Well, it is New Year's Eve so I thought I would post a little FI recap for my 2025. I turned 49 this year and my wife turned 54.
First and foremost, 2025 is the year I woke up. I received a large check early in the year and the idea of depositing that into our traditional savings account, with our then 3-month emergency fund, and letting it sit there and do nothing was a bridge too far for me. I was long overdue to do something better with that money (and also get more informed and intentional about our retirement savings).
The truth is that I had been afraid. I was afraid of the responsibility of having to make the financial decisions that would affect our retirement. It felt too big and too heavy and too important to be entrusted to me. I am good at some things, but not this. At the same time, I was - maybe still am - too fearful of trusting someone else and didn't really think I could afford to pay someone to do it or afford to lose money to a mistake with the wrong somone.
So I did what I normally do when I want to learn something new. I started researching. I upped my BS-detector and looked for trusted, sane people who don't claim to have all the answers but offer knowledgeable advice about things to consider. I found Rob Berger on YouTube which led to the Catching up to FI and Choose FI podcasts and The Simple Path to Wealth. I discovered FIRE.
I opened Roth IRAs for my wife and myself with 2024 and 2025 contributions.
I moved the rest of the emergency fund to a Fidelity Cash Management account and started earning interest with SPAXX.
I invested my and my employers contributions that had been sitting for a few years in VTI and VXUS.
I created our Net Worth spreadsheet and started on a document for my wife, and eventually our son, that will explain where stuff is and why.
It's been about 10 months since this all started. I still have a lot to learn and I'm still a little afraid to be the one responsible for all this, a little afraid that I will learn too late that I have missed something or done something horribly wrong.
But at least I'm awake now, and I won't go back to sleep.
