In one of my first blog posts, I wrote about the five things everyone needs to plan for before retiring. I focused on big-picture items: money, health insurance, social connections, how you’ll spend time, and identity. But there’s another part of retirement planning that doesn’t get nearly as much attention: the things you need to do just before actually leaving your job. Some of it’s financial. Some of it’s administrative. And some is making sure you don’t leave behind any m

One of the biggest questions in early retirement is simple: How do you pay the bills before you're old enough to collect Social Security and access retirement accounts without penalties? Before retiring, we intentionally built our high-yield savings account (HYSA) to cover roughly five years of living expenses. That cash serves two important purposes. First, it lets us take advantage of capital gains harvesting, a tax-saving strategy I covered in a previous post. Second, it g

Your 401(k) is one of your most powerful tools to escape the rat race and reach financial independence. But like any tool, using it correctly makes a big difference. Even smart savers sometimes miss out on thousands of dollars (and years of growth) because of a few small mistakes. Here are 10 common 401(k) mistakes — and how to make sure you’re getting the most out of your plan. NOT UNDERSTANDING YOUR 401(k) TYPE When 401(k)s were first introduced, there was only one type. Y