Tanja Hester

Tanja Hester, author of WORK OPTIONAL: Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way, is a former many things: a former political communications consultant, a former public radio journalist, a former yoga and spinning teacher, a former civil servant, and even a former money novice. Since retiring early from formal employment at the age of 38 along with her husband Mark Bunge, she devotes all her time to fun and purpose: writing her award-winning financial independence blog Our Next Life, podcasting on The Fairer Cents, gathering women together to talk about financial independence at Cents Positive retreats, volunteering in her community, traveling the world, and skiing, hiking, biking, paddling, and climbing around her home in North Lake Tahoe, California. Basically: living the dream. Tanja has researched and explored every aspect of early retirement, from the best strategies for saving to redefining your identity without a career, and applies those lessons every day in her work-optional life. She has a regular column on MarketWatch, she’s spoken at Google, Tesla and at conferences around the U.S., and she has been featured in the New York Times, TIME, MONEY Magazine, Vice Media, Yahoo! Finance, Forbes, LifeHacker, Bloomberg, Buzzfeed, and media outlets around the world.