Speaker 1: Welcome to How to Money. I'm Joel and I'm Matt,
Speaker 1: and today we're discussing creating a personal mission statement with
Speaker 1: money Pro Scott Rickens. Joel money Pro, you would explain
Speaker 1: to our listeners, but this is all about Yeah. So
Speaker 1: this is a new show that we're putting out once
Speaker 1: a week, and we thought it would be really interesting
Speaker 1: to bring together some of the finest personal finance minds
Speaker 1: from around the nation and some of them around the world,
Speaker 1: to to bring onto the show to discuss the topic
Speaker 1: that they're passionate about, that they're an expert on, and
Speaker 1: then you and I were going to kind of unpack
Speaker 1: some of the things that they have to share with
Speaker 1: our audience. I think it's just gonna be a really neat, interesting,
Speaker 1: kind of different way to get a super relevant personal
Speaker 1: finance topic out there for our listeners. But before we
Speaker 1: get to that, Matt, I want to tell you about
Speaker 1: a historical event that I had never known existed until
Speaker 1: just the other day. Yeah, so you dropped this down
Speaker 1: and I have never heard of it either, so I'm
Speaker 1: excited to hear man. Okay, So, there was this thing
Speaker 1: called the London beer Flood of eighteen fourteen, we talked
Speaker 1: about beer on our show. We drink a beer on
Speaker 1: our show, and I just thought, London beer flood, that's
Speaker 1: something I have to tell everyone about. Just I didn't
Speaker 1: know anything about it until recently. And so it happened
Speaker 1: in eighteen fourteen in London, and there was I gathered
Speaker 1: that from the title, right, the London beer flood. And
Speaker 1: so there was a huge vat that had a hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty five thousand imperial gallons of beer ruptured and
Speaker 1: it caused all the other vats of beer in the
Speaker 1: same building to also rupture. Domino effect, right, Yes, so
Speaker 1: there were over three hundred and twenty three thousand imperial
Speaker 1: gallons of beer that gushed into the streets. It was
Speaker 1: a true tidal wave of beer that destroyed homes, crumbled walls,
Speaker 1: and actually killed multiple people. Uh. Yeah, beer should not
Speaker 1: be used for death. Let mean, come on, if that's
Speaker 1: how you're gonna go, though, that's a good point, right,
Speaker 1: that's a good point. If I was going to go,
Speaker 1: I would choose beer flood. But but yeah, sadly people
Speaker 1: were were killed in the flood back in fourteen. But
Speaker 1: just kind of a crazy thing to think about that
Speaker 1: stuff like that happened back then and it was a
Speaker 1: different time and obviously just huge bats of beer just
Speaker 1: randomly rupturing at times, and it's just an interesting story.
Speaker 1: I thought, Yeah, I love that. Man. It sounds like
Speaker 1: it's sort of a made up thing, right, like you
Speaker 1: hear like small town is getting engulfed by whatever it
Speaker 1: is that they that one small town happens to make.
Speaker 1: And uh, but I love that this is a real
Speaker 1: thing that happened. But I want to know, is what
Speaker 1: exactly is an imperial gallon. That's a good question. I
Speaker 1: don't know either. I know that just mean British, like
Speaker 1: it must like a British gallon, but I know that
Speaker 1: an imperial pint is twenty ounces versus an American point,
Speaker 1: which is sixteen ounces. I was shut up. So it
Speaker 1: was actually more than that. I'm imagining that it was
Speaker 1: more than a regular gallon. But I'm sure one of
Speaker 1: our listeners knows, and they'll shoot us an email and
Speaker 1: and tell us that's right, because our listeners pay attention,
Speaker 1: and we've had multiple folks actually message us about this
Speaker 1: program man called every Kid in a Park, which is
Speaker 1: this fantastic program with the National Park Service where every
Speaker 1: fourth grader gets a free pass to go to national
Speaker 1: parks for an entire year, and not just the kid,
Speaker 1: but their entire family. And so this is in response
Speaker 1: to our episode where we did taking advantage of free
Speaker 1: stuff and we talked about getting into national parks, how
Speaker 1: there are certain days in the year where you get
Speaker 1: in for free. But you and I, I I guess we
Speaker 1: just weren't pretty overlooked. Yeah. I didn't know about this. Man,
Speaker 1: I don't have a fourth grader yet, so we didn't know.
Speaker 1: And so a couple of our listeners wrote in and
Speaker 1: they were like, you dummies, how did you Yeah? So, yeah,
Speaker 1: we really appreciate anytime we miss something or there's valuable
Speaker 1: information for the rest of the audience that we didn't
Speaker 1: get to. We'd love to hear your input. We'd love
Speaker 1: for you to reach out to us, because then we
Speaker 1: can let everybody know. So, now, everybody listening, if you
Speaker 1: have a fourth grader, or you have a younger kid
Speaker 1: who's going to be a fourth grader one of these days,
Speaker 1: start making plans, make plans to go visit a bunch
Speaker 1: of national parks that year, because you get in for
Speaker 1: free for all three sixty five calendar days of the
Speaker 1: year while your kids a fourth grader. Ye, man, and
Speaker 1: I got three kids, which means that for three years,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be able to go to all the parks
Speaker 1: for free. And I was joking that in we got
Speaker 1: plans and one other. I don't know. You could tell
Speaker 1: me whether this is cheaper, frugal or not. But what
Speaker 1: if my youngest when she gets to fourth grade, what
Speaker 1: if I just continually hold her back so that we
Speaker 1: can keep going to national parks for free every year.
Speaker 1: Frugal or cheap? Yeah, cheap, I would I would say
Speaker 1: dishonest as well. Okay, all right, I'll avoid that then.
Speaker 1: And there are hundreds of national parks out there. Do
Speaker 1: you have a favorite of all the ones that you've
Speaker 1: been to? All Right? So, if I had to pick
Speaker 1: one national park, favorite one that I've been to, that's
Speaker 1: a tough question because they're all so unique. Yeah, there's
Speaker 1: so many, and I've only been a few. But my
Speaker 1: favorite at this point in my life has to be
Speaker 1: Glacier National Park. Dude, Yeah, Glacier Glaciers very nice. Mine
Speaker 1: is Yosemite even there twice. Now, my question for you
Speaker 1: is when your oldest is in fourth grade and you
Speaker 1: start going to the parks, are you gonna go straight
Speaker 1: to Glacier? Like, are you the kind of guy that
Speaker 1: goes to your favorite and it's all sort of downhill
Speaker 1: from there or do you kind of like to build
Speaker 1: up to it and sort of say the best for last.
