A few years ago, when I was a brand new, baby blogger, I learned about an event called FinCon. If you’ve never heard of FinCon, it’s basically a gathering of personal finance bloggers and podcasters (with the occasional YouTuber thrown in). Yes, it’s as nerdy as it sounds. But if you’re deep in this personal finance/blogging world, then man – it’s the coolest thing in the world.
My blog was only a few months old at the time, and with just a sprinkling of posts and not that much traffic, I felt that I hadn’t “earned” my right to go to FinCon just yet. As soon as FinCon 2016 came to an end, I purchased my ticket for the next FinCon that was going to be held in Dallas.
Buying the ticket last year not only allowed me to get the ticket at a substantially reduced price, but was also a nice little challenge to myself. With my FinCon ticket in hand and the money already spent, I had some extra motivation to keep posting regularly lest my money go to waste. It was a powerful motivator, and I think it’s something that helped me to keep pushing out consistent content (albeit, not as consistently as I’d like).
FinCon itself was more amazing than I imagined it. Even though I’d only met a handful of people in real life, there was no awkwardness at the conference. You spend so much time online with this community that you can’t help but feel like you’re hanging out with friends, even if you’ve never met in person.
After five days, I came back from the conference pumped to implement the new things I learned and make this blog even better in its second year. And like a true personal finance dork, as soon as I got home, I sat down and began calculating exactly how much I had spent for the five-day trip. After all, this is a personal finance blog.
Quick FinCon Recap
So, a little-known fact – Financial Panther is actually a two-man operation. I do all the writing and my best friend does all the web development stuff for me behind the scenes. A lot of people were confused by this since we showed up at FinCon with two people wearing Financial Panther badges – one of whom looked nothing like the picture that graces the front page of this site.
So yep, the cat’s out of the bag there. There are two people working on this blog. Speaking of which, here’s the picture that the Student Loan Hero booth drew of me:
I went to FinCon with the goal of doing two things. First, learning was obviously something that I wanted to do. There’s so much information out there and there’s really no better way to improve your own skills than by learning from people who are farther along than you are. If you’re looking to learn from the very best, FinCon is the place to go. There’s absolutely no shortage of learning you can do there.
The second – and more important goal – was to connect with people. This blog got its first big boost last year when I met up with some dude named Physician On Fire, who at the time, had been blogging for less than a year. He was kind enough to write about meeting up with me in his Sunday Best series and it was essentially the first big exposure I received as a new blogger. Since then, I’ve made it a point to make sure that, if anyone wants to meet up, I’m there. You never know who might help you along the way. And there were plenty of people to meet and connect with at FinCon.
As for some of the things I did, I figured it’d be easiest just to throw it down in list form:
- Attended CardCon – This was a conference about credit cards that was held on the Wednesday before the official start of FinCon. Ultimately, while somewhat interesting, CardCon probably wasn’t the best fit for me. I thought it’d be more a conference about travel hacking with credit cards and how to write about it, but a lot of the info seemed much more industry related – things like how to market credit card products or the latest trends in credit card products. I ended up buying two tickets to go to CardCon, but in retrospect, I probably should have just bought one and had one of us attend.
- Listened To Some Great Keynote Speeches – There were a ton of great keynote speeches there from some heavy hitters, including Paula Pant and Darren Rowse. David Bach gave away copies of his updated version of The Automatic Millionaire, which I loved. That was seriously the first book I read about personal finance back when I was 17 years old.
- Did A Quick Live Podcast With Popcorn Finance – I’ve done a few podcasts before, but this was my first live podcast, which I think is way less awkward since you can see who you’re talking to. Even better, Chris, who hosts Popcorn Finance, is also a dude who delivers on Postmates in his spare time. He knows the side hustle game and we had fun chatting about our delivery experiences.
- Won An Amazon Echo Dot –Â Experian was giving away Amazon Echo Dots and I was lucky enough to win one. For the last three days, I’ve been constantly asking Alexa for the weather forecast and to turn on and off my lights. My wife is not amused.
