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BiggerPockets Money Podcast Archive
Every episode of the BiggerPockets Money Podcast, from the beginning of time. Thank you for listening, and for coming to our website!
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Chapter Three: The Four Principles That Actually Matter
If FIRE had a secret formula, this would be it. No hacks. No shortcuts. No “weird tricks that financial advisors don’t want you to know about.” Just four principles that work together whether you like them or not. Achieving Financial Independence rests on lowering expenses, increasing income, investing wisely, and optimizing taxes. You don’t need…
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How Much Cash Should You Hold Before Early Retirement?
If you spend enough time in the Financial Independence community, you will notice that we love optimization. We optimize our tax strategies, our investment allocations, our travel rewards cards, and occasionally our grocery store routes. We are not casual about money. We are intentional. And yet, there is one area where even the most spreadsheet…
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This Week in Money: What the Headlines Mean for Your FI Journey
Every week, the financial news cycle churns out a fresh batch of stories designed to make you feel like you need to do something. Buy this. Sell that. The economy is great! The economy is terrible! AI is going to save us all! AI is going to destroy everything! Most of it is noise. But…
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Chapter Two: How Long Is This Going to Take?!?
This is the question everyone asks approximately five minutes after learning what FI is. How long is this going to take? The frustrating and honest answer is: it depends. The encouraging answer is: it depends far less on your income than most people think. (And way more on something you can actually control.) The single…
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Chapter One: The Basic Math of Financial Independence
Before we get philosophical, motivational, or dangerously excited about quitting our jobs, we need to talk about math. Don’t worry. This is friendly math. No calculus. No surprise quizzes. Just enough numbers to explain how this whole Financial Independence thing actually works. The Core Concept (Which Is Shockingly Simple) At its core, Financial Independence is…
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The Ultimate Guide to FI – Introduction
Scott and I have been talking about Financial Independence for going on 8 years now. We wanted to create a definitive guide to FI, and this is it. Not this post, but this series, which we are calling The Ultimate Guide to Financial Independence. We’re not reinventing the wheel here, we’re just gathering up this…
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Why FIRE Math Fails When Your Spending Isn’t Stable
The New Critique of FIRE Math I’ve started seeing more articles questioning whether traditional FIRE math actually works. While I don’t agree with all of the conclusions – some critiques toss aside decades of solid research a little too quickly – there’s one argument that deserves serious attention. Unstable or unexpected spending is a major…
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The FIRE Basics You Can’t Skip (Even If You’re Already Wealthy)
If you make a high income or already have a sizable net worth, it’s tempting to believe you’ve “graduated” from the basics of FIRE. You max your accounts.You invest consistently.You’ve read the books.You know the math. And yet, this is exactly the stage where many FIRE plans quietly break. Not because the basics stopped mattering…
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The 17 Personal Finance Books Worth Reading If You Actually Want to Be Better With Money
When it comes to personal finance, there’s no shortage of advice floating around. But not all money books are created equal. Some are packed with timeless wisdom, others with quirky stories that actually stick, and a few will make you question every purchase you’ve ever made. To save you time – and a few wrong…
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Budgeting for Couples: How to Talk About Money Without Fighting
If you want to fast-track a relationship stress test, forget assembling IKEA furniture. Just talk about money. Nothing reveals differences in values, habits, and emotional baggage faster than a casual question like, “So… how do you think we should handle our finances?” That one sentence can unlock childhood trauma, deeply held beliefs about security, and…