PERSONAL

Name: Phil and Hannah Kirkeiner

Age: 25 & 21

Your home/airport location: We’re both from Fishers, IN, but currently live in Provo, UT. So our go-to airports are IND & SLC

Career/Source of regular income: I’ve sold pest control during the last two summers to pay for school and trips, and then Hannah works part-time during the school year performing at ComedySportz and ImprovBroadway which are improv comedy clubs in Provo. Besides that we make a few grand a year by taking advantage of bank account bonuses like the ones you can find on Bankbonus.co.

GENERAL TRAVEL

Why do you like to travel?

Travelling is awesome because (1) it motivates me to take action, (2) it’s exciting, and (3) the memories last longer.

I didn’t travel much outside of the Midwest growing up. So to think of California, Europe, Asia, Central America, as real places that I could actually get up and go see whenever I wanted was completely foreign to me. But then I served a mission in Honduras and I could not BELIEVE how different it was from everything I had experienced before! And then ever since I got home I looked at other places on the map and decided I could just GO if I wanted to. And I did, and have since been to loads of places by myself and now with my wife. So basically travelling is a constant reminder that nothing is stopping me from going where I want to go both literally and figuratively. Plus, when you travel with friends the memories last forever and the bond is a lot stronger than when you just hang out at home or in class. I love it.

Where have you been? What was your favorite vacation?

We recently wrapped up a 2 month trip to Europe which was an absolute dream! We travelled through 11 countries – Iceland, then Scotland, England, Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, Slovenia, and finally Italy. We went this last summer from early July to late August after having worked hard the previous few months before.

We lived on a very modest budget, often in private rooms through Airbnb and hostels. Occasionally in more expensive places like Iceland we camped or slept in our rental car. This trip was unique in that we did not plan the whole thing out beforehand, we only planned about a week ahead of time. When we started out we had our flights to Europe and back booked with points but nothing in between was set besides our first night in Iceland and our rental car for that week.

Each place was unique but we especially liked Iceland, Menorca (one of the Balearic islands off Spain), and everywhere in Switzerland. In Iceland we rented a cheap car from Sixt and drove around the whole island. My word, the landscape is impressive. Like a dream. Then Menorca had the clearest, bluest beaches we’ve ever seen. Tucked in the Mediterranean, there were no big waves like you’d see against the Atlantic of Pacific. The beaches there weren’t what you’re used to, either. Each beach was part of a rock-walled cove that jutted inland about a hundred yards or so. It was so cool. Then Switzerland just is gorgeous everywhere, the Alps are blanketed green with beautiful, sharp rock peaks. We stayed in Switzerland for a total of about 10 days, it was the bomb.

That was the most recent trip which was awesome, but in the past we’ve gone to California for fun since it’s close to Utah, Arizona for weddings and whatnot, Costa Rica for our honeymoon, and I went back to Honduras just before we got married. I also did a study abroad in Spain a few years ago which was fun.

What vacations do you have planned? As of now we don’t really have anything set because we got pretty burnt out after Europe, haha. But we have a lot of Southwest points to redeem so next year we want to go to a lot of these places:

• Washington, DC (Hannah’s been a million times but I’ve never been, crazy right?)
• Boston
• Washington & Oregon (we are considering living there after Hannah graduates)
• Cancun, Mexico (we have some hotel rewards we want to redeem)
• Caribbean cruise out of Fort Lauderdale (hopefully whatever job after December graduation is flexible so I have is flexible so we can do that!)

We also go back to Indiana a few times per year to see family!

What’s your dream vacation?

My dream vacation is to island hop in the Pacific on a small plane, where I can scuba dive all over the place and stay in fancy hotels with loads of steak. Hannah’s dream vacation is to hike to base camp at Mount Everest.

TIPS

What advice would you give to people wanting to travel more?

We firmly believe that pretty much anyone can afford travel, regardless of your circumstances . The only difference between those who travel and those who don’t is their priorities. Just make it happen.

How do you afford your travel?

We work hard in the summers with sales to afford life’s necessities, and then get flights for free through credit card signup bonuses. We also use bank bonuses to fund experiences like boat rides and whatnot while were travelling.

What are some ways you’ve learned to save money while traveling?

Hannah actually wrote a little blog post about this on her blog.

Do you prefer to travel domestically or internationally?

Lately it’s seemed like we prefer international travel but there’s a ton to do here in the US. Next year we plan to spend a lot more time exploring our own country before going off to anywhere super crazy.

