Is FinCon *Really* Worth Going To? (Review of FinCon 2018)

We are an online community based on conscious spending and finding the best value so every newbie out there is going to be asking themselves this question at one point or another…“Should I go to FinCon?”

I honestly didn’t think FinCon’s worth going to before, to be honest. I only went this year because I got a scholarship from the Center For Financial Services Innovation that covered everything. My day with CFSI was really eye-opening and long so I’ll write a separate review to that.

Right now = FinCon.

My total trip cost was not exactly cheap at $1,239.50 total for just me.

But I wasn’t trying to be very frugal. I was there for 6 days and I wined and dined pretty well. Not to mention I took a Lyft everywhere I went 🙂 I’m including the actual complete total – ie. using our flight miles from credit hacking, all my flights were technically free but the price still includes as if I purchased the ticket.

To kill some suspense, YES I thought it was worth going to but I’ll only tell you why last – use the content menu below to navigate to that section near the bottom of this post. The middle parts of this post = me being a chatty cathy.

My Goals for This Trip

This was a complicated trip so let me run through my itinerary and goals for the entire trip.

1. First of all, this trip was sponsored. Large portions of my entire trip were covered by a scholarship I received earlier this year. I attended FinX which took place before FinCon opened. CFSI runs this scholarship so remember to enter next year!

(At the scholarship dinner, people ask me what I wrote about…and I…totally forgot because it was 9 months ago LOL. Embarassing…so pro-tip: don’t forget what you wrote your post about. x_x)

2. Secondly, I was excited about attending my first FinCon. I didn’t read or keep track much about who was coming or what happened at FinCon in previous years. I was only eyeing the workshops because they could be useful to my deep life projects down the road.

No, I did not go to further my growth with this blog. In fact, when I was there, I almost killed this blog. My job was to attend as many workshops as possible, not to make friends…….or so that was the plan.

3. I wanted to scout out Florida as a home location for our post-FIRE plans. Staying in Washington is plan A but I didn’t want to be close minded. Florida fits the bill for a lot of things on our dream FIRE location checklist: international city full of food, sights, family friendly, cultural diversity, business-friendly and tax friendly.

It was my job to see if I could picture myself living here. My husband did not want to come with me for this particular FinCon trip because of Florida’s hot and humid weather. (Yes, my husband loves the cold weather of his popsicle ancestors.)

4. I have never traveled alone on a flight longer than 2 hours. I wanted to see how I handled a long plane ride.

5. this trip happened to coincide with a trip we were planning back to California. My husband decided to fly straight to California first while I will fly out from Orlando to California after FinCon. Technically my vacation continued after FinCon. My husband and I regrouped to catch up with family for a few more days. Now it’s back to Seattle to hang out with old schoolmates who are visiting!

6. Wanted to see once and for all if FinCon was really worth going to…because as a casual loner…what the heck is everyone even raving about??? Who is dealing out this kool-aid? If we’re all anonymous online then why are we paying money to see each other face to face…

My Result from This Trip

Holy crap I had fun.

1. With this scholarship came duties that needed to be fulfilled so I arrived a few days before FinCon officially started. I didn’t want to miss anything and I wanted to be well rested. I wanted “earn” my scholarship by making sure I fulfilled the full syllabus.

Good thing I planned to come early because some other things delayed the trip (from transportation to hotel etc.) I basically spent the entire first day sorting it out which meant I got no catch-up sleep. I know for the first 2 days I was running on 6 hours of sleep in total. I was there for 5 days and I averaged about 30 hours of sleep for the entire 5 days I was there.

I thought it was going to be a vacation…FinCon was more like a marathon. Everyone was there and everyone wanted to hang out with everybody else…like a tsunami of excited people.

Sorry to any blogger who caught me falling asleep or semi-delirious hahaha.

2. The workshops are what I (foolishly) believed was the core value of FinCon. Nah. If you wanted workshops then you’re better off just buying the virtual pass and skipping the ever expensive hotel and flight cost. The virtual pass will give you access to all the workshops filmed at FinCon.

