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Week 10 of the course. THE FINAL WEEK! Booooo. We have had so much fun on this financial journey with you and whilst the course is finishing for this year your journey might only just be beginning!
Now is the time to take everything you have learnt and make it happen! We were so fortunate to have Mr Money Mustache join us live from Colorado. It is so calming when you meet someone that has invested and lived like this retired for 17 years and get to learn from his experience! |
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The Donegans had three closing messages this week for you:
The biggest mistake working
The biggest mistake people make when working on Financial Independence is to sacrifice happiness for a number. We have been getting messages saying should I go to the wedding or save money? Should I rent out a room and then be miserable?
Obviously the Donegan answer is to sacrifice all happiness to get to a financial number.
This comes from a book we were reading recently (Die with Zero) "I have been living much the way people in the FIRE movement are living today – doing everything on the cheap, watching every penny, and saving as much as I possibly could for the future" The author has completely missed the point of financial independence, minimise spending on stuff you don't value and maximise freedom and fun.
This whole thing is to give you the choices, opportunity and freedom to build a happy life. Finance is to facilitate that happy life, not to be sacrificed for it. You can have both happiness and wealth.
The biggest mistake working
The biggest mistake people make when working on Financial Independence is to sacrifice happiness for a number. We have been getting messages saying should I go to the wedding or save money? Should I rent out a room and then be miserable?
Obviously the Donegan answer is to sacrifice all happiness to get to a financial number.
This comes from a book we were reading recently (Die with Zero) "I have been living much the way people in the FIRE movement are living today – doing everything on the cheap, watching every penny, and saving as much as I possibly could for the future" The author has completely missed the point of financial independence, minimise spending on stuff you don't value and maximise freedom and fun.
This whole thing is to give you the choices, opportunity and freedom to build a happy life. Finance is to facilitate that happy life, not to be sacrificed for it. You can have both happiness and wealth.
Why when my withdrawal rate goes down do I have to have a bigger pot in retirement?
This was a tough one to answer on the course, Alan confused everyone to start with and then we started to get there and you were messaging us in the chat saying that you got it now. Just to confirm higher withdrawal rate means you are more likely to run out of money in retirement. Lower withdrawal rate means less likely to run out of money in retirement.
4% gives you 96% chance of not running out of money in retirement and if you are flexible that result goes up to as close to 100% as humanly possible! For most of us, Donegans included, 4% is the right number to use. Let's keep it simple
This was a tough one to answer on the course, Alan confused everyone to start with and then we started to get there and you were messaging us in the chat saying that you got it now. Just to confirm higher withdrawal rate means you are more likely to run out of money in retirement. Lower withdrawal rate means less likely to run out of money in retirement.
4% gives you 96% chance of not running out of money in retirement and if you are flexible that result goes up to as close to 100% as humanly possible! For most of us, Donegans included, 4% is the right number to use. Let's keep it simple
Start thinking about the life you want to lead
Don't put off thinking about what you want in life till some magical FI number comes real. Start thinking about it now and making it happen. The number isn't going to make you happen. The shit you do in life, the people you surround yourself with and the fun you have will.
The Donegans obviously use PowerPoint for it's natural planning abilities. We each wrote a PowerPoint about what we wanted life to be like in FI, then shared it and got on making it happen. The reason we each create first is for two reasons; firstly it clarifies your thoughts seeing it in writing and with pictures and the second is that one of us speaks more than the other and this way we both get equal voice about what we want to do.
We don't care HOW you do it just get on with creating your life the way you want it. Think about the 8 life areas, what you want life to be like in each one and then take IMMEDIATE action towards it. What does this mean? if you want to live on the beach for a while look up locations, send messages and start to learn about it. If you want to learn more about meditation then join a course, download calm the app or just start doing it for free on YouTube. Think about what you want and the straight away do something about it!
Don't put off thinking about what you want in life till some magical FI number comes real. Start thinking about it now and making it happen. The number isn't going to make you happen. The shit you do in life, the people you surround yourself with and the fun you have will.
The Donegans obviously use PowerPoint for it's natural planning abilities. We each wrote a PowerPoint about what we wanted life to be like in FI, then shared it and got on making it happen. The reason we each create first is for two reasons; firstly it clarifies your thoughts seeing it in writing and with pictures and the second is that one of us speaks more than the other and this way we both get equal voice about what we want to do.
We don't care HOW you do it just get on with creating your life the way you want it. Think about the 8 life areas, what you want life to be like in each one and then take IMMEDIATE action towards it. What does this mean? if you want to live on the beach for a while look up locations, send messages and start to learn about it. If you want to learn more about meditation then join a course, download calm the app or just start doing it for free on YouTube. Think about what you want and the straight away do something about it!
Graduation!
Week 10 was also a celebration and culmination of all that we've been talking about for the last 10 weeks. Do you feel like your finances are more in control?! We bloomin well hope so! Here is the closing graduation ceremony that we all said together.
Mr Money Mustache
And we had an extra special guest, Mr Money Mustache, join us to answer your questions about Financial Independence and how to live a happy, fulfilling life.
The Mr Money Mustache salute at the end of the workshop!
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Pete has done a huge amount of work to polish and order his best posts over the years and create a MMM Bootcamp. Use the button to the right to sign up to get his weekly articles and emails. If you like reading this is for you. Pete's blog is the main reason Katie got on board the FI journey and we were able to get to FI so quickly. THANK YOU MR MONEY MUSTACHE! x
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What did you think of the course?
