Dr. Fred Rouse

Dr. Fred D. Rouse III is a nine-time bestselling author, Vietnam-era veteran, and former Certified Financial Planner with forty years in financial services.

He grew up in South Philadelphia, the son of a carpet layer and Korean War veteran — a household where income was something you built, not something you inherited. He left school at seventeen, served five years in the United States Coast Guard running search and rescue operations during the Vietnam era, then spent another year in the Army National Guard before beginning a career that would take him from respiratory therapy in ICU and trauma units to three decades as a CFP working with retirees and pre-retirees before retiring.

After growing increasingly frustrated with a planning model that failed the people who trusted it most, he spent ten years and three hundred fifty thousand dollars of his own money developing and testing a rules-based retirement income system. When the 2008 financial crisis hit, the system produced a tenfold gain on a five thousand dollar account while the broader market collapsed. He launched Short Window Retirement Planning in 2010 and has since taught the system to more than 1,000 students ages 50-84.

Every trade placed in the program has been publicly available since 2022 — wins, losses, and complete year-to-date performance, updated weekly. Nothing filtered.

He is also an executive producer with Abundance Studios and DNA Films, whose credits include CreatiVets, Tactical Empathy, Iron Cowboy, HERO, Brisa, and Dreamer.

His work has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Newsweek, USA Today, and Inc. Magazine. He has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, CNBC, MSNBC, and television and cable networks across the country.

Dr. Fred lives with his wife, Dr. Teri Rouse, and their dog Gus-Gus, splitting time between the Philadelphia suburbs and their home on the bay in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.