Author Archives: Kevin

FIRE.177 Whatever, Whenever, or Never

If you are lucky enough to live full-time, free time as I talked about in my last post/thought, how do you organize your time? Or do you even need to manage your time?

There’s a lot of discussion in my $lackers group about purpose and passion. Over the years we pretty much decided that as a group we don’t have, or require, an overwhelming sense of purpose required in our daily lives. We have been successful. Some of us have been very successful. We had been hard workers, smart workers, hard drivers, smart planners, and deserve the option(s) of doing whatever, whenever, or never.

JD Roth had a saying “What takes two hours to do, can take 2 WEEKS in retirement.” He’s 100% correct if we do not have a deadline and it’s something we aren’t thrilled about doing.

Here’s a strange trait I’ve noticed in myself. When my wife is away on a trip, or even out of the house for many hours on a given day, I tend to get a LOT more things done around the house.

When I’m alone at home I just start knocking things off my Don’t Forget list. Sometimes I crack up the receiver and shake the house. Sometimes I listen to podcasts with an earbud or bluetooth speaker. It’s the strangest thing, that I get more done when Kathy’s not around. Maybe it’s because I was an only child and did things on my own. Maybe it’s because I’m not the greatest teammate? It’s strange to me, why.

But back to the act of doing.

I think a lot about Structure. Do you prefer structure in your days? Kathy always has structure and a calendar all lined up. She thrives on the schedule. I don’t want to even get into what happens if I suggest changing our pizza lunch to tacos!

I, on the other hand, am TOTALLY independent. I hate structure and schedules, and appointments. I want to do what I want when I want. I’ve always been that way. Give me the task, and the due date and I will get it done. Sometimes early, sometimes on time. I’m not usually late in my delivery.

I talked about my work life in the past and how I crafted jobs to meet my desired schedule. I don’t know how it worked out all the time, but I believe it had to do with delivering for my boss, on time, and with good quality.

I still to this day, even with typing these thoughts in this post, I shift everything around on my Google calendar ALL THE TIME. I am full-on Schetchle driven. There are multiple things on this week’s schetchle that have a ? or ?? at the end. Drives Kathy CRAZY.

I think my schetchle is in many ways is my Don’t Forget grid more than anything else.

When you hear a retiree say “I did THREE things today.” Man, let me tell you that’s a success for most. Here’s what just hit me as even funnier. That same person will probably say “I’m so busy being retired, I don’t know how I found time to do anything when I worked.” Well, which is it? Too busy, or is three things the benchmark for crushing it on any given day?

I’ll just drop the mic there!

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice. I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be. You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice. This post is not a piece of literary mastery, just a random thought I had.

FIRE.176 Full Time Free Time

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The concept of Full Time Free Time flew out of my mouth on a Zoom the other day. I thought, yep, that’s how I roll. I think it sums up what my LifeInFIRE is all about. I’m aware that others may get different results.

Free time can be used for anything. You can do nothing or attempt to do everything—that you want.

I will share two moments of my day and how my brain signals are activating.

Morning wake up. When I wake up I usually check my morning heart rate and heart rate variability. These two numbers then feed into my sleep metrics for my apple watch and Oura ring. I then review my sleep stats to see if I did fine. Usually, my sleep is in the 85-95% range of each tool. That’s pretty good for a Type A minus personality…a 91% student.

I then pull in my new podcasts and check my gmails for anything interesting.

I usually spend 5-10 minutes just thinking about my life, my day, and whatever I think in my head and kind of get into a full-on gratitude state. “Find The Positive” is something I work on…once in a while. This is the part of the day where full-time, free time is felt in my core being.

One thing I never do anymore is cancel my workout if I feel tired. I used to do that a long time ago and often found out that once I was up and moving around I felt fine and could do my planned workout.

Did I mention that the timing of this process, opening my eyes through getting out of bed, happens whenever I want?. I then do my morning commute and then sit by the pool and read for a while, while listening to cars drive down my street headed for work.

At some point after this, I do some of the things I want to do that morning. These are rarely planned ahead of time,

Falling asleep at night.

