On board the pod today is Karsten from Early Retirement Now. Sometimes he's affectionately referred to as Big Ern due to his massive 6'6" stature, but Ern isn't just any old blogger. He's originally from Germany, and he moved to the USA as an exchange student where he stayed after graduating to proceed on his finance career. He has a PhD in economics and has dozens of journal articles published in prestigious academic journals. Karsten has worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the Bank of New York Mellon Asset Management and holds a prestigious title as a chartered financial analyst. He is also a university lecturer where he teaches both undergraduate and PhD level economics. His blog, Early Retirement Now is a wealth of information and goes into some incredible details about the numbers behind investment and retirement. Big Ern is a family man and he and his family have enjoyed travelling around the world since he FIRE'd in 2018. Jump on board! There's a lot that can be learned from Big Ern!