Then do nothing. In other words, don't sell your holdings. In the current climate it can be somewhat uncomfortable to see the market continue to go down, even after it has already dropped by a not-so-small amount already. It doesn't help that the world generally seems to be really messed up right now either - there's war, a persistent pandemic, high inflation, and rising interest rates among many other things that are telling you to "run for the hills". But let's be honest with ourselves; do we really know how any of these events are going to affect the market? Even if we guess correctly, do ..read more

For myself, and I'm sure many others, the recent performance of the financial markets have been pretty tough to endure. There have been some pretty big drops plus consecutive days and weeks of red. Worst of all is that when there are some big green days they're quickly reversed, wiping out our hopes of a refuge from the damage. Anybody who has done their reading homework for the FIRE movement will have known that there will be periods during the journey where the markets are a bit more volatile. As much as we want the entire process to be smooth and consistent, that's simply just not how it wo ..read more

I just got back from a week off and had some thoughts around this whole concept of "taking a break". We often take a break from our professional jobs, which is highly important (I'm sure you'll agree). But we also take breaks from other things in our lives, for example: We have days off from our workout routines or incorporate lighter sessions. We allow cheat meals or treats as a part of our diet plan. We have breaks between academic terms, either ourselves or our kids. We even sometimes take a break from our hobbies for a short while. So the question I have is... should we take breaks from ou ..read more

Right now there are many people in the UK, and elsewhere around the world, struggling more than ever before when it comes to the cost of living. Rising prices in groceries, utilities, petrol, and also interest rates which will push mortgage payments higher. With all that's going on around the world in conjunction to these financially harder times, I wanted to use this article to show a bit of gratitude for the position that I am in. Firstly, despite rising living costs I am personally in a stable and secure position financially. This is largely thanks to the roots I've been laying for the bet ..read more

As a content writer within the financial independence space I have avoided revealing my real net worth, and this is still the case. But I think the 100k mark (be it in £ or $) for net worth is a key milestone for most people who are on the same journey as I. It has been a few years since I reached this milestone for myself so I decided to reflect back a little and think over some of the mistakes I made that either cost me money or cost me more time than it was worth. Before getting into it though, I want to clarify that this isn't me telling you not to do these things. While I think my own jou ..read more

You've recently come across this new term known as "financial independence retire early" and you're hooked. Not needing to work while still having the money to support your life indefinitely? Sign me up. In your quest to find out more you inevitably dig up the various communities who are also walking the same path, and you eagerly consume all the information they have to share. But soon enough you feel somewhat overwhelmed. You know you need to set a budget... but how do you do that? You know you need to build an emergency fund... but how much should that be? You know you need to pay down your ..read more

This week I wanted to write about a feeling that many of us who pursue financial independence have likely felt at least once. That feeling is the one where almost nobody be they friends, family, or colleagues seem to understand where we're coming from whenever we talk about the principles and practices that lead to achieving FIRE. To us things appear so crystal clear; being very deliberate with where our money is spent, putting a good amount of money into low-cost and boring index funds instead of chasing the next shiny NFT, and not getting caught up with lifestyle inflation as we work our way ..read more

Life in general is tough, even if we are among the privileged minority on the global scale. Everybody has big goals they hope to accomplish, and we must balance them with the many demands that life throws our way; family, health, money, among others. We set those goals and inherently understand that they won't be achieved until far into the future, where the timeline is set in years or even decades. Becoming financially independent is one example but there are plenty of others; becoming a top level athlete, becoming a polyglot, becoming a PhD, becoming a successful writer, becoming an executiv ..read more

This may be an unfamiliar take on the topic but I think the idea of "early retirement" is a goal that may actually be best left unachieved. It feels blasphemous to write such words considering this blog is directed towards the financial independence early retirement community, but hear me out. First, let's start on a page that most of us can probably agree on; being stuck in a job that you're not passionate about and being surrounded by colleagues or management that you don't have a lot of love for, sucks. For many people the above scenario is all too familiar, so once they come across the fin ..read more

In life we often have big goals that seem, at the start, impossible to reach. Goals come in all shapes and sizes such as founding your own start up, becoming a world champion, or becoming a multi-millionaire. Maybe some people consider the above to be more akin to "dreams" and would consider goals to be something like being able to go on a luxury holiday to the Bahamas, or becoming a home owner, or getting out of debt. Whatever the shape or size of the goal there's one thing that they all have in common - they are not easy to achieve and require a lot of effort, time and commitment. But like t ..read more