BiggerPockets Money Podcast - Leaving His Job at 36 to Give Back, NOT Get Rich During FI

Episode Date: May 27, 2025

For many of us, FI (financial independence) isn’t just about having the biggest bank account. Growing wealth is one thing, but getting rich isn’t the goal. Freedom, time with loved ones, and giving back to your community are. So, when he reached the millionaire mark and achieved Coast FI, Ryan Brennan knew it was time to leave his new director role and focus on something that fueled his FIRE in a non-financial way. But, how did he get to a seven-figure net worth in his mid-30s anyway? A few very savvy (and repeatable) money moves catapulted Ryan’s net worth, allowing him to reach a level of financial freedom three decades before traditional retirement age. Through smart investing, unconventional living, and using his money to multiply his investments, Ryan secured the financial runway to enjoy a long sabbatical, doing what he truly loves—service work. After multiple volunteering trips, Ryan started the FI Service Corps, a group for those on their way to (or at) FI to give back to the community and help others in less fortunate positions. Ryan and his FI Service friends have helped build houses for qualifying low-income families, laid floors, and painted for Habitat for Humanity, and done it all while staying on track for early retirement. Want to give back, too? Join Ryan on a FI Service Corps volunteer trip!  In This Episode We Cover Repeatable money moves Ryan made to reach Coast FI by 36  Why financial independence is so much more than just growing your net worth (it’s about giving back!) How to know you’re ready to take a sabbatical or quit your job  The live-in flip house hack strategy that will supercharge your FIRE progress  Why Slow FI may be even better than retiring as early as possible  How to join Ryan and other FI friends on a trip to help those in need And So Much More! Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BiggerPockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/money-644 Interested in learning more about today’s sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's guest at just age 36 did what most of us dream about, walked away from a secure W-2 job to take what was supposed to be just a one-year sabbatical. That temporary break transformed into extended travel around the world. When it came time to dust off his resume, he decided he didn't want to go back to traditional employment, so he didn't. What did he do instead? That's what we're going to talk about in this episode. Welcome to the Bigger Pockets Money podcast.

My name is Mindy Jensen. and with me, as always, is my back from his daddy sabbatical co-host, Scott Trench. Thanks, Mindy. It's great to leave my parental duties, a little time at least, and come back to Bigger Pockets, money. Bigger Pockets has a goal of creating one million millionaires. You're in the right place if you want to get your financial house in order because we truly believe financial freedom is attainable for everyone, no matter when or where you're starting. But you actually have to have the mental chops to leave your work and give up. What I imagine is a peak income at that point in time to go and realize two.

Tuesday afternoon at the park. So today we are super excited to be joined by Ryan Brennan, founder of the FI Service Corps. We will absolutely get more into that organization in our conversation, but we're excited to start with his money story and how he's able to leave his W-2 job at the age of 36. Ryan, thank you so much for being here. Thanks, Scott. Thanks, Mindy. So great to be here with you guys. Well, Ryan, I want to kick this off before hearing about your money story. I want to hear about your Tuesday. What did you do yesterday? Yesterday, I went to an orange theory, class at 10 a.m. That's something that I've really enjoyed during this time off from work is incorporating exercise during normal hours and not doing it like six in the morning or 9 p.m. at

night. I think, you know, having it at manageable times makes it a very sustainable habit. So yesterday I did Orange Theory at 10 a.m. and then I wrote up, you know, a few emails, you know, in regards to FI service core. So that's kind of been my afternoon focus. I'll go to a coffee shop and spend some time, you know, emailing the mailing list or making contact with potential volunteer partners. And also I spend a lot of time walking my dog. I have a dog and a cat. So when I'm home, I play with the cat and take the dog on lots of walks all around my neighborhood. So yesterday was a pretty standard Tuesday, I would say. I find a high percentage of people who become set for life begin to sweat for life in their off time.

And the extra time they have. So here you go. Yeah. So waiting like five minutes to insert that lame one there. Ryan, let's go back and hear your story about how you became FI and built the situation. Can you tell us where your money story begins? Sure. So I'm kind of hesitant to say that I became FI.

I have, you know, built up a financial runway to comfortably step away from my W-2 job about a year and a half ago in September 2023 when I was 36. My plan at that time was to take a year off and then resume full-time work with another organization. But, you know, I'm kind of stretching it out and trying my hand at different projects before, you know, I really feel the need to go back to work. But as far as where things began, it began in real estate for me. I have always been the HGTV junkie. And I've watched those shows like Flip This House and Fixer Up, and, you know, throughout college, I basically wanted to find a job, get a paycheck so I could use it to get a mortgage and buy a house and work on, you know, sweat equity projects. and that's pretty much where the thinking ended as far as real estate.

