Editorial policy

Who is behind the site

Don't Die Retired is an independent website run by its founders. We are not doctors, dietitians, physiotherapists, financial advisers or lawyers. Nothing here is medical, financial or legal advice, and where a decision matters we say who to ask.

The part AI plays

The site is researched, written and updated with the help of AI, directed and overseen by its founders. AI finds the stories, reads the sources, drafts the articles and guides, and compares what we have written with what the sources say. We tell you this on every page because you are entitled to know how what you are reading was made.

AI makes mistakes, and so do people. That is why the rules below are about sources you can check for yourself, and why the corrections section exists.

Stories

• Real people, real sources. Every story is about a real, named person and rests on reporting we link to at the foot of the article. If we cannot open and read the source, we do not run the story.
• Nothing invented. We do not make up people, quotes, ages, readers, testimonials, reviews or sales figures.
• Our own words. We tell each story ourselves and quote sparingly, with the speaker and the outlet named. To read the original reporting in full, follow the link.
• Pictures. A story carries either an illustration drawn by the site or a photograph. Unless its caption names the person, a photograph shows the place or the activity, not the person in the story, and the caption says what it shows. Photographs come from Wikimedia Commons under open licences, credited to the photographer under the picture and on our photo and film credits page. We resize them and change nothing else. We do not use AI-generated photographs, and we do not copy pictures from news sites or social media.
• Short videos. When we make short videos of our stories for social media, they may be illustrated with AI-generated video in a clearly cartoon, clay or painted style. These clips never show the real person in the story or present a real place as itself, they add nothing the story does not say, and each one is labelled as made with AI.
• Films. Where the broadcaster or organisation that covered a story has put its film on YouTube, we show it on the story page with YouTube's own player. The film is theirs. We do not copy or re-upload it, and it does not mean they endorse us.
• Curious pieces. Our Curious section tells how things were invented or discovered and recounts remarkable feats from history. Each piece rests on at least two sources we opened and read, such as museums, archives and learned societies, all linked at the foot. Where accounts disagree, or a famous story is more legend than fact, we say so.
• Honest dates. An article's date is the day it was published. We do not change dates to make old pages look new.

Guides, plans and the workbooks we sell

• Sources listed. Advice on health, food, money, travel and technology follows published guidance from bodies such as the NHS, the UK Chief Medical Officers, the CDC, GOV.UK, MoneyHelper, the FCA, the FTC and the National Cyber Security Centre, and names the research it leans on. Each workbook ends with a page headed "Where this comes from".
• Checked against those sources. In October 2026 every source listed in our ten workbooks was opened and read, and each workbook was compared with it. A second, separate check then opened every source again. Both checks were done with AI.
• Not yet reviewed by a professional. No doctor, physiotherapist, dietitian, financial adviser or other qualified professional has reviewed our guides. If one does, the guide will carry their name, their registration and the date. We will never say or imply that a review has happened when it has not.
• Versions. Each workbook carries a version number and the month it was last reviewed, on its "About this guide" page.
• Things change. Tax figures, travel rules, phone numbers and app settings go out of date. Where a rule could have moved, we give the official page to check.

Health and safety

We encourage; we do not prescribe. We do not give doses or diagnoses, and we tell readers to speak to a GP (family doctor) before starting a new exercise programme if they have a health condition or have not exercised for some time. Emergency advice in our guides follows the NHS and, for readers in the United States, the CDC and the American Heart Association.

Corrections

If you think something here is wrong, out of date or unfair, email hello@dontdieretired.com and tell us which page. We will check it against the source and, if you are right, correct it. When a correction changes the substance of an article, we say so at the foot of that article, with the date.

Requests to remove or correct something about a person in a story go to the founders the same day.

Corrections log

• 7 October 2026. All ten workbooks were checked against their sources and reissued as version 2, with 217 corrections in all. The ones that mattered most: emergency advice in the two movement plans now says to ring 999 (911 in the US) for chest pain that spreads or does not ease, where it had said 111; fraud reporting now names Report Fraud, which replaced Action Fraud in December 2025; leftovers and cooked rice in Eat Strong now follow the Food Standards Agency's shorter times; Tech Confident no longer suggests sending a family safe word by text; and Second Act describes the research on older founders as it stands. If you bought an earlier version, email us and we will send you the new one.

How the site earns money, and what money cannot buy

• Our own workbooks, sold through Gumroad.
• Affiliate links. Some links to products earn us a commission at no cost to you. They are disclosed beside the links and in the note at the foot of every page. We have not tested the products or trips we link to: they are options to start you off, chosen because they fit the activity, and you should check they suit you before you buy.
• Advertising and sponsorship. Any advertisement or sponsored item is labelled as such.

Nobody can pay to appear in a story, to change what we write, or to be recommended. A paid listing is labelled "Sponsored" wherever it appears.

More about us

Why the site exists, and what it is not, is on the About page. How we handle your data is on the Privacy page.

This policy was last updated on 7 October 2026.