Ettington Park, Stratford upon Avon, UK: Our venue for Chautauqua XII, 2019
Photo by JT Olmstead
Last week we wrapped up Chautauqua XII, returning once again the the United Kingdom and one of our very favorite venues. The chapel on this property was under construction in the 12th century, fitting for my twelfth Chautauqua. Shakespeare not only stayed here back in the day, that balcony you can see in the picture was the inspiration for the famous scene in Romeo and Juliet.
It is an incredible place and, as they did when we first came in 2017, the staff out did themselves with kind attention and amazing food.
We also made a bit of history ourselves. While returning Chautauquans have become rather common and, indeed, Kathy and Brett will be joining us for their third in Portugal come September, Tyler has done something that surprised even us. Although until last week he had never joined us before, he signed up for both the UK and Portugal, making him the first to attend two events in the same year.
When I asked him why, he said “FI is a passion of mine, I knew I was going to take two vacations this year and I figured what you guys organized would be far better than anything I came up with on my own.” Later in the week: “Wow. This exceeded even my high expectations!”
Chautauqua does that with a regularity that surprises even me. There is life-changing magic to this event, and I have tried to describe it many times. But there is nothing like hearing directly from one who joined us not quite knowing what to expect. Which leads us to today’s guest post…
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7 Days in Heaven
or, Why Slowing Down Will Get You There Sooner
by Elisabeth Andrews
We’re a strange breed of cult, we FI aspirants. We put our faith in mathematics. We advocate both temperance and hedonism. And we derive our lessons from not just one leader who has ascended to the afterlife, but growing legions.
More surprising still, we find that when we’re face-to-face with these luminaries, they universally downplay the significance of the transition.
By all means, join us, they say. But you don’t have to be in such a damn hurry.
Despite what you might think, the strongest determinant of the quality of your life in FI is the quality of your life before it.
Wait, what?
It’s not what I thought I’d hear when I signed up for Chautauqua, the far-flung week-long FI-fest organized by JL Collins and Katie and Alan Donegan. I anticipated an agenda of acceleration: top tips for futureproofing my asset allocation and next-level strategies for doubling my savings rate.
Instead, JL Collins told me to stop trying to buy when the market’s down. The Mad FIentist assured me that my husband’s discretionary spending is not an issue. Jillian from Montana Money Adventures said I need to focus on bringing more joy into each year – starting now, not when I reach my FI number.
They all had the same message: Reaching financial independence is not really the point. Once you’re headed in that direction, you can stop obsessing about it. And I believed them – because, for that blissful week, I had already arrived.
Here’s what happens at Chautauqua: You walk into a room and all the bloggers you’ve been following are at a table, eating breakfast, and they’ve reserved a chair for you. You sit down, star struck, yet are immediately welcomed into the conversation.
Incredibly, they seem as interested in you as you are in them. Moreover, as each new attendee arrives, you find that they are just as fascinating – and just as friendly – as the speakers. By the third day together, you’re certain you’ve formed a lifelong bond with each Chautauquan.
It sounds too good to be true. The experience is positively surreal. I’ve never had a social encounter like it. The last few days of high school and the first few days of college come closest, charged as they were with extroverted optimism, but Chautauqua exceeds by an order of magnitude. There was no competition. There was no self-consciousness. It was simply and purely supportive.
In a sense, everything else about the trip was icing. The gorgeous English manor, the decadent food, and the memorable excursions were all secondary to the unfathomably powerful sense of belonging. The presentations, which were enlightening and extraordinary, felt less “sage on a stage” and more, “Yay, our buddy Carl’s on the mic. Go Carl!”
If you can imagine watching the Playing with Fire documentary next to Kristy Shen of Millennial Revolution – and not feeling awkward about it, even when she sees herself onscreen and shouts, “Don’t listen to her!” – you’re starting to get the idea.
I had come on the trip to learn more about reaching FI. Instead, I had bypassed FI and gone straight for its ultimate purpose: enjoying community and long, full days spent exactly as I wanted.
Paradoxically, I even came out of retirement. Although I still work full time, I ended a 12-year fitness career several years ago. At Chautauqua, through a game of telephone in which one person to whom I had mentioned this background told others who told others, I wound up teaching a yoga class in the manor’s library. In my normal life, I don’t have the time or emotional energy to offer this service. It was remarkable to see how easily it came back to me, and how readily I gave my energy when my cup felt so full.
On the last night of the gathering, I asked JL how it was possible for everyone to get along so well. He said he’d given the matter some thought, because this same phenomenon happens with each Chautauqua.
His theory is that the conditions of the gathering attract the most dedicated and open-minded participants. Chautauqua is expensive, particularly for those of us inclined to audit our costs using the 4% rule (I’d have to invest $86,000 in order to go every year!). You need to take time away from work, gain access to a foreign country, and arrange child care if you’re a parent. All these constraints demand a high level of commitment to the enterprise. At the same time, the organizers explicitly seek a diverse group and welcome people of all religions, genders, and sexual orientations, which “filters out the bigots,” JL says.
I have an additional hypothesis. As I spoke with our group of 40 attendees and speakers representing a wide range of professions, locations, and socioeconomic backgrounds, I realized that FI can be an incredible equalizer. Your FI number might be much higher than mine, but if we’re both FI, we’ve both made it. You may have gotten there on a much higher salary than mine, but in the logic of FI that’s not a measure of superiority. It can even be the opposite: reaching FI without a high income is perhaps the most impressive achievement.
This radical equality erases any sense of scarcity; we were fascinated with one another’s stories and strategies, delighted to share our own, and eager to learn all we could from each other.
As I head home from this experience – writing presently in the JFK airport between London and my final destination – I’m hoping to take with me that sense of openness and connection. My previous nose-to-the-grindstone, block-out-all-distractions attitude won’t get me to FI any faster.
The more I can stay in this space of community, warmth, and gratitude, the more I welcome the benefits of FI into my life right now. And that mindset – not the money itself – is what will make my happiness possible in the future.
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The magic of Chautauqua is in the people it attracts and, in the writing of her piece, Elisabeth gives us an insight in to herself. While every person who attends is unique, she is a wonderful example of a Chautauquan. I am honored to now have her as a friend.
Here’s some of that “decadent food” she mentions…
Photos by Monnica Han Kim
And here’s the Ettington Chapel started in the 12th Century…
Photo by JT Olmstead
Ettington Park under moody skies (I love this shot!)…
Photo by Angel Morales
The Long Gallery where we sometimes dined and sometimes gathered for our talks…
Photo by JT Olmstead
*All photos taken by Chautauquans
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More from Elizabeth:
Long-term growth mindset: A cautionary tale from parenting
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Here’s Mr. 1500 Days’ take on the event:
UK Chautauqua: FI Peeps, Scarce Sleep, and Lots of Sheep
(no one titles a post quite like Mr. 1500!)
Here’s attendee Brian on his experience:
Forging Finance: 2019 FI Chautauqua
“Chautauqua is planned, coordinated and hosted by the best in the biz…”
Millennial Revolution:
Chautauqua UK 2019: A week together with our tribe
“Ettington Park Hotel…It’s tempting to look at the pictures of this place and describe it as just a ‘Fancy English Manor,’ but a more accurate description is ‘Fancy English Manor Steeped in History That May Also Be Haunted.’”
From attendee Trisha Ray:
FI Chautauqua and the cost of living on a boat in the south of France
UK Chautauqua — Escaping Silicon Valley
“Only if you live your life against the grain would you understand.”
Check back. I’ll link to more as they get written.
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If you think you’d like to join us at Chautauqua: