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The New Family Wealth: Freedom, Travel, and Boundless Life · Mom's Money

• 0:05
  I am so excited to introduce you to today's guest.
• 0:09
  Elodie Fourchaud is a mom of four, a global explorer, and the co-founder and chief revenue officer of Boundless Life, a company she built to design the kind of life she dreams of living with her family.
• 0:21
  She spent years leading glob- global brands at P&G and L'Oréal, but traded boardrooms for boarding passes to create a life with more balance, adventure, and meaning for her kids and for herself. I've seen this up close.
• 0:35
  I've watched her carry a three-month-old across the world while running a company.
• 0:39
  I've watched her do laundry for six people twice a week, take real-time feedback on the business she created, and make changes immediately, all with a smile. She was there for me through a tough work moment.
• 0:50
  We had long talks about freedom, how we both feel so drawn to it, how so many people in the Boundless community would pick freedom over constraints every time.
• 0:58
  She's patient, she's fun, she's loving, and I don't just admire her as an entrepreneur. I admire her as a mom and a friend. Elodie, welcome to Mom's Money Talk. Thank you so much, Lauryn. [laughs] It's a pleasure.
• 1:11
  It's a pleasure to meet here in a new setup, in a new setting. Yes. This is Mom's Money Talk. I'm Ellie Ezra, the mom talking money like no one ever did for you.
• 1:21
  This is for the woman who's done managing money and ready to run her life like a business. I'm not a financial advisor, but I've built companies, sat in rooms with investors, and learned how money actually works.
• 1:32
  And here's the truth: you don't have a money problem. You have a systems problem. This isn't about budgeting harder or cutting lattes.
• 1:39
  It's about spending with intention, building assets, and thinking like the CFO of your household, because if you're a mom, you're already running a business, the business of the home.
• 1:48
  So, I'm giving you the playbook, one that makes your life feel lighter, not heavier. So, let's get into it. So, I have this, this list of questions, and I can't wait to talk. Um, we'll kick it off.
• 2:01
  So, you've lived a version of life that most families are told isn't possible. No fixed address, the world as your backyard.
• 2:09
  How do you define wealth, and how has that definish- definition changed from maybe the one you grew up believing in? Yeah. That's, that's a great question. Um, I feel like I've had, I've had two lives, basically.
• 2:25
  Um, I used to think that wealth was about, like, accumulation, like the job or getting the house, the stability, the visible markers that told you you were doing the life right.
• 2:39
  And I still believe that financial responsibility matters deeply, uh, but my definition of wealth has, I feel like, expanded, I would say. So today, wealth means more freedom, freedom of choice.
• 2:52
  It means, like, spending more time together as a family. Um, it means saying yes to experiences more than to things, because I feel like experiences shape us.
• 3:04
  Um, it means having the courage to go outside of your comfort zone, um, and the resources to really design the life that feels aligned, not just that feels impressive from the outside, but that feels aligned with the, with the inside, if that makes sense.
• 3:21
  Oh, for sure, it makes sense. I mean, I think, I, you know, I know growing up in America, it's...
• 3:29
  Uh, I always say, like, [laughs] "Oh, I grew up with, like, this show, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" where it was, like, showing all of these crazy mansions, and then the Kardashians.
• 3:39
  And it's like, I really bought into that for a while. Like, "Oh, wow, I need that." And, and at some point, it just broke, and that was probably the time when I googled digital nomad for families.
• 3:51
  I was like, "None of this that I have is, like, making me happy." It also corresponded with what we'll call, like, the midlife crisis. I mean, I turned 40.
• 3:59
  I just, like, looked around and was like, "All of these things I was sold I was supposed to, like, want, I don't think I want them. I want to get out."
• 4:06
  And then I found Boundless, and I was like, "This is, this is happening. I have to get out. This is what I really want." And I didn't realize it would be available to me.
• 4:14
  I thought, "Oh, the only way to be, like, traveling for, you know, months at a time with your family, the only way to do that is, oh, you have to own a home here or there."
• 4:22
  And I feel like Boundless was this unlock to be like, you can have what you want in the sort of amounts that you want, designed that feels so much...
• 4:31
  I mean, the experiences we've had traveling with Boundless twice, and we're gonna go again very soon, like, that is giving my kids more than I think anything, you know, that money could buy.
• 4:43
  Any- anything that we could buy, that's the thing we should s- be spending our money on. So, I, I totally- You gave yourself the freedom, right?