Katie and I put a huge amount of work into this course and there is only one thing we ask in return. Tell us your thoughts and give us feedback. We really want to know how to improve, what worked and more. Please take the time to fill out the survey for us now. It will take you about 10-15 minutes to complete.
The survey is in 2 parts. The first is feedback on the course and what you found useful. The second is a repeat of the money belief questionnaire at the start of the course. The reason for re-doing this survey is to see if things have shifted for you, your partner and for all of us on the course.
Katie and I are going to anonymise all the data and then do a report on the course and if it has helped or not! You know Katie LOVES data so please help us by filling out all the questions! THANK YOU.
Here is a picture of how happy it will make us when you've done the survey!
Katie and I are going to anonymise all the data and then do a report on the course and if it has helped or not! You know Katie LOVES data so please help us by filling out all the questions! THANK YOU.
Here is a picture of how happy it will make us when you've done the survey!
In case you are "away from"/stick motivated.... here is a picture of a unicorn. One of these will die if you don't fill in the survey.
Week 10 homework
This week there are a few things to do on the homework front which will help get you closer to having your finances in order and to keep tracking your progress!
1. Do the course survey
2. What life do you want to design and build? These are the areas of life you might like to think about:
3. Have you done all the homework from previous weeks? If you have, high 5 and gold star for you. If not, go back and look at what you've missed. The homework is summarised each week in this section of the website.
4. Review course notes in 1 month's time (put it in the calendar now!). The most important thing you can do to embed what you have learnt on this course is to review your notes afterwards. Repetition is the mother of all learning so put a review meeting in the calendar now! (maybe with some other RFS friends?)
5. Celebrate completing the course! How are you going to celebrate? Read a book in the park? Go for a walk with a loved one? Have a coffee staring at nature? Treat yourself to a goal setting session and think about the future??
What's next?
This is just the beginning. I can't believe the 10 weeks have gone so quickly and it is the end of the course already. But the end of the course is the beginning of the next chapter for you in your financial journey and Katie and I are going to be here alongside you to help!
Here is a couple of things that we are going to do to support you going forward:
This week there are a few things to do on the homework front which will help get you closer to having your finances in order and to keep tracking your progress!
1. Do the course survey
2. What life do you want to design and build? These are the areas of life you might like to think about:
- Finances
- Career or mission
- Friends and family
- Fun and hobbies
- Relationships
- Contribution
- Personal environment
- Health
3. Have you done all the homework from previous weeks? If you have, high 5 and gold star for you. If not, go back and look at what you've missed. The homework is summarised each week in this section of the website.
4. Review course notes in 1 month's time (put it in the calendar now!). The most important thing you can do to embed what you have learnt on this course is to review your notes afterwards. Repetition is the mother of all learning so put a review meeting in the calendar now! (maybe with some other RFS friends?)
5. Celebrate completing the course! How are you going to celebrate? Read a book in the park? Go for a walk with a loved one? Have a coffee staring at nature? Treat yourself to a goal setting session and think about the future??
What's next?
This is just the beginning. I can't believe the 10 weeks have gone so quickly and it is the end of the course already. But the end of the course is the beginning of the next chapter for you in your financial journey and Katie and I are going to be here alongside you to help!
Here is a couple of things that we are going to do to support you going forward:
- Quarterly catch-ups: We are going to do a Q&A session and catch up every 3 months. We will send an invite nearer the time. We know this journey can be lonely sometimes as not everyone get's us Rebels so this is why we are doing this. We can't wait to hear how you have been getting on and how it has been going!
- 1 year follow up: One year from now Katie and I are committing to re-connecting with you and finding out how you are getting on. The plan is to catch up, help with questions and generally have a good time! Put 24th July 2023 8pm UK time in your diary now! This will be our reunion time!
- Monday 1st of August 2022 (if you haven't had enough of the Donegans) we have got the Personal Financial Forecasting workshop. You can tune in Monday 8pm UK time or click on the picture for more details!
RFS Memento?
Alan and Katie own everyone else's FI t-shirts. We own Mad Fientist and Mr Money Mustache T-shirts and we thought it was time to have some fun one's of our own. So the fabulous Laura created some designs for us and put them online here. If you would like a memento from the course or a reminder of one of the key messages then these are for you.
Ask for help
Remember to reach out in the Facebook group with any questions you have or if you get stuck. Don't let confusion be an excuse for not progressing with this stuff. We are here to support you!
If you have emailed Alan asking for help and we haven't replied, we're not ignoring you! He has been inundated with emails asking for help. We just can't get to them all. We try and answer as many as you can. If we ignore you then know that doesn't mean we don't love you and put the question in the Facebook group!
THANK YOU
And finally... thank you! Thank you for your energy and participation in the course over the last 10 weeks. We have loved hanging out with you and helping you!
Alan and Katie
If you have emailed Alan asking for help and we haven't replied, we're not ignoring you! He has been inundated with emails asking for help. We just can't get to them all. We try and answer as many as you can. If we ignore you then know that doesn't mean we don't love you and put the question in the Facebook group!
THANK YOU
And finally... thank you! Thank you for your energy and participation in the course over the last 10 weeks. We have loved hanging out with you and helping you!
Alan and Katie
