AMY MINKLEY | FI Freedom Retreat

What happens if the rug is pulled out from under you - financially, physically, spiritually? Your life can change in an instant. And how can you supercharge your financial independence with geo-arbitrage? Bali has plenty to offer beyond bintang t-shirts and parties.

Amy Minkley is the founder of FI Freedom Retreats. Her life changed when she discovered the Financial Independence movement in 2019.

We discussed:

• Using geo-arbitrage to create up to a 90% savings rate (invested in low-cost index funds), while working in Asia for the past 20 years.
• Post-FIRE life in Mexico, Thailand, and Bali, and the cost and lifestyle of each place.
• Her experience attending FIRE events in the U.S, and how those events inspired her to create FIRE events in my home, Bali.

The founder of FI Freedom Retreats, Amy Minkley’s life changed when she discovered the Financial Independence movement in 2019.

Money was tight in her childhood. To feel secure, Amy became an over-worker and over-saver from a young age.

After working in Asia for 18 years, she was burned out. In a frantic bid to save her sanity and relationship, a late night online search led her to the FIRE movement. Armed with the knowledge of hundreds of FIRE blogs and podcasts, Amy gained a new sense of hope, overcame ‘one more year’ syndrome, and quit her job in Bangkok.

In 2021, she moved to Bali to live her dream life and share the message of Financial Independence and purposeful living. She is now happily engaged to her Australian partner and organizing transformational FI retreats.

TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS AFTER THIS BRIEF MESSAGE

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Chloe (1s):

Shares for beginners. Phil Muscatello and Fin Pods are authorized reps of Money Sherper. The information in this podcast is general in nature and doesn't take into account your personal situation.

Amy (12s):

I know a lot of people with not only on the savings side of things, but thinking about like, like I did, you know, looking and seeing if abroad you can earn more as well as save more. But I met, you know, people in finance, people you know, working in commodities, lots of industries who have these nice expat contracts with housing covered and international school for their kids covered. And I think that is a way to really fast track your savings and also have a, an, an adventure in the meantime.

Phil (44s):

Good day and welcome back to Shares for Beginners. I'm Phil Muscatello. What happens if the rug is pulled out from under you? I mean, this can happen financially, physically, spiritually. Your life can change in an instant. And how can you supercharge your financial independence with geo arbitrage Bali's not only about bintang t-shirts and partying. Joining me at the mic today is Amy Minkley. Hello Amy.

Amy (1m 9s):

Hi Phil. So great to be here. Thank you for having me.

Phil (1m 12s):

Ah, no worries. Thank you very much for coming on and I'm just disappointed you're not in Bali today, you're in the US of A

Amy (1m 18s):

I am. I'm usually in Bali nine or 10 months of the year, but happen to be with my, my folks now.

Phil (1m 23s):

Okay. So Amy is an international speaker financial independence event producer and deputate of Financial independence. We'll talk about, I just wanted to talk, talk about the fab x video that you shared with me and we'll put a link to this in the blog post as well. But just tell us the story about what happened to you when you were 12 years old.

Amy (1m 44s):

Yes, when I was 12, my life changed overnight, so I, you know, had a very happy childhood. My parents were happily married, I thought, I never see the, saw them fighting. So I felt really happy and safe and secure. And then when I was 12 my dad set me down on the, you know, living room couch and told me he was leaving. My parents were getting a divorce and it was a shock to me. Later I found out he had an younger girlfriend and you know, he was going through a midlife crisis and the financial situation of our, our home changed overnight. My dad had money, but you know, he said he couldn't fully pay child support. So my mom and I really struggled, you know, we had to sell our family home.

Amy (2m 24s):

We moved to a different state. My mom went back to college and suddenly I felt like the poor kid at school. I really struggled with confidence and worthiness issues. It had some harmful effects, but there were also some really good effects as well. Like I really learned how to save and you know, my, in high school I had two jobs. I was figuring out, you know, I was earning $4 25 u s d an hour, you know, but working those two jobs, calculating on my calculator in secret, you know, working at the budget theater once the movie started, how many hours did I need to work to buy my first car? Which, you know, know you kind of need in the US especially where I grew up to get to work and those kind of things.

