FI Minded - Financial Independence Without the Extremes

When I was in grade school, my dad and I were up in Detroit for a track meet. We thought it would be fun to cross over into Canada. Although technically, it was the first time I had left the United States, it wasn’t until a week after my college graduation that I took my first real international trip. I did a 4-city stop in Europe and I caught the travel bug. I’ve made a few more trips to Europe,...

Thank you so much for joining us in this special episode. The Struggle is Real podcast hit a significant milestone. You are listening to episode 100. Kyle and I have been considering what we want to do to celebrate this milestone. We’re awarding superlatives to some of our favorite episodes. If you think back to high school these were the senior yearbook categories for things such as biggest flirt...

Have you heard of the term situationship? I’ve been seeing the term across different media outlets but I hadn’t dug into it much until I found Myisha Battle, today’s guest, writing about how they might be the future of dating. At first, situationships seemed to be a terrible idea to me but Myisha has changed my opinion on them. Now I’m thinking, a situationship is exactly what many 20-somethings m...

In episode 96, we talked about the FIRE Movement, a group of people who are focused on early retirement, sometimes decades before the traditional retirement age of 65. They’re doing this by building their passive assets to a level where it provides enough money for their living expenses. I love the idea of no longer needing a paycheck to afford my lifestyle and maybe you do too. This is the 2nd ep...

Over the last decade of my career, I've found there is a subset of skills that can be a multiplier for your career growth. One of those super skills is effective communication. I’ve seen those that possess this skill take off leading projects, presenting at important meetings, and getting promotions. Being an average communicator versus an effective communicator can be really subtle. Sometimes it'...

Aside from corporate holidays and one-week vacations, we are going to have to wait until 65 for a total sense of freedom and choice. But do we? What if retirement was closer than that? Maybe in your 50s, your 40s, even your 30s. This might seem like a pipe dream but there is an entire movement all with this goal in mind. And it’s called FIRE: Financial Independence, Retire Early. In this episode,...

It’s fun to talk about success especially when it comes to entrepreneurship. We are all hoping for this grand journey where we start from the bottom but quickly make it to the top. That happened to my good friend, Chuck Cooper. His first business was wildly successful, until it wasn’t. All of a sudden, he found himself in shame never thinking he would have failed. It all seemed too easy. Luckily,...

You’ve been doing a great job taking part of your paycheck and investing that money every month. You check your balance and you feel like “I’m not making as much progress as I thought I would.” Of course, the stock market performance plays a huge role in your return but that’s out of our control. If you’re properly diversifying, you’re doing what you can and the rest is fairly unpredictable. But y...

I’m turning 30 next month and I’ve been unsure how I’ve felt about that. I’ve had countless conversations with guests that shared with me how silly it was to think they needed to “make something of themselves” by 30. Yet here I am, wondering if I’ve done enough to really make my 20-year-old self proud how I’ve spent the last decade. That 20-year-old Justin had high expectations about where he was...

So you messed up and need to apologize to someone? It was an honest mistake, you feel terrible, and you want to say sorry. How do you do that in a heartfelt, genuine way? A proper apology can quickly repair a relationship and lift a weight off of the givers shoulders but a bad apology…that can be disastrous and lead to even more hurt. Between politicians, CEOs, and celebrities, we have seen our fa...

In today's conversation, I went down this incredible, unplanned rabbit hole with my friend Megan Miller. We both have a mutual love for journaling and I spent the first half of this conversation asking a lot of questions around her specific practice. It really made me realize how much of an impact my simple journaling practice has left on me. I’m hoping this gives you some inspiration on how you c...

Have you felt like you’ve been burning the candle at both ends? Are you trying to do too many things and feeling burnout? Maybe you need a Selfish Sunday. Cara Hays initially introduced me to this concept of Selfish Sundays. It’s pretty simple - she spends Sunday doing things for herself and she doesn’t judge herself for it. She might meal prep, do laundry, or just binge watch a TV show. Whatever...