Speaker 1: So I do have a problem with when I travel,
Speaker 1: if I've gone somewhere before, I want to go back
Speaker 1: and do the same things that I enjoyed, so so
Speaker 1: that that's definitely like my bent um and I love
Speaker 1: exploring new things, but if I'm anywhere in the vicinity,
Speaker 1: I'm going to choose something that I've done before that
Speaker 1: I if I absolutely loved it, so try to like
Speaker 1: challenge myself to do something else. But I there are
Speaker 1: so many national parks that I haven't been to that
Speaker 1: I don't think I would have any trouble. I mean,
Speaker 1: I want to go to Yellowstone, I want to go
Speaker 1: to Joshua Tree. They are all these racial parts that
Speaker 1: I haven't even visited. So I would definitely like Glacier
Speaker 1: is last on my list for a while. I'd love
Speaker 1: to go back someday, but but it's probably like twentieth
Speaker 1: on the list right right, do let's take a how
Speaker 1: the money trip to uh Joshua Tree, because I've never
Speaker 1: been there either, and that's that places awesome I'm in.
Speaker 1: It's awesome in the pictures, that's all I know. So yeah,
Speaker 1: right right, Well I mentioned that because I I'm kind
Speaker 1: of the slow burn kind of guy, and so so
Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna make my family go to like
Speaker 1: all the smaller, crappier national parks and they're gonna be like,
Speaker 1: why are we here? And I'll say, oh, there's a reason,
Speaker 1: and you know, we got to build up before we
Speaker 1: get to the Pinnacle National Park, at least my favorite.
Speaker 1: So because you can't handle it yet exactly, you're just
Speaker 1: gonna waste our time. It's not gonna nearly mean nearly
Speaker 1: as much to you if you've only been to like
Speaker 1: the best places. Yeah. I don't know what that says
Speaker 1: about me, but that's just sort of how I see things.
Speaker 1: And so I don't know, we might end up going
Speaker 1: to some of the crappier national parks before we get
Speaker 1: to the really nice ones. That being said, there aren't
Speaker 1: that many crappy national parks, man, They're they're all good.
Speaker 1: Have you been Have you been to Alcatraz. I have
Speaker 1: been to Alcatraz, really, yeah, I've never been there. It's
Speaker 1: I think it's technically a national park though, you know.
Speaker 1: And I didn't really want to go to Alcatraz when
Speaker 1: I was in San France, but I'm so glad I did.
Speaker 1: It was fascinating. Sean Connery is the rock. That's all
Speaker 1: I could pick. Go truly the whole time with Sean Connery.
Speaker 1: All right, Matt, onto the beer that we're drinking today,
Speaker 1: Highland Brewing Cold Mountain Winter Warmer. Yeah, technically it says
Speaker 1: legendary spiced Ale. This beer was actually donated to us
Speaker 1: by our friends Clark and Nancy up in Asheville, North Carolina.
Speaker 1: They were kind of enough to, yeah, hook us up
Speaker 1: with one of these over Thanksgiving. Actually, we were up
Speaker 1: there visiting, and you know, Clark was my first introduction
Speaker 1: to sort of real estate. He was getting into real estate.
Speaker 1: They moved into a triplex right when I had finished
Speaker 1: graduating college, and so Clark hired me to do a
Speaker 1: lot of work around his house and getting the place
Speaker 1: fixed up. So I created them with my sort of
Speaker 1: introduction to real estate and specifically house hacking. Oh man,
Speaker 1: it's something else. Too. They do a camping trip over
Speaker 1: the summer, and we need to talk about that because
Speaker 1: they get a bunch of friends together and last year,
Speaker 1: over the fourth of July they got the sweet campsite,
Speaker 1: super cheap vacation. Kids are running around in the woods.
Speaker 1: What do you think? Does that sound a little too
Speaker 1: a little too wild and free? Well, you know how
Speaker 1: I like my all inclusive vacations, Matt, right now, totally kidding, No,
Speaker 1: camping sounds so much better than an all inclusive I'm
Speaker 1: I'm totally I totally be down with a camping trip
Speaker 1: with good friends. Yeah, I mean it. So let's dive
Speaker 1: into this beer. What do you think? Yeah, I just
Speaker 1: took a sip, Matt and cold Mountain Man. It's kind
Speaker 1: of a tradition in Nashville. This beer gets released every
Speaker 1: year and it's one of the quickest sellers. This period.
Speaker 1: Doesn't last on store shelves very long because everyone looks
Speaker 1: forward to it. And that's because it's so interesting and
Speaker 1: it's so the word I'm gonna use distinct nice man.
Speaker 1: My ward will be chewy, and we will share more
Speaker 1: of our thoughts on this beer at the end of
Speaker 1: this episode. All Right, Matt, but let's get onto the
Speaker 1: topic at hand, and we're talking about creating a personal
Speaker 1: mission statement. And this is the first episode of what
Speaker 1: we hope to be a weekly episode featuring a different
Speaker 1: money pro. And most of these people that we're going
Speaker 1: to be featuring are either our friends or kind of
Speaker 1: heroes in the money space, people that we look up
Speaker 1: to and we appreciate their thoughtfulness about money. And Scott Rickens,
Speaker 1: He's gonna be the first money pro that we have
Speaker 1: on and in each of these episodes, we're gonna bring
Speaker 1: them on for five minutes to talk about one subject
Speaker 1: that they're super passionate about, and then you and I
Speaker 1: will kind of break it down, right, we'll give our
Speaker 1: thoughts on kind of what they brought to the table.
Speaker 1: And so I'm really excited. I think this is gonna
Speaker 1: be like just a really fun way to tackle really
Speaker 1: interesting and diverse subjects that that other people are really
Speaker 1: passionate about. And Scott so he is a film producer,
Speaker 1: he's a director, filmmaker, and he's had Emmy nominated stuff.
Speaker 1: He does commercial work with Wired with Taylor Guitars. He's
Speaker 1: all been to that filmmaking stuff, right, which resonates with
Speaker 1: me right as a photographer. But what we're specifically going
Speaker 1: to talk about is his journey with Fire, which is
Speaker 1: financial independence retire early. Yeah, and Scott stumbled onto this
Speaker 1: movement not too long ago, just a few years ago,
Speaker 1: and it completely changed his life. It up ended his
Speaker 1: life and in a good way though, right, And so
Speaker 1: ever since Scott discovered the idea of financial independence, it's
Speaker 1: changed the way he looks at life really, and that
Speaker 1: led him to creating a full length documentary called Playing
Speaker 1: with Fire, as well as a book by the same name,
Speaker 1: and he's about to come out with a podcast as well.
