Welcome to Exponential FI

Ok…so you didn’t pay that much attention in math class. You kept asking “when will I ever use this in the real world?” and nobody gave you an answer. Well, math’s time has come. It is a powerful tool you can wield to benefit your personal finances. In this blog, we will talk about the fractions, percentages, probabilities, and exponents that can free you to do what you love - even if that’s nothing at all. However, my goal is to walk you through it. I will explain the concepts and provide the math you need, all in place.

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Thrifty Thursday - Save Thousands on Your Phone Plan

Recurring expenses are insidious. Companies love signing you up for subscription services as it means a consistent revenue stream by default. The burden is on the consumer to take action, but momentum and inaction usually win out and the payments keep getting made. Taking a hard look at these subscriptions and other recurring payments can be very effective in reducing annual expenses, thereby lowering your Target FI Number and leaving more money for saving and investing . Some expenses that don’t bring enough value can be eliminated. Others can be greatly reduced with a little intentionality (just get a month or two of that streaming service to binge your favorite show, no need to leave it renewing for the whole year!) However, there are some that are necessary but we can work on reducing their impact. One of my favorite hacks is switching to a low-cost cell phone plan offered by a Mobile Virtual Network Operator. MVNOs lease bandwidth on existing cell towers ins

Intentional Spending

Your spending is an important factor in your financial independence journey. It effects the rate at which you can save and invest while in the accumulation phase and is also a critical factor in calculating your Target FI Number. When accumulating wealth, the amount you can save and invest is a simple calculation: what you make minus what you spend. Like many of the levers we talk about, your spending has a non-liner effect on your FI journey. Spending slightly less also means saving slightly more and both of those quantities are found in the formula for Stash Rate , leading to a multiplied effect. $$ Stash Rate = {Annual\ Savings \over Annual\ Expenses} $$ As we saw in the Stash Rate article, decreasing expenses leads to an exponentially increasing rate of wealth building. On the other side of financial independence, the level of spending in your drawdown phase directly determines your Target FI Number. $$ Target\ FI\ Numbe

Calculating your Portfolio Target with the 4% Rule

You are saving money and learning about the difference between assets and liabilities . As you invest your savings into assets, the real magic begins. Your investments start to grow, whether it be from appreciation, cash flow, dividends, or all of the above. Then the growth starts to growth. Then the growth on the growth on the growth starts to grow. It’s a runaway chain reaction, but it does take time. This is the magic of compounding returns and leads to exponential growth of your wealth, the namesake of this blog. However, the opposite effect is just as powerful. Anyone who has ever been in credit card debt with interest rates over 20%, or even worse situations with payday or title loans, understands how hard you have to swim against the current just to stay still. The interest keeps racking up and many people never escape the debt. If this describes your situation, check out Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover for steps to dig yourself out of debt before you start b

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