ChooseFI | Financial Independence Podcast
by vasder · 705 episodes
BusinessInvestingCareers
Jonathan & Brad explore the world of Financial Independence. They discuss reducing expenses, crushing debt, building passive income streams through online businesses and real estate. How to pay off debt, Crush your grocery bill and travel the world for free. No topic is too big or small as long as it speeds up the process of reaching financial independence.
Latest episodes
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1 h 09
622 | Before Burnout Makes You Quit, Know About FMLA | Leah Kaylor, Alison & Em
When your Apple Watch alerts you that your heart rate is spiking while simply parking outside your workplace, your body is screaming a message you can't ignore. For high-achievers…
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1 h 17
621 | The Math Says You're Fine. Why Don't You Feel Fine? | Cody Garrett
You've reached financial independence. The spreadsheet says you're ready. But you still can't pull the trigger on retirement—or spending. A couple with $10 million sits paralyzed,…
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56 min
620 | Book Club: Happy Money — When Is Enough, Enough? | Jillian Johnsrud & Ginger
Your FI number is a calculation. "Enough" is a feeling. They're not the same thing—and confusing them keeps people working years past their actual financial independence. Ginger an…
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1 h 00
619 | The Student Loan Rulebook Was Rewritten | Travis Hornsby
The federal government just split student loan borrowers into two groups: those who borrowed before July 2026 keep access to income-driven repayment and forgiveness strategies, whi…
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51 min
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 justify buying…
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1 h 00
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 women. This si…
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1 h 09
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 be destroyi…
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1 h 17
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 optimizing ever…
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1 h 03
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 feels less lik…
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1 h 02
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 overwhelmed by…
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55 min
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 exactly the…
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1 h 11
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 lives on $12…
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50 min
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 visited 15…
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60 min
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 compelling num…
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1 h 13
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 countable. This re…
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1 h 21
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 if the metr…
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1 h 08
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% different return…
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1 h 07
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, he's back…
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1 h 00
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 medicine ph…
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51 min
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 opposite. B…