by Joe Hearn | Mar 8, 2015 | Hobbies, Pursuits
Note: This post is part of a weekend series I’m doing throughout 2015 that is focused on fun things to do (or learn) during retirement (i.e. bucket list items). I hope you enjoy them and use them as inspiration for your own adventures. Congrats to Dennis from our email subscribers who was the winner of this week’s giveaway. There’s an iTunes gift card on the way to your inbox Dennis. Feel free to use it toward the purchase of the time lapsing app discussed below.Have you ever watched one those cool time lapse videos and asked yourself “I wonder how they did that?” Me too. So I added “learn to time lapse” to my bucket list. Time lapse is one of those things that has become infinitely more approachable with the advent of apps and the smart phone. Making a time lapse used to involve complicated and expensive equipment (which you can definitely still use if you want to make super high quality videos), but now just about anyone can make a cool time lapse video with equipment they already have in their pocket. Here’s an easy guide on how to make time lapse videos with your smart phone.
What is time lapse?
Before jumping in, let’s explain what time lapse is. Many people incorrectly assume that time lapse is just shooting a video and then speeding it up. In actuality, time lapse is a series of still photos that are strung together and played back to create a moving sequence. What makes it interesting is that the rate at which the photos are played back is faster than the rate at which they were captured. This allows you to see movement that your eye wouldn’t normally pick up on. For example, you could take a picture of clouds every 10 seconds and then play those pictures back at 30 frames per second and you’d see the clouds rapidly changing and moving across the sky.
What equipment do you need?
For beginners, all you should need is your smart phone, a tripod and an app to help you sequence and render the photos. The app I use is Lapse It, which is available for both iPhone and Android. (Note: Some smart phones like the iPhone have a time lapse setting, but it doesn’t allow you to control any of the settings, so I prefer to use the app). If you already have a tripod, you’ll need an adapter that will hold your smart phone.
Step 1: Compose the photo
One of the key benefits of time lapse is movement, so when composing your shot, you want to look for things with some sort of movement (e.g. clouds, sunrise, tides, traffic, etc.). Your camera needs to be still while taking the photos, so find an interesting scene, set your camera up on the tripod and you’re ready to go. Note: Try to set up your camera where people won’t be walking in front of it (unless people are the subject of your time lapse).
Step 2: Adjust the settings
Once you’re camera is set up, you’ll need to set the frame rate. That is the number of seconds (or minutes) between each photo. Lapse It allows you to easily adjust the frame rate based on what you’re trying to capture. If something is moving relatively quickly, you can set your frame to capture a photo every few seconds. If it’s moving more slowly (sunrise for example), you can set your frame rate to capture a photo every 10-15 seconds.
Step 3: Take the photos
Once you’ve chosen your subject, set up your camera and adjusted the settings, just hit the “capture” button to start taking photos. At this point you can sit back and relax, because it can take a bit to get enough photos for the video. For example, if you plan on playing photos back at 30 frames per second and you want a 30 second video, then you need 900 photos. If you’re taking a picture of clouds every 10 seconds and you want to take 900 photos, then you need to take photos for 2.5 hours.
Step 4: Render the images
Once you’ve taken all the photos you need, just hit “stop” and Lapse It will automatically bring up the settings for rendering the final images. This is where you can choose the playback speed, add music or filters, trim the video, etc. Each time you adjust a setting, you can play back the sequence to see what your final video will look like. When you have it like you want it, just hit “render” and Lapse It will complete the project. Once it’s done you can save the video to your camera roll or share it to social media like Instagram or Facebook.
The final product
What does the final product look like? I was in Belize a few weeks ago and took a quick time lapse of the sunrise. I’ll put it below, but if you’re reading this post in your email, you may need to visit Intentional Retirement to actually watch the playback. I’m still learning the ropes myself, so this isn’t the best quality in the world, but you get the idea. Now you can give it a try yourself.
by Joe Hearn | Mar 5, 2015 | Happiness, Health, Lifestyle Design
We put a lot of emphasis on saving enough money for retirement, and rightly so. Money is important, but as I’ve said time and again, retirement is more than a math problem. One negative side effect of our obsession with our “number” is that we forget (or never decided) what we wanted all that money for in the first place. With that in mind, here are 5 things that are more important than (or at least just as important as) money to a happy, fulfilling retirement.
1. Health. Emerson once said, “The first wealth is health.” You don’t need to be a millionaire to enjoy a nice walk on a beautiful day. Conversely, you can have millions, but if you’re constantly in pain or physically unable to do even simple things like walk up stairs or pick up your grandkids, then the options available to you during retirement will be small indeed.
