Are FIRE content creators being honest about their numbers? YouTuber Duane isn’t so sure. In this episode, Eric and Jason share detailed insights about their own FIRE numbers, portfolios, withdrawal rates, and what it actually means to be “retired.” They also explain why context matters more than a single number, and get honest about how content creation fits into their financial picture. If you’ve ever wondered how real people make FIRE work, this one’s for you.
Show Notes
Essential Background:
- Are you new to the show? To find out where our FIRE paths began along with more on our backgrounds, you’ll want to watch our first three episodes: “Our Financial Past and our FIRE Present – Two Sides of FI“, “Two Careers, Two Paths to Financial Independence“, and “Financially Independent. Retire Early? Let’s Discuss!“
- While this episode contains the best summary of all of our FIRE numbers, it’s certainly not the first time we’ve tackled “THE number”, on which so many in the community focus. In “So, What’s Your Financial Independence (FI) Number?” we went through all the details of how to calculate your own FIRE number. But the number is only the beginning. In “Discussing our FI Numbers : Changing our minds, talking to family“, we discussed moving beyond the math of financial independence to discuss the psychological aspects, including important conversations with family and friends
- As Eric and Jason discussed, ProjectionLab is their favorite tool for stress testing their FIRE plan and modeling alternate scenarios. You can get your own free trial here. Want more info? Here’s our episode, How We’re Using ProjectionLab in (Early) Retirement.
- Once again, the idea of safe withdrawal rates and Big ERN’s Safe Withdrawal Rate Toolbox came up in this conversation. For practical help with modeling your own safe withdrawal rate plan, don’t miss our very popular multi-part tutorial series on the SWR Toolbox. You can find them all here.
- “Retiring With $2M: Here’s How We’d Spend It” is the budget deep-dive that Eric and Jason referenced in this video. Don’t miss the show notes for all the numbers and details discussed in this episode.
- Eric’s path to 90% passive income is truly impressive, and enabled his ability to achieve FI. To learn what his approach was like and to benefit from the many lessons he learned, check out Passive Income = A Path to Financial Independence (Part 1) and Lessons Learned in 7 Years Earning Passive Income – A Path to FI (Part 2). You won’t want to miss the show notes for these given all the valuable content Eric has linked here.
- Certainly in the US, one of the most common fears about retirement is healthcare. Did you know we’ve tackled this topic at least three times before? Check out these show notes for links to all of them. There, you’ll find the episodes and a host of associated content on the topic.
- Don’t think that our FIRE journeys were devoid of errors! We discussed just how far from mistake-free our journeys were in Don’t Make These Financial Mistakes on the Path to FIRE! (Part 1) and (Part 2).
- The FI journey is far from a solo one for most people, particularly those with long term partners or spouses. Particularly for the kinds of weighty decisions that we discussed in this episode, it’s essential to be on the same page regarding one’s FI path. Many seem to agree that our two-part series where we discuss our FIRE paths with our spouses, Lorri and Laura, is essential Two Sides of FI content. Check it out here: Part 1 and Part 2!
- We’ve released a number of milestones-related episodes, charting our FIRE journeys, a number of which are among our most popular content. These are a great way to get caught up on our backgrounds. Here’s the list of all of them.
- Our “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) episodes also represent good opportunities to get a lot of information in one video. We’ve released several, including 2025‘s “Life After FIRE: Your Toughest Questions, Answered“, 2022’s “You Asked, We Answered. FIRE Q&A”, and 2021‘s “Answering Your Financial Independence Questions”. Additionally, Jason hosted a solo AMA in 2023 called “Ask an Early Retiree Anything! Live Q&A with Jason from Two Sides of FI”. Check these out and see how our answers have changed over time!
Empower (formerly Personal Capital) is a commonly used free tool for tracking your various investment accounts, understanding your asset allocation + rebalancing opportunities, and monitoring your net worth. PC has simple to use account linking to make it a more automated experience. Give it a try risk-free!
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