• 4:49
  You gave yourself the freedom to do that, the space to do that, which I think is true wealth when you actually allow yourself to step away from the traditional, the traditional road, the traditional path. Yeah.
• 5:03
  So, tell our listeners about Boundless Life, 'cause now I've, like, mentioned it a few times, and I would love for you to explain what it is. Mm-hmm. Yeah, Boundless is, um...
• 5:15
  Imagine it as a, a travel learning and living program for families, um, abroad. So, we enable families to explore the world with, with their, with their kids.
• 5:28
  We welcome families with kids who are between one and a half and 14 now, um, in eight locations.
• 5:35
  And basically, we prepare, organize everything related to the education program, um, the housing, the co-working space, um, experiences, and kind of the community, uh, in a large sense.
• 5:49
  Boundless is really a community of families.
• 5:51
  It's now more than 2,000 families who have traveled with us, uh, across the three continents, um, and families who are adventurous, want to show the world to their kids, want their kids to grow as global citizens.
• 6:04
  Um, it is, um, it is an exciting, different lifestyle, uh, I would say, and a different way to, to raise your children.
• 6:12
  Um, and we started it four years ago, so it's been already, um, it's been a fast journey to, to move to eight locations. And I'm currently in Japan, uh, where we just launched a few months ago, our Japan location.
• 6:26
  It's so amazing. A couple things that surprised me was the community. I mean, my, [laughs] I remember my husband saying, "I hope the other dads are cool," [laughs] like before- [laughs]...
• 6:40
  before, before we went, and it was so, it's just so funny 'cause I was like, oh, I'm sure people are be cool.
• 6:45
  Like, if you wanna be on, like give your family this experience, you definitely have to be in a certain mindset to say, oh, I'm gonna pack up everything and leave for a month or three months at a time.
• 6:56
  And so I think already you have to have that, [laughs] a cool mindset of being like, I'm, I'm not, um, someone who feels like, oh, my home is, is just where I have to- My house is where I have to be all the time, and I have to...
• 7:09
  It- it's like you're already not gonna be rigid. So, um, and that surprised me the most is how community it felt.
• 7:16
  Like, I was in a sorority in college and my husband was in a fraternity, and that's one of the closest things I can, uh, relate it to when I talk to people. I'm like, it feels, it feels like that.
• 7:27
  It feels like the village when you're there, that village we always hear about, "Oh, it takes a village to raise a kid." Like, it exists in Boundless. It does not exist in the suburban neighborhoods that I live in.
• 7:37
  And I'm, like, I remember being in Pistoia, Italy, and all of the kids are playing in the piazza. They're riding scooters.
• 7:47
  It's where my kids, uh, four and six learned to ride a scooter, in Italy in this piazza with 35, 40 other kids. And all the parents are, like, having pizza on this patio or just, like, watching the kids.
• 8:00
  Everyone's like, "Oh, someone fell. Okay, let me go get that kid" or, "Let's all get the kids to eat", and then they run back out.
• 8:05
  I mean, it was that true definition of community in a way that it's been hard for me to find. Um, and it's just such a, it's been such a beautiful thing.
• 8:13
  Um, and then I would have to say too, like something that was so crazy for me to hear, I remember asking you, "Oh, so do you have a home base?" And you're like, "Nope, no home base."
• 8:22
  So that brings me to my next question, which is, so, so much of this, like, especially American dream that we have here, it's, like, inherited to, that we've inherited. It's tied to, like, owning a home.
• 8:32
  The mortgage, the equity, the white picket fence is, like, this finish line. When that isn't the center of your financial life, what becomes the thing you're actually building towards?
• 8:43
  So what does your family invest in instead? Mm-hmm. This is something that I, that I think about, like, regularly about what we're building, um, as a, as a family. I, it's true.
• 8:56
  Like, I, I don't see the fixed home as the only center of that strategy. I think we've owned, we've owned two homes, like, in past lives, um, and got rid of them.
• 9:07
  Um, for me, the question is, is more like, where does the money create the most long-term value for our family right now? And sometimes that is the financial assets.
• 9:18
  [coughs] Like, obviously the, we, we're not, like, uh, that careless.
• 9:22
  [laughs] Like, this is something that I also care about, but, um, I mean, there, there are also other elements like the education of our children, the flexibility to, to live, um, the way we want to live our lives.
• 9:37
  Um, I think as mothers we make, you, you mentioned it, like, we make capital allocations every day, right? Mm-hmm. Even if we don't actually call them that, but we decide, like, where we put our money.
