Rollingwithfire
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The Housing Hack Nobody Talks About: Why We Are Considering an RV
Housing is the budget item that can wreck your entire FIRE timeline, and most advice about fixing it is either useless or out of reach for a normal family. Move to a cheaper city? Sure, if your job is fully remote and your kids don’t have roots anywhere. House hack with a rental unit? Great
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The Two-Phase FIRE Strategy: Why Knowing Your Phase Changes Everything
Want more real-talk FIRE strategies for families? Get the Family FIRE Letter — monthly real numbers from our family to yours. Join the Family FIRE Letter The Two-Phase FIRE Strategy: Why Knowing Your Phase Changes the Game Here is the part people do not say clearly enough when they talk about FIRE: the strategy changes.
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Why We Love It When the Market Drops (And What We Actually Do)
The market dropped hard. We’re talking about a real correction, the kind that sends headlines into overdrive and has people in financial forums panic-posting at midnight. Meanwhile, I’m sitting in our living room with Baby Spark asleep on my chest and Lil Spark’s toys scattered across every inch of the floor, and I’m thinking: good.
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The $242,000 Problem Nobody in FIRE Talks About
$242,000. Per person. That’s the Genworth 2023 Cost of Care Survey estimate for average lifetime long-term care expenses in today’s dollars. I’ve seen this number appear in FIRE forums attached to some version of “nobody talks about this,” as if early retirees are sleepwalking toward a cliff they haven’t noticed. We’ve noticed. When you’re planning
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Our Real FIRE Number With Two Kids Under 3
We did the math on what financial independence actually costs for a real family of four. Our target is $1.5 million. Here’s how we got there and why the number keeps shifting.
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Teaching Kids About Money Before Age 3: What Actually Works
States are now mandating personal finance in high schools, but why wait until 18? Here’s how FIRE-minded parents can start building money awareness in toddlers and babies, without flashcard drills or elaborate systems.
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Full-Time RV Living With a Family: Real Costs and Real Tradeoffs
RV living as housing is trending, but the Instagram version leaves out a lot. Here’s an honest breakdown of what full-time Class A RV life actually costs for a family with young kids.
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The Changing US Retirement Age: A FIRE Family Perspective
The traditional retirement age is shifting. Older workers are staying longer, younger people are questioning the whole system. Where does a family like ours fit? We’re not retiring at 30, but we’re not waiting until 67 either.
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The Big Stay: Why a Frozen Job Market Changes FIRE Math for Families
The labor market has shifted into something called the Big Stay — workers aren’t quitting, aren’t moving, aren’t job-hopping. For families chasing FIRE, this quietly breaks some of the math we’ve been counting on.
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Ollie and Brock: A Story About Saving, Spending, and Real Money Lessons
We wrote Ollie and Brock for our kids — a rhyming picture book about two friends who handle the same resources very differently. One saves seeds, one eats apples. It’s a story about money without ever mentioning money.