by Vicki Robin, Joe Dominguez and Monique Tilford · 31 Aug 1992 · 426pp · 115,150 words
phenomenon that changed the lives of millions and made voluntary simplicity the fastest-growing movement in America. My friendship with Vicki and her ideas of financial independence and conscious consumption changed my life, liberated me from the money chase, and unleashed my courage and creativity. As the fragility of our casino
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Everyone does.” —John de Graaf, coauthor of Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic “For well over a decade, this book has been the blueprint for achieving financial independence. You can always recognize those of us who followed its advice: We’re the folks with smiles on our faces and time on our hands
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is presented here in Your Money or Your Life. His teaching also lives on through his audio course, Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence (Sounds True). From 1969 on, he was a full-time volunteer and donated all proceeds from his teaching to transformational projects. Monique Tilford has
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’S NOTE Portions of this work first appeared in Joe Dominguez’s audio tape course and workbook entitled Transforming Your Relationship With Money and Achieving Financial Independence. “Purpose in Life” test LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA Robin, Vicki. Your money or your life : 9 steps to transforming your relationship
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with money and achieving financial independence / Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez.—Rev. ed. / rev. and updated with Monique Tilford and Vicki Robin p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN :
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these questions, this book is for you. INTRODUCTION Welcome to Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence, now updated and revised for the twenty-first century. New readers will benefit from this practical and transformational approach to earning and spending money. Returning
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lead people out of debt and into rapid savings. As the title of Joe Dominguez’s original seminar (“Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence”) suggests, there are two outcomes from doing this program: transformation and independence. Everyone who reads and heeds this book will indeed transform her relationship
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transform your relationship with money. You will go from FI thinking to FI living. FI thinking will lead naturally to Financial Intelligence, Financial Integrity and Financial Independence. Financial Intelligence Financial Intelligence is being able to step back from your assumptions and your emotions about money and observe them objectively. Does money really
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of your financial life in alignment with your values. If you follow the program presented in this book, it will lead inexorably to Financial Integrity. Financial Independence Financial Independence is the by-product of diligently following all the steps of the program outlined in this book. It is defined as having an income sufficient
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this book you will also discover that Financial Independence encompasses a lot more than having a secure income. It is also independence from crippling financial beliefs, from crippling debt and from a crippling inability
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to manage modern “conveniences.” Financial Independence is anything that frees you from a dependence on money to handle your life. What Is an “FIer”? “FIer” is our shorthand for a person
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who embodies FI thinking, who is gaining Financial Intelligence, learning Financial Integrity and moving naturally toward Financial Independence. Anyone who applies FI thinking to his or her life through following the steps of this program, we call an FIer. HOW THIS BOOK CAME
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steps and saw that they worked, they enthusiastically spread the word. And Joe began giving evening seminars called “Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence.” The demand increased, and the course became a daylong seminar with capacity crowds. In less than two years these seminars had been held in over
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distributed to other nonprofit organizations working for a better world. By 1991 over 30,000 people had taken “Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence.” The course had reached every state in the United States, every province of Canada and twenty foreign countries, and it had attracted the attention of
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this book and diligently applying the nine steps will transform your relationship with money and lead you to FI—Financial Intelligence, Financial Integrity and even Financial Independence. In this book you will also read the stories of individuals—from cooks to counselors, mathophobes to managers, trainers to truck drivers—whose lives
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world. Our global community requires that individuals reexamine and realign their thinking and their choices about their personal financial lives. Those participants who have achieved Financial Independence have discovered the fulfillment that comes from contributing their time, talent and love to the welfare of our planet and its inhabitants. It is the
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money, in the realm of personal responsibility, where we find our first definition of true Financial Independence. Our definition of Financial Independence cuts through the Gordian knot of not knowing what rich is. Financial Independence has nothing to do with rich. Financial Independence is the experience of having enough—and then some. Enough, you will remember, is found
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Judgment (blaming ourselves and others) is labeling things in terms of good and bad. On the road to transforming your relationship with money and achieving Financial Independence, you will find that judgment and blame do not serve. Discernment, on the other hand, is an essential skill. Discernment is sorting out the true
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of your unexamined and unrewarding spending patterns—painlessly. Integrity and Synergy This step helps you align values and behavior by adjusting one or the other. Financial Independence is built on Financial Integrity, and Financial Integrity is built on alignment of vision and values with action. As shocking as it may be to
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time. It’s like transforming a photo album into a moving picture: the Monthly Tabulations are like snapshots of particular moments in your journey toward Financial Independence, but the graph will make vivid your movement toward the goal, your progress over time. Your graph will be a “moving picture” in more
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has a name, one that has fallen into disuse in recent years. It’s called savings (see Figure 5-3). Savings are another form of Financial Independence. Financial Independence Is Money in the Bank How much are you saving now? What would your life be like if you had money to cover a year
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pursuing sales and, while her body got better, her personal financial picture got worse. She was glad that she and Ivy U. had started the Financial Independence support group of twenty people committed to working with the FI program. Their monthly meetings were islands of support and sanity where the cacophony of
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constant struggle with your finances will be released for making other, bigger dreams come true. With Step 8 the possibility of complete Financial Independence opens up. Naturally we will all be financially independent sometime between now and the day we die. (When they say “you can’t take it with you,” that doesn’t
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Americans do, awareness that you’re working for only a finite period will provide continued motivation to see your life as bigger than your job. FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE: HAVING ENOUGH—AND THEN SOME At the Crossover Point, where the income from your invested capital surpasses your monthly expenses, your basic life necessities and
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you might find yourself doing the same things, only differently. The irony of her post-FI work is not lost on Diane G. Since achieving Financial Independence she frequently finds herself sitting at a computer terminal doing programming. But now it’s completely different. Using skills that are as natural to her
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FI thinking is—whether or not you follow this particular program. Through some restructuring of their finances, Ted and Martha P. were able to achieve Financial Independence fairly soon after doing the FI program. While they both knew that they wanted their lives to serve some purpose higher than just getting by
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for a job. . . . AND THE ONES YOU LOVE Time with people—both family and friends—becomes a priority for many people who reach Financial Independence. Marcia M. achieved Financial Independence right after coordinating her second highly successful medical conference. Her expenses have remained around $950 a month—and she hasn’t scrimped on anything
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she’s really wanted to have or do. Marcia’s path to Financial Independence clarified many aspects of her life. After achieving Financial Independence, she had time to bring this clarity to her relationships with her family and heal the wounds of the past—
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what to do with their post-FI lives. We met Jason and Nedra Y. in Chapter 2 at the beginning of their journey. They achieved Financial Independence by building and managing a successful housecleaning business, and entered into an exciting career as volunteers. For the first few post-Crossover months they visited
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investment philosophy might be, type “risk tolerance” in your browser and take one of the many free tests available on the Web. THREE PILLARS OF FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE: CAPITAL, CUSHION AND CACHE The basic FI investment program has three elements: Capital: The sum that is invested, ultimately producing at least as much income
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makes your money go as far as possible. FI2 is Financial Integrity, aligning your earning and spending with your values and true fulfillment. FI3 is Financial Independence, which here is used to mean having enough income from investments to meet your needs now and in the future. Claire wrote: When we
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An increasing number of FIers are getting on the “socially responsible investing” SRI bandwagon because such investment vehicles allow them to merge their quest for financial independence with their humanitarian or environmental values. SRI has grown as a field from 55 socially screened mutual funds with $12 billion in assets in 2005
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4 you ask the question, “How might this expenditure change if I didn’t have to work for a living?” Most people who choose full Financial Independence find that their expenses go down significantly when they leave paid employment. No more commuting expenses, no more dress-for-success expenses, no more