SPECIFICS

Do you have a favorite airline?

Southwest is our best friend for traveling in and around the U.S. We’ve collected enough points to earn the coveted “companion pass” which cuts the cost of every traveling in HALF because gets my wife on any flight I’m taking for free. We also love the flexibility that comes with booking with points because it allows us to book a flight months in advance on a whim when we get a trip idea, then if we get closer to the date and realize the trip isn’t gonna work out, we can cancel without any repercussions or fees.

Hotel or AirBnB?

AirBnB 100%. We like to travel as thrifty as possible so we love AirBnBs for their kitchens. The first thing we do when we get to our destination is find a grocery store and stock up on simple, easy, and cheap meals we can pack for the day and cook for dinner.

Rental car or public transportation?

We always end up getting a rental car for at least some of our trip. Public transportation is AWESOME, but sometimes it doesn’t cut it when you wanna go off and take a day trip to something out of the way of the city. Plus, when we get rental cars, we know we always have the option of sleeping in the back seat when money gets tight haha. And sometimes if you run the numbers, getting a rental car is cheaper than paying for two people’s public transport anyway (ESPECIALLY if you intend to use a lot of Ubers or Lyfts)

What’s your least favorite part about traveling?

It’s always so hard to openly complain about aspects of traveling because “how can you complain when you’re living the dream?!” That being said… traveling cheap is pretty uncomfortable sometimes. Carrying stuff with you, not ever feeling *really* satisfied after a meal, sleeping in hot rooms with no AC, worrying about your stuff being safe — it gets annoying after awhile. That said, it obviously doesn’t outweigh the rest of the experience!

What do you do in between traveling while waiting for your next trip?

Well we’re both students sooo a lot of homework haha. It always takes a week or so to get the travel itch back after a big adventure, but as soon as we’ve finally fallen back into some semblance of a stable routine we find ourselves planning our next trip. // Travel… haha we live in, arguably, the most beautiful state in the country so when we’re not jetting off to other states or countries, we’re exploring our own state.

MISCELLANEOUS

Tell us about your new website, www.bankbonus.co

It’s a pretty simple concept – banks want new customers so they incentive people with cash to open a checking account with them. Bankbonus.co helps people take advantage and make lots of free money.

What Bankbonus.co does is compile every checking account promotion in the country and allow you to search and filter through the promotions to find the easiest bonuses. Since opening a checking account doesn’t affect your credit like credit cards and other loans, you can open just about as many as you please. On average even college students can make around $3,000 per year by taking advantage.

I’d say the *total* amount of effort required to fulfill the requirements for each bonus is about one hour, so you come out making around $100 to $200 per hour depending on what’s available. I’ve been taking advantage of these bonuses for a few years so my friends and I thought we’d make it a little easier for people. Pretty nifty, check it out!

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I met Phil in college and learned about his new website there. It is such an awesome idea! Check it out and start earning some free money!

Hopefully this travel interview inspired you to travel more! If you or anyone you know are interested in being interviewed, leave us a comment or send us a message!

Today’s interview is with Ben.   

Personal

Name: Ben D.

Age: 27

Your home location: Provo

Career/Source of regular income: Business owner and college teacher

What do you do for fun? Play with my kids, play sports, geek out over personal finance  

Success Tips

What has led to your success?

I think the biggest thing has been learning as much as I can. I read books, blogs, articles, etc. and try to soak up as much as possible. That’s actually how I started with the concept of FI, by stumbling on a blog. But it’s not just reading, it’s actually applying what I read.

Advice to people trying to achieve success?

Don’t look at it as a sprint, view it as a marathon. It takes time and patience to get to where you want to be. Set goals with measurable actions and track your progress. I have spreadsheets with three years of tracking our money. It’s fun to look back and see how far we’ve gotten the past three years, and it motivates us to keep going.

Read. A lot. The more I read, the more I learn and become successful. Even if you don’t want to read, listen to audiobooks or podcasts. There’s so much information out there.

Don’t do it alone. Get a support system and help each other reach your goals.

How do you measure success?

For me, success is when I accomplish a goal. It may be a small goal like to read one article daily, or a huge goal like buying an investment property. I like to focus on the small daily “wins” and allow those to accumulate to one big accomplishment. It’s the little things that add up.

What are your success habits?

In terms of personal finance, I’ve found my best habit to be to check and keep track of our personal finance on a regular basis. It helps us succeed when we know where our money is going.

