** TIP FOR THE READER **
To get the most value out of this page: It helps to know that I retired in June 2018. To see what I was thinking when I was “standing in your shoes”, adjust your timeline accordingly. For example,
- If you’re retiring in 3 years, scroll down to June 2015 and read When Can I Retire?
- If you’re retiring in 100 Days, roll your screen to Feb 2018 and you’ll find 100 Days To Freedom.
- If you’re retiring THIS MONTH, go to June 2018 and read What The First Week Of Retirement Is Really Like.
- If you retired 6 months ago, jump to Dec 2018 to find 6 Lessons From The First 6 Months Of Retirement.
I’ve added “Retirement Status” notes in the header to help you navigate your timeline. I hope you find the timeline helpful on your journey. Finally, the green font below represents guest appearances on other platforms.
Apr – Jun 2024
Million Dollar Stories: A podcast discussion on how to maximize your chances for a great retirement.
3 Tips To Improve Your Retirement: 3 things I learned on vacation that will improve your retirement.
We’re Going On Vacation! Our spring vacation plans – a Mid-Atlantic loop.
Jan – Mar 2024
The 5 Keys To Retirement Success: Webinar appearance with Dana Anspach of Sensible Money.
Building Blocks: They aren’t just toys for children. How to use them to build a great retirement.
Retirement Lessons From Lewis & Clark: In addition to charting a path to the Pacific, they taught us how to retire.
What A Difference A Day Makes: 4 Days that have made a difference, and the lessons I learned from them.
9 Retirement Surprises: Expect the unexpected based on a recent survey of retirement surprises.
The Most Overlooked Aspects of Retirement: A podcast interview on Retirement Revealed.
Your Retirement Planning Simplified: A podcast interview discussing what it takes to retire well.
The Four Phases of Retirement: Why do only 15% skip Phase II, and only 60% achieve Phase IV?
Choose FI: Are We There Yet? A podcast case study to determine when Teresa can retire.
The Retirement Years Podcast: Discussing how to achieve a great retirement.
The Wonder Years – The classic TV show has some great advice for retirement.
Inspired Money: Guest on a panel discussing retirement transitions – YouTube video.
5 Things You Need To Know Before You Retire: The things that matter as you plan for retirement.
Oct – Dec 2023
Awe-Inspired & Retired Podcast – A discussion on how to live a truly successful retirement.
Retirement Perspectives Vodcast – What I learned during my successful transition to retirement.
Ten Ways To Find Joy In Life: The answers from my Retirement Mastermind group had to be shared.
The 3-Legged Stool of Retirement: Money is only one of the legs, and it will be the last leg standing.
From Food Stamps To FIRE: A Case Study to determine when Theresa can retire.
Ready. Aim. Fire. How to make better decisions, faster. Like…when to retire.
The Golden Age of Roth Conversions: Why Roth conversions make sense in the current environment.
Jul – Sep 2023
Why I Sold Our Target Date Retirement Funds: TDF’s weren’t meeting our needs in retirement, so we sold them.
Retirement Coaches Association Presentation: A discussion of Blind Spots research at RCA Annual conference.
Marketwatch: What Will Retirement Really Be Like? Marketwatch feature on our recent Blindspot work.
The Keys to Achieving a Great Retirement: Podcast appearance on Wealth on any Income.
Outlive – The Science & Art of Longevity: A book review of Peter Attia’s latest work.
How To Think About Life in Retirement: A podcast appearance on The Street.
Michael Kitces Weekend Reading: A feature of my recent post on how to be happy in retirement.
Retirement Beyond The Numbers: A podcast appearance on The Best Interest.
On The Road Again: We’re leaving on our 2023 RV trip, here’s what we have planned.
10 Lessons From The Batter’s Box of Life: Lessons we can apply from the game of baseball.
Why 72% of Retirees Are Happy: 9 Traits that happy retirees exhibit more than depressed retirees.
Apr – Jun 2023 (5 Years After Retirement)
The Long View Podcast: Eric Weigel and I appear on the show to discuss retirement blind spots.
Why 28% of Retirees Are Depressed: The realities of depression in retirement, and what to do about it.
Hard & Soft Sides of Retirement: A podcast appearance on Catching Up To FI
Helping You Enjoy A Happy Retirement: A podcast appearance on Your Life, Your Wealth.
The Impact of AI on Retirement: A look into the future, with both the benefits and risks of AI.
Shining The Light On Retirement Blind Spots: A groundbreaking study reveals common blind spots.
What I’ve Learned From My Retirement Mastermind Group: I started a local group and here’s what I’ve learned.
Why Is It So Hard To Spend Money? I bought myself a gift for my 60th birthday. I’m breaking my frugality habit.
The 7 Secrets of a Happy Retirement: Podcast interview with Doc G on Earn & Invest.
How Do You Know When It’s Time To Retire? Podcast interview with FI Teachers.
Taking Stock – A Book Review: A hospice doctor shares what he’s learned from his patients.
Jan – Mar 2023
A Tour of Our Mountain Homestead Expansion: It’s done, and today we’re taking a tour!
Running Fast To Slow Down: It sounds like an oxymoron, but sometimes you have to do it.
ChooseFI Withdrawal Strategies: A debate with Big ERN on The Bucket Strategy.
Vitality, Lost: A rare look inside the mind of an aging man as he deals with the loss of vitality.
Retirement Starts Today: A podcast appearance discussing how to find Purpose in retirement.
How To Build A Bond Ladder: A step-by-step guide to how (and why) to build a bond ladder.
What’s Wrong With The Bucket Strategy? – A YouTube debate with Big ERN on Two Sides of FI.
7 Secrets To A Great Retirement: The real secrets, based on research of thousands of successful retirees.
Is The Bucket Strategy A Cheap Gimmick? Big ERN and I debate the merits of The Bucket Stratetgy.
A New Free Tool To Manage Asset Allocation: The free net worth spreadsheet now includes AA!
Oct – Dec 2022
Top 10 Posts of 2022: The best of the year based on readership statistics. Did you miss any?
Were You Nervous Before You Retired? I answer a reader’s question, for the benefit of all.
Yahoo! 25+ Best Retirement Gifts: I was featured in this article on Yahoo!
Saying Goodbye To The 401(k): Why I closed my 401(k), and what I’m doing now.
The Bucket Strategy In A Bear Market: How it’s worked, what we’ve done, and what we’ve learned.
