I just got back from EconoMe 2025 run by Diania Merriam (pronounced “Diana”) in Cincinnati, Ohio. I wasn’t sure what to expect as this was my first “FI” event as I’m embarking on this journey towards early retirement and financial independence.
I was not disappointed (and I already purchased my tickets for 2026!)
So as I’m decompressing from 3 very full and busy days, I thought I would share my thoughts and scribbles from this past weekend.
Table of Contents
EconoMe 2025 – The Basic Details
The EconoMe conference is held each spring at the Tangeman Center on the campus of the University of Cincinnati. If you are wondering about next year, it will be held on March 20-22, 2026 which coincides with the University’s spring break.
There is an opening night party on Thursday before the conference. (more on that in a moment). On Friday, there were several social events followed by a “speed friend-shipping” event to help people get to know one another.
The meatiest part of the event is Saturday and Sunday, with a series of “Ted Talk” style lectures in the morning, followed by break out sessions in the afternoon.
There were events held on both Saturday and Sunday evenings as well.
EconoMe Accommodations
There were two primary hotels for the event.
Most of the OG’s stayed at the Fairfield Inn, but because it is fairly inexpensive and all the attendees are financially savvy folks who are looking to save money, this hotel booked up pretty quickly. There is no bar, but there is a target across the street and lots of folks were hanging out in the lobby/breakfast area into the early hours of the morning.
The second option was the Hotel Celare, which is where I stayed. It is a beautiful new hotel across the street from the University and even though it is a tad more expensive, it provided great value overall and there was lots of socializing at the hotel bar in the evenings.
If money were no option, the Hotel Celare is a great option. But if you are trying to save a few bucks, you can stay at the Fairfield or even share a room with another attendee.
Now that we have all those details out of the way, here are my thoughts on the events themselves.
Pre-Conference Hangout
The night before the conference began, Carl and Mindy Jensen of 1500days.com hosted a hang at the Esoteric Brewery. I am very glad I attended, as I ended up meeting several people who ended up being part of my “conference family” for the next several days. However, as an introvert it was a very difficult and stressful event!
Having driven 8 hours from North Carolina certainly didn’t help. Here’s what I mean…
NOTE: If you are considering attending and are also introverted in nature, I highly recommend this episode of Mile High FI to give you some coping strategies!
Day 1: The Friday Before…
Full disclosure here, I didn’t attend the events on Friday. But I heard they were a lot of fun!
I get the sense from listening to Diania and reading her website that building community is one of the biggest goals of this conference. And to that end, Diania has planned some amazing events on the Friday before the conference “officially” begins.
First, there was a Urban Walk through Cincinnati. However, because it started EARLY in the AM and the temperature was 32 degrees out, I decided to forego this event. 🥶 (Honestly, I didn’t bring clothes for that type of weather!)
In the afternoon, there was a “Fowling” activity, which has something to do with bowling and football. Again, I did not attend this event, but I heard it was fun.
Finally, on Friday evening there was an Icebreaker in the main room of the conference at the Tangeman University Center. Hosted by Brad Barrett of ChooseFI, this was a chance for people to get to know 21 other strangers who share a passion for early retirement. At my second table, I coincidentally sat down next to someone who lives less than 5 minutes from me in North Carolina!
Days 2 and 3: A Full Day of Content and Socializing
As I began drafting this post, I realized that I did not take notes of the presentations by the keynote speakers and the topics. However, some of the talks were more impactful for me than others. So below I will be sharing some of the highlights that I gleaned from the keynote presenters based solely on my memory and what limited notes I took.
Joe Saul-Sehy from the Stacking Benjamins Podcast kicked off the conference with a short presentation. While I don’t remember the content directly, I do remember that he was engaging and fun.
Jessica Fick spoke on Day 2 about Coast FI – the idea that after you save a certain amount, future saving becomes optional. This is perfect for people who simply want to cut back on their hours at work or change a career, but don’t want to completely retire (yet). She also runs The FIoneers website which focuses on lifestyle design and building financial freedom. If I’m being honest, her’s was one of the most impactful talks of the entire conference (at least for me).
Alan and Katie Donegan are a British couple who travel the world and gave a great presentation on finance for couples. You can read more about them on their blog.
Tari Thomas is a real estate investor who shared an inspirational story of financial and personal setbacks to come out ahead.
Azul Terronez is the teacher I wish my kids had. He gave an emotionally riveting talk about why we should all write a book.
Khe Hy talked about what it is like to go bald and retire early.
Janine Firpo retired from her career in 2017 and became an author and entrepreneur. I did not attend her talk as I was networking at the time!
Bryan Suddith gave an interesting and informative talk about the cost of food waste.
David Barnett is listed as a speaker, but I must have missed his talk entirely because I don’t remember it. Sorry!
The EconoME Breakout Sessions and Workshops
On Days 2 and 3 of the conference, there were three separate break out sessions in the afternoons. Here are the sessions I attended and what I learned from them.
