Tag Archives: money

Financial Independence Resources

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I was talking with a friend today and realized it’s been a while since I updated my list of resources for teachers who want to learn more about personal finance and financial independence. Interestingly, when I looked at it, the list hasn’t changed much. That’s because the foundational ideas in FI are timeless.  Most of the newer content I’ve been exploring is either relatively niche (like All The Hacks) or so new that, while exciting, I’m not ready to recommend it yet (like Sean Mullaney and Cody Garrett’s new book on Tax Planning for early retirement).

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Luckily, for beginners, many of the best ideas are still right where they’ve always been—in a few classic blogs, podcasts, and books.

The Shockingly Simple Math of Early Retirement

If you read only one article on financial independence, make it The Shockingly Simple Math Behind Early Retirement by Mr. Money Mustache. It’s a short but powerful read that shows how your retirement age depends almost entirely on two variables: how much you spend and how much you save. It’s a true “light bulb” piece for many people who suddenly realize how much control they have over their financial future.

The ChooseFI Podcast and Book

The ChooseFI podcast was my personal gateway into financial independence. Brad Barrett and Jonathan Mendonsa built an incredible archive of episodes on saving, investing, travel hacking, and designing a life you don’t need to retire from. If you’re new to the show, start at Episode 100 for a great introduction.

Not a podcast listener? They also wrote a book, ChooseFI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence, which distills years of content into a structured, easy-to-follow guide.

The Dave Ramsey Approach

If you want something more traditional, Dave Ramsey’s system has helped millions of people pay off debt and build a financial foundation. His “Baby Steps” and “Debt Snowball” approach are simple, actionable, and great for people who need structure or motivation in the early stages of getting organized. I don’t agree with everything Ramsey teaches (his investment advice is a bit outdated and his politics are suspect), but his behavioral approach to debt payoff is effective for a lot of people.

The Simple Path to Wealth

Once you’re out of debt and ready to invest, JL Collins’ The Simple Path to Wealth is the best next step. It’s widely considered the “go-to” investing book in the FI community. Collins’ message is refreshingly simple: live below your means, invest in low-cost index funds, and stay the course. I used to keep extra copies of this book in my office to give to colleagues and to give to new graduates, because it really is that good.

Some Educator Specific Resources

Teachers have some unique financial advantages (and challenges) like pensions, 403(b)s, and the occasional “free lunch” salesman in the faculty lounge. These next few resources focus on that side of the journey:

TL;DR Financial Literacy Series
Educator Karl Fisch and a series of co-authors created short, accessible books tailored to teachers in different states. Each version explains how pensions and retirement systems work locally, and how educators can make the most of them. Obviously I haven’t read all of them, but my friend Ryan Cruz wrote the Texas edition, and I can highly recommend it.

403bwise.org
Retirement planning for teachers can be a minefield.  The 403bwise.org site was founded to help educators make sense of their retirement options and avoid predatory products. It’s packed with articles, calculators, and an active forum where teachers can ask questions. Their “Teach and Retire Rich” podcast is also excellent.

Financially Independent Teachers Podcast
Recently, I’ve been enjoying the Financially Independent Teachers podcast. It’s hosted by two North Carolina teachers who interview educators and personal finance experts about real-life challenges. They’ve also written a book that’s helpful for teachers trying to balance the realities of the classroom with long-term financial goals.

Final Thoughts

The financial independence movement has evolved a lot since I first discovered it, but the core ideas haven’t changed: spend less than you earn, invest wisely, avoid debt, and keep learning. The beauty of these resources is that they meet you wherever you are, whether you’re just getting started or refining your path toward early retirement.

I’d love to hear from you about what resources have shaped your own journey toward financial independence.  What should I add to my list?

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?

How Much Did the First 24 Hours in Omaha Cost?

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We’re one full day into our first “slomad” journey and are settling into our new home in Omaha, Nebraska. I get a lot of questions about costs, and, even though we’re renting furnished places, I’ve also been curious about what unexpected expenses might pop up during these moves. So here’s a breakdown of everything we spent in our first 24 hours in Omaha:

Lodging

We pulled into town around noon and moved into our place. It’s a fully furnished, utilities-included two-bedroom apartment right on the edge of the Old Market neighborhood in downtown Omaha. At $1,500 a month, that comes out to about $50 per day of lodging.

Exercise

A couple of blocks away, we checked out the neighborhood YMCA. Our building has a decent workout room, but Katie and I swim a lot and we wanted access to a pool, plus classes and the chance to be social. I bargained away the joining fee by agreeing to pay the first month up front. For both of us, with full access to every YMCA in the region, it’s $75/month—or $2.50 for the first day.

Library

On the way back, we ducked into Omaha’s downtown public library. It was spacious, modern, and definitely a place we’ll return to when we want a work spot outside the apartment. We signed up for cards for $0 and now have access to meeting rooms, printers, copiers, and, of course, endless digital and physical media.

Household Goods & Groceries

Our next trip was to grab some household essentials and groceries. Honestly, I was worried we’d need a lot, but the apartment was remarkably well equipped.  They even gave us starter sets of consumables like paper towels, soap, and laundry detergent. That said, we still picked up a Brita filter, a laundry basket, a drying rack, and a few other upgrades, most of which will stay behind when we move out.

  • Groceries: $52
  • Household odds and ends: $121 → amortized over our stay: $1.15 for day one

Dinner Out

By the time we finished shopping (and skipped lunch), we were starving. Friends had suggested Pizza Ranch, a buffet I was skeptical of until we tried it. Yes, it’s family-friendly, but the food was solid: salad bar, pizza, fried chicken, dessert, the works. Maybe more than we should have eaten, but worth it 🙂  $37 for the two of us.

Free Fun

The next morning, I used the new gym membership, then Katie and I took a long walk around downtown, hung out at a park, and even tried out the public hammocks. Cost? $0

Day One Total: $152.15

So, what did we learn?

  • Furnished rentals can save big money. Filling a place from scratch adds up fast; Furnished Finder has already proven cheaper and easier.
  • Hidden costs still pop up. Even with a well-stocked apartment, there are always “little” things you want—like a water filter or a laundry basket—that need to be budgeted for.
  • Entertainment doesn’t have to cost much. Libraries, parks, and neighborhood walks are free, and they’re going to be a bigger part of our lifestyle as we check out different locations.
  • Life has a baseline cost. A chunk of this spending—food, exercise, even some household items—would have happened whether we were home or traveling.  Too often we look at all travel expenses as additional money out of pocket, but if I am buying groceries here, I am not buying them in Texas.  Even the monthly YMCA expense just replaces a gym membership that we cancelled last week.

When you look at it that way, traveling isn’t necessarily more expensive than staying put. In fact, with the right planning, it can be cheaper and a lot more fun.

Of course this was just day one in Omaha. We’re curious to see how the averages shake out as the days and weeks go on, but so far, the experiment looks promising 🙂