Retirement

The Sacrifices We Make To Achieve Financial Independence

One of the most commonly asked questions I get is whether I had to make sacrifices in my pursuit of FIRE (financial independence and retire early). When they refer to sacrifices, what they really mean is whether I missed out on the typical fun experiences of a young adult. These aren’t serious sacrifices like risking […]

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The Most Dangerous Early Retirement Strategy To Follow: Coast FIRE

In 2009, I established my first rule of FIRE: generate enough passive income to cover your basic living expenses. Once achieved, you attain financial independence and the freedom to pursue your desires. Since then, various permutations of FIRE have emerged, one of which is Coast FIRE. Coast FIRE involves front-loading your retirement savings and then

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I’m Unwilling To Change The Rules Of FIRE To Win The Game

I’ve been documenting my journey in Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) since July 2009. I’m not aware of any other blogger who commenced their FIRE journey earlier, is still currently retired or unemployed, and has maintained a consistent writing presence like I have on Financial Samurai. When I began sharing my FIRE experiences, I was

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How To Save More For Retirement If You Don’t Make Much Money

Want to save more for retirement? Good. People are not saving enough while working, which will hurt them when they are old. The key to saving more for retirement is properly forecasting your future. By the time you’re old, tired, and unmotivated, you want to have saved up enough passive income to cover your living

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401(k), 403(b), And IRA Contribution Limits For 2024

The Internal Revenue Service announced that the amount individuals can contribute to their 401(k) plans in 2024 has increased to $23,000, up from $22,500 for 2023. In addition, the limit on annual contributions to an IRA increased to $7,000, up from $6,500 in 2023. Not bad! Given the new three legs of the retirement stool

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The Average American Household Is A Millionaire, Go USA!

Well folks, after writing over 2,300 personal finance articles since 2009, my job here at Financial Samurai is done! According to the 2022 Federal Reserve Consumer Finance Survey, the average American household’s net worth, adjusted for inflation, was $1.06 million. That’s right. The average American household, some of which consists of individuals, is a millionaire!

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Why It’s So Hard To Stay Retired Once You Retire Early

It’s hard enough to retire early, say before age 45. However, I’ve discovered it may be even harder to stay retired once you retire early! As I was going through my archives, I realized I had a master plan to re-retire by September 1, 2022, several months after my 45th birthday. Given the birth of

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Spending More Money On Food: An Experiment In Decumulation

Once I hit 45 in mid-2022, I decided to enter a decumulation phase. Instead of continuing to save and invest aggressively, I decided to spend more aggressively. One way to decumulate is to spend more money on food. Dying with an excess of money is suboptimal. If we do, it will have meant that we

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