I co-host a LIVE episode of the Catching up to FI podcast with Jackie Cumings Koski, recorded during the third annual FI Freedom Retreat in Bali hosted by Amy Minkley. This is an awesome episode with lots of powerful stories and life lessons across a wide variety of FI experience – from relatively new starters, to experienced retirees!
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Catching up to FI
Episode 68: Catching up to FI Takeover at the Bali FI Freedom retreat
Show Notes
FI freedom Retreat Bali – https://www.fifreedomretreats.com
Transcript
Episode 68: Catching up to FI Takeover at the Bali FI Freedom retreat
This transcript was generated automatically. Its accuracy may vary.
0:05
Welcome to the FI Freedom Retreat Podcast Takeover
Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking.
Welcome aboard the Financial Independence
0:22
G’day and welcome to another episode of Captain Fire, the Financial Independence Podcast, where I open the cockpit to some of the best and brightest in personal finance as well as those who have reached or are on their way to financial independence.
Before we get started, remember nothing said here is financial advice and you should always do your own independent research before making any financial choices.
0:47
With that being said, I hope you enjoy the episode and learn something new.
Good day everyone.
It’s Captain Fire here and wow, hasn’t it been a hot minute.
Hey, I’ve got something interesting for you today and this is a first for the Captain Fire podcast.
1:04
We’re doing a bit of a takeover so I haven’t done this before, so hopefully it works and doesn’t get taken down like some of my other episodes about copyright, but I guess we’ll find out.
I recently had the pleasure of attending and presenting at the Fire Freedom Retreat, the third iteration run by Amy Minkley over in Bali in Indonesia.
1:26
And wow, what an amazing experience.
I, I went over there thinking that I was, you know, going over to present and teach something and I really walked away with so much more.
We had such a great amount of experience in the room, you know, everyone from sort of just starting out through to, you know, decades of being retired.
1:46
It was amazing.
I met so many awesome friends and I’ve even hosted some since, which has been great.
So it was really cool to catch up with some American friends and you know, show them around our part of Australia.
2:02
Anyway, one of the things I got to do when I was over there was to Co host an episode of the Catching Up to Fire podcast with Jackie and it was a lot of fun.
Again, it was a first for me.
I’ve never recorded a podcast episode in front of a live audience, so a little bit nervy, but it was great.
2:24
Everyone was very friendly and we got some audience involvement and like I said, I learnt heaps and I, I wanted to get this out to you sooner.
But anyway, here it is.
Let me know what you think and I’m looking forward to recording a few more episodes as we get into the new year.
2:42
All right.
Cheers, guys.
Enjoy.
2:45
Speaker 2
OK, well welcome to catching up the Five.
Guess what we are live hey from Bali and this bald guy is not my regular Co host Bill Yacht Bill I miss you but I’ve got even a better younger Co host and no hair.
3:01
So I’ve got Captain Fi with me and he is an Aussie from that means you’re from Australia.
How you doing today?
3:10
Speaker 1
Yeah, I’m doing great.
Thanks for having me.
3:12
Speaker 2
Yeah, this is so much fun.
So Amy Minkley, this is your #3 yeah, this is so amazing.
We are live guys.
We almost never do this super live with an audience right here, a stand in Co host that’s even better than my normal Co host.
3:28
But what we’re going to do today, we’re going to talk a little bit about the retreat, the Five Freedom Retreat.
We’re going to talk about Bali, how wonderful it is and just this whole experience about financial independence, doing in person events, making connections, building relationships and just making your fight journey even that much better.
3:48
So how you want to get started, Captain Phi?
3:52
Speaker 1
That’s a good question.
I hadn’t really thought about it.
3:55
From Pilot to Coast FI: A Personal Journey
Look, yeah, I guess first of all, we’ll just say a massive thanks to Amy for putting this together and also to Mia and Kim.
4:02
Speaker 2
Yes, those are her.
Great.
I would call them Co host.
Yeah, they’re your Co host.
You know here’s the thing, I know you travel a lot.
Captain Fight and all the people that’s here.
I want to thank them for being so kind and helping.
Honestly, a non traveller like me, I went to Thailand two years ago.
4:20
Other than that I have barely been overseas.
It’s crazy.
So these people have come all the way to Bali, Indonesia to really celebrate themselves, celebrate Phi, and to kind of extend their journey to new heights.
4:39
And for me, it is so cool to see how comfortable everybody is.
And Amy held our hand the entire way.
So if you’ve never been to a Phi in person event, go to 1, even if it’s local in the US.
If you really want to go big, then five Freedom Retreat is definitely the one to do.
4:56
Amy steps you through everything.
She used to be an International School teacher.
She’s retired early and she loved the five community and decided to put this retreat together.
And she has a spreadsheet for everything.
We had a million questions.
5:12
She had Zoom me.
I mean, I for one, Amy, I absolutely appreciate and love that you did that.
You took a lot of stress off of me by doing that.
So I want to appreciate you for that.
I want to appreciate everybody that’s been here.
We’ve had great conversations with people, right?
5:26
Speaker 1
Yeah, it’s been fantastic.
And like, as someone who I’ve always been pretty private in my approach to fire, I haven’t really been to a lot of these events.
I think this is number 2 for me.
We got Brenda in the audience from Australia and she hosted a fire event in Australia called Fire Spark, and she convinced me to come down and it was awesome.
5:52
And then so when Amy reached out and invited me here, I was like, yeah, I’m down, this is great.
So it’s been really different.
5:59
Speaker 2
So, Captain Fi, what has been your experience being here?
You said this was #2 for you.
6:06
Speaker 1
Yes, the second time I It’s been awesome.
Like we mentioned before, Amy has just got such an attention to detail and she’s just made it so easy to come here.
And you know, I actually, I have my 6 month old daughter, my wife have, have accompanied us here.
6:23
Yeah, yeah.
I was a little bit nervous to see, you know, how we go on the flight and that was great.
She sort of slept the whole way, which was nice.
And yeah, I think my wife has really enjoyed it.
And yeah, I think she’s had about 6 massages.
I’m still waiting for my first one.
That’s one of the.
6:39
Speaker 2
Great things about Bali.
I need to get a massage.
Yeah.
Who’s gotten a massage here?
6:44
Speaker 1
Yeah, I see a lot of hands up.
6:45
Speaker 2
Every hand went up in the room.
6:46
Speaker 1
Yeah.
All right, I’ll get, I’ll get on that tomorrow.
Yeah.
No, it’s been absolutely wonderful.
And I, I guess I was approached by Amy to come to the retreat and to give a talk.
And so when I was thinking about the retreat, I was kind of thinking of it like, oh, well, I’m here to give knowledge.
7:05
And I wasn’t necessarily realising just how much knowledge I was going to receive and like this.
Wow, it’s been a really powerful week so far.
Really moving some of the speeches and your presentation, Jackie was fantastic.
I I’m so proud of my money egg.
7:21
I’ve posted that up on my Facebook and yeah, I should probably explain with.
7:24
Speaker 2
Them so the money egg exercise, I went back and got my master’s in financial therapy and a lot of the professors that came from the psychology domain and boy, they had us deep in reaching really deep into our memories, our feelings and all this.
7:42
I’m like, I thought those were supposed to be class, but one of the most powerful exercises was called the money egg.
And it was basically where you draw this large egg and then you start to put the memories that you have from childhood from the bottom and you use your I’m going to do this.
7:57
You use your non dominant hand to start to which you cheated you.
You use your dominant but if.
8:04
Speaker 1
You know, if you know cheating, you’re not winning.