See, these workshops take place in the SAME timeslot (BOO!) so if you wanted to go to two different workshops…you can’t. Plus some of these workshops started are as early as 8 AM….and I needed to get ready, eat, Lyft there. There was no way I could get up before 7 AM jet lagged.  7 AM was my 4 AM west coast time! Hell to the noooooo!!

I’m too spoiled to wake up before 10 AM! Hopefully, your experience will vary from my spoiled lazy ass…but I just couldn’t get up.

But here’s the thing about FinCon that made it worth the hotel and flight cost…

MEETING OTHER PEOPLE YAAAAAAAY!

I’m super asocial so I’m surprised to hear myself utter those words…but it’s true. I met some COOL ASS KIDS.

And by “cool” I mean my definition of cool…which actually means fellow dorks. Money dorks.

3. NOooooooooooOoooooOOooooooope. We are not moving to Florida. The weather is just…absolutely weird. I stepped out of the airport and the air was so thick from the humidity. It was 9 pm and somehow still 78 degrees outside. For a random 10 minutes or so a day, heavy rain showers randomly appear.

Florida rain is different from Seattle rain. The droplets from Florida rains is WARM. The rain droplets are big and when drops hit you, you feel it. Seattle rain is cold, sometimes goes on all day, and the droplets are tiny like a mist.

Orlando has super sweet and VERY social people (compare to Seattle) which is a great thing for most people but…it freaked me out. I was standing at reception, checking in at the hotel, and people come up to start a friendly conversation like it was nothing.

I had some trouble with carrying my luggage and this guy was just like (in half Spanish) “oh here, you can hook it on mine until your ride gets here. Is this your first time in Orlando? :)” This exact situation in Seattle wouldn’t happen. People would NOT come up to you to start a convo. Some will offer help but it’s cold and distant. They’re definitely not going to pretend like they know you after or even try to start a conversation during. NO EYE CONTACT EITHER, it’s great! 🙂

It made me realize how much I ADORE the Pacific Northwest in general. I think Seattle has some super intelligent people up here. Quiet and smart types like my husband. Not overly friendly or social. If you haven’t heard of the term Seattle Freeze…yes it’s definitely real here.

4. Even though I was on a scholarship, I decided to be economical with their money. I took a frugal red-eye flight thinking I could just sleep for the entire duration…nope that did not happen. I couldn’t sleep a wink.

I was stuck in a tiny seat with nowhere to put my head. When I ask the stewardess nicely for a cup of water for my antibiotics medicine she said “no” and…walked off. The same thing happened again on my return flight too and my fellow flight takers sitting next to me offer me help instead. Maybe I should have filed complaints or something because I’m pretty sure it’s their job as “attendants.”

Let’s just say…if this is what traveling is typically like, I’m staying put in Washington or just hoping for driverless cars. How do people do this with kids on international flights??? I felt like a chained cattle.

5. That was basically this post: Two Different Ways in Approaching a Fulfilling Life (Asian Style) 😀

6. Yes, it was worth it. Beyond just a convention, it’s the connection you make. I didn’t get much out of the brands or monetization part but that was secondary to me anyway. Frugal Gene = Diary blog of my life.

FinCon was a great experience.

If you think FinCon ends when the convention ends then you’re wrong. I flew to California right after Orlando for a mini vacation with hubby and I meet Greg from Greg Chats Cash, another FinCon attendee/podcaster who recognized me by my buckets of stolen FinCon swag 🙂

Jump below for more…Is FinCon Worth It? 6 Things I Learned/Notice.

Programs I thought were awesome…

I am not affiliated with these 2 companies at all. I was introduced to a lot of companies and these two stuck out to me as ingenious ideas.

