Retirement

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 […]

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

My family and I could have been set for life. Instead, due to my inability to beat back real estate FOMO, I blew up our passive income. And because our passive income is now much lower, we are no longer financially independent. Desire is the cause of all suffering. Due to my desire to own

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

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

Getting to the top 1% net worth by age is a very impressive goal. But how much money do you need to get there? Overall, to have a top 1% net worth in 2024 requires having at least $13 million according to the Federal Reserve. And in 2025, the top 1% net worth amount will

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!

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

The 60-day rollover rule enables you to borrow money from your retirement plans tax- and penalty-free. You can utilize the rule once a year. However, in general, I don’t think it’s wise to borrow from your retirement plans. If you do, you may get into the habit of robbing your retirement future. You may also