BiggerPockets Money Podcast

Mar 19 2025 35 mins 309 0 1

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Think you’ve blown your chances of achieving FIRE? You haven’t! Just ask Nik Johnson, who spent years growing his nest egg, only to have it completely wiped out with one bad financial decision. Despite losing everything, he managed to rebuild it from ground zero and still retire early!

Welcome to another episode of “Life After FIRE”! Nik and his wife had done everything right. They practiced frugality, saved aggressively, and invested at every opportunity. But everything was turned on its head when Nik decided to empty his retirement accounts and open a car dealership. Within just one year, Nik’s company had gone belly up, and as a result, all the money he had worked so hard to save was gone. It seemed that he had missed his one shot at early retirement, but rather than giving up on that dream, he started over. If he could do it once, he could do it again!

So, Nik found a W2 job, picked up a second job to fast-track his savings, and started throwing all his money at retirement accounts and real estate investments, and now, he and his wife are recently retired! Stick around as Nik shows you how to avoid the middle-class trap, what life looks like after FIRE, and the importance of community once you retire!

In This Episode We Cover

How Nik built, lost, and rebuilt his investments and still achieved FIRE

Supercharging your investments by creating extra income streams

How not to find seed money for a risky entrepreneurial venture

The savvy financial moves Nik made to avoid the middle-class trap

What the average “day in the life” of an early retiree looks like

Why you need a strong community around you once you retire

And So Much More!

Links from the Show

Mindy on BiggerPockets

Scott on BiggerPockets

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