Once again, not affiliated, haven’t tried them, just thought they were really good ideas and deserve the attention 🙂

1. CollegeBacker – Save for college with help from family and friends

The easiest way to get everyone in the family involved in saving for college. I was sooooo impressed with this idea I made a mental note to tell everyone. Instead of physical consumerist gifts from grandma, uncle, auntie etc. this program + app lets you invite family and friends to save for your child’s 529 plan. Plus, it’s free!

2. Greenlight Card – The Debit Card for Kids

Parents can give their kids a Greenlight debit card so they can teach kids good spending habits and while giving them allowances to manage etc. Lots of features and parents get control and tracking on their kids’ money. Super clever!!!

3. Playing With FIRE (a Financial Independence Doc!! :O)

Oh my gosh, the early retirement community is going to get their OWN documentary!!! Seriously! It’s a project on Kickstarter right now but it’s already filmed – they need to edit it.

I had my CFSI dinner with the creators AND then I had dinner with the rest of the crew members the next day. Talk about rubbing elbows with stars, that’s how I felt!

I asked them some hard questions on how they will address the question of privilege etc. Yes, this documentary will go into those topics and many other complaints lodged against the FIRE community. For that, I’m super interested in seeing how they will try to dissolve the misunderstandings/misconceptions others hold.

Hint: we focus way too hard on the early retirement thing and not enough on FI.

(Almost) Everyone That I Met

Note: Don’t grill me if I missed anyone, just let me know if I missed ya:) Nothing is really in order, I’m literally a month late to write this up so nothing is fresh up in my head and this is all from memory haha.

Overachieving Cats

Well, to be honest, I don’t think it should be named FinCon. I mean, FinCon is a great name. But a more reflective name would be…The Gathering of Chronic Overachievers Un-Anonymous. I can’t even recount how many doctors, lawyers, engineers, financiers, CEOs, CFOs I’ve met around one dinner table.

More than 80% of everyone barely in their 20s and 30s. Little ol’ me was just…hanging out with them. Total imposter syndrome.

Do you what these people do when they come home from their super impressive day jobs?

Apparently, they write up blog posts for you and me to read the next day.

Like…take a break already goddamn. When do you people sleep?

You’re already a Rockstar Millionaire Cowboy Ninja PhD at age 23 – and now you want to make Internet history by 25 and get on the front page of Business Insider or something? (cough yes…)

I didn’t come up with the overachiever realization – THAT was Accidental FIRE 🙂 – whom I also had the pleasure of dining with.

After he said that, I took a look around the table + room we were in…and thought to myself…holy crap, he’s right.

I put almost everyone under overachievers even though most didn’t give off that vibe. I believe overachievers are all on a spectrum and these people are all functioning overachievers (ie, don’t stop, it’s working for you!)

Janet from My Twenty Cents

Janet needs to give herself more credit. She’s doing her PhD like it’s nothing.

I met her first and we talked for a long ass time about life. I think I was being too chatty when I should have been sleeping for my sanity the next day instead haha.

I can’t even remember what we talked about exactly but it was Asian girl stuff. Boyfriends, parents, PhD, citizenship stuff, career plans and lots of life stuff. I do remember I thought her citizenship situation was soooo unfair. Janet’s very independent and robust in her approach to life, in comparison to me. She has more strength than she lets on.

For some reason, talking to her made me miss my husband SO MUCH since she’s away from her boyfriend too.

I felt really grateful for my husband because…once again…winning the husband lottery…I haven’t been away from him for more than a week ever. We’re always together. When we’re away from each other, we video call each other for hours, doing absolutely nothing…like a bunch of stupid teenagers in love.

I thought that was normal for a couple until I realized Janet and Olivia don’t do that… They’re both more independent than me I suppose. My husband is needy too. He wanted to call and see me etc. My roommate back in college…she would fall asleep while on the phone with her boyfriend for the whole night. That’s who I learned it from hahaha. >_<

Olivia from Birds of a FIRE

As I feared, she’s the scary kind of smart. She might rule over the world someday so I would…suck up to her now. L0L!

Ha……like I’m actually dead serious though…..

