Mad Fientist

Three years ago, I introduced you to ProjectionLab and called it the most powerful financial planning tool I’d ever seen. It was built specifically for people pursuing FIRE, and it’s still the most useful FI planning tool I’ve found. In the original post, Kyle (the solo developer behind the project) shared his background and walked through how to build a plan. When I built my first plan, I realized I needed to immediately change my investment strategy (I stopped contributing to my tax-deferred accounts because the software showed me that I already contributed too much to those accounts). Since then, I ve watched Kyle quit his day job, grow a team, and turn ProjectionLab into something even more impressive. The tool has changed a lot recently, and I wanted to invite him back to share what s new. Because after using the new features, I ve changed my financial plans yet again! The software showed me that I could potentially leave over $1.5 million more to my kids by making a few small changes to my tax strategy It s incredible that one software application has caused me to make such drastic changes to my finances (twice!), but that s the power of what Kyle and his team have built. Take it away, Kyle! Hey everyone, Kyle here. Thanks for having me back. When I wrote that first post, I still had a corporate day job. ProjectionLab was a side project I worked on every night after work, plus weekends and holidays. The Mad Fientist community helped change the trajectory of this project and gave me the confidence to bet my career on it. I had hoped a few people would find the tool useful. But when so many of you tried PL and shared thoughtful feedback on things like tax optimization, Roth conversions, and withdrawal strategies, you helped me realize this could become something real. Two months later, I dropped to part-time at my day job. Six months after that, I quit entirely to focus on PL. So thank you. Genuinely. You changed my life. Today, over 200,000 households have used ProjectionLab to build a plan. We’ve grown from just me into a small team and built a profitable, fully independent company. No venture capital, no advisory upsells, no selling your data. We build for the people who use it, and we’ve added a lot since 2023. What s new? Two years of full-time development and the help of a team adds up. Here are the most notable changes. Advanced Strategies You already know that getting to financial independence is only half the puzzle. The other half is making your money last once you get there. That means strategic Roth conversions, drawing down the right accounts in the right order, harvesting capital gains in low-tax years, and managing income to avoid triggering IRMAA surcharges or losing ACA subsidies. These are strategies that can save six or even seven figures over a retirement. They’re also complicated, easy to get wrong, or cost thousands of dollars when done with a professional. ProjectionLab now handles this for you. Tax Strategy Set a target tax bracket or income ceiling and PL optimizes your plan around it: federal brackets, IRMAA thresholds, ACA subsidy limits, the NIIT cliff, and even income splitting across spouses for joint filers. You decide your strategy and the Optimizer does the rest. Roth Conversions Automatically convert pre-tax savings to fill your target bracket each year. The engine is IRMAA-aware, so it won t push you into a Medicare surcharge two years down the road. You can quickly see the projected impact on net worth, lifetime taxes, legacy value, and more. Drawdown Draw from accounts in optimal order up to your bracket cap, splitting withdrawals across ordinary income and capital gains sources automatically. No more guessing which accounts to tap first. Gain Harvesting Realize capital gains in years where you ll pay little or nothing on them. This includes filling the 0% long-term capital gains bracket, a powerful and commonly overlooked move available to early retirees. Flexible Spending Most calculators assume you spend the same amount every year forever. That s not how it works in real life. When markets drop, you cut back. When things recover, you loosen up. Flex Spending lets you set rules like: If the market drops 30% from its all-time high, reduce discretionary spending by 60%. Tag expenses as Essential or Discretionary and PL adjusts automatically. This can dramatically improve your chance of success