2. Curiosity. Thomas Hobbes once said, “Curiosity is the lust of the mind.” Lust is an emotion or feeling of intense desire. Curiosity, therefore, is a lust to know “Why?” and “How?” It’s an intense desire to learn, explore and discover. It’s a passion to do and be. It’s an appetite for experiences and an interesting life. Money can’t buy that.
3. A willingness to act (a.k.a. Be intentional). Donald Miller once said, “If you happen to be sitting in the theater of your mind, watching through the camera lenses of your eyes and the story you’re watching isn’t very interesting, there’s something you can do about it. You can edit it. You can change it.” You are not a passenger on the plane of your life. You’re the pilot. Some initiative and a willingness to be proactive can often go a lot further than a few extra bucks in your bank account.
4. Relationships. David Rockefeller once said, “I am convinced that material things can contribute a lot to making one’s life pleasant, but, basically, if you do not have very good friends and relatives who matter to you, life will be really empty and sad and material things cease to be important.” I can’t add much to that.
5. Time. Carl Sandberg once said, “Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent.” Carnegie had more money than you. Kennedy had more power than you. Clark Gable (or Grace Kelly) was better looking than you. Elvis was more popular than you. Shackleton had a more adventurous life than you. Would you trade places with any of them? No, because they ran out of the one commodity that makes any of those things worthwhile: Time. Time is your most important asset, but you have less of it now than when you started reading this article. It is your only asset that never grows. Use it wisely.
~ Joe
Photo by Nick Kelly
by Joe Hearn | Feb 26, 2015 | Asset Allocation, Investing, Retirement
The number one fear of retirees is running out of money. How can you create a predictable paycheck in retirement?
Step 1: Create your retirement budget.
Decide how much money you will need each month in retirement by creating a detailed retirement budget. You can download a free Retirement Budget Worksheet from our Retirement Toolkit.
Step 2: Evaluate your potential income sources.
There are 5 primary sources of retirement income: Social Security, pension, personal investments, passive income like rental property and work (usually part-time). Evaluate which of those income sources will be available to you during retirement and estimate how much income you can derive from each.
Step 3: Compare your budget with your income.
Is your anticipated income enough to cover your anticipated expenses? If not, you may need to delay retirement or find ways to trim your retirement budget.
Step 4: Decide on a claiming strategy for each income source.
With Social Security, you can claim early, on time or late. You might be entitled to spousal benefits or it might make sense for you to file and suspend so your spouse can claim benefits based on your record while your benefits continue to grow. Likewise, there are a number of strategies available when pulling money from your investments, such as dividends only, guaranteed income, systematic withdrawal, bucket strategy and a time segmentation strategy to name a few. All that just to say that for each source of income, there is usually a way to maximize that income based on your unique situation. Working with a competent adviser is usually a good idea when you get to this point. There are a lot of moving parts and the difference between a good strategy and a bad one is usually the difference between…well…a good retirement and a bad one.
Step 5: Retire. Review. Recalibrate.
Having a predictable paycheck doesn’t stop once you retire and turn on your various sources of income. Take time each year to review your withdrawal strategy and make changes as necessary. Some questions to ask yourself:
- Is my withdrawal rate sustainable?
- Is my income still sufficient and keeping pace with inflation?
- Is my asset allocation still appropriate?
- Is the amount of risk I’m taking still suitable?
- Has the value of my assets changed significantly?
- Has my life expectancy changed?
Your answers to those questions will help determine if you need to make changes to your investment and/or distribution strategy.
Bonus: How can I make my money last longer?
Earlier I said that one way to help extend the life of your nest egg is to maximize income from sources like Social Security. What are some additional ways to make your money last?
Dynamic Spending: Take a look at your retirement budget. How many of your expenses are non-negotiable vs. discretionary? If most are non-negotiable, then you will likely be forced to draw money from your investments during inopportune times. If, however, you’re able to set up a budget that has a certain level of discretionary spending, then you can adjust your spending based on market conditions. In down years you can put the discretionary spending on hold and extend the life of your nest egg in the process. Housing and transportation are two of the biggest non-discretionary retirement expenses. Downsizing your house and cars or entering retirement with those things paid for can give you a great deal of flexibility with your spending.
Diversification and asset allocation: Having an appropriate asset allocation helps you mange three key risks: 1) It keeps you from being too aggressive and subject to large declines. 2) It keeps you from being too conservative and subject to inflationary erosion. 3) It will hopefully help your portfolio grow consistently over time so it will last as long as you do.
Stay (or get) healthy: Longevity is a risk because the longer you live, the longer your portfolio will need to last. Even so, most of us want to live as long as possible. Staying active and healthy can save on health care co-pays, prescription costs and (biggest of all) long-term care expenses.
