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Welcome to The Fire Inside Her, a brave space to share stories of navigating life transitions with authenticity, using our inner fire to light the way, and self care as our loyal travel companion. I'm your host, Diane Schroeder, and I'm so grateful you are here. When Josh and I were planning for my retirement from the fire service, we knew we would have to change our budget and how we spend money. For several months, we saved and learned to live on one income since we wouldn't touch my retirement for years. After the first couple of months of saving, we realized we could totally live on a reduced income and still do all the things we loved, and honestly, not miss a lot of the extras. I had no idea there is a term for this, FIRE, financial independence retire early movement. This week, I chat with Meghan Combs, who significantly changed her career and lifestyle while saving for financial independence. And the best part, she still travels, owns a home, and lives based on her values, not material possessions.

There is so much wisdom packed in this episode, so let's get started. Welcome today, fiery souls. I am so excited to, again, talk about money through a different lens. My guest is Meghan Combs, and I really like her story and her journey and what her ambitious goals are for financial independence. Meghan, welcome.

Thank you so much. Thank you for having me, Diane.

Let's jump in with my random question. I would love to know if you use an electric or old school toothbrush.

Old school. They're actually, like, the 99¢ ones from Target. That's probably part of the financial independence community influence is, like, save every penny you can. So

I love it. That's perfect. Alright. So let's just dive in. Tell me and my listeners a little bit about your journey and how you have landed on the goal for financial independence at a very young age, which is very counterintuitive to what I was raised doing. You know, I grew up in the fire service, so I was gonna work so many years, have my pension, and then retire. I have not followed that path. But I would just love to hear a little bit more about your story.

Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. So I'm not as young as you might think. I'm 37. But, thank you for saying I was young. My journey to financial independence, has a an interesting pussy path because I was living in New York City when I was about 25, and I was actually getting a master's degree in art history and museum studies. And I was trying to kind of make it in New York City and work for one of the big museums, and I was struggling because that is one of the fields, that is actually quite hard to break into because of how many people major in that and how few jobs there are.

So I was 32. So 7 years went by where I didn't follow any of the, you know, tenants of the fire movement. And I just sometimes I kick myself because I'm like, I would have been so much further along if I had just at least, like, dove in a little bit more. But I think what's key here is to see that, like, not everybody is gonna connect to the same message. And so one thing that I try to do in my own business and my own, you know, journey with financial independence and, like, trying to get the word out there for people is have different stories that people can connect to to, you know, come on to the path in their own way because, yeah, that's I mean, so many people love mister Money Mustache, and they're all like, that's how I came to this movement. And I'm like, really? Because I didn't so that's that's about it. That's how I came to financial independence, at least. That's that story.

Okay. Thank you for sharing that. Now I follow you on Instagram, and your Instagram page is fantastic, by the way. And I will make sure to link that in the show notes. And one of the stories, I believe, that you shared, or reels, was about you chose travel over a lot of things when it came to and I am a wandering soul myself, so I understand that desire to travel and see and explore. Share with my audience a little bit about that and how, you know, that has kind of also inspired you towards financial independence.

Yeah. Sure. So I think the post that you're talking about is that my toxic trait is using my emergency fund for travel. Yes. And yeah. So I might be a financial, influencer, financial educator, but I also do not make the, you know, best decisions all the time when it comes to my money. And this is one of them is that I my emergency fund, I don't have a lot of cash. I don't like to hold a lot of cash, because I like to spend it.

And I like to spend it on experiences though. I'm not a big stuff person. Like, I will buy stuff here and there. And I used to be much more of a stuff person, you know, when I was younger. That credit card debt that I mentioned that was back in New York City was mostly clothes. So Yeah. But now I could care less about clothes. But, yeah, travel.

I I love to travel. I went to Scotland, France, and Italy all within a year period. And, actually, I went to Paris twice within that time. So I think it was an 11 month period. And but that was, like, $7,000 that I spent. But I have so many great memories. And I just I connected with the local cultures and I got to see places that I'd never seen before and experience things that I'd never experienced before. And so that 7 grand was totally worth it.