- Got Tons Of Free Shirts – Anyone who knows me knows that I love free swag. I’ve been on a mission for the last two years to get as many startup company shirts as I can, and FinCon helped me add to that collection. I’m close to 100 startup shirts now.
- Attended The Plutus Awards – This is an award show for all of the best bloggers out there and was a ton of fun. Congrats to everyone that was nominated and that took home a Plutus. Hopefully, Financial Panther can get there one day!
- Learned Some Great Stuff – I came back from FinCon with some great ideas to help improve this blog. The big news is that after talking to folks, I decided to go ahead and purchase www.financialpanther.com, which was a parked domain that I couldn’t afford before. It’ll be a huge undertaking to move the site over to that domain name, but I think it’ll really help make it easier for people to find the blog and develop the brand.
Meeting New and Old Friends At FinCon
FinCon is a big place. I’m not an introvert by any means, but I can definitely feel uncomfortable when I’m in a room full of strangers. The amazing thing about FinCon, though, was just how comfortable I felt there. It was like hanging out with old friends.
Since there’s so much going on, it’s hard to hang out with everyone, so I just want to thank all of the folks that let me hang around them while I was there, including:
- Apathy Ends
- Money Wizard
- Debt Free Climb
- Guy On Fire
- Optimize Your Life
- Erica from Rize
- Karl from Kinfo
- The Mastermind Within
- The Mint Road
- Fiery Millennials
- Millennial Boss
- Miss Mazuma
- Keep Thrifty
- BigLaw Investor
- Future Proof MD
- Super Millennial
- Retirement Manifesto
- Montana Money Adventures
- Mrs. Adventure Rich
- Millennial Money
- A Journey We Love
- Bayalis Is The Answer
- Young Adult Finance
- The Dinero Pro
And anyone else I might have missed – I seriously didn’t forget you. I’m just super disorganized!
Partying At FinCon
Any discussion about FinCon wouldn’t be complete without talking about the partying aspect of it. And yes, you will party at FinCon.
When I worked in biglaw, I was famous for mooching free food wherever I could find it, and FinCon was no different. I specifically went around looking for where I could get free stuff. The night before the official start of FinCon, I had dinner with some blogger friends, then attended a pub crawl hosted by MediaVine. Free drinks galore!
The first official night of FinCon was even better, with a huge event hosted by Ally at a place called the Rustic. This was literally every blogger out there hanging out, drinking, and eating in a huge restaurant.
While I was chatting with some folks, I received a ping on my phone notifying me that there was a dog a few blocks away that I could walk on Wag. In order to show off my side hustling prowess, I decided to accept the offer, went to the apartment that was just down the street, and walked the dog around the neighborhood. I got paid $18 to do it and was able to show a few folks exactly how the side hustling game works. The hustle never stops for me!
The second night of FinCon, I ended up following some folks to a gathering at a restaurant downtown. I have no idea if this was an official event or not, but eventually, it was packed to the brim with personal finance bloggers and people were just bringing out free drinks for everyone. Another score!
The last night was the final FinCon party held right after the Plutus Awards. Again, every blogger was around partying and dancing up a storm. It was super fun – although beers there cost $9 a piece. Ouch! I managed to snag myself two free drink tickets though.
How Much Does It Cost To Go To FinCon?
Since this is a personal finance blog, the thing you’re probably wondering is how much going to FinCon will cost you. When I got back, I gathered up all of my receipts and added up exactly how much I spent for my five days there.
| Expense | Cost | Breakdown |
|---|---|---|
| FinCon Tickets | $378 | $189 per person |
| Airfare | $334.80 | $167.40 per person |
| Hotel | $478.68 | 5 nights ($95 per night) |
| CardCon Tickets | $274.16 | $137.09 per person |
| Transportation | $68.08 | Cost of trains, buses, and Ubers |
| Food/Drinks | $196.90 | Cost of going out to eat and partying |
| Total | $1,730.62 | $865.31 per person |
Here’s a more detailed explanation so you can understand why this cost what it did. Remember, these were expenses for two people to attend, so if you’re just one person, you can pretty much cut these costs in half.
