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Love, F.I.R.E, and Taxation Series 6 – Designing a Life That Can Change (Without Breaking the Plan)

Most financial plans fail for one simple reason: They assume life will cooperate. Stable income. Stable household. Stable health. Stable emotions. Stable priorities. That assumption is not wisdom. It’s fantasy. Real life does not unfold in straight lines. It moves in cycles, disruptions, seasons, and reinventions. People fall in love,...

Love, F.I.R.E, and Taxation Series 4 – Love, Timing, and Tax Windows – When Life Events Change Everything

Most financial advice assumes life is stable. Stable income. Stable household. Stable filing status. Stable priorities. That assumption is wrong. Real life moves in seasons, transitions, and interruptions. People fall in love, fall apart, rebuild, change careers, take breaks, become parents, lose parents, and start over. And while life is fluid, the tax...

Love, F.I.R.E. and Taxation Series 2 – Single Isn’t Broken – How to Build Tax-Free Wealth Without a Household Advantage

Being single is not a financial flaw. That sentence alone needs to be said slowly, because so much of the frustration people feel around money doesn’t come from bad decisions; it comes from silently absorbing the idea that something is wrong with them for not fitting the default household model the system...

How I Used Mortgage Recasting to Systematically Lower Fixed Costs and Expand Pre-Tax Capacity

My Recent Intentional Mortgage Recast The goal wasn’t to make more money. The goal was to structure my life so it didn’t require money to hit my pocket — so more can stay pre-tax and compounding. Fit & Whealthy principle: If your lifestyle requires income to hit checking, taxes get...

Love F.I.R.E. and Taxation Series 1: Why the Tax Code Cares About Your Relationship Status

Introduction Most people think the tax code is about money. It isn’t. Money is simply the unit of measurement. It is the ruler the system uses to quantify behavior, reward certain structures, and apply friction to others. The tax code itself is not primarily financial—it is social and structural. It encodes...

The Fit & Whealthy Pre-Tax (Staging) + Invested Tax Savings (Taxable Buddy) System with calculator

The Full Fit & Whealthy System Pre-Tax (Staging) + Invested Tax Savings (Taxable Buddy) + Harvesting + Conversion Harvesting + Margin Optionality Most people talk about pre-tax vs Roth like it’s a permanent fork in the road. Pick one. Commit forever. Hope your assumptions about income, life, markets, and tax...

Convert. Don’t Sell. Use the Dip

FIT & WHEALTHY Convert. Don’t Sell. Use the Dip. A practical post on using market drawdowns to make strategic Roth conversions, while still preserving the option to direct-contribute to a Roth IRA when you’re near the income limits. Market resilience MAGI mechanics In-plan & IRA conversions Pre-tax saturation gauge The...

The Pre-Tax 401(k) as a “Staging Area” → Roth as the Destination

The Pre-Tax 401(k) as a “Staging Area” → Roth as the Destination (with Calculators) Educational model (not tax/legal advice). Roth IRA eligibility uses IRS Pub 590-A Worksheet 2-1 mechanics (conversion income is subtracted back out when computing “MAGI for Roth IRA purposes”). This widget does not assume in-plan Roth 401(k)...

Trump Accounts: Why This Could Be One of the Greatest Wealth-Building Tools for Kids

Politics Aside. Let’s talk about Trump Accounts for a second—because if these accounts roll out the way they’re being discussed, they could quietly become one of the most powerful long-term wealth-building tools we’ve ever seen for children. Not flashy. Not speculative. Just math, time, and discipline. And those three things have always...

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