Advice for starting a local FIRE group?

[Valley of Plenty]

I've been hearing lots of stories from others about their local FIRE community groups doing in person meetups and activities, sharing awesome ideas, and helping each other stay motivated to reach their goals. There's no meetup groups in my immediate vicinity, but I've been to a couple FI events (CampFI in Colorado and EconoMe in Ohio) and absolutely loved them. As much as I enjoy online discussion, there's just something about sitting in a room surrounded by other likeminded folks that really supercharges my Mustachian batteries, giving me a wave of motivation that I can ride for weeks after returning home.I just really wish I didn't have to fly/drive several hours away to be able to experience this. I wish there was a FIRE/Mustachian community in my area that I could interact with on a regular basis, but since there isn't I figured maybe I can build one.

I'm no MMM, but I've been mustache-pilled and pursuing FI for a few years now, and there's certainly a lot that I could teach people who have never been exposed to the FIRE movement and are looking to improve their individual financial situation. I have a handful of friends locally who I've gotten at least somewhat interested in the idea of becoming financially independent, and I think most of them would be open to the idea of forming a group and doing monthly meetups to discuss FIRE. I'm thinking if I can put something together that is fun and engaging and adds value to people's lives, I could really build something good here in my little slice of rural Appalachia. Maybe even grow it into something bigger that could have an impact on the whole region.

I suspect there are some people on this forum who have experience participating in or even running groups like these, and if so I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. What advice would you offer someone who wants to build a thriving community of FIRE chasers in their own backyard?

[deborah]

First off, there are meet up groups in the Meetup subforum.

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/meetups-and-social-events/

They are for anyone here - in my experience, people at all stages of the path from raw beginners to FIREd people come to these meetups. There is probably a group reasonably close to you, since you're in the US, where a lot of mustashians live. If there is already a group, you can write in it, if there isn't you can start one up.

I started one up where I live. As I'm in Australia, there are a lot less MMM people here, so if I can do it you can too. I kept my eyes open for Australians posting in the forum, and PMed people who I thought lived nearby, as well as starting the thread. The meetups were quite successful for a while, but my father got sick, and I needed to visit my parents (who live 7.5 hours drive away) regularly so I stopped running the meetups, and they have died away. However, they lasted for a few years, and I made some friends at them who are still my friends, so it was worth all the effort.

I also organised several meetups near where my mother lives. Of course, covid happened, and other things in my life, so I haven't done this for years.

[Valley of Plenty]

First off, there are meet up groups in the Meetup subforum.

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/meetups-and-social-events/

They are for anyone here - in my experience, people at all stages of the path from raw beginners to FIREd people come to these meetups. There is probably a group reasonably close to you, since you're in the US, where a lot of mustashians live. If there is already a group, you can write in it, if there isn't you can start one up.

I started one up where I live. As I'm in Australia, there are a lot less MMM people here, so if I can do it you can too. I kept my eyes open for Australians posting in the forum, and PMed people who I thought lived nearby, as well as starting the thread. The meetups were quite successful for a while, but my father got sick, and I needed to visit my parents (who live 7.5 hours drive away) regularly so I stopped running the meetups, and they have died away. However, they lasted for a few years, and I made some friends at them who are still my friends, so it was worth all the effort.

I also organised several meetups near where my mother lives. Of course, covid happened, and other things in my life, so I haven't done this for years.

I know about the meetup section on the forum. There is not to my knowledge anyone organizing meetups within a 2 hour drive of where I live. I'm in a rural area that is isolated enough that you have to drive about 3 hours to get to any major population centers. I've seen a couple members here that probably live within a couple hours away, but no meetups that I am aware of. That's why I'm leaning towards starting one.

[reeshau]

Do you have a community education and recreation org in your area?  You might have to start from scratch, but if you interested in teaching, you could offer a version of personal finance education with a FIRE bent, like the ChooseFI Financial Independence 101 course.