- FinCon Tickets:Â My friend and I bought our FinCon tickets the day they went on sale last year. FinCon tickets cost less the earlier you purchase them, which is why we were able to get them at $189 (we already went ahead and bought our ticket for next year too). If you’re a newer blogger, you can also apply for the FinCon Scholarship that’s offered later in the year. If you win that, you get a free ticket to FinCon. It seems like they pick a lot of winners, which means I think you have a good shot if you just apply.
- Airfare: We started tracking flights about six months beforehand using my favorite travel app, Hopper. Once a good deal popped up, we snagged the flight. Thankfully, it was an affordable, non-stop flight at reasonable hours.
- Hotel: We got five nights at a Crowne Plaza hotel using Hotwire. The hotel wasn’t amazing, but at just $95 per night, it was worth it. And it was only a short walk to the Sheraton, where FinCon was being held.
- CardCon Tickets:Â I thought this would be worth checking out, so we ended up buying two tickets for CardCon. If you’re not writing about credit cards, you can pretty much ignore this expense.
- Transportation: This category accounts for our costs to get to and from the airport and costs of Ubers to get around town. Getting to and from the airport cost us pretty much nothing – we ended up taking the bus and train to get to and from MSP, and then took the DART to get between DFW and downtown. Our most expensive cost was taking a few Ubers to get to different places to eat.
- Food/Drink: This was the cost of all of our meals and drinks. Thankfully, there are tons of events going on where you can get free food and drinks, so you can really reduce this category if necessary. I also have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, so I was able to snag some free food at the lounge in MSP and the lounge in DFW. Also, remember that this is the cost for two of us to eat and drink. If you’re just one person, you can cut this cost in half.
Takeaways
In the end, FinCon was well worth it, both on a personal level and on a professional level. I came back from it energized, with a ton of knowledge, some great connections, and hopefully, what I think are some new friends.
For most of you, your costs won’t be as high as what I listed. Remember, everything I listed was the cost for two people, which essentially means costs were doubled. If you divide the costs I listed per person, we managed to do five days at FinCon for about $865 per person. The actual cost is even less than that if you consider that this entire trip was a business expense, and thus, we’re using tax-free business income in order to do this trip.
So what’s your goal in terms of money if you’re looking to get to FinCon? I’d say figure out a way to budget $1,000 for the trip and you’ll be in great shape. If you start a year in advance, you’re looking at saving just $100 or so per month. That’s nothing! I’ve already got my FinCon ticket for next year, so hopefully, if I didn’t get to catch you in 2017, I’ll see you at the next one!Â
FinCon tickets tend to go up in price as the year goes on, so if you are really thinking about going, it’s best to purchase your ticket as soon as possible. If you feel like supporting this site, please use my FinCon referral link to buy your ticket for the next FinCon.
This post may contain affiliate links. Financial Panther has partnered with AwardWallet and CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Financial Panther, AwardWallet, and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
More Recommended Ebike/Scooters
Check out these other ebikes and scooters I've reviewed:
- Urban Arrow Ebike – Last year, I made one of the largest purchases I’ve ever made – I bought a $9,000 electric cargo bike from Urban Arrow. In my Urban Arrow review, I will discuss what it is and why I decided to buy this bike, as well as discuss how impactful a bike like this can be on your journey to financial independence.
- Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Ebike – The Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is a fat-tire ebike that I’ve had the pleasure of riding for a while now. It has amazing power, great looks, and awesome range. If you’re looking for a great fat-tire ebike that offers a lot for the price, the Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is definitely one for you to consider. Check out my Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Review.