Amy (3m 5s):

And then, you know, in college I paid, you know, I had two jobs, went to a state school, lived in budget apartments, just really always was trying to figure out, worked as a residential assistant and ra in the dorms, trying to figure out how could I afford, you know, to pay my college and my rent without getting it into a lot of debt, which a lot of American students get into and I imagine managed to get out debt free. And it took me five years. So, you know, those basically with my father leaving, I, I had this sense that I needed to be responsible for my own finances and that money could disappear at any moment. So I needed to be really money savvy and save as much as I could.

Phil (3m 45s):

That's really interesting though, that you reacted that way. A lot of people might react in different ways, but your emotional reaction was a financial one and that happened at a very early age for you.

Amy (3m 55s):

Yes. Yeah, I mean my mother at the time, you know, I was really her support system and she would share with me, you know, she was going through heartache and shock and also her biggest concern was really about money. And so she shared a lot of this money concerns with me and then I saw her reading a lot of financial books cuz she had depended on my dad to take care of that. And she didn't really know much and she was trying to educate herself and she gave me a book in high school, I think it was called Girls Just Wanna Have Funds, so as a play on the Cindy Lauper song but with a D Funds. And so I read that and you know, and I started investing, you know, as soon as I got my first job outta college in retirement accounts.

Phil (4m 35s):

Did you take it to extremes? I've heard a lot of pep you know, you wanted to get through paying your debt very quickly and I've heard a lot of people going to extremes, like living on the, the cheapest poorest quality food as well. Were you a fire extremist like that?

Amy (4m 49s):

I would say, yeah. I didn't eat cheap poor quality food, but I definitely took it to extremes. You know, there was a lot of things that I denied, you know, you know, certain events that, or, or you know, things that would've been memorable. Like for example, I did go to London, I remember I didn't wanna go up in the Tower of London because, oh, maybe it was 11 quid at the time, it wasn't even, I don't remember how much it was, but it seemed like that was a lot at the time. And so, you know, there's, there's memorable things that I missed out on because I didn't wanna spend the money to do them. And so I do regret being kind of cheap sometimes. I did do a lot of international travel in my 20 years abroad, but mostly I was a budget traveler, so I stayed in some not so nice places.

Phil (5m 34s):

Met the local cockroaches around the world.

Amy (5m 37s):

We did. Yeah. Yeah.

Phil (5m 40s):

So why do you, why do you describe your savings habits at the time as fear-based savings?

Amy (5m 47s):

Yeah, because I mean I, I was always focused on, on saving and even when I had built up my savings, I still didn't feel safe. My savings rates ramped up through the various jobs. I, I worked in Asia for 20 years, you know, so initially in Japan, you know, 20 years ago is only saving 5,000 a year. And then I went to Singapore and I was saving 37,000. This is USD A year. Indiana was saving almost 60,000 a year and I still did not feel safe and I was investing all of this, you know, and then I did take a gap year and I was blissfully happy and I met my Australian partner during that, that gap year.

Amy (6m 27s):

And you know, I probably had a, a decent size neck nest egg that I didn't have to go back to work right away. But fear drove me back to, to working in a job that I really wasn't happy. But I still had that need because at that, that job I had, I saved about 90,000 USD a year and I was really unhappy and my relationship was suffering, my health was suffering, but I was focused on that savings rate. So definitely it was a fear-based yeah. Habit.

Phil (6m 57s):

And how did you end up with a better relationship with money? Is that what, what you talking about when you say you had a, you turned your life around to have a better relationship with money that it didn't, was it about the jobs that you were doing and your own happiness?

Amy (7m 9s):

Yes, I think when I went to Bangkok and I had, you know, I'd had my kind of best life and sabbatical time in Bali and met my partner there and really saw a new realm of possibility and so many opportunities there. You know, cuz before I had loved, I was an international school teacher and I had loved that, but I didn't have much balance. And then when I went to Bali, I saw a lot of entrepreneurs and really inspirational, motivated people doing really cool things. But having a little bit more agency over their time and their choices, that motivated me to kind of see a different realm of possibility. But still I, it ta takes a while to, you know, get something off the ground. And so I went back to that job and that and I was unhappy there.

