Millionaire Interview Update 50

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 one is a bit of a milestone as we’re at number 50, and as such, we have a unique guest doing this interview. Let’s see if you can identify him. 😉

As usual, my questions are in bold italics and their responses follow…

OVERVIEW

How old are you?

I am 59 and will turn the big 6-0 this year.

It blows my mind to think I’m this old, and yet here we are.

When I was a kid, 60 was one step away from dead. Today 60-year-olds are doing all sorts of things 40-year-olds used to do, so I guess it’s ok. Hahaha.

My wife is around the same age (I won’t say specifically, that’s her secret) and we’ve been married over 30 years.

Do you have kids?

We have two kids.

Our son is 27 and lives and works in Denver.

Our daughter is 25. She and our son-in-law live in Colorado Springs. They visit us 2-3 times a year for an extended period of time (2-3 weeks).

What area of the country do you live in (and urban or rural)?

Central Florida – the land of old geezers and Mickey Mouse! Hahahaha. Specifically, The Villages.

It’s a GREAT place to live in the winter and the rest of the nation is envying us right now.

It’s gets a bit warm starting in March or so, so there is that.

Also, our kids are far away from us. We had plans for them to move down here but those have been changed (by them). They are likely moving closer (within a day’s drive) but that’s still a work in progress. Time will tell how it sorts out.

I miss seeing them on a regular basis.

What was your original Millionaire Interview on ESI Money?

I was Millionaire Interview 100 which was conducted over five years ago. Wow, time flies!!!

If you haven’t figured out who I am by now, you will soon! LOL!

BTW, I said above that I usually ask millionaires for an update around three years after their initial interview, so why am I at five years?

Hey, I’m retired, give me a break! I have pickleball to play, relaxing to do, and all that! LOL!

Is there anything else we should know about you?

You know almost everything about me if you’ve been reading this site for any reasonable amount of time.

But just to make sure we’re all on the same page, I retired at 52, and my original interview was a couple years after that.

It’s been a good run and I LOVE being retired!!!!

In December 2022 we moved to The Villages, Florida (from Colorado Springs), which has been the most-recent “big thing” to happen in our lives.

My dad moved down here almost a year before we did and we see him often.

NET WORTH

What is your current net worth and how is that different than your original interview?

My current net worth is $6.76 million.

It was $3.78 million at the time of the first interview.

It’s been a good run! 🙂

What happened along the way to make these changes?

A few things contributed to these results:

• I make enough income between my hobbies (two websites) and investments (real estate, dividend stocks, etc.) to more than cover my annual expenses and still have a good amount left over for investing.
• As a result of the income surplus, we haven’t had to withdraw any assets, which have allowed them to grow – especially the index funds. These have done quite well over the past several years and since they make up the majority of my net worth, they are responsible for the majority of the increase.
• I sold my real estate properties at a very solid gain. I invested much of those proceeds into real estate syndications. The vast majority of those are doing well, but I have a few “issues” among them since interest rates increased so quickly. Here’s where I currently stand with my real estate syndication results.
• I bought a business, grew it dramatically, then sold it for and sold it for roughly twice what I paid for it (plus had income from it for a couple years.)
• We sold our Colorado home for about $250k more than what we paid for it. So that was nice.
• On the “expense” side, we have increased our giving, committing to giving away $100k per year for five years. We are two years into that plan. The giving is done by moving appreciated index funds from our taxable account to our donor-advised fund, and then distributing money from there.

What are you currently doing to maintain/grow your net worth?

Not much…other than the same things I’ve always done – earning more than I spend and letting the investments ride.

Once you get to a certain level of wealth, much of it is on auto-pilot. The compounding starts to cascade and you don’t really need to do anything other than stay out of the way and let it do its thing!

EARN

What is your job?

I have been retired for over seven years.

That said, I do have a side hustle that:

• Started as a passion project
• Turned into a decent income
• Allowed me to buy and sell an online business (Rockstar Finance)
• Helped me start another online business (The Millionaire Money Mentors)

So…I am retired from my 28 career and I consider myself “retired” as a result.