- Hovsco HovBeta Ebike – The HovBeta is a folding ebike with great specs and a lot of interesting features, and importantly, it’s sold at a good price point. I’ve had a blast commuting with it and using it to do deliveries with DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. Check out my Hovsco HovBeta Ebike Review.
- Vanpowers Manidae Ebike – The Vanpowers Manidae is a fat tire ebike that I’ve been riding as my primary winter commuting bike and have also been using it to do food delivery with apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. After clocking in a decent number of miles with this ebike, I wanted to write a post sharing what my experience with the Vanpowers Manidae ebike has been like. Check out my Vanpowers Manidae Review.
- Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding EBike Review – A Great Value Folding Ebike – The Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding Ebike is an entry-level folding ebike that offers a lot of value for the price point. I’ve been riding the Sohamo S3 for a while now, putting the bike through its paces, and I have to say, this bike has exceeded all of my expectations. Check out my Sohamo Review.
- KBO Flip Ebike – The KBO Flip is an excellent bike. I’ve had a great time riding it and think it’s a versatile bike that can be used for a lot of purposes and can fit a variety of lifestyles. It’s worked out great for me as a general commuter bike and as a food delivery bike. Check out my KBO Flip Review.
- Hiboy P7 Commuter Ebike – The Hiboy P7 is an excellent electric commuter bike that’s offered at an affordable price point. The range and speed of this bike are both very good, so you won’t have any trouble getting anywhere you need to go with it. As a food delivery vehicle, this is also good – with how much range it offers, you’ll be able to work all day on a single charge. Check out my Hiboy P7 Commuter Electric Bike Review.
- Himiway Escape Ebike – The Himiway Escape is an interesting bike for anyone looking for a moped-style ebike. If you’re a gig economy worker, the Himiway Escape is particularly interesting and it’s possible to think of it as an investment, especially if you can opt to do deliveries with the Himiway versus using a car. It’s not cheap, but you can definitely make your money back when you compare the mileage you’ll put on your car versus using an ebike. Check out my Himiway Escape Bike Review.
- Espin Sport Ebike – The Espin Sport is a good ebike for someone who is looking for an ebike that feels and rides more like a regular bike. There are many ebikes that are really only bikes in name. In reality, they’re basically electric mopeds. The Espin Sport, by contrast, is a bike you could probably ride without the battery and you’d feel like you’re just riding a regular bike. Check out my Espin Sport Review.
- Varla Eagle One Scooter – The Varla Eagle One is an excellent scooter that can make sense for a lot of people. It can work as a primary mode of transportation. You can use it to work on gig economy apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. And it can also be a recreational vehicle if you’d prefer to use it for that. Check out my Varla Eagle One Review.
- Varla Falcon Scooter – The Varla Falcon is an excellent scooter that offers a good amount of power at a lower price point compared to more powerful scooters. It’s not exactly an entry-level scooter, nor is it a high-powered scooter. I think it fits somewhere in-between those two categories – an intermediate scooter if I had to give it a category. Check out my Varla Falcon Review.
- Hiboy S2 Scooter – The Hiboy S2 is an excellent entry-level commuter scooter that's perfect for someone looking to save some money in transportation costs and improve their commute. Check out my Hiboy S2 Review.
- Hiboy S2R Scooter – The Hiboy S2R is one of the more interesting electric scooters I’ve been able to test out. It’s not a high-powered scooter, but for an everyday transport option, it’s very useful, especially given some of the unique features that it has. Indeed, for the price, the Hiboy S2R might be the best value scooter I’ve used. Check out my Hiboy S2R Review.
- Fucare H3 Scooter – The Fucare H3 is a fun scooter and I’ve enjoyed testing it out. For a daily commuter or quick trips or errands, the Fucare H3 is probably the scooter I’ll use. It’s portable and easy to maneuver, so it’s just easier to take on the road when I need it. Check out my Fucare H3 Scooter Review.
