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 we’re talking with the blogger from Road 2 Eudemonia.
My questions are in bold italics and his responses follow in black.
Let’s get started…
OVERVIEW
How old are you (and spouse if applicable, plus how long you’ve been married)?
I am 51 and my wonderful wife is 52. We have been married almost 28 years.
Do you have kids/family (if so, how old are they)?
We have two sons, ages 21 and 18.
Oldest will be a senior in college (Gig’ Em) and youngest will be a freshman in college (Go Coogs).
What area of the country do you live in (and urban or rural)?
South. We live in a suburb of a major city in the Great State of Texas.
What is your current net worth?
$2.2 million. This is cash and investments only.
I do not count the value of our house or vehicles.
I am also not including the value of two 529 plans for the kids education. Adding all this in our net worth is $2.7 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?
- Cash is $165,000
- Investments is $2.05 million. Of that, $866,000 is in taxable brokerage accounts and $1.2 million in IRA/Roth IRA/401K retirement accounts.
- Our house has a potential market value of $260,000 and our mortgage is $53,000. This is our ONLY debt!
- The two 529 plans have a balance of $118,000. (Going down fast now that both are in college!).
The balance of $2.7 million are cars and personal effects.
EARN
What is your job?
My new job is a C-Suite position for a not-for-profit serving disadvantaged youth.
My wife is CEO (Chief Education Officer) of Family, Inc.
What is your annual income?
$125,000 for me (with my new job).
Priceless (memories) for my wife.
Tell us about your income performance over time. What was the starting salary of your first job, how did it grow from there (and what you did to make it grow), and where are you now?
I believe my first “real job” after college was $20,000 (take into account my age!) for an entry level position.
My peak salary was $260,000 annually, including an average 22% bonus.
With a job change I am currently making $125,000, which I was able to do because I am FI (financially independent).
I grew my starting salary by getting promoted and also relocating.
I have only had two employers (until recently). I moved up the ranks in a traditional manner – entry level, manager, director, executive and then C-Suite.
What tips do you have for others who want to grow their career-related income?
Work hard and play harder. Show how you are valuable to your customers (for the self-employed) or employer.
Improve your skills – I went back for my MBA at the ripe old age of 49!
Network with people – this is something I struggle with personally but I see it working every day (It’s not what you know, it’s who you know).
What’s your work-life balance look like?
Better now that I have a new job with a higher purpose.
My former job involved a 2.5 to 3.0 hour commute (round trip). It also involved long days and some evenings with customer events.
My new job has a 1.5 hour commute (round trip). More importantly I am fulfilling a goal to join an organization with a greater mission in serving at risk youth. My work hours can fluctuate as needed and I can also work from home as I want.
Do you have any sources of income besides your career? If so, can you list them, give us a feel for how much you earn with each, and offer some insight into how you developed them?
We do not have any “side hustles” bringing in other income. The only other sources of income are from our investment portfolio.
I have started my own blog recently. I decided to start the blog to share the experiences of our journey to financial independence.
SAVE
What is your annual spending?
We spend our entire income! No, don’t freak out. Money “spent” includes money we put into our retirement plans and taxable savings.
On average we have saved an average of 33% of our annual income.
With the salary change, our plan is to reduce this down to $125,000 (which will come by reducing savings and also with both kids out of the house).
What are the main categories (expenses) this spending breaks into?
In order of highest to lowest:
- Investments/Savings (Retirement/Taxable Savings — remember – pay yourself first!)
- Taxes (Income/Medicare/Social Security and Property)
- College (expense but offset by 529 investments)
- Medical (employer plan plus out of pocket. This has been higher lately with my wife’s health issues)
- Home/Auto/Umbrella Insurance (Shopping around now!)
- Groceries
- Charity
- Auto (fuel, maintenance/repairs, toll road fees, registration)
- Mortgage (this is our ONLY Debt! We refinanced at a low rate so no incentive to payback)
Do you have a budget? If so, how do you implement it?
We have a budget. I take the time to set it up one time a year and then review it maybe but not really. We are not big spenders on lavish things (we do not try to keep up with the Jones’).
However, with the change in my employment (part of our financial plan), I have set up a better budget and plan to review monthly to check on it.
I know we may have to tap into some of the severance money I received but trying to avoid it.
