Trying for FI

Just days before Fetch's final day at their full-time job, an unexpected contract extension landed in their inbox. More income. More security. More certainty. It also meant more hours, less family time, and postponing the life we'd already decided we wanted. Sometimes the biggest financial decision isn't choosing where to invest your money. Sometimes it's choosing what kind of...

What happens when the creators of the Coast FI calculator tell you, "Congratulations, you've made it"? That's exactly what happened to us. After months of questioning our calculations and wondering whether we were really at Coast FI, Rascal attended the Slow FI Retreat hosted by The Fioneers, and our family's financial plan became one of the featured case studies. In this...

OMG. We think we may have reached Coast FI . In this episode, we revisit the Coast FI calculator from The Fioneers and compare where we are now versus just 8 months ago when we believed we were still 1–5 years away from this milestone. After double checking the formulas (twice 😅), we realized something wild: depending on the assumptions, we may already be there.  We break down: • What Coast FI ac...

**Activity guide sheet in our Resource Doc! ** This week, we’re bringing a new lens to the podcast: financial therapy . Rascal puts on their therapist hat to help us explore hidden emotional relationships to money — especially in partnerships. Using a framework called Internal Family Systems (or “parts work”), we explore how different aspects of ourselves show up during financial decisions — from...

In this episode, we reflect on four major financial “calamities” that hit our family between 2022 and now — and how those moments shaped our growth, resilience, and intimacy as financial partners. While none of these events left us without food or housing, they were significant outflows relative to what we were earning and saving — emotional, destabilizing, and deeply instructive. We share stories...

What would your life look like if you hit Coast FI tomorrow? In this light, personal episode, we let ourselves dream a little—and reflect on how our day-to-day lives might shift if we no longer had to save for the future. We revisit the definition of Coast FI: that moment when your retirement savings are set, and future contributions aren’t necessary. You still work to cover today’s expenses, but...

In this episode, we pick up where we left off on our Coast FI path—and dive into the real-life, real-time process of choosing 403(b) (or 401(k)) funds that match our values, fees, and family cash flow. We talk about:  • Why we decided to prioritize Fetch’s 403(b) over Rascal’s SEP (for now)  • How we used ChatGPT to analyze 47 different fund options from scratch • What we learned about expense rat...

In this episode, part of our What Is Wealth? series, we explore a game-changing concept in the FIRE world: Coast FI — and how discovering it completely shifted our financial goals. Coast FI is the idea that if you save enough early, you can stop contributing to retirement accounts and still retire comfortably. It’s not about leaving the workforce — it’s about gaining freedom, flexibility, and more...

After two years at Fetch’s job, we finally decided to invest in the 403(b). In this episode, we walk you through why we waited , what changed, and how we’re making the decision now — with a little help from ChatGPT. You’ll hear:  • How our FIRE journey shifted our perspective on tax-advantaged accounts  • Why we passed on the 403(b) at first (and what we misunderstood back then)  • What helped us...

Is it possible to take a meaningful family vacation without blowing your FIRE goals? In this episode, we share how we spent a week in La Paz, Mexico as a family of five — for under $5,000 — and how the trip deepened our evolving definition of wealth. We cover:  • How we planned and budgeted (including credit card hacks and DIY adventure gear)  • What we prioritized to increase time wealth and ease...

This episode, Rascal went on a financial date — but not with Fetch. With AI. 😏 In this playful and surprisingly insightful episode, we explore what happened when one of us fed our real-life budget tracker to ChatGPT and asked it to analyze our finances. You’ll hear:  • Why we decided to test AI as a financial thought partner  • What budget "secrets" Rascal spilled to the robot  • How AI...

What is wealth — really? Is it just a number, or something you can practice right now? In this episode, we explore how our definition of wealth is expanding to mean more than our Financial Independence #goals. We talk about moving beyond the spreadsheet into the present moment, where wealth includes time, health, joy, connection, and purpose, now — not just money in the bank for later. You’ll hear...

This is a quick update to one of our favorite parenting-money mashups: the video game investing rule we introduced in a previous episode. Here’s the deal: when our kids want to spend their own money on video games or in-game purchases, they now also invest 50% of that amount into their custodial account — saving toward a future goal like buying a car. In this update, we share:  • How the rule is a...

In this episode, we introduce one of our favorite new FIRE practices: the quarterly wealth talk — a simple but powerful way to reflect, plan, and feel more connected as budget partners. Here’s what we cover:  • What a quarterly money talk actually is (and why we love it)  • A sample agenda you can use to review your finances and reflect on what wealth really means • What surprised us during our ow...

Ready for a serious nerd alert? Want your marriage / partnership to feel more like a financial team? In this episode, we break down our 3-month experiment using a shared daily budget tracker — and how it radically shifted not just our finances, but our relationship too. You may want to download the " Trying for Fi Budgeting Template " in our resources document and follow along! We talk a...

Ever thought about giving your kid a business loan ? We did! On our journey to financial independence, we want our kids to build confidence and real-world money skills early. So when our daughter pitched a plan for a slime business to sell to classmates, we decided to back it — with a $40 private loan from the family’s own “Homegrown Lending Department.” In this episode, we cover:  • How we set up...

Are you a busy parent trying to save money without spending hours researching hacks? Same here. In this quick episode, we share 5 simple, budget-friendly tips that help us cut costs in everyday life — from using Amazon and Google smarter, to scoring secondhand finds on Craigslist, to easy DIY swaps. Bonus: these money-saving tips are also better for the environment, making them wins for your walle...

Thinking about investing in a duplex or multifamily home? Wondering how to split utilities fairly between tenants (or future you)? In this episode, we share the story of how our well-meaning, flat-rate utility plan went sideways — and what we wish we’d known before setting it up. If you're a first-time landlord, house hacker, or just curious about the nitty-gritty of shared utilities, this on...

Got some extra cash after filling your emergency fund and maxing out retirement accounts? Wondering whether to put it into real estate or the stock market? In this episode, we break down one of the biggest FIRE questions: Where should your surplus money go if you want to reach financial independence faster? We walk through our thought process, compare all-in stock vs. real estate approaches, and t...

Curious about investing but not sure where to begin? In this episode, we walk through exactly how we got started — from figuring out what an index fund even is , to choosing a platform, to understanding how fees can eat away at returns. We break down:  • Index funds vs. ETFs  • Where we invest (and why)  • How much is too much to pay in fees • How we made our first real investments — together If y...

If your kids (or you!) are spending money on video games or in-game purchases, this episode is for you. As FIRE-minded parents, we’re always looking for ways to talk about money in ways our kids actually care about. In this episode, we share a new family rule we created to link video game spending to real-life savings goals (like buying a car someday) — and how it’s helping us build budgeting habi...

Are you interested in Financial Independence but feel like you’re starting a little late? Wondering if it’s still possible to retire early—or just work less—while raising a family in a high-cost area? We’re a queer couple in the Bay Area with three kids, chasing FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) on a moderate income. In this intro episode, we share why we started this podcast, what “Tryi...

Talking about money in a relationship can be... a lot. In this episode, we take you through the story of how we learned to talk about money as a couple — from awkward first convos and conflicting money beliefs, to building shared strategies that support our life together. Along the way, we tackle big themes like:  • Fairness vs equality in finances  • Keeping track without keeping score  • Separat...