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, or if that expenditure was not in full alignment with your values and purpose or if you could see expenses in that category diminishing after Financial Independence. + Mark a plus sign (or an up arrow) if you believe that upping this expenditure would increase fulfillment, would demonstrate greater personal alignment or
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would increase after Financial Independence. 0 Mark a 0 if that category is just fine on all counts. HOW:◆With total honesty. WHY:◆This is the core of the program
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“instinctive,” automatic lowering of expenses in those categories you labeled with a minus. ◆This Wall Chart will become the picture of your progress toward full Financial Independence, and you will use it for the rest of the program. It will provide inspiration, stimulus, support and gentle chiding. Step 6: Valuing Your
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to your actual monthly expenses. ◆You will have enough. ◆Your options are now wide open. ◆Celebrate! Step 9: Managing Your Finances The final step to financial independence: become knowledgeable and sophisticated about long-term income-producing investments so that you can manage your finances for a steady income sufficient to your needs
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with clear thinking and increased consciousness. Think for yourself. ◆Set up your financial plan using the three pillars:Capital: The income-producing core of your Financial Independence. Cushion: Enough ready cash, earning bank interest, to cover six months of expenses. Cache: The surplus of funds resulting from your continued practice of
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family money attitudes fear of inflation and recession as market driving force of not having enough Federal Reserve financial beliefs. See beliefs financial consultants (planners) financial independence (FI) achieving at crossover point being wealthy and as by-product of life celebrating choice as essence of definitions of FI thinking getting out of
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cache stop trying to impress other people substitution take care of what you have transportation costs vacations wearing it out savings as expense category and financial independence rates and salary chart vs. capital vs. consuming Schumacher, E. F. Schwartz, Bob security, money as Seid, Alan Seven Laws of Money, The (Phillips)
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investment income to awareness from hanging recording income and expenses Wall Street (movie) Wall Street Journal, The, bond information Wampler, Dave wealth, not equal to financial independence What Color Is Your Parachute? (Bolles) what-if worries What Wall Street Doesn’t Want You to Know (Swedroe) Wikipedia Wood, Vincent Woodman, Josef work
by Scott Rieckens and Mr. Money Mustache · 1 Jan 2019
FIRE movement. And he does it with deeply personal, honest, and captivating stories that keep the pages turning. If you’re at all interested in financial independence, retiring early, or just putting happiness ahead of money, you will enjoy this book.” — Chad Carson, creator of the blog Coach Carson and author of
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goals sooner.” — Brandon Ganch, Mad Fientist “What if you could change your life 180 degrees, break free of the paycheck-to-paycheck grind, and pursue financial independence? Scott and Taylor Rieckens chronicle their incredible turnaround in Playing with FIRE, and their brilliantly simple advice is applicable to anyone: Spend less than you
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space in your life to pursue true happiness and lifelong relationships.” — Brad Barrett and Jonathan Mendonsa, cohosts of the ChooseFI podcast “To the uninitiated, pursuing financial independence seems exotic, impossible, and/or daunting. But in fact, it is simple and has roots deep in the American psyche. If you wonder what this
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. Text design by Tona Pearce Myers and Rodrigo Calderon Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Rieckens, Scott, date, author. Title: Playing with fire (financial independence retire early) : how far would you go for financial freedom? / Scott Rieckens. Description: Novato, California : New World Library, [2019] | Includes index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018047667 (print
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the Heck Is an Index Fund? 105 Chapter 9: Getting Schooled in FIRE 123 FIRE Story: Sylvia ■ Seattle, WA How Hurricane Katrina Made Me Pursue Financial Independence 132 Chapter 10: Family and Frugality 135 Chapter 11: Dream House or Dream Life? 155 FIRE Story: Hannah ■ Denver, CO How a Fire Pushed Our
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sure didn’t stop us from trying. Then, at age thirty-three, I was introduced to a fascinating phenomenon known as FIRE, which stands for “financial independence retire early.” FIRE is a growing community of people of all types and income levels committed to lives of aggressive savings and low-cost investments
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term “retire early” in the movement’s name, I’ve found the people in the FIRE community often reject the word retire and its implications; financial independence is about having the freedom and flexibility to pursue your true calling, whether or not it makes any money. FIRE isn’t about drinking cocktails
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about Mr. Money Mustache and all the other amazing people who were talking about FIRE. In fact, as I googled articles about early retirement and financial independence, I realized there were thousands of other people doing this. I read about a couple who retired in their thirties with three THE MILLION-DOLLAR
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do with it. Today, years later, they are both FIRE advocates, but clearly, convincing your spouse can be a real obstacle on the road to financial independence, and it needs to be done thoughtfully and respectfully. The truth of our situation was that I couldn’t pursue FIRE without Taylor. Not only
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Think a little bit differently.” Taylor responded to the idea that FIRE is not inherently about being extreme. It’s simply about trying to pursue financial independence. The speed at which you get there and the choices you make along the way are up to you. Once she felt more encouraged that
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force you to retire once you reach your savings goals. Taylor and I both plan on working (in some form or another) once we reach financial independence, and even a small income should be enough to support us if the stock market dips. Social Security is yet another cushion. Most people pursuing
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a podcast called ChooseFI. During the first episode I listened to, the hosts, Brad Barrett and Jonathan Mendonsa, described how every person’s path to financial independence is different. It doesn’t make my way better or your way worse; it’s just whatever works for you. They said they were trying
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our long-term happiness ahead of short-term enjoyment. The hard part is staying the course. 67 FIRE Vehicle Guide Like most purchases in the financial independence community, there is a FIRE-approved method to buying a car, a triedand-true process that combines self-reflection, cash, and data. This doesn’t
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buy and eventually, when Jovie was born later that year, we simply rented a bigger, three-bedroom place. However, now that we were striving for financial independence, we reconsidered homeownership. After all, if we were going to spend $3,000 a month to live, why throw away that money on a rental
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and smaller Midwest towns. It made sense: Career opportunity was one of the biggest benefits of living in a larger city, and once someone reached financial independence, they wouldn’t need that benefit. Plus, the prevalence of remote work opportunities means it’s never been easier to earn a big-city salary
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making my own documentary in 2014, Inventing to Nowhere. All of a sudden, a light went on for me. After I hung up, I googled “financial independence documentary” and found a thread on Reddit titled “Documentaries relevant to FIRE.” But the only films mentioned were Minimalism and a short film called Slomo
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really surprised me. I knew Mr. Money Mustache had reached more than twenty-three million people. And there are nearly 400,000 people on the Financial Independence subreddit as of this writing. This was clearly a growing movement, so why was there no feature film that captured its message? I immediately started
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at Taylor’s parents’ home. October to December — Live rent-free in Iowa at Scott’s parents’ home. October — Go to Ecuador for Chautauqua (a financial independence retreat). Mid-December — Go back to Seattle for Christmas with Taylor’s parents. January 2018 — Rent for a month in Boise, ID. February — Rent for
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KALEN & KYLE The realization that I don’t have to work until the age of sixtyfive has been life-changing. I see the pursuit of financial independence as a vehicle to get in touch with the important things, bringing clarity to an often overwhelming and confusing world. For me the idea of
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this discourage us. Once we started saving and investing we realized how rich we were — it’s all relative to your lifestyle. Those interested in financial independence shouldn’t let their salary deter them from saving as much as they can. The Best Part The biggest positive has been the consciousness shift
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achieve FIRE and change our lives on our own. We needed help from people who were in the process of reaching or had already reached financial independence. This was about emotional support as much as practical advice. Although we wanted to find a balance with our non-FIRE friends, we had
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that distill his advice on investing and personal finance, which are also available in his book, The Simple Path to Wealth: Your Road Map to Financial Independence and a Rich, Free Life. JL’s writing style is very approachable and fun, and he makes investing easy to understand; his work is also
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a striking difference between those who were driven by FIRE and those who were not: The former were on the path to (or had found) financial independence, and frugality was their superpower. They weren’t afraid to take risks because they were hedging their bets with high savings rates and realistic money
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missing the chance to earn us money in the stock market. 131 sylvia<FS> FIRE STORY SYLVIA ■ SEATTLE, WA How Hurricane Katrina Made Me Pursue Financial Independence By the Numbers Pre-FI career: Trial lawyer Current age: 38 Age at FI: 32 Current annual spending: $20,000 PLAYING WITH FIRE What FIRE
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would we have to give up? And even if we could do it now, what about five years from now? What about when we reached financial independence? Is this what our “retirement” was going to look like, a life without restaurant dinners, Christmas gift-giving, or trips to foreign countries? I
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of low expenses was gone. In fact, I’d reached the moment I’d always wondered about when other people described how they had achieved financial independence through FIRE. Did they ever get depressed always picking the frugal option? Didn’t they ever just want to throw budgets to the wind and