8:06
Speaker 2
Yeah, right.
It looked too perfect.
I’m like, come on now.
But that was OK.
That wasn’t the point of the exercise.
The point was to sort of draw these little memories, no matter how ugly they were or how pretty in your case.
8:21
And then you would go back and you would put a plus if the memory was positive, and then a negative sign if the memory was negative.
And generally there’s a little bit of both.
And we had people to come up and kind of share it.
But it was amazing how you start to reach back and remember certain things.
8:39
And I thought the coolest part was that when we look at it through the lens of an adult, an adult you or an adult me, you kind of might see things that happen a little differently than when you remembered it as a child.
So I’m glad you enjoyed that exercise.
8:57
Yeah.
And but I loved your talk as well.
You got us thinking.
Now, you did tell us a little bit about yourself.
So can you tell us a little bit about Captain Phi, your blog, your podcast?
Because you’re doing some good stuff.
9:11
Speaker 1
Yeah, thanks, Jackie.
And just be prepared to get that chime to chime me off when I talk for too long.
Yeah.
So look, I heard about Phi, oh, I’m going to say maybe like 20/15/2016.
And I was in a point in my career where I guess I finally had like a significant amount of disposable income.
9:30
I had spent my previous professional years pursuing a career goal as a pilot and I had basically been throwing all of my money into that.
So any money I could earn, any side hustle I could do.
And I’ve done a few side hustles.
9:46
So I can definitely give some tips on what does and it doesn’t work.
Yeah, I think it’s a bit scary to say, but it was over $300,000 in the end.
But like it was awesome, led me into my professional aviation career.
But I found myself in a position with disposable income and it sounds a bit flippant, but like I couldn’t spend it.
10:07
I just my money habits from my upbringing and also from my adult life where I was scrimping and saving everything to go into paying my flying lessons and not, you know, I didn’t want a hex debt.
I didn’t want to take student loans.
And so those behaviours were so reinforced that it’s actually been something that I’m still working on is adopting that abundance mentality and being able to freely spend.
10:32
And that came up in James’s lesson.
10:35
Speaker 2
Yeah, another one of our speakers, James and you know that comes up a lot in the community.
We are all about accumulation.
Yeah.
And we save.
And then when it comes to the other side and drawing down, I have a little difficult to, you know, I’ve been retired for six years and I still am pretty probably more conservative than I should be.
10:53
So it’s kind of cool to hear again, that’s like this borderless idea that it doesn’t matter where you’re from, these concepts are still the same.
11:03
Speaker 1
Yeah, absolutely.
And so that was amazing.
And I’m like, I just wasn’t expecting to learn so much and get so much value out this.
But sorry, I’m getting sidetracked.
I’ll go back to my origins.
Yeah, So I, I started learning online and trying to, I think I first discovered this concept of personal finance through the Barefoot investor, Scott Scott Pape.
11:23
And he’s the Down Under version of Dave Ramsey.
And he’s probably going to be offended if he hears that.
But, you know, I love what he’s doing and he keeps it nice, simple steps.
And as I worked through the steps, I found myself growing impatient.
That’s my kind of personality.
I like to maybe overdo things from time to time.
11:41
And so, yeah, I, I discovered online this world of, of fire bloggers.
So Mr Money Moustache really found that was really aligned to a lot of my core values, especially around efficiency and, you know, saving.
And, you know, it was really exciting to see this community really rallying around this concept of financial freedom.
12:02
And it really appealed to me as a way to regain that personal power, regain that personal control of my life and the time freedom.
And so I was hooked and I found them all.
There are hundreds of awesome authors, publishers, podcasters.
12:18
Speaker 3
A lot out there.
12:19
Speaker 1
Yeah.
And so, yeah, so love Mr Money Moustache, love the mad scientist.
And then, you know, for anyone who’s interested in some of the fire down under, we have like Dave Gower from Strong Money Australia, Aussie Firebug, like there’s heaps, right.
12:34
And so I was really inspired and similar to how I think the Mad fire test and the Aussie Firebug, they were actually publishing to keep accountable their net wealth journeys.
And I deliberately say net wealth and not net worth because I don’t like the term net worth.
12:50
I’m probably guilty of using it from time to time, but I think you should really decouple your sense of worth from your financial health.
12:58
Speaker 2
Excellent point, I like that.
13:00
Speaker 1
Yeah.
So I was publishing my net wealth updates.
And yeah, as I would learn more about FIRE, I would publish it.
I would, it’s almost like crowdsourcing, you know, like financial advice, right?
So people always joke that if you ask for help, you get crickets.
13:15
But if you just post on Facebook, a triangle has four sides, you know, you’re going to get all these people telling you no, it’s, you know, so anyway, so I probably, I was raw.
I published all my data, I published my investment strategy and you know, it got critiqued and I’m going to say like my initial investing strategy wasn’t great.
13:36
It’s like stock picking based off stock tipping group, right?
13:40
Speaker 2
So like individual stocks?
13:42
Speaker 1
Yeah, individual stocks.
And I think my first ever lesson was I bought a company who is an egg farm.
It’s called Farm Pride.
And I love puns.
I’m a dad.
So the egg, that’s why you did.
13:53
Speaker 2
So good at that.
13:54
Speaker 1
Egg.
Well, the egg was on my face when that stock dropped 50%.
And yeah, anyway, so as I learned more and more about it, I became really passionate about index investing.
As I said, I tried a bunch of different side hustles.
So started some online business.
14:10
I’ve done a little bit of property development and yeah, so I just, I keep a bit of a mix of assets at the moment and I reached fire in, gosh, I want to say I think it was Star Wars Day in 2022, May the 4th.
14:25
How old were you?
I hang on.
So it is 2025 now.
I’m like, I got it honest.
Sometimes I don’t even know what day it is, right.
That’s the benefit of fire.
14:34
Speaker 2
Yeah, well, I’m having a six month old too.
14:36
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah.
Sleep is a luxury right now.
So OK, so it was 2022, so I think that would have made me like 30.
14:42
Speaker 2
Two.
Wow.
Yeah, let’s give him an applause. 32 I didn’t realise you were that young. 32 That that that is awesome.
That is so cool.
And so when did you start Captain Fi?
The podcast and the blog?
14:59
Speaker 1
Yeah, y’all, it’s funny, I was actually talking about this in one of the breakout sessions today.
It started because a friend of mine, well his wife did a web development course, which we all thought sounded like a bit scammy, right?
Anyway, she did amazing out of it and she was building websites for local businesses.
15:16
And so me and my mate were like Oh well if you know if she can, she can do it, maybe she can show us and we can start 1.
And so we actually actually start an aviation blog because that was my profession and I knew a view it.
And then that was when I was like I think it was like 2018 or 2019.
15:32
I was getting really excited about fire and I thought, well, I’m just going to clone this website.
So I literally just cloned it.
And then I just changed the colours in the URL like, and it worked.
And so, you know, I just so I had to change the articles from how to fly a plane to how to say save money.
15:48
Well, there you go.
Keep it assembled.
Yeah, yeah.
And so actually it wasn’t Captain fire it, it was, and this is funny because, you know, maybe this is like a political thing.
It it used to be called get fired.
Oh, yeah.
It was like, get fired and then, you know, I think well.
16:03
Speaker 2
You loved having the aviation theme.
16:06
Speaker 1
Yeah, I loved it.
Yeah.
So, so yeah, I kept the aviation theme and yeah, I was anonymous and I I’d still like, I guess I would say semi anonymous now.
I it took a keep your secret.