Reimagining Retirement (A Book Review): A review of Eric Weigel’s new book.
We’re Expanding Our Mountain Homestead: Sometimes the “Why” matters more than the “What.”
How To Enjoy Your Retirement: Podcast appearance on Sound Retirement Planning discussing retirement.
Secrets of a Professional Negotiator: A negotiator shares his secrets, with tips that may improve your life.
Escaping From Cubicle Hell: What does it really take to escape? Was WFH real freedom, or just parole?
Jul – Sep 2022
Moneyzine: Top 20 FIRE Blogs: I was honored to be mentioned as one of the best!
How To Get In Shape For Retirement: Even if you’re a couch potato, this will get you started.
Evaluating Health Insurance Options For Early Retirement: A reader and expert weigh in.
Accept The Challenge! The story of the longest swim in my life, and what I learned in the process.
The Someday Syndrome: Quit putting off until tomorrow something you want to do. Life life now.
How COVID Attacked Our 2022 RV Adventure: We were planning on leaving in two days, then COVID hit.
How Real People Manage Their Money In Retirement: Voyeurs rejoice. What can we learn from others?
Retire With Purpose LIVE: An in-studio discussion with Casey Weade of Retire With Purpose.
He Sang In The Vatican! (A True Reader’s Story): Finding passion by taking that first step. A true story.
Apr – Jun 2022 (4 Years After Retirement)
The Reality of Caring For Aging Parents: What we learned from having Mom live with us for 4 years.
The Four Paths of Retirement: Which path do you want to be on?
4 Lessons From 4 Years of Retirement: The latest in The Retirement Reality Series.
And Then, She Started To Cry: A story about tears, and why they matter.
How To Determine When To Take Social Security: In 15 minutes, we have a strategy. Here’s how…
Informed Decisions (Podcast) – Steps to take in the years before retirement.
The 5 Most Important Factors In Your Decision To Retire: What matters, and what doesn’t?
MarketWatch – Mastering Your Money: A live webinar covering important retirement concepts.
Jan – Mar 2022
The Pebble And The Pond: How long can a man keep throwing pebbles?
5 Steps To Learn To Spend In Retirement: How to transition from “Saver” to “Spender”.
While You Still Can: Do the important things in life, while you still can.
Striking A Balance On Spending: I’m featured in a Captrust article on becoming a spender.
Getting The Courage To Jump: Be it jumping from an airplane or into retirement, a push can help.
Revisiting Our Drawdown Strategy After 3 Years of Retirement: Did it work?
Two Sides of FI: A YouTube guest appearance, discussing what retirement is really like.
Retirement Is Like A Game of Poker: When you retire, you hold a hand of cards. How will you play them?
Oct – Dec 2021
The 10 Most Popular Posts of 2021: If you just want to jump to the best, jump here.
The Value of a Crisis: While it seems counterintuitive, there can be benefits of a crisis.
Wealth on any Income Podcast: A discussion on what’s important in retirement planning.
Retirement Is Nothing Like I Thought It Would Be: How reality compares to my expectations.
My List of The Best Retirement Books: A list of the books that have helped on my journey.
2SidesofFI: YouTube discussion on 10 Steps To Make Sure You Can Retire
Rethinking The 4% Safe Withdrawal Rule: My concerns with the rule, and 3 suggested modifications.
How I Spend My Time In Retirement: A breakdown of my time, and how it compares to my working years.
Retirement Wisdom Podcast: A retirement roundtable on key learnings from the transition into retirement.
The Long View Podcast: “Early Retirement Made Simple”, a broad discussion on retirement.
How Much Time I Spend Managing Our Money: A breakdown of the steps we take and the time involved.
My Evaluation of a Powerful New Retirement Tool – RISA: An evaluation of my personal RISA report.
Introducing The 90/10 Rule of Retirement: Be prepared for this mental shift when you retire.
Jul – Sep 2021
The Pursuit of Childhood Joy: A simple hack to get more enjoyment in retirement.
Retirement Answer Man Podcast: Guest appearance discussing retirement risks.
Retirement Planning Guidebook – A Book Review: My review of Wade Pfau’s new book.
Our 2021 RV Adventure is Underway! Our “reverse snowbird” RV escape from Georgia’s summer heat.
Business Insider: A feature article highlighting 4 moves that led to our early retirement.
How to Get Health Insurance in Retirement: What we did when our COBRA expired.
The Fragility of Life: A Tribute to Caron Jones and the impact she made on this writer.
Some Fascinating Retirement Statistics: A compilation of interesting retirement stats.
June 2021 (3 Years After Retirement)
Inside The Mind of a Reader: What I learned reading 45-pages of notes from a reader of every one of my posts.
You Can Do Anything You Put Your Mind To: A lesson I learned in college, and how it applies in retirement.
May 2021
10 Steps to Make Sure You Have Enough Money to Retire: A “must-read” for retirement planning.
A Tour of my Woodworking Shop: It is finished! A place to pursue my retirement dreams.
April 2021
Tax-Loss Harvesting: An expert gives an overview of this important tool in your toolbox.
Reinventing The Wheel: Reinventing your wheel should be a major focus in your retirement.
March 2021
Your Bucket Strategy Questions, Answered! I respond to reader questions about The Bucket Strategy.
How to Prepare For a Successful Retirement Transition: A podcast appearance on Retirement Answer Man.
The Ultimate Pre-Retirement Checklist Webinar: A webinar with Wade Pfau on Retirement Researcher.
Life In Retirement: A video interview with The Financially Independent Millenial
I Never Thought I’d Write This, But…: Rebalancing my wheel and killing a deadline. A new approach to this blog.
February 2021
Investment Options to Protect Against Inflation: Is inflation starting to increase? Some protection options.
It’s Time To Get Uncomfortable: Sometimes we have to get uncomfortable. Retirement is one of those times.
How To Live A Big Life In Retirement: A podcast/YouTube appearance on Retire With Purpose.
20 Ways To Be Happier In Life: Some tips from my personal experience.
Are We In A Stock Market Bubble? My thoughts on the market, and 5 questions you should be asking instead.
January 2021
When Cancer And Retirement Collide: A reader shares his trial of adversity.
Retirement Heaven or Hell? Mike went through Hell, but made his way to Heaven. A book review.
How To Start A Nonprofit Organization: 10 Steps to building a charity, based on our actual experience.
