The Financial Independence Show

It’s a new year, and that means new goals! Cody and Justin share their top tips and tricks to help you set yourself up for success in 2026.

The guys are already hitting the ground running with their 2026 goals:

Cody is already testing out snowbirding down in Florida

Justin is actively recruiting for his first international group trip

Don’t forget to share your goals with us in the Facebook Group.

To kick off the episode, the guys break down how the methods they’ve used to successfully meet their goals, which include:

Tracking is Key

“What gets measured, gets managed.”

You need to know how you’re doing currently to improve

For finance, use apps like YNAB, Monarch Money, or a spreadsheet

For fitness, use apps like MFP, TrainHeroic, etc.

For any goal you want to actually reach, there needs to be tracking

Inputs vs. Outputs

“I’m going to invest $1,000 every month” vs “I’m going to increase my net worth by $25K”

“I’m going to work out 5x per week” vs “I’m going to lose 20 pounds.”

Accountability

Join online groups or local groups

Groups that have people ahead of where you currently are are a big bonus

Share milestones/goals with friends

Keep talking about it to the point where you’d be embarrassed if you didn’t finish

Set punishments and rewards for your actions

Goal Sizing

Goals shouldn’t be so big that they paralyze you

They also shouldn’t be so easy that you hit them without much effort

A “good” goal should require quite a bit of effort, but still be possible

If you hit your goal too early in the year, you may lose steam (you can always level up your goal, too; it’s just important to know your personality)

A / B Goals

Many runners/athletes in competition have an A and a B goal, maybe even a C goal. 

A -> The stars align perfectly, you can see a path to it, you’re putting in the work, but it’s a reach

B -> Fairly confident, little room for error, still can be very proud of the outcome

C-> as within your control as possible, room for error, a backstop to avoid just giving up if your more aggressive goal fails

Becoming a person who ____

“I’m the type of person who saves 50% of my income.”

“I’m the type of person who runs marathons.”

“I’m the type of person who volunteers.”

Let go of the fear of failure by playing the tape forward

If you can look yourself in the mirror and be proud of your effort, what is really the biggest drawback to you trying and failing?

Celebrate the wins along the way

Maybe your goal is a 10k this year

Celebrate your first 5-mile run

Celebrate your new 5k PR

Cody and Justin’s 2026 Goals!

Here’s a sneak peek into the goals we shared publicly in this episode:

Cody’s Goals:

Fewer decisions driven by money

Make decisions bc I want to do them (regardless of money)

More regular fitness challenges

Ironman, Hyrox, 100k steps, etc

Spontaneous adventures

Always discovering and exploring new places (even at home)

Book launch

Goal is April/May release, podcast tour, book tour, etc

Gold City Ventures

Nail down an ad strategy, continue to grow business

Real estate

Keep running existing properties, only “buying” new properties via syndication. Scaling back a bit feels good

Justin’s Goals:

Run a Marathon in December (CIM)

A goal -> sub 3:15

B goal -> sub 3:30

C goal -> sub 4hr

New PRs

5k / 10k / half marathon / Deadlift

Hyrox Double with Leslie

Lead a group fitness-focused trip

A goal -> 12+ person international

B goal -> any number domestic

C goal -> any number in Austin

Build Fitness Community

Host 6+ in-person fitness meetups

Design 12 12-week beginner Hyrox guide

Post weekly fostering community

This goal is in support of the fitness trip goal

Hang out with at least one friend every week we’re in Austin

Run the greatest number of annual miles of my life

A goal -> Avg  30 miles per week post Achilles rehab

B goal -> Avg  25 miles per week post Achilles rehab

C goal -> Avg  20 miles per week post Achilles rehab

Finish House Remodel in Mississippi

A Goal – Full remodel, landscaped, short-term rental

B Goal – Full remodel, long-term tenant

C Goal – Liveable for personal use

Complete another amazing multi-month International trip with Leslie

Build out Recipes

A Goal – 50+ fully documented recipes posted on Substack with social posts

B Goal – 50 Recipes Designed, 25 documented and posted on Substack

C Goal – 50 Recipes Designed

Finish documenting the 2025 trip on Substack

We hope you enjoy getting these tried and true methods for hitting your goals.

If you found value in the episode, please share it with a friend!

Links from the Episode

Spain Fitness Retreat

Share Your Goals With Us

The Ultimate FI Spreadsheet

YouTube Interview

https://youtu.be/KXe07xlJzRA

Join the Community

We’d love to hear your comments and questions about this week’s episode. Here are some of the best ways to stay in touch and get involved in The FI Show community!

