Catching Up to FI

APRIL IS FINANCIAL LITERACY MONTH! What do you get when two late starters hand the mic to two twenty-somethings and let the money questions fly? In this unusually fun follow-up to the University of Tennessee classroom visit, we bring Dr. Karen DeLong and two of her students, Emilie and Britton, onto the podcast to tackle the real questions young adults ask when money stops being theoretical and starts getting personal. Emilie – Majoring in Finance and International Business with a minor in Agricultural Business and will be pursuing a career in Wealth Management. Britton – Interning with Wells Fargo in their Investment Banking - Commercial Real Estate division and will be pursuing a career in that post grad. . This episode covers The real money questions college students are asking before graduation Why Roth IRAs are such a powerful early-start tool How to think about saving for retirement versus nearer-term goals What happens to your 401(k) when you switch jobs Why savings rate matters more than most young adults realize The balance between being responsible and being too frugal How parents, professors, and mentors shape money mindset Why financial literacy needs to be practical, not just theoretical What late starters can teach young adults before they make the same mistakes . === SUPPORT THE SHOW === 📩 Sign up for our newsletter 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question . ===DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS=== 📈 Boldin (formerly NewRetirement): Retirement planning software that's like having a financial advisor at your fingertips. You can get started with the free version or choose the premium option (PlannerPlus) and get a 14-day free trial. 👉🏼 Be sure to use this link to get started: Go.boldin.com/catchingup Personal Finance Club: Use code CUTOFI to get $30 OFF any investing course Nectarine: Advice-Only and Flat-Fee Hourly Fiduciary Financial Advisors (Catching Up to FI will be compensated by Nectarine if you use our affiliate link, which creates an incentive and conflict of interest. We are not current clients or employees of Nectarine.) For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners . RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW 🌐 Dr. Karen DeLong Farm Credit Mid-America 📘 If You Can: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly (Bill Bernstein) 📕 The Simple Path to Wealth- Updated 2025 (JL Collins) 📗 Your Money or Your Life (Vicki Robin & Joe Dominguez) 📙F.I.R.E. For Dummies (Jackie Cummings Koski) 📘Money Letters 2 My Daughter (Jackie Cummings Koski) . ⏰ Related Episodes I Have a PhD in Business but Never Had a Personal Finance Class | Dr. Karen DeLong | 206 Financial Literacy 101: Live Inside the Classroom at University of Tennessee | Bill & Jackie | 207 . If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating and review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! . 📌Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

APRIL IS FINANCIAL LITERACY MONTH! What happens when you hand a room full of almost-graduates a microphone, a few $2 bills, and permission to ask the money questions most adults still avoid? In this special on-the-road episode, we take you inside the financial literacy presentation at the University of Tennessee to share a few highlights of our recent talk. It's energetic, imperfect, and deeply encouraging. Financial literacy doesn't have to be stiff or scary. Sometimes it just looks like showing up, telling the truth about your mistakes, and helping the next person get a much earlier start than you did. This episode covers: ➡️ Highlights from Bill and Jackie's live financial literacy presentation at UT Knoxville ➡️ Why young adults need practical money education before entering the workforce ➡️ The difference between being rich and being wealthy ➡️ Why savings rate matters so much for financial independence ➡️ How to think about 401(k)s, employer match, vesting, and job changes ➡️ Why index funds and simple investing often beat picking individual stocks ➡️ Jackie's $2 bill story and how tiny saving habits can shape a lifetime ➡️ Bill's "rich doctor syndrome" story and the danger of lifestyle inflation ➡️ How listeners can adapt this presentation for their own school, church, or community . === SUPPORT THE SHOW === 📩 Sign up for our newsletter 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question . ===DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS=== 📈 Boldin (formerly NewRetirement): Retirement planning software that's like having a financial advisor at your fingertips. You can get started with the free version or choose the premium option (PlannerPlus) and get a 14-day free trial. 👉🏼 Be sure to use this link to get started: Go.boldin.com/catchingup Personal Finance Club: Use code CUTOFI to get $30 OFF any investing course Nectarine: Advice-Only and Flat-Fee Hourly Fiduciary Financial Advisors (Catching Up to FI will be compensated by Nectarine if you use our affiliate link, which creates an incentive and conflict of interest. We are not current clients or employees of Nectarine.) For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners . RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: 🌐 Dr. Karen DeLong Farm Credit Mid-America BetterInvesting.org 📘 If You Can: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly (free digital download) 📄 Copy of Our Presentation Slides to UT Students ⏰ Related Episodes I Have a PhD in Business but Never Had a Personal Finance Class | Dr. Karen DeLong | 206 Questions from Students (coming in April) . If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating and review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! . 📌Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

APRIL IS FINANCIAL LITERACY MONTH! What if one passionate professor, one classroom, and a few brave money questions could change hundreds of financial lives before graduation? We head to Knoxville for a special Financial Literacy Month episode with Dr. Karen DeLong, the University of Tennessee professor quietly doing the work most schools still don't: making sure students leave campus with more than a degree. Karen shares how three advanced degrees somehow included zero personal-finance education and how that gap pushed her to build an annual money session for her students. Bill and Jackie reflect on what it was like to teach these soon-to-be graduates and how any late starter can become a powerful financial literacy advocate in their own little corner of the world. This episode covers: ➡️ Why Dr. Karen DeLong started bringing personal finance into her classroom ➡️ How someone can earn multiple degrees and still never take a money class ➡️ Why college students are hungry for practical money conversations ➡️ The kinds of personal finance questions students are asking before graduation ➡️ How Bill and Jackie prepare for live financial literacy teaching sessions ➡️ Why financial literacy fits into almost any curriculum, not just finance classes ➡️ How Farm Credit Mid-America helped support this student enrichment work ➡️ Why late starters can still become mentors and financial literacy advocates ➡️ A preview of the student follow-up episode answering unanswered questions . === SUPPORT THE SHOW === 📩 Sign up for our newsletter 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question . ===DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS=== 📈 Boldin (formerly NewRetirement): Retirement planning software that's like having a financial advisor at your fingertips. You can get started with the free version or choose the premium option (PlannerPlus) and get a 14-day free trial. 👉🏼 Be sure to use this link to get started: Go.boldin.com/catchingup Personal Finance Club: Use code CUTOFI to get $30 OFF any investing course Nectarine: Advice-Only and Flat-Fee Hourly Fiduciary Financial Advisors (Catching Up to FI will be compensated by Nectarine if you use our affiliate link, which creates an incentive and conflict of interest. We are not current clients or employees of Nectarine.) For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners . RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW 🌐 Dr. Karen DeLong Farm Credit Mid-America . ⏰ Related Episodes Financial Literacy 101: Live Inside the Classroom at University of Tennessee | Bill & Jackie | 207 Questions from Students (coming in April) If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating and review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! 📌Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

April is Financial Literacy Month and we're starting a little early! That's because we are so excited to launch a new project called "The Great 401(k) Cleanup." What if the easiest way to boost your retirement odds this year isn't reducing your spending or a side hustle, but cleaning up that messy, confusing 401(k) you've been ignoring? We are using Financial Literacy Month to launch a full-on 401(k) intervention with a step-by-step guide including: Access From Home Contributions Beneficiaries Investments Rate of Return What's Next 401(k)s and similar workplace plans like the TSP, 403(b), and 457 have become the backbone of retirement for most Americans. Yet they are often confusing and complicated to the average employee. No wonder so many accounts get neglected and become messy over time. The good news is that 2026 can be the year you clean it all up. This friendly and straightforward guide was created independent of any employer or plan provider, and will help you get going. By the time you're done you'll better understand your 401(k) and feel more empowered to use it as a real tool to build wealth and support your money goals. This episode covers: ➡️ How to clean up a messy 401(k) in less than an hour ➡️ Why year-to-date returns can mislead and longer time frames matter more ➡️ How contribution rate and savings rate shape your retirement timeline ➡️ Employer match, vesting schedules, and why "free money" still confuses people ➡️ Target date funds and simple one- to three-fund strategies ➡️ How to spot low-cost index funds inside an ugly 401(k) menu ➡️ What to do with old 401(k)s when you change jobs ➡️ How AI can help decode plan documents and confusing fund lists ➡️ Why forgotten 401(k)s now total a jaw-dropping $2.1 trillion ==================== DOWNLOAD GUIDE & EDITABLE CHECKLIST 📄 Cleaning up your 401(k) in less than an hour (complete guide with references) 📄 Cleaning up your 401(k) in less than an hour- Editable Checklist (download first) ==================== DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS MONARCH MONEY The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners SUPPORT THE SHOW 📩 Sign up for our newsletter 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating and review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! 📌Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

