The Blog
Real strategies, real numbers, and real opinions on retiring early — without the fluff
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How Much Pretax Is Too Much? When to Stop Maxing Your 401(k).
How much pretax is too much for early retirement? Your coast point says when you have enough. The Conversion Ceiling says when you have too much.
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Should You Spend Down Your Principal in Retirement? Set a Ceiling, Not Just a Floor
Refusing to touch your principal costs 8.7% of your retirement number. A real late-life safety floor costs 2%. Build the floor, set a ceiling, spend the middle.
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Lean FIRE vs Chubby FIRE vs Fat FIRE: The Real Difference Is 20 Years
Three page-one results define fat FIRE at $200,000, $150,000, and $75,000 a year. The labels are guesses. The real difference between lean, chubby, and fat FIRE is 20.5 years of work.
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Which States Tax a Roth Conversion Ladder Before 59½
By Antonio Hill I’ve lived in four states and published a strategy for paying zero federal income tax. Until last week I had never once checked what my own state would take from that same year. The answer was $4,730. Here’s the short version. Eight states tax a Roth conversion at zero because they have…
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How Much Should You Have in Bonds When You Retire at 40? Not 40%
By Antonio Hill Somewhere between 20 and 25 percent. Of one account. Not of your whole portfolio. That’s the answer, and the reason it sounds strange is that every allocation chart you have ever seen got drawn for somebody who stops working at 65 and needs the money to last 30 years. You want to…
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The HSA Receipt Reimbursement Strategy That Pays You Years Later
By Antonio Hill Pay your medical bills out of pocket, keep the receipts, and you can reimburse yourself tax free at 45 for a dental bill you paid at 33. The money sits in your HSA compounding the entire time. No waiting period. No age gate. No paperwork beyond your own folders. Oh yeah, did…
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How Big Should a Taxable Brokerage Bridge Account Be In Early Retirement?
By Antonio Hill There isn’t one number. For the same couple, retiring at the same age, spending the same money, I can defend a taxable brokerage bridge of $920,000 or $1.54 million. Both are correct. They’re just answers to different questions. So what actually decides it? Not your age. Not the five year conversion ladder…
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Which Accounts to Withdraw From First in Early Retirement
By Antonio Hill Every retirement article hands you the same withdrawal order. Spend your taxable brokerage first, then your traditional 401(k) and IRA. Save your Roth for last. It isn’t wrong, exactly. It’s just built for a 65 year old with Social Security coming in and a 30 year retirement to fund. You’re 40. You’ve…
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Roth Conversion Ladder vs 72(t). At 40, It Is Not Close.
By Antonio Hill You better have a good plan. That is the first thing I think when somebody tells me they are looking at a 72(t). Not “great idea.” Not “here is how.” Just, I hope you have thought this all the way through, because you are about to make a promise to the IRS…
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The Guardrails Withdrawal Strategy Explained Simply, And Why It Retires You Years Sooner.
By Antonio Hill Same portfolio. Same risk. Three fewer years sitting at a desk you’re already tired of. That’s the actual pitch for the guardrails withdrawal strategy in my opinion, but almost no one frames it that way. Here it is simply. You pick a starting withdrawal rate. You draw one line 20% above it…