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You are here: Home / Case Studies / Case Study #15: The Scavenger Life — Freedom first, then Financial Independence

Case Study #15: The Scavenger Life — Freedom first, then Financial Independence

by jlcollinsnh 37 Comments

Jay and Ryanne

“I can’t believe that I got a college education just so I could end up selling old shoes on the internet.”

Over the past five years of writing this blog – thru the comments, reader meet-ups and the Chautauquas – I’ve had the opportunity to get to know jlcollinsnh readers pretty well. While not universal, there is a typical path that most are following.

It looks a bit like this:

Working — eliminating any debt — aggressively saving — investing — F-you Money — (Freedom!) — Financial Independence — doing what ever the hell you want

But, of course, this isn’t the only path. Especially if we realize freedom is the goal and money is only a tool. You don’t need a million dollars to have the freedom to do nothing, although it doesn’t hurt. You need the right mindset.

Time out for some definitions, and these are not universal but what I mean when I use the terms:

F-you Money: Enough money that you can go without working for some period of time. Enough to embolden you to make more aggressive choices. But not enough to never have to work for money again.

Financial Independence (FI): Having enough money invested that using the 4% rule you can comfortably pay all your bills. Enough to never have to work for money again.

Today I want to introduce you to Ryanne and Jay. Their path kinda looks like this:

Work — work? — screw this! — freelance — plus alternative business eBay — plus alternative business Real Estate — still hard work, but… — (Freedom!) — travel when we want — save — invest — accumulate F-you money – reach FI – do what ever the hell you want — oh, wait, we already are…

Ryanne and Jay produce the weekly podcast ScavengerLife, about quitting their jobs, moving to the country, making a living on eBay by living off the waste of the United States.

Using their eBay profits from the last six years, they have fixed up two houses, one for living, one for…

1airbnb farmhouse rental

…their Airbnb rental:­ LurayModern.com

They also document how they run their Airbnb business at ShampooAndBooze.

They’ve just purchased their third house, soon to be another Airbnb rental­ all from selling weird, unique stuff to strangers on the internet.

I met them a few weeks back when I noticed a flow of traffic coming here from their site.

Checking it out I found they had referenced my F-you Money post in one of their podcasts. I listened to the entire thing and was immediately captivated. Not just by their cool and engaging story, but also by their cool and engaging way of telling it.

I listened to a few more. Then I called and left them a voicemail.

I said, Thanks for the link and mention on your podcast. While I have zero personal interest in starting an eBay business or investing in Real Estate (been there, done that) I still loved listening to you guys talk about your experience.

Then they called back and said, We love your stuff too even though we are not (yet) investing in stock index funds.

Then I’m all like, You guys should do a guest post for me.

Then they’re all like, We should interview you on our Podcast. (which we did and is coming)

Then I’m all like, Wow that was great fun but while you were asking me questions I kept thinking about all the questions I wanted to ask you guys! Too bad I don’t have a Podcast.

Then they’re all like, Well we have one and we can record, edit and host it on ours.

Then I’m all like, That’s great and then I can link to it when I put up your guest post. It will be my first ever Podcast where I get to ask the questions!

And then, here we are.

And here it is:

My Podcast interview with Ryanne and Jay

So you can either listen first and then read what they wrote for us below. Or read first and then listen to what other tidbits I teased out of them.

Scavenger Life Guest Post

by Ryanne and Jay

Jay: 

Who are we? We’re arty tech nerds.

We’ve lived and worked in Boston, NYC and SF. At first we had full-time jobs, both in television production, but then worked freelance for about four years. We made good money and could have made a lot more in the future.

We decided to get out at 26 and 32.

Ryanne: 

I grew up with parents who were independent workers.

My mom is an artist, craftsperson. My dad is a carpenter, contractor. They never had office jobs my whole life. My siblings and I were always toted around to craft-shows and house painting jobs.

This helped inform our decisions to become very independent. We also had a buffer of saved money from our office jobs, that helped a bit.

Jay: 

We wanted our time because I learned that I couldn’t work full-time for someone else.

I looked over at the guy in his 50s doing what I did. He was happy enough, but I couldn’t see that for myself.

Though we loved freelancing because of the freedom of our time, we hated the stress and struggle of hustling for work. Usually we’d take on too many jobs because we were always worried work would dry up.

4tech job

Freelance

Ryanne: 

Living in urban areas, we realized that our most expensive cost was rent (and that was 2005­-2007 in NYC and SF, it’s gotten much worse since then).

For one year, we bartered with a friend who owned an apartment in an intentional community. We lived there for one year in exchange for DIY fixing up the apartment­ painting, replacing windows, redoing the kitchen.

In that same year, we met our friends, Mikey and Wendy (The Good Life Lab), who quit their NYC jobs and moved to a tiny town in New Mexico. They showed us that they could buy property for cheap and own their time.

Their money went a lot farther in a rural area.

Jay: 

This made a lot of sense to us so we decided to move to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and bought a foreclosure for $70k in cash.

Probably put in another $100k to add an extra building and do a total renovation. Mountains in our backyard. A river just a short walk away. Surrounded by trees. A National Park and National Forest on either side of our valley.

11930197683_4452cbf0d7_bThis is where I’ll probably die.

Ryanne: 

We bought our house in 2009 after the economy crashed.

There were a bunch of foreclosures in our area (sadly, still are), and we were unable to get a loan at the time, being first time home buyers and not having “reliable income” as freelancers. Luckily, we had both saved about $35k each from our former full time jobs, the exact amount we needed to buy this house.

It kind of worked out perfectly.

Cashing out all our savings was not intentional, but became a blessing in disguise. It helped propel our future real estate purchases because we had full equity in our primary property with no debt.