Others may say I am simply self-employed these days, and if that makes them feel better, that’s ok with me. I used to put up a fuss about this but I guess I’m mellowing in my old age – or I just don’t care any longer. Haha.

What is your annual income?

Including the side businesses, dividends, real estate syndications, and simply interest (which is nothing to sneeze at these days), it’s roughly $200k.

It’s been amazing to earn so much with a part-time gig (a couple hours a day and TOTAL flexibility) that I love.

Why didn’t I do this when I was 35?????? I gave up so much time – which is one reason I preach the “retire as soon as you can” message every chance I get.

How has this changed since your last interview?

It’s almost exactly the same, though the mix has shifted.

Back then I had three websites (two blogs and Rockstar Finance) and a few rental properties.

Now I have one blog, one membership site, several dividend stocks, several real estate syndications, and a couple large savings accounts.

The amount invested is much larger and thus drives a bigger portion of the income than it did five years ago. That’s a nice way of saying I don’t earn as much as I used to from my side hustles, primarily because I’m not really pushing to do so.

I could add more people to MMM if I wanted, but if too many join I’m worried that it might upset the awesome vibe we have going there. So we’ll keep it as is for now.

Have you added, grown, or lost any additional sources of income besides your career?

Yes, almost all of them have changed.

In the original interview the list was basically sites and physical rental units.

Now it’s much more diversified.

I like it better this way as the base is broader. If one goes down there are many others to cover our needs (not to mention we could cut costs if need be.)

Plus, we have all these margins of safety in case several of them tank.

SAVE

What is your annual spending and how has it changed since your interview?

It’s held steady at roughly $100k per year.

What happened along the way to make these changes?

Even though the amount has held consistent, the mix has changed slightly.

The key differences:

• Vacations have gone down. We no longer need to spend $25k on a trip to Hawaii or a cruise to the Caribbean. Why? Because we live in a resort! Hahaha. Very few vacation spots are as nice as the place we live. Case in point – a Hilton Grand Vacation resort pales in comparison to The Villages.
• Giving has gone up – as noted above.
• Inflation has increased the cost of “everyday” things we buy, so keeping spending roughly the same over five years is a pretty good accomplishment.

INVEST

What are your current investments and how have they changed over the years?

Originally they were basically index funds and rental properties.

Now I have index funds, real estate syndications, dividend stocks, and interest.

What happened along the way to make these changes?

The biggest impact was that I was tired of managing my rental properties (which was simply managing my management company).

When I bought the units, we lived in the same market and I could do minor fixes (by having a friend handle them) PLUS I had an awesome property manager.

Then my property manager left the company and I got assigned the “B” team. And I moved out of the market too. Now I was at their complete mercy. The straw that broke the camel’s back was a $200 charge to replace a mailbox flag! Ugh!!!!

By a combination of mismanagement (laziness, really) and over-charging for even the most basic service, they wore me down – the monthly review of my statements was always the worst part of my month. And I didn’t need that in my otherwise completely joyful retirement life.

Plus I became concerned that their management could lead to something disastrous – a fire, major damage from maintenance neglect, etc.

So in the summer of 2021, I sold everything (which looks like pretty good timing in hindsight). I invested in several real estate syndications, spreading the money out by syndicator, type of real estate, due dates, and so on. So far I’ve seen four of those deals go full cycle and another is set to do so in March.

Eventually I want to get to about $900k in syndications, which should bring in $60-$90k a year (plus the potential for appreciation) once the real estate market settles down.

MISCELLANEOUS

What other financial challenges or opportunities have you faced since your last interview?

None really, other than the real estate.

I did rearrange things as noted above, but for the most part I have kept things slow and steady.

There’s no need to rock the boat when things are going well and you’ve won the game (though I do find it hard to stop playing as it’s fun).

Overall, what’s better and what’s worse since your last interview?

Mostly I would say life is the same as it was five years ago – which is great!

