Monthly Archives: September 2025

The Pillars of Financial Independence

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I just finished listening to a ChooseFI podcast where Brad Barrett and Jackie Cummings Koski went back to the basics of Financial Independence and it made me reflect on my own FI journey. I’ve been listening to ChooseFI since it first started almost ten years ago, and the idea of the “pillars of FI,” or the basic principles that, if embraced, will inevitably lead to financial independence really resonated with me on my path to early retirement.

The FI community doesn’t use the language of these pillars as much anymore, but it stuck with me. Over the years, Katie and I have tried each of these pillars out with varying degrees of success. Today’s podcast conversation prompted me to take stock and reflect: which ones actually made the biggest difference for us?

1. Low-Cost Index Fund Investing

Instead of trying to beat the market, we stuck with broad, low-fee index funds. This alone saved us a fortune. Early on, I got suckered into a high-fee annuity that bled me dry with commissions and surrender charges. Switching to index funds like VTSAX completely changed our trajectory.  Our nest egg would be only a fraction of what it is today if we hadn’t gotten smarter about this one.

2. Affordable Housing

Housing is usually the biggest expense, so keeping it under control matters. Many in the FI world “house hack,” but being a landlord never appealed to me (One of the reasons we are traveling now is so I don’t have to take care of my own home, much less one that renters are living in 🙂).  Our version of this pillar was simple: we bought an older starter home when we got married and resisted the urge to upgrade along the way.. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was cheap, easy to maintain, and close to work. That decision freed up thousands each year for investing.

3. Buy Gently Used Cars

Cars lose value fast. We’ve driven used cars for 8–14 years each (and counting.  Bertha is still chugging along as our back in Dallas car), avoiding car payments while watching our savings grow. No regrets here—this one was an easy win for us.  What is the point of having a pretty car and then parking it in a high school lot every day? 

4. Crush Your Grocery Bill

Early on, meal planning and cooking at home saved us hundreds every month. Now that we’re in a more comfortable spot (and aren’t feeding two kids), we’ve loosened up on this one. It was a powerful lever in the beginning, though.

5. Tax Optimization

When we could, we took full advantage of accounts like 403(b), 457(b), but we prioritized funding our Roth IRAs. As teachers in relatively low tax brackets, paying taxes up front made more sense to me than deferring them. I can’t imagine our tax rate being much lower in the future.

6. College Hacking

We cash-flowed our own advanced degrees with side hustle money. For our boys, we wanted them to have skin in the game so we set a boundary: we’d cover the equivalent of two years at community college plus two years at a state school. If they graduate for less, they keep the difference. Kid #1 used every penny; kid #2 has a path to graduate early and spend the difference on grad school or pocket the savings. Either way, the cost was predictable for us.

7. Travel Rewards

This hasn’t necessarily sped up our FI path, but it certainly has made the journey more fun. In our version, we’ve leaned heavily on travel hacking to fund dozens of budget-friendly trips rather than blowing money on a few luxury ones.

8. Cut the Cord and Premium Cell

We ditched cable years ago, but have added so many streaming services back that I don’t think we actually saved much. Same with cell phones.  We could optimize here, but at this point, we’re fine with the splurge.

9. Multiple Income Streams

This was huge for us.  Some years we had the equivalent of three full time salaries!  Side hustles paid for extras (like advanced degrees and travel) and also boosted our investments. Our family rule: half of any side hustle income went to the family budget for extra fun or unexpected expenses, half was personal money for the earner. That balance kept us motivated and moved us much faster toward FI.

10. Savings Rate & The 4% Rule

At the end of the day, Financial Independence comes down to saving enough so your investments can cover your expenses. Some years we hit a 50% savings rate; other years, one or both stepped away from W2 work to invest time into a side business and our rate dropped. The point is, we always had the basic framework in mind: spend less, invest more, and track progress against the 4% rule.

Looking back, every pillar helped in some way, but for us the biggest levers were multiple income streams, keeping housing and car costs low, and investing in low-cost index funds. Those three principles alone got us most of the way to where we are.

So what about you? Have you seen this list before? Which of these pillars could have the biggest impact on your financial path?

Something’s Got to Give

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HNL–LAS–OMA–DAL–BNA–MYR. Six airports. Four days.

