This is a guest post from Peter Lawrence author of The Happy Minimalist. He was born and raised in Singapore and lives in Santa Clara, California. He has been able to retire well before the normal retirement age not because he won a lottery, inherited wealth, or joined a start-up.... Read more »

So you have joined the ranks of enlightened people, who want to retire early, move to another country, or redesign their lifestyle, and now you want your spouse or partner to go along with it? Not so fast! While winning friends is easy, influencing people is a lot harder, but... Read more »

Outgoing people have a psychological need to interact with other people most of the time. This can pose a big problem for extraverted early retirees as most people at the same age or even 10 or 20 years older will away at their jobs for over 10 hours a day... Read more »

I usually start my “program” with a relocation closer to work and shopping. This allows one to shed at least one car. The rest is just variations and polishing that theme. Extreme early retirement can thus be reached through a frugal antisuburan lifestyle without car dependence, hour long commutes, and... Read more »

I think the idea of splurging a little to feel rich while not being rich and in particular while paying off debt is misguided and up there along with “what kind of candy bars do you have in your weight loss plan?”. It seems obviously self-contradictory, so why does it... Read more »

Scott Young joins me on the Financial Independence Podcast to talk about "ultralearning" and why it's great for people pursuing early retirement! Read more → The post Scott Young – Ultralearning appeared first on Mad Fientist.... Read more »

The best thing about financial independence is also the worst. I explain what it is and also share details about the secret project I've been working on! Read more → The post The Best and Worst Thing About Financial Independence appeared first on Mad Fientist.... Read more »

It's been three years since I left my full-time job and this past year was the best one yet! Here's a short podcast episode with everything I learned. Read more → The post Valuable Lessons from My Third Year of Freedom appeared first on Mad Fientist.... Read more »

A real-life experiment that compares paying off a mortgage early versus investing the same amount of money in the markets! Read more → The post Mortgage Payoff Experiment appeared first on Mad Fientist.... Read more »

For the first time, Ramit Sethi from I Will Teach You to be Rich shares his thoughts on FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early)! Read more → The post Ramit Sethi – I Will Teach You to be Rich appeared first on Mad Fientist.... Read more »

Summer is officially over and fall is here (finally). Between the heat and humidity of our summer vacation in Southeast Asia and the excessively warm September in North Carolina, I'm definitely ready for cooler weather. Fall, my favorite time of the year, means more pleasant outdoor weather for lounging in the... Read more »

Here we are days away from the official start of fall. We are fully recovered from our eight week vacation in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. After we landed in Raleigh, we were immediately busy with back to school shopping for supplies and clothes and several rounds of school orientations now... Read more »

What do you do when you save a bunch of money and retire at 33? Spend months at a time traveling the world of course! This summer we spent eight weeks exploring the temples, palaces, and waterways of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand in Southeast Asia.  In today's article, we cover... Read more »

The Root of Good family just got back to the US after an eight week adventure in Southeast Asia. We spent the month of July split between Cambodia and Thailand.  Now that we're rested up and mostly recovered from the jet lag, I wanted to take a break from life... Read more »

June was an incredibly busy month for the Root of Good family. We spent the first half of the month at home in Raleigh wrapping up the school year for the kids. Then we relaxed for a few days before packing our bags for our big eight week summer vacation... Read more »

Time to open up the books on how much money I spent last month. Managing expenses is absolutely critical to becoming financial independent at a young age. In fact, I’d argue it’s much more important to be an excellent saver than an excellent investor in this regard. And in order to save, you must... Read more »

I moved to Thailand in the fall of 2017 in order to live out my early retirement dream lifestyle. It’s far exceeded expectations. Moving abroad and taking advantage of geographic arbitrage is, in my opinion, vital to unleashing the full potential of early retirement. It’s why I discussed it so... Read more »

Every Sunday, I uncover a high-quality dividend growth stock that appears to be undervalued. These pieces are published at Daily Trade Alert, which is a site that focuses on dividend growth investing, stocks, and unique investment opportunities. I’ve been writing for them for years now, and they’re just great over... Read more »

I’m a shareholder in both AT&T Inc. (T) and Visa Inc. (V), as you can see by perusing my FIRE Fund. The FIRE Fund is my real-money early retirement stock portfolio. I live off of the dividend income it generates on my behalf. I bought shares in both AT&T and... Read more »