When I go to bed at night—which can be at any time I want because the morning comes when I wish—most of the time I lay there and think about tomorrow’s freedom. Then I think about today’s freedom and try and the greatness of this previous day. Often, I lay there and think “If I could do anything, what would it be?”

When I think about the fact that I start and end my day by thinking about my amazing—yet simple—life, It makes things even better.

So back to my evening question of “If I could do anything…” When I stop and think about this question, am I asking: am I able to do what I dream, or am I dreaming? In other words, am I trying to plan for the future or am I relishing the present?

I’m not going to waste your time with my philosophical answer, other than, I wish it to be the former.

HOW?

Those reading this who’ve saved up for decades know this is not bragging. Those who’ve lived below your income and enjoyed life—with no or little deprivation—probably face this dilemma as well. It is the can I/should I do/buy ABC thing.

Let’s talk about ability. If you saved and deferred your gratification on spending, then you essentially have deferred spending accounts. Mike Piper’s book on Enough basically states, your money has two options, 1) you spend it or 2) you give it away somehow.

It is very clear: you cannot take your money with you after your heart stops beating. It may be a really good idea to plan for its use (all, most, some, a little, contingency) ASAP.

What is the point of money? Money is for transactions. That can be traded for ABC, paid in taxes, for others to use for ABC, etc. Who do you want to determine what transactions your earned money is used for?

I suggest the most valuable commodity is (healthy) time. For the past 9-years (actually 30 yrs of income) I have chosen to balance my money with my time. In our current state, we (seem to) have enough money set aside to own all of our time, therefore, we are full-time, free-time.

Repetition?

I know many of the thoughts above have been shared in my blog thoughts before, but the fact that I’m consciously still thinking about this topic almost 9-years into FIRE seems like this is a prevalent theme in my current existence.

I thought the term existential was a crisis of being or not-being after death. How important one is to the world during and after life. I thought I had no concerns about my personal existentialism, as when I’m gone, I’m gone-dust and floating energy. But the Google tells me existentialism is more about ones now and how someone interprets or handles their now. At least that’s what I’m taking from the three “open link in new tab” actions I took when “learning” the definition of existential. Hmmm, interesting. (side note: I’m always learning. I’m a learner. I find this practice fully enveloping)

So if Oxford says “the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will” is the definition, then wow, full-time, free-time might just be a huge foundational piece of my existence.

Should your time be required to be productive? Should to always be bettering something? Can someone’s self-worth be acceptably linked to their own internal desires with no outside pressure of consequence from some social police? I believe if you are enjoying life, the odds are that your great attitude will flow to others at the very least.

How do you think about your resources and time?

FIRE.175 Accidental Job 3

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Last post I wrote about two of my cool accidental jobs. In this post, I’ll share my coolest accidental job.

Relevance

I read a LOT of articles about money and retirement. I also think a lot. For instance, as I typed the previous sentences I realized that the word “read” could be current or past tense. I find that an interesting concept of language complexity because I used to (past tense) read a lot more than I do now. I do still read (current tense) but often so much of the information in articles/posts seems to be the same 7 topics rehashed over and over and over. Or worse, the articles are too basic (or incorrect in my opinion or state of life) for me to use my time precious time on.

I frequently searched podcast titles for “retirement” or “money” or “financial” to see if there were new shows I wanted to check out. In 2014 I found the Retirement Answer Man. At that time, I was just transitioning/graduating from my work career and thought it was a great show for my phase of life.

Supporting

Somewhere along the way I talked with Roger Whitney and did an episode about preparing for and being in retirement. A couple of years later I signed up for Roger’s 4-week group session to create a retirement plan using his professional structure.

I did both of the above activities because I wanted to help Roger—in my small way—because he was helping all of us with our retirement journey.

In the fall of 2018, Roger created a vision for a paid membership club for people wanting to Rock Retirement. The Rock Retirement Club started with a small group of Alpha (test) members, approximately 30 of us, to test everything out and see how the communication would work.

Again, I signed up to give back to Roger and support his vision.

In the spring of 2019, Roger was in town and I met him and we talked about the club for an hour or so. Some of our discussion was on functionality, but some was on my status of already being in retirement, vs leading up to career graduation.