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walked me through the numbers (for a summary of this, see “What Actually Happens If the Stock Market Crashes,” page 41). The upshot is that “financial independence” is entirely self-defined. How much you need to save, and for how long, depends on how much you spend, the rate of inflation, the
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hundreds of other factors. The specific numbers aside, Brandon emphasized that patience and flexibility are vital ingredients in a sound FIRE plan. Focusing on reaching financial independence by a predetermined date and obsessing about market returns and every expenditure can be detrimental. If you follow the core FIRE principles — spend less than
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pursuing their passions. In reality, a person’s pre-FIRE and post-FIRE lives can end up blending together seamlessly. The specific date you reach financial independence is either a blurry moving target or simply a checkmark on a calendar. “Set a course and go live your life,” Brandon advised. “But what
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of time thinking about the why of financial independence. Recently, J. D. helped me create a personal mission statement. This exercise is powerful for anyone, regardless of financial situation, but it’s especially powerful
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kids, the cat, the dog, the daily grind of working hard in a high-costof-living area. We started listening to podcasts about minimalism and financial independence with the hope of teaching In a Nutshell DENVER, CO ■ FIRE STORY: HANNAH ourselves how to live a life closer to our values. Our
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in their RV, working odd jobs for extra money. “We are trying to find the balance between having fun now and still working toward full financial independence,” Adrienne explained. Across the fire, Taylor was trading stories about her years working at Microsoft with a woman who was currently working at Amazon. The
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woman said that her desire for financial independence wasn’t about not working — she loved working — but she wanted to build her own business without putting her family at financial risk. I was
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cold (like climbing Mount Everest in shorts) by using breathing techniques to control his nervous system and immune system. How was this 173 connected to financial independence? “It’s about taking control of your health,” one attendee mused. Another made the connection more directly: “Mustachianism is about optimizing happiness, and that’s
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had barely had a minute alone since we arrived. This exemplified one of the changes we had been experiencing since we started this journey to financial independence. We were more willing to question activities or decisions that we would have blindly agreed to before. Did we really want to hike a mountain
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expenses 120,000 annual savings 22,000 monthly expenses 10,000 monthly savings 1,833 If we had changed nothing, we wouldn’t have reached financial independence until I was seventy-two years old and Taylor was seventy-one. Jovie would have been forty-two, probably with kids of her own.
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on something that is more meaningful, whether it’s creating a musical album or learning a foreign language or homeschooling your children. People who reach financial independence do all kinds of very innovative projects. I think that when you can engage in that type of innovation and creativity without having to worry
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29, 2018, https://tim.blog/2017/02/13/mr-money-mustache. Page 78, there are nearly 400,000 people on the Financial Independence subreddit: “Initial Financial Independence Survey Results Are Here!,” Reddit (r/financial independence), accessed August 29, 2018, https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence. Page 85, Amazingly enough, they mentioned the documentary project: Jonathan Mendonsa
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Anything (blog), 109, 182 alcohol, 12–13, 144, 150, 183 Alexa rankings, 26 Amazon.com, 18, 20 American dream, 12 Aristotle, 2 Barrett, Brad: on financial independence paths, 38–39, 43; at FinCon, 124; on FIRE benefits, 181; on FIRE popularity, 183; on money manager fees, 114; Playing with FIRE documentary and
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for, 93, 94; holiday gifts and, 142–44, 150, 152–53; housing, 126, 188–89; “sunk cost fallacy” and, 62–63 expenses: “Big Three,” 50; financial independence and, 149; “fun,” 50; keeping less than earnings, 126–29; “lifestyle creep” and, 9; medical, 45–46; retirement calculator using, 39–41; tracking, 51–55
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, 56, 57–58 Dog Fancy (magazine), 156 dollar cost averaging (DCA), 128 Dominguez, Joe, 99 down payments, 81, 127 203 PLAYING WITH FIRE 204 FIRE (financial independence retire early) (continued ) residence location and, 77; Robin’s advice for, 99; Seven Steps to, 187–89; spousal discussions about, 34; spread of, 183; Taylor
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, FOX, Taylor Guitars, WIRED, and others. Scott’s latest endeavor, Playing with FIRE, explores the growing community of frugal-minded folks choosing a path to financial independence and early retirement. He and his family reside in Bend, Oregon. ABOUT THE AUTHOR playingwithfire.co 209 NEW WORLD LIBRARY is dedicated to publishing books
by John J. Vento · 31 Mar 2013 · 368pp · 145,841 words
material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Vento, John. Financial independence (getting to point X): an advisor’s guide to comprehensive wealth management / John Vento. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-1-118-46021-4 (
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Momma and Poppa, I love you, miss you, and think about you every single day! ffirs.indd vii 26/02/13 11:17 AM “Financial Independence” To achieve financial independence, one must know the difference between invested assets, personal use assets, and liabilities, as well as the difference between needs and wants. Wealthy people
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to everyone at John Wiley & Sons for giving me this opportunity to expand financial literacy throughout the country by sharing the knowledge necessary to achieve financial independence. Special thanks to Laura Walsh, xvii flast.indd xvii 26/02/13 2:48 PM xviii Acknowledgments Senior Editor, Digital Business Development, at John
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I provide hundreds of tax facts and strategies that will help you accelerate your wealth accumulation and dramatically increase your chances of reaching point X, financial independence. Take a Financial Planning Checkup Before we begin to discuss hard figures, you should evaluate your financial situation by completing the Comprehensive Wealth Management Questionnaire
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will provide you with the necessary tools to pursue your financial goals. In short, I will guide you toward reaching your own personal point X, financial independence. Using financial planning strategies––the 10 key issues to comprehensive wealth management––and many real-life (though anonymous) client stories––I show how to navigate
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will not only minimize your biggest expense, you will maximize the money you can put into your pocket (or your investment portfolio), helping you reach financial independence. Thus, this book is a complete resource for anyone concerned with building wealth and financial security in today’s no-guarantee financial environment. Authoritative, comprehensive
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budget for these special situations, and earmark these funds for that special purpose. Nevertheless, you should never sacrifice your primary long-term goal of achieving financial independence in order to meet these other shorter-term desires. Easier Said Than Done Granted, a world of difference exists between knowing what to do and
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so your personal tax burden does not deplete your income unnecessarily, and your wealth accumulates quickly and safely. Tax laws are incredibly complicated, and there Financial Independence ( Getting to Point X ) : An Advisor’s Guide to Comprehensive W ealth Management © 2013 John Vento.. Published 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. John
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competence to prepare tax returns. These services are best for people with straightforward, simple returns. c02.indd 17 26/02/13 10:58 AM 18 Financial Independence (Getting to Point X ) EAs are required to pass an extensive examination on various topics of taxation and must also meet minimum continuing education requirements
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Also, like many people, they are subsidizing their overspending by increasing their credit-card debt. If they continue on this path, they may never achieve financial independence. They clearly need to make changes in their cash flow so that they can increase their invested assets (pay yourself first), turn their discretionary cash
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and believe their probability of defaulting on their loans does not exist. Once again, you cannot move forward effectively and efficiently on the road to financial independence until you clean up the liabilities section of your Statement of Financial position—in other words, your debts. Minimizing your liabilities and reducing your costs
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young couple are normally dramatically different than for an older couple in their retirement years. For example, a young couple may need health insurance to Financial Independence ( Getting to Point X ) : An Advisor’s Guide to Comprehensive W ealth Management © 2013 John Vento.. Published 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. John
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and rehab expenses, disability income, and lump-sum payments for death and certain severe injuries. c05.indd 107 26/02/13 11:09 AM 108 Financial Independence (Getting to Point X ) The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable
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adequate long-term care insurance policy is probably the easiest way you can accomplish this. c05.indd 113 26/02/13 11:09 AM 114 Financial Independence (Getting to Point X ) There are numerous other planning options available that fall under the umbrella of Medicaid planning, which include Medicaid trusts, retaining
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needs and make sure you are sufficiently covered. Protecting your property by implementing the proper risk management strategies is critical to achieving and maintaining your financial independence. The type and extent of insurance you need will change throughout your lifetime, as will the types of assets and the extent of wealth you
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and Phelps; if you are evaluating an insurance company through AM Best, look for a rating of “A–” or better. Throughout your journey to financial independence, you never know what unexpected property risk issues may arise. Being prepared for the unexpected is precisely what insuring and protecting your property is all
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mind of knowing you and your property will be protected. Being unprepared for the unexpected can rob you and your family of your pursuit to financial independence. $ TAXFACTS AND STRATEGIES1 FOR PROTECTING YOUR PROPERTY • Generally, the cost of personal homeowner’s, automobile, boat, and umbrella liability insurance are not tax-deductible.
