Finance Friday: Chasing FIRE by 35 WHILE Supporting Extra Family Members
02/21/25 • 67 min
1 Listener
Is something stopping your FIRE? Today’s guest wants to retire early at 35, but with a shaky budget, extra expenses, and a problematic rental property, her path to early retirement isn’t clear. In today’s episode, we’ll break down her finances and help her get back on track!
Welcome back to the BiggerPockets Money podcast! Sarah earns a great salary and diligently saves for retirement each month. You’d think she’s on pace to leave her W2 job in a few years, but there’s one problem—she has more expenses than the average person. Financially responsible for two extra family members, Sarah pays for their mortgage, food, and lifestyle, all while covering her own expenses!
Does Sarah’s financial situation need a major shake-up? Tune in as Scott and Mindy debate whether it’s time for Sarah to part with a property that’s bleeding money, strategize about when to put it on the market, and discuss what to do with the money from the sale. We’ll also touch on the tough conversations Sarah needs to have with family members if she wants to achieve her retirement goal!
In This Episode We Cover
The three things Sarah must do to achieve her goal of FIRE by 35
How to reach your financial goals despite extra expenses
What to do with a rental property that has negative cash flow
The BEST time to put an investment property on the market
How to budget for future children (family planning 101!)
And So Much More!
Links from the Show
Listen to All Your Favorite BiggerPockets Podcasts in One Place
Email Mindy: [email protected]
Email Scott: [email protected]
BiggerPockets Money Facebook Group
Follow BiggerPockets Money on Instagram
“Like” BiggerPockets Money on Facebook
BiggerPockets Money YouTube Channel
Find Investor-friendly Tax and Financial Experts
Maximize Your Real Estate Investing with a Self-Directed IRA from Equity Trust
Achieve FIRE with Scott’s Book, “Set for Life”
Sign Up for the BiggerPockets Money Newsletter
Is something stopping your FIRE? Today’s guest wants to retire early at 35, but with a shaky budget, extra expenses, and a problematic rental property, her path to early retirement isn’t clear. In today’s episode, we’ll break down her finances and help her get back on track!
Welcome back to the BiggerPockets Money podcast! Sarah earns a great salary and diligently saves for retirement each month. You’d think she’s on pace to leave her W2 job in a few years, but there’s one problem—she has more expenses than the average person. Financially responsible for two extra family members, Sarah pays for their mortgage, food, and lifestyle, all while covering her own expenses!
Does Sarah’s financial situation need a major shake-up? Tune in as Scott and Mindy debate whether it’s time for Sarah to part with a property that’s bleeding money, strategize about when to put it on the market, and discuss what to do with the money from the sale. We’ll also touch on the tough conversations Sarah needs to have with family members if she wants to achieve her retirement goal!
In This Episode We Cover
The three things Sarah must do to achieve her goal of FIRE by 35
How to reach your financial goals despite extra expenses
What to do with a rental property that has negative cash flow
The BEST time to put an investment property on the market
How to budget for future children (family planning 101!)
And So Much More!
Links from the Show
Listen to All Your Favorite BiggerPockets Podcasts in One Place
Email Mindy: [email protected]
Email Scott: [email protected]
BiggerPockets Money Facebook Group
Follow BiggerPockets Money on Instagram
“Like” BiggerPockets Money on Facebook
BiggerPockets Money YouTube Channel
Find Investor-friendly Tax and Financial Experts
Maximize Your Real Estate Investing with a Self-Directed IRA from Equity Trust
Achieve FIRE with Scott’s Book, “Set for Life”
Sign Up for the BiggerPockets Money Newsletter
Previous Episode
CPA Shares Tax Tips to Lower Your 2024 (Yes, 2024) Taxes
2024 may be long gone, but it’s NOT too late to lower your taxes for the previous year. If you have real estate or retirement accounts, you already hold the key to minimizing your taxable income and owing less to Uncle Sam. But how do you do it? We’re sharing 2024 and 2025 top tax reduction strategies in today’s show with expert CPA and real estate investor Amanda Han!
