Clipping Chains Podcast

By popular demand, I’ve decided to extend a travel series centered around the topic of building community or maintaining our need for social interactions when away from home. Community building is especially complicated when abroad, where cultures and languages vary considerably from our own. My guests today, veteran travelers with considerable expat experiences, are perfectly suited to discuss this topic.

Meghan Walker, a previous guest who writes at awaytofi.com, spent many of her formative years living abroad in Kenya and New Zealand. Her husband, Callan Cooper, is an expat living in the United States from New Zealand, where they met. Meghan and Callan joined me in my home in Colorado for a rare in-person interview, where we discussed in detail the beauty and challenges of international extended travel, careers, evolving travel philosophies, and financial tactics that can have you living a similar life much sooner than you think.

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I’m a little unsure of the best way to frame this introduction. In some ways, this is a story of embracing climbing for all the right reasons. Pursuit of technical mastery and love for the outdoors over the gamification of grades and emphasis on physical training. On the other hand, this is also the story of early adulthood in the modern era. The narrative to pursue something like climbing full-time is strong in the outdoor world. But most I encounter eventually find that climbing alone leaves us yearning for meaning and purpose. My guest today, Tyler Karow, spent nearly three years on the road pursuing climbing. Today he balances considerable climbing achievements with a secondary passion for building and a desire to be a part of the solution to America’s affordable housing crisis.

Karow is a 29-year-old climber known for his big wall accomplishments in Yosemite, Patagonia, and around the globe. His resume includes a ground-up free ascent of Golden Gate (5.13a) on El Cap, and Yosemite’s Triple Crown in under 24 hours, only the eighth time this feat has been achieved. Notably, Karow climbed the Triple while working a full-time (plus) job. He holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Southern California and is a licensed civil engineer and general contractor. With this background in engineering and construction, he envisions a career helping to build prefabricated tiny home communities. This emerging approach to construction helps to reduce the cost of new housing and more efficiently add supply to a stressed housing market.

This episode is an Oreo of sorts, with a focused discussion of Tyler’s climbing achievements and work/life balance in the beginning and end. The middle of this discussion takes a deep dive into the affordable housing crisis, the complex nature of new construction, and Tyler’s vision for the future of American affordable housing.

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In October I published a mini episode on my thought processes on the pros and cons of extended travel abroad. Many of you left comments or emailed me your thoughts, and I’m so thankful for your input. You’ve all given me plenty to consider. One of the most insightful emails came from Jeff of awaytofi.com, a previous guest on this podcast (Episode 44).

Jeff has been living abroad for over fifteen months with his wife, Rose, and as such is well-versed in discussing the impacts of extended travel, particularly on our social lives. This week’s episode is an in-depth exploration of extended travel, especially as it relates to our human need for a sense of place and community. Travel takes us away from our tribe, so how do we create new ones? Do we even need to? You can probably expect more content like this with upcoming guests and articles.

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Uncertainty is a fact of life, yet we yearn for known outcomes. Every day we make decisions. Some decisions are small and inconsequential, while others are profound and life-altering. Sometimes events happen regardless of our decisions. And above it all and looming like a nervous wind is uncertainty. Uncertainty is forever.

But those who learn to sit with and embrace uncertainty are resilient and innovative. Those who try to fight uncertainty spend more money and live with less contentment.

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James McHaffie needs no introduction, at least in the United Kingdom. His approach to bold onsight climbing, particularly free solos, is unparalleled. He’s repeated the hardest sport climb in Wales, Big Bang (9a), sent Britain’s hardest sea cliff, Dave MacLeod’s The Longhope Direct (E10 7a), and made the first ascent of The Meltdown, a 9a slab in the slate quarries of his home in North Wales. And now he’s written a book. But unlike many books released by elite climbers, this is not an autobiographical account of hard climbs in the face of relative adversity. Caff, as he prefers to be called, has written a fictional account of Eleri, a young woman amongst the slate quarries of North Wales who in the aftermath of a family suicide takes aim at British politicians who pushed for austerity and the conditions that led to such suffering.

This conversation was such a gift. I can see even through all that rage that James is brimming with humanity, a trait sometimes in short supply. I hope you’ll enjoy this one as much as I did.

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Topics Discussed with James McHaffie

• Discovering the Welsh rave scene after a midlife crisis
• Life and climbing in Wales
• Climbing origin story and why James gravitated toward soloing
• The pressure to be bold
• Why James isn’t as well known in the US
• A near-death experience on the Masters Wall and how that affected his confidence
• The concept of modesty and how it has evolved in recent years: “Social media has been a shotgun to the head of modesty”
• The infamous Rab blog and why he wants to separate himself from his “Dark Lord” reputation
• Balancing financial security with elite climbing
• The best job James ever had and why it is important for him to work with the underserved
• Dealing with depression and dark times through his work
• The events that inspired a novel
• A brief political debate and the role of public policy in shaping the lives of the poor
• Details about the novel and his drive to write it
• His 9-month experience writing the book
• What financial security means to James and how he would live with financial freedom
• What James would change to make his life more meaningful in the future
• So much more!

Years ago, we decided to one day try living abroad for at least a year. We always loved traveling and also always felt that we never had enough time to truly experience a place beyond the superficial. I wanted to stay for a while, learn the language, and slowly morph into a new life mode. But now I’m starting to question the wisdom of this decision. Is living abroad a bad idea?

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It’s often said that happiness equals what you have minus (or sometimes divided by) what you want. When our wants are many, what we have is of little consequence. That is why there are hordes of unhappy millionaires and high achievers who quietly suffer (yes, suffer) under the weight of lofty and insatiable desires and ambitions.

