The Shockingly Simple Math Behind Social Security In the world of very early retirement, we tend to ignore one of the most important things for normal retirees: the Social Security program. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great thing for the 73 million people who currently draw benefits, and it provides an essential safety net for many who don’t have much income from anywhere else. But for those of us leaving the workplace in our 30 and 40s, Social Security is just a fuzzy concept in the very...
6 months ago • 10 min read
My Unexpected Journey to Hormone Replacement (TRT) – Two quick notes: 1) My apologies if you get two copies of this email. My email provider account had some key settings wrong so only 20% of people were able to see the recent newsletters. This has now been fixed! 2) The article has already become quite controversial. To be clear, I am *not* getting paid to write it in any form. In fact, publishing it will probably cost me a fair amount in lost subscribers, but it's still worth it to me to...
10 months ago • 12 min read
My Unexpected Journey to Hormone Replacement (TRT) – As a man of Science, I’m supposed to hide my enthusiasm about this somewhat controversial subject, and instead direct you only to the peer-reviewed studies. But man, I feel like I’ve stumbled upon the fountain of youth here. And the more I dig into the details and the hype and controversy surrounding the field of Hormone Replacement therapy, the more I need to share the word about it to my fellow middle-aged people (both men and women). But...
10 months ago • 11 min read
How Unlimited Free Stuff from Amazon Almost Ruined My Retirement It all started last winter when I innocently posted a review for a heated vest I had bought on Amazon. I was happy with this fun new way to beat the winter and wanted to share it with others, so I gave it five stars. But soon after I clicked “Submit”, I got an email from Amazon which said something like, “Congratulations! You’ve been selected to join Amazon Vine for writing helpful reviews!” I was already aware of the basic idea...
12 months ago • 9 min read
How to Navigate the Tariff Circus – Quite accidentally, it looks like we timed our last talk about the stock market pretty darned well. Back in February 2025, the market put the perfect cap on a multi year climb before stepping onto the wild roller coaster we’re currently riding. Since then it has seen some of the steepest drops and recoveries in history, losing a full 20% of its value at the bottom while somehow managing to end up right back near the peak as I’m writing this. And although...
over 1 year ago • 12 min read
Wow, Have You Seen the Stock Market Lately? – And by lately, I mean the past several years or more. The value of the S&P 500 index of stocks, where most of us hopefully have a good chunk of our retirement savings stashed into index funds, is up about fifty seven percent in just the past two years. And it has more than doubled in the past five. S&P returns (including dividends) since 2019, graph by the excellent portfolio visualizer website. This means that on a net worth basis, if you felt...
over 1 year ago • 11 min read
Retired Man Tries to Spend More Money, Mostly Fails – A couple of years ago, Mr. Money Mustache lost some credibility among the faithful when he wrote this blog post about actually trying to spend a bit more money, while buying a Tesla as the first step in that program. “Look at me!”, I thought to myself at the time, “I’m such an enlightened middle-aged Badass, adjusting habits and realigning myself at the snap of my fingers. Onward to the next forty eight years of the Good Life!” So, two...
over 1 year ago • 6 min read
Six Dumb Misconceptions About The Economy (that the Politicians Want You To Believe) Well, it looks like we’re here in another US election year already. As Advanced Mustachians, we already know that the ongoing battle of Harris vs. Trump should not be consuming much of our time. Sure, we do our research and cast our votes but after that we move right on to focus on other things within our own circle of control. But out of all the things the politicians like to bicker about, there’s one area...
almost 2 years ago • 7 min read
The Ultimate Life Coach – Almost nineteen years into early retirement now, I’ve come to realize that the complete freedom of this lifestyle can be a double-edged sword. You’ve already heard me raving plenty about the upside: having the freedom to raise a son from the day he was born to beyond his eighteenth birthday with no compromises. And then to put thousands of hours into everything else I value as well: family, health, friends, adventures, building stuff, and even writing the occasional...
over 2 years ago • 8 min read