Why We Just Bought a Second Home In Retirement: The logic behind our decision to buy a second home.
December 2020 (2.5 Years After Retirement)
A Life In Quarantine: A man who has been living in quarantine for 9 months. The story of my Father.
Measure Twice, Cut Once: A reader shares what he’s doing to prepare for his retirement.
The Cliff Of Irrelevance: How to survive the cliff of irrelevance, when retirement changes everything.
The Mad Retirement Rush of 2020: The facts behind the headline.
How To Retire In 5 Simple Steps: The steps you should complete as you make your plans to retire.
November 2020
Every Book I Read in 2020: A summary of every book I read in the past year.
A Drive Across America: The highlights from our recent drive across America and the lessons we learned.
How To Find Passion in Retirement: A reader approaches retirement and shares his search for his passion.
A Real-Life Journey To Financial Freedom: A reader shares his story from humble beginnings to early retirement.
October 2020
How To Achieve A Great Retirement: Podcast guest appearance on Investing For Good.
Cannonball Run (with a 2-year-old): Our cross-country adventure, taken in October 2020.
Because You Can: What are you capable of? Why aren’t you doing it? Do it while you can.
September 2020
The 6 Most Common Retirement Mistakes: 43% of retirees have regrets. What are they, and how can you avoid them?
Growing Young (A Book Review): Some secrets on how to stay young. The answer’s not what you’d expect.
Alexa, How Can I Get Rich? Alexa’s amazingly comprehensive answer to that question.
Re-Entry: Just like astronauts adjust when they re-enter earth’s atmosphere, sometimes we need to adjust.
How To RV In Retirement: What we’ve learned from 3 summers of RV’ing in retirement.
July 2020
The Great Escape: Our plans for our summer RV trip across Michigan’s Upper Penisula.
The Treehouse Writing Studio: After 50 years, the dream comes true.
NVR BORD: Can you define your retirement life in 7 letters?
Ants vs. Grasshoppers: I suspect you’re an Ant. What impact will the Grasshoppers have on retirement?
5 Milestones You Much Reach Before You Retire: Thinking of retiring? Check these 5 boxes first.
June 2020 (2 Years After Retirement)
Is The Stock Market Going to Crash? At a reader’s request, I review a Doomsday video.
The Value of Free Speech: A reminder of something worth defending.
Building A Dream: The story of the dream my wife and I are building at the two-year mark of retirement.
What 3 New Things Are You Going To Try In Retirement: A good question to get you thinking about the future.
What I’ve Learned From Two Years of Retirement: What I’ve learned in two years of retirement.
May 2020
Are We Facing A Retirement Crisis? A look at the facts, decide for yourself if a crisis is looming.
A Strategy For Buying Into A Bear Market: What I learned from 2008 and how I’m managing today’s volatility.
How To Build A Doghouse & Improve Your Retirement: My first woodworking project, and what I learned in the process.
April 2020
Boredom In Retirement (Sneak Peek #2 of my book): Worried about boredom in retirement?
Wise Advice for a Successful Retirement: I reveal a powerful new source of retirement wisdom!
The Positives of a Pandemic: Decide what to leave Pre-Pandemic, and what to pack for the journey forward.
Win A Free Copy of my Book! Plus, a free sneak peek of the first 1,000 words.
Some Very Cool Retirement Charts: Charts can be effective in communicating facts.
March 2020
When Money Doesn’t Matter: How the Coronavirus is making us rethink what’s important.
Big News: My Book Is Launching! Keys to a Successful Retirement: My book is coming May 5th!
10 Steps To Make Sure You Have Enough Money To Retire: Steps to ensure you’re ready to retire.
The Benefits of a Bear Market: You knew this bear would be coming out of the woods. How can you benefit?
It’s The Little Things: In retirement, you’ll find it’s sometimes the little things that have the biggest impact.
A Retirement Calculator Worth Your Time: A review of the retirement calculator from NewRetirement.
February 2020
Lacking The Courage To Quit: Uncertainty leads to anxiety, which makes it hard to quit. What can we do about it?
What Was I Thinking (when I was in your shoes): My footprints on the journey to, and through, retirement.
Taking The Long Way Home: Retirement is the time to slow down and enjoy the ride.
10 Most Common Retirement Questions…Answered! Answers to the most common questions, w tons of links!
January 2020
Money For The Rest of Us: A book review of J. David Stein’s new book on how to manage investments.
Dream. Go. Do. Three short words, nine letters. But powerful enough to change your life.
How To Manage The Bucket Strategy: A look at how we’re maintaining our bucket strategy in retirement.
The Final Words of T. Boone Pickens: A look inside the mind of a billionaire in his final days.
Washington Post: Quoted in this story on the market returns in 2019, and the rewards of being patient in 2008.
A Step-By-Step Guide For Your Annual Financial Review: A checklist, with links to various spreadsheets I use.
December 2019 (1.5 YEARS AFTER RETIREMENT)
The Top 10 Posts of 2019: The most-read posts on The Retirement Manifesto in 2019.
Life After Fire: A look at life in early retirement, 18 months after crossing The Starting Line.
5 Critical Steps To Take Within 5 Years of Retirement – A Case Study: A look at what a reader is doing to prepare for his retirement in 3 years.
November 2019
A 94-year-old Couple Share The Secrets of a Great Retirement: Live from the mountains, it’s PR and Mary.
The Dark Side Of Retirement: Ah…retirement, the land of milk and honey. Except when it’s not.
Taking An RV Trip Across America (with 4 dogs!): Tips from our recent cross-country RV trip.
October 2019
How (& Why) To Execute A Before-Tax Rollover: A tax optimization strategy to reduce the impact of RMD’s.
PODCAST: Insights From Year 1 Of Early Retirement: A discussion on New Retirement, with three early retirees sharing their experiences. Fritz, Karsten Jeske and Chris Mamula.
How Long Will Your Retirement Savings Last? A look at some free tools to help answer the question.
ChooseFI Book Review: A book that outlines the phenomenon that is ChooseFI.
September 2019
The Seasons Are Changing (and I’m writing a book): My writing has been less consistent, and now you know why.
A Baseball Game With Dad: Take time to do the things that matter, with the people who matter most.
Avoid These 7 Mistakes Retirees Make: A look at 7 common money mistakes, and what to do to avoid them.
