Fritz Gilbert Interview: Mr. Retirement -- Author of "The Retirement Manifesto"
Diana Landau | October 21, 2025
Ok, this is a BIG DEAL! Carl interviews a retirement legend in this 100th EPISODE!
Carl chose retirement expert/book author/speaker/do-gooder Fritz Gilbert as his 100th podcast guest. Fritz's award-winning blog, The Retirement Manifesto, is focused on helping people achieve a great retirement. Since 2015, Fritz has written 441 articles and 1 million words about how to live your best life in retirement. Fritz retired after more than three decades in corporate America, where he progressed through the various levels of a multinational corporation serving the global aluminum industry. He's still changing lives, read on!
Fritz grew up in the small town of Hillsdale, MI with his parents and two older sisters. His father was a college professor and his mother a teacher. This meant their summers were free to explore the great outdoors, one of Fritz's true passions. It's no surprise that Fritz was a curious, hi-energy kid. He says he wanted to be an NFL punter growing up, then to be a doctor. He attended Wittenberg University in Ohio. He says, "My father always told me I could be whatever I wanted to be." On a whim as a senior, he interviewed with an aluminum industry exec that evolved into a highly successful 33-year career.
Tired of the corporate world's politics, he retired in 2018. But, three years before retirement and this is important, he started thinking and strategizing about what his ideal retirement life would look like in 2015. "I got out at 55," he tells us. He started a blog, which he had never done before and kept on writing. He wrote the 10 Commandments of Retirement, which focuses on attributes to keep in mind daily in retirement, such as; have a great attitude, pursue your passions, stay flexible to change, try new things and more. "I would have never dreamed that 10 years later the blog would become so successful with over 16,000 followers. I was curious and I took that first step!"
He wrote and wrote about not just the financial parts of retirement, but the equally (if not more so) purpose parts of retirement. "I love the relationships I've had too. It's a deep subject, I'm still writing. It's turned into something I love to do." Recently Fritz decided not to do a full-time blog after 10 years so he has time to pursue other passions. He loves to mountain-bike in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia, spend time with family, work in the garden, and lots more.
Fritz is also helping his wife with her passion, Freedom for Fido, a community group that builds fencing for low-income families that have dogs chained in the yards. They've built 187 fences in 6 years with the coordination of several hundred volunteers. "It's created this incredible network, we're getting exercise building fences, and I can't even begin to tell you about the impact we're making on the community." Just like that little kid in Hillsdale, Fritz is still high-energy, loving the outdoors and still curious!
Fritz Gilbert's (Un)Retirement advice:
-
"Learn to listen and follow your curiosity. Look for things that might interest you and take that step."
-
"The path to fulfillment and enjoyment is to just try new things. Do as many as you can. Some will hit and some will miss. But enjoy the ones you like and keep going!"
-
The 90-10 Rule: People focus 90% on the financial part before retirement. It's amazing--once you're in retirement, you spend about 10% thinking about the financial part and 90% thinking about what you are going to do now. It's the purpose side of retirement that people need to think about before they retire."
Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the "I Used to be Somebody" blog.
Carin Stutz Interview: Restaurant Industry Icon Pays It Forward
Diana Landau | September 23, 2025
Carin Stutz has been Somebody -- an icon in the food service and restaurant world for decades. Carl interviews her about her meteoric career starting in service and working her way up to Division VP for Wendy's International, Exec VP for Applebee's, President of Global Business Development for Brinker International (Chili's Grill & Bar, Maggiano's Little Italy, etc.) and now the good work she is doing to give back to the restaurant industry she loves. Her industry awards and accolades are a very long list.
After college she started as a management trainee for Wendy's and quickly fell in love with the restaurant biz. "I think I learned early on that you have to advocate for yourself," she says. Carin has held top-level positions at seven different restaurant organizations, where she led hundreds of franchises across multiple brands in 34 countries.
Carin (un)retired two years ago at age 67. Her Mom was ill and she says she started realizing that quality of life can deteriorate quickly. "You start thinking about how much time you have left. It was a wake-up call." Carin now sits on nine boards and has founded a global network called GLEAM, which is 100% volunteer-run and provides mentoring and career enhancement opportunities to those in the restaurant industry. "I feel so much has been given to me. I wanted to give back," she adds.
When not mentoring, volunteering, and speaking all over the country, Carin spends time traveling with her husband, enjoying family and friends and tries to attend two concerts a week. She says, "Just say YES to more things. Get outside. Do something. Stay active!"