Yeah, OK.
Like even this video, right.
Like I used to, I was always hiding and not doing, not doing videos.
16:22
Yeah.
16:23
Speaker 2
But and those we got the video on it could, yeah.
16:26
Speaker 1
Yeah, let’s try it.
And it was like a HR thing, right?
Because I was nervous that my work would find out because I’d, you know, I’d read a lot of times there’s people who, you know, they’d let their fire plants out and HR clocked on.
It’s all of a sudden, no more promotions for you.
You know what I mean?
16:42
No more good trips for you.
And so maybe it’s an irrational fear, but I did like kind of keeping it private.
So I’m slowly coming out of the bag.
And that’s what I mean.
Like it’s been lovely here to, you know, meet people so since.
16:55
Speaker 2
You left your job, you just aren’t that concerned.
16:57
Speaker 1
Yeah.
Well, you know, it’s funny, you’re talking about like when was I fine?
It was a bit of a sliding scale.
I and in my talk I sort of mentioned this concept of pulling the trigger, like when is enough.
And that’s something that I think people struggle with, including myself.
17:15
And I had a really hard time knowing when was enough.
And so I can’t stand up here and say, yeah, I just retired this time because I had this amount of 25 times my expenses or whatever the rule of thumb you want to use.
The universe really pulled my trigger for me.
We had some family health issues and dealing with my own mental health.
17:34
I just was in a position where the universe was basically pushing me like, hey, come on, like you need to go home and slow down.
And so I did.
And for a couple of years, I sort of enjoyed that slower life.
It was amazing to reconnect with family and look after my mom as she went through palliative care.
17:53
And then I found myself, I guess, after her death, really lacking in direction and feeling sort of floating.
And one thing I always wanted to do was raise a family.
And I always want to be an awesome dad.
And I always want to have a hobby farm.
I love animals and I love plants.
18:10
And so about 18 months ago, which was, Oh my gosh, maybe, yeah.
Two years into my of being FI, I actually, I did the unthinkable, Jack.
Yeah, I liquidated my shares.
18:22
Speaker 2
OK, you sold your all of your.
18:24
Speaker 1
Yeah, my, my emotional support portfolio is, I like to refer to it the FI portfolio.
I sold it all and I, I used this down payment on on a hobby farm.
Oh my gosh.
And it was so scary, but it was like, it’s the best thing I’ve ever done.
Yeah.
And so I feel like a little bit of an imposter because I’m not really fire anymore because I have a mortgage now.
18:45
I I owe the bank half 1,000,000 bucks and they want their 4000 a month.
But so I probably identify as Coast by Yeah, yeah.
So anyway, that’s a bit about me.
Yeah.
We’re in, in Brisbane, QLD.
I say I’ve got this beautiful to what an amazing wife.
19:01
And yeah, I’m just sort of enjoying that slow life, lots of mowing.
You got a beautiful ride on mower.
It’s my pride and joy.
It’s actually worth about four times what my car is worth.
19:13
Speaker 2
Yeah, I can tell you it’s been absolutely fun getting to know you and some of the crazy things that you’ve done.
But they’re like crazy fun and they have, you know, I can tell you just have this aura about you, where you are in such a wonderful place in your life and you’re not caught up with labels.
19:28
So what if you don’t consider yourself FIRE or whatever because you have a mortgage?
You know, you’ve got the beautiful child that you wanted, the dog.
You get to hang out in Bali, which gets me back to is we’re live in Bali.
So now what we’re going to do, we’re going to get to the fun part.
19:44
We are going to talk to real people that are here at the Five Freedom Retreat.
This is going to be so much fun.
We’ve gotten to know a lot of them, like you said, so many of them way smarter than us.
And so we definitely want to get their story.
19:58
Rebuilding Life and Wealth: Claire’s Resilient FI Story
And so let’s talk to our first guest.
How about that?
20:01
Speaker 1
OK, so the first audience member we’ve got here is is Claire.
And Claire has come to Bali all the way from.
20:09
Speaker 4
Dubai.
20:10
Speaker 1
Dubai.
I thought you were from Ireland.
What’s going on?
20:15
Speaker 4
I am from Ireland but I’ve spent a long time overseas and I left Ireland at the age of 18 and then I moved to Germany.
I was in Germany, the UK, back to Germany, so probably for about 14 years.
And then from Germany I said enough of Germany.
20:31
I even said to my then German husband, I’m only going to be here for two years and after like 14 years I said enough, we’re going to Australia.
So then I went to Australia for 8 1/2 years, and I actually plan to stay in Australia for the rest of my life.
20:48
But then things took a bit of a change.
And so that’s why I ended up going back to Germany.
But that was, yeah, 10 years ago.
And I think, you know a little bit about the history of that, that I ended up kind of losing everything 10 years ago and I had to start over.
21:05
And I’m really lucky that the company that I started working for that they offered me a position in Dubai and then I went to Dubai and I’m in Dubai now, eight years.
21:16
Speaker 1
Wow, that is an incredible story.
And we’ve obviously chatted like over lunch and like I, I got to say, I am just blown away by Claire.
Like her work ethic and just resilient to rebuild her life and to buy a property back home and to build up a huge investment portfolio.
21:37
It’s inspiring.
So like I think round of applause for for Claire.
So Claire, how did you get to be here in Bali?
Have you been to a fire event before?
21:52
Speaker 4
No, I’ve never been to a fire event, but I have listened to Amy Minkley on Choose FI, Even Bigger Pockets, and you know what I did last weekend?
You’re going to laugh.
I said I have to prepare for my retreat and I walked in Dubai probably about 8 kilometres last Saturday listening to all of Amy’s interviews on Spotify, just prepping me for all.
22:18
But no, actually it really resonated with me because you, you did an interview, Amy, where you talked about Bali being your personal healing.
And, you know, I reached out to you originally to say, hey, something really resonated with me and I never reach out to anybody by email.
22:36
And then suddenly, I think it was within a month after I’d reached out to you that, that a position or a space had freed up.
And I went, the universe is telling me something.
I have to go.
And then I literally, I remember being in my car in Dubai, came out of yoga.
22:52
I got this in my inbox and I went, that’s it.
I have to contact her.
That position, that place is mine and nobody else is going to get it.
So that’s what led, that’s why I’m here.
23:02
Speaker 2
Fantastic.
I absolutely love that.
And I got to spend some time with you now.
What stuck in my head was when you were saying you had to start over.
So our podcast is catching up to five and we have a lot of late starters that had to start over.
23:19
And I just wonder what was your experience like, you know, waking up and saying, wow, I got to do this all over again because it can be very defeating.
And a lot of people carry a lot of, you know, shame and regret and things like that.
But you obviously overcame it.
23:36
And you’re in Bali today.
Tell us a little bit about that restart.
23:41
Speaker 4
It was terrifying.
I mean, I will never forget learning that my marriage was over, I had just come back from Australia, I had no job, I had no money.
I just thought what am I going to do?
23:57
It was.
So I have to say that was really for me, I just didn’t know where to start.
I just, I mean, I think I said yesterday, what was really important for me in that year, I just knew I had to breathe.
I just knew how to breathe and something would happen and I had to just find a job.
24:12
And I just knew if I could find a job, I could start getting out of my head and start earning money and start finding my way forward, even if the job wasn’t the right job.
And I did get interviews where, and it’s really funny, I got interviews and my gut says this is not the right job and then I don’t want to go into the industry that I mean, otherwise people might recognise.
24:34
So anyway, there was one company that they were looking for someone and I said that’s actually perfect for me because I really like to work internationally.
