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Financial Freedom (Financial Independence)

Greetings! 

We hope you and your loved ones are enjoying the fullness of summer! One of our favorite events of this season is the Fourth of July – aka Independence Day. From that cue, we would like to talk about Financial Freedom, or Financial Independence (FI). More commonly known by the acronym FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early), the FI movement has grown like wildfire over the past decade. Many people realize they really may not totally retire early (or ever!), so the focus of the movement is now more on the freedom or independence to perform work that you love or to not work at all.  The FI movement takes on a huge variety of forms, so there is sure to be something out there for you. 

  • Listen: This is kind of a two-for-one deal. It is an episode from a podcast called Afford Anything where the host, Paula Pant, interviews Joshua Sheets of Radical Personal Finance on his Financial Independence in Seven Stages. This is one of the first resources we dug into as we learned about the Financial Independence movement. It provides us and our clients a useful framework and vocabulary for discussing where they are at in their journey towards Financial Independence. If anything, take a quick look at the list of stages and see where you fit in.
  • Watch: Many people work their whole lives in the hopes of one day retiring and enjoying their ‘time’. The problem is that by the time they retire, they are often too old or infirm to really enjoy the time they have left. In this TED talk, Lacey Filipich shares her moving personal journey towards FI. If you’ve ever wondered if the traditional 9 to 5 is for you, or if the idea of a ‘mini-retirement’ sounds good, then this is a great watch. Lacey lays out the philosophy behind FI and her story is an important example of why taking some time for ourselves is probably the best thing we can do. If you are ready to trade the stuff you pay for, for assets that pay you, then take the time to watch this.  
  • Read: Sounds easy, right? Save a bunch, invest, then let the market and compounding interest do the rest for you. Well, the pandemic and recession have poked a couple of holes in the FIRE movement’s sails. Namely, if you quit your job in your 40s with a plan to live off the income from your investments and real estate holdings, what do you do if the market crashes? This NY Times article takes a look at some examples of people who had started their early retirement and how they have handled it so far. 

We hope you enjoy the links and your Fourth of July!. As always, feel free to share this newsletter with your friends and family and reach out if you have any questions. 

Is there a topic you would like us to delve into in a future newsletter? Please let us know and we will be happy to consider including it.

Make it an amazing month!
The Bona Fide Family

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Bonnie Martinek

Administrative Assistant
Bonnie (Ben’s mom!) is a mother of 9 and a grandmother of 17. She has lived in rural Indiana her whole life and has a master’s degree in Special Education. In her own words, she’s done a little bit of everything but is a master of none (teaching, construction, manager of a corn maze, CNA, farm work, cashier, auto bodywork, and the list goes on!). Widowed in 2019, she is reinventing herself through her work in the day-to-day operations of Bona Fide Finance and client relations. Bonnie loves getting to know our clients and is happy to serve them well!
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Deb Martinek

Relationships Specialist

Deb has been with Bona Fide Finance since its inception in 2015 and long before that with her support of Ben studying for the CFP designation and the dream of starting the business of helping individuals and families meet their financial goals.

She fills the Relationships Specialist role – Deb is typically the first encounter our new clients have as she walks them through our service offerings and introduces them to the map of financial literacy.

She has a bachelor’s degree from Ball State University and a master’s degree from the Franciscan University of Steubenville. Deb lives in Bismarck with Ben and their two young daughters, is a card-carrying member of the CDL club (read more about those adventures here) and is happiest reading an epic novel, solving a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle, or working in her kitchen where she can serve love to the people in her life through quality food (clients enjoy her holiday shipment of homemade goodies each December!).

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Ben Martinek

CFP®, EA, CSLP®, RICP®, Founder and Advisor

Ben Martinek, CFP®, EA, CSLP®, RICP®, is the founder and lead advisor at Bona Fide Finance, an independent, fee-only firm dedicated to helping doctors, young professionals, and growing families take control of their financial future. With a deep understanding of student loan debt—having tackled his own—Ben specializes in guiding clients through debt repayment strategies, smart investing, and comprehensive financial planning so they can build wealth with confidence. Ben’s passion for financial planning comes from his desire to provide honest, objective advice tailored to each client’s unique situation. He loves seeing the impact of his work, whether it’s helping a family pay off student loans years ahead of schedule, setting up an early retiree for financial freedom, or giving clients the peace that comes from knowing their finances are in order. His clients appreciate his thoughtful, high-touch approach, often saying that working with him has changed their lives.

Before launching Bona Fide Finance in 2015, Ben’s career path was anything but conventional. The fourth of nine children, he grew up in rural Indiana and initially pursued a path in academia, earning a B.A. in philosophy and classical languages, followed by a master’s degree in philosophy. Along the way, he explored careers in construction and truck driving—logging over 600,000 miles across the U.S. with his wife, Deb—before finding his true calling in financial planning.

Now based in Bismarck, North Dakota, Ben and Deb stay busy raising their two daughters, Edith and Virginia. Since their truck-driving days, Ben is happiest on a long road trip—preferably behind the wheel of his TDI Volkswagen Jetta. He enjoys sailing on Lake Sakakawea, camping in their vintage ’90s pop-up camper, and smoking a pipe by the grill. A lover of strategy board games, he favors Clans of Caledonia (mostly because Deb refuses to play Risk with him). When he’s not working with clients, he can be found smoking meat, gardening, hiking, or diving into The Lord of the Rings or Dune. Ben also serves on the school board for his daughters’ Montessori school and is actively involved in pre-marriage ministry in the Bismarck Diocese.

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