Speaker 1: So Scott has been hard at work ever since kind
Speaker 1: of figuring out that financial independence could change lives. And
Speaker 1: what I love too about what Scott's doing is in
Speaker 1: the movie and in the book, Scott's really just documenting
Speaker 1: exactly how it has changed his family. So there's so
Speaker 1: many people blogging, writing, talking about the tenants of financial independence,
Speaker 1: and Matt right, we talked about some of those right
Speaker 1: year on the show. We try at the same time
Speaker 1: to talk about how it's affecting our lives. And Scott
Speaker 1: his book that you and I both devoured very quickly,
Speaker 1: is amazing because it reads more like a diary. You're
Speaker 1: seeing the emotions, You're seeing the way that the idea
Speaker 1: of financial independence affected his relationship with his wife, his
Speaker 1: young daughter, his family as a whole, and the changes
Speaker 1: that it led them to make, and then the financial
Speaker 1: and lifestyle changes that they decided to make based on
Speaker 1: discovering those tenants. So the book, it's called Playing with Fire.
Speaker 1: It is out now, so you can I mean you
Speaker 1: can buy that right now, which is awesome. It's kind
Speaker 1: of cool that something that a friend of ours wrote
Speaker 1: that you can buy and read. And the documentary that
Speaker 1: you mentioned, it'll be out soon. I don't think there's
Speaker 1: a specific date yet, but you can go to Playing
Speaker 1: with Fire dot c o and you can learn all
Speaker 1: about the documentary there, you can learn all about the book,
Speaker 1: or you can just go straight to Amazon and buy it.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I love what you said about it being
Speaker 1: sort of a diary, right. It's about their personal journey,
Speaker 1: their discovery of fire and financial independence. One of the
Speaker 1: things he said in the book was that he's not
Speaker 1: looking to set a standard or what fires should be,
Speaker 1: but to basically do their part to get people talking
Speaker 1: about money in our everyday lives. And that totally resonated
Speaker 1: with me because obviously that's what we like to do, right, Like,
Speaker 1: big reason that we have this podcast is because we
Speaker 1: like talking about money. We wanted to be part of
Speaker 1: our our daily conversation. It needs to be something that
Speaker 1: is a common topic, not something that you only talk
Speaker 1: about with HR when you're deciding how much you know
Speaker 1: you're gonna set aside towards your four ohn k. It
Speaker 1: needs to be something we talk about with our friends
Speaker 1: and with our families. Yeah, Matt, And when reading his book,
Speaker 1: one of my favorite things it stuck out to me
Speaker 1: just instantly, it leapt off the page was Scott's passion
Speaker 1: when he talked about creating a personal mission statement, and
Speaker 1: that seemed to change his life in a major way,
Speaker 1: actually putting pen to paper and coming up with a
Speaker 1: personal mission statement of his own. And it's been kind
Speaker 1: of a guiding light for him and for his family.
Speaker 1: And and Matt, you and I, based on based on
Speaker 1: Scot's advice, we've created our own personal mission statements that
Speaker 1: will share later in the show too. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1: I'm just excited for Scott to share his his wisdom
Speaker 1: with with our listeners and with us. Yeah, too often
Speaker 1: in life, right, it's like we're just sleepwalking. You know.
Speaker 1: Life is sort of more whatever is happening to us,
Speaker 1: versus proactively taking control and feeling like you have a
Speaker 1: say in the direction of your future. And so Scott's
Speaker 1: here to change that with his approach to creating uh
Speaker 1: that personal mission statement? All right, Matt, So I'm excited
Speaker 1: about this first Money Pro episode with Scott Rickens. We're
Speaker 1: gonna get five minutes with him and then you and
Speaker 1: I will unpack his wisdom right after this break. Okay,
Speaker 1: it's time now to hear from Scott Rickens, and he's
Speaker 1: gonna talk about creating a personal mission statement. Hi, gents,
Speaker 1: Scott Rickens coming at you here from Bend, Oregon, and
Speaker 1: I just cracked a crux fermentation project. Fresh Hop I
Speaker 1: p A. Gets his name Fresh Hops because they pick
Speaker 1: these hops the same day they brew them for maximum freshness.
Speaker 1: It's delicious, all right. Being an entrepreneur, I've drafted many
Speaker 1: mission statements for various companies that I've started or been
Speaker 1: a part of over the years. They're useful to guide
Speaker 1: you and to know where you're heading as a team
Speaker 1: or as a business. But somehow I had never created
Speaker 1: one for myself, so I'd love to share my thoughts
Speaker 1: on the personal mission statement. I was first introduced this
Speaker 1: concept through Get Rich Slowly as jd. Roth. His post
Speaker 1: titled how to write a Personal Mission Statement breaks down
Speaker 1: four steps you can use to get started here. They are,
Speaker 1: what are my lifetime goals? How would I like to
Speaker 1: spend the next five years, how would I live if
Speaker 1: I knew I'd be dead in six months? And my
Speaker 1: most important goals? And we'll review this list in a minute,
Speaker 1: but right now, let's talk about why you would do this.
Speaker 1: It helps defind what you're trying to accomplish and why
Speaker 1: you've chosen this pursuit. And I feel this is incredibly
Speaker 1: helpful if you're on a path to financial freedom, fire,
Speaker 1: or really any path you find yourself on. It gives
Speaker 1: you tools to use in the beginning, middle, and end
Speaker 1: of whatever journey you're embarking on. Knowing your what will
Speaker 1: help see the strengths you possess and by default, the
Speaker 1: weaknesses you'll need to account for. Knowing where your weaknesses
Speaker 1: lie is a strength. Knowing your why helps define where
Speaker 1: you're heading and how to make decisions to stay on course.
Speaker 1: Think of it as a filter for choices, and this
Speaker 1: framework will help you define your goals more clearly. And
Speaker 1: when you're focused and you know your goals, it's easier
Speaker 1: to start, stay on track, and be prepared when an
Speaker 1: opportunity arises. So when I sat down to do the exercise,
Speaker 1: I used a few of j D's suggestions and added
Speaker 1: a few of my own. Here's my recommended approach to
Speaker 1: reaching your personal mission statement. First, what are my top
Speaker 1: five most favorite things to do? Two? What are my
Speaker 1: top traits or qualities that are repeatedly noticed by my
Speaker 1: close circles? Three? How would I like to spend the
Speaker 1: next five years? Four? How would I live if I
Speaker 1: knew I'd be dead in six months? And finally, what
Speaker 1: are my most important goals to achieve in my lifetime?
