Retire Early
Lifestyle
Retirement; like your parents, but way cooler

A must for Travelers!
In 1991 Billy and Akaisha Kaderli retired at the age
of 38. Now, into their 4th decade of this
financially independent lifestyle, they invite you
to take advantage of their wisdom and experience. |
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Early
Retirement - Not Good for Your Mind!
Really?
Billy and Akaisha Kaderli

Billy and Akaisha bicycling on the
beaches of Belize
Recently we read an article by Kriston Wong titled,
Why Early Retirement Isn't as Awesome as it Sounds - The Relationship
between Retirement and Cognitive Decline.
These types of articles
are fascinating to us because of the perspectives they present and the fact
that we retired at the age of 38. (Have we been losing our minds for the
last 32 years?)
In this particular piece,
the study quoted cited evidence correlating retirement with mental decline,
calling it mental retirement. The report from the Health and Retirement
study suggests that it may hit harder for younger retirees.
Brian, from
Done by Forty
suggests: “The very prospect of an early retirement itself may sap the
worker’s motivation. Why take on difficult projects and learn new skills if
you are fifty, but are leaving the workforce in five years?”
And finally, Ms. Wong
surmises: The solution seems to be less about working through retirement and
more about making sure you’re exposed to stimulating activities when you
retire.
Bingo!
To address these
comments, we would like to say that it is our opinion that withdrawing
mentally or not participating actively with life is reflective of you as a
person. People do that whether they are retired or
still working, and we also understand that some people really
dislike their jobs.
If we worked in a factory
or other repetitive job that did not supply much brain stimulation or
challenge, we too,
might not feel motivated to do more than the minimum required.
Refusing to take on
“difficult projects and learn new skills" because you plan to leave your job
in five years (and counting the days while doing so), is a personal decision, a style of
interacting with life. This casual, laid back attitude would then be carried
into early retirement with you.

Akaisha boogie boarding in Phuket,
Thailand
A different point of view
We have taken the stance that becoming
financially independent is one of the
best things you can do for yourself – and for the world.
Not being
financially dependent on a paycheck to maintain your
lifestyle, you now have the freedom and the ability to give back to your
community, learn anything you might choose, travel,
volunteer, mentor,
invent a humanity-supporting product, rescue animals, play music for the
elderly in assisted living homes, teach English as a Second Language for
free, help provide clean drinking water to villages around the world, meet
people outside your normal social circle, grab hold of all sorts of new
opportunities - literally hundreds and hundreds of things that are
beneficial to yourself and the global community.
We believe these activities
would be mind-grabbing and prove to be interesting.
Why not create a
life of
meaning in your retirement and go from
satisfaction
to satisfaction? Since we retired we have
accomplished numerous of the above mentioned activities, something we never
could have achieved had we continued working in our stressful careers.
We say “get busy living
or get busy dying.”
In
our books we have
recommended that before you unplug from your job, that you make a list of
all the things that you might want to accomplish during your financial
independence time. This gives you something to look forward to, not just
something that you are escaping from. And that makes all the difference.

Billy and Akaisha horseback riding in
the Ecuadorian Andes Mountains It’s how you frame it
Take a look at some of
the suggestions below. If all you have on your calendar is TV reruns or ball
games on TV - season to season to season - you might find yourself getting
bored quickly. What if you decided any of the following?
Volunteer at the animal
shelter (hospice, children’s hospital, food bank, community college).
Learn Chinese (physics,
how to play the saxophone, how to cook French cuisine).
Organize a sailing trip
across the Pacific (a motorcycle trip across Canada and the US, an RV trip
to every National Park in our country).
Plan to
house
sit all
over Europe and write a book (start a blog, take amazing photos, leave an
artistic journal legacy for your grandchildren).
Doesn’t this sound a lot
more energetic and life-affirming?
What if you had unlimited
amounts of time to spend as you wish? How would you fill it?
This is the list you
refer to when your mind becomes shaky about the life-changing decision you
are making. THESE are your reasons.
In our
travels and three
decades of financial independence we have found a common response from other
retirees. “I wished I would have done it sooner” is a constant among many as
well as “I do not know how I had time to work, I am so busy”
Even here in
Guatemala
trying to arrange a lunch date or sunset dinner with other expats needs
advance notice. Everyone’s schedule is full with volunteering, personal
creative projects, teaching or learning Spanish and just plain living.
If you want stimulus,
travel! Not on a cruise or tour, but on your own. Pick out a couple of
destinations and go. Learning about how to get there, choosing hotels in
which to stay and activities to see will keep you busy, not to mention the
language barriers if you travel abroad. Then when you meet other travelers
in cafés or restaurants, they will tell you about a nearby town that you
simply must see and off you go.
Believe us, this will keep you sharp.

Billy on outrigger in Boracy,
Phillipines Own your life
We believe in you.
We want YOU to believe in
you, too.
We encourage you to own
your life and live it with fulfillment.
Back in the “old days”
retirement was a word that turned people off because it represented
uselessness, disconnection from others and a lack of involvement with life
and activities. Basically, the end of the road.
This is not your Father’s
retirement
Which is why we state
that our retirement is like your parents; only waaay cooler!
Use the words financial
independent instead, it will make you feel more alive. Be delighted. Be
creative. Feel solid in your choice and thrive. You have not decided to
disconnect from life and "do
nothing." You are now on a new life adventure;
something that is interactive, alive, captivating and gratifying in a
different way than your career was.
Thus we named our first
book, The
Adventurer's Guide to Early Retirement.
Life IS an adventure.
Live it!
What's Your Number? - How much money do you need to retire?

About the Authors



Retire
Early Lifestyle appeals to a different
kind of person – the person who prizes their
independence, values their time, and who doesn’t
want to mindlessly follow the crowd.
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