May 2018 — Best of The Web

Want To Reach FI Sooner? Join more than 18,000 others and get new tips and strategies from Can I Retire Yet? every week. Subscription is free. Unsubscribe anytime:

It’s been an exciting month for the blog with exposure to a lot of new readers. Welcome to those of you finding us recently.

It’s time to share the best items we’ve found from around the internet in the last month to help you save more, invest smarter, and retire sooner.

This month’s selections address challenges faced by those wanting to retire sooner, provide ideas to increase income while working and in retirement, help you invest better, and explore ways to control health care costs.

We’ll finish with a selection that provides a little inspiration and shows the type of life that is possible for those that take the road less traveled.

With that, let’s take a look at May’s Best of the Web.

Retirement Challenges

Christine Benz asks the question many of us are currently worrying about. What if This Turns Out to be a Terrible Time to Retire?

Deciding the optimal strategy to claim Social Security is important. Elizabeth O’Brien writes This is When You Should Start Collecting Social Security, According to Experts.

Many are behind on retirement savings. Brian Davis shares The Retirement Catch Up Plan: 7 Steps to Retire in the Next 5-10 Years.

Derek Sall shared 15 Important Lessons from Regular People Who Have Achieved Total Financial Independence.

Increasing Income

Mike Piper thinks the best investment a young person can make may be Investing In Your Earning Potential.

Creating passive income is essential for quality of life in retirement. Steve Chen shares 9 Powerful Insights from the Retirement Income Summit.

New Investor?

Since sharing my sorry start as an investor, I’ve received many emails asking me what books and resources most helped me turn things around and become a DIY investor. In July, I will publish full reviews of the four books that I found most useful when educating myself. Until then, check out this article from Stock Street for some great recommendations. 30+ Money Bloggers Share Their Best Book for Beginner Investors.

Should You Be a Stock Picker?

Morgan Housel writes The Extraordinary Story of America’s Most Successful Industry. Housel shares the story of the most successful company in the world since 1968. A dollar invested in this company then would be worth over $6,600 today, compared to about $87 for a dollar invested in the S&P 500 for the same time period. Before you decide to go all in on an individual stock, take a guess what that company is. Then ask yourself if you would have had the foresight to have picked it in 1968 and the willingness to stick with it for the past 50 years.

Controlling Healthcare Costs in Early Retirement

A common concern among readers is how they will afford health insurance in early retirement. Michael Dinich writes How to Reduce Insurance Costs: The Complete Guide to Hacking the Affordable Care Act.

We often worry about and plan for health insurance, but we neglect overall health care costs. Jim Dahle, MD shares perspectives of an ER physician. How to Save on Health Care Costs.

A Little Inspiration

Chad Carson just returned to the United States after a “mini-retirement” in Ecuador with his wife and two young daughters. He shares 17 Insights from 17 Months Living Abroad With My Family.

* * *

Valuable Resources

  • The Best Retirement Calculators can help you perform detailed retirement simulations including modeling withdrawal strategies, federal and state income taxes, healthcare expenses, and more. Can I Retire Yet? partners with two of the best.
  • Free Travel or Cash Back with credit card rewards and sign up bonuses.
  • Monitor Your Investment Portfolio
    • Sign up for a free Empower account to gain access to track your asset allocation, investment performance, individual account balances, net worth, cash flow, and investment expenses.
  • Our Books

* * *

Disclosure: Can I Retire Yet? has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Can I Retire Yet? and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Other links on this site, like the Amazon, NewRetirement, Pralana, and Personal Capital links are also affiliate links. As an affiliate we earn from qualifying purchases. If you click on one of these links and buy from the affiliated company, then we receive some compensation. The income helps to keep this blog going. Affiliate links do not increase your cost, and we only use them for products or services that we're familiar with and that we feel may deliver value to you. By contrast, we have limited control over most of the display ads on this site. Though we do attempt to block objectionable content. Buyer beware.