And I purchased my first place in 2012 when I was 25, and I used all my savings to make the down payment and closing costs. And as I accumulated my paychecks, I tried to rebuild my savings and then put that towards improvements of the house. And it wasn't until I was there for about, about two and a half years, I moved on and rented that house and saw that you could rent your property for a profit. And that was my first taste of passive income around 2014. And yeah, since then, I got hooked. I'd never really been on board with the nine to five till 65 mindset.

And I thought I was kind of unique in that thinking. But then I discovered the FI movement and realize that there's a ton of you guys out there that, you know, have that same, that same mindset, the same philosophy. So since 2014, I've, you know, in parallel, I've invested in real estate and then worked my W-2 job, which is accounting focused. And in the last 10 years, I've flipped three houses. I've acquired another rental. And right now, I live in a four-unit multifamily with my wife. my dog and my cat, and we live in the apartment on the third floor and rent the three units below. So that basically covers our mortgage. So our only living expense is really the insurance and utilities and maintenance that come with the property. So we're definitely not fie. But I'm not one of those

people that, you know, thinks too far ahead. I'm kind of, you know, day by day. And yeah, that's basically a quick rundown in my story. I've got lots of questions. Does your wife work? She's about to start work in August. For the last three years, she's been a student doing a nurse practitioner program. So she's, yeah, she's kind of going into her second act, if you will, in August. She used to be a social worker.

And then she got into this nurse practitioner program. And she just graduated. So, yeah, she's got her summer office. and then she's going to start working. Wi-Fi. Wife-fi. Yes, exactly. You will be wife-fi. How many units do you own and what percentage of your monthly expenses does the rent cover? So in terms of doors, I have six doors, and that is spread across three properties, two single-family

and one multifamily that has four units. One of those units is my primary residence. So it's kind of hard to figure out what percentage covers my living expense because my expenses fluctuate a lot. Like I kind of commingle my renovations and I'm an accountant. I can sort it out in my spreadsheets. I was going to say, didn't you say you were an accountant? Separation. When did you buy these three properties again? What was the timeline for them?

So my first property, I bought in 2000. And I've been holding on to that ever since. Did you ever refinance it? No, but I took out a home equity line of credit in 2018. And I've used that for, you know, renovation projects for the live-in flips that I've done since done. Got it. And then wouldn't you buy the second property? The second property was a flip that I lived in. I've got all the numbers and dates. I was ready for you guys. So I bought my first live-in flip in April of 2015.

I bought it for $255,000, and I put about $75,000 into it over the two and a half years that I lived there. And then sold it in November 2017 for $415,000. So that was about an $85,000 profit. What was your annual income that year? At that time, I was making about 70,000 at my W-2 job. But the cool thing about that property, you know, during 2015 to 2017, I basically lived completely free because this was a three-bedroom townhouse. And I rented the other two rooms, two friends. And then it also had a full basement that I finished and turned into a separate apartment.

So there was, you know, a chunk of time there where I had, you know, virtually no living expense and was able to really build up savings. I want to highlight this house and this purchase as a, what I think is a major turning point in your journey and something that people really need to digest here because you made $85,000. After tax, we're looking at maybe $70,000 in take home pay on this. And you're making much more than that in a two-year period tax-free from the living flip, and you're having your housing subsidized.

So you compare the household, were you with your significant other during this period? Or were you single? I was with a significant other at the time. A household that makes $85,000, right? Or maybe you double that if there's two income earners there. It's really hard to accumulate meaningful wealth on that without doing some version of what you did there. Because it essentially doubles your annual income and keeps those expenses low without generating any tax impact for it. you and there are any taxable income that you have to pay you have to pay based on. And so I just

find it really hard for someone to accelerate to jumpstart that journey to financial independence without starting a business or hitting it really rich and really maybe getting lucky, frankly, with some sort of super duper side hustle. This is so repeatable and so few people will do it. And you only have to do it like a couple of times to reap that freedom benefit forever, basically. And I love the fact that right now you're sitting pretty in one unit out of four in a quadplex probably makes the math so easy for the rest of your expenses that it's kind of silly on there. If that covers your housing expenses, then like maybe you need a few thousand bucks extra on top of that and you're set. How am I doing? Is that, is it my articulating this as

the cheat code for you? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, at the time when I was going through it, I didn't really, you know, think that much into it, but it makes total sense. And yeah, I've, followed like the live in flip philosophy. I've been, you know, very aware of like the, the two-year tax-free sale. You know, if you're, if you live in a home for at least two years as your primary residence when you sell all the profit up to 250,000 if you're single, 500, if you're married, is totally tax-free. So once I had a success with that with my live-in flip slash house hack, I repeated that a couple times. And yeah, it was basically, I did move. a lot. I have moved, you know, probably nine times in the last 12 years, just, you know, doing the