When are when are we going again? Where are we going? Where are we going next? And so our next trips are Iceland and Ireland, are the next 2 that we'd like to do. I'm letting him plan the Iceland one because he wants to do, like, the van life thing. And I said, as long as there's a toilet, I'm good to go. And the Ireland one, I will probably plan because this will be my 3rd time going there. Yeah. And it's funny because people are like, well, why do you keep going back to the same places? Because I've been to Paris 3 times too. And I was like, because I know I like it. It's almost like, you know I I mean, I wanna explore new things, but there's it's almost like you only go for a week or maybe 2 weeks.

You cannot possibly see everything. And it changes from every time that you go. And so, like, the last time I was in Ireland was almost 10 years ago. And so I know it's changed since then. And, also, experiencing it with my romantic partner now, whereas last time I went was alone, I think it's just going to create a completely different experience. And then we're gonna see different things than I probably saw. I mean, I'm I'm gonna go wanna go back to Scotland too because it's just one of those places that just really lit something in my soul. And so it's gonna be one of those places that we just go back to repeatedly.

Almost like rereading a book that you really love or rewatching a television show you really love. It's, you know, because you become a different person, the show is almost different or the book is almost different because you're different. It's the same thing with with travel. So.

I could not agree more. And I think you highlight a really important part, and we'll we'll rewind just a little bit and unpack a couple of things. But I just I wanna say that, you know, I think sometimes as we are raised, we as the collective we, that travel is this luxury that you can only have if you have this, this, and this. And it's usually, like, something everyone wants to do, but we don't really prioritize it because stuff gets in the way or that we work too hard or that we don't you know? And in my opinion, travel is one of the greatest forms of self care just to get out and explore and really disconnect from the busy lifestyle. So I just kudos to you for doing that. I used to travel a ton before children. I say before child, BC. And, you know, now he's he's almost 12, and he's got we travel a lot domestically, but I'm like, it's it's time.

I need to do something international that is not south of the border. I would love to get back over to Europe as well. So I just I think it's really important for you all listening to hear this message that you can do both. You can be frugal and save your money, and, you know, it's it's where you prioritize and tell it where to go. So let's back up just a second. You decided that the New York City life was just not sustainable to continue to live that way. What choice did you make, and where did you end up?

Yeah. Thank you for asking that. Yeah. It wasn't sustainable. I lived there, like I said, for 7 years. And in the beginning, I was in my own apartment. It was overlooking a park. It was in Manhattan.

And I really was having a great time. I loved I loved living in New York for the 1st 4 years. And then my building was bought by a new property management company who decided to raise the rent 45%, 4, 5. And, yeah, it was a lot. And, unfortunately, at the time, I just could not sustain that. And there I wasn't in an apartment that, like, I could have a roommate just the way that it was laid out. Because I thought about that. I was like, maybe I could live with somebody in this apartment.

But the way that it was laid out, it just didn't make sense, because the bathroom was, like, through the bedroom and it just didn't make sense. And so I decided to move to a different neighborhood. And, unfortunately, the neighborhood I chose was not a match for my own, the way that I like to live and the way that it just wasn't. It was very, very loud. The neighbors were incredibly rude. Trash was, like, left all over the hallways. Like, I actually got hit in the face with an egg on the street one time. Yeah.

Oh my gosh.

It was it was not a great place to live. And, I'm not gonna say which neighborhood it is because I don't wanna cause any drama on your podcast. But it was just it was not fun. And so the last 3 years of my time living in New York, like, it was kinda interesting because I finally got a full time job in the art world, but it was at an art gallery, which is for the audience, that is very different than working in a museum. It's basically working in sales versus, like, working in an educational institute. It's it's very, very different. And so it was not really what I wanted to do. And then I was kind of getting disillusioned with the field itself because it was, like a lot of fields, quite, inequitable when it came to salaries.

The upper echelon of the people at the museums were making 100s and 100s of 1,000s of dollars, but then they would want to hire, like, an education coordinator, you know, with a requirement to have a PhD and pay them $22,000 a year living in New York City. I know. And I was like, are we kidding? Are are you all joking? Because that's no. And so there was a lot of these, like, feelings of I've made a mistake, and I don't wanna do this anymore. But if I quit, that means I'm a failure. And I actually listened to an episode of Jean Chatzky's podcast, Her Money, and I absolutely love her podcast. It's the one that got me into money in the first place, and I will forever be a devotee of Jean Chatzky. Mhmm.

