Blog Posts
The FIRE Guide to America’s Health Care System (2026)
The most common question I get when being interviewed about FIRE is “What about health care?” It’s a big, scary question. Health care costs in America, if not managed properly, can easily run into tens of thousands of dollars per year, and that can really screw over someone’s FIRE plan. So we have to deal with it, but at the same time, the reason why it’s so difficult is that the game keeps changing. Health care is a political football, and the answer to the question “How much do I need to save for health care?” varies wildly depending on […]
What Bill Bengen Got Wrong About the 4% Rule
The FIRE movement is built around the 4% rule—the idea that you can safely withdraw 4% every year in retirement and not run out of money. It’s the mathematical formula upon which we’ve organized the past 10 years of our lives, and if math is our religion, the 4% rule is our scripture. Even though the Trinity Study has been cited as the inspiration behind the 4% rule, the actual person who deduced this rule is Bill Bengen, a financial planner/MIT engineer. Back in 1994, he analysed every 30-year retirement period in modern U.S market history and discovered that 4% […]
Are Our Travelling Days Over?
“You used to write every week, but it’s been a whole 2 months since you last posted. Are you okay?” Having received more and more of these e-mails and message lately, I figured it’s probably time to address why we’ve been absent for so long. Also, I’m so touched that so many of you care and are worried about us. Love this community! You rock! Long-time readers know that I rarely miss a post. Through jetlag, illness, seasickness, morning sickness, I’ve never stopped writing. Hell, even after giving birth to my son, and through the brutal recovery and sleep deprivation […]
Can I reach FIRE with 7 Kids?
Hi readers, it’s been a while since we’ve done a reader case, so here goes! This one is a doozy, and I knew it as soon as I saw the headline in my inbox “FIRE with 7 kids”. If you have a big family, is it going to be impossible to get to FI? Let’s find out by MATHING THAT SHIT UP! (also, stay tuned for an awesome announcement at the end of this post) Hello, We are big fans of Quit Like a Millionaire (and we pre-ordered PLAM), and we also read your blog regularly. But ever since my […]
Millionaire Librarian: Retire Early Without the Six-Figure Salary
Can you retire early if you are a parent and don’t have a six-figure salary? It’s a question the FIRE community gets often. Well, today we’re going to meet a reader who worked as a librarian, has a toddler, and decided to retire early anyway. How did he do it? Let’s find out. Why are you called the Millionaire Librarian? I’ll probably get destroyed online, but I actually created the blog, MillionaireLibrarian.com, a few years ago when the label “millionaire” was aspirational—and, to be honest, it is still a little aspirational. We aren’t quite there yet, but we are financially […]
