A week exploring money and meaning!

Howdy, friends! This summer, there will be another chautauqua on financial independence in Ecuador. You should consider attending. These Ecuador chautauquas — which are unrelated to the European chautauquas — are always a fun, educational, and bonding experience.

Clarification: At some point, chautauqua founders Cheryl Reed and JL Collins parted ways. Now JL runs the European chautauquas — which are on hiatus — with Katie and Alan Donegan. Cheryl continues to run the unrelated Ecuador gatherings. Both events are excellent.

I often speak about the intersection of money and meaning when I attend.

How can you find purpose in your life — with or without money? How much money is enough? What should you do after you’ve achieved financial independence? These are the sorts of questions I’ve explored at past chautauqua events. I expect these are the same questions being explored in July.

Speakers this year include:

• Tanja Hester from Our Next Life. Tanja Hester is an outspoken voice in the personal-finance community, working hard to challenge assumptions and to promote financial freedom for all. She’s the author of the excellent Work Optional and the award-winning Wallet Activism. (Tanja is also a fellow office-supply nerd. Seriously, our chat history is filled with geeky discussions of favorite pens and notebooks.)
• Piggy and Kitty (a.k.a. Jess and Lauren) from Bitches Get Riches. Long-time readers know that BGR is one of my favorite money blogs. I admire how Jess and Lauren blend biting humor with deep dives into personal-finance topics. Not an easy task. And the Bitches are just as funny in person as they are on the web. (I turn to Piggy and Kitty when I need help with modern pop culture. “What does S-tier mean?” “How do I make a Taylor Swift animated GIF?”)
• Jessica and Corey from The Fioneers. While I’ve met Jessica and Corey, I’ve never really had a chance to get to know them. I’m eager to change that in Ecuador. I find their writing considered…