1. Renai's Retirement

Renai is ready to retire at the age of 36. No, she’s not a tech founder who just sold her company; she was raised working class by a single mom and has worked in non-profits most of her life. We asked Renai to come on the podcast and share how she was able to reach financial independence so early in her career, because unlike many such stories, hers is as attainable as it is aspirational. A few things that come up in the episode: -- We discuss the FIRE lifestyle movement. FIRE stands for Financial Independence / Retire Early. Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIRE_movement. We reference the term “coast FI.” When someone has reached “coast FI” this means they have enough money in their retirement accounts that they’d have enough to retire at a typical retirement age without making any additional contributions-- simply by letting their current balance accrue interest. -- Renai references the book “Work Optional,” written by Tanja Hester of the Our Next Life blog. Read more here: https://ournextlife.com/2018/10/24/work-optional/ -- Renai discusses using a down payment assistance loan from a state agency to finance her first home purchase. Many public entities offer such support to first-time home buyers. Find out more about the program Renai accessed via the Washington State Housing Finance Commission here: https://www.wshfc.org/ https://www.seattle.gov/housing/renters/buy-a-home -- We discuss house hacking, which essentially refers to buying a property for use as both your primary residence as well as a rental property. Read more about house hacking here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidgreene/2018/12/04/house-hacking-how-financially-savvy-people-live-in-expensive-markets-while-saving-money/?sh=4cf4a65470f0 -- One of Renai’s ventures is running a vacation rental, and we discuss some of the mechanics of that starting at around 14:50.