Nords is on Yahoo!

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily...142631833.html

A How-we-did-it-and-you-can-too from our surfer:

[Free To Canoe]

He's the (spokes)man!

Good stuff.

[HawkeyeNFO]

Nords has a speaking voice! Who knew?!?!?

Love to look at all the haters making comments below the story. Lots of non-believers out there.

[Sue J]

He mentioned Craigslist but they should have asked him about all his solar panels, some from CL if I remember correctly.

Nice interview, Nords! Great to hear the real you.

[heeyy_joe]

Bless their hearts.

[gauss]

Didn't see this thread until after I stumbled onto Nords' yahoo video. How cool.

[MBAustin]

Very nice little video! Congrats, Nords! You sound just as smart talking as you do in writing

[Bestwifeever]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HawkeyeNFO Nords has a speaking voice! Who knew?!?!? Love to look at all the haters making comments below the story. Lots of non-believers out there.

This made me read the comments (always the haters making comments). Nords responded just a couple of times but in the classiest way--way to go, Nords!

[Gumby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bestwifeever This made me read the comments (always the haters making comments). Nords responded just a couple of times but in the classiest way--way to go, Nords!

If I ever have doubts about either the stupidity or the plain mean-spirited nature of much of our population, I need only read the comments on Yahoo articles. For articles like this, the comments always fall into a few main categories

1. They're lying about being retired
2. They're lying about how much money they made
3. They got a special deal that is not available to me (among the most odious - they weren't required to raise children.)

The common thread running through all is "I couldn't do it, so they can't have done it honestly either". It is nothing but self justification for the commenters' own shortcomings.

I thought Nord's responses were very restrained.

[bbbamI]

Wow.....great hearing from you Doug!

edit to add.....you still have your ponytail don't you?

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby If I ever have doubts about either the stupidity or the plain mean-spirited nature of much of our population, I need only read the comments on Yahoo article.

+1

Reading the comments section on almost any internet article makes it difficult to maintain a positive attitude towards humanity.

[ERhoosier]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby If I ever have doubts about either the stupidity or the plain mean-spirited nature of much of our population, I need only read the comments on Yahoo article. For articles like this, the comments always fall into a few main categories 1. They're lying about being retired 2. They're lying about how much money they made 3. They got a special deal that is not available to me (among the most odious - they weren't required to raise children.) The common thread running through all is "I couldn't do it, so they can't have done it honestly either". It is nothing but self justification for the commenters' own shortcomings. I thought Nord's responses were very restrained.

I read comments also. Many very jealous folks out there. But honestly Nord's story is not that unique (tho Nord's is one of a kind ). LBYM, sticking with a reliable employer with good pension/retirement benefits, and investing well. Having a w@rking spouse doesn't hurt either. But it does help to have some luck, too. He & his spouse were blessed with decent health and weren't RIFed prior to retirement. And from 1982-2002 (approx Nord's investing accumulation phase) the US was in huge bull market with ave returns ~14-15%/yr. And interest rates were higher providing a kicker from any fixed income AA. Those kind of returns minimize little investment mistakes along the way (like 2% fund overheads mentioned on the website). I doubt a young guy starting out today could exactly duplicate Nord's path to success with the volatility of future US military employment and doubtful prospect of repeating those investment returns. If I were a bright young guy today (I said IF ), I'd try to hire on with a good blue chip company, fully participate in 401k match, and do my best to stay in that firm's most profitable division. But the advice to LBYM and keep investing (not speculating) remain timeless.

[ERhoosier]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Reading the comments section on almost any internet article makes it difficult to maintain a positive attitude towards humanity.

As Ron White says- "You cain't fix stupid"

[Gumby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERhoosier . . . But it does help to have some luck, too. He & his spouse were blessed with decent health and weren't RIFed prior to retirement. And from 1982-2002 (approx Nord's investing accumulation phase) the US was in huge bull market . . .