What if the best retirement advice didn't come from a spreadsheet—but from a real retiree saying, "I wish I'd done it sooner"? Jackie crosses over to "REAL Retirees: Uncut" for a refreshingly candid, walk through of what six years of early retirement have actually looked like. She also shares her top five reasons to retire early, from time freedom and better mental health to the surprising new opportunities that open up when your job no longer runs your calendar. And because this is still Catching Up to FI, she closes with a message straight to late starters: most people wake up later than they wanted, but that doesn't mean they're doomed. It means they need a new frame and a little grace. This episode covers: ➡️ Jackie's real-life retirement story, six years in ➡️ Retiring at 49 after corporate life ➡️ Building a nest egg using FIRE math and the 4% rule ➡️ Living off brokerage assets, Roth contributions, and a 72(t) strategy before 59½ ➡️ ACA health insurance subsidies and managing income in early retirement ➡️ Why Jackie kept her mortgage and doesn't regret it ➡️ Her top five reasons to retire early ➡️ The hidden superpowers late starters already have ➡️ Why retirement success is really about freedom, health, and impact ==================== DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS MONARCH MONEY The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners SUPPORT THE SHOW 📩 Sign up for our newsletter 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 🌐REAL Retirees: Uncut http://www.youtube.com/@REALRetireesUncut 🌐Jackie's website FInomenalWoman.com 📕F.I.R.E. For Dummies 📘Money Letters 2 My Daughter 📈Jackie's Investment Club through BetterInvesting.org ⏰ RELATED EPISODES From Poverty to Wealth and Early Retirement | Jackie Cummings Koski | 007 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating and review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! 📌Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

What if you were already financially independent at 40… and didn't realize it until a random pension search and a couple of podcasts blew the whole thing open? This was Jaylynn's "Surprise FI" and he joins the show to take us blow by blow. He gives us look back to his childhood of money orders, loving parents, and "value over flash" shaped him. He shares how he went from thinking the stock market was gambling to maxing out a 401(k), building a brokerage account, and accidentally discovering he had already hit FI in his forties. But this isn't just a "run the numbers and quit" story. Jaylynn talks through Surprise FI, staying in a job he loved until COVID burnout changed the equation, retiring at 44, managing ACA subsidies, planning Roth conversions and a future 72(t). He's now using time freedom to become the dad his son would later call his "best friend." He leaves us with the reminder that progress beats perfection—especially for late starters. This episode covers: How Jaylynn's parents taught him value, bills, and stretching money without calling it "financial literacy" Why he thought investing was gambling after watching Trading Places The coworker moment that made him realize he was already an investor through his 401(k) A rare private-company benefits setup: automatic 401(k) contributions, pension, and relocation packages How he discovered the FIRE movement by researching pension payout options "Surprise FI" at age 40 using the 4% rule and liquid assets only Why he kept working after hitting FI—and what changed in 2020 Retiring at 44 with a mortgage, a tax strategy, and 15 years of runway Using ACA subsidies, Roth conversions, and a future 72(t) to bridge the early-retirement years Why the real wealth turned out to be time with his kids, not just a portfolio balance ==================== DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS MONARCH MONEY The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners SUPPORT THE SHOW 📩 Sign up for our newsletter 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: ChooseFI BiggerPockets Money Jill On Money The Retirement Answer Man ⏰ Related Episodes 72(t) Expert Tells All: No More Secrets About Early Withdrawals (Part 1) | Bill Stecker | 131 Cashing in on 72(t): The Goldmine of Early Retirement Rules (Part2) | Bill Stecker | 133 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating and review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! 📌Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Today we're putting AI (Artificial Intelligence) to the test with AI money expert Jeffrey Trull. He's founder of the blog and newsletter, Money Meets AI where he shares tested prompts for your money. He joins us to sort the genuinely useful from the wildly overhyped when it comes to AI. We expand our conversation into prompts, privacy, hallucinations, portfolio questions, Google vs. ChatGPT, paid vs. free tools, and where AI can actually save real time for DIYers. Along the way, Bill wrestles with the tradeoff between efficiency and original thought, Jackie pushes the "AI as thought partner" framing, and Jeffrey stresses that it's great for lower-risk questions but terrible as your all-knowing financial planner. This episode covers: Where AI is genuinely useful for DIY personal finance Why prompts matter, but perfection is overrated Using AI to review insurance, contracts, and 401(k) plan docs Google vs. ChatGPT vs. Claude for money questions Paid vs. free AI tools and when subscriptions are worth it AI "hallucinations" and how to fact-check outputs Privacy concerns when uploading financial documents Why AI should be a thought partner, not your financial planner Agentic AI, AI shopping assistants, and what may be coming next ==================== DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS MONARCH MONEY The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners SUPPORT THE SHOW 📩 Sign up for our newsletter 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 🌐 Money Meets AI Top 5 Prompts for the Money Math You've Been Avoiding ⏰ Related Episodes Founder of 'Catching Up to FI' Just Hit Financial Independence, Now What? | Bill Yount | 196 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating and review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! 📌Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

What if the guy who literally wrote the book on asset allocation told you your biggest risk isn't the market…it's the person in your bathroom mirror? Neurologist-turned-market-historian William (Bill) Bernstein joins us for a fascinating conversation about his unlikely path from photochemistry to medicine to becoming the quiet godfather of Boglehead-style investing. He shares what shaped his "simple but not easy" philosophy, why he thinks all of investing is "half math, half Shakespeare," and how a homemade website in the 1990s turned into "The Intelligent Asset Allocator" and a second career. This episode covers: ✅ How a frustrated young scientist became a neurologist, then a financial theorist and writer ✅ Early investing mistakes (Palladium futures, hot funds, overconfidence) and what finally clicked ✅ The five hurdles from If You Can and why history and psychology matter as much as math ✅ What makes a true bubble: social buzz, career-changing speculators, hostility to skeptics, wild predictions ✅ Predictions vs forecasts, and how Bill "called" the dot-com bubble and GFC without betting the farm ✅ His current mix: modest small/value tilts, cash/T-bills for sanity, and a TIPS ladder for 30 years of expenses ✅ Why a TIPS ladder feels different from a TIPS fund and why most investors still won't use one ✅ The 30-years-working / 30-years-retired "toy model" and why it implies 20–25%+ savings rates ✅ Teaching kids about money via your own behavior, crappy college jobs, and tiny three-fund portfolios ✅ A sober view of FIRE as a way out of the cubicle and into meaningful work—not a 36-year-old beach fantasy ==================== DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS MONARCH MONEY The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners SUPPORT THE SHOW 📩 Sign up for our newsletter 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 🌐 Efficient Frontier (Bernstein's website) 🌐 The John C. Bogle Center for Financial Literacy 📘If You Can: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly (free digital download) 📗 Your Money and Your Brain (Jason Zweig) https://a.co/d/07bgnfz1 ⏰ Related Episodes The $1,000 Gift From Jonathan Clements To 18-Year-Olds | Bill Bernstein & Christine Benz | 160 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating and review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! 📌Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

What if your giving plan felt as intentional and optimized as your FI plan, and just as easy to automate? In walks Daffy, the new and modern donor-advised fund that is democratizing giving! Adam Nash, co-founder and CEO of Daffy, joins us today to explain how donor-advised funds (DAFs) went from stuffy tools for the ultra-wealthy to something you can open on your phone. Daffy is a fast-growing fintech platform and community for charitable giving, made for everyday people. Adam shares the pandemic-era "why now" behind Daffy, how traditional donor-advised funds quietly skim high AUM fees while setting eye-watering minimums, and walks through Daffy's flat-fee, app-first model. This episode also covers: ✅ What donor-advised funds are and why they've been hidden from most everyday givers ✅ DAFs for tax optimization (bunching, appreciated stock, estate planning) ✅ How to turn giving into a family and workplace culture (campaigns, matching, gift links) ✅ Why Adam sees a DAF as a simple "charitable 401(k)" or mini family foundation without the lawyers, board meetings, or overhead, built to help you be more generous ========== DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS MONARCH MONEY The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners SUPPORT THE SHOW 📩 Sign up for our newsletter 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) ➡️ Join Bill or Jackie on :Daffy and receive an extra $25 bonus for charity in your new account 🌐 :Daffy (The Donor-Advised Fund For You™) ▶️ :Daffy on YouTube 📄The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) is Telling Donors One Thing: Get a Donor-Advised Fund Donor-Advised Fund fee comparison calculator Stock vs. Cash Donation Calculator If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating and review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! 📌Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

