Work Optional
The Non-Penny-Pinching Guide to Retiring Early
Ratings10
Average rating4.2
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 customized plan for freedom and make it easy to succeed, whether you're good at math and budgeting-or not! Work Optional is more than just a financial plan: it's a plan for your whole life-designed by you, not by an employer or clients. Tanja walks you through envisioning your dream life, accounting for variables such as health care and children, protecting yourself from recessions and future unknowns, and achieving a purpose-filled early retirement, semi-retirement, or career intermission with completely doable, non-penny-pinching steps. You can live a happier, more meaningful life, free from the daily grind. Regardless of where you are in your career, Work Optional will get you there.
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Bit of an odd book to read during the midst of a pandemic and ensuing economic crisis, but a good reminder of how we might approach finances differently.
I've read FI blogs and books for awhile and this was a decent nuts & bolts overview. I felt that the second half was more useful and interesting as Tanja offers specific advice on increasing income, decreasing spending, taxes, and optimizing investment. Chapters 8 & 9 were the most valuable to me.
This isn't a finance book or a memoir. Having read Tanja's blog for the last few years, I couldn't wait to see what she'd focus on. The result? A guidebook for how to retire early by following your own path. This one challenges you with questions, activities and thought provoking questions that help determine what could be your idealistic future. Much of the financial side may be old-hat if you read blogs or books in the FIRE community, but it's sprinkled with facts and data to help highlight the pitfalls common to lifestyle change. As someone who recently left their job, much of the vision casting and future focused questions were useful for reflecting on what I really want to do next, while getting another persons take on their first year after working.
