In September we (all 3 of us!) attended the financial bloggers conference known as FinCon for the first time, which took place over 4 days at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina.
I’ve been wanting to attend ever since I won a Plutus Award at last year’s FinCon for Best International Personal Finance Blog (yeah!) Thanks Plutus Awards!
Although I’ve been blogging for awhile, I wasn’t completely sure what to expect. What exactly is a bloggers conference? I’ll try to convey our experience as first time attendees.
And naturally, attending a conference about fiscal responsibility requires a bit of fiscal responsibility, so I’ll share our actual costs. Hopefully this helps with planning if you want to attend in the future.
Welcome to San Diego
The 3 of us flew into San Diego from San Francisco after a nice breakfast and Uber ride to SFO. The free Sheraton shuttle dropped us off right outside the marina where our Airbnb houseboat awaited.
We didn’t stay in the conference hotel, because houseboat! We had full use of a kitchen, two neighborhood sea lions, and an epic rooftop for sunset wine and cheese.
And… “Want to come back to the house boat for a drink?” is way more appealing than inviting somebody back to your room. This is doubly true when you invite 50 of your favorite bloggers back for an after party.
Even better: the houseboat was nearly half the price of the conference hotel.
FinCon Experience
Would you believe every session I attended at FinCon had free drinks?!
It’s true. But that is only because I attended the happy hours and dinner parties. Since all sessions are recorded (available to all), I knew I would hear about the good ones and could watch them later at 3x speed. (This rap video from the Plutus Awards ceremony is especially fun, NSFW/Adult language.)
I’m not a big fan of spending waking hours away from the family, so I focused and used my limited time on connecting with business partners and my favorite bloggers (total fanboy here!) It is really cool to meet people face to face after you’ve been reading their stuff for years, and a lot of those conversations will lead to an improved Go Curry Cracker. (Thanks for the tips and opportunities, y’all.)
Similarly, I made special effort to find everybody who had reached out via email or Twitter. It is always a bit humbling (but also very cool!) to find that many people are big fans of this site. (If you are ever in the neighborhood, we are always up for a coffee.)
I wrote down a few of my favorite fan comments:
“OMG, you are Go Curry Cracker!” **HUG**
“Look, Go Curry Cracker is in my cell phones auto-correct!”
“People ask me why I named my dog Winnie, and I’m like, there is this blogger family who retired early and travels the world…Have you heard of them?”
3 full days went by quickly… by day exploring the zoo and the waterfront, by night meeting with bloggers and partners over refreshing beverages.
Expenses
How much did it cost for 4 days of fun and sun in San Diego? $820
FinCon 2016 | Total Expense | Comment |
---|---|---|
FinCon Ticket | $0 | Free friend ticket |
Housing | $444 | Houseboat with Millennial Boss & Fiery Millennials |
Transport | $287 | Arrival airfare: $118 Departure train: $112 Uber: $37 Lyft: $20 |
Food | $168 | Groceries: $79 Dining out: $89 |
Alcohol | $71 | After party: ~$40 |
Entertainment | $108 | Zoo tickets: $90 (found 10% off coupon) (not tax deductible) Lyft to/from zoo: $13 Carseat storage: $5 |
Total | $1,078 | Pre-tax. ~$820 after-tax. |
Since this was business travel, it didn’t make sense to use points for free flights or nights. This $1,078 expense will reduce our tax bill by ~$258, for an effective cost of ~$820.
We shared a houseboat in the Sheraton marina, so we were right in the heart of the event but also had our own crash pad. Our portion was only ~$111/night, whereas the Sheraton was $190.46/night.
Do any of last year’s @FinCon attendees still have this paper floating around @GoCurryCracker wants to attend! pic.twitter.com/BaXKGC3Fwg
— The Roamer (@TravelingWallet) August 17, 2016
I was able to get a free ticket, thanks to the free friend tickets handed out at FinCon15. Thanks to The Roamer for helping round one up, and thanks to Valerie Rind for your generosity! We only needed the one ticket since Winnie and Jr didn’t technically attend the conference, although they were major contributors to several business discussions.
We did get a ~$50 discount thanks to a Lyft $5 off 10 rides promotion. A Lyft Line ride (carpool) to Trader Joe’s was basically free.
I used credit cards for all expenses. The rewards points from this trip will provide ~$20 towards future non-tax deductible travel.
Final Thoughts
Free drinks, rap videos, awards ceremonies, and fun times with people who make fiscal fitness fun…. what is not to like?
I’ve already started implementing some back end changes on this site that were inspired by conversations at FinCon, and generated a long To Do list of posts and improvements that I’ll work on over the next year. There will also be a few guest posts and podcasts coming thanks to chance encounters. Yes, our first FinCon was a definite success.
