About this site

The FIRE Letter follows my journey to achieve Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE). My FIRE journey utilizes low stress, high return investing models that provide superb "beat the market" returns with lower stress and lower drawdowns than the overall market.

I am investing my own money in two of my Roth IRAs and will post all my trades and returns for everyone to see. Here is more info about me, the author.

The FIRE Letter will follow my journey to success in achieving financial independence so that I can retire early if I want, or have greater flexibility to pursue any career or activity without concern for how much it pays. My newsletter’s goals are fourfold:

Inspire you to take personal responsibility for your financial future and manage your retirement accounts to help ensure a comfortable retirement.
Provide a portfolio strategy that will beat the S&P500 over time with similar volatility and lower drawdowns.
Provide tools to take the emotion out of investment trading decisions.
Provide a variety of personal finance and money saving tips to help free up money for contributions to retirement accounts.

I have developed my systems through many years of research and actual trading with some of my accounts. I decided chronicle my investing journey and to go live beginning in 2021 by offering this newsletter. I dedicated two of my IRA accounts to match the portfolio and trades outlined here. I will post all of my trades and account balances periodically for subscribers to see.

Backtesting Versus Live Results

Any portfolio and/or strategy results shown here prior to 2021 should be considered backtested results. It doesn’t matter if I followed it since I didn’t post trades real time on any public forum, blog, or newsletter such as The FIRE Letter. I will post all trades prior to the planned trade execution, make the posted trades in my IRA accounts, and post progress reports each month.

A Word About Pricing

I will offer substantial lifetime annual subscription discounts to early subscribers. Early subscribers will be able to follow along the journey of The FIRE Letter as we build a documented track record as well as credibility with the strategies outlined here.

Note: The hefty annual renewal discount will be limited to a maximum number of subscribers at each discount level. I will reduce the discount if the limit is reached before the end of the year.

Early annual renewal subscriber discounts will be available as follows:

01/01/2021 - 12/31/2021 - 59% lifetime discount - $99/year if paid annually
01/01/2022 - 12/31/2022 - 40% lifetime discount - $144/year if paid annually
01/01/2023 - 12/31/2023 - 33% lifetime discount - $159/year if paid annually
01/01/2024 - 12/31/2024 - 25% lifetime discount - $180/year if paid annually

Permanent annual pricing will be $215 at today's rates, which amounts to approximately 10% off for paying annually compared to paying monthly. Pricing for new subscribers may increase at any time.

I may offer some occasional and brief specials, for example referral or holiday discounts, in the future, however, these significant early subscribers discounts will not be offered again after the stated timeframes.

The Audience

The very nature of this newsletter’s title, The FIRE Letter, implies a target audience of young investors. However, anyone can benefit from The FIRE Letter strategies. I would love to influence a whole legion of young investors to follow good money management practices and to begin retirement planning early in life. How many of us middle aged or older investors wish we could go back to our youth (oh to be young and immortal again) and have a chance to invest earlier and more when we were young?

However, older investors are all welcome along with young FIRE driven investors! It’s never too late to get serious about building wealth!

What Can You Expect

You can expect an article with trade (or hold) recommendations at the end of every month (prior to or early on the first trading day of each new month) for our FIRE portfolio models. Any recommended trades should be submitted to be effective at the end of the first open market trading day of the new month. The recommended trade articles will be for paid subscribers only.

I will also follow two models based on available investment options in the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) and typical 401k plans.

My TSP model is specific to the TSP funds.

My primary 401k model is more generic based on the fact that most 401k plans offer a broad large cap fund (frequently an S&P 500 index fund) as well as a total or aggregate bond fund. I may also offer more specific 401k models based on specific employers' 401k plans. For example, I will follow a model based on the available investment options in my employer's 401k plan, using my own money that is currently in my 401k.

You can expect a brief monthly performance update with account balances and trades at the end of the month or during the first week of the month. These articles will be available to anyone.

You can expect a more detailed performance update during the first week of each quarter. These articles will be available to anyone.

You can expect a weekly recap of the overall market and my accounts, which will include a YTD performance update of my accounts and my stock market index benchmarks.

You can expect articles on a variety of money management and investing subjects on a weekly basis during the month. Subjects will vary, but expect some strategies to be explained, some budgeting ideas (admittedly tailored towards younger investors), and other stand alone articles as well as an occasional series such as brokerage reviews or best little known banks in some states, just for example. Some of these articles will only be available to paid subscribers with some articles available to everyone.

Skin in the Game

As mentioned above, I will invest my own money using The FIRE Letter strategies in two of my retirement accounts and post screenshots of the trades and account balances. One account is at Fidelity and the other is at Schwab.

I am partial to Fidelity as I think they have a tremendous offering of mutual funds, including sector funds, along with very good fund managers. I highly encourage any investor to research Fidelity and consider opening an account there. I have no affiliation with Fidelity other than being one of their clients.

The Fidelity portfolio will mostly trade with mutual funds. The Schwab portfolio will mostly trade with ETFs.

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Disclaimer

All strategies including recommended trades published here at The FIRE Letter are for educational and informational purposes only. They are not recommended for any specific individual, business, or other legal entity. I don’t know your age, income, personal or financial circumstances and cannot possibly suggest any financial decisions for you. Seek advice from your accountant, financial advisor, and attorney before making any investing decisions. Always conduct your own due diligence before making any investing decisions. Seriously!

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