Financial Community

You might remember back in June, I wrote about the importance of a financial community.

In that post, I mentioned that Mrs. ETT, Miss Balance and I regularly have some great chats on Twitter.

Well, this past Sunday, that wonderful online friendship became a real life one.

As regular readers know, Poopsie and I recently moved to Sydney. We weren’t particularly thrilled about this move, neither of us being enormous fans of Australia’s largest city. However, it was an excellent career opportunity for me so we decided to take the plunge. My new role will only last for three years, at which point we will move again. We figured we could do anything for three years.

We spent the weekend of my 30th birthday in the CBD. I looked at Poopsie at one point and remarked, “Sydney isn’t so bad.” I also knew that some fellow bloggers called Sydney home and really started to think the next three years would be fun.

When Mrs. ETT and Miss Balance organised our get together, I was a little apprehensive. While we may think we know who we are meeting online, the reality can be different. I arrived at the cafe, filled with nerves.

Already there, Mrs. ETT came bounding out with an enormous smile on her face. She immediately made me feel at ease and I was confident I’d found myself a real life friend. Miss Balance arrived soon after and her bubbly personality was infectious.

The three of us sat for three hours talking.

We talked about all sorts of things but naturally, we talked about frugality, early retirement, financial independence and saving money. Given we each write a blog about a mixture of these topics, it was inevitable that we’d find ourselves conversing about it.

After our awful January, I was feeling very down and frustrated about our finances and our future plans. After discussing at length with Mrs. ETT and Miss Balance, I left the cafe feeling better, more confident about the future and relieved to have been able to talk it through.

Don’t get me wrong, Poopsie and I talk about these things all the time. But it’s always fantastic to be able to discuss the things that mean the most to you with someone other than your spouse. I don’t really have any friends or family on the same path. The friends and family members who do know about our goals are not particularly interested in the details or the setbacks. This can make it hard, particularly when you’re going through a tough time as we are following our January spend.

As I said in my post last June, community is so important in the financial independence journey. We are, really, a bit odd for being on this journey and it can feel lonely and isolating at times. My three hours with Mrs. ETT and Miss Balance were fantastic, and I’m sure we all could have spent another three hours there that afternoon.

If you haven’t yet, seek out a financial independence community. Online is great, especially if that’s all your able to find. However, particularly if you live in a major city, seek out fellow bloggers or people interested in the financial journey.

If your time is anything like the time I spent with Mrs. ETT and Miss Balance, you won’t regret it.

Have you got yourself a financial community? Have you met any other bloggers in real life? Tell us in the comments below!