More Recommended Investing App Bonuses
For additional investing app bonuses, be sure to check out the ones below:
- M1 Finance ($100) – This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account. Check out my M1 Finance Referral Bonus – Step-By-Step Guide.
- SoFi Invest ($25) – SoFi Invest is an easy brokerage account bonus that you can earn with just a few minutes of work. Use my SoFi Invest referral link, fund your SoFi Invest brokerage account with just $10 and you’ll get $25 of free stock. I also have a step-by-step guide for the SoFi Invest referral bonus.
- Webull (20 free stock shares) – Webull's current promotion gives you 20 free shares valued between $3-$3,000 each if you open an account using my referral link. Here’s a guide I wrote about how to earn your free shares using Webull.
- Moomoo (15 free stocks) – Moomoo is a free investing app currently offering 2 different referral bonuses if you open an account using a referral link. Read my Moomoo referral bonus guide for more information.
- Robinhood (1 free stock) – Robinhood gives you a free stock valued between $2.50-$225 if you open an account using my referral link.
- Public (1 free stock) - Public gives you a free stock valued between $3-$70 if you open an account using my referral link.
More Recommended Bank Account Bonuses
If you’re looking for more easy bank bonuses, check out the below options. These bonuses are all easy to earn and have no fees or minimum balance requirements to worry about.
- SoFi Money ($325) – SoFi Money is a free checking account from SoFi. They’re currently offering a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi account with a referral link and deposit $10. You can also make an additional $300 as well if you complete a direct deposit. This is a good bank that is also 100% free, so you won’t have to worry about managing this account. Here’s a post I wrote with instructions on how to earn your SoFi Money bonus: SoFi Money Referral Bonus: Step By Step Guide.
- Upgrade ($300) – Upgrade is a free checking account that’s currently offering a $300 referral bonus if you open an account and complete a direct deposit. These bonus terms are easy to meet, so it’s well worth doing this bonus as soon as you can. Here’s a post I wrote with more details: Upgrade $300 Referral Bonus – Step By Step Directions.
- Fairwinds Credit Union ($175) – Fairwinds Credit Union is offering a referral bonus for users that sign up using a referral link. Fairwinds has no fees or minimum balance, so this is a particularly easy bonus to earn. Since this is a smaller credit union, my gut instinct tells me this offer won’t be around long, so if you’re in a position to meet the bonus requirements, grab this bonus before it’s gone. Here is my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Fairwinds Credit Union bonus.
- Chime ($100) - Chime is a free bank account that offers a referral bonus if you use a referral link and complete a direct deposit of $200 or more. In practice, any ACH transfer into this account triggers the bonus. This bonus is easy to earn and posts instantly, so you’ll know if you met the requirements as soon as you move money into the account. I wrote a step-by-step guide on how to earn your Chime referral bonus that I recommend you check out.
- US Bank Business ($800) – This is a fairly easy bank bonus to earn, since there are no direct deposit requirements. In addition, you can open the Silver Business Checking account, which comes with no monthly fees. Check out how to earn this big bonus here.
- Fifth Third Bank ($200) – This offer is limited to customers in the following states: Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, West Virginia, and South Carolina. If you don’t live in one of those states, you won’t be able to open an account online but you can still open an account in-branch if you happen to be visiting a city that has a branch. This is a fairly easy bank bonus to earn, especially since there are plenty of data points showing what will trigger the direct deposit requirement. In addition, you can open the Fifth Third Momentum Checking bank account, which comes with no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements. Read my guide on this bonus here.
- GO2Bank ($50) - GO2Bank is an easy bank bonus that I recommend people take advantage of if they have an easy way of meeting the direct deposit requirement. I like that it’s easy to open the account and that the bonus pays out quickly. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your GO2Bank $50 referral bonus.
- Current ($50) – Current is a free fintech bank that’s offering new users a $50 referral bonus after signing up for an account using a referral link. Current is an easy bonus to earn and also gives you access to three savings accounts that pay you 4% interest on up to $2,000. That means you can put away up to $6,000 earning 4% interest. That’s very good and makes Current an account I recommend to everyone. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Current Bank bonus.
