http://www.alainguillot.com/doug-nordman/

I have been listening to different podcasts for about 10 years now. I remember, long time ago, I heard an amazing story ( I will retell it now) about a retired submarine pilot and how he was financially independent after his 20 years of service. Little did I know that one day, I would interview Doug Nordman creator of the blog The Military Guide. Conversation with Dough Nordman, the Military Guide.

Dough retired at age 41 (in 2002), after 20 years with the U.S. Navy’s submarine force. After retirement from active duty, Dough assumed that he would need to find a “real” job, like everybody else. After a few years of research Dough realized that his portfolio income, and his pension, would be enough to replace his military salary. He wouldn’t be rich but we would be financially independent. Throughout the years Dough and his wife have always lived a frugal life. In his journey to learning about investments, Dough made the usual financial mistakes. He invested in individual stocks, he bought actively managed mutual funds with high expense ratios, but the more he learned, the wiser he got. Now, his portfolio is composed mostly passive investment in low-cost index funds. As Dough learned these lessons, he wanted to share this knowledge. A few years of planning, budgeting, saving, and investing could make all the difference between leaving the military for a civilian career or retirement. He wanted to empower other service men and woman with this knowledge. With the help of the community of Early-Retirement.org, Dough wrote the book The Military Guide to help military men and woman have a better financial future. All the proceeds of the books go towards several charity organizations. So far, over $15,000 have been donated. The book was inspired by another member of the Early-Retirement.org community who wrote a book called Work Less, Live More. The charities to which the funds are being given right now are Wounder Warrior Project and The Fisher House Foundation. Other books mentioned: Your Money or Your Life by Vicky Robin, The Millionaire Next Door, Are You a Stock or a Bond? On 2002 Dough discovered low fee index ETFs. With this kind of investment strategy, Dough was able to get 99% of the market return with only 1% of the effort. Big insider secret: If you read the first six months of the content of the website, you will have most of the content of the book. Dough started the blog in order to build a platform to promote the book. Dough is an active contributor to the Mr. Money Mustache forum. Dough's portfolio is 100% in stocks. He has a secured pension which acts like a bond and he can afford to take lost of risk in his equity portfolio. Recommended website: Fincon. Recommended podcasts: Afford Anything, Chose FI, Beyond the Uniform.