What happens when a "late-starter" ER doc finally hits FI at 60, then must figure out how to actually spend the money without blowing it—or hoarding it forever? Bill joins Mindy and Scott on the BiggerPockets Money podcast to walk through his full "caught up to FI" debrief. Here his decade-long sprint from single-digit savings to 40%, taking his money back from a private bank, and the 60th-birthday retirement-readiness check that came back with a 100% success rate. From there, they dig into his move from a simple three-fund portfolio to a risk-parity setup, why he hired a flat-fee planner after years as a DIY investor, and how he's using FI to buy back time and jump-start his kids' wealth with Roth IRAs, HSAs, and tax-savvy living gifts. This episode covers: ➡️ Going from "rich but broke doctor" to FI in about 10 years ➡️ Boosting a savings rate from single digits to ~40% without feeling deprived ➡️ Shifting from a three-fund portfolio to a risk-parity decumulation strategy ➡️ Using flat-fee, advice-only planner instead of 1% AUM ➡️ Order of withdrawals: taxable, pre-tax, Roth, plus asset location ➡️ Modeling taxes, RMDs, and Social Security timing in real life ➡️ Building a "3-1-1" spending plan for needs, comfort, and luxury/giving ➡️ Helping adult kids fill Roth IRAs and HSAs as part of generational wealth ➡️ Weighing when to actually leave medicine once money is no longer the boss ============================== DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS MONARCH MONEY The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners SUPPORT THE SHOW 📩 Sign up for our newsletter 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 🌐 BiggerPockets Money BiggerPockets Money Youtube ⏰ Related Episodes Founder of 'Catching Up to FI' Just Hit Financial Independence, Now What? | Bill Yount | 196 Flashback to Episode 1: 'A Boat Named YOLO' | Bill Yount | 197 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating and review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! 📌Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Don't be that person who becomes a hoarder in retirement! You know who you are and it's a big concern for those that are champs at saving but reluctant to spend. It almost seems like a good problem to have... but not really! Retirement planners Rachel Camp, CFP® and Jesse Cramer join the show for a tackle the topic and what's known as the "consumption gap"-- the mismatch between what retirees could safely spend and what they actually spend. They discuss how decades of frugality, and dopamine hits from watching net worth climb and similar types of thinking make it brutally hard to flip from saver to spender. In this episode we cover: ✅ The 4% rule's real origin story (it was built to avoid failure, not to optimize joy) ✅ The very human tendency to over solve for the worst-case market and under solve for lost health, time, and relationships ✅ Strategies Rachael and Jesse use with their clients to help them spend and not hoard their money in retirement ✅ Why talking through childhood money stories is often more powerful than another spreadsheet. ✅ Debunking the viral "retire later, die sooner" meme and zoom out to what actually affects longevity ✅ A challenge tailor-made for late starters: once the math says you've won, stop buy back your time, and don't die with the biggest net worth of your life. ==================== DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS MONARCH MONEY The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners SUPPORT THE SHOW 📩 Sign up for our newsletter 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 🌐 Rachael Camp Wealth Rachael Camp Wealth Youtube 🌐 The Best Interest Blog (Jesse Cramer) Personal Finance For Long-Term Investors (Jesse Cramer's podcast) 📄Debunked: The Later You Retire, The Earlier You Die?! ⏰ Related Episodes Smart Money Moves After 50 | Bill Yount | 142 Space Telescopes, Sunflowers, and Financial Gardening | Jesse Cramer | 105 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating and review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! 📌Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

This episode is a little time-travel experiment with a flashback to the first episode (A Boat Named YOLO) that started it all. We're celebrating three years of 'Catching Up to FI' and Bill officially coming out as reaching Financial Independence (FI). He started late at 50 but now FI at 60! Be sure to go back and listen to this past Sunday's episode, where Jackie interviews Bill and he openly shares all the juicy details. ➡️Founder of 'Catching Up to FI' Just Hit Financial Independence, Now What? | Bill Yount | 196 ==================== DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS: MONARCH MONEY The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners SUPPORT THE SHOW 📩 Sign up for our newsletter 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating and review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! 📌Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Don't miss this special 3-year anniversary of 'Catching Up to FI' as Bill marks the moment by doing something he's been helping everyone else do for years: officially 'coming out' as financially independent (FI)! It is hard to believe that the show has been around for 3 years, 196 episodes, 20k Facebook Community members, 1.4M audio downloads and 300k views on YouTube. Is this real? Today we celebrate Bill's journey from Episode #1: 'A Boat Named Yolo', to officially reaching FI, but feels more like the 'The Fog of FI'. During this interview, Jackie gets Bill to open up and vulnerably share details of his wake-up call at 50: burned out, sued, house-poor after a disastrous renovation and de-risking at the bottom of the Great Recession, and still living paycheck to paycheck despite a 'rich doctor' income. He walks through discovering FI via blogs and books, taking a full year to reclaim his money from private bankers and whole life policies (he's naming names!). Bill's real superpower was boosting his savings rate up to ~40% in his early 50s using Mr. Money Mustache's 'shockingly simple math' to accept a 10 to 15-year timeline. Fast-forward to 60 and a retirement-readiness check with a flat-fee, advice-only planner: after three years of expense tracking in Monarch Money, a comprehensive plan, and stress-testing with risk-parity portfolios, Bill gets the verdict every late starter dreams of, 'you could retire tomorrow'— and feels weirdly flat. We also dig into the emotional side: the identity crisis of possibly leaving medicine, using newfound leverage to negotiate work on his own terms, the choice to glide out over several years instead of cliff-retiring, and the shift from building wealth to giving with warm hands, mentoring younger docs, and helping his adult sons lay foundations he never had. We close with Bill's hard-earned advice: ➡️ Reverse-engineer your life from your tombstone ➡️ Focus on health span as fiercely as net worth ➡️ Stop over-identifying with your job or your number ➡️ Remember that for late starters, the real win is feeling less alone while you build a life you won't regret. ==================== DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS: MONARCH MONEY The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners SUPPORT THE SHOW 📩 Sign up for our newsletter 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: 📄 Bill's 'Letter of Gratitude' and 'Financial Life Policy Statement' Saving Our Retirement on Humble Dollar Bill's Financial Planner: Bryan Minogue CFP®, CFA (Kardinal Financial) ⏰ Related Episodes A Boat Named YOLO | Bill Yount | 001 The Power of Cash Flow Planning | Sarah-Catherine Gutierrez | 016 The Father of Financial Life Planning (Part 1) | George Kinder | 140 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating and review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! 📌Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Do you want to own your time, work less, and live more? What if the point isn't maxing out every account forever, but designing a week you don't want to escape from? This is the Coast FI life built by our guest today, Andy Hill. He shares the steps you can take to put your family first and escape the 9-5 grind: for good! He takes us through the full arc: starting married life at –$50K net worth, killing the debt in a year with budget parties, saving 40–50% to hit around $500K in investments by forty, then realizing that number was enough for Coast FI. With all that, he realized that what he really wanted was time. Andy is an award-winning blogger, podcaster, and family finance coach behind Marriage, Kids, and Money. He's also author of the new book 'Own Your Time: 10 Financial Steps to Put Your Family First and Escape the Corporate Grind', which walks readers through simple, yet highly effective steps families can take to achieve family financial independence. It also features real-life examples of couples who've conquered these family financial independence milestones and found better lives for themselves because of it. ==================== DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS: MONARCH MONEY The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners SUPPORT THE SHOW 📩 Sign up for our newsletter 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 🌐 Marriage Kids and Money 📕 Own Your Time: 10 Financial Steps to Put Your Family First and Escape the Corporate Grind ⏰ Related Episodes Generosity and Smart Spending: A Family Affair | Andy Hill | 103 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating and review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! 📌Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Strap in, because Jackie joins Brad Barrett for a crossover episode on the ChooseFI podcast, home of the world's largest FI community! Together, they rewind all the way back to 2017, when Jackie first stumbled onto ChooseFI… and everything changed. She recounts her journey to reaching early retirement by December 2019, and using that freedom to go back to school, get her CFP, and write 'F.I.R.E. for Dummies'. Then the two of them dive deep into the fundamentals and break down what financial independence really means. They explain why even ten dollars a month can spark a lifelong investing habit, and how Jackie's first investment club taught her the power of community and compounding. They decode 401(k)s, demystify fund selection, and spotlight the quiet villain of investing: expense ratios. The episode widens from there: debt payoff strategies, designing a modest but deeply rich life on $40–45K a year in Ohio, negotiating everything from internet bills to insurance premiums, and the emotional transformation from paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle to feeling 'directionally correct.' They conclude with the realization that FI isn't just about money, it's about options. Whether you're a late starter, brand new or ten years into the journey; returning to the basics is how you stay grounded, stay motivated, and stay on course. ==================== DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS: MONARCH MONEY The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners SUPPORT THE SHOW 📩 Sign up for our newsletter 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 🌐ChooseFI 🌐Jackie's website FInomenalWoman.com 📕F.I.R.E. For Dummies 📘Money Letters 2 My Daughter 📈Jackie's Investment Club through BetterInvesting.org ⏰ Related Episodes The Godfather of FI Talks Fatherhood | JL Collins | 149 Stories, Hacks, & Tribes | Brad Barrett | 021 From Poverty to Wealth and Early Retirement | Jackie Cummings Koski | 007 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating and review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! 📌Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