• 9:50
  Uh, but we also decide where we put our time, where we put our attention or our, our e- energy. And for our family, we, we invest more in freedom, in education, and in relationships that compound.
• 10:03
  Um, I think that's a very important term. It's this idea of compounding.
• 10:08
  We can see that when things are accumulated in a certain way, then suddenly they create magic for the future, uh, for the future of our children, but also for the future as a, as a family.
• 10:19
  Um, I want those memories to, to be as meaningful as possible so that the children want to keep on investing in that relationship with us. Uh, we talk about those 18 summers, and then that's it.
• 10:32
  And I don't, like, that's, that, I don't want that to happen. [laughs] Yeah. I want, I want, I want more- Yeah... uh, for our family as, as well.
• 10:41
  So yeah, for me, the asset is not just the place we own, it's, it's like the life that we're able to, to keep on designing together as a family. It's so beautiful, too, 'cause you talk about education.
• 10:53
  And I know Boundless has the education piece. I think so many people are like, "How am I supposed to leave? My kids are in school." Mm-hmm. And that feels like another thing that just,
• 11:02
  just keeps them in, "Okay, this is what I'm supposed to do.
• 11:06
  I'm supposed to own a home, and I have to pay that mortgage, and I have to, like, go to an office, and I have to have my kids in a specific school, and if I want a better education, I just have to pick private school."
• 11:15
  And I've just felt like I wanna reject it, 'cause sometimes I'm like, well, private school is its own set of, of values that I don't know if I, like, love all of that. Like, do I really have to do that?
• 11:26
  And I think that Boundless Education, which is award-winning now, which is so amazing, is, is based on, and you could tell me more about this, but I know it's based on Finland's education system, which is best in the world.
• 11:39
  So I'm like, why would I stay here in the school district that it's, like, worst in the world? [laughs] Like, where we live, the public school system, it's, like, 48 out of 50 states.
• 11:49
  Like, we are not doing a great job here. And so nothing ties me to it. I'm like, I will take anything over it. And I know at one point I had considered homeschooling, but I'm like, I'm not a professional.
• 11:59
  Like, I'm not trained to teach my kids. Like, I'm an entrepreneur. I wanna do things. Like, I don't know if I could do it the right way. So tell me a little bit about Boundless Education.
• 12:07
  I want you to talk about it because we've enrolled the kids during the summer camp program, and then next year we're gonna do a three-month cohort and let them be in school, a world schooling idea.
• 12:17
  So tell me about how that works so our listeners understand that. Yeah. Um, so we actually built Boundless Education for, for that same reason. Like, we were, we were being quite selfish as well.
• 12:30
  I also didn't want to homeschool. I didn't feel like I was the best person to do that, one, and second, um, I had my own projects as well, and I wanted to pour the energy into those.
• 12:41
  Um, so when we started the project with Mauro and, and Reka, Reka was already in the tech space, in the ed tech space, um, with a very strong also background in, um, mindfulness and understanding the whole child.
• 12:56
  So the education is not just about the curriculum, it's also about growing the whole child, and we believe that this is something that is even more powerful and possible when you're abroad.
• 13:06
  'Cause when you travel, this teaches you some of those, like, critical skills, um, that kids will need, especially in, in the unknown future we're approaching in terms of agility, flexibility, creative thinking, uh, being able to connect with others, um, and build stuff together, and this sense of agency.
• 13:25
  Um, the grit, not letting things go, just wanting to build. Um, so when we built the Boundless Education program, tried to look at some of the best practices, uh, in the world.
• 13:36
  Um, and so welcoming children one and a half to 14, we have different, um, inspirations. For the early years, the one and a half to five, it's heavily Montessori, um, inspired.
• 13:49
  Um, so child-centered, uh, we really give a lot of space for the children to explore and figure out what they want to learn at their own pace. Smaller classrooms as well. Um, we can see the benefits in it.
• 14:03
  And the commonality then with the older years w- that are more inspired by the Finish system indeed, is place-based learning.
• 14:11
  So we're in beautiful locations, um, and we want to make the most out of those locations for the children to learn, um, give a meaning to, um, to, to, to, to the knowledge.
• 14:23
  It's not just about injecting the knowledge, it's about being able to then integrate it, make sense of it, understand the why and the purpose behind it.
