The amount of thinking which occurs mentally is actually very hard to quantify. When I was doing research, I’d typically start out doing “nothing” for several hours—call it “warming up”. Then I’d hack around changing a few things here and there in a code or a manuscript. Maybe I’d suddenly... Read more »

There are certain physiological changes that can be demotivating to starting on an exercising program. These changes take place within the first 1-2 months which is about the time most are willing to give something a try (witness my failure to switch to raw food). The first change is neuromuscular... Read more »

Not knowing that you don’ know is the worst possible combination of ignorance out of the four possible cases. If you know what you don’t know, the solution is easy; look it up on the internet or ask someone. However, if you don’t know, you wouldn’t know what to ask... Read more »

I’m just putting this up here because I have not seen this trick elsewhere. The problem here is mainly in getting the cable tension correct so the shifter can pull the derailer over all the cogs in the rear cassette. Too loose and you won’t be able to reach the... Read more »

Before I started saving for financial independence, I would save up money on the order of a $1000–2000 and then blow it all on gadgets bringing my savings back down close to zero. I would think up new hobbies just so I could spend many hours researching and reading consumer... Read more »

Track your progress to financial independence and early retirement with the free FI Tracker software and FIRE calculators inside of the FI Laboratory! Read more → The post FI Laboratory appeared first on Mad Fientist.... 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 »

Here we are in the middle of December with just a few weeks left in the year. Where did the year go? It's busy times as usual here in the Root of Good household. As I write this we are packing our bags to set sail to the Caribbean (again)... Read more »

"Hey look it's another 1,000 year old temple! And monkeys are climbing all over us!" That's right, we spent a week in Siem Reap, Cambodia touring the ancient temples of the Angkor Wat complex. Our visit to Siem Reap was part of our seven week Southeast Asia vacation that included two... Read more »

Another month flew by! In October, we embraced the fall weather and enjoyed the changing of the leaves. The kids enjoyed dressing up for Halloween and gathering huge sacks full of candy. All of us enjoyed the very mild weather which makes the outdoors way more fun.  On the financial... Read more »

Welcome back to another edition of Root of Good Travels the World. This time we're recapping a slice of our seven week Southeast Asia vacation. After departing Saigon, Vietnam, we traveled for six hours to the heart of Cambodia, the capital city of Phnom Penh, where we spent a week... 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 »

I’m far from the richest guy around. But I am financially independent and retired in my 30s. I was able to quit my job at 32 years old, which allowed me freedom to start crafting the life of my dreams. I now do precisely what I like to do, every... 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 »

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 »

The time has come to say goodbye. As thankful as I am for the last two years, Thailand’s more restrictive visa policies have made it almost impossible for a lot of foreigners to live full time in the country. Some expats are not responding well to the change. They’re bending... Read more »

The FIRE Fund is my real-money dividend growth stock portfolio. I call it that because the portfolio allowed me to reach financial independence and retire early (FIRE) at just 33 years old. This six-figure collection of some of the best businesses in the world is generating the five-figure (and growing) passive dividend income... Read more »

Welcome back for Part II of Semi-Retired MD’s post on Fast FIRE. If you haven’t yet or would like a refresher, please go back and read last week’s post, How to Fast FIRE Your Way to Generational Wealth – Part I. Below, you’ll see some eye-popping numbers. As a disclaimer... Read more »

Not long ago, I detailed the Top 5 Reasons Not to Enroll in an Online Course. In summary, you should not join a course if you won’t finish it, can’t afford it, have no particular goal to meet, it’s not available (at all or at a discount), or you are... 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 »

We spend the first 40 years of our lives acquiring stuff, and the next 40 years trying to get rid of it. Well, not exactly, but I read a quote similar to that somewhere, and it rang true. At some point in my mid-to-late thirties, I realized I had more... Read more »

Today, we’re talking about Fast FIRE. No, not fatFIRE, although the Semi-Retired MD duo’s Fast FIRE method may very well lead to a cushy fatFIRE lifestyle as it has for them. Drs. Kenji Asakura and Leti Alto share a job and earn an impressive amount of tax-free income via their... Read more »