I agree with everything you say, but I note that none of the antagonistic comments to the article (at least among those I read) made any of those points. And I doubt that very many of those comments were made by a smart young guy just starting out. In any event, it seems like Nords is happy, and his critics are not. In my book, that's justice enough.

[friar1610]

Like the rest of you, I enjoyed hearing Nords' commentary. Reading the comments on the yahoo site and a few of them here, I feel compelled to point out a few things:

- If I recall correctly from earlier posts by Nords, his wife did not retire as an active duty Naval officer after 20 years. I believe she got out short of her 20 years and joined the Naval Reserve. She still gets/will get a pension, but something short of the full active duty pension.
- I don't know how many transfers Nords and his wife had during their Navy careers, but I never had one that didn't cost me money, generally a lot. In general, corporate relocations take care of all your expenses (including closing costs on your home sales) but military transfers are not that way at all and you can eat a lot of expenses (including closing costs on your house when you buy/sell.)
- Nords spent a lot of time at sea in submarines away from home and family. So a couple of points here:
1. It's not like he was living it up for all of his Navy career; working 12-18 hours a day at sea is not exactly a ball.
2. An absent (deployed) husband generates a lot of costs in things that he's not around to do.
3. An absent (deployed) husband also generates a lot in the way of family costs that are more than compensated for by the pensions - birthdays missed, holidays missed, dance recitals and baseball games missed, etc.
- For those who asked about kids, I recall that Nords has at least one daughter who is in college. Don't know if he and his wife have other kids.

The bottom line, as I see it, is that a lot of the folks that whined about his "good fortune" in getting the great Navy pension, medical care for life, etc., would not have even considered making the same sacrifices to get the same "goo deals" themselves.

And, yes, I am also a retired Naval officer!

[clifp]

I have always been most impressed with the folks on the board who have retired early while making $50K or less.

If you include the benefits of housing allowance, commissary, free health, I suspect that Nordmans were close to the top few percent for most of their careers.

I guess I've been hanging around forums like this too long, but I'm always surprised that anybody that makes close to $200K a year isn't able to retire by their mid 50s..

Retiring at 40 is not easy for anybody though.

[JOHNNIE36]

I just knew he was out there somewhere. By the way Nords, my grandson is at NAS Jacksonville. Part of the Air Crew on a P-3. We're very proud of him.

[Calico]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby If I ever have doubts about either the stupidity or the plain mean-spirited nature of much of our population, I need only read the comments on Yahoo articles. For articles like this, the comments always fall into a few main categories 1. They're lying about being retired 2. They're lying about how much money they made 3. They got a special deal that is not available to me (among the most odious - they weren't required to raise children.) The common thread running through all is "I couldn't do it, so they can't have done it honestly either". It is nothing but self justification for the commenters' own shortcomings. I thought Nord's responses were very restrained.

I stumbled on the interview tonight when I checked my yahoo email, and I enjoyed listening to it. I read about six of the comments and then couldn't take it any more. Too much whining and too many "poor me" excuses. So I came over here where the level of discourse is much more civilized and enlightened, and where I am bound to learn something useful.

[Dreamer]

Good hearing you Nords! Great interview and you are really trying to get the word out that ordinary people can retire early also, through disciplined savings and LBYM. Yes, there are people making excuses in the comments, but who knows how many people that he educated and hopefully turned their lives around.

[Rob]

I was in a situation similar to the Nords, and I took advantage of it. In my 42 years of being a high school teacher, I taught a total of 4 of those years in the States. The rest were in American embassy schools in 12 countries. My housing, utilities and travel to and from the States was well compensated, and those expenses were instead invested wisely.

In all fairness, if I had taught in the States all those years, there is no way I would have amassed over the million dollars I now have. Having expenses paid for by the Navy, or in my case, the American Embassy schools, allowed me to retire comfortably. I took advantage of a good thing.

The interesting thing is I loved my work and did not retired until I was 66, which was last year. I chose to work the past few years instead of needing to work.

Rob