Why am I passionate about this?
I am a veteran semi-retired Canadian financial journalist who has long made a distinction between the terms “Retirement” and “Financial Independence.” I recently turned 70 and have been financially independent since my early 60s BUT I am not yet retired. I coined the term Findependence in my financial novel Findependence Day, and since 2014 have been running the Financial Independence Hub blog, with new blogs every business day.
Jonathan's book list on financial independence and retirement
Why did Jonathan love this book?
I’ve always like the phrase “Work Optional” to describe the state of being financially independent enough that you don’t have to work for money anymore, but nevertheless choose to for reasons like having a purpose, or structure.
Work Optional is also the title of another fine American book on Financial Independence, bearing the subtitle Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way. The author is an American woman, Tanja Hester, who “retired” early at age 38, along with her husband Mark, who was then 41. I put the word “retired” in quotes because, as is usually the case with advocates of the so-called FIRE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early), Hester didn’t actually retire to do nothing.
Generally, I find that when FIRE proponents say they “retired” at 30 or 40, what they really mean is they quit working as salaried employees for a corporation, to launch what amounts to an encore career built…
1 author picked Work Optional as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
A practical action guide for financial independence and early retirement from the popular Our Next Life blogger.
In today's work culture, we're expected to hustle around the clock. But what if you could escape the traditional path and get on one that doesn't require working full-time until age 65? What if you could wake up every day without an alarm clock and do the things you love most?
Tanja Hester and her husband Mark left their crazed careerist lifestyle to live their dream life in Lake Tahoe, retiring early from high-stress careers. Now Tanja will help you map out a…