What are the critical financial elements to track and review each year pre- and post-FI? In this episode, Eric and Jason share their processes and learnings from their 2024 annual review. Topics covered include tracking net worth and withdrawal rate, portfolio management, taxes, and much more.
Show Notes
Essential Background:
- How did we do compared to the goals we set last year? Our 2023 review episode, FI-nancial Checkup: Goals for 2024, has all the details.
- For more details of how we complete our annual reviews, check out Our Net Worth Is Up! Sharing Our Financial Review Process. In this episode, Eric and Jason share their simple pre- and post-FI review processes for net worth tracking, portfolio review, setting savings and budget goals, and more.
- Are you interested in a free copy of the rebalancing tool Eric mentioned? That link will take you to it, as well as the episode in which it was discussed, Stock Market on FIRE: What We’re Doing in a Downturn.
- Jason mentioned staying below his safe withdrawal rate ceiling in this episode. For all the details (and more), you’ll want to see our page dedicated to the Safe Withdrawal Rate Toolbox. If you’re familiar with Karsten Jeske, you’ll definitely want to check this out. It has all the information you need including all the videos in our series, including walkthroughs of the tool and the CAPE-based strategy that Jason referenced here.
In this video, we talked about how much we’re enjoying using Projection Lab for financial modeling including What-If scenarios. Stay tuned for an upcoming episode with lots more details! In the meantime, you can try out Projection Lab for yourself, free.
Jason mentioned that he still uses the software called YNAB to budget. What is YNAB? You Need a Budget is a popular budgeting tool for many in the FIRE community. If manual spreadsheets aren’t your thing or you’ve struggled with budgeting in the past, this may be a good solution. YNAB has a generous, free 34-day trial so you can see how well it works to help you understand and control spending.
Have you checked out the Two Sides of FI Discord server? If you’re not familiar, this is an instant messaging social network. Ours is meant to be a community for viewers of our show, as well as a space to discuss all things relation to FIRE. It’s totally open, free of charge, and is anonymous as you’d like. This makes it a safe space to talk about financial topics you might otherwise be sensitive about sharing. Come check it out and see if it fits your interests! There are both desktop and mobile apps available.
Did you know Jason resumed blogging? To be notified of his future posts, please consider subscribing here. He’s also archived his old blog, which documents the first two years after he retired from his career, which started even before Two Sides of FI began. Get more information on those archived posts here.
- Links + Resources
- Eric’s business: 30X40 Design Workshop
- Jason’s blog: the next phase is now
- Eric’s YouTube Channel
- Our podcast
Jason said he isn’t reinvesting dividends. 1 consideration I haven’t personally heard you or others discuss is that allowing dividends to reinvest gives you more basis options when selling later. This could be used to raise or lower income in a given year by selling lower or higher basis shares or possibly even tax loss harvesting in some years.