113R | Tanja Hester retired early 15 months ago and joins the show to share her experience of being work optional, Brad makes a decision about solar panels, and a review of Monday’s episode with Grant Sabatier. Brad shares some updates with his car malfunctions and follows up about his solar panel cost analysis. Brad anticipates a 9.6% return on his solar panel investment, compared to Brian’s 12.5% return in Rhode Island. Solar panels are expected to last for about 25 years. Message from Dan, who realized while listening to Monday’s episode with Grant Sabatier, that he is charging too little for his side hustle work, and paying too much in taxes. Sales is story telling – Grant figured out how to tell his story right and understand potential client’s needs. A message from Ben, who feels like building relationships with recruiters is more likely to get you job options that is $10-15k, compared to the $60-80k Grant mentioned. You’re unlikely to get a big pay bump by staying with the same company; getting a significant jump usually requires moving jobs. Maybe you don’t need a budget, but you do need to know what your life costs. Tanja Hester, author of Work Optional, joins the show: How did Tanja change from wanting to stick with her career forever, to choosing early retirement? Took Tanja and her husband about 6 years to reach early retirement. It’s hard to know your “why of FI”, but moving into early retirement requires some life planning. After 15 months, is early retirement meeting Tanja’s expectations? Whether you’re retiring at 45 or 65, the transition is still very similar; we all have a desire to matter and contribute. What are Tanja and Mark pursuing now that allows them to contribute? What things should people be considering in order to make their retirement plan bullet proof? A variety of different retirement options, aside from full retirement. One-phase or two-phase retirement – should you plan differently for your expenses and savings before and after the traditional retirement age? Does 25x and/or 4% work for you? When and how to cut your spending? It’s always better to over save. Tanja’s FI calculations don’t include social security, as there’s a possible it could change. Most retirees spend about $300k on medical expenses, beyond Medicare. For more information, visit the show notes at https://ChooseFI.com/113R