Magical '40 binders' now on-line

[intercst]

http://www.passionsaving.com/community.html

I have spent 13 years of my life researching this stuff and have compiled 40 binders of materials and written close to 3,000 discussion board posts in that time.

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intercst

 

[hocus]

The thread title is misleading. Surprise! Surprise! The binders are not now available. It is the web site that is now available (in skeleton form--it is not yet officially open for business).

I'll tell you the deal with the 40 binders. I started researching early retirement back in October 1991, when I lost a job for a magazine titled "Tax Notes." As I gathered material, I placed it in binders and I put labels on the binders so that I could find material I was looking for when I needed it. There are binders on investing and there are binders on saving and that are binders on economic statistics and on how to transition from one job to another and on all sorts of stuff. When I discovered the RetireEarlyHomePage.com site, I wanted to be sure that I would have all of that material available to me, so I created a separate binder for that. There's a binder for Scott Burns columns. All sorts of stuff.

I have never actually counted the number of binders. My critics sometimes put the number at 30 and sometimes at 40. I don't know what the true number is. I know its a big number. When we moved to a new house, we had to have additional bookshelves put in to hold the binders. Even the new bookshelves were not enough, so I had to move some of them to the attic.

I am not adding to the number of binders today. Today, I tend to store stuff in folders on my computer. I bought a program called "StickyBrain" to better organize stuff, but I haven't gotten into the habit of making use of it.

My biggest problem with researching the Retire Early idea is that there is so much new stuff coming in all of the time that it is hard to keep track of it. It amazes me how much important work there is to be done in this field. I expect to be spending the next 20 years of my life working in this field, but I have little hope of being able to complete all of the projects that I would like to be able to complete in that time. I'm just going to give it my best shot.

I hope that some others get involved on the research side. JWR1945 now commits himself to Retire Early research on a full-time basis, and I take great pride in the fact that I played a role in getting him involved. I hope that some other early retirees will consider spending some of the time opened up in their retirements to studying what it takes to win financial freedom early in life. I find it highly fulfilling work, and I believe that a good number of others might do so as well.

 

[hocus]

Here's the deal with the web site at PassionSaving.com.

I put up 12 or 13 pages (some in very brief form) last November. I of course need to add a good bit more before going public. I won't be doing anything to pull people to the site until after the book is published. I expect that that will be by May 1. After that, I will be engaging in some publicity efforts that I hope will pull some people to the site.

I will be adding to the site over the course of the following year with the goal of making it the best resource on Planet Earth for learning what it takes to win financial freedom early in life. I have long felt that we needed something like this, something that pulled together the best of the thousands of insights that have been offered on our boards over the course of the past six years and presented them in an organized manner to newcomers to the movement.

I have all sorts of plans, but it is probably best that I refrain from discussing them in detail because what usually happens is that I don't get everything I am hoping to do completed in the time that I initially aim to do it. My philosophy is to aim high and then be happy with whatever you do indeed pull off. I think that things are moving in a positive direction, and I think that is what matters. So I don't worry too much about whether each little deadline is met or whatever.

The sort of thing I hope to be able to do over time is to present in an organized manner some of the best threads from all of the various Retire Early/FIRE/Passion Saving boards. Say that a newcomer wants to know "Should I rent or buy a home?" We have had some great discussions on that one over the years offering all sorts of powerful insights, but it is hard to track them down today because they are spread over a number of boards and the FAQ statements that now exist are not too great in my view. So I hope to be pulling that stuff together a bit and making the material that we generate of more practical long-term use.

I am always interested in hearing thoughts from fellow community members as to how best to proceed with this sort of thing. There's contact information provided at the web site. Probably the easiest way to reach me with any thoughts is to send an e-mail to "Rob@PassionSaving.com." If it is something that you want community involvement on, you can post the idea at one of the boards. But if you are seeking privacy, that's the e-mail address to use.

I don't think of this as "my" web site. I think of it as "our" web site. It is a community resource and many of the insights provided at it are insights that were developed by community members other than me. So I certainly want to be open to suggestions put forward by fellow community members. I have hopes that this will be a powerful learning resource in days to come. I hope that any community members with an interest in getting involved in a project of this type consider contacting me with any ideas they have as to how they might go about doing so.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I think I know how to solve this little tiff between you two.

I've reserved y'all a room at the Motel 6 in Reno, and left two quarts of synthetic motor oil on the nightstand, along with 4 pounds of beef jerky.

Please dont file any reports on how it went...

 

[hocus]

There is no "tiff," TH.

Intercst founded the first board (the Motley Fool board). He somehow got it in his head that no one was ever going to question his views on SWRs. This was not a realistic thing for him to come to believe. When you publish a study on the internet, one of the things that sometimes follows is that people ask questions about the methodology. It's all part of the game.

I can't speak for intercst, but there is nothing personal in any of this from my end. Aspiring early retirees need to know what the historical data says re SWRs, and I report to the community what I have learned about what the historical data says. That's board business.

The only times in which I report on the intercst business is when intercst or one of his supporters injects the intercst business into the discussions. If others keep that stuff out, they it stays out. Please understand, though, that I cannot control what other posters do. I could use some help from time to time in asking that other community members keep the intercst business out of this.

We should be talking about substance, not the other junk. We all have a responsiblity to do what we can to steet things in such a way that our SWR discussions become primarily discussions of matters of susbtance.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Nice kayak.

That beef jerky is a' callin'....