Camper's Diary - CampFI Southeast

Inside a mysterious and not-so-exclusive millionaire camp

I’m going to tell you a secret.

In a small, remote campground, deep in the back woods of Florida, current and future millionaires sometimes gather for a weekend in order to…

“Stop right there, Allen! Millionaires? Meeting in a remote, out-of-the-way location? You’re describing the Illuminati, the unseen hand. Careful, my friend, I heard they hunt humans for sport, and I know you - you’re not very fast.”

…I was going to say, in order to make new friends, share life strategies, and help each other find a community of... wait, what did you say?! Illuminati? Is that what you think this is?

Oh and for the record, I was consistently third or fourth in line at the buffet. Pfft! Not very fast, indeed!

Camper’s Diary - Day 1 - Arrival

We arrived at around 4:00 PM at the remote camp and received our tags.

“Aha! See!? You are tagged for the big hunt!”

Ehem. After collecting our NAME TAGS, we dropped our stuff off in our room. Our hotel-like room had all the comforts we needed. It was clean, the bed was comfortable, and the shower was hot.

We returned to the main hall, where fellow campers were getting to know each other.

As an introvert, it is always amazing to me how quickly I get comfortable with the people at CampFI. I find I don’t need many retreats from the retreat. I’ve pondered why this might be.

The only theory I can muster is that CampFI is full of people who are living their lives with intention; who are doing what 95% of the population doesn’t. Speaking from experience, the path to financial independence can sometimes be a lonely one. By having so many like-minded people in one place, we are, perhaps, desperate to meet and talk to others on the same journey.

It’s clear that many at CampFI are repeat attendees who know each other well. Having said that, no one seems to break off into cliques for the weekend. In fact, almost everyone makes a conscious effort to sit at a different table with new faces whenever breakfast, lunch, or dinner is served.

Dinner is ready at 6:00 PM.

“Let me guess, truffle-coated truffles?”

Spaghetti.

After, we play a game to memorize the names of the 60+ attendees. The game works, as I rarely need to look at name tags for the rest of the weekend.

We spend a little time around the campfire talking about our families, jobs, and where we are on our journey. We drink a little wine, laugh a few laughs, and head off to bed.

Camper’s Diary - Day 2 - Talks

My wife and I woke early and headed down to the lake to catch the sunrise. The fog was having none of that, but it still made for a very beautiful morning.

After breakfast with some new faces, we began the day with talks and q&a from three terrific speakers.

“Aha! Here we go. Here is the catch. You have to sit through all of these sales pitches for get-rich-quick schemes!”

No sales pitches, no pyramid or get-rich-quick schemes.

Just normal, down-to-earth people sharing their experiences and wisdom. One minute, they are up there giving an inspiring “ted talk,” and the next you are sitting next to them at dinner talking about your kids.

Chris, from Life Outside the Maze, gave a very inspirational talk on the ups and downs of his own financial independence journey. His very moving story reminds us to get busy living today; to approach each day with gratitude and adventure. I didn’t know Chris well enough to do this, but gosh I just wanted to give him a big hug after his talk. Give his blog a read, and you will understand why.

Jillian Johnsrud, the author of Fire the Haters and progress coach, ditched the PowerPoint presentation, and instead led a warm and inviting conversation about the benefits of retiring often. Many of us suffer a loss of identity when we retire and boomerang right back into the workplace. I was grateful for Jillian’s innovative ideas on test-driving our interests and hobbies through a series of mini-retirements and sabbaticals.

As we sat and quietly pondered the thoughtful talks given so far by Chris and Jillian, the back door flew open and Logan Leckie was in the building. Logan made his way to the front of the room while playing Scotland The Brave on bagpipes! You have to love a speaker who brings his own theme song.

What’s that? Yes, you do know Scotland The Brave. Ok, close your eyes. Now imagine bagpipes. Now imagine a song being played on bagpipes. Yeah, that’s the one.

Logan is very charismatic, and his talk was both funny and enlightening. He became financially independent once he realized his (very interesting) side hustles were generating enough income to cover all of his living expenses. Logan is working on a financial independence application called Topia that helps connect people interested in doing side hustles with a mentor network.

Day 2 included some hiking and a couple of camper-led breakout sessions. We closed the day out with an excellent meal, more wine, and some cards. One of our camp-mates designs games for fun, and we played his variation on “Oh Hell” (one of our favorites) called “Sweet Sixteen.”

Camper’s Diary - Day 3 - More Talks

Breakfast (pancakes!!), new faces, and good conversation, followed by three more terrific speakers.

Jess, from The Fioneers led us off with a super-smart primer on CoastFI (where you have enough money saved and invested for your retirement years, allowing you the flexibility to scale back and be more intentional with your lifestyle design). I really loved how Jess looks at the different stages of financial independence. So many of us are focused on reaching a financial number, often at the expense of our own joy. Jess reminds us of the power we have to create the life we deserve before we reach full financial independence.

Christopher from Refined By FIRE spoke about the difficult work of lifting himself out of a life on autopilot. A life of stressful, hectic mornings and exhausted evenings as a single father, all while grinding out a day’s work in between. Our speakers only have 20 minutes, but I sensed that Christopher could have lectured all day about any number of different topics in our community, whether it be alternative investments, talent-stacking, or more nuanced parts of the tax code. He’s like the Swiss Army Knife of FI.

My wife and I aren’t really real estate investors, but I have to say that James, from Rethink The Rat Race, really gave a compelling talk on the power of Airbnb to supercharge an early retirement. It was fascinating to see the economics of long-term, medium-term, and short-term rentals. Frankly, I’ve always assumed a short-term rental would be a big hassle, but I’m having second thoughts. James and Emily (his wife) are especially adept at leveraging technology to effectively manage their properties remotely.

We rounded out the day with some group hikes and a discussion of Annie Duke’s "Quit.” This discussion led to the spontaneous creation of the CampFI book club.

We helped a fellow camper brainstorm ideas for her new business and learned more about her experiences hiking the Camino de Santiago in the process.

After book club, we played a British pub drinking game (thank you, Logan). I am not good at British pub drinking games, as evidenced by the fact that I don’t remember much after the British pub drinking game.

Camper’s Diary - Day 4

Breakfast (Bacon and Eggs) and then we said our goodbyes to new friends. Out of 60 or so campers, I feel like we had lengthy, meaningful conversations with at least 40 of them.

“So you didn’t discuss world domination? Puppet regimes? An evil plan to sell NFTs of NFTs?”

I told you, I don’t remember anything after the British pub drinking game.

We love you CampFI! We’ll be back next year!