Jay: 

Too good to be true?

The rub is that there are few decent jobs in rural areas. Most of it is low paying. So property is cheap because there’s no way to make money. It’s mainly retirees with savings and local families that have survived here for generations.

And weird people like us who travel for work and sell stuff on the internet.

Ryanne: 

The beauty of rural America is that it’s possible for young people to buy property and build businesses in an affordable way.

As I write this, we have just purchased our third house, to be another vacation rental. I never would have imagined that this would be possible in Boston, NYC or SF, because frankly, it’s not possible there.

My brother lives in Manhattan, my sister in Boston. They’ll never be able to afford property there. I keep trying to convince them to move to our tiny, rural county. They laugh at us.

Jay: 

I know some folks really push for renting because of the costs of home ownership, but we wanted a home base. A place where we could keep our stuff and travel whenever we wanted.

I’ve done the numbers and we still pay way in less in property taxes/insurance than we would in rent.

Do we miss the hustle and bustle of a city? Sure. But when we crave some culture, we just take a trip to the city, eat a good meal, walk the streets, go home before the traffic and headaches. Or we’ll rent a city apartment on Airbnb for a week. All the fun of the city and none of the hassle.

Ryanne: 

We still do some freelance work in our traditional career of video production. We’re lucky in that these clients send us to jobs all around the world.

We do live in a tiny rural town, but in the last year we have traveled to Colombia, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona, New York and San Francisco. We do more traveling than most of our friends who have office jobs in the city because we have the luxury to leave whenever we want.

3amsterdam

Amsterdam

Jay: 

Being an art nerd from a working class family, my partner, Ryanne, knew we could figure it out. First, we‘re very frugal. It feels like we live in luxury, but really we ignore all the stuff that would suck our money. New cars, fancy clothes, etc.

Ryanne: 

We like to live off the waste of this country. Thrift store clothes. No car payments. Scratch and dent grocery outlets. We grow veggies in the backyard. Craigslist and estate sales furnish our houses. We never pay retail and we find the most amazing things that people are getting rid of.

Jay: 

Ryanne saw that we could scavenge incredible items for cheap from thrift stores and sell them on eBay. No big mystery, but she showed that we could do it big and make incredible money. We treated our online selling like a business, put in the hours, and suddenly felt rich.

Ryanne: 

My mom and I started dabbling on eBay in 1999.

A friend of mine in college was obsessed with buying and selling Ninja Turtles online (I know, not the greatest investment). And I started selling some vintage film cameras, LPs and stereo equipment on eBay for extra cash. My mom started selling antiques and china.

Then, when I met Jay and moved from Boston to NYC, I sold a bunch of my clothes and art supplies. It was just always a way to clean stuff out and make some extra cash.

2scavenging

Trunk full of Treasure

Jay: 

The United States is so full of stuff, abundance, and waste that there’s just treasure lying around everywhere. Thrift stores, auctions, flea markets, yard sales. Hell, some folks just go to Target and buy the clearance items and resell those online for a profit. The US is bleeding treasure. It’s like finding $50 bills just lying on the ground.

Ryanne: 

When the economy crashed, we had been primarily making videos for NonProfits in DC. This work dried up at that time.

We happened to be shopping at our local thrift store in 2008, when I spotted a vintage 1980s Members Only jacket and thought ‘Some hipster in Brooklyn would totally buy that’. So we put a bunch of vintage clothes, which are pennies and in massive quantity here, on eBay.

Lo and behold, a hipster in Brooklyn actually did buy that jacket and our eBay business was born.

Jay: 

We also realized we could buy property using our eBay profits. Now we own an Airbnb rental (come stay! LurayModern.com) and are now renovating a second house for another vacation rental. We realized we loved renovating houses and providing hospitality. It’s fun.

Ryanne: 

We are total gluttons for punishment when it comes to houses.

We bought our house and did a total gut, added a second building for eBay storage and an office. That took 2 years and every penny we made at that time (plus blood, sweat and tears of course).

We finished in January 2011, took a short breath, then bought an 1850s solid brick farmhouse in September 2011 for renovation and eventual Airbnb rental.

This was a much more ambitious project, it took 3.5 years and every penny we made in that time as well. We started renting in February 2015 and it’s been so successful (profitable and fun!), that, again, we took a short breath and bought another house a couple weeks ago.

5keys to new rental house

Keys to still another house

Jay:

Yes, we’re making good money but that’s not the best part.

We wake up with no alarm clocks.

Seriously this is my favorite aspect of this life. I wake up and it’s always Saturday. No one tells us what to do each day. Our online store keeps selling no matter what we’re doing. People are renting our farmhouse.

This means we can follow our interests day to day while keeping on eye “Business” on our phones.

Make no mistake: we work hard but it doesn’t feel like work. Plus, we take a couple big trips every year. We’ve gone to live in Amsterdam the past couple years for 3­-4 weeks at a time. We just book an Airbnb apartment and set up a new temporary home while exploring a city we love.

Ryanne: 

I have to disagree with Jay that this doesn’t feel like work. It’s just a different kind of work than an office or a ‘grin and bear it’ freelance client.

The level of stress is much lower and the rewards of running your own business are so much greater than working for others. Hard to quantify, but sometimes when we’re traveling and working for clients, I can’t wait to get home to our much less stressful work.

Cleaning the farmhouse for renters and shipping eBay items to customers can make you tired, but there is a zen to these things that you just can’t get at an office.

Jay: 

It’s true that video clients still hire us and fly us around the world. But we now have the F-­You money to pick and choose the jobs we want. As Jim says, F-­You money gives you leverage.

Employers/clients know this and it makes us even more valuable.

