5 Best FIRE Blogs to Follow
Ever since I became interested in the FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) movement years ago, I have read dozens of blogs that cover various aspects of this topic. There is not enough time in the day for me to follow all (or even most) of them.
The blogs I do follow offer a range of helpful advice from how to save more money to ways to earn more cash. Learning about how different people plan to reach financial independence is always educational and inspirational.
Below are my top 5 favorite FIRE websites:
Making Sense of Cents
Making Sense of Cents was started by Michelle Schroeder-Gardner in 2011. She has a MBA and worked as a financial analyst after finishing school. She quit her job 2 years after launching the blog to focus full time on growing the site.
Schroeder-Gardner graduated school with $38,000 in student loans and was able to pay that off in seven months. Schroeder-Gardner and her husband have been traveling around in a RV for the past few years and they will be on a sailboat for the next chapter of their adventure!
I enjoy Making Sense of Cents because it offers money making tips and practical ways to save money. Schroeder-Gardner is a prolific blogger, and is probably one of the most successful personal finance bloggers out there.
You can check out her monthly income report on her blog. She makes more than $1 million a year from her website through a combination of online course and affiliate marketing. I find her genuine, adventurous, and full of useful tips.
Mr. Money Mustache
Mr. Money Mustache was started by Peter Adeney. He retired at age 31 after working for about 10 years as a software engineer. He started the blog in 2011, almost 6 years after he retired.
Originally from Canada, he now lives in Colorado. He achieved early retirement through living a thrifty lifestyle and investing in boring conservative Vanguard index funds and a rental house or two.
Adeney lives a frugal lifestyle; spending about $25,000 a year. As one of the most recognizable faces of the FIRE movement, he has a great following. His admirers even refer to themselves as Mustachians.
I like Adeney’s candid style of writing, making his blog frank and easy to read. I enjoy his perspective on a variety of topics; including his view on biking whenever possible instead of driving, cooking your own food at home, and embracing nature at every opportunity.
Early Retirement Now
Early Retirement Now is started by the statuesque Karsten. Originally from Germany, he moved to the U.S. and received a Ph.D. in economics at the University of Minnesota.
Karsten previously worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and also in the research department of a large investment manager. He does not blog as often as some of the other folks, but his blogs are very detailed oriented and full of quantitative and statistical information.
Although I suspect that some of his trading strategies are too complicated for many investors, his blog still offers invaluable information. Notably, the site has many tools to help you determine what a “Safe Withdrawal Rate” is for you and he also writes extensively on this topic.
The Mad Fientist
The Mad Fientist is started by Brandon. Originally from Pennsylvania, he now lives in Glasgow, Scotland. He was a software developer who achieved financial independence at 34 years old and walked away from his full time job.
My favorite part of his web site is his financial independence podcast. He has posted interviews with all sorts of folks from the FIRE community.
I totally agree with him that one of the best ways to learn about something is to understand the techniques and strategies from others who have already achieved what you are trying to accomplish. It’s a great way to directly hear their inspirational stories, and hopefully, that will give you some ideas of your own as to how you can reach financial independence.
Financial Samurai
Last blog on my list is Financial Samurai, which started back in 2009. It was created by Sam Dogen, who worked in the finance industry for 13 years and retired 3 years after starting the site.
Between real estate, stocks, bonds and other activities, Dogen had been able to build a very impressive passive income stream of $200,000 a year.
The main focus of the blog is about helping people build wealth through smart investments. Given Dogen’s MBA background and work experience in the financial services industry, he provides valuable and insightful opinion on a wide range of investment opportunities.
As a prolific blogger, Dogen posts something new every week on the site. The blog posts are lengthy but easy to read and very informative. I appreciate that there are plenty of charts and tables to demonstrate or support his perspective. I enjoy his views on the stock market, real estate and the strategies of planning for early retirement.
The ones mentioned above are only a few out of many that can be found. These bloggers, myself included, all hope that our words can be inspirational and push readers into action. Regardless of what type of information you’re looking for, there is a diverse group of FIRE bloggers online that can and will help you achieve your financial goals.