without requiring you to save more. The Optimizer Behind all of this is a built-in optimizer that searches across strategies, bracket targets, and timing windows to find what works best for your specific plan. Tell it what you care about (lower lifetime taxes, higher net worth, more ACA subsidies, reduced IRMAA surcharges) and it evaluates hundreds of combinations to find the best approach. It shows you exactly what the winning strategy gains you, with a full breakdown of the trade-offs: tax liability, net legacy, RMDs, IRMAA, and more. Apply it instantly, or explore alternatives. This is the kind of analysis that would cost thousands from a financial advisor. It runs inside your plan in seconds. What If Scenarios Compare Mode got a major upgrade and became one of the most powerful features in the tool. Quickly overlay your plan with a What If scenario and the impact in real time. What if you retired two years earlier? What if you took a higher-paying job but moved to a higher-tax state? What if you dropped to part-time at 45 and started a side business? Track how milestones shift between plans. Dig into yearly deltas for income, savings, expenses, and net worth. Plot any metric across scenarios. Instead of guessing at trade-offs, you see them. If Optimize helps you get the most out of a single plan, Compare Mode helps you decide what life you want to build. More Depth Where It Matters Beyond optimization and scenario planning, we’ve also filled in many gaps that used to require other tools or manual work. Social Security Enter your Primary Insurance Amount from your SSA statement, pick a claiming age between 62 and 70, and PL computes your benefit automatically with early reduction and delayed retirement credits built in. No more manual calculations or guessing. Medicare Now a fully visible expense card showing estimated Part B, Part D, and supplemental premiums with IRMAA surcharges and a 2-year income lookback. The Tax Strategy engine ties into this too, actively avoiding income levels that would trigger surcharges. Estate Planning A new Estate tab shows your Net Legacy: what heirs actually receive after taxes, costs, and debt. This connects to Roth conversion analysis, so you can see how today s decisions affect what you leave behind. Charitable Giving QCDs satisfy your RMD while keeping the distribution out of taxable income. Donor-Advised Funds let you contribute appreciated assets, avoid capital gains, and take the full deduction. Inherited IRAs Model Traditional and Roth Inherited IRAs with 10-year withdrawal windows, stretch RMDs, or a custom distribution schedule. Mega Backdoor Roth Model it directly. Fill remaining after-tax space in a 401(k) or 403(b) and route funds in-plan or to a Roth IRA. Tax Modeling State and local taxes are modeled with location-aware scoping. A TCJA sunset toggle shows the impact if those provisions expire. A Tax Analytics heatmap shows how your income falls across brackets by jurisdiction. Canadian and International Support ProjectionLab now has dedicated Canadian planning: TFSA and RRSP account types, CPP contributions, OAS and GIS income estimation, Employment Insurance, configurable RRSP-to-RRIF conversion age, and provincial tax presets for Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec. We ve also expanded international support for the UK, Australia, Netherlands, Germany, and others. If you re planning to move abroad or from outside the United States, there s a good chance we ve improved support for your situation. Thank You I’m grateful to everyone in this community who’s played a role in shaping ProjectionLab over the past few years. And I’m still excited to show up every day to keep making it better for you. If you re planning your path to financial independence, or already there and thinking about how to make the most of it, come take another look. ProjectionLab Reddit Community Discord Community You can sign up, build plans, and save everything for free. If you want to go deeper with optimization, tax modeling, and scenario analysis, there’s a paid plan (with free trial) that unlocks those features. Related PostProjectionLab - Beautiful and Powerful Financial-Planning Software for FIREProjectionLab is a powerful and beautifully-designed financial-planning application made specifically for FIRE people! The post The Best FIRE Software Just Got Even Better appeared first on Mad Fientist.

