Interview With Captain FI
Recently I “sat down” (i.e., called over the internet on the opposite sides of the planet) with Pete at CaptainFI.com to do an episode for his podcast, and I think we were both amazed at how much we had in common.
Miscellaneous
Mini eBook: Ten Steps to Become and Stay Financially Independent
This week I’ve been very focused on writing a new eBook titled “Ten Steps to Become and Stay Financially Independent”.
Happy Holidays And Farewell 2022
This week has been a lot of traveling, visiting family, and childcare, with both kids out of school/daycare. So I haven’t gotten much (*cough* any *cough*) analysis done this week.
2022 has been a wild year, and not too great for the markets. Hopefully 2023 will be better!
Stress Testing Analysis Update
Well I’ve gotten a bunch done this week, but unfortunately I don’t have much in the way of results to show for it.
This week I’ve focused a few different things:
- A correction to the tax calculation of long term cap gains – which fortunately did not significantly affect any results I’ve published previously
- Extending the traditional withdrawal method to allow it to go down to $0, as part of the upcoming stress testing analysis
- A major refactor of the Tax and Penalty Minimization (TPM) method code
- Starting the process of extending the TPM method to go down to zero, as part of the upcoming stress testing analysis
FinCon 2022
Time for our second FinCon! Last year Mrs. EYFI and I were lucky to attend our first FinCon in our hometown Austin, TX. We enjoyed it so much that we decided to attend again this year, but this time we’ll be getting on an airplane and headed to Orlando, FL.
FinCon 2021
This week Mrs. EYFI and I will be attending our very first FinCon conference, which we’re very excited about. We’ve been hearing about FinCon for years now, and this year we are super lucky that the conference is a 20 minute drive from our house here in Austin, TX.
Why Are We Still Working?
So if wife and I are FI, why are we still working?
Well, as I wrote in “FI Explained”, Financial Independence does not equal Early Retirement. When we started seriously pursuing FI after I obtained my PhD in 2016, we never set a goal to retire in our 30’s, even though theoretically we could retire if we wanted to.
FI Explained
So what is FI? FI = Financial Independence. Gotta love acronyms. But what exactly does “Financial Independence” mean?
A pretty common definition is that you’re no longer financially dependent on your parents or some other caregiver. So basically when you’ve moved out and you’re earning money on your own – enough to pay for all your expenses. That also means you aren’t racking up credit card balances!
While this level of financial independence is an important first step, on this site we’ll be talking about something MUCH bigger. So what DO we mean?
Our Story
My wife and I discovered the Financial Independence community in 2016, which opened our eyes to the possibility of achieving FI at an early age with moderate incomes. With a healthy amount of effort, we achieved FI four years later at ages 35 (me) and 33 (my wife).
Four years sounds quick, doesn’t it? In reality, our journey to FI started the same place as it did for many other folks in the FI community: our childhood. We were both fortunate to grow up in middle-class families that emphasized the value of saving money from an early age. We both had allowances that we earned through doing chores, and we were both expected to pull most of our weight when it came to funding our education. But we also never had to worry about whether we’d have food on the table or a roof over our heads, which makes us vastly more fortunate than millions of people around the world.