Today I have an update for you from a previous millionaire interview.
I’m letting three years pass from the initial interviews to the updates, so if you’ve been interviewed, I’ll be in touch. 😉
This update was submitted in May.
As usual, my questions are in bold italics and their responses follow…
OVERVIEW
How old are you?
I am 57 years old and my wife is 55 years old.
We started our early retirement 4 years ago in April 2020 when I was 53 and my wife was 51. We have been married for 17 years.
Do you have kids?
Yes, I have a 27 year old daughter from a previous marriage and she is living in London.
She started her post college professional career in Texas and lived there for the last 4 years. She started her career in Sales and worked very hard to be successful.
During her tenure, she was consistently ranked in the top 10% of the 400 sales representatives in a large public company.
A few months ago, she moved to London and plans on living there for 3 years. It has been a great journey watching her go from a little girl to a successful and independent woman.
We just visited her last month in London and we are so proud of her for what she has accomplished both personally and professionally so far in her life. Ok, we are a little biased…ha!
What area of the country do you live in (and urban or rural)?
We live in a major city in the Midwest of the United States. We live downtown in the city and love the urban lifestyle as well as the culture that it provides.
We will never live in the suburbs again.
What was your original Millionaire Interview on ESI Money?
I am MI-235 and you can read it here.
Is there anything else we should know about you?
I am also Retirement Interview 38.
You can read it here.
On ESI’s other Millionaire Money Mentors (MMM) forum, I am known as SoccerRules and you will see why I chose that handle name down below in this update.
NET WORTH
What is your current net worth and how is that different than your original interview?
Our current (May 2024) net worth is $4.6M.
It was $3.9M when we completed our MI-235 interview in November 2020.
What happened along the way to make these changes?
We both announced to our employers in early January 2020 that we were starting our early retirement on April 1, 2020.
The “big change” was having COVID which started in March 2020 and rocked everyone’s world.
What are you currently doing to maintain/grow your net worth?
We have Charles Schwab help us manage our portfolio. Over the last 30 years, we have had several different types of relationships with Schwab and it has gotten better with each version.
We meet with our Certified Financial Planner (CFP) every quarter to review the portfolio and discuss tax planning, income withdraws and other misc. items that develop over time. Our net worth has increased $700K or 19% in the last 4 years.
Given the COVID pandemic that was a challenge for two of the four years, we are happy with this performance of our portfolio and Charles Schwab’s guidance as well as the professional services they provide us.
An interesting note is BEFORE retirement, I spent 90% of my time on “the number” i.e. our net worth, and only 10% of what we would do once we retire.
Through deep soul searching and reading a lot of books and blogs on what makes you happy and what is your purpose in life, these numbers have ironically flipped in our lives since we have been in retirement.
In other words, I now spend 90% of my time learning new experiences, trying new things, etc. and only spend 10% of our time, if that, on our personal finance.
A question you should ask yourself is “If you could stop working, why haven’t you?”
MMM (ESI’s other forum) wrote a post on this exact question, and it is worth a read as over 125 people chimed in on this question.
I can honestly tell you we asked that question many times for the 4 years before we started our early retirement. Boy, are we thankful we started retirement as living life has been fantastic. Yes, we love being retired!
EARN
What is your job?
I have been retired for 4 years and no longer have a for-profit job.
I do, however, have 6 volunteer nonpaying jobs that include:
Food Pantry Delivery Driver. I do this on Saturdays for a few hours taking a box of mixed food to less fortunate people.
For many people, I may be the only person they see in a week so I make it a point to talk with each client for at least 10-15 minutes. My goal is to leave their home with a smile on their face and feeling good about themselves.
Big Brother. I mentor a teenage boy through Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) and see him once a week. If you are not familiar with BBBS, we help at risk children that are being raised in a single parent household.
We match one adult (Big Brother or Big Sister) with one child (Little Brother or Little Sister) of the same sex.
Statistics show children in a single parent household are more likely to do drugs, drink alcohol, have low self-esteem, have higher rates of truancy, and are less likely to go to college.
When you pair a child up with a positive role mentor, it is amazing to see what a difference it can make to the child. I have been matched with my Little Brother for over 8 years, and I have a blast spending time with him.
When we were first matched, he could barely make eye contact, his self-confidence was low, he did not like school, and the odds were against him for going to college.
