In 1989, Billy and Akaisha Kaderli decided they wanted to — and could afford to — retire early. 

“We were both working our asses off,” Billy tells CNBC Make It, and they realized they didn’t want to keep going that way until they reached a “normal” retirement age or couldn’t physically work anymore.

Billy was a trained French chef and the couple owned a restaurant in Santa Cruz, California. Around 1985, Billy had burnt out on cooking commercially and was recruited to work in investment banking — “one of the easiest jobs I ever did,” he says.

After making some decent money and investing on their own, the couple took a look at their finances and estimated how much they would need to fully retire.

“We were heavily investing as much as we could, tracking our spending to find out what we were spending on ourselves … and we realized we had enough at that time,” Billy says.

They took two more years to plan before actually retiring in 1991, when they were both 38, and had $500,000 invested. Adjusted for inflation, that principal would be worth nearly $1.2 million today.

This was before the FIRE movement — which is short for financial independence, retire early — hit the mainstream. Today, there are numerous online blogs, resources and communities dedicated to FIRE. But in 1991, the internet itself was still in its early stages.

“We had so much going on with obligations — work, bills and competition in California in terms of homes and cars and vacations and stuff. We wanted to do something different,” Akaisha says. “We were very freedom-oriented people.”

For over three decades now, the Kaderlis have been enjoying their retirement, traveling around the world and documenting their experiences on their blog.

They’ve weathered major market shake-ups like the 2008 financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic without ever regretting their decision to stop working. Here’s how they know early retirement was the best path for their lives.

There’s a common misconception that retirement is just sitting around — and that it can get boring, Akaisha says.

That’s part of the reason why the Kaderlis prefer to call themselves “financially independent,” rather than “early retirees.” They didn’t just want a break from the physical toll of working, they wanted the freedom to choose how they spend their time.

So far, that’s been true of their experience. “You can pick what you want to do — you can teach children or teach the blind, or travel the world or work wherever you want to work, because you own your time,” Akaisha says. “You own your life.”

“Once you become financially independent, you do what the hell you want,” Billy adds.

In retirement, the Kaderlis have traveled all over the world learning about new cultures, meeting fellow travelers and locals, trying new foods and activities, and writing about their journey in books and on their blog.

“It’s a lifestyle, not a vacation,” Billy says. “We like to settle down into an area and learn about the people and the shopping and the foods in that area, and get to make friends.”

The couple has lived in a variety of places over the years, including Thailand, Guatemala, Indonesia and the island of Nevis in the West Indies. They have kept a rented apartment in Chapala, Mexico, for the last seven years and return from time to time.

“We always wanted to go, go, go and try new things, eat new foods and meet new people,” says Akaisha, who studied anthropology in college. Paired with Billy’s culinary background, they stay curious and excited to encounter new places.

It hasn’t always been a walk in the park. Over the years, they’ve incurred injuries and illnesses and had to decide where they could seek the best medical treatment. Earlier this year, Akaisha was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer, prompting the couple to return to Mexico for about three months while she sought treatment.

“We’ve utilized medical tourism everywhere we’ve been and we’ve had great results,” Billy says.

Overall, financial independence has allowed the couple to continually re-imagine what their own lives could look like. “It just keeps getting better,” Akaisha says. 

Their investments have continued to perform well and allow them to live out the long and happy retirement they dreamt of over 30 years ago.

“We like to be able to call the shots, go where we want to go, stay as long as we want to stay, just thinking a little out of the box,” Akaisha says. ”[Retirement has] made us more flexible, physically and mentally and emotionally. We’ve seen the world.”

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The Internal Revenue Service is sending up to $1,400 to around 1 million tax filers who qualified for Covid-19 stimulus checks in 2021, but didn’t claim them.

In an unusual move, the IRS is proactively issuing payments to taxpayers who missed claiming the Recovery Rebate Credit, a tax credit that allows people to receive the Economic Impact Payments — also known as stimulus checks — they missed in 2021. Originally designed as a self-claimed credit, the agency is now ensuring eligible taxpayers receive the payments they are entitled to.

“Looking at our internal data, we realized that one million taxpayers overlooked claiming this complex credit when they were actually eligible,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a press release. “To minimize headaches and get this money to eligible taxpayers, we’re making these payments automatic, meaning these people will not be required to go through the extensive process of filing an amended return to receive it.”

If you haven’t filed a 2021 tax return yet, you can still qualify for the credit — but you must do so by April 15, 2025, according to the IRS.

