A warm welcome to the Ready for Retirement podcast. And if you're listening to this, going, that voice sounds a little

different than James Canol. It's because it is different. I am not James Cannell. I am guest hosting the next

few episodes to talk about an early retirement. My name is Ari Taublieb. I am the vice president of

root financial partners. I work very closely with James

Cannell, who is our founder, and I'm going to be talking about an early retirement. I am an active

financial advisor here at Root, and I am the host of the early retirement podcast. I know that was a little

bit of a mouthful right there, but it's not an early retirement

that I'm in love with. What I'm in love with is the idea of helping clients know when they

are in a position where work is truly optional. If you love what you do, great, keep doing it. I'm not

saying stop. I'm saying know when you're in a position where you no longer need to. Is there a hobby that you've been putting off?

They just cannot wait to get started on.

Is there a job that you'd rather switch into, even if it's bringing in less income, but you do it for more years?

Because there's just so much more enjoyment there.

Maybe that's an alternative.

I'm going to be talking about all of the different strategies that you can look into if you want to retire early.

And specifically in today's episode, what you should avoid and what people don't consider when it comes to an early retirement.

That is just so important.

So I'll leave you with this question before I roll the intro so that you have something to think about, which is,

if you were retired today, what would you be doing? Close your eyes. Now, unless, if you're driving,

please do not close your eyes. We don't need any lawsuits here, but I do want you to think about

if you were retired, what would you be doing? Is it traveling? Is it more time with family?

Is it saying, hey, there's a hobby I've been putting off for so long. What would you be doing? Is it traveling? Is it more time with family? Is it saying, hey, there's a

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