Author Topic: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?  (Read 15460 times)

rupanama

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #50 on: November 17, 2016, 07:58:34 AM »
Kudy nudged me about this thread. It'll be fun to meet like-minded folks in Fort Collins. See y'all at the library on the 4th.

geo_kale

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #51 on: November 17, 2016, 02:07:20 PM »
Thanks for setting this up!

Sir Sideburns 'Stash-a-lot

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #52 on: November 17, 2016, 03:29:28 PM »
No problem. Thanks for the reminder and thanks to JadedIdealist for PMing me so I could find out out the thread had activity and for setting up that first meeting. I'm still a little embarrassed about not knowing I had to subscribe to receive notifications before...

JadedIdealist

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #53 on: November 28, 2016, 08:55:16 AM »
Bump

Sir Sideburns 'Stash-a-lot

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #54 on: December 03, 2016, 10:54:01 AM »
Fort Collins Area Mustachians Meetup
Where: Library: Harmony Library – 4616 South Shields, Fort Collins, Colorado 80526, Community Room (H)
When: Sunday, December 04, 2016, 2:00PM to 5:00PM
Note: Bring a snack or non-alcoholic drink to share (optional) – The library is fine with us bringing food and non-alcoholic drinks as long as we clean up after ourselves and are out by 5:00PM.

Informal topics to include:
1. Improving the lives of every living thing on Earth by consciously choosing to consume less.
2. Enjoying the surplus of cash and financial freedom that naturally results from consciously choosing to consume less.

---------------------

I wanted to remind everyone following this thread of our meeting tomorrow and also make an announcement. In response to bullet point 1 above, Laura, who attended our first meeting back in October, has generously offered to prepare a 10-15 minute presentation for us on the book 'The Ecotechnic Future' by John Michael Greer.
https://smile.amazon.com/Ecotechnic-Future-Envisioning-Post-Peak-World/dp/0865716390/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480787464&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Ecotechnic+Future

We'll probably start the presentation at around 4:00PM to allow ample time for Q&A and any needed cleanup before 5:00PM.

My hope for our meetings is that we can include plenty of relaxed free-form conversation time while incorporating just enough structure that we have something specific to look forward to discussing at each meeting.

Some ideas for future topics include helpful books, websites, podcasts, apps, tactics, spreadsheets or other specific tools used to track progress towards FI, local resources and frugality hacks like great places to shop for x, great local discounts available for y, best z for the money, etc...

Let me know if you'd be interested in preparing a similar presentation on a topic you believe would be of interest to our group. See you tomorrow!

- SSS

kudy

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #55 on: December 03, 2016, 10:48:30 PM »
Looking forward to the meetup tomorrow!

kudy

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #56 on: December 04, 2016, 11:29:12 AM »
I spoke too soon! Unfortunately I am feeling ill this morning, and I don't think we will make it to the meetup today after all :( Hope to see another get together in the near future.

Sir Sideburns 'Stash-a-lot

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #57 on: December 04, 2016, 12:56:14 PM »
Bummer! Get well soon, Kudy.

Threshkin

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #58 on: December 04, 2016, 09:23:07 PM »
Good meeting, good discussion, good presentation.   Glad we went.

I will be looking up the author.

geo_kale

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #59 on: December 05, 2016, 03:47:59 PM »
Thanks for the good discussion yesterday everyone!! I'm looking forward to getting together again (maybe after the Holidays?)

Sir Sideburns 'Stash-a-lot

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #60 on: December 05, 2016, 04:36:13 PM »
Meeting again after the Holidays sounds great. I'll start looking into library meeting room availability and see if I can make a similar reservation some weekend in January.

Thanks to everyone who attended and especially thanks to Laura for preparing the presentation on the book 'The Ecotechnic Future'. The fact that you present information for a living definitely showed!

I keep finding that our meetings go too quickly and I'm not getting the chance to get the specific feedback I'm looking for from from my fellow Mustachians. I'm hoping giving a slightly different format a try for our next meeting will give me and others looking for advice the bandwidth needed to address specific concerns.

For our next meeting, I'd love for us to try breaking up into groups of 3-4 to allow everyone the necessary time to do a deep dive into each of our personal situations (only if desired, of course) or simply exchange ideas and talk at more length about our personal experiences along this Mustachian journey. For me at least, as I am unexpectedly making the transition from SWAMI to FIRE, I feel I would really benefit from an almost reader case story-like evaluation and vetting of my family's current situation and FIRE feasibility. I get that the math is shockingly simple to quote MMM, but I'm finding there's a lot more to this transition than just arithmetic. It doesn't matter how many articles or forum posts I've read along those lines, it doesn't change that there is a lot of emotional weight associated with making this transition. My last day of full-time work was October 31st, 2016 and November has been decidedly more stressful for me than any of my recent months of full-time work, as strange as that sounds. I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed by the limitless possibilities and deciding what comes next for me and my family.

