I have finally binged my way through all of Money with Katie and there is a podcast-shaped hole in my heart. I'm a man, but I really enjoyed a more female perspective on all things money - it's not radically different from what I hear male podcasters in the personal finance sphere say, but it is *just* different enough to give me a new perspective on things. I know Katie is still out there doing things but she's moved on to more big-picture, systems level problems and I'd like to have a perspect...

25 replies 1 week ago Read more →

Retirement Withdrawal Strategies C by CaiS6

How to account for large, irregular expenses in FI planning

Hi! As we get closer to FI (5-7 years if assumptions hold), I've been thinking about the best way to plan for large but irregular expenses. Things that pop up every 3-10 years like large house maintenance (washer/dryer, HVAC, roof, etc) and especially buying a car in cash. For assumptions let's say $25-35k every 4 years (two cars, each kept 8 years, staggered purchases) and for home maintenance costs maybe $500 some years and $5000 others. Currently, I 'budget' for home maintenance costs but als...

24 replies 1 week ago Read more →

Investing A by Anonymous

Increased investing?

I'm curious if there is anyone else that has actually increased their investing during the down market. Probably more specifically for those that are close to FI or are still accumulating.

20 replies 1 week 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 1 week ago Read more →

Real Estate m by mdhershberger32

Sell Home and Rent?

Hi everyone! Based on my own personal experience and reading others’ financial analyses of renting versus buying, I believe there are circumstances in which it makes more sense to rent than buy, and my husband and I don’t believe our current house will be our long-term home, so I’m trying to figure out if it makes sense financially to go ahead and sell now and start renting if that’s going to save us money over the long term. Does anyone have suggestions on how to do the math for this? I’m curre...

15 replies 1 week ago Read more →

Tax Strategies C by Charlotte

Spreadsheet from Cody & Sean's book?

Hi everyone! In their book "Tax Planning to and through Early Retirement," Cody Garrett & Sean Mullaney mention creating a spreadsheet in chapter 36 to track cap gains/losses for EOY tax planning, deciding whether to do a Roth conversion, etc. Has anyone already created a spreadsheet like this that they would be willing to share? They also mention current year tax planning software for this same purpose. Any recommendations? We are retiring in May and this part of retirement feels foggy to m...

9 replies 1 week ago Read more →

Military FI N by Nords

ChooseFI Honolulu meetup: 1:30 PM Saturday 21 March, Taps & Apps.

For those of you on Oahu (and any ChooseFI members who happen to be visiting Oahu this weekend), we're having another meetup at 1:30 Saturday 21 March at Taps & Apps in Mililani Mauka. \[ChooseFI Honolulu Meetup\](/member/events/7fc1d9f8-35bd-4075-92ae-489fc07425db) I'll be there, congratulating Clarence L once more on becoming an official military retiree! We're keeping an eye on the weather. This weekend's Kona Low Part 2 will hopefully be less severe than last week, but we'll know more by...

1 replies 1 week ago Read more →

Lifestyle Design S by SomeSunnyDay

Extraordinary Life with the Donegans (collected links)

I had made this collection for my local groups after attending the Design Your Extraordinary Life event with the LA Choose FI group and Alan and Katie Donegan. Some of my local group hadn't the pleasure of hearing of the Donegans before and since they are some of my favorite guests on Choose FI, I figured I would share the direct links. Alan and Katie are fabulous human beings and hope you get inspired to be pretty fab yourselves. If you are beginning to go down the path of FI their work with th...

1 replies 1 week 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 1 week ago Read more →

Investing k by kyleray336

Large Windfall

I want to respect rule number 2 as much as possible here, but I am genuinely asking for guidance. I have received an $800,000 gift in the beginning of my FI journey. This is unexpected and it immediately makes me feel lightyears ahead of my goals! The issue is, I have not started my taxable account yet. I only have my funs in 401k. I have not finished my expense audit completely, but I have a good idea. Right now this money is burning a hole in my HYSA. FI is $1.3M. I feel like my plan to retire...

10 replies 1 week ago Read more →

Tax Strategies A by Anonymous

Tax Loss Harvesting....

With current market volatility, I would like to capture losses with recent investments to offset my dividends/income. Where can I get more information on TLH (within Vanguard), documenting the losses for tax reporting purposes for the year, forms needed for 2026 tax prep to show losses for accountant and moving the losses forward should they exceed the $3,000 yearly limit? Thank you for any information I can get.

9 replies 1 week ago Read more →

Retirement Withdrawal Strategies d by daposton

New Morningstar Article (Feb 26) - Very low Safe Withdrawal percentages

Hi ChooseFI community, I normally like and appreciate the Morningstar articles on personal finance. However, I just read one from Feb that pushes the standard safe withdrawal rate for a 40 year retirement to 3.2%. Does anyone have any feedback on that number? I would estimate a large percentage of this community is modeling a 40+ retirement period. Here is a link to the article. (FYI - Yes, I have read about risk parity. Yes, I have read the ERN SWR series.) [www.morningstar.com](https://www.mor...

22 replies 1 week ago Read more →

Retirement Withdrawal Strategies m by matthewbg89

Roth conversions - what can be withdrawn tax-free

To supplement my brokerage account in early retirement, I'm building in using Roth contributions that I can withdrawal tax/penalty free. My question is about once conversions. After I retire, I'll roll my 401k into a traditional IRA. From there, I was thinking about Roth conversions. I know I'd spread out the conversion over multiple years to manage the taxes, but just roll with this basic example. Say in the 401k I had contributed $100,000 and that grew to $175,000. I roll that into a tradition...

18 replies 1 week ago Read more →

Retirement Withdrawal Strategies H by HvyLftr3

How to include pensions in our FI number

I’m sure this has been discussed before but I can’t find any answers pertaining to how those of us with regular pension income include this when using the FI number calculator. I was considering cutting the monthly expenses by the amount of the pension OR should I calculate the value of the pension (admittedly hard to do) and include that as part of what we have already invested? Are any of you including social security in your calculations? We are both 50 and I’d like to think we can include it...

15 replies 1 week ago Read more →

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