My Experience at CampFI
A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate to experience CampFI for the very first time. I remember hearing about it on the ChooseFI podcast and felt instantly hooked. CampFI has taken place in really cool destinations; however, the Rockies had never been home of this event.
Colorado Springs, Colorado hosted CampFI Rocky Mountains 2019 and, in my opinion, it was a great success.
Initially, the event was sold out and I had no choice but to be placed on a waitlist. Within weeks of the event, I received notice of additional spots becoming available so after checking with the wife (Thank you babe 🙂 ) it was game on.
CampFI: Rocky Mountain 2019 took place the weekend of Independence day at an incredible retreat right at the base of the mountains.
The organizers shared the agenda with all the attendees but for some reason, I didn’t get the memo. It wasn’t until I checked in that I realized we were in for a treat. The list of presenters included:
- Paula Pant from affordanything
- Carl Jensen from 1500days
- Mindy Jensen from biggerpockets
- Michael from uncommondream and,
- Anthony Ongaro from breakthetwitch
The presenters delivered information addressing different aspects of personal finance but, to my surprise, money did not have a leading role in their stories.
Paula kicked us off on Saturday and boy what a way to start the day.
Even though I can’t remember the title of the presentation, the story was centered around lessons from her journey to Financial Freedom.
- Simplify everything: optimization.
- Curate: better but fewer.
- Delaying gratification: never do it!.
- Know your target net worth: the millionaire next door equation.
- No short cuts: trivial many vs vital few.
- When you’re not at work, don’t be at work: identity.
- Yes, and…
- Money can make you happy but lack of money can make you unhappy.
- Conversations about money are conversations about values.
- The less you try, the better.
- Work with your nature, don’t be against it.
- Radical self-reliance
- What is stated, happens.
This one in particular hit home for me:
“Conversations about money are conversations about values”
Carl from 1500 days was next.
He retired in his early forties and has since explored the concept of happiness after reaching Financial Independence. His first lesson was … get a dinosaur t-shirt to celebrate achieving FI. The rest included:
- Meaningful work is critical to happiness. Do what you love and do it on your own terms. Work for happiness instead of money.
- Happiness comes from the inside. Work on it no matter where you are in life.
- You can choose happiness by minding your windows and separating stimulus from the response.
- FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) is not a goal, just a side effect of a life well-lived. A well lived-life with a little knowledge (VTSAX) will naturally result in FIRE. Money is just a tool and only the starting point.
- How do you reconcile staying decades at a job while denying yourself all of the amazing adventures the world has to offer?
- Freedom is good and uncertainty is OK. You’ll figure it out.
- We cannot become what we want to be by remaining what we are.
Once again, I need to highlight my favorite one:
“We cannot become what we want to be by remaining what we are”
Mindy unpacked the immense wealth-generating power of the self-directed solo 401(k) and the money-printing capacity of mobile home park investing.
Even though not entirely applicable to my situation (since I’m full time employed), it was interesting to hear the incredible benefits of having a self-directed solo 401(k). The main one being the ability to contribute up to $56,000 in 2019.
Technically I’m not eligible for this type of account; however, I’ll let you in on a little secret. As a full-time employee, I can contribute up to $56,000 in 2019. How? three words … mega backdoor Roth.
Mindy also shared her experience owning a mobile park. On this particular investment, she leverages a SEP IRA.
After having dinner, we headed back to the conference room to relax and to have a few drinks. To our surprise, Mindy, Paul from the what’s up next podcast, and Paula had different plans …
A pop-up podcast asking members of the audience about their Why of FI.
I encourage you to listen to the interview so you can hear everyone’s story including mine. The bonus episode is available following these two links:
On day 2, Michael started the day with a talk about the 7 ways to escape the rat race.
- The status quo strategy.
- The portfolio income strategy.
- The passive income strategy.
- The passion income strategy.
- The windfall strategy.
- The sabbatical strategy.
- The gratitude adjustment strategy.
He also presented a way to calculate your FI score as a function of your annual expenses, the 4% rule and income you may generate from the 7 strategies mentioned above.
Last, was Anthony Ongaro from breakthetwitch.
First, let me help you with one definition courtesy of Anthony.
The Twitch: An unproductive, impulsive response to discomfort
Anthony’s presentation was fascinating and thought-provoking. He started with discussing the inflection point that led him to explore and live a simpler life. This was followed by the pyramid of creativity, habits, and minimalism.
He covered great tips at every level of the pyramid; however, he shared two quotes, one from Annie Dillard and one from Elizabeth Gilbert that stuck with me.
“How we spend our days, is how we spend our lives” – Annie Dillard
“Creativity is a living based on curiosity rather than fear” – Elizabeth Gilbert
Final Thoughts
CampFI was awesome. I hung out with amazing people, engaged in interesting discussions, listened to interesting talks, joined a pop-up podcast and overall had a blast.
On day 2, I remember chatting with Paul Thompson late in the evening and, out of nowhere, he asked about my experience at CampFI. Here’s what I said:
- CampFI is about people. The sense of community I got from attending this event was beyond words.
- I’ve written in the past about my desire to continuously find ways to do more and the stress this has carried. After this retreat, I feel way more relaxed and I know we’re doing ok!.
- The talks were not all about money, they were about life, purpose, happiness, and the value of time!
- Hearing couples share their story made it clear that next time I’m bringing the wife along. After all, we are one team.
If you’re interested in attending a Personal Finance event that’s all about building community then I highly encourage you to consider attending CampFI.
The 2020 schedule is open for registrations. If you happen to choose CampFI Rocky Mountains 2020 my wife and I will see you there!
Until next time … JJ