How the 2008 Financial Crisis Made You Want to Pursue an Early Retirement

"I honestly think we're going to see something similar with this crisis," he says. "We as individual investors are at the whims, essentially, of much, much larger forces" The fire movement is a fear-based reaction that's saying 'I don't want to be vulnerable' He thinks there will be fewer people who can do it in a handful of years or retire at 30 or 35.

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Episode notes

Our guest this week is Tanja Hester, whom The New York Times referred to as the matriarch of the FIRE movement. For the uninitiated, FIRE stands for financial independence/retire early. Tanja is the author of the Our Next Life blog, and she is also author of the book Work Optional: Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way. Tanja and her husband Mark retired in 2017 at the ages of 38 and 41. Her blog is devoted to chronicling their journey and sharing guidance for others who might be considering an early retirement.

Background

Tanja Hester’s blog “Our Next Life”

Tanja Hester’s bio and backstory

Tanja Hester’s twitter handle @ournextlife

Tanja Hester’s author/speaker page

Tanja Hester’s book, “Work Optional: Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way”

“For These Women, a FIRE That Burns Too Male and Too White” by Charlotte Cowles; The New York Times; June 7, 2019

Early Retirement/Sequence-of-Return Risk

Tanja Hester’s writings on sequence-of-return risk

Karsten Jaske’s “Early Retirement Now” blog

Tanja Hester’s multi-phase retirement financial plan

Savings and Withdrawal Rates