Fit Rich Life

Rachel Jimenez built an Etsy side hustle into a six-figure business and left her full-time job. Today, freedom looks like going to the gym at 10 a.m., having control over her schedule, and choosing work because she wants to do it. But when you could stop working, what keeps you going? And how do you know when the pursuit of achievement is making your life better—or simply giving you another goal t...

Carl Jensen retired at 43. Learning to enjoy the freedom he'd built took years longer. In this episode of the Fit Rich Life Podcast, I sit down with my friend Carl, creator of 1500 Days to Freedom, for an honest conversation about achieving financial independence — and figuring out what to do with your life once you get there. Carl shares how a stressful software career led him to Google "how to r...

Rachel Richards retired from her corporate career at 27 after building a real estate portfolio that generated enough income to cover her living expenses. Then she built Money Honey Rachel — a successful online business with books, courses, a mastermind, and hundreds of thousands of followers. But when that business was on track to generate approximately $600,000-$700,000 in annual profit, she deci...

Justin Taylor is back for his third appearance on the Fit Rich Life Podcast — this time for the three conversations we ran out of time for in Episode 112. He retired from his W-2 career at 33 and is now two and a half years into early retirement. Justin is a little over four years sober. He and his wife Leslie are child-free by choice. This September marks my twelfth year sober, I'm a little over...

Alan Hong went from being bullied and living with a deep sense of powerlessness to overcorrecting through anger, ambition, external validation, and constant achievement. Today, Alan is the creator of The Codexx and writer of The Sovereign Letter, where he explores state-first identity shifts, nervous system regulation, coherence, and personal sovereignty. In this episode, Alan explains why strateg...

Sathish Gajula started tracking his household net worth at zero in 2017. It took six years to reach $234,000 — and only three more to cross $1 million. He's a senior pharmaceutical engineer, the host of the Compounding Project Podcast, and living proof that compounding applies to a lot more than money. In this episode, Sathish shares the $380 phone call that revealed he was living paycheck to payc...

Justin Taylor reached financial independence around age 30 and retired from his W-2 career at 33 after building wealth through a remarkably repeatable strategy: increasing his income, keeping his annual spending near $24,000, reaching an 80–90% savings rate, and consistently investing in index funds. In this episode, Justin shares how he went from earning roughly $40,000 in the Air Force to $230,0...

Philip "PT Money" Taylor went from carrying roughly $70,000 in debt and working as a corporate CPA to becoming a full-time creator and building FinCon — the leading conference for personal finance creators and brands. In this episode, PT shares how personal finance blogs changed his relationship with money, why documenting his journey helped him stay accountable, and how a simple idea to bring int...

What does life actually look like after you hit your FI number? In this episode of the Fit Rich Life Podcast, Justin sits down with Cody Berman — who reached financial independence at 25 and just released his #1 bestselling book Retired by 30 — for an honest, peer-to-peer conversation about the messy, rewarding first years of early retirement. They took two different roads to the same place (Cody...

In this episode of the Fit Rich Life Podcast, I'm joined for a third time by my friend, mentor, and bestselling author JL Collins, author of The Simple Path to Wealth. When I first discovered JL's work in 2017, it fundamentally changed my financial life. In our previous conversations, we covered FU money, index investing, financial independence, bonds, market downturns, and staying the course. But...

What happens when financial independence gives you the freedom you always wanted—but also forces you to ask deeper questions about identity, purpose, time, health, and happiness? In this episode of the Fit Rich Life Podcast, I sit down with Diania Merriam, founder of the EconoMe Conference , for a powerful conversation about building financial freedom without postponing your life in the process. D...

Cody Berman hit financial independence at 25 and went from zero to FI in just three years. In this episode, Cody returns to the Fit Rich Life Podcast to talk about his new book, Retire by 30 , and the exact mindset, money strategies, side hustles, real estate moves, and lifestyle decisions that helped him build wealth and gain freedom at an unusually young age. We talk about the "American Nightmar...

Naseema McElroy paid off $1M of debt in just over three years. While going through an abusive marriage. While her husband was in jail. While she was a single mom. And she did it without a lucky break — just with focus, a debt snowball, and zero-based budgeting. In this Fit Rich Life Podcast episode, Naseema goes ALL the way in on the stuff most personal finance creators won't touch. She grew up in...

