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§ Guides
46 guides, organized by where you are in life.
Clear, jargon-free explanations of the financial topics that matter most. Written like a smart friend who happens to know money.
Investing & Retirement
16 investing & retirement guides
Plain-English walkthroughs for the investing & retirement decisions on your plate.
Investing & Retirement · 2 min
401(k) Employer Match: How It Works and Why It's the Best Return You'll Ever Get
How employer matching formulas work, what ' 50% of the first 6%' really means, vesting rules, 2026 limits, and how to make sure you never leave free money behind.
Investing & Retirement · 9 min
Barista FIRE: Semi-Retire With Part-Time Work and Benefits
Barista FIRE means building a portfolio that covers most of your expenses, then working part-time to cover the rest -- often for the health insurance. Here is the math, how it differs from Coast FIRE, what it does to your FIRE number, and who it fits.
Investing & Retirement · 5 min
Coast FIRE: When You Can Stop Saving for Retirement
Coast FIRE is the point where your existing investments will grow into a full retirement on their own -- no more contributions needed. Here is the math, worked examples by age, and how to find your own Coast FIRE number.
Investing & Retirement · 5 min
Early Retirement Planner: How to Build Your FIRE Plan Step by Step
A step-by-step early retirement planner: set your FIRE number, raise your savings rate, fund the right accounts, unlock your money before 59.5, bridge healthcare before Medicare, and choose a safe withdrawal rate -- with calculators to run your own numbers.
Investing & Retirement · 5 min
FIRE Basics: How to Retire Early Step by Step
A step-by-step guide to Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) -- calculate your FIRE number, understand the variants, and build a plan to reach freedom.
Investing & Retirement · 9 min
FIRE for Couples: How Two People Reach Early Retirement Together
Pursuing financial independence as a couple changes the math -- two incomes, two sets of tax-advantaged accounts, shared expenses. Here is how couples set a joint FIRE number, use spousal and per-person account strategies, handle kids, and align when one partner keeps working.
Investing & Retirement · 9 min
FIRE Number: How Much Money Do You Need to Retire Early?
Your FIRE number is the portfolio that lets you stop working -- and it is just your annual spending times a multiple. Here is how to calculate it accurately, including taxes, healthcare, one-time costs, and Social Security, with worked examples.
Investing & Retirement · 5 min
The 4% Rule Explained: How Much Do You Need to Retire?
A deep dive into the 4% rule -- its origins in the Trinity Study, how the math works, historical success rates, criticisms, and modern adjustments for early retirees.
Investing & Retirement · 9 min
Geographic Arbitrage: Retire Earlier by Living Where Money Goes Further
Geographic arbitrage -- living where your money goes further -- can shrink your FIRE number and pull your retirement years closer. Here is how it works at home and abroad, the tax and healthcare angles, the real trade-offs, and how much it can actually save.
Investing & Retirement · 9 min
Health Insurance Before Medicare: The Early Retiree's Guide
Retire before 65 and you lose employer coverage years before Medicare begins. Here is how to bridge the gap: ACA marketplace plans and how subsidies really work for early retirees, plus COBRA, health-sharing, the HSA, and how managing your taxable income cuts the cost.
Investing & Retirement · 8 min
Lean FIRE vs Fat FIRE: Which Path to Early Retirement Fits You?
Lean FIRE and Fat FIRE are the two ends of the early-retirement spectrum -- frugal and fast versus comfortable and slower. Here is what each really costs, the lifestyle and risk trade-offs, where Coast, Barista, and Chubby FIRE fit, and how to choose the path that matches your life.
Investing & Retirement · 6 min
Should I Start Saving for Retirement Now? (Yes, Here's Why)
Why starting early matters more than the amount, how retirement accounts work, and a practical plan to start today.
Investing & Retirement · 8 min
The Roth Conversion Ladder: Tap Retirement Accounts Before 59½
How to reach your retirement savings penalty-free before age 59½. The Roth conversion ladder explained step by step, plus the Rule of 55, 72(t) payments, and Roth contribution withdrawals -- with the 5-year rule, the taxes, and a worked example.
Investing & Retirement · 8 min
Safe Withdrawal Rates: Beyond the 4% Rule
The 4% rule is a starting point, not the finish line. Go beyond it: how your horizon and market valuations shift your safe rate, dynamic strategies like guardrails that let you spend more, and how to pick a withdrawal rate that survives a 40-50 year retirement.
Investing & Retirement · 8 min
Sequence of Returns Risk: Why Timing Can Make or Break Retirement
Two retirees can earn the exact same average return and end up with wildly different outcomes -- because the order of returns matters once you are withdrawing. Here is what sequence of returns risk is, why the first decade of retirement is the danger zone, and the proven ways to defend against it.
Investing & Retirement · 9 min
Tax-Efficient Withdrawals: Which Retirement Accounts to Tap First
The order you withdraw from your accounts in retirement can add years to your money. Here is the tax-efficient drawdown sequence -- taxable, then tax-deferred, then Roth -- why the simple order is not always best, how to defuse the RMD tax bomb, and the early-retiree tweaks.