Suggestions…then ownership

I suggested we expand his Zoom meetup offerings/teaching to have a member-led discussion where members could ask their questions and share their thoughts/ideas/experiences on topics. I said it could be similar to us “meeting in a coffee shop and talking.” I was thinking of a members-to-member activity.

Roger said my idea sounded good and told me to start it up for the members. So in March, we had our first “Coffee with Kevin” meetup where everyone could share what they were thinking about.

As of this writing, we’ve had 52 sessions. The club has grown to almost 1200 members (amazing, wise, helpful, exciting people). We have a growing international presence. I improved and shifted to many evening meetings titled “Cocktails with Kevin.” (note: strangely, I don’t drink coffee or cocktails)

Over the past few years of helping with the club meetings, I’ve been able to become an official “RRC Coach” leading, motivating, bringing people with similar interests together, and working on Special Operations projects when applicable. I spend a couple of hours on Saturdays helping the club and its members. It doesn’t sound like much time, but to me, every day is Saturday. This why having a schetchle is so important.

Self Improvement

So much of the above writing contains an ongoing process of self-improvement. It’s not always intentional but it seems to be a common thread.

Because I have interests and a passion for Retirement Planning, I earned my Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor CRPC certificate. I chose the formal CRPC program because it’s the retirement subset (1/3) of the CFP, the gold standard in financial planning.

This certificate is a way to give respect to RRC members and others I share my retirement thoughts with.

Playcheck

Mark Ross, the Kind Provocateur coach in the club who asks amazing questions often says there are three types of work 1) work for a fee 2) work from free and 3) work for me. In a way, I do all three, all the time.

I do earn a small salary in my RRC role as a thank you. I dedicate that as my “playcheck” and require myself to track and spend that money on specific categories. I often consider my playcheck for things I would not normally purchase except that I require myself to spend that unplanned money above and beyond my normal fun spending. (This is all different than a “fun bucket” and/or “MoJo” spending).

In actuality, I don’t spend that much each month on stuff, maybe a few hundred dollars, but to me, it’s like being free to say “yes” with only a little analysis before spending.

Valuable

I write this post for a few reasons. Often our skills—in early Retirement or not—are desirable enough that employers and others would love to have your efforts assisting their vision. For many who FIRE, employers can tell, see, and feel your strengths and success. This may give you more opportunities to keep yourself (extra) busy or require you to build us your “no” skill.

I’ve had a lifetime of working in a manner that I structured to meet my desires from the smallest organizations to a Fortune 50 company. I don’t know how that is, but I believe it was because I delivered for my leadership so they could meet their goals…while always focusing on servicing my customers.

Last thought: I don’t think the word “toxic” appears in my vocabulary. I’ve always found the good in things even though I do maintain cautious pessimism just to be careful. It could be my risk aversion yet successful striving.

FIRE.174 LifeBeforeFIRE

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Somewhere along the way, I remember hearing and reading about a FI blogger posting all their jobs. Their dozens and dozens of jobs.

I started to do that somewhere (computer people/spreadsheet geeks have files for everything, all over the place) but I don’t remember where it’s all located. Maybe in Google Keep now?

I was thinking about the phase of Life BEFORE FIRE.

Accidental Job 1

When I was 12 I accidentally ended up being a Little League umpire. My birthday was in July so I turned 13 before the deadline and wasn’t allowed to play little league because you had to be 12 until Aug 1st.

I was at a game with my friends and they were an umpire short. I said I know the rules and I got to ump on the bases. I did 2 games that night and made $10 each. I kept umping two games Mon, Wed, and Fri nights all summer. I made $15 for one game per night behind the plate. $75/wk for a 12-year-old in 1982 was excellent, especially when you had to be 16 to ump. I ended up doing that for 4 summers making thousands of dollars. Ironically, I didn’t ump the summer I turned 16 and was officially allowed to. The point, I earned money hanging out with friends.

Next Job

I worked at the University on the ground crew (mowing or shoveling snow) and was able to get a slot driving the shuttle bus around campus for 20-minute loops. The shuttle bus was easy and paid well enough but it was very stressful driving on hills during fall & spring, thaw/freeze seasons. There were OK jobs, but not my favorite year of working.

