Your Food/Body Relationship, International Stocks, FI Is Not The End Of Work | FRLN 129

This past week I released episode 109 of the Fit Rich Life podcast.

My guest: my friend and mentor JL Collins.

Author of The Simple Path to Wealth. New York Times bestseller. Over a million copies sold.

This was his third time on the show.

We covered his shift into international stocks.

We covered staying the course through three downturns.

We covered giving up sweets at 70.

And we covered the question I keep coming back to: would you pay to do your job?

Here's the thing about JL.

He's in his seventies.

And he's still updating his thinking.

His money. His mind. His body. All of it.

Let's dive in.

FIT — Healing Your Relationship With Food And Your Body

One of the awesome things about JL is that even in his seventies, he continues to update his thinking and his strategies in all areas of life.

Including fitness.

During the episode, we talked about how JL fully admits that for much of his life he was addicted to sweets.

He does not use that word lightly.

Candy, ice cream, and sweets were a major part of his life for decades.

Then, several years ago, he completely gave them up.

I think that’s awesome.

Not because I think everyone needs to give up sweets.

But because I deeply respect someone who can look honestly at a pattern, decide it is not serving them, and choose a better path.

That is strength.

That is self-leadership.

That is what growth looks like.

For years when I was younger, I also avoided sweets.

Similar to JL, I have an addictive personality when it comes to certain things.

I could never just eat a small bowl of ice cream.

I would eat half the pint.

Sometimes the whole pint.

So for much of my life, I avoided sweets entirely.

Then in my early thirties, I worked with my first real fitness coach. He had me track my nutrition, weigh my food, and hit specific calories and macros.

And something interesting happened.

For the first time, I realized I could include some sweets without completely overdoing it.

Why?

Because I had a governing function.

I had guardrails.

I had a daily calorie target.

I had protein goals.

I had macros.

I had data.

I had structure.

Tracking my nutrition gave me a way to achieve my fitness goals while I continued to work on healing my relationship with food and my body.

And that has been a lifelong journey.

For around ten years, I tracked my nutrition.

For the last two years, I have been intuitively eating.

And what has been really cool is that, for the most part, I have been able to maintain 8–10% body fat year-round while eating intuitively.

To me, that means my relationship with food and my body is much better than it was when I was in my twenties or younger.

Back then, even though I was eating very “healthy” and avoiding dessert, I was still eating way too many calories.

And this is one of the hard truths of fitness:

It does not matter how healthy your food is if you are consistently eating more calories than your body burns.

Your body will store the excess energy.

Often as body fat.

You can overeat almonds.

You can overeat avocado.

You can overeat olive oil.

You can overeat grass-fed beef.

You can overeat organic dark chocolate.

Health food still has calories.

Now, I do not think everyone needs to track their nutrition religiously for ten years.

I do not think everyone needs to weigh every gram of food on a food scale.

I do not think everyone needs to log every bite in MyFitnessPal.

But I do think nutrition tracking can be an incredible tool.

Not forever.

Not as punishment.

Not as obsession.

But as education.

Tracking teaches you what portions actually look like.

Tracking teaches you how much protein you are really eating.

Tracking teaches you which foods are highly satiating and which foods make you want to keep eating.

Tracking teaches you where calories sneak in.

Tracking gives you feedback.

And feedback creates awareness.

And awareness gives you power.

One of the things I do now that I intuitively eat is simple:

I eat until I am about a 7 or 8 out of 10 full.

My guiding principle is this:

I want to feel like I could go for a jog after I eat.

Now, I do not actually go for a jog right after eating.

That sounds terrible.

But I use it as a check-in.

If I am so full that jogging would feel impossible or uncomfortable, I probably ate too much.

What I’ve found is that if I eat to a 7 or 8 and then wait 20–30 minutes, I usually feel perfectly full.

Because there is a delay between the time you put food into your body and the time your brain fully registers that you’ve had enough.

At the point where I’m a 7, I could usually still eat more.

Sometimes a lot more.

But I remind myself:

I can always eat more later.

If I am still hungry in an hour or two, I can eat again.

That simple thought gives me a lot of freedom.

It removes scarcity.

It removes urgency.

It removes the feeling that I need to finish everything right now.

If you are eating healthy and still carrying more body fat than you want, there is a good chance you are consuming more calories than you are burning.

If you continue to put on weight year after year, you are in a calorie surplus.

And if you want to take weight off, you have to spend time in a calorie deficit.

That does not mean starving yourself.

That does not mean crash dieting.

That does not mean eating boring, miserable food.

You can be in a slight calorie deficit and still feel good if you are strategic.

Prioritize protein.

