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Afford Anything | Make Smart Money Choices

How We Slashed Our Costs 70 Percent and Gained Happiness -- with Scott Rieckens

Afford Anything | Make Smart Money Choices

Paula Pant | Cumulus Podcast Network

Entrepreneurship, Investing, Business

4.73.6K Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2018

⏱️ 71 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

#131: Scott Rieckens and his wife Taylor enjoyed a classic Southern California lifestyle. They lived near a gorgeous beach in sunny San Diego. They frequently dined at sushi restaurants. They drove a BMW. But after the birth of their daughter, everything changed. Taylor, an intelligent, career-driven, independent woman, suddenly didn't want to spend any time away from her new baby girl. And Scott had no idea what to do. Their luxury lifestyle depended on dual incomes. At first, he tried to come up with a million-dollar idea. If he could just create a wildly successful business, he thought, he could fix this problem. He started binge-listening to podcasts, trying to figure out how to pull in seven figures, fast. Then he discovered the financial independence movement. And suddenly everything made a lot more sense. Scott realized that if they gave up their consumption habits -- if they moved to an area with a lower cost-of-living, drove less expensive vehicles, or maybe even lived in an RV for awhile -- they could enjoy the life they wanted. They could trade luxury labels for time-freedom. He crunched a few numbers and realized that they could reduce their spending by 70 percent. But it would require HUGE changes, including an out-of-state move. He wondered how to suggest this idea to his wife. ______ What did Scott say? How did Taylor come on-board? And (spoiler alert!) ... how did they get so enthusiastic about financial independence that they decided to create a documentary about their journey into this lifestyle? Find out in today's episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

You can afford anything but not everything.

0:11.4

Every decision that you make comes with a cost.

0:14.9

Everything has a trade-off.

0:16.2

And so the question is, what's most important to you?

0:19.8

And that question applies to every arena of your life.

0:22.6

Your money, your time, your energy, anything that you have that's a scarce or a limited

0:28.0

resource.

0:29.3

Now figuring out how to answer this question in a way that's wise is really a lifetime practice

0:36.1

and often there's a lot of screw ups along the way.

0:39.4

This podcast is here to help you figure that out.

0:42.0

My name is Paula Pan.

0:43.0

I'm the host of the Afford Anything Podcast.

0:45.8

And today I'd like to tell you a little story about a couple named Scott and Taylor.

0:50.8

Once upon a time, a few years ago, Scott and Taylor lived a charmed, beautiful, very

0:55.9

enviable Southern California lifestyle.

0:58.4

They lived on a gorgeous beach in San Diego.

1:01.1

They dined at sushi restaurants.

1:02.9

They owned a BMW.

1:04.5

They had that perfect life.

1:06.8

And that might have gone on indefinitely were it not for one major change.

1:12.0

They had a baby.

1:13.4

And when that happened, Taylor suddenly, her priority shifted.

...

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