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:
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"Learn to listen and follow your curiosity. Look for things that might interest you and take that step."
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"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!"
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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.
