BiggerPockets Money Blog
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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…
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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…
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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!…
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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…
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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…
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Scott’s Age 35 Health and Fitness “Protocol”
I’ve been asked by a few BiggerPockets Money listeners about my Fitness and Health Plan. I’ll start with a disclaimer here. I am no “Fitfluencer”, and have no intention of diving deeply…
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Investment Thesis: Are *Some* Office Buildings Incredibly Attractive in 2026’s Depressed Environment?
Note: I (Scott) enjoy putting my brain to work on investment and business plans. I plan to publish many theses, and act on only a handful. I sincerely hope for feedback and…
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Bitcoin’s Binary Endgame
Why the Security Model Cannot Stabilize and Must Collapse to Functional Zero An incentive-based analysis of the post-subsidy security cliff, the compounding fragility trap, and the absence of a stable low-equilibrium state.…
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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…
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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…
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Why Healthcare Costs rise Sharply with Age In Early Retirement – And Why Early Retirees Need a Bigger Buffer than the 4% Rule
Health insurance premiums rise dramatically with age in the United States. This is not a theoretical risk or a pessimistic/overly conservative assumption. It is a core feature of the healthcare system, explicitly…
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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…
Mindy Jensen has been fanatical about personal finance her entire life. She truly believes that financial freedom is attainable for anyone, no matter when or where you’re starting from. She’s been a real estate investor for decades, is slowly moving her personal portfolio from individual stocks to index funds, and is excited to learn more about investing of all types (except crypto!) She wrote First-Time Home Buyer with Scott Trench, and when you can get her to stop talking about money and investing, she can be found on her road bike in the summer, snowboarding down the Colorado slopes in the winter, and spending time with her family.
Scott Trench is a perpetual student of personal finance, real estate investing, self-improvement, health, and well-being. He is the former CEO of BiggerPockets, where he oversaw the company’s growth from 100,000 members, to 3.1M real estate investors. He is a real estate investor + broker, stock market investor and authored Set for Life and First-Time Home Buyer (co-authored with Mindy Jensen). When not discussing personal finance, he can be found picking up heavy things (or craft beers) and then putting them back down again, running, cycling, or otherwise enjoying beautiful Colorado.