- Novo Bank ($40) - Novo bank is a free business checking account that’s currently offering a $40 bonus if you open a Novo business checking account using a referral link. In addition to being a good bank bonus, Novo is also a good business checking account. It has no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements and operates a good app and website. Indeed, it’s the business checking account I currently use for this blog. Check out my post on how to easily open a Novo account.
- Varo ($25) – Varo is a free fintech banking app similar to Chime or Current. It’s currently offering a $25 bonus to new users that open a new Varo account with a referral link. The bonus for this bank is very easy to meet, all you need to do is spend $20 within 30 days of opening your Varo account. Check out my step-by-step guide to learn how to earn this bonus.
Kevin is an attorney and the blogger behind Financial Panther, a blog about personal finance, travel hacking, and side hustling using the gig economy. He paid off $87,000 worth of student loans in just 2.5 years by choosing not to live like a big shot lawyer.
Kevin is passionate about earning money using the gig economy and you can see all the ways he makes extra income every month in his side hustle reports.
Kevin is also big on using the latest fintech apps to improve his finances. Some of Kevin's favorite fintech apps include:
- SoFi Money. A really good checking account with absolutely no fees. You'll get a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi Money account with a referral link, and an additional $300 if you complete a direct deposit.
- 5% Savings Accounts. I'm currently getting 5.24% interest on my savings through a company called Raisin. Opening a Raisin account takes minutes to complete, it's free, and all of your funds are FDIC-insured. I explain how it works, why I'm now using it to store my emergency fund and any other cash savings I have, and why I recommend everyone check it out in this review.
- US Bank Business. US Bank is currently offering new business customers a $800 signup bonus after opening a new account and meeting certain requirements.
- M1 Finance. This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account.
- Empower. One of best free apps you can use to monitor your portfolio and track your net worth. This is one of the apps I use to track my financial accounts.
Feel free to send Kevin a message here.
Sorry to dig up the old post. Just found out that next year’s fincon is super close and I want to purchase the ticket right away. Did you buy the basic or pro? I assumed it was basic but it seems like it would be very limited. Basic is currently $200 on Eventbrite and pro is $350. I rarely ever buy anything in advance but it seems like a good deal.
I’ve only gone with the basic. Pro isn’t necessary.
I was living vicariously through all of you guys! Last year was a blast in San Diego, but with a little one to take care of, I don’t think I’ll be traveling away from my family for at least another year or so.
Can we get on the community to host in San Francisco or Honolulu next?
I’d have no problem with that! But we personal finance types I think shy away from the expensive food and lodging locales, haha.
This is one of the best FinCon17 recaps I’ve read! It’s so awesome you got to show off your side hustle at the conference hehe. $900 would def be a big price tag for me (I haven’t made any money off of my blog yet). I talked to hubby, and he gave me the green light, so I’ll need to hustle hard to save up for next year conference @_@
Thanks so much! Yeah, it’s not a small amount of money, but it’s so worth it just for the connections. I feel like for me, I have two lives with this blog now – before FinCon and after FinCon. Saving up $900 to $1000 bucks is doable. Figure out a way to save or make $100 bucks a month and you’ll be set!
Awesome to finally meet you at FinCon! Congrats on the echo dot too, haha!
And mad props for side hustling AT THE CONFERENCE… Folks, FP’s online persona as a side hustler is the real deal. This guy is 100% authentic!
Haha thanks man! I’m glad I won the Echo Dot because I’m not really sure how useful it is and my wife would have been real mad at me if I had bought one.
Panther, Thanks for the summary. I’m where you were at a year ago trying to get my blog going. So it is nice to hear you have met with so much success since then. I hadn’t even heard of FinCon until I started blogging in the space this year. It sounds like a really educational event. Tom
It’s a ton of fun! Definitely worth attending to make the connections.