He is now a senior in high school. Watching him grow up over these 8 years and helping him go from a boy to a man has been a fantastic experience for me to help him.
He now likes school, plays on three varsity sport teams in high school, and has more confidence in his life. He applied and got accepted to his “stretch college.” I could not be prouder of my Little Brother!
Minister of Care through our church. I work a few hours every other Tuesday at a local hospital meeting with patients by providing the Eucharist (communion), offering to pray with them and talk with them.
I would say that the majority of the time, I just listen to them. As one patient shared with me recently, it is nice to have a non-medical professional come into her room and listen to her.
Meeting people who are in the hospital for a variety of reasons can take a toll on people volunteering to help these patients.
It has been amazing to hear these patient stories and be an advocate for them to help them through their illnesses.
High School Soccer Official. Okay, I get gas money (lol) so it is not a true volunteer but this is one of my favorite roles I do now.
I referee high school boys soccer games in the fall and girls games in the spring. I do 60 games on average per season, or around 120 games a year. This is where my MMM forum handle comes from as “SoccerRules.”
This is a fun way to help keep in shape, stay involved with the greatest sport in the world and view it from the middle of the field. What is cooler than that!
BTW, I get asked by friends all the time, how do I handle the yelling at me as a soccer referee. Actually, the players are respectful, the coaches are mostly respectful and occasionally I need to give a yellow caution card to them.
The truth of the matter is that the parents are the ones that are out of control.
Soccer is a contact sport and when they see their little Johnny or sweet Sarah get knocked down to the ground, they immediately start yelling for a foul.
I estimate 90% of the time, the contact is legal and part of the game. The challenge is the parents do not know the rules of the game and don’t like seeing their child lying on the ground.
Ordained Wedding Minister. This started off when a close friend asked me to officiate his wedding two years ago.
I married him and his wife in 2023 and it was a blast. Then my wife’s cousin found out I had my minister license and then he asked if I would marry him earlier this year in 2024.
My daughter’s close friend just got engaged and is thinking of doing a destination wedding and may ask me to marry them.
The funny part is the training and license cost me $350 and I charge nothing. Somehow, I do not think this is a good revenue model….LOL.
Home Owners Association board member. We just moved from our condo building into a new high rise condo building.
In our last building, I ran our HOA for several years as it was meaningful, educational and great way to use my professional leadership skills. For the most part, it was a fun job working with good people in our building and I was always learning something new.
For example, I did not know what tuckpointing was until I had to get proposals for it. Ha!
What is your annual income?
Zippo, nada.
How has this changed since your last interview?
I have started my early retirement 4 years ago at age 53, so no change in income for me.
Have you added, grown, or lost any additional sources of income besides your career?
Somehow, I have not figured out how to make money through any of my 6 volunteer jobs.
SAVE
What is your annual spending and how has it changed since your interview?
$175,000 is our current annual spend/budget.
Our initial retirement budget was $135,000 four years ago.
What happened along the way to make these changes?
Inflation….haha.
Ok, it was inflation, strategic tax planning for additional taxes (i.e. Roth IRA Conversions) and international travel has increased our annual spend.
INVEST
What are your current investments and how have they changed over the years?
What happened along the way to make these changes?
While the current low tax rates are in place, I have started annual conversions of our IRAs to Roth IRAs in 2021 and plan on doing more of this tax planning tactic through 2025.
We bought a new condo in a new building recently. Company stock had a terrific run up so since it was outpacing the market growth rate, I decided to sell it off little by little to live off of the last few years.
MISCELLANEOUS
What other financial challenges or opportunities have you faced since your last interview?
The biggest challenge was going through 2021 and 2022 COVID market crash. I never panicked or pulled the fire alarm during this time as the market tanked.
My asset allocation was at 70% / 30% pre-COVID and I increased our equity position from 70% to 75% in 2021 as I like buying stocks when they are on sale….ha!
Overall, what’s better and what’s worse since your last interview?
Things that are better…
My wife and I love being retired and look forward to every day.
I have a daily reminder that says a good life is when you smile often, dream big, laugh a lot and realize how blessed you are. This is how I try to live my life as a retiree. I feel we have succeeded at doing this.
