https://chubbyfi.com/ FIRE blog for high-earning tech professionals. Real numbers and strategies from $450K salary to $5M+ net worth. https://chubbyfi.com/blog/july-2026-net-worth-update-i-paid-off-the-car-loan-i-took-on-six-weeks-ago/ https://chubbyfi.com/blog/july-2026-net-worth-update-i-paid-off-the-car-loan-i-took-on-six-weeks-ago/ Sun, 02 Aug 2026 04:52:56 GMT Last month I bolted a $99K car loan onto a clean balance sheet, on purpose. I said I'd probably kill it early and go back to being boring. Turns out "probably" meant "one paycheck cycle later." The $99K auto loan is gone. Net worth is back up to $2.26M. And the balance sheet looks like it did… https://chubbyfi.com/blog/june-2026-net-worth-update-i-broke-my-own-rule-and-bought-a-138k-sports-car/ https://chubbyfi.com/blog/june-2026-net-worth-update-i-broke-my-own-rule-and-bought-a-138k-sports-car/ Wed, 01 Jul 2026 17:05:54 GMT Last month I bragged about a clean balance sheet. One number, one loan, the mortgage — fixed. This month I bolted a $99K car loan onto it. On purpose. I bought a used sports car. All-in, $138K. My net worth went down for the first time since I started writing these, to $2.24M. And I did it after… https://chubbyfi.com/blog/may-2026-net-worth-update-2-27m-m1-cleared-cash-deployed/ https://chubbyfi.com/blog/may-2026-net-worth-update-2-27m-m1-cleared-cash-deployed/ Sat, 30 May 2026 03:08:46 GMT Last month I called the $235K money market position "probably the most expensive non-decision I'm making." May is where I stopped making that argument. M1 margin loan: cleared to $0. About $71K moved out of SNSXX. Allocation targets set. Net worth: $2.27M, up $30K from April. TL;DR: * Total Net… https://chubbyfi.com/blog/april-2026-net-worth-update-2-24m-up-43k-despite-11k-month/ https://chubbyfi.com/blog/april-2026-net-worth-update-2-24m-up-43k-despite-11k-month/ Mon, 11 May 2026 23:53:46 GMT YNAB says I spent ~$11.7K in April. ProjectionLab says my net worth went up $43K. Both are right. That gap is what I want to walk through. Most of the ~$11.7K is travel I'd already accounted for at the year level — the rest of the budget held at its usual shape. Net worth: $2.24M. Up $43K from… https://chubbyfi.com/blog/march-2026-net-worth-update-2-2m-a-10k-tax-refund-and-small-business-arbitrage/ https://chubbyfi.com/blog/march-2026-net-worth-update-2-2m-a-10k-tax-refund-and-small-business-arbitrage/ Sat, 18 Apr 2026 05:59:29 GMT Filed my 2025 taxes a couple weeks ago. Got about $10K back in federal refund. Not because I got unlucky with withholding. Because owning a small business lets me legally deduct real costs — initial investment, operating expenses — against my W-2 income. That's the tax arbitrage I didn't know… https://chubbyfi.com/blog/february-2026-net-worth-update-54k-growth-and-a-bonus-well-spent/ https://chubbyfi.com/blog/february-2026-net-worth-update-54k-growth-and-a-bonus-well-spent/ Mon, 02 Mar 2026 03:21:04 GMT So my annual bonus hit. $54k gross. Now — I could've let that sit in checking and feel like a baller for a couple weeks. But nah. $4,884 went straight into the 401k, another $6,511 into my Mega Backdoor Roth, and honestly, taxes ate most of the rest. Between that bonus and the regular paycheck… https://chubbyfi.com/blog/january-2026-net-worth-update-i-spent-more-than-i-made-on-purpose/ https://chubbyfi.com/blog/january-2026-net-worth-update-i-spent-more-than-i-made-on-purpose/ Mon, 23 Feb 2026 04:16:17 GMT This month, I technically spent more than I made. My checking account saw $3,802 in deposits. My spending was $6,007. In a normal world, that's a problem. In my world, that's the plan. January was the start of my aggressive front-loading strategy for 2026. I diverted nearly every available dollar… https://chubbyfi.com/blog/my-2026-one-page-financial-plan/ https://chubbyfi.com/blog/my-2026-one-page-financial-plan/ Sat, 03 Jan 2026 18:27:10 GMT Everyone warns you that the first million is the hardest. They’re right about the math, but they’re wrong about the psychology. The hardest part isn’t the beginning. It’s the middle. When you have $100k, you’re hungry. You track every latte, you maximize every dollar, and you are singularly focused… https://chubbyfi.com/blog/november-2025-net-worth-update-the-boring-middle-is-where-the-magic-happens/ https://chubbyfi.com/blog/november-2025-net-worth-update-the-boring-middle-is-where-the-magic-happens/ Fri, 02 Jan 2026 17:44:28 GMT November saw no major changes. My primary goal was simply to keep expenses under control while continuing to max out my retirement and benefit accounts. It was a month of execution—the "boring middle" of the journey to Financial Independence where the real work gets done. Quick TL;DR: * Total Net… https://chubbyfi.com/blog/healthcare-in-early-retirement-how-to-plan-when-youre-too-young-for-medicare/ https://chubbyfi.com/blog/healthcare-in-early-retirement-how-to-plan-when-youre-too-young-for-medicare/ Tue, 25 Nov 2025 02:12:17 GMT Most people stay in their jobs for "One More Year" solely because of health insurance. It's a constraint that feels impossible to unlock. The fear is rational. The "sticker shock" number for a family of four is high: roughly $2,500 a month, or $30,000 a year. That’s a significant expense every… https://chubbyfi.com/blog/max-contribution-to-401k-and-mega-backdoor-roth-2026/ https://chubbyfi.com/blog/max-contribution-to-401k-and-mega-backdoor-roth-2026/ Mon, 17 Nov 2025 23:36:13 GMT My coworkers are constantly chasing the latest spending trend. Tesla accessories, Peloton subscriptions, every streaming app imaginable—you name it. I just sit there, quiet. They know I'm the "cautious with money" guy. Last week someone actually said: "Dude, you can afford a $10 TIDAL subscription… https://chubbyfi.com/blog/modeling-my-path-to-5m-a-projection-lab-deep-dive/ https://chubbyfi.com/blog/modeling-my-path-to-5m-a-projection-lab-deep-dive/ Mon, 10 Nov 2025 19:32:46 GMT For the longest time, I had an abstract number in my head: $2 million. That was it. The magic figure that meant I could retire. But reality, as it turns out, is a little more complicated. Without a proper, hard look at the numbers, "your number" is just a guess. And guessing with your future is a… https://chubbyfi.com/blog/october-2025-net-worth-update-crossing-the-2m-threshold/ https://chubbyfi.com/blog/october-2025-net-worth-update-crossing-the-2m-threshold/ Mon, 03 Nov 2025 22:12:00 GMT A brief personal update about the month. October was a month of milestones and contradictions. For the first time, my net worth crossed the $2,000,000 mark—a goal that felt monumental. Yet, by the end of the month, the market's fluctuations brought me just below it. It was a powerful reminder that… https://chubbyfi.com/blog/coming-soon/ https://chubbyfi.com/blog/coming-soon/ Sun, 02 Nov 2025 15:00:00 GMT My name is Steven. Two years ago, I hit a net worth of $1 million. Last month, I crossed $2 million. And I still feel trapped. On paper, I’ve made it. I’m in my late 30s, holding a managerial role in the tech industry on the West Coast, with a great income and a net worth that puts me in a tiny…