Sequence of returns risk? Sounds like something only old, rich, retired people have to worry about... As long as I save up 25X my annual expenses and hit my FI number, I never have to worry about money ever again, right? Wrong. Sequence of returns risk is the No. 1 risk that can cause early retirees to run out of money. So pay attention my young FIRE friends... this stuff
Early Retirement
Bustin’ a Few Myths About the FIRE Movement
For every “movement” where a group of people band together and try to improve their lives, there will always be a handful of nay-sayers trying to discredit the cause. The financial independence FIRE movement has a bunch of these haters. And while some concerns about early retirement might be legitimate, the most common objections I usually hear are myths (or personal limiting
Budgeting for Healthcare in Early Retirement
[Many FIRE walkers (including myself!) underestimate the cost of healthcare in retirement. It could be because we don’t track our costs accurately, don’t monitor our employer contributions, or forget to account for healthcare completely! Guest authors The Dragons on FIRE explain in today’s post the importance of tracking, budgeting, and planning for healthcare, as well as how
Living a Stealth Wealth Lifestyle
A few years ago, I went into my local bank branch to do a wire transfer. I wrote my name on the check-in sheet and helped myself to a free cup of coffee in the waiting area. After a few minutes, a well-groomed young fellow in a suit and tie came over to greet me. As he reached to shake my hand, I noticed his eyes looking me up and down, studying my old t-shirt, dirty jeans,
You Don’t Have to Be Good at Math to Be Good at Personal Finance
Happy Friday! Who’s looking forward to an awesome weekend!? 🙋♂️🙋♀️ Today I’m gonna share something a little embarrassing… It’s the final report card from my graduating year at high school. Check this out: As you can see, Math was my worst subject. 29 out of 100... I’ve never scored lower than 29% on anything
6 Ways My Parents Taught Me Financial Independence
Want to teach your kids financial independence? Here's how mine did! “Hey Mum, this is my friend Daniel from school.” “Nice to meet you, Daniel, and welcome to our home! Joel, do you want to wash the dishes, hang the laundry, or vacuum the house?” “Ah, Mum... Daniel came over to play. Can I pleeeeease skip my chores today?” “Nope. If you live in this house, you must do
!! Exclusive (Totally Made-Up) Interview With Prince Harry and Meghan About Financial Independence!!
Hey, everyone! For a little light-hearted fun, today’s post is a 100% made-up interview/story. But there’s a kernel of truth to it! Harry and Megs have indeed announced that they are pursuing financial independence, and I’m a massive supporter of this decision. FIRE is ultimately about freedom, and I’m stoked that people with fame and all different income levels are figuring it
Slow down … FIRE is not a race
(FYI … "Sank Farten" means "slow down" in Swedish. I’ve been yelling it at speeding cars on my street lately, but I just get strange looks in return :)) When I first stumbled across the FIRE movement, I’ll admit I was a little narrow-minded. I thought the goal of FIRE was to accumulate an insane amount of savings to reach financial independence as fast as possible and hit
Can you retire with a mortgage? How about 15 mortgages!?
Good morning, all. Happy Monday! Some of you are excited to learn more about real estate investing. I’m no expert, but I do have a few rental properties and will share my experiences (and screw-ups) over time. I know real estate investing isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, so I'll keep posts like this light and sporadic. (Plus, J Money will kill me if I turn this site into a
Getting my wife on board with the FIRE lifestyle
[Happy Friday! Please enjoy more backstory on our man Joel who will be taking over the blog here shortly! See you back on Monday for one last week of hanging out together! :)] ******* It’s a common question in the personal finance community … “How can I get my partner on board with Financial Independence?” Tough to answer, because everyone’s relationship is a little
