Risk Based Guardrails for Drawdown | Ep 566

ChooseFI

Brad Barrett | Choose FI Media

Financialindependence, Investing, Firemovement, Passiveincome, Frugalliving, Personalfinancepodcast, Daveramsey, Careers, Business, Earlyretirement, Habits

4.8 • 5K Ratings

🗓️ 29 September 2025

⏱️ 87 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Brad welcomes Aubrey Williams, a financial advisor and member of the ChooseFI community. They discuss innovative strategies for financial independence (FI), focusing on flexible withdrawal rates, dynamic spending adjustments using historical analysis, and how adopting a more adaptable mindset can potentially lead to earlier FI.

Timestamps & Discussion Topics:

Intro to Financial Independence
- Overview of the FI journey and the community's philosophy.
Aubrey's Background
- Aubrey shares his journey from a corporate career to becoming a financial advisor, emphasizing experiences with the FI community.
Understanding Withdrawal Rates
- Discussion on the traditional 4% withdrawal rule and its limitations; the importance of knowing what your portfolio should allow you to spend.
The Forces Influencing Spending
- Recognizing the various external influences that shape financial decisions and how awareness can help mitigate these.
Community Engagement—CampFI and Meetups
- The value of attending CampFI and other local FI meetups for motivation and networking, enhancing personal journeys toward financial independence.
Risk-Based Guardrails Explained
- Introducing the concept of risk-based guardrails to adjust spending dynamically based on portfolio performance.

Key Quotes:

"Adjusting spending when your portfolio hits a certain number is key for financial confidence. Historical analysis provides the guidance you need." - Aubrey (00:20:18)
"Stay aware of the powerful forces that influence your financial decisions." - Aubrey (00:18:04)
"Reaching FI requires a mindset shift towards thoughtful spending." - Aubrey (00:38:26)

Actionable Takeaways:

Understand Your Spending: Regularly evaluate your monthly expenses to identify areas to cut back, as small reductions can significantly lower your FI target.
Utilize Historical Analysis Tools: Use resources like FIREcalc or Engaging Data to guide your financial decisions and explore various withdrawal strategies.
Engage with the Community: Attend local meetups or events like CampFI to build relationships with others on a similar path, gaining insights and encouragement.

Open Path Financial - Financial planning services by Aubrey.
CampFI - Community events for personal finance enthusiasts.
Projection Lab - Financial modeling tools.

Discussion Questions:

How can adjusting your spending habits affect your journey towards financial independence?
What are some effective strategies for managing your withdrawal rate in retirement?
How can community gatherings like CampFI enhance your understanding of financial independence?

Action Items:

Calculate your FI number based on your current expenses and savings rates.
Download resources provided at Open Path Financial to better understand risk-based guardrails.
Join a local FI meetup to connect with others and share insights about your financial journey.

This episode provides insightful perspectives on achieving financial independence through flexible spending and community engagement. Listeners are encouraged to adopt a more dynamic approach to their finances, making use of historical tools and community resources to enhance their journey toward FI.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Chuzafi. Today in the show, we have Aubrey Williams. He's a longtime member of the Chusify community, the Phi community, and he is now a financial advisor. And he created an incredible presentation that he gave at Camp Phi recently called Everyone Adjusts. And this was really looking at your withdrawal rate and using historical analysis and risk-based
0:23.5	guardrails, which he's going to talk about in great depth, to potentially reach FI sooner
0:28.0	and spend more once you get to FI. This episode was really transformative for me because
0:35.3	I've always thought about FI, even though I've done this for
0:38.3	nine years now on the podcast, and I understand deeply how a lot of this stuff works, I've really
0:43.8	thought of a withdrawal rate as one constant thing and my FI number as one constant thing.
0:49.9	And what Aubrey's helped me understand is I need to consider both the eventualities when my
0:55.7	net worth decreases once I'm withdrawing, but also increases and how that might impact how
1:01.3	much I can spend. Instead of thinking about it as one monolithic number that is set in stone forever,
1:07.0	we have to understand that everyone adjusts as the presentation is titled. And I think this is going to
1:14.0	really open your eyes to something that's going to help you, like we said, reach FI sooner and spend
1:20.9	more potentially. So I know you're going to get a lot out of that. But at the beginning of the
1:25.5	episode, we also talk a little more about the philosophy of FI. And this is what I appreciate about Aubrey so much is he writes me emails
1:32.2	multiple times a year in response to my newsletter and just writes the most incredibly insightful
1:37.4	things. And I wanted to give you a flavor of that as well. So not only is there the analytical,
1:43.5	the financial advisor, but there's more
1:45.8	of really the essence of phi. I think this is a phenomenal episode. I think you're going to get a lot out of it.
1:50.9	And with that, welcome to choose that pie.
2:00.6	Aubrey, welcome to choose a pie. I'm so happy to have you here. Thank you, Brad. Thank you. It's amazing to be here with you. The last time I saw you, we were having breakfast. Now we're doing this. It's like no time has passed at all. Yeah, seriously. Six months after economy. We're having breakfast there in Cincinnati. And yeah,
2:19.0	it's really cool. You are someone who reaches out to me quite often. And I'm so deeply appreciative of your
2:26.9	emails. I know you, you often respond to my five-weekly newsletter that I send out on Tuesdays
2:32.7	with just the most thoughtful, deeply introspective
	...

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