I think we often get hired because we bring a calm to our work that rarely exists in environments where workers feel trapped and stressed. We’re there because we want to be, not because we have to be.

Ryanne: 

Obviously, we choose the jobs where we get to go to cool places! This year includes Dublin, Seattle, New Orleans and San Francisco (twice!). Not a bad side gig.

Jay: 

I know many here throw their money into index funds and bank on the dividends for their early retirement. That’s sounds awesome. If we have even more extra money one day, maybe we’ll try it.

For now, we’re investing all our profits locally in the community. Makes us feel safer that we can see our money at work. We’ve even thought about buying a commercial building on Main Street to help revitalize an area sucked dry of business by the Walmart on the edge of town.

It’s an open playbook. We’re making it up as we go along.

Ryanne: 

Right, that’s the next big step after getting our rentals going, to try to improve the area for the people renting our places and visiting the area.

We feel that rural America has a lot to offer young people struggling to make it in the cities. It’s like the wild west, ripe for experimentation and success.

Forget paying $3000+ a month for an apartment in the city. Pay a fraction of that and buy a house with land and start a business.

Jay: 

Yeah, maybe others might come join us. We have programmer friends who could code from anywhere. They just need an internet connection and coffee. Who knows.

Ryanne: 

I hope so.

 

jlcollinsnh Notes:

I love this story! So many cool concepts from it jumped out at me:

“…money went a lot farther in a rural area.”

“…when we crave some culture, we just take a trip to the city, eat a good meal, walk the streets…rent a city apartment on Airbnb for a week. All the fun…none of the hassle.”

“We do more traveling than most…because we have the luxury to leave whenever we want.”

“…we live in luxury, but…ignore all the stuff that would suck our money. New cars, fancy clothes…”

“We like to live off the waste of this country.”

“The US is bleeding treasure. It’s like finding $50 bills just lying on the ground.”

“…my favorite aspect of this life. I wake up and it’s always Saturday.”

“Make no mistake: We work hard but it doesn’t feel like work.”

“Cleaning the farmhouse for renters…shipping eBay items…there is a zen to these things…”

“…we often get hired because we bring a calm to our work…”

“…rural America has a lot to offer young people struggling to make it in the cities. It’s like the wild west, ripe for experimentation and success.”

If freedom is the goal, you can start way before you are financially independent. Thanks, Jay and Ryanne, for showing us your way!

Do you have questions for Ryanne and Jay I didn’t think to ask? Ask away in the comments below!

Addendum I:

My first ever Podcast where I get to ask the questions! My Podcast interview with Ryanne and Jay

Addendum II:

Want to check out their eBay store? Ryanne’s Valley Vintage

Addendum III:

Here is Jay’s Podcast interview of me:  How scavengers can achieve financial independence

 

Past Post Update, January 20, 2016:

Last October I did a post on: Stockchoker.com

Todd just added two cool new features:

  • Stock Wars: A tool that allows you to compare the performance of two stocks and/or funds.
  • Quizzes: I took both. I’m a “goat” in the first and a “coyote” in the second. You can do better. I dare ya!

Related

Important Resources

  • Talent Stacker is a resource that I learned about through my work with Jonathan and Brad at ChooseFI, and first heard about Salesforce as a career option in an episode where we featured Bradley Rice on the Podcast. In that episode, Bradley shared how he reached FI quickly thanks to his huge paychecks and discipline in keeping his expenses low. Jonathan teamed up with Bradley to build Talent Stacker, and they have helped more than 1,000 students from all walks of life complete the program and land jobs like clockwork, earning double or even triple their old salaries using a Salesforce certification to break into a no-code tech career.
  • Credit Cards are like chain saws. Incredibly useful. Incredibly dangerous. Resolve to pay in full each month and never carry a balance. Do that and they can be great tools. Here are some of the very best for travel hacking, cash back and small business rewards.
  • Personal Capital is a free tool to manage and evaluate your investments. With great visuals you can track your net worth, asset allocation, and portfolio performance, including costs. At a glance you'll see what's working and what you might want to change. Here's my full review.
  • Betterment is my recommendation for hands-off investors who prefer a DIFM (Do It For Me) approach. It is also a great tool for reaching short-term savings goals. Here is my Betterment Review
  • NewRetirement offers cool tools to help guide you in answering the question: Do I have enough money to retire? And getting started is free. Sign up and you will be offered two paths into their retirement planner. I was also on their podcast and you can check that out here:Video version, Podcast version.
  • Tuft & Needle (T&N) helps me sleep at night. They are a very cool company with a great product. Here’s my review of what we are currently sleeping on: Our Walnut Frame and Mint Mattress.
  • Vanguard.com

Filed Under: Case Studies, Guest Posts

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Comments

  1. Fervent Finance says

    January 19, 2016 at 8:55 am

    Awesome story! Who takes care of the Airbnb when you’re out of town? I’m currently living in Manhattan. While I share an apartment with roommates which helps cut down on rent and utilities, it’s still pretty expensive. My next plan is to try for some geographic arbitrage and make NYC money in a rural area. Wish me luck.

    Reply
    • Jay Dedman says

      January 19, 2016 at 9:40 am

      We’ve developed a network of trusted people in our area. We have one friend who takes care of our rental while we travel. While we’re gone, he gets 20% of the profit in return for cleaning, checking in guests, and being on call for any problems. We still handle bookings on our phone wherever we are. We’ll be in Amsterdam and just WhatsApp with him to coordinate in real time.

      If you can imagine living outside a big urban area, geographic arbitrage can be one of the biggest ways to increase wealth. There were two problems to solve for us: how to make money + how to feel connected to the “world” as we knew it. Jim does a good job explaining how we solved these problems for us.

