First in New Podcast Series is Available Now---Only 7 Minutes Long

I have completed the first Podcast.  It's 7 minutes long, about the secrets for quick debt elimination.  These steps have work extremely well.   

The audio file is available only to my secure email group.  If you'd like the link, sign-in to the left of this Blog post then go to your email address to confirm.  I will always protect your email privacy. 

New Post--Update on my Weight-Loss Battle

Since the first and best step I could take to get ready for my future was to regain my health by losing 80 pounds, I have been in “training” to do so for the last six months.  I am currently hitting up against 50 pounds lost total.  That has actually happened in about 4 months since two months around the holidays I was not in what I call the “weight-loss-zone”. 

Today I am wearing a shirt that would not fit 10 days ago.  I like what I see in the mirror but more important I feel so much better than I did at 280 lbs.  I am amazed how much this has helped my health situation.  I still have about 30 lbs to go to get to my goal of 199.  My three sons are starting to worry that I am going to get lighter than them.  It’s kind of fun to see them squirm.  I am starting to think about which sports I will participate in at the Huntsman World Games next year in St. George once we settle in Boise for the next phase of our lives. 

It is one of the best things you can do for yourself and family, to get control of your weight.  It is not really terribly difficult once you decide to be determined.  Getting in the Weight-Loss-Zone is as much about psychology as it is about other details.  However, the details help the psychology to take root and stay.  Here’s what I suggest from my experience for anyone who wants to get serious about weight loss. 

1)      Get on a good food program that makes it easy to control calories.

2)      Get a private coach who will help you with motivation and questions.

3)      Exercise appropriately as guided by your coach. 

4)      Learn as much as you can about the science of weight loss. 

I have learned that most people like to approach weight loss as a very private time in their lives.  Input from too many people seems to actually get in the way.  The psychology is interrupted by comments that are not meant to derail progress but sometime do.  Such as a comment that I get on occasion, “oh are you OK---you look like you are coming down with something”.  When you start to look so much lighter people aren’t used to your new persona so they say something a bit ignorant without meaning to be so.   Get a good coach and listen to their voice predominately.   

Here is a link to my website where you can learn more:   http://weightlosspowerusers.com/        

Congratulations and Welcome to My Email Group

Congratulations and Welcome to my email group--I hope you will not just read and listen, but particpate by responding and commenting.  My personal email address is vanordenr@gmail.com.  Feel free to contact me directly if you would like to have a non-public conversation. I look forward to our interactions. 

Ralph VanOrden
Retirement Freedom Blog

Getting Ready for the Future---Regardless of Age

I have read many of “early retirement” articles (see link below) as recently we made our decision to retire “early” at age 60.  The article I've linked to below was honest and direct about the outlook for BabyBoomers.  Most articles concerned me enough to make the retirement decision troubling, to say the least. Most BabyBoomers are postponing their retirement due to understandable faint-heartedness in the current economic environment.  But here’s the good news:

1) If you are out of debt you are doing very well compared to most BabyBoomers.

2) If you are not out of debt you can make an aggressive plan to get there ASAP.  This is the topic of my next Podcast to be posted on March 1, 2012. 

3) If you can live mortgage free you are in great shape compared to most BabyBoomers.

4) If you have a pension, social security, and inflation proofed savings you are doing better than most BabyBoomers.

5) If your savings are inadequate you can go on a 5 year program to aggressively building your nest egg. This will be the topic of a future post. 

6) You can cut expenses and still live comfortably.

7) You can build a “retirement” career or business to supplement your income. Most BabyBoomers have expertise that can be marketable in the post-recession era which seems to almost be upon us as of February 2012.

Click and read the article at the bottom of this post---and sign up for my exclusive content secure email group at my Retirement Freedom Blog at http://saferetirementfreedom.blogspot.com/. I will touch on each of the topics mentioned above in future posts but only for my email group.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703321004575427881929070948.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection

Podcast Series Launched Soon

I have completed an outline for a Podcast Series I am currently preparing. The first in the series will be available in March 2012 and then at a rate of 2 per month if all goes well.

The research I have been doing is producing some important insights about key issues for those who wish to live a Provident/Production Lifestyle.  Here's a quick taste of the principles:

1) How to get Out of Debt and Stay there forever

2) How to Get Mortgage Free Sooner than you thought possible

3) How to Safely Inflation-Proof your Nest Egg for the Future

4) How to Build a Phenomenal Nest-Egg is only 5 Years

5) How to Build a Stay-at-Home Online Business that Provides Fantastic Residual Income

6) How to Engage a Production Lifestyle without costing you an Arm & Leg

7) Energy Independence without Overwhelming Costs and Maintenance Nightmares

Only those who are part of this private and secure email group will get access to these Podcasts.  Facebook is just to public and not sufficiently secure.  If you would benefit from this series, you can go to my Blog at http://saferetirementfreedom.blogspot.com/ and sign up for my private and secure email group.