Carin Stutz's (Un)retirement Tips:
-
"What do you do when the applause dies? (After a big career.) You ultimately have to recognize your own accomplishments because it really does stop and you need to be okay with that."
-
"I was working all the time so I didn't have hobbies when I (un)retired. I started thinking about what I didn't have in my life and what I could have now."
-
"Have friends! There's something about friendship that lifts you up and just enriches your soul."
• I Used to be Somebody World Tour: Croatia
Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the "I Used to be Somebody" blog
Jordan (Doc G) Grumet Interview: Former Doc Shares How to Live a Regret-Free Life
Diana Landau | December 10, 2024
Want to hear wisdom and insight on finding purpose from a former internal medicine doc who is now a writer, speaker, and podcast host? This week Carl interviews Jordan (Doc G) Grumet has made many significant pivots in his life. After becoming a doctor of internal medicine and practicing for 15 years, Jordan had an "aha" moment where he realized that although his medical career had served him well, he wanted something new, something different, something more meaningful.
Jordan grew up in Evanston, Illinois. His doctor father died suddenly when Jordan was only 7 years old. "I came to this cosmic conclusion that the way to make up for this horrible thing that happened to all of us was for me to become a doctor." Despite learning disabilities, Jordan met obstacles head on and learned to persevere. (Qualities that have helped him throughout his life.) His mother became a CPA and successful in business and remarried. He says both his parents modeled responsible saving.
After 15 years of practicing medicine, he felt totally burnt out. "Medicine served me well financially and gave me a purpose and identity. It worked until it didn't," he tells us. In 2018 he stopped everything and became depressed. The years of building walls around himself to deal with the stress and tragic situations as a doctor took their toll. He realized he had co-opted his father's dream of being a doctor for his own.
Jordan looked at the parts of his life he wanted to keep doing, like hospice care. In addition, he had an "AHA" moment when he attended a conference for writers, bloggers and podcasters. "I immediately felt more connected to them than the doctors I had worked with for years." He read the book "The White Coat Investor" and discovered he could be financially independent enough to pursue other paths that excited him.
Now Jordan is the podcast host of the award-winning "Earn & Invest" podcast, he's a speaker and also the author of two books. His first book, "Taking Stock: A Hospice Doctor's Advice on Financial Independence, Building Wealth, and Living a Regret-Free Life" is about Jordan's journey, intertwining medical insight and financial wisdom and resonates deeply with those seeing a balanced, meaningful life.
His second book, "The Purpose Code" will be published in January 2025 by Harriman House Press. Jordan also continues to serve as an associate medical director at Unity Hospice. He lives with his family back in Evanston, Illinois where he grew up. Doc G says, "You don't have to change the whole world. You just have to change yourself. Grow and learn!" Wise advice for all of us.
Doc G's (un)retirement tips for self-reflection:
• "It's much easier staying at a job rather than exploring your purpose. I think that's a mistake. We need to re-imagine what purpose is for us, take the time and space to learn what it really looks like."
• "Don't be afraid of (finding a new) purpose. Purpose is abundant. It doesn't have to be difficult to find your "anchors" and build a life of purpose around them. Find a lot of stuff you like and just start doing it."
• "Most of the things that light us up have nothing to do with money.......How do we build a better life without waiting for some financial benchmark?"
Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the "I Used to be Somebody" blog
Stephanie Stuckey Interview: Rebuilding Stuckey's a part of Americana
Diana Landau | June 11, 2024
Carl interviews the unstoppable Stephanie Stuckey, the CEO of Stuckey's. The brand is known by generations as a highway oasis serving up pecan log rolls and kitschy souvenirs. Many Boomers fondly remember family road trips throughout the U.S. when stopping at Stuckey's was a tradition. Reviving her family's company is just the latest in a long list of Stephanie's accomplishments. She's been a Public Defender, a Georgia State Representative, a Director of Sustainability and Resilience for the City of Atlanta and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Georgia School of Law. Stephanie's story has recently been featured in The New York Times, the TODAY Show and the Washington Post.
Stephanie was born in Easton, Georgia and was surrounded by family. "It was a fun childhood!" Her father was a U.S. Congressman, so the family split their time each year between Washington D.C. and Easton. Going back and forth between two very different homes, Stephanie says, "You grow up very resilient and you have to learn those social skills to survive."