living flips or, yeah, I followed the Mindy and Carl Path. I know you're on your 20-something house. I've done the same thing, right? It's just terrible. You're moving everything. It's just an awful day or two, plus a couple of weeks to unpack and maybe, maybe a couple months, if we're being really honest, to unpack everything on it. And nine is a lot. I didn't do nine. I mean, I probably did seven in the 10-year period from 23 to 33 in there. And it's just, it's just rough. Like, that is a real cost to this. And the benefit, of course, is at 36, you're hanging out at Orange Theory at 10 a.m. on Tuesday. Yeah, it can be a lot. And especially, you know, when you have pets, when you have a significant other, you know, I'm sure you guys are familiar with this. I mean, there was times where I was

kind of camping in my own house, you know, when the kitchen was being remodeled, I was just using my microwave and coffee maker, you know, for my meal prep. And, um, but yeah, it's really, it's paid off. And it's, you know, I'm looking back, it's, you know, I have fond memories. It was fun. Um, you know, the moving is exhausting. But when you know that all that work is in support of this greater goal, it makes it like that much more motivating. Yeah, cashing those $100,000 checks that you're paying $0 in tax on makes it all a distant memory real quick. Exactly. After a short break, we'll hear how Ryan built a repeatable $1 million portfolio that allowed him to leave his W-2 job at just age 36. Tax season is one of the only times all year when most people actually look at their full financial picture, including income, spending, savings, investments, the whole thing.

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I started listening years ago to make better use of drive time and workouts, and it stuck. At this point, I've logged over 229 audiobook completions on Audible alone, and I still regularly re-listen to the highest impact titles. Lately, I've been listening to Bigger, Leener Stronger for Fitness, the Anxious Generation for Parenting Perspective, and several Arthur Brooks' audiobooks that have been excellent for mental well-being. What makes Audible so powerful is its breadth. Beyond audiobooks, you also get Audible Originals,

podcasts, and a massive back catalog across business, health, parenting, and more, all accessible in one app. If you're looking to turn everyday moments into real progress, Audible has been indispensable for me over over 10 years. kickstart your well-being journey with your first audiobook free when you sign up for a free 30-day trial at audible.com slash BP money. Welcome back to the show. One other point I would like to call out here is these three properties.

I imagine because you never refinanced them, you took a HELOC out to buy a live-in flip, which I think is a great use of leverage, and that is the right tool, in my opinion, short-term variable interest rate debt, or at the lowest possible rate for a short-term, term, two-ish year investment is awesome. So those, it's just wonderful strategy that you're building up to here. But one of the observations I'd have is a lot of people who bought real estate and kept going and going and buying more and more leading up to 2019, I think feel stuck. Like some of those properties, you know, the expenses maybe grew a little faster in the rents on there. And even though they're stuck with the low, they have a low interest rate mortgage, they're stuck with that

low interest rate mortgage. They're not really producing that cash flow. But what I sense here is I hear one of the properties is paid off, and it sounds like you did not refinance or cash out refinanced to increase the loan balance under these properties. And that's allowed the last decade of rent growth to far outstrip those mortgage payments and really make the last few years noise. That's a hypothesis, though. Is that correct? Am I observing that right? Well, none of my properties are paid off that I am currently holding on to. They do all have mortgages. And you're right, I have not refinanced any of them. All the rates are different. Like, for example, example, the four-unit multifamily, I bought that in the summer of 2023. So that is a, you know,

6.75, you know, mortgage rate right now. The property that I bought in 2012 is 4%. And another rental property that I bought in 2018 is at around 5%. So I'm just kind of letting it ride. And as the rent comes in, you know, it covers the mortgage and, you know, just chipping away at that mortgage balance and, you know, increasing my equity, you know, that's my strategy. And I keep a running spreadsheet to, you know, make sure that I'm getting the proper return on equity, you know, like the equity that I'm sacrificing by holding on to these houses as a percentage of the annual rent that comes in. Just to make sure that that still makes sense. And nothing's like, you know, too crazy where it makes, where it's totally feasible to sell the house versus collect, like,

$6,000 a year. So that's all stuff that I try to stay aware of and yeah, just kind of make decisions as I go. Can we get the highest level numbers? Like what is the net cash flow from these properties? And maybe we can consider your, for this exercise, your house hack, you're a tenant paying full rent in your own house hack. How does that portfolio perform? My property in Washington, D.C., that I, my very first place, cash flow is about $500 a month. And I have a single family home. in like eastern shore of Maryland, like Salisbury, Maryland. That also cash flows about $500 a month. And my multifamily, the rent that it currently brings in is about $5,800. If I didn't live here and rented it out, you know, any rent for the unit that I'm in, I guess, would be profit over the

mortgage because the mortgage payment is about $5,800. So, you know, conservatively speaking, I guess I would say that I could rent my unit out for like 2,400. So, you know, hypothetically, the rental cash flow could be around, you know, $3,400 per month. Fantastic. And where is this property located? It's in New Haven, Connecticut. The nurse practitioner program that my wife just graduated was at Yale University.

