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ChooseFI | Financial Independence Podcast

Playing With FIRE | Documentary | Scott Rieckens

ChooseFI | Financial Independence Podcast

Jonathan Mendonsa & Brad Barrett | Choose FI Media, Inc

Careers, Business, Investing

4.85.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 August 2017

⏱️ 64 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Scott Rickins didn't stumble into financial independence because he was broke—he found it while earning six figures, living in a California beach town, and working with brands like Facebook and Microsoft. His problem wasn't a lack of income; it was that more money kept leading to more spending without any additional happiness. Scott Rickins, founder of 99Bravo Productions, shares his journey toward financial independence after discovering the FI community and deciding to document it through Playing with Fire, a feature-length documentary. After years of lifestyle creep—earning more but spending proportionally more without gaining fulfillment—Scott and his family reached a breaking point. Instead of continuing the cycle, they committed to radical changes, including exploring geo-arbitrage and aligning their spending with what genuinely made them happy rather than what signaled success. The episode traces Scott's path from initial discontent through his discovery of resources like Mr. Money Mustache, his family's decision-making process around potentially relocating to reduce expenses, and the choice to set aside a year to produce a film illuminating the often-hidden stealth wealth community pursuing FI. Key Topics: [00:00:00] Introduction of Scott Rickins [00:04:29] Scott's Background and Journey to FI — Growing discontent with lifestyle despite success and recognition of how lifestyle creep was impacting happiness [00:09:16] Discussion of Lifestyle Creep — How increased income led to higher living expenses without greater fulfillment [00:23:10] Framing Financial Independence as Happiness — Finding what truly makes you happy and aligning finances accordingly [00:30:10] The Decision to Move and Geo-Arbitrage — Exploring geo-arbitrage to reduce costs and enhance savings [01:03:41] Conclusion and Future Plans — Documentary progress and community involvement Key Takeaways: Identify core values to align spending; focus on experiences that foster happiness rather than consumerism [00:26:02] Consider geo-arbitrage strategies to significantly lower living expenses and increase wealth-building potential [00:30:10] Engage with communities focused on financial independence for support and shared insights [00:20:28] Notable Quotes: "We're gonna go out and play with fire." [00:55:44] "How many people would be less angry if they learned about FI in school?" [00:50:50] "You don't know what you don't know until you do." [00:52:18] "One idea can change the world." [01:01:18] Resources: Playing with Fire Documentary [00:02:04] Mr. Money Mustache Blog [00:50:50] Terminology: FI: Financial Independence, the state of having enough income to cover expenses without actively working [00:24:00] Lifestyle Creep: The tendency for people to increase their spending as their income rises [00:09:16] Geo-arbitrage: Living in a location with a lower cost of living to maximize income and savings [00:30:10] Action Items: Create a list of what makes you happy and align your spending with those items [00:26:02] Research lower-cost locations for potential moves to maximize savings [00:30:08] Engage in community discussions about financial independence and share experiences [00:20:00]

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to the show guys. Today we have a very special episode planned. We have Scott Rickens with us today.

0:04.5

Now Scott has spent the last decade leading teams on everything from creative concept to brand strategy and production.

0:11.0

He is the founder of 99 Bravo Productions, which is based out of San Diego, California.

0:15.9

His work over the past decade has generated literally millions of views, two Emmy nominations and countless other awards.

0:22.4

Most notably, he directed the documentary, Invinne to nowhere, aiming to dispel mythical attacks on America's intellectual property landscape.

0:30.2

Scott's been trusted by some of the biggest brands in the world, including Facebook, NBC, Taylor Gattars, Fox, Microsoft, and Wired Magazine.

0:37.8

I gotta say that even in a vacuum, this would be very impressive.

0:41.0

But this is wonderful for us and wonderful for the five community, because Scott is actually setting aside the next year of his life to focus on producing plane with fire.

0:50.0

A documentary that uncovers the growing community of frugalist, mustashians, and valuist choosing a path to financial independence and early retirement.

0:58.4

And I'm gonna plug this right now. If you want to learn more about this project and his work, you can go to planewithfire.co, planewithfire.co.

1:08.2

And you can get all the latest updates. He initially reached out to us several months ago to let us know that this is a project that he was interested in looking into.

1:16.4

And we have done everything that we could to support that process.

1:20.2

And as a result of that, we wanted to bring him back on the show today and give you a behind the scenes look at his entire journey.

1:27.6

How he found fire, how he found the rabbit hole where he's coming from and where he's going with this.

1:33.0

So this is a very personal intimate look at what this journey is actually gonna look like for him.

1:38.4

And also, as this is going to directly affect us, because fire has never had a documentary, although it's shocking to say,

1:45.2

this stealth wealth community is finally going to get its airtime on a mainstream format that cannot be ignored.

1:52.2

And it's very cool to be able to be behind the scenes on this and get a chance to watch it as it grows.

1:58.3

Without any further ado, welcome to the ChooseFi radio podcast.

2:03.8

Your listening to ChooseFi radio.

2:08.5

The blueprint for financial independence lives here.

2:15.1

If you're looking to unlock the secrets to financial independence and early retirement, you're in the right place.

...

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