And I said that’s it.
That’s the one for me.
And Oh no, I actually have to back.
I went driving in the countryside in Germany one weekend and I looked at this company.
24:51
I said, this is a company I’m going to work for.
That was it.
And I specifically ran out looking for jobs that they were going to offer.
And I applied and said that’s it, that’s my job.
So I think I it’s not really manifestation, but I felt like I pulled it to me that job.
25:06
And so, yeah, that’s kind of changed my life.
So it did.
25:12
Speaker 1
That’s fantastic.
And I’m a believer in that the universe works in mysterious ways, like coming from, you know, an engineering background, I had a very technical job and it was all very numbers and procedure based.
And some of the experiences I’ve had and, and even like in fire, I’m learning like it’s not really about the numbers, is it?
25:31
It’s more about the feelings and the emotions.
But interesting.
Look, Clay, if you could pass on one lesson to our listeners today, what would you tell them?
25:43
Speaker 4
Trust your gut.
25:44
Speaker 5
Your gut is always.
25:46
Speaker 4
Going to protect you and it’s always going to help you make decisions and I think that’s the most important.
I believe that money was complicated and then I discovered Choose FI and Bigger Pockets.
I think I exclusively only listen to American podcasts.
26:02
Then I find yours too and that just gave me the confidence actually.
So trust your gut, get yourself informed, and you can always correct the path that you’re on if you make a wrong decision.
That’s it.
26:17
Speaker 2
Well, I’d like to get to some fun stuff.
OK.
You have been in Bali for how many days?
You came in a little early.
26:24
Speaker 4
Friday.
26:25
Speaker 2
OK, so tell me about some of the fun stuff you did and what was your favourite?
26:30
Speaker 4
The fun stuff, I did late night conversations last night with Kim over adult drinks.
No, that’s just really nice.
And I think that’s what I learned about being here in a retreat.
26:46
It’s a sideline conversations.
It’s the breakout groups where you go a bit deeper, and I think I had to get my head around that on day one going, oh, it’s the side stuff.
That’s really where you do a lot of learning where.
And I think with the presenters, they’re challenging your thought process with the slides that you’re going through, but you get a lot of everything, but you get more personal in the breakouts.
27:13
Is that fair to say?
Yeah.
27:17
Speaker 2
Well, I just had to hear, you know, the things that you enjoyed the most.
And glad to hear that, you know, the speakers, you know, there was also really good exercises, you know, Captain Fi and James and even the stuff that Amy was doing.
Oh, yeah.
You know, today we had the great PKP, the nonprofit that Amy supports, and we had the young ladies dancing.
27:37
I love that.
Did you enjoy that today?
27:40
Speaker 4
I have an idea.
There’s lots of people that are nomadic and I feel that it’s such a good cause that there has to be something within the Phi community that people are travelling can actually stop and involve and get involved in these communities.
27:56
And I feel there’s something in there that we can add more purpose to our travels by helping out and working with younger people to help them get ahead ’cause, you know, like everybody only knows what they know.
28:11
But people that travel gain a much wider and deeper experience.
And I feel that we’ve all got more to give.
The more we see, the more we have to give, right?
Right.
28:21
Speaker 2
Right, I, I think that’s beautiful and it made an impression on me as well.
And of course, Amy has talked multiple times about this organisation and it was just nice that that was a part of our visit here.
We weren’t just tourists sucking up everything we can with the cheap stuff here.
28:39
Whatever we have been giving back, we got to appreciate the culture and just seeing it first hand to me really made a difference.
So I’m glad that you mentioned that.
So, Claire, thank you so much for joining us.
This was amazing and I hope you enjoy the rest of your trip.
28:54
Thank you.
29:02
Embracing “FI Enough”: Michael’s Nomadic Life
OK, we have Michael with us now.
Now, Michael has been to a lot of different places.
You are from the US, is that right?
29:12
Speaker 6
I am, yeah.
29:13
Speaker 2
Yeah, So met Michael and he just made a huge change.
So, Michael, tell us a little bit about yourself, where you’re living now, and what this big change is.
29:26
Speaker 6
So I’m going nomadic for the first time.
I’ve always loved travelling and have been trying to do longer and longer trips and trying to build it more into my kind of life plan and my goals and what I’m doing.
And so just in the past month or so, I’ve finished getting rid of my stuff, moving out of my place, running out my place, selling my car to another 5 friend that I met at a Camp Five event.
29:51
And that was kind of the last piece to allow me to start travelling.
29:56
Speaker 2
OK, so where was your last home in the US that you packed everything up and decided I’m just out of here?
30:04
Speaker 6
I was in Salt Lake City.
30:06
Speaker 2
OK.
Salt Lake City, UT and now this is not your first Phi event here in Bali.
Tell me about other events that you have attended and I guess maybe mentioned talk to other people about what you got out of those in person events and then just lead up to Bali and how that has been compared to the other ones.
30:28
Speaker 6
Yes, I’ve been to a Camp Money Moustache where I met Amy, and then I also went to a Camp Phi in Colorado.
And I think, yeah, the speakers and the schedule and the events give those structure.
30:43
But like everyone else has said, it’s about the conversations that you have.
And so here I’ve been tracking down the nomads and anyone who’s like solo travelling and kind of trying to find the people who can give me some insight into to what I’m doing.
30:58
And yeah, you pick up little tips and tricks along the way.
When I was at Camp Five, I found out that some people had moved to South Dakota in the US.
They changed their state residency to get better tax benefits.
I’ve.
31:11
Speaker 2
Heard that?
31:12
Speaker 6
And so I did the same thing on my way out.
I’m a South Dakota resident now because they make it easy for full time travellers and they have no state income tax.
So those are some of the things you pick up along the way most.
31:24
Speaker 2
Of the travel in US, in the US, all over the world.
31:28
Speaker 6
So I just left the US, right?
I just started all this a few weeks ago, but I want to stay in Asia for a couple of months, then go back, see friends and family around the holidays, and then I want to spend next year in Europe, maybe starting when the Canary Islands in January, because the weather sounds nice.
31:44
That’s a.
31:45
Speaker 2
Big dreams, man, what do you think?
31:49
Speaker 1
Yeah, it’s very impressive.
It’s pretty daunting.
Michael, I want to know how did you pull the trigger?
Like, what was your enough moment to know that, hey, let’s break out the Facebook Marketplace listings and get all this stuff turned back into cash?
32:05
Speaker 6
And a lot of it I just had to give away at the end.
I was like, take it, take it so well.
I feel like I had been doing some little experiments along the way.
So I had done like a yoga teacher training and spent like 5 weeks in India to see, OK, what is this like?
32:21
And then earlier this year I went to Malaga, Spain for a month and I was like, OK, well, what do I do alone in Spain for a whole month?
Am I just going to be hiding in my Airbnb or am I going to connect with people?
And so I had ended up taking some Spanish classes and learning about some of the different groups that you can go to.
32:40
And so I guess financially I’ve been kind of how can I travel more?
That was kind of the overall.
And so my last full time job I had, you know, I’d purposefully selected out companies that were not huge companies that might have more flexible kind of terms.
32:58
And so I had asked my, you know, on the job interview, you know, was rather informal in a nonprofit.
I said, could I have maybe 3 months of vacation?
And he said, yeah, sure.
And I was like, OK, but then the salary number is too low.
33:13
So I said, well, how about like 2 months?
So we came up to an agreement.
And so anyway, then I wanted to have a remote job.
So now I work part time remotely.
And so I’ve just kind of been trying to shift to some kind of situation that would allow me to do the travel you.