We talked about something..something…robotic arm she wanted to make after she FIREs. I was falling asleep hardcore but she does have a very interesting brain to pick 🙂 I don’t even remember what I said to her now back then because I was 75% asleep. But I think she likes me and we’re in a super fancy mastermind group. Boo-yeah!! By age 40, I imagine she’ll be on the cover of an Inc. issue about female entrepreneurs and I’m going to be very proud to tell people I knew her! :))))

Don’t forget the little people Oliviaaaaaa, someone (me) needs to help her seal her potato chip bags when she’s ruling the world.

Oh I ran into Pete from Do You Even Blog too. Of course, Pete’s industry genius has never been lost on me (remember the podcast Me and Ms. Frugal Asian did together with him?!) but now, I’m more or less 100% converted to taking Pete’s course because Olivia said it was good. If Olivia says it’s good then it’s probablyyyy really good – because she knows a crazy lot already! Can’t wait until the course opens back up.

Speaking of Olivia Recommendations, I spoke to her favorite bloggerrrr Early Retirement Now (ERN) over dinner. I’m terrible talking to smart people but but but it was kind of exciting to know we have similar FIRE plans in Washington state =)

Makes me feel like I know what the heck I’m doing…(when I don’t.)

Doc G from DiverseFI & David of Accidental FIRE

These thugs cornered me in a dark hallway and mugged me with hugs. That’s basically what happened from my PERFECT memory. I love these two so much!!!

It was like 5 pm on the second day when I met them…by then I was running on about 3 hours of sleep so…I was dead delirious. Doc G was so sweet and offered to shy light away from by putting a shirt on me while I was falling asleep on the roundtable. Talking to him was like…therapy I would actually pay $$ for.

Both spectacular humans to talk to but they give me too much credit. David teaches me a lot, believe it or not, his blog is informative and funny. I suspected he was a super intelligent guy before and couldn’t ya know it, he was. He was wearing Early Retirement t-shirts he designed himself. Design isn’t an easy thing, I remember talking to Susan from FI Ideas about her Twitter logo. I immediately recognized it because the colors and strokes registered with me.

The Index and Chill shirt would make an Xmas good gift for my brother in law and his new girlfriend baawaahahah.

Kevin from Financial Panther

Financial Panther made the entire FinCon trip worth it for me. I told Zach that it would be AMAZING if I could shrink Panther down and put him in my pocket so he could forever drive me. I *literally* *LITERALLY* have never…EVER met anyone like him. He’s like…I don’t even know…!!!

You know the law of physics where it says energy cannot be created, only exchanged?

Well, science hasn’t studied Financial Panther because this guy has BOUNDLESS energy. Loved talking to him, even if I was acting retarded and trying SO hard to impress him.

Loved him. Totally look up to him now.

(Unless he is on DRUGZ or something but I don’t think so)

I stalk his blog now…and you should too.

Zach from Four Pillar Freedom

Meeting him was SO funny. I was just coming out of an auditorium full of people and I see him standing in front of me. My eyes travel down to his name tag and it SAIIIID:

Zachary Powers

Four Pillar Freedom

I basically sucked all the air out of the room when I saw him being such a fan of his blog and all.

FYI, he’s a total BABEY. Babey = baby babe. Like a junior Jason Statham. He’s like 24…?? Or 17 or something…but SO smart and successful already. He has bigger plans in the works (don’t we all…overachievers). I was on the phone with my husband while I was talking to Olivia and Janet. We were all gossiping about Zach.

My husband thought it was so funny. He said, “Interesting, so this is what girls talk about in their spare time.” LOL!

Meeting Dr. McFrugal’s Clan

The most ADORABLE Family Award goes to the Dr. McFrugal Clan!!!

They’re overachievers because 1) they’re smart 2) they’re pretty 3) their baby is pretty 4) and their baby is smart.