$820 is a fairly reasonable price for 4 days in beautiful San Diego. I definitely won’t be able to repeat that since I’ll need to buy tickets to attend in the future. Speaking of which, tickets are on sale now for FinCon 2017 FinCon 2018 in Dallas.
Thanks to everybody who made our first FinCon special, in random order: Mad Fientist, J Money, Mrs. Our Next Life, Money Metagame, Afford Anything, Mrs. Frugalwoods, Fiery Millennials, Retire by 40, Millennial Boss, Raptitude, Financial Mentor, Joe Saul-Sehy, Kathleen Celmins, Han Chang, Side Hustle Nation, Mr & Mrs 1500, Money Boss, Reach Financial Independence, Even Steven Money, & More! (sorry)
Wait. What. The 2016 sessions are recorded and online for anyone to watch. How did I not know this? Thanks for sharing!
Looks like you guys had a great time in San Diego. Maybe I’ll run into you in Dallas next year.
I didn’t know it was going to be available to everyone until they sent out an email last week. That is pretty sweet.
Unfortunately we won’t be able to make it to Dallas. We already have other plans in Asia. Maybe 2018!
WHAT? You can’t make Dallas? Right down the street from me, BRO!!! But now I can go and I’ll save the housing cost right up front! We’ll be in Sweden in a few years, maybe you want to roam the countryside there and stay in a sweet home for a week or two… Im sure we can work out a cost saving strategy for your stay!
Bummer no Dallas for you guys! We are already starting to plot party crash pad ideas. Oh, well… 2018 then! Completely loved hanging out in San Diego –– thanks for all the hospitality. You guys are rad, and hope to hang out more somewhere fun in the world. xoxo
Yes, I hear there may be an infinity pool for FinCon 2017…
You are welcome to stop by anytime.
Nice meeting you in person GCC, as always safe travels. Bike when you can!
Great meeting you too good sir.
I have a 3 km bike ride to/from crossfit in the morning. Great way to wakeup!
Haha, I like free drinks, sounds like a fun party! And a free ticket makes it all the better, maybe one day if its convenient we will make it to one.
I will be curious to see what changes your making to the site.
Free drinks are nice :)
It should be a good 6 months on GCC. Mobile friendly theme, new logo, better email list tools (*), a ton of great content lined up…
* I’m seriously in love with ConvertKit (affiliate link.) It is a million times easier to use than Mailchimp.
Now that you’ve “attended” Fincon for the first time, what would you say is the best reason to go?
Depends on what you are looking for.
Sounds like you had a productive conference. I’m kicking myself a little bit for not attending, especially since it was so close this year.
I also didn’t know the sessions were available to all. Thanks for the tip.
Thanks for sharing those expenses. I’ve already committed myself to going to FinCon 17, so really helps to see how much I should be putting away between now and then. Saving 100 bucks or so per month for the next 12 months shouldn’t be so hard!
Just make an extra $100/month on the blog and you are all set!
Thanks for making my first FinCon even better! I really appreciated Winnie’s amazing cooking and free entertainment provided by Julian. Renting the houseboat was one of the best ideas I’ve had in a long time. Only thing better than saying “I’m at the houseboat” was being able to say “Jeremy and Winnie from GoCurryCracker are there too, come over and meet them!” Instant blogger cred :P
It’s always an honor to be a catalyst to the greatness of others ;)
Cool, already purchased my ticket for FinCon 17. Hope to see you guys there!
I’ll be there, too! Look for me in the trailered houseboat in the parking lot of the conference hotel.
Cheers!
-PoF
Maybe 2018. Have fun!
You had me at “two neighborhood sea lions” – how cool (well yea, and a houseboat is just cool too!) We have tickets to attend in 2017 for our first FinCon too. It will be so cool to just meet up and talk with everyone we’ve connected with online. Thanks for sharing your experience and maybe we’ll see you in 2018!
Too bad we didn’t manage to get a pic of the sea lions. Winnie did get a good pic of Jr’s response to seeing them though.
Priceless!
I’ll be in Dallas! Looking forward to it!!!
Thanks for the pointer to the recorded sessions.
And houseboat. That is an excellent idea.
I loved the fact that both Winnie _and_ Jr. were major contributors to business discussions. I’m going to have to have a word with Toddler BITA. She needs to get her act together and stop being such a mooch.
Gotta get em started while they’re young.
Great update GCC and nice pictures – even expensive San Diego can be conquered at low cost if you plan well – this is what you have shown here. Houseboat is cool. I was thinking of attending Dallas Fincon, but knowing you will not be there is now giving me second thoughts! Love your blog and been a regular reader since last 2 years.