After college and law school, Stephanie spent over 14 years as a Public Defender. She then served for 7 years as an elected Representative for the Georgia State Legislature. in 2012 she left politics and became the Executive Director of GreenLaw, an environmentally focused law resource center in Atlanta. (Another one of her passions.)
Stephanie's grandfather sold Stuckey's way back in 1964 for $16 million (the equivalent price in today's value would be $158 million). She purchased back her family's company in 2019 with no prior entrepreneurial experience. "I didn't even know how to read a balance sheet!" she tells us. Stephanie learned what she had to do--and that didn't include upgrading the actual physical stores, which were on the decline. Only a dozen out of 300+ stores were left. Instead, she realized people still wanted to be able to buy their pecan snacks and candies. Undaunted, she found two partners, (one a pecan farmer and one a marketing exec) and the brand now has an online store, a distribution center and just two years later, the company's sales have gone from $2 million to $14 million.
In addition to running the company and raising a family, Stephanie just wrote her memoir, UnStuck: Rebirth of an American Icon this year. In her spare time, Stephanie enjoys traveling by car to explore the backroads of America and pulling over at every boiled peanut stand. She says she follows her grandfather's and father's advice: Work hard, be fair and have fun!"
Stephanie's advice on starting a second (or third) act:
-
"You are not alone! I think a lot of times it's very lonely, I know it is, it can be isolating when you're trying to put something out there."
-
"Go out there and find your community so you can support each other. Just reach out!"
-
"Embrace your weaknesses as opportunities to learn and celebrate your strengths!"
• (Un)Retirement Travel with the Pro Allan Wright, Zephyr Adventures
Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the "I Used to be Somebody" blog.
Sky Bergman Interview: Professor Turns Filmmaker
Diana Landau | February 29, 2024
Carl interviews filmmaker Sky Bergman. Sky's directorial debut, "Lives Well Lived" is currently airing on PBS, Amazon, iTunes and Kanopy. The documentary is a collection of fascinating interviews with about a dozen older adults sharing historical perspectives, their advice for future generations ad reflections on living a life well lived. Making documentaries is her second act as she is also an accomplished, award-winning photographer and still teaches photography at Cal Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, CA.
Sky's parents were divorced so she grew up in Philadelphia, Florida and spent summers in upstate New York. She says she had the good fortune of living in a four-generational household. Her father was a geriatric physician. "He would come home and tell me these amazing stories about his patients. I know that colored my consciousness to want to be part of older people's lives and tell their stories."
In school, she was a bit of an introvert and a band geek. She found her passion for photography at an early age. "I fell in love with the dark room!" she says. After college she traveled the world as a professional photographer. Her artwork is included in permanent collections at the Los Angeles Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, Seattle Art Museum, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, among others. Her commercial work has appeared on book covers for Random House and Farrar. She says a highlight of her photography career has been the cover of the Smithsonian Magazine in 2001. "I loved traveling and photography so I could follow both passions at the same time."
After teaching for many years, Sky (un)retired at age 56. "I wanted to make a movie about older generations and share their stories with the world." She put together a list of interesting people and a list of 20 questions for them. Carl asks her how she was able to fund the movie. "I have never let money stand in the way of what I want to do," she tells us. Sky decided the grant submission process was too lengthy for her, so she came up with a revenue-generating plan by renting out rooms in her home. She tells her visitors they are helping to fund her movie and they end up excited supporters as well. "A crazy, wonderful way to fund a film!" she acknowledges.
"Lives Well Lived" debuted to a sold-out audience of 850 with her grandmother and many of the film's subjects in attendance. It was a true highlight for Sky. She is now working on two new projects, "What is Mochitsuki?" a film celebrating family, tradition and mochi, and a documentary about the "Prime Time Band", a band of musicians aged 40 to 90 who are reigniting old passions. Sky says, "The only way to combat ageism is to make generational connections!"
Sky Bergman's (un)retirement advice:
-
"Pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone makes for a more interesting life."
-
"Develop a new sense of purpose after you retire. Who are you now and what do you still want to do? Whatever it is, you have to plan and think about your future. Remember, finding your sense of purpose is life-long, and can change over time."
-
"Have a good support system--not just family but also friends."
-
"Attitude and resilience go hand-in-hand. There are so many times in our lives when we cannot control what's happening around us. But we can control our attitude about it."
Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the "I Used to be Somebody" blog.