Anyway, I'm gonna stop fangirling. And but I forget the guest that she had on. But the guest said something along the lines of, you know, know when it's time to turn the page or close the book. And, like, I think I was listening to it on the plane, and I got emotional. I'm getting a little emotional even right now just thinking about it because I was like, well, crap. I think it's time to close the book on this chapter of my life. And and just for a little context, like, when I was 5 years old, I wanted to be an artist. I always wanted to be in the arts.

I loved art. I always took art classes. I majored in art throughout my entire college career. It was not just on a whim that I chose it. Like, I really, really loved and love art. And so it was really, really hard to make that decision, but I was like, you know, this is probably something that I need to move on from. And at the same time, it was almost kismet. It's weird.

I was speaking to a an old friend from college who had been a musician in college and switched his career to being a, a software developer. And he told me all about how he did it. And so I was like, okay. Maybe this is kind of that lifeline to get out of this field. And so I decided to take a coding boot camp in North Carolina because that's where my family was based. And so I could move back home and live at home and, you know, take this coding boot camp course full time and make that kind of career transition. I was very lucky that I have family that supported me and allowed me to do that. And by this time, I was 30 years old too, so it was very scary.

And so since then, it has tripled. And so it's basically, you know, 6 years, and it just increased. And that I never thought I would be making money like like this that I'm making now. And I make well above what my partner makes. And he loves it. He's like, you're my sugar mama. And I'm like, no. I'm not.

But, you know and I and I do love my job. I I will say it's not the same level of passion as art history was for me. Mhmm. But it's still a very interesting job, and I learn a lot about business and, you know, developing products and, like, interviewing users. And I learned a lot about tech and and the tech world. And so I really enjoyed my job and

yeah. That's a fantastic story. And I think, you know, so often, a friend of mine, you know, she wrote a book, Terri Trispechio, about Unfollow Your Passion. And the it becomes like when we follow our passion and we get passionate about something, there's this feeling that, okay, it has to be forever, and it's really hard to let go of that. And it doesn't mean that you love art any less or that, you know, you've made you've made hard choices, but you're doing what's best for you. And you can still have a relationship with art and still love art. That takes a lot of courage, so kudos to you for doing that. How did you grieve leaving New York and leaving that behind? Did you just jump right into the coding, or did you take time to really kind of process and let all of it go? And what's your relationship with art like now?

It's funny because New York felt like one of those relationships that's almost very, very high highs and very, very low lows. So, oh, I don't wanna say it's an abusive relationship. It's not it was very much a love hate relationship. And so towards the end of it, there was a lot more hate than love. Mhmm. And so it was more of a relief to be able to leave, but it was also very scary because I had nothing lined up. And I had to basically trust myself to be able to make this huge change. But the thing was is I got to a point in New York where I was feeling very, like, depressed.

I am the kind of person and it was a situational depression. It wasn't like a clinical depression. I knew that I had control over my life and my choices in my environment. And I was like, I'm not gonna stand for this. I do not wanna feel like this. I don't wanna live this way. And so I'm gonna make a change. And I don't know if I ever, like, really got that sad.

I think there was a lot of tactical planning that I had to do that I filled my time with. And and, I mean, I went straight into the boot camp. Yeah. I basically quit my job in September, the end of September, and the boot camp started October 1st. There was no window and but I had to buy a car. I had to sell my furniture. I had to, you know, make sure that my roommate at the time had a place to go. I had to make sure that my landlord knew I was moving out.

I had to rent a vehicle to move the stuff that I was gonna keep down to North Carolina. I had to make sure that, you know, the person I was gonna live with had a room set up for me. I had to make sure to do some orientation work before there was, like, a never ending checklist. And then the boot camp itself I mean, it's called the boot camp for a reason. They stuff your head full of knowledge, and they expect you outside of this 8 hour class to spend at least 4 hours doing coding on your own. So there was not a lot of time to really think about anything. You know? When I was at night, even then, I was like, this is not I'm gonna go to sleep now because I'm so tired. There was an interesting moment, though, where the boot camp actually so this is super weird.