After decades of saving/investing, it’s hard to immediately flip a switch and go into spending mode. Spending is a skill that you should develop on your way to FI, so that you’re better at it when the time comes to do it. Here’s what worked for me over the last few years: Listen Nowdocument.createElement('audio'); https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/madfientist/how-to-spend-money.mp3Listen on Spotify or Apple PodcastsDownload MP3 by right-clicking here Highlights How to reframe expenses and recalibrate how you value money (e.g. College Calculation, 0.01% Rule, etc.) Why you should expect inefficiencies/waste as your net worth grows The benefits of splurge accounts and forced annual-spending targets Balancing the idea that “everything is free” with the benefits of incremental improvements The importance of prioritizing “now” over “the future”, while still spending/saving for both How to give more while increasing the personal benefits of that giving Show Links Ramit Sethi – How to Spend (and Actually Enjoy It) Ramit Sethi – I Will Teach You to Be Rich Bill Perkins – Memory Dividends, Time Buckets, and Maximizing Net Fulfillment Die with Zero by Bill Perkins The Wealth Ladder by Nick Maggiulli Full Transcript Mad Fientist: Hey, what’s up everybody? Welcome to the Financial Independence Podcast. I know it’s

In 2021, I decided to stop doing annual updates. At that time, I thought I had FI figured out and was just living a “normal” life (so no need to talk about it anymore). Well, a lot has changed since then! Turns out, I didn’t have everything figured out :/ I explain more in today’s short podcast episode: Listen Nowhttps://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/madfientist/eighth-year-of-freedom.mp3Listen on Spotify or Apple PodcastsDownload MP3 by right-clicking here Highlights How the pandemic changed my outlook on the future Why my post-FI life is drastically different from what I imagined it would be Learning how to use money for the first time The reason I’m focusing more on other investments (and what those investments are) Why stock picking isn’t great, even when your stock picks outperform Show Links First Year of Freedom Second Year of Freedom Third Year of Freedom Fourth Year of Freedom Fifth Year of Freedom Full Transcript Mad Fientist: Hey, what’s up, everybody. Welcome to the FInancial Independence Podcast. So three years ago in 2021, I decided to stop doing my annual updates. And if you’ve followed the podcast for a while, you know every year since I left my job in 2016, I’ve done an annual update talking about what I learned over that last year.And when it got to 2021, I felt like I was really just living normal life, and I was getting bored making the annual up

Out of all the episodes of the Financial Independence Podcast, this is the one I wish I heard when I was on my journey to financial independence Bill Perkins, author of Die with Zero, joins Chris Hutchins on the All the Hacks podcast to discuss what money is really for – maximizing net fulfillment. This interview is incredible, so I reached out to Chris to ask if I could share it with you all, and thankfully he agreed! Listen Nowhttps://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/madfientist/bill-perkins-interview.mp3Listen on Spotify or Apple PodcastsDownload MP3 by right-clicking here Highlights Why you should maximize for net fulfillment rather than net worth When is the best time to allocate money to get the most fulfillment Why you should time bucket your experiences instead of having a bucket list How to break out of earning-saving-investing autopilot Why you should fear wasting your life more than running out of money Show Links All the Hacks Podcast Chris Hutchins on Twitter Die with Zero Book Bill Perkins on Twitter Related PostChris Hutchins - Why You Should "Retire" Before You Hit Your NumberThe founder of Grove shares important lessons he's learned as an entrepreneur and explains why you may want to quit your job before you hit your FI number!<img src='https://www.madfientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12

To celebrate the release of JL Collins’ new book, Pathfinders, I collected all the best advice from his Financial Independence Podcast interviews! JL has been on the show three times: First, back in 2012 (he was my second guest ever!) Second, when his hit book, The Simple Path to Wealth, was released Third, during the depths of the Coronavirus crash That last interview may be my proudest moment as the Mad Fientist (I explain why during the show). Hope you enjoy this jam-packed episode! Listen Nowhttps://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/madfientist/jl-collins-highlights.mp3Listen on Spotify or Apple PodcastsDownload MP3 by right-clicking here Highlights The power of FU Money and why it may be less money than you think JL’s biggest investing mistake and what he learned from it Why index investing is superior to active investing Are REITs and international funds necessary Why your house may not be a good investment Thoughts on stock picking and actively-managed funds What makes Vanguard unique and why it’s best for investors The three keys to becoming wealthy Lessons learned from Black Monday How to prepare for the next market crash Show Links First Interview: JLCollinsNH – The Importance of F-You Money Second Interview: JL Collins – The Simple Path to Wealth Third Interview: Coronavirus Market Crash – Is This Time Different? JL’s Website – <a href="https://jlcollinsnh.com" rel="

On today’s episode of the Financial Independence Podcast, I welcome back Chad Carson from CoachCarson.com! Chad just released a new book called The Small and Mighty Real Estate Investor, and I wanted to get him back on the show to talk about it. I’m not a real-estate investor though. So rather than interview him myself, my real-estate-investor friend, Jillian Johnsrud, did the interview for me! You may know Jillian from Montana Money Adventures, or her new podcast – Retire Often. She did a fantastic job, so I hope you enjoy their conversation as much as I did! Listen Nowhttps://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/madfientist/jillian-and-chad-interview.mp3Listen on Spotify or Apple PodcastsDownload MP3 by right-clicking here Show Links Coach Carson Website | Twitter Jillian Johnsrud Website | Instagram The Small and Mighty Real Estate Investor Amazon | BiggerPockets Full Transcript Coming Soon! Related PostChad Carson - Retire Early with Real EstateChad Carson joins me again on the Financial Independence Podcast to talk about the best strategies you can use to retire early wit

