FI Minded: Achieve Financial Independence & Have Fun Doing It – Details, episodes & analysis

Tariffs aren’t just for global trade - you can apply the concept to your personal life to protect your time, energy, and values.

As we gain more financial freedom, how we spend and make money should evolve too. In this short and reflective episode, I explore the idea of personal tariffs and how I have applied this to things that may seem like a good deal on the surface, but actually come at a hidden cost to my time, energy, or well-being.

I share three categories where I’ve started mentally “taxing” the lower-cost option. This isn’t about spending recklessly - it’s about making intentional choices that align with the life you’re building.

If you’re on the journey to financial independence and want to feel better about spending in ways that support your health, happiness, and values, this episode is for you.

Key Takeaways:

• “Personal tariff”- a mental cost you assign to choices that drain you, even if they save money.
• Building a life you’re proud of means prioritizing alignment over optimization.
• Financial independence isn’t just about money - it’s about creating space to live in a way that feels good.

More of FI Minded:

Connect with Justin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinleepeters/

You’ve run the numbers a hundred times. You’ve built the spreadsheets, projected the growth, and calculated your safe withdrawal rate down to the decimal. On paper, money isn’t an issue. You should feel secure.

But you don’t.

Because even though the math checks out, the feeling doesn’t. The scarcity mindset, the one that pushed you to save relentlessly, doesn’t just disappear when you achieve FI. Instead, it lingers, making you question if it’s really enough.

That’s why I’m excited to have Shannah Game on the show today. She’s a Certified Financial Planner and host of Everyone’s Talkin’ Money. Shannah has helped countless people break free from the mental traps that keep them feeling financially insecure, even when their numbers say otherwise.

In this episode, Shannah is going to help us tackle that nagging sense of “not enough” and share strategies to shift from a scarcity mindset to one of confidence and abundance.

I hope you enjoy my conversation with the cupcake-making, money-talking millennial…Shannah Game.

Key Takeaways:

• Why you never feel like you have enough (even when you do)
• How to unlearn financial habits you inherited from your parents
• Why transparency in the FI community might fuel the comparison trap
• Strategies to shift from scarcity to abundance
• A powerful journal prompt for overcoming scarcity
• How to practice mindful money moments

More of Shannah:

Podcast: https://everyonestalkinmoney.com/episodes/

More of FI Minded:

Connect with Justin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinleepeters/

Why save and invest? It’s a rhetorical question, but let’s think it through.

When you save and invest, you’re sharing financial resources with your future self. This means your future self won’t have to worry about earning money. With that financial freedom, you gain time—the time you would’ve spent working. And with more time, you have more freedom to choose how to you spend your time.

You might ask yourself, "What do I want to do with my time?" Maybe it’s traveling, exercising, or catching up on sleep. But then what? That question often leads to something deeper—finding your purpose.

That’s a topic my friend Jordan Grumet, aka Doc G, knows a lot about. As a hospice doctor and the author of The Purpose Code, Jordan has explored purpose, connection, and identity in depth.

In this episode, he shares insights from his latest book and helps answer the big question: “How do I find my purpose?”—or if it even needs to be found.

If you’ve been reflecting on your purpose, well buckle up, this episode is for you.

Get ready for a thought-provoking conversation with the hospice doctor and author of the newly minted book, The Purpose, Code..Jordan Grumet.

Key Takeaways:

• How collections can bring you joy
• Little P purpose vs big P purpose
• The importance of the climb
• The 3 levers to create a more purpose-filled job
• How to create your purpose instead of find it
• Using a life review to identify what’s important to you
• Prioritizing community and connection

More of Jordan:

Order Jordan’s book, The Purpose Code at https://jordangrumet.com/books/.

Listen to Earn & Invest at https://www.earnandinvest.com/.

More of The Struggle is Real:

Find show notes and more at https://www.tsirpodcast.com/

Connect with Justin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinleepeters/

I try not to dwell on many regrets in life but one opportunity I wish I would have taken advantage of was my university’s study abroad program. I went on my first international trip outside of North America in 2015, the week following my college graduation.

I knew I was going to have fun and I was excited to explore Europe but I didn’t realize how much it would change my perspective on life.

I’ve been prioritizing traveling ever since then and it’s one of the few universal suggestions I encourage other people to try. One person who needs no encouragement is today’s guest, Sydney Summerlin.

From a young age, you could find her traveling the globe. At first, Sydney’s mom accompanied her on most of these trips. Now, she does a lot of traveling solo or with her twin sister.

One of the most impressive characteristics of Sydney is her emotional intelligence. Her open-mindedness, empathy, and curiosity are obvious. I’m guessing all of her traveling helped refine these qualities.

In this episode, we’ll be talking about traveling along with Sydney’s quest into healthcare where she is planning on working in pediatric oncology.