Speaker 1: And I found it helpful to pull from the answers
Speaker 1: I had generated to formulate the following equation. So it
Speaker 1: starts out with what's your superpower plus who you're creating
Speaker 1: it for plus what's your desired outcome? And that will
Speaker 1: culminate an equal your first draft of your personal mission statement.
Speaker 1: So I thought i'd give you an example of my
Speaker 1: personal mission statement to help you if you end up
Speaker 1: doing this exercise, and I quote, I want to be
Speaker 1: present for those who love me and rely on me.
Speaker 1: I want to live a rich, happy and fulfilled life
Speaker 1: and empower others to do the same. Now j D
Speaker 1: adds a disc alimor in that blog, and I quote,
Speaker 1: your mission statement isn't permanent. As your priorities and tastes change,
Speaker 1: and as new opportunities present themselves, your mission will adopt
Speaker 1: and grow end quote. I plan to revisit this mission
Speaker 1: statement once a year. Taylor and I have a journal
Speaker 1: we write in every year during our anniversary where we
Speaker 1: answer a series of questions about the previous year. We
Speaker 1: hope our daughter will find value in our answers to
Speaker 1: help guide her through the later years. I plan to
Speaker 1: add this personal mission statement exercise to that tradition. Once
Speaker 1: you get comfortable with your mission statement, it's also helpful
Speaker 1: to run a SWAT or Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis.
Speaker 1: What are your greatest strengths, What are your largest weaknesses?
Speaker 1: What opportunities are available to you or are you not
Speaker 1: taking advantage of but should be? What threats currently exist
Speaker 1: to prevent you from reaching your goal? This type of
Speaker 1: clarity will immediately put you in a far better position
Speaker 1: and to set your trajectory in an intentional direction, and
Speaker 1: in my experience, the positive effects are immediate. So I
Speaker 1: highly recommend rocking this exercise to get clear about your
Speaker 1: direction and your future. This will help you be more
Speaker 1: efficient with your time and provides focus on what you
Speaker 1: want and how to get there. All right, thanks for
Speaker 1: letting me ramble. You guys are doing a killer job.
Speaker 1: Keep up the good work, all right, Matt. First thing
Speaker 1: we have to note is way to go Scott for
Speaker 1: knowing your audience, because drinking a beer on this show
Speaker 1: gets you mad. Points. Yeah, that's how we do it.
Speaker 1: And I think he wanted to uh kind of join
Speaker 1: us in spirit. So he fits in nicely here, doesn't he.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get into the nitty gritty. I love
Speaker 1: what Scott said about approaching life like you approach a business,
Speaker 1: because typically businesses, they set out to be successful, and
Speaker 1: anybody who wants to start a successful business comes up
Speaker 1: with a business plan a way of doing things, and
Speaker 1: they're taken seriously because of that. But it's just not
Speaker 1: too often that we do that with our own lives.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we drift. We move away from the things that
Speaker 1: are meaningful to us. We don't apply ourselves towards things
Speaker 1: that actually bring meaning in our lives. And it's not
Speaker 1: because we don't want to. It's not for a lack
Speaker 1: of desire, but it is for a lack of intentionality,
Speaker 1: I think, And I think Scott made that point really nicely.
Speaker 1: I couldn't agree more that aspect about being intentional with
Speaker 1: your life. Me naturally, I tend not to be intentional,
Speaker 1: and so to hear that, like, I know that this
Speaker 1: is something I need to hear. I know that I
Speaker 1: need to be more intentional with my life because a
Speaker 1: lot of times I do sort of float through life.
Speaker 1: I tend to just accept whatever sort of comes next.
Speaker 1: I think it's just my personality. But sometimes I wonder
Speaker 1: too if it has to do with our schooling, like education,
Speaker 1: because like for years, right, like we go through life
Speaker 1: not having to make the next step intentionally. You just
Speaker 1: get to go to the next grade. And the same
Speaker 1: thing even with college. Sometimes like you graduated high school
Speaker 1: and what's the next step. It's like, oh, by default,
Speaker 1: you're gonna go to undergrad and so for you know,
Speaker 1: over twenty years of our life. We're trained and not
Speaker 1: really think about the next steps. That's how I feel,
Speaker 1: at least. The first thing I thought of when you
Speaker 1: said that is kind of the way we watch videos now,
Speaker 1: whether it's YouTube or Netflix. There's auto play, so the
Speaker 1: next video just happens, and you know what, most of
Speaker 1: us don't do anything to stop, and and so you
Speaker 1: go from episode two, episode three, episode four, and by
Speaker 1: the time you're done with it, you realize you just
Speaker 1: spent two and a half hours, and then it's time
Speaker 1: for bad. And I feel like that's the way so
Speaker 1: many of us go through life. We can all probably
Speaker 1: relate to having done that with Netflix at one point,
Speaker 1: or YouTube or whatever and just getting lost in a
Speaker 1: slew of cat videos or breaking bad. And for me,
Speaker 1: it's more breaking bad. But it's gonna be one or
Speaker 1: the other. You know, you can't fallow anywhere else on
Speaker 1: the spectrum and just one or the other. There is
Speaker 1: no way between. But we can all identify that that
Speaker 1: and that is truly how we live life. Sometimes that
Speaker 1: the next thing hits us and we don't know how
Speaker 1: to respond. We don't know what to say no to,
Speaker 1: and we don't know what to say yes to. There's
Speaker 1: just not much intentionality because we don't have a clear
Speaker 1: mission statement about what we want to accomplish. And Matt,
Speaker 1: for I don't know about for you, but but for me,
Speaker 1: just hearing how much this meant is got and then
Speaker 1: setting aside some time to do it myself it meant
Speaker 1: a lot. Thinking about what really matters to me, what
Speaker 1: do I want my life to look like? And creating
Speaker 1: that mission statement for myself was just a meaningful experience. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And so one of the reasons I think is because
Speaker 1: creating a personal mission statement answers the why, and you
Speaker 1: have to have that in order to stay on track
Speaker 1: and be prepared. So there's so much power, right and
Speaker 1: writing things down. When you write things down to become
Speaker 1: more concrete, like you can physically see them. And so
Speaker 1: having a mission statement does all those things. That provides
Speaker 1: clarity and it just kind of gives you more direction. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Knowing dear why kind of helps to inform your what.
Speaker 1: And then when you know what you're going to do,
Speaker 1: you've just kind of created a filter that, like I
Speaker 1: was talking about just a second ago, helps you decide
Speaker 1: whether or not to say yes or no. Two things
Speaker 1: that pop up in your life. And I don't know
Speaker 1: about you, Matt, but I tend to be a people pleaser.