      In 2004, we were paying $1300 for a one bedroom apartment on 147th/Amsterdam (good deal!). We now pay about $1500/month total for the loan on our two income generating rentals.

      Reply
  2. SavvyFinancialLatina says

    January 19, 2016 at 9:54 am

    Great inspirational story! I have dreams of exciting the rat race. It’s just not worth it. My challenge is that the work is not inspirational and I work with people who are either idiots in suits making decision or grumpy because they hate their lives.

    Reply
    • Jay Dedman says

      January 19, 2016 at 8:55 pm

      That’s exactly how we felt. No matter how much we were paid, it wasn’t worth the soul crushing in a job we hated. That being said, some people actually like their jobs! We just realized we had to find out own way.

      Reply
  3. Kevin says

    January 19, 2016 at 6:50 pm

    I really enjoyed both this write up and the podcast.

    I generally prefer to read things rather than listen to them, but Jim… you have a talent for investigative journalism and I got to hear the radio-ready voice that some of the former Chatauqua attendees had mentioned. It is a good format for you.

    Ryanne and Jay… I had stumbled across your site about six weeks ago and have been reading and listening to quite a number of your recent podcasts. Your “answer to only yourself” business approach, obvious chemistry as a couple, and the nuts and bolts of your business are all fun to hear about, but this was great for getting to know you better without the benefit of the first 200 episodes.

    I am one of Jim’s readers who is starting to ask the “enough” question, and your approach has some really cool traits in that situation.

    1)It seems very autonomous

    2) There is a treasure hunting aspect that seems fun

    3) It seems completely scalable as needs dictate… at least if you are looking for something in the range of 10-60k, and probably much more if you wanted to start automating and delegating your processes.

    When the 4% rule seems scary, an extra 15-20k per year seems really attractive.

    I think for me, the ability to specify the shipment time with Amazon FBA outweighs the ability to make huge scores on funky collectibles on ebay, but I have a bit more of the engineer in me than the poet. 🙂

    In any case you guys are cool people and your story was a great addition to the blog and a bit different from the everyday finance stuff while on the same theme.

    Thanks for sharing what you do.

    Reply
    • Jay Dedman says

      January 19, 2016 at 9:00 pm

      I really like folks who are committed and disciplined enough to pump all their cash into index funds, 401ks, and IRAs. We hope to one day have the extra cash to do it. You guys inspire us. As James said, we just are on a different route to the same place.

      If you love scavenging, then it doesn’t feel like work. It’s more like a hobby that pays serious money. Selling on Amazon FBA is definitely cool and extremely scalable. Just depends on the kinds of items you want to be dealing with. For the most part, Amazon is for the new stuff , and eBay is for the vintage, weird stuff.

      Reply
  4. EconoWiser says

    January 20, 2016 at 10:21 am

    And I’m all like I love my Great Uncle J.!

    Thank you so much for doing this podcast. Super inspirational couple.

    And I totally agree: you have a radio voice AND you ask the best questions.

    I’m voting for jlcollinsnh podcasts!

    Reply
    • jlcollinsnh says

      January 20, 2016 at 12:32 pm

      Ha!

      After the hard time I gave you here…

      https://jlcollinsnh.com/2016/01/07/3rd-annual-2015-louis-rukeyser-memorial-market-prediction-contest-results-and-my-forecast-for-2016/

      …I thought you’d never speak to me again. 😉

      Let alone in such kind words.

      I really enjoyed interviewing these guys and would like to do more podcasts. Who knows? 🙂

      Reply
      • EconoWiser says

        January 21, 2016 at 8:13 am

        The hubby and I love your sense of humour. We nearly peed our pants laughing so hard.
        Hope that unicorn is right this time around, or I’ll have to deal with another round of verbal flogging next year… 😉

        Reply
    • ryanne says

      January 20, 2016 at 2:48 pm

      i agree and vote for a JL Collins podcast in the future!

      Reply
  5. Nikki T. says

    January 20, 2016 at 6:33 pm

    Absolutely loved this podcast! I admire the fearless approach to life that these two have. I had to be FI before I found that kind of courage. I also like that they seem to have an immunity to the rampant materialism that imprisons many to the 9-to-5 drudgery. It just goes to show that you don’t have to be FI to achieve some freedom.

    Reply
    • jlcollinsnh says

      January 20, 2016 at 6:39 pm

      Exactly Nikki!

      And that’s what drew me to them.

      As for their “immunity to the rampant materialism” I wonder if having so much stuff pass thru their hands on the way to eBay buyers has the effect of taking the shine off owning it?

      At one point Ryanne did say they tend to furnish their own home with the things that are slightly damaged and less salable.

      I should have asked!

      Reply
      • Dollar Flipper says

        January 27, 2016 at 8:21 pm

        I can talk about this from my point of view.

        Absolutely. Every time I see something out there in the real world, I think “why the hell would I pay that much! I’ve seen that in the thrift store for so much cheaper!” My favorite example is a Chaps dress shirt that I have. I bought this pre-eBay days. Now, it’s a higher end Chaps shirt, but I wouldn’t buy one to re-sell unless it was given to me brand new with the tags! It’s just not worth it.

        It’s also helped me appreciate true value. Something that would be repaired instead of thrown out. Those are the kinds of things that I don’t mind spending money on!

        -Chris

        Reply
  6. Mrs Dollar Notes says

    January 21, 2016 at 2:32 am

    This summed up the whole post for me “If freedom is the goal, you can start way before you are financially independent”. It sounds like Ryanne and Jay have found their way to freedom although not in the traditional sense of FI. We have saved F-you money for a year now in order to be able to move permanently to the other side of the world. As our moving date is getting closer, it is cool to see how money can truly give you choices.