Douglas Tsoi is founder of the School of Financial Freedom and is ultra frugal. He retired at age 42 after living on $20-25k per year and saving the rest. I hate to say it, but if I could life on $25,000 per year, I would already be retired! I don’t remember his talk directly, but I do remember that I found it quite insightful.
I missed the talk by Karsten Jeske, but heard it was good. He talked primarily about safe withdrawal strategies once you hit FI and decide to retire.
Jackie Koski is a co-host of one of my favorite podcasts, Catching Up to FI and retired early in 2019 at the age of 49 after never making more than 6 figures in a single year. On Day 3 she hosted a break-out session and reviewed the income and finances of another attendee to help her realize that she was already financially independent.
The Donegans hosted a session to discuss travel, nomading and geo-arbitrage. It was held at the same time as the case study moderated by Jackie, so I missed it. If I had to do this over, I would have attended this break-out session instead because traveling is such a passion of mine.
Round 1: Break Out Sessions
There were four separate break out sessions that were offered on both Saturday and Sunday. The choices for the first round were:
- Coast FI and Slow FI: This was another talk lead by the Fioneers showing how you can prioritize the journey to FI rather than simply putting your head down and working towards early retirement. Again, this was one of the most impactful events of the conference for me.
- “The Simple Path to Health”
- Real Estate: This was a talk lead by Mindy Jensen and Renee from Bigger Pockets. I am not a big real estate investor currently, so I did not attend this talk.
- Late Starters and Newbies: I’m not a newbie, so I didn’t attend this talk, but it was hosted by Jackie from Catching Up to FI.
Round 2: Break Out Sessions
The second round of break out sessions included the following talks:
- FI Couples: This is such a very important topic – how to talk about money with your partner or spouse. The Donegans lead an amazing talk on this. If you want to get a copy of their slides, then visit this link.
- Spending More in Retirement: Frank Vasquez, host of Risk Parity Radio led a surprisingly interesting talk on how to optimize your portfolio for less risk and more return in retirement.
- Mini Retirements: I did not attend this talk, lead by Jillian Johnsrud of the Retire Often Podcast. But having listened to her podcast, I’m sure it was valuable. She talked about planning your perfect sabbatical, negotiating time off and finding your next job post-sabbatical.
- One More Year Syndrome: Lots of people who have reached FIRE have a hard time pulling the plug and actually leaving their jobs behind. This talk was intended to dig deep into why you are having such a hard time handing in your resignation.
EconoME Evening Events
Let’s not beat around the bush. While the content is great, the socializing (once you get to know some people) after hours is a huge draw for many attendees. I noticed in talking with some of the other attendees that these people love each other and have known one another for literally YEARS.
EconoME attendees frequently attend other FI events, such as FinCon, Camp Mustache, or Camp FI. I mean, many of these people are retired so what else do they have to do? 😂 (no judgment here – I’m striving for my own financial independence!)
So here are the events that were sponsored by EconoME 2025:
Wits and Wagers with Joe Saul-Sehy. If you have ever listened to an episode of Stacking Benjamins, you know they like to mix in trivia. And that was exactly what this event was all about, with some drinking added in for good measure. This was a fun way to start what ended up being a very long (and very fun) Saturday night on the town.
While a little more low-key, Sunday night was capped off by a “Brewery Hang” at the Rhinegeist Brewery. This was really just a long, drawn out good-bye. We laughed. We cried. We hugged our new friends and told them we couldn’t wait to see them next year.
Final Thoughts on EconoME
All in all, I had a great time at this conference and already purchased by ticket for next year, as did some of the friends I made during my time in Cincinnati.
Speaking of my new found friends, here are some of the people I met who are doing good work in the FI space:
- Naseema McElroy – Aside from being a genuinely likable and all-around beautiful person, Naseema is a coach for people looking to become financially independent, a published author and also host of the Financially Intentional Podcast.
- Timothy Smith – Tim was the first person I met at EconoMe while waiting in line at the bar, and I’m so glad I did! He is a single father like me and is pursuing FIRE. You can find him on Instagram.
- Kelly and Luis Hernandez – Kelly and Luis are building a portfolio of short-term rentals and traveling across the country while they do it. You can find them here on Instagram.
- Jason Yamnitz – Genuinely nice guy who hails from Tampa, Florida. Follow him on Instagram for some amazing pictures of his travel destinations.
- Rachel Richards – Rachel is a self-made millionaire from real estate investing. She no longer posts on social media but can be found on Instagram.
- Christina Rust – I met Christina during the “friendshipping” event on the first night. She lives in North Carolina and is a real estate investor.
- Joshua Mike – Joshua is on administrative leave from his position as USAID. He was hoping to retire next year when his pension kicked in.
- Jess and Corey Fick – Jess gave an amazing talk on Coast FI that really resonated with me. The self-proclaimed “FIoneers” can be found online talking about all things money and early retirement.
- Justin Peters – Super nice guy, is host of the FI Minded Podcast.
If you are interested in purchasing tickets for EconoME 2026, click here to get on the waiting list – they sell out fast!