I think there’s a certain feeling of privilege that being able to meet people like the McFrugal Clan because he is anonymous. If you check out his blog, all you’re getting is epic pictures of perfect decor, clean shots, and the back of his wife’s head!

I think bragging rights should be included in those who come to FinCon and can now put a face on the blog of the many of us who blog anon. It’s a really special feeling – they’re a very good “let’s go on a double family date” kind of family.

Ethiopian Food!!

Oh wait, LOL, I meant…Adam (MinaFI) recommended Ethiopian food hahaha. I didn’t meet a blogger named Ethiopian food.

Everybody needs to read about what happened to Adam!!! It’s like my hubby’s story.

He’s the guy heading our mastermind group too and UGH this dude is so sweet!!! He reminds me of my husband = intelligent, reserved, hardworking, and soft-spoken.

I cannot do wrong to thy Man who sat me on a long table with Ethiopian food and other people who loved money. Aaron from PF for Beginners and Michael from Financially Alert were also at the table on the last night of FinCon. We had our photo taken at the booth together :)!!

My stupid ass can’t recall half the table, I was focused on basically Ethiopian food + PF blogging DAYDREAM coming trueeeeee in one place (and encouraging Zach to navigate through his Ethiopian menu) — is this real life?? Or just fantasy?!

Elusive Cats

Oh my god, I didn’t have the chance/time to say pick their brains, wah wah wah!!!

Laurie from Three Year Experiment – We had to text AND email each other to find each other. I think I walked by and missed her until another blogger said “oh she just walked by” omg talk about elusive!! Meeting her was too brief because I had so many questions! Ugh!

OMG OMG got to meet this girl!! @TheFrugalGene Need to work on my surprise face! ??#Fincon18 #fincon #bloggercrush #xenialmillenial pic.twitter.com/S4AYlbO9I7

— ThreeYearExperiment (@LaurieThreeYear) September 29, 2018

Othala Fehu – I was pretty social-ed out on the third day of FinCon but I did meet Othala Fehu for a split second. He didn’t want to stay and chat though! 6 months ago, he sent me a Norwegian black metal song and I’ve been SUPER addicted to the entire album since.

I soooooooo wanted to thank him for recommending this song to me:

What do you guys think? I made my husband listen but he didn’t like it at all – “it’s super…depressing.”

He likes power metal but I like a few inches darker.

I also met Sunburnt Saver who was into metal music but we didn’t have enough time to pick each other’s brains :(!!!

P.S. Anytime someone is into personal finance + metal music  = we should chat. Haha!!

Think Save Retire – I saw Steve like 5x but he was busy talking to people or on his laptop so I didn’t go up to bother him. TOO SHY. Then I FINALLY caught his eye in the hallway but he had somewhere to go so we just said hi. >_< I forgot to…I don’t even know – just wanted to meet him is all.

ESI Money (John)

Ummmm, somehow my buddies Janet and Olivia met ESI like 5x times before I met him once. How unfair is that!!!!

I only saw him 2x during the entirety of FinCon – a 4-day event!! ESI is a straight up family man who has it all. He’s on Marketwatch every other day yet finds the time to CONVERSE with small shrimps like me. I believe ESI is high on the overachiever spectrum because even HIS GENES somehow figured out how to defy aging. He looks age 36 max when he should be gray and in his 50s.

I’m not joking, ask ANYONE who has met him. He’s like the Keanu Reeves of blogging, doesn’t age!!!

I also had the pleasure of running (well he snuck up on me hahaha) into Josh Overmyer for a little bit too before we went out to dinner.

Please don’t ask me why I have a picture of Physician on FIRE’s backside…

Like…I think I was working up the courage to ask him for a selfie with me (KIDS THESE DAYS) but that’s when he got up to ask Mr. Money Mustache a question during the closing debrief and…I don’t know but I ended up taking a photo of his shirt/pants instead. Good enough?

I swear it’s Physician of FIRE!!! Not some random guy… :\ I swear.