    Reply
    • jlcollinsnh says

      January 21, 2016 at 2:03 pm

      Kudos Mrs. DN… 🙂

      Where in the world are you headed?

      Reply
      • Mrs Dollar Notes says

        January 23, 2016 at 6:51 am

        At the moment we live in Finland (Northern Europe) and are planning to move to Australia, a big change!

        Reply
  7. Judy says

    January 21, 2016 at 11:37 pm

    Congratulations on your first podcast, Jim. It was my first podcast too. I figured if one old dog could learn to produce a podcast, another old dog could learn to listen to one. 🙂

    Reply
    • jlcollinsnh says

      January 22, 2016 at 11:43 am

      Glad to be your first, Judy…

      Hope the experience was as good for you as it was for me. 😉

      Reply
      • Judy says

        January 27, 2016 at 4:01 pm

        But of course… 🙂 🙂 🙂

        Reply
  8. Jeremiah says

    January 23, 2016 at 7:36 pm

    I’m pretty sure one of the items on their ebay sight is from my hometown of Strasburg, Virginia! Small world. I’ve been dreaming of an airbnb rental here in Montana. More motivation to do it! Thanks guys and I look forward to hearing both podcasts!

    Reply
    • Jay Dedman says

      January 27, 2016 at 3:13 pm

      We’re in the Shenandoah Valley so Strasburg is right over the mountain. If you live in a place where people come to vacation, an Airbnb rental is an awesome idea.

      Reply
  9. Dollar Flipper says

    January 26, 2016 at 3:55 pm

    I’ve been a scavenger life listener and jlcollins reader for years now. I love both!

    I do a small version where any income I get from eBay is used to maintain/improve my home. This let’s me save 50% of our regular job income!

    -Chris

    Reply
    • Jay Dedman says

      January 27, 2016 at 3:12 pm

      You’re the one who turned me onto Jim’s Stock Series. It’s a virtuous circle!

      Reply
  10. Brian says

    January 27, 2016 at 11:56 am

    I love their attitude towards work, i.e. working hard/ and smart, and that what they do is something they enjoy. They also dictate their own schedule, and dictate who they feel like working for. So they are free in many ways a typical pre FI worker is not.

    It’s inspirational to see that you can be the master of your own destiny not only in terms of making sound financial decisions (which are sort of boring when done right), but also recognizing that now is the time to start living the way you want to (that is what excites me).

    There is FI, which we are working toward, but in the mean time why not be free now?! Why not set the stage for that eventuality?

    I’d also be curious to see what sort of video work they do.

    Reply
    • Jay Dedman says

      January 27, 2016 at 3:11 pm

      You can see some of the video work we presently do here: http://ryanishungry.com
      We love documentary work, but the recording conference speakers really seems to be where the money is for us.

      Reply
      • Brian says

        January 27, 2016 at 9:56 pm

        Thanks for sharing Jay! Cool stuff, I work in video too. Always curious to see how others make it work.

        Reply
  11. Michael says

    February 5, 2016 at 10:42 am

    Great Podcast.
    I truly enjoyed it and can not believe I actually sat in one place over an hour and listen to the whole thing. Thank you
    Where can I see the podcast of you interviewing Jim?

    Reply
    • jlcollinsnh says

      February 5, 2016 at 2:32 pm

      Thanks Michael!

      The other podcast is yet to come. Soon.

      Reply
    • Jay Dedman says

      February 6, 2016 at 9:34 am

      Hey Michael. We’re working on our interview with Jim. He set the bar high.

      Reply
  12. Diane C says

    March 14, 2016 at 1:25 pm

    I love their approach and always wanted to find an alternate path to FI. My stumbling block was health insurance. Just curious since it’s not mentioned here. Is it covered in the podcast? (Happy to report I did get to FIRE eventually, but a lot later than I would have liked.)

    Reply
    • Jay Dedman says

      March 14, 2016 at 9:58 pm

      Good question. Because of the recent Affordable Care Act, we were able to find good, cheap insurance as was promised. We have both dental and medical. Just go to Healthcare.gov and plug in your info.

      Reply
  13. Jenny says

    October 1, 2017 at 8:50 am

    Interesting read. Especially because I currently work in Luray! 🙂 Was the business on Main Street ever opened?

    Reply
    • Jay Dedman says

      October 3, 2017 at 5:47 am

      The business isn’t open yet, but it’s in the works. Do you work at the National Park? (This is Jay from the interview)

      Reply
      • Jenny says

        October 3, 2017 at 11:28 am

        I actually work for Valley Health in the fitness center. Though we’re moving towards the end of the month to Williamsburg ????

        Reply
        • Jay Dedman says

          October 3, 2017 at 11:41 am

          Cool. Sorry to see you leave town. Luray needs as many forward thinking people as we can get. (Say hi to Ben at the gym for us!)

          Reply
          • Jenny says

            October 3, 2017 at 11:50 am

            Lol! I will! And I agree with the forward thinking comment. I moved here about 15 months ago from southern Florida (relationship stuff), and oh my! What a difference. But Williamsburg should offer much more opportunity. Plus, it’s closer to the water. ????

  14. Maura says

    May 27, 2020 at 4:55 pm

    Hi JL,

    I see there haven’t been any recent case studies, so perhaps you have closed that chapter of your book — but if you resume case studies at some point, would you consider doing one that covers a person at the beginning of their financial journey, or someone who is trying to set themselves up to be in a good position financially for the first time? I have read your case studies and they are super helpful but all seem to start with people who have robust savings/investments that they are trying to make…robuster. It would be great to see a case study that includes things like student loans and smaller savings accounts. Thank you!