Show Notes:

[2:14] Why everyone should consider traveling

[11:07] What did Sydney learn from other international healthcare systems

[32:05] Learning to listen and empathize

[39:17] Staying positive while applying to med school

More of Sydney:

Instagram: @syd_with_a_y

More of TSIR:

Find show notes and more at https://www.tsirpodcast.com/

Follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/tsirpod/

I never realized how much of an impact my manager could have on my job satisfaction until I’ve had both the good and the lousy. Experiencing both has assured me one thing, I want to become an exceptional leader.

To continue learning, I consume a lot of leadership content. One of my favorite creators I come across is Makeda Andrews. I really liked her straight-forwardness, relatable advice, and of course, all of the bright colors.

I was actually surprised to find out Makeda started her professional career not having any interest in managing a team one day.

But that script didn’t last long. 6-months into the job, Makeda was approached by the President of the company and offered an opportunity to manage a team. With a little reluctance, she accepted the position.

Makeda eventually led her department to becoming a strategic division of the company. Makeda is now a leadership coach where she works specifically with first time managers to become confident, competent and effective leaders.

I know so many of you are currently moving into or towards leadership positions in your company right now. Makeda shares a lot of tangible advice like how to deal with an underperforming employee, how to guide team members to solve problems, and when to speak in outcome versus activity.

Show Notes:

[3:52] The responsibility that comes with being a leader

[13:02] Makeda’s leadership journey

[15:52] The mentor Makeda needed to build her confidence

[24:04] Guiding team members to solve problems

[28:22] Becoming an awesome-sauce manager

[32:13] How Makeda got into leadership coaching

[36:04] Speaking in outcome vs activity

[40:16] Using the ACAC model for underperforming employees

More of Makeda:

www.makedaandrews.com

Makeda Andrews on YouTube

More of TSIR:

Find show notes and more at https://www.tsirpodcast.com/

Follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/tsirpod/

I have something different for you today. This is a replay from my good friend Andrew Biernat’s show: Your Personal Growth, Personal Brand Podcast.

Andrew asked me a lot of great questions about The Struggle is Real including how the show got started, how I go about selecting topics and guests, and the one person who really influences my conversations.

Of course, it is hard for me to take my podcaster hat off. I turned the tables and asked Andrew a few questions as well. One thread in particular is a story about the dark side of personal growth.

We also conclude with a great conversation about some of our career missteps and how we’ve both used our podcasts to explore business adventures.

Show Notes:

[1:09] How The Struggle is Real (TSIR) got started

[3:49] Interesting guests on TSIR recently and how we select topics

[7:12] The dark side of personal growth

[13:27] The journey of building TSIR

[19:34] Using TSIR as my personal development plan

[30:23] The 1 person that influences TSIR the most

[33.:56] How Justin and Andrew’s business adventures lead to career relief

Mentions:

Tools of Titan by Tim Ferriss

Tribe of Mentors by Tim Ferris

Atomic Habits by James Clear

More of Andrew:

Your Personal Growth, Personal Brand Podcast

More of TSIR:

Find show notes and more at https://www.tsirpodcast.com/

Follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/tsirpod/

You all know I’m a sucker for a good early retirement story. Jackie Cummings Koski retired at 49 years old and now spends her time creating a financially literate society.

Retiring in your 40s is impressive in itself but Jackie did this with no head start. She grew up in poverty with her dad and 5 siblings. She barely graduated college with passing grades because she had to work full-time. Then Jackie went on to raise her daughter as a single mom after an early divorce.

Does that sound like a candidate for early retirement? I don’t think so but Jackie made it happen through a lot of self-education and hustle.

Speaking of education, Jackie became quite the expert in healthcare and in this episode, Jackie shares a lot of methodologies for cutting your healthcare costs.

Of course Jackie is a huge advocate for my favorite tax-advantage account: the HSA. I have never seen a health savings account as well-funded as Jackie’s. Last we spoke, her HSA had over $150,000 in it..

Show Notes:

[1:43] Jackie’s story from poverty to financial independence

[19:40] How Jackie retired by 49 year olds without ever making a 6-figure salary

[22:57] Is an HSA right for you?

[32:06] How Jackie grew her HSA to $150,000

[39:14] Tips for cutting healthcare costs

Mentions:

Why You Should Consider Having a Health Savings Account (HSA) | E40 Sean Mullaney

CostPlus Drugs (Mark Cuban's pharmacy company)

goodrx.com

More of Jackie:

Jackie’s Linktr.ee

VisuallyAmber.com

More of TSIR:

Find show notes and more at https://www.tsirpodcast.com/

Follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/tsirpod/

With high school teachers and porn stars being our instructors, I’m not surprised sex is awkward and unrealistic.

But at least we have our friends to talk to, right? Well through my personal experience, we are comfortable boasting about the highs of our sex life but I don’t hear too much conversation about body image issues, pre-mature ejaculation, and depleting sex drive.

As you can see from the title and our intro so far, today’s conversation is going to be a bit explicit. Our guest is a straight-shooter so this is your warning to look out for young ears.

Speaking of today’s guest, joining me is Susan Bratton. For 20 years, Susan has been empowering singles and couples across the gender spectrum to have hot, intimate sex. Susan believes that shame-free, frequent sexual pleasure is every person’s birthright.

