← Explore posts shelves

Posts

Explore turning points, everyday joys and unexpected challenges after financial independence or retirement, with the date and original source for each account.

Age
Wealth
Years
Posts
21–30 of 44 posts

The open road gave way to a quiet home—and firmer boundaries.

Sep 2021

Life at the time

  • Settled into an 800-square-foot desert home, with dog walks and morning writing.
  • Put computers away at 4 p.m. to protect shared time.

How it felt

  • Had come to appreciate the quiet and solitude. “We’ve come to appreciate the solitude.”
  • Liked leaving afternoons open instead of filling the whole day with commitments. “The afternoon is a free-for-all.”

The adventures changed as his body did. He kept finding another project.

Aug 2021 · Year 10

Life at the time

  • Stepped back from regular blogging to protect time for sleep, exercise and the outdoors.
  • Used forearm crutches to extend hikes and work toward the Colorado Trail.

How it felt

  • Recognized changes in his strength and the need to adapt. “I’m not as strong, though I’m also wiser about living.”
  • Still treasured the extra decade of freedom retirement had provided. “I treasure the extra 10+ years of freedom”

Family freedom survives, but side businesses grow too large

Jun 2021

Life at the time

  • Afternoons included bike rides, hikes and golf with his children.
  • Morning journaling helped him develop a writing habit.

How it felt

  • He did not miss the title or corporate demands. “I don’t miss the title.”
  • Family conflict and money decisions still caused stress alongside greater happiness. “I wouldn’t change it for the world”

A trial retirement became permanent when family time won.

Mar 2021Journal shared in 2022

Life at the time

  • He turned down one consulting offer while considering another.
  • A family holiday was free of his usual work calls.

How it felt

  • He did not miss the job itself. “Don’t miss work at all”
  • Explaining his new status to friends felt awkward. “a weird dynamic”

He kept accepting offers. Real retirement began when he started declining them.

Oct 2020 · Year 6

Life at the time

  • Exercise, home projects and managing family finances gave days shape.
  • He tried volunteering and stopped a teaching role that did not suit him.

How it felt

  • Turning down assignments restored control. “enough is enough”
  • Drawing from savings felt unsettling despite substantial resources. “unsettling mentally”

A home routine built around health, learning and people

Jul 2020Interview snapshot · published 2020-11

Life at the time

  • The Financial Freedom Countdown author described a retirement routine of the gym, home cooking, naps, inspiring projects, social time and reading.

How it felt

  • He had traded higher earnings and visible assignments for more control of his time before fully retiring. “This is my current routine when I am at home and not traveling.”

He protected the weekends—and discovered he wanted to protect the weekdays too.

Jun 2020 · Year 0.5

Life at the time

  • He kept chores on weekdays so weekends remained special.
  • Consulting, coaching and teaching plans met the disruption of COVID-19.

How it felt

  • Even appealing assignments competed with his new freedom. “I was hooked on it”
  • He missed colleagues occasionally but felt no regret about leaving. “never had any second thoughts”

She quit her career. Years later, she quit performing retirement.

Dec 2019 · Year 2

Life at the time

  • Finished book promotion and limited scheduled commitments.
  • Protected leisurely mornings while keeping creative and service ambitions.

How it felt

  • Valued empty time but felt frustrated when desired projects barely moved. “Protecting my retired time feels paramount, but that has trade-offs”
  • Was firm about keeping mornings free from pressure to accomplish things. “I refuse to accomplish anything in the morning”

He protected the weekends—and discovered he wanted to protect the weekdays too.

Oct 2019Recalled in 2020

Life at the time

  • House projects and motorcycling filled the first three months.
  • He spent weekdays at home after years of commuting across states.

How it felt

  • The transition felt unusually smooth. “seamless”
  • He barely thought about his old job. “My newfound freedom”

The world tour ended. Teaching gave the quieter life another dimension.

Jul 2019 · Year 1

Life at the time

  • Spent long stretches traveling with his family.
  • Kept limits on blogging so it would not overtake family time.

How it felt

  • Found the strongest reward in being together. “We are happiest when we’re together”
  • Wanted publishing to remain secondary to the retirement it documented. “I won’t let my blog interfere with my early retirement (yet)”

Privacy & analytics

AfterFire uses Google Analytics only if you accept. It helps us understand visits, referral sources, pages and chapters people open, filter use, and clicks to original sources.

After acceptance, Google receives page titles and addresses without query strings, content and chapter IDs, filter names (not selected values or search terms), campaign source/medium/name tags from shared links, original-source domains, referring sites, approximate location and browser/device information. Analytics cookies distinguish browsers and visits. Campaign labels are stored in this tab only after acceptance and expire after 30 minutes without activity. We do not enable advertising personalization or Google Signals, or send your name, email address or account identifier to Analytics.

Declining sends no Analytics data to Google. Accepting starts with the page currently open; we do not replay earlier browsing. Withdrawing consent stops tracking, clears this site's Analytics cookies and reloads the page. It does not delete measurements already received by Google.

We remember your choice on this browser for up to six months. Detailed Analytics data is retained for up to 14 months; aggregated reports can remain longer. Site hosting still processes requests needed to serve these pages.

Read Google's privacy policy and how Google uses information from sites.