33:31
Speaker 2
Know you got to tell us a little bit more about your fight journey.
Like it sounds like you’re still working.
So I guess how do you define where you are in your fight journey right now that you can be all over the world and you actually, this is a company in the US that allowed you to take a that that is highly unusual to me.
33:51
But I just want to hear more about your Phi journey and like where you consider yourself, you know, right now.
33:58
Speaker 6
How far back do you want to go?
Do you want to go to my Susie Orman days in my teens or do I’m going to Fast forward a little bit?
34:06
Speaker 2
Yeah, we did talk a lot about memories during these last few days.
No.
I guess do you consider yourself financially independent today?
No.
34:16
Speaker 6
I’d say I’m fine enough.
34:19
Speaker 2
What?
Look, there’s another flavour of fine.
You’re fine.
34:21
Speaker 6
Or I don’t know, semi retired.
I mean there are all sorts of different versions of it.
I would say that I’m able to work part time for maybe the next certain number of years and then go fully fine, but I’m close enough.
34:34
Speaker 2
OK, so you don’t have to go all the way back to your childhood, although I’m sure that’s fascinating too.
But well, so when you started your career, you know, was the idea to just work for a short period of time or you just kind of bumbled along to what you discovered?
34:49
Hey, I don’t have to go to the 9:00 to 5:00 every day.
I can do it different.
It’s just to me, that’s an evolution of thinking.
So I kind of want to hear about that.
34:57
Speaker 6
Yeah.
So I don’t know.
I mean, I guess when I was 15 years ago, I was kind of going along with the same assumption as everyone else.
So you had to work till you were 65.
You take the one trip to Italy and then you kick the bucket.
And I was always like, oh, like, that sounds like really awful.
35:15
Like, is that really the only option?
And I think for a long time that really did feel like the only option.
But I I was always like kind of a scrimper and a saver.
My mom was all all about even she’s still all about the coupon.
She wants to run all over town to get the, you know, the rain check on the, the can of sodas or whatever.
35:33
But so we came from a frugal household.
I did start investing, you know, when I was at my high school pizza job, put a little bit of money in the Roth IRA way back then.
And I always worked, I worked as a journalist and I never made all that much money.
35:49
So I was a low, I’d say low, below average kind of wage earner.
But I would save a lot of that money, like save, save, save.
And I would start my spreadsheets and I’d calculate my savings rate.
And in 2019 I spent just $13,000 the whole year on everything.
36:10
A mouldy basement in Salt Lake.
36:14
Speaker 2
A mouldy so OK, so so he said the funny he said the mouldy basement first because if you would have started out with saddle I’m like Seattle $13,000 that doesn’t.
So you found a way to make it work in Seattle, Salt Lake City.
Okay, still would you consider that a high cost of living area moderate.
36:33
Okay, okay, not one of the really low ones, not really one of the highest 1.
So what did you do as a journalist?
36:40
Speaker 6
I told people about murders and City Council meetings.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
36:46
Speaker 2
OK, That was actually my major journalism and I wanted to be a news reporter and I did it on the weekends for a little bit.
I’m not very long.
And I can attest that there’s not a lot of money unless you get to the bigger markets, right?
That was the career path you would go to bigger and bigger markets and eventually you’ll end up in an Atlanta market or New York City or something like that.
37:07
So, so that’s cool.
So you had a cool reporting job.
That’s neat.
So so keep, keep the story going on.
37:14
Speaker 6
I mean, the journalism was a lot of fun and stress and adrenaline, but it also meant nights, weekends, holidays, and right, the news is at 10 or 11:00 PM, you know, while people are at home and you’re at work.
So working all, all in the evenings and stuff.
37:30
So I had been trying to figure out, OK, well, how do I get out of this?
And so I had taken up a side hustle of how can I transition my journalism skills into like PR marketing type of skills.
And so I had found some self published authors to try to get them some publicity and did a little bit of that.
37:51
And then that led to PR marketing job at a nonprofit where I worked full time and got the two months of vacation and a trip to Africa right.
38:04
Speaker 2
So I may have to, to connect with you.
I’m an authors that did self publishing and there’s a lot of cool stuff.
So everyone else in the audience and everyone else is listening.
This is a guy, he’s a Phi guy that has some skills there that might be helpful for a lot of people in the Phi community.
38:19
So I had no idea that that was your field.
So good to see we got a lot of talent here in the Phi community for sure.
So let’s get to the place where you like I, I can go nomadic.
I don’t know how to label this or what to call it, but I’m doing it.
Like how are you framing that?
38:35
And I guess letting it sink in in your own head.
38:37
Speaker 6
Yeah.
Well, I guess I had been of the mindset of, OK, let’s keep the foot on the gas, let’s get as much money as quickly as possible and make myself sacrifice as much as possible.
But I’m like, do I really want to do that for five or more years?
And that also didn’t kind of square with me.
38:55
So I was attracted to the Slofi type groups and I was like, OK, wow.
Like every time you have a certain amount saved, you’re kind of unlocking new capabilities and new opportunities.
And so I wanted to take advantage of more of those rather than just, OK, I’m going to wait for five or ten years in the future and then suddenly have something going on for me that I’m really happy with.
39:18
And so I can’t remember the rest of your question, but that that was kind of.
39:25
Speaker 2
Really enjoying hearing your story and having and you roll through it.
But I guess the bottom line is you end up in Bali.
OK, So what came on your radar to where you said I’m just going to Bali, did a few small US five events and now you’re doing the big thing in Bali.
39:45
And I do want to hear about what you’re enjoying and all of that too.
But how did you arrive at being one of the attendees here?
39:52
Speaker 6
Well, I had met Amy near Seattle at one of those events, and she said she was living overseas, and I had not really heard that flavour of five people before the Travel 5 folks.
40:07
And so I was like, oh, you know, I mean, all of five is like kind of an escape room.
And you find a little door, you’re going out and you’re like, you know what’s over here?
40:16
Speaker 2
Amy’s pretty convincing too, right?
40:19
Speaker 6
And so I was like, wow, I wonder if I could maybe live somewhere overseas and wow, if it were cheaper, maybe I could do it more quickly.
And wow, I don’t know if I want to just go one place, but maybe I can go a lot of different places.
And how much does it cost me to travel and sales?
40:36
Speaker 2
Going off.
40:37
Speaker 6
Yeah.
And so I was just kind of thinking about opportunities and possibilities.
So I’d kind of set this timeline of at the end of this year, I was going to start travelling.
I had this home and a roommate and I thought she would stay till the end of this year.
It’d be more convenient for me, but she didn’t think of it that way.
40:53
She wanted to do what’s best for her.
Can’t imagine that.
So she kept bumping up her timeline for when she was getting out and I was like, well, I guess I’ll have to bump up my timeline too.
So anyway, I had a renter found and in place for August 1st and so I had to be out of there and then I had a couple of weeks to tie things up and and then I’m like, let’s do it now.
41:16
I don’t really know what that means.
I’m nomadic and everyone’s saying are you homeless?
And I’m like, no even.
41:25
Speaker 2
Important for you to have the answer to that question.
You know, are you enjoying just exploring and just kind of going with the flow?
I mean, I think it’s called pretty cool.
41:36
Speaker 6
Yeah, but then they make you question, right?
They’ll say, are you, are you homeless?
And then I had one friend who said, no, she she doesn’t say she’s homeless.
She’s houseless, you know, which I think is a nice more positive reframing.
But if I tell my dad, no, I’m not homeless, and he says, well, you’re kind of homeless.