Amy (7m 52s):

But it really, it really was discovering the fire movement, the financial independence, retire early movement and having a better understanding of how much money do I really need. And, you know, I know how much it costs me to live in Bali and I have a pretty decent size nest egg that I had invested and saved over the 20 years abroad. You know, that's gonna continue to compound and grow. So if I, if I can find a way to earn enough to pay my living expenses in Bali, you know, I don't have to keep contributing, you know, this $90,000 worth of year savings and work till I'm 65. I can have a little bit more freedom to try entrepreneurship, to try life in Bali and pursue something different like a next chapter in my life.

Phil (8m 32s):

Well let's talk further about geo arbitrage. What's the bigger picture with geo arbitrage? How does it work and how did it work for you?

Amy (8m 39s):

Well I, I would say, you know, when we break apart the word geo arbitrage for pe for listeners who may not know, you know, it's choosing geographically places that will support your ability to save. A lot of people, you know, will be digital nomads and they will earn in Aussie dollars or US dollars and they will live somewhere cheaper. I also, I would say use geo arbitrage on the earning side of things because as a teacher in the US you don't earn much. But I lived in some expensive countries like Singapore, people wouldn't necessarily consider it a geo arbitrage destination because the cost of living is high. But my pay was also high and I was able to live pretty affordably there because my, my schools would pay for the rent and then I would, and what they, you know, they call it house hacking, I would rent out the extra even though I had free rent.

Amy (9m 27s):

And I did that in India too. So, yeah, so it's finding ways to grow the gap, you know, between what you're earning and what you can, you know, and then what you're spending and then investing the gap in the middle. And I think, you know, choosing destinations that are more cost effective and it doesn't have to be international, it can just be moving from Sydney to Brisbane's cheaper. Right. Or or another, you know, a lower cost of city, lower cost of living area.

Phil (9m 53s):

Any, anywhere outta Sydney.

Amy (9m 55s):

Exactly. Anywhere outta Sydney. So, you know, a lot of people have done that in the US too and I'm sure in Australia with covid, people are working from more remote locations for, for the cost of living.

Phil (10m 5s):

It's pretty amazing. And is, isn't it the opportunities that the covid epidemic brought out for people and the idea that you can be a digital nomad, that you can have a job or you can be a contractor or you can do something, but you can basically do it from anywhere in the world.

Amy (10m 20s):

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And that's what I love too. I mean I lived in, I lived in New Delhi, India, which I was a great environment, you know, a great school, but you know, the pollution was horrible and I finally

Phil (10m 30s):

Just, that's terrible pollution over there isn't, it's one of most polluted cities in the world. Yeah,

Amy (10m 34s):

Yeah. And I love India, but you know, I, I don't know those international schools I worked really hard and so now I'm teaching online a lot less hours for a week and I can set my schedule and so it's nice that I can live in Bali.

Phil (10m 46s):

So is that what you, do you teach online? Is it, you still teach online

Amy (10m 49s):

A Little bit? Not a lot. I mean, I feel like I do have a nest egg that I don't have to contribute a lot to it. But, you know, if I can really teach one hour a day, I've covered my cost. So my, you know, I'm spending myself about 50 55 U S D A day. My partner spends a similar amount. We share accommodation and we live really well. I mean, we ate out twice a day. I go to yoga, I go to all the classes I want. I mean, we're not living the cheapest volley existence for sure. We have a luxurious life, but we're also not living the most expensive place we could live. But we have a nice place. And so, you know, if I can teach one hour a day, that can cover my cost in Bali.

Phil (11m 28s):

Wow. It's amazing isn't it? Yes, it, it is. And of course clothing is very cheaper. I mean, Bintang t-shirt's a very cheap

Amy (11m 34s):

That's what I wear every day.

Phil (11m 36s):

That's right. So we'll get on talking about the events that you produce, but you're obviously speaking with many other people in this area of financial independence and especially geo arbitrage. Do you have any other stories of people and how they've approached this?

