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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?

Zero-Based Thinking: What’s Right for Today?

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I was recently listening to a ChooseFI podcast where Alan and Katie Donnegan talk about a concept they call zero-based thinking—the idea of asking yourself:  “Knowing what I know now, would I make the same decision today?”  It’s a powerful way to fight the sunk cost fallacy—the tendency to hold on to something just because of the time, money, or energy you’ve already put into it. Instead, zero-based thinking challenges us to re-evaluate our choices based on current circumstances, not past ones.  It got me thinking about how Katie and I have tried to transition our mindset in this way as we move into our “slomad” stage of life.

Not long ago, Katie was really surprised when I mentioned trading in the Camry she thought I “loved.” And to be fair, when I bought it, it was the perfect fit for me: reliable, fuel-efficient, comfortable, and spacious enough for long solo commutes through downtown Dallas.  Same for her minivan.  A van with third row seating, leather seats and built in DVD player?  Perfect for young kids and road trips… ten years ago.  But today? Our lifestyle has changed. What once felt essential now feels excessive. Zero-based thinking forced me to ask: If I didn’t already own these cars, would I buy them today? The answer was no, so we made changes.

Our house is another example of this principle. When we purchased it, we had young kids and jobs in the local schools. The location was perfect—between the elementary and junior high, right next to the neighborhood pool, and just a few miles from work. The four bedrooms and converted playroom suited our family perfectly.  Fast forward to today, and our needs aren’t the same. The house still holds memories, but practically speaking, it’s way larger than we need and tied to a location and a lifestyle that no longer reflects who we are.  Zero-based thinking asks: If we were house shopping today, would this be the right fit for us?

This mindset also applies to finances. The way we invested during the accumulation phase of life was appropriate at the time—maximizing growth, taking on risk, and planning for the long haul. But as we enter the drawdown phase, the question changes. If I had our net worth in cash right now, would I buy the same investments? Probably not. My risk tolerance and goals have shifted and my investments should follow.

Zero-based thinking doesn’t mean abandoning every past decision. It just means holding your choices up to the light of your current reality. The car, the house, the investments—they all made sense once, but the people we were then aren’t the people we are today (and definitely not the people we’ll be tomorrow).

Maybe the best philosophy is this:  Strong convictions, loosely held. Believe deeply in your choices when you make them, but be willing to release them when you have new data or they no longer serve you in other ways.

So what about you—what’s one area of your life that could use some zero-based thinking?