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Year-End Tax Planning I’m publishing a podcast episode this Friday with Sean Mullaney, the FI Tax Guy, about 401(k)s, the Mega Backdoor Roth and Premium Tax Credits for the ACA and in a case of great timing, Sean just released his “2022 Year-End Tax Planning” article. The article lists out numerous essential tax deadlines and considerations you should be familiar with before the end of 2022, which is rapidly approaching! If you’re looking for more in-depth general strategy on year-end tax planning from Sean, we’ve had him on the podcast the past 3 years to discuss this very topic, so check

Tax Gain Harvesting Ava wrote in: “I feel like a lot of your guests talk about tax gain harvesting as something to do only when they quit their jobs and have no income, but I took advantage of it while I was still working. When I was making about $50,000 in 2020, the taxable income limit for getting the 0% long term capital gains rate was $40,400 for single filers. The key word here is taxable income. I took $50k of gross wages and subtracted the $12,400 standard deduction for a single person and my taxable income went down to

Check Engine Light DIY Fix The FI Designer from DesigningFI.com wrote in with some important info: “In Episode 402, Vivian said that her car had an engine replacement and an ongoing engine warning light was adding stress to her life. I wanted to share some advice that may help Vivian and the greater FI community. You may feel powerless when your vehicle’s engine warning light comes on, but there are steps you can take to lessen the dread by purchasing/borrowing an On-Board Diagnostic (OBD) reader. An OBD reader will tell you what the error code is and how severe it

2023 IRS Updated Limits and Deductions The IRS just came out with the tax year 2023 update for a few essential items, which were all favorably adjusted: Free Course on Creating an Extraordinary Life I recently had the pleasure of recording an episode with Alan and Katie Donegan on the topic of index funds, which will go live in about a month (that will be a great week of podcasts starting with a JL Collins episode releasing on Monday and the Donegan episode on Friday!). They told me that to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Rebel Business School they are

ChooseFI Book Club Ginger wrote in with a great idea of doing a ChooseFI Book Club and I jumped on it. The first installment is tentatively going to air on Friday December 16th. The book we picked is ‘Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals’ by Oliver Burkeman, which was recommended by numerous members of our community and seemed like the perfect place to start. The plan is for me, Ginger and Josue (another community member whose story you’ll hear on the podcast in a few weeks) to talk through the book, our big takeaways, and actionable items. But it wouldn’t be a

Deep Dive on Social Security Benefits I received a helpful email from Matt, who researched a really important topic we honestly haven’t done a wonderful job covering at ChooseFI:  Social Security benefits. Here’s what Matt sent in: “I went down a rabbit hole and learned how to more accurately estimate my social security benefit by accounting for future pay raises and using bend points forecasted for the year you are eligible for Social Security. I want to share with the community the following articles I found most helpful. Households of FI Series Returns If you’ve listened to ChooseFI the last month,

Taking Action: Online Security On Episode 397 that released yesterday, I spoke with Tom, a longtime FI Community member, about common sense steps you can take to secure your online & financial life. Today is the day I challenge you to take action to make it happen! At the very least, if you don’t have secure passwords, a password manager and Two-Factor Authentication on every one of your financial logins (plus your email accounts and social media), you need to do this ASAP. Listen to Episode 397 and take action! Taking Action: Net Worth Tracking The 3rd quarter of 2022 just ended

Money Saving Tips from Laura Over the years I’ve mentioned a number of my wife’s money-saving hacks on the podcast and the community has always wanted more! Laura was kind enough to write up some tips for the FI Weekly: “Hello FI Weekly readers!  Laura here making a guest appearance and taking over the FI Weekly this week! I thought it would be fun to jot down a quick list of some of my tips for making your life with family a little easier, less expensive and less stressful: Google Chrome Safety and Essential Extensions A few months ago, I highlighted some essential

The Cost of Admission for Investing Here’s a long quote from Morgan Housel, author of The Psychology of Money, with one of the best illustrations of the mentality needed for successful long-term investing in the stock market regarding normal volatility: “Anything worth pursuing in life, that has a benefit, has a price attached to it. The world is not so great that it’s going to give you great rewards and ask nothing in return. So, then, the question is, in investing, what is the cost of admission? You want great returns. Everyone knows that you can earn great returns in

What $100 a Month Truly Means In the ‘Community Taking Action’ section of today’s email (see below), Charity said her reducing $100/month in expenses “was not flashy” but I wanted to point out the immense value of every $100 reduction in life expenses: For every $100 reduction in monthly expenses, that’s a full $30,000 less in net worth you need to reach Financial Independence. Yes, $30,000 less! That’s massive. Here’s the math: Let’s say your life costs $5,000 per month, which is a total of $60,000 per year. We know to get your FI Number using the 4% rule of thumb

Return of the Hot Seat I want to take a minute to say a huge thank you to everyone who responded to last week’s FI Weekly!  With the news of Jonathan stepping back from the podcast, I was blown away by all the heartfelt messages of encouragement and gratitude plus all the amazing suggestions for future guests, topics and segments you’d like to see. I was shocked that so many of you specifically asked that I bring back ‘The Hot Seat’ questions we previously asked our guests at the end of the episode. I can guarantee it is 100% coming

Beginning of a New Era On the ChooseFI podcast Episode 392 that released yesterday, Jonathan announced that he’s stepping back as the on-air host of the podcast, and that would be his last episode. This is a ‘season of life’ change for him and he’ll continue to work on things behind the scenes at ChooseFI, so all is well certainly. This is bittersweet for me as obviously I’m bummed that he won’t be on the show with me, but it’s also exciting in the sense that the show is now mine to shape going forward. I’d love to involve you