What book has influenced you the most in either FI money management, life style design or mental philosophy? Bonus points: share one idea that stuck with you.

31 replies 42 minutes ago Read more →

Retirement Withdrawal Strategies A by Anonymous

Does anyone else thinks we should adopt the 30x rules instead of 25x?

Given newer research on retirement sustainability—especially work incorporating sequence-of-returns risk (SORR), longerFI horizons, and updated return assumptions such as those discussed in recent analyses of Karsten (ERN) and others —the traditional 25× rule (4% rule) should be rounded up to the \*\*30× rule\*\*. It effectively lowers the withdrawal rate to about 3.333%, which meaningfully improves resilience against early negative market sequences and extends portfolio durability for early ret...

29 replies 43 minutes ago Read more →

General Discussion D by DjentlemanJohnny

HSA Receipt Tracking

Not exactly sure which forum is the best for this but: For anyone utilizing an HSA: I am in the fortunate position of being rather healthy and able to cover all low level medical costs up front. I have been maxing out my HSA the last three years and one day way down the road would like to recover the costs of those medical expenses. My problem is that I have yet to figure out a consistent system to retain and track HSA eligble receipts. Have anyone of you built a system that feels relatively aut...

19 replies 3 weeks ago Read more →

Earning More J by Josh M.

Guidance for transitioning to CFP (from Army CPT)?

I’m an Army CPT planning to transition out in ~4 years (after transferring GI Bill benefits). I’ve grown pretty dissatisfied with my career path, and I’m exploring financial planning as a long-term career. Note, I'm in the brainstorming stage and am just looking at options. I enjoy personal finance, building plans, and teaching others, from the experience I've had. The end goal would be education-focused (workshops, classes, and/or hourly advice), and not AUM-driven. We’re currently at Coast FI...

16 replies 43 minutes ago Read more →

Real Estate A by AnotherControlsEngineer

Put minimum down on primary residence if you have a 20% down payment?

I recently ran across this idea, and wanted to get some input if people have tried this. We have 20% cash for a down payment, don't currently own a house and are looking to purchase. This idea is to make the minimum down payment of 3.5% or 5% (which theoretically gets you a better interest rate), close, then after some time period pay the rest of the 15% cash towards the loan, and then recast the loan and keep the lower interest rate. This strategy seems to assume a few things (interest rate is...

11 replies 43 minutes ago Read more →

Investing d by dm741

Financial Tracking Tool

I've used Personal Capitol (now Empower) for the last 10 years and am wondering what everyone else is using to track their net worth. I'm not so interested in budgeting as I've got a handle on that already, really just tracking overall net worth and investing. PC has helped me analyze my portfolio across all accounts (personal and work retirement) and make sure my allocation overall is where I want it. I'm currently testing a new tool call Origin since the first year is only $1. Recently PC has...

26 replies 43 minutes ago Read more →

Lifestyle Design Y by YamZ93

Bucket Lists / Time Buckets Discussion

I am a big fan of lists. And since learning about FI I've started to really prioritize thinking about what I want my life to look like, building a bucket list but also making sure to not wait until retirement until I do some of the things on that list. Now I know it's also referred to as Time Buckets, and doing certain things when you're a certain age. These are some items from my list that I completed in the last few years: Going to Disney World Taking a stained glass workshop Learning to whist...

30 replies 2 weeks ago Read more →

Retirement Withdrawal Strategies A by Arcenis Rojas

To Roth or not to Roth

I recently wondered whether I should convert my traditional IRA and 401K accounts (including my current 401K contributions) to Roth. I spoke with a friend who advocated strongly for switching everything to Roth. While I recognize that Roth has great advantages (I have a Roth IRA presently) like no taxes on distributions and no required minimum distributions, I wonder if it'd be right for me. Below is a little bit about my situation. - I'm more interested in retiring with zero than passing anythi...

24 replies 43 minutes ago Read more →

General Discussion b by bethj

Emergency Fund in Taxable Brokerage Account Withdrawals

For those of you who keep some or all of your emergency fund in a taxable brokerage - when you do need to take money out and have to sell assets - are you thinking about/worried selling at a loss or gain? Or considering which lots to sell? We have kept our emergency fund ($10-15k) in a HYSA for the last few years, but I just opened a TBA with Vanguard to see how it works, if I like it, etc. I'm debating moving the whole emergency fund over to the TBA but I can see the friction that might be ther...

12 replies 3 weeks ago Read more →

Earning More J by Josh M.

Self Publishing Input?

I’m working on self-publishing a short nonfiction book and would appreciate input from anyone here who has gone through the process. The premise: I graduated U.S. Army Ranger School a few years ago and kept detailed notes every single day during the course. I tracked food, sleep, weight loss, and wrote a daily journal about what was happening and how I was processing it. Over 62 days I averaged about 2.5 meals and 3.9 hours of sleep per day and lost over 30 pounds. Most Ranger School books are w...

15 replies 43 minutes ago Read more →

Real Estate S by Sunset123

Home equity for second property

We have about $425K equity on a $625K home that we plan to stay in for decades (with a sub 3% interest rate). Is there a downside to taking out a bunch of that equity to buy a second property for 300-350K? We could also contribute cash. If we rented the second home out, rent may be equal to the mortgage/taxes/insurance. But right now this equity is sitting in our primary residence doing nothing. Eventually one of our kids could move into it as we'll likely be providing financial or housing assis...

7 replies 3 weeks ago Read more →

View All Discussions

Plan Your Path to Financial Independence

Free calculators to model every aspect of your financial journey.

FI Number Calculator

Find out how much you need to reach financial independence.

Try it →

Savings Rate Calculator

Calculate your savings rate and see how it affects your FI timeline.

Try it →

Find Your Local FI Tribe

In-person meetups, study groups, and accountability partners in your area.

See Groups & Events Near You

Share your location to discover local FI groups, meetups, and events in your area. Your location is never stored or shared with third parties.

Location access is blocked. To enable it, click the icon in your browser's address bar and allow location access, then reload the page.

Colorado

The easiest way to find local groups across Colorado. This group aggregates 6+ local communities and their events statewide — from Denver and Colorado Springs to Fort Collins, Northern Colorado, and the Western Slope. Most meetups and discussions happen at the local level, so check out the city groups below to find your closest community.

908 members

A B C D +4

Philadelphia

For anyone in the greater Philadelphia area. Join us for meetups, shared learning, and community on the path to financial independence.

368 members

A B C D +4

Raleigh

Covering Raleigh, Durham, and the Triangle area. Connect with the local FI community at our regular meetups and events.

348 members

A B C D +4

Twin Cities

Covering Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the surrounding suburbs. We host regular meetups and welcome anyone interested in financial independence.

378 members

A B C D +4

South Carolina

The easiest way to find local groups across South Carolina. This group aggregates 4+ local communities and their events statewide — from Charleston and Greenville to Columbia and the Grand Strand. Most meetups and discussions happen at the local level, so check out the city groups below to find your closest community.

257 members

A B C D +4

New Jersey

The easiest way to find local groups across New Jersey. This group aggregates 6 local communities and their events statewide — from North Jersey and the Shore to Princeton, Cherry Hill, and beyond. Most meetups and discussions happen at the local level, so check out the city groups below to find your closest community.

443 members