Eat mostly whole foods.

Choose foods with fiber, micronutrients, and volume.

Build meals around foods that actually satisfy you.

A simple guideline:

Aim for 90% of your food to come from whole foods, and prioritize protein at every meal.

And then leave some room for joy.

For me, the bigger journey has not just been about food.

It has been about the story I tell myself around food.

Years ago, I used to say:

“I tend to overeat.”

Then one of my coaches stopped me and said something I never forgot:

“Justin, that’s a limiting belief. You need to start telling yourself a new story.”

That hit me.

Because every time I said, “I tend to overeat,” I was reinforcing that identity.

I was making it more true.

So I started telling myself a new story:

“I always eat in accordance with my optimum health and fitness.”

Or:

“I eat in accordance with my ideal physique.”

Now, for many people, that sentence may feel like a lie.

Your brain may immediately say:

“No you don’t.”

That’s okay.

Use a bridge statement.

Try:

“I am beginning to eat in accordance with my optimum health and fitness.”

Or:

“More and more, I am eating in accordance with my ideal physique.”

Or:

“I am becoming the kind of person who nourishes my body with respect.”

You update your mindset and beliefs while taking actions that support the new story.

You do that long enough and eventually the new story becomes your baseline.

That has been one of the reasons I can intuitively eat today and maintain a lean, strong, healthy body year-round.

It did not happen overnight.

It happened through years of practice, awareness, tracking, healing, and identity change.

Another thing I love about JL is that even in his mid-seventies, he is committed to fitness and movement.

One of my favorite things we talked about is that he takes his “pet dumbbell” for a walk.

Yes, you read that correctly.

JL walks around carrying a dumbbell.

He gets his steps.

He loads his body.

He makes the walk more challenging.

He adds a strength component to a daily movement habit.

I love that.

Originally, JL and I connected as friends not just over money and investing, but also over fitness.

And I find it so inspiring to see someone in his seventies still committed to developing his mind and body.

He said something on the podcast that I think applies to both fitness and money:

It is never too late to start.

If you start investing at 50, 60, or 70, are you going to get as far as someone who started at 20?

Probably not.

But will you be better off than if you never started?

Absolutely.

Same with fitness.

If you start improving your health at 70, are you going to become a 25-year-old athlete?

Probably not.

But will you be dramatically better off than if you never started?

Absolutely.

Every step counts.

Every better meal counts.

Every walk counts.

Every rep counts.

Every new story counts.

Every act of self-leadership counts.

You may never reach perfection.

But you will be far better off than if you never started reaching.

RICH — International Stocks & Investing

One of the main topics of my conversation with JL in the podcast was the evolution of his investing strategy.

For years, JL has been known for one of the simplest wealth-building strategies out there:

Invest in a total U.S. stock market index fund like VTSAX or VTI.

Keep buying.

Hold forever.

Ignore the noise.

Stay the course.

That philosophy has helped countless people build wealth, achieve financial independence, and avoid the insanity of stock picking, market timing, and high-fee financial products.

But recently, JL made a small update.

He shifted a portion of his portfolio into VT, Vanguard’s Total World Stock ETF.

That gives him exposure to international stocks.

This does not mean JL abandoned the simple path.

It does not mean he thinks VTI is suddenly bad.

It does not mean everyone needs to panic and overhaul their portfolio.

It means he made a modest adjustment based on his current thinking about the world.

For a long time, JL’s reasoning for staying U.S.-only was simple:

If you own the total U.S. stock market, you own many of the largest and most powerful companies in the world.

And those companies already do business internationally.

Apple.

Microsoft.

Amazon.

Google.

Meta.

Tesla.

Costco.

These are U.S.-based companies, but they operate across the world.

So in that sense, owning the U.S. market already gives you a lot of global exposure.

JL still believes that.

But he also shared that he is a little more concerned about some of the economic policies coming out of the U.S. and wanted a slightly broader global perspective.

He also made a powerful point:

The entire world economy has been growing since World War II.

The global pie keeps getting bigger.

The U.S. is still a massive and dominant economy, but its share of the total global pie has naturally gotten smaller over time as other countries and markets have grown.

That does not mean the U.S. is doomed.

It means the world is growing.

And at some point, owning more of the world may make sense.

JL’s move was not dramatic.

Even VT is still heavily weighted toward the U.S.

And because he only shifted a portion of his portfolio, his overall international exposure is still relatively small.

Somewhere around 10%.

After private conversations with JL, I made a similar small shift.

For years, I was essentially 100% U.S. stocks.

Now I have shifted about 5% of my portfolio into international stocks, with the goal of eventually getting closer to 10%.