Amy (11m 53s):

Yeah, I would say, you know, I know a lot of people with not only on the saving side of things, but thinking about like, I, like I did, you know, looking and seeing if abroad you can earn more as well as save more both, you know, then you're really growing the gap. And so, you know, a lot of people I met in Singapore for example, you know, they're not, I met a lot of teachers and I worked at a, in an Aussie owned school actually. So I met, I worked with a lot of Kiwis and Australians that were also doing the same coming abroad to, to teach abroad. But I met, you know, people in finance, people, you know, working in commodities, lots of industries who had these nice expat contracts with housing covered and international school for their kids covered and you know, so that, I think that is a, a way to really fast track your savings and also have a, an a, an adventure in the meantime.

Phil (12m 46s):

You've geo arbitraged in Mexico, Thailand, and Bali. Do you have a favorite and what are the kind of differences?

Amy (12m 52s):

Yes, I really love all three of those countries and we found that we spent about $50 u s d each per day, you know, sharing accommodation, my Australian partner and I, but we found the quality of life in Bali in Thailand is higher than Mexico. So what that $50 bought us was nicer accommodation, nicer restaurants, more access, you know, renting, you know, more access to better transportation and going to classes and yeah, we prefer, and we also feel a little safer in Asia. I mean Mexico is perfectly safe. A lot of places in Mexico are, it kind of depends on where you are in the, the country, but we, we do like Mexico but we, we feel like in, in comparing Bali and Thailand, we feel like Bali also gets us a better quality of life a bit than Thailand.

Amy (13m 37s):

But we love both and we'll spend part of every year in Thailand as well.

Phil (13m 45s):

A lot of people from like us who live in really privileged first world countries worry about going to places like this and especially things like healthcare. How does, how do you deal with that?

Amy (13m 57s):

I have a plan with Cigna and it's a plan out of Thailand, Cigna, Thailand. But I feel confident, you know, with a large company like Cigna International Company, you know, it's about 125 U s D per month. So

Phil (14m 10s):

Is is this insurance, is it

Amy (14m 12s):

It is. It is insurance, yeah. It will cover me. It doesn't cover me for small visits. It, you know, has a higher deductible. But really what my concern is is you know, a motorcycle accident, you know, cancer or something major like that. So it will cover me for anything catastrophic. And then, you know, as far as you know, smaller visits, doctor's office, my annual visits every year I do that. I go to Thailand and do that. I feel like in Thailand I get better medical care than I do in Bali.

Phil (14m 41s):

They've got great medical care in Thailand haven't they? Yes. Yeah.

Amy (14m 43s):

Amazing. Amazing Singapore as well. Yeah, you know, I do, I do.

Phil (14m 47s):

And dental as well. Yeah,

Amy (14m 48s):

I do my dental, I do, I do the smaller things in Bali, but I like to go to Thailand every January cuz it's rainy season in Bali so I go there and just do my annual visits. Yeah. And yeah, ultimately I feel like my partner and I will, when we're older we will settle in Australia. So you know, we will have some coverage there.

Phil (15m 8s):

So who is J L Collins and what is the simple path of investing in US index funds and what influence did it have on you?

Amy (15m 16s):

That book? Yeah. Was was a great book. I mean JL Collins has been in the finance industry for multiple decades. He really tried to stock pick and beat the stock market and he found that really just doing broad base low cost index funds was a lot easier. And you know, often the psychology of the stock market, you know, I know personally a a lot of people and myself included is like greed and fear can get me like when, when the stock market's rising then the greed kicks in and I wanna buy and then when it's falling, you know, fear kicks in and I wanna sell. And so, you know, even though, you know, I know better and a lot of people know better in intuitively, we, we are ruled by those emotions.

Amy (15m 57s):

And so he found that really, you know, a set it and forget it kind of index fund works well by, you know, he says buy the total stock market index fund, buy it often and just leave it for decades and don't worry about the ups and downs of the market. And for me that's worked really well. I don't wanna read quarterly reports and you know, try to keep up with stock picking. I know my partner's done, you know, some stock picking in the past and he's interested in that to a certain degree. But I feel like you can get, you know, there's also something nice about the diversity of, you know, my total stock market index fund has 3,500 companies and there's, there's nice, it's nice to have that diversity. Hmm. So I love that book.

Amy (16m 38s):

Yeah.

Phil (16m 38s):

At what age did that influence you and is that what you started investing in when you were saving all this money?

Amy (16m 44s):

No, I, I found that book once I found the fire movement in 2019 when I was left Bali, I went back to Bangkok to work and I wasn't very happy there and I found the fire movement and that book was probably the most, one of the most popular books within the fire movement. Also when I was a, you know, younger, I was reading about low cost index funds and so I was investing in, you know, funds that are designed based on a target retirement date. Mm. And I did a lot of that, which I don't like that quite as much cuz I like to be able to, to sell whatever's high. You know, if if stocks are down then I'll sell my bonds or, so I, I, you know, that kind of lumps it all together and you have to sell just, you know, the shares and that index that is designed for a target retirement date.

Amy (17m 28s):

It's, it's the easiest option. But now I, I do, you know, a total bond ar market and then I do a total stock market and that way I can kind of sell what I choose what I want to sell.

Phil (17m 38s):

Yeah, so it simplifies your investing as well, I guess, doesn't it? You don't have to think about it, you can just just keep adding to it as you, as you can or drawing down as you as you need.

Amy (17m 48s):

Yes. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

Phil (17m 50s):

So now that you're engaged to an Aussie, so you're engaged, you're not Yes. You, you said you, you've been together for a long time though, have you, and then finally decided to do it officially?

Amy (17m 58s):

Yes, five years and both of us have never been married,

Phil (18m 2s):

So

Amy (18m 3s):

I'm 46 and he's, you know, in his early fifties. So this is a, yeah, it's quite a big decision. Yeah.

Phil (18m 9s):

And so you've been learning about the Australian share market, haven't you? Because of obviously he's influencing you about this.

Amy (18m 16s):

Yes, a bit. I mean, I'm still learning, but he, he sold his property. He bought a property and had it in Brisbane for 25 years and got tired of managing it internationally. So he sold it recently. So he came into a bit of money that we've been looking at how to invest it. So we are, we're also, you know, he has individual stocks in Australia and he's pretty heavily invested in Australian stocks. So we are gonna do some index funds just to balance out the portfolio and, you know, probably just do the Vanguard Australian Share Index b a s and some of the, the vts you know, some, a little bit of the US Total Start market shares index and maybe some of the global market index. But you know, again, it's still even those global market Index, it's pretty heavily US based.

Amy (18m 59s):

So we might do a little bit of emerging markets and emerging markets index or something like that. But yeah, we're trying to figure out at this point, like how do we reinvest that money and we want it to be more passive and not have to worry about it too much or not look at it too often. Yeah,

Phil (19m 13s):

It's incredible, isn't it, the number of different styles of index funds that you can get like, and get a total US s and p 500 index and then you can get another one, which is everything in the world apart from the us So you, it's so easy to diversify across different regions, isn't it nowadays?

Amy (19m 29s):

Yes, yes. Yeah. And I, what I like about, you know, the index funds is, you know, I know in the past at least, like I will get analysis paralysis trying to figure out what's the, you know, and I'll keep my, and I've done this before where I've kept my money out in a bank account, you know, and not earning anything. And I feel like mostly, you know, I'm losing money by not investing it and just trying to, you know, an overanalyzing it. So I feel like it's good to just put it in and trust that over decades it's gonna go up.

Phil (19m 58s):

Okay. Well let's talk about the Balinese Fire Freedom retreats that you run. How, how many have you done so far?

Amy (20m 6s):

This is my first one. Oh, this

Phil (20m 8s):

Is the first one. Okay.

Amy (20m 9s):

I'm super excited. Yeah, I heard, you know, I was teaching during the Pandemic and Thailand and I was listening, going down this fire rabbit hall, listening to all the podcasts and reading all the books and you know, learning kind of the principles of it. And I heard about all the events in the US and I thought there needs to be something on this side of the world where I've lived for the last two decades. And you know, I know there's, you know, a couple, I think there was a fin fest in Australian, Sydney last year in November, you know, a couple single day events, but not really anything multi-day, which I really feel like something special happens on the second or the third day when people gather together in a community. You know, I feel like you can, I can learn a lot on podcasts and books, but you know, when I, my dad unfortunately had a stroke and when I left Bangkok, I went, I came back to the US for nine months and was, you know, helping out.

