ChooseFI | Financial Independence Podcast

618 | You Learned How to Save. Now Learn How to Spend | Jesse Mecham

Every dollar you save is just money you're planning to spend later—so why does no one talk about the skill of spending well? Jesse Mecham, founder of YNAB, couldn't justi

617 | The Hidden Assumption in Every Retirement Calculator

Most retirement calculators assume your money needs to last until age 95. But if you're 55 years old today, average life expectancy is actually 79 for men and 82 for wome

616 | How Should You Give Money to Your Kids? | 529s, UTMAs, Trump Accounts & More

Most parents rush to open 529 plans for newborns, convinced they're building their child's future. But here's what financial experts won't tell you: that decision might b

615 | How to Get More Years of Freedom | Fritz Gilbert

Eight years into financial independence, Fritz Gilbert discovered something surprising: learning to spend money is harder than learning to save it. After decades of optim

614 | Getting Personal with Personal Finance: Oz Chen

Most Americans never truly disconnect from work—even on vacation. After decades of tying your identity, daily rhythm, and sense of worth to a paycheck, stepping away feel

613 | How Do You Know You're Making the Right Financial Decision? | Roundup with Ginger

Every expert sounds convincing until you realize you've collected ten different "right" answers to the same retirement question. Brad Barrett recently found himself overw

612 | What Actually Happened? | Paige's FI Journey, Nine Years Later

Starting with negative net worth at 47 in Los Angeles on $58,000 a year sounds impossible. Yet Paige reached financial independence by 56, retired early, and now lives ex

611 | ChooseFI Classic: Financial Independence on an Ordinary Income (Paige & Sam)

Paige started her journey to financial independence at 45 with student loans, negative net worth, and an average income in Los Angeles—yet she'll reach FI by 2025. Sam li

610 | Sabbatical Success: Around the World in 367 Days

A 40-year-old physician associate and his wife walked away from their jobs with $50,000 earmarked for a year of world travel. They returned having spent just $30,000—and

609 | How to Talk to Your Partner about FI | Jasper Lee

Your spouse shoots down every FI conversation with "we can't afford it" or "retirement at 35 sounds crazy." You respond with better spreadsheets, tighter logic, more comp

608 | Die With Zero, Revisited

Brad Barrett's daughter just graduated high school. She's heading to college in a few months. The number of times he'll see her for the rest of his life? Already countabl

607 | Other Mountains I Want to Climb | Diania Merriam

Reaching financial independence is supposed to be the goal—but what if you get there and realize the real skill isn't earning or saving, but learning to spend? And what i

606 | Deep Dive: Target-Date Retirement and Bond Funds | Cody Garrett

Most investors think they're buying the same thing when they choose a target date fund—but two people who bought 2025 target date funds 15 years ago could have 40% differ

605 | Retire in Less Than 10 Years

At 21, Cody Berman appeared on ChooseFI as a college student discovering financial independence. Three years later, he retired at 26. Now 30 with a $5 million net worth,

604 | Getting Personal With Personal Finance: Bill Yount

Bill Yount reached financial independence at 60—then froze. His financial advisor confirmed 100% security, yet instead of relief, he felt disoriented fog. The emergency m

603 | Crash Proof: The Science Of Stock Market Resilience | Brian Feroldi

The stock market crashes about once every three years—at least a 20% drop. Most investors panic and sell. But if you understood why markets always recover, you'd do the o

602 | FI 201 Beyond FI Basics: Asset Allocation & Market Psychology Mastery

Most investors lose to the market because they're trying to pick winners in a game where only 4% of stocks have created 100% of market wealth over the past century. The m

601 | Travel Rewards 101 | Devon Gimbel from Point Me to First Class

Devon Gimbel just booked over $250,000 in travel last year using credit card points—but she's the first to tell you award travel isn't "free." It's a strategy for 10x-ing

600 | FI 101: Teaching Financial Independence to Your Community

A dead local meetup group attracted just 5 people to its first gathering at a brewery. Two years later, that same group draws 70+ attendees to structured educational sess

599 | ABLE Accounts: Major Update | Brynne Conroy

Brynne Conroy joins to discuss 529A ABLE accounts and massive new changes that nearly double eligibility for these accounts for those with disabilities.