Grab the Ultimate FI Spreadsheet

Join our Facebook Group

Leave us a voicemail

Send an email to contact [at] TheFIshow [dot] com

If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave a rating/review!

>> You can do that by clicking here <<

Learn More About Your Hosts

CodyDBerman.com (Cody’s Blog)

Saving-Sherpa (Justin’s blog)

Eric Dingler and his family of 6 travel the world full-time for just $8,000 per month.

He runs multiple businesses, “worldschools” his kids, and chooses to live life a bit differently.

In this episode, we cover:

How to travel with a large family

Eric’s digital nomad toolkit

Wordschooling and alternative education

Business marketing 101

A full budget breakdown for each spending category

How he left his job for entrepreneurship

And so much more.

If you found the episode valuable, please share it with a friend!

Links from The Episode

Eric’s Resources (https://ericdingler.com/FIS)

InTransit Studios (https://intransitstudios.com/)

Eric’s LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericdingler/)

Eric’s Podcast (https://familyofdashes.com/podcast/)

YouTube Interview

https://youtu.be/7VXxuCuFijE

Join the Community

We’d love to hear your comments and questions about this week’s episode. Here are some of the best ways to stay in touch and get involved in The FI Show community!

Grab the Ultimate FI Spreadsheet

Join our Facebook Group

Leave us a voicemail

Send an email to contact [at] TheFIshow [dot] com

If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave a rating/review!

>> You can do that by clicking here <<

Learn More About Your Hosts

CodyDBerman.com (Cody’s Blog)

Saving-Sherpa (Justin’s blog)

Wow, how time flies! Justin has officially been retired for two full years.

Today, we’ll dig into how year 2 was different, get life and financial updates, and also look forward to year 3.

You’ll notice a big fitness theme, and Justin will discuss an upcoming fitness retreat he’s organizing in Spain.

We’ll briefly skim over Justin’s 6-month international trip, but if you want a deeper dive into how traveling the world technically saved him money, check out these episodes: Asia Recap & Full Trip Recap

Justin also gives us a transparent view of his financial updates. We hope this inspires listeners to see how truly powerful compounding interest is.

His High-Level Financial Stats:

Net Worth at retirement: $1.7M

Net Worth after 1 year retired: $2.1M

Net Worth after 2 years retired: $2.7M

We also ended this episode in a similar way that we ended his year 1 review of retirement, with a quick blast overview of how he spent his time, which includes:

December 2024

Spent the month in Mississippi visiting family

January 2025

Going-away party

Departed for the Philippines

Island-hopping boat tour

Feb

Indonesia

Ubud, Uluwatu, Gili Air, Nusa Lembogan, Nusa Penida

Mar

Vietnam

Birthday on Ha Giang loop

Apr

Thailand / Amsterdam / Switzerland

Koh Lanta

Chiang Mai

Temple Tours

Elephant Sanctuary

Tulip gardens

Insane train routes

Hang gliding off mountains

May

Italy

Lake Como

Cinque Terre

Parma

Florence

Elba

Naples

Ischia

Lipari

Sicily

June

Italy

Lipari round 2

Sardinia

Rome

First half-marathon

1hr 40min 19 sec

Rufus Du Sol show

Jul

Back to America

Stops in NYC and Dallas to visit friends

Maintained fitness on the trip

Body fat 10.4 -> 11.3

Lean Tissue 155.4 -> 156.3

Audien & Telykast concert

Started Wedding prep

Started doing track workouts

Run clubs & boat days

Started dialling in Biscuit & Cinnamon roll recipes for the wedding

Aug

House sitting for friends

Visited family in Mississippi

Concert dome experience

Sept

Spent over a week in Colorado visiting friends/bachelor trip getaway

Got some solid workouts in (at time my longest run of 16 miles and PR on deadlift of 405)

Finalized recipe for biscuits and cinnamon rolls for the wedding

Fincon

Knocked out a 14-mile progressive run with Cody

Friends wedding weekend in Austin

Rooftop yoga event

Really ramped up the dessert factory for the wedding

Finalized other wedding things

Charley Crockett concert

Oct

Got married

House sat

Went to a movie screening debut “Sober”

Lots of brand activation events around ACL/F1 timeline (Patron, Bush’s beans, Google)

Attended a marketing conference

Completed longest run ever of 34 miles

Nov

First time hired to make a custom birthday cake

Redid the backyard, adding pavers and gravel landscaping around firepit and pergola

Wild 1-4 am show with Elderbrook and Lane 8

Friendsgiving

Hyrox with Leslie (1:10 finish time)

Thanksgiving on the Texas Coast

Dec

5k PR: 20 min 53 sec

3 Big EDM Concerts

Mississippi for Christmas

Visit a good friend in Little Rock

Began planning first group retreat (Spain Fitness/Hyrox related)

We hope you enjoy a look behind the curtain and Justin’s willingness to be open and honest about the retired life.