So many bloggers are writing a round up and I get increasingly jealous after I read each one! I definitely need to sign up for next years FinCon event!
Do it man!
Hey! It was great meeting you in person and catching up! You and Thomas are a ton of fun!
Also, you did better than me on cost. Looks like we were pretty on par other than the hotel. It was nice staying at the hotel with the conference, but next year I may hunt for something a short walk away to save a bit.
Better take a look at the conference location… There’s not really anything in “walking distance” for hot & humid Central Florida in September. It’s probably at least a mile or more to the next hotel.
Yeah, we saved a ton going with the hotel we found on Hotwire. Not a nice hotel or anything, but it served it’s purpose – plus, it wasn’t like we were hanging out in the hotel anyway. Hope to see you again soon!
I’ll admit – I was one of those confused guys seeing both you and Thomas with Financial Panther badges and thinking “what the??” 🙂
Although we didn’t get to hang out too much, it was great to meet you! See you in Orlando!
— Jim
You should have won the costume contest! I thought for sure you would take home that prize.
Still sobbing a bit on the inside for not making it this year. Dammit! But, got a good excuse with having to fly to Michigan this weekend to work on the new Airbnb. Next year!!!
Definitely next year! I’ll see you before then I’m sure!
Nice cost breakdown! I had no idea you were still hustling during FinCon. Wow, I’m so impressed.
We stayed in an airbnb around 20 mins train ride from the conference, which was slightly inconvenient but saved us a ton and gave us a kitchen for cooking and laundry. They say it’s a good idea to stay in the Sheraton or nearby for networking purposes but it didn’t take away from the experience for us. Still got tons of socializing in.
Had a great time meeting you, Kevin! Hope to see you again soon!
It was great to meet you to Kristy and Bryce. Really, the only disadvantage with staying outside of the hotel was that it forced us to carry our backpacks around. Not a huge deal to me. And yeah, I had to hustle just to show people that I wasn’t all talk, haha.
Definitely hope our paths cross again. I’m always following you guys to see where you end up next!
Thanks for the mention! Just finishing my post and had mentioned you as the top hustler!
Thanks Michael! Was really great to meet you in person!
Cool. Great breakdown! I was going to wait until it was in NYC, Boston or Philly, but looks like I’ll be heading to Orlando next year. Doing the local chapter here. I agree, there is a certain level of motivation attached when you commit to something in advance. Sounds informative and fun!
Hope to see you there. Yeah, it definitely motivates you once you put down some cash like that. Makes you feel like you don’t want to waste it.
Not going to lie, my mind was blown when I found out there were TWO guys behind Financial Panther. I think I saw both of your name tags and was thoroughly confused for a few seconds before you explained.
And hustling mid-conference… that’s awesome!
It was great to meet you both! I look forward to hopefully seeing you in Orlando. Oh- and the drawing of Thomas is spot on… yours, not so much 😉
Totally agree with Mrs. Adventure Rich! I love that two of you are working on your blog. I need someone to run the tech part of mine 🙂 We didn’t get much time to chat – but hopefully next year!
Yeah, definitely hope we can chat more next year! It’s tough with so many people around and so many things to do.
Great to meet you too! I’ll see you in Orlando!
Hi Kevin & Thomas!!! Sorry didn’t get to hang out with you guys during the drinks on Friday night – we had dinner with Keith and Sue from Wealthy Accountant and went back early (930pm is ‘early’ for the FinCon crew) to the AirBnB start packing. We had an afternoon flight on Saturday so we missed most of Saturday. Bleah.
Lesson learned: definitely stay until Sunday – and come in on Tuesday night instead of Wednesday! Will definitely do that for Orlando seeing as we won’t have to pay for airfare – just hotels (we’ll probably use AirBnB again or a points hotel– eyeing 2 right now) and gas
Hope to chat with you guys soon and will definitely hang out next year
Oh and that puppy was super cute 🙂
Great to hang out with you too Ruby! Yeah, for sure you gotta stick around for Saturday night. That’s the big party night!