• 14:33
  Um, and so when you're, you know, in Greece, and you'll be able to apply, I don't know, math when you're in a market, or learning about Greek mythology, it's not just like in books.
• 14:44
  You can see it and feel it all around you. We want this experiential learning to be, um, really a, an optimal space for the children to, to grow. So that's how we've built the program.
• 14:56
  Um, multi-year as well approach, so usually the kids are in, like, two years age gap, uh, because we see the benefits, um, of this multi, multi-year learning approach.
• 15:08
  Um, and then you can choose between the three months, like you mentioned, which are more academic, like, um, like a normal school trimester, or the summer camps, um, that are more fun and experiential. Um, and, um, yeah.
• 15:23
  That's how we've built kind of, uh, a Boundless. We keep on iterating it to be fully transparent. Yeah. And we can see also the learning approaches are moving, even if the system is not moving as fast.
• 15:34
  Actually, there is a lot of knowledge that comes in on how children optimally learn, and that's what we try to continuously integrate so the Boundless Education grows, just like our children do, and just as we do as well.
• 15:47
  And being a private company, you don't have to worry about all the bureaucracy of a school district. Yeah. [laughs] A huge school district. You could say, "Hey, let's go do the thing that works the best."
• 15:57
  [laughs] Which is- 100%... wonderful. Um, my daughter probably benefited most. She's four years old. We're in Italy, and I see her make older girlfriends. And like- Yes... it just blew my mind.
• 16:11
  Because here, I'm like, oh, I'm in suburbia. I have to, like, schedule play dates. A lot of my friends have boys, and so my son has a lot of friends.
• 16:19
  But my daughter was, y- when, even when she was in preschool, she's with her same age. So she didn't have a lot of opportunities before we were at Boundless, and it changed her.
• 16:29
  That first summer in Italy, she's looking up to girls. She's four. Someone's carrying on her back that's 10.
• 16:36
  Like, she didn't have this experience of all these older girlfriends around her, and I just think back to my childhood of, like, going riding bikes down the streets with the older girls down the streets.
• 16:44
  Like, that's so fun. Like, she was getting that in Italy on Boundless, which was just... I just saw it change her, like, forever. And it was so beautiful.
• 16:55
  And even, I'm, like, looking at her and I'm like, "You're four and I'm 40, [laughs] and you get to travel abroad. Like, lucky you." Um, but even I was learning more.
• 17:04
  Like, I learned more going to South America last year about the Spanish Inquisition than I ever did in a book. Like, you couldn't teach me anything. Like, history just is, like, what? It doesn't stick for me.
• 17:15
  And then when I'm actually, like, walking these streets, like we, before we got to La Barra, w- for Boundless, we stopped in Bogotá, Colombia, and we stopped in, we stopped in El Salvador, and then we went to Buenos Aires, and I'm learning.
• 17:28
  I'm, like, getting the tour guide, learning, walking the streets, like, seeing politics in action. I'm like, whoa, whoa. Like, I can finally understand this in a way I never have been able to before.
• 17:41
  So that has been really cool, because I was so poorly traveled in my youth. I just sort of, my parents never really did much traveling. I've never been on a plane with them to this day.
• 17:51
  Um, and we would just, like, take little road trips here and there, but they weren't really seeking it. And so I had to just break this mold and go, and I realized how little I know, and how Westernized I've been.
• 18:02
  I was like, "Oh, wait, I have to hang laundry to dry in Italy? Okay, here we go." [laughs] But it was f- it was fine. It was great, but it changed me too in a way that I wasn't expecting, and now I kind of welcome it.
• 18:17
  I'm like, I'm just doing it with them, and it feels like that childlike wonder. Like, I get to see it through their eyes, which it's hard to put a price tag on.
• 18:25
  I mean, yes, there's a price tag, and I think that it's probably the best place, like, I can spend my money.
• 18:31
  And I know even, like, technically, like Even this year politically, I think it was this year or last year politically, the government said you can use college savings plans that were typically you can't take it out till kids go to college.
• 18:42
  You could use them now for, like, K-12 education. So I'm like, "I've been saving money for my kids since they were born." I'm like, "I'm gonna use that now for boundless education." So that's what we did.
• 18:51
  We, like, pulled from the 529 plans. I'm like, "We have time. Plus, I don't know what college is gonna be like anyways in the next 10 years when my kids go." So I'm like, "I'm gonna pull this out now.
• 19:00
  There's time to replenish it, and I'm gonna use it for boundless education." So I'm, like, actually using investments to make the investment of travel.