What percentage of your gross income do you save and how has that changed over time?
On average we save 33% of my salary.
There have been low points (15%) and high points (50%).
In looking back, the low points are when we had a specific reason or we took our eye off the plan short term and then had to make it up later.
For the last 8 years we have been consistent between 33% and 50% savings.
What is your favorite thing to spend money on/your secret splurge?
We have no secrets! OK, maybe every now and then I will sneak out for a DQ Blizzard and pay cash so there is no money trail!
Our splurges have been vacations. Spring break or a big summer vacation. I am not talking month-long European or Martha’s Vineyards style. We have had fun doing a NHL Hockey road trip once, went to the UK once (stayed at my brother’s to reduce costs!) and a trip to Banff in Canada.
Most of our “vacations” are going to visit family since we live away from them.
Now that both kids are in college the ‘splurge’ will be quick three or four day weekend trips.
INVEST
What is your investment philosophy/plan?
Capital Preservation and dividend/income growth. Look at a long time period. We are not buy and hold nor are we market timers.
We have a financial advisor that manages our money (flat percentage of assets).
I used to manage our own investments, however, decided to change to hire an advisor for two reasons:
- I was tired after long days in the office and could not keep up
- My wife has no interest in the investment world so I needed a trusted advisor for her.
Thus, after a long search we found a great individual and firm that we trust and I have peace of mind that should I leave this Earth early, my wife will be secure.
What has been your best investment?
Could not really tell you. Our philosophy does not have Rockstars and it does not have Dead Beats.
We look at the overall results of the portfolio and do not get hung up on individual results.
What has been your worst investment?
Could not really tell you. Our philosophy does not have Rockstars and it does not have Dead Beats.
We look at the overall results of the portfolio and do not get hung up on individual results.
What’s been your overall return?
Since 1996 we have averaged 6%. Of course, this covers bad years (like 2008 when we our return was a negative 28%) and high years (2003 was a positive 30%).
How often do you monitor/review your portfolio?
I have used Quicken since 1996. For banking I download at least 2 times a week – which also downloads investments.
For 2018 I will probably still review weekly until I know we are hitting our budget (due to job change) and then step back a little.
I have looked at Personal Capital but I am stuck in my old ways.
NET WORTH
How did you accumulate your net worth?
We paid ourselves first!
A Key to Success was setting up automatic deductions or automatic transfers! If you never see it in your routine bank account, you have a difficult (though not impossible) time using it. In the expense section of the interview I mentioned we saved on average 33% of my income every year.
Even when starting out, I at least contributed to a 401K plan (to get the employer match). As my salary grew, the goal was to hit the IRS maximum every year. When you get hired the first thing to do is set up an automatic amount for your 401K).
As my salary grew, we also saved in IRA’s and Roth IRAs. When income restricted this, we just put the savings into our taxable brokerage account. These took the discipline to set up automatic transfers to the accounts involved. I set up automatic transfers for all these investments and treated it like a routine “expense” for budgeting.
At this time we have inherited no money, though I do know through managing my mother’s finances there is an inheritance probable – but we are not considering that in any financial planning.
What road bumps did you face along the way to becoming a millionaire and how did you handle them?
“Bumps” is a good way to say it. My family has had a good life. By no means are we struggling but we have had some bumps have come up.
I have been through two “reorganizations” during my career. Financially we were prepared since we had good emergency funds available. Healthcare wise we qualified for Cobra health insurance so we did not have a gap in health insurance thank goodness.
My wife has had a major health issue recently (which appears to be under control). Diagnosis, surgery, treatment, recurrence, major surgery, more treatment, stabilization.
Mentally during these bumps it was about faith, family and friends. “F-Cubed” as I call it. We are lucky to have all three of these legs to support us and it is what got us through the most challenging time with my wife’s health issue.
What are you currently doing to maintain/grow your net worth?
With the change in jobs comes a change in this area.
We are changing our expenses to reflect the lower salary.
We still plan to maximize the 401K investments.
I also have access to a health savings account now (H.S.A.), so I plan to maximize that out as well (thanks for FIRE bloggers who turned me onto this).
We sit down with our financial advisor at least one time a year and also call them often for various things to make sure we are on track.
Do you have a target net worth you are trying to attain?
We do not. I really did not have a net worth target to begin with. I just took the approach of paying myself first and one day we realized that our net worth was $1 million and then $2 million.
How old were you when you made your first million and have you had any significant behavior shifts since then?
Technically at 43 we hit $1 million (though at 41 we were close and then the 2008 crash hit which delayed it two years).
We have not made significant behavior shifts since then. We just kept up what was working and added in a financial advisor to keep us on track.
What money mistakes have you made along the way that others can learn from?
Network more. You hear it all the time – network, network, network.
I consider my working (and personal life) successful by my own definition (I don’t care what others think honestly). My career progression was certainly helped by the small network of people I did have. I have observed that those who are savvy about their networking tend to have more opportunities in the long term.
What advice do you have for ESI Money readers on how to become wealthy?
Set up a Goal and have a Plan. When you are young doing this may not be sexy or exciting. Having said this, I did not practice what I am preaching.
I cannot say that we had a goal in mind or a plan written down. What we did have was a pay ourselves first and live within our means mentality. It is a blessing to hear your financial advisor tell you that you can spend a little more on fun things and still be fine in the end.
Don’t worry about the Jones’. You know the saying “Keeping up with the Jones’.” Well, you are not the Jones’ nor should you want to be them. Be yourself.
We have been thrifty. We did not buy the latest new thing just because friends or neighbors had them. We did buy cars new and then we drove them into the ground for 8-10 years. Recently though we had to buy two cars at one time as a result of a natural disaster, so I bought them used and paid in cash.
By the way, it’s ok to be a Jones as long as you know what all that flashy stuff is costing you and how it impacts your ability to achieve FI!
Don’t just blindly listen to anyone. Especially around what your expenses will be after you retire. The old rule about needing 70% (or more) does not apply to everyone.
Start looking at your own finances and then look out to spending AFTER you retire – with no kids, hopefully no mortgage/auto loans, moving to a lower tax State, etc….
Know, or find someone who does, about social security, medicare, etc….For young people I know this seems like it is way far out on your timeline. I started really reading and asking about age 45 to make sure I got my head around these topics.
A challenge is that the rules of today will (notice I did not say might) change in the future. I had to find experts on these topics since attempting to read federal rules is mind numbing.
FUTURE
What are your plans for the future regarding lifestyle?
We are living our plans!
Our FI has allowed me to do something totally different. We have had a possible plan for a while and when I was reorganized out of a position recently, I took a severance package to live the plan.
I could have probably retired fully at 51 with the reorganization but I was not ready to. The plan involves getting into another line of work where we could live on half the salary and still be fine. The plan also involves tightening up the expenses a little.
So from 2018 to 2023 the plan is to work at a not-for-profit agency and help them strategically grow. Then, when our youngest son is done with his college in 2023 we plan to execute our full retirement plans.
What are your retirement plans?
We are planning to hit the road in an RV to travel the North American continent (Hi Steve @ ThinkSaveRetire).
What is funny is that we have never RV’d before. This will allow us to see the beauty of North America while living on a very modest budget that will allow us to extend our investments.
We know eventually age will require us to get a home base (we jokingly tell the kids their future house has to have room for us).
Plans financially involve strategic Roth IRA conversions to manage taxes primarily.
Our plan involves spending about $100,000 a year (OR LESS) and does not rely on social security income.
Are there any issues in retirement that concern you? If so, how are you planning to address them?
THE biggest concern for us is healthcare — and this is from a guy who worked in healthcare for a long time.
We have to cover ourselves from 57 to 65. My wife also has a pre-existing condition that we know will lead to higher than average premiums.
We have been looking at medishare programs that are out there, however, these programs are not “health insurance.”
In our financial plan we have added in higher expenses for healthcare during this time.
MISCELLANEOUS
How did you learn about finances and at what age did it ‘click’? Was it from family, books, forced to learn as wealth grew, etc.?
Mostly self-taught. My parents were both savvy with finances and investing, however, I never really sat down with them to go through things in detail or get advice. I do remember them saying “son, always pay yourself first.”
In the days when the internet was a new thing, reading actual books, articles, and textbooks was the thing for me, now it is about reading blogs and researching online.
Who inspired you to excel in life? Who are your heroes?
Inspiration came from my parents and a small handful of volunteers in a youth program I was in as a youth (and I am still involved with as an adult volunteer giving back).
Those who I hold in the highest esteem are those who have and currently serve in vital roles, such as our military, first responders, teachers, etc.
Do you give to charity? Why or why not? If you do, what percent of time/money do you give?
Yes, we give to charity. Our philosophy is to give back a portion of what we have taken (no, this is not a political statement).
Our main charity is the church we belong to. Most of the church donations stay at the local church, however, a good portion is distributed to other agencies that help others.
We also give to other select charities (we use Charity Navigator to review). We do not measure, but between cash, materials or volunteer hours we provide to others.
Do you plan to leave an inheritance for your heirs (how do you plan to distribute your wealth at your death)? What are your reasons behind this plan?
No. Not only no, but hell no! 🙂
We have already told our two sons we plan to spend it while we are alive on this earth and their plans should not assume any inheritance. If we do have money at the end, it will distribute to our two sons (unless we change the plan).
All joking aside, our estate plan is very well thought out from a tax planning and overall net worth perspective. We are planning on IRA to Roth IRA conversions to manage taxes, not distributions, over the rest of our lifetime.
We have proper legal documents in place and have for some time now. Funny thing now that I think back – I “won” a free financial and legal review and that is how I started getting serious about planning (I did take up the free offer but went with different advisers in the end).
I commend you for going back to school to get your MBA at age 49. It’s sure is never too late for learning, knowledge and education. May I ask why you had to wait until that age? I wanted to do it a few years ago but felt old to go and never did. I mean there is no age bar with education, but my other excuse was the amount of time and energy involved with being in graduate school.
Bernz – I made an expensive bet with my two sons related to the MBA. They said I could not do it! I am not one to back down from a challenge so I decided to go for it. I also felt I needed to reinvigorate my professional life by going back to school to see if this old dog could learn some new things.
There was a lot of time involved but I found a program that was split between online and in class time.
My biggest learning – my younger classmates, those ‘millennials,” are actually going to do fine. They get bashed around a lot in the public eye but I got a sense that most were smarter than me at that age.
Thanks for asking.
Stop on by to read some more. http://road2eudemonia.com/
Interesting. When you say you pay a “flat percentage fee,” I presume you mean that you pay an assets under management fee for financial advice?
Also, I am always so interested in the various opinions people give about leaving inheritance money. People usually have strong opinions on one side or the other. ESI, I bet this would make a great pro/con debate for a post. Food for thought.
TPP
TPP – Yes, I pay a percentage of assets under management. I could do it myself and save a lot of money. However, for a number of reasons, we chose to have our investments professionally managed.
See this post for why: https://bit.ly/2S8jJOj
On the inheritance discussion – I agree. This would be a great pro/con post.
Disclosure on the Inheritance question – I am a very sarcastic person. This the short and sweet answer with the smiley face. We do have an estate plan that will pass through any money left when we leave this great Earth. And our financial plan will leave money at the end.
We have taught our two sons that they need to make it in this world on their own, with a little help from mom & dad every now and then.
If you play a percentage of your assets you should also maybe look at “flat fee” advisors who offer their services not on a percentage of your assets but rather a flat amount (like $6,000 which is mine). As your assets grow, it saves a TON of money!
Thanks for the feedback Jeff. I will have to call my advisor next week!
I go back and forth on the need to let someone else manage our portfolio for .75 to 1.0% of assets under management. I still have trouble giving up control so I have a hybrid approach. I act as the General Contractor of my portfolio and use sub-contractors (brokerage firms) that specialize in certain areas. For example, I have a firm that I utilize for Alternative Investments, another for Bonds, another for International and another for US Growth. I don’t pay an asset management fee, just the usual no-load variety. The only caveat to this is I do pay higher fees on some of the PE investments but no way around that if you want to invest in this area. I’m also looking for a good tax advisor to begin to guide me on IRA conversions and tax planning.
I’ve gotten a little more concerned about the DIY approach as I’ve gotten older and the portfolio has gotten bigger but for now, this is the way I am choosing to handle it.
Paper Tiger – That is an investment approach I have not considered. Sounds like you make the decisions and use the brokerage firms to execute the orders? Or do your sub-contracted firms provide more service?
We use an advisor mainly due to the fact Mrs. r2e wants nothing to do with the investments. We also maximize our relationship with our advisor. They do our financial plan modeling – which I update annually with them based on changes.
Finding a good tax advisor has been a key step for us. It took us a while to find one we were comfortable with. Our estate is not that complex, however, going into 2018 the new tax laws have been challenging to understand. Additionally, with my salary change, going into 2019 there are many tax laws I can start taking credit for that I could not at my old salary.
Paper Tiger – That is an approach I had not considered. Do you just use the brokerages to execute orders then? Or do the brokerages also do other things?
We went back and forth for a long time about using an advisor. In the end we decided to use one. Yes there are fees (we are paying 0.65% now) to manage the money. However, Mrs. r2e has no interest in actively managing our portfolio and I wanted to be sure she would be taken care of if anything happened to me.
My 87 year old mother never used an advisor and she and my dad did pretty well on their own. Though I am now keeping tabs on her estate but she won’t let me make changes (I think she is way to aggressively invested for her age).
Paper Tiger – That is an approach I had not considered. Do you just use the brokerages to execute orders then? Or do the brokerages also do other things?
We went back and forth for a long time about using an advisor. In the end we decided to use one. Yes there are fees (we are paying 0.65% now) to manage the money. However, Mrs. r2e has no interest in actively managing our portfolio and I wanted to be sure she would be taken care of if anything happened to me.
My 87 year old mother never used an advisor and she and my dad did pretty well on their own. Though I am now keeping tabs on her estate but she won’t let me make changes (I think she is way to aggressively invested for her age).
I have individually assigned wealth advisors in several different brokerage firms and enough money in those accounts to keep their attention. Basically, they bring me their best ideas on potential investments within my accounts and then I decide if I want to add to, or change, my investment mix based on some of their recommendations. They understand my risk tolerance and goals and have known me long enough to have a good idea of the kinds of investments I am willing to consider. These have been long-term relationships so it works well and they only reach out when they see something that makes sense based on knowing me for so long and what I might consider. Since I have the online capabilities, I will usually execute the trades myself with the exception of my PE investments which are handled by my broker.
To be specific, Fidelity and TRP are the management companies for several of our 401Ks so I have access to someone to make suggestions on mix/investments, Merrill Lynch handles our Alternative Investments, CapitalOne, soon to be eTrade has assisted me with ideas for International ETFs, Schwab has handled most of my US Domestic funds and I have a boutique bond group to help us in that area.
Like you, I’m helping both my Mom and my Mother-in-law but all they will let me do is renew their CDs and help them shop for the best rates. I look after their expenses and make sure they stay on track but that is the extent of how much they will let me be involved, which is fine. At their ages, what they are invested in probably makes the most sense given age and risk tolerance.
Last, my wife is similar to yours and will want nothing to do with managing our portfolio if I pass before her. With this in mind, I have someone I am beginning to work with that I met through church and I believe he will be a potentially good choice to help my wife with management duties if that need ever comes up.
Thanks for the response. Sorry about my responses – I guess I hit the enter key to much!
Nicely done. Thanks for sharing with our community! Same position as you —– my wife has very little interest in learning the “details” of finance, so we’ve hired a management team (Austin, Texas) who has helped us greatly for the last 5 years……… I plan to stay with them from now to the end. Hopefully, when I’m gone, my wife will continue to feel very comfortable working directly with them…..by the way, she does attend each yearly meeting.
We too, have, two sons ——they left college with NO debt and they are gainfully employed: Living independently and doing well on their own. Thank goodness —–
I’ve thought about the RV world too ——-but, my wife……..no way! Ha – guess we’ll be locked down in our final home in about 2 years, as we plan to build in a great small town, near Ft. Worth, Texas.
Good luck to you, your family and have fun seeing America from the windows of your RV. I envy you! ha!
Thanks Razorback. I assume you are maybe an Arkansas fan? My oldest is an Aggie.
The funny thing about us being interested in RVing – We have no experience! I have camped and backpacked (Mrs. r2e draws the line where there is no hot shower or flushing toilet) before. We have been visiting RV dealerships and have been to a couple RV shows to get an idea. Biggest thing we have learned – buy used. I have seen so many RVs for sale where the original owner has only used their rig like 3-4 times and then they stop.
Setting up the automatic deductions/ investments really does work. I set mine up over 20 years ago and just kept letting the investments go in and didnt worry about it much as it was retirement money that I couldn’t touch for a long time anyway. The money kept going in even through the recession. Hard to believe how much my accounts are worth now. I usually stick with DIY investing but it seems like a smart move in your situation. Especially helpful for your wife since it really isnt her thing. Networking is important also. Just being out there and getting yourself in the loop can lead to new opportunities that you wouldn’t have had otherwise. Sometimes I view it as planting a seed. Then when the time is right or the opportunity becomes available, you likely will have a better shot at it since people already have seen you out and know who you are. Enjoyed your interview.
Arrgo – great comments back. The power of automatic investments AND compounding has done wonders for our net worth.
And networking – This is something I tell people “do as I say, not as I did.” I am very much an introvert and was never good at networking. Interesting, all the jobs I have started were cold applications. Now, I will say that networking and relationships is what helped me advance in those jobs.
“My wife is CEO (Chief Education Officer) of Family, Inc.” I love this. It is so important to recognize the hard work of people in our lives that doesn’t count toward GDP. If these people weren’t in our lives, we WOULD pay for it, so I love seeing the acknowledgement and gratitude you have for this position of your partner 🙂
Gwynevir – thanks for your comment. I know I do not say it enough to Mrs. r2e but she had/has the much more challenging role in our family. Without her our little family unit would not be what we are today. Mrs. r2e was so involved with our two sons I know it has had a very positive impact on them. Between sports, school, band, Mrs. r2e was not just the parent in the stands watching, she was always volunteering to not only help our two sons but all the kids in those programs.
We are fortunate enough to have this option. I know not all families have this opportunity. I also know that others choose to be two-income families – which is perfectly fine to me.
Lovely to hear! 🙂 We stand on the shoulders of giants 😉
“We did buy cars new and then we drove them into the ground for 8-10 years.”
We also like buying new cars because you get exactly what you want. But our definition of driving to the ground is closer to 12-15 years … something to consider given your new job with a reduced salary.
Phillip – Definitely agree with you on reassessing the car situation with my new job.
We experienced the wrath of Hurricane Harvey in August 2017 and we got lucky and only lost two cars (many others lost houses and some their lives). I was fortunate to have a friend who connected me to a manufacturer rep, who in turn connected me to some gently used corporate vehicles. I paid cash for them and plan to drive them for a long time!
Great read! Question… since you worked in the healthcare field… you may not have a good opinion on Medishare? If you have an opinion either way, share if your comfortable. Gig’Em.
Andrea – I have only casually looked at Medishare plans. I was seriously considering them when we retire until Mrs. r2e was diagnosed with cancer recently.
Medishare plans are not traditional healthcare insurance plans where there are guarantees of payment. Medishare plans are agreements to help each other cover healthcare expenses by sharing costs, but without any technical guarantee of payment.
However, there are numerous Medishare plans that have long track records of being in existence. These plans can be good if you qualify for them (no pre-existing conditions and healthy).
I recommend a couple blogs about the topic:
https://esimoney.com/medi-share-review/
https://www.kitces.com/blog/healthcare-sharing-program-review-chm-medicare-lhs-samaritan-health-share-plans/
https://ptmoney.com/medishare-review/
Millionaire 7 here (https://esimoney.com/millionaire-interview-7/).
I appreciate this post since it parallels many of my life’s path. Earlier this year I engaged a Financial Advisor even though I’ve been managing our finances to the $2m net worth. Part of my reasoning was I wanted to start enjoying my life and not worrying if I was making the right financial decisions.
My Financial Advisor reviewed my portfolio and thought I was doing a great job but was too aggressive (mostly stocks). They’ve rebalanced my allocation and helped to review my insurance, estate plans and college planning. Most important, if I pass unexpectedly, I know they’ll guide my spouse in her retirement years.
As an aside, I just paid cash for my first new car in twenty years (around 1% of my net worth). You can’t take it with you!
MI7 – Just read your ESI # 7 interview. Yes, many parallels in our stories.
Enjoying the Present is something I have only recently been focused on.
Back to the financial advisor. The best meeting we ever had with our advisor is the one where he said the following: “Time for you two to start having a little fun with that money of yours.” Mrs. r2e and I just looked at each other and realized we had reached our goals.
Congratulations on your accomplishments, I enjoyed your interview. Given that your wife is not interested in an active role regarding your finances, how have you provided updates to her on the family’s financial health?