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part of their lives. There is no more satisfying feeling than helping clients and their children achieve their financial goals and live out their dreams. Financial Independence ( Getting to Point X ) : An Advisor’s Guide to Comprehensive W ealth Management © 2013 John Vento.. Published 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. John
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there is a less-costly college-selection alternative. Planning and paying for your child’s education is one of the keys to achieving and maintaining financial independence. Strategies for Saving Money for College Education Here are four of the most commonly used strategies for saving money for a college education: 1.
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account before he even graduates from college. This would give your child an amazing start and advantage to achieving and reaching his or her own financial independence. I always encourage children and their parents to start saving for retirement as soon as possible. Government Grants and Loans When you consider the multitude
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plans. Once you have a good understanding of the various qualified retirement plan options available, you will be in a much better position to achieve financial independence. These retirement plans are by far the most tax-efficient weapons available to you in your pursuit to accumulating wealth. The fact that the
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some of these guarantees are exactly what makes variable annuities so valuable to many individuals. c08.indd 211 26/02/13 2:51 PM 212 Financial Independence (Getting to Point X ) Some financial analysts believe that retirees may get more financial security by combining insurance products and mutual funds.4 Most people
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to their variable annuity. This will bring their total savings to $25,000 starting this year, which is more than they need to achieve financial independence in retirement.5 $ TAX FACTS AND STRATEGIES6 FOR PLANNING FOR RETIREMENT Here are several tax strategies that will help you reach your retirement planning goals
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certain circumstances revenue bonds can be subject to federal, state, or local alternative minimum tax. c09.indd 229 26/02/13 2:51 PM 230 Financial Independence (Getting to Point X ) Exhibit 9.2 Municipal versus Corporate Bonds In State Municipal Bonds Rate Corporate Bond Equivalent Rate at Marginal Federal, Local
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these fees may include shareholder transaction costs, investment advisory fees, and marketing and distribution expenses. c09.indd 231 26/02/13 2:51 PM 232 Financial Independence (Getting to Point X ) When you invest in a mutual fund, you are pooling your money together with many other investors under the common
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important to understand that asset allocation and diversification do not guarantee against loss. They are simply strategies that may help smooth the ride to your financial independence, point X. It is fundamental to find a mixture of asset classes with the highest potential return within your risk profile. Exhibit 9.4
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they are actually implementing the dollar-cost averaging investment strategy. As I have mentioned repeatedly throughout this book, there is no better way to achieving financial independence than by doing it in a tax-efficient manner. Combining these investment strategies with a systematic savings plan that includes paying yourself first is the
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taxes are perhaps the two biggest drains on your investment returns. Taking these factors into consideration is very important in your journey to achieving financial independence. The technical definition of inflation is the rise in consumer prices over time. It is vital to your savings that your investment returns keep pace
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have worked hard, lived within your means, followed the guidance provided in this book, and reached your very own point X, financial independence. Congratulations! Your whole life, you dreamed of becoming financially independent for the benefit of yourself and your family; now it is time to turn your attention to preserving your estate so
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while you are alive. • Potentially eliminate capital gains tax. • Potentially eliminate or reduce estate taxes. c10.indd 273 26/02/13 2:47 PM 274 Financial Independence (Getting to Point X ) These types of trust include the following: • • • • Charitable lead annuity trust (CLAT). Charitable lead unitrust (CLUT). Charitable remainder unitrust (CRUT).
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financial planner who can analyze your financial status and assist you in setting up and implementing a financial program to achieve your ultimate goal of financial independence. Developing a close relationship is critical to your overall success because your advisor should understand you and have a clear picture of your financial goals
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and other relevant credentials. A good place to start would be visiting their websites, and then the licensing board website for whatever credentials they hold. Financial Independence ( Getting to Point X ) : An Advisor’s Guide to Comprehensive W ealth Management © 2013 John Vento.. Published 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. John
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) to be required to be subject to this higher standard. When evaluating who you should rely on to guide you through your life journey of financial independence, selecting the proper trusted advisor is critically important. When evaluating your choices of advisors, you should ask to what standard they are being held.
