What a lifetime of travel taught these early retirees over 3 decades, with Billy & Akaisha Kaderli

#43: People spend way too much time scrutinizing examples of early retirees who just recently FIRE’d and not nearly enough time on early retirees who actually made it through decades of retirement.

That’s why there’s a whole cottage industry of blogs and books by recent retirees dispensing advice (and downloadable spreadsheets) on how to save a million bucks, retire to Southeast Asia, and sip mango juice all day and get cheap massages.

But there’s nothing to actually scrutinize in these examples because no one really miscalculates their nest egg so badly that they have to go back to work within a few years.

We should spend more effort analyzing examples of people who actually successfully STAYED retired for decades. (And I don’t mean folks with $10s of millions.)

That’s because the shockingly simple math to get TO early retirement is different from the shockingly un-simple math to get THROUGH early retirement.

Yet there are few and far between examples of early retirees who actually made it through decades, weathered all the ups and downs intact, lived a good and fulfilling life, and are still in good physical and financial shape.

So you can imagine how excited I was to speak with today’s guests, a senior couple who achieved precisely this.

This week, I chat with Billy and Akaisha Kaderli, a husband wife couple who early retired 3 DECADES ago in 1991 and are still going strong. With one full 30-year retirement already behind them and a nest egg that is bigger than ever, Billy and Akaisha have traveled the world across decades, lived a great life, and have tons of stories and advice to share.

We discuss:

• Their varied career path before retirement (French chef, stock broker)
• Why they decided to retire early long before a FIRE community existed
• Why they decided not to tell anyone about their early retirement plans
• Why they defined their FIRE number based on only a subset of their expenses (and which expenses those were)
• What they invested in before there were ETFs, and how big their portfolio was on the day they retired
• How they planned their travels via a multi-year loop over the decades, and how they chose regional “home bases” around the world
• When they decide to travel together vs. solo
• How large their portfolio is now 3 decades later
• How they afforded healthcare over the decades (including emergency surgeries) with no health insurance…and without bankrupting themselves
• How they dealt with downturns and recessions over the decades…including the one time they briefly considered going back to get a j-o-b (and why they decided against it)
• What they would have done differently if they could do it all over again

Does Billy and Akaisha’s story change your view on what it takes to get to FIRE? What it takes to successfully live a good and full retirement life for decades? Does it influence any choices you might make in your retirement planning plans? Let me know by leaving a comment when you’re done.

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Links mentioned in this episode:

• Retire Early Lifestyle
• Retire Early Lifestyle bookstore
• HYW private Facebook community

Intro/Outro: Old Bossa by Twin Musicom.