So that's what brought us from Washington, D.C. to New Haven about three years ago. I didn't know you could cash flow in Connecticut. And purchase in 2023 with the 6% mortgage. That's like the house hack is such a cheat code with all this stuff. Like even in really adverse conditions where it's really hard to find that stuff, the ability to move in, self-manage, do all that kind of stuff. It's just so powerful on that front in terms of free and folks up. It's almost, it would take a really crazy set of circumstances for, you know,

something else to be better than that, like a free housing arrangement to some degree a really luxury situation, like for it to be better than the alternative of renting or buying a regular home, at least from a financial perspective. Yeah, definitely. And I do lean on a lot of my past experience being a live-in landlord because, you know, there's a lot of, you know, advertising when units become vacant, writing up the leases, doing the renewals, and then also managing all the maintenance and repairs and, like, just general operations of the building. So, you know, I can understand how other people might be hesitant to dive into a situation like that. You know, luckily for me, it was after, you know, 10 plus years of, you know, real estate investing experience.

So it definitely comes with challenges. Last Christmas Eve, a tenant called me because the water heater in the basement rusted out at the bottom and the basement flooded. And I wasn't, and I wasn't home. I wasn't here for Christmas Eve. I was with my family. So my Christmas Eve, I spent on the phone with the plumbers trying to find somebody to come out, you know, in an emergency. So it definitely comes with challenges, but, you know, you're right, Scott. Like, overall, it is, it is such a cheat code. It's such a hack because, you know, we're in our upper 30s and we're, you know, basically living completely mortgage-free because of having tenants that live right below us. I want to call out an observation there, though. So you're right. Like, as a landlord, you got to deal

with some of those problems that happen on Christmas Eve. But your tenant also had to deal with that problem. And if you're a homeowner, you would also have a certain probability of dealing with a problem like that at that same time. Obviously, a large number of units compounds that the risk of something happening for that. But it's not like these go to zero with the alternatives on these fronts. And we've all had to deal with the very unfortunate timing of problems at rental properties. When it rains, it pours, bad things come in force, whatever.

whoever your favorite. We've got three properties so far that we're talking about the place in D.C., the place in Maryland and the place in Connecticut. Are those the three properties that you currently own? Correct. And what about your stock market and other types of investments? Do you have anything outside of real estate? I do.

Yeah, through these live-in flips and getting these windfalls of cash, you know, I've, I've, used it to build up a brokerage account. So, you know, my net worth is just over a million, I would say. It's made up of $250,000 in a 401k, $75,000 in a Roth IRA, about $120,000 in a taxable brokerage. And I'm a part of two syndications. One of them is actually through bigger pockets, the Brandon Turner Fund. And that's about a lot of it. $150,000 and then equity on my two rental properties, that's about $385,000. So that's about a mil-but-but-but-if-I-counter equity in my current primary residence, which I think I would because it's, it is like an investment, that would add another $300,000.

So, you know, I would say net worth-wise, I'm at 1.2, 1.3. The question of whether to include home equity in a financial portfolio is an age-old question. People never get tired of debating it. So we'll cover it another hundred times here on Bigger Pockets Money because it's fun. But I think personally in your case, I would absolutely include it in the financial portfolio because it's a house hack. Right. I mean, at any point you can leave this place and rent it out for full market rent and have a cash flowing asset. It was clearly bought with that intention and that analysis behind it, and you're clearly sacrificing

for that option. So this is a part of your financial portfolio, and you're foregoing a permanent home or that option of the luxury of having your own yard, for example, a specific yard dedicated to you in order to have that. So I've always counted the house hack stuff because the intent was always to either sell them if the better opportunity came along to deploy the equity or to hold them as a long-term part of the financial portfolio. my house that I live in now is certainly is you know I'll understand the value and add it to one

calculation my net worth but I don't consider it a part of my financial portfolio it's a liability that I have to I have to fund now with my portfolio much of which was built the house hacking like you yeah I agree I think in my situation it does make sense to you know include it in the net worth because of the you know kind of the investment philosophy behind this house but I'm kind I'm always kind of careful to say that because I'm also aware of that debate, you know, about including the equity in your primary residence in your net worth and, you know, whether to do that or not. But yeah, I'm in total agreement. We have to take one final ad break, but we'll be back with more right after this.

Tax season is one of the only times all year when most people actually look at their full financial picture, including income, spending, savings, investments, the whole thing. And if you're like most folks, it can be a little eye-opening. That's why I like Monarch. It helps you see exactly where your money is going, and more importantly, where your taxed refund can make the biggest impact. Because the goal isn't just to look backward, it's to actually make progress. Simplify your finances with Monarch. Monarch is the all-in-one personal finance tool designed to make your life easier.

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So I had lived in Washington, D.C. for the majority of my working career. And, you know, I had a network of friends and a lot of, you know, established relationships in that area. And then my wife got into this nurse practitioner program at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut. So we uprooted ourselves and moved from Washington, D.C. to New Haven in the summer of 2022. And my job went fully remote when I did that. So prior to that, I had this hybrid arrangement where I could work from home and go into the office, you know, kind of whenever I wanted. And I didn't realize at the time, but I think that's, that was the perfect arrangement to kind of have that human interaction with your coworkers, but then also be able to have the days that you were. work at home. So when I moved away, I lost that. I, you know, worked 100% remote for an organization

that is not based in my area with coworkers that were not around me. And I was a new person in a new city. So I didn't, you know, didn't move here knowing anybody. And I couldn't, I felt like I couldn't get out and interact with my community because I was stuck in my house behind screens all day. And I had gotten promoted from accounting manager to director of finance. And that came with all kinds of stress and time commitments. And I thought that was the path I wanted to go down. You know, there was a salary increased in bed and a title, you know, title bump. But in actuality, it just ended up stressing me out and making me feel just more and more detached from this new community that I had moved to.

So luckily, I had the financial runway. you know, in my brokerage from these house flips and felt that felt comfortable enough to step away. So I left that job. And maybe just to keep myself sane, I told myself, this was just me for one year and see how it goes because, you know, it can be a kind of, kind of a radical thing to just completely pull the plug on your W-2 job when you're 36. So yeah, that was kind of what led up to the decision to walk away. And now that it's been over a year and a half since, I have yet no regrets at all. I'm very happy with that choice. Did you quit completely or did you plan a one year off sabbatical? I planned a one year off sabbatical because I had a tentative arrangement

with another organization to work for them. It was kind of a verbal handshake agreement that ended up falling through. And I can tell you guys the details that there's like a mentor, colleague of mine that worked for another organization in D.C. She was the CFO and she was retiring at the end of 2024. And like a year prior to that, she had called me and said, hey, Ryan, like, I would love for you to, you know, take over this role when I leave. I think you're a great fit for it. And I decided that, you know, I don't want to, like, Like that would be a great fit for me. It's a nonprofit that has a four-day work week, very manageable schedule,

a CFO job, which is what I've been working towards. And I decided that I don't want to just wait for her to retire. I want to just go ahead and quit my job now. And then that will be there waiting for me, you know, towards the end of 2024. So that also gave me the peace of mind to walk away, knowing that something was arranged. However, it totally fell apart. I went through the interview process with this organization and did a few rounds, and it went really well. I met the president and the board, and they got to the point they were asking me, like, Ryan, what do you need to know from us in order of you to decide to work here?

And it was August, 2024, this job was supposed to start in October 2024. they called me and said, we're going to go in a different direction with another candidate. Like the treasurer of the board referred a colleague of his who has many years of CFO experience. And, you know, like they're a better fit for the role. Sorry. And yeah. So the year off was planned, but it, you know, it changed. But I've been adapting.

When in this one-year process did you learn that the job wasn't available? So I left my previous job in September of 2023, and I learned in August of 2024 that it wasn't going to happen. Okay. Was your wife in school when you decided to take the sabbatical? She was. She was. And that was the other really beneficial aspect of taking a sabbatical while she, you know, was a student because, you know, she went from, both of us had nine to fives prior to her schooling. And then she became a student. And all of a sudden, her summer is now free. And she has this month-long winter break. And she has two weeks off in March for spring break. So by me leaving my job, we were able to do a lot of extended travel together. And last summer, summer 2024,

we got married and we did a six-week honeymoon following our wedding. So we traveled, we traveled all through Europe for six weeks, hopped around a bunch of different countries, and it was actually on our honeymoon where I got that call that the job was, you know, the job had fallen through. Wow, thanks. Yeah. So what was your plan for funding that sabbatical because your wife wasn't working and you were purposely taking time off? How, did you fund that life? I mentioned that right now, the balance in my taxable brokerage account is $120,000. At the time that I left my job a year and a half ago, it was about $280,000. So my funding of this sabbatical was literally just drawing from my brokerage account to pay for my lifestyle.