August 2019
PODCAST: The Josh Scandlen Podcast: Smooth your transition to retirement, creating a retirement paycheck, etc.
A Life With Moving Sidewalks: Pursue things in your life that force you to adjust. Enjoy the ride. Apex winner!
Where Are They Now? A feature by Plutus Foundation a year after we won The Retirement Blog Of The Year.
Sabbatical – Summer of 2019 (1 YEAR AFTER RETIREMENT)
200 Years Of Safe Withdrawal Rates In One Cool Chart: A new way to look at SWR’s, from ActuaryOnFire.
How To Find Fulfillment In Retirement: Guest post from Ashby Daniels, who advises people about retirement.
The Biggest Lesson From My First Year Of Retirement: Thoughts from my first Retire-versary.
From Addiction To Feeling Like The Wealthiest Woman In The World: A must-read true story from Ms. Fiology.
May 2019
Why I’m Taking A Sabbatical This Summer: My first break in 4 years of writing this blog, and here’s why.
How To Retire At Age 55 – An Interview With Fritz Gilbert: A feature article from Retire Before Dad.
Freedom For Fido – A Story Of Finding Purpose In Retirement: The Story of my wife and why she started a charity.
April 2019
Is The FIRE Community Full Of Hypocrites? I tackle 4 tough questions from a reader.
Don’t Look Back (You’re Not Going That Way) Introducing the TPA, an important measure of how you live your life.
What I’ve Learned In 4 Years Of Blogging: On my 4th blogversary, I’m sharing what I’ve learned.
How To Test Drive The RV Lifestyle: A look at renting an RV as a way to test out the RV lifestyle.
March 2019
Our Retirement Story: A Feature article about our retirement on a Polish Blog
The Great American Road Trip: 6,000 miles cross-country in an RV with 4 dogs – our 2019 plan!
PODCAST: Seeing America via RV: Fritz joins The Retirement Answer Man to discuss their summer travel plans!
Inflation: The Silent Killer Of Retirement: Do your retirement plans have a defense against future inflation?
Lessons From My Secret Journal: 25+ years of secret notes on my bosses and co-workers, revealed.
8 Steps To Improve Your Life’s Landscape: A simple process to improve your life.
February 2019
How Much Can You Spend Safely In Retirement: A look at the “Spend Safely” strategy for retirement withdrawals.
5 Keys To A Great Retirement: What 20 years of retirement research have identified as the 5 Keys.
How To Make Retirement Romantic: A MarketWatch article on how we approach retirement as a couple.
Starting Late, But Retiring Early – A Case Study: A real-life example of closing the gap to early retirement.
Einstein’s Theory Of Happiness: A look at Einstein’s Theory, and an attempt to prove it’s correct.
Are You Really Ready To Retire? A piece in Kiplinger featuring The Retirement Manifesto.
January 2019
A Simple Guide To Targeted Asset Allocation: How to achieve the correct Asset Allocation.
The 5 Top Secrets To Retire Early: The 5 top secrets that led to our early retirement.
Things That Matter … And Things That Don’t: Why do we often think too much about things that don’t matter?
PODCAST: Everyday Money Show: Why we decided to fatFIRE.
Do You Know Benton MacKaye: How this visionary made retirement better for thousands, even though he’d dead.
20 Steps To Take In The Year Before Retirement: A detailed checklist for your final year of work.
December 2018 (6 MONTHS AFTER RETIREMENT)
PODCAST: What’s Up Next? A panel discussion on whether you should quick working after reaching FI.
8 Lessons We Can All Learn From FIRE: An infographic on the lessons “traditional” retirees can learn from FIRE.
5 Reasons We Decided to fatFIRE: The thinking behind our decision to pursue a fatFIRE retirement.
What The FIRE Community Is All About – In One Word: The one word which best defines the movement.
6 Lessons From The First 6 Months Of Retirement: What we’re learning in retirement.
November 2018
PODCAST: Money Savage: Living Your Retirement – a chat about our life in retirement.
7 Things You MUST Know About Medicare: A true expert stops by to share what we should know.
On Being A Writer: A look inside my mind, the mind of a writer. What goes into writing this blog.
Unprepared For Retirement: What to do if you’re unprepared for retirement.
October 2018
The Ultimate Retirement Planning Guide: A guide to planning for your retirement, organized by stages of your journey. A compilation of my best posts, designed to help new readers find my most relevant content.
I’d Rather Die While I’m Living Than Live While I’m Dead: How Jimmy Buffett affecting my philosophy for Life.
Resilience In The Face Of Market Volatility: Using the Bucket Strategy to offset anxiety over volatility.
A 5 Step Method To Financial Freedom Through Dividend Investing: A reader’s plan for FI via dividend investing.
The Long Goodbye: The true story of my Mother-In-Law’s Battle With Alzheimer’s.
September 2018
YouTube: The Money Guy Show: The Secrets of Successful Retirement Savers.
PODCAST: The Money Guy Show: Surviving & Thriving The Transition To Retirement.
Time Affluence: Wealth isn’t about Money, it’s about having Freedom to do what you choose with your Time.
Health Insurance In Retirement: Unsolved: Why I retired without a clear plan for health insurance.
The Ultimate Guide To Cross-Country Train Travel: Tactical advice for booking a cross-country train adventure.
What I Learned From A 7,000 Mile Train Journey: What I learned on an Epic Retirement Bucket List journey.
August 2018
PODCAST: Better Money Decisions: Options for folks who haven’t saved enough for retirement.
The Uncle: Retirement advice from my wise Uncle, who also happens to be quite a character.
PODCAST: New Retirement: Fritz Gilbert and his FatFIRE Approach To Retirement
Vanguard’s Retirement Academy: A review of retirement information available on Vanguard.com
The First 60 Days Of Retirement: 3 Things I Expected, and 3 Surprises in my first 60 Days of retirement.
July 2018
PODCAST: Stacking Benjamins: How I Retired Early, A Case Study with Fritz Gilbert
Long-Term Care Insurance – A Reader Responds: A reader argues on why LTC insurance can make sense.
6 Steps To Avoid The Looming Bear Market: Some defensive positioning ideas for those within 5 years of retirement.
A Man In A Kilt: Retirement Advice from an 80-year old friend and mentor.
June 2018 (THE MONTH I RETIRED)
Expect The Unexpected: Three unexpected stories, woven around one unexpected dinner.