    Maura

    Reply

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  • ► 2023 (3)
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      • When Your Country Becomes a Global Outcast
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      • A New Chapter for Chautauqua
      • Season's Greetings!!
      • Fun with numbers: Historic Stock Market Returns
    • ► October (1)
      • Let’s talk about what’s up with Bonds, and what ever else you’d like to ask me
    • ► August (1)
      • The Price of Security
    • ► July (1)
      • Case Study #17: Buying into the market right before a Bear
    • ► June (1)
      • Case Study #16: Helping dad with an inheritance
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      • Just inked a contract for my next book, and I want you to be a part of it!
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      • The Dinky Diner
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      • Chautauqua: A terrible business model
    • ► February (2)
      • Chautauqua is back for 2022!
      • JLCollinsnh.com Enters New Era
  • ► 2021 (14)
    • ► December (1)
      • Season's Greetings!!
    • ► November (2)
      • The new book is out!
      • Are bonds done?
    • ► October (1)
      • Guess what I just finally read for the first time...
    • ► September (1)
      • The negligence that led me to DIY investing
    • ► August (3)
      • Chainsaws and Credit Cards
      • Part XXXVI: Estate Planning 101 -- The Simple Path to an Estate Plan
      • The Simple Path to a Lucrative Career
    • ► July (1)
      • Help Wanted: a new book
    • ► June (1)
      • The Top 9 (Bad) Arguments Against Bitcoin
    • ► May (2)
      • Collins on Crypto
      • The Alfred Hitchcock Path to FI
    • ► April (1)
      • Time to sell?
    • ► February (1)
      • Mariah International: All that glitters…
  • ► 2020 (11)
    • ► December (1)
      • Season's Greetings!!
    • ► June (1)
      • How to give when you have a business
    • ► April (4)
      • Investing with Vanguard for Europeans: 2020 update
      • Part XVII-B: ETF vs. Mutual Fund -- What's the difference?
      • Reviewing the comments on my post of April 1st
      • Why I will no longer be writing this blog
    • ► March (4)
      • My move from VMMXX to VBTLX
      • COVID-19: The unvarnished truth from Doc G.
      • Chautauqua sits out 2020
      • Taking advantage of Mr. Bear
    • ► February (1)
      • Mr. Bear, Podcasts, a good book and why I should be in 100% stocks
  • ► 2019 (11)
    • ► November (4)
      • How we bought our new car
      • The House Hacking Strategy
      • What does buying a new car really cost over the years?
      • Why we bought a brand new car
    • ► August (1)
      • A Guided Meditation for When the Stock Market Is Dropping
    • ► June (2)
      • 7 Days in Heaven: or Why Slowing Down Will Get You There Sooner
      • Quit Like a Millionaire
    • ► March (1)
      • Stocks -- Part XXXV: Investing for Seven Generations
    • ► February (1)
      • Chautauqua 2019 - UK & Portugal - Tickets Now Available
    • ► January (2)
      • Mr. Bogle passes
      • "I wanted the unreasonable"
  • ► 2018 (16)
    • ► December (1)
      • Happy Holidays! and a bit on Mr. Market
    • ► November (3)
      • Truly Passive Real Estate Investing
      • Car Talk: An update on Steve and looking at Leafs
      • Chautauqua 2018 Greece: A week for the gods!
    • ► October (1)
      • On Twitter, gone for Chautauqua and dark on comments till November
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      • What we own and why we own it: 2018
      • Tuft & Needle: Our Walnut Frame and Mint Mattress
    • ► August (1)
      • Kibanda Part 5: Pretty, and pretty much done
    • ► June (3)
      • Stocks--Part XXXIV: How to unload your unwanted stocks and funds
      • Tracking your holdings
      • Stocks -- Part XXXIII: Optimism
    • ► May (2)
      • Kibanda Part 4: Quicksand!
      • My Talk at Google, Playing with FIRE and other Chautauqua connections
    • ► March (1)
      • Stocks -- Part XXXII: Why you should not be in the stock market
    • ► February (1)
      • Chautauqua 2018: Mt. Olympus, Greece
    • ► January (1)
      • An International Portfolio from The Escape Artist
  • ► 2017 (15)
    • ► December (2)
      • The Bond Experiment: Return to VBTLX
      • How to Invest in Bitcoin like Benjamin Graham
    • ► October (1)
      • Kibanda Part 3: Running the numbers
    • ► September (1)
      • Sleeping soundly thru a market crash: The Wasting Asset Retirement Model
    • ► August (2)
      • Stocks -- Part XXXI: Too hot. Too cold. Not pure enough.
      • Kibanda, Part 2: Negotiating the deal
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      • Time Machine and the future returns for stocks
      • Kibanda: Mr. Anti-house buys his dream house
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      • Is there an interior designer in the house?
      • The Simple Path to Wealth goes Audio!
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      • Sell! Sell!! Sell!!! Sell?
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      • Chautauqua - Ecuador 2017 open for reservations
      • Chautauqua - United Kingdom: August 2017
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      • Season's Greetings and other cool stuff
      • Angel Investing, or Angel Philanthropy?
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      • Where did you learn about money?
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      • Buy Your Freedom; Rent the Rest
      • So, what do you drive?
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      • Stocks -- Part XXX: jlcollinsnh vs. Vanguard
      • A visit to the Frugalwoods