I did this inside my rollover IRA.

Why?

Because I did not want to trigger capital gains taxes by selling highly appreciated index funds in my taxable brokerage account.

That is an important point.

If you have a large VTSAX or VTI position in a taxable account with big embedded gains, it probably does not make sense to sell and create a big tax bill just to add international.

That is not the move.

If you want to add international, consider doing it in a tax-sheltered retirement account like an IRA, Roth IRA, 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), or TSP.

Or you can direct new money toward international going forward.

That way, you can slowly adjust your overall allocation without creating unnecessary tax consequences.

For me, because such a large percentage of my portfolio is in taxable brokerage accounts, I had to be more aggressive inside my tax-sheltered accounts to even get to 5% international overall.

I used VXUS, Vanguard’s Total International Stock ETF.

JL used VT, Vanguard’s Total World Stock ETF.

Either can work.

The important thing is understanding what you are trying to accomplish.

VT gives you the total world, including the U.S.

VXUS gives you international stocks excluding the U.S.

VTI gives you the total U.S. stock market.

VOO gives you the S&P 500.

And JL made the point that I think every investor needs to hear:

These are all good options.

S&P 500.

Total U.S. stock market.

Total world stock market.

These are all broad-based, low-cost index funds.

They will all likely serve long-term investors well.

People love to obsess over which one is best.

But the bigger point is this:

Pick a strong, low-cost, broad-based index fund strategy.

Keep investing.

Hold for decades.

Do not panic.

Do not trade.

Do not try to outsmart the market.

The difference between VTI and VT will not matter nearly as much as your ability to consistently invest and stay the course.

During the episode, JL also talked about market crashes.

Earlier this year, the market was dropping and people were freaking out.

The headlines were dramatic.

Investors were anxious.

People were wondering if this time was different.

And then, once again, the market recovered and started hitting new highs.

This happens over and over again.

JL shared one of his favorite ideas:

The stock market will do whatever it has to do to embarrass the maximum number of people.

When everyone is certain it must crash, it may rip higher.

When everyone is certain it can only go up, it may drop.

The market does not care about your predictions.

It does not care about your feelings.

It does not care about the pundits.

It does not care about your timeline.

This is why the simple path works so well.

Not because it predicts the future.

But because it does not require you to predict the future.

JL also shared a powerful personal story from 1987.

On Black Monday, the market crashed around 25% in one day.

At first, he stayed the course.

But after months of bad news, fear, and the market grinding lower, he eventually lost his nerve and sold.

Not at the exact bottom.

But close enough.

Then he watched the market recover.

By the time he got back in, the market was higher than when he had sold.

He paid the tuition.

He learned the lesson.

And he never made that mistake again.

I am grateful I got to learn from JL’s mistake instead of having to make the exact same one myself.

When COVID hit and the market dropped hard, I stayed invested.

When the market dropped again in 2025 and 2026, I stayed invested.

I did not love watching my portfolio go down.

Nobody does.

But I understood that market crashes are a normal part of the process.

Not a bug.

A feature.

If you want the long-term returns of stocks, you have to accept the volatility of stocks.

That is the price of admission.

One thing that has helped me stay the course is keeping a strong cash cushion.

Mathematically, I probably would have been wealthier if I had invested more of that cash.

But emotionally, that cash helped me sleep like a baby during market downturns.

And good sleep is priceless.

This is where personal finance becomes personal.

The spreadsheet may say one thing.

Your nervous system may say another.

The optimal plan is not the one that only looks best mathematically.

The optimal plan is the one you can actually stick with.

For me, a strong emergency fund helps me stick with my index investing strategy.

It helps me avoid selling stocks during downturns.

It helps me stay calm when the world feels chaotic.

And that has been worth it.

We also talked about trading.

Every day on social media, I see people saying things like:

“I want to learn how to trade.”

“Who can teach me options?”

“I’m getting into day trading.”

“I’m trying forex.”

“I’m learning crypto trading.”

And I always think:

You are probably signing up for very expensive lessons.

Out of all the millionaires I know in real life, almost none of them built wealth through trading.

I know one person who became wealthy as a trader.

And his path was extremely specific.

He studied economics at Stanford.

Then he worked as an oil and power trader for Morgan Stanley for over 17 years.

That is very different from watching a few TikToks, buying a course, and trading options from your phone.

The vast majority of wealthy people I know built wealth through one or more of these paths:

• Investing consistently in index funds

• Buying and holding real estate

• Building a business

• Earning a high income and investing a large percentage of it

• Some combination of the above

Simple does not mean easy.

But simple works.