I kept things pretty simple in this post. When you start considering things like inflation, longevity and market fluctuations, the complexity of the predictable paycheck multiplies quickly. If you want to take a deeper dive into some of those issues, feel free to check out The Ideal Retirement Design Guide.
~ Joe
by Joe Hearn | Feb 21, 2015 | Lifestyle Design, Misc.
Hi everyone. Sorry it’s been a bit since I’ve written. Two weeks ago today we had my extended family over for lunch at our house to celebrate my mom and brother’s birthdays. My 89 year-old grandpa was there, as he was most times when we had family get-togethers. You may remember him from this post when I wrote about the time we flew out to Chicago to see a Cubs game on the morning of September 11, 2001.
Anyway, everyone was over at our house for lunch and we spent several hours talking and laughing over a great meal. My grandpa was the most talkative of the bunch, sharing stories about high school, serving in World War II and traveling the U.S. on epic road trips with his wife and kids. He was sharp and funny and charming, just like he has always been. When he left I hugged him, kissed him on the forehead and walked him out to his car. That night he died peacefully in his sleep. You just never know when the last time you see a person is going to be the last time (in this life anyway) that you will ever see that person.
I’ve written about Time before and how it has a way of quietly opening doors of opportunity early in life. Then, just as quietly, it starts to close them. Each year Time closes 52 doors marked “Weekends,” one marked “Christmas” and one marked “Birthdays.” You make decisions that put you into a certain career or location and the doors that you didn’t choose get closed. Your physical abilities change and doors that were wide open in your 20s are now marked “Do Not Enter.” Your kids grow up and doors like “Bike Riding 101” and “Family Road Trip” quietly click shut. And yes, you lose a friend or a family member and the doors to those relationships close for good.
We can choose to be sad about those doors closing or we can constantly remind ourselves to make the most out of the time, opportunities and relationships that we still have so we won’t have any regrets when they’re gone. I certainly choose the latter and I know many of you feel the same way. Thanks for following along and for being a part of a great community of readers who want to live intentionally. Have a great weekend and I’ll get back to my normal writing schedule next week.
~ Joe
by Joe Hearn | Feb 8, 2015 | Hobbies, Pursuits
Note: This is part of a weekend bucket list series I’m doing throughout 2015 that is focused on fun things to do during retirement (i.e. bucket list items). I hope you enjoy them and use them as inspiration for your own adventures. I’m also doing a giveaway in conjunction with the series that you can read more about below.
One of the goals on my bucket list is to read 500 books between ages 40 and 50. Is reading on your bucket list? If not, it should be. Why is regular reading so important? How will you benefit from reading more? How can you make it through dozens of books in the typical year? What have I read so far on my way to 500 books in 10 years? Read on to find out. 🙂
Why You Should Read More
It keeps your mind sharp. Recent studies show that engaging your brain keeps it sharp, improves your vocabulary, improves your memory, helps improve your reasoning ability and might even help delay the symptoms or onset of dementia.
It inspires you to do interesting things. We all want to live full and interesting lives. Reading gives you ideas of things to do and then inspires you to do them. It’s difficult to read A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, without being inspired to get up off the couch and plan your own hike. If you read My Life in France by Julia Child, you’ll probably want to sign up for cooking classes or maybe even plan a trip to Paris. Reading is a great way to get ideas and inspiration for your bucket list.
It gives you ideas for self-improvement. Getting Things Done helped me to bring some sanity to my To-Do list. The Power of Habit helped me to understand how I can get rid of bad habits and create good ones. On Writing helped me to improve my writing. Books can help make a better you. As Socrates once said: “Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.”
It’s fun and a low cost form of entertainment. I spend most Saturday mornings on the couch with a cup of coffee and whatever book I happen to be reading. Not only is it enjoyable and relaxing, but it’s cheap entertainment (I get most of what I read from either the library or Amazon).
So in summary, reading gives you a better vocabulary. It makes you smarter and more interesting. It helps keep your mind sharp and improves your memory. It makes you a better conversationalist. It inspires you to do fun and interesting things. It’s great entertainment. That’s not a bad list of benefits.
How to Read More
Life is busy, so if you want to read more, you need to make it a priority. That said, here are a few tricks that helped me read more than 50 books last year.
Listen to audio books. I drive about 25 minutes to work every day (and 25 minutes home) and spend additional time driving to and from appointments. On average, I probably spend about 90 minutes in the car each day. Rather than listening to the radio, I listen to books. My local library has an App that allows me to download audio books for free, so I always have something to listen to. A little less than half of my reading list last year was audio books.
Speed-reading. I used to be a painfully slow reader, so a while back I did a learning challenge on speed-reading. Read through the article for ways to test and improve your reading speed.