Ahh, dividends. Even just hearing that word conjures up all kinds of warm and fuzzy feelings for me. I remember playing the board game Monopoly as a kid. My favorite Chance card was the one where Mr. Monopoly (or Rich Uncle Pennybags) collected his bank dividend of $50. I thought that was so... Read more »

House hacking as a concept is not exactly new, but the term is relatively new to me. If I knew then what I know now about the strategy, I would have been more inclined to implement a house hack as a college student, medical student, or resident. I saved money... Read more »

Financial independence is defined as owning assets that will support your intended lifestyle for the remainder of your life. While those assets may include rental properties or cash flowing businesses that provide passive or semi-passive income, the most common scenario, particularly for high-earning professionals, is to accumulate a portfolio consisting... Read more »

The Sunday Best is a collection of articles I’ve curated from the furthest reaches of the internet for your reading pleasure. Every week, I scan hundreds of headlines, read dozens of posts, and bring you the best of the best to save you time and mental energy. Financial Independence (FI)... Read more »

Several years ago, I wrote a post called Happiness is an Early Retirement. I wrote about the things that studies have shown improve our happiness and it turns out early retirement can facilitate each and every one of them. One thing early retirement does not give us, though, is more... Read more »

Is the Backdoor Roth one of those moves that every high-income earner should be making? Or is it a marginally beneficial play that you can take or leave as an investor? I made an argument that suggested the latter, showing that the marginal benefits of doing the backdoor Roth paled... Read more »

I doubt it would be worth it if making money was the main goal, but if I could pay for the trips outside to visit family it would be a pretty good gig.... Read more »

My advice is to see a personality test as a red flag. HR clearly has no idea what they're doing. You're better off staying away from these companies. My guess is that they were testing for compliance and doing whatever you are told. That's why you fail...... Read more »

Consider sending her to the UK. Seriously. From the eastern seaboard, it's barely further than California, and she'll be done in 3 years instead of 4. You'll be paying full freight as a wealthy foreigner, but that's like 15k/year or thereabouts.Start ...... Read more »

I think it's more worth your time to learn how to negotiate tuition costs and make sure your kid is top quality than it is to try to hide money. Just make sure your kid stands out and makes admissions directors salivate. If you get them panting, and co...... Read more »

Quote from: Tris Prior on Today at 04:49:12 PMThanks for the suggestions! We are a big company and this is coming down from the CEO and EVP level. As far as I can tell, this is happening because the company has alwa...... Read more »

Today is the first day of Mrs. Done by Forty's new job, a cool post-doc position that will let her work in her field for a couple of years and let us stay local, all complete with a hardly-believable set of benefits. We're both excited for this opportunity for her to use... Read more »

It was two days before we flew back from Germany that we got the email."Please call when you can, son. It's about Jax."Due to the time difference there was no answer when we called. We spent the day thinking the worst, but felt relieved when we finally were able to... Read more »

Our flight to Paris was canceled due to a mechanical issue, which I suspect was the result of the under-reported mechanics' strike. Workers of the world unite, but do you think you could let us make our connecting flight?When we finally arrived in France a day late, the internet in our... Read more »

I went to Target this weekend for some last minute shopping for our upcoming trip to Europe with Baby AF. It was our third trip to Target, recently, because no matter how many lists I make there's always something I think of later.The worst part is that, thanks to an... Read more »

There's a certain amount of pride that I feel, being the son of an immigrant. I like that part of my personal history; after the divorce, I was raised by a Filipino woman. She taught me lessons borne out of her life of poverty, in another country, in a culture... Read more »

How to break Old Navy and cockamamie life insurance schemes are just two of the topics Brad and Jonathan cover in today's episode. For more information, visit the show notes at https://ChooseFI.com/149r... Read more »

Tyson Koska shares his On Trajectory tool and what led him to his own path of Financial Independence. Brad and Jonathan discuss how Tyson got started with FI and how On Trajectory tools cover net worth tracking and digital options. For more information, visit the show notes at https://choosefi.com/149... Read more »

Craig Curelop, author of The House Hacking Strategy: How to Use Your Home to Achieve Financial Freedom, shares his house hacking strategies. We also discuss Expense Ratios and the new book, ChooseFI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence. For more information, visit the show notes at https://ChooseFI.com/148R... Read more »

Andréa has committed her life to social studies and taking FI information to people experiencing poverty. She grew up in a similar situation. At age seven, Andréa saw her first violent murder. Throughout her childhood, being raised by a single mother, she struggled with food insecurity and housing insecurity. However,... Read more »

Compounding vs total return, envelopes vs simplifying your finances, and the potential value you could get from working with a “assets under management” financial advisor. Also, Tori Dunlap reached her goal to save her first $100k by age 25 on the day her interview aired! For more information, visit the... Read more »

Nota Bene:  While this post is about our move to Echols County, Georgia back in 2009, it’s still interesting and relevant to anyone contemplating a geo-arbitrage move.  I never got around to putting it on my blog until now…better late than never!  Here’s what I wrote back when our net... Read more »

Long overdue summer greetings to my dozens of faithful readers!  School has been out for a few weeks now, but I’ve been busy with my new basketball duties.  After a tough (and winless) basketball season and a sudden coaching change, guess who became a head coach again?  Yep, yours truly! ... Read more »

Last September at FinCon 2018 in Orlando I was talking with the coolest cat in the cave, my FIRE brother J. Money of Budgets Are $exy, about how to shine some light on the abuses in the K-12 403b marketplace.  After about five seconds of reflection, he said, “Oh, that’s... Read more »

Welcome back millionaires.  Let me apologize for that insane April Fool’s post extolling the benefits of 403b plans.  Here are my real thoughts on those “benefits.”   Incredible Oversight?  Ha! If you have a 403b plan, brace yourself:  your retirement savings are adrift in the Wild West of the financial services... Read more »

Beautiful South Georgia spring greetings to all my millionaire readers!  Even though we had a mild winter, the change of season is more than welcome.  It’s so pretty here this time of year. So far, our move to Statenville, Georgia has been a resounding success.  We love our new home,... Read more »

[smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/paulaandjaymoney/AA220.mp3" title="Stillness is the Key, with Ryan Holiday" artist="Paula Pant" social="true" social_twitter="true" social_facebook="true" social_gplus="true" social_linkedin="true" social_stumble="true" social_pinterest="true" social_email="true" ] In a hectic world, stillness is the key to a calm, enjoyable life. That idea comes from Ryan Holiday, author of Stillness is The Key. Stillness is finding flow, staying... Read more »

[smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/paulaandjaymoney/AA219.mp3" title="Ask Paula - How Should I Invest $4,000 Per Month for Early Retirement?" artist="Paula Pant" social="true" social_twitter="true" social_facebook="true" social_gplus="true" social_linkedin="true" social_stumble="true" social_pinterest="true" social_email="true" ] Stella is working toward FIRE and wants to know: how can she create passive income in her retirement years? Is a portfolio with stocks... Read more »

[smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/paulaandjaymoney/AA218.mp3" title="Why We're Irrational with Money, with Kristen Berman" artist="Paula Pant" social="true" social_twitter="true" social_facebook="true" social_gplus="true" social_linkedin="true" social_stumble="true" social_pinterest="true" social_email="true" ] Kristen Berman is co-founder of Irrational Labs, a behavioral product design company, along with Dan Ariely. She has a fascinating job that involves looking into why people behave the... Read more »

When I was 18, I got a full scholarship for a one-month study abroad trip to Japan. At the time, I didn’t have much interest in international travel. But free is free, so I spent a month in Japan during the summer between my freshman and sophomore year of college.... Read more »

[smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/paulaandjaymoney/AA217.mp3" title="Financial Independence - My Philosophy and Origin Story, on The FI Show" artist="Paula Pant" social="true" social_twitter="true" social_facebook="true" social_gplus="true" social_linkedin="true" social_stumble="true" social_pinterest="true" social_email="true" ] Earlier this year, Cody and Justin from The FI Show interviewed me and asked some excellent questions about my journey to financial independence, entrepreneurship and... Read more »

Welcome to “Thank God I’m FI” Friday, Volume #2! Here are some things I really like and that you might too.   Finance Articles What I Love (And Don’t) About Working Part-Time – Jessica from the Fioneers is part time... The post T.G.I.F. Friday: Volume 2 appeared first on Accidental... Read more »

On October 10th, 2018 hurricane Michael ravaged the shores of Florida and Georgia.  It caused massive damage, and the death toll was 31.  On that same day, approximately 110 others died in car crashes across the country, and another 120... The post Beware The Steady Drip appeared first on Accidental... Read more »