We have always been active travelers with our vacations throughout our marriage. After we retired, we started doing long international traveling since we are not limited to a small number of vacation days a year any longer.
For example, this year we decided to winter in Costa Rica for 3 months staying in Airbnb’s. Pura Vida!
We stayed in 3 areas of the country: a month in the north part of CR near Nicaragua, a month in the central part of CR in the mountains and stayed our last month in the southwest beach community near Panama.
We were not sure if we would like to be gone from our home in the US for 90 days at one time but found out quickly that the new experience and culture enriched us each time in a new country was terrific.
We plan on going to a new country for 3 months every winter from now on. We also spent 6 weeks in Portugal during the spring.
We spent the majority of the time in Lisbon, Porto and the Algarve as well as a few additional smaller towns/beach communities. The culture, people, food and the country’s history were interesting to live/see firsthand.
When in Lisbon, we were able to see a first division Liga Soccer League match between #2 SL Benfica vs. #4 FC Braga.
What a treat that was to see a live European soccer game compared to the MLS games that we watch back in the US. Our goal is to do a 6-8 week international trip each spring in a new country every year.
My tennis, pickleball and golf games have gotten better. We live within walking distance to our athletic club so because of this we are there 4 days a week working out, playing sports, exercise classes and even grabbing a coffee or beer with a friend.
My wife goes 6 or more days a week so she gets the trophy!
I joined a boat club during COVID in 2021 and 2022 to learn how to sail a boat. My boat of choice is an all-manual, no electric 24-foot Sailboat and love going out on one of the Great Lakes with my wife and/or friends.
This was a great way to live through COVID while enjoying the natural beauty of sailing a boat.
Education has always been important to me so during COVID, I decided to take an 18-month college certification course (2020-2022) work to become a Certified Financial Planner (CFP).
I had no interests in having a side hustle as a CFP but took these 7 courses and exams so I could learn as much as possible on these personal financial planning topics to help my own portfolio and family.
In 2021, I also joined the Financial Planning Association (FPA) which is the professional origination for CFP’s. I attend several of their educational programs every year including webinars, the state level annual meeting and this year in 2024 will be attending their national annual conference in Columbus, OH.
This has been fun and I like the continuing education, seeing best practices from CFP professionals as well as the practical benefits from this source. As mentioned before, we moved into a new condo building with a dynamite view of the city and the river that runs through our city.
I created a two-page Life Plan that helps me stay organized. It focuses on the 6 principles that are important in my life, and I update it monthly.
The 6 areas that I focus on include: Faith & Volunteering, Health, Family & Friends, New Experiences, Vacation & Exploration and Personal Finance best practices. I have specific goals under each one of these principles that I want to achieve.
Oh, one more fun adventure last year, I got a temporary part-time job as an usher at a local company that provides ushers at our NFL stadium and MLB ballpark so I could attend concerts for free, actually they paid me minimum wage.
For example, I wanted to attend the Taylor Swift concert, however tickets were going for $3,000 which I was not going to spend so I thought the next best thing would be to get a temporary job as an usher to help people find their seats at the beginning and then hang out watching the concert the rest of time.
Beside TS, I attended the Pink, Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen, Grateful Dead and Fall Out Boy concerts. What a blast that was to “work” these 6 concerts…ha!
Things that are worse…
Lost my dad right before we started early retirement. My mother passed away 20 years earlier and I miss them both dearly. I wish they were both around since I have more time available now.
Since I relocated a lot for my career in my 20’s & 30’s and have always traveled every week for my job, it was a challenge to see them since we were rarely in the same city.
I see a Physical Therapist on average once a year for 2-4 weeks for some body aliment like a knee, arm, tennis elbow, golf elbow, back issue, pulled muscle, etc.
I play a lot tennis and pickleball with younger people so I find myself taking more Advil and needing longer hot showers and hot tubs to recoup….lol.
Health insurance cost continues to be concern. I cannot start Medicare for another 8 years.
We go through the ACA exchange and have BCBS PPO which is a good quality policy, however it is very expensive. Fortunately, we are active people and do not have healthcare issues very often so I guess it could always be worse.
What are your plans for the future?
My evolving vision is a compelling call to celebrate the journey of life. My quest is to seek the best path and embark on what I want to learn, experience, and leave as my legacy.