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of risk associated with investments that offer the potential for higher rates of return. You should consult with your representative before making any investment decision. Financial Independence ( Getting to Point X ) : An Advisor’s Guide to Comprehensive W ealth Management © 2013 John Vento.. Published 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. John
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more per day. Your family finances should be discussed and shared with your entire family so that a cooperative commitment to financial responsibility and ultimately financial independence can be achieved. Go to www.finance.yahoo.com/calculator, scroll down to “Saving & Spending,” and click on “How much should I save to
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by the bank or any bank affiliate May lose value Comprehensive Wealth Management, Ltd. is not a registered broker/dealer or independent investment advisory firm. Financial Independence ( Getting to Point X ) : An Advisor’s Guide to Comprehensive W ealth Management © 2013 John Vento.. Published 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. John
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, 145 Business loans, 98 Business ownership, 60 Cadillac plans, 111 Calculators, on line auto loan calculator, 81 college cost calculators, 185 college funding calculator, 161 Financial Independence ( Getting to Point X ) : An Advisor’s Guide to Comprehensive W ealth Management © 2013 John Vento.. Published 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. John
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124 Financial goal establishment action plan for financial position, 65 financial goals, 59–61 point X, 58–59 trusted advisers, 61–65 wealth, 57–61 Financial independence, 35 Financial net worth, 29 Financial position determination about, 23 asset identification, 29 cash flow sense, 35–50 case study, 24–29 cash inflows,
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162 Variable life insurance, 126 Viatical settlement company, 131 Waiting period, 117 Wants vs. needs, 5, 185 Wealth. See also Debt; Debt management; Point X (financial independence) defined, 57 inflation and taxes, 245 insurance choice, 127, 133 lifestyle, 57–58, 65 pay yourself first (practice), 35 qualified retirement plans, 200 tax planning
by J L Collins · 17 Jun 2016 · 194pp · 59,336 words
it. And to the readers of www.jlcollinsnh.com whose questions and comments over the years helped me more fully understand what those aspiring to financial independence want and need to know. Disclaimer The ideas, concepts and everything else in this book are simply my opinion based on what has worked for
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not in the lab lighting things on fire or blowing them up, Kelly, her husband, and their cat Apollo write about their own journey to financial independence at www.frugalparadise.com. Rich Carey is a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force so, of course, I told him he didn’t
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peace negotiations. He is fluent in Chinese and also speaks Japanese. More importantly, for my purposes, he is a native English speaker. His avocation is financial independence and his approach has allowed him to pay off his D.C. townhouse and student loans in six years. He also has purchased several rental
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norm, it was especially important to me that the facts be correct. So I used three fact checkers. Two of the very smartest writers on financial independence out there today are the Mad Fientist of www.madfientist.com (a financial blog that includes the occasional travel post) who is still trying to
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Adeney, a.k.a Mr. Money Mustache (www.mrmoneymustache.com), graciously agreed to write the foreword. Pete is a major force in the world of financial independence and has been a longtime supporter of my blog and investing approach. He is also the first person I asked to be a speaker at
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me, it is better to be closer to the monk. Chapter III My story: It has never been about retirement For me, the pursuit of financial independence has never been about retirement. I like working and I’ve enjoyed my career. It’s been about having options. It’s been about being
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able to do exactly what she wants with her life and time. She’s after 10 million, far more than it takes to reach simple financial independence. At least for me. It helps to have a bit of the monk inside. The other thing I quickly figured out is that
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financial independence is at least as much about being able to live modestly as it is about cash, as our opening parable describes. Unlike in the novel,
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intended), better. So we have no cattle, gold, annuities, royalties and the like. When I quit work in 2011 and we fully settled into our financial independence, we still had a couple of leftover investments from earlier times. These represented the last remnants of the many investing mistakes I’ve made over
…
. I had no one to tell me stock picking was a sucker’s game or that swinging for the fences isn’t needed to reach financial independence. That last point alone would have saved me the $50,000 of my money Mariah International (a gold mining penny stock) burned through while failing
…
. In fact, most will see it as their ticket into the “good life.” But let’s be clear. This book is about guiding you towards financial independence. It is about buying your financial freedom. It is about helping you become wealthy and putting you in control of your financial destiny. Look around
…
lifestyle and made diverting the excess cash to your debt your path, you will have also created exactly the platform required to begin building your financial independence. Once the debt is gone, you need only shift the money to investments. Where once you had the satisfaction of watching your debt diminish, you
…
or that are far more expensive than prudent. Shamefully, this overspending is often encouraged by real estate agents and mortgage brokers. If your goal is financial independence, it is also to hold as little debt as possible. This means you’ll seek the least house to meet your needs rather than the
…
time, so it helps to start young. Of course, a million dollars is a very arbitrary goal. Perhaps the better question is: Can everybody achieve financial independence? On blogs like www.earlyretirementextreme.com and www.mrmoneymustache.com, you’ll find countless stories of people with modest incomes who by way of frugal
…
year-end bonus. Somewhat stunningly, listening to him list his expenses, he was right. He was burning through more than $175,000 every three months. Financial independence was a distant dream for him. Money is a very relative thing. Right now I have roughly $100 in my wallet. For some (very wealthy
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go broke while low-income earners get there—than what you value. Money can buy many things, none of which is more important than your financial independence. Here’s the simple formula: Spend less than you earn—invest the surplus—avoid debt As we discussed in the introduction, do only this and
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in money. But if your lifestyle matches or exceeds your income, you forfeit your hopes of financial independence. Let’s consider an example. Suppose you make $25,000 per year and you decide you want to be financially independent. Using some of the lifestyle tips from the blogs above, you’d want to organize
…
are working and have earned income to save and invest. For this stage I favor 100% stocks and VTSAX is the fund I prefer. If financial independence is your goal, your savings rate in these years should be high. As you invest that money each month it serves to smooth out the
…
, because it tends to encourage saving greater dollar amounts, it is more in keeping with the ethic of this book. For anyone serious about achieving financial independence, taking full advantage of all your tax-deferred opportunities is a must. And doing so starts to get you into a respectable saving rate. But
…
income taxes on them begin to rise. Do this for the next ten years or so and you’ll be well on your way to financial independence. Save more than 50% and you’ll get there sooner. Save less and it will take a bit longer. If you get lucky with the
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start) two things will happen: Your career will be hitting its strongest surge and you will be closing in on financial independence. Once 4% of your assets can cover your expenses, consider yourself financially independent. Put another way, financial independence = 25x your annual expenses. That is, if you are living on $20,000 you have reached
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financial independence with $500,000 invested. If, like our friend Mike Tyson used to, you are living on $400,000 a month/$4
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you are done working, diversify into bonds. The more bonds you add, the smoother the ride but the lower the growth. Once you’ve reached financial independence and are able to live on 4% of your holdings, should you so choose, now is the time: To begin expanding your lifestyle. Just be
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a billionaire as we discussed in Chapter 32. To have children, if you plan to. You are still plenty young enough, financially secure and with financial independence you can arrange your affairs in such a fashion as to give them the time they deserve. To consider buying a house, if you are
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and study developing and managing my own. For those who don’t want to do this, I’d recommend this book. If your goal is financial independence, you’re going to need strategies that are optimal for your skills, talents, and temperament. Those in The Simple Path to Wealth will serve you
…
interesting. He makes complicated subjects simple and easy to understand. The Simple Path to Wealth is the first book I recommend to people curious about financial independence.” Mike Moyer Mike and Lauren on YouTube www.mikeandlauren.com “There are loads of books on investing. This is the one to get. It is
by Elizabeth Willard Thames · 6 Mar 2018 · 179pp · 59,704 words
6: Our Watershed Coffee Shop Conversation: A Dream Is Hatched 7: Our First Month of Extreme Frugality 8: Less Makeup, More Confidence 9: What Is Financial Independence Anyway? 10: Turns Out, Frugality Is About More Than Money. Much More. 11: Fighting Back Against the Baby-Industrial Complex 12: That One Time We
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conceive a baby and attempting to chart a path out of our frenzied nine-to-five grind in urban Cambridge, Massachusetts. We wanted to achieve financial independence, quit the cubicle jobs that made us so unhappy, and create a simpler life of purpose in a rural setting. This is the story of
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used our time in order to achieve deep fulfillment and lasting contentment. I’ve heard people say things along the lines of “anyone can achieve financial independence” and “people are poor because they don’t work hard enough” and “my success stems entirely from my own efforts” and I disagree with all
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. I’m not a missed paycheck away from bankruptcy. I choose to be frugal and I choose to live a lifestyle that has granted me financial independence. But it’s no more due to my own aptitude than the fact that I can read and write. Sure, I had to work hard
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had parents and teachers helping me out at every turn. I wish I could say that if everyone followed my advice, they too could reach financial independence, but that’s simply not the case. There are too many layers of institutional privilege enabling my story for it to be replicable for everyone