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      • What the naysayers are missing
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      • Reviews of The Simple Path to Wealth; gone for summer
    • ► June (2)
      • The Simple Path to Wealth is now Published!
      • A peek into The Simple Path to Wealth
    • ► May (1)
      • It's better in the wind. Still.
    • ► April (3)
      • Cool things to check out while I'm gone
      • Stocks — Part XXIX: How to save money for college. Or not.
      • Help Wanted: The Book
    • ► March (1)
      • F-You Money: John Goodman v. jlcollinsnh
    • ► February (2)
      • Q&A - V: The Women of Amphissa
      • jlcollinsnh gets a new suit
    • ► January (3)
      • Chautauqua 2015 Reviews, 2016 registration open
      • Case Study #15: The Scavenger Life -- Freedom first, then Financial Independence
      • 3rd Annual (2015) Louis Rukeyser Memorial Market Prediction Contest results, and my forecast for 2016
  • ► 2015 (18)
    • ► December (2)
      • Q&A - IV: Strawberry Patch
      • Seasons Greetings! and other cool stuff
    • ► October (2)
      • Personal Capital; and how to unload your unwanted stocks and funds
      • Stockchoker: A look back at what your investment might have been
    • ► September (2)
      • Case Study #14: To Dream the Impossible Dream (and then realize it)
      • Hotel Living
    • ► August (1)
      • Mr. Market's Wild Ride
    • ► June (4)
      • Gone for Summer, an important note on comments and random cool stuff that caught my eye
      • Around the world with an Aussie Biker
      • Case Study #13: The Power of Flexibility
      • Stocks — Part VIII: The 401(k), 403(b), TSP, IRA & Roth Buckets
    • ► March (2)
      • Stocks -- Part XXVIII: Debt - The Unacceptable Burden
      • Chautauqua October 2015: Times Two!
    • ► February (2)
      • YNAB: Best Place to Work Ever?
      • Case Study #12: Escaping a soul-crushing job before you're 70
    • ► January (3)
      • Case Study #11: John, a small business owner in transition
      • Trish and Stan take an Intrepid Sailing Voyage
      • 2014 Annual Louis Rukeyser Memorial Market Prediction Contest results, and my forecast for 2015
  • ► 2014 (29)
    • ► December (2)
      • Diamonds and Happy Holidays!
      • Micro-Lending with Kiva
    • ► November (3)
      • Chautauqua February 7-14, 2015: Escape from Winter
      • Stocks -- Part XXVII: Why I Don’t Like Dollar Cost Averaging
      • Jack Bogle and the Presidential Medal of Freedom
    • ► October (3)
      • Tuft & Needle: A better path to sleep
      • Nightmare on Wall Street: Will the Blood Bath Continue?
      • Help Wanted
    • ► September (1)
      • Chautauqua 2014: Lightning strikes again!
    • ► August (2)
      • Stocks -- Part XXVI: Pulling the 4%
      • Stocks -- Part XXV: HSAs, more than just a way to pay your medical bills.
    • ► July (3)
      • Stocks -- Part XXIV: RMDs, the ugly surprise at the end of the tax-deferred rainbow
      • Summer travels, writing, reading and other amusements
      • Moto X, my new Republic Wireless Phone
    • ► June (1)
      • Stocks -- Part XXIII: Selecting your asset allocation
    • ► May (1)
      • Stocks -- Part XXII: Stepping away from REITs
    • ► April (3)
      • Q&A III: Vamos
      • Q&A II: Salamat
      • Q&A I: Gaijin Shogun
    • ► March (2)
      • Top 10 posts
      • Cafe No Se
    • ► February (4)
      • Chautauqua 2014 preview, closing up for travel and other random cool things that caught my eye of late.
      • Case Study #10: Should Josiah buy his parents a house?
      • Case Study #9: Lars -- maximizing some good fortune and considering "dollar cost averaging"
      • Case Study #8: Ron's mother - she's doin' all right!
    • ► January (4)
      • roundup: Some random cool things
      • Stocks — Part XXI: Investing with Vanguard for Europeans
      • Case Study #7: What it looks like when everything financial goes wrong
      • 1st Annual Louis Rukeyser Memorial Market Prediction Contest 2013 results, and my forecast for 2014
  • ► 2013 (41)
    • ► December (4)
      • Closing up for the Holidays, see you in 2014
      • Betterment: a simpler path to wealth
      • Case Study 6: Helping an ill and elderly parent
      • Stocks -- Part XX: Early Retirement Withdrawal Strategies and Roth Conversion Ladders from a Mad Fientist
    • ► November (3)
      • Death, Taxes, Estate Plans, Probate and Prob8
      • Case Study #5: Zero to 2.6 million in 25 years
      • Case Study #4: Using the 4% rule and asset allocations.
    • ► October (3)
      • Republic Wireless and my $19 per month phone plan
      • Case Study #3: Let's get Tom to Latin America!
      • The Stock Series gets its own page
    • ► September (2)
      • Case Study #2: Joe -- off to a fast start!
      • Chautauqua 2013: A Week of Dreams
    • ► August (1)
      • Closing up shop plus an opening at Chautauqua, my new podcast, phone, book and other random cool stuff
    • ► July (1)
      • They Will Kill You For Your Shoes!
    • ► June (4)
      • Stocks -- Part VIII-b: Should you avoid your company's 401k?
      • Shilpan's Seven Habits to Live More with Less
      • Stocks -- Part XIX: How to think about money
      • My path for my kid -- the first 10 years
    • ► May (5)
      • Why your house is a terrible investment
      • Stocks — Part XVIII: Investing in a raging bull
      • Dining with the Ghosts of Sarah Bernhardt and Alfons Mucha
      • How we finally got the house sold
      • Stocks — Part XVII: What if you can't buy VTSAX? Or even Vanguard?
    • ► April (4)
      • Greetings from Prague & a computer question
      • Swimming with Tigers, a 2nd chance on the Chautauqua, a financial article gets it wrong and I'm off to Prague