Accidental Job 2- University Faculty

I then worked in the computer labs, then as a computer tech, then computer faculty. This was great work during school. I learned so much about technology. I learned how to help people use technology. I learned how to troubleshoot technology. I learned how to teach technology. I even started consulting with people and businesses who passed through the computer program. I never realized until a decade later that I had THREE simultaneous part-time jobs while going to college.

Advantageous Job

Here’s a cool job I finagled. I worked at the new arena and picked the parking lot duty. I would park cars, then go inside the back door (backstage) and watch the concert from the side of the stage. I was only able to do this a couple of times because there weren’t many concerts in Fairbanks AK. The coolest part (and saddest) was I went “to work” early and sat on the side of the stage when Stevie Ray Vaughan was doing his sound check (which I just walked into because ‘I worked there’). As a guitar player in college, that was so cool. After he was done, he walked to the side of the stage and opened his guitar case that was on the bench next to me to put his guitar away. I was just sitting there a foot away from Stevie Ray Vaughan. In normal Kevin mode, I just said “hi.” It turned out to be a sad memory as exactly one month later he passed away on the helicopter in Wisconsin.

Fine-Tuning My Jobs

I’ve often crafted great roles within my jobs. I seem to get into a role, then optimize the position in a great way. I did that in my 6-year university career and again in my 18-year corporate career working 9-9s with my team, then shifting to a self-created work-from-home for 7+ years before it was in style. Maybe it’s similar to my life and how I’m happy wherever I’m at. I just make it a good place.

I should note that I did not work during high school. I was told that “school was my job” and just concentrate on school because it would be more important than some crappy part-time job. My parents were fine with my summer umping job but were not happy when I got my grounds crew job at 19. They were OK with my technology jobs, which was a good thing because those morphed right into my career, much more so than my business degrees.

Interests/Lifestyle

Back to Life Before FIRE. I seemed to have four main interests growing up and into adulthood–Sports, Music, Technology, and Travel. I did those consistently from ages 12-15-19 through now.

The very interesting part of FIRE is that I still do those exact four activities constantly. I did add a health/fitness (sport) interest into my routine.

I often read that retirement may be similar to childhood summer vacation that doesn’t end after a few months. The articles say you can pick up some of the hobbies/interests you had as a kid. My wife has her muscle car and flute interests active again. I seemed to stick with my interests all along, throughout my life. This could be because we are child-free and never had to change our activities to revolve around children. So, it could also be thought that I’m still plodding along the same/similar path as I was as a youth. Just older, a lot older.

Along the way, I somehow managed to lose 140+ pounds in 2 years and kept it off for 20+ years. We built a small-home life in the Phoenix desert, the AZ mountains, and an Encinitas beach community. We’ve supported each other’s interests. We’ve assisted each other’s families. We did all of this before and during FIRE.

I guess our FIRE lives are similar to, but enhanced work-free, versions of our BeforeFIRE lives. When I think about this, I realize that is probably very, very different from those who have children and become empty-nesters. We’ve had multiple small nests to ourselves our whole lives together.

It’s amazing how everyone is so different.

FIRE.173 Best Purchase

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I’ve written about the good things in FIRE, the good things in life, and many positive thoughts.

Today I was thinking about my wife’s Peloton bike we purchased in Nov 2022.

Quickly; my wife has been spinning 3 times per week since 2007ish. Ten years ago they were getting new bikes so she purchased one of their old and ridden very hard bikes for $200 just so we had a bike at home for “extra” rides. We took this Rusty bike to our mountain home for a few years which was perfect for when she was away from her spinning studio. That bike came back to Phoenix in the mid-20teens.

When covid hit her spinning studio closed down. It closed down within a couple of weeks. That made sense because fewer people (ladies) were riding there each year. See, it was a dark, hard-ass, drop-saddle riding style and very basic environment. Just hardcore spinning. I think many of the ladies either found it too hard or moved on to the new glitzy studios.

Peloton was awesome by giving free access for 90 DAYS to their online app for people locked down (or just wanting to exercise more/differently). Kathy used Rusty for a few months and then we bought a commercial-grade (hotel gym) level bike for $600+. That was a great improvement. It came in a few weeks because people were buying cheap bikes or waiting for months for Peloton bikes close to $2000+$40/mo subscription.