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Scores of iPhone fans waited over 12 hours in line at the downtown San Francisco Apple store to secure their delayed retirement.  The excitement was palpable as the sensibly stylish throng affirmed their adherence to a... The post iPhone Fanatics Wait 12 Hours In Line To... Read more »

It’s that time of year, the Census Bureau just released the official income statistics for 2018 a few weeks back.  In 2018 the median household income in America was $63,200, the highest figure ever.  From 2017 to 2018, inflation-adjusted median... The post U.S. Median Household Income In 2018 Sets Another... Read more »

Welcome to “Thank God I’m FI” Friday, Volume #1! I’ve been posting on Tuesdays and Fridays since this blog started almost two years ago, and I haven’t missed a post.  Now that my blog has found an audience of a... The post T.G.I.F. Friday: Volume 1 appeared first on Accidental... Read more »

Burnout and Finance I was recently asked to speak to a bunch of medical residents about my story of burnout and my general philosophy on finance and life. I declined for a variety of reasons, but upon reflection I realized that this was a topic I had not addressed. This... Read more »

Hey philosophers, just wanted to let you know about a couple of small projects I participated in recently. I haven’t had much time or motivation to write these last couple of weeks. I have been paying the work price for my two week vacation to Alaska. Flexibility to take a... Read more »

As my feet rhythmically hit the belt of the treadmill, it briefly occurred to me this was perhaps the weirdest time to start my journey back to some sort or reasonable physical fitness. The treadmill was gently rocking side to side and I was looking out at an endless expanse... Read more »

As an evangelist of part-time work for physicians, I occasionally get an e-mail from a physician reader asking if cutting back on work is the right move for them. Often times they are early in their training, and I’m not sure how to respond. I feel conflicted. I know what... Read more »

A feeling of dread suddenly came over me. The numbers just didn’t add up, yet I could not figure out where I went wrong. Maybe I typed something in wrong or missed a section, but everything looked more or less complete. Maybe I’m just getting too old for this and... Read more »

For those of you following along, you know I've been a bit busy lately. In addition to my own music, podcast, and software projects, I've also been popping up on other people's podcasts. A few weeks back I sang a few bars of Michael Bublé on The FI Show with... Read more »

Back in November of 2017, a tired, burned out version of myself was pushed past his breaking point. After months of mandatory unpaid overtime, morning self pep-talks, stress-eating, and yelling at coworkers, the old Joel finally had enough. He walked up to his boss, and with a surprising, zen-like calm,... Read more »

Wait a minute. Strike that – reverse it! I know, I know, I haven't updated this blog in months. What gives?! If things get any more sporadic around here I'll be on the Miss Mazuma publishing schedule! 😉 Maybe I should adopt the slogan of Wait, Buy Why and claim that I'll have... Read more »

This week, I'm thrilled to be featured on Coryn Quester's “Discover What's Possible” Podcast! In the interview, we talk about everything from the ‘Why' of FI,  to the most challenging aspects of financial independence for those just starting out. But one of the more interesting questions she posed really got... Read more »

This past weekend The Wife and I went to see Crazy Rich Asians, and really enjoyed it! (Featured image credit: Entertainment Weekly) Having been on the FIRE journey for a few years now, it was fun taking in all the over-the-top luxury on the screen. Of course, this wasn't the... Read more »

Most of us have signed up for free trials of services that seem like a fantastic idea at the time. Unfortunately, in many cases, the free trial ends, and months later that you see a recurring charge on your bank statements. So, you’ve actually been paying for that free trial... Read more »

Whether you are looking for a side gig or want to develop your own business, you’ll need a marketplace for your goods and services. Three of the most popular venues for sellers are Poshmark, eBay, and Mercari, so how do they stack up against each other and which one is... Read more »

One of the most popular topics in the world of personal finance is passive income. It’s not hard to figure out that most people would love to make money with minimal effort, but finding practical and realistic ways to do it can be more challenging. Starting or buying a low-maintenance... Read more »

If you have a flair for writing, why not turn this into an income stream? Whether you want a side gig or are looking to replace your full-time income, there are some great opportunities to get paid instantly for writing content. Freelance writing allows you to do something you enjoy... Read more »

Merch by Amazon is a print-on-demand division for apparel. You can sell your designs with no upfront costs or investments on the world’s largest marketplace. This includes t-shirts, tank tops, long sleeve t-shirts, hoodies, pop sockets, and crewneck sweatshirts. With the exception of the hoodies, all the clothing can be... Read more »