote work culture. The fortunate white-collar world has been working business on top, party on the bottom (nice shirt for the screen, underwear in the seat) since March.
So…what’s it going to take to keep that cushy remote job in a post-pandemic world?
Continue reading “Keeping Remote Work in a Post-Pandemic World”
Alright folks, we’re finally getting back on the interview wagon, and I’m pleased this week to bring you Nate Drolet. Nate, at 31 years young, is a coach, trainer, and podcast co-host for Power Company Climbing, a well-rounded climber (he has climbed multiple 5.14a routes and V12 boulders), and a master of movement. Nate also takes an admirably pragmatic approach to learning and self-improvement.
In many cases, it might be as simple as mind over matter…
Continue reading “Nate Drolet: So You Want to be a Coach?”
We started working intently towards financial independence in 2015. Less than five years later, we crossed the finish line. I pinned the merit badge on my flair vest and decided to call it quits on the corporate world, just as COVID-19 was quietly putting the world in a strangle hold. A few weeks later, the stock market crashed, and along with it, our net worth. Is waking up each Monday without needing a job as great as it seems? Am I just running from something?
Well…maybe.
Continue reading “What It’s Really Like to Not Have to Work on Monday”
Alrighty folks, we’re back on the interview bandwagon! This week I am pleased to bring you an interview with the industrious and energetic Lauren Abernathy. Lauren is a 25-year old professional, fully-obsessed climber, writer, and lover of adventure. And she’s a boss of her money.
At an age when Lauren began optimizing her professional life and learning to save for her freedom, I was trying to free myself from four to three nightly PBR’s.
Grab a cup of coffee, PBR, or whatever and let’s settle into some incredibly important life lessons for those at any point along their journey.
Continue reading “Lauren Abernathy: Finding the Balance”
We all want to live the best life. Today we examine the paradox of how attempting to do just that can result in less happiness after all. For all of us that dream of the greener grass on the other side⏤a full-freedom lifestyle or a better job⏤why do so few find a life of contentment once they’ve hopped the fence?
Continue reading “The Fallacy of Happiness and Meaningful Work”
Raise your hand if you want to climb more but work seems to always take up so much time? This notion of balancing work and life is essentially the essence of what we do on this site, and there’s nobody better to discuss this intricate balance than elite-level climber and software engineer Mike Doyle.
Continue reading “Mike Doyle: A Remote-Controlled Climbing Life”