Two voices, clearly labeled
New essays carry Galen Weston's name and argue for financial independence without treating the absence of work as the prize. The founding Dude's lived FIRE story stays preserved under its original archive identity.
What Galen thinks
Galen's essays are new work, under his own name. Every numerical claim ends with its source or the assumption set that produced it.
2026-07-20
Inventory accessible cash and Roth contribution basis first, test whether a former-employer-plan exception fits, document every conversion clock, and use SEPP only if its rigid schedule is acceptable.
2026-07-20
There is no universal taxable-first withdrawal order. Build the sequence one tax year at a time from spending, taxable income, account basis, conversion room, and the assets left for later years.
2026-07-20
Do not leave employer coverage until you can name the next coverage route, its enrollment window, its full household cost, and the fallback if income or timing changes.
2026-07-20
Keep some earned income when it materially reduces early portfolio withdrawals and the work still leaves you with the control you wanted financial independence to buy.
2026-07-20
You can stop adding to the portfolio only when the money already invested reaches your later FI target under assumptions you can live with—and current income still covers life before then.
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.
2026-07-16
The books, research papers, blogs, and forums that shaped the financial-independence movement.
2026-07-16
Where the 4% rule came from, what the research says, and why an early retiree should treat it as a starting point rather than a guarantee.
2026-07-16
What free net-worth trackers do well, how advisory offers fit the business model, and how to assess the two separately.
2026-07-16
Savings rate changes both how quickly assets grow and how large a portfolio target needs to be. The common FIRE table makes that relationship visible.
2026-07-19
I bought Early Retirement Dude. I don't believe in retirement.
The story so far
These experiences belong to the founding author. They are preserved and labeled—not rewritten as Galen's story, and not offered as a reusable formula.
Archive · 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.
Archive · 2017-04-05
The original ERD introduction linked by Big Think, restored without turning one household’s path into a universal formula.