Here I am again, in Beaver Creek, CO — the place where, two years ago, I first connected emotionally with the idea of retirement, and where the concepts for my latest book, Living Off Your Acorns, began.
In the book, I write about the shifts from Pre-Go to Go-Go, then Slow-Go and No-Go. I’ve already heard from many readers that it has profoundly impacted how they’re thinking about their own retirement journey.
It has also been the catalyst for many discussions in our household about our own retirement plans. Even though I had these concepts in my head, I don’t think we would have gone this deep if my husband hadn’t read the book himself. That’s been a surprising and delightful outcome I didn’t anticipate.
So, how have our thoughts and plans evolved since my light bulb moment two years ago?
We now have the underpinnings of a plan — not yet a fully built plan, but a framework. Inspired by Fritz, I’ve begun to formulate our own “Pre-Retirement Manifesto.”
While I’m in the Colorado Rockies, I’m building my Pre-Retirement Manifesto. Here’s what I have thus far… Share on X
Here are our five guiding principles for the transition from Pre-Go to Go-Go.
1. Follow the Energy
I have an incredible amount of work energy lately. It’s a bit off the charts. I’m jazzed about the things we’re working on.
In July, I had the opportunity to deep-dive into AI (Artificial Intelligence), attending an in-person, three-day course at Stanford on AI for Financial Executives. We’re in a time of great change. While that can be scary, I feel up for the challenge of navigating it — and of leading others through it. I’m grateful to feel this way about my work and my daily role.
At the same time, I have more energy than ever around the idea of retiring one day. It’s a strange juxtaposition: having more energy around work and around retirement, simultaneously.
So, what does “follow the energy” look like for us? It’s something my husband and I talk about a lot lately. Here’s where we’ve landed.
For the next few years, it means more weeks like the one we’re having now: out of the Arizona summer heat, pickleball, a hike or the gym in the morning, followed by a solid half-day’s work, then more activity in the early evening.
This is my second full week in Beaver Creek this year. We also have a week booked in Hawaii this fall. We may work a bit on some of these trips, but we’re following our energy — and that feels good.
With this plan in motion, I feel like I’m making real progress on blending more Go-Go fun into my Pre-Go years. It wouldn’t have happened without intentionality.
Following our energy is a key mantra for us over the next few years.
2. Follow Your Heart
While we’d love to permanently spend summers in Colorado, it isn’t work holding us back from that. It’s our hearts — specifically, our love for our dog.
He’s ten, and we have joint custody. For most of Bullet’s life, he’s spent a week with us and a week with his other family. We miss him when he’s not with us, but the arrangement is incredibly convenient for all of us.
We’ve realized we don’t want to miss one single week with him. If we’re lucky, he has five more years. That means longer travel excursions and summers spent elsewhere are, realistically, off the table for now.
We’re at peace with this timeline. Having clarity around it — and around our “why” — brings a real sense of calm to our thinking.
We know that when Bullet passes, it will mark our first significant inflection point: a time to rethink our travel and summer plans, and perhaps begin a transition into slightly less work.
Our hearts rule here, and we feel good about that.
3. Choose Intentionally
In my teens, one of my favorite songs was “Freewill” by Rush, which included the line, “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.”
Choice is powerful.
I want work and retirement to be intentional, not a default. That means choosing.
Since becoming more intentional about planning my eventual transition to retirement, I no longer feel the unknown abyss ahead. Instead, I feel empowered — even giddy at times. I can do this! As a still-struggling “workaholic,” that feels powerful. Planning more remote, half-work weeks along the way has already boosted my energy and my enthusiasm about an eventual life shift.
Another place I’m choosing more intentionally is health and fitness, particularly strength training. One study I came across pointed to a strong correlation between leg strength and cognitive aging as we get older — correlation, not proven causation, but it got my attention. While I’ve always maintained a respectable level of physical activity, it cemented my commitment to regular weight training in the gym.
My friend and recently retired colleague, Scott Stolz, put it well in his blog: he described meeting a woman who told him she was training to be 80 — and he realized he was doing the same thing. I love that framing.
So am I!
I want to hike, ski, play pickleball, help move furniture, carry groceries, and handle walking a strong 60-plus-pound dog — and all the other daily-life things — for as long as I can.
That won’t happen by accident. I have to choose a path that makes it possible.
4. Focus on My Path
I love seeing possibilities and getting ideas from what other people are doing. But sometimes I get caught in the “shoulds.” That’s when I start placing too much weight on what other people think I should be doing, because if they were me, that’s what they’d be doing. May they think…
…I should retire.
…should sell the business.
…should work less.
Whatever it is, I am not them.
When my thinking gets fuzzy, it’s usually because I’m caught in the net of shoulds.
My path is mine, and mine alone. This new manifesto gives me a measuring stick: if I’m following my energy, my heart, and choosing intentionally, I know I’m on my path. I can measure a decision against these principles and know whether it’s right for me.
I still want to explore other people’s paths and mentally “try them on” to see if they fit. But I don’t have to carry the extra weight if they don’t. I can let them go.
That’s their path, not mine.
5. Recalibrate as a Way of Life
While I believe the principles I’ve outlined will hold true over time, I want to stay open to recalibrating. In a sense, for me, this is just another way of saying, “Don’t get set in your ways.”
In hindsight, I’ve spent a lot of energy over my lifetime resisting change. If only I could go back and talk to my younger self. If that energy had been repurposed toward adapting and moving forward instead, what a difference that would have made.
Change is natural. Technology will spark new ways of doing things. Work conditions will adapt. My industry will evolve. Aging will occur.
I’m getting better at floating down the river, accepting the changing view and weather as I go, rather than trying to anchor against the current to keep things “just this way.”
Building recalibration in as a natural part of things shifts my mindset to a better place — one that’s more accepting and open, and less tense and stubborn.
This feels good.
Conclusion
Developing our own guiding manifesto for our next decade has moved us away from “when will we retire and what will we do” and toward a set of principles to live by. That’s what I admired most about Fritz’s work when I first read his Ten Commandments of Retirement, where he laid out his principles shortly before he retired.
My retirement path will look different from his. But the process — following a philosophy rather than a rigid plan — I suspect will be quite similar.
Your Turn: What about you? Where are you in your own thinking about retirement, and the way you want to approach it?
We’d love to hear your thoughts, so we can all learn from one another.