If you found value in the episode, please share it with a friend!

Links from the Episode

Spain Fitness Retreat

Justin’s Retirement Announcement Episode

Justin’s 1 Year Since Retirement Episode

Asia Recap Episode

Full 6-month International Trip Episode

YouTube Interview

https://youtu.be/Kzdm3St3UkE

Join the Community

We’d love to hear your comments and questions about this week’s episode. Here are some of the best ways to stay in touch and get involved in The FI Show community!

Grab the Ultimate FI Spreadsheet

Join our Facebook Group

Leave us a voicemail

Send an email to contact [at] TheFIshow [dot] com

If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave a rating/review!

>> You can do that by clicking here <<

Learn More About Your Hosts

CodyDBerman.com (Cody’s Blog)

Saving-Sherpa (Justin’s blog)

Brandon Ganch, aka The Mad Fientist, joins us to share how he’s trying to break some of the frugal habits that allowed him to retire at the age of 34.

He is one of the earliest analytical voices in the FI movement, known for treating FI as a systems problem.

He leverages his background in computer science, strong preference for systems thinking, experimentation, and automating FI decisions to bring unique perspectives and ways of thinking to the FI space.

Brandon retired extremely early, then realized he needed to redesign his post-FI life, not just his finances.

Most people in the world can’t imagine training themselves to spend more money, but in this space, we totally get it.

Brandon walks us through all the experiments he’s done around spending money to retrain how he thinks about spending decisions.

He covers specific examples of how he is reframing things as well as the increased happiness he’s experiencing thanks to these purchases.

Topics covered include:

How to recalibrate your brain to determine which spending decisions are really worth your time based on net worth

Setting aside “Cash Machines” for future purchases

Running spending experiments and setting spending rules

Breaking old psychological traps to overcome frugality

And so much more.

If you found the episode valuable, please share it with a friend!

Links from The Episode

Wealth Machines (https://wealthmachines.co) – Join as a beta tester before December 12th

Mad Fientist Website (https://madfientist.com)

Financial Independence Podcast (https://www.madfientist.com/podcast/)

YouTube Interview

https://youtu.be/mrWl40q_K64

Join the Community

We’d love to hear your comments and questions about this week’s episode. Here are some of the best ways to stay in touch and get involved in The FI Show community!

Grab the Ultimate FI Spreadsheet

Join our Facebook Group

Leave us a voicemail

Send an email to contact [at] TheFIshow [dot] com

If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave a rating/review!

>> You can do that by clicking here <<

Learn More About Your Hosts

CodyDBerman.com (Cody’s Blog)

Saving-Sherpa (Justin’s blog)

Cody & Justin are here to flood your ears with thanks!

Your very own Financial Independence Show co-hosts are here with a special Thanksgiving episode.

It’s hard to believe we’re rounding out yet another year, and there’s so much to be thankful for as always.

Fitness improving, relationships strengthening, comfort level with retirement steadily increasing, and so much more.

Some general categories include:

Health

Relationships

Finances

Lifestyle

Gratefulness

Hang around until the end to hear Cody’s big announcement, and Justin’s not-so-standard Thanksgiving dish that you can wow your friends and family with.

You might be shocked at just how little money comes up, and we think that’s the clearest sign we’re living our best lives.

If you found value in the episode, please share it with a friend!

YouTube Interview

https://youtu.be/dz_ThEE_YYU

Join the Community

We’d love to hear your comments and questions about this week’s episode. Here are some of the best ways to stay in touch and get involved in The FI Show community!

Grab the Ultimate FI Spreadsheet

Join our Facebook Group

Leave us a voicemail

Send an email to contact [at] TheFIshow [dot] com

If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave a rating/review!

>> You can do that by clicking here <<

Learn More About Your Hosts

CodyDBerman.com (Cody’s Blog)

Saving-Sherpa (Justin’s blog)