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done all manner of fancy spreadsheet calculations on how much money we could save and invest each month, and thus how quickly we could reach financial independence, but now it was time to see if his predictions were right. Our watershed coffee shop conversation was on March 29, 2014, and so the
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life. I came to understand that, in the end, the only person who truly cares how you live your life is you. 9 What Is Financial Independence Anyway? It’d been over a year since Nate and I made the decision to abandon our conventional lives, and we were smack in the
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was simply a matter of depositing money into our accounts every month and waiting for the totals to reach the number that would equal our financial independence. The phrase “financial independence” is a bit problematic in its vagueness, and there are many different interpretations of what exactly it entails. I view
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financial independence as the point at which you no longer have to earn money in order to live. In other words, your assets are such that you
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home repair/change in employment/family situation as an example of why you need an emergency fund. If you’re just starting out on your financial independence journey, one of the very first steps is to build up an emergency fund of cash. There’s no substitute for this, and there’s
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and I have, your portfolio might be quite different, which is totally fine. There’s no one right way to achieve financial stability and, eventually, financial independence. Here is a step-by-step plan that can serve as your guide for getting started: Determine your goals. What do you want out of
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or side hustle. There are a number of different formulas that people use to determine how much money they’ll need in order to reach financial independence, but at the most basic level, it’s a question of how much money you need to live on every year. In light of that
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, there are actually only three variables in the financial independence equation: income, expenses, and time. The less you spend, the more you save, the faster you save it, and the less money you need overall
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. Considered in this context, frugality is a compounding proposition and one of the fastest ways to reach financial independence. A high salary alone is meaningless if you don’t save any of it. The more distance you can put between your earnings and your
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there are other factors that also must be considered, such as your personal tolerance for risk, dependents, and health care, a very basic definition of financial independence is as follows: when a sustainable level of withdrawals from your assets is more than your ongoing expenses. Well that all sounds as good as
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a box of cupcakes. But the crucial third variable in achieving financial independence—time—became a sharp thorn stuck inside my left sock as we rounded our first year of goal pursuit. I need to be active, proactive
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the bathroom. Since keeping this Cambridge home as a rental property after we made our move to the woods was a key aspect of our financial independence plan, we decided to tackle cosmetic renovations in order to boost the home’s appeal (and hopefully, the rental price). First up were the kitchen
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; but we’d saved at such a high rate that we’d walked our way right out of the culture of more and right into financial independence. Nearly anyone with a decent job could do what we’ve done, yet very few do. Why? Because it takes short-term sacrifice, long-term
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for nonprofit/mission-based organizations, we made good money. And the more you earn, the more you can save and the quicker you can reach financial independence. That’s not to say that it can’t be done on lower salaries or with fewer built-in privileges, merely that the road was
by JL Collins · 191pp · 66,998 words
and study developing and managing my own. For those who don’t want to do this, I’d recommend this book. If your goal is financial independence, you’re going to need strategies that are optimal for your skills, talents, and temperament. Those in The Simple Path to Wealth will serve you
…
interesting. He makes complicated subjects simple and easy to understand. The Simple Path to Wealth is the first book I recommend to people curious about financial independence.” —Mike Moyer, Mike and Lauren TV (YouTube) “There are loads of books on investing. This is the one to get. It is smart, thorough, and
…
Before It Was Fashionable: A Cautionary Tale Pathfinders: Extraordinary Stories of People like You on the Quest for Financial Independence—and How to Join Them The Simple Path to Wealth Your Road Map to Financial Independence and a Rich, Free Life JL Collins First Draft, an imprint of Authors Equity 1123 Broadway, Suite 1008
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inspired me to write it. And to my readers, whose questions and comments over the years helped me more fully understand what those aspiring to financial independence want and need to know. Start Here The ideas, concepts, and everything else in this book are my opinions based on what has worked for
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may be helpful to know more about where I’m coming from. My Story: It Has Never Been About Retirement For me, the pursuit of financial independence has never been about retirement. I like working, and I’ve enjoyed my career. It’s been about having options. It’s been about being
…
able to do exactly what she wants with her life and time. She’s after ten million—far more than it takes to reach simple financial independence. At least for me. It helps to have a bit of the monk inside. The other thing I quickly figured out is that
…
financial independence is at least as much about being able to live modestly as it is about cash, as our opening parable describes. Unlike in the novel,
…
intended), better. So we have no cattle, gold, annuities, crypto, or the like. When I quit work in 2011 and we fully settled into our financial independence, we still had a couple of leftover investments from earlier times. These represented the last remnants of the many investing mistakes I’ve made over
…
. I had no one to tell me stock picking was a sucker’s game or that swinging for the fences isn’t needed to reach financial independence. That last point alone would have saved me the $50,000 of my money Mariah International (a gold-mining penny stock) burned through while failing
…
showed how deeply she has come to understand and embrace The Path. Indeed, now in her early thirties, she is closing in on her own financial independence. Even so, she still likes to tease me, saying, “You know, Dad, if I had listened to you when I was young, there would be
…
. In fact, most will see it as their ticket into the “good life.” But let’s be clear. This book is about guiding you toward financial independence. It is about buying your financial freedom. It is about helping you become wealthy and putting you in control of your financial destiny. Look around
…
lifestyle and made diverting the excess cash to your debt your path, you will have also created exactly the platform required to begin building your financial independence. With the debt gone, you need only shift the money to investments. Where once you had the satisfaction of watching your debt diminish, you’ll
…
or that are far more expensive than prudent. Shamefully, this overspending is often encouraged by real estate agents and mortgage brokers. If your goal is financial independence, it is also to hold as little debt as possible. This means you’ll seek the least house to meet your needs rather than the
…
time, so it helps to start young. Of course, a million dollars is a very arbitrary goal. Perhaps the better question is, Can everybody achieve financial independence? On blogs like Early Retirement Extreme and Mr. Money Mustache, you’ll find countless stories of people with modest incomes who by way of frugal
…
stunningly, listening to him list his expenses, he was right. He was burning through more than $175,000 ($359,810 in 2024) every three months. Financial independence was a distant dream for him. Money is a very relative thing. Right now, I have roughly $200 in my wallet. For some (very wealthy
…
go broke, while low-income earners get there—than what you value. Money can buy many things, none of which is more important than your financial independence. Here’s the simple formula: Spend less than you earn—Invest the surplus—Avoid debt. As we already discussed, do only this and you’ll
…
in money. But if your lifestyle matches or exceeds your income, you forfeit your hopes of financial independence. Let’s consider an example. Suppose you make $50,000 per year and you decide you want to be financially independent. Using some of the lifestyle tips from the blogs mentioned earlier, you’d want to
…
are working and have earned income to save and invest. For this stage, I favor 100% stocks, and VTSAX is the fund I prefer. If financial independence is your goal, your savings rate in these years should be high. As you invest that money each month, it serves to smooth out the
…
because it tends to encourage saving greater dollar amounts, it is more in keeping with the ethic of this book. For anyone serious about achieving financial independence, taking full advantage of all your tax-deferred opportunities is a must. And doing so starts to get you into a respectable savings rate. But
…
income taxes on them begin to rise. • Do this for the next ten years or so and you’ll be well on your way to financial independence. • Save more than 50% and you’ll get there sooner. Save less and it will take a bit longer. • If you get lucky with the
…
things will happen: Your career will be hitting its strongest surge, and you will be closing in on financial independence. • Once 4% of your assets can cover your expenses, consider yourself financially independent. • Put another way, financial independence = twenty-five times your annual expenses. • That is, if you are living on $60,000, you have reached
…
financial independence with $1,500,000 invested. • If, like our friend Mike Tyson used to, you are living on $400,000
…
you are done working, diversify into bonds. The more bonds you add, the smoother the ride but the lower the growth. Once you’ve reached financial independence and are able to live on 4% of your holdings, should you so choose, now is the time: • To begin expanding your lifestyle. Just be
…
billionaire, as we discussed in Chapter 32. • To have children, if you plan to. You are still plenty young enough and financially secure, and with financial independence, you can arrange your affairs in such a fashion as to give them the time they deserve. • To consider buying a house, if you are
…
here’s another, better way to think about it: No matter when you start, if you follow the principles in this book, the journey to financial independence will take about ten to fifteen years, depending largely on your savings rate. So you can be older and still have plenty of runway to
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, you might not get one. But you won’t come up with a handful of mud either.” How do I know when I’ve achieved financial independence? The math is simple, a balance between the level of your Assets and the level of your Spending: A × 4% = S. For example, if you
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again. But they love their jobs and wake up every day and, as Warren Buffett says he does, tap dance their way to work. Reaching financial independence doesn’t mean you have to quit a job you love. But suppose you have a soul-crushing job, need $50,000 a year, but