It is not about what’s next, it’s about what’s now.
I see us continuing to spend 5 months per year traveling outside the US in 2 different countries each year over the next 20 years. We like the ability to winter the 3 cold months in a warm country and then going somewhere in the spring for 6-8 weeks to a different country.
Hopefully we can spend significant time in these 40+ countries to learn more about their culture, people, food, history and way of life.
It has been a blast so far and we feel extremely blessed and lucky to do so far.
Given that you have a bit more wisdom and experience, what advice do you have these days for ESI Money readers?
My wife and I are truly blessed and living the American Dream. I came from a humble background with nothing and enjoyed working at all my jobs.
I was raised in a low-income single parent family by my mother and never lived in a house until I bought one myself at age 25.
My wife and I pray every day together and are grateful for being able to start early retirement at 53/51 years old. This may sound crazy and it is the honest truth, we are loving life in retirement and are both more active now than when we were working.
The key question is “If you could stop working, why haven’t you?” It comes down to your priorities in life. The first question you are asking is about “your number” i.e. your net worth and if this is enough for you to retire.
Assuming you answer YES to the above question, the equally important two non-financial questions people should ask themselves are:
- What makes you happy?
- What is your purpose in life?
My wife and I both started our early retirement 4 years ago. We are loving life and glad we were able to start this new chapter in our lives when we did.
Interestingly work was getting in the way of our personal goals and was outweighing our professional goals. We planned out our exit strategy 4 years prior to retirement to help us plan out the above 3 critical questions.
While the above two non-financial questions sound simple and easy to answer, they are actually quite involved and require deep thinking to help people determine to jump the retirement finish line.
We believe that retirement is actually the beginning of an exciting chapter in our lives and not the ending.
One more plug for ESI’s other forum called MMM that stands for Millionaire Money Mentors. I find this MMM forum helpful for both Mentors and Members.
This is a go to site for me to read, learn, share best practices and bounce ideas off other people that I respect. Finally, my life mission is to help provide my family a life that includes emotional and financial security, love, education, and fun.
Expect the best. Attitude is everything.
MI411 says
What a wonderful update. Congratulations on all your success! What you described is exactly what I hope my husband and I will have in the next 6-8 years. Enjoy!
MI Update 56 says
MI411, Thanks for your kind words. Best of luck on your future!
Kathy says
Your retirement life sounds amazing, but more impressive is how you speak with such joy about it! Your enthusiasm about every aspect jumps out. I love all the volunteer opportunities you’ve embraced, yet still manage to have the time of your lives. Well done 🤩
MI Update 56 says
Kathy, Yes we are blessed and lucky to live our early retirement.
Best of luck on your future!
MI-365 says
What a great interview and blue print for living a successful retirement. I will be taking notes. Congratulations to you and your wife on retiring well. Happy for you guys and I have always enjoyed your post on the forums.
MI Update 56 says
MI-365, Appreciate your nice comments. I believe in sharing best practices via ESI and MMM blogs over the last 5 years. Best of luck on your future!
MI-368 says
I loved this retirement update. Your enthusiasm about the retirement life jumps right at the reader. Love how you are able to do the volunteer work and still able to travel and do other things.
BTW, you mention that you read a lot of books and blogs on what makes you happy and is your purpose in life. Would love to get some pointers to the books and blogs.
Keep enjoying your retirement
MI Update 56 says
MI-368, yes there has been many different books and blogs that I have read to help for the non-financial aspects of retirement. My favorite book is “Keys to a Successful Retirement” that talks about staying happy, active and productive in your retired years by Fritz Gilbert. FYI, I have purchased over 12 copies of this book to give to family and friends of mine when they were close to retirement. Other books I enjoyed on this topic is Rewirement – rewiring the way you think about retirement and Work Optional – retire early the non-penny pinching way. With Blogs, my top four that I enjoy are this one ESI, MMM – Millionaire Money Mentors, Retirement Manifesto and Retirement Researcher Academy. Best of luck on your future!
MU-368 says
Thank you. I read the same blogs and have Fritz‘s book, but haven’t read it yet. I will move it up the list
MI update 56 says
MU-368, that’s great to hear. If you like Fritz blog then you will love his book. It really did help me answer those two questions of what is your purpose in life and what makes you happy. Best of luck in your future.
