Freedom Before FI | Life Design, Purpose, Sabbaticals, Coast FI & Financial Independence (FIRE)

FIRE SPARK Retreat Teaser: The Retreat will be held in August 2026 on the Gold Coast of Australia. It's a weekend getaway for the FI Community to make new friends, learn from the community and get inspired on their journey to FI. On this special episode I’m joined by the founder Brenda James who will tell us a bit more about the retreat and what to expect (in case anyone is interested to join,...

Meghan quit her high paying corporate tech job and downshifted to Barista FI and now works part time as an actual Barista in a coffee shop. She now has a less stressful job and has time to explore other hobbies like book writing and spending more time with her hubby. Meghan is the host of the awesome Everyday FI Podcast where she explores the lives of everyday people on their financial independenc...

One of the ways you can enjoy your path to FI is by finding work you enjoy. That might involve quitting a career thats not serving you, or making some changes in your current work place. Today, we’ve got Ben Fox on the show to talk to us about career transitions. Ben is a career coach - based in New York - and his coaching niche is primarily helping senior software engineers break free from the go...

We’ve reached the 100 episode milestone at Freedom Before FI! Over the course of two years I’ve been sharing tips and strategies to help you find your version of freedom before getting to Financial Independence and I’ve also interviewed some amazing guests from different areas of the FI community. In this episode I’ll be sharing some of the biggest takeaways that could help you on your journey to...

How do you design a life you don’t want to retire from? Jess is one half of the awesome Fioneers platform which started in 2018 with her husband Corey and their aim is to help answer that exact question. On this episode we discuss the step-by-step framework on how to design your life so you can enjoy it before getting to FI.  They coined the term Slow FI and popularised Coast FI. Since starting th...

If you’re unsure wether to take that extended break from work or to continue working until you get to FI, this episode may be for you. On this episode I’ll be looking at 3 popular barriers or concerns that arise when thinking about taking a sabbatical (or career break or mini-retirement). I’ll also provide my views on how to tackle these barriers if a sabbatical is something you’ve been yearning t...

On this episode we’ll be focusing on two popular milestones, Coast FI (which you reach before you get to FI) and Lean FIRE (which is the earliest of the FIRE milestone and where you’ve actually reached Financial Independence). I’ll be sharing 5 questions you can ask yourself that can help you choose which FIRE milestone to aim for. Related Episodes: Ep. 36 - How to Find Your Purpose - Link Ep. 54...

Choosing which FI milestone to aim for on your journey can be a bit paralysing, especially with so many different milestones and strategies. On this episode we’ll be focusing on two popular milestones, Coast FI (which you reach before you get to FI) and Lean FIRE (which is where you’ve actually reached Financial Independence). Both options lead to early retirement at different times and I discuss...

How can you get to Lean FIRE faster? One of the best ways to do that is to move to a low cost of living area and usually its somewhere warm with a tropical climate. That’s where Geographic Arbitrage (or Geoarbitrage) comes into play. I talk about how Geoarbitrage can speed up your journey to FI, some cities in the world where you can do this and I also share an example of someone who hit Lean FIRE...

I’ve recently been considering targeting Lean FIRE in the future and today I share 3 compelling benefits I’ve pondered on in favour of Lean FIRE, compared to ‘Traditional FIRE’ and ‘Fat FIRE’. The FI community was more towards Lean FIRE in it’s early days, although recently there has been more of a push towards Chubby FIRE and Fat FIRE. There’s no right or wrong mind you, only what’s right for our...

On our journey to FI we may encounter what’s called the ‘boring middle’ or we may have so many things on our endless to-do list we forget to do things that are fun and bring us joy. This little tweak in your calendar can help remedy this issue.  Freedom Before FI Links: Free Guides: Download the free ‘Freedom Ideas’ Cheat Sheet and the free ‘Find Your Purpose’ worksheet at: https://freedombeforefi...

Ato Jay is the awesome founder and host behind the Savvy Wallet platform, which he started back in 2020 where he interviews the brightest minds in business & finance. The podcast has now over 200 episodes and around 50,000 subscribers on YouTube. Along his journey, Ato has built a wealth of personal finance knowledge, in particular saving and investing from a UK standpoint. His goal is to beco...