This series will work well for BabyBoomers but the younger generation should be thinking about these things now as well.   

 Become a part of this growing group of likeminded people now.

Ralph VanOrden---Retirement Freedom Blog

Best Thing we can do to Help Ourselves Toward a Successful Retirement

Click on the link below for a great article about how to protect yourself in the Investment Market. I am covinced it is an important part of any retirement strategy to have a good Investment portfolio. It’s not the whole picture but could be part of a successful early retirement. We have a professional investment counselor who manages our savings since I tend toward being too aggressive with my risk management. 

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-to-create-financial-security-in-retirement-2011-09-01

If you want to receive more updates on these kinds of retirement preparations, sign in to my exclusive email group to the left of this post.  It is more secure if I use the email group for the details. I hope you will choose to join us.

Update---A Great Way to Supplement Income and Stay at Home

There are several ways to improve “income” during retirement.  You can lower expenses or get a “job” and make some more money.  Most BabyBoomers are very innovative when it comes to these options.  Though some are happy to do some non-stress entry level position, one of the things many wish to avoid is being tied down to a regular 9-5pm job that takes up all their time to enjoy retirement.

I am currently sending resumes to educational institutions in the Boise area to see what might be available in my field of expertise.  If hired, it appears I could make almost as much as I currently do with cost-of-living adjustments after 33 years with the same educational organization.  However, I still have the haunting worry that I may not like being tied down the same as in the past.  Jeannie would go traveling to visit our family without me, yike!  Not what I envisioned. 

So I have been learning about the world of owning your own business with the intent of being able to control my time commitments.  For some time I have enjoyed helping people as a weight-loss coach.  It is an awesome way to help others and make a few extra dollars.  But the big money in this kind of career is in Multi-Level Marketing, which has never appealed to me.  I am helping a few friends with weight-loss and backing away from the business gradually.  It is a very useful enterprise for those who enjoy MLM.

I am fortunate to have access to Internet Business Mastery tutorials since my son owns that business.  His Online Business has helps 1000’s of people by helping them learn the intricacies of doing business online.  Many have successfully left their corporate positions to run their own enterprise. The real long-term success of online business takes two things; 1) a good self made product, and 2) understanding how to navigate the online world.  Thus far the BabyBoomer generation is still busy finishing up traditional careers.  BabyBoomers haven’t been the meat and potatoes of my sons business.  They are just now getting to where they trust online commerce. 

So I propose to my son that I learn the ropes of Online Business and reach out to help the BabyBoomers who wish to explore the world of owning their own online business based on their own product.  He liked the idea and is coaching me along the way.  It is slower than most who embrace the cyber-world, since it doesn’t come as second nature for BabyBoomers like the current younger generation.  But I have to say it is fun and challenging, exactly what I need to keep my interest and loyalty. 

My Blog is approaching 7000 page views.  My website has been abysmal, but is going through a redesign and rebirth. My Facebook account has over 2600 friends.  If I never do monetize my online persona, I am still able to enjoy being an “opinion” leader or perhaps some would say opinunated.  I get a lot of diverse response to my posts.  It is a engaging medium.  I have decided to focus my attention on two projects. 

1)      Finishing my weight-loss eBook.  I hope it helps some to find the assistance they need to lose weight and regain their health.     

2)      Developing an online course to help BabyBoomers who wish to have a simplified approach to learning how to embrace the internet as opinion'ated' leaders and/or monetized business owners.  It will include all the details of how to safely and consistently build an online business. 

I am going to be moving most of the instruction away from Facebook to my email group in order to provide better security.  If you are interested in coming along on this journey and learning more about online business, please join my email group by signing in at the box to the left of this post.  I look forward to any interaction you are willing to give so I can tailor my course to be as helpful as possible. 

Back to my Blog---With Big News---atleast for us, its BIG

I have taken a break from writing for my Freedom Blog.  After over 6000 page views I hit a wall due to our cold dark winter, but a much needed vacation to sun-country helped me recover.  I am back to exercising and eating right so things are looking up.  It never fails to amaze me how eating right can improve outlook.  It is as though our food is our medicine.  Oh well, I digress.