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, this wardrobe, this vacation, this . . . well, the list is endless. The more must-haves in your life, the less likely you are to reach financial independence. Indeed, unless financial independence is your number-one must-have, this path will be longer, more difficult, and maybe not for you. Resources Unless noted, the online addresses
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was especially important to me to get the facts right. So I used three fact-checkers. This included two of the very smartest writers on financial independence out there today: the Mad Fientist, a blogger who is still trying to preserve some of his privacy, and Jeremy Jacobson of the Go Curry
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nonfinancial types. Pete Adeney, a.k.a. Mr. Money Mustache, graciously agreed to write the foreword. Pete is a major force in the world of financial independence and has been a longtime supporter of my blog and investing approach. That was reason enough to ask him; the fact that he readily agreed
by Clayton Geoffreys · 16 May 2015 · 44pp · 13,346 words
Extreme Early Retirement: An Introduction and Guide to Financial Independence Copyright © 2015 by Clayton Geoffreys All rights reserved. Neither this book nor any portion thereof may be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without
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/About the Author Foreword A lot of times people believe they need to work until they are well into their 60s in order to achieve financial independence and to retire safely. In today’s day and age, the old model towards retirement is antiquated. Early extreme retirement is now more possible than
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of your retirement portfolio, you can sustain your current lifestyle while accounting for inflation). Hopefully from reading Extreme Early Retirement: An Introduction and Guide to Financial Independence, I can provide you with a basic understanding of how many people today are retiring earlier and enjoying life on their terms due to their
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of different towns and sharing them with people beginning to explore their retirement options. If you enjoyed Extreme Early Retirement: An Introduction and Guide to Financial Independence, please leave a review! Also, you can read more of my general works on Best Places to Retire in Florida, Best Places to Retire on
by Thomas Stanley and William Danko · 15 Nov 2010 · 273pp · 78,850 words
setting economic goals and the great happiness gained from achieving them. Yes, in the context of economic achievement, it is the trip, the journey to financial independence about which the millionaires next door most often boast. Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D. June 2010 Atlanta, Georgia Visit Dr. Stanley at www.thomasjstanley.com
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. They live well below their means. 2. They allocate their time, energy, and money efficiently, in ways conducive to building wealth. 3. They believe that financial independence is more important than displaying high social status. 4. Their parents did not provide economic outpatient care. 5. Their adult children are economically self-sufficient
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to make the necessary trade-offs of your time, energy, and consumption habits, however, you can begin building wealth and achieving financial independence. The Millionaire Next Door will start you on this journey. * * * * For details on how we targeted respondents for our survey, see Appendix 1. These people
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not to drain their parents’ wealth. Members of the Scottish-ancestry group have been able to instill their values of thrift, discipline, economic achievement, and financial independence in successive generations. These values are also typical traits among most self-made millionaires. SMALL POPULATIONS Often small-population groups are underrepresented in studies of
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does Johnny Lucas get ignored while Mr. King receives headlines? Because Johnny’s consumption habits are mundane. His rewards are more intangible than product-related: financial independence; discipline; and being an excellent family provider, a fine husband, and a father of well-disciplined children. THE LAST CHANCE FOR MR. LUCAS Is there
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today and still invest a minimum of 15 percent each year? No, it’s not easy. But it’s not easy being financially dependent, either. FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE We once asked a high-income/low-net worth corporate manager (we will refer to him as Mr. Rodney) a simple question: Why is it
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vacation home that needed to be fixed up, and taxes. Ironically, Mr. Rodney wants “eventually to become financially independent.” But like most UAWs, Mr. Rodney is not realistic in this regard. He has sold his financial independence. What if he had taken full advantage of the tax-advantaged benefit from the time he was
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money? Because being a well-educated, high-income earner does not automatically translate into financial independence. It takes planning and sacrificing. What if your goal is to become financially independent? Your plan should be to sacrifice high consumption today for financial independence tomorrow. Every dollar you earn to spend is first discounted by the tax man
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several. Choose the one who has the highest concentration of PAWs as clients. You may have to explain the concept to them. THEY BELIEVE THAT FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN DISPLAYING HIGH SOCIAL STATUS. Mr. W. W. Allan is a self-made multimillionaire. He and his wife have lived in the
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the good life, … you’re never gonna make it. Many people who never achieve financial independence have a much different set of beliefs. When we ask them about their motives, they speak in terms of work and career. But ask them
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ECONOMIC LIFESTYLES OF MOTOR VEHICLE ACQUISITION TYPES Behind their frugal behavior is a strong set of beliefs. First, they believe in the benefits of being financially independent. Second, they believe that being frugal is the key to achieving independence. They inoculate themselves from heavy spending by constantly reminding themselves thatmany people who
by Garett Jones · 4 Feb 2020 · 303pp · 75,192 words
like Regency romance novels: to feel a certain personal independence, it’s important to have a clear financial independence. The power of the purse is something that regulators respect. The most famous case of financial independence in the United States is that of the Federal Reserve, which has total discretion in how it spends
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vs. elected regulators, 73, 80–89; captured regulators, 81–83; vs. central banks, 83, 84, 89; of electricity, 65, 71, 80–85; of employment, 74; financial independence of regulatory agencies, 90–91; independence of regulators, 88–91; judiciary vs. government regulators, 82–83, 88, 90–91; of telecommunications, 65, 80–82, 85
by Grant Sabatier · 5 Feb 2019 · 621pp · 123,678 words
the Rest of Your Life 13. THE FUTURE-OPTIMIZATION FRAMEWORK Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, and Annual Habits 14. LIVING A RICHER LIFE A Path to Financial Independence Acknowledgments Glossary Notes Index About the Author FOREWORD What do you do for a living?” Before the Industrial Revolution, most people raised or foraged food
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a venerable personal finance classic, we suggest that you maximize your income without sacrificing your integrity or your health in service of the promise of financial independence. We put no attention on how to maximize your income. We ourselves had not been working for money for two decades! In chapter 6
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months of living expenses saved and bad debt, like credit card debt, repaid Flexibility, when you have at least two years of living expenses invested Financial independence, when you can live off the income generated by your investments forever so work becomes optional Abundant wealth, when you have more money than you
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—I completely stopped worrying about money. Over time my anxiety started to disappear, which, based on what I’ve heard from others who’ve reached financial independence, is common. I’m more present, calm, and happier. I feel more in control and connected with the world and my relationships. I have
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have to work, I can choose to do work that I find fulfilling and meaningful instead of just what will pay the bills. Financial freedom, financial independence, early retirement, whatever you call it—it feels big, open, limitless, just like those summer days as a kid lying in the grass and
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freedom means to you, the strategies in this book are designed to get you there as quickly as possible. For me, financial freedom meant reaching financial independence, the moment when I had enough money that I could live off my investments and never have to work again. While I could keep working
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if you want to retire in your sixties. But based on a simple calculation, you find you need less than half of that to reach financial independence more than thirty years earlier. Obviously, though, if your expenses increase or decrease, your number will, too. Perhaps you currently don’t make a
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while $50,000 is my target, I’m not perfect, and after spending less than $50,000 every year from 2010 through 2015 and reaching financial independence, in 2016 I fell victim to the dreaded lifestyle inflation and spent over $200,000, which included many frivolous purchases that I regretted soon after
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income opportunities, as in Minnesota, where there are many large companies with high-paying jobs but the cost of living is low, you can reach financial independence even faster. New York City is another animal entirely; you are going to pay a significant premium to live there. But the cost of living
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a large company. She also runs a side business selling vintage clothing online. She makes $70,000 per year after taxes and wants to reach financial independence as quickly as possible. Her number is $1 million. Julie currently has $412,500 in assets. Example: Julia’s Assets Bank Accounts Investments Description Value
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decrease your expenses, the more money you’ll have and the sooner you’ll be able to reach the next level of financial freedom and financial independence. The problem with most personal financial advice is that it focuses primarily on two of these three variables: how to reduce expenses to increase your
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$5,500 After Tax Brokerage $9,000 Total Saved $40,000 Income $100,000 Savings Rate 40% Anita, a lawyer who lived in Chicago, reached financial independence in five years at the age of thirty-three with $700,000 in her portfolio. She did this by saving 85 percent of her income
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off your retirement is an incredible accomplishment. Let’s see how increasing your savings rate on different income levels impacts how quickly you can reach financial independence. For this example, we’ll use my target number of $1,250,000 and an expected annual investment compounding rate of 7 percent. You
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enough money to offset or cover your monthly expenses. Once you have reliable monthly passive income that you can live on, you’ve effectively reached financial independence. Another example of a passive income business is building online courses: you spend time creating and packaging the content, and then you sell it.
