When Joel was 22 he moved from Australia to Hawaii and met his soon-to-be wife, and then they eventually settled in LA.  Joel worked incredibly hard in sales for many years and was quite successful, and then in 2018 he decided to take a sabbatical and has since discovered a lot about himself and what makes him happy. Joel further proves our theory that talking about money can improve your life and the life of those around you.  We discuss a number of topics with Joel:Joel explains how 5am Joel was hatched at a party one night talking with a friend.  It started as a 30-day experiment, and turned into a new way of life.He explains the many benefits that getting up early has brought into his life, including increased productivity.  He believes the pros outweigh the cons.  The main benefits include: Productivity - he just got more stuff done.  Instead of playing catch-up at the end of the day, he was doing preparation and planning in the AM and he helped me.  He started crushing it at work.He spent more time learning and learned how to do a ton of new things.He thought proactively about things he could do to help his wife.His health improved as he had more time to work out.  Even just 20 minutes in the morning would make him feel good all day long.  As Maggie and Joel debate the merits of getting up early and Maggie considers changing her own habits, Joel equates getting up early to paying yourself first.  Everyone is given 24 hours in the day, and they often don’t pay themselves first and do the most important things first.  Getting up early is a good way to pay yourself first.In the years since Joel started getting up at 5am, he had an epiphany of why he gets up in the morning.  He used to get up just for work.  Now he gets up for himself, for his wife, and for many personal reasons that are for him and not for anything else.  His parents taught him a lot of great lessons about money.  His mom taught him how to budget, save, and work hard.  His parents taught him how to be an independent self-sufficient human being so all credit to them.The Bigger Pockets Money podcast is the first time he heard the term FIRE.  And as they sat down and reviewed their finances they realized they were already half-way there just based on how they had been living. Joel’s biggest financial pillars and focus include: (1) Believing you can and knowing it’s within your power to change things. (2) Track your spending. If you don’t track where your money is going, you don’t know what your future looks like.  To build a good future you need to know where your money goes.  (3) Earn more income when you can to keep growing your net worth.  Joel now focuses more on the lifestyle along the way.  He used to just focus on the numbers, and then realized it’s not all about the numbers.  He started to think, why can’t I have some of those benefits now.  His focus right now is more around the lifestyle vs the numbers.  Joel is also figuring out how to be happy along the way.  His biggest focus right now is happiness no matter how much money he has.  He wants to live his happiest and best life.  He once thought “when I hit financial independence, I can do all these things” and then he realized he can do all of those things right now. He realized that the benefits of financial independence can be enjoyed along the way.  He is ok extending his financial independence date because he’s finding more happiness in a slower journey.  He encourages people to focus on what makes you happy now and what fills your life with joy, and focus on building that now vs later.  Everyone’s path is different.  Doing what everyone else is doing led him off path a couple times in life.  Figuring out for himself is a better way to go. Getting married and talking about money a lot more catapulted their financial journey too.  They realized they could be different and not live like everyone else.  His wife is his accountability partner.  He started this habit of writing each morning when he g