41:51
I said, no, I’m not homeless.
OK, well, you’re kind of homeless.
I’m like, OK, well whatever makes you feel comfortable.
41:58
Speaker 2
Other people will get stuck on making you label yourself something, but I think it’s kind of cool that you get to float around.
And I have a very personal motive because I am thinking about kind of doing the same thing.
I still have to digest it all.
So I might be hitting you up for some tips, OK.
42:14
Speaker 1
Michael, I want to know mate, so are you Coast Fi?
Are you drawing down on your portfolio and like with your work, do they know you’re working for?
Are you like dialling in on Zoom calls and you’re like on the beach and you’re just like sitting a background to make it look like you’re in an office or like what’s going on there?
42:32
Speaker 6
No, I mean, I, I don’t know if you’re familiar with slow fire, but there’s like actually like 8 different levels or there’s like a lot more levels than just coast Fi and Fi.
And so I’m somewhere in between those two.
I right, I’m not drawing down my accounts, but I could probably do that in a few years from now if I wanted to.
42:50
But I’m happy working part time, which is still covering all the expenses and I’m still saving a little bit.
So I guess I don’t find it more important to define more specifically beyond that.
But anyway, the job that I have is part time.
43:05
It’s remote and there aren’t a lot of Zoom meetings and things like that.
It’s mostly on my own time.
And so that although there was a 1:30 AM Zoom meeting a few days ago, that’s kind of one of the sacrifices you have to make, especially if you’re going to travel in Asia versus US times.
43:22
It’s different if you’re in right, Europe versus US times.
But yeah, I mean, I, I, it’s kind of a fortunate position to have.
And so, but I had been kind of right.
I think like once you start looking for what are the opportunities that are going to work for what I want from my lifestyle, then I do think that they start popping up because you just eliminate the stuff that’s not going to work for you.
43:43
Speaker 1
Yeah, it’s really inspiring mate.
And you definitely come across as really at peace with yourself and your process.
And I think again, so much of like fire and the fire movement is it’s really mindset.
It’s not really so much about the dollars or the numbers, It’s it’s really about your attitude towards it.
44:00
So it’s it’s really inspiring, mate.
So I’m yeah, I’m really glad you came up and and shared your story.
What I’d love to ask if you had a lesson or some advice that you could pass on to the listeners, what would your top tip be mate?
44:14
Speaker 6
Yeah, don’t delay gratification forever.
Most 5 people think about running out of money a lot more than they think about running out of life.
44:25
Speaker 2
You left us with a deep one there.
Thank you so much for joining us.
This is amazing.
Go enjoy Bali.
44:39
Speaker 1
OK.
44:40
The Power of Mini-Retirements: Val’s Gap Year
And we’re joined by Val, who’s one of the attendees here and joining from Hong Kong.
Yeah, all the way from Hong Kong.
Thanks for coming up and joining us on the podcast.
How are you going tonight?
44:51
Speaker 5
Yeah, really good.
Thanks.
Thanks for having me.
44:53
Speaker 1
Yeah, no worries.
So can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you came to discover the fire community?
45:00
Speaker 5
So there isn’t, as far as I’m aware, there isn’t a huge FI community in Hong Kong.
I came across Mr Money Moustache, I think was probably one of the first ones, maybe similar to you, 2015, 2016, but I didn’t do anything with it.
I don’t think I opened my first brokerage account until maybe two or three years later.
45:17
And then as like everyone here got immersed in the various podcasts, choose a Fi and all the others.
And yeah, just that’s how I kind of first heard about it.
And just like a rabbit hole.
45:28
Speaker 1
It’s fantastic.
And so, what’s your goal and where are you on your journey?
45:33
Speaker 5
That’s a good question.
I find that the goal posts keep shifting for me personally.
I think that’s my issues rather than the one more year syndrome.
It’s kind of, I keep pushing out like you reach a milestone and then you, you’re like, oh, maybe I want to go a little bit further.
So I’m not really sure when I was talking to some of the other attendees here about some of the financial kind of planners and advisors that they’ve sought help from to be more organised to figure out exactly where they are.
45:59
And I guess that’s my situation.
I mean, I think I probably could be fine, but I want to be fat fi.
And so if it’s fat FI then then not yet.
But my current situation is I quit my job a few months ago.
46:12
Speaker 2
We got to stop on that one.
Yeah, we love when people say that.
46:18
Speaker 1
Big action is.
46:20
Speaker 5
Awesome.
Yeah, I’ve I it wasn’t an impulsive move I had been thinking about for a long time for a variety of reasons, But I’m going to at least take a gap year, which I’ve never done before.
I’ve never taken a career break to travel and do take off a bunch of things off my personal bucket list, but I probably would like to at some point in time go back to some form of work.
46:40
I just haven’t figured out that piece yet.
46:43
Speaker 1
Yeah, time and space to breathe is really important.
When I reflect on my own FIRE journey, I felt like definitely I can relate to like stopping full time work and feeling like just diving off that Cliff into floating and the unknown and then like desperately grasping on to something and then having that taken away and again feeling floating.
47:06
So I am a massive proponent for like gradually ramping down work or part time work.
I think finding something with really, really good balance is definitely what strikes a chord with me.
And so I think you’re doing all the right things.
So how did you end up here in Bali?
47:21
Have you been to a fire event before or?
Yeah.
Tell us a little bit about how you came to be here today.
47:27
Speaker 5
No, I’ve never been to a fire event.
So actually that’s one thing.
In Hong Kong, I’ve always really wanted to have access to a fire community.
I always hear about these, you know, US based by podcasts and all these US events, but I’m not aware of any in Hong Kong or even in Asia.
47:43
I’m not really aware of any.
Maybe that’s just because I’m not looking hard enough.
So I don’t recall which podcast it was where I heard about Amy’s retreat.
It was definitely one of the podcasts.
It might have been choose If I don’t, I’m not really sure.
But I’d heard about it and I jumped on the opportunity.
I remember like when I first heard about it was when I was still working and it was for the previous year’s retreat.
48:01
And so I knew I couldn’t make that, but I already like over, I think it was 18 months before this one.
That was like, I’m definitely going to the next one and I had it scheduled that I was as soon as it opened, I would like pounce on and get a ticket.
So that’s and before that I actually came across this was definitely on the choose F5 podcast.
48:20
Someone called Jillian Johns rude, who has a podcast called retire often.
Yes.
48:24
Speaker 2
And her book actually just got released.
I was about to say it looks like you’re enjoying a, you can call it a sabbatical or many retirement.
You know, I love it.
OK.
I was thinking along those lines as well.
So that was something that resonated with you.
Yeah.
48:39
Speaker 5
Very much so.
And I actually did the group coaching programme online with Jillian John’s Rude.
And so, you know, this was all when I was still working.
And yeah, all things eventually led to Bobby.
48:52
Speaker 1
Fantastic and and how have you found the week so far?
48:54
Speaker 5
It’s been amazing.
The conversations are so different to, you know, like any other.
I have never been to a fire event.
I don’t have many friends who I at least outwardly identify as Fi or, you know, talk about fine in Hong Kong.
49:10
When I tell people what Fi like when I mentioned Fi, they’re like, what’s that?
And the one I explained to them, they’re like, sounds like a cult it.
49:17
Speaker 1
Kind of is.
49:19
Speaker 5
Or like sounds like a Ponzi scheme.
Like, no, no, it really isn’t.
So yeah, it’s been amazing.
I really, really, really enjoyed.
I really, I’m really enjoying the conversations because they’re so different to the normal conversation.