Should You Teach Your Children How To Become Millionaires? What to teach your children.
It’s Time To Live Like No One Else: Moving from a lifelong saver to a retirement spender.
What The First Week Of Retirement Is Really Like: My first week, what it feels like to be retired!
A Retirement, Well Done: My Retirement Farewell Tour, written on a plane on my last day of work.
The Veteran: A World War II Veteran gives his advice on what makes a retirement great. A true hero.
May 2018
6 Lessons Learned During 33 Years In Corporate America: My retirement speech.
Seasonal Work In Retirement – A True Story: Kirk becomes a cowboy!
The Final Step In Moving From Good To Great: We finished our move to Great, with 42 days to spare.
11 Lessons Learned On The Path To Retirement: 11 Important lessons, and my #1 recommendation for what everyone should do before they retire (see Lesson #11).
April 2018
Alone. What I learned during two years of isolation. No one’s life is perfect. Deal with it.
UnRetirement – The Facts: A lot of folks are going back to work after retirement. Why?
INFOGRAPHIC: The Ultimate Pre-Retirement Checklist – all you need to know, in one simple chart.
How To Retire In 15 Years (regardless of your age): The simple math behind early retirement.
March 2018
The Ultimate Pre-Retirement Checklist: 5 Years To A Great Retirement. Every step you need to take.
Be A Perennial: Your mindset matters more than your age. Be A Perennial.
PODCAST: Your Money, Your Wealth: Discussing The 10 Commandments Of Retirement.
The 2018 Retirement Survey: A Joint project with a friend, to determine what’s on your mind.
PODCAST: Rock Your Retirement: How we’re pursuing Purpose & Meaning in retirement.
The 10 Commandments Of Retirement: My self-imposed guidelines for retirement.
Special Edition: Spring – A Photo Journal: Photos of Spring In Georgia.
February 2018
100 Days To Freedom: How I’m feeling with 100 Days to go until retirement!
How Do You Compare To The Typical American? Are you ahead, or behind? Today, you’ll know.
PODCAST: Richer Soul Creating a successful early retirement plan. A talk about things that matter.
I’m Scared Of A Crash…Where Should I Put My Money? A longer-term strategy to determine where to put your money, regardless of your age or income.
It’s Official – My Secret Is Out: The announcement of my retirement to 10k+ employees and the reaction.
January 2018 (6 MONTHS UNTIL RETIREMENT)
We Just Became 100% Debt Free: Why we sold $170k of muni bonds to pay off our mortgage.
Living Life At The Limits (Part 2): Reader stories on how they’re living Life At The Limits
The New Tax Loophole That Benefits Retirees: A loophole in the new tax law that may reduce your RMD’s.
Do You Want To Be Younger In 2018 Than In 2017? Join the #YoungerNextYear movement.
Infographic: Personal Finance Goals For Every Age: See if you’re on track, for your age.
December 2017
A Special Christmas Edition: A different sort of post, with very few words. Enjoy the photographs!
PODCAST: Guest Host On Choose FI! A treat to fill Brad’s shoes for an episode on this record-breaking podcast!
Living Life At The Limits: A story of pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone, in pursuit of personal growth.
Should You Take Social Security At Age 62 or 70? An analysis, using our personal SS estimates.
A 10 Day Retirement: I recently conducted an experiment. I learned a lot. Today, I share my learnings.
November 2017
What Is Your Magnum Opus? What is your most important work?
10 Tips To Achieve Any Goal: I achieved an 8-month goal today. I learned 10 tips along the way.
I Know A Lot Of Nerds: An introduction to my friends. They’re smart money nerds, and they want to help you.
October 2017
PODCAST INTERVIEW: ChooseFI – Drawdown Strategy: Discussion on retirement drawdown strategies.
Why We’re Taking On Debt To Move From Good To Great: Why we decided to take on debt in our move to Great.
Let’s Go Flying: Drone photography, an example of a hobby being developed for post-retirement.
The Narrow Path To A Great Retirement: How a hike in Yellowstone became my hike to retirement.
PODCAST INTERVIEW: Your Money, Your Wealth: The softer side of retirement planning.
How To Be A Great Podcast Guest: The ultimate guide to being a guest on a podcast.
Top Tips For Retiring Abroad: Tips from a man who recently moved to Nicaragua from the USA.
September 2017
A Life In Pictures: Life is like a car with no reverse. Live Life Looking Forward, but cherish the past.
The 10 Commandments Of Early Retirement: Want to retire early? Follow as many of these as you can….
Your 4 Biggest Worries About Retirement: What folks who are good with money worry about retirement.
My Money Map: A visualization of how our money flows. A Blog Chain post.
Why We Are NOT Buying Long Term Care Insurance: The numbers behind our decision to self-insure.
August 2017
Am I A Prepper? No, Just Prepared: Are you prepared for a natural disaster? Here are some practical steps we’re taking.
The Final Words Of A Dying Man: My friend, Jim, sent me an email and went to bed. He never woke up.
Is Your Wealth Building On Track? (The FIRE Prowess Gauge): A simple new metric to see how you’re doing on your journey of building wealth.
3 Enemies Of FIRE: A Guest Post from OthalaFehu, questioning what would happen if everyone FIRE’d.
When A Home Sale Explodes (Good To Great – Part 3): How our home sale exploded after it was under contract, and how learning to hit curveballs can move your life from Good To Great.
July 2017
37 Days: Life at hyper-speed. Can you relate? Did I mention our daughter is getting married!!??
How The Pursuit of F.I. Almost Ended My Life: I learned an important lesson this week. It may have saved my life.
A 32-Minute Cure For Disappointment: How to change disappointment to gratitude in 32 minutes.
What Baby Boomer Women Need to Know About Their Finances: Lessons from a woman who had her husband drain their accounts without her knowledge.
June 2017 (1 YEAR UNTIL RETIREMENT)
Seasons: We’ve been filling the barn with hay while the sun’s shining. Soon, we’ll enjoy the harvest.
Our Retirement Investment Drawdown Strategy: Our drawdown strategy, in writing. And, the start of a chain.
I’m Not Buying Any More Clothes: My retirement wardrobe strategy, including the glide path.
The One More Year Syndrome: Why do folks continue to work after achieving Financial Independence?