Yes, some of those were just connections, but I still ended up sleeping in a different bed four nights out of five. Right now we’re in Dallas for a bridal shower, which meant my presence wasn’t exactly required. So I slipped away to my old pool for a swim, trying to shake off the travel rust.

That’s where I ran into an old friend who looked at me like I’d dropped out of the sky (and I guess I kind of did) “I thought you guys were in a different state! Don’t you get tired of traveling so much?”

I gave her a non-committal answer and turned the conversation back to her and the things that she has going on, but I thought about her question while I was working out. The answer is, unsurprisingly, both yes and no.

Travel is incredible. It brings professional opportunities, new places, and connections with people all over the country. But the instability that comes with it? That part can be exhausting. And yes, I fully recognize the privilege in saying that. Complaining about working in Hawaii and Myrtle Beach, or about driving our old car or having to borrow goggles because my new things is stashed in another state? These are very much first-world problems. Still, when you’re navigating early retirement, these are the kinds of challenges you eventually face.  Even for people not on the FIRE path, there’s a universal question here: how do we choose between competing priorities?

Work. The work of “adulting” we all have to do (Bills, Doctor’s appointments, maintenance of our possessions, etc.). Family and friends. Hobbies. There’s never enough time for everything. And too often, the culture in the U.S. pushes us to put our careers first, no matter what it costs the rest of our lives.

I assumed things would feel different once Katie and I retired. But the truth? We still have to make choices, and we still wrestle with whether they’re the right ones. I’m not immune to “one more year syndrome” — the temptation to take on another contract, another job, another project, especially when the offer comes from a cool place or an organization I’d love to help.

Katie and I are slowly learning how to say no. This year, I stepped away from my adjunct professor role, and she gave up her virtual teaching gig. Those were steps in the right direction. But is it enough? We’ve already talked about limiting how much contract work I take in the future even further, so we can actually enjoy all the fun places we’re trying on for size instead of rushing through them.

So here’s the question I’ll leave you with (whether you’re retired or still deep in the 9-to-5): How do you decide between competing priorities? Do you use a system? A rule of thumb? Gut instinct? I’d love to hear how everyone else navigates the trade-offs in their own lives. Drop a comment below or send me a message.  Your strategies might be exactly what I need or what someone else in this community needs to hear.

Why Finding a Good Financial Planner Is So Hard

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At a meetup today, several people were sharing how frustrating it has been to find a good financial planner. And I totally get it. Finding good professional help is tough in any industry, but it is especially challenging in personal finance where many people lack confidence, the terminology is intentionally confusing, and the incentives are often stacked against the client. The fundamental dichotomy is this: if you know enough to find the right professional and ask the right questions, you probably don’t need them. After all, for most people, personal finance isn’t actually all that complicated.

How Planners Get Paid

At its core, financial planning is a service business. The planner wants to make money, and the client wants to pay as little as possible. That tension has created a whole menu of compensation models and, sadly, some of them are far better for the planner than for you.

Commission-Based “Advisors.” These are the people who only get paid when they sell you something and, on first glance, they look the cheapest because they don’t charge you anything!  Their incentive is to earn the biggest possible commission, not to grow your wealth. Teachers have been especially vulnerable here, with high-fee annuities shoved into 403(b) plans. Early in my career, I fell for this. A commission-based advisor showed up at school and filled my portfolio with variable annuity products that sounded great but were really designed to pay him. It cost me years of growth and some expensive surrender fees to get out. I learned quickly: if someone is being paid to sell you something, expect them to sell you something, whether you need it or not.

Assets Under Management (AUM). – Another common model that is slightly less problematic is charging a percentage of your portfolio, usually around one percent. That sounds small, but on a $500,000 portfolio it’s $5,000 every year — $100,000 over twenty years, not even counting the lost growth. I ran the math once and realized that one percent shaved off my returns was the equivalent of buying a luxury vacation every year, but for the planner instead of me and my family.

Subscription Services. – A newer option is paying a flat monthly or annual subscription for access and advice. This makes costs predictable and avoids the commission/AUM conflict. The downside is inconsistency.  Not all services are equally strong, and if you don’t use them often, you end up paying for more than you need. Still, for busy seasons of life, it can be a good fit.

Fee-Only, Project-Based. – My favorite option is hiring planners for specific projects. I’ve done this myself (once for retirement withdrawal strategies, another time to check my work on tax optimization strategies). It felt good to pay for exactly what I needed, get an expert’s input, and move on without strings attached. An added bonus is the “checks and balances” inherent in having different professionals review my situation rather than relying on, and trusting, a single generalist.