      • Storage, Moving and Movers
      • Homeless, and a bit on the strategy of dollar cost averaging
    • ► March (4)
      • Wild Turkeys, Motorcycles, Dining Room Sets & Greed
      • Roots v. Wings: considering home ownership
      • How about that stock market?!
      • The Blog has New Clothes
    • ► February (5)
      • Meet Mr. Money Mustache, JD Roth, Cheryl Reed & me for a Chautauqua in Ecuador
      • High School Poetry, Carnival, cool ads and random pictures that caught my eye
      • Consignment Shops: Best business model ever?
      • Cafes
      • Stocks -- Part XVI: Index Funds are really just for lazy people, right?
    • ► January (5)
      • Social Security: How secure and when to take it
      • Fighting giraffes, surreal landscapes, dancing with unicorns and restoring a Vanagon
      • My plan for 2013
      • VITA, income taxes and the IRS
      • How to be a stock market guru and get on MSNBC
  • ► 2012 (53)
    • ► December (6)
      • See you next year....until then: The Origin of Life, Life on Other Worlds, Mechanical Graveyards, Great Art, Alternative Lifestyles and Finding Freedom
      • Stocks -- Part XV: Target Retirement Funds, the simplest path to wealth of all
      • Stocks -- Part XIV: Deflation, the ugly escort of Depressions.
      • Stocks Part XIV: Deflation, the ugly escort of Depressions.
      • Stocks -- Part XIII: The 4% rule, withdrawal rates and how much can I spend anyway?
      • How I learned to stop worrying about the Fiscal Cliff and you can too.
    • ► November (2)
      • Rent v. owning: A couple of case studies in Ecuador
      • So, what does a month in Ecuador cost anyway?
    • ► October (4)
      • See you in December....
      • Meet me in Ecuador?
      • The Podcast: You can hear me now.
      • Stocks -- Part XII: Bonds
    • ► September (6)
      • Stocks -- Part XI: International Funds
      • The Smoother Path to Wealth
      • Case Study #I: Putting the Simple Path to Wealth into Action
      • Tales of Bolivia: Calle de las Brujas
      • Stocks -- Part X: What if Vanguard gets Nuked?
      • Travels in South America: It was the best of times....
    • ► August (1)
      • Home again
    • ► June (4)
      • Yellow Fever, closing up shop for the summer and heading to Peru y Bolivia
      • I could not have said it better myself...
      • Stocks -- Part IX: Why I don't like investment advisors
      • Happy Birthday, jlcollinsnh; and thanks for the gift Mr. MM!
    • ► May (6)
      • Stocks -- Part VIII: The 401K, 403b, TSP, IRA & Roth Buckets
      • Mr. Money Mustache
      • The College Conundrum
      • Stocks -- Part VII: Can everyone really retire a millionaire?
      • Stocks -- Part VI: Portfolio ideas to build and keep your wealth
      • Stocks -- Part V: Keeping it simple, considerations and tools
    • ► April (6)
      • Stocks -- Part IV: The Big Ugly Event, Deflation and a bit on Inflation
      • Stocks -- Part III: Most people lose money in the market.
      • Stocks -- Part II: The Market Always Goes Up
      • Stocks -- Part 1: There's a major market crash coming!!!! and Dr. Lo can't save you.
      • You can eat my Vindaloo, mega lottery, Blondie, Noa, Israel Kamakawiwo 'Ole, art, film and a ride on the Space Shuttle
      • Where in the world are you?
    • ► March (7)
      • How I lost money in real estate before it was fashionable, Part V: Sold! and the taxman cometh.
      • How I lost money in real estate before it was fashionable, Part IV: I become a Landlord.
      • How I lost money in real estate before it was fashionable, Part III: The Battle is Joined.
      • How I lost money in real estate before it was fashionable, Part II: The Limits of the Law.
      • How I lost money in real estate before it was fashionable, Part I: Impossibly Naive.
      • You, too, can be conned
      • Armageddon and the value of practical skills
    • ► February (6)
      • Rent v. Owning Your Home, opportunity cost and running some numbers
      • The Casanova Kid, a Shit Knife, a Good Book, Having No Regrets, Dark Matter and a bit of Magic
      • What Poker, Basketball and Mike Whitaker taught me about Luck
      • How to Give like a Billionaire
      • Go ahead, make my day
      • Muk Finds Success in Tahiti
    • ► January (5)
      • Travels with "Esperando un Camino"
      • Beanie Babies, Naked Barbie, American Pickers and Old Coots
      • Selling the House and Adventures in Staging
      • The bashing of Index Funds, Jack Bogle and a Jedi dog trick
      • Magic Beans
  • ► 2011 (22)
    • ► December (1)
      • Dividend Growth Investing
    • ► November (2)
      • The Mummy's head, Particle Physics and "Knocking on Heaven's Door"
      • "It's Better in the Wind" or why I ride a motorcycle
    • ► October (1)
      • Lazy Days and School Days
    • ► July (2)
      • The road to Zanzibar sometimes goes thru Ecuador...
      • Johnny wins the lotto and heads to Paris
    • ► June (16)
      • Chainsaws, Elm Trees and paying for College
      • Stuff I’ve failed at: the early years
      • Snatching Victory from the Jaws of Defeat
      • The. Worst. Used. Car. Ever.
      • Top Ten reasons your future is so bright it hurts my eyes to look at it
      • The Most Dangerous Words Your Customer Can Say
      • How not to drown in The Sea of Assholes
      • What we own and why we own it
      • The Ten Sales Commandments
      • My ever so formal and oh so dry CV
      • How I failed my daughter and a simple path to wealth
      • The Myth of Motivation
      • Why you need F-you money
      • My short attention span
      • Why I can’t pick winning stocks, and you can’t either
      • The Monk and the Minister

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