Western ideals place great importance on the “haves.” And despite an anecdotal feeling that my greater social circle is less materialistic, I’m less certain that we’ve diminished our appetite for having things. The things look and feel different. Less like fancy watches or cars or gaudy showings of riches and more like spreadsheets full of countries and crags unvisited, food not tasted, status not yet achieved, or routes not sent.

We believe subconsciously or otherwise that by checking items off our bucket list we will arrive at some sense of blissful satisfaction. But biology and evolution suggest otherwise.

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Jim Dahle is the founder of the White Coat Investor, a widely consumed personal finance and investing blog and podcast specifically designed for physicians and other high-income careers. What Jim created in 2011 as a simple blog has grown into a multi-media empire that now employs fifteen people and hosts content from a range of columnists.

Jim has cut back from his full-time (plus) emergency physician career and White Coat Investor responsibilities to focus on what makes life worth living, and that’s where I wanted to pick up this conversation. Jim is a climber, husband, and father of four. Today we discuss how he’s managed to step away, at least slightly, from his hard-charging career and blogging days to what he’s now describing as his ideal life.

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Topics Discussed with Jim Dahle

• How his life evolved from his early career and his adventures from the summer of 2023
• The Venn diagram of ideal life vs. actual life and why he feels he is living his ideal life
• Jim’s motivation to monetize White Coat Investor (WCI) and how that led to unexpected lifestyle changes
• Thoughts on keeping WCI sustainable
• The importance of the servant mentality
• The events that led to Jim cutting to part-time emergency room physician
• How much career capital is necessary to ask for part-time hours in your career?
• Why Jim passed on several multi-million dollar deals to sell WCI
• Thoughts on early retirement for those who are young (<50 years old)
• How Jim balanced climbing with high early-career workloads, WCI, and raising four kids
• Thoughts on the tradeoff between adventure and career
• Advice on spending for memorable trips when early career vs saving for future
• Why Jim maybe was too career-focused early on
• Why people are “dumb” to get dogmatic about specific investing styles and asset classes
• Jim’s asset allocation and why he prefers a mix of asset classes
• How Jim is invested in real estate without managing properties directly
• Thoughts on the recent pressures on the housing market (high prices and mortgages, increased costs of insurance, etc.)
• Advice for prospective homeowners in today’s turbulent market
• Thoughts on climbing ambition and climbing style
• Resume virtues vs eulogy virtues and the importance of being a good and honest person
• So much more!

In America, student loan debt has exploded over the last twenty years, with the average inflation-adjusted federal loan debt per student rising from under $29,000 in 2011 to nearly $40,000 in 2020. Students and their parents are paying an increasingly costly price for college education, outpacing growth in expected starting salaries.

After more than three years, loan payments are coming due again after the expiration of a Covid-era forbearance program put in place under President Trump and extended under President Biden. My guest today, Emma Crawford, is intimately familiar with student loans as both a borrower as well as a former university aid advisor, and now as a financial planner.

Emma Crawford is the former Director of Financial Wellness and Financial Aid Advising for the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. She holds the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation and is a fee-only financial planner for Perk Planning, based out of Madison, Wisconsin. Emma joins me on the show today to discuss the evolving and complicated world of student loans for the first two-thirds of the show. The final third of the interview is dedicated to discussing the equally convoluted world of financial planners and advisors. We discuss the nature of fee-only advising and who may find this type of service appropriate.

Topics Discussed with Emma Crawford

• When student loan payments are due after the expiration of Covid-era forbearance
• Where to find information about your loans and loan servicers
• How Emma used the loan forbearance period to improve her financial situation and lifestyle
• The importance of automatic payments and how utilizing automation can save you money
• What is Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and who is it for?
• Other repayment options
• Investigating typical interest rates on student loans and weighing debt paydown against other investing opportunities
• Federal vs private student loans
• Can loan forgiveness policies be reversed or overturned in the future?
• Why has student loan debt become so politically fraught?
• Balancing the cost of education with expected career choices and pay
• Considering costs of education beyond tuition
• How to avoid loan default and what happens to those who default
• How Emma pays off student loans and other debt while investing for retirement at the same time
• Who needs a financial advisor and how to choose one
• The importance of understanding how financial advisors get paid and the fiduciary duty
• The problem with mixing life insurance and investing
• How Emma’s background in psychology helps her as a financial planner
• Emma’s thoughts on the FIRE movement
• So much more!

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Show Notes and Links at Clippingchains.com

We’re back to the digital mailbag to answer your questions!

For this week:

• How has my lifestyle evolved since achieving financial independence and how do I spend my time?
• Updated thoughts on money and markets
• Are we putting too much faith in institutions like Vanguard?
• Can and should life insurance policies be used for retirement savings?
• Tax avoidance versus accepting higher tax rates
• What is a Simple IRA and how does it differ from a 401(k)? Can I still do Roth conversions?
• Savings rates are great! Should I pay less on my loans to maximize my savings?
• Big picture: Where do I start on getting my financial life together?
• Outreach and presentations
• So much more!

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Show Notes and Links at Clippingchains.com

Q1: How has my lifestyle evolved since achieving financial independence and how do I spend my time? (00:02:49)

Q2: Updated thoughts on money and markets (00:05:01)

Q3: What if Vanguard failed?! (00:07:53)

Q4: Can and should life insurance policies be used for retirement savings? (00:11:56)

Q5: When do I stop trying to optimize my tax bracket and just let go? (00:15:30)

Q6: What is a Simple IRA and how does it differ from a 401(k)? Can I still do Roth conversions? (00:18:56)

Q7: Savings rates are great right now! Should I pay less on my loans to maximize my savings? (00:22:39)

Q8: Big picture: Where do I start on getting my financial life together?(00:26:26)

Q9: How was your presentation at the climbing gym? Can you record it? (00:34:51)

Q10: Can you supply podcast transcripts? (00:40:27)