I'm unclear on what you're considering. Will the three of you live in the 7-br house, or live in the 2-br basement and rent out the 7-br part?I personally would not in a million years sign up to live in (and heat/cool, and maintain, and clean) seven b...... Read more »

Quote from: DavidAnnArbor on December 12, 2019, 08:36:20 PMQuote from: Gin1984 on December 12, 2019, 02:40:00 PMQuote from: pecunia on December 08, 2019, 07:03:26 PMJust do i...... Read more »

Nice blog post about independent research: https://nadiaeghbal.com/independent-researchQuoteThis is the dark side of independent research. Without external validation - “I teach at Stanford” or “I got a grant from NASA”, it’s hard to convince people...... Read more »

Hello, two things are coming together.1. It's likely sale of my home will be complete before end of year.2. I will rebalance investment portfolio to less risk, to include cash from home.The profit from the house is totally wiped out, and then some, ...... Read more »

I thought that those math courses might weed out folks.... Read more »

My good friends recommended a great podcast recently, Dr. Laurie Santos' The Happiness Lab. The show is based on Santos' immensely popular class on positive psychology at Yale, "The Science of Well-Being", which at one point had over a quarter of the students at Yale enrolled, with hundreds of thousands more... Read more »

I broke my writing streak last week, as I went home to Pittsburgh for a funeral. My good friend from high school, T, passed away suddenly. He lived in the same neighborhood as me, and we graduated together. If not for some weird last minute circumstances, he was going to... Read more »

I've often heard that people should think of themselves as businesses: that I am the CEO, the Chief Marketing Officer, and sole employee of "Me, Inc." I honestly kind of like the metaphor. I like the idea that, when it comes to our money, we should think about it in... Read more »

You'd think that after working towards financial independence and early retirement since 2012, a full seven years, that we'd have a thorough plan of what we want to do right after leaving work. Even though we have some decent ideas of what we'd like to fill our days with --... Read more »

It's open enrollment time for Mrs. Done by Forty and me, a strangely exciting time for a board game geek like me, since open enrollment decisions are like a very nerdy puzzle. One to be noodled over, guessing at how likely certain outcomes will be, weighing costs and tax benefits,... Read more »

After learning more about habits with James Clear this week, Brad and Jonathan discuss the compounding interest of self improvement and turning intention into action. What’s covered in today’s show: • Building Habits • Identity Statements • Find Your Tribe …and more. For more information, visit the show notes at... Read more »

James Clear, author of Atomic Habits , shares his story. The conversation dives into the difference between systems and goals. How To See Through The Short-Term For The Long-Term The Compounding Effect How Identity Drives Your Habits Goals, Systems, and more For more information, visit the show notes at https://choosefi.com/157... Read more »

A gap year might seem unthinkable for some but Noah and Becky share exactly how they navigated their gap year. Plus, Brad and Jonathan discuss emergency funds and your risk tolerance. For more information, visit the show notes at https://www.choosefi.com/156R... Read more »

Rob Berger, founder of Dough Roller and Retire Before Mom and Dad, talks about the simple math of early retirement and more essential FI lessons that are important to talk about.  For more information, visit the show notes at https://ChooseFI.com/156... Read more »

Sean Mullaney joins the show to discuss year-end tax planning. He goes into deductions, self-employment income, and how to get the most from your deductions. For more information, visit the show notes at https://ChooseFI.com/155r... Read more »

The holiday season is upon us:  fall weather, pumpkin spice, falling leaves, cool breezes…actually, who cares?  It’s tax-planning time, so it’s time for my most anticipated post of the year:  2020 Free Money! Refresher:  What is “Free Money!”? For the uninitiated, my Free Money! posts are an attempt to simplify... Read more »

Hi everyone!  Believe it or not, I actually have interests outside of FIRE.  If you read this masterpiece, you know I love all things Squatch.  Last February I recorded a podcast interview with Tony Merkel of the Confessionals.  We talk for about an hour about the various Georgia Bigfoot stories... Read more »