MAY 2017
How To Move Your Retirement From Good To Great In 7 Days: Part 2 in the “Good To Great” series, a summary of 8 Lessons learned while moving from our “Good” to “Great” cabin over the past week.
Making It To Carnegie Hall (The Stacking Benjamins Show) – the backstory to my guest appearance on The Stacking Benjamins Podcast.
When Is A Safe Withdrawal Rate Too Safe? A review of safe withdrawal rate theories for retirement income planning. A guest post from DJ @ MyMoneyDesign.
How To Know When You’re Financially Independent: Introducing the “FI Score”, a simple metric to use your net worth to track how close you are to Financial Independence.
I Was Stalked By A Drone: A drone video of a beautiful morning in Georgia, and a cold water swim across a lake.
I’ll Never Be Able To Retire: A Fact based view of the retirement crisis. How bad is it, really?
APRIL 2017
Are You Wealthy? Today, you’ll know: Just enter your Age & Income into The Wealth Index (provided in this post), and you’ll find out if you’re wealthy! Doesn’t get much easier than that!
Another Great Thing…And A Public Challenge: Lake Michigan, The Dolphin & A Mountain Stream
What Role Should Annuities Play In Retirement? A deep dive on annuities, their risks, & their benefits.
My Reflections On Two Years Of Blogging: Two years ago today, I posted the first article on The Retirement Manifesto. Today, a reflection on the first two years. It’s been a heckuva ride!
How To Move Your Retirement From Good To Great: Why we’re downsizing again, after only 1 year in our “dream retirement cabin”. We’re moving from Good To Great. How about you?
MARCH 2017
You Need Something To Retire To (w Infographic): A guest post from ESI, on what he’s learned after 6 months of retirement about needing something to retire to. With a cool infographic a friend made for him!
54 Minutes, 54 Years: On your birthday, do something “In Minutes” that equals your age!
The Dilbert Principles Of Personal Finance: An Infographic summarizing Dilbert’s Principles of Personal Finance.
Pupose, Motivation & Life Aspirations: Find a purpose for your life. A Case Study, using cold water swimming as an example of building purpose, motivation and goals to improve your life.
It’s Never Too Late To Start Saving For Retirement: Betty & Gordon had nothing saved at Age 49. They retired at Age 63. Today, the story of how they did it.
FEBRUARY 2017
PODCAST INTERVIEW: Planet Boomerville: Talking retirement planning to Baby Boomers.
Becoming A Mustachian: Mr. Money Mustache is driving a lifestyle trend/cult. I just joined them!
PODCAST INTERVIEW: Mo’ Money: The importance of saving in your 20’s-30’s to Millennials
Are You A Financial Tough Guy? I know someone who is, and today he tells you how it happened.
My Dad Just Moved Into Assisted Living: He’s doing it right. I’m proud of him.
Do You Want To Be Younger Next Year? Solve this mystery, can you can be younger next year.
JANUARY 2017 (1.5 YEARS UNTIL RETIREMENT)
Stealth Wealth: I live a life of stealth, in a world of wealth. It’s my choice. What’s yours?
The Power Of Doing Good: Don’t get distracted by all of the political “noise” out there, focus on what’s good. The Rockstar Community Fund is a ripple in the pond, help spread the wave!
What If You Live To 100?: How to insure you don’t outlive your money, with specific steps my wife and I are taking as a contingency plan against longevity risk.
The Best Finance Blogs In The Universe: The best personal finance blogs, from The Big Hitters to The Up & Comers. Pick a few, and start your free education today!
Are Baby Boomer Retirements Doomed? Unfortunately, the answer for millions of people is “Yes”. Deal With It.
DECEMBER 2016
The Most Popular Posts of 2016: A summary of the top 5 articles in 2016, with links to each.
The Serenity Prayer Of Personal Finance: Seek wisdom to know what you can’t change, and the courage to change the things you can. The result? Serenity. Surprisingly applicable to personal finance.
What’s Your “It”? This is it! Find it.
Retired From Work, But Not From Life: Retirement in a small town, through 3 philosophical quotes.
18 Lessons From My Dad – A Tribute: A tribute to my Dad, and the lessons he’s taught me.
NOVEMBER 2016
So….I Fostered: The story of a sad rescue dog, and a sad wife who put the dog’s needs ahead of her own.
The Best Money Advice Ever Received: A collaboration with members of The Secret Club.
Achieving A Dream: An event worth living, and an article worth reading.
Coping With Retirement Stress: A daughter writes to help her parents deal with retirement stress.
PODCAST INTERVIEW – Retirement Starts Today: A 24 minute interview on what I’m doing now to build contentment in retirement.
6 Lessons Learned In A British Pub: What I learned by observing for an hour in a British pub.
What Do You Think? An article about thinking.
OCTOBER 2016
PODCAST INTERVIEW – Retirement Journeys: A 22 minute interview on how I’m preparing for retirement.
Retirement: Day 1: A true story of two friends, on their first day of retirement.
Do You Have The Green Acres Syndrome? My wife and I have it, here’s what we’re doing to cure it.
Endurance: Retirement’s Secret Weapon: Shackleton needed endurance to survive, you need endurance to optimize your retirement. 5 benefits of endurance for your retirement.
InfoGraphic: The Retirement Income “Bucket Strategy” as an Infographic (my first!).
How To Build A Retirement Paycheck: The Bucket Strategy, which I’ll be using in my retirement.
SEPTEMBER 2016
4 Keys To Building Wealth: Spend less than you earn, invest the difference, and do it for a long time.
The Top 5 Retirement Concerns: The Top 5 concerns, and steps you can take to reduce anxiety.
Man’s Best Friend….But At What Cost? A PSA on the true cost of pet ownership.
4 Challenges To Improve Your Retirement: 4 Challenges. For You. To Improve Your Retirement.
Obamacare Is Falling Apart…And What It Means For Your Retirement. A look at what’s going wrong with Obamacare, and what it may mean for your retirement costs.
AUGUST 2016
It’s About Time!! Time, the rarest of investments. You get it for free, and spend it until it’s gone.
I’m 53, & Just Medaled In My First Olympics: How #MyOlympics can motivate you to achieve your goals.
5 Milestones To Determine “When Can I Retire”? 5 key milestones to determine your retirement readiness.
Yoda: The Greatest Personal Finance Teacher Ever? A whimsical combination of Star Wars & Personal Finance.
