March 26, 2025

Is Real Estate the Best Path to Financial Independence? | E163 Chad C…

Is Real Estate the Best Path to Financial Independence? As a die-hard index fund investor, I used to have a clear answer. But after researching Chad Carson’s “small but mighty” real estate philosophy, I’m starting to see the ...

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March 12, 2025

When You and Your Partner See Money Differently | E162 Brian Page

Love and money - a perfect match, right? If only it were that simple. Money is personal for everyone. We grow up with different values, learn different money habits from our parents, and develop our own financial preferences....

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Feb. 26, 2025

Do You Know You Can Negotiate Your Medical Bills? Here’s how. | E161 …

In today’s conversation, we will learn how to negotiate your medical bills. Wait, you can do that? Yeah, this was new to me too. Maybe it was the confusing medical jargon or the assumption that hospitals charge fair prices, b...

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Feb. 12, 2025

Spending Experiments: Learn What Purchases Make You Happy | E160 Carl…

Struggling to spend money? Same here. Honestly, I never thought this would be a problem as I got closer to financial independence. I mean, isn’t the goal to save up enough so we can finally spend on the things we want? Turns ...

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Jan. 29, 2025

Fast-Track Your 2025 Money Goals Using These Strategies | E159 Justin…

It’s the start of a new year, and you’ve set some financial goals like paying off student loans, saving for a down payment, or maxing out your IRA. Whatever your goal, how awesome would it feel if you could fast-track your pr...

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Jan. 15, 2025

What Happens After I Reach FIRE? Withdrawal Strategy, Spending Change…

Since discovering financial independence, I have focused on wealth-building: choosing the right accounts, investing wisely, and cutting expenses to save more. But now that I’m approaching my FIRE number, a new question has em...

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Jan. 1, 2025

Anxiety-Free Purpose: Framework for Creating Purpose in Your Life | E…

Why save and invest? It’s a rhetorical question, but let’s think it through. When you save and invest, you’re sharing financial resources with your future self. This means your future self won’t have to worry about earning mo...

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Dec. 18, 2024

Creative Frugality: How to Do A Lot With A Little | E156 Jill Sirianni

Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it too? With a little bit of creative frugality, I think it is possible to live below your means and buy the things that bring you joy. What do I mean by creative frugality? It is a t...

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Dec. 4, 2024

Is Couponing Worth it, Using Your Old Student ID for Discounts, Weird…

Okay, this episode was so much fun to create. This is outside my normal format but equally as informative and probably more entertaining. In October, I attended FinCon, a conference for personal finance content creators. I kn...

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Nov. 20, 2024

10 Golden Rules of Personal Finance for Building Wealth | E154 Jesse …

There are so many rules in the personal finance space. Some are helpful, others not so much. Let's set aside the bad ones for a minute (for example, stop buying avocado toast) and discuss the helpful ones. What comes to mind?...

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Nov. 6, 2024

When You Can Afford to Leave Your Job But You’re Afraid to Quit | E15…

There will be a point in your FI journey when a stable salary will become less important to you. You’ve built up your savings and investments to a place where you are comfortable. The freedom and flexibility over your time ar...

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Oct. 23, 2024

Ignoring the Rules and Paving Your Own Path to FIRE | E152 Diania Mer…

I love FI because it allows me to break the rules and live outside the norm. Like, no one has time for 40 years of traditional employment. But little did I realize I left one set of rules only to get caught up in another - th...

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Oct. 9, 2024

When She Makes More Than You…in a Culture that Hasn’t Normalized Brea…

While we still have a lot of work to do, I’m really glad we’ve made strides in closing the gender pay gap. Women's increased incomes have led to significant changes in household dynamics. More women are becoming the primary o...

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Sept. 25, 2024

Roth vs Traditional: Which is Right For You If You’re Pursuing FIRE? …

It’s one of the most hotly debated topics in personal finance…Roth or Traditional? Some argue that the national debt almost guarantees higher taxes in the future and that you should choose Roth and pay your taxes now. Others ...

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Sept. 11, 2024

Is the US Stock Market Too Reliant on a Few Large Companies? | E149 E…

Over the last couple of years, a key group of companies known as The Magnificent Seven has emerged. This group of high-performing and influential companies includes Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Tesla....

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Aug. 28, 2024

Reverse Budgeting: Low-Stress Way to Spend Guilt-Free and Keep Your F…

Things can get complicated quickly in the world of personal finance. From investing and budgeting to estate planning and insurance, there are multiple ways to accomplish what you need to get done. Let’s take investing for exa...

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Aug. 14, 2024

How to Fight About Money Without Ruining a Relationship | E147 Allie …

There are going to be differences. And these differences are what lead to disagreements. Imagine a scenario where you and your friends are booking an Airbnb for an upcoming trip. The group isn’t progressing, and you can tell ...

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July 31, 2024

5 Secrets to Make Your FIRE Journey Fun | E146 Jackie Cummings Koski

Yes, your path to financial independence is going to take work and sacrifice but it shouldn’t be miserable. Financial independence is not worth it if it means being unhappy for decades of your life. There should be lots of mo...

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July 17, 2024

Use Flow State to Achieve More and Accelerate Your Financial Goals | …

Whether you consider yourself a writer or not, you’ve been asked to write before. This could be an essay for school, an email at work, or a caption for a post. Sometimes when we are writing, we have a complete brain fart. No...

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July 3, 2024

Why Are We So Weird When It Comes to Money | E144 Paco de Leon

Humans are weird whenever it comes to money. We drive five miles out of the way to save a few cents on gas. We buy things we don’t need because they’re on sale. We don’t ask for a raise although we’ve been working hard at the...

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June 19, 2024

Work Optionality: A Different Way to Imagine at FIRE | E143 Rachael C…

Work optionality is the idea that you work because you want to, not because you have to. As you’re listening to this in your 20s, this concept might seem like a pipe dream. That’s truly fair. Most of us don’t have this luxury...

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June 5, 2024

Embracing Mini-Retirements: How to Take Breaks on Your Path to FI | E…

Let’s not sugarcoat it, the path to financial independence is a grind. Even with an aggressive savings rate and an extended bull market run, you’re going to be at it for a while. Setting the hard work aside, we also have to a...

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May 22, 2024

Retiring Early? Access Your Retirement Money Before 59.5 (Without a P…

We always hear the importance of taking advantage of our 401K and IRA accounts. The tax advantages and employer match are too good to pass up on. But is this true for early retirees? If I’m planning on retiring in my 40s, sho...

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May 8, 2024

Does My FIRE Number Account for Inflation? | E140 Jesse Cramer

I love playing with compound interest calculators and one equation I’m routinely calculating is the number of years until I reach financial independence. Using the 4% rule, I multiply my living expenses by 25 to get my FIRE n...

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