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yourself more control over your financial destiny and protecting yourself in the event something disrupts one of your income streams. If you want to reach financial independence as quickly as possible, you need to go all out. You need to find ways to make as much money, save as much money,
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. This is the only budget you ever need, and it will help you dramatically cut expenses while increasing your savings rate so you can reach financial independence earlier. The average American family spent $57,311 in 2016. This includes $7,203 on food, $9,049 on transportation, and $18,886 on
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could potentially increase your savings rate to 50 percent or even higher, cutting decades off the amount of time it will take you to reach financial independence. Below are some suggestions for saving money in these categories. If you want to get really creative, you can even figure out how to
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money. Plus because real estate typically appreciates in value over time, the investment itself will increase your net worth and make it easier to reach financial independence. And if you can manage to pay off (or have someone else pay off) your mortgage by the time you hit your number, you
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bonuses and benefits. Because he didn’t have to commute or buy work clothes, he saved a bunch of extra money that helped him reach financial independence faster. Drew, who lived in Chicago, worked in software sales and had sold over $2 million in business for his company. During his performance
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the value of your time. Actively pursuing salary increases will make a huge difference in your overall lifetime pay and hasten your ability to reach financial independence. There is a constant tension at work between employers and employees. As an employee, you want to get paid as much as possible, but
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than $125,000, compounding the impact of that single salary raise. It’s incredible how a single raise or pay bump can help you reach financial independence years faster. Finally, you want to look at what you’ve actually helped the company do since you received your last raise or started with
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the amount of time it will take to hit your number. It would have taken me at least two to three times longer to reach financial independence if I hadn’t invested almost 100 percent of my side-hustle income. Monthly Side Income Annual Side Income 25x multiplier (reduces your number) 30x
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enough money to start blogging full time. Five years later, the blog was acquired by a public company for $3 million, and Jim immediately reached financial independence at the age of thirty-four. Do you like to code? Brandon launched a Chinese-to-English travel translator iPhone app in 2010 as side
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because it was passive income, it required almost none of his time, and Brandon invested all of his side-hustle money, which helped him reach financial independence at the age of thirty-two. Do you really love traveling? Maybe you should launch a private custom travel company that helps people book custom
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business that generates enough or more than enough money to cover your monthly expenses. This gives you more flexibility and potentially the opportunity to reach financial independence very quickly. The Side-Hustle Evaluation Framework Analyze your passions and skills. Think about what you love doing and look at your skills. Can
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rule—your target asset allocation will fluctuate as you invest more money and your plans change. On the other hand, Kristy and Bryce, who reached financial independence at thirty-one and thirty-two, respectively, and are now in their mid-thirties, are more conservative and have shifted their investments to 60 percent
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massive benefits of keeping your income low (or at least mastering your tax deductions). Tax-free withdrawals means you need less money saved to reach financial independence. WHAT TO INVEST IN A TAXABLE ACCOUNT You should largely keep the same investing strategy you are using in your tax-advantaged accounts within your
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can generate consistent returns investing in the entire stock market. To help you visualize how this all fits together, when I was investing to reach financial independence, I invested 100 percent of my money in stocks, with 95 percent in stock index funds and 5 percent in individual equities that I plan
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sufficient vehicles for investing by themselves, as some people believe. Don’t get complacent. The more you invest every day, the faster you will reach financial independence. If it means that much to you, you’ll make time for it. Every $10 you invest today could help you reach financial freedom days
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cash flow to cover your living expenses for the rest of your life. Many investors have used real estate as their primary way to achieve financial independence in five years or less. Here’s the blueprint. THE CASE FOR REAL ESTATE It’s important to remember that real estate investing carries risk
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like buying and holding stock for the long term, buying and holding real estate is a more effective strategy than flipping to help you reach financial independence faster, since you can build up a portfolio that generates consistent monthly cash flow through rental income that can cover your mortgage debt and monthly
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your real estate portfolio, real estate investing will give you a ton of flexibility, help you make a lot more money, and fast-track your financial independence. RECAP Investing in real estate is more than an exceptional way to diversify your investment portfolio and risk. In many ways real estate is a
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some time to research new early retirement withdrawal strategies that are likely to develop as tax laws change, as well as loopholes identified by the financial independence community (if there is a new loophole, it will be found!). This chapter is by no means the definitive early retirement withdrawal strategy, but
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professional status or not, you should prepare for the transition. A bunch of factors—for example, your personality, how you make money, how you reached financial independence, and whether you liked your job—will likely determine how easy the transition actually is for you. Once you do decide to make the transition
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shot at making it happen in five years. But it took more than having a good plan. While you’ve learned the strategies to make financial independence possible, they are worthless unless you put them into practice. In this chapter you’ll learn the future-optimization framework, which is designed to help
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five years? This is exactly what Anita, who retired at thirty-three, did. She sent emails to her future self to stay motivated throughout her financial independence journey. With each email she opened in the future, she realized how far she had come and how much she had grown. Remember, who you
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account fees to ensure they haven’t increased. Review annual subscriptions to magazines, streaming services, memberships. Review annual giving strategy. Now that I have reached financial independence, my daily routines have shifted a bit. I spend less time tracking my individual expenses and more time adjusting my investment performance in order to
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up a deck of the Money Talk Cards to help facilitate your money conversations. They’re available at https://financialfreedombook.com/tools. Join a local financial independence group or the financial freedom community at https://millennialmoney.com. One of the fastest ways to accelerate financial freedom is to keep learning from others
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Taking a break might be just what you need. Breathing is the best medicine. Life > Money. CHAPTER 14 LIVING A RICHER LIFE A Path to Financial Independence Everything is connected to everything else. –THE BUDDHA It’s a warm summer morning and the air smells like flowers. The light pulls the color
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money. The more money I made and each level of financial freedom I reached, the more in control I felt. More opportunities. Once I reached financial independence at thirty, I had more time and space. I felt free. * * * • • • You can have this freedom, too. As long as you have a decent
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years of blogging at makingsenseofcents.com. After making a bit of money blogging and paying off her student loans early, she realized she could reach financial independence by increasing her savings rate (which at its peak was 90 percent) and earning enough income from her blog to cover her monthly living expenses
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year. By focusing on investing in tax-advantaged accounts, they were able to keep their taxes as low as possible, save more money, and reach financial independence at the age of thirty-two. Having lived in both Europe and the United States, Brandon believes the United States is the “perfect place for
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so grateful for your guidance, wisdom, edits, and friendship over the past several years. I look forward to continuing to work with you to make financial independence available to all. To my literary agents, Margret McBride and Faye Atchison, out in Cali. Thank you for being in my corner and always bringing
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