• 19:08
  So when it comes to, like, what do I sp- wanna spend my money on, that's part of it. So and then- Mm...
• 19:14
  so it's, it's perfect for the next question too, which is I think a lot about experiences as an asset, and I know you do too. And, um, everything from the languages your kid picks up, the adaptability.
• 19:24
  Oh my gosh, the way that, like, my kids are chill in an airport, for the most part. I mean- Yeah [laughs]... they're still kids.
• 19:30
  But [laughs] but they're, like, resilient, and they, they can read signs and figure out where to go and stuff. But I think about the adaptability and the grit you're saying too, the way they see the world.
• 19:40
  So how do you and your family think about the long-term value of what you're giving your children through this life? Yeah, I really do see experiences as assets. Um, and I don't say that in a sentimental way.
• 19:53
  Like, it's, it's not fluff.
• 19:55
  It's a very real long-term way because when I see my children arriving in a new country, learning about a new language or culture, making friends, hearing just different ways of doing things, and still feel rooted with their family, which I think is, is fundamental, like, that really becomes part of who they are, and I think that's the case for whatever ages.
• 20:19
  Like, I know many parents will be like, "When should I start? Should I wait until they're, like, five, six?" I'm like, "No," like, children start absorbing this so early on.
• 20:30
  Even now, like, with my youngest who will, who is one and a half, like, he's just been in the Japanese daycare for now four weeks, and he's already picking up, like, ways of interacting together.
• 20:43
  He will start picking things with two hands. He will start bowing. He will start being extremely grateful for everything that's happening around him. They are sponges. Um, so I really think it just,
• 20:55
  it, it, it gives them also a, a much bigger sense of, uh, what is possible. Like, it makes them feel invisible.
• 21:02
  What you were talking about your daughter in terms of being independent, but also, like, that kind of confidence, I can go wherever in the world and make sense of it, be understood, connect with others, that really becomes confidence.
• 21:16
  Um, and also that becomes empathy. Like, I've seen the girls growing in terms of connecting with others, um, wanting to make that connection, um, and I think that's, that's priceless.
• 21:30
  M- m- helping them to understand that there are different ways of being, different ways of learning. Uh, there is just not one way in this world. Um, I believe that will be a, a core skill, adaptability in the future.
• 21:44
  Like I mentioned, I don't really know what the world will be. Um, I don't know what jobs there will be out there, but I know one thing is that it's gonna go super fast. Mm-hmm.
• 21:53
  Um, and it will change extremely, extremely rapidly, um, and th- those children will need adaptability. It's so interesting because, like, my kids have made pasta in Italy. They... on a farm.
• 22:10
  They saw capybaras in La Barra- Yeah... Uruguay. [laughs] They got to see a sculpture garden.
• 22:19
  I mean, these are just things that I don't have access to here in suburbia, and we live in Las Vegas, which is a very unique place anyway, but everything is manufactured. Everything is fake. Everything is new.
• 22:31
  You know, it's hard for them, I think...
• 22:32
  It was hard for me to grow up here and then leave and say, "Oh, wait, this is a real cobblestone street, and that's a real sky, not just one in a casino," [laughs] like, that's not manufactured.
• 22:43
  I realized when I left, I mean, I grew up here 18 years, then went to school but still in Nevada, and I just... When I finally started to get out, I could just see this,
• 22:56
  this paradigm that I had just really started to crumble, and I love to break it. I just love to break it.
• 23:02
  You know, you have these thing- There's all these things in there that we have as beliefs that someone else gave us, whatever it was, propaganda or messaging or whatever it was that came to us that, like, isn't actually real, and you just don't understand it, I think, until you start to get out in the world, and I want that for my kids.
• 23:21
  I don't want them to have this, like, really structured, "This is how things are," and things are black and white, and not even politics.
• 23:27
  Like, even sometimes I realize, like, my friends on the East Coast, they have different political, um, opinions than we do on the West Coast just because what's on the news, just because what we're seeing, what the algorithm shows us, and so I'm like, we really have to get out to be able to- Mm...
• 23:42
  understand that, like, a lot of that stuff is just not even real.
• 23:47
  And what is real is, like, like you're saying, being with the family, being with other families, watching, watching them learn, seeing how they're absorbing different cultures and ideas.
• 23:57
  Like, man, I want that for them so bad, and I'm, like, loving it for myself too, so I, like, love that it's sort of selfish in that way.