I noticed in the fall of 2022 that Kathy seemed to have no intention of going back to a spinning studio. We were on a trip and she rode a Peloton at the hotel using her ipad on the handlebars and really liked “the ride.”

I asked her about getting a Peloton bike and she said she’d love one but she’d want the $45 membership. I said that was fine because her studio was $100/mo + gas, + driving time 40 min round trip at best. She showed me the specials Peloton had in emails $1400 or so with shoes, weights, mat, etc.

We looked on craigslist and facebook marketplace now that it was 2 ½ years into the pandemic and there were dozens of bikes for sale. We messaged a few people and went to look at a version 3 bike that had 37 rides on its software. The lady waited for it during covid and then went back to her (glitzy) spin studio when it re-opened. (AZ reopened quickly). $800 cash, popped it into my truck, and drove 20 miles home.

First, Kathy loves her Peloton. She loves the classes more now that she has the display with the tension and leaderboard. Great Purchase.

Here’s the amazing part for me. I found that *I* LOVE the bike system.

I used to ride the commercial bike when the weather outside was crappy. I ride 25 miles each week, 80 minutes or so around the Phoenix neighborhood (or in Encinitas, along the ocean on the Coast Highway). I’d ride the $600 bike and read books or listen to podcasts. It was a nice workout and I pushed myself somewhat. Actually, more than the road bike allowed because of lights and traffic.

With the Peloton, I get a display system that is dangerous for a data geek like myself. I get time to track intervals, I get a detailed resistance to know when I’m pushing med, med+, hard, or hardddd. If I do a recorded class (never done a live class), or a scenic ride, I get the leaderboard with anyone else doing the ride in real-time as well as the all-time rider stats.

The leaderboard is amazing technology. It knows exactly what minute you are in the ride duration and your output level expended in the ride so far. It then compares you to everyone else’s effort at that same moment from their ride. It allows you to compete with hundreds or thousands of people every second of your ride. FREAKING DANGEROUS.

For some reason, I have the desire to always push for the top 3% of all-time riders I consider that podium level, 3rd place. Once, I hit that lever during the ride, I push for the top 2, then 1.5% (double my 3% goal). Sometimes I get into the 1% all time, but that always burns my quads. Love it!

In addition to those metrics, I did the power zone test ride to get my personalized power zones so I can tell which of the 7 zones I am riding in at any given moment. I also synced my polar HRM so it shows my HR and the 5 HR zones.

It’s like I’m riding in an exercise cockpit with data everywhere.

Oh, and to make the rides even more huge, I put a 43” TV on the wall in front of the bike and Peloton will cast to the TV and mirror the bike’s 22” display on the wall. That’s great if I want to have a book or magazine resting on the 22” monitor. And, the TV is connected to a large soundbar helping give the music some extra oomph/thump. Imagine me riding to a German heavy metal ride. “Und Metallica…”

Beyond the bike, Kathy also does more class types and “challenges:” strength training, yoga, stretch, meditation, etc. She can cast the strength classes to the TV which is easier than using an ipad or roku/fireTV app. When traveling we’ve been able to download classes to our devices for the times we may not have internet. However, this hasn’t been working right lately and I need to look into that. Some days you need a meditation class on your phone to keep your streak alive. Yes, I did get sucked into that streak/challenge stuff.

I also use the iphone app for “outdoor running,” “strength,” and “cardio” for other workout time/logging. “Cardio” is for hockey.

I truly think this may be one of the best purchases we have made. It is definitely, without question, the most surprisingly wonderful purchase I’ve ever made. So many great features for something I/we’ve done for decades. I am even more excited by the fact that this purchase should enhance our health (we both have to force ourselves not to peg our HR in zone 5 which would be a crazy effort).

Oh, one last thing. I love when my 50’s profile crushes riders in their 30’s and 20’s. I don’t know their story and good for them riding, but I’m coming up on you and I’m going to pass you!

I don’t have to win. I just don’t want to lose.

P.s. I don’t own any peloton apparel or gear, but my wife has MANY spinning outfits. I look like a mess on the bike, she looks AMAZING! What an ecosystem they’ve created.

FIRE.172 7 years

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I’m just thinking. Emotional thinking? What am I thinking? Is my time being used (mostly) for what *I* want?