Speaker 1: I tend to say yes to more things than I should.
Speaker 1: And whether that's grabbing drinks with a friend and not
Speaker 1: getting something done that I know I need to do,
Speaker 1: or spending time with somebody else that I know needs me,
Speaker 1: it's just easy for me to say yes and become
Speaker 1: less focused. And a personal mission statement can actually, I
Speaker 1: feel like, help help us to say yes to the
Speaker 1: right things, no to the wrong things, and just live
Speaker 1: a more focused and intentional life altogether. Yeah, I love
Speaker 1: what you said. There is is to say yes to
Speaker 1: the right things. Right. It's not that you're gonna say
Speaker 1: yes less often, but you're just gonna make sure that
Speaker 1: you're saying yes to the things that actually matter. When
Speaker 1: you sit down at the end of the day, you think, Okay,
Speaker 1: should I have actually done that? Was that a waste
Speaker 1: of time? Well, you know, may not have been a
Speaker 1: waste of time, but there may have been other things
Speaker 1: that you know you value more when you give it
Speaker 1: some thought. Like I know there's things that I do
Speaker 1: often where it's not necessarily a bad thing, but there
Speaker 1: are better things, and there are things that I know
Speaker 1: that I should spend my time on instead. But like
Speaker 1: you said, it's easy to get distracted right a stage
Speaker 1: in our life where there's just lots of things pulling
Speaker 1: on us. We have lots of sort of distractions and
Speaker 1: additional responsibilities and things that we could take part in
Speaker 1: that again aren't necessarily bad. But what are we gonna
Speaker 1: say yes to? What are we gonna say no to?
Speaker 1: It sort of automates that decision making process. It's like
Speaker 1: you're creating a miss gene that you have these things
Speaker 1: that happened in life, and you can kind of enter
Speaker 1: into the machine and kind of crank it, and then
Speaker 1: the machine tells you yes or no, wait, like a
Speaker 1: magic eight ball, exactly like a magic feel good. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's actually what my mission statement is based on the
Speaker 1: magic eight ball statements. Good minds of weaves you board
Speaker 1: even better. But this is a machine that you've created, right,
Speaker 1: and that I mean, that's what we're referring to, referring
Speaker 1: to the personal mission statement. And so I love that
Speaker 1: it helps us to create a process and a mechanism
Speaker 1: for decision making to make sure that we stay focused
Speaker 1: on the things that we actually care about. All right, Matt,
Speaker 1: So right off of the break, let's get to exactly
Speaker 1: how to formulate your personal mission statement and guess what
Speaker 1: we're going to share ours as well. All right, Joel,
Speaker 1: Let's go ahead now and run through Scott's five questions.
Speaker 1: And these are there to guide us along in order
Speaker 1: to help us to get started thinking about our own
Speaker 1: personal mission statements. And so let you answer the questions.
Speaker 1: This doesn't, you know, automatically mean that you have a
Speaker 1: mission statement, but hopefully you'll identify a common thread and
Speaker 1: this helps us to prioritize and to sort of actively
Speaker 1: identify what it is that we care about the most,
Speaker 1: sort of distills down to like a few things that
Speaker 1: we know that our priorities for us, And some of
Speaker 1: these questions that we're asking ourselves in this process are
Speaker 1: existential questions. There are questions that cause us to do
Speaker 1: a lot of soul searching. And this could take you hours.
Speaker 1: This could take you a long time to think through
Speaker 1: some of these questions and to really do some soul
Speaker 1: searching to figure out what your priorities are, what you
Speaker 1: derive meaning from in life. These are difficult things to
Speaker 1: wrestle with. So I just want to prepare people for
Speaker 1: that ahead of time. And the first question is the
Speaker 1: one of the simpler ones actually, but it is what
Speaker 1: are my top five favorite things to do? And I
Speaker 1: love that. In the book that Scott wrote, he talked
Speaker 1: about how this exercise doing that with his wife actually
Speaker 1: helped get get them on board with the idea of
Speaker 1: pursuing financial independence much more quickly. It turned out when
Speaker 1: his I did this exercise, none of the things that
Speaker 1: she wrote down had anything to do with with having
Speaker 1: a lot of money, and the same thing was true
Speaker 1: for him, and I think because of this exercise, they
Speaker 1: were both able to say, let's look at the things
Speaker 1: that are meaningful to us, and because of our pursuit
Speaker 1: of a consumeristic lifestyle, we're actually missing out on opportunities
Speaker 1: to partake in these things that we say that we love.
Speaker 1: And that was an inspirational moment for them and it
Speaker 1: was kind of a moment that spurred them on. I
Speaker 1: feel like that conversation, that exercise of writing down their
Speaker 1: five favorite things to do, and I feel like that
Speaker 1: is helpful for any of us because I know that
Speaker 1: when I did this, my favorite things to do are
Speaker 1: also free or cheap, don't cost a lot of money, right, Joe,
Speaker 1: would you put down as uh some of your favorite things?
Speaker 1: Did you put a drinking beer? Well, that definitely made
Speaker 1: the list. I feel like I had to stick that
Speaker 1: on there, just sort of like a token thing. I'm like, well,
Speaker 1: I do like doing that, certainly, but yeah, but I
Speaker 1: think even that usually that's around owned friendship, it's around
Speaker 1: people that I care about, and so yeah, for me, honestly,
Speaker 1: so much of it comes down to relationships. I think
Speaker 1: that's what most of us will likely find doing this exercise,
Speaker 1: that that so much of what we value comes down
Speaker 1: to relationships, and actually our consumeristic tendencies cause us to
Speaker 1: work more to earn more money to perpetuate the cycle.
Speaker 1: And if we could pump the brakes on all of that,
Speaker 1: we would realize that we might actually be able to
Speaker 1: make some different choices and prioritize the things that we
Speaker 1: actually say matter when we do an exercise like this.