[Valley of Plenty]

Do you have a community education and recreation org in your area?  You might have to start from scratch, but if you interested in teaching, you could offer a version of personal finance education with a FIRE bent, like the ChooseFI Financial Independence 101 course.

I'll have to do some research into this. I know the local United Way advertises personal financial education as one of the services they provide, but I don't know the specifics. I also sort of always assumed that I'd have to have a degree or certification of some kind to be considered by an organization like that.

[eyesonthehorizon]

Posting mostly to follow. I do a good job of herding people into existing events, but much less skilled with organizing events from scratch & would like to get better at it. My best idea for right now is to find people with complementary skills to your own to partner with.

[yachi]

Well, you guys have me checking out the Meetups section, and I'm in Pennsylvania too. 

[Log]

First off, there are meet up groups in the Meetup subforum.

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/meetups-and-social-events/

They are for anyone here - in my experience, people at all stages of the path from raw beginners to FIREd people come to these meetups. There is probably a group reasonably close to you, since you're in the US, where a lot of mustashians live. If there is already a group, you can write in it, if there isn't you can start one up.

I started one up where I live. As I'm in Australia, there are a lot less MMM people here, so if I can do it you can too. I kept my eyes open for Australians posting in the forum, and PMed people who I thought lived nearby, as well as starting the thread. The meetups were quite successful for a while, but my father got sick, and I needed to visit my parents (who live 7.5 hours drive away) regularly so I stopped running the meetups, and they have died away. However, they lasted for a few years, and I made some friends at them who are still my friends, so it was worth all the effort.

I also organised several meetups near where my mother lives. Of course, covid happened, and other things in my life, so I haven't done this for years.

I know about the meetup section on the forum. There is not to my knowledge anyone organizing meetups within a 2 hour drive of where I live. I'm in a rural area that is isolated enough that you have to drive about 3 hours to get to any major population centers. I've seen a couple members here that probably live within a couple hours away, but no meetups that I am aware of. That's why I'm leaning towards starting one.

If you want to have local access to a niche community, you need to either live somewhere there are lots of people (a city), or live somewhere that is specifically attractive to/for that community (like Longmont). You may just have to accept that not having access to an in-person FIRE community is a cost you pay for living somewhere rural.

[yachi]

First off, there are meet up groups in the Meetup subforum.

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/meetups-and-social-events/

They are for anyone here - in my experience, people at all stages of the path from raw beginners to FIREd people come to these meetups. There is probably a group reasonably close to you, since you're in the US, where a lot of mustashians live. If there is already a group, you can write in it, if there isn't you can start one up.

I started one up where I live. As I'm in Australia, there are a lot less MMM people here, so if I can do it you can too. I kept my eyes open for Australians posting in the forum, and PMed people who I thought lived nearby, as well as starting the thread. The meetups were quite successful for a while, but my father got sick, and I needed to visit my parents (who live 7.5 hours drive away) regularly so I stopped running the meetups, and they have died away. However, they lasted for a few years, and I made some friends at them who are still my friends, so it was worth all the effort.

I also organised several meetups near where my mother lives. Of course, covid happened, and other things in my life, so I haven't done this for years.

I know about the meetup section on the forum. There is not to my knowledge anyone organizing meetups within a 2 hour drive of where I live. I'm in a rural area that is isolated enough that you have to drive about 3 hours to get to any major population centers. I've seen a couple members here that probably live within a couple hours away, but no meetups that I am aware of. That's why I'm leaning towards starting one.

If you want to have local access to a niche community, you need to either live somewhere there are lots of people (a city), or live somewhere that is specifically attractive to/for that community (like Longmont). You may just have to accept that not having access to an in-person FIRE community is a cost you pay for living somewhere rural.

That's a fair critique.  Longmont is attractive because it's where MMM lives and already has a group of connections in the "world headquarters".  I hesitate because of its high housing cost compared to much of PA.  While Pennsylvania doesn't have great non-recreational cycling infrastructure, our general cost of living rates quite low - mostly due to housing and food costs.  I kept a two car household for most of my FIRE journey, as the alternatives didn't work out conveniently.  We balance that out with keeping miles traveled extremely low, but going 100% car free was never a realistic option.