They’re so people are just so willing to talk about their numbers and like that normal.
49:36
Like, you know, even with close friends you don’t often talk about on the taboo.
Yeah, you don’t talk about money in such an open way.
And I really enjoyed the PKP community talk and session this morning as I moved by that.
49:52
Speaker 2
So I want to hear a little bit more about what you plan on doing during this gap year.
50:00
Speaker 5
So I’m five months in and I’ve done a lot.
I’m actually very proud of all the things I’ve ticked off my personal bucket list already.
I feel like I’ve lived several lifetimes in the five months that I’ve already taken off.
50:17
And when I think about it, I actually have lived several lifetimes because at work, I get 4 weeks of paid annual leave, 20 days.
Well, I did get 20 days paid annual leave a year, which is 4 weeks.
But two of those weeks I’d usually spend, you know, going to travel to see my husband’s family in Spain.
50:35
So usually it’s just two weeks a year.
And I just spent 11 weeks in Europe.
So I have lived several lifetimes in the past five months, and it’s been amazing.
It’s been the best thing I’ve ever done.
Wow.
50:50
Speaker 2
I mean, that is pretty powerful and I think it’s a testament to the fact that you don’t have to be full fledge.
It sounds like this break has been just life changing for you and that really makes a difference.
So to be able to either take the break or do it temporarily or coast fire, you know, we’ve heard a lot of different ways to do it and I think that’s awesome.
51:13
I got a chance to chat with you a little bit and hopefully I will get a chance to chat with everyone.
But it’s just like you said, people are so open.
You know, it’s we’ve all been to a lot of corporate conferences and events and they’re little stuffy and this is like.
51:28
Just the opposite, and it’s just so cool.
And it’s not even just about the numbers, although people are very free with their numbers.
It’s like we’ve got to some deeper inner work.
And what you just said to me was just so profound.
And I think it will resonate with a lot of people as it did with me as well.
51:48
Speaker 1
Yeah, I’ve really enjoyed the breakout sessions too.
I know Val, we had a really cool chat earlier today about the side hustles and and passive income and maybe what isn’t passive income streams.
So yeah, it’s been wonderful.
Is there something you might have picked up or a lesson that you’ve learned along your fight journey so far that you would pass on to our listeners?
52:10
Speaker 5
Yeah, One thing that really resonated with me, which Michael was talking about, and I have the exact same feeling, is don’t put off things you want to do.
Like I was saving a lot because of things to do, not saving a lot of my.
I was saving a lot of things to do for my gap year because this was like, I always knew I wanted to do it for a very long time, but I knew I wanted to work for a little bit more.
52:32
So I was like, look, I don’t want to keep putting this off forever.
So I found ways to have little experiments, like do the group coaching programme with Jill and Johns.
Rude I extend.
When I was on one of my last family trips to Spain with my husband, I was still working.
52:48
I spent a few days in Copenhagen on my own to just get a sense of what travelling alone would be like.
And I really I knew I wanted to see more Scandinavia.
So that was my kind of first taste of it.
I did a family trip with my parents when I was still working out over a long weekend to Wuhan.
53:03
Everyone nowadays knows where Wuhan is because that’s where my mom’s time was originally from.
But it’s a trip that we’ve been talking about doing for many, many years, which is never did, but, and I was like, you know, we’re just, we’re going to do it.
And so I did a lot of like mini kind of trips or experiences rather than saving everything for the gap year.
53:22
And I think it also helps you refine your break plan.
And I’m actually pretty proud of my break plan.
I think it’s been very well planned out and it’s very, very full.
I’ve got I’m doing a lot of things in the next like 12 months.
53:38
Speaker 1
That’s awesome.
It it reminds me of a dirty joke, but I don’t know if I could say other podcasts.
When did we stop recording, Daniel?
It’s just getting dark over here.
Now.
This said this definitely dirty joke.
Later.
Yeah.
Now there’s some things.
You know what you’ll say.
You don’t want to save certain things up for a time, and we’ll just leave it at that.
53:54
Yeah.
Look, I felt it’s awesome hearing you talk about having breaks.
And I think it’s, it’s super important because like I can talk from my personal experience of like burnout.
And I wish, I wish I could have had this conversation maybe like four or five years ago because I definitely was like all or nothing on my journey and put a lot of pressure on myself.
54:14
And so it’s like it’s really refreshing to hear stories like from yourself and from Michael and from other people at the retreat, like, Hey, you know, you don’t have to really be going 100 and 10%.
And it’s OK to make time for yourself for it to be sustainable.
If it’s not sustainable, it’s not something you don’t stick with, right?
54:31
Yeah.
And there’s a wonderful Australian Phi author.
Her name is Lacey Filovich, and she talks a lot about these mini sabbaticals.
In fact, like she has this awesome Ted talk.
And I think it’s of that like title around taking sabbaticals and it’s really inspiring.
54:50
And so I first heard that concept from here and I was blown away.
So I wish it’s something that I had it done in my career.
And I think it’s awesome that you’re doing it.
So look, thanks so much for coming.
It’s like it’s brave to come up in front of everyone here today and talk on the pod.
So I really appreciate you having the courage to come up and chat today.
55:08
Thanks for.
55:09
Speaker 5
Having.
55:09
Speaker 2
Me, yeah.
Thanks, Val.
You’re awesome.
So, Captain Fight, that was so awesome, right?
55:24
Speaker 1
Yeah, absolutely.
Like I said before, we’ve just got such a wealth of experience and knowledge in the audience.
Like it’s very humbling.
It’s amazing.
55:32
Speaker 2
Yeah, and even though we’ve chatted with most people, it was kind of cool that when they came behind the mic, we got to know them even better.
And how many countries do you think we have represented here?
I would say.
55:44
Speaker 1
What do you think?
It’s like 10-12 more I.
55:48
Speaker 2
Was thinking 20.
No, I I always think high but.
55:52
Speaker 1
That’s just the amount of countries that Claire has lived in.
Oh.
55:56
Speaker 2
Yeah, right, right.
So, so Amy’s telling us about 8 or 9.
OK, so nine countries in one room in Bali.
We’re both from different countries, and I think we’re all still speaking the same language.
So this was amazing.
56:12
It was amazing to have you doing this with me.
Bill, don’t get jealous because I put him on the Yeah, I love to see him turn red.
And we were talking to, we’re talking to a New York Times reporter one time.
And I don’t know why she got on this subject, but she was like, because I’m single.
56:32
She’s like, well, so how’s dating?
I heard that there’s like a dating fi website and I’m like, yeah, I’m not really into that.
And I just thought it was a weird question.
So when there’s a strange question that I’m uncomfortable about, I just try to make someone else uncomfortable.
56:50
So I said, I said, well, I do have a thing for old bald guys and I was looking at it, but this is too much fun.
We’ll continue.
57:00
Speaker 1
To make me turn red.
57:03
Inside the FI Freedom Retreat with Amy Minkley
So I cannot leave Bali without talking to you, Amy.
We are live in Bali, Indonesia, and I’m here with the founder of Five Freedom Retreats.
Amy, thank you so much.
This has been a wonderful experience.
57:19
We’re on the tail end and I guess I just want everybody to know that I wish that everyone could experience this.
Can you tell us a little bit about like the overall experience, maybe things that you can’t even see, like on the website?
It’s so hard to describe.
57:33
Speaker 7
Yeah, well what I love about this retreat is it’s really international.
Like we have people from 8 different countries on this last retreat, so we really get to meet people and friends from all over the world.