Swampy fall-is-finally-here greetings to all current and future millionaires.  With the third quarter over for 2019, it’s now time to see how we’re progressing towards our annual financial goals.  Our main financial goal for 2019 is to save $130k in our various tax-advantaged accounts:  457, 403b, IRA, and HSA accounts. ... 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 »

[smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/paulaandjaymoney/AA230.mp3" title="How to Develop Emotional Agility, with Dr. Susan David" 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" ] Dr. Susan David, a psychologist on the faculty at Harvard Medical School, joins us to talk about emotional agility. For the past 20 years, Dr. David has researched... Read more »

[smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/paulaandjaymoney/AA229.mp3" title="Ask Paula - Help! My Mom or Dad Took Out a Credit Card in My Name. Am I On the Hook? " 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" ] Helen discovered that her mother fraudulently opened credit card accounts in her name. Eek! How... Read more »

[smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/paulaandjaymoney/AA228.mp3" title="What I Learned from Losing $170 Million, with Noah Kagan" 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 November 2005, when Noah Kagan was 24, he was hired as Employee #30 at Facebook. At the time, Facebook was a one-year-old company with only a... Read more »

In 2015, we ran a story about Julia Kelly, an entrepreneur who makes a six-figure income as a caricature artist. Where is she now? We decided to follow up her story. How sustainable is her business? How passive is her income? Here's Julia, with a follow-up in her own words.... Read more »

[smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/paulaandjaymoney/AA227.mp3" title="Ask Paula - How Can I Get the Most from My Mini-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" ] Lien is taking a year off of work to live the van life with her husband. She wants to know how she can make the... Read more »

Welcome to “Thank God I’m FI” Friday, Volume #6! Here are some things I really like and that you might too.     Finance Articles 11 Months on the Retirement Glide Path – Here’s What We’ve Learned – “We seem to... The post T.G.I.F. Friday: Volume 6 appeared first on Accidental... Read more »

I bunny hopped a pothole and got right onto Jordan’s rear wheel.  Drafting, the practice of keeping your front tire just inches behind the rear tire of the cyclist in front of you, can save you 30% effort since you’re... The post Get After It, There’s More Work To Do... Read more »

ST. PAUL, MN – Sources report that the lazy financial blogger known as Todd “6 ways” Jenkins is only capable of speaking in listicles.  “I’ve tried 5 ways to shed this affliction, and I’m still searching for an answer” he... The post Uninspired Blogger Only Talks In Listicles appeared first... Read more »

In a post a little while back I lamented that the deck is kind of stacked against us these days when it comes to being financially responsible.  Whether it be the endless gadgets that are one click away or increasingly... The post The Real Value Of Mutual Funds Over Time... Read more »

Welcome to “Thank God I’m FI” Friday, Volume #5! Here are some things I really like and that you might too.     Finance Articles Is “middle class” real? – A very thought provoking post from Abigail on the concept of... The post T.G.I.F. Friday: Volume 5 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 »

Concerts are a favorite event for many of us, but let’s be honest… they can be very expensive. If you like going to concerts, you can quickly spend a lot of money. Wouldn’t it be great if you were able to get free concert tickets? I’m guessing your answer to... Read more »

When it comes to the qualities people look for in their dream job, it is often things like a flexible schedule and location freedom. Let’s be honest, who really wants to go to the office every morning anyway? I got sucked into the corporate 9 to 5 lifestyle after college.... Read more »

Robo advisors have become an extremely popular alternative to traditional financial advisors, as many investors prefer to minimize fees. Three of the most popular robo advisor platforms are Betterment, Wealthfront, and M1 Finance. These companies all have something similar to offer, but there are some crucial differences. Here we’ll delve... Read more »

These days most of us are never very far from our phones. We use our smartphones to check our emails, route plan on Google maps, update social media, and surf the web. However, you may not be aware that you can use your smartphone to make money. So, here we’ll... Read more »

Student loan debt is a big line item in the monthly budget of more than 43 million Americans. Student loan debt can chip away at your budget for housing, your car, and can even impact your ability to retire. Plus, it can hurt your overall happiness and outlook for the... Read more »