I’ve been typing my random thoughts for SEVEN YEARS now. Seven years is a long time!

College

Seven years is longer than I was in college, and that felt like a very, very long time. I can’t even recall the details of the different classes I took, never mind the information in many of those classes. Actually, I bet I can’t remember half of the classes/titles. Now that I think about that, that’s probably not a great statement. I guess it’s a good thing that my undergrad was only $14k and my MBA about $6k. I made that money back in my career and the opportunities those degrees allowed me to achieve.

Over Post ?

I should get back on track. Why did I recognize the significance of this date? I’m thinking because I’ve spent (used/wasted) a lot of time typing random thoughts onto a black-and-white page. Over 170 random thought postings, and get this, with over 160 MORE thoughts started. My content document shows 333 topics listed. That makes me think 1) I have a lot of thoughts and 2) maybe I should direct that brain power towards something/anything more valuable.

“Valuable?” Is typing one’s thoughts a valuable exercise? Is that valuable for me as the typer? Is that valuable for anyone reading? Is that valuable for the future of the universe? (I’m assuming that these 1’s and 0’s will be in the ether as long as we have electricity, or as long as storage–magnetic, optical, solid state–allows.

Break Time ?

I’m reminded of common terms for seven: 7th inning stretch, 7 –year itch, and I have to wonder if those have any implication to my current state of mind?

Am I wasting my time typing my random thoughts into the interweb? Does it really take that long to post two thoughts per month? Two thoughts out of the hundreds of topic ideas I’ve already started?

Is it the best use of my few hundred dollars per year for hosting? Could I use that money for something better? Use that money for something more enjoyable? Use that money for something more productive?

Am I writing this post because I just keep realizing that I just don’t like commitments or schedules, even those that I self-impose?

Wow, that’s a lot of thinking. I can tell I’m not like my niece who’s pursuing a philosophy degree. I can’t even imagine thinking more than I already do. I should conserve–or should I strengthen–my brain power?

If my posts slow down, it’s because I’ve wised up.

FIRE.171 EconoMe

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I was feeling the dreaded FOMO a couple of months ago when I saw many of my FI friends were going to the 2022 EconoMe conference in Cincinnati in March. The conference was officially on Saturday and Sunday.

I thought I should find a roommate and go. Go, so I could check in with past friends. Go, so I could meet some content creators I wanted to thank. Go, so I could meet some new amazing people. And, also, but last on my list, go, so I could learn some new things.

This was the third year of the conference and you could tell it was finely tuned for a great attendee experience.

1) the session structure was very, very good. There were 20-minute keynote talks on the main stage each morning for 60-80 minutes. After a 2-hour lunch break, there were 2-hour deep dives into very specific topics. Then an hour break followed by a 1-hour time slot for topic breakouts. This was the schedule for both Saturday and Sunday.

2) the speakers were all quite good to excellent. They had passion, knowledge, and plenty of experience. They created information flow and discussions. The attendees had plenty of knowledge to add.

One very important takeaway I often have at any FI event where people are paying to attend; the attendees are knowledgeable and I can learn from every single one. I don’t have to agree with all they say/do, but I always respect their opinions/positions and learn.

Besides the sessions, there were plenty of additional events to attend and hang out and have discussions with anyone/everyone. It’s amazing to walk up to ANY PERSON and just say “where are you on your FI journey” and immediately be in a great conversation with a thoughtful and intelligent person.

We had pre-event activities Friday morning, early and late afternoon, then evening. There were activities Saturday and Sunday evenings. There were late evening “sessions” in the hotel(s) breakfast/lounge areas. Many people were visiting until well after midnight.

I will admit that I wasn’t really as interested in the keynote talks because I wanted to visit and meet people, but I was so very impressed at many of the talks. The perspectives, experiences, and successes (and challenges) were so insightful.

If so many of the attendees weren’t so financially secure to leave their careers they would surely be leading many organizations. But instead, we’re all working to help each other lead our most amazing lives.