On today’s episode of the Financial Independence Podcast, I welcome back Ramit Sethi from I Will Teach You to Be Rich! I needed someone to come on the show to provide some tough love and Ramit was the only person for the job. As Ramit mentioned during our last interview, FIRE people are great at knowing what NOT to spend on but we’re not good at knowing what to spend on. Spending is going to be a big focus on the Mad Fientist this year and I can’t think of a better way to kick off this discussion than by getting yelled at by Ramit so hope you enjoy it! Listen Nowhttps://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/madfientist/i-will-teach-you-to-be-rich-interview.mp3Listen on Spotify or Apple PodcastsDownload MP3 by right-clicking here Highlights Why we doubled our annual spending (and was it worth it) What Ramit did to make me get all clammy and uncomfortable Why pay less when you can pay more How to imagine your own rich life Why you should start wasting some money at a certain point Show Links I Will Teach You to Be Rich I Will Teach You to Be Rich Podcast Episode 16 – “We’re worth $8 million but I comparison shop for strawberries” Episode 40 – “We’re worth $5 million, but my wife nearly canceled our trip to save $200” Money Coaching with Ramit Sethi Ramit on <a href="https://twitt

Over the last few years, I interviewed members of my family to find out two things: How I became the Mad Fientist (i.e. where did I get my extreme ideas about money) What advice they’d give to parents hoping to raise money-smart children This is a short but sweet holiday episode to end the year and I hope you enjoy it! Listen Nowhttps://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/madfientist/my-family-interview.mp3Listen on Spotify or Apple PodcastsDownload MP3 by right-clicking here Full Transcript Coming soon Related PostMy Brother - Using the Power of Money to Pursue Your PassionJoin me for an interview with my little brother that we recorded live in Venice!  We talk about growing up, extreme frugality, and how you don't need to wait until FI to use the power money gives you to pursue your passions.The post My Family – Raising Money-Smart Kids appeared first on Mad Fientist.

Exactly 10 years ago, I released the first episode of the Financial Independence Podcast! To celebrate this big birthday, I’ve collected all the best advice from my interviews with my very first podcast guest – Mr. Money Mustache! Listen Nowhttps://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/madfientist/mr-money-mustache-highlights.mp3Listen on Spotify or Apple PodcastsDownload MP3 by right-clicking here Highlights Mr. Money Mustache’s investing strategy Thoughts on real-estate investing vs. stock-market investing How to invest in a raging bull market The benefits of hitting FI before having kids Why you’ll likely make money after retiring early Mr. Money Mustache’s biggest splurge How to decide whether to pay off your mortgage early The best part of financial independence How to find meaning after early retirement Most challenging part of post-FI life The impact of financial independence on personal relationships Show Links Financial Independence Podcast Episode #01 – Mr. Money Mustache – Early Retirement Made Easy Episode #24 – Camp Mustache – Q&A with Mr. Money Mustache, Afford Anything, & Military Guide Mr. Money Mustache Related PostMr. Money Mustache - Early Retirement Made EasyMr. Money Mustache shares his financial independence and early retirement secrets in an interview for the Financial Independence Podcast!<img src='https://www.madfientist.com/wp-content/uplo

On today’s episode of the Financial Independence Podcast, I speak to Patrick Aime from Aime to Invest! Patrick’s journey to FI is an incredible one. He… Moved from his home in Rwanda to attend high school in Europe and college in America Stayed in America after college and started working in the feast-or-famine world of sales Started his own company and grew it to $5 million in revenue in four years Used his success in business to invest in rental properties and live a lavish lifestyle Lost everything during the 2008 global financial crisis and had to declare bankruptcy Found FIRE and drastically reduced his expenses and started saving for the long term Rebuilt a smaller business and started investing in short-term rental properties in Mexico Utilized geographic arbitrage to lower his expenses even further Hit FI 8 years after declaring bankruptcy and became a millionaire 2 years after FI Patrick shares everything he learned during his rollercoaster financial journey so hope you enjoy the interview! Listen Nowhttps://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/madfientist/aime-to-invest-interview.mp3Listen on Spotify or Apple PodcastsDownload MP3 by right-clicking here Show Links Aime to Invest YouTube Channel Frugal Safari Website Patrick on Twitter Mad Fientist’s FI Laboratory Full Transcript Mad Fientist: Hey, what’s up, everybody. Welcome to the Financial Independence Podcast, the podcast where I talked t

