ChooseFI Logo

042 | The Green Swan | Why Start A Business, When You Can Buy One?

In Episode 42 we have a wide ranging discussion with JW from The Green Swan about his FI path, going into business with family, buying an existing business and much more.

Podcast Episode Summary

  • A discussion with JW from The Green Swan about financial independence and busing buying and ownership
  • How JW got involved in the FIRE community
  • A discussion of life insurance and how much someone in the FI community really needs to think about
  • They were already on a path to financial independence even before finding the FI community online
  • How JW approached college with the mindset of graduating early
  • JW’s dad passed many of the tips and tricks of the FI community to him in his teens
  • JW’s relationship with his older brother made a big difference in his FI journey and they long talked about buying a business
  • The concepts discussed in the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad and how it could help you get multiple streams of income
  • JW and his brothers were saving for many years in anticipation of buying a business
  • How they researched the options of buying a business
  • How they could step in and grow the business they intended to purchase
  • What did they do to fix the culture in the business and reassure their employees about the future of the business
  • How did they know they could add value to this or any other company?
  • How they structured their legal entity to optimize most efficiently
  • They are investigating purchasing a similar business to expand their business
  • What does the path look like for each of the four brothers and how have they navigated the sibling dynamic?
  • They entered the business with ‘eyes wide open’ to the potential to damage their family relationships
  • They built an operating agreement with all potential future possibilities so they could navigate future issues. It was important that they did this from the outset
  • The unexpected joys and crazy things that happen when you own a small business with many employees and JW’s examples
  • How are they funding a future potential acquisition?
  • How do these businesses impact JW’s financial independence number?
  • He is calculating his FI number without even considering the income or equity in the businesses
  • Hot Seat Questions
  • Favorite life hack is listening to podcasts and audio books at 2x speed
  • He wishes he would have done ‘house hacking’ like his father did when he was younger

Listen to Brad and Jonathan’s thoughts about this episode here.

Links from the show:

Books Mentioned in the Show:

Choose FI has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Choose FI and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. American Express is a ChooseFI advertiser. Disclosures.
More To Explore
You Might Be Interested in...
Something New at ChooseFI

Dexa.ai harnessed the power of AI to provide in-depth transcripts for all ChooseFI podcast episodes. Each section of the transcript is clickable so you can listen to the podcast at exactly the point you’re looking for

Other episodes
Share This Post