I’m Brad.
I write about the decisions and tradeoffs behind financial independence. I call it the FI equation.
What The FI Equation Is
Financial independence (FI) is often framed as something you reach.
Save enough. Hit the number. You’re done.
I view it through a different lens.
Financial independence isn’t something you arrive at. It’s something you’re constantly solving.
A number won’t tell you what you want in life. What you’re giving up. If it’s worth it.
Those answers come from the decisions you make and the tradeoffs behind them.
The FI equation is a way of seeing those decisions more clearly.
What You’ll Find Here
This isn’t about following a rigid path or optimizing a single number.
It’s about looking at financial independence through the lens of decisions.
The goal isn’t to get to the right answer. It’s to see the decisions and tradeoffs more clearly so you can think through what matters most and make a decision that fits.
That’s what I’ll explore here. How changing the inputs changes the outcome, and how to build the FI equation that fits your life.
Why This Exists
There’s no single “right” way to reach financial independence.
But there is a more useful way to think about it.
Most advice focuses on optimizing one variable—usually saving more.
That works, but it’s incomplete. It doesn’t capture everything that shapes the outcome.
Financial independence isn’t just a financial decision. It’s a series of tradeoffs about how you want to live.
Who This Is For
This is for people who:
want to think more intentionally about financial decisions and the tradeoffs behind them
are doing well in their careers but aren’t fully confident in the financial decisions they’re making or where those decisions lead
have started planning for financial independence and want more clarity on how it all fits together, not just more tactics
About Me
I’m an accountant by training, which means I’ve spent a lot of time comfortable with numbers. What took me longer to figure out was why the numbers weren’t giving me the answers I expected.
For a long time I followed the script. Save consistently, invest for the future, keep the trajectory moving in the right direction. And it worked, in the narrow sense. The savings grew. The plan looked reasonable on paper. But somewhere along the way I realized I was optimizing without really knowing what I was optimizing for.
The questions that followed weren’t about the math. They were about what I actually wanted, what I was willing to give up to get there, and whether the decisions I was making were moving me toward it or just keeping me busy.
That's what this is. I write about those questions because I think a lot of people are making financial decisions every day without fully seeing what those decisions are doing. They're doing the hard part well. The decisions behind the number just don't get talked about much.
I live in the DC area with my wife, where I think about retirement more than most people probably should. This is where I write about it.
Have a question or something you’d rather not share publicly? Reach me at brad@thefiequation.com.
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Disclaimer
This content is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, tax, or legal advice.
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