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Early Retirement

Early Retirement is the ultimate goal of anyone seeking FIRE

Early Retirement

Anyone that has ever dreaded going into work has dreamt about retiring early.  It's safe to assume that nearly everyone has fantasized about taking their job and shoving it.

Take This Job and Shove It

While that sounds great, an early retirement isn't a good idea unless you've taken the time to set yourself up for success.

What you'll find here are articles, podcasts, videos and other kids of content that will help you create a strategy to retire early. Regardless of where you're at on your financial journey, we've got you covered. Browse around for amazing content that will help you create a rock solid plan to retire early.

Early Retirement Plan

Any successful retiree needs one thing: a financial portfolio that will last longer than you.  Take a look around this site for content that will help you build a portfolio that will allow you to reach financial independence and retire early.

5 Personal Finance Lessons from Short Track Speed Skating

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You can learn a lot about personal finance from this Olympic sport

Maybe it’s because I grew up in the sunny southeastern United States, but I’ve always found the winter Olympics to be captivating. Everything feels so exotic and novel to me. But the sport that produces the biggest adrenaline rush, in my opinion, will always be short track speed skating.

This series of events takes place on a small oval-shaped track. The races are very quick: the 500m men’s race finishes in about 40 seconds and includes aggressive attempts to pass competitors.

But the stakes are high. The close quarters and centrifugal force at the turns frequently result in crashes that completely remove skaters from the race — razor-sharp skates awry. [Read more…] about 5 Personal Finance Lessons from Short Track Speed Skating

401(k): A Complete Guide for Beginners

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Time and tide wait for none. What also does not wait is money. The reality of the American dream could hit you hard when you reach your retirement time. As a result, people fall for ignorant retirement mistakes leading to big problems. Especially, when there are bills to pay for a myriad of things, from electricity bills to the medical bills (trust me; no one will be perfectly healthy by that time with the way our lifestyle is going). So, you have to stress not only about your present but also your future. That is where 401(k) comes in.

As the cost of providing pensions have surmounted, the employers are replacing them with the 401(k) Retirement plan. A feasible retirement plan will help you remain monetarily stable and help you continue living your life. After all, little drops make the ocean. How is it different from other old-world investment and pension plans?

An introduction to 401(k):

A 401(k)-retirement plan is a defined-contribution plan. It is a plan in which employees can invest pre-tax dollars, the money before tax is deducted, in the capital markets. Further, the money they have invested gets mature in a tax-deferred way until the time of withdrawal, which is retirement in this case. [Read more…] about 401(k): A Complete Guide for Beginners

Interview with Chris Mamula: Lessons Learned About FIRE

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Lessons Learned About FI/RE - back of backpacker viewing lakeToday we’re sitting down with Chris Mamula, the primary author of the book Choose FI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence, to get his take on lessons learned about financial independence/retiring early. Chris retired at 41, and is a welcome part of the FIRE community. Let’s jump right in to the interview.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned about FIRE?

The biggest lesson that I’ve learned is if something isn’t working, change it. Even if change is painful in the short term, doing nothing is more painful in the long run.

Einstein has been credited as defining insanity as doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result. I agree. If you want a life that is different from most of the people around you, you have to choose a different path and have the courage to go down it. [Read more…] about Interview with Chris Mamula: Lessons Learned About FIRE

An Argument for Lifestyle Creep

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When lifestyle creep can be a powerful thingIf you’re in the FIRE community and you’ve heard of lifestyle creep, it’s probably been in negative context. Outside of questioning the 4% rule, it’s hard to think of bigger sin for FIRE folks than succumbing to lifestyle creep.

However, I’m not so sure it deserves such a bad rap.

Is spending more as you earn more money really such a bad thing? Can it derail your retirement plans? Shouldn’t you be investing more your index fund portfolio?

The short answer is, “yes” to all of the above.

The longer answer is, “yes, but there are ways you can smartly experience lifestyle creep without getting off track.”

We’ll dive into all those reasons and more, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First things first, what actually is Lifestyle Creep? [Read more…] about An Argument for Lifestyle Creep

When Can I Retire?

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When Can I Retire? is a question many have asked. There’s no perfect answer, because everyone has a set of unique circumstances that makes the answer different for them. But We can give you a ballpark answer to the question: When can I retire?

[Read more…] about When Can I Retire?