In this episode of the Fit Rich Life Podcast, I sit down with Matthias Kling and Scarlett Chen, the cofounders of Aireo Sports , to talk about how a Stanford materials scientist and a global trade entrepreneur came together to build one of the most innovative paddle companies in pickleball. We dive into the story behind Aireo Sports, how Matthias' background in physics and materials science pairs...

Welcome to the Fit Rich Life podcast, where we talk about fitness, money, and building a life you truly love. In this episode, I'm sharing a rebroadcast of an interview I did on The Compounding Project Podcast with my good friend Sathish. We dive deep into my health and fitness journey, including how I doubled my testosterone levels, how I approach VO2 max training, how I think about longevity and...

In this episode, Justin David Carl and Justin Peters (Host of the FI Minded Podcast) delve into the multifaceted nature of endurance, exploring not just physical stamina but also financial and entrepreneurial resilience.  They discuss the importance of building a community around fitness and how this can enhance motivation and accountability.  Justin Peters shares his personal journey from being a...

In this episode of the Fit Rich Life Podcast, I sit down with Jonathan Aguilera, a former insurance and securities license holder who now exposes the hidden realities behind Indexed Universal Life (IUL) and other permanent life insurance policies. Jonathan explains why many of these policies are aggressively sold with misleading illustrations, how caps, fees, and rising insurance costs can erode c...

In this episode of the Fit Rich Life Podcast, Bryce Leung from Millennial Revolution (and co-author of "Quit Like a Millionaire") returns to break down what 10 years of early retirement actually looks like.  Since hitting $1M at their 2015 FIRE date, Bryce and Kristy have grown their net worth to roughly $2.8M — while earning over $500K post-retirement from their creative endeavors. We dive into t...

In this special 100th episode of the Fit Rich Life Podcast , I'm rebroadcasting my interview from The Personal Finance Podcast with host Andrew Giancola. In this conversation, we cover both my financial independence journey and my fitness transformation — and how the same principles built both. We go deep into how I went from: • $80,000 in debt • 6 years behind on taxes • Living a "look rich" life...

In this episode of the Fit Rich Life Podcast, I sit down with Rusty (an anonymous guest) — a former Big Law attorney who reached financial independence at 36 and completely redesigned his life.  Rusty opens up about the dark period that pushed him to reevaluate everything, from career pressure to the deeper emotional struggles he had been avoiding for years. We talk about how discovering the FIRE...

In this episode of the Fit Rich Life Podcast, I sit down with Tess Waresmith — accredited financial counselor and founder of Wealth with Tess. Tess shares her journey from climbing the corporate ladder to achieving financial independence and building a career centered on education, empowerment, and intentional living. We dive into the realities of personal finance most people never learn — from th...

In this episode of the Fit Rich Life Podcast, I sit down with Andrew Giancola — founder of The Personal Finance Podcast, which gets over 600K downloads a month. He is a strong voice championing financial freedom for everyone. Andrew shares his journey from earning a modest income and struggling to cover basic expenses to building wealth through disciplined saving, intentional spending, and smart i...

In this episode of the Fit Rich Life Podcast, I rebroadcast a conversation I originally recorded on the Mile High FI Podcast, where I share my personal journey into semi-retirement after leaving my high-paying sales career in March 2024. We dive deep into what the first year of semi-retirement really looks like — the unexpected identity crisis, questions around self-worth without a traditional inc...

In this episode of the Fit Rich Life Podcast, I sit down with Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung, the duo behind Millennial Revolution and authors of the international bestseller Quit Like a Millionaire. Kristy and Bryce retired in their early 30s and have spent the last decade proving that financial independence isn't just possible — it's transformational. We dive into their journey from radically diffe...

In this episode of the Fit Rich Life Podcast, I sit down with an anonymous creator known as The Spicy Investor — a woman who quietly built a million-dollar net worth by age 30 while working as an erotic dancer.  Her story is bold, unexpected, and incredibly empowering. We dive into her mission to bring financial education to the sex-worker industry, the discipline behind her wealth-building strate...