And then it’s like these connections that they build and people are thinking, OK, I’m going to meet you here.
57:49
I want to come see you in Dubai or I want to come see you in Ireland or the UK or Australia.
And so one thing I love about it is it’s truly international.
And the other thing I love is it’s longer than the average buy event.
So, you know, the actual fire event by Freedom Retreat is five days long.
58:06
But I encourage people to come.
58:08
Speaker 3
Early people went.
I came early.
I’m staying late.
I just can’t believe that I came all the way here.
All these people came out.
How many people did we have?
58:16
Speaker 7
Total we had 48.
58:18
Speaker 3
48 people, so I got to know every single one of them and they were all more well travelled than me.
So if you’re not used to travelling that’s OK.
You held our hand, you’re so organised.
You’re an International School teacher, so you got those skills.
I kept thinking, I wish everyone can experience this.
58:34
Even if you wanted to slow down your fight journey a little bit, to kind of immerse yourself with a long trip like this with other fight people that are enjoying the slower pace, it was just life changing for me.
Aw.
58:48
Speaker 7
Thank you so much, Jackie.
I’m so honoured to have you here and it was so great that you can come and speak at both of them and stay for a whole month.
58:56
Speaker 2
I was out of my comfort zone and you know one of the.
58:58
Speaker 3
Speakers James talked about being out of your comfort zone, and I was totally out of my comfort zone.
And then right now we’re on this island, Lembongan, right?
We’ve got the ocean in the background.
The waves are hitting the clamp.
And that’s what I’m waking up to every morning.
59:14
Like this has been transformational.
And I just would like more people to experience something like this.
And that’s why I wanted to try to give a little bit of the essence and what you get from getting out of your comfort zone.
I’m halfway around the country right now.
59:30
It’s roughly 11 AM Lomboggan time.
It is 11:00 PM Eastern Time where I live in Ohio.
59:37
Speaker 7
So amazing, yes, it’s been so great to have you here.
And and you know, what’s been great is like we’ve really gotten to know each other because of the like, you know, before people came or say people landed very early.
You know, there was a climbing mount, the tour, biking a bit, also biking through Bali.
59:55
Speaker 3
Like you are the tour guide extraordinaire, I can tell you.
59:58
Speaker 4
That.
That’s awesome, yeah.
59:59
Speaker 7
Right through rice paddies down little kids waving hello, you know, so cute.
See all the little villages and then cooking class.
Did you take part in the cooking?
1:00:07
Speaker 3
Class, I didn’t do the cooking class yet, but I’m going to do the jewellery making.
So all of those, you’re just chatting with your new friend.
And I guess the other thing is that I noticed how chill everyone is.
The vibe is so cool, they’re relaxing.
It’s just slowing it down.
You know, back home is the hustle and bustle.
1:00:24
It’s like the laundry’s calling.
I got to do this, I got to do that.
And this time out was so important and you could feel that with everyone.
And that was the feedback.
You know, we were sitting with a a couple this morning that we had had this wonderful time with and he was just saying, you know, what if this is what retiring early is, it’s just so chill.
1:00:44
And he says it’s life changing and it really, really is.
So I just wanted to take a moment to kind of get you to share what the experience is here.
You know, I know what I feel.
We’re going to talk to some of the attendees and things like that, but you have created something very, very special.
1:01:00
Speaker 7
Thank you.
Yeah.
And if if people want to come, I mean, I would just say Bali is so safe.
The people are really nice.
I wouldn’t.
1:01:06
Speaker 3
Get used to leaving my doors open at night.
But it is they’re so sweet.
We didn’t even have to check in and pay when we came here to this island.
We’ll pay on the way out.
But I’m like Amy, don’t we have to?
So, so a lot of this is just like so out of my zone, so out of my zone.
But it has been, like I said, just like changing.
1:01:23
Speaker 7
Yeah, and come for longer, you know, come snorkelling with us.
Come, you know, come to the islands with us because then you’re actually spending like we’ve had, you know, like actually three times as long.
It’s more than the five days is pre and post and really building having deep connections around the pool and, you know, over sunset cocktails and village tours.
1:01:42
We went to a water so and.
1:01:43
Speaker 3
Oh yeah, that was beautiful.
We went.
1:01:45
Speaker 7
Rafting.
We didn’t.
1:01:45
Speaker 3
See it rafting, the rafting was so much fun.
I loved I mean we’re in the jungle.
It’s just the openness and just such an experience on things that I never thought I would be doing so.
So this is the life I love that we have you, you taking us all around and you have shown us every nook and cranny.
1:02:04
Speaker 2
All.
1:02:04
Speaker 3
Over Bali and you just cannot get better than that.
I feel like I’m getting like a bonus tour guide.
You’ve been amazing.
Well, I.
1:02:11
Speaker 7
Love Bali and I love the Balonese people.
And my goal is like, how can I benefit these people, this island, show people things like little villages that they couldn’t have seen otherwise.
Support a ’cause that I care about, you know, bring in like Balonese.
I bring in two Balonese Speaker as well, talking about what they’re doing to improve the situation in Bali.
1:02:28
So I’m so honoured that you came and you created such a great speech that was super interactive.
Like that’s the whole goal is to make it interactive for we.
1:02:35
Speaker 3
Were talking about the money egg exercise, which I don’t get a chance to do a lot, but this was the moment to tap into people’s memories and the non financial side.
And I, I really appreciate you giving me the opportunity to do it because it was pretty.
It was pretty amazing.
I was very kind of taken aback at how impactful it was for some people.
1:02:54
So that meant a lot.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, Amy, this is so awesome to have you here, and I just wanted you to give us a brief summary.
You will do it in 2026, right?
Yes.
Okay, so it’s going to be another amazing retreat in 2026.
And consider treating yourself and enjoying just a beautiful experience like this.
1:03:13
So what is the website?
1:03:14
Speaker 7
So it’s 5 freedom retreats.com with an S on the end.
And I would encourage people, even if they can’t come, you know, next year, sign up for the mailing list because it does sell out last year in 8 minutes it does.
I was.
1:03:26
Speaker 3
About to say that it does sell out quickly, but it’s not something that’s not reachable for almost anyone.
It’s open to the public.
It’s not this some super secret club or anything.
It’s open to everyone.
So if you’ve thought about it, you deserve it.
1:03:41
Treat yourself.
And like you said, it doesn’t have to be next year or even the year after, but it’s a life changing experience.
And I think anyone that you talk to will say the same thing.
Yeah.
So, Amy, thank you so much for joining us.
Thank.
1:03:53
Speaker 7
You for being our speaker here and leading our case studies and all the work that you did.
Live from Bali podcast episodes.
1:03:59
Speaker 3
And yes, well, I loved it all.
I loved it all.
Amy, this is just truly amazing.
Thank you.
Thank you.
1:04:07
Speaker 2
This has been so much fun live from Bali.
Thank you guys for joining us.
Our audience has been amazing, which are now our 50 new friends that we have, right?
And it’s been such a great time.
Now I’m going to be getting a massage.
Are you going to get a massage?
1:04:22
Speaker 1
I have been looking forward to that all week.
1:04:25
Speaker 2
Yeah, so we got to go.
We’re going to enjoy lovely Bali.
So we’re going to get our massages and we’re going to enjoy the rest of the time with our 50 new friends.
We’re out.
We’ll catch you next time on catching up to 5.
Captain FI is a Retired Pilot who lives in Adelaide, South Australia. He is passionate about Financial Independence and writes about Personal Finance and his journey to reach FI at 29, allowing him to retire at 30.