• 24:03
  But so, so my next question though, even for families who love this lifestyle, there's often a question of what if we wanna land somewhere someday?
• 24:12
  So how do you and your family stay financially ready for that possibility, keeping the door open without it pulling you back into homeownership or whatever? What do you think about that?
• 24:22
  [laughs] Yeah, I, I think that's a critical point, um, because designing a different life doesn't mean being, um, irresponsible and ignoring, like, practical realities.
• 24:36
  Um, I think that freedom really only works if it is paired with responsibility. So you want to keep the door open. Like, you want to keep...
• 24:45
  Whether you're, like, settled, um, and you might at some point move away and travel, or whether you're traveling at the moment and might at some point want to go back and settle down, um, you want to keep that door open.
• 25:01
  Um, and maybe, like, our children at some point will need something different as well.
• 25:05
  Like, we keep checking in with the kids, um, seeing how they feel through the adventure, and I'm pretty sure there's gonna be a point where, you know, especially, like, my oldest, um, needed to stay put for a year.
• 25:18
  Um, that came at the right time because that's when the, our number four, uh, was born, so then it was like, okay, perfect, we will just stay put for a year. And now she's ready to travel again.
• 25:29
  Um, so I think it's just about financial readiness, um, um, as, as the solution to have that optionality. So for, for us it's, it's just about making sure that we have protected savings.
• 25:43
  It m- means also being thoughtful about our fixed costs. It means making sure that our careers and income streams remain strong.
• 25:52
  Um, it really about making choices that will give us the option to pivot, uh, if we, if we need to. So it, it's not, it's not about avoiding roots forever.
• 26:04
  I think it's just to choose the roots, um, when they work for us and when they make sense for the family as a whole. Um, so security is really not about being locked in one path. Um, it's just about having options.
• 26:19
  I, I always... Yeah, for me, the op- the, the option, the option path is, is the right, is the most important one. I, I don't want to feel locked in one, uh, scenario. Um, I want to keep those doors open.
• 26:35
  Yeah, I love that because I've always felt like, how do you have roots and wings? You know, I've always felt pulled to both of those things. I think for a long time having roots just felt so stable for me.
• 26:46
  Like, I loved that stability of like, I mean, I've even had the same house for 10 years. Like, I don't even know how it's gone so fast. I'm like, how have we been in the same house?
• 26:53
  Um, and at one point I resented it, you know? And that's like when I found Boundless and was like, this is how.
• 26:57
  You know, this is how I can sort of have this, like, thing that feels really stable and comfortable and cozy, which I need. Like, I feel like I need.
• 27:05
  Like, okay, I need to be able to have some sort of, like, routine that keeps me grounded, but I also can't stay in the ground fo- Like, I need to go replant, I need to have that idea of, like, roots and wings.
• 27:18
  And, and I know that at one point you were, you were with the kids' grandparents and you got, like, that beautiful moment of like, okay, here it is again where I can go and I can bring them to this thing that feels rooted too, and I think that's, like, so beautiful.
• 27:31
  And it's still the family is driving it, which I think is so great. And it's funny because we, we just had one of our kids just graduated college, and my husband and I are like, "What's he gonna do next?"
• 27:40
  Like, "Where is he gonna go?" And I'm like, "Come. Come home."
• 27:44
  [laughs] And he's doing his own thing, so I'm like, do your own thing, but, like, in the future I'm like, well, wherever he goes in the future, like, we'll probably just have to go, be near him.
• 27:53
  Um, and of course I'm trying to, like, get him. I'm like, "Come with us this summer. Come. Drop everything."
• 27:59
  He's got this great job he just started after he graduated, so I'm like, oh man, I'm like, forget the job, just come travel with us. Like, screw the job. But again, he's doing his own thing. But I see that in my future.
• 28:10
  I'm just gonna wherever my kids kinda wanna go, I'll probably just go. So yeah, maybe I have somewhere that feels like a little home base, but to me I'm like, I said at one point, like, I can just...
• 28:22
  I, I told my husband, like, we can just go. We can be wherever they are. Like, we don't have to feel like, oh no, they live all over the world. Like, okay, then we'll live all over the world.
• 28:31
  To me, it just feels like that. And so I definitely want that for my future where I don't feel that the financial constraints of, like, I have to be in one place because I have to be.
• 28:42
  Um, and I do like, I do like my little routine here. I like all my luxuries. Like, w- it's so Western here.
