Diania Merriam is the creator of EconoMe. EconoME is a one-day conference aimed at reclaiming the American Dream. The American Dream started as an idea that every person had the right to pursue his or her own idea of happiness. EconoMe is about reclaiming that right!
While EconoMe has roots in the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement, the conference founder really believes that happiness comes from freedom, creativity, and community. EconoMe subscribes to a new American Dream that doesn’t necessarily include excessive material possessions, conveniences or money.
In this week’s episode, Diania talks about her journey getting out of $30,000 of personal debt and what gave her the motivation to pay it off by aggressively saving 60-percent of her income. Her debt free journey and her philosophy about the American Dream led her to create EconoMe.
Show Highlights
- Why Diania is already 8 years away from financial independence
- Mr. Money Mustache, the blog that started it all for Diania
- Saving 60 percent of her income to aggressively pay off debt
- Focusing on a goal gives you a real reason to start saving
- The magic number for being financially independent: 25x your yearly expenses
- Investing via low-cost index funds
- Maxing out retirement accounts
Key Takeaway: The American Dream doesn’t have to include excessive material items and money. The American Dream is really living your ideal lifestyle and working on things that you want to do, not things that you have to do.
This Week’s Sponsor
- Gusto – Gusto offers modern, easy payroll benefits to small businesses across the country — they were even named best online payroll by PCMag. And as a listener, you’ll get three months free when you run your first payroll at Gusto.com/paychecks.
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Mentioned on This Week’s Show
- MrMoneyMustache.com
- Playing With FI/RE Documentary
- The Simple Path to Wealth: Your road map to financial independence and a rich, free life
- PB73: Mastering Financial Independence and Student Loans with Robert Farrington
Our Favorite Tools This Week
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Side Hustles and Passive Income
- How to Start a Blog – Michelle Schroeder-Gardner is the self-made millionaire behind MakingSenseOfCents.com who credits finding her purpose and sharing her story through blog writing for her personal and financial success. With her easy-to-follow course, you can be up and running a blog in less than a day!
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