It was also really cool to hear Dave Ramsey’s daughter Rachel speak. I didn’t even know he had kids, much less professional speaking kids. I also met and spoke to J.D. Roth and snuck peeks at Wallet Hacks. Great guys, a hilarious presentation involving mostly….Taylor Swift.

Cool Cats

To be jolly and fair, there are exceptions to our overachiever crowd. I briefly encountered: J. Money (too chill to be chronic anything), Apathy Ends (he’s the Devil), Mad Fientist (yes, I sat and had dinner with THE Mad Fientist and his stunning wife, vomit out your jealousy now mortals :P), and of course Mr. Money Mustache. These guys are just too cool for school. These people are smart, cool, super bad-ass and they don’t care about anything which means they’re not going to read this because they’re drinking it up, jet skiing across Bali as we speak.

Mad FIentist

I actually had the final CFSI dinner sitting one over from Brandon and his wife!!! I didn’t even notice until he started talking about Edinburgh and my mental bell went *DING* I KNOW THAT STORY!!! They are both unbelievably down to earth and I was getting scared talking to them/being in close proximity.

I think total awe would have been a great way to describe it. I did gather the balls to ask why he posts so little….but it totally makes sense because…THE GUY’S RETIRED. He’s FI man!!!

Apathy Ends

OK, I don’t think he’s a chronic underachiever but he was definitely one at FinCon compare to me.

I kept asking him what seminar and workshop he was going to go to (because I wanted to hang out with him in a super gay way) but that bum just hung out by the hotel pool or chilling out in the hallway, skipping class. Even his baseball cap was on backward haha. Honestly, he does extremely well for a TOTAL slacker! 😛 You know Shaggy from Scooby Doo? He has a 10% likeness to Shaggy.

Mmmm actually…I’m thinking AE is more like Ferris Bueller.

Yes yes Bueller!! Because 3 out of the 4 times I ran into him, he was either ditching something and/or holding a beer.

MMM

The legend himself. I did not encounter MMM directly (but Mr. Accidental FIRE and Apathy Ends did. Go ask them how chill MMM was!!) I’m honestly glad I didn’t run into him because it would have been too much for me. I would gather up the balls to ask why he posts so little….but it totally makes sense because…THE GUY’S RETIRED. He’s FI man!!! x2

J. Money

He’s soooooooo sweet!! Awwwww, yes, of course, J$ would be haha. Yes, J. Money really does have a mohawk. He’s a lot skinnier and taller than I thought too! What a total sweetheart! Amy of Life Zemplified had to drag me over to say hi, but I’m so glad I did. We saw pictures of J. Money’s kids. The only word that comes to mind when I saw pics of his kids…VERY squishy. Hahahaha. Plump babies are the happiest babies and those are some lucky kids.

Is FinCon Worth It? 6 Things I Learned/Noticed

1. “Should I go to FinCon?”

Can you afford it? If yes then yes. What if you’re “too new?” EVEN HARDER YES.

I thought FinCon was for older, established bloggers to meet up and chug a beer but it’s probably a lotttttt more helpful for new bloggers. That to me was a surprise. If you’re an older blogger…still yes. Although I’m not that old of a blog (1.5 years) so I can’t tell you for sure past this point 🙂 I would go personally though. When you are new and young, you have more blood and determination to flush out your clique. It’s scary to go up to senior / big-time bloggers but from what I’ve seen – FinCon has a lot more baby bloggers so you will find your clique, don’t worry about being new.

Focus more of what you want to do/get out of it than being new or old.

2. It was 4-days long in a barbell style.

The convention from start to finish was 4 days. I was in Orlando for 6 days because my scholarship event took time in advance to prepare and I wanted a day of rest beforehand…(which sadly I didn’t get thanks to flight delays and other mishaps.)

I don’t know why FinCon was spread out for 4-days but this year, they did it in a barbell style so it’s not just one monotone event. There are LOADS of things on the first day, less on the second, less on the third, and the LAST day was the best day with TONSSS of things.

