FindependenceHub.com turns 2 today

depositphotos_114420670_s-2015It’s hard to believe, but the Financial Independence Hub (aka FindependenceHub.com) is now  two years old, a veritable toddler!

We launched the evening of Nov. 3, 2014, several months after I declared my Findependence Day on May 20, 2014.

This is post number 802, which means we have more than exceeded our original goal of providing fresh content every day (Sundays excepted). While I try to write one or two blogs a week myself, this wouldn’t have been possible without the many guest contributors who have lent their time, energy and names to the project.

Thanks also to the early supporters of the Hub: you know who they are from the banner ads that provide a little operating cash and a lot of moral support.

Thanks too to the many individuals who registered on the site and subscribed to our daily news email. There is no charge for this service (that’s why we need some banners to defray costs): all that’s needed is to supply a valid email address.

What’s next? 

So what of the future? As reviewed in my several recent blogs and columns on Semi-Retirement (both here and elsewhere), this is somewhat of a “Practice what you preach” Semi-Retirement project. See, for example, “Can’t Retire? Semi-Retirement is more fun anyway.” As my coauthor (Mike Drak) on Victory Lap Retirement often says, it gives you “a reason to wake up in the morning.”

The highlighted headline perhaps overstates things. In fact the whole point of the Victory Lap is that you CAN afford to retire financially speaking, and that’s certainly true of both Mike and myself. However, we CHOOSE to continue to stay active because of the social and mental stimulation, and the desire to “stay in the game.” If you like to travel and “Work while you play, play while you work,” then it’s nice to “earn a PLAYcheque,” to crib one line from the new book as well as from our subtitle.

We’ll all have plenty of time to do nothing once we leave this world. In fact, Mike has argued in one blog that the very notion of Retirement is something of a con.

As numerous blogs on this site have argued, and as I say in my financial novel and sister site Findependence Day, Findependence (Financial Independence) is not synonymous with Retirement. Yes, you should be Findependent before fantasizing about Retirement, but it’s not advisable to attempt Retirement if you’re not yet Findependent. Or as we say in Victory Lap Retirement, the Victory Lap starts with Findependence. What happens after you cross the finishing line is the Victory Lap. Yin and Yang!

The Hub looks forward to its third year of operation and hopes our readers will continue to find our daily blogs worth reading.  (They usually are posted at 9:10 am: the theory being that many people are just settling in to their offices with a coffee by then, and the markets don’t open until 9:30 am).

So thanks again and please spread the word about the Hub and Victory Lap Retirement. After all, Christmas is just around the corner!