My wife Jeannie left a week ago to go help with the arrival of our 6th grandchild to our oldest son Jason and his wife Melanie.  All has gone very well and bonding is in full swing in Portland Oregon.  I am jealous of Jeannie getting to be there but happy for her too.  Little baby CeCe VO is oh so cute and very calm.  Yay for calm babies.

So here is the next biggest news in our lives.  After 33+ years of teaching for the LDS Church Educational System I am going to retire as of July 31st 2012.  I am going to live what I preach and retire before I get too old to enjoy it.

We will be selling our home and moving to Boise Idaho to accomplish several of my pillars of retirement freedom.  1) Lower our cost of living dramatically.  2) Improve our health care options.  3)  Get closer to family and grandchildren.  Ever since Jeannie suffered through cancer in 2007 I have wished to move her closer to grandchildren, now that will be checked off my bucket list.  4) Getting a home without a mortgage will happen much quicker in Boise area where real estate has taken a huge loss in recent years.  We can buy a nice retirement home on acreage in Boise for about 60% of what it would cost in Alaska. 5) Property taxes are much lower in Idaho.  Boise will put us within a few miles of family and a 6 hour drive of others of our children and also my aging mother who will be 87 this May. 6) Improved access to sunny days seems to be getting more important as I get old. 

Some of you know that I had toyed with running for Alaska State political office in the newly aligned District 26. I have determined there are good candidates already running so I decided to pass on that ambitious goal.  The Eagle River District will be well cared for.

We have spent 19 years of my career in Alaska.  It has been so good to live in a wild and beautiful place.  Our friends have been superb.  Our opportunities to serve have been exciting and challenging.  I was stretched beyond what I thought I had to give.  Alaska has been very good to the VanOrdens.  We will soak every last bit of good out of our opportunity to enjoy 6 more months in this beautiful place. We will enjoy one more trip down the Alaska Highway, but this time in our comfortable motorhome rather than the $300 VW Bus we drove up the highway in 1976.  All together we will have a total of seven trips over the Alcan during our time as Alaskans. 

I can see that my online communications will become even more important to me as we relocate.  I hope to be able to stay in touch with each of you as you see fit. Thank you for your good influence on our lives. 

Walking in Winter---How to Beat Cabin Fever

I am so grateful for a recent reminder from a friend of the magical qualities exercise brings into our lives. Especially during these long dark months, exercise wakes up our body and mind by bringing invigoration and enthusiasm. Lately I've been getting up early and rather than moving slowly through my morning routine, I decided I would fight the couch potato approach to winter existence and get outside for a brisk walk. Just 20 minutes.



The first day, I had to bundle up since the temp was a chilly +8 degrees F. At least it had warmed up from the -14 from when I went to bed last night. I put on long-johns, jeans, two pairs of thick socks, turtle neck, sweat shirt, jacket, hat with ear muffs, and mittens, as well as hiking boots. Out into the dark morning I went. It’s so pretty on a cold winter morning when not much is stirring, “not even a” moose; couldn’t resist that play on words.



The only noise was when someone startled me by starting their car with a remote from the warmth inside their home. I only walked for about a mile and just about 20 minutes. Cheeks were starting to burn from the cold…since then I have used a scarf. But the magic worked. I walked into our warm home with a sparkle in my step. I could feel the enthusiasm that comes from a good start to the day as I contemplated my list of activities ahead.





So I have settled into a routine of walking early and then later in the afternoon for 30 more minutes. And thus I get my 10,000 steps per day. Besides my reduced calories 6 glycemic-balanced meals per day, the weight keeps coming off. Slowly and surely I am moving toward my 80 pound weight loss goal.



I remembered the question my doctor always asks me during the winter visits to his office; “Are you exercising at least 5 days a week”? The best solutions for winter-blues have to be exercise and eating right. I am convinced!

A NEW YEAR: So many mountains climbed, So many more to go---by Jeannie Snow VanOrden

One of my earliest memories is of hiking on Cadillac Mountain in Maine which for roughly five months each year is the first place in the United States to view the sunset.   My family was living in Granby, Massachusetts and took the opportunity to visit places of interest around New England.  I was a fidgety four-year-old with a short attention span.  Likely my energy started out strong and waned quickly as the hike dragged on. 

My clever parents came up with a way to engage me and keep me moving.  They made me the leader.  I was given the job of spotting rock cairns that marked the trail. This focused my skittish energy with something important to do.  I became useful to my family’s expedition, as useful as a four-year-old can be. In my memory I see myself leading the way up the mountain, reaching the top, and with a flourish pointing to a rock cairn marking the summit.  We were probably just traipsing through the forest gathering fire wood.