Amy (21m 1s):

My dad and I went to six fire events multi-day, like, you know, four, three days to four day events during that time. And it was, it was magical. I mean, the community is really special. And so I had the idea in Bangkok, but really when I attended those six multi-day events, I really saw the power of community and I'm, I'm so impressed with the people. They're some of the, the smartest, most creative, most generous, supportive community I've ever met. They got on my

Phil (21m 31s):

Resourceful, resourceful, resourceful.

Amy (21m 32s):

They got on my spreadsheets, they logged into my Vanguard account, they looked at my asset allocations, people just giving their time for free, you know, one woman as a, a nurse practitioner, a healthcare expert, you know, met me on Zoom for free just to talk about healthcare. People are so generous and I was inspired by that. And so I really, I really believe in the power of community and you know, the speakers are great, but the, all the conversations I had with the other participants, it's a really money savvy group. You know, people who had worked on Wall Street, people who are very knowledgeable, you know, I learned just as much from the other participants as I did from the speakers. So I was excited to come back to Bali and create an event there.

Phil (22m 12s):

And what, what do you talk about at these events? I mean, you're talking about investing, but obviously people are gonna be talking about their own financial independence journeys and some of the tools that they use. Give some examples.

Amy (22m 24s):

Yeah, I mean, people talk about real estate, they talk about, you know, index investing. We don't have, like, it's not big onto crypto, you know, people will talk about crypto, but it's a small percentage of people's portfolio, maybe one or 2%. It's not like a crypto crowd at all. It's mostly people thinking about diversifying their portfolio and investing in things that are quite safe and have shown a lot of potential, you know, over a lot of history. A lot of people talking about living their best life and really not only their money, but how do they value their time and their energy and what really brings them happiness and how can we spend more time with family and giving back and contribution and community.

Amy (23m 5s):

So it's not a, it's not a place where you get people trying to sell to you from the stage or you get people trying to pawn some kind of product on you at all. It's really people coming together and supporting each other on their own fire journey and inspiring and motivating each other.

Phil (23m 23s):

Presumably it'd be difficult to sell anyone to a financial independence person anyway, because they're so careful with their money.

Amy (23m 29s):

Yeah. And, and it's, I mean, most people are, you know, doing the low-cost index funds, you know, with low management fees. So, you know, it's, it's kind of the boring type of investment. But, you know, and, and, and also people are talking about, you know, it's not only, you know, investing but saving and how to earn more. So a lot of people are talking about entrepreneurship, side hustles, that kind of thing.

Phil (23m 50s):

And there's a lot of people in Bali as well in the hospitality industry, aren't they, that are running restaurants and clubs and so forth.

Amy (23m 56s):

Exactly, yes, yes. Yeah, a lot of, yeah, business owners. And, and to be clear, I, I don't know if you're asking about my retreat, but most of the people coming to my retreat are not currently living in Bali and the retreats I

Phil (24m 7s):

Was going to, I was going to ask about that. The people that are coming are coming internationally, aren't they?

Amy (24m 11s):

Yes. Yeah, the retreat sold out really fast and a lot of people are coming from the us. I have sold tickets to some Australians and some Singaporean, but it's mostly people from developed countries that are coming. So I'm excited to kind of unite the Australian fire community with the US fire community and yeah, that's gonna be fun. But a lot of people wanna come to Bali and, and especially people, there's quite a few people who are already retired and they're retired early and they're very money savvy and so they've got the time and the money and so they're gonna come over for a month and, and do things before and after the event as well.

Phil (24m 47s):

So who are the speakers at the event?