529 plan expert Patricia Roberts blows up the myth that 'it's too late' and '529s are just for rich people with toddlers and Ivy League dreams'. She is author of the book 'Route 529' and shares some big changes with 529 plans that make them an incredibly flexible savings vehicle for more than just college. In this episode we cover: How state tax deductions, credits and 'parity states' work for contributions The shockingly long list of qualified uses including trade schools, apprenticeships, non-degree credentials, K–12 tuition, tutoring, test prep and even student loan repayment Busting the 'use it or lose it' fear and the new option to rollover left over funds to a Roth IRA How to juggle retirement vs. college savings Advanced strategies to create generational education wealth DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS: MONARCH MONEY The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners SUPPORT THE SHOW 📩 Sign up for our newsletter 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 🌐 Gift of College College Countdown 📕 Route 529: A Parent's Guide to Saving for College and Career Training with 529 Plans Morningstar 529 Ratings: The Best Plans of 2025 What You Can Pay for With a 529 Plan ⏰ Related Episodes The College Discount Game You Need To Know Before Choosing A School | Ron Lieber | 191 Stop Paying for College and Use These High-Return Scholarship Hacks Instead | Chris Corinthian | 189 Banishing The Burden of Student Loan Debt | Travis Hornsby | 122 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating and review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! 📌Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Dan Haylett gives us a late-starter masterclass on why retirement is a human problem long before it's a math problem. Dan is a UK financial planner, creator of 'Humans vs Retirement' podcast, and author of 'The Retirement You Didn't See Coming'. He walks us through how that outdated 'retire from work and fade away' script clashes with modern 50- and 60-somethings who still have health, curiosity, and huge ambitions. In this episode he also: Reframes risk as the possibility of dying with plenty of money but too few memories Unpacks why spreadsheets never quite make us feel safe Lays out his three-phase map of the second half of life DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS: MONARCH MONEY The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 ALLOY The Alloy Market offers a seamless and efficient way to sell your gold, silver, and platinum jewelry, regardless of its condition. They are committed to transparency and fairness, ensuring you get the best possible value for your items. Use this special Link and enter code CUTOFI15 to get a $15 bonus when you sell items over $199 (limited time offer). For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners SUPPORT THE SHOW 📩 Sign up for our newsletter 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 🌐 Humans vs Retirement Website & Podcast 📕 The Retirement You Didn't See Coming ⏰ Related Episodes What Would 'Your Money' Look Like In a Simple Sketch? | Carl Richards | 170 The Father of Financial Life Planning (Part 1) | George Kinder | 140 The Three Kinder Questions (Part 2) | George Kinder | 141 Hard & Soft Sides of Retirement | Fritz Gilbert | 019 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating and review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! 📌Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

The cost of college is skyrocketing! To make sure you're not paying those sticker prices, we brought in New York Times 'Your Money' columnist, Ron Lieber. He is also author of 'The Price You Pay for College' and joins the show for a brutally honest walkthrough of what is actually going on behind the scenes. In this episode he breaks down: List price vs. cost of attendance Why most families don't pay rack rate How to read a school's 'Common Data Set' Merit vs. need-based aid How net price calculators and pre-reads can keep you from falling in love with a school you can't afford DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS: MONARCH MONEY The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 ALLOY The Alloy Market offers a seamless and efficient way to sell your gold, silver, and platinum jewelry, regardless of its condition. They are committed to transparency and fairness, ensuring you get the best possible value for your items. Use this special Link and enter code CUTOFI15 to get a $15 bonus when you sell items over $199 (limited time offer). For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners SUPPORT THE SHOW 📩 Sign up for our newsletter 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 📕 Books by Ron Lieber 🌐 Merit Aid Course (with link to free merit aid checklist) Ron's New York Times Profile Niche (for comparing colleges) Saving For College (Compare 529 Plans) ⏰ Related Episodes Stop Paying for College and Use These High-Return Scholarship Hacks Instead | Chris Corinthian | 189 Banishing The Burden of Student Loan Debt | Travis Hornsby | 122 The New World of 529 College Savings | Patricia Roberts (Coming Soon) If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating and review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! 📌Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Bill joins Jordan 'Doc G' Grumet for a community episode on the Earn & Invest podcast. They stress-test what happens when someone asks ChatGPT: 'What should I do if I'm retiring in five years?' Bill talks about turning 60, being told he's officially reached financial independence, and shifting from accumulation to a more defensive, retirement-ready nest egg. DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS: MONARCH MONEY The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 ALLOY The Alloy Market offers a seamless and efficient way to sell your gold, silver, and platinum jewelry, regardless of its condition. They are committed to transparency and fairness, ensuring you get the best possible value for your items. Use this special Link and enter code CUTOFI15 to get a $15 bonus when you sell items over $199 (limited time offer). For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners === SUPPORT THE SHOW === 📩 Sign up for our newsletter 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) Earn and Invest Podcast ⏰ Related Episodes The pURPOSE Code | Jordan Grumet | 115 A Boat Named YOLO | Bill Yount | 001 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating and review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! 📌Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Chris Corinthian is the 'Fin Lit Guy' and knows his way around scholarships and other high-return ways to earn money for college. He joins the show to give us a masterclass on paying for college without wrecking your retirement. Chris opens with his own financial setbacks, including a layoff and a devastating fire, which helped him realize the importance of financial literacy. In this episode, you will learn: Chris' Debt-free degree triangle How teens as young as 13 can earn free college credits His scholarship system that treats applications like a part-time job Specifics of where and how to apply for scholarships DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS: MONARCH MONEY The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 ALLOY The Alloy Market offers a seamless and efficient way to sell your gold, silver, and platinum jewelry, regardless of its condition. They are committed to transparency and fairness, ensuring you get the best possible value for your items. Use this special Link and enter code CUTOFI15 to get a $15 bonus when you sell items over $199 (limited time offer). For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners SUPPORT THE SHOW 📩 Sign up for our newsletter 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) Charities: Autism Speaks Red Cross 🌐 The FinLit Guy 📕 Financial Literacy 101 for College Student 📘 Financial Literacy 101 for College Students (free digital download) My Money Mentors on PBS EconoMe Talk The Boujee Banker Earn College Credit with CLEP Scholly Scholarships Scholarship Owl Modern States Education Alliance Raise Me ⏰ Related Episodes Banishing The Burden of Student Loan Debt | Travis Hornsby | 122 The College Discount Game You Need To Know Before Choosing A School | Ron Lieber | 191 The New World of 529 College Savings | Patricia Roberts (Coming Soon) If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating and review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! 📌Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Rose Lounsbury likes things simple. Her specialty is helping people embrace the art of decluttering and she joins us on the show today for a New Year's reset that goes way beyond junk drawers. Rose tells us how decluttering is really about creating space— for FI, for generosity, and for the surprising next chapter. After this episode you'll be ready for a clean start for 2026 as she walks us through: Her own minimalist journey that led her to getting rid of 70% of her stuff, while raising triplets! The generational scripts behind our clutter and how to fix it Why we should own our stuff, not the other way around How late starters can overcome the clutter trap that quietly devours time, money, and energy Getting rid of internal clutter DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS: MONARCH MONEY The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 ALLOY The Alloy Market offers a seamless and efficient way to sell your gold, silver, and platinum jewelry, regardless of its condition. They are committed to transparency and fairness, ensuring you get the best possible value for your items. Use this special Link and enter code CUTOFI15 to get a $15 bonus when you sell items over $199 (limited time offer). For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners S U P P O R T T H E S H O W 📩 Sign up for our newsletter 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 🌐 Rose Lounsbury 📘 Less: Minimalism, For Real 📗 Achievement Addict Rose's Tedx Talk: How Many Towels Do You Need Rose's EconoMe Talk: The Journey to Enough If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating and review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! 📌Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Happy New Year! As we roll into 2026, organizing money becomes top of mind and one of the most common New Year's resolutions. So today on the show we have an expert with the leading money management app- Monarch Money, Rachel Lawrence. She is a Certified Financial Planner and fintech leader who works at the intersection of personal finance, behavior, technology, and artificial intelligence (AI). She also runs her own fee-only financial planning firm called Reverie Wealth. In this episode Rachel gives us a masterclass on how to organize your financial life with Monarch's modern way to manage money that goes beyond the basics of budgeting. Plus, we'll get a peek into what changes they have coming in 2026! DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS: MONARCH MONEY The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 ALLOY The Alloy Market offers a seamless and efficient way to sell your gold, silver, and platinum jewelry, regardless of its condition. They are committed to transparency and fairness, ensuring you get the best possible value for your items. Use this special Link and enter code CUTOFI15 to get a $15 bonus when you sell items over $199 (limited time offer). For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 🌐 Monarch Money 🌐 Reverie Wealth If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! 📌Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Catching Up to FI co-host, Jackie Cummings Koski crosses over to Andy Panko's 'Retirement Planning Education' podcast for a funny, deeply practical masterclass on what FIRE really is (and what it isn't). Jackie is single-mom late-starter, FIRE for Dummies author, and "I retired but I'm still busy" money nerd. She rewinds her journey of retiring before 50 and walks Andy (and listeners) through: How she hit a ~$1M FI number with ~$40K annual spending Managing healthcare premiums by understanding how ACA subsidies really work Tapping her pre-tax IRA before 59.5 using 72(t) without blowing herself up Qualifying for ex-spouse Social Security benefits Medical tourism in Bali funded by her HSA Why most 401(k) menus are quietly sabotaging regular people They finish with Jackie's second act: two books, a CFP, a master's in financial planning & financial therapy, and co-hosting Catching Up to FI to help late starters realize it's not too late. DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS: Monarch Money The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 Alloy The Alloy Market offers a seamless and efficient way to sell your gold, silver, and platinum jewelry, regardless of its condition. They are committed to transparency and fairness, ensuring you get the best possible value for your items. Use this special Link and enter code CUTOFI15 to get a $15 bonus when you sell items over $199 (limited time offer). For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 🌐Retirement Planning Education 🎙️Retirement Planning Education Podcast 🌐Tenon Financial 📕 F.I.R.E. For Dummies by Jackie Cummings Koski ⏰ 'Catching Up to FI' Episodes Retirement Planning Tips | Andy Panko | 063 From Poverty to Wealth and Early Retirement | Jackie Cummings Koski | 007 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! ⚠️Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

