Karsten Jeske: Cracking the Code on Retirement Spending Rates

<p>Our guest on the podcast today is Karsten Jeske, the founder of the website EarlyRetirementNow and a thoughtful and technically proficient member of the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) community. In 2018, Karsten retired in his early 40s, after a career in the financial world. He served as Director of Asset Allocation Research for Mellon Capital Management from 2008 through 2018, and before that, was a research economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta for a decade. Karsten has his PhD in economics from the University of Minnesota and has taught undergraduate and PhD-level economics at Emory University. He's also a chartered financial analyst.</p><p></p></p><p><p><strong>Background</strong></p></p><p><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/karsten-jeske-6396a04/" target="_blank">Karsten Jeske Bio</a></p></p><p><p><a href="https://earlyretirementnow.com/" target="_blank">Early Retirement Now</a></p></p><p><p><a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/financial-independence-retire-early-fire.asp#:~:text=Financial%20Independence%2C%20Retire%20Early%20%28FIRE%29%20is%20a%20financial,and%20live%20off%20small%20withdrawals%20from%20accumulated%20funds." target="_blank">FIRE Definition</a></p></p><p><p><strong>The Pandemic’s Impact on the FIRE Movement</strong></p></p><p><p>“<a href="https://earlyretirementnow.com/2020/08/25/the-shortest-recession-ever-my-thoughts-on-the-state-of-the-economy/" target="_blank">The Shortest Recession Ever? My Thoughts on the State of the Economy</a>,” by Karsten Jenke, EarlyRetirementNow.com, Aug. 25, 2020.</p></p><p><p>“<a href="https://www.morningstar.com/articles/986950/tanja-hester-the-pandemic-will-stoke-interest-in-early-retirement" target="_blank">Tanja Hester: The Pandemic Will Stoke Interest in Early Retirement</a>,” by Christine Benz and Jeffrey Ptak, The Long View, June 3, 2020. </p></p><p><p>“<a href="https://www.morningstar.com/articles/998954/the-coronavirus-pandemic-and-retirement-security" target="_blank">The Coronavirus Pandemic and Retirement Sec