Scout’s Core Belief #3 – Community

A Long, Lonely Road

As most people already know (and I bet most have experienced first-hand), money is treated as a taboo topic that nobody likes to discuss. I experienced this growing up as a kid and it’s continued into my adult life. So when I first found “Rich Dad Poor Dad” and started on my financial journey, I already expected it to be a long, lonely road. As a natural introvert I’ve always been fine with this since I actually prefer spending time alone (so that I can focus on what I’m doing and not be bothered by outside noise). For the most part this solo financial journey has held true, except I have been lucky to find a few kindred souls over the years (The Squire included). Even as I was learning about personal finance & investing, most of this was accomplished through reading books and it always felt like a one-way, teacher-student relationship with no back & forth discourse. Once again, I was fine with this situation and it was my reality for over a decade.

FIRE = Group of Equals

My attitude towards community started to change when I first found the FIRE movement in 2018. I initially viewed this new financial information the same as I always had – as a one-way relationship where I was there to receive knowledge while some teachers/experts were dispensing it from on-high. To my surprise though, it seemed that many of the podcast hosts and guests were not know-it-all gurus but instead they were there to learn just like myself. Yes there were those who I considered experts/teachers such as the Mad Fientist, JL Collins, Paula Pant, etc, but I also found a large number of people who were similar to me in age, life stage, goals, and financial knowledge. It seemed that the majority of the time these exact people were interviewed on podcasts and were simply sharing their stories and life experiences – it felt more like a conversation with friends around the campfire or dinner table rather than an explicit lesson that was being taught. Even many of these new FIRE podcast hosts were trying to learn right along with the audience. Overall it felt more like a group of equals vs any sort of teacher/student or expert/amateur dynamic. Whenever I listened to podcasts it felt like I was hanging out with a group of friends; my new FI community.

Active Community-Building

Another interesting aspect of FIRE was that there was an active push towards building communities of like-minded people to interact online, but most importantly in-person. ChooseFI was and continues to be a major promoter & facilitator of what they call Local Groups, where those in the FI community can find & connect with others in a nearby geographic location. I initially thought this was a little crazy but gave it a try in early 2019 and even started my own local group in my area. Our first in-person meetup was a little awkward as you might expect – a handful of strangers meeting at a local park for the first time with the goal of talking about a “taboo” topic such as money. Well, we quickly got over that awkwardness because we already had that initial bond of money/personal finance/FI and it made for an easy ice-breaker. We’ve had our ups & downs over the years (including a one-year hiatus due to COVID-19), but our group is still around today and going strong. We try to get together once-a-month and we’ve added new members who consistently show up. To be honest, there is no fairytale ending and we all didn’t end up becoming best friends – each of us has our own lives & interests outside of FIRE, but it’s been great to have that consistent friend group that we know we can turn to if/when we have questions or want to have discussions about money.

Importance of Community

Overall I’ve found community to be important for 2 reasons:

It encourages & facilitates collaboration, opening everyone up to new ideas & perspectives that they may never think about on their own. It’s a way to bounce ideas off of others and to check for potential blindspots. It’s a place to find both inspiration & encouragement, a way to help others or find help yourself. In fact, community is part of our Mission Statement here at Epic Financial Journey with the goal of accompanying others on their financial journeys.
Being a part of a group can provide an outlet or safe place to talk to other like-minded individuals. Because most of the world thinks money is taboo, there are rarely any opportunities to talk about this subject with others. For most people this is fine because we’re used to this, but it can also be a hindrance and stunt potential growth since it seems like nobody cares. I’ve found that just having the opportunity to talk about money with others is freeing and can even be encouraging/motivational to keep going on the financial journey.

Go Find Your Tribe

Needless to say, I encourage EVERYONE to build their own financial relationships and community, whether this is by starting your own group or actively seeking an already-established group. For me, in-person gatherings have been the most impactful, but even online groups are better than nothing. I know this may be scary for most people (especially fellow introverts like myself), but trust me, it is well worth it. It takes courage to take that first step and show up to a new group for the first time, but it quickly becomes enjoyable when you realize that you’re surrounded by those who you have an immediate bond with.

If Epic Financial Journey is your only financial community then we are proud to have that distinction and we’re glad you are here. If you’re ready for more, you can check out ChooseFI to find a local group in your area or even look into CampFI or the EconoMe conference if you desire a larger-scale event. I’ve attended both of these events within the past year and even as an introvert, I had such a great time. Although I had experience with my local FI meetup group, I was still extremely nervous ahead of each event, but I was quickly able to warm-up when I realized how friendly everyone was and that we all had a common bond (of financial independence) that brought us all together in the first place. In fact, when describing the EconoMe experience to others, my wife said that even though we attended the event together, she hardly saw me because I was always talking to someone else. I 100% concur with that assessment because that’s how I felt and looking back on it I am totally amazed because that’s something I have never done or could never imagine myself doing in my normal life. Perhaps it was a sense of comfort or relief that I had finally found my tribe and community after all the years I had been traveling alone on my personal financial journey.

You’ve heard me talk about the importance of community from my perspective throughout this post, but don’t just take my word for it – you can listen to an episode of the ChooseFI podcast called “The Power of Community” or an episode of the Mark’s Money Mind podcast called “Finding Your Tribe”.

Links/Resources

Reader Questions

What are your thoughts about community and finding others to talk with about personal finance & investing? Do you think it’s a “necessity” or just a “nice-to-have” to engage others on the topic of money?
Are you part of any personal finance/investing communities? If so, are these communities in-person or online, and what has your experience been with them? If not, what is holding you back from engaging?

Leave your answers or comments below – or email us directly at info@epicfinancialjourney.com