My last day of FinCon was basically perfect. =) Perfect day for me!!! I met almost everyone I was supposed to meet (universe destined), ate Ethiopian food, had yummy convention dessert, had some funky photos done with Janet, got free shirts. Life is ever so gooooooooooooood to me!!!!!!!

The girls and I didn’t leave the convention until almost midnight and I was exhausted after essentially a 5-day marathon of socializing.

3. Workshops overlap.

OK, I didn’t like this one and I didn’t piece that together until I saw the schedule of the FinCon workshops for bloggers. (Apparently, FinCon 2018 has a mobile app with the schedule and speakers published.)

Anywhoo, let’s say if you wanted to go to 2 workshops but those workshops are booked for the same time slot…then you have to choose which one to go to. There are no repeats or reschedules, choose it or miss it. If you want to get it all, you have to get the virtual pass for $99 more.

If you don’t want to socialize or meet anyone at FinCon, just get the virtual pass. I don’t think people should buy a ticket, hotel, flights, rental car etc. to go to FinCon for the workshops. That’s a waste of money.

You should go to socialize and hang out with money nerds like yourself!! 

How taboo is the subject of money? Think about it? How often are you allowed to talk to everyone openly about $$$? Well, you can chat about it openly with the best at FinCon. Everyone is super friendly and open.

4. Bunk Up for Friends Not Just to Save $$

Saving money shouldn’t be more than 30% of your goal for your FinCon trip. It happens once a year and for just a few days…that means it’s special. The media market’s pros are here to help answer your questions after each workshop. You can make friends and weirdos like yourself from across the country too.

What’s most valuable on the table is the possibility of using FinCon to get more OUT of it, not the $$ you spend into it.

I’m not saying to not travel hack or bunk up. You should bunk and find a fellow attendee to bunk with but….not just because of the money $$ saved – more so because you get a buddy to go to the events with and plan out things together! I notice people tend to be more productive in groups because of the accountability buddy thing.

5. You don’t need a blog to attend FinCon!

This was such a random one! I thought everyone needed a blog in order to be allowed in…? I mean most of the attendees had blogs or worked for financial companies etc. I did meet one woman who didn’t have a blog and was simply a fan of the community going “ga-ga” over all the bloggers she followed.

6. It’s what YOU want to get out of it (x100)

Cannot stress this enough!! There’s no universal answer but some indicators. Did you want to grow as a writer? Drink up a lake of beer? (There wasn’t much drinking don’t worry!) Meet your heroes? Find a mentor? Watch the ever gorgeous Montana Money Adventures dance? (I saw her drunk dancing from 30 ft away and I laughed my head off omg!!)

Personally, that $1,239.50 is what I’m willing to pay to get into the mastermind group I’m in right now AND for meeting Financial Panther alone.

I couldn’t have been able to do those 2 things without going to FinCon sooooo…you have my answer.

I also had a mini chat session with ESI Money on the last day = sweetest, most mentor-sage-like-man ever!!!!

I got so much out of it but I’m not sure if that’s going to be the case for everyone? It depends on how social you are with this community in the first place and if you find your little clique. I found mine super quick. I ended up with lots of new friendships and finding FANTASTIC genius people with similar master plans.

That was freakin’ exciting. I almost spilled out of my seat talking to Babey Zachary about projects and the future. Financial Panther was amazing…I think I said that 20 times already but he is like…smart, down to earth, fun, exciting, whole package.

I got inspired by so many other amazing bloggers that I’ve only visited in the blog world. Then I met them in person and went…wow, this person IS AMAZINGGGGGG. How did I know?

I hope my new projects this year (working on it) go well so I can be there to see everyone in Washington D.C. in 2019. I would love a good deep dish pizza w/the PF crew :). Ohhh and to bunk at Ms. Frugal Asians house if luck has it in the cards for me. Finally, this time, bring my hubby along too since D.C. won’t be too hot for him!

Annnnnnd that’s it.