The stimulus check, part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, was the final payment issued to provide financial relief during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Known as the Recovery Rebate Credit when claimed through a tax return, it provides up to $1,400 per person, with the exact amount dependent on adjusted gross income and phased out at higher income levels:

• Single filers: You qualify for the full $1,400 if your AGI in 2021 was $75,000 or less. The credit begins to decrease for incomes over $75,000 and is fully phased out at $80,000.
• Married filing jointly: You qualify for the full $2,800 (for two people) if your combined AGI in 2021 was $150,000 or less. The credit begins to decrease for combined incomes over $150,000 and is fully phased out at $160,000.
• Dependents: Families can receive $1,400 for each dependent in 2021, regardless of age, but the amount is subject to the same income phaseout limits as the primary filer.

The IRS will automatically send payments to taxpayers who qualify, including those who filed tax returns with blank or $0 entries for the Recovery Rebate Credit data field, but were still eligible for the credit.

No action is needed for eligible taxpayers to receive these payments unless you haven’t yet filed a 2021 tax return.

Payments are being sent now and should arrive in “most cases” by late January 2025, according to the IRS. Payments will be automatically deposited using the banking information listed on the taxpayer’s 2023 tax return or sent by paper check. Eligible taxpayers should also receive a separate letter notifying them of the payment.

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If you ask Nandan Nilekani, the key to being successful in today’s ever-changing job landscape is simpler than you think.

Nilekani co-founded Infosys, an information technology (IT) and consulting firm, in 1981, serving as CEO from 2002 to 2007 before creating Aadhaar, the world’s largest biometric identification system, in 2009. His contributions to the tech landscape helped him reach billionaire status, with a current net worth of $3.6 billion, according to Forbes.

As tech and AI changes workflows, and anxiety around the future of work looms, Nilekani says people should focus on building the soft skills that artificial intelligence can’t replicate.

“Be curious, connected and relevant,” he told LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky in a recent episode of “The Path” newsletter. “I get up every morning wanting to learn new things, and I keep my mind open.”

It’s a mantra that’s propelled Nilekani throughout his career. The 69-year-old grew up in India in the ’60s and early ’70s, where parents had strict rules for their kids’ careers, he said: either be a doctor or an engineer.

Nilekani chose engineering, but went to a college his father didn’t approve of, and chose electrical over chemical engineering, again, to his father’s dismay. He graduated from IIT Bombay in 1978 and became obsessed with a new technology, mini computers, shortly after.

He got a job at Putney Computer Systems, the company developing the new tech, under N.R. Narayana Murthy, who would later call on him to co-found Infosys, where Nilekani currently serves as a non-executive chairman.

Nilekani credits most of his success to his hunger for information and the excitement that learning new things brought him, insisting that curiosity made him successful, not a love for business. 

“I’m an accidental entrepreneur,” he told Roslansky. “It’s not that I set out my life to be an entrepreneur, but once I got into it, I realized this was my calling.”

Being eager to learn is an invaluable soft skill, according to successful executives like fellow billionaire Mark Cuban and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy.

“I can pretend that I’m gonna be able to predict where AI’s going and the exact impact on the job market, but I’d be lying, I have no idea,” Cuban said in October. “But I do know that I am gonna pay attention, and be agile, and be curious, and be able to adapt.”

For Jassy, staying connected and relevant about new skills and the world around you is essential for a prosperous career — those who choose not to are bound to be “stagnant,” he said in a July 2024 video posted by Amazon. 

In 2022, 19% of American professionals were in jobs that are the most exposed to AI, in which the most important tasks may be assisted or replaced by AI, according to Pew Research Center. As that number potentially rises with tech innovation, Nilekani believes soft skills will keep people on a fast-track to success.

“The future is about what only humans can do,” he said. “Empathy, compassion, connecting the dots … Remain curious, connected and relevant.”

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This year, we interviewed dozens of relationship therapists and researchers on which phrases successful couples say to each other. Most experts agree that couples who thrive consistently express empathy, boundaries, and a desire to find common ground.

There are some phrases, though, that even those in healthy partnerships don’t say. That’s because they are less intuitive or feel more selfish than “I appreciate you” or “Help me understand this.”

Even our most uncomfortable emotions need to be voiced, says Lisa Marie Bobby, psychologist and founder of Growing Self Counseling & Coaching in Denver.

“Clear, respectful communication feels good for everyone,” she says.

Here are four phrases people don’t say enough to their partners.

