A weight was lifted off of my shoulders last week. There has been something I wanted to talk about for the last two years, but I was under a gag order by the court. Here is the story.
I first learned about Camp FI a couple years ago and my first reaction was shock. I had originally trademarked the name years earlier, so I couldn’t believe someone was now using it without my permission. I told myself that it must be a misunderstanding that a phone call would resolve. This was not to be.
I called the organizer (Stephen) who was less than receptive to my call. He declared that he was going to run his camps with the Camp FI name and if I wasn’t happy with that, well too bad. Stephen then told me where ‘I could stick my FI.’ Not good. I had no choice but to hire legal counsel. That is when it all got really ugly
I sued. Stephen countersued. I counter-countersued. Stephen counter-counter-countersued. On and on. It was a rough time, but it’s over now. Last Friday, we finally reached an agreement. Here it is:
- Stephen will get to keep running his original Camp FIs. In return, I will receive a small licensing fee.
- Any future Camp FIs belong to me. These include:
- Camp FI FatFIRE ($10,000/person): Don your top hat and monocle for the ultimate FatFIRE experience! In between private helicopter tours and lighting Cuban cigars with hundred dollar bills, you’ll be dining on Maine lobster and Beluga caviar. For those with the means, this is an experience not to be missed.
- Camp FI leanFIRE ($5/person): Not fatFIRE yet? Is money tight?! Camp FI leanFIRE is for you! This is Camp FI on a budget. To save money, we’ll camp out in the corner of a Walmart parking lot:
The store has graciously allowed us to use the tire department for talks:
Note: BYOTP (bring your own toilet paper).
And as part of the agreement, Camp FI Colorado will be rebranded to Camp FI CARLorado.:
Words can’t describe how awesome this camp is going to be. Here’s a sneak-peak at one of the marketing posters that I came up with:
And for you lucky readers, here is the speaker schedule:
Saturday
- 10 am: me
- 1 pm: me
- 4 pm: me
Sunday
- 10 am: me
- 1 pm: me
- 4 pm: a very, very special guest (hint: me)
Are you in? Space is limited to the first 10,000 sign-ups and this one is going to sell out fast!
Editor note: Some of the comments on this post scared me, so just in case, everything you’ve read up to this point was a joke! No lawsuits! No Camp FI fatFIRE or leanFIRE. Read on for the real story.
But Really…
If you would have told me a couple years ago that I’d be flying across the country to talk about money, play board games and drink beer with money nerds, I would have told you that you were crazy. However, that’s just what I did not once, but twice in 2018. The first time was at Camp FI Southeast (Florida) way back in January. The second time was at Camp FI Midwest (Minnesota) late in the summer. Both of them were incredibly fun.
What Happens At Camp FI
Talks: Content producers (usually bloggers) from the community give talks. Attendees give talks too.
More education: At Camp FI Midwest, the Financial Panther talked about side hustles. Doc G talked about compassion. Coach Carson talked about real estate. You wanna learn some shit? Come to a Camp FI.
Activities: Archery! Rope courses!! Skinny dipping!!! Where is my underwear?*
Bullshitting: This was the best part. Most of the weekend is spent sitting around talking to old friends and making new ones. The conversation tends to last well past midnight.
Money, But Not Money
Maybe you’re thinking this:
Why do I want to sit around and chat about money for a weekend?
Some of it is about money, but that’s not really what Camp FI is about. It’s also not what the FIRE movement is about. What we’re really trying to do is live our best lives. A life lived with strategic and mindful decisions is a good life. The conversations at Camp FI tend to veer off into a diverse array of topics like travel, meditation, stoicism, drones, beer, dinosaurs, goals, and dreams.
I love it when I’m surrounded by people who elevate me and this is exactly what Camp FI is about. I hope to see you at one in 2019! Sign up here**.
*Haha, no skinny dipping. That I know of. That didn’t stop me from losing my underwear in the middle of a forest. No comment. Thanks to Miss Mazuma for finding them!
**I have no financial interest in Camp FI and receive nothing for promoting it. However, I find the event so worthwhile that I love to write about it. See you there? One more time: https://campfi.org
Join the 10s who have signed up already!
Subscribing will improve your life in incredible ways*.
*Only if your life is pretty bad to begin with.
Man…. you know who the winners in this whole charade were?
The lawyers. Effing lawyers….
Glad your legal struggles are behind you. Can I suggest heli-skiing for Cap FatFIRE? It’s a hoot.
Lastly, hit me up for help with your Photoshop skills. A nice college try though 😉
“Lastly, hit me up for help with your Photoshop skills. A nice college try though.”
