Yes, you can learn to swim in your 40s. Since I’ve learned how to swim, I’ve spent hundreds of hours swimming in places like Puerto Rico and Bonaire, in community pools, and at a YWCA.

We reached financial independence in our late 40s. These are the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) books we wish we had known about in our 20s and 30s. In contrast to what you might find in mainstream media, these books have a notable absence of urgency, scare tactics, and sales pitches. They do not aim to capture outsized wealth but to help you determine what is “enough” and then teach simple strategies to help you get there.

When you decide to retire early, you might be surprised at the reactions you get from friends, family, and colleagues. It’s helpful to anticipate the comments you might hear and have some advance strategies for how to cope with them.

We attended CampFI to connect with like-minded people. We wanted to learn from those further in their FI journey about life after reaching FI. We were also looking forward to talking to people earlier in their journey and answering questions on topics like global health insurance, geo-arbitrage, and drawing down on assets.

Not too many people write about life after retirement, and if they do it is often about taxes, budgeting and planning your final expenses. However, after months of digging through books, we found a few gems!