That’s the thing too with FI, a lot of things it’s like, Oh, I’ve got to do all these things and people feel guilty if they don’t. This dark comedy has become one of my favorite movies and since not many of my friends have seen it, I tend to show it to everyone that comes to visit me. Every decision, you know, studying hard in high school so I can get into a good college, I can get a good job and get a good salary and picking careers based on salaries and basing all my decisions on like is this going to cost less or is this going to make me more money? He books airfare with frequent-flyer miles. Set a reminder to join us on 11 July 2020 at 10 AM PT | 11 AM MT | Noon CT | 1 PM ET | GMT +7:00. Today we’re joined by a friend of the BiggerPockets podcast network, Brandon “The Mad Fientist”. He was really the first blogger that I found that A) really kind of resonated with me and you know, I found him at a time where I’d been treading the FI path for about two years completely alone and he has incredible ideas on tax optimization and lifestyle optimization and is one of the nicest people that I’ve ever met. How has your perception of time just changed over the past couple of years through this process? I think. I ’ m excit ed t o be here. Happy Saturday! So Brandon is a legend in the personal finance space and actually had a big impact on my own FI journey. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Thanks to everyone for the patience as we resolved the issue. I couldn’t have answered that question of what even makes you happy because for me it was that external thing. It's not the exact one he uses — since he built this version in 2014, he's made some tweaks to his own — but lays out the most important factors, accounts, and balances he's been tracking for years. And then you have this period of, you know, maybe 10, 20, 30 years even until you hit 65 where you have this low income and reasonable spending. He wears sweaters instead of cranking up the heat. Check it out below, on your favorite listening platform, or read the full interview transcript below. And then that’s when I realized, Whoa, there’s this big chunk that people just completely forget about because you know, it’s taken out of your paycheck before you get it. So yeah, I just think, yeah, focusing on that and rather than treating it like a goal, just treating it as…alright I want to master my life and the…how I spend money for that life and what I’m working towards and yeah, always adjust because I’m still learning things about myself and I’m still changing and I’m still changing things up and yeah, you’re never going to be like, all right, now I’m happy. You could sign up to mentor Personal Capital and let them show you what you’re spending in your bank accounts, but I think yeah, just figuring out where you are and then going through that and seeing like, all right, are these expenses like I’m spending a lot on this lease and is like, do I really love this car that much? I couldn’t agree more and that’s something that like looking back on my own journey, I realized I did wrong. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Email In this episode, Brandon -- also known as the Mad Fientist -- shares a decade-plus of accumulated tips for Brandon: 02:12 I didn’t even realize what was happening to be honest. Join Brad Barrett and Community Manager, Jennifer Mah, for a virtual hangout with special guest, Brandon, aka The Mad Fientist!! If I, even if one post helped you and then it’s amazing to see what you’ve created on your own path. But I think you increased the opportunity for peace just to arrive in your life. Come on baby, light my business fire! It didn’t change anything. They seem so, you know, I want to outsource that or I don’t want to think about that. And yes, some of it’s really fun and some of it’s really cool and good and interesting, but it’s like I don’t have to say yes to anything and I have the freedom to pick only the things that I really enjoy doing or the things that I think will help the most people or the things that I think will like improve my life the most. Maybe because I have that option. It was, you know, the isolation of being in the woods of Vermont. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. I appreciat e i t . In this episode, we focus on what life after financial freedom has looked like for Brandon… It’s like we’re taking years off of your working career and you’re not really sacrificing anything to do it. It’s amazing how much money people spend on things that really aren’t important to them, while being stuck in jobs they don’t enjoy, so doing this exercise will allow you to eliminate those unnecessary expenses and will help you eventually buy your freedom. And yeah, that still can happen because I still have an old car and it is having problems. So I started the Mad Fientist in 2012 right when I realized like a in 2011 is when I realized that financial independence was possible when I was like, you know, always always, and I was like, I just want to get there as quickly as possible. Cause that. I’m a host and for what, a few basis points, it’s not so salaries are high. or. So it was like, alright, well what do I do now? And then you’re just like, oh, like this isn’t even fun and it’s probably less healthy than cooking. But for the first few months I really struggled to sleep and that was because there was so much stuff