But it it went bankrupt and, like, in the middle of my cohort and then restarted again. I'm not gonna go into the details, but it was super weird. And and so there was, like, a month where I wasn't doing anything. And the interesting thing was is when that happened, and I wasn't sure if the boot camp was gonna come back, my old gallery that I had quit to go to this boot camp called and said, hey. The person that we hired in your place is moving to Paris. Do you want to come back and work for us? So there was this weird moment that the universe sent me that was like, hey. This new life you just chose has a lot of struggles. Here's your old life calling.

Do you want it back? And I had to, like, really dig deep inside myself and think, do I wanna go back there? And yeah, and I talked to a confidant about it. And she was like, you made the conscious choice to leave that behind for a reason, for several reasons. Remember all of those reasons. And she was like, this might be a little hiccup that you're going through right now. But I feel like, you know, you left that life for a reason, and you should remember those reasons. And I did. And I was and I told him no. So and then it worked out.

The boot camp came back. You know, I finished it. I got a job pretty much, like, 2 weeks after the boot camp ended. And yeah.

I love that so much. And I I agree. I think the universe does shit like that all the time. Like, just a test. It's like a a temperature check. Let's see where you're really at. And I always think, you know, a similar I retired from the fire service a year ago, and then I was doing some teaching and speaking with other departments and working with it. I liked it.

Nothing wrong, but I kept that door open. I kept it cracked. And then finally, just recently, I shut the door, and maybe it's permanent, maybe it's not, but I was so afraid to do that. It was, like, the longest breakup ever. I mean, it dragged it out for a year. I was like, oh my god. What's gonna happen? What if you know? And within 2 weeks, I was requested you know, it was, hey. Can you put together a coaching proposal? Can you do this? Can you do that? And I was like, okay.

Thank you. I'm glad I passed the test. But I it also reminds me of that that saying of burning the ships. Right? You just gotta burn the ship sometime and not look back. So thank you for sharing that part of your story. My next question is, explain to my listeners and, really, myself, what is financial independence? And what is that lifestyle and what are your goals towards achieving financial independence?

Yeah. Sure. So financial independence is part of the Financial Independence Retire Early movement. So if you've heard if your audience has heard of the FIRE Movement, and there's a lot of FIRE themes in this podcast, so you might have heard of it. But it is this concept that is a little more radical than normal personal finance because because the aim is to get to a point where work is optional. And that doesn't mean you have to quit working. A lot of people don't. A lot of people do things like you, like start a podcast or they start their own business or they go work part time at a museum or something or REI.

I've heard some people go and work at REI and Trader Joe's and just live way chiller lives than corporate world. But it's basically getting financially to a point where you can cover your basic expenses, like everyday expenses, so then everything else on top of that is kind of gravy and you get a lot of choices. So there's a formula for reaching that point, and it's 25 x your annual expenses. So if your annual expenses are $40,000, that means you need a $1,000,000 to be able to reach FI. And if you wanna retire early, this also allows you to retire early and withdraw 4% from that $1,000,000 to keep in with there's a something called a 4% rule, where if you withdraw 4%, basically over the lifetime of your retirement, you I believe it's like 95% of the time, you will never run out of money ever, just because of how the market performs. And if you wanna be even safer, there's like 3.5, I think is like almost a 100%. It's like 99.9%, where you will not run out of money. And it's really that simple.

And the way that the people in the FIRE movement get there is they have a much higher savings rate than normal. So the typical savings rate is 50%. And so the concept is you save 50% and then live on 50%. Mhmm. And so you, problem that happens in the fire community is they hear about the movement and they get really excited and then they slash all of their expenses to the point where they're, like, kind of miserable and eating ramen noodles and, like, living in the basement of a scary house. But they're like, but my my That's what I'm saying. 50%. Yay.

And then I'm like, y'all do realize that you have to live on that other 50% forever. Right? Like, you can't undo that part. So Mhmm. So I always advise people to build up your life first to what you want it to do. Like, almost at first, increase your spending and get it to get your life to a point where it's like, this is exactly the life that I've always wanted and live that life now and then get your savings rate to a point that you can sustain that life. And so that's what I did. Like, I bought a house, and the house was very expensive. And I spend a ton of money on, like, getting gardening stuff because I have this, like, basically secret garden type style at my house, and I love it.