Retirement: Reality Vs. Expectations: A comparison of the realities of retirement, and how they differ from our expectations.
JULY 2016
What To Do When “Plan A” Breaks: A true story of a retirement plan that didn’t work out.
5 Things Rich People Do With Their Money: Apply a few of their common traits in your own life.
The First 6 Steps To Financial Wealth: Things we’re teaching our daughter, as she starts her first real job.
Measure What Matters: Measuring what matters can improve the odds that you’ll achieve your goals. Here are the metrics for The Retirement Manifesto.
JUNE 2016 (2 YEARS UNTIL RETIREMENT)
The Simple Path To Wealth: A book review, on perhaps the best book ever written for those seeking to become a DIY investor, or just entering the workplace and taking responsibility for managing their finances.
A Simple Tip For A More Enjoyable LIfe: My goal is to swim across Lake Zurich. What’s yours?
10 Ways Mountain Biking Is Like Retirement: A bike ride becomes an analogy for retirement.
5 Reasons Why It’s Great To Be Debt Free: A guest blog from Mr. & Mrs. Groovy on debt free living.
MAY 2016
A Journey Through The Red Zone: A reader who achieved early retirement last week reviews the steps he took to make it happen.
A Life Lesson Worth Sharing: As you go thru the transitions of life, take time to enjoy the journey.
An Experiment: Introducing a new feature on The Retirement Manifesto.
An Option Trading Strategy To Increase Your Returns: How to use options to increase your returns. A review of my option trading strategy, utilizing Puts, Calls & Rolls.
The Best Retirement Calculator: A review of the four retirement calculators I personally use for retirement planning.
Where Should I Put My Money? In today’s difficult market environment, it’s hard to know where to invest your money. Today, I share what I’m doing with my money, in the hope it helps you decide what to do with yours.
APRIL 2016
Can They Retire? A Case Study: A reader shares the details of their plan to retire at 55. Can they make it? We’ll answer that question.
Happy Birthday – I brought you a gift: To celebrate The Retirement Manifesto’s 1st Birthday, a review of all of the tools availalble on the Resource page.
Retirement: The First 90 Days: A true story of the first 90 days in retirement, from one who is living it.
Debt Free: When The Vision Becomes Reality: We conclude the execution of our downsizing strategy, with the final mortgage payment. Ever.
5 Reasons Why Retirement Is Hard: An overview of my Doctorate Thesis, which focuses on these 5 elements which make retirement hard.
MARCH 2016
How To Sell A House In 7 Days: We just sold our house in 7 days, at a price above our asking price. Here’s how we did it.
How To Downsize In 24 Hours: We just got rid of 30 years of “stuff” in 24 hours. Here’s how we did it.
Take A Break: After a marathon effort to achieve a goal, take a break to rejuvinate and live life!
5 Steps To Take Within 5 Years Of Retirement: Take these steps, and you’ll be well on your way toward a great retirement.
FEBRUARY 2016
Are We In A 15 Year Bull Market? Personal returns are usually lower than the market due to emotion. What can you do about it?
5 Ways Retirement Is Like An International Flight: A new way to think about retirement. It’s like planning a trip to a city you’ve never visited.
How Much Will You Spend In Retirement? How to estimate retirement spending. Retirement is a math problem.
Your Plan Is Wrong. Plan Anyway: Plans change. Be flexible, and benefit from having a plan.
7 Ways Hiking Is Like Planning For Retirement: A new way to think about retirement planning.
JANUARY 2016 (2.5 YEARS UNTIL RETIREMENT)
Inspiration: How to find inspiration for things you’d like to do more (or less) of.
How Close Are You To Disaster?: What are the odds of facing a financial disaster? How prepared are you? What can you do about it?
5 Moves I’ve Made In Today’s Market Volatility: 5 things I’ve done since the 8% downturn on January 1.
SPECIAL EDITION! Radical Personal Finance interview with The Retirement Manifesto founder, Fritz Gilbert.
Serendipity: Why “fortunate discoveries by accident” should be our motto for life. It’s why I write.
Learning From An Unexpected Death: Go beyond shock and memories, learn from the lives of others. Live a life others can learn from.
DECEMBER 2015
Money Goals For Every Age: A summary of key priorities by age group, as well as suggested tactics to achieve your goals.
Will Retirement Be Depressing? A review of several studies on the topic, and suggestions to make your retirement great.
7 Lessons From Warren Buffett: Personal finance lessons from one of the best minds in the business world.
FREE!! Year-End Checklist: A checklist based on actual steps I use every year-end for my family finances.
The Most Popular Posts of 2015: The top 8 posts of the past year, #1 of which has been read over 2,500 times.
NOVEMBER 2015
Are You Busy? A post about a day I spent this week at a Habitat For Humanity build.
The Biggest Enemy Of Retirement? YOU! Procrastination has a huge cost. Don’t make excuses to delay working on things you need to address.
Earn 5% on a savings account – today! I opened a 5% savings account on Netspend this month, and walk you through the process step by step.
The 10 Commandments Of Personal Finance: 10 principles to apply in your personal finance life.
Retirement Planning vs. Swiss Trains: Retirement planning will never be as precise as Swiss trains. Accept it, plan for it, and move on.
The Road Less Traveled (A true early retirement story): Life lessons from a good friend who is retiring at the end of this year, at 56 years of age.
OCTOBER 2015
The Best Personal Finance Blogs In The Universe: My listing of my current “favorite” personal finance blogs.
10 Tips For Success On Craigslist: I’ve sold 29 items, and compile 10 tips for insuring your own success on getting rid of your clutter while generating some cash!
A Place Where Time Stands Still: Or Does It? How an old deserted road can serve as a lesson for why we need to focus on our investments NOW.
Semi-Retirement: A True Story: A story full of tips written by a good friend who retired early and started a consulting business.
5 Most Popular Retirement Manifesto Articles: A “Best Of” post, highlighting the 5 overall most popular, and 5 most popular “investment focused” articles.
Rain: How rain can serve as an analogy for our personal savings. Build a savings reservoir while the income stream is still flowing to help survive the inevitable drought.
He Retired At 50, And Has Advice For You: A good friend who retired at 50 shares his toolkit, with a focus on the importance of strategically using a budget.
Before I Die: A look at your priorities, with encouragement to think about what’s important for you to accomplish in your retirement years.
Why Is Asset Allocation Important? A foundational article on the concept of asset allocation and how to determine where you should invest your money to achieve your goals.