Do you know about the real estate tax “loophole” that helps everyday investors cut their taxable income by tens of thousands? Got an employer-contributed retirement plan? You could STILL use it to lower your 2024 taxes! And why should you NOT take the standard deduction if you’ve bought a home in the past few years? We’re answering all of these questions so you can keep more of your hard-earned money.
Finally, what audit red flags is Amanda seeing with her clients? There’s one easily avoidable audit trap that MANY Americans are falling into that could take just minutes to circumvent. Should we even be talking about income taxes if President Trump plans to eliminate them? Amanda, Mindy, and Scott are sharing their opinions on whether this will reach fruition.
In This Episode We Cover
How to save on your 2024 tax bill and moves to make before Tax Day 2025
The easily avoidable audit red flag that Amanda has seen spike lately
The real estate tax deduction that could save those earning $150K or less tens of thousands
Most commonly missed tax write-offs that many Americans can take but forget about
Will President Trump abolish income taxes during his second term?
Whether to pay your estimated taxes OR invest instead and take the interest hit
And So Much More!
Links from the Show
Listen to All Your Favorite BiggerPockets Podcasts in One Place
Email Mindy: [email protected]
Email Scott: [email protected]
BiggerPockets Money Facebook Group
Follow BiggerPockets Money on Instagram
“Like” BiggerPockets Money on Facebook
BiggerPockets Money YouTube Channel
Find Investor-friendly Tax and Financial Experts
Buy Amanda’s Book, “The Book on Tax Strategies for the Savvy Real Estate Investor”
Find Investor-Friendly Lenders
(00:00) Intro
(00:56) You Can STILL Save on 2024 Taxes
(05:54) Lowering Your Taxable Income
(10:27) You Can STILL Contribute for 2024!
(14:22) Estimating Your Taxes
(16:22) Itemizing vs. Standard Deduction
(18:21) Commonly Overlooked Write-offs
(21:41) Audit Red Flags!
(23:06) Will ...
Next Episode
Teacher Retires Early at 45 Thanks to Strategic Living (FIRE in Paradise!)
Teachers aren’t known for their high salaries, so how did this one reach early retirement and FIRE at just 45 years old? Through “aggressive” saving and smart cost-of-living choices, Amy Minkley was able to quit her demanding international teaching job only three years after finding out about the FIRE movement. Now, she spends her days living in paradise and hosting “FI Freedom Retreats” once or twice a year for like-minded FIRE-chasers.
To reach FIRE in your 40s, you must make some strategic moves like Amy. Thankfully, you don’t need to make six figures to retire early in 2025. Throughout Amy’s career, she never entered the “high income” threshold but could still save aggressively, thanks to the perks of teaching at international schools. We’re talking free rent, subsidized travel, and plenty of paid vacation.
But it wasn’t always the dream life that it sounds like. Amy had constant stress and was routinely feeling burned out, forcing her to take multiple sabbaticals, change where she lived, and deal with some of the money trauma that had plagued her past. Now, she’s FIRE, thriving, and living entirely on her terms. You can (and should) do it, too!
In This Episode We Cover
How to reach FIRE in your 40s even if you feel like it’s too “late” for you
Why teachers should look into teaching abroad to save a significant portion of their income
Investing from abroad and what to do when you have little-to-no social security contributions
How much cash you should keep on hand when you’re ready to retire early
Living off the three percent rule (instead of the traditional four percent rule) by moving to low-cost-of-living areas
Why you must take a sabbatical at least once in your working career
And So Much More!
Links from the Show
Listen to All Your Favorite BiggerPockets Podcasts in One Place
Email Mindy: [email protected]
Email Scott: [email protected]
BiggerPockets Money Facebook Group
Follow BiggerPockets Money on Instagram
“Like” BiggerPockets Money on Facebook
BiggerPockets Money YouTube Channel
Save $100 on Real Estate’s Biggest Event of the Year, BPCon2025
Reach FIRE Faster with "Set for Life"
Sign Up for the BiggerPockets Money Newsletter
Find an Investor-Friendly Agent in Your Area
From Making $40K/Year as a Teacher to Reaching FI in 4 Years by Doing THIS
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/biggerpockets-money-podcast-39100/finance-friday-chasing-fire-by-35-while-supporting-extra-family-member-85470750"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to finance friday: chasing fire by 35 while supporting extra family members on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy