Here’s our latest interview with a millionaire as we seek to learn from those who have grown their wealth to high heights.
If you’d like to be considered for an interview, drop me a note and we can chat about specifics.
Today’s millionaire was actually profiled in Money magazine in 2002. At that point the couple had a net worth of $185,412. Boy, how things progressed rapidly!
My questions are in bold italics and his responses follow in black.
Let’s get started…
How old are you (and spouse if applicable, plus how long you’ve been married)?
I am 51, wife is 49. We have been married 18 years.
Do you have kids/family (if so, how old are they)?
No kids, by choice. No medical issues kept us from having kids.
What area of the country do you live in (and urban or rural)?
We are in Houston, Texas.
What is your current net worth?
$4.6 million.
What are the main assets that make up your net worth (stocks, real estate, business, home, retirement accounts, etc.) and any debt that offsets part of these?
Our house is paid off and worth about $500K. We bought way below what we could have and have put about $160K into it. $3.9M in retirement/brokerage and about $300K in rental properties.
What is your job (type of work and level)?
My wife is a Tax Director at a Big 4 Accounting Firm and I work for Harris County in the Finance Department.
What is your annual income?
For 2016 it was $597K. (Just missed $600K). Wife got a large bonus. 2017 will be less due to smaller bonus, but still pretty darn good.
How did you grow your income so high?
My wife has gotten a raise almost every year and has been promoted many times. She is a National Specialist in Tax. My income has grown mainly by changing jobs.
What is your main source of income (be as specific as possible — job, investments, inheritance, etc.)?
Our jobs are the main source, but we get about $24K in rental income from our two rent houses.
What is your annual spending and what are the main expenses you have?
We are spending about $80K – $95K a year. Most of it spent on Travel, Charity and Entertainment. Our living expenses are pretty cheap.
How did you accumulate your net worth?
We have always maxed out our 401Ks and IRAs when we were eligible and invested extra money at Vanguard in cheap ETFs and never stopped investing even in 2008-2009. I probably put an extra $75K-$80K into the market during the down time to buy stocks on sale. I would say that paid off well, but in general, we save a ton of money so we can retire early. We are saving over $200K a year between 401Ks and Brokerage. We will both have a pension, but mine will be relatively small since I will only be with the County for 8 years. I am out the day after I am vested.
My wife hates shopping. She isn’t into clothing, purses or jewelry. I don’t golf or own a boat. My most expensive hobby is snow skiing and Scotch. We are way more into travel and experiences. For her 40th birthday, we were in Italy and we went to a 3-star restaurant for her birthday. I spent $750 on dinner, but we stayed at a five star hotel on points and saved $2,400. We are always trying to find good travel deals, but will spend the money when we find the value.
What money mistakes have you made along the way that others can learn from (or something you’d do differently)?
Spending more than I made was a huge early mistake. I was $13K in credit card debt a year before we got married and I was only making about $30K a year. I was able to pay it all off while living with the future wife. “Having” to have new car on payments was a mistake early in life. Our last 3 cars having been paid with cash. We also invested in a friend’s restaurant that we knew was high risk. We lost about $25K on that investment.
What have you learned in the process of becoming wealthy that others can learn from (what can others apply to become wealthy themselves)?
Never stop investing. You may not be able to max out your 401K or IRAs, but you have to start and never stop. Compounding interest is the greatest thing in the world. Once you hit the point where the growth each year is more than your income, you are basically set.
What are you currently doing to maintain/grow your net worth?
We are still working for about 2-3 more years. I vest in my pension August 2020 and although I could quit any day, it seems foolish to throw away a potential $30K a year in free money. My wife needs to vest in her pension in May 2018 and her job is so complicated that she can’t walk away. She has to wind down her clients and transition them so she is probably retiring in May 2019. But she can always do some consulting. We are still maxing out the 401Ks and saving a bunch of money. We are starting to spend more on travel knowing working is coming to an end and we have basically hit the financial number we want.
Do you have a target net worth you are trying to attain?
The target has been $4M in cash/retirement and we are $100K away. My spreadsheet has us at $4.2 at the end of the year and $5M by the time I retire. I don’t consider our house as retirement since I have to sell it to benefit and you have to live somewhere.
What are your plans for the future regarding lifestyle (for instance, will your net worth allow you to retire early, downsize jobs, etc.)?
We are going to retire in our early 50’s and start to travel the world. We have a cat, so that holds us back a bit and our parents are still alive, so we don’t want to be gone for months at a time yet, but once we can, we will live in Europe for six months or do long cruises and hopefully never spend a summer in Houston ever again. We might move into my Mom’s condo at some point when she passes away, but it is almost as cheap to keep our house and just shut off the water when we are gone for more than a month.
Is there any advice you have for ESI Money readers regarding wealth accumulation?
Just keep investing and try to up your savings 1% a year.
Pay cash for a car and keep it for 10 years. There are plenty of 4 year old cars that are 40% cheaper than new. Wife got a new car last year. All the bells and whistles, but it was one year old. $20K cheaper than brand new. The horrors, her 2001 RX300 didn’t have BlueTooth or GPS. We managed. She now has a 2015 RX350. Basically the same car, 15 years newer and we paid about the same price as the 2001.
Another excellent interview. I appreciate the fact that they are ramping up their spending on travel and plan to travel the world after they retire. Sounds like you’re going to blow your retirement savings goal away. Best of luck and enjoy!
We plan on not being in Houston during May-September after about 2022. Lots of places to travel to. Parental health might dictate how far away we are during summers.
We spent about $50K in travel this year. A few of the expenses are trips for next year.
Those are some amazing household incomes, bravo to them for making so so much cheddar.
I won the wife lottery. 🙂 She is incredibly stressed at work and she is going to retire 10 years sooner than the normal of people in her industry. Most partners/directors are forced to retire at 62.
The newer partner in my wife’s group is freaking out she is going to retire early. They might just pay her huge $$$ just to be a technical advisor. We can be anywhere and she just has to be on a few conference calls a month. They will pay our insurance while she works 30 hours a month.
We never buy new cars and, just like that, save about half the retail price. They still look great, run great, and we really don’t see why we would need a brand new car anytime soon.
Quote from M20: ‘Once you hit the point where the growth each year is more than your income, you are basically set’ – So true – this is the magic milestone to financial freedom (assuming your income is sufficient to cover your expenses). This is what everyone should strive for. Once achieved, the option to retire becomes real.
Great interview and nice to see that you both have high powered careers. Having two simultaneous strong earners (also without dependents) really is the key to turbocharging your income and net worth. Well done!
Your retirement / brokerage accounts should be throwing off some healthy dividend income. Even at an average S&P 500 yield about 2%+ that works out to be about $80K per year, so nothing to sneeze at right there.
I wish your retirement process goes smoothly.
-Mike
We aren’t getting that much dividend income. I guess I am not heavily invested in those type funds. I have a high dividend fund, but mainly broad ETFs. We are getting about $30K in dividends a year right now. My biggest holding is VTI. Hopefully in five years, we will be getting around $60K just in dividends.
What is VTI??
The ETF symbol for Vanguard Total Stock Market Index.
Jeff, I’m curious if you have any plans to expand your real estate investments with additional houses or perhaps by progressing into multifamily? Also, do you manage them yourself and how much time does that take?
My wife’s mom works at the RE company that manages the houses up in Texarkana, so it’s kind of a sweet deal. We sort of fell into owning rent houses. We don’t pay property management fees so that is good. We basically picked up one house for free and had the same tenant for 15 years. She moved out and we have had a couple of issues with the last few. I don’t like being 300 miles away, but I don’t have any plans to get into multi family or increase our houses much quite yet. I am a lame landlord. I am not handy when it would come to fixing up the properties. I would rather load up on REITs.
I am planning on unloading one of our houses. It’s older, I have put way too much money into it in the last two years. Renters are sporadic on being good tenants. It was empty for about six months last year. Mainly because it is in higher income part of town. I won’t be sad to sell it for a decent profit. Finally sold the MIL house after a year on the market.
Just a thought, but have you thought of renting out the house furnished to travel nurses or locums docs? They are terrific tenants and would probably appreciate a nice part of town.
Never thought of that. Not sure how many traveling nurses there are in East Texas, but something to consider. We might even do that when we start to travel for 2-3 months at a time.
Did the recent Hurricane affect any of your finances?
Why, or why not?
No, because we live in a high part of town. No issues with the flooding. I did have to take a week off of work because the office was closed. We were able to spend that time running around town and buying supplies for those that needed help. We have quite a few friends that flooded. Some for the 2nd time in 3 years.
Congrats…How do you handle the tax liability which appears to be significant since you are high earners with limited deductions?
It’s painful. I think we paid about $180K in taxes last year. Retirement will be awesome. Back down to the 10% bracket. Although I am not going to totally micromanage our spending to stay in the 10% bracket, but I will definately try and keep us in the 15% bracket with donations. I am planning on having a ton of cash for our first few years of retirement so I guess we will only be taxed on dividend income and rental house income.
I used to love those Money magazine interviews. So, Jeff, what ended up happening to the ’98 Mustang? 🙂 I had a red ’96 Cobra Mustang at one time but sold it to open a restaurant.
Your retirement plans sound great, congrats on being so close. I hope your wife’s last few years are less stressful. Wishing the best to you both.
I sold the Mustang after 12 years. Bought a VW Jetta TDI. I know, quite the change. But hey, it got twice as much gas mileage. The wife’s RX300 went 14 years. We are sooooo looking forward to quitting the rat race. 🙂
I love all the finance blogs about early retirement but they pretty much all, including this one, omit the fact that in almost all cases early retirement is out of the question if you have pre-existing health issues. Unless you can self insure you can’t retire. Get cancer and you nest egg is toast. What do we do about that situation?
1. I thought the ACA allowed you to get insurance with pre-existing conditions. Is this incorrect?
2. I believe the health share ministries I’ve written about allow you to join after a pre-existing condition has passed. So if you had cancer three years ago, you can join. (you’d have to check the guidelines of the ministries to be sure, of course.)
And if you have cancer now, then you can’t join (and are back to #1).
You are correct in that the ACA allows you to participate with pre conditions but nobody in their right mind would retire depending on that product at the moment. It’s been under attack since the day it took effect.
The cost of health insurance is everything, a demon in the corner, the 800 lb. gorilla, what have you. A few million won’t protect you unless you’re enjoying what our congressional ‘people’ do. One of my coworkers, married for umpteen years, maybe 30, is working FT past his retirement age. I don’t know the SS situation; I assume he’s taking the tax hit on benefits to hit a certain budget point. What I do know is that he had to close his bank accounts a few years ago. His wife came down with breast cancer. She got excellent care and survived, but their nest egg was annihilated. What remains is 800k in unpaid medical bills. She hasn’t worked for years but still needs constant monitoring. So he needs undeposited cash, to prevent a lien on every account. I don’t know how this plays out; if she survives him, she is f*cked. Meanwhile, he will work till he’s dead. My ready solutions are unappetizing to others, especially if they’re religious; I will say nothing. But what good is marriage if it chains you to financial horror despite the best of plans? I’ve heard the upside; great. It could all work really, really well for a very long time–until. I’ve noticed too; astonishing margins, smart planning left and right, but very little about the devastating consequences of medical problems, divorce, ‘communal’ debt, or the generalized nightmare that is modern, for-profit, US health INSURANCE, the ACA or not. Care is almost beside the point.
This dovetails back to a general conclusion. If you’re a multi-millionaire with a Cadillac plan, great. If you’re single, relatively poor, you can bounce down to Medicaid–good enough. Anyone else is vulnerable.
Darren, cancer sucks and if you or a loved one are going through it then I am really sorry. My personal focus has always been more about trying to achieve FI than RE. Because “life” happens to all of us in some form or fashion, I wanted to achieve a certain level of financial stability that could weather most anything life could throw at me. Retiring early was not as important as being able to adjust to virtually any circumstances without harming my lifestyle or financial stability, and to be able to hit a point where I could do what I enjoyed, not what I was forced to do to make ends meet.
I’m almost 60 and achieving FI has allowed me to “retire” from corporate life to begin a second career as an entrepreneur. I still have things I want to accomplish in my life before I really retire and now I have the means to take on risk without the repercussions of failure keeping me up at night because I know I’m financially set no matter how it turns out.
Good luck to you and I hope things take a turn for the better!
We’ve got to take the profit out of healthcare if this country is going to survive I think. I had a MRI recently and the total bill was 11.5k. No amount of savings for the average person is going to allow us to foot the bill for these things. I’m 52 any my NW is 1.9k with no debt. I’ll never retire early. 🙁
I meant 1.9M not 1.9K. Wow how bad would that suck.
To that point, check this out, from Rick Louis’ research:
Differing costs of an MRI across Missouri.
MISSOURI BRAIN MRI PRICE (CPT 70553) – Hospitals and Non-Hospitals
$10,911.00 – [Belton Regional Medical Center, Belton, MO]
$9,294.86 – [Centerpoint Medical Center, Independence, MO]
$8,318.92 – [Twin Rivers Regional Medical Ct, Kennett, MO]
$8,101.52 – [Lee’s Summit Medical Center, Lees Summit, MO]
$6,327.60 – [Phelps County Reg Med Ctr, Rolla, MO]
$6,307.00 – [Cameron Regional Medical Center, Cameron, MO]
$6,151.34 – [Des Peres Hospital, Saint Louis, MO]
$5,868.61 – [Northeast Regional Medical Center, Kirksville, MO]
$5,415.00 – [Lafayette Regional Health Ctr, Lexington, MO]
$5,376.75 – [Cass Regional Medical Center, Harrisonville, MO]
$5,117.00 – [St. Mary’s Medical Center, Blue Springs, MO]
$5,086.00 – [Saint Francis Medical Center, Cape Girardeau, MO]
$4,472.00 – [Saint Luke’s Northland Hospital, Smithville, MO]
$4,472.00 – [Saint Luke’s East Lee’s Summit Hospital, Lee’s Summit, MO]
$4,387.95 – [Poplar Bluff Regional Med Ctr-Oak Grove, Poplar Bluff, MO]
$4,346.00 – [Saint Louis Children’s Hospital, Saint Louis, MO]
$4,264.42 – [Ripley County Memorial Hospital, Doniphan, MO]
$4,150.00 – [Saint Mary’s Health Center, Jefferson City, MO]
$4,128.00 – [Cox North, Springfield, MO]
$4,128.00 – [Cox Medical Center Branson, Branson, MO]
$4,128.00 – [Cox Monett Hospital, Monett, MO]
$4,010.50 – [Freeman West, Joplin, MO]
$4,010.50 – [Freeman Health System Neosho, Neosho, MO]
$3,925.00 – [Black River Medical Center, Poplar Bluff, MO]
$3,894.00 – [Ray County Memorial Hospital, Richmond, MO]
$3,887.00 – [Bates County Memorial Hospital, Butler, MO]
$3,843.99 – [SoutheastHEALTH, Cape Girardeau, MO]
$3,834.00 – [Barnes Jewish Hospital, Saint Louis, MO]
$3,816.00 – [SSM Health St. Joseph Hospital-St Charles, Saint Charles, MO]
$3,816.00 – [SSM Health St. Clare Hospital-Fenton, Fenton, MO]
$3,816.00 – [SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital-St Louis, Saint Louis, MO]
$3,816.00 – [SSM Health Depaul Hospital-St Louis, Bridgeton, MO]
$3,816.00 – [SSM Health St. Joseph Hospital-Lake Saint Louis, Lake Saint Louis, MO]
$3,745.00 – [St. Joseph Medical Center, Kansas City, MO]
$3,732.00 – [Mercy Hospital St. Louis, Saint Louis, MO]
$3,732.00 – [Mercy Hospital Jefferson, Festus, MO]
$3,732.00 – [Mercy Hospital Washington, Washington, MO]
$3,696.00 – [Nevada Regional Medical Center, Nevada, MO]
$3,659.00 – [Citizens Memorial Hospital Dist, Bolivar, MO]
$3,657.04 – [Golden Valley Memorial Hospital, Clinton, MO]
$3,645.00 – [Excelsior Springs Hospital, Excelsior Springs, MO]
$3,623.00 – [Saint Francis Hospital/Hth Svs, Maryville, MO]
$3,600.00 – [Wright Memorial Hospital, Trenton, MO]
$3,588.00 – [Missouri Baptist Medical Center, Saint Louis, MO]
$3,588.00 – [Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital, Saint Louis, MO]
$3,588.00 – [Christian Hospital Northeast-Northwest, Saint Louis, MO]
$3,588.00 – [Barnes-Jewish St Peters Hospital, Saint Peters, MO]
$3,588.00 – [Progress West Hospital, O’Fallon, MO]
$3,513.00 – [Lincoln County Medical Center, Troy, MO]
$3,512.00 – [Mercy Hospital Springfield, Springfield, MO]
$3,510.40 – [St. Luke’s Hospital, Chesterfield, MO]
$3,509.00 – [Hedrick Medical Center, Chillicothe, MO]
$3,438.00 – [Mercy Hospital Joplin, Joplin, MO]
$3,400.00 – [Salem Memorial District Hospital, Salem, MO]
$3,366.00 – [Community Hospital Fairfax, Fairfax, MO]
$3,365.00 – [Texas County Memorial Hospital, Houston, MO]
$3,324.00 – [Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City, Kansas City, MO]
$3,284.00 – [Mercy Hospital Lebanon, Lebanon, MO]
$3,224.00 – [Putnam County Memorial Hospital, Unionville, MO]
$3,209.00 – [Audrain Medical Center, Mexico, MO]
$3,163.50 – [Saint Genevieve County Memorial Hospital, Ste. Genevieve, MO]
$3,133.00 – [Northwest Medical Center, Albany, MO]
$3,127.00 – [Carroll County Memorial Hospital, Carrollton, MO]
$3,106.22 – [SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital, Saint Louis, MO]
$3,089.00 – [Lake Regional Health System, Osage Beach, MO]
$3,081.00 – [Fitzgibbon Hospital, Marshall, MO]
$3,079.45 – [Mineral Area Regional Med Ctr, Farmington, MO]
$3,042.00 – [Parkland Health Ctr-Farmington, Farmington, MO]
$3,042.00 – [Missouri Baptist Sullivan Hospital, Sullivan, MO]
$3,014.00 – [Mercy Hospital Carthage, CARTHAGE, MO]
$2,995.00 – [Hannibal Regional Hospital, Hannibal, MO]
$2,953.25 – [Cedar County Memorial Hospital, El Dorado Springs, MO]
$2,851.00 – [Pike County Memorial Hospital, Louisiana, MO]
$2,819.00 – [Liberty Hospital, Liberty, MO]
$2,796.00 – [Pemiscot Memorial Hospital, Hayti, MO]
$2,796.00 – [Mercy Hospital Aurora, Aurora, MO]
$2,796.00 – [Mercy Hospital Cassville, Cassville, MO]
$2,796.00 – [Mercy Saint Francis Hospital, Mountain View, MO]
$2,786.18 – [Missouri Delta Medical Center, Sikeston, MO]
$2,492.00 – [Madison Medical Center, Fredericktown, MO]
$2,489.00 – [St. Anthony’s Medical Center, Saint Louis, MO]
$2,457.08 – [Harrison County Community Hosp, Bethany, MO]
$2,441.00 – [Perry County Memorial Hospital, Perryville, MO]
$2,372.00 – [Callaway Community Hospital, Fulton, MO]
$2,369.00 – [Washington County Memorial Hospital, Potosi, MO]
$2,288.00 – [Hermann Area District Hospital, Hermann, MO]
$2,272.00 – [Cooper County Memorial Hospital, Boonville, MO]
$2,250.00 – [Scotland County Memorial Hospital, Memphis, MO]
$2,234.15 – [Samaritan Hospital, Macon, MO]
$2,206.00 – [Moberly Regional Medical Center, Moberly, MO]
$2,200.00 – [Western Missouri Medical Center, Warrensburg, MO]
$2,162.25 – [Ellett Memorial Hospital, Appleton City, MO]
$2,145.33 – [Truman Medical Center-Hospital Hill, Kansas City, MO]
$2,093.00 – [Truman Medical Center Lakewood, Kansas City, MO]
$2,079.00 – [Ozarks Medical Center, West Plains, MO]
$2,072.00 – [Southeast Health Ctr Stddrd Cty, Dexter, MO]
$2,066.00 – [Boone Hospital Center, Columbia, MO]
$2,053.00 – [Bothwell Regional Health Center, Sedalia, MO]
$2,027.00 – [Ozarks Community Hospital, Springfield, MO]
$2,016.00 – [Barton County Memorial Hospital, Lamar, MO]
$2,006.00 – [Capital Region Medical Center, Jefferson City, MO]
$1,955.70 – [Pershing Memorial Hospital, Brookfield, MO]
$1,870.00 – [Sullivan County Memorial Hospital, Milan, MO]
$1,836.00 – [University of Missouri Health Care, Columbia, MO]
$1,707.00 – [Heartland Health, Saint Joseph, MO]
$1,600.80 – [Iron County Hospital, Pilot Knob, MO]
$1,600.00 – [North Kansas City Hospital, N Kansas City, MO]
$1,479.00 – [St. Alexius Hospital, Saint Louis, MO]
$548.59 – [Medical Plaza Imaging Associates, Kansas City, MO]
$546.63 – [Ramic Independence, Independence, MO]
$540.28 – [Radiology And Imaging Management Services, Saint Louis, MO]
$532.57 – [Professional Imaging, Saint Louis, MO]
$529.65 – [Northland Imaging, Kansas City, MO]
$507.93 – [Tri-Lakes Diagnostic Imaging, Branson, MO]
$479.96 – [Midwest Imaging Center, Farmington, MO]
$479.42 – [MRI of Springfield, Springfield, MO]
$463.84 – [West Central Missouri Diagnostic, Sedalia, MO]
$446.21 – [Missouri Imaging, Cape Girardeau, MO]
$335.02 – [Cape Radiology Group, Cape Girardeau, MO]
$333.16 – [JCMG Ancillary Services, Jefferson City, MO]
$318.16 – [Physicians Imaging, Jefferson City, MO]
$316.77 – [Lake Regional Imaging Partners, Osage Beach, MO]
$292.57 – [Moberly Medical Clinics, Moberly, MO]
$263.29 – [Sikeston Imaging Center, Sikeston, MO]
Great advice – and thank you for mentioning charity, which is so important to happiness! – though I have to take issue with our beloved webmaster and the stock photo image he used for this interview. Isn’t the whole point of having strong net worth that you eschew flashy clothing, cars, jewelry, and ostentation?
My FitBit is the nicest watch I own. Wife has a nice tennis bracelet and wedding ring, but nothing out of control. She has the same watch she bought in Switzerland like 25 years ago.
We are big on Charity. We started a scholarship at our alma mater and give to our business fraternity to support a scholarship in our region. Wife wants to get on the board of colonial williamsburg and that will mean more donations to them
Our Scholarship is now fully endowed and it will pay out in October 2019.
Amen, brother!
I’m still driving my RX 300 with ~$145K miles on it. It’s hard to give it up!
2001 RX 300
That is the year she had. Transmission went out and she was ready for a new one. Got a 1 year preowned RX350 $20K cheaper than new model.
I have an used Lexus es350 and wife has an used Honda Accord. Both great cars, and we saved so much by buying them just 2-3 years new. We also try to sell them about 140,000 miles, for me, that’s the magic number when more repairs are needed. We would also use Honda to drive to places like Oregon to save miles on the Lexus. I never understand why anyone would lease a car or buy cars brand new in the first place 😛
Great interview! It helps, of course, both of them are working in Finance and also, they have no kids to spend on. Still, their net worth growth over the last 15 years has been 24% CAGR (compared to where they were during 2002 interview), which is amazingly impressive! Of course, being worth $185K even in 2002 was already impressive to being with. I remember that my net worth was hardly even a third of that figure back then and was hustling away in my job.
Not having kids is a big reason we get to retire early. Neither one of us regret the decision. I had no idea an accountant could make the money wife does and she isn’t even a partner. She was with Arthur Andersen in the Houston office and after we saw partners lose everything, she was happy to be a Director. I have finally gotten to the point where we are spending a bit more on upgrades traveling now that we have hit our number, but we are still going to work 3 more years and hopefully hit $6M which means we can pretty much do as much traveling as we want.
Enjoyed the interview.
I also had a 2001 RX350. My transmission went out after 125k miles. Lexus dealer wanted $6500 to replace with a factory rebuilt tranny. They would not repair-only replace.
Friend suggested I try the local transmission shop (no big name, not a franchise). Owner apologized for having to charge $2800 to rebuild due to high cost of Lexus parts. Drove it for another 11 months and sold it (only had a 12 month warranty).
Having bought over 30 cars (including cars for our teens) over the last 50 years, and never once having a transmission problem, I thought it was really strange, but dealership never let on that it might be common to the RX350. Interesting…..
Finally someone from the area of the country that I know. I grew up in Conroe just north of Houston. I certainly don’t miss the heat and humidity and get a laugh out of people here in Dallas when they complain about their 50% humidity.
Looks like you and your wife are well on your way to spending the rest of of your days traveling the world. Congrats!
Thanks. Our #1 goal is to leave Houston for the summers and go ANYWHERE cooler. Portland (OR or ME) Lake Tahoe, Canada…etc….I am planning to have my monthly expense of $3,000 per month on rent somewhere. Some places will be cheaper and if the wife wants to go to London and stay in town, so be it. I don’t think we will out last our money. My spreadsheet says I will have $6M when we retire in 3 years.
So we have a ton of friends in Denver and we were there for 5 days in July. I think we are going to start to migrate there in a few years for a couple months at a time in the summer. We are going to Lake Tahoe in September so that should be a good break from the heat.
I really enjoyed reading this. It was a wonderful interview. The only thing is individuals with high earnings are at a greater advantage of reaching their financial goals much quicker. I wish I had made better choices. I am no way near being in any position to retire.
I don’t know anything about investing. He said that even in 2008-2009 he never stopped investing, how is that? I read where so many people lost millions during that period, families walked away from their homes and some even committed suicide. I also read where one woman purchased a property at a low price during that same time. Investing seems so risky and I must admit that I am afraid of taking risk at my age (50) especially as I don’t know the art of investing.
There are many athletes that are broke five years after playing. Yes, high income people can save more, they can also spend more aimlessly. How did I invest during 2008-2009? I had money to buy mutual funds when the market was dropping 300-500 points a day. Those are buying opportunities for people with long term investment strategies People lost millions on paper or they lost money because they sold their positions to get out of the market. We never sold anything. Yes, our portfolio declined like everyone elses. Buy property during a foreclosure market is how you make money. People with cash or able to buy when sellers are desparate. Buy low, sell high. Same with mutual funds. People panicking created buying opportunities. Many were overleveraged and couldn’t pay the mortage due to job loss and having no emergency funds. Investing has risk, but there isn’t many places to get more than a 7% return. You can live another 40 years. What do you plan on living on? Just social security? It is never too late to learn to invest in a basic SP500 fund.
WORD . . . one or more index funds, preferably S&P 500 to start. Vanguard has several. Open a brokerage account or an IRA, and simply ask them. They are very helpful. Miraculously, my new 401(k) has one. Now 100% vested in an S&P 500 fund with a .19 expense ratio. Recent returns have ranged from 9 to 16%, perhaps even higher if I bothered to check every day, which I don’t. You don’t have to. Get in, stay in, and don’t blink when a recession comes along; it’s time to buy more, for the next rally. I bought a foreclosed home worth 120k for 68k after tough negotiations; love seeing a realtor squirm, but I was preapproved, on point, ready to strike. Their short-term greed got in the way; my long-term certainly did not. Five years later, it’s worth maybe 180k, in this market; the balance is 56k. Payment is $504 a month, 30-year. I overpay that and my student loans to save even more, long-term. It’s easier than you think if you’re prepared, not just lucky.
FYI, I am 470 Days away from retiring from this job and started my ‘retirement gig’ of being a travel agent. The beauty is I don’t have to make a ton of money. Already have a couple of clients. I can see how it can eat up 3-4 hours a day in reading articles about travel.
NW is now 6.2M, hoping the investments hit 6M by the end of 2020. The wife and I have discussed that will have to spend a ton of money on travel and charity or else the portfolio will just keep growing. We did hit $100,000 in giving for our biggest Foundation Donation and we finished up the Scholarship at our University last year and it will start to pay out in October.
Great story and love the update. More millionaires should do this at least annually to encourage others to by seeing the progress and show changes in direction, attitudes, etc. I know I am not the same person I was a decade or two ago.
Congratulations on the continued success and hopes for prosperity in the new gig.
Your charitable giving is very honorable and inspirational to me, as I am currently experiencing a self-reflecting rebirth focusing my personal satisfaction on more philanthropy, both in terms of time, money, and daily dealings with anyone I come in contact with – a sort of fast from the focus on things and experiences for myself…now if we can only get the kids on board (they’re way too spoiled).
God bless.
Thanks to the market, Investments hit 6M at end of 2019! Now factoring in the MIL money as I am managing it. She is now in Memory Care and her LTHI is paying $8,200 a month, so she has zero expenses now and since the wife is the only child, I can now manage her money a bit more aggressivly to grow it a bit more.
I really like this interview. Jeff are you ready to retire next year! I live in a retirement/ski town and I love it. There are so many perks to geoarbitrage!
I retired in April. Got laid off from work 450 days before vesting in the pension, but it doesn’t matter, I was miserable. Started a travel agency for fun and getting tons of travel perks. Been to Europe twice, two cruises, wine country, NYC, Chicago, SoCal, Peurto Vallarta for Xmas. Going to Spain ‘for work’ in March, Panama Canal cruise in April and South Africa in August. I am exhausted from travel. 🙂 Market was 3x higher than I predicted, so that helped my lack of income the rest of the year. Wife working about 18 more months due to her mom’s situation. Life is Good!
Welcome to retirement!! I love this update. What a way to see the world!
My wife just retired at the end of May 2024. We did a cruise from Norway to Iceland. Our NW is now over $12M. Went to Egypt at the end of December and added on Turkey in January. Went to Antarctica in February and it was AMAZING!