Any Young Dreamers willing to be interviewed by SmartMoney?

[ESRBob]

Dow Jones SmartMoney magazine is doing a feature on early and semi-retirement, and Billy & Akaisha, Nords and I (and possibly others?) have all spoken with Dyan Machan, the senior correspondent on this project. Very credible and friendly to the whole FIRE gestalt.

Now she's looking to interview someone in the early stages of planning for ER. Anyone interested/willing to talk to her? Let us know here or PM and we'll put you in touch. I think her deadline is in the next day or two.

 

[thefed]

i may be interested...im real early in planning...im 24 yrs old

 

[Peaceful_Warrior]

I'm game.

 

[xmanz3]

I am interested if age 33 is considered early enough.

 

[mathjak107]

we are 55 and 57 and trying to pull the plug early

 

[ESRBob]

Thanks all for the replies and those who PM'd with emails. She wrote today to say she thinks she has her profilees now and is covered. If that changes and she still needs people I will let you know here and via PM.

Off for 2 weeks of sculpture workshops in Monterey -- just had my first stroll through Carmel tonight -- strolling through town was low-budget. Buying anything there would have been another story...

 

[Htown Harry]

I see that the article has now been published. It's the cover story of the October issue:

Cash Out and Live Off Your Investments (SmartMoney Magazine Cover Story) | SmartMoney.com

 

[Nords]

I see that the article has now been published.

Does anyone here get the actual hardcopy printed version of SmartMoney? I'm wondering if the online & hardcopy versions are different and whether the hardcopy article includes photos...

 

[twaddle]

Dean Fikar, a Fort Worth, Texas, radiologist who retired in 2001 at age 46, is more typical: While small-cap stocks are his main holding, he also owns REITs, a Pimco bond fund and a gold fund. Fikar says his net worth has doubled since he stopped working.

Is that raddr?

 

[bssc]

I subscribe but it hasn't made it out here yet.

 

[Htown Harry]

My copy arrived today.

The web site is just a teaser...the article runs about 10 pages, with photos of most of the subjects.

All of them have very big smiles, of course.

 

[HFWR]

Dean Fikar, a Fort Worth, Texas, radiologist who retired in 2001 at age 46, is more typical: While small-cap stocks are his main holding, he also owns REITs, a Pimco bond fund and a gold fund. Fikar says his net worth has doubled since he stopped working.

Is that raddr?

Hmmm...

 

[Nords]

Hmmm...

Yep. You'll have to post on his board; I don't know how often he checks in here.

 

[Fireup2020]

Did you notice how negative the comments at the end of the article were? No faith. No proper planning. Stinks for them!

 

[Nords]

Did you notice how negative the comments at the end of the article were? No faith. No proper planning. Stinks for them!

The authors appear to have a lot of experience but the whole project seems to have been throttled down. It was initally advertised to be much bigger than the online version seems to be (that's why I'll check the hardcopy). It's also difficult to recognize the people we know, especially the Kaderlis. If a reader wanted to follow up on the article or its contents, there's not much to work with.

In general the financial magazines do a crappy job of explaining the ER process & lifestyle, but even among its "peers" this one seems to fall below the usual low standards. IMO a journalist's job is to find out things and explain them to the blissfully ignorant, but this seems to be one huge case study in "not getting it".

I can only imagine how they'd present FIRECalc or ER discussion boards. If SmartMoney wanted to follow up, I'd pass.

 

[ESRBob]

I have to believe there will be a lot more in the articles and sidebars in the actual article. There really is nothing here in the online version except a few mangled profiles. I don't know how I became a 'venture capitalist' again, for instance. Haven't done that stuff for years!

 

[DangerMouse]

I have the hard copy and can't say that there was anything too enlightening in the article. I was expecting them to profile some younger couples ie. 20s, 30s who were looking to go down the path of FIRE. Maybe I am jaded, but nothing in the article got me excited.

 

[unclemick]

I don't think a written article can capture the shear joy of (with no basic change in material circumstance) of going from :

a cost cutting unemployed cheap bastard to - work sucks -to hey I don't need to work anymore - and the ultimate frosting on the cake: FIRE

a frugal high class ER.

Alas I was 49 -50 then and it was the 90's. The mental shift took about a year. It was priceless.

Maybe if Dory could round up his favorite singer and they offered a CD with the article.

heh heh heh