Growing up, I had a lot of good friends, but never really any close friends. I attended multiple proms as a friend ask, not because I was ever actually dating my prom date. This continued in college, where even in my degree program where we took over half of our courses with the same 20-25 students the last 3 years, I was friendly with everyone but never matched up with any of the cliques. There were 3 of us who were studious and fun, but we called ourselves “the misfits” and we usually teamed up for group projects. I even roomed with the two of them during a week-long conference in San Francisco during our senior year, despite me being the only guy among the 3 of us.
So I don’t have the same fond memories of hanging with my buddies in college, or getting together years later to reminisce about the good times we had together. I’ve been back to campus several times and I have attended some of their sporting events both on campus and down here in Florida. But those have always been by myself or with my parents if they wanted to sit and watch a football game from the cold bleachers in Indiana.
But I do get that college reunion type of feeling when I visit the annual FinCon conference. While 2019 was only my second year attending, even my first one in Orlando in 2018 felt like I was hanging out with old friends, although I was meeting them all for the first time! We had inside jokes, we bought/brought each other gifts, and we protected each other from weirdos and scumbags. We watched each others luggage, shared rides to/from venues and even invited each other to celebrate a birthday with 20+ other attendees.
My best friends attend FinCon, and CampFI, EconoMe Conference, and Camp Mustache, and the ladies also have Statement Event, Cents Positive and Lola Retreat. People I’ve interacted with for nearly a decade, like J-Money, recognized me in 2018 and were genuinely happy to meet me and chat for a bit. Tanja gave me a tackle-hug when I waved hello, and JD asked me to write a guest post on driving rideshare within 30 seconds of meeting me.
In 2019, I stepped up my involvement in the conference as I took the role of Volunteer Coordinator. This led to a whole new batch of people on the lookout for me, as the volunteers reported for duty. It also meant that I was out and about throughout much of the conference wearing my Staff t-shirt and looking all official 😊 But it also helped that I’m tall (6’5”) and know so many people, I always had people coming up to me to see if I knew where so-and-so was, or if I’d seen them lately. Usually I was able to either point out where I had *just* seen them or I’d make a quick pass through FinCon Central and find them for the requesting friend.
I also made sure I always tried to make introductions of my friends from Twitter with my other friends from Twitter. I was sad to hear that there were so many missed connections during FinCon18. This time, I vowed to try and make sure if there was someone who’d hoped to meet someone I know, I would keep an eye out for both of them at the same time.
I’m so fortunate to be a part of this collection of friends who roll 2,500 deep into our nation’s capital for a week to hang out and nerd out about money. As I mentioned, my very best friends show up at FinCon – the ones I text or DM with daily, the ones who I’ve shared deeply personal stories with, the ones I’ve visited in different parts of the country, and the ones who take time to talk with me no matter how famous they are in this community and beyond. I swim with their kiddo (Hi HP, Uncle Josh wants you to keep working on blowing bubbles) or chat about swim team with the kid’s proud dad!
I shed tears talking about refocusing and plans moving forward. I cried myself to sleep knowing that I never feel so much love from so many people all at once, something I am definitely missing in my daily life. I smiled and laughed as stories were shared, friendships were grown, and new connections were made.
Best tips were shared on travel hacking, real estate, and tax optimization. Sites were seen, drinks were drank, and fried chicken was eaten – well almost, because Popeye’s hours of operation were listed wrong on Google Maps! I immediately made the edit on my phone to avoid future disasters 😊
Tanja’s Big Idea Talk was about authenticity and being honest with your audience. I hope anyone who met me felt like I was exactly what they expected, even if Champ thinks I’m maybe a more amped up version of myself at FinCon than I am in real life – and she’s not wrong!