Financial Independence/Retirement Plans

What does financial independence (FI) mean to you?

The common definition is when your passive income exceeds your monthly income. To me, that is the ultimate goal because it means I am free to explore life the way I want to. I’m the type of person that gets bored easily with just one thing and it would drive me insane to have the same job day in and day out for 40 years. To be financial independent means I am able to shift gears when I want to try something new without any implications on providing for my family.

Do you have plans for financial independence/retirement?

It’s my goal to be financially independent by 40 years old.

Why do you want to achieve retirement/financial independence?

I’ve never been a fan of having someone or something control my life and my everyday schedule. I love the concept of being free to enjoy life doing things I’m passionate about with the people I want to be with. I’ve never had a full-time “9-to-5” job and it’s my plan to keep it that way and instead use that time to .

If you had to start over, what’s the most important thing you would focus on?

I would have started saving and investing earlier at a younger age. My wife grew up in a thrifty family and already had solid personal finance principles when we married and had a strong savings account and no debt. My single days were full of spending every penny I earned and I didn’t have any savings and had some debt. It wasn’t until about a year into our marriage that we really started going beyond just saving money in the bank. We paid off all my debt and opened retirement accounts and started investing in properties. I really think if we had known what we know now back when were single, we would be much more ahead and could be financially independent much earlier than 40.

I would specifically focus on tracking my spending/knowing where my money was going and opening a retirement account earlier.

What tips do you have for others who want to grow their income?

Learn as much as you can and just do it. If it’s side hustling, investing, getting a raise, sales, whatever, become the best you can be and don’t be afraid to fail. I hate failing, but I love learning from my failures and figuring out how to improve.

Do you have any sources of income besides your career? If so, can you list them?

We own three rental properties and I own a business. We also do independent contractor work for various companies whenever we can.

Do you have a budget? If so, how do you implement it?

I used to have a budget with my wife when we first married. After about 3 years of observing our spending habits, we have been able to fall in a groove and no longer stick to a budget. We still meticulously track every penny we spend.

What is your investment philosophy/plan?

Right now, we’re focusing on retirement accounts and property investing. We max out our ROTH IRAs every year. My wife has a 401(k) at her work that we put 10% of her income in every month. We’ve bought three properties in the last three years and are focusing on a “snowball” with our rental income and we hope to be able to build a solid portfolio of cash flowing properties.

Do you give to charity? Why or why not? If you do, what percent of time/money do you give?

We donate at least 11% of our income. We strongly believe in giving back to the community. We’ve been fortunate to be in the situation we are and to be in a position to give back.

Part of becoming financially independent is to create a team around you that will help you achieve success. The purpose of these interviews is to help you get to know people who are doing the right things to become financially independent. Our goal is that you will find people that will inspire you to do better. Their stories will vary, but all will have something to say that will help you in your own personal journey.

Today’s interview is with Trevor who started blogging about financial independence at provomoney.com.  

Personal

Name:

Trevor  with provomoney.com

Age:

44

Your home location:

Utah

Career/Source of regular income:

Business Development

What do you do for fun?

I’m an aspiring pickleball player.  

Success Tips

What has led to your success?  

Seeking mentors, whether that be from consuming their books/podcasts/blog or by reaching out to them directly and asking for help.  I don’t like to try and reinvent the wheel.  I find someone who has already achieved what I want to achieve and then I figure out how they got there.  Success leaves clues if not a direct path.

Advice to people trying to achieve success?  

Pick a goal, define how to get there and then create metrics so you always know if you are on track or not.  Let it become a burning desire until you achieve it.

Financial Independence/Retirement Plans

What does financial independence (FI) mean to you?  

When the monthly cash flow from my investments exceeds my monthly expenses.

Do you have plans for financial independence/retirement? Or have you already reached financial independence?

 I haven’t achieved FI yet but I have a date set for when I will reach it.  I’m really enjoying the journey to get there.

Why do you want to achieve retirement/financial independence?

What kind of activities and projects will you spend more time on?  I want to achieve FI so I can have more freedom in life.  The freedom to serve others where and when I want.  The ability to be involved in projects that I feel are making a difference.

If you had to start over, what’s the most important thing you would focus on?  

Getting as close to a 50% savings rate as possible from day 1.  Put that money into my asset column and don’t ever take it out.  

You can follow Trevor’s journey on his blog. Feel free to comment below if you have any questions for Trevor!

If you think you make a good candidate to be interviewed, send us an email at thefundfamily@gmail.com