Nate’s suggestion is a great one as well. There doesn’t seem to be a login. Thank you for your support! The scales tip towards Personal Capital which is what I use nowadays. Any help and guidance appreciated. There are stocks and mutual funds, some will probably incur long term gains? I’m going solar :) Here are the particulars-, * I am considered “low income” on taxes because child support does not count as income and because of my low income status, I can do the MA solar loan (3.25% for 10 years) and they will pay 30% of my loan! However all credit card information is presented without warranty. There are many things I use that could be helpful to you on your journey to financial independence and this page describes those things! Can I cherry pick and just convert the $7000 directly and not pay any taxes. The Mad Fientist's powerful credit card search tool allows you to easily find the best credit cards for your specific travel needs! Brandon, aka the Mad Fientist, a former software developer who achieved early retirement and financial independence at age 34, shares how he spends his money in Edinburgh, Scotland. Is this true? Are there any gotchas if you cancel after one year? paying more tax, because of losing the kid deductions and college tuition credits. Thanks for any input/advice!! What if I am in the same situation (opening a fund with Financial Advisor vs. opening an account on my own), but with money that I want to be fairly liquid? I keep wondering the same. This can be a slight pain when it comes to changing auto-payments, but the sign-up bonus definitely outweighs the inconvenience for me. Hey Star*Bucks, just go to the About page and you’ll find my contact information there. What do you think about the Schwab Investor checking account? I can’t decide if that fee is worth having her guidance there. Credit Card Guides . I’ve never paid state taxes so I have no frame of reference for what numbers to use. In retirement accounts. Email series that shares the strategy I used to accumulate over one million frequent flyer points! I use most of the things on this list except for personal capital. Without insurance, it’s somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,300 which is definitely not affordable. They have a phone for $100 and you can get a plan with unlimited minutes and texts for $10 a month. I’m actually planning my next round of applications so I’m interested to hear what you’re going for this time. General Disclaimer: See the online credit card applications for details about terms and conditions of credit card offers. FI Laboratory, Credit-Card Search Tool for Travel Hackers, FI Spreadsheet, etc.) Say I Convert $15k, that would add $31k to my income. Is this just a crazy strategy in general? Huge fan of the blog; concise and so well written! Any thing you use to help in that decision? Should I start and end the sabbatical partway through the year to spread the income over two tax years. Since I spend just as much time figuring out how to best use my miles/points as I do figuring out how to get them, I currently get much more value out of my miles/points than I could get out of a 2% cash-back card but if that changes for some reason, I’ll just switch to the Barclaycard I mentioned above to get ~2% cash-back everywhere. Because credit card offers change frequently, please visit the card issuer site for current information. Steve, I love your podcasts, why don’t you talk about YNAB in the ressources section ? Been looking for a service/ software to use without having to connect mine and my wifes investment and banking passwords and just found your fi lab. We are planning on doing a sabatical, if it is cheaper than we think or the market does awesome it might turn into fire. For instance, if I roll over an IRA to a ROTH when I’m 58, will I have to wait till 63 to tap it or am I free to access it 59 1/2? Do you have an iPod Touch or something you could use on wifi? I’m having a tough time convincing myself that Roth Conversions are a good move for me. When using the firecalc and and cfiresim, does home equity count when you enter your “portfolio” or “how much you have?” I’ve read a bit of the fine print and can’t determine if it counts. Brandon, aka "the Mad Fientist," and his wife Jill. Thanks for your advice. When i click on it, i get the subscribe screen again. It’s a little bit of work to figure out, but if you keep good records – like you should for an HSA, it’s not as big of an undertaking. Thanks for your time. I seem to be having trouble gaining access to the lab. It is more based on “where your money WILL go” rather than ” where DID the money go”. Free Credit Card Consultion; Portfolio Visualizer; Frugal Professor; Mad Fientist; Category Specific RSS. When I first stumbled on to your blog I must say I was very intrigued with your take on how to get around the 10 percent penalty that 401ks have . However there is a 5% administrative fee on the amount that I deposit, and after 7 years that will add up to quite a lot of money, in my opinion. Wondering what option