We all dread it but that day eventually comes. It might be a cough that won’t go away, a potential sprained ankle, or you’re questioning a weird bump on your arm. We have no other option. We have to go see a doctor. How do I book an appointment again? Where’s my insurance card? How much is this going to cost me? Healthcare is confusing, frustrating, and overly complex. I do my best to avoid having...

LeBron James recently broke the NBA’s all-time scoring record. It was an amazing moment to watch and an impressive feat. But reading about this achievement, I uncovered an even more impressive LeBron record. What was the record and what did I learn from it? Tune in to find out. More of The Struggle is Real: Find show notes and more at https://www.tsirpodcast.com/ Follow us on Instagram at https://...

When I started my first “big boy” job, I signed up for our 401K program. HR handed me this packet of papers and essentially said good luck. I remember sitting at my kitchen table that night trying to make sense of fund names, historical yields, and asset allocation charts. Nothing will make you realize school did not prepare you for the real world like that kind of moment. I remember thinking, wow...

You meet someone amazing and you have the best intention to stay in touch with them only to find years have gone by and you totally dropped the ball.   You want to reach out now but it feels awkward and you overthink it. You never reach out and this potential friend, business partner, or employer just drifts out of your life.   Staying connected with your network doesn’t need to be a cha...

Has the sexual chemistry in your relationship turned dull?   Bedroom boredom is a really common issue in relationships so it is nothing to beat yourself up about. We get comfortable in our patterns. The same positions, techniques, and places although great at first, become predictable and eventually boring.   I don’t need to ask a stupid rhetorical question here. I know you don’t want to have a bo...

It might just be my circle but so many of my friends are recently single and I’m hearing the war stories of 1st dates. From coordinating plans, getting catfished, talking to a brick wall, and awkward goodbyes, I gotta say, I’m not jealous.   Being in a long-term monogamous relationship has its struggles, but taking Gaby out on a date is not (usually) an exasperating process.   I think it...

I’m talking to my friend Jenny Foss who is a Job Search Strategist who has been in the game for quite a while helping people navigate job searches, advance their careers, and make career pivots.   We start with how to bridge the gap between the job you have and the job you want. Jenny shares the secrets of what makes a great resume and I’ll give you a spoiler, it is not Times New Roman, on 1-inch...

Where are you at with your 2023 New Year’s resolutions?   Are things going better than ever? Awesome!   But if you’re like the majority of people, your goals might be wavering or even worse, you might have completely abandoned them.   The good news is the year is still young. We have plenty of time to get back on track with our 2023 goals and in this episode, we’ll discuss 3 tips fo...

19 cents. That’s how much in interest that my bank paid me in 2022.   I’m not sure if that makes me want to cry, yell, or laugh but those are none of the feelings that I want to have when it comes to calculating my annual bank interest.   The good news is, I don’t keep a ton of money in my savings account. Simply a couple thousand dollars that acts as an emergency fund.   But that c...

I hope you’ve taken the New Year as an opportunity to set priorities and state your goals. In today’s episode, we will discuss how to create systems in order to accomplish those goals.   My friend, David Ward from RunnersFI.com, is joining me in this conversation. From unhealthy and overweight to completing an ultra-marathon, David knows a thing or two about accomplishing the goals you set fo...

I remember being so furious with my dad because I felt like I was the only 16-year-old in my friend group that paid for their own car insurance.    Looking back now, I really appreciate him making me handle my financial responsibilities early on. Don’t get me wrong I still take advantage of my parents picking up the tab at dinner or paying for the hotel on a family vacation but I pay my own bills...

It was fall of 2019 and I was absolutely lost with my career. 3 months prior, I had just left a longtime employer to try something else.   Here I was in this new job with a fancy title and absolutely hating it. The problem was, I wasn’t sure what to do about it.   Of course, I knew this role wasn’t a long term fit for me, but I wasn’t actually sure what was. I figured staying put was my best optio...

Today’s episode is an exciting conversation with Chris Sparks, a retired professional poker player although I think he uses the term retired fairly loosely. I’ll settle somewhere in the middle and call him a well-paid hobbyist.   Chris has played over 2 million hands of poker across thousands of tournaments including main events tournaments like World Series of Poker, World Poker Tour, and the Eur...