And that is a lot of money, but my lifestyle is not that expensive. But during that time, I paid for a wedding. I paid for the honeymoon. And also I put about $60,000 to $70,000 of renovations into this multifamily that I bought. So all that came out of my brokerage. And then, you know, the rest has been funding my life. What made you want to start the FI service core? So volunteer work has always been something that I've done kind of, you know, in parallel with my FI journey. I've done a handful of construction trips where I'll travel to an area and spend a week working with a local nonprofit to rebuild homes or do new builds, primarily in New Orleans, because there was so much devastation after Hurricane Katrina, like 20 years ago. They're still recovering. So that's been a, you know,

a part of my life for a while. And when I took this sabbatical in 23, I started to attend more FI in-person events. Prior to that, I've always been like an outsider looking in. I've like, you know, been listening to the podcast and reading the books and articles, but never actually like an in-person participant until then. So when I went to these FI events, I started to gauge that the FI community really values in-person interaction and like interpersonal connection. Like there's this to kind of get off the forums and get together in person. And then also I noticed that there was a lot of sessions and speakers at Camp Phi or the Phi Freedom Retreat focused on philanthropy and giving back and how we can do that in our communities or

just in general. So I decided that it makes total sense to kind of marry these two things together, volunteering and financial independence. So that's kind of like where the the FI service core seed was planted just after going to these FI events. And I, you know, luckily I made a lot of really good friends really quick at these FI events. Like it's really, it's really common to go to a Camp FI and then walk away with like 10 new friends. So I decided that, you know, I have the time and the means to put together a voluminance. volunteer service trip for five friends. So yeah, I decided to just, you know, take a leap and do it.

And our first trip was in December of 2024. And all I did was text like eight friends that I had met at the Phi Freedom Retreat in Bali and, you know, kind of pitched this idea, invited them to come on the trip. And this idea that's been kind of, that was kind of, you know, germinating in my brain for so long. was totally validated when they all just said yes, like right away. So, yeah, once they agreed to come, I set up a, you know, I blocked out three days of volunteering with a nonprofit that was based in New Orleans. So I decided to do something I was familiar with. So I chose this nonprofit that's kind of like a local habitat for humanity that I've

worked with before in New Orleans. I've been to that city many times, so I knew it well. and I arranged for a vacation rental for us all to stay at. And those were basically the two things to really, you know, solidify the trip. You know, finding the volunteer partner and then finding lodging where we can all stay together. And we went to New Orleans. We did three days of exterior paint on these homes that they call opportunity homes. They basically are built by this organization using as much volunteer.

labor as possible to keep the cost low. And then they're sold at a discount to qualifying families, usually first-time home buying families who might not have the income levels to purchase a home at normal market rates. So it enables low to moderate income families to get into the housing market and build equity. So it felt really great to be a part of that and bring five people on board to like see, you know, where the fruits of their labor are going and who they're benefiting. And yeah, I thought it was just going to be a, you know, just a trip, one-time thing. And it turned out so good that I decided that we needed to make it a, you know, an ongoing thing. It had an amazing reception from the Phi community, from the participants. And yeah, so basically,

Service Corps was born after that. Love it. And this is why Bigger Pockets has this mission of a million millionaires, right? Is you're not some Uber wealthy guy with two and a half, five million dollars, you know, that that can generate

tens of thousands a month in passive cash flow. You have this million dollar mark and you have enough to do anything on here and the flexibility to pursue what interests you and go after that with time freedom on there. You can't, you probably could do nothing but you're kind of on that bubble

and you probably won't quite do nothing on that front. And this is what happens as people move along that continuum towards fire, financial independent, you know, in early retirement is, you know, we dangle the carrot of playing video games in the sabbatical

and you took it. Now you're thinking about, and I see that gaming headset on there, by the way. So I don't know if you're actually a gamer, but yeah, there's the... I got it for the podcast. Okay, all right, all right, all right.

But then, you know, then there gets to the work of how do we, how do we give back? How do I actually do something that can make an impact on other people's lives? And all of these little things spring up, right? It's a common theme among five people. Maybe not five people the first month into their early retirement or sabbatical, but by year three, almost all of them have something like this going on. And their lives are multiple organizations that they're a part of and contributing to. So love it. Wonderful, wonderful mission here.

And I'm sure it will build and evolve. and you'll find ever more, more efficient and scalable ways to give back as time goes on as you, as you learn more, continue to build the network in the FI community on there. By the way, we've talked about Camp Fi in the past, and yes, there is a summer camp experience for Fy folks. We actually had Stephen Boyer. Stephen Boyer, good gosh, I have to have hung out with him multiple times. Stephen Boyer on the podcast here to talk about Camp Fi, and it is like the ultimate millionaire next door retreat. The costs are extremely low.