makes more financial sense. I prefer Mint just personal preference. I am asking because I am debating taking X amount of money out of my 401k or remortgaging for the same amount. Anyways love the contact keep it up my friend. Join the Mad Fientist, Mr. Money Mustache, Paula Pant from Afford Anything, and Doug Nordman from The Military Guide for a live Q&A from Camp Mustache! Wouldn’t the cost of a locked in 2 year commitment be greater than the occasional taxi/towncar trip? on how to to put money on a card you would not normally spend? Hello MAD FI. The classic book on financial independence and early retirement! My pleasure, Eric! But what about after I’m 59 1/2. I have the option of contributing to my firm’s 401K with after tax dollars. :). When you click on the "Apply Now" button you can review the credit card terms and conditions on the credit card issuer's web site. During a typical month, he and his wife spend about $500 at restaurants, $317 on travel, and $266 on alcohol. I normally don’t owe much tax so to take advantage of this I thought it would be a good idea to rollover some of my IRA to a ROTH IRA? Any suggestions? Unfortunately, I am Canadian so a lot of these great US plans are absent here. Marc. I’m pretty new around here but have pretty much consumed each of the blog posts and podcasts available. When the market heads south, we could then buy into an indexed S&P 500 fund (probably Vanguard) and enjoy getting in at the rock bottom (hopefully!). When I enter “100”, it says I am financially independent. Success! Thank you for your thoughts on both. © 2020 MadFientist.com and CardRatings.com. From what I’ve read most early retirees have been happy with a catastrophic plan. My situation is slightly different in that I don’t think a catastrophic plan will work. I am poking around looking for info on backdoor Roth contributions. I found the link in the welcome email. Since I live in Canada many of the tax avoidance tips given are not applicable so my question is- would you happen to have any investment or supplemental income (besides creating a website) ideas for someone living in Canada using strictly Canadian investments or supplemental income ideas or know anyone in Canada who has followed a similar journey as yours but have used various Canadian instruments to gain FI, and if so if there is any way I can get in contact with them to pick there brain a bit? Yes, I do own Traveler Plastic but sadly, the credit card affiliate programs are notoriously difficult to get into so only a few cards on that site actually pay me anything. Does it mean money I will receive upon retirement? So when you say you built travelerplastic, does that mean you own it and get the commissions for it? This book helped me, more than any other, with building my ideal post-FI life! According to the Mad Fientist, you need to know where you are in order to figure out where you’re going. Hi Mad Fientist. Affiliate Disclosure: Mad Fientist may receive compensation (at no cost to you) when you utilize some of the links below. Trying to decide between the two. I am planning on changing back to the low deductible plan next year, but I want to make sure it will be the right move. Total for loan is $42,000. So I am thinking about not adding any more money to the account through her, and opening a new one on my own. So how do I get an insurance that is comparable to what I have, yet still affordable on an early retirees income? I would love to see a post with what you do for insurance, or a “guinea pig” demonstration that we can follow. You seem genuine and down to earth and we really appreciate what you’re doing – thank you! Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. How would you go about starting a traditional Ira? Your blog is great. It’s not terrible. I think I can pay it off in 2 years. CardRatings.com and MadFientist.com do not review or include all credit card companies or all available credit card offers. Once I get that whole number – Required HSA Contribution + Premium, the whole thing gets the tax savings added back to it (HSA Contribution + Premium + (HSA + Premium ) * Your effective Tax Rate [I use last years’ because my income doesn’t change very much year over year]) Track your progress to financial independence in the Mad Fientist's FI Laboratory! Lowering your withdrawal rate means you’ll have to build up a bigger balance to pay your bills so that will increase your time to FI. I don’t really need the HSA yet for an “extra place to put money” (i.e., I haven’t managed to max out my 401k and Roth IRA in the same year yet and I am in my 2nd year of work). Best! Opinions? I’ll be retiring on a mix of military pension and index funds and have no idea how to figure out what I might be paying in different states. Mia I want to do it, just leery of having CC I don’t need. Thanks again for all of your information. Give them a call if you get stuck with anything but I can’t imagine you will. What is the value for this field actually supposed to represent? I love the site. We both have advanced educations, giving us >$300,000 of debt and while we’re naturally frugal people, your podcast has helped in more advanced money saving/investing strategies and just general ways to live better lives. I assume one doesn’t just wake on the first day of retirement and update their portfolio from 100% stocks to 60/40. It depends on your plans after you quit your job. So that’s $20k gain, right? A small note, Mint is fairly ineffective these days (personal experience). Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. Not enough to fire at the level I want to. The Fidelity Cash Management account reimburses all ATM fees and offers unlimited free checks so it’s a great account to have, if only for those two reasons. I had the same experience tonight and received several “Update your profile” emails that sent me nowhere, before I gave up. Found some CC’s that have 21 month 0% terms with a 5% transfer fee of the balance. I understand that once I rollover an amount to my ROTH I will have to wait 5 years to tap it. For example…Cash flow of 110K for 10yrs and 55K for 30yrs requires X amount of assets (savings/investments). Don’t have any specific question, but I just wanted you to know that my fiance and I actively listen to your podcast and it’s really changed that way we look at our finances and how we live our lives. I read through some of the blog posts and they are so well written. Was just curious, do you have recommendations of CPAs and/or law firms for those of us who’d like to get started in real estate? I counted my home equity in my net worth because I knew I’d be selling it before I quit my job but I also forecasted higher monthly expenses in retirement to account for future rent expenses. Has the FI Lab been useful to you so far? It’s a junkier junk bond. How did the Mad Fientist website come about? FI Laboratory, FI spreadsheet. Correction – Tax savings is subtracted from the (HSA Contribution + Premium) not added back, and remember, you cannot calculate tax savings on co-pays unless it falls within the IRS guidelines (Publication 502 https://www.irs.gov/publications/p502/). Hello, could you direct me to any posts on how to choose correct savings plan for your kids? Trying to decide if it is beneficial to see what the current transfer value would be and what the unreduced value would be at the end of the pension term. I do the same thing for a PPO every year, however, I use the PPO plan co-pays instead of the expenses. The web-hosting company that has been serving up the Mad Fientist since the very beginning! 2. You are able to combine points within household so you and your wife will share the same points. No contract. I was impressed and inspired to learn more. The Clark Howard Show. Similiar to Fidelity. Cheers. Then I find out what my yearly cost is for the HDHP – I’m biweekly, so I have to multiply the paycheck premium by 26. On Mad Fientist, Brandon offers a free, ... (B4 and C4) aren't the same as the ones noted on the balances tab — that's because the credit card balances have been subtracted. To buy the same coverage from the same provider directly is too expensive (I’d be better off just staying in the workforce). MadFientist.com has partnered with CardRatings.com to provide you with credit card offers, reviews, and ratings. Success! I don’t think MMM counts it, but my memory might be wrong on that. Join over 100,000 others on the Mad Fientist email list and get instant access to my FI Spreadsheet! I thought I understood what that means clearly enough, but the calculator’s math obviously reflects something else. Would that count towards the $3k? The application that powers all of the Mad Fientist's signup forms, email automations, etc. I really enjoy them. One that describes a typical execution of the 4 percent rule would be nice. If I get a card with a Fee ($95) and get my points, do I cancel it at the end of a year? Thanks for the recommendation to read “How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World.” Great book with some very practical insights. I can’t wait to put some of your tactics into practice! I have enough cash to live off of for the next 8 years while waiting to turn 59 1/2 so my income will be 0. ), I knew I was going to love this blog when you mentioned you had read How to Live Free in an Unfree World, and ERE. Thank you. That is, I most likely won’t be accessing this savings for about 5-7 years, and I expect to be adding about $10,000 to it each year. Success! I realize if I stay in the 12% bracket during conversion and then in 7-1/2 years when RMDs start, I could be in a higher bracket, either because of IRS tax law changes or income increases with SS, dividends and IRA withdrawals. Thanks. Your email address will not be published. I was informed that based on the value of my roll over IRA ($500,000), that a back door Roth was not allowed. You are allowed to pay as much as you want within the first 18 months and then you can refinance the loan. Did you get an email with the subject “Welcome!” from me? 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