ESI-34 – Thanks for the response. Yes, we sit down frequently to review things.
Let me clarify an item. Mrs. r2e is the one who does the day to day bill paying so she is the one who keeps me up to date on that discussion.
We talk overall finances and investments about every three months, or more often if something urgent comes up, to keep her up to date on things. We also talk with our advisor together so she knows the long term plans as well.
I read your interview. You have experience and net worth with real estate. That is an area of investments we have not gone into. Appears like it has been very successful for you.
I see we share a healthcare industry background. Hope all is well with that.
I spent 5 wonderful years at Texas A&M university and then finally finished up at the Coogs university. My wife has two degrees from A&M and is the CEO of Family, Inc as well as being the day to day operations director and tax person.
Hey Fiberguy. Gig ’em. Our oldest has been indoctrinated into the clan up there. We are just riding on his coat tails enjoying the experience.
Great read MI97!
On my first ‘re-org’, I took the severance and bought a 3 year old 36 foot Class A RV for $70k. Drove it all summer of 2013, coast to coast, 23 states, 8,500 miles. Sold it 2 years later for $66k. I’d do it again in heartbeat, such great memories. There are some gorgeous RVs out there and much to see in our beautiful country. The good news is you can rent or buy and sell it when you’re done. When you’re not in a rush, you can wait for a good one.
Enjoy the journey and all the years of hard work!
Hey there Krummie! We have been window shopping for RVs. We know we are not buying new. There are so many RVs out there where the original buyer bought new, used it like a year and now wants to sell. Used RVs are the way to go. We also have some friends that have offered their RVs for use on a long weekend to give it a trial run.
Thank you for sharing your situation! I have so many parallels to your story as published. I too reside in the burbs of a major metro area in Texas however I believe mine is some 260 miles north of yours. I was impacted by two so called corporate reorganizations and am currently unemployed and contemplating staying out of the workforce (early retirement) as I found that finding another middle management IT job at 54 is very difficult. I am lucky in that I worked for 22 years for my first employer and when I was laid off, I officially was “early retired” at 44 and was given the option of taking retiree medical insurance which I took and kept throughout my employment years at company number 2 (I carried dual medical insurance until my wife went back to work and we moved the kids to her insurance). I now have insurance subsidized by employer 1 util I turn 65 with the option of adding my wife (at non subsidized rates) to my plan if needed. Therefore, healthcare is not as big of any issue for me in retiring early. We have no debt. We paid off our mortgage in 2017 and the only housing expenses we have are utilities, property taxes which are very high in the city we live in, insurance, and repairs. We too purchase cars/trucks new and run them into the ground. I have not carried a car note since 1999 and ensure I set aside enough money to pay cash for autos. We tend to replace our vehicles every 8-10 years. We have been talking about my wife retiring in about 4 years and then potentially traveling the USA in an RV but have not owned one yet. We are also considering downsizing our house and potentially moving either to a more rural area still within commuting distance to big city amenities (have pro football season tickets) or investing in a lake house within 1.5 hours of the city. I have not worked in over 1.5 years now and am struggling with how to keep myself occupied. Have you considered what you plan to do once the newness of not working wears off and travel loses some of its intrigue? BTW, we are also FI and are very fortunate to have only had to dip into our cash savings minimally in the 1.5 years I have been unemployed (my wife makes under $30K per year and I used to make over $200K annually base+bonus+equity). Our net worth is $2.8M and if I add in real estate and cars is approximately $3.3m. Our spending is coming in around $65K this year and would be lower if we did not have to replace our 2 HVAC systems and implement home repairs from a water heater in the attic that busted and flooded part of our house. Thanks again for your story!
Hey there Dan P. Great to hear from you. Remarkably similar stories. Sounds like you are in a good position with a lot of great planning ahead.
I am working again currently. I moved into a role that fits right into our FI plans.
We have only given a little thought to the post travel (via RV) world we are looking at. We plan to travel the US in an RV full time – though Mrs. r2e is talking me into having a “home base” to come back to. With her medical condition that is making much more sense.
Depending on how the RV thing goes, we are looking into possibly volunteering at national or state parks. We love the outdoors and that seems to be a potential fit. Or I might look at continuing to volunteer with several organizations that serve youth.