The Mad Fientist (Brandon Ganch) is an OG, pioneer, and giant in the Financial Independence (FI) movement! It took us a while to get him on the show, but he finally joins us for this very special holiday catch-up. Brandon is a software developer and strategically put those skills to work in creating the popular Mad Fientist blog & podcast. He's best known for deep dive experiments on tax optimization, early access to retirement funds, and other brilliant FI strategies. Now a family man with a wife and two kids, Brandon rarely does interviews these days. But today you will get a rare glimpse into the ups and downs of his post-FI life. In this episode he candidly talks about: What he thought about money growing up and as a young adult His obsession with money and how it led to a period of depression while running the Mad Fientist blog and podcast How he traded in his extreme frugality and self-deprivation for joyful spending using his "Wealth Machines" software that has been in development for years Building his dream music studio and putting out a Billboard-charting album (Dead Pixel) and new EP (QED) Becoming a dad and asking big questions about raising children who've never seen their parents go to work DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS: 🆕NEW PARTNER: Monarch Money The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 Alloy The Alloy Market offers a seamless and efficient way to sell your gold, silver, and platinum jewelry, regardless of its condition. They are committed to transparency and fairness, ensuring you get the best possible value for your items. Use this special Link and enter code CUTOFI15 to get a $15 bonus when you sell items over $199 (limited time offer). For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 🌐 The Mad Fientist Blog 🎙️The Mad Fientist's Financial Independence Podcast Wealth Machines Software (in beta) 🎼 Follow Brandon's Music on Spotify (1=2) 🎼 New Album (QED, 2025) 🎼 1st Album (Dead Pixel, 2021) Get Rich Slowly- J.D. Roth 📘 Ramit Sethi – I Will Teach You to Be Rich 📕 Die with Zero by Bill Perkins 📗 The Wealth Ladder by Nick Maggiulli ⏰ 'Catching Up to FI' Episodes The Godfather of FI Talks Fatherhood | JL Collins | 149 The pURPOSE Code | Jordan Grumet | 115 Sustainable FIlosophy with Mr. Money Mustache | Pete Adeney | 073 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! ⚠️Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Frank Vasquez (aka 'Uncle Frank' to the FI community) returns to the show to talk gold and what this shiny speculation is actually doing in a modern FI portfolio. Frank is the voice behind Risk Parity Radio and has a knack for making even the most tangled concepts in life and investing feel approachable. In this episode he tackles: Gold as speculation, not a gamble Gold's role in accumulation vs. retirement Typical gold allocation Correlation & diversification Physical gold vs. ETFs DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS: 🆕NEW PARTNER: Monarch Money The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 Alloy The Alloy Market offers a seamless and efficient way to sell your gold, silver, and platinum jewelry, regardless of its condition. They are committed to transparency and fairness, ensuring you get the best possible value for your items. Use this special Link and enter code CUTOFI15 to get a $15 bonus when you sell items over $199 (limited time offer). For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) Charity: The Father McKenna Center 🌐Risk Parity Radio ⏰ 'Catching Up to FI' Episodes 'The Risk Parity Paradox' an Exercise in Simple Complexity? | Frank Vasquez | 124 SpongeBob and Drawdown Strategies | Frank Vasquez | 044 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! ⚠️Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Trae Bodge is one of the country's leading smart-shopping and personal-savings experts. You've probably seen her on CNBC and Good Morning America, or in publications like The New York Times, USA Today, and MarketWatch. She joins us on the show for a holiday-season intervention on spending, shopping, and gift-giving. Trae also shares news about her, mom-inspired Threadneedle Alley Foundation, a nonprofit that provides grants and guidance to midlife entrepreneurs facing financial challenges. Through Dec. 31, 2025, entrepreneurs ages 40 and up can apply for a $5,000 grant and ongoing mentorship . 🎁 🎁 🎁A Special Gift from our friend... The Mad Fientist (only through Dec 10th) Brandon Ganch's (aka The Mad Fientist) is one of the early pioneers of the FI Movement and has shared his knowledge and brilliant resources with millions of people for over a decade. He will be featured on our holiday episode (releasing on 12/21/25). This holiday season he has a brand new beta software called Wealthmachines.co, a complete system designed for financial independence that focuses on your assets and the income they generate. Even though he's brilliant at developing software, his real passion is music, and he has a new album coming out with a juicy offer! Until December 10th, he is gifting early access to you before it goes to a monthly subscription when you purchase his new album. Here's how you can support his passion and get his software: Preorder his brand new EP Album for $4.99 before December 10th on Amazon Music (or other music retailers) and ​follow him on ​Spotify (help him get to 1000 subscribers) Send a copy of the receipt to [email protected]​ Go to Wealthmachines.co and click the "Get Access" link in the top right corner to get free access. Note: The public release won't be until 2027, but you'll be able to start using it as soon as it's ready. Also, you will NOT need to pay an annual fee once the app becomes publicly available (the annual fee will be more than the EP's cost, every single year)! DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS: 🆕NEW PARTNER: Monarch Money The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 Alloy The Alloy Market offers a seamless and efficient way to sell your gold, silver, and platinum jewelry, regardless of its condition. They are committed to transparency and fairness, ensuring you get the best possible value for your items. Use this special Link and enter code CUTOFI15 to get a $15 bonus when you sell items over $199 (limited time offer). For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) Charity: Threadneedle Alley 🌐 TrueTrae.com If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! ⚠️Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

We love collaborations and this time we teamed up with Mindy and Scott from BiggerPockets Money to tackle a case study you don't want to miss: "How to go from Broke at 50 to Retired at 60!" This originally aired on BiggerPockets Money in August, and since then it received over 300,000 views and quickly moved up to the second most popular video on their YouTube Channel. Needless to say, this topic, got people talking! We spell out exactly what we would do to go from a zero-dollar net worth to a million dollars in retirement! This is a step-by-step plan that anyone who wants to retire on time can follow, focusing specifically on Barb - a recently divorced stay-at-home mom reentering the workforce with a zero-dollar net worth. Her situation represents millions of people who find themselves starting over financially in their fifties, whether due to divorce, job loss, or simply never having started saving for retirement. ===DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS=== 🆕NEW PARTNER: Monarch Money The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHING50 Alloy The Alloy Market offers a seamless and efficient way to sell your gold, silver, and platinum jewelry, regardless of its condition. They are committed to transparency and fairness, ensuring you get the best possible value for your items. Use this special Link and enter code CUTOFI15 to get a $15 bonus when you sell items over $199 (limited time offer). For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 🌐Bigger Pockets Money YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/@BiggerPocketsMoney ⚠️Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

