For those of you who either own or plan to own a home in the future, your current or future mortgage payment will allow you to increase your safe withdrawal rate without increasing your risk of portfolio failure. We know that financial independence is achieved when your investment balances represents 25x your annual expenses. So…
For most families, spending gets out of control at Christmas time, and your spirit of generosity can quickly turn into a wallet-stealing poltergeist if you’re not careful. All sorts of fun gadgets are justified in the month of December, from brand new computers, to cell phones and even new cars. Not to mention all the…
For several decades, home ownership was lauded for multiple reasons: You no longer need to throw money down the toilet every month in rent; at least some of your payment goes towards principal; in most years, your home appreciates and the gap between how much you owe and how much your home is worth widens–in…
The biggest excuse I see that stops people from taking control of their financial situation is the victim mentality. Any combination of demographics, “greedy” corporations, personal economic circumstances, lack of education, etc., are perceived by many as actively holding them back from achieving financial breathing room. While some people certainly are facing situations that act…
Chad Carson’s new book: Retire Early with Real Estate provides a step-by-step guide to achieving financial independence through real estate investing. Unlike most real estate books, Carson lays out several different real estate investing strategies, categorized by what financial stage of life you’re in. Instead of focusing on a single strategy in excruciating detail, Carson…
Before we get any further, we need to define the very thing we’re pursuing. FIRE or Financially Independent, Retired Early, refers to one simple concept: when your passive income matches your expenses and you no longer need to work for a living. To be clear, it doesn’t mean you don’t work at all; it means…
We’re fast approaching the marquee event in the personal finance community: FinCon. A 4-day convention that gets together the biggest names and brands in the personal finance space is being held in Orlando within a week. With heavy hitters like Mr Money Mustache, Chris Hogan and Rachel Cruze speaking and established brands and influencers attending,…
NFL football is back. After the kickoff game last night, we’ve been ushered into fall. And while antennas work great for watching your local/state team play, borderline-obsessive fans will find themselves wanting more. As one of those fans and a fantasy football commissioner, I set out to find the most cost-effective way to watch the…
We don’t just give technical financial advice on this blog. We do anything that helps you save money and live better (not to steal Walmart’s slogan…well actually, sort of. It’s a great slogan). I am not ashamed of my love of fall and pumpkin spice. I’m okay with having some Basic White Girl tastes. I own…
Welcome to our blog! We’re Cody and Georgi, two 25-year-old financial independence aspirants living in Central Washington with our cute and mischievous toddler Eloise, and our not-as-cute but equally mischievous dog, Pilot. We stumbled across the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retired Early) concept 4 years ago and completely flipped our finances from a dismal cycle of paycheck…