From that small expedition to the present, rock cairns have been meaningful to me: markers that give a sense of direction, a sense of perspective, a way to mark progress toward a goal.  We may not have hiked to the top of Cadillac Mountain that day but from my four-year-old point-of-view, whatever our destination; it might as well have been Everest. 

Everest:  a metaphor for the ultimate personal challenge, obsession, and achievement.  A cliché too often used considering the awful price people pay in pain and treasure for the Everest experience.   A year ago I read "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer about his tragic experience on Everest.  He reached the summit but found he was caught up in one of the worst Everest disasters on record.  Five of his climbing companions, including two experienced guides, died in a freak storm. 

Everything on Everest is freakish and unpredictable. In the death zone even the most seasoned mountaineers crumble suddenly and fatally. Climbers are at the limits of human endurance and there is little energy, time, or resources left to come to the aid of faltering companions.  

I am just finishing Michael Kodas’ book “High Crimes” about corruption, greed, and criminal behavior in the rush to cash in on the Everest experience.  It is shocking what humans are willing to do to summit Everest and then peddle that experience to fame and fortune.   My reading sparked an Everest movie night at home.  We watched a video about the first blind climber to summit Everest.  Erik Weihenmayer’s achievements which include climbing the “Seven Summits” got me thinking about my own resolutions and hopes for what I would like to achieve in 2012.

Like many of the difficult challenges in my life, a number of my 2011 experiences were not of my own choosing.  The way I see it our most character revealing and defining experiences come not from events we plan for and choose to bring into our lives, but the ones that are thrust upon us.  Suddenly, no matter what else we were planning; we are required to summon enough grit, and gumption, and positive attitude to face and overcome opportunities we would rather not.  It is one thing to scrape together $65,000 and a good guide to fulfill a long-held aspiration to get to the top of Everest. 

It is quite another to find out that you must fight cancer, or suffer alongside a child who is critically ill, or endure the sudden death of a loved one and not let it destroy you.  Actually, these kinds of experiences will destroy you.  The secret is not to just survive but be born again from the ashes to a new life.  Crushing challenges demand that we humbly accept that we are being formed by forces beyond our control and not be bitter about it.

This year I’ve chosen Denali as my symbol.  It is the mountain of my adopted home, Alaska.  It looms large in the Alaskan mind and heart and can be seen on a clear day from Anchorage to Fairbanks.  I will never climb Denali and that doesn’t bother me an ounce.  I realize that the idea of conquering Denali’s slopes is sufficient. Denali symbolizes the confidence that I can do hard things, I will do hard things, and I will in the process, become a better person.

 For some of us the smallest steps forward can be extraordinarily difficult.  But as long as we insist on pressing forward to a better version of ourselves and never stop that forward motion, we have conquered the mountain. Every person's life journey can be a sacred journey to sacred knowledge and sacred space.

My goals are simple this year: 

1. Take good care of my body.  I need all the energy I can muster to do all the wonderful things that are ahead for me. Being a cancer survivor gives me additional impetus because I have already beaten the odds and should gratefully nurture the precious gift of extra years that I have been given.  I will gently take care of my health.

2. Yoga.  I discovered that yoga is as much about my peace of mind as it is about having a healthy body.  I am a person that moves fast and crams every day with more than I should.  Yoga slows me down and helps me to clear my mind. It works hand in hand with meditation and prayer.

3. Write every day. The need to write is like a spring coiling up inside of me tighter and tighter. The tension must be sprung regularly or I start turning blue.  2011 was a sparse year for writing.  Blue is not a good color on me.  2012 will be a year of disciplined effort in the writing realm. 

4.  Take lots of pictures and learn how to you use my fabulous new Canon 60D DSLR camera.  Photography snuck up on me. Before the advent of digital photography, I never supposed that I would come to enjoy it so much.  It is too close to the physics department and I have little confidence when it comes to math and physics. However, I discovered that I do have a talent, small as it may be, for creating a nice photograph now and then.

I’ve climbed Cadillac Mountain (at least in my imagination),  a mountain in Lambs Canyon above Salt Lake City, Timpanogas peak in the Wasatch Mountains,  Rendezvous Peak and Wolverine Peak in the Chugach mountains above Anchorage, Alaska.   But these were all just cairns along the trail of my life, not the actual summits that allowed me larger views of where I’ve been, what I am, and what I want to be. The summits and the views they give are brief.  It is the climb that matters.  So I will climb.