I have some big news… I am now a British citizen! In honor of finally getting my UK passport, and therefore completing this long journey to citizenship, I am releasing my UK FIRE episode. Barney, from The Escape Artist, joined me in my Edinburgh apartment (before the pandemic) to discuss all things related to financial independence and early retirement in the UK. Hope you enjoy it! Listen Nowhttps://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/madfientist/escape-artist-interview.mp3Listen on Spotify or Apple PodcastsDownload MP3 by right-clicking here Highlights The cultural differences between US/UK that affect pursuing FI How to escape from the prison we create for ourselves Translating US investing terminology to the UK (e.g. 401k→pension, IRA→ISA, etc.) Is it easier to reach FI in the US or UK Class structure in UK and how pursuing FI forces you to traverse all classes Why FIRE isn’t bigger in the UK Difference between the different types of ISAs Is tax hacking possible in the UK Real-estate investing in the United Kingdom and the fantastic Rent-a-Room scheme How to use geographic arbitrage to reach FI sooner Show Links The Escape Artist Full Transcript Mad Fientist: Hey, what’s up, everybody. Welcome to the Financial Independence Podcast, the podcast where I get inside the brains of some of the best and brightest in personal finance to find out how they achieved financial independence. Today’s episode is a long time coming. I actually interviewed my guest two years ago, which because of the coronavirus pandemic seems like a lifetime ago.But the reason I haven’t published the episode yet is because I’ve been waiting for something really special to happen…and that just happened last month. I’m excited to tell you

Last year, I published a podcast with one of my favorite financial writers, Morgan Housel. You may remember that the episode was a recording of a Bogleheads meeting and the interview was actually conducted by my buddy, Gouri. Well, Gouri recently invited me to join the Bogleheads to talk about life after FIRE and today’s podcast episode is a recording of that discussion! Big thanks to Gouri and the Bogleheads for making this happen and hope you enjoy it! Listen Nowhttps://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/madfientist/bogleheads-interview.mp3Listen on Spotify or Apple PodcastsDownload MP3 by right-clicking here Highlights How your views on spending change after you retire Why you should treat FI as a spectrum rather than a finish line How to plan for all aspects of post-FI life The unexpected benefits and challenges of early retirement Show Links Bogleheads.org The Album Atomic Habits Ultralearning Music Habits e-Book Fifth Annual Update Ramit Sethi on the Financial Independence Podcast How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World Early Retirement Extreme <li

If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll know that I’ve released an annual update every year since I quit my job. It’s now been five years since I stopped working so this is my fifth (and final) annual update. Why is it my final one? I explain in today’s short episode… Listen Nowhttps://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/madfientist/fifth-year-of-freedom.mp3Listen on Spotify or Apple PodcastsDownload MP3 by right-clicking here Highlights How the pandemic highlighted the power of having savings Why FI is the ultimate shock absorber and cheat code The reasons this annual update will be my last What to do when money is no longer a source of motivation Why “Lean FIRE” may be a bad idea Warren Buffet’s plan for leaving money to his kids (and why it may change your FI target) Show Links First Year of Freedom Second Year of Freedom Third Year of Freedom Fourth Year of Freedom The Album 8 Key Lessons from the Ultralearning Experiment Episode with Ramit Sethi Full Transcript Mad Fientist: Hey what’s up everybody, it’s the Mad Fientist. Welcome to the Financial Independence Podcast. Sorry it’s been a while since my last episode but after being trapped in Scotland for 15 months because of th

On today’s episode of the Financial Independence Podcast, I finally got to interview the person who introduced me to the concept of financial independence and early retirement in the first place… Jacob Lund Fisker from Early Retirement Extreme! To my mind, Jacob is the founder of the modern-day “FIRE movement” so hope you enjoy the interview! Listen Nowhttps://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/madfientist/early-retirement-extreme-interview.mp3Listen on Spotify or Apple PodcastsDownload MP3 by right-clicking here Highlights What Jacob has been up to since stepping away from EREHis experience being a financial quant and how it impacted his personal investingThe problem with set-it-and-forget-it index investingThe importance of staying flexible with your investing strategyPredictions for the next decade and the post-COVID worldA systems approach to lifestyle design and why it’s beneficialJacob’s thoughts on early retirement how they’ve changed since publishing Early Retirement ExtremeHis current projects and his plans for the future Show Links Early Retirement Extreme Website | Book | Forum | Wiki | Audio BookEarly Retirement Extreme on Twitter | FacebookERE 10-Year Update on Get