At 48, Kim Hunter-Borst was drowning in debt even though she had a solid New York income. Where was the money going? How did she fix it and reach early retirement by 58? We find out in this no-shame late-starter conversation that was recorded live in Bali at the FI Freedom Retreat (please excuse the background noise!) Kim was firmly in the messy middle and retraces the moment she decided to stop winging it. She shares some simple systems that finally stuck, and the handful of brave choices—asking for more at work, saying no to status buys, and saying yes to purpose—that changed her trajectory. In this candid interview, you'll also hear: The money scripts Kim had to rewrite The tools that actually helped The joyful stuff she refused to cut while saving How she healed her 'one more year syndrome' What she's doing now to help others on their FI journey ===DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS=== 🆕NEW PARTNER: Monarch Money The modern way to manage money! Monarch will change the way you organize your financial life. Track, budget, plan, and do more with your money – together. Get 50% off the first year using this link and entering code: CATCHINGUP50 Alloy The Alloy Market offers a seamless and efficient way to sell your gold, silver, and platinum jewelry, regardless of its condition. They are committed to transparency and fairness, ensuring you get the best possible value for your items. Use this special Link and enter code CUTOFI15 to get a $15 bonus when you sell items over $199 (limited time offer). For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) Charities: Planned Parenthood Charity Water USA for UNHCR 🌐 Women Of FI Kim's 2026 Women's Weekend has sold out! Click here for more information about future events and get on the email list. Join WE Wealth Collective Facebook Community ChooseFI Lydia Senn on YouTube Scholly Scholarships EconoMe Conference F.I.R.E. For Dummies ⏰ 'Catching Up to FI' Episodes Live from Bali: Are They Really Retired? (Part 2) | Jackie & Doc G | 178 Live from Bali! Don't Miss These FI Stories From Around The Globe | Jackie & Captain FI | 176 The Power of Cash Flow Planning | Sarah-Catherine Gutierrez | 016 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! ⚠️Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Dr. Daniel Crosby took a circuitous path to the world of money — starting as a psychologist and ending up as one of the most engaging voices in behavioral finance. He is Chief Behavioral Officer at Orion and author of The Soul of Wealth. Dr. Crosby goes beyond the math to the meaning: identity, autonomy, and why 'you don't really want to be rich, you want to be free.' He joins the show to talk us through: Reframing money as a tool for time freedom, relationships, and purpose—not status Using behavior science to close the gap between 'knowing' and 'doing' Downshifting lifestyle creep and designing guardrails Replacing 'I'll be happy when...', with habits, community, and a clear vision of your 'retirement cow' ===DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS=== 🆕NEW PARTNER: Alloy The Alloy Market offers a seamless and efficient way to sell your gold, silver, and platinum jewelry, regardless of its condition. They are committed to transparency and fairness, ensuring you get the best possible value for your items. Use this special Link and enter code CUTOFI15 to get a $15 bonus when you sell items over $199 (limited time offer). For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) Charity: National Alliance on Mental Illness 🌐 Standard Deviations podcast Orion 📗 The Soul of Wealth ⏰ 'Catching Up to FI' Episodes Doña Quixote, Life Energy, and The Coming of Aging | Vicki Robin | 94 Enoughness: Your Life or Your Money | Vicki Robin | 95 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! ⚠️Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Sean 'FI Tax Guy' Mullaney and Cody 'Measure Twice' Garrett are two of the smartest financial planning pros who are best known for sharing their deep knowledge in the financial independence community and beyond. They join us today to break down tax planning in a way you may not have ever heard before. They don't agree with some of the conventional advice and make a case for the contrarian views they share in their new book, 'Tax Planning To and Through Early Retirement'. In this conversation, we dive into: Top year-end tax tips for later starters Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits Drawdown principles Moving through the 5 phases of retirement How a little tax awareness can go a long way This discussion is intended to be for general educational purposes and is not tax, legal, or investment advice for any individual. Bill, Jackie, and the Catching Up to FI podcast do not endorse Sean Mullaney, Mullaney Financial & Tax, Inc. and their services. ===DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS=== 🆕NEW PARTNER: Alloy The Alloy Market offers a seamless and efficient way to sell your gold, silver, and platinum jewelry, regardless of its condition. They are committed to transparency and fairness, ensuring you get the best possible value for your items. Use this special Link and enter code CUTOFI15 to get a $15 bonus when you sell items over $199 (limited time offer). For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 📘 Tax Planning To and Through Early Retirement --Cody Garrett 🌐 Measure Twice Money 🌐 Measure Twice Planners 📺 Measure Twice YouTube --Sean Mullaney 🌐 FI Tax Guy 🌐 Mullaney Financial & Tax 📺 FI Tax Guy YouTube 📕 Solo 401(k): The Solopreneur's Retirement Account 📄 UBS Global Wealth Report 2025 ⏰ 'Catching Up to FI' Episodes Tactical Tips and Tripwires: The DIY Financial Planner's Guide | Cody Garrett | 112 Year End Tax Planning | Sean Mullaney | 045 Music Money Man | Cody Garrett | 035 Life & Taxes | Sean Mullaney | 013 72(t) Expert Tells All: No More Secrets About Early Withdrawals (Part 1) | Bill Stecker | 131 Cashing in on 72(t): The Goldmine of Early Retirement Rules (Part2) | Bill Stecker | 133 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! ⚠️Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Recorded live in Bali, at the FI Freedom Retreat (the 2nd one in 2025), Jackie teams up with Doc G from the Earn & Invest Podcast. They ask the spiciest FI question of all—not 'can I retire yet?' but 'should I?' Three very different journeys take the mic: Fara's 'accidental FIRE' at 47 and her boomerang back to a cause-driven job (then boomerang away again) Gene's post-quit LinkedIn relapse and the search for purpose without a W-2 Rachel Richard's pivot from real estate and a viral brand (Money Honey Rachel) to doing the inner work, ditching external validation, and—surprise—catching the spark to write again. Stay for the after-show hot seat where more attendees share their own takes on whether they'll ever 'work' again. Hear from Scott, Dave, Sophie, Selene, Justin, Kim, and Amy. ===DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS=== 🆕NEW PARTNER: Alloy The Alloy Market offers a seamless and efficient way to sell your gold, silver, and platinum jewelry, regardless of its condition. They are committed to transparency and fairness, ensuring you get the best possible value for your items. Use this special Link and enter code CUTOFI15 to get a $15 bonus when you sell items over $199 (limited time offer). For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 🌐 FI Freedom Retreats Next Retreat: Sept 11 - 15, 2026 Earn and Invest Podcast Rachel Richards- Money Honey Rachel Scott On FIRE ⏰ 'Catching Up to FI' Episodes International Educator, Bali FIRE | Amy Minkley | 137 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! ⚠️Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Our guest today is Beth Pinsker, CFP®-- seasoned financial journalist, MarketWatch columnist and author of the new book, My Mother's Money: A Guide to Financial Caregiving. She represents the sandwich generation and gives us tips, advice, and cautionary tales about her firsthand experience after finding herself caring for her mother and her finances. She explains that caregiving isn't just forms and bank calls—it's love, logistics, and a dash of stubborn grit. Beth also shares: The "death file" story that changed everything How to survive bank pushbacks on powers of attorney Why a tiny funeral policy became an act of love The must-do digital steps that make caregiving possible in a two-factor world ===DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS=== 🆕NEW PARTNER: Alloy The Alloy Market offers a seamless and efficient way to sell your gold, silver, and platinum jewelry, regardless of its condition. They are committed to transparency and fairness, ensuring you get the best possible value for your items. Use this special Link and enter code CUTOFI15 to get a $15 bonus when you sell items over $199 (limited time offer). For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 🌐 BethPinsker.com 📗 My Mother's Money: A Guide to Financial Caregiving 🗒️AARP Article: 5 Things I Learned From Managing My Mother's Money ⏰ 'Catching Up to FI' Episodes Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk | Cameron Huddleston | 048 Mini Retirements, Sabbaticals, Career Breaks- Yes Please! | Jillian Johnsrud | 153 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! ⚠️Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

50 people (now friends), 9 countries... all in one room, speaking the same language: Financial Independence! This is a special episode recorded live from in beautiful Bali, Indonesia at the FI Freedom Retreat. Australian blogger and podcaster, 'Captain FI', joins Jackie as guest co-host to share the FI stories of three of the extraordinary individuals we met at the retreat: Claire (Dubai via Ireland)- Restarting and living by the philosophy of 'trust your gut' Michael (Seattle)- Newly nomadic, choosing FI-enough over perfection Val (Hong Kong)- Taking a gap year that feels like several lifetimes ===DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS=== 🆕NEW PARTNER: Alloy The Alloy Market offers a seamless and efficient way to sell your gold, silver, and platinum jewelry, regardless of its condition. They are committed to transparency and fairness, ensuring you get the best possible value for your items. Use this special Link and enter code CUTOFI15 to get a $15 bonus when you sell items over $199 (limited time offer). For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) Captain FI Blog Captain FI Podcast FI Freedom Retreats Next Retreat: Sept 11 - 15, 2026 - UNITED STATES - ChooseFI Mr Money Mustache BiggerPockets Money Jillian Johnsrud Mad Fientist - INTERNATIONAL - PKP Community Centre (Bali, Indonesia) Firespark Australia Lacey Filipich Ted Talk Barefoot Investor (Scott Pape) Strong Money Australia (Dave Gow) Aussie Firebug ⏰ 'Catching Up to FI' Episodes Mini Retirements, Sabbaticals, Career Breaks- Yes Please! | Jillian Johnsrud | 153 International Educator, Bali FIRE | Amy Minkley | 137 Sustainable FIlosophy with Mr. Money Mustache | Pete Adeney | 073 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! ⚠️Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Dr. Brad Klontz is a leading expert in financial psychology, professor, bestselling author, and, oh yeah — an internet influencer with millions of followers who tune in for his mix of straight talk and practical money wisdom. He joins Bill for a deep dive into why most money problems aren't math problems. Instead, they are about what's going on in our heads and in our habits. In this episode, Brad discusses: Why smart people still make dumb money mistakes The difference between poor and broke The 4 money scripts (avoidance, worship, status, vigilance) Why he argues that an internal locus of control is the ultimate wealth engine A no-nonsense roadmap for breaking bad money patterns and building real financial freedom 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question ===DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS=== 🆕NEW PARTNER: Alloy The Alloy Market offers a seamless and efficient way to sell your gold, silver, and platinum jewelry, regardless of its condition. They are committed to transparency and fairness, ensuring you get the best possible value for your items. Use this special Link and enter code CUTOFI15 to get a $15 bonus when you sell items over $199 (limited time offer). For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 🌐 BradKlontz.com 🌐The Klontz Money Script Inventory 📕 Start Thinking Rich 📗 Financial Wisdom of Ebenezer Scrooge 📷 Brad's Facebook 📷 Brad's TikTok 📷 Brad's InstaGram If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! ⚠️Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

