027 | Slowly Sipping Coffee | FI vs Risk Tolerance

027 | Today we welcome Jay from Slowly Sipping Coffee to the podcast to talk about his reluctant path to FI, the amazing Mrs. SSC and a Fully Funded Lifestyle Change. In Today’s Podcast we cover: Our interview with Jay from Slowly Sipping Coffee How they came up with the name of their blog and how they’d enjoy ‘slowly sipping coffee’ in a more relaxed and free Friday morning

The origin story of their Financial Independence journey: SSC googled and found Mr. Money Mustache SSC already had a spreadsheet where she tracked everything and believed they could retire at 45 before finding the concept of FI How Jay resisted the concept of financial independence because he thought living off $25,000 would be absolute deprivation

The Lightbulb Moment where Jay finally saw the light and started believing in the spreadsheet They set up challenges to cut credit card spending and they reduced spending just by being intentional Eating food at restaurants was a huge portion of their prior budget that they were able to cut Costco can be a great way to save money or it can be an expensive indulgence

How Mrs. SSC is the CFO of their household and the ‘best financial decision’ Jay has ever made How the possibility of layoffs made them consider their lifestyle and what that would look like in FFLC The psychological value of knowing they will ‘come out on top’ even if something bad does happen Have they spoken about Financial Independence and their blog in their real lives? How their friends, family and coworkers react to their FI plans Jay’s mentees and how he is trying to educate them on all things financial How to balance risk with a safe withdrawal rate – Mrs. SSC’s thought process as compared with Jay’s

How you can always keep working due to fear and wanting to pile on your nest egg, but Mrs. SSC’s rebuttal to that You can get to FI without having a six-figure salary Hot Seat questions Favorite life hack: Roasting his own coffee Biggest financial mistake: Cashing out a 401k for absolutely no reason

Advice to your younger self: Don’t spend more than you earn and don’t use student loans for additional expenses