You're going to be bunking in a room with somebody. There'll be like a buffet-style breakfast served or whatever. And then a B-Y-O-B, you know, chats with other people in a couple of speakers in an informal setting. But those are awesome ways to get plugged into the community. And I think a lot of people in the FI community have grinded out so long and hustled and kept in frugal for so long. And they're kind of opening up to that freedom. Oh, it's 10 o'clock on Tuesday. What do I do?

That there's a need for community that emerges towards the end of that journey. or the early part of retirement. And that is one of the best responses to that need so far. And good opportunities come out of that. So go check that out. They're super cheap. We're not affiliated with Camp Phi. We just like Stephen.

And I'll be at Camp Phi Rocky Mountain Week 2. So if you want to come hang out in person. Go lie. Oh, really? Oh, excellent. Rocky Mountain has four weeks now. Yeah. And actually because of that,

I felt inspired to add a service trip kind of in conjunction with the Camp Fyes out in Colorado Springs. Like because there's four weekends in a row, I wanted to try to test a service trip that kind of bridges two of the Camp Fi weekends. So the Monday through Friday between Camp Fi week two and week three, we're doing a service trip. And we're going to be working with a local organization that's focused on the outdoors. And they do trail cleanups and community garden projects. So, yeah, I'll be participating and I'll be leading that after my week two campfire. And I think it is a great way for anybody who's traveling to the area or lives in the area that's going to one of those campfire weekends to extend their trip and enjoy the area and travel with purpose and give back.

Yeah, that'll be awesome. And that's down in Colorado. I mean, the part of, it's down in Colorado Springs. The part of the world that you're in is so beautiful. and you get to do trail maintenance and you're out in nature in this beautiful part of the world. Unfortunately, you didn't check my calendar before you booked this trip, and I am unavailable this year. But let me know when next year starts so that I can block that off on my calendar so I don't have a conflict. Because that sounds like a lot of fun.

Yeah, I'll definitely let you guys know for the next one. And if this is successful, I could see this being kind of piggybacked on to future camp fies that are where there's multiple weekends in these different areas. Like I know that there's three camp fies that take place in Florida during the winter. And there were just two camp fies in Spain in April. So, you know, if things go well, I could definitely see a future where FI Service Corps fills that gap of time between the campfai weekends to give people an option to, you know, extend their stay. You know, there's all this math around the 4% rule and all these other types of things. Your portfolio is essentially all in your 401k Roth and then these two properties. You do have a little bit of brokerage and syndication, but do you also have a cash position that you maintain

that helps you kind of sleep at night or maybe help you get over the edge and taking that year-long sabbatical? I used to. During this sabbatical, I've wiped out a lot of my cash position in my taxable brokerage. So basically, like, as needed, I, you know, sell investments and then draw from that account. Luckily, it's not a lot. Like, you know, recently I just did a transfer of like $2,000 to cover this month. But, you know, by living mortgage-free, having the rental income come in, and then the other two properties, cash flowing about $1,000 per month, you know, it covers a lot. And And we, my wife and I don't have like extravagant lifestyles. We love to travel.

And, you know, we have our priorities when it comes to our spending. But we, we don't have unnecessary consumer debt. We don't have crazy car payments. So, you know, I, so at this point, I just draw from the brokerage as needed. And right now I need to kind of create that cash position, you know, because it's been depleted. Is there a point in your financial life where you would feel compelled to go back to work? Yeah, absolutely. When I first discovered the FI movement, the fire movement, I was kind of obsessed with the retire early part of fire because I discovered it like probably in 2016 when I was sitting in the cubicle of my job, just kind of waiting for five o'clock to hit.

and since then I've I've kind of reallocated like redirected my my focus when it comes to work and redefine what success means. So I think for me, like I would work again for sure, but it would be, you know, with an organization that has a flexible schedule, probably something in my community where I can interact with colleagues. Because I'm not, I enjoyed working. You know, I'm a CPA, and I've primarily worked in the nonprofit industry for most of my career. And I do enjoy that type of work. I just don't enjoy that being 100% of my life like it was a few years ago. Yeah, that can be really taxing. Yes, absolutely.

Like, I was just, I was stuck in my house. I was getting fat. So I had to make a change. So, yeah, if I can find something or if something, you know, becomes available, where it makes sense, then I would absolutely work again. Have you done the math to see what level of financial independence you are? Like there's coastfi and lean fi and barista fi and all the different flavors of fi. Are you, would you consider yourself coastfi?