Speaker 1: And the next question that Scott mentioned was to ask yourself,
Speaker 1: what are my top traits the best qualities that are
Speaker 1: noticed by my close friends, and those are my circle,
Speaker 1: which is an awesome question to ask yourself because oftentimes
Speaker 1: we can be blind to the different qualities and the
Speaker 1: talents that we possess. Personally, I have a hard time
Speaker 1: assessing myself because maybe I don't know who I am,
Speaker 1: And sometimes personality quizzes and things like that, when you're
Speaker 1: answering for yourself, it could be kind of tricky, It
Speaker 1: can be difficult. Yeah, I have the same problem. I
Speaker 1: have to ask Emily when I'm taking a quiz like that,
Speaker 1: because it is I feel like so much easier to
Speaker 1: see other people that you're close to, and so much
Speaker 1: harder to recognize your own gifts or abilities. And so
Speaker 1: when someone else can call something out in you that
Speaker 1: is there that you might be a little bit self
Speaker 1: conscious of or even ashamed of, I feel like sometimes
Speaker 1: we grow up with things and something that is actually
Speaker 1: an asset or a gift. Maybe at some point we
Speaker 1: were growing up, we were shamed by someone because of it,
Speaker 1: and it's something that we don't recognize in ourselves as
Speaker 1: being a gift. And so when someone else can call
Speaker 1: that out and say that is good about you, it's
Speaker 1: meaningful and it draws us out of ourselves. And so
Speaker 1: I think doing this exercise and involving other people, asking
Speaker 1: a close friend, someone you trust and saying, hey, what
Speaker 1: is it? What are my best attributes? What are my
Speaker 1: best qualities? And how how do you think I can
Speaker 1: best use those? Those are great questions to ask from
Speaker 1: people that you care about. Man, And again, I want
Speaker 1: to mention to the I mean, the whole reason right
Speaker 1: that we're asking these questions is to help give ourselves guidance.
Speaker 1: It's not like by answering every single one of these
Speaker 1: questions that you can then just sort of line all
Speaker 1: these words up and all of a sudden boom, that's
Speaker 1: your mission statement. The idea is to think through what
Speaker 1: your priorities are. And when you know what your priorities are,
Speaker 1: that helps to direct you and how you spend your money,
Speaker 1: how you save and like what are you saving for?
Speaker 1: Like these are all the things that inform the why.
Speaker 1: That's what a personal mission statement is. But sort of
Speaker 1: at a higher level in this episode, we're not only
Speaker 1: talking about money. We're kind of stepping back a little
Speaker 1: bit and talking about like an individual as a whole.
Speaker 1: But do you know, keep these things in mind when
Speaker 1: it comes to personal finances and your money, the things
Speaker 1: that you're pursuing and that will help you to make
Speaker 1: decisions when it comes to what you're spending your money on. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I feel like these these next questions kind of are
Speaker 1: a little more rubber meets the road, like the last
Speaker 1: couple were a little more touchy feely, which I think
Speaker 1: is important to do as well. But the next question
Speaker 1: is how do I want to spend the next five
Speaker 1: years of my life? And that's an important question too,
Speaker 1: because you know, we talked about investing for the long
Speaker 1: term and that's great, but looking at what you can
Speaker 1: accomplish in the next five years can change how you
Speaker 1: allocate your money now and also leads you to prioritize
Speaker 1: investing potentially in yourself as opposed to investing in the
Speaker 1: stock market. That's something we talk about from time to time.
Speaker 1: There's so much emphasis black and white in investing ten
Speaker 1: percent of what you make in the stock market. And
Speaker 1: you and I were all about investing for the long term,
Speaker 1: but there are times too where you want to back
Speaker 1: that off. If over the next five years you want
Speaker 1: to see a small business of your own flourish and
Speaker 1: take off, that might mean saving more right now and
Speaker 1: investing less, and that's okay, But doing this exercise kind
Speaker 1: of helps you formulate a game plan of what you
Speaker 1: want your next five years still, like that's gonna make
Speaker 1: changes not only to how you act but also where
Speaker 1: you put your cash. Yeah, man, for me personally, like
Speaker 1: on this question, like a lot of the common themes
Speaker 1: and sort of terms that rose to the top involved
Speaker 1: my family, you know, my kids, my wife, but also
Speaker 1: there's a lot of words that sort of evolved around,
Speaker 1: like autonomy and flexibility. And it kind of became really
Speaker 1: clear to me that, man, these are things that that
Speaker 1: I value as a business owner. There are things that
Speaker 1: I kind of currently have in some ways. There are
Speaker 1: things I don't have in other ways. Right, Like there's
Speaker 1: certain days that I have to be at certain places
Speaker 1: and it's incredibly strict, But in a lot of ways,
Speaker 1: I have a lot of flexibility. I have a lot
Speaker 1: of autonomy, and that's something that I see rising to
Speaker 1: the top that sort of directs how I want to
Speaker 1: pursue things specifically in the next five years. That's awesome, dude,
Speaker 1: It's such a useful exercise. And then the next question
Speaker 1: that Scott prompts us to ask ourselves is how would
Speaker 1: I live if I knew I'd be dead in six months?
Speaker 1: And I mean, that's kind of a show stopper right there,
Speaker 1: right that question is going to prompt us to do
Speaker 1: I think a few things. The five year question is
Speaker 1: a little bit of a longer view, and six months
Speaker 1: is like, Okay, hey, I really don't have that much
Speaker 1: time left. What are the things that matter the most
Speaker 1: to me? Because I think obviously if we only had
Speaker 1: six months to live, it would radically change the way
Speaker 1: that we handle our finances. I think most of us
Speaker 1: would probably stop contributing to a four O one k
Speaker 1: I a any sort of retirement account like right now,
Speaker 1: I'm not exactly sure if that one's perfectly like applicable
Speaker 1: to the finances, right, but is that yeah, you would
Speaker 1: just probably like light all your money on fire and
Speaker 1: just burn it all and enjoy it. I tell you what,
Speaker 1: I would stop aging craft beers. I would drink them all.
Speaker 1: But what it does do, though, man, is it shines
Speaker 1: a light on the things that are truly important, because
Speaker 1: if you only have six months to live, you don't
Speaker 1: have time, right, and you don't have time to build
Speaker 1: a business exactly like. It really helps you focus on
Speaker 1: people in relationships, I think even more so. Yes, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it puts an emphasis on those things and allows
Speaker 1: you to keep those things in mind, right, Like, don't
Speaker 1: lose sight of these things, because if you only had
Speaker 1: six months left, like, these are the things that really matter.
Speaker 1: So in the process of building these other things that
Speaker 1: that you are trying to pursue in the next six years,
Speaker 1: like the reason that you're doing them is for the
Speaker 1: six month things. Exactly, Matt, Exactly. I think it's easy
Speaker 1: to get caught up in your five year plan and
Speaker 1: forget those really important things that you would focus on
Speaker 1: if you only had six months to live. It kind
Speaker 1: of helps you create a balance of being able to
Speaker 1: prioritize both at the same time. And that's kind of
Speaker 1: what I love about this exercise. It's helping you look
Speaker 1: at both term and short term and incorporating them both.
