Every once in a while, I hit the jackpot. I've read a TON of money books -- far more than I've featured on this site -- and most are not worth much IMO. Many are just plain terrible, offering mediocre advice at best. Others suggest basic money tips we all learned in third grade. Personally, I think so many personal finance books are bad because the authors are just … [Read more...]
Retirement Interview 21
Here’s our latest interview with a retiree as we seek to learn from those who have actually taken the retirement plunge. If you’d like to be considered for an interview, drop me a note and we can chat about specifics. My questions are in bold italics and his responses follow in black. Let's get started... GENERAL OVERVIEW How old are you (and spouse) and how long … [Read more...]
How to Have a Purposeful Retirement, Part 2
Today we continue our coverage of the book Purposeful Retirement: How to Bring Happiness and Meaning to Your Retirement. Last time we covered the first half of the book and today we'll go over the second half. In this part, author Hyrum Smith covers a wide range of important retirement topics, so let's jump right in... Retiring with Your Spouse Retirement often means … [Read more...]
Keys to a Successful Retirement, Part 2
Today I'm sharing some more great points from the new book Keys to a Successful Retirement. The book is written by my friend, Fritz Gilbert (author of The Retirement Manifesto), and contains several key points that I haven't found in many other retirement books. This is probably because most authors write about retirement in theory. Fritz writes about it from practical … [Read more...]
Keys to a Successful Retirement, Part 1
I have read a ton of retirement books lately. It's funny -- I don't remember reading any before I retired. Haha! That's one of the points in today's book. But I'll get to that in a bit. For now let's review a few of the books I've read (and written about) in the past few months: You Can Retire Sooner Than You Think What Color Is Your Parachute for Retirement … [Read more...]
Retirement Update: 3.75 Years
Here we are again -- time for another retirement update where I share what's going on in my life! For the record here's the last one. You may want to read it as some of the items mentioned in this post will assume you know what's in the former post. The past three months have been full of excitement, so let's get to the details! Life My son was supposed to spend … [Read more...]
Life is Short. Retire Early.
Consider this a public service announcement about early retirement that You don't hear that often (if at all). Stumbling around on Twitter a couple months ago I ran into a series of tweets that shocked me. Apparently a fellow money blogger had retired and things had not gone so well -- not because of money problems, but because of health issues. I contacted the wife … [Read more...]
How to Have a Purposeful Retirement, Part 1
Many eons ago, I was a young business school graduate at my first "real" job. I was working for a company that was then (and is still) in the top 50 Fortune 500 companies. Needless to say, I was pretty green, a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed country boy from Iowa, now in the "big city" to make my dreams come true. Cue the theme song from the Mary Tyler Moore show! Up to … [Read more...]
The Top Five Money Secrets of the Happiest Retirees, Part 3
Today we're finishing up the five money secrets of the happiest retirees from the book You Can Retire Sooner Than You Think. If you need to catch up, the first two posts in this series were The Top Five Money Secrets of the Happiest Retirees, Part 1 and The Top Five Money Secrets of the Happiest Retirees, Part 2. Now we round out the five by covering secrets 4 and … [Read more...]
The Top Five Money Secrets of the Happiest Retirees, Part 2
Today it's time to review more secrets of the happiest retirees from the book You Can Retire Sooner Than You Think. We already listed the five secrets and detailed the first one in The Top Five Money Secrets of the Happiest Retirees, Part 1. Today we'll discuss secrets 2 and 3. How Much Do You Need to Retire? Secret 2 is the fundamental money question of … [Read more...]
