The Blog
Real strategies, real numbers, and real opinions on retiring early — without the fluff
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Tax Gain Harvesting in Early Retirement. Wait Until You Quit.
Tax gain harvesting in early retirement is free after you quit and costs 15% before. The 2026 math, and the one case that flips it.
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The Early Retirement Withdrawal Plan, In Four Decisions
Four decisions turn a portfolio into 50 years of income. Size, rate, defense, order. Here is the early retirement withdrawal plan in the order that works.
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How Much of Your Taxable Account Is Unrealized Gains?
Your unrealized capital gains percentage sets your early retirement tax bill. Your broker shows the wrong denominator. Here is the number that matters.
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Mega Backdoor Roth vs Taxable Brokerage. Which One Gets Your Next Dollar?
I ranked these two wrong for years. Here’s the actual dollar cost of the flexibility premium, and why the split beats picking a winner.
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Five More Years Would Make Me Richer. I’m Still Leaving at 40.
Working five more years before early retirement wins on every financial measure. Here is what it actually pays, why two thirds of it has nothing to do with your salary, and how to price the years instead of arguing about them.
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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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Chubby FIRE vs Fat FIRE vs Lean FIRE. What Each Means, and Why the Gap 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…