Here are some of the highlights that have happened to us during those five years though…

Things that are better:

• Our finances are larger and more diversified. Explained above, but just want to note again that things are as good financially as they’ve ever been.
• I found pickleball. Need I say more? 😉
• I have more friends/social activity than ever before. As a natural introvert, I don’t need/want a lot of social interaction, but I certainly have it with new friends all over the place (pickleball, MMM, The Villages, etc.) They say a good social life is vital for a great retirement and I certainly have that covered in spades!
• My daughter graduated college and got married. Then they moved to Colorado Springs and we lived in the same town for several years, which was GREAT. Their plan to move down here has been sidetracked, so we’re figuring that out now.
• The Millionaire Money Mentors site has been a huge blessing. I have met so many great people, learned more about money and life than I ever thought I would need to, and have developed several very close friendships. Now we’re even getting together in person in one big conference and several side-off meetings here and there. It’s been an unexpected, amazing part of the forums.
• I got a cat – and he’s AWESOME!!! He adds so much life to the house and I can’t imagine life without him. I checked the other day and have about 3,200 photos of a “cat” (most are of my cat, Zeus) on my phone. Lol! I used to have mostly mountains and Zeus photos when we lived in Colorado and now I have mostly alligators and Zeus photos! Hahaha.

Things that are worse:

• My mom passed away. I was raised by my mom, a single parent, for most of my young life. She and my step-dad were an integral part of my life and then our lives (once we were married) until the day she went into the hospital (she and my wife would talk an hour or two every day.) She passed away a few years ago and we still miss her.
• We currently live away from our kids. The best-laid plans can go awry, so we’re working on what life near them could look like now. It’s still highly TBD based on where they end up living.
• Everyday aches and pains are starting to pop up as I get older. As my trainer once said, if you exercise you’re jacked up and if you don’t exercise you’re jacked up. Hahaha. Maybe I’m just getting jacked up because I’m old.
• I’m still adjusting to the move. It is just now starting to feel like home down here. (I do miss both the familiarity of living in a place for a long time plus the absence of a routine – it’s difficult to find a routine when you’re “on vacation” every day.) This time of year is amazing, so it’s very nice, but the summer was longer than I thought it would be so I’m hoping my system adjusts at some point.

What are your plans for the future?

Financially, not much will change.

I’ll stop writing and running my side businesses one day, but those are probably many years down the road (unless something surprises me.) Next year I celebrate 20 years of blogging, so maybe I’ll go for 25 or 30! Hahaha.

I will let the syndications run full cycle and pull down my investments a bit (by about $400k lower).

Personally I would like to find some sort of volunteer activity that I really love, so we’ll see how that goes. I’ve been looking for some time to find something I both love and can have a meaningful impact doing.

Given that you have a bit more wisdom and experience, what advice do you have these days for ESI Money readers?

To become wealthy, it’s the same story I’ve been preaching for years:

• Earn as much as you can. Not everyone can earn $500k a year, but if you earn $50k you can work on things so you get up to $70k – and that extra $20k a year can make a HUGE difference. You can also start a side hustle which has the added benefit of being able to go into retirement with you – providing income and thus reducing the time required before you have enough to retire.
• Save as much as you can. Spend on what you love and cut everything else. You don’t have to be a miser, but you can’t be a spendthrift either or you’ll get nowhere.
• Invest as much as you can for as long as you can. Index funds are my go-to long-term investments for those starting out. You can then add some real estate along the way (if you like) once you get enough of a solid base under you (at least that’s what I did and I’d do the same – others simply stick with index funds only.) In case you’re interested, here are the general investment habits of millionaires.

As for retirement, do it as soon as possible.

Get a plan for how to afford it and what you’ll do with your time – then go for it!!!

Life is short and “only one more year” can easily turn into five more years.

If you’re over 50, think of it this way: the healthiest, most active, “best” feeling year of life you have left is the next year (in most cases/on average). The next best is the year after that, and on and on.

Do you really want to give the best remaining years of your life to a job? Maybe, if you really LOVE that job. But if you don’t love what you’re doing as much as what you could be doing, why are you spending the best remaining years of your life at it?