• 28:48
  Like, I've, I'm going to get my nails done, I'm going to the hair salon, I've got my favorite dentist down the street. Like, oh, he's the best. Like, I never wanna go to a different dentist.
• 28:57
  But that's me just being so used to those creature comforts that I, I'm also like, okay, and then, and then I leave. So I can have all of that.
• 29:06
  And I think, I think that's just a mind shift 'cause we think like, oh, there's one path, but there's not, and that's what I like to break.
• 29:13
  So speaking of breaking the path, for the mom listening who feels that old path cracking but is scared to step off it, what would you tell her about spending smart, building security, and designing a life on her own terms while she's traveling and working towards something?
• 29:29
  [clears throat] I think first I would tell her that she's not crazy. That's, that's how I felt [laughs] for some time. Exactly. Amen. [laughs] You are not crazy and you are not the only one thinking that way.
• 29:44
  I think it's really important to have that, like, validation. Um, I think sometimes the old path doesn't fit anymore, and that's okay. It doesn't mean that you're irresponsible or ungrateful.
• 29:56
  It just may simply mean that life is asking for a new design, and that you're ready to listen to that. Which I think is a, is an incredible first step, that awareness of I want, I need something different at the moment.
• 30:12
  Now, I would also say that you should not romanticize the leap, um, because it's not always perfect. Uh, but like, if in any life decision, you need to design it.
• 30:26
  So you don't need to burn everything down [laughs] like overnight. Yeah. You can start with, like, small steps.
• 30:33
  Um, you can start also with your numbers, with understanding what is needed, um, what are some of the unnecessary, like, fixed costs that you can cut to be able to, to get to there. Um, and you can test.
• 30:46
  You don't need to, like, just drop everything one day and go for it. Like, there are ways to do it. So it's like- Thinking about it like the CFO of a family. Mm-hmm...
• 30:56
  or like the CFO will just not go for that decision right away, not in a cold way, but more in an, like, empowered way, stronger way.
• 31:06
  Um, so w- like, what I would, what I would do is, like, ask myself four questions when I'm redesigning that life. It's like, what, one, what are we trying to get more of? Like, what is the objective? Is it time?
• 31:21
  Is it flexibility? Is it adventure? Is it connection? Like, what is it? Um, two is that, what are we willing to trade? There will always be some trade-off. Yeah.
• 31:32
  Um, and you need to be aware of it and kind of think about it. You might not think about everything, and that's fine, but at least having that mindset of, what am I willing to trade- Yeah...
• 31:41
  will just make it also a more pragmatic decision. Is it, like, stuff that you're gonna get rid of? Is it, like, um, predictability? You talked about that comfort zone.
• 31:51
  Like, maybe things will be a little bit more, uh, up and down. Uh, is it certain comforts, like your pr- favorite dentist- Mm-hmm... won't be anymore? [laughs] Like, what are you trading off?
• 32:01
  Um, and three, it's, like, what do you want to s- protect along the adventure? Is it, um, like, the education quality? Is it savings? Is it your mental health?
• 32:14
  Like, what is a non-negotiable as you're going through that adventure? Uh, and then, like, the fourth one, which I think is a very business mindset, so maybe, [laughs] like, that's just my background.
• 32:25
  But, like, what is the smallest safe experiment that you can carry? What is a good way to test it without, again, dropping everything?
• 32:34
  So that's why we have, for instance, those one-month, those summer camps experiment, where you can still keep the home, you can still keep the school back home, and you can test that different life, and you see how it feels.
• 32:46
  Or it could be a sabbatical for people who are a little bit more adventure, and you, you go for, like, nine month already. Like, what does feel like the smallest safe experiment for you?
• 32:55
  Um, and, and then, and then you see how it feels. But I think there is a way, and again, you're not the only one going through that. Like, many of us have those, those feelings of maybe there is more. Yes.
• 33:10
  And I would try. [laughs] Ah, I love that. That's so great, and I feel like I, I had that moment where I was like, "Aah," I'm just like, "I'm gonna run away." It's like, yeah. My husband's like, "Where are we going?
• 33:22
  I'll come, too." I was like, "Well." And, uh, but it, it felt intense like that, I think because there were so many of those things that you mentioned that, like, just weren't happening.
• 33:32
  Like, what do you, what did I want? Did I want flexibility, and why hadn't I traveled? And what was this- Oh...
• 33:38
  message sold to me that this is how I'm supposed to live, and like, I don't know if that is how I wanna live anymore. And I mean, we took the experiment.
