Tanja Hester: The Pandemic Will Stoke Interest in Early Retirement

<p>Our guest this week is Tanja Hester, whom <em>The New York Times </em>referred to as the matriarch of the FIRE movement. For the uninitiated, FIRE stands for <em>financial independence/retire early</em>. Tanja is the author of the Our Next Life blog, and she is also author of the book <em>Work Optional: Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way.</em> Tanja and her husband Mark retired in 2017 at the ages of 38 and 41. Her blog is devoted to chronicling their journey and sharing guidance for others who might be considering an early retirement.</p></p><p><p><strong>Background</strong></p></p><p><p><a href="https://ournextlife.com/">Tanja Hester’s blog “Our Next Life”</a> </p></p><p><p><a href="https://ournextlife.com/about/">Tanja Hester’s bio and backstory</a> </p></p><p><p><a href="https://twitter.com/our_nextlife">Tanja Hester’s twitter handle @ournextlife</a> </p></p><p><p><a href="https://tanjahester.com/">Tanja Hester’s author/speaker page</a> </p></p><p><p><a href="https://tanjahester.com/books/">Tanja Hester’s book, “Work Optional: Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way”</a></p></p><p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/07/business/fire-women-retire-early.html">“For These Women, a FIRE That Burns Too Male and Too White” by Charlotte Cowles; The New York Times; June 7, 2019</a>  </p></p><p><p><strong>Early Retirement/Sequence-of-Return Risk </strong></p></p><p><p><a href="https://ournextlife.com/tag/sequence-of-returns-risk/">Tanja Hester’s writings on sequence-of-return risk</a></p></p><p><p><a href="https://earlyretirementnow.com/">Karsten Jaske’s “Early Retirement Now” blog</a> </p></p><p><p><a href="https://ournextlife.com/our-early-retirement-vision/">Tanja Hester’s multi-phase retirement financial plan</a> </p></p><p><p><strong>Savings and Withdrawal Rates</strong></p></p><p><p><a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-now-is-the-time-to-hang-onto-cash-2020-03-04">“You’ve been diligently investing for retirement all these years. Why now is the time to hang onto cash” by Tanja Hester; Mar