On July 4th, 2025 an 870-page tax bill called the 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' (OBBBA) was signed into to law. Some parts have been heavily discussed and others not so much. So we dug around ourselves and pulled out some hidden messages you may have missed that could have major implications to your FI (Financial Independence) journey. 👉🏽 Updates to 2017 'Tax Cuts and Jobs Act' Makes permanent the lowered individual tax brackets established by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and keeps the larger standard deduction in place. Also makes permanent the higher lifetime estate gift tax exemption and increases it to $15 million for single & $30 million for married couples in 2026 (indexed to Inflation). 👉🏽 Updates to 2021 'American Rescue Plan' Expiration of the Enhanced ACA premium subsidies (not directly in the bill, it's just not being extended). The lowered premiums will expire and revert back to pre-covid levels. The Subsidy Cliff will be back in play starting 1/1/26. This is a major part of the negotiation with the current federal government shutdown so may be subject to change. We cover these topics in the new law: Increased Standard Deduction Extra Senior Deduction SALT (State And Local Tax) Deduction Cap Raised Changes with HSA (Health Savings Account) qualifications Child Tax Credit, Dependent Care FSAs, & Dependent Tax Credit Introduction of Child Savings Accounts 529 College Savings Plan Enhancements Deduction for Charitable Contributions Deduction (even if you take the standard deduction) New Temporary Deductions (2025–2028), Even for those who don't itemize Overhaul of Student Loans 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question ===DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS=== 🆕NEW PARTNER: Alloy The Alloy Market offers a seamless and efficient way to sell your gold, silver, and platinum jewelry, regardless of its condition. They are committed to transparency and fairness, ensuring you get the best possible value for your items. Use this special Link and enter code CUTOFI15 to get a $15 bonus when you sell items over $199 (limited time offer). For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 🌐Full Text of the Bill signed into law on 7/4/25 Newsletter with OBBBA Tax Law Toolkit Includes additional content from trusted resources & experts) IRS Factsheet for OBBBA Key Elements: 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' from CFP Board Newsletter with OBBBA Tax Law Toolkit (Includes additional content from trusted resources and experts) ⏰ 'Catching Up to FI' Episodes Banishing The Burden of Student Loan Debt | Travis Hornsby | 122 A Hero's Journey: Krista & Ed, The Mother of All Case Studies! | Krista and Ed Kim | 97 Millennial Revolution is in The House! | Kristy Shen, Bryce Leung & Little Matchstick | 93 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! ⚠️Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Jackie joins our friends to the north in Canada for a live taping of TD Direct Investing's 'Inside Investing', turning her late-starter playbook into a friendly masterclass for Canadians and Americans alike. Host Rob Moysey tees up her arc—divorce in her 30s with ~$20k in retirement savings, millionaire a decade later, retired at 49. Jackie fills in the human bits: purpose after FI, why 'precision is not required,' and how a BetterInvesting club cured her market fear. She also walks through: The simple engine that did the work: Maxing out an employer retirement plan, Roth IRA, and HSA in low-cost index funds The math behind her Financial Independence target (25× annual expenses ≈ $1M on ~$40k/yr) How she kept joy in the journey while saving ~$3k/month The kicker: despite five years of withdrawals in retirement, her net worth rose from $1.3M (Dec 2019) to ~$2.1M (July 2025). The message lands like a hug and a nudge—know your numbers, automate the boring stuff, and retire TO something. 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question ===DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS=== 📈 Boldin (formerly NewRetirement): Retirement planning software that's like having a financial advisor at your fingertips. You can get started with the free version or choose the premium option (PlannerPlus) and get a 14-day free trial. 👉🏼 Be sure to use this link to get started: Go.boldin.com/catchingup For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 🌐Jackie's website FInomenalWoman.com 📕F.I.R.E. For Dummies 📘Money Letters 2 My Daughter 📈Jackie's Investment Club through BetterInvesting.org 📺 TD Direct Investing YouTube ⏰ 'Catching Up to FI' Episodes From Poverty to Wealth and Early Retirement | Jackie Cummings Koski | 007 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! ⚠️Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Today's episode is something TRULY special— something that's never happened before! For the first time ever… we're joined by two remarkable women who've lived alongside one of the most influential voices in the FI community, JL Collins. In this one-of-a-kind episode we introduce you to his wife, Jane Collins and daughter, Jessica Collins. This is their first-ever joint podcast appearance. We're pulling back the curtain to hear their perspectives. What was it like living with someone so passionate about financial independence? How did his philosophy shape their lives, their choices, and their own views on wealth and freedom? This isn't just a conversation about finance—it's about family, legacy, and the ripple effects of good financial education in a household. You're about to hear a side of the story that's never been told before. 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question ===DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS=== 📈 Boldin (formerly NewRetirement): Retirement planning software that's like having a financial advisor at your fingertips. You can get started with the free version or choose the premium option (PlannerPlus) and get a 14-day free trial. 👉🏼 Be sure to use this link to get started: Go.boldin.com/catchingup For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) Charity: CHARITY: savethechildren.org https://www.anelder.org/ The Adopt-A-Nation-Elder Food Runs are the heart of the organizations program and community. Twice a year they travel to the reservation in service to the Elders whose lives, culture and traditions they cherish. Because of the trust built between the Elders and their families, the staff and volunteers are allowed to travel to the Elders remote homelands and distribute assistance directly to the Elders in their communities. The Food Runs involve hundreds of volunteers transporting hundreds of thousand pounds of food and supplies to the most remote lands in the United State. 🌐JL Collins Blog https://jlcollinsnh.com 📗 The Simple Path to Wealth (Revised & Expanded 2025 Edition & NYT Best Seller!) https://amzn.to/4kFGdTM 📕 Pathfinders: Extraordinary Stories of People Like You on the Quest for Financial Independence—and How to Join Them https://amzn.to/4kHHKbS 📘 How I Lost Money in Real Estate Before It Was Fashionable: A Cautionary Tale https://amzn.to/4dVJb3O ⏰ 'Catching Up to FI' Episodes referenced Pathfinders: Triumphs and Trials on the Road to Financial Independence | JL Collins | 070 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-abgF8nW58c&t=1195s Pathfinders: Stories of Success and Financial Independence | JL Collins | 069 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-iKa32_xI8&t=27s F-You Money Part 1 & 2 | JL Collins | 023 & 024 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00lWfkBTJ6g&t=29s If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! ⚠️Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

If you're within ten years of retirement (early or traditional age) or just want to get a head start on going from being a saver to a spender, this episode is for you. Decumulation without drama—that's the mission as retirement pros Dana Anspach (Sensible Money) and Fritz Gilbert (The Retirement Manifesto) join the show to turn "build-your-own paycheck" into a repeatable process. Dana lays out why drawdown is a hundred small decisions, not one big leap; and Fritz brings in the field notes. Together they demystify: Tax Pitfalls Timing Social Security Asset Allocation and Location Why Most Retirees Underspend The big takeaway: document the plan, automate the paycheck, and give yourself permission to enjoy the "go-go" years—because money's job is to fund a life, not gather dust. 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question ===DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS=== 📈 Boldin (formerly NewRetirement): Retirement planning software that's like having a financial advisor at your fingertips. You can get started with the free version or choose the premium option (PlannerPlus) and get a 14-day free trial. 👉🏼 Be sure to use this link to get started: Go.boldin.com/catchingup For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) Charity: Freedom for Fido 🌐The Retirement Manifesto 📘 Keys to a Successful Retirement 🌐 Sensible Money Sensible Money YouTube 📕 Control Your Retirement Destiny 📗 Social Security Sense 📄 Dana's breakdown of OBBBA 📄 Retirement Red Zone: Rethinking Your Investment Strategy ⏰ 'Catching Up to FI' Episodes Hard & Soft Sides of Retirement | Fritz Gilbert | 019 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! ⚠️Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Carl Richards is one of the leading voices when it comes to money and emotions. For over a decade, he was the creator of the Sketch Guy column in The New York Times, where his hand-drawn sketches made financial complexity surprisingly simple—and deeply emotional. He joins us to ask the question that instantly ties our brain in knots: 'What is money, really?' From there, he discusses: Why we unknowingly organize life around money and work Why 'enough' is a way of being (not a number) How we keep handing money jobs it can't do—like self-worth, love, and happiness Come for the doodles; leave with a gentler, saner way to align your calendar, your checkbook, and your life. 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question ===DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS=== 🆕Big changes with student loans in the new budget bill that just passed. Get help from the experts at Student Loan Planner, all CFP®, CFA and CSLP® professionals. They charge a one-time fee for their thorough review. Our listeners receive $100 off a 1:1 consult using the link below. Flat fee is normally $595, but after your $100 off 'Catching Up to FI' discount, it's $495. 👉🏼 Be sure to use this link: studentloanplanner.com/catchingup For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 🌐 BehaviorGap.com 📗 Your Money: Reimagining Wealth in Simple Sketches 📕 The Behavior Gap 📘 The One-Page Financial Plan 50 Fires Podcast ⏰ 'Catching Up to FI' Episodes Enoughness: Your Life or Your Money | Vicki Robin | 95 Doña Quixote, Life Energy, and The Coming of Aging | Vicki Robin | 94 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! ⚠️Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

We are welcoming back the man behind the most debated number in retirement, Bill Bengen- this time with a special appearance from his lovely wife, Barbara. We take a brief detour to hear their love story and how they met, before getting into his new book, 'A Richer Retirement: Supercharging the 4% Rule to Spend More and Enjoy More'. He joins us in this episode to: Break down the primary goals of the book Help you understand what's required to create and manage a successful personal retirement withdrawal plan Step us through all the tools required to make your money last your entire lifetime 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question ===DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS=== 🆕Big changes with student loans in the new budget bill that just passed. Get help from the experts at Student Loan Planner, all CFP®, CFA and CSLP® professionals. They charge a one-time fee for their thorough review. Our listeners receive $100 off a 1:1 consult using the link below. Flat fee is normally $595, but after your $100 off 'Catching Up to FI' discount, it's $495. 👉🏼 Be sure to use this link: studentloanplanner.com/catchingup For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 🌐 Bill Bengen 📘A Richer Retirement Charts and Tables from 'A Richer Retirement' ⏰ 'Catching Up to FI' Episodes Mr 4% is now Mr 5% | Bill Bengen | 111 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! ⚠️Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