- SSS


JadedIdealist

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #61 on: December 06, 2016, 09:49:07 AM »
The last meet-up was great. Thank you SSS for setting it up, and thank you Laura for the presentation.

SSS - I like the idea about smaller groups to delve deeper into specific topics. The time did fly last weekend and it takes a while for this introvert to warm up to a large group of new people (despite everyone being very friendly and welcoming!).

I look forward to attending another FoCo meet-up.

-Sara

Sir Sideburns 'Stash-a-lot

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #62 on: December 16, 2016, 01:10:41 PM »
So, I put in a request for Community Room 2 at the Old Town library on 22-JAN from 2-5pm. I'll let you know when the meeting space is confirmed. If not, the 29th in the same room we met at last time was available.

-------------------

Thank you for submitting a Room Reservation Request for Fort Collins Area Mustachians.

Library: Old Town Library
Location: Community Room 2
Date: Sunday, January 22, 2017
Reservation Time: 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Meeting Time: 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Confirmation number: VXFHQMI

rupanama

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #63 on: December 22, 2016, 05:37:42 PM »
Hi SSS and everyone else,
Looking forward to Jan 22!

BikesAreTheAnswer

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #64 on: January 07, 2017, 10:02:47 AM »
Hi NoCo Mustachians! Wife and I recently moved to Fort Collins and would love to meet like-minded folks.  We're mid-30's, no kids, I'm an engineer (surprise!) and she's a music teacher.  I've subscribed to this thread and look forward to the next (Jan 22?) meet up!

Sir Sideburns 'Stash-a-lot

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #65 on: January 07, 2017, 10:16:31 AM »
Welcome! I love the username, by the way (Surprise!). :)

As a Christmas present to my fellow FoCo Area Mustachians, I sucked it up and paid the Meetup subscription while it was 50% off so we've got a Meetup going now too if you want to join that – Fort Collins FI/RE Fighters. https://www.meetup.com/Fort-Collins-FIRE-Fighters-Meetup/

See you on the 22nd!

-SSS (Michael)

BikesAreTheAnswer

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #66 on: January 07, 2017, 11:06:57 AM »
Welcome! I love the username, by the way (Surprise!). :)

Thanks--I was working as a design engineer in the bike industry when I set up my forum account and am still a big believer in bikes as the ultimate triple threat (health, wealth, environment).  But moving to NoCo  has been interesting--this is our first real winter in ages (spent the past decade in Oregon and Silicon Valley).  The negative temps and heavy snow did manage to push me to drive to work (ugh!) once last week.

As a Christmas present to my fellow FoCo Area Mustachians, I sucked it up and paid the Meetup subscription while it was 50% off so we've got a Meetup going now too if you want to join that – Fort Collins FI/RE Fighters. https://www.meetup.com/Fort-Collins-FIRE-Fighters-Meetup/

See you on the 22nd!

-SSS (Michael)

Thanks for taking the lead on setting up the Meetup group! Looks like it's already helping to pull together people from outside these forums.  Looking forward to the first event!

kudy

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #67 on: February 25, 2017, 11:50:52 AM »
Bumping this thread to let people in N. CO know we have a meetup scheduled for next Sunday the 5th - here are the details:
https://www.meetup.com/Fort-Collins-FIRE-Fighters-Meetup/events/237205696/

Hope to see some new folks there!

Sir Sideburns 'Stash-a-lot

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #68 on: May 08, 2017, 02:08:37 PM »
Calling all Fort Collins Area Mustachians!

The NoCo FI/RE Fighters are meeting on Sunday, May 21st at the Harmony Library in Community Room H from 2pm to 5pm.

https://www.meetup.com/NoCo-FIRE-Fighters/events/237157353/

- My wife, Ellen, will give a brief overview of our family's 3 months in Ecuador and introduce the FI website we've been working on during our time abroad.

- Ellen will share the results of the Airbnb experiment we've been conducting at our home while we've been away.

- I'll discuss Mint.com and Personal Capital and share some nuances to how Ellen and I implemented these tools.

- I'll give a walkthrough of the spreadsheet I developed to encourage us along our journey to financial independence.

The spreadsheet in question is a fairly low maintenance tool. When used in conjunction with Mint.com and Personal Capital, it can be kept current with about 5 minutes of effort each month or about 10 minutes each quarter if you prefer.