Financial Fives says
I was also a big brother for BBBS, such a rewarding experience! I love how involved you are in your community, paying it forward and not just traveling or playing golf, but doing something fulfilling and positive for the community. I completely align with your mentality about life’s purpose and the early retirement, what you want out of life. Thanks for the update.
MI Update 56 says
Financial Fives, congratulations on being a Big Brother via BBBS. Yes, they are a terrific organization. For full disclosure, I have been fortunate to see what this non-profit can do from all key stakeholders in the organization. When I was 8 years old, my mom signed me up as a Little Brother to get a Big Brother who I have known for over 49 years, he stood up in my wedding and we still talk each Saturday morning. I mentioned I was a Big Brother in my MI Update. Finally, I have also served on the Board of Directors for over 15 years helping to raise money. My wife and I tithe to our church and we tithe to BBBS every year because we believe in this wonderful organization and can see that this can help so many children.
Mitch says
Love, love, love it! Our timing and net worth are almost identical as I will be retiring at 54 and my wife 50. Our annual budget is much less as we will be doing vanlife for the first, of what should be many years, and renting out our current house. I love that you have no income (for the most part) and that is okay. My wife and I were just discussing that this morning as I have felt compelled to keep some remote work going and build one other remote business just for added security. I just asked this morning, “Why?” I will continue to ponder this question to see whether it’s because I want the challenge in retirement or even if it might be a philanthropic endeavor or just something to make me feel like I still have income coming in. Either way, your responses helped me get to the point of knowing it isn’t necessary and it is okay not to have money coming in as a result of work at my point in retirement. Nada!!!! Really appreciate the concert tip! I love concerts but have stopped going because of the hassle and the expense. Your suggestion is fantastic! Happy retirement sir!
MI Update 56 says
Mitch, yes sounds like you are laser focused on when and how to retire. Congratulations on your pending retirement at age 54. Best of luck on your future!
CB says
Thank you for sharing your update. Be happy!
MI Update 56 says
Indeed CB. Being Happy is important.
Good luck in your future.
Kathy says
Great story thanks for sharing it. It’s also nice to see how you give back. How do you manage your volunteer and part time work commitments with all the travel? I’m also early retired and am finding this a challenge. It’s hard to commit to taking a class, volunteering every week or working part time if I’m frequently gone on trips.
MI update 56 says
Kathy, great point to bring up. We have been completely honest and up front to all of our voluntary jobs. They say they don’t mind and appreciate when we are in town to help out. You are right about scheduling classes and timing can be a challenge. I used to take weekly tennis lessons at our athletic club, with each session is 90 days. Now, I do 1-2 quarterly sessions per year instead of 4 sessions. It is a first year problem. 🤣 I am currently looking to take college courses, not for credit but to audit them via online classes for pure education. My hope is that my wife and I can continue traveling internationally while I do online courses or self taught college classes. We will wait to see if this works. Best of luck on your future!
MI 343 says
Thanks for sharing your update! I especially liked your volunteering at BBBS and food deliveries to the needy.
MI Update 56 says
Thanks MI343.
Best of luck in your future.
M268 says
Great update. Your story parallels ours as do your financials, though we are a few years more advanced in life. This past weekend my wife and I were running the numbers, extreme scenarios to just toy with possibilities (from leaving no inheritance to leaving max inheritance) to rethink what our budget can be. We settled on annual budget within spitting distance of yours that had a moderate inheritance target for our kids. This is what I love about this board: rather than listening to a financial advisor who may or may not echo our philosophy and who is likely overly conservative in planning, we can read about others in like situations and draw our own conclusions. Your story is one that gives us confidence we are on the right path and will do just fine! Thanks for sharing.
MI Update 56 says
M268, congratulations on doing your homework, and preparing the last few years for your retirement. Yes, it’s great to run multiple scenarios so you can feel comfortable retiring and living out the legacy goals you want to have. Best of luck in your future!
Sum9366/Mil 255 says
A great read and like many have said a great model to follow to enjoy early retirement. I left W2 work a few weeks ago and as I figure out the next steps will look back on your update. Thank you for sharing.
MI Update 56 says
SUM9366/ MI255, congratulations on your recent retirement a few weeks ago. What a great feeling that is and I wish you the best of luck in your future.