Thanks TFR!
But seriously, Dallas FinCon will be way cooler without us
Thanks for the update! Seems like a great conference. My experience: Any conference held in San Diego will be fun. Any time of the year. I sometimes have to go conferences (for work) and they are held in early January. In Chicago. Or Boston. Oh my!
Also, a quick question: 24% marginal tax (258/1078=0.239)? What happened? Maybe you’ll address that in a separate post… :)
Assumptions:
15% marginal rate, 15.3% SE tax
Food is only 50% deductible
The zoo is 0%
Jeremy, I’m glad you picked up some ideas on improvements to your blog. Could I make one suggestion regarding back end changes it looks like you’ve already implemented? Please read this article from David at Raptitude regarding email request pop ups: http://www.raptitude.com/2016/05/how-pop-ups-are-the-doorway-to-evil/
Your style and the top-notch quality of your content are what draw people here–or at least me anyway. You bucked the trend by reaching FI, retiring early, and travelling the world. Surely you can buck the trend of putting email pop-ups on your blog!
Hi T
Thanks for the feedback. FYI, I added pop-ins about 18 months ago.. the gentle variety that sits in the side bar and doesn’t block content. I did so after people asked how to signup to receive future posts via email.
The only thing I can promise is that I’ll keep experimenting. It’s fun. I definitely won’t like all the things I try, and you may not either. Apologies in advance.
Best
Jeremy
Jeremy,
Hmmm, maybe there’s something up with my computer. Within the last week or two I get a screen that comes down from the top and obscures the whole page until I scroll down (it’s a great pic of GCC Jr though! :) )
And on re-reading my comment, I could see how it could sound like me being a jerk. I hope you didn’t take it as such! Your blog is among the top 5 on my list and your lifestyle is one I hope to try out with my family in a few years. And the fact you put so much effort into responding to comments is flat out awesome!
Keep up the great work. You’re making a positive impact on people’s lives (even those that nit pick about email pop ups!)
T-Rav
No worries, T-Rav. I have had no shortage of jerky emails and comments, and yours is definitely not one of them.
Here is a longer answer:
The screen you are referring to is the SumoMe Welcome Mat. You have to scroll down for content even without it, so it is fairly non-invasive. I’m still not sure if I like it, but am testing out a few different options with it.
It shouldn’t appear for existing readers, or at least those with cookies enabled who have elected to receive emails. But it does have great signup success for new readers. For example over the past 2 days there was a link to this blog in a big Yahoo article, which brought a lot of traffic and email signups. Normally when that happens people see the site and most never come back. That is just normal Internet behavior. But an email may inspire them to think more about their finances and start on the path to a better life. And that is the goal.
Love the blog but I also don’t like the popup (existing reader with cookies disabled :-( ).
My $.02 is also please buck the trend. One of the appealing things about your blog is the lack of commercialization…
I disable cookies and use an ad blocker. I disable them on sites I like though. Same level of commercialization either way.
It was great to meet you in person at FinCon. Almost missed you, but at least we got to chat a bit. The houseboat was a great idea. I heard about it, but didn’t get an invite to drop by. :) I like the sidebar email popout thing. What plugin is that?
We’re heading out to Thailand next week. We’ll see how Junior handles the long flight… Any good restaurant you recommend in Chiang Mai? We haven’t been there for over 5 years and I’m sure there are a lot of changes.
You left early :( The big houseboat party was the after party on the final night. We got shut down at 2 am because of noise complaints. The Airbnb review was super positive though ;)
The sidebar popout thing is from SumoMe. There is also a similar option from ConvertKit.
Check out this post on 3 meals in Chiang Mai. In addition, we loved Dash and a roast chicken place in Nimmanhaemin. I could look it up if you like.
Cool, I will check those out. I think I know the place in Nimmanhaemin. My dad lives pretty close to there. Sorry I missed the party. :(
I’m embarrassingly late to the show here, but, I just registered for FinCon17 and couldn’t be more excited after reading your post! As a new’ish reader of your blog, it’d be awesome to meet someone else who’s ‘been there, done that’ and network. Plus, refreshing beverages are good.
Welcome to GCC, Mike. And have a great time at FinCon in Dallas… lots of great people there. Please have a refreshing beverage for me as we’ll still be in Asia.
My wife and I are planning on going to FinCon in Orlando 2018. Do you know if there are any discounts/coupons for this event?
I don’t know. In the past the tickets increased in price the closer you got to the event, so early purchases were “discounted.” Maybe check with PT, or email the FinCon email address and ask