Always take your book with you. I got this tip from Stephen King in his book On Writing. Everywhere I go I either have a book or my iPod with me. You’d be amazed at how much time you spend in waiting rooms, in line or otherwise standing around doing nothing. Take your book along and make use of the time.
Read stuff that you enjoy. If you want to read War and Peace, more power to you, but don’t feel pressure to read things just because they’re classics. Read what you enjoy. If you look through my list below you’ll see Steinbeck and Dickens, but you’ll also see about a half-dozen Jack Reacher novels, which are the literary equivalent of junk food. Who cares? I like them. I took a detective fiction class in college and since then I’ve always appreciated the genre. Read what you enjoy and you’ll read more.
Bucket List Books: What I’ve Read the Last Two Years
Below is a list of what I read during the first 2 years of my 10-year goal. I put Amazon links to each book in case you’d like to learn more about a particular book and possibly add it to your own reading list.
2013 (Age 40)
- Wool, Hugh Howey
- Do The Work, Steven Pressfield
- The Art of Non-Conformity, Chris Guillebeau
- Boomerang, Michael Lewis
- Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption, Laura Hillenbrand
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity, David Allen
- Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before, Tony Horwitz
- The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
- The Big Short, Michael Lewis
- The Glass Castle: A Memoir, Jeannette Walls
- My Life in France, Julia Child
- A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
- The Four Hour Workweek, Timothy Ferriss
- The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, John Boyne
- On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King
- Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls, David Sedaris
- The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern, Victor David Hansen
- World War Z, Max Brooks
- Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors, Piers Paul Read
- Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, Michael Pollan
- Grand Ambition, G. Bruce Knecht
- Child of God, Cormack McCarthy
- Everyman, Phillip Roth
- Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, Anthony Bordain
- Tuesdays With Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man and Life’s Greatest Lesson, Mitch Albom
- No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Missions That Killed Osama Bin Laden, Mark Owen
2014 (Age 41)
- Jack London: An American Life, Earle Labor
- The Graveyard Book, Niel Gaiman
- Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel, Rolf Potts
- The Call of the Wild, Jack London
- Walden, Henry David Thoreau
- Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War, Nathaniel Philbrick
- The Sea Wolf, Jack London
- Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe
- Open: An Autobiography, Andre Agassi
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, F. Scott Fitzgerald
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne
- My First Summer in the Sierra, John Muir
- Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
- East of Eden, John Steinbeck
- The Time Machine, H.G. Wells
- Start Something that Matters, Blake Mycoskie
- David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
- Einstein: His Life and Universe, Walter Isaacson
- Roughing It, Mark Twain
- The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, James Thurber
- The Martian, Andy Weir
- Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson
- The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman
- Escape From Davao: The Forgotten Story of the Most Daring Prison Break of the Pacific War, John Lukacs
- White Fang, Jack London
- Moby Dick, Herman Melville
- Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, Walter Isaacson
- John Barleycorn, Jack London
- A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin
- Travels With Charley: In Search of America, John Steinbeck
- The Search for God and Guinness: A Biography of the Beer that Changed the World, Stephen Mansfield
- The House of the Scorpion, Nancy Farmer
- A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering American on the Appalachian Trail, Bill Bryson
- Moneyball, Michael Lewis
- A Clash of Kings, George R. R. Martin
- Wooden On Leadership, John Wooden
- The Happiness of Pursuit: Finding the Quest That Will Bring Purpose to Your Life, Chris Guillebeau
- The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair, Joel Dicker
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lax, Rebecca Skloot
- The Icarus Deception, Seth Godin
- 61 Hours, Lee Child
- 12 Years A Slave, Solomon Northup
- Worth Dying For, Lee Child
- A Wanted Man, Lee Child
- Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl
- Never Go Back, Lee Child
- The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
- River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey, Candice Millard
- We Die Alone: A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance, David Howarth
- A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking
- The Shawshank Redemption, Stephen King
- Lawerence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle Ease, Scott Anderson
- Sailing Alone Around the World, Joshua Slocum
- One Man’s Wilderness: An Alaska Odyssey, Sam Keith and Richard Proenneke
Giveaway: One of my favorite books last year was Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum. In the 1890s, he became the first person to sail alone around the world and then he wrote a book about it. He’s actually a really good writer, so in addition to being a great adventure tale, it’s a story well told. This week’s giveaway winner is a subscriber from our email updates list (congrats Karl!) so I’m sending him a copy of the book. Tune into future posts for more giveaways.
Note: Since I have my own books for sale on Amazon, I am a part of their Amazon Affiliate program. The links above are affiliate links, which simply means that if you buy a book after clicking one of the links, Amazon (at no additional cost to you) will pay me a small commission that I use to help cover the costs of this site. That’s not why I recommend the books, of course, but I wanted to be sure to make you aware of it.
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