early retirement

Is The Disability Program The Ticket To Early Retirement?

05.10.2013
Is The Disability Program The Ticket To Early Retirement?

A few weeks ago, I heard a story – Unfit For Work on This American Life and it’s quite startling. Do you know there are 14 million people currently on the disability program?  People on disability are not counted in the unemployment rate because they are not part of the workforce. You can read more and listen to the story by following the link above. Here is a just a short recap. People on disability receive about $13,000 and healthcare coverage via Medicare. Medical conditions like back pain is a lot more disabling for laborers than office workers. Ethel Thomas would [...]

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The Biggest Problem With Early Retirement

05.06.2013
The Biggest Problem With Early Retirement

Early Retirement – mmm…  I bet early retirement sounds great to many of you who are reading this from a cubicle on Monday morning. I have been happily unemployed for 10 months now, but I do miss the regular paychecks. We are doing alright financially and I assume most early retirees are prepared for the reduction in income as well. So let’s skip the finance discussion today and focus on what to do with your time after retirement. Structured Lifestyle The biggest problem with early retirement is the lack of long term goals. Typically, we have many long term structured [...]

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What’s Your Plan for Life After Retirement?

04.17.2013
prepare for life after retirement

Preparing for Life after retirement For many of us, preparing for retirement is all about the finances. We pay off debt, save, invest, and keep working until our retirement portfolio reaches a certain amount. Hopefully we’ll get there before 65, but finance isn’t the only thing we need to focus on. Having enough to live a comfortable retirement is important, but another key to a happy retirement is to stay active and engaged. Planning for life after retirement is especially critical for those of us who want to retire early. If you retire in your 40s or 50s, you won’t be satisfied [...]

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Spring Fever Perception of Reality

04.01.2013
Spring Fever hits Portland

Wow, we just had 3 gloriously warm and sunny days in Portland. On Saturday, the temperature hit 77 degrees in the Rose City, breaking the record by 6 degrees. The average high temperature won’t get this high until July so you can imagine how unusual this is. We went out for a walk and a picnic lunch to make the best of a beautiful Saturday. It was great to see so many people out and about enjoying the beautiful day. Long Dark Winter The Pacific Northwest has a well deserved reputation for our long gloomy rainy season. Nine months of [...]

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