I would. When I left my job, I definitely would have considered myself Coastfi. And I've been, you know, chipping away at that balance that's contributing to the coastfai. So, yeah, I think as time goes on, we're going to, you know, figure it out. My wife is going to start her career and she's going to have, you know, a good salary to help rebuild her savings. And, you know, we're kind of figuring things out as we go. I'm not, I know there's a lot of people in the five spaces are, like, super analytical and they have their target. They have their timeline.

but I think I've definitely gotten more into the slow-fi and the Coast-Fi mindset where you work on just designing your best life while you're on your journey. So I guess I would say I am Coast-Fi, but it would be a very, I'd like to continue to build it. So if there's opportunities to earn income that makes sense, I would definitely do it. But yeah, I'm just, I'm one of those people that's okay with risk. And like actually because of my accounting background, I know that I can fall back on, you know,

bringing in a W-2 income again. So, yeah, I'm okay with just navigating the unknown when it comes to the numbers. And we have ignored the fact that you are Wife, or will be once your wife actually starts working as her nurse practitioner. job. That's got to pay more than social worker, right? Yeah, she's going to bring in a six-figure salary, being a nurse practitioner. And, you know, she owes me because these last three years,

I've been covering her while she's been a student. So, you know, it's time for a little payback. And I think it's very... Wow. Don't share this with her. She knows. And I think it's very timely because I'm pursuing this venture. And, you know, for the last three years, she pursued her own venture. a little trade-off. Awesome. Was there anything else that our audience should know before we get out of here? It's important for people to know that like volunteering can definitely complement your FI journey in lots of different ways. Like there's a bunch that I can think of, but one thing, you know, maybe for the bigger pockets audience, like it's a lot of real estate focused people

and a lot of volunteer work that I did in the past was construction focused. And, you know, I not only got to work with organizations that had, you know, inspiring missions, but I got to learn new skills that I could apply to my own projects. So, like, for example, I learned how to install, like, vinyl plank flooring in a house that got damaged by a hurricane. And, you know, it was, it felt great to do it at the time because the, the homeowner was a retired social worker, fixed income. And they kind of fell through the cracks when it came to FEMA relief. And, you know, so they relied on these grassroots organizations. to repair their home. And, you know, after I learned that skill, I went home and installed vinyl playing floors in my house that I was flipping.

So, yeah, I think that volunteering can complement your journey in so many ways when it comes to learning skills, also travel hacking. There's a lot of volunteer stay, like, what do they call them, like a work stay kind of arrangement. And I think overall, it's just a great way to connect with people. Like, it's really easy to make new friends, kind of like Camp Fi, you know, when you're together and you all have like a similar mindset. So I would encourage people listening, like, you know, the Phi Service Corps trips, like there's limited capacity, but I would love it if you signed up to join. But it doesn't have to be Phi Service Corps. There's tons of opportunities probably in your own community where you can spend a day giving back. And bonus points, if you can invite the local Choose Phi Green.

to do it with you. So yeah, I guess that's the main message I'd want to give. Ryan, we didn't share where people can find you online. Where would somebody find the FI-S-C-S-C-C-R-T-R-S-C-R-R-S-O-R-. On the website, you can read our mission statement, you can learn all about the organization, and there's a page that has a listing of upcoming volunteer trips that you can sign up for. And then there's a contact page that has my email. It's Ryan at five servicecore.org. Feel free to reach out. You can sign up for the mailing list. And yeah, happy to communicate with anybody who's interested. Awesome. This was so much fun, Ryan. Thank you so much, Ryan. Thank you for starting the FI service core. I think it's a super great idea. I'm so excited to do it next.

year when I have cleared my calendar in July so I can sign up for this. And thank you so much for sharing your story with us. How you retired at age 36. I think that there's a lot to be learned from that lesson. And I am so thankful that you had the time to share with us. Well, it's not like you have a job, right? I had the time, so no worries. But yeah, thank you so much, Mindy and Scott. It was so great talking to you guys. Yeah, thank you. And we will talk to you soon. I'll see you at Camp Fi week two. It can't fie. All right.

That was Ryan from FyService Corps, and that was such a great episode. If you are thinking that FI Service Corps trips sound awesome, but you don't have the experience with construction, don't worry. On the job training is available, so don't let that be the reason that you don't go. Definitely check out his website, FyserviceCore.org, and look into where the projects are coming up. Where can you lend a hand? where what sounds interesting to you.

I know several of the people that are on these trips and they're really, really cool. I have met them on other in-person FI events. So even if the FI Service Corps doesn't, either it doesn't appeal to you or it's just not in an area or a time frame that you can go to, get yourself to an in-person FI event. I cannot stress enough how awesome these events are. All right. That wraps up this episode of the Bigger Pockets Money podcast. he was Scott Trench.

I am Mindy Jensen saying farewell, Snowbell.