that I was so excited to do that I really didn’t want to go to bed. Brandon is one of the 10 people who reached financial independence before 35 featured in my book Financial Freedom: A Proven Path to All the Money You Will Ever Need and will also be featured in the upcoming Playing with FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) documentary (so stoked to see so many friends on the big screen!). Today we’re joined by a friend of the BiggerPockets podcast network, Brandon “The Mad Fientist”. Brandon: 36:47  It’s being able to do anything that I want and not really answering to anyone else. So yeah. And I’ve been reunited with my podcasting microphone, so hopefully, I’m sounding better than I have over the last few episodes. Let's talk about your next project. But when you’re comparing yourself to somebody, you don’t really know the full scenario. I’m going to have to repeat a book that was already recommended by one of your other guests, Jim Collins (he is the person who actually recommended the book to me). Like I didn’t literally recognize the feeling and I realized it was the first time in my life that I was actually at peace. It wasn’t just frugality and deprivation for spending. You’re just not paying something that most people don’t like paying anyway. We went traveling for three months and during that year we realized like, hey, actually three months of traveling is way too much. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. It’s fun to be on this journey. Perfect multiple. There’s a, you know, it just goes on like there’s so much opportunity and yeah, obviously there are still problems like health care cost are increasing and formal education costs are increasing and things like that. But again, it’s always just an experiment. And that led to a period of probably two years at least of just like really quite dark times. So Brandon is one of the 12 stories featured in Financial Freedom. His writing on tax, spending, and life optimization guided me on my own FI journey and I’m grateful to now call him a friend. Brandon: 08:54 And I don’t have to say yes to all this other stuff that, you know, normal bloggers and normal website owners have to say yes to and in the, yeah, it’s still something that I struggle with because like money has been such a core driver of my entire life that now it’s hard to just like flip a switch and make money and not as important, but it should be, it shouldn’t be as important. And it’s like when you don’t need to make more money doing something just for the sake of making money doesn’t make sense anymore. I’ve got a book coming out, you know, there’s so many opportunities, but at the same time, one of the things I’ve started to feel is oddly a kind of constriction of time in a different way than when I was working in a corporate world. We have so many things are just so easy these days. I agree with that and, but it’s all good. How much time, like, how many hours do you think of research it would take to get the basics to where you’re gonna you know, you’re going to be able to get some savings because this sounds to someone, it’s just new. So yeah, that was the biggest mistake and if I was to do it again, I would recognize the power…use the power and just be constantly working on all three spokes of that wheel that I was talking about. I have this ability to do whatever I want for the rest of my life. Brandon: 44:40 And now I’m working on the exact thing that is important to me. There’s some straight FIRE in this episode. Brandon: 16:35 And here I am in my thirties and I have the opportunity to do that. Then, take the money that you were spending on all the things you decided to give up and invest it or use it to pay off debts every month instead. Its main message is that you are inherently free to do whatever you like with your life. Why are so many people still stuck in that rut? I would definitely say that, um, you know, incomes are very high. I’m going to work towards that. So, so yeah, I think there’s obviously some things you, some choices you can make so that you don’t screw yourself over in the future, but I completely agree that focusing on just improving for today is, is a great way to go about it. But I’m still only like really coming to grips with it now. Today we’re joined by a friend of the BiggerPockets podcast network, Brandon “The Mad Fientist”. And as you said, like people are just asleep and I was asleep and you’re too busy with the normal routine to like think about other things or try things or experiment. And it’s like, well, what do I do with that? At least that’s my, that’s my reflection. And that actually goes back to what we were talking about earlier with trying to maximize your spending and happiness that year that we went crazy, quote unquote crazy, which wasn’t much. Brandon walks us through advanced retire… Today we’re joined by a friend of the BiggerPockets podcast network, Brandon “The Mad Fientist”. Grant: 20:50 Yeah, I agree with you. Create New Account. It’s the government wants you to pay the minimum that you’re required to pay. It was written by the escaped convict himself and follows his story as he lives in the slums of Bombay, joins the Indian mafia, spends time in prison, and eventually goes to war in Afghanistan. How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World by Harry Browne. 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