Here’s a strange thought. Since this was so interesting, with so many great people, I asked my wife if she wanted to attend next year. There are enough people you’re not confined in a room for hours like a happy hour with a local group, or in the woods all weekend like the amazing CampFI events. At EconoMe you can hang out visit, just listen, or do whatever and nobody will notice. I’d bet a large percentage of the attendees are introverts and feel comfortable because they’re around their people. Have you found your people? That group of like-minded people you can just walk up to and start talking? A group that will open up and let you join right in? EVERYONE let everyone jump right into their circle, every time. That’s special.

I forgot. One thing that was very interesting to me is that I never heard anyone talking about basketball scores. Almost everywhere else I go in March it’s all basketball talk. At Econome, all the talk was about living great lives!!!

FIRE.170 Certified! / Certifiable?

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Am I certifiable? Or am I chartered? Is there a classification for me that’s applicable?

In November I was thinking it would be interesting and fun to sign up for the CRPC Chartered Retirement Professional Counselor program. https://www.kaplanfinancial.com/wealth-management/crpc

Interest/Concern

I know a couple of people who’ve gone through the program, studied for the exam, and earned their designation. They are both extremely intelligent so that caused me some concern about using my brain capacity for such an endeavor.

Price

I checked on the program and found it was pretty spendy ($1350), but I had some playcheck money I was required to spend so I went into frugal mode and contacted the College for Financial Planning to see if they had any discounts or scholarships for “retired people just interesting in learning more, with no intent to become a practicing professional.” It turns out that I was able to get a 10% off scholarship through Wake Forest University ($1215).

Why

I then researched the commitment more thoroughly: 9 modules, 85 questions/3 hours exam, with four months to complete. That sounded like a significant amount of work. Possible, but still, did I want to undertake that for fun?

Important: I reasoned if I learned some good knowledge applicable to our FIRE plan, and/or information that would apply to my mom and/or mother-in-law, then it would be a smart “investment” to learn the material, regardless of the exam/designation.

What

Through research, I found the 9 modules of knowledge:

Then somewhere along that way (near the end of my journey) I found the details of the lessons / modules:

Module	Topics
1	Retirement Planning – An Introduction
1	Retirement Planning Calculations
2	Investment Strategies
2	Asset Allocation Strategies
3	Introduction to Social Security
3	Social Security, Military, and Government Benefits
4	Making IRA Contributions
4	Other Sources of Retirement Income
5	Planning for Healthcare Needs in Retirement
6	Transitioning to Retirement
7	Designing Income Streams
8	Income Tax Strategies for the Retiree
8	Fundamentals of Estate Planning
9	Ethics and the Fiduciary Standard

Process

I passed my final exam about two weeks before my 4-month time limit expired.

I took all 9 quizzes, TWICE. I took the practice exam for 2 hours, and I banged and banged and banged on my HP 10bII calculator. I now understand a LOT about N,xN/YR, I/YR,PV,PMT,P/YR ,FV,Beg,End,Shift Clr All, level payments, inflation-adjusted payments, etc. Though, I do find the questions strangely confusing to this day. Honestly, who’s not going to use internet tools to calculate much of this?

I was just finishing my studying to prepare for the exam in a few minutes when I received a call from the university to remind me that I had 2 weeks left to complete my program. Strange how it was minutes before my exam.

So now that I decided to take the exam, and pass it. Now that I have read hundreds and hundreds of pages, listened to the worst video professor I have ever encountered, listened to the modules on a text-to-speech app, and contemplated what I went through, I can honestly say that learning finance concepts for the past 40 years, researching and building our plan in great detail since 2005, absolutely prepared me to know approximately 70% of the information in the course before I began.

There were items that I had a cursory understanding of military pensions, Federal government pensions, Annuities, the “other” retirement/deferred account types, the details of phase-outs, and active plan participation. It was “interesting” to learn those details.

Overly Detailed Exam Intricacies

The test questions that seemed ridiculous were “2015 white house report…” the “details of a RAND study,” SGLI/VGLI, MOC crosswalk, etc, etc. They were clearly designed to dig very deep into the book and hammer students (i.e. professionals).

This was definitely a Master’s level course in information and exam intricacy. I can’t even imagine the pain of a full CFP exam if this was only 1/3 of material subset.

So my thoughts now are, yes, it was “interesting,” but it was NOT “fun.”

I’m too retired for this. WAY too retired for this!!!

But I’m now officially certified.