The Propeller – How You Doin’? – 1-21-2024

It’s not hard to see why people find the concept of F.I.R.E. (Financial Independence Retire Early) alluring. A lot of workers would like to get to a place where they’re financially independent and retiring early because they’ve accrued enough money in investment accounts to replace the income from a 9-to-5 job. 

But early FIRE pioneers prescribed a model that was tough for many folks to stick to: earn a high salary, slash your living costs as much as possible to maximize your savings, and get to financial freedom as soon as possible.  

That message doesn’t work for most people.

Here’s what the five-step journey toward financial freedom looks like:

1. Debt freedom. Ridding yourself of high-interest-rate debt is the first step toward financial independence. Once you eliminate those monthly payments, you can put the money that would go to your creditors toward supercharging your savings rate. 

2. “F— you” money. At this level, you’ve accumulated enough savings that you could walk away from a bad situation, such as a job that you hate, or say yes to an exciting opportunity, such as starting a business. 

3. Coast FI. Reaching “Coast FI” means you have enough money in your retirement account to eventually retire on, accounting for compound interest. Say you’re 25 and aiming to retire with $1 million by age 50. If you had $175,000 in a Roth IRA and expected to earn a 7% annualized return on your portfolio, you’d be on track. No need to invest another dime – you can use money you’d otherwise invest to enrich your life. 

4. Semi-retirement. If you have more money saved than you need to retire, you can live in semi-retirement, a state some FIRE adherents have nicknamed “Barista FI.” At this stage, you can work less, or accept a lower-paying job you find enjoyable — say, making cappuccinos at your favorite local café — while supplementing living expenses with withdrawals from your investment accounts.

5. FIRE. At the final level, withdrawals from your savings completely replace income you would otherwise earn from working. You live on the money you take out. Meanwhile, your investment portfolio continues to accrue gains throughout your retirement, so you keep from running out of money. 

Let’s say things aren’t going well. Sales are down in your business. 

Or, your leverage in your industry is weakening as it’s harder to find a higher-paying job. 

Or, the service you provide doesn’t seem to be in as much demand.

If you find yourself in this situation, you need to figure out how to reverse the trend. 

Here are some considerations that might be helpful:

1. Is it the end of a product cycle that is no longer needed?

→ Create a new product or service.

2. Is your product/service still needed, but the quality of your offering has decayed?

→ Have honest conversations with your customers or your employer.

3. Is it an economic issue cycle you just need to get through? 

→ Consider lowering your prices or offering more value for your service (ideally with something low cost to you and high value to them.)

The worst thing you can do when you spot a negative trend is do nothing. You must try something. 

Analyze → Execute → Adapt → Execute → Adapt → Execute

Even if things are going well, complacency is deterioration. 

Bad meetings are the bane of many leaders’ existence. They can be boring, unproductive, and downright frustrating. But what if there was a way to make meetings more engaging, efficient, and, dare we say, enjoyable? 

That’s where AI comes in. No matter your particular meeting struggle, Microsoft Copilot can help you banish bad meetings. 

1. You find yourself running late. 

If you can’t seem to get to meetings on time (and who can when they’re always running back to back into each other?), Copilot in Microsoft Teams can give you the main points of what’s going on as it happens so you can join the conversation without feeling lost. If you didn’t catch important context, you can ask Copilot where people agree or disagree, and even get a summary in simple language (try “summarize the meeting so far in simple terms”). If I join a meeting late, Teams gives me a summarry of what has happened before I joined as I enter the meeting.

2. You always seem to be double-booked. 

Sometimes missing a meeting is unavoidable. When you have to skip a call, you can ask Copilot to fill you in on what happened, any decisions that were made, and actions you need to take. You can also ask for things like a pro-and-con table for ideas that came up and each person’s opinion on them. (Important: this only works if someone who does attend the meeting records the call—so it’s best to get in the habit of recording.) Even if you attended the meeting, getting the Copilot summary gives you insights that you might have missed.

3. You’re leading a meeting that’s going nowhere fast. 

When your meeting is falling flat with dead air or random tangents, Copilot can help you get back on track. You can ask it things like “What can I ask to move the meeting forward?” or “What issues are still unresolved?” and get answers that only you can see. Copilot will comb through the transcript to give you suggestions in real time without interrupting the discussion. It’s your private meeting consultant, at the ready when you need it. 

4. You ran out of time to prepare. 

Think of Copilot as your chief of staff: With a simple ask, it will serve up all the relevant info and docs you need to get up to speed fast. “Help me prepare for my next meeting” is your personal cheat code, giving you a summary of related emails, agendas, and other files. And later this year, Copilot in Outlook will be able to show you a “prepare” button, which, if you click, will provide summaries of the meeting’s purpose ahead of time, along with action items and any relevant files. 

5. You’d rather do anything else than schedule a meeting. 

If sifting through calendar openings and time-zone differences makes your head spin, take heart: AI is here to help. Soon, Copilot in Outlook will be able to suggest actions from a summarized email thread, like booking a follow-up call. If you agree to do that, Copilot will automatically open a calendar event, give it a title, and suggest participants and available times. It will also add an agenda, files you need, and a recap of the email thread. 

How are you using AI to help in your daily tasks and meetings?

Streaming services were supposed to be our salvation from the high cost of cable TV. But with so many great options available, it’s easy to fall into the trap of subscribing to more and more of them, until your monthly entertainment budget starts to look like your old cable bill.

Let’s do some quick math. Netflix starts at $9.99 per month, Hulu is $6.99, Disney+ is $7.99, HBO Max is $14.99, and Amazon Prime Video is $12.99. If you subscribe to all of those, you’re already spending over $62 per month! And that’s not even counting all the other niche streaming services out there, like ESPN+, Showtime, and Starz.

However, there are plenty of great free streaming services that deliver a lot of great content totally for free. (They will have ad’s, though).

Here is the link to a blog I wrote describing the best free streaming services and the content they offer:  https://www.leonardmack.com/free-streaming-services-2024/

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”

Helen Keller 

She triumphed over deafness and blindness and the above quote discusses embracing life’s challenges

Our characters are forged in the crucible of adversity, for it is in the face of hardship that we grow and find the motivation to pursue greatness.

Stay Awesome!

This is re-published from the weekly email sent by Leonard Mack entitled The Propeller. To subscribe, visit https://www.LeonardMack.com/subscribe and read it every Sunday evening.

This intellectual nourishment is intended for informational purposes only. One should not construe anything herein as being legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

My rule is this – I have no advice to give, only experience to share. I have no interest in being a guru or telling people what they should do. Rather, I share my own experience because there is no right or wrong. Your mileage may vary.