Portland Financial Independence Meetup

Update 4/12/24
Hit me up if you have ideas, comments, questions, requests.

~ Mike Phillips
@folkefire

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Are you pursuing the radical path of financial independence and early retirement (FIRE)? This is a big tent party - spanning SlowFI to FatFI and all iterations in between. Let's get together to discuss our philosophy of money and LIVING LIFE. Whether you're already financially independent, on your way, or curious about how to get started, we'd love to have you.

Our main rules are

> 1. be nice and encourage genuine conversation,
> 2. don't lecture or take up too much space,
> 3. have empathy and sensitivity for our different stations and/or journey.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES via Mike P

Resource 1 – Explore Shockingly Simple Math
One of the realizations that transformed my own perception of retirement savings was thinking about savings as a percentage of income versus a specific dollar amount. This blog (and thought leader) helps to explain the importance in doing so: https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/…/the-shockingly…/

Resource 2 – Actively Choose Financial Independence
I began to observe and incorporate relevant ideas from the ChooseFi podcast community. The hosts are younger adults that retired in approx. 10 years. I highly recommend listening to at least the first five episodes on the following list: https://www.choosefi.com/essential-listening-guide-2/
Note: The episode with JL Collins is especially interesting to me – he’s my favorite thought leader in the community.

Resource 3 – Learn As Much As Possible
In addition to the links and podcasts provided on this page, I bolstered these themes with popular and relevant books on the subject – for free. I created a free Audible account at audible.com. (You can also download the Libby app from the app store and borrow most of these for free from your local public library.) Check out: The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins, I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi, and The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley. If you’re still having fun with these, try Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin. These books offer the fundamental knowledge I didn’t learn in school (HS, Undergrad, Grad) to reach retirement goals.

Resource 4 - Crunch the Numbers
We're lucky enough to have BigErn as a regular guest presenter and member of our group. Check out his website for a wealth of information diving deep into the number-related nuance of FI.