Susan wasn’t always this sex expert. Like most of us, she lacked the know-how in order to maintain intimacy and passion in her relationship. After 11 years of lackluster sex in her marriage, she hit a tipping point, and told her partner it wasn’t working. But instead of giving up, they went to therapy, frequented sex workshops, and started a journey to transform their sex life.

With this episode, I hope to de-stigmatize the discussion around sex. It’s a skill. You have to put effort into learning how to have great sex and there's nothing wrong with that. It’s okay to lack confidence in this area. I’m guessing there hasn’t been a lot of real education up until this point.

But that changes here. We jump right into orgasms, discuss simple bedroom techniques you can start practicing with, and Susan shares ideas on how to reignite your sex life.

Key Takeaways:

[4:54] How to overcome the casm-gasm

[14:09] Orgasmic cross training

[16:23] Bullseye touching technique

[20:16] Can a couple be happy together without good sex?

[22:23] Initial steps to reignite your sex life and overcome bedroom boredom

[27:33] Creating a sex bucket list

[37:00] Spiritual sexuality

[43:11] Asking for what you want…when you don’t know what you want

Mentions - Books:

Women's Anatomy of Arousal by Sheri Winston

Sexual Soulmates by Susan Bratton

Mentions - Websites:

BetterLover.com

ExpandHerOrgasmTonight.com

SexualSoulMatePact.com

PersonalLifeMedia.com

More of Susan:

SusanBratton.com

Instagram: @susanbratton

More of TSIR:

Find show notes and more at https://www.tsirpodcast.com/

Follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/tsirpod/

If you’ve spent any amount of time in the working world, you probably know how much meetings can consume the work week.

I’m crazy and I actually track this metric. On average, I’ve spent 9.4 hours a week in meetings or 23% of my week.

Meetings aren’t going anywhere. They seem to be the default modality of getting things done and I have to agree, meetings make sense for some situations.

If I’m going to continue to spend a ¼ of my career in meetings, I want to be good at running them. Surprisingly, there are a lot of effective ways to have better meetings.

Someone that knows a lot about this subject is today’s guest, Darren Chait.

In 2016, Darren co-founded the company Hugo which is on a mission to make every meeting worth it. The product started as a simple Slack plug-in and transformed into a connected meeting notes platform.

You’ll hear more about Darren’s story in this episode along with many actionable takeaways including how to use asynchronous work to limit meetings, how to take better meeting notes, and answering the question, “do we need a meeting?”, with the 3 Ds: decisions, discussion, and debate.

Key Takeaways:

[1:33] Opening for Justin Trudeau in front of 29K people

[5:50] Why being a corporate lawyer made Darren the perfect person to solve how to have better meetings

[9:25] The difference between being a corporate lawyer and a tech founder

[13:14] Using the 3 Ds to evaluate when should you have a meeting

[17:26] The 4-hour meeting week

[20:26] How to decide who to invite

[24:52] The benefits of asynchronous work

[28:52] How to take better meeting notes

[41:13] Using a parking lot to limit off-topic discussion during a meeting

[44:29] Decision journal

Mentions:

Loom

Hugo meeting templates

More of Darren:

hugo.team

Twitter: @darrenchait

LinkedIn: Darren Chait

More of TSIR:

Find show notes and more at https://www.tsirpodcast.com/

Follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/tsirpod/

I love listening to stories that require someone to take a chance and today’s episode is packed with those.

You’ll hear from my friend, Ahmad Jabbir. He exhibits and embodies the phrase “bet on yourself.” One of my favorite stories he tells is how he pitched the CEO of Seek Discomfort, the apparel brand of the wildly popular YouTube channel, Yes Theory, to hire him for a job that wasn’t even created yet. His one-of-a-kind interview got him an instant yes.

This bravado would be impressive with anyone but Ahmad wasn’t always this bold. Up through college, he was shy, lacked confidence, and thought he was stupid.

But a few personal development projects changed everything for him. In one of his most recent projects, Ahmad set out to meet 100 strangers. He was blown away by the people he met and the stories he heard.

Key Takeaways:

[1:17] Ahmad’s go-to Toronto attractions

[5:20] The story of Rob Lawless and how that impacted Ahmad to meet 100 people

[15:27] How to make deep, meaningful relationship

[19:55] How Ahmad landed his dream job at Seek Discomfort

[31:48] Only take advice from people that you admire

[37:18] Lessons learned from 700 days of journaling

[54:07] How reading helped Ahmad learn the game of life better

Mentions:

People

Yes Theory

Bojana Corillic

Jesse Itzler

Books

The Third Door: The Wild Quest to Uncover How the World's Most Successful People Launched Their Careers by Alex Banayan

Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds by David Goggins

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business Paperback by Charles Duhigg

Movies

Yes Man

More of Ahmad:

Instagram: @Ahmad.Jabbir

LinkedIn: Ahmad Jabbir

More of TSIR:

Find show notes and more at https://www.tsirpodcast.com/

Follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/tsirpod/