And in a world obsessed with hacks, predictions, hot stocks, IPOs, sports betting, forex, crypto trading, and get-rich-quick schemes, the simple path is still one of the most powerful paths available.

Spend less than you earn.

Avoid bad debt.

Increase your income.

Invest consistently.

Buy broad-based low-cost index funds.

Hold for decades.

Keep a strong enough cash cushion to sleep well.

Do not sell during crashes.

Do not trade.

Do not let lifestyle inflation turn into golden chains.

And remember:

The goal is not to win every investing debate.

The goal is to build enough wealth to live a life you love.

LIFE — Financial Independence Is Not The End Of Work

The goal of financial independence is not to never work again.

The goal is to have the freedom to live a life you love.

And for many of us, that includes work.

Not soul-crushing work.

Not work you do only because you need the paycheck.

Not work that drains your life force.

But meaningful work.

Creative work.

Purposeful work.

Work that gives you energy.

Work you would do even if you did not need the money.

Work you might even pay to do.

JL and I both love financial independence.

But neither of us has ever been obsessed with the “retire early” part.

JL rarely uses the FIRE acronym.

He prefers FI.

Financial independence.

Because for him, it has never really been about retirement.

It has been about freedom.

It has been about flexibility.

It has been about having enough money to walk away from situations that no longer serve you.

During his career, JL took multiple sabbaticals.

Some were a few months.

One was around five years.

He had enough money saved and invested that he could step away, live off his portfolio, and then choose whether or not he wanted to work again.

That is freedom.

Not necessarily never working again.

But having the power to choose.

I stepped away from my 9-to-5 job over two years ago at the age of 42.

Some people would call that early retirement.

But I have continued to work.

I write this newsletter.

I host the podcast.

I coach.

I create content.

I built a course.

I continue to build Fit Rich Life.

The difference is that I do this work on my terms.

I usually work around 5–15 hours a week on all of it combined.

And for me, that is the right amount of meaningful work.

I love it.

I would pay to write this newsletter.

I would pay to host the podcast.

I would pay to have deep conversations with people I admire.

That is one of my litmus tests for worthwhile work:

Would I pay to do this?

Another question I ask myself is:

If I had $100 million, would I still do this?

For writing and podcasting, the answer is absolutely yes.

That tells me I am on the right path.

And this is one of the things that makes me sad when I meet people who are financially independent but still stuck in jobs they do not love.

Maybe they do not hate the job.

Maybe it is fine.

Maybe they like their coworkers.

Maybe the paycheck is great.

Maybe the identity feels safe.

But if they already have enough money and they would not pay to do that job, and they would not keep doing it if they had $100 million, then I think it is worth asking:

What are you still doing there?

At EconoMe, I met so many people who were financially independent but still working jobs they did not love.

Some had one more year syndrome.

Some had already taken time off, did not know what to do with themselves, and went back to the same kind of job.

And I get it.

Leaving a career is not just a financial decision.

It is an identity decision.

It is a nervous system decision.

It is a meaning decision.

It is a courage decision.

When you have spent decades proving yourself through work, earning money, getting promoted, achieving goals, and building your identity around productivity, it can be terrifying to step into open space.

But that open space is where the next version of your life can emerge.

JL shared a story about his daughter Jessica that illustrates this beautifully.

Jessica reached financial independence in her early thirties and left her corporate career.

Because she had more open time and energy, she was able to help JL with the updated edition of The Simple Path to Wealth.

That opened new doors.

It helped her build a relationship with the publisher.

And now she has written the companion workbook to The Simple Path to Wealth.

That opportunity may not have emerged if she were still consumed by a demanding corporate job.

This is the magic of financial independence.

It creates space for serendipity.

It gives life room to surprise you.

It allows you to follow curiosity.

It gives you the energy to explore.

And often, the work you discover after financial independence is more aligned, more creative, more fulfilling, and sometimes even more profitable than the work you left.

Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung are another great example.

JL introduced me to them, and I have had the chance to interview them on the podcast.

After reaching FI, they retired from corporate jobs in their early 30s, became nomadic, traveled the world, wrote books, created content, and built a beautiful life.

And over the years, they also made meaningful money doing creative work they enjoyed.

That is the part so many people miss.

Financial independence does not mean you will never earn another dollar.

In many cases, financially independent people keep earning.

They just do it differently.

With more autonomy.

More creativity.

More purpose.

More spaciousness.

More joy.

As JL said in the episode, people often do not dislike work itself.

They dislike the lack of autonomy that comes with many jobs.

People say they hate working, then spend their weekends restoring cars, building things, writing, coaching, gardening, creating podcasts, volunteering, training, teaching, or obsessing over a hobby.

That is work.