Don’t know what goals to aim for this year? Today I’m giving you a quick refresher on the ‘333’ goal setting method which is good timing as we kick off the new year. This method will help you pinpoint the actual goals that are relevant to you (in case you’re not sure where to start) and it also helps you create a simple plan that will actually help you execute on your goals. Using the ‘333 method’...

As I turn 40 this month, I reflect on some of the life lessons throughout the years that have helped me on my Financial Independence journey so far. Some of these lessons I wish I knew earlier and I hope they can help you on your journey as well. This episode is Part 2 where I share life lessons 7-12. Freedom Before FI Links: Free Guides: Download the free ‘Freedom Ideas’ Cheat Sheet and the free...

As I turn 40 this month, I reflect on some of the life lessons throughout the years that have helped me on my Financial Independence journey so far. Some of these lessons I wish I knew earlier and I hope they can help you on your journey as well. This episode is Part 1 and I discuss six of the twelve life lessons, Part 2 will showcase the remaining six lessons. Freedom Before FI Links: Free Guides...

I share some of the things I have let go in life that seemed important at the time (and sometimes immovable), to regain some of my freedom back. Freedom can come in all shapes and sizes like location freedom, freedom from stress, financial freedom, freedom from negative stuff, freedom from unhealthy things and so forth. When you let go of things holding you back, this creates more space and freedo...

Nicole and Tylor are the awesome writers behind the Not Your Ordinary Plan blog, they are travel and FIRE movement enthusiasts which is what their blog is all about. They have been on their FI journey for a number of years paying off student loan debt initially then building up their nest egg whilst hitting a number of FI milestones on the way. They recently decided to take advantage of the flexib...

The 4% rule has been one of the pillars of the FIRE community. It represents how much we can safely withdraw from our investment portfolio in retirement and It’s how we’ve calculated our FIRE number (or Nest Egg). It’s a great starting point to get into FIRE. The person who came up with the rule in 1994, Bill Bengan has now updated the rule to 4.7%. This now brings a lot of positives, one of them...

Being semi-retired is a transition period between working full time and being retired. It typically involves working on a part-time basis to cover your expenses. The FIRE milestone Barista FI is considered to be under semi-retirement and it too consists of working part time to help cover a portion of your living costs. The part time job in semi-retirement is usually a slower paced role with less s...

Coast FI and Barista FI are both milestones on the Financial Independence journey. Both have pros and cons and on this episode I discuss some of the differences to think about when choosing which strategy is best for you. I’ll discuss the differences around 4 perspectives consisting of time, financial, work and risk. I also discuss some of the similarities too. Freedom Before FI Links: Free Guides...

Barista FI is a milestone you can use along your Financial Independence journey to free up more time earlier on to do the things that you enjoy in life. This is a strategy you can utilise before reaching full FI, and it gives you time freedom and can help reduce your stress. On todays episode I’ll be giving an example of how you can achieve Barista FI with an average salary. Freedom Before FI Link...

Continuing the money mistakes theme, I share 3 purchases I’ve made in the past that I’ve kinda regretted and hopefully you can learn from them on your journey to FI, or share them with your younger friends or family members so they’re aware of them too. Freedom Before FI Links: Free Guides: Download the free ‘Freedom Ideas’ Cheat Sheet and the free ‘Find Your Purpose’ worksheet at: https://freedom...

I share 3 money mistakes I made when I was in my 20’s, some of which I’m literally still paying for to this day. Hopefully you can learn from them on your journey to FI or share them with your younger friends or family members so they are aware of them too. Freedom Before FI Links: Free Guides: Download the free ‘Freedom Ideas’ Cheat Sheet and the free ‘Find Your Purpose’ worksheet at: https://fre...

One of our main aims on the journey to Financial Independence is finding our life purpose. Today we delve into the wrong way to find purpose and an alternative approach that helps you find it the right way. This episode is inspired by the book The Purpose Code by Jordan Grumet. Freedom Before FI Links: Free Guides: Download the free ‘Freedom Ideas’ Cheat Sheet and the free ‘Find Your Purpose’ work...

We dive into case study stories from amazing early retirees and highlight some of the the key lessons they have learnt in their first few years of early retirement. As this show focuses on enjoying our journey to Financial Independence it's useful for us to be aware of any pitfalls or downsides to FI so we can plan around them in advance. Case studies on this episode: Youtuber Jean Voronkova A...