And and I spend on travel, like we talked about. I'd love to be able to travel 2 to 3 times a year, and so I wanna get my spending up to that point. And then those expenses that I know that I'm gonna want forever, that is what I'm like, okay. So now my goal is to save 50% of this instead of cutting everything. But the other side of it is also really understanding your values very deeply. And it's kind of like what I tell people to do is list out your top five values. Mhmm. And, you know, say one of them is spend more time with your family or spend more time cultivating relationships or spend more time traveling.

If those are some of your values, does a fancy car get you those values? Probably not. Does a big, huge, massive house, you know, get you closer to enjoying those values? Probably not. And so when you think about things that way, you can kind of redefine what your life looks like based on those values rather than based on stuff and keeping up with the Joneses and trying to do what everybody else is doing and get the white picket fence and the dog and the super fancy Tesla or whatever. So that's kind of the financial independence community in a nutshell. And I believe part of your question was, like, why do I do it as well? Well, because I think I got so burnt out on my first career as an art historian. And, like I said, I like my job now, but it takes up so much of my time where I'd rather be doing other things. Especially in the wintertime, it's like I spend every single daylight hour working, and I hate that. And I have to live for the weekends.

And, you know, I don't want to spend most of my time making somebody else's dreams come true. I wanna make my dreams come true. And so I do wanna stop working. And and by working, I mean, working for somebody else. You know, I wanna spend a 100% of my time on my Instagram, and on my on my podcast.

Preach. I feel like I have goosebumps. So thank you for sharing that. And it's as you're talking and I'm listening, I'm like, oh my god. You're telling my story to some extent. I didn't think I was a single mom for a long time. I was always chasing the next promotion or the next like, I thought I had to ascend to a certain level to be successful. And then life happened, and things fell apart.

And so it was just me and my son for a really long time, and I was like, alright. So I I worked really hard to pay off all my debt and, you know, work towards financial freedom. And then I met my now husband, and we would sit down and we're like, alright. Well, together, we're we make really good money. You know? And and I'm like, yeah. But it's not I'm stressed. My body hurts. And he's like so we started talking about, well, what about plan a? Let's make a plan a.

Not plan b, but what is our goal for plan a? And the first part of that was for me to stop working, and that was real scary. I'm not gonna lie. Like, I still and it has taken me a while to untangle from that, but we saved and saved and saved and did exactly what you said. We got to the lifestyle we wanna live, and then we started saving up half, you know, 50% for quite some time. And then we made the transition of me leaving so that I can do what I want and have that quality time with my family. Everything that you said, you know, I'm always there for my son now. You know, I wanna take a trip or we wanna go see a show. It's not trying to coordinate it.

We just do it, and it is the most liberating. It feels so good. And just knowing that all that hard work that I did when I was younger to save for my retirement and put money away in savings and, you know, make sure that I, you know, I can't touch it for quite some time. But knowing that we're gonna be okay, and we don't have a very big fancy house, we have, you know, normal Colorado cars. I like to call them. We got a 4 Runner and an Outback because they're practical. And we don't you know, we we try to live within our means, and I've never been happier in my entire life. And it just there's so much relief from that.

So I love hearing your story, and I didn't realize it was really part of a movement. I didn't understand it, but it makes sense now because I'm like, hey. That's what we're doing. So thank you so much for sharing that. So I guess as we kind of wrap up our conversation, I would love to know I I love the kind of counterintuitive thinking that spend to get to the lifestyle you want and then start saving instead of cutting everything. Because when you cut everything and you live in that scarcity mindset, it's not sustainable. You know? It's just not. What are, like, 2 or 3 other things that my listeners could do if they're curious to learn more about the fire movement? Yeah.

For sure. So there are so many podcasts out there on the topic. I mean, mine's one of them, but it just started. And my podcast tells the stories of people in the FI movement, And I call it Everyday FI because it is the voices of those that we haven't really heard from yet. So people who aren't necessarily famous in the movement, just the everyday people who are on the journey. And the reason why I started that is because, like I mentioned earlier, I did not click with the 1st influencer fire influencer that I met. And so I want to get the voices of other financial independence people out there so that we can bring other people into the movement who might connect more with some of these other voices. So that's that's one is my podcast.

