On today’s episode of the Financial Independence Podcast, I finally got to interview the person who introduced me to the concept of financial independence and early retirement in the first place…
Jacob Lund Fisker from Early Retirement Extreme!
To my mind, Jacob is the founder of the modern-day “FIRE movement” so hope you enjoy the interview!
Listen Now
Highlights
- What Jacob has been up to since stepping away from ERE
- His experience being a financial quant and how it impacted his personal investing
- The problem with set-it-and-forget-it index investing
- The importance of staying flexible with your investing strategy
- Predictions for the next decade and the post-COVID world
- A systems approach to lifestyle design and why it’s beneficial
- Jacob’s thoughts on early retirement how they’ve changed since publishing Early Retirement Extreme
- His current projects and his plans for the future
Show Links
- Early Retirement Extreme Website | Book | Forum | Wiki | Audio Book
- Early Retirement Extreme on Twitter | Facebook
- ERE 10-Year Update on Get Rich Slowly
- The Post that Started the Mad Fientist’s FI Journey
Full Transcript
Coming soon!
Awesome episode Brandon, I had never heard Jacob on a podcast before and it’s great to hear one of the originals and pioneers!
Wow! I’ve been wondering what he had been up to. I just read the book again so this is timely.
Well now to listen to the show. :)
“Global Fund”….good advice!
I really enjoyed Jacob’s updated thoughts on investing and not getting stuck on “old paradigms.” Thanks for this one.
Of course JLF does an interview using the speaker phone of his cheap-ass Moto G phone. It’s so fun to have to strain to listen to someone at 1x speed. If only he worked another 3/4 of an hour before retiring he could have a microphone like the rest of us. ;)
xD
Haha! I’ll see your cheap-ass phone and raise it to the built-in microphone of an 11 yo macbook pro that I acquired for free. Owning a phone would be such a waste—how’s that thing about “turning consumers into dependable cash streams” again ;-P But point taken … if an external microphone would add clarity to my mumbling voice, I’ll buy one. Podcast interviews seem to happen every few years so I don’t want some giant studio microphone sitting around taking up space in the mean time (I’m trying to reduce my electronics possessions). If there’s small solution (the size of a pill bottle?) I’ll take recommendations.
There is a solution I found. The small wired earphones with a built in microphone work great. I use them on my phone and it really helps. They’re super cheap too, a couple of dollars on Amazon new.
Would love to listen to you with a bit more clarity next time. I agree with Kevin but just saying it a bit nicer. Definitely understand not wanting to buy a big expensive mic just to use once in a blue moon. That would be painful. Maybe you could rent one?
I’m surprised it’s not more common for hosts of popular podcasts just to lend/send/provide/rent/whatever the equipment for the duration of the podcast. Doesn’t seem like a huge investment, yet, multiplied by the number of people listening to it, feels that it would be worth it.
But, regardless, great content. Thank you for doing it.
Jacob is always an inspiration. It really is an interconnected system in order to create any sort of lifestyle. I also enjoy the challenge of solving problems without financial means, but using the whole permaculture as an example to build levels of FIRE.
I enjoyed quant work and agree about the views on index investing. But also, there is a challenge here that keeps the mind sharp as well. Quant work is one of the few areas of banking that I would’ve been keen to continue, but unfortunately employment and it’s other constraints aren’t always the most fun way to spend your time.
This is the second interview I’ve heard with Jacob and again it’s just non-stop, mind-melting, logic bombs. Thank you for shining light on aspects of our consumer “culture” that can be completely invisible to us “fish”.
Thanks to Brandon for taking time out of retirement to create one of the best Mad Fientist interviews yet.
P.S. Kevin must have really had trouble hearing the interview since he seems to have missed much of the point.
This was such a great episode. I bought the Early Retirement Extreme book many years ago, but this was the first time I’ve listened to Jacob speak.
We became financially free when my wife was 39. But after listening to this interview, I now see I need to seriously up my game to increase the ratio of my personal expenses to my net worth.
Love this! One of my most re-read books as well. Thanks for this amazing episode.
It’s great to revisit the well-reasoned, grounded fundamentals of FIRE. Thanks for making this interview happen Brandon
Will there be a transcript at some point? I’d love to read it. I’m in Antarctica and can’t stream anything.
Brandon, I love your podcasts episodes. The content is excellent and I always look forward towards listening to your newest releases while commuting to work. One request: Can you please improve the audio quality of your guests? Very often it sounds like they’re just Skype-ing you through their computer or in a tunnel somewhere. This makes it very hard to hear unless you have headphones in. I think this can be fixed by simply having the guest use a microphone. Even a built-in microphone that comes with many headphone would be a vast improvement. Again, thanks for the great content
Super pumped about this episode! I listened to this while driving to work but will need to go back a second time this weekend while I have time to take notes. Two of the Titan’s of FIRE!
Long overdue and thanks for posting!
Any idea on when transcript will be available?
I was very excited to listen to this podcast but gave up after a couple of minutes. Maybe it was my headphones but I had real trouble hearing Jacob. You always come through loud and clear though. Really looking forward to the transcript coming because I’m sure it was a great interview.
Great podcast content as always Brandon. This was a difficult listen I think due to technical issues but worth persisting, just some constructive feedback for next time.
I’m still waiting for the transcript =)
Me too.