Amy (24m 49s):

I've interviewed 24 speakers and all, but three of them wanna come. So I haven't confirmed them all yet because LA the last two weekends I went to two fire events in the US I went to Economy, which is an event with about 400 people. It's kind of a TEDx kind of style stage with hundreds of people in the audience, specifically related to the fire movement. But yeah, I've got Joe Salty, I coming from the Stacking Benjamin Show, he's written the book Stacked as well. And he is a, he produces multiple podcasts in the us, such a nice guy, really heart-centered community member. And then I've got Lisa Peterson who wrote Millionaire Mindset and she's got a podcast as two podcasts as well. Also a great speaker. She worked with high net worth clients, you know, financial advisor for 25 years and realized even with these high net worth clients, they, a lot of them still didn't feel safe with money.

Amy (25m 37s):

And so she deals, she knows a lot of the nuts and bolts of finance, but she also deals with mindset and our relationship to money. And a lot of the participants, that's primarily what they're interested in. I mean, they've built a pretty big nestag, most of them. So they were also interested in talking about life optimization, relationship to money, those kind of topics as well.

Phil (25m 57s):

So you are looking at opening up pla more places for people to come in and especially to encourage people from Australia to come. Yes. So what can you tell listeners who might be interested in coming to Bali for this?

Amy (26m 8s):

I will say that there is so many benefits to coming to an event like this, and I personally felt that when I went to these events, and that's why I attended six in nine months because it is an investment. I feel, you know, I've walked away from each event with a tip that has ended up saving me one, one event in California. I got a job where, you know, I'm teaching online now kids with ADHD, you know, another event. I got an idea about tax loss harvesting and tax gain harvesting, which ended up saving me money long term on my taxes. I felt inspired on my journey by the people I've met. I've gotten financial and, you know, not advice, it's not official advice, right?

Amy (26m 49s):

Tips from people who know more about money than I do. And so I feel it's an investment, not only hearing the speakers, but connecting to the immunity, building lifelong friendships. For me it's, yeah, I love these kind of events and that's why I'm so excited to create one in my own home. And then we're gonna be having adventures together in Bali. We're gonna, you know, go do fun things around the country. People, a lot of people are sticking around afterwards. There's really an opportunity to build friendships and unite the fire community internationally.

Phil (27m 21s):

So how can listeners find out more?

Amy (27m 22s):

They can go to fifreedomretreats.com.

Phil (27m 26s):

How, how do you, How do you spell that? Yeah,

Amy (27m 28s):

So FI stands for Financial Independence, so Fi Freedom, and then retreats with an s.com. And again, it is sold out, but I have held a few places for Australians because I've got a, the American spot sold out really quick and I wanted to have some more, some more spots for Australians. And if your listeners would like to go to my contact page, they can sell up, sign up for the mailing list, and then they can be the first to know when those spots open up. I will prioritize Australians. I do have a lot of Americans on the wait list, but I will prioritize it. I feel like, you know, it will be a much more diverse and rich conversation to have a really truly international audience there.

Amy (28m 10s):

And, you know, I will be having an event in 2024 as well. So I'm, I'm very excited about that too.

Phil (28m 17s):

And, and this is in Ubud, isn't it?

Amy (28m 19s):

It is, yes. Yeah, that's where I live. So it's, you know, I'm so excited to, to showcase my home. And I came to, you know, I know a lot of your listeners have been to Bali already, and I, I've been to Bali dozens of times having lived in Singapore for many years. But there's something special about living there and something I never saw as a tourist. So I'm, I'm happy to show listeners and participants, you know, another side of Bali that they may not have seen.

4 (28m 46s):

Amy Minkley, thanks very much for joining me.

Amy (28m 48s):

Thank you, Phil. Thank you for having me. And thank you for, you know, expanding financial literacy to your audience and what you're creating in the world.

Chloe (28m 55s):

Thanks for listening to Shares for Beginners. You can find more@sharesforbeginners.com. If you enjoy listening, please take a moment to rate or review in your podcast player, or tell a friend who might want to learn more about investing for their future.

Any advice in this blog post is general financial advice only and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Because of that, you should consider if the advice is appropriate to you and your needs before acting on the information. If you do choose to buy a financial product read the PDS and TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored to your needs. Finpods Pty Ltd & Philip Muscatello are authorised representatives of MoneySherpa Pty Ltd which holds financial services licence 451289. Here's a link to our Financial Services Guide.