I mean, that's a lot of money to spend on those. The other thing is I really love JL Collins' book, The Simple Path to Wealth Okay. Because it's just a very simple, here's what you do to reach financial independence. And it changed a lot of people's lives. I read it. I love it. And I kind of already knew most of the information he had in there, but I send it to anybody who's new to the movement and new even to,

you know, understanding money and finances, because he is

very good at breaking all of that down. Understanding money and finances, because he is very good at breaking all of that down. And if you ever listen to him on podcasts, he also has this incredibly soothing voice. So he actually has, like, a YouTube video called, a meditation for when the stock market is crashing. So good. Because his voice is so calm that he's like, it's okay. The market will go down. And it's just it's so good.

So, if if you want to put that in your show links, you should.

Absolutely.

Yeah. But I think starting there, and then you'll find your own journey from those starting points. But, yeah, that's that's my advice. And then, of course, following me on on Instagram.

Absolutely. And I will link everything in the show notes for sure. And then, I guess, the other question, the last question, I think, might be the last question. How do you find time to take care of yourself? You know, so much of what I talk about when you navigate these changes in life and transitions is really prioritizing self care. I think that's important, and we don't wanna put that to the side because, again, not sustainable. So what do you do to take care of yourself?

Oh, I wish I had a better answer for you here because I'm I'm not very good at this. I I am in the millennial generation, and I feel like our generation has been told for a very long time that our self worth is tied to our productivity. And so we have just perfected the, you know, idea of a side gig, not even just one side gig, like, 3 side gigs. I mean, I have a 9 to 5 and a podcast and an Instagram that I run, Plus, I'm making, like, you know, workbooks and stuff for people. And I'm even thinking about doing a course. Like, hello, slow down. So I wish I had a better answer that I I need to do more with self care. I mean, even right now, I'm struggling to even make it to the gym because I don't have time.

Because I'm sitting here doing all of the things that I really want to. And this is this is one of the reasons why I wanna quit my job. It's, like, if I had the those 8 hours during the day free, it would be so much easier. Because I could just do my podcasting and then do the self care. And I I would feel a little bit less, you know, burdened, I feel like. Anyway, I I feel like what I would like to focus on more is, you know, physical self care and working some, you know, exercise into my routines instead of just going to the gym, doing things like walking more. There's a walking trail nearby. Gardening more.

I absolutely love gardening, and my Fitbit says it's exercise. So I'm gonna trust my fit my Fitbit. Yes. Uh-huh. But, yeah, I freaking love gardening. And may and even just, like, spending time with my partner talking. Like, I I wanna do more of that. And so those are the kinds of things that I am not doing as well right now, but would like to do more of.

Well, the first step is recognizing it, and then, you know, like, you're working towards making it a priority. And I and I just I always ask, so thank you for sharing that. And, you know, it's it is hard. Self care is not something we are programmed, and I'm gen x, and it's the same thing. Like, it's just not a conversation that a lot of people have about taking care of themselves. And quite frankly, I feel like it just needs a bigger conversation so that we have that sustainability and longevity. So, Meghan, thank you so much. Now I'm gonna put all your links, but your Instagram page is fantastic.

So I highly recommend everyone follow her Instagram page. It's very entertaining. You do a fantastic job with it. And then your podcast, and I will link to that as well. And is there anything else that you wanna add before we finish up?

The only thing I wanna add is that if, you know, if any of you out there feeling overwhelmed by life or your money or anything like that, that is totally normal. And I know that each and every one of you has it in you to learn this stuff and to understand it and to make really big moves. And I think all you have to do is put your trust in yourself, and you will go far.

Mic drop moment. Awesome. Meghan, thank you so much.

Thank you.

Another great conversation. Thank you for giving the valuable gift of your time and listening to The Fire Inside Her podcast. Speaking of value, one of the most common potholes we fall into on the journey to authenticity is not recognizing our value. So I created a workbook. It's all about value. Head on over to thefireinsideher.com/value to get your free workbook that will help you remember your value. Until next time, my friend.