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From homeless to bartending at Coyote Ugly, today’s guest has gone through it all when it comes to working the service industry. Barbara Sloan is author of “Tipped: The Life Changing Guide to Financial Freedom For Waitresses, Bartenders, Strippers and All Other Service Industry Professionals,” and a personal finance expert. She’s spent two decades working in every imaginable position in the service industry, in addition to owning and running a woman-owned construction company in Manhattan. Now, she […]
Hey Everyone! I’m still here. The Retire by 40 blog is on life support, but I’m committed to posting at least once per month this year. Did you know Retire by 40 will be 16 years old soon? Wow, that’s a long time to be blogging. Interestingly, I was an engineer for 16 years as well. Maybe 16 years is the longest I could keep something going… Anyway, I will continue blogging this year. I don’t know about next year, though. It’ll be tough to keep blogging when it turns into a negative cash flow hobby. Thank you for your support over the years. We wouldn’t have lasted this long without you. Alright, on to the FIRE update. Mrs. RB40 retired from her job last year, and 2026 will be the first full year of FIRE for both of us. We will need to draw down our savings for the first time. I prepared by modifying our asset allocation to be more conservative and padding our accounts with cash (VMFXX.) Our burn rate is pretty low. We should be able to ride out the market volatility for a few years. I will need to figure out a good system to replenish our cash cushion. I also need to figure out if it’s a good idea to do a Roth IRA conversion to help optimize taxes. Financially, Q1 2026 was okay. Our net worth dropped a bit due to the Iran war. Unfortunately, everything is getting more expensive. Trump has been very unsuccessful in controlling the cost of living for regular people. It’s a tough time to retire. Fortunately, we have plenty of cushion so I’m not too worried about the Sequences of Return Risk. We’ll try to keep our lifestyle inflation under control. Our cash flow looks fine so far. 2026 New Year Goals Below is the spreadsheet for my 2026 goals. It’s helpful. Try it out if you can’t keep up with your New Year’s goals. The key is to review the spreadsheet monthly to track your progress. That way, you can see which goals need extra attention and work on them. Financial Goals Sell Rental Condo We purchased this condo in 2011 for my parents to live in. We live in the same complex and thought they could move there. However, it didn’t work out. Instead, my mom moved in with us, and my dad lived in Thailand. It has been a rental ever since. Our tenant moved out at the end of 2025. I fixed the place up and put it up for sale. The condo market in Portland is pretty slow. Portland has a bad reputation since the COVID pandemic. Things are slowly improving, but the condo market is still very slow. Also, the interest rate is over 6%, and the economy is uncertain. We cut the price once and might need to reduce it again to generate more interest. Optimize withdrawal and taxes 2026 is the first full year that Mrs. RB40
The Globe & Mail offers ongoing real-life retirement funding (cash flow plan) scenarios. They also invite a financial planner to offer their opinion. They call the series Financial Facelift. A recent article caught my eye. I thought I would give it a go using a popular free use retirement software that allows DIY retirees and near retirees to run their own plans. The following is a cash flow review from the Globe. I was curious, […]
Planning for healthcare in retirement is difficult because there is no clear answer. You are preparing for something that may never happen, could last a short time, or could become a significant expense later in life. That uncertainty is what makes long-term care difficult to plan for. It is not just about cost, but also timing, duration, and how those expenses interact with the rest of your retirement plan. What Long-Term Care Insurance is Trying to Solve Long-term […]
Years of Corporate “Staffing Crises” and “Emergencies” Finally Ends Here By Early Retirement Earl | [ ACCESSING PROJECT 2028 ARCHIVES… ] ENTRY: ISSUE THREE STATUS: 14 Months into “The Bridge” TIMELINE: 640 Days to Rule of 55 Execution (Jan 1, 2028) Disclaimer: This is my personal journey, not financial, tax, or investment advice. Rules like the Rule of 55 are subject to IRS changes—always verify with current guidelines at irs.gov or a qualified professional. Semi-Retirement […]
For years, the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement has been framed around one big, seductive idea: escaping the daily grind. “Retire from the 9-to-5.” “Retire from the soul-crushing meetings.” “Retire from the boss who doesn’t get it.” It’s easy to see why this “retire from” mindset catches fire. Work can feel exhausting, repetitive, or misaligned with our deeper values. Saving aggressively and investing wisely becomes a heroic battle against the clock—an escape plan from […]
I have suggested that Canadians can most likely count on the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) to be there when they retire. There is no cry to lessen that pension plank, in fact the CPP program is being enhanced by the government of the day. That said, the current form of Old Age Security is facing scrutiny and challenge. OAS is experiencing an ongoing communications “assault”. It appears that certain forces are trying to shape public […]
Long-term care is one of the most consequential and misunderstood risks in retirement. It is not a routine expense that can be forecast with precision, but a potentially large and uncertain liability that may never occur, yet can significantly disrupt a financial plan if it does. Understanding how long-term care works, what triggers it, and how to prepare for it is essential to building a resilient retirement strategy. What is Long-Term Care? Long-term care refers to ongoing assistance with basic daily activities due to physical […]
If you’ve ever thought, “I should probably be doing more for retirement…” but then got overwhelmed five minutes later by the idea of retirement planning—you’re not alone. Investing for retirement can feel confusing, intimidating, and honestly… kind of boring. But the right book can completely change that. It can give you a clear plan, help you avoid […] The post Best Books on Investing for Retirement (That Actually Help You Build Wealth) first appeared on Whitney Hansen […]
Can you retire early if you are a parent and don’t have a six-figure salary? It’s a question the FIRE community gets often. Well, today we’re going to meet a reader who worked as a librarian, has a toddler, and decided to retire early anyway. How did he do it? Let’s find out. Why are you called the Millionaire Librarian? I’ll probably get destroyed online, but I actually created the blog, MillionaireLibrarian.com, a few years […]
My wife loves watching entertainment award shows. She even gets into the lesser-known ones like the SAG (Screen Actors Guild) awards from a few weeks ago. She loves to see “who the stars are wearing.” I know that it’s about fashion designers, but it always sounded a little too Buffalo Bill for me. I’m not big on watching award shows like her. I’ll watch them if I’m in the same room. I liked the SAG […]
I presented Tax Planning for the Five Phases of Retirement at the October 2025 Bogleheads Conference in San Antonio, Texas. Highlights of the presentation include, but are not limited to, the following: Tailored Taxable Roth Conversions (TTRCs) 7:48 The Hidden Roth IRA 13:20 Might Half Your Income Be Tax Free in Retirement? 19:43 7 Ways […]
Over the past 2 years, we’ve helped 100+ churches launch a successful financial class. Naturally, one of the questions I get most often is: “We’re looking at Financial Peace University and True Financial Freedom. What’s the difference? Which one should we use?” And every time someone asks, I give them a relatively similar answer. But […] The post Financial Peace University vs. True Financial Freedom: An Honest Comparison for Church Leaders appeared first on .