It is effort.

It is creation.

It is contribution.

It is just chosen.

And chosen work feels very different from trapped work.

This is also why lifestyle inflation is so dangerous.

The more expensive your life becomes, the harder it is to walk away.

The big house.

The luxury cars.

The private schools.

The expensive vacations.

The subscriptions.

The restaurants.

The image.

The identity.

These can become golden chains.

You may look rich from the outside while feeling trapped on the inside.

A simpler lifestyle gives you more options.

More freedom.

More courage.

More ability to walk away from the thing that is draining you and walk toward the thing that is calling you.

Financial independence is not about escaping life.

It is about engaging more deeply with life.

It is about asking:

What do I actually want to do with my time?

Who do I want to become?

What kind of work would I do if money were no longer the primary driver?

What would I create?

Who would I help?

What would I practice?

What would I explore?

What would I pay to do?

What would I still do if I had $100 million?

These are not easy questions.

But they are important questions.

Because the whole point of building wealth is not just to stare at a bigger number on a screen.

The point is to build a life.

A fit life.

A rich life.

A free life.

A meaningful life.

A life where your money supports your health, your relationships, your creativity, your purpose, and your joy.

That is the real goal.

Not just a higher net worth.

A higher net life.

ACTION — Evolve Your Fit Rich Life

Pick one thing from each area to upgrade this week.

Don’t do all of these.

Pick one per area.

Do it this week.

FIT — pick one:

1. STOP AT A 7 OR 8

At your next meal, stop at a 7 or 8 out of 10 fullness.

Wait 20 minutes.

Notice that you’re perfectly full.

You can always eat more later if you’re truly still hungry. But give your body and brain time to register what you’ve already given them.

2. TAKE YOUR PET DUMBBELL FOR A WALK

Take a 10-minute walk today.

Carry a dumbbell if you’ve got one.

Movement does not need to be complicated. Sometimes the next level of fitness is as simple as walking outside with a little extra load.

3. UPDATE YOUR FOOD STORY

Rewrite one limiting food story into a new belief.

If “I always eat in accordance with my optimum health and fitness” feels like too much of a stretch, use a bridge:

“I’m beginning to eat in accordance with my optimum health and fitness.”

Or:

“More and more, I’m eating in accordance with my ideal physique.”

Your story shapes your identity. Your identity shapes your actions. Your actions shape your results.

RICH — pick one:

1. CHOOSE YOUR INTERNATIONAL TARGET

Decide your target international allocation:

0%, 5%, or 10%.

Write it down.

The goal is not to constantly tinker. The goal is to make a thoughtful decision and build a portfolio you can actually stick with.

2. BE TAX-SMART IF YOU SHIFT

If you want to add international, do it only inside a tax-sheltered account.

Think IRA, Roth IRA, 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), or TSP.

Do not sell appreciated index funds in taxable and eat the capital gains just to make a small allocation change.

Taxes matter.

Simplicity matters.

Staying the course matters most.

3. DO NOTHING FANCY

Or do nothing fancy.

Just keep buying and holding through the next dip like JL and I do.

The simple path still works:

Earn.

Save.

Invest.

Hold.

Repeat for decades.

LIFE — pick one:

1. ASK THE HONEST QUESTION

Would I pay to do my job?

Not would I tolerate it.

Not does it look good on paper.

Not does it impress people.

Would I pay my own hard-earned money to do this work?

2. ASK THE BIGGER QUESTION

If I had $100 million, would I still do this work?

If the answer is yes, you may be on the right path.

If the answer is no, it may be time to create more space, more courage, and more curiosity around what comes next.

3. EXPLORE THE FREE YEAR

List three things you would explore if you had a free year.

Then schedule one hour for the first.

You do not need to blow up your life to begin exploring the next version of your life.

You just need to create a little space and follow the thread.

Then listen to the full conversation with JL Collins so you can:

• Hear why he recently added international stocks to his own portfolio.

• Learn why VTI, VOO, and VT can all serve long-term investors well.

• Understand why you should not sell taxable investments and trigger capital gains just to make a small allocation change.

• Hear JL’s painful lesson from selling during the 1987 crash.

• Remember why market crashes are a normal part of the wealth-building process.

• Understand why trading is usually a very expensive lesson for most investors.

• Hear why financial independence has never really been about retirement.

• Learn why meaningful work after FI may be the real reward.

• Get inspired by JL’s health and fitness evolution in his seventies.

• Remember that it is never too late to update your path.

Listen here:

🎧 Spotify | 🍎 Apple | ▶️ YouTube | 🌐 Web​

To your health, wealth, and happiness,

— Justin David Carl