Some features of the spreadsheet include:

- Tracking your monthly income and expenses, including trailing 12 month averages

- Tracking your net worth over time, with or without your primary residence

- It produces a helpful Wall Chart (a slightly modernized adaptation of the Wall Chart found in Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin's book 'Your Money or Your Life')

- It produces a dashboard for reviewing net worth needed and your savings rate

- It projects your future net worth

- It provides a number of helpful tactical ratios to encourage your progress from month to month.

- It tracks your credit score over time

- It provides a monthly report for reflection and/or discussion

I plan to make the beta version of our spreadsheet freely available to any interested group members following the meeting because I'd love to get feedback from you all before we publish it.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again at the May meeting and hope to follow it up with some fun and frugal outdoor activities with everyone this summer.

- SSS aka Michael

NOTE: I updated the title of our Meetup group from 'Fort Collins Area FI/RE Fighters' to 'NoCo FI/RE Fighters'. While we started in Fort Collins, members have been attending our events from cities throughout Northern Colorado since our first meeting. Our admins live in Fort Collins, Evans, and Longmont and members have expressed interest in holding our Meetups in cities throughout the Front Range so I think NoCo is a better fit.

Threshkin

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #69 on: May 08, 2017, 08:22:56 PM »
I am looking forward to the meeting.  Ecuador is on my list of potential international retirement locations.

I started using Mint many years ago.  It was my first financial information aggregation tool.  A few years ago I discovered Personal Capital and over time it has become my favorite site of this type.  IMO Personal Capital does a much better job of asset management while Mint is stronger on budgeting and expense management.

I am very interested in your spreadsheet.  I built one of my own but it is not all that simple.  I understand it well enough because I built is but I would not want to inflict it on someone else.  There are several things I could do to make it much easier to use but I have not bothered since it meets my needs.  I update the spreadsheet twice a year to see how my portfolio is doing vs. my assumptions but use Personal Capital for more current information.

clarkfan1979

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #70 on: May 19, 2017, 08:53:17 PM »
I'm going to try my best to make the meeting on Sunday. I live in Erie, CO during the summers with my wife and newborn of 2 weeks. During the academic year, I teach community college on the island of Kauai.

I went to CSU for grad school and have a rental property near campus. I need to make a trip up there to make some minor repairs and plant some juniper trees (that I got for free). I am really interested to hear about the airbnb.com experiment. Instead of doing a 12 month lease, I am thinking of doing a 9 month college lease and doing airbnb.com with the property during the summer when I am in town.

I taught at FRCC for 2 years, so I am familiar with the Harmony Library. However, I haven't been back in about 6 years.

Threshkin

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #71 on: May 22, 2017, 08:55:28 PM »
How did the meeting go?  I am very sorry I could not attend.

clarkfan1979

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #72 on: June 10, 2017, 10:05:09 PM »
How did the meeting go?  I am very sorry I could not attend.

I had fun and thought it was informative. Unfortunately, I found out my rental in Fort Collins is not in the new correct zoning for short term rentals. I should have just gone for it and been grandfathered-in like the presenters. Good luck to you with your airbnb.com!

I was surprised that I was the only other person with a kid besides the presenters.

Threshkin

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #73 on: June 13, 2017, 09:23:42 AM »
We had a great time on the group hike last Sunday.  It was an excellent opportunity to talk and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

clarkfan1979

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #74 on: August 29, 2017, 09:13:18 PM »
No meet ups for me on Kauai. It looks like my only chance for a meet-up is back in Colorado. We will be back in Colorado November 6th to January 6th. I am taking some additional family leave over winter break. We will also be back in Colorado during my regular summer months approximately May 8th to August 12th.


arebelspy

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #75 on: December 11, 2017, 04:07:51 PM »
I'm looking for a venue for a Camp Mustache Colorado event.

Does anyone know of a place with lodging (beds) that provides food as well?

Typically summer camps/church camps are good venues for this type of event.

PM me if you have any suggestions for venues!
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clarkfan1979

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #76 on: May 31, 2018, 10:01:56 PM »
Any meet-ups schedule for this summer?

kudy

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Re: Northern Colorado Meetup? Fort Collins?
« Reply #77 on: June 01, 2018, 02:07:35 PM »
Any meet-ups schedule for this summer?

Meetups have been happening fairly regularly, and details are usually posted to this meetup group:
https://www.meetup.com/NoCo-FIRE-Fighters

I believe the plan is to eventually move events off of meetup.com to a new platform: FI Clubs.

"Our mission is to promote local and online community events that empower people to become financially independent. FI Clubs exchange ideas about generating more income, reducing wasteful spending, and encouraging environmentally-friendly do-it-yourself (DIY) ethics in a fun, family-like atmosphere."

Here is a link to sign up if you want to explore: https://ficlubs.mn.co/share/yHougkUArsK2Dul5?utm_source=manual