School’s Out, or These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

I recently went to an FI meetup and, as per usual at these events in my experience, I met some fantastic folks. Smart, thoughtful, focused people. Also, contrarians, who both come up with and execute on great ideas and who are open minded enough to recognize and adopt others’ fantastic ideas. 

Happy day

One attendee (let’s call her Happy) had a really interesting story. Trained in a lucrative field, Happy took a completely different path soon after finishing her studies. That path doesn’t entail a traditional employment relationship. And while, theoretically it might result in Happy making more money than had she made a career in her field of study, that’s unlikely (at least in its current iteration). But Happy is . . . wait for it . . . happy in her current situation, thank you very much. And she’s got tons of flexibility, which I got the sense that Happy very much enjoyed. 

Happy’s also learned from the FI community how to hack major life expenses that the vast majority of people either haven’t learned how to eliminate or (like me) haven’t made the necessary and real (but doable) if significant sacrifices as to. Her yearly expenses consequently are far less than they’d otherwise be. 

The ol’ college try

One of our meetup discussions focused on the merits of a college degree. Someone asked whether a degree is still a real and practical necessity for most white-collar jobs. The group agreed that from what it could tell a degree is generally still a necessity. 

Now, I don’t disparage the worth of a college degree. I mean, I’ve got two. I undeniably benefited as a direct result of them, too. They opened doors and, ultimately, led to significant financial rewards. I also used what I learned in my studies untold numbers of times during the course of my career. 

To be sure, millions of others also have benefitted from their degree(s). I’m also not naive to the fact that a college degree is an explicit or implicit nonnegotiable prerequisite for many jobs. You don’t have a degree? Sorry, you don’t get in the door big fella.

This all notwithstanding, when I heard my fellow attendees agree that a college degree is a necessity, I piped up. I explained that if I were hiring, while I might look fondly on a job applicant with this or that degree, I’ve become far more enamored of the people like Happy. People who’ve happily and—this is key—successfully taken interesting and/or unique alternative paths. I’m especially fascinated by those who’ve learned how to (legally) hack major life expenses. Happy was a perfect example of these type of people. 

Hacked up

This got me thinking about many of the fantastic hacks that I’d never have learned about but for finding the FI community. Here are just a few. Disclaimer: while I’m impressed by them all, that doesn’t mean that I’ve done them all. 

1. House hacking — I knew about this to some extent, even if not as so styled. I mean, you-can-lower-your-expenses-if-you-live-with-a-roommate isn’t exactly a little known and mind-blowing idea. Nor is buying a duplex and renting out one of the units to cover all or much of the mortgage. But house sitting, or AirBnB-ing/VRBO-ing out a room in one’s home, or geoarbitrage? Those are things that I either didn’t know were a thing, or found far less intuitive. And I was impressed. 
2. Travel hacking — Sure, I knew about airline points. But the FIRE community travel hacks on a whole ‘nother level. In a far, far easier and more lucrative way than my flea-addled brain ever could have realized had I not read about the tips and tricks. Once I dipped my toes in these waters, I was hooked. 
3. Roth conversions — Before I discovered FIRE, I hadn’t thought about whether and how I might access funds in retirement accounts penalty-free before reaching age 59.5. Prob’ly because I never imagined that I’d have any need to do so because I’d surely be working until I was at least 75 65 or so. Once I discovered that I might want, need, and be able to access those funds penalty free before age 59.5 and that I could take steps to save baller-levels of dollars in taxes by way of Roth conversions, my brain did a happy dance. A very happy dance.

1. Bank account sign-up bonuses — It took me a few years to start getting into this “hack,” which involves opening a bank account to get a sign-up bonus (usually a few hundred dollars per bonus). It’s not netted me a ton of money. And it requires some tedious work and tracking. But it’s rarely overly burdensome and I’ve earned a few thousand bucks I otherwise wouldn’t have from engaging in this. 
2. Health insurance — The Affordable Care Act is wonderful. Full stop. But I’d never considered getting a plan on it because I’d always had access to (relatively) affordable health insurance from my employer. Then I discovered FIRE and learned of single people who’ve FIREd and couples who’ve both FIREd not only getting good coverage under an ACA plan but getting subsidies to cover the cost such that they pay little, and sometimes nothing in premiums. Mind . . . blown.
3. Tax minimization — Now, I knew many pretty mainstream ways to lower one’s taxable income. But when I read Go Curry Cracker’s Never Pay Taxes Again post, and the first of his highly detailed yearly posts on what he’d paid in taxes each year, my jaw dropped. Truly remarkable stuff. He’s got the smarts to do it on a higher level than my feeble brain can wrap itself around. But I learned some things from these posts, and I hope at some point to execute on that at some point.
4. FIREing — This one’s a little meta, but bear with me Dear Reader. When I meet someone who’s FIREd (wholly or primarily) by way of their own sweat and blood, or plain old smarts, I’m all but always impressed. Usually very impressed. The earlier the person FIREd, the more impressed I am (absent learning that their FIRE plan wasn’t riddled with holes, of course). And talk about a great hack to get back control of one’s time! So long as the plan is well thought out, solid, and realistic, it’s hard to beat this “hack.”  

And in the end . . . 

To a small degree, when I learn of a new hack, I feel pretty stupid for not having already known about it because it’s almost always easy and simple. But then I remember that I’m a pretty simple guy. And if I can hack something successfully, then probably anyone can Hackett.