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Optimal Finance Daily - Financial Independence and Money Advice
3421: 10 Lessons About Life and Money After Attending FinCon by Julien Saunders of Rich and Regular
00:09:38
Julien Saunders shares ten hard-earned insights about life and money after attending FinCon, a gathering of financial thinkers and creators
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This is optimal finance daily 10 lessons about life and money after attending FinCon by Julian Saunders of richandregular.com for those of you that aren't personal finance nerds, the name fincon means nothing. But if you're a blogger in the financial planning industry or work in media that's connected to the financial industry, you should take a moment to learn more about this annual event. For us, it was an opportunity to better understand the landscape, mingle with like minded people, and learn from others who have done what we're aiming to achieve financial independence. We could have easily listed 50 lessons, but we've whittled it down to 10. Enjoy one. The journey is always more important than the destination. We monitor our finances religiously and we celebrate milestones when we achieve them. But as we look back at prior celebrations and splurges, oftentimes they're pretty meh. What we really remember is the value that comes from overcoming mistakes, picking ourselves back up, and looking back on the days when we didn't know what we know now. Those are the stories worth telling. These are the memories that matter. Having more money doesn't make you happier, it enables your pursuit of more happiness. When you pursue money, it comes to you, and if you can fight the urge to spend it all and invest wisely, it will grow like a weed. But the commas and zeros aren't what makes you happier. The freedom it brings does. Having the energy to pursue passions fully and helping people is what brings us a deeper sense of fulfillment. 3. Time is the single most valuable resource we all have. There is a reason why compounding interest is called the eighth wonder of the world the SH works wonders in our account 24, 7 and 365 days a year. It never needs a break, it doesn't have feelings, and it speaks a universal language. Above all, it will always work harder than we ever can. 4. There is immeasurable value in having a community. Until Fincon, we would have never felt really free to crack a joke in public that was interwoven with frugal principles and investing jargon. Furthermore, where else would we be able to sit around a pitfire with millionaires who openly disclose their net worth, their inner workings of their businesses and and what their motivations are? Being able to talk about money while surrounded by people who don't consider it taboo was refreshing. Meeting the people behind our favorite podcasts and blogs was pretty cool too. Sometimes you gotta stop doing what you've always done. The human brain wants nothing more than to minimize the energy you burn by finding patterns and putting itself on autopilot. That means it will go out of its way to steer you away from trying new things, confronting fears and stress inducing activities. It's your job to stop listening to yourself and to actively pursue things that are different from what you normally do. Otherwise, you're destined to repeat yourself, which for many means walking in place. Number six Feedback is truly a gift. For years, if we went to a restaurant and had a crapy experience, I would simply brush it off and make excuses for the team. As someone who knows just how hard people in the service industry work, the last thing I wanted to do was kick someone while they're down. We've since learned that it robs these restaurants of opportunities to be their best, and it's a waste of money to continue patronizing and endorsing mediocrity. If you value money like we do, it's your duty to provide constructive, respectful feedback to those you give your hard earned money to. Otherwise, you'll continue to normalize crapy experiences.
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In every aspect of your life.
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7. Making money is easy. Making it last is hard and boring. AF we're blessed to say that if we were fired tomorrow, we would be fine for a considerable amount of time. Our money makes money so we don't have to. Furthermore, we could come up with countless ways to earn money that don't involve us compromising our values or giving our lives away. The hard part is fighting the urge to speculate and squeeze more juice out of the fruits of our labor despite knowing that the best thing you can do is leave it alone. Ego and pride have an uncanny ability to lurk and tempt you to take action unnecessarily. 8. Make giving a priority. Build it into everything you do and make it matter. For years I participated in Big Brothers Big Sisters. Since it ended on a bit of a sour note, I admit it left my desire to serve others on the sideline for years. Recently, after giving time, money, counsel and expertise, my spark for giving has been reignited. There are so many problems in this world that money can easily solve, and we intend on doing just that. So we leave this world in better condition than we found it in Number nine Employment is risky as expected. Since launching Rich and Regular, we've had some people raise their eyebrows at us with regard to our plan. Meanwhile, they give 70% plus of their lives at a negotiated discounted rate to corporations who are motivated to keeping their labor costs low. I fundamentally believe that not pursuing financial independence is risky, not the other way around. And number 10 human beings suck at selling. People sell themselves short for salary and paid weeks of vacation. They sell their products and services at discounts for irrational reasons. They sell their ambition short by talking themselves off cliffs just short of amazing opportunities. Even when sales pitches go well, people tend to overdo it to prove themselves worthy of the ask. We were guilty of this too, until now. Attending FINCON has lit a fire within us and we look forward to shining with you. You just listened to the post titled 10 lessons about life and money after attending Fincon by Julian Saunders of richandregular.com.
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One of my biggest goals for 2026 is finally building a dedicated travel fund without the guilt. I'm tired of stressing about money when I book a trip, so this year I'm getting organized. Managing your money doesn't have to be a struggle this year.
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Monarch is the all in one personal.
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Finance tool designed to make your life easier. It brings your entire financial life, budgeting, accounts and investments, net worth, and future planning together in one dashboard on your laptop or phone. I've been using Monarch for years and love using it for my New Year's financial reset. It helps me review spending and set fresh budgets. Plus, their AI assistant gives me personalized answers instantly. This new year, achieve your financial goals for good.
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Monarch is the all in one tool.
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Management made Simple I am a huge fan of fincon for many of the reasons Julian stated in this article and I've been going since 2019. Fincon is a business to business conference, so so if you aren't in the business of financial media and you aren't a content creator with a blog, podcast, et cetera, there are better options for you. Check out campfi and the Economy Conference. These events are specifically built for the end user, that is the readers of the blogs and the listeners of the podcasts. But they still also attract content creators because those of us making the financial media are also consuming it and often in high quantities. I love fincon for the same reason that I love campfi and Economy. It connects me with a community of people who are doing incredible things with their finances and they aren't afraid to talk about it. Every single time I go to an event like this, I leave with pages of notes and new ideas. It's like a shot of inspiration and human connection that I can't get anywhere else. And that's not to say we only talk about money all day. I find that typically money is just the tip of the iceberg of the other things we have in common. These events attract people who have expansive mindsets and are hell bent on living their best lives. Meeting them has helped me completely reimagine my path to financial independence, and they inspired the tagline for the Economy Conference. FI is better with friends, no doubt about that. But I think that does it for today. Hope you're having a great day. Thanks for being here, and I'll see you on tomorrow's episode where your optimal life awaits.