“If you say it nicely it puts your partner on notice that you’re about to say something serious, important, and actionable,” Bobby says.

Tell them why you are making this request, ask for their input, and then close by asking if there is anything they need from you.

Altogether it should sound like this: “I have a request. The next time you load the dishwasher can you turn it on? That way it will be clean so I can unload it in the morning. Would that be alright? Amazing. Is there anything you need from me?”

Checking in with your partner about how recent events made you feel is healthy. But, talks like this rarely go well if one or both of you feels attacked, says Dené Logan, a therapist and author of the book “Sovereign Love.”

Starting a conversation with “The story I’m telling myself” might help mitigate some of that defensiveness.

“When we say, ‘The story I’m telling myself is that nothing I do is ever good enough for you’ instead of simply saying, ‘Nothing I do is ever good enough for you,’ it becomes a way of taking ownership of our thoughts and leaving space for misinterpretation,” she says.

It’s easy to assume our partner always knows what we are feeling or why. But, no matter how long someone is in your life, it’s impossible for them to understand where you’re coming from 100 percent of the time.

This phrase can “bring our partner in on the historical context of our pain points,” Logan says.

“If, for instance, I felt criticized by my partner in a way that reminds me of being criticized as a child, my partner asking to hear more about that historical context can be an incredibly reparative way to build deeper intimacy between us,” she says.

Take account of moments you’ll cherish, conflicts you navigated and personal accomplishments, says Thema Bryant, a professor of psychology at Pepperdine University and former president of the American Psychological Association.

To help direct the conversation, Bryant recommends following up with a few questions:

• What is a moment this year that you’re glad we survived or overcame? 
• How did I help you bloom or grow this year? 
• Is there anything I did or said this year that was hurtful to you that we have not discussed?
• What are you looking forward to for us next year? 

The end of the calendar year is a natural time to do this, but you can do a review at any time.

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Every family has different gift-giving traditions — and at least one person who screws it up every year.

Maybe it’s your aunt who is positive that you wear extra-large shirts despite that never being the case. Or it’s your sullen teenage nephew who insists, no, there’s not anything he can possibly think of that he wants this year.

In both of these cases, there is an easy solution: cash. It’s the gift that no one can screw up too badly and that virtually everyone is happy to receive.

The only problem is that giving it as a gift, or asking for it, can come across as gauche if done in the wrong context.

“You’re taking a little of the fun out of it,” says Thomas Farley, an etiquette expert and keynote speaker known as Mister Manners. “The ritual of presenting a gift, opening a gift, and experiencing that level of surprise and hopefully delight, I think is important.”

If you do it right, though, Farley and other etiquette pros say giving or receiving cash can be totally appropriate. It might even be OK to use Venmo. Here’s how.

Can’t possibly think of anything to get someone? If it’s a close loved one who may be expecting a gift, your best bet is talking with them before stuffing a few bills into an envelope.

“If someone says, ‘I never know what to get you. I’d be happier just getting you a check so you can get something you really like,’ I think that’s fine,” Farley says.

Whether you’ve had the conversation beforehand or not, be sure to make any monetary gift look like a real present. “If you’re going to see them, put [cash or a check] in one of those ‘Happy Holiday’ sleeves that’s meant to have money in it,” says Diane Gottsman, a national etiquette expert and founder of The Protocol School of Texas.

If it’s a more distant recipient — especially a younger one — you can safely send the money digitally, she says.

“You could put it in a holiday card, but a lot of these kids aren’t going to know what to do with a check,” she says. “You can say, ‘Check your Venmo — I’m going to put something in there.’ And then put a little holiday emoji.”

When it comes to receiving cash, it’s a little rude to just come out and ask for it. But if someone asks you what you may want, you’re right to be honest with them, says Gottsman.

“It’s appropriate to say, ‘If you really want to give me something I need, I could just really use whatever denomination you’d like to give me in cash,’” she says.

If money’s tight or if you can’t stand one more consumer item in your home, you needn’t give it a second thought. But if you’re on the fence, or just don’t feel like coming up with a wish list, remember that asking for cash may disappoint someone who really wanted to find you the perfect thing.

“Five years from now, are you going to remember, Uncle Charlie gave me $28 for Christmas in 2024? Probably not,” says Farley. “But are you going to remember, Charlie gave me this wonderful framed photograph of our excursion on the rafting trip that I see on my desk every day? You are.”

“It sounds corny, but gifts you put effort into are really more meaningful.”

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