I hope you are having a great summer. This month I have a collection of resources that will challenge you to think more deeply about your approach to financial independence and early retirement.

We’ll explore the physical, mental, and emotional aspects of aging. I also have a few resources that return to the fundamentals of personal finance which I hope will be helpful for those earlier on their journey, and serve as useful reminders to the rest of us.

Let’s jump in….

Some Sad News

I frequently feature Jonathan Clements writing in these “Best of” round ups. I have been a long-time admirer of his work and the website he created at Humble Dollar.

It is hard for me to explain the emotion that overcomes me as I write these lines. I never met Jonathan in person. Still, I consider him a role model for my own writing and my desire to give voice to others on this blog.

It is with great sadness that I share a recent post from Jonathan. In it, he shares tragic personal news with tremendous grace and integrity. He writes The C Word.

I encourage each of you to read this powerful reminder of how fragile life can be and the comments as a reminder of what a life well lived looks like.

Alzheimer’s and Dementia: Chicken and Egg

It is easy to assume a diagnosis of dementia or Alzheimer’s may make you vulnerable to financial mistakes, fraud, etc. However Ben Casselman writes that a recent study shows Alzheimer’s Takes a Financial Toll Long Before Diagnosis.

This article may be behind a paywall for you, so I want to share one important quote from it that drives home the key point. “Long before people develop dementia, they often begin falling behind on mortgage payments, credit card bills and other financial obligations, new research shows.”

I discuss this with planning clients often to help build my case to get them to simplify finances now, get their estate planning in order, etc. when they are in position to do so. Unfortunately, by the time you realize you have a problem, the damage may already be done.

Personal Stories of Financial Independence

This month on the blog Dave got personal sharing Confessions of an Early Retiree. My fellow Abundo advisor Jeremy Zuke shared Lessons From My Journey to Financial Independence.

Both were very popular among readers. I encourage you to check their stories out. I also want to take this as an opportunity to call for readers interested to share their stories.

Guest posts from other readers sharing their personal paths to financial independence and early retirement, or particular aspects or strategies from them, are very popular on the blog. I’m looking for more stories to share. If you would like to share your story, send me an email at chris@caniretireyet.com.

Lessons From Early Retirement

For those of you who like hearing from other early retirees, you may enjoy this Quora thread I came across with hundreds of responses. What don’t they tell you about retiring early?

From the Clipping Chains Blog, Life Without Money Scarcity Might Just Make You Lazy.

Lessons from a Mini-Retirement

Morningstar’s Christine Benz recently completed a six week sabbatical which she used as a test drive of retirement. She writes Lessons From Another ‘Faux-tirement’.

FIRE Back In the Mainstream

FIRE was featured on “The Daily” podcast from the New York Times: How to Retire Early as Humanly Possible. If you can get past the click-bait headline and cringy first couple minutes, this is actually a thoughtful look at the FIRE movement from people not entrenched in it.

Athletes and Early Retirement

I am fascinated by the lives of elite athletes. While their financial stories often aren’t relatable, they provide case studies in:

• recreating an identity after retirement at a young age, 
• dealing with physical decline that is inevitable for all of us, and 
• figuring out what comes next after devoting your life to one thing. 

This month I listened to interviews with two of the greatest female athletes of all time, each navigating this transition.

From the Dirtbag Diaries, an interview with climber Beth Rodden: A Light Through the Cracks.

From the New York Times Sunday Interview Serena Williams’s Next Challenge? The Rest of Her Life.

Back to Basics

A consistent theme of this blog is the mastery of basics. It is easy to chase the shiny objects, but at the end of the day a few things ultimately determine your financial success or failure. These next two resources drive this point home.

Adam Grossman shares Seven Steps to Financial Success.

Matt Krantz writes Investors Finally Throw in the Towel on Active Fund Managers.

Avoiding Common Mistakes

Lori Bodenhamer shares The 5 Most Common Financial Mistakes we see with clients.

Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

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[Chris Mamula used principles of traditional retirement planning, combined with creative lifestyle design, to retire from a career as a physical therapist at age 41. After poor experiences with the financial industry early in his professional life, he educated himself on investing and tax planning. After achieving financial independence, Chris began writing about wealth building, DIY investing, financial planning, early retirement, and lifestyle design at Can I Retire Yet? He is also the primary author of the book Choose FI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence. Chris also does financial planning with individuals and couples at Abundo Wealth, a low-cost, advice-only financial planning firm with the mission of making quality financial advice available to populations for whom it was previously inaccessible. Chris has been featured on MarketWatch, Morningstar, U.S. News & World Report, and Business Insider. He has spoken at events including the Bogleheads and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants annual conferences. Blog inquiries can be sent to chris@caniretireyet.com. Financial planning inquiries can be sent to chris@abundowealth.com]

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