One important detail: always ask if the planner is a fiduciary. Fiduciaries are legally required to put your interests first. Advisors working under the weaker “suitability” standard can recommend products that are “good enough” for you but excellent for their paycheck.

My Takeaway

I sat down and learned a lot of this stuff on my own before I discovered the financial independence movement, but this is where the FI community has really helped me.  FI encourages people to educate themselves and provides resources and a community to do so.   The more you know, the less you have to rely on expensive intermediaries and the less vulnerable you are to being taken advantage of.  I still DIY most of my finances but occasionally bring in experts for a second opinion. The peace of mind is worth it for me (and even more so for Katie).

I do worry about friends and relatives who aren’t interested in personal finance and don’t take the time to learn. The hard truth is that finding a good planner is difficult, not because ethical professionals don’t exist, but because the ones who profit most can afford to have the biggest marketing budgets, fanciest offices, and show up on the first page of Google searches. If you’re impressed by a sharp suit, a fancy lobby, or free swag, stop and ask yourself how it’s being paid for. Spoiler: it comes from clients.

The more you educate yourself, the easier it is to cut through the noise. A few simple questions can help: How do you get paid? Are you a fiduciary at all times? What services do you provide, and what will they cost in total? If someone can’t answer clearly, don’t just walk away.  Run!  After all, whether you manage things yourself, lean on community resources, or hire fee-only experts for targeted needs, the goal is the same: make sure your money is working for you, not for your planner’s commission check.

Has anyone found a good solution to financial planning?

Winding Down to FIRE

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If you spend any time in the Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) community, you’ll hear a ton of acronyms and categories: Lean FI, Coast FI, Barista FI, Fat FI, and more. In case you’re not fluent in FI-ese yet:

  • Lean FI – Reaching financial independence with a minimalist lifestyle and relatively low expenses.
  • Coast FI – Saving enough early on so that, without adding more to investments, compounding alone will carry you to full retirement age. You can “coast” by working only to cover current expenses.
  • Barista FI – Hitting a point where you can cover most expenses from investments but still choose to work part-time (often in lower-stress or more enjoyable jobs) for extra income and benefits.
  • Fat FI – Achieving financial independence with plenty of cushion—enough to maintain (or even upgrade) your lifestyle without worrying about expenses.

A lot of FI talk focuses on hitting a specific number and then leaving work entirely. But there’s a catch: studies show a high failure rate for people who go from full-time careers to nothing overnight. It’s like slamming on the brakes at highway speed—it’s jarring, and it doesn’t always end well.  High powered, type A personalities can only sit on the beach or play golf for so long.

Personally, I think the ideal career trajectory looks more like a bell curve: ramping up in intensity to a peak, then gradually declining as you learn how to relax and explore what retirement can be.  So, even though I left my last W2 job at 50, for me, the RE stands for “recreational employment” rather than “retire early.”

My career path ended up looking pretty close to that:

  • I spent years working multiple jobs, including high-stress school administration roles where 80-hour weeks weren’t uncommon.  During a lot of this time I was working other jobs on the side to sock away more money in investment accounts or going to school to give me more career options.
  • Eventually, I moved back into the classroom, but at the University level instead of in K-12.  Thai was still busy, but far less stressful (Committee work was tedious, but not difficult).  A lot more flexibility in my schedule offered me the chance to explore additional side hustles and types of travel.
  • Next I left the University and shifted to full-time consulting.  I was traveling almost weekly to visit schools and work with teachers and administrators around the country.  Lots of fun, plenty of opportunities for travel (and travel rewards), but time consuming and tough on the family.
  • Over the last few years, as I’ve approached FI, I’ve tried to scale back my consulting work—aiming for just two weeks a month and combining it with more fun travel that Katie and/or the boys can join in on.

I’ll admit I’m still vulnerable to “one more year syndrome” or the lure of an interesting contract in a fun location. But looking ahead, I want to shrink my workload even more—maybe one consulting gig a month, and eventually none at all, so I can focus on overseas exploration and our slow travel.

The lesson? Financial Independence, and retirement in general, shouldn’t be a cliff you jump off. It should be a slope you walk down—at whatever pace feels right to you.