Haha! I’m experimenting with Procreate (iPad). The pics are pretty horrible. I kinda wanted them to be so no one takes that part of the post seriously…
Mental not, don’t piss off Carl. He’s not afraid to sue… 😉
branding and re-branding. i just got done making light of that. is everyone too frugal to enjoy a decent bottle of vino?
freddy smidlap recently posted…I’m a Proud FIRE Fringe Player
Ha!
I’m glad you and Stephen were able to come to an amicable agreement. Sign me up as a speaker for Camp FI FatFIRE and waive the entrance fee. I’m not sure I want to afford the price of admission.
Cheers!
-PoF
And I thought I had problems! This blows my mind, Carl. I’m glad you reached a resolution and hope it is satisfactory to you.
You have some great plans. I’m eager to see where you take these projects.
Wow, what a mess! I’m glad you got to resolution and can get on with things. Congrats for moving forward! The fatFIRE sounds intriguing, but the price tag is a little high – lol! 🙂
Glad theres a resolution. Of all of these, I think camp fi carlorado would be my favorite.
The bando top and th googles is a good look.
This just goes to show what everyone needs in their life is more Carl.
Ha! Love the new branding. Did you hire Financial Panther to be your lawyer??
I had such a great time at Camp FI this year I’m already looking forward to next years: heading to Mid-Atlantic (and possibly another one) which should be a blast!
I’ll sign up for that LeanFire camp. I’ll just need to do a delivery or charge up an electric scooter to afford that ticket fee.
And to quote the great Lionel Hutz: “If there’s one thing this world needs, it’s more lawyers. Could you imagine a world without lawyers?”
Haha! Funny post Carl! You had me going there for a second….
“What? Really!??” and then I caught on. Despite your extreme wealth, I don’t think you’d ever light a cigar on fire with a $100 bill.
Seems like some of the other commenters didn’t make it to the end of the post. 😉
Mr. Tako recently posted…September 2018 Dividend Income And Expenses
Haha! This is great! Thanks for a Monday morning laugh.
I’m a lucky Camp FI CARLarado ticket holder. So happy to hear that all the chat there will be about lawsuits. I love that! Count me in 🙂
Woot!
Oh my, I was trying to figure out if there was some kind of new April Fool’s holiday or this post was just posted before. I actually scrolled back up to check the post date. A good laugh!
You know, you could call the Greek Chataqua’s (spelling?) Camp FatFIRE given the cost in comparison!
I won’t be able to make it out there year, but you guys have fun
Can the Northeast ever get some love, where’s my damn tribe/Camp FI at?! I should just go pitch a tent on Mr/Mrs Frugalwoods’ lawn and see if I can start an impromptu FI Woodstock.
Haha! Sorry man! Oh wait, do you have a Walmart near you?
You sound like an elevated housing developer or something! Why yes, yes we do have a Walmart, many of them. However I treat Walmart somewhat like Gremlins – I do not go anywhere near it after midnight or on the weekends – so I’d have to make a special exception of my minimalist morals.
You’re seriously missing out, Mike. When my friends came over from the U.K. and wanted to get a feel for where I was living at the time (Dallas, Texas), I took them to people-watch at Wall-Mart at around 3:00 a.m. We found some incredibly fascinating specimens!
“Discipline equals freedom” – Jocko Willink ….. Great job creating an excellent life!
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All I can say is J.D. really puts the TIRE in reTIREment! Thanks for the much needed laugh this morning! See you at Camp Carlorado!
Haha, awesome!
Marla is coming to CampFI Carlorado? The Marla!? That just made my day. 🙂
You had me for the first paragraph or so….until the “trademark” sue-fest description. I couldn’t imagine any of the main FI community bloggers doing either (sue or counter sue) for a trademark infringement issue. Plus, not sure that the name “Camp FI” in and of itself can be trademarked in that manner. Also, fairly sure both you and Stephen would go through all that trouble of trademarking something on a lark. (Doesn’t help that I work for the Patent and Trademark office). Camp FI sounds like a fantastic time- sadly, I’m in Hawaii- no way it would be frugal for me to travel up to the mainland for a camp. Even with my wacky ideas on how to get to/from Hawaii for free.
I vote for Camp FI HI!
Man, I cant imagine going through a lawsuit for a simple matter like the name. You’d think that people mature enough to talk about FI/RE can simply talk it out and resolve this matter. No wonder we have too many lawyers, people have lost the ability to have civil disagreement and reach an amicable settlement like adults. Glad this ordeal is over for you!
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Just so we’re totally clear, this was a joke…