The Proven Path to Financial Independence in Your 40s

BiggerPockets Money Podcast

BiggerPockets

Investing, Education, Business

4.6 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 17 June 2025

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this episode of the BiggerPockets Money Podcast, hosts Mindy Jensen and Scott Trench sit down with Dave Fleischer, a teacher who's proving that you don't need a six-figure salary to achieve financial independence. If you've ever felt discouraged because your FI number seems impossibly high or your current salary feels too small to build real wealth, this episode will completely shift your perspective by showing that financial independence isn't about how much you make, but how strategically you manage what you have. Whether you're a teacher, earn a median income, or simply want to see how creative financial planning can accelerate your journey to freedom, you'll discover actionable strategies that work regardless of your income level and prove that YOU can follow this simple path to achieve financial freedom too. In this episode, you'll learn: How Dave and his wife became net worth millionaires at 39 years old. Can one move change your life? Living below your means is key to building wealth. If you can downsize your lifestyle, it is a cheat code. And SO Much More! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	What do you do when you realize your dream home has become your financial nightmare?
0:05.4	Today's guest thought they had it all figured out. But when they crunch the numbers, they
0:09.2	discovered that they were actually broke. That wake-up call sparked a complete financial transformation
0:14.6	that took them from lifestyle creep, victim, to financially independent in just 10 years.
0:20.6	Today, we're breaking down exactly how they did it, the brutal honesty, the tough decisions,
0:25.7	and the strategies that changed everything.
0:28.2	Let's jump into their story.
0:33.6	Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the Bigger Pockets Money podcast.
0:37.0	My name is Mindy Jensen, and with me as always is my passionate about financial education co-host, Scott Trench.
0:43.0	Thanks, Mindy.
0:43.5	Great to be here and looking forward to getting schooled on how to achieve early financial independence.
0:48.3	Hey, well, it was close enough by Mr. Dave Fleischer here.
0:51.5	We have a goal of creating one million millionaires. You're in the right place if you want to get your financial house in order because we truly believe financial freedom is attainable for everyone, no matter when or where you're starting. We are so excited to be joined by Dave Fleischer on today's episode, host of the financially independent teachers. We're going to talk to him about his own lead-up to achieving FI and how if you're a teacher or a median income earner,
1:11.8	there are options out there for you as well. Welcome, Dave. Thank you guys so much for having
1:16.4	me on the show. Dave, what are you teaching in, and what grade are you in? I am teaching a mixture
1:22.9	of ninth grade through 10th graders, and it's a state required in North Carolina economics and
1:28.2	personal finance class. Don't know if you've ever heard of IB International Baccalaureate.
1:33.3	I also teach IB Theory of Knowledge as well, and I think next year I'm teaching AP microeconomics.
1:39.5	So I've been teaching 19 years all at the same high school, started right out of college. And it's been a lot of
1:46.0	fun to see the movement of personal finance kind of shifting throughout the country. I believe over
1:51.9	25 states now require for graduation a personal finance course. And I feel lucky every day to be
1:58.5	somebody who gets to teach it. I don't even feel like I work.
	...

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