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Book Review: The Adventurer's Guide to Early Retirement

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Book Review:
The Adventurer's Guide to Early Retirement

by Billy & Akaisha Kaderli


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This article was posted on September 1, 2005.

Billy Kaderli retired in 1988 at age 38 after a varied career as a French chef, restaurant owner, and stock broker. Three years later his wife Akaisha joined him in retirement after a career that saw her helping to manage the California restaurant they co-owned and a job as an Executive Secretay at a civil engineering firm. Now free from the daily grind, they travel the world and indulge their passions for photography, fine cuisine, tennis, and volunteering their time to worthwhile causes.

Their CD-ROM book The Adventurer's Guide to Early Retirement tells the story of how they decided on early retirement as well as what they've been up to over the past seventeen years. Akaisha's photos of their travels are stunning and really add to the narrative.

The couple has travelled extensively through Asia and Latin America visiting China, Ecuador, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand. They immerse themselves in the local culture and often become part of the community during their longer stays. For example, during the five years they lived in Chapala, Mexico Billy volunteered to manage the community's tennis courts and organized several fundraisers for the maintenace and repair of the facility.

The World on a Budget

Over the past 14 or 15 years, the Kaderli's calculate that they've spent an average of $56.46 per day on travel and living expenses. That's a bit over $20,000 per year for two people. If they stayed three months in Australia and New Zealand with an average cost of $100 per day, they balanced that out by staying 4 months in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, China and Burma for an average of $35 per day.

Retirement Investing

It may surprise many retirees that the Kaderlis typically hold a retirement portfolio of 100% equities. Billy's experience as a business owner and stock broker taught him that it's more profitable to be an owner than a lender, so he prefers stocks to bonds. They backed off a bit to 70% stock in January 2000, but returned to a 100% stock allocation in October 2002. Their portfolio currently is 95% invested in Vanguard and Fidelity S&P500 index funds with the remaining 5% split between the Vanguard Healthcare Fund (VGHCX), the S&P500 exchange-traded fund (SPY), and the Liberty All-Star Equity Fund (USA).


The Adventurer's Guide to Early Retirement

A Common Sense Approach

by Billy & Akaisha Kaderli


September 2005, CD-ROM book.

Click here to order The Adventurer's Guide to Early Retirement Today!

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Health insurance and health care

The Kaderlis eschew the kind of expensive full-coverage health insurance policy that prevents many people from retiring in favor of paying their own way and getting medical care in foreign countries where the cost is often a fraction of what's charged in this country. They've had good luck with foreign doctors and hospitals and found the care equal to or better than what they've seen in the US.

Dealing with Fear - Building Confidence

The last couple of chapters of the book deal with overcoming the fear that many people have with early retirement. Perhaps the most common is that many people identify their self-worth with their jobs and careers and worry that they'll be irrelavent once they retire. They also cover the fear of running out of money, the challenges of finding affordable health care, and the fear of not having anything to do. They've hit all the big ones.

The Adventurer's Guide to Early Retirement is an excellent book and details one couples' success in building a fulfilling retirement. It's well worth reading.

For more information, you can visit the Kaderli's web site at: http://www.geocities.com/ba264.


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Copyright © 2005 John P. Greaney, All rights reserved.

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