Had a great time hanging out with you and Thomas!
I keep laughing at the Student Loan Hero pic – it looks nothing like you haha.
Haha, yeah, looks totally different! And great to hang out with you too man. Let’s stay in touch!
Only the financial panther would go out for an evening of food and drinks and return $18 ahead of where he started. Strong work!
Glad our paths crossed once again — let’s not let it be another year before that happens again.
Cheers!
-PoF
Haha, thanks PoF! And yeah, I feel like every time you’re in town, I’m out of town! I might have to grab the blogging crew here and come up to you. I’m assuming you can house all of us.
Hopefully I’ll be able to make it next year! Sounded like fun!
You definitely gotta make it. My man Future Proof MD will show you a good time.
I love that you side hustled DURING FinCon!
It looks like not only was it a great time, but an informative one, too. I hope to meet you next year in Orlando!
Haha, I had to show what I was all about. Would definitely be great to meet you next year! We can talk Airbnb stuff!
Thanks for the link 😉 hahah
I’m going to FinCon 2018, excited to see you there (and before then)!
I’ll definitely see you before then!
Already bought my ticket to FinCon18, so I will see you there! I’m trying to decide what to do about hotels, because this location sits in the middle of a huge golf course property, so there’s really nothing within walking distance (in Florida… In September…) and parking at the Rosen Shingle Creek isn’t cheap, but I’m driving up from Southwest Florida anyway, so maybe I’ll just consider that my cost for avoiding airfare. Plenty of other hotels in the land of Mickey Mouse and Harry Potter.
I’d love to be able to arrange to pick up some of my blogger friends from MCO or Sanford and show off MY side hustle skills (Uber) 🙂
Awesome! Yeah, I haven’t looked too closely at the actual conference location, but it does look like it’s in one of the golf course resort places, which might make it a pain to get around. You know I’m all about biking and taking the bus/train to get places.
Great meeting you, Kevin (and Thomas)! And you are right that drawing looks nothing like you. Hope to see you again in Orlando!
It was great to meet you to Amy! You’ll definitely see us in Orlando!
I just have one more question! What was the day to day schedule like? Were you at the conference from 9-5 each day?
The day-to-day was really up to you. They had sessions pretty much all day, and then I met up with people in the evenings. I did skip a lot of sessions because I was hanging out and talking with people, but luckily, they put everything up online so you can rewatch it again later.
Also, I think it is pretty cool that you can write this off as a business expense! I am just getting started in the personal finance blogging world and would love to know how that write-off works!
It’s pretty simple. You just take your profit minus your expenses. So if your business makes $1,000 and you spend $1,000 on a business expense, your taxable income is $0, since you made no profit (get it? cuz $1,000 minus your expenses equals $0). This scene from a TV show I like called Schitt’s Creek is good too.
Thanks a lot! That makes perfect sense. Would I have to apply for some type of incorporation for my blog for that expense to be treated as a business expense? Pardon my ignorance, but I am a freshman in the blogging world. Lol
Nice. Where is the next year’s conference being held? I am currently in the process of working on peerlessmoneymentor.com so I hope to see you there next year!
It’s in Orlando next year, so either really far away or really close depending on where you’re coming from.
Thanks a lot! I would be coming from Baton Rouge, La
Good job on your side hustle at FinCon. $18 for walking a dog is pretty good money. Judging by everyone’s posts and Twitter feeds, it sounds like it was a great time! Will try to make it to Orlando next year.
Do it man! Would be awesome to meet up!
Hahha nice that you showed off your side hustle game there. That’s awesome.
I’m planning on going in 2018! Already talked to my parents about visiting them before the conference. 🙂
I had to do it to show that I’m not just all talk! And yeah, I’ll see you in 2018 hopefully!