• 33:45
  We did one month, one month, and next year we're gonna do four total months with Boundless, and my goal is that by the time my, my son is ready for junior high, that we are, we're on the nine month with you guys, and, like, he's, we're doing nine months with Boundless, and he's doing middle school that way because there is no way in hell I am putting him [laughs] in middle school in this city.
• 34:08
  I'm like, I did middle school in this city. That, no thank you. Um, but I just feel that, and it's so interesting 'cause especially when I talk to other moms about school.
• 34:17
  Like, I mean, I grew up, my mom and dad were like, "Yeah, you go to that school right there down the street. You're zoned for. Check, it's done," and that, that was it. And it's not like that.
• 34:25
  Every, not even just mom, but parents that I talk to. You know, I talk to parents,
• 34:30
  I went, um, to breakfast with a business owner, and he was like, he has three kids, and one, his oldest son, has switched schools three times, and all his kids are in different schools because, like you're saying, they're trying to find the right thing for the kid.
• 34:45
  And all of my friends are doing that. We are reevaluating the school situation every single year. There's no set it and forget it anymore. That is not how it's running.
• 34:53
  We're constantly reevaluating if this works for them, um, and works for us. And so it's like we're already in that mindset of, like, we're gonna do what it takes.
• 35:02
  Like, the loyalty to some school down the street does not matter anymore. And I love being able to say, like, what are the values?
• 35:08
  And we're having conversations on the podcast about, like, the vision needs to drive the- Yes... finance. Like, what is that vision?
• 35:14
  And you're saying something very similar, which is what is the vision we want for our life, and how can you test it, yeah, without blowing it all up, which I thought I was gonna have to do. I was like, "I'm running away.
• 35:23
  I'm out." [laughs] And then very patient husband who was like, "Okay." [laughs] Like, "Let's figure this out." [laughs] So we did. Um, but I- We need that sometimes, but I think we need also that drive from moms.
• 35:37
  We always, I always see that. Like, the moms have that strong feeling, that gut feeling that this is not right, and they're often the engine behind that change, uh, which, which is fascinating to see.
• 35:49
  Like, we know deep down what feels right, what is right for our kids, for our family, and what is not, and I think we need to trust that instinct, um, that human instinct.
• 36:01
  Yeah, I mean, you said at the top of the episode, which is alignment, and it is so hard, I think, sometimes in this, like, very loud world to find it when you're not in it.
• 36:12
  And that is, that is something even I felt like in some of my previous roles. I was like, "This just doesn't, this is not right," and I just knew, like, that wasn't right for me.
• 36:22
  And so work, it was like very quickly those things, I think, come up. And I think if, when we're out of alignment, that's when we get sick. That's when we have autoimmune issues. That's when we're resentful.
• 36:35
  That's when we just, like, from the inside out, we just start to fall apart.
• 36:39
  And I think if we knew that there were options, and there are, to live in alignment, then we could say, "What are those options, and how does that look today and in 10 years and in 20 years?
• 36:50
  And what does that look like for our grandkids?" Which I think is a perspective that is so uniquely maternal to say, "I have such a long-term perspective. It's not just about today and tomorrow.
• 37:00
  It is about what happens generationally when I'm looking at my kids' kids' kid down the road."
• 37:07
  And I think that's even part of the reason that I wanted to have a podcast talking specifically to mothers, because we have this perspective that is so multi-generational that no one's really talking to us that way.
• 37:19
  Oh, especially when it comes to, like, building this life that we want.
• 37:21
  And that's where I wanna say this is the space for it, where we can say we can still build a life, and we can do it smart, and we can do it in a way that still protects our finances but gives us alignment.
• 37:33
  And I honestly feel like Boundless is, like, such a great option. I'm obviously such a fan. Um, and it's, it's been great for our family, and yep, we're just gonna keep doing it.
• 37:42
  So, so yeah, everyone has to check out Boundless. So thank you so much. We'll, we'll wrap up.
• 37:48
  I am so excited that you agreed to be on the podcast, and thank you for your time, and thank you for everything you're doing in Boundless. I can't wait to be on another cohort with you. And the kids, I miss the kids.
• 38:02
  [laughs] Um, so I'll wrap us up. So hey, stop budgeting your life away. Start building something that pays you back. The goal isn't to save money. It's to build a life that money can support.
• 38:15
  So spend smart, acquire assets. I'm Ellie Ezra. I'll see you next time. [outro music]