Speaker 1: So for me, meaningful work is super crucial autonomy, like
Speaker 1: you mentioned, that's really important to me, but also a
Speaker 1: time with my wife and my kids and my parents
Speaker 1: and people that I love, my friends, my community those
Speaker 1: things are all important too. And so while I'm pursuing
Speaker 1: meaningful work, if my family, my kids, my community get
Speaker 1: lost in the shuffle, I feel like at that point
Speaker 1: I've lost sight of the end goal. And I've lost
Speaker 1: sight of that thing that I would spend all my
Speaker 1: time doing if I only had six months left. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I love that. You know, so much of what we
Speaker 1: talk about does involve balance, and it sort of feels
Speaker 1: like this non answer to say that, like, well, it
Speaker 1: all depends, but really this is no different Like you
Speaker 1: have to maintain that balance. You have to have a
Speaker 1: healthy view towards both in order to live a healthy
Speaker 1: life now. And so let's let's move on to his
Speaker 1: last question, which was what are my most important goals
Speaker 1: to achieve in a lifetime. Some of these, dude, might
Speaker 1: actually be easily accomplished within a year, but others might
Speaker 1: take a decade or a lifetime. But you know, thinking
Speaker 1: through those lifetime goals can help you sort of directs, uh,
Speaker 1: and to help you to take the baby steps you
Speaker 1: need to take now to make sure that you are
Speaker 1: headed in the right direction. Yeah. I love this too,
Speaker 1: because when you write those down, some of them might
Speaker 1: be quite a ways away, but you can start taking
Speaker 1: some of those small steps in order to head in
Speaker 1: that direction right now. And if it's a big, audacious
Speaker 1: goal that's hard to achieve in all likelihood, you do
Speaker 1: need to start right now, making small changes in order
Speaker 1: to make sure that you prioritize the path to get there.
Speaker 1: So if your goal has become a mediocre podcaster, you
Speaker 1: might be there already, right, um, But if you want
Speaker 1: to achieve, but if you want to become really good
Speaker 1: at it, it's probably gonna take a lot more work
Speaker 1: and putting in a lot more hours of actually doing it. Right.
Speaker 1: So that's one example. Yeah, Well another example too, and
Speaker 1: this maybe goes back a little bit to the if
Speaker 1: you're dead in six months question. But I'm just realizing
Speaker 1: this now, which is a lot of times that our
Speaker 1: work and the things that we do day to day
Speaker 1: are sort of the means to the end. And in
Speaker 1: a lot of times, the end is our family, the
Speaker 1: relationships that we keep kind of going back to. That's
Speaker 1: what's important. And and when we lose sight of that, right,
Speaker 1: the means becomes the end. Our work and the pursuit
Speaker 1: of money or status that becomes the goal. And we
Speaker 1: don't even realize that we're not enjoying the end that
Speaker 1: we actually sought out to to seek and that we're
Speaker 1: trying to achieve. Alright, Matt, So, in particular because Scott
Speaker 1: is part of the fire movement financial independence, retire early.
Speaker 1: I have a question for you, So, if you had
Speaker 1: five million dollars in the bank right now, would you retire?
Speaker 1: And what would your life look like? Okay, man, So, theoretically,
Speaker 1: based on the things that you know by answering these
Speaker 1: questions that I think I value, I think I would
Speaker 1: be pretty satisfied with focusing on my family, like focusing
Speaker 1: on my wife and my kids and developing those relationships
Speaker 1: and the relationships with my friends in my community. I
Speaker 1: think a part of me would miss work, right, like
Speaker 1: the actual tangible physical nature of work and providing value
Speaker 1: to others around me. But I guess theoretically, what's most
Speaker 1: important in the oldly role that I can play here
Speaker 1: on earth that nobody else can play is a father
Speaker 1: to my children. There's no other father that they could have, right,
Speaker 1: And the same thing to my wife, like I am
Speaker 1: her husband, Like there's nobody else that is that is
Speaker 1: her husband. I don't know, at least theoretically right, Like
Speaker 1: you tell me, like what I quit work if I
Speaker 1: won like five million dollars, I think I'd probably go crazy.
Speaker 1: So you mentioned existential earlier. Yeah, we're getting into some
Speaker 1: pretty big questions unlike we normally do. We don't normally
Speaker 1: do this, no, I know, right, Yeah, this is a
Speaker 1: slight detour, but I like it though. I'll share my
Speaker 1: mission statement first and hit it. I want to live
Speaker 1: a rich life now in the areas that matter most.
Speaker 1: I want to be present for my family and friends,
Speaker 1: prioritizing relationships over things. I also desire to serve others
Speaker 1: and help them find meaning and purpose. That's mine, Nice, dude,
Speaker 1: I love it. That's freaking awesome. All right, So let's
Speaker 1: go with yours, all right, man, here's mine. I want
Speaker 1: to live a brave life full of adventure, creativity, and
Speaker 1: service that prioritizes my family as well as my community
Speaker 1: by using body as much as my mind in order
Speaker 1: to leave a legacy of generosity and love, which you think.
Speaker 1: That's great, dude, I have the word legacy in there. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I feel like, especially having children, a legacy is something
Speaker 1: that you kind of start to think about just a
Speaker 1: little bit more, and you want to leave something not
Speaker 1: just for yourself, like the way you want to live,
Speaker 1: but you want to lose. You want to live in
Speaker 1: a way that other people would be energized to follow.
Speaker 1: And I feel like that actually lends, at the same
Speaker 1: time kind of more gravity to everything that we that
Speaker 1: we do, the choices that we make, because other people
Speaker 1: are looking and watching, and we want those people to
Speaker 1: feel like energized and encouraged to live a rich life
Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, man, thanks, I appreciate that. What's really
Speaker 1: cool about a mission statement too is that it can change.
Speaker 1: Do you and I both spent some time, We spent
Speaker 1: a few hours on these this past week. Did you
Speaker 1: talk with Emily about about yours trying to like help
Speaker 1: shape it a little bit? You know, I didn't on
Speaker 1: this because of the fact that it was a personal
Speaker 1: mission statement, and and although obviously my life involves her
Speaker 1: life to a large extent, and we have talked about,
Speaker 1: like I said, my personal qualities and gifts, and she
Speaker 1: has been so helpful for me, and that I spent
Speaker 1: time really doing this alone, which I felt to be
Speaker 1: really really helpful, And I can't wait to take this
Speaker 1: to her and for us both to kind of say, Okay,
Speaker 1: how does this fit into potentially a greater family mission statement.