[ChpBstrd]

I help run a meetup group unrelated to FIRE, and my advice is to understand your competition. Your competition is the phone sitting in your pocket and the massive TV screen in your living room. To the extent our generation is devoting hours per day to electronic entertainment, they are NOT getting involved with social clubs, civic groups, self-improvement groups, or political groups. As these groups have atrophied over the past several decades, life has shifted to a lot less making friends and a lot more staring into screens. The phenomenon was documented as early as 1999 by Robert Putnam in Bowling Alone.

The results:


The thing to understand about your competition is that they can generate the illusion of interpersonal relationships while supplying intermittent doses of dopamine to the users. Your meetup can supply genuine relationships but will struggle in the dopamine department. You have the higher-quality product, but it's like competing with McDonald's by selling fresh fruits and vegetables.

The thing to understand about your target audience is that they are miserable, and yet they keep going back to TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and Netflix in an addiction cycle. You're probably looking for the people who are ready to quit the entire apparatus and looking to rebuild a real-world life. I would caution against the idea of building too much of a social media presence around your group, because the social media services will simply distract your audience away. Get a meetup.com account instead. Likewise, I would caution against any meetup activity that involves watching a screen together, because this just reminds people how much dopamine they could be getting watching their own screens alone.

Some of the most active real-world groups in my town are bicycling clubs and running clubs. These mix reality-based friendships with an alternative source of dopamine in a context that pulls people away from their screens. If you could get involved with some of these groups, you could handpick a few people to invite to your radical-transparency mutual-accountability FIRE club.

[Valley of Plenty]

Well, you guys have me checking out the Meetups section, and I'm in Pennsylvania too.

What part of PA? If you don't mind sharing.

I'm central, relatively near to State College.

While Pennsylvania doesn't have great non-recreational cycling infrastructure, our general cost of living rates quite low - mostly due to housing and food costs.

People I talk to from out of state are always blown away when I tell them how cheap housing is over here. I was able to buy a triplex in fairly good condition for $45,000 a few years back. My mortgage is less than the average car payment. Rural PA is definitely a great place to pursue FI, even if you don't make a lot of money.

[Valley of Plenty]

I help run a meetup group unrelated to FIRE, and my advice is to understand your competition. Your competition is the phone sitting in your pocket and the massive TV screen in your living room. To the extent our generation is devoting hours per day to electronic entertainment, they are NOT getting involved with social clubs, civic groups, self-improvement groups, or political groups. As these groups have atrophied over the past several decades, life has shifted to a lot less making friends and a lot more staring into screens. The phenomenon was documented as early as 1999 by Robert Putnam in Bowling Alone.

The results:


The thing to understand about your competition is that they can generate the illusion of interpersonal relationships while supplying intermittent doses of dopamine to the users. Your meetup can supply genuine relationships but will struggle in the dopamine department. You have the higher-quality product, but it's like competing with McDonald's by selling fresh fruits and vegetables.

The thing to understand about your target audience is that they are miserable, and yet they keep going back to TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and Netflix in an addiction cycle. You're probably looking for the people who are ready to quit the entire apparatus and looking to rebuild a real-world life. I would caution against the idea of building too much of a social media presence around your group, because the social media services will simply distract your audience away. Get a meetup.com account instead. Likewise, I would caution against any meetup activity that involves watching a screen together, because this just reminds people how much dopamine they could be getting watching their own screens alone.

Some of the most active real-world groups in my town are bicycling clubs and running clubs. These mix reality-based friendships with an alternative source of dopamine in a context that pulls people away from their screens. If you could get involved with some of these groups, you could handpick a few people to invite to your radical-transparency mutual-accountability FIRE club.

All great advice, thanks! The suicide graph kind of caught me off guard at first.