SEPTEMBER 2015:
Did You Take All Of Your Vacation This Year: An encouragement to resist self-imposed peer pressure and take your vacation time.
4 Ways To Reduce Worry In Today’s Volatile Market How a long term investor should view volatility. The use of Good Til Cancelled and Stop Loss orders.
The Goats Are Gone (Retirement Priorities): As you approach retirement, prepare for how your priorities will change once you’ve retired. Take steps now to be ready for the change.
You May Be Wealthier Than You Think: A philosophical look at the different types of wealth, and an encouragement to be intentional in choosing how to balance them.
So You Want To Be A Millionaire: Realize the impact that small spending decisions can have when compounded over many years. You can become a Millionaire.
How Can You Retire Early? The first post from a reader, with a focus on steps you can take to increase your chances of being able to retire early.
7 Strategies To Make Your Money Last Through Retirement: Practical tips to reduce your chances of outliving your money.
The Best Articles Of The Week: A compilation of the best articles on the ‘net from the previous week.
AUGUST 2015:
Mental Sovereignty: Make up your own mind, avoid the noise.
Downsizing – Our Retirement Strategy: A review of our personal downsizing plans, including how we determined the target purchase price for our downsized home.
5 Lessons On Attitude From A 92 Year Old: Examples of people who have made a decision to be content. Chose for yourself – it’s your life.
Why Don’t Americans Save String? A comparison between the savings habits of The United States and China, where strong motivation drives the Chinese to a 30% savings rate.
The First 50 Articles: An index of the first 50 articles written.
The 7 Best Articles Of The Week: A compilation from the net.
JULY 2015:
When Can I Retire? (Putting It All Together): The final article in the series, with methodology to determine when you can target your retirement date.
Enjoy YOUR Independence Day: Celebrate your Financial Independence Day.
Top 5 Regrets People Have On Their Deathbeds: A pallative care nurse outlines top common regrets. I give advice on how to avoid them in your own life.
Not My Circus, Not My Monkey: Identify what you’re responsible for, and take ownership. Don’t waste time on things you can’t control.
The Purpose Of Life Is A Life Of Purpose: The purpose of The Retirement Manifesto.
SPECIAL EDITION – INTERVIEW: Radio interview with Jason Parker of Sound Retirement Radio, in which Fritz Gilbert outlines the purpose behind The Retirement Manifesto.
7 Signs You’re On The Road To A Great Retirement: 7 simple tests to determine if you’re on track to a great retirement.
When Is Enough….Enough? Define your “enough”, don’t get stuck on the treadmill.
How I Made $2,000 In One Hour: Shop your insurance, it will save you a lot of money.
The Millionaire Next Door: Lessons you should learn from wealth builders.
JUNE 2015: (3 YEARS UNTIL RETIREMENT)
When Can I Retire? Step 1 – Spending: How to project how much you’ll spend in retirement, the first step in determining when you can retire.
When At Work, WORK!: As you near retirement, don’t drift. Take personal responsibility.
Will You Be Forced To Retire Early? (Chances are “Yes”): A study in USA Today reports 60% of Americans retire earlier than planned. Do you have a Plan B?
When Can I Retire? Step 2 – Income: Part 2 of the series, focused on how much income you can realistic expect to achieve in retirement from all sources.
Take Time To Say Thank You: I went to Montreal this week, with the primary purpose of taking time to recognize the retirement of a good friend.
Shower Them In Love: A most unusual wedding gift, a most unusual shower.
Have You Got 5 Minutes?: Relationships should be our priority, not money.
When Can I Retire? Step 3 – The Contingency Plan: Part 3 of the series, focused on identifying potential risks to your retirement plan, and building them in to your cash flow.
A Bench In The Woods: A description of my respite.
What’s In Your Bucket?: Build a bucket list for all facets of your life, not just travel.
What Me, Worry?: 10 practical tips to minimize worry in your retirement.
MAY 2015:
Building Block One: The Levers Of Wealth: Building wealth is easy, spend less than you make and do it for a long time. 3 Levers: What you make, what you spend, and what you do with the difference.
High Five (Encouragement): Encouraging others benefits the giver as much as the recipient.
Building Block Two The Most Powerful Force In The Universe: The power of compounding. Start early – once the opportunity is missed, it’s gone forever.
Listen To Your Mother: A great summary of top advice numerous authors received from their Mom’s (in honor of Mother’s Day).
Dogs, Cats & Pygmy Goats: How pets add joy to life, and enhance retirement.
Learn From Those Who Have Gone Before: Learn from others who have gone before you, and teach those who follow in your wake.
Mortality: 7 lessons I learned from my brother-in-laws premature death.
Building Block Three: The Net Worth Statement: Why you must track your net worth.
Car College – Podcasts: The value of podcasts, and a list of my favorite ones.
Life At Full Throttle: How a train station is a good analogy for life.
No One Has Ever Become Poor By Giving: Anne Frank, The holocaust, and sacrificial giving.
Building Block Four: Asset Allocation: Where should I put my money? A description of various asset classes, and the sequence in which you should invest.
APRIL 2015:
College, For Life (Paying for College): My parents paid for my college education, now I’m returning the generosity. Someday, hopefully, my daughter will do the same for her kids.
The Retirement Manifesto – How It Started: The story of the first 30 hours. Have you read the definition of “Manifesto”? It’s a perfect description for this website.
48 Hour Milestone – God’s Leading: Does God lead us into things? Did he lead me into this?
A Day With My Daughter (Leaving A Legacy): Life lessons to my daughter via her search for the perfect gun.
A Call For Help (Budget Priorities): A friend calls for advice: tax savings or emergency fund?
The Kayak (Carpe Diem): Life. Just Do It!
The Purpose (Planning your future): My personal rules for The Retirement Manifesto.
Should I Buy Gold? My advice to a friend when he asked me this question.
Why Does Personal Finance Matter? How personal finance applies to our daily lives, and why it’s important for a great retirement.
45 Seconds Of My Life: How small action can lead to big results. Take the first step!
The River (Married Life): How a kayak trip is a good analogy for a marriage.
MY FIRST ARTICLE – April 12, 2015 (3+ YEARS UNTIL RETIREMENT)
Contentment – A Personal Choice: My first post, and I choose to make it an opportunity to publically declare my personal decision to be content.