Speaker 1: I started to talk to Kate about this and it
Speaker 1: started to evolve more into sort of like a family
Speaker 1: mission statement, like what do we do? Not only me
Speaker 1: and her, but like what as the children? Like what
Speaker 1: do you know? What do the girls do? But yeah,
Speaker 1: our goal with this episode was to, like you personally,
Speaker 1: like how is this going to mark you know, and
Speaker 1: direct your life as an individual? When it comes to
Speaker 1: how does it direct your time? The things that you
Speaker 1: pursue and obviously you know what you spend your money
Speaker 1: on as well. Our priorities change. There's things that maybe
Speaker 1: we don't even think about. That's kind of what's so
Speaker 1: awesome about it is it's this alive, sort of flexible
Speaker 1: thing that gives us direction now. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: it's not so rigid and it's not so set in
Speaker 1: stone that it doesn't allow us to change and evolve
Speaker 1: over time. Yeah. I mean I if it changes week
Speaker 1: to week, then you probably didn't do the exercise very well,
Speaker 1: like right, I would say, But if it changes year
Speaker 1: to year in small bits and pieces or full sentences
Speaker 1: change completely, I think that's okay. So I think it's
Speaker 1: actually probably a really good exercise to go back to
Speaker 1: your mission statement once a year, and that can kind
Speaker 1: of again help reinforce as you make tweaks, as you
Speaker 1: change that the things that you say yes and no
Speaker 1: to the ways that you prioritize spending now versus saving
Speaker 1: for the future, and some of these questions, man, I
Speaker 1: feel like they're really helpful in saying, Okay, do I
Speaker 1: max out my four own K this year because I
Speaker 1: have the ability, or do I say no, I'm going
Speaker 1: to prioritize investing myself and prioritize working a little bit
Speaker 1: less so that I can prioritize some of these family
Speaker 1: and community things that I want to be engaged in.
Speaker 1: And a personal mission statement is so good at helping
Speaker 1: us do that. And I just love how kind of
Speaker 1: how Scott kind of let us in this exercise, and
Speaker 1: we will in the show notes have all these steps
Speaker 1: kind of laid out for you so that you can
Speaker 1: go through them one by one and create your own
Speaker 1: personal mission statement. And we really do think that when
Speaker 1: it comes down to brass tacks, it's gonna help you
Speaker 1: think through your finances, help think through how you allocate
Speaker 1: your money really well too. All right, Joel Man, let's
Speaker 1: get back to this beer. It is currently while we're
Speaker 1: recording this cold is all get out outside here in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: It's freaking January man, it's cold. Yeah, it's extremely cold,
Speaker 1: so it feels very appropriate to have this cold Mountain
Speaker 1: winter warmer style beer. It's delicious. So your word was
Speaker 1: distinct You wanna explain that? Yeah, you know what I
Speaker 1: love is a beer that tastes unlike any other beer
Speaker 1: I've had before, and this beer was really distinct in
Speaker 1: that way. It it really is its own style. It
Speaker 1: has kind of some elements of like a Belgian quad
Speaker 1: with some of those notes going on, like I feel
Speaker 1: it like a fig raisiny kind of thing going on,
Speaker 1: but then some of the spice that they include in
Speaker 1: the beer gives it something completely its own. It's unique
Speaker 1: and it's also lighter in body at the same time.
Speaker 1: So yeah, just a really interesting beer. Highland is kind
Speaker 1: of one of the o g craft brewers. I've been
Speaker 1: drinking their beers for years. Yeah, I was gonna say,
Speaker 1: I remember the Gaelic Ale well like years and years
Speaker 1: and years ago, and this is I feel like one
Speaker 1: of the best ones they make. So really excited to
Speaker 1: be able to have a Cold Mountain this year. It's
Speaker 1: so good. Yeah. Man, So my word was chewy, and
Speaker 1: I completely resonate with you when you mentioned like that
Speaker 1: dried fruit, that nuttiness to it. There's a dried sort
Speaker 1: of figgy fruity flavor to it, and it just has
Speaker 1: this multi backbone to it. Drinks real smooth. For me,
Speaker 1: it was more of sort of that chewy, sort of
Speaker 1: nutty nuttiness with with that dried fruit. Very delicious. Huge
Speaker 1: things to Clark and Nancy for donating this beer to
Speaker 1: the show. All right, Matt, So, instead of a final
Speaker 1: thoughts like we usually do with our topics, I feel
Speaker 1: like this episode it's appropriate, our first money pro episode
Speaker 1: with Scott Rickens. It's really appropriate for us to kind
Speaker 1: of finish this one up with a really with a
Speaker 1: quote from him from his book that I feel like
Speaker 1: ties this whole concept together really well. Will you read
Speaker 1: it for us? Yeah? Man, well, I'll preface it right.
Speaker 1: And so Scott's whole book in a documentary, it's all
Speaker 1: about fire financial independence, and then specifically on our show
Speaker 1: for us, he's talking about mission statement. This right here,
Speaker 1: it brings the two together and it helps us to
Speaker 1: sort of reframe our finances, personal finance and lights of
Speaker 1: a personal mission statement. And so towards the end of
Speaker 1: the book, Scott said that fire is not about saving
Speaker 1: every last penny and trying to reach retirement as soon
Speaker 1: as humanly possible. It's about building a lifestyle that aligns
Speaker 1: with your larger life purpose even while you are still working.
Speaker 1: Retirement isn't the answer to every problem with fire. It's
Speaker 1: just a natural outcome of aligning your values with your choices.
Speaker 1: And I love that, man. I feel like it's it
Speaker 1: sums up what he discovered, which was his new personal
Speaker 1: mission statement. Obviously that had a direct impact on his finances.
Speaker 1: Where they chose to live right because they moved from
Speaker 1: a high cost of living city, and the things that
Speaker 1: they're going to pursue with the rest of their life.
Speaker 1: All right, that's it. You can find some show notes
Speaker 1: up on our website at how to money dot com,
Speaker 1: including some more information where you can find Scott's book
Speaker 1: in that new movie that's coming out soon. If this
Speaker 1: podcast has been helpful to you, Matt and I would
Speaker 1: love to hear from you, and the best way to
Speaker 1: do that is to leave a review on Apple Podcasts
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to podcasts. It helps not only
Speaker 1: Matt and I to get better at what we're doing,
Speaker 1: but it also helps other people that are interested in
Speaker 1: personal finance, find out about this show, and don't forget
Speaker 1: to subscribe while you're there until next time. Best Friends out,
Speaker 1: Best Friends Out,