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Financial power to live our values and change the world // Blog by Tanja Hester, author of Work Optional and Wallet Activism

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Work Optional: Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way, by Tanja Hester, Creator of the Our Next Life blog

Work Optional: Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way, by Tanja Hester, Creator of the Our Next Life blog

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Wallet Activism, a book by Tanja Hester

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New on the blog: how to channel the rage you’re feeling right now into action on guns that actually has an impact. Full post at OurNextLife.com and link in stories. Act now, before this rage lessens, and we get complacent again! [image: screenshot from Our Next Life with headline, “What You Can Do About Guns When Leaders Fail Us // How Divestment Can Drive Change”] #walletactivism

A small dog and a tiny dog who’ve finally learned to snuggle. 🥰 [image: Milo, a “blue” (gray) min pin mix, and Pico, a black and tan chihuahua mix, curled up together on a sofa.]

Mid-May in the garden. Gardening at 6000 feet/2000m is always an adventure. 😂 We went from 15° and snow one week ago (scroll all the way to the last pic to see last week) to summer all of a sudden, and the garden is now growing fast. That first hint of summer is my favorite time of the year. 🥰🌷🌿 [images: various pictures of lots of perennial vegetables and hearty overwintered kales and garlic, tomato and pepper seedlings getting hardened off to withstand the sun and wind, tulips and blooming periwinkle, and my 18-year-old Honda Civic covered in snow seven days ago.] #mountainlife #mountaingardening #highaltitudegardening #highelevationgardening #zone6bgardening #zone6garden #growyourownfood

When I heard that Wallet Activism won an #axiombookawards “gold medal,” I did not think that meant I was getting an actual medal. 😂🥇 But I gladly accept the honor 🥰 even if I am still not sure how a book would wear a medal. 😉 #axiomawards2022 #bookawards #walletactivism [image: a certificate and gold medal from Axiom Book Awards, naming Wallet Activism the 2022 gold medal winner for philanthropy/nonprofit/sustainability.]

I did my first talk in person in ages this week, and went in like this. I didn’t ask permission to present with a mask on, I started out my PowerPoint with a picture of me with my mask off for those who feel they need to see a full face, and I just acted like it’s totally normal to have a speaking role while still protecting myself. Whether it’s keeping a mask on to protect yourself during the pandemic, or setting some other boundary that is important to you, let’s normalize just doing what we need to do for ourselves without clearing it with anybody else first. ✌️ [image: Selfie of me with an N95 mask on. I have light purple hair and am wearing a black floral dress.]

Some of our leaders seem dead set on erasing our history (and our present), policing what schools can teach, with a clear focus on excluding people of color and the white ruling class oppression of them from their white-washed view of history. So it’s on us and learn — and to *share* what we learn. (And to vote, of course. But voting is never the only answer.) With that in mind, Mark and I recently visited the historic site at the former Manzanar incarceration camp, one of the camps where American citizens of Japanese descent and other Japanese-Americans were forcibly imprisoned during WWII for the crime of existing. (Notice how German-Americans were never imprisoned despite the U.S. also being at war with Germany. And how this followed not long after the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred Chinese immigrants who built the railroad and made the expansion of the country possible from becoming US citizens. Today’s anti-Asian hate absolutely has roots in our not so distant history.) Though Manzanar has a beautiful backdrop in the Eastern Sierra, the people ripped away from their lives and forced to live there had to deal with harsh weather conditions in uninsulated barracks, no privacy including when going to the bathroom, and were treated like criminals despite doing absolutely nothing wrong. The only reparations that ever came were much too small and decades too late. We must remember, and we must fight like hell to ensure this never happens again. [images: Photos from Manzanar, including the memorial marker in the graveyard, the simple tarpaper barracks, the group toilets, and an aerial shot of the camp showing barracks housing 10,000 people.]

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Best New Personal Finance Book and Community Builder 2019

Best New Personal Finance Book and Community Builder 2019

Blog of the Year 2018

Our Next Life, winner of Blog of the Year at the 2018 9th Annual Plutus Awards

Best FI/FIRE Blog 2017

8th Annual Plutus Awards Finalist

Disclaimer

Everything on this blog is provided for informational and entertainment purposes only and is not intended to substitute for obtaining professional financial advice. Nothing contained here or in the book Work Optional implies a consulting or coaching relationship. Please consult a licensed financial or legal professional for advice on your own situation.

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All photos are original and copyrighted by Our Next Life unless clearly noted. All rights reserved.

Linking encouraged with brief excerpts only, but posting photos and/or full content allowed only by express written permission.

Copyright 2015 – 2020 Tanja Hester / Our Next Life. All rights reserved.

Our Next Life income policy

The books I recommend include affiliate links, and the revenue from them ($.50 or less per book purchased) covers a small fraction of the out-of-pocket costs of providing ad-free, unsponsored content to you at no charge. In any calendar year in which affiliate income fully covers the cost of web hosting, photo editing and email list maintenance (currently $150/month+), I will donate all earnings above and beyond expenses to charity directly or to our donor advised fund for charitable giving, for the remainder of that year.

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We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. (These fees cover blog expenses only, and do not net a profit for us.)

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