The average financial planner is about 56 years old, but 25-year-old Emma Von Weise got a running start learning about money as a teenager and is now one of the youngest CFP professionals in the US. She shares how she became money savvy so early and what influences impacted her the most. She isn't here to judge the rest of us who started late, but to help us make up for lost time—with humor, heart, and practical advice that meets you exactly where you are. In this episode, we discuss: Emma's money story and early financial literacy The spark that led to a career in financial planning at such a young age Why she is an old soul that just loves working with retirees Modern day Continuing-Care Retirement Communities 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question ===DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS=== 🆕Big changes with student loans in the new budget bill that just passed. Get help from the experts at Student Loan Planner, all CFP®, CFA and CSLP® professionals. They charge a one-time fee for their thorough review. Our listeners receive $100 off a 1:1 consult using the link below. Flat fee is normally $595, but after your $100 off 'Catching Up to FI' discount, it's $495. 👉🏼 Be sure to use this link: studentloanplanner.com/catchingup For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) Charity: 3rd Decade 🌐 Focus Partners Wealth If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! ⚠️Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Darrow Kirkpatrick retired from a 29-year career in civil and software engineering in April 2011 at the age of 50 and started the blog 'Can I Retire Yet' that same year. The Blog was one of the first in the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) space and focuses on the personal finance needs of anyone who is thinking about retirement or early retirement. He joins us for a deeply human masterclass on retiring, drawing down without drama, and pursuing hard goals the slow, sane way. In this episode, Darrow shares with us: The origins of his blog 'Can I Retire Yet?' How a nervous breakdown derailed his career His six-year, section-by-section completion of the Colorado Trail on forearm crutches The inspiration behind his new book 'Two Sticks One Path' 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) Charities: National Alliance on Mental Illness The Colorado Trail 🌐 Can I Retire Yet? 🌐Trail Memoir 📗 Two Sticks, One Path 📘 Can I Retire Yet? 📕 Retiring Sooner Critique circle (Online Writing Workshop) Lessons Learned from Writing a Book Pralana- Personal Financial Modeling ⏰ 'Catching Up to FI' Episodes The Powers of Starting Late, Retirement Calculators, and More | Chris Mamula | 086 Sustainable FIlosophy with Mr. Money Mustache | Pete Adeney | 073 ===DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS=== 📈 Boldin (formerly NewRetirement): Retirement planning software that's like having a financial advisor at your fingertips. You can get started with the free version or choose the premium option (PlannerPlus) and get a 14-day free trial. 👉🏼 Be sure to use this link to get started: Go.boldin.com/catchingup Personal Finance Club: Use code CUTOFI to get $30 OFF any course or PFC investing course only Nectarine: Advice-Only and Flat-Fee Hourly Fiduciary Financial Advisors (Catching Up to FI will be compensated by Nectarine if you use our affiliate link, which creates an incentive and conflict of interest. We are not current clients or employees of Nectarine.) For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! ⚠️Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

In this crossover episode, Jackie joins the 'Wicked Pissah Podcast', brought to you by the Financial Planning Association (FPA) of New England. She trades in the Sunday sweatshirt for her CFP® blazer but still stays true to openly sharing her fascinating money story and spreading financial literacy. They discuss: The story behind her $2-bill savings habit The divorce-day gut punch that pushed her from $20k to FI Why she is so passionate about the 'Catching Up to FI' platform and late starters How she demystifies FIRE for financial professionals How she tackled the big skeptic questions about retiring early 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 🌐Jackie's website FInomenalWoman.com 📕F.I.R.E. For Dummies 📘Money Letters 2 My Daughter 📈Jackie's Investment Club through BetterInvesting.org 🎙️Wicked Pissah Podcast https://wickedpissahpodcast.libsyn.com/about Jonathan Clements Getting Going on Savings Initiative https://boglecenter.net/gettinggoing ⏰ 'Catching Up to FI' Episodes From Poverty to Wealth and Early Retirement | Jackie Cummings Koski | 007 ===DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS=== 📈 Boldin (formerly NewRetirement): Retirement planning software that's like having a financial advisor at your fingertips. You can get started with the free version or choose the premium option (PlannerPlus) and get a 14-day free trial. 👉🏼 Be sure to use this link to get started: Go.boldin.com/catchingup Personal Finance Club: Use code CUTOFI to get $30 OFF any course or PFC investing course only Nectarine: Advice-Only and Flat-Fee Hourly Fiduciary Financial Advisors (Catching Up to FI will be compensated by Nectarine if you use our affiliate link, which creates an incentive and conflict of interest. We are not current clients or employees of Nectarine.) For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! ⚠️Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Ruth Henderson is the creator of 'The Happy Saver,' a beloved New Zealand blog and podcast that brings personal finance down to earth. She transitioned from part-time work to full-time content creation, sharing her journey toward early retirement with honesty, humor, and heart. In this episode we swap notes with her on the financial independence journey of Americans vs. Kiwis (New Zealanders). She also shares with us: Her late starter journey to FI What inspired her to create 'The Happy Saver' to help everyday Kiwis reach FI A breakdown of New Zealand's surprisingly simple ecosystem including universal healthcare and pension How KiwiSaver operates similarly to US employer-sponsored retirement plans 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question ===DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS=== 🆕Big changes with student loans in the new budget bill that just passed. Get help from the experts at Student Loan Planner, all CFP®, CFA and CSLP® professionals. They charge a one-time fee for their thorough review. Our listeners receive $100 off a 1:1 consult using the link below. Flat fee is normally $595, but after your $100 off 'Catching Up to FI' discount, it's $495. 👉🏼 Be sure to use this link: studentloanplanner.com/catchingup For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) 🌐The Happy Saver The Happy Saver Podcast Rebel Finance School Sorted Sorted Smart Investor If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! ⚠️Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.

Azul Terronez went from being an unknown schoolteacher to a Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author. He is co-founder and lead coach at "Authors Who Lead," a platform dedicated to empowering authors to share their stories. He turns our conversation with him into a courage clinic for would-be storytellers, late starters, and anyone who suspects their "zone of genius" is dying to be unleashed. He gives us the reframe that authorship isn't about words so much as the message beneath them. === PLUTUS AWARDS: ONLY ONE WEEK LEFT TO VOTE === We need your vote for the 2025 Plutus Awards! You can now vote for your hosts behind "Catching Up to FI" - Bill Yount & Jackie Cummings Koski. The deadline to vote is August 30th, 2025. Winners will be announced in October. ✅ WHAT IS THE PLUTUS AWARDS? The Plutus Awards recognize excellence in independent financial content. That's the best podcasts, books, video channels, blogs, and more. ✅ VOTE If you've gotten value from our content and think we are worthy of recognition, please support by casting your votes here > >> https://plutus.awardsplatform.com/. There's a short registration needed to vote and you'll be in and out in just a few minutes. ✅ CATEGORIES Below are the categories we have been nominated for and we'd love your vote in each of them. Catching Up to FI Best New Personal Finance Content Creator - Audio Content Creator of the Year: Audio People's Choice: Audio Best Financial Advisor Content/Jackie Cummings Koski, CFP Plutus Storyteller Award Best Traditional Retirement Content Best Personal Finance Content for Underserved Communities Best Personal Finance Content for Women Other categories Best New Personal Finance Content Creator - Written (F.I.R.E. for Dummies) Best New Personal Finance Book (F.I.R.E. for Dummies) Plutus Resilience Award (Jackie Cummings Koski) Best Financial Independence or Retire Early Content (F.I.R.E. for Dummies) 📩 Sign up for our newsletter (NEW!) 🌐 Visit Catching Up to FI website 🔗Connect with us ☕ Like what you hear on Catching Up to FI? Support the show at "Buy Me a Coffee" 🎙️We love hearing from you! Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question Record a Voice Message with your feedback or question === DEALS & DISCOUNTS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS === 🆕Big changes with student loans in the new budget bill that just passed. Get help from the experts at Student Loan Planner, all CFP®, CFA and CSLP® professionals. They charge a one-time fee for their thorough review. Our listeners receive $100 off a 1:1 consult using the link below. Flat fee is normally $595, but after your $100 off 'Catching Up to FI' discount, it's $495. 👉🏼 Be sure to use this link: studentloanplanner.com/catchingup For a full list of current deals and discounts from our partners, sponsors and affiliates, click here: catchinguptofi.com/our-partners RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW: (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) Charity: Grey Bears 🌐Authors Who Lead Authors Who Lead podcast 📗 The Art of Apprenticeship: How to Hack Your Way into Any Industry, Land a Kick-Ass Mentor, and Make A Killing Doing What You Love Born to Write, Scared to Start: A secret podcast for the ones who whisper, "I think I'm supposed to write a book." Why I Coached My Son to Drop Out of University and Maybe You Should, Too TEDx Talk: What makes a good teacher great? EconoMe Conference Talk If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show on your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. If you want to watch, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This helps others find the show and keeps us creating great content for you! ⚠️Disclaimer: Our content is for general education and information purposes only. We are not providing financial, legal, or tax advice. Always do your own research or consult a professional before making important decisions.