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Financial independence and early-retirement articles.
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Browse the articles below, or estimate your own FIRE timeline when you are ready to work through the numbers.
2026-07-18
The spreadsheet can say enough while your nervous system says absolutely not. The useful question is whether another year repairs a real weakness or merely delays an unfamiliar decision.
2026-07-18
A FIRE number answers a narrow question about spending and assets. It cannot tell you who you are without the paycheck, the title, or the familiar weekly machinery.
2026-07-18
If financial independence means choice, choosing paid work cannot automatically invalidate it. The useful test is whether the work serves your life or has quietly reclaimed it.
2018-02-28
The original ERD account linked by The New York Times: a 48% portfolio loss, a cash buffer, and the decision not to sell into the crash.
2017-04-05
The original ERD introduction linked by Big Think, restored without turning one household’s path into a universal formula.
2026-07-16
How financial independence went from a 1990s cult classic to a mainstream movement — the books, the bloggers, and the math that built FIRE.
2026-07-16
Why the best free net-worth trackers are free, what they're really for, and how to get the good parts without getting sold.
2026-07-16
Not your income, not your returns — your savings rate is the single biggest lever on how soon you can retire. Here's the math.