Friends I got to meet for the first time at FinCon 2019:
(apologies in advance for missing anyone)
The Fioneers (Jessica and Corey)
A Purple Life & Ms. Mod (because I almost never saw one without the other)
Financial Mechanic (Jess)
Tread Lightly, Retire Early (Angela)
Bravely (Kara Perez)
Dumpster Doggy (Amanda Holden)
Berna Anat (Hey Berna)
Diania Merriam
Melanie Lockert
Brynne Conroy (Author of The Feminist Financial Handbook)
Cameron Huddleston (Author of Mom and Dad We Need to Talk)
Sarah Li-Cain (Beyond the Dollar podcast)
Whitney Hansen (The Money Nerds podcast)
Erin Lowry (Broke Millennial)
Kayla Sloan
Kristy Hymans
Liz Eischen
Bethany Bayless
Moriah Chace
Daniella and Alexandra (iliketodabble)
Melanie (Partners in FIRE)
Financial Pilgrimage (Mark)
StopIroningShirts (Robert)
Kim at The Frugal Engineers
How to Fire – John and Sam
Paul David Thompson
Lynne Somerman
Kathleen Celmins
Jamila Souffrant
Jackie Beck
Amanda (Debt Free in Sunny CA)
Lance Cothern (Money Manifesto)
Dragon Guy and Dragon Gal
The FI Old Guys
One Frugal Girl
Kristen – The Frugal Girl
Full Time Finance
Ms. ZiYou
Young FIRE Knight
Elizabeth (Owning the Stars)
Sarah (Smile and Conquer)
Jessica Moorhouse
Bob (Tawcan)
Becky (TwentyFree)
Kate Dore
Steve Stewart
Miranda Marquit
Amanda Abella
BC Krygowski
Waffles on Wednesday
ZJ Thorne
Andy Hill
Bobbi Rebell
Rich Jones & Marcus Garrett (Paychecks and Balances podcast)
And my roommate Dillon (Dollar Revolution)
Returning friends from last year’s FinCon or another CampFI or Playing with FIRE event:
Military Dollar
Erin ReachingForFI
Gwen Fiery Millennials
Bianca Miss Mazuma
Stephonee
Liz Chief Mom Officer
Champagne & Capital Gains (Annie)
Pete McPherson (Do You Even Blog)
Chelsea (Smart Money Mamas)
Allea Grummert (Ask Allea)
Penny (She Picks Up Pennies)
Abbie (I Pick Up Pennies)
Kevin (Financial Panther)
Lisa (A Lawyer and Her Money)
JD Roth
Jim Wang
J-Money
Tom Drake
Tanja Hester (I met her husband Mark this year)
The Luxe Strategist (wasn’t at FinCon last year, but we met up in NYC later that fall)
Michelle (Frugality and Freedom)
Bill and Amanda from Wealth Well Done
Piggy and Kitty from Bitches Get Riches
Leif (Physician on FIRE)
Carl and Mindy Jensen (1500 Days and Bigger Pockets Money podcast, respectively)
Brad and Jonathan from ChooseFI (Plus Ed and the whole crew, many of whom I met at the Richmond Playing with FIRE event)
Scott and Taylor Rieckens (Playing with FIRE)
Julien and Kiersten (rich & Regular)
Chad Carson
Karsten (Big ERN)
MK and Jason Williams
Vicki and Amy from Women Who Money
Laura (Every Day by the Lake)
Lisa Duke
Sean Mullaney (FI Tax Guy – whom I met at CampFI SE)
Jillian Johnsrud (Montana Money Adventures)
Deanna Broadus (Recovering Women Wealth)
Jennifer Mah (Confessions of FI and ChooseFI Admin)
Mike Damazo
Seonwoo Lee
Stephanie (Xennial Blogger)
Krystel (All She Saves)
Mr. Jamie Griffin
Doc G
PT
Jessica Bufkin
Nick True
Eric Nisall
Steven (Even Steven Money)
Cody Berman (Fly to FI, The FI Show, Financial Freedom Summit)
Justin Taylor (Saving Sherpa, The FI Show)
James and Emily (Rethink the Rat Race)
Adam (Minafi)
Kyle (Money @ 30)
Stephen and David Baughier
Chris Browning from Popcorn Finance
Paula Pant
Emily Guy Birken
Doug Nordman
Claudia and Garrett Pennington
Harlan Landes and Athena Valentine
Despite so many amazing friendly faces and growing or renewed friendships, I never planned on attending FinCon in 2020 in Long Beach, California. Now that it’s not happening, it doesn’t even matter that I’m still fairly new in my current job, and I don’t have a lot of vacation time saved up. Most of the vacation time I’ve taken between September 2018-February 2020 have been to attend FI-related events such as two FinCons, a SkiFinCon, two CampFIs, EconoMe Conference, plus 5 long-weekend trips to NYC, Charleston SC, San Diego, Richmond VA, and Lake Geneva Wisconsin to visit FinCon friends. But FinCon in Austin in 2021 may be in the plans, we’ll just have to see.