The following is my third “interview” with a someone planning on going through retirement.
I put “interview” in quotes because like the first two in this series, it’s not a traditional interview. It’s a person from the Millionaire Money Mentors telling their story.
That said, I do hope to make Retirement Countdown Interviews a thing, so if you’re getting close to retirement, actively working on several steps in that process, and interested in doing an interview, please drop me a note.
And in case you missed the first two Retirement Countdown Interviews, here they are:
As I stated above, this person shared his thoughts in the MMM forums and I asked and received his permission to share his story here.
It’s been slightly edited to make sense for ESI Money (versus a more personal forums setting) but all the original meaning is retained.
Let’s get started…
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February 1st, 2022 – T minus 60 and counting!
Inspired by [another] Countdown post (excellent and super helpful) and encouraged by several Mentors I am going to try and post frequently over the next several months as we transition from mild mannered, (nearly) normal, W2 earning, simple folk to wildly unhinged, chaotic, early retirees! Hopefully you will enjoy our journey and gleam some interesting details as well that you can use on your journey.
My plan is to be as transparent as possible. If I neglect a topic, it is simply because it slipped my mind so feel free to ask blunt a question as you wish. Also feel free to send me a private message if you prefer. I have a 100% open door policy. Let’s get started with some background information to help frame who we are and how we got here.
The countdown at the top brings us from Feb 1st through Jun 1st which, if the plans stay true, is through our retirement transitions and into the 30 to 60 days post retirement. This promises to be a complete HOT MESS so stay tuned!
Background Information
I am happily married with 3 sons (ages 27, 26 and 19). Two independent, one in college with that funding secured separately.
My wife and I are both 56 years young. You can call us Mickey and Minnie. 😉
We are financially independent based on most metrics but not wildly so.
We have approximately $2.4 to $2.5M in investable assets and will add about $325K to this when we sell our home in the summer. So basically we will be working with $2.7 to $2.8M.
Our assets (post home sale) will have a broad allocation of approximately:
- 65% Equities
- 20% Cash
- 15% Bonds
Our asset tax diversification (post home sale) is a bit wonky at:
- 75% Tax Deferred
- 23% Taxable
- 2% Tax Free
We are 100% debt-free. 🙂
We spend about $85K to $88K annually.
We have a modest pension that we plan on starting to tap at age 65 and reasonably significant Social Security that we will likely start benefiting from between ages 67 and 70.
We will be retiring from any serious W2 work shortly: Mickey – April 1st, Minnie – May 1st. So we are FIRING but almost kinda “Old FIRE”.
We currently live in a fairly pricey area in NJ (highest property taxes in the nation!). We will relocate to central Florida in the fall. We already own our Florida home, mortgage free.
Largely healthy, active and extremely fortunate!
More of our backstory is available on the really great ESI website. We were Millionaire Interview 65 and also Millionaire Interview Update 14.
February 2nd, 2022 – T minus 59 and counting!
One of the many items that I took away from [another] retirement thread was the need to utilize an organized check list for the many tasks that would be best completed prior to retirement. These are important and I am also finding that the order of task completion and the pace of task completion are also important. My current task list in Excel is a bit raw but I will clean it up and try to figure out how to post in later in our journey. Our check list is broken into Medical, Financial and Professional Tasks for Mickey, Minnie and our three sons – Huey, Dewey and Louie. 🙂
Here is one financial task call out that we think is key:
Secure any financing you wish to have prior to relinquishing your W2 role. Financial institutions are notoriously unwilling to work with even well funded individuals once these individuals do not have a steady income stream.
To this end we have done to following in the past few months:
- We secured a $100K HELOC on our Florida Home. This is typically a bit challenging since technically the home is a rental home but we were able to leverage a close friend who is a senior executive at a regional bank who vouched for the validity of our character and our future plans to move into the home. Funding secured. We really hope to not tap this money but with an annual fee of only $75 it is an inexpensive way to have an emergency fund on hand in case we get ourselves into a short-term cash flow bind during retirement. Reminder – both our homes are fully paid off.
- We have also focused on getting our credit card portfolio cleaned up and spiffy. We utilize credit cards heavily but wisely and never carry a balance. We requested a limit increase on our Citibank Double Cash card (2% on all purchases) which we use most heavily. A few clicks and BAM our limit was raised $5K! Additionally we acquired one last reward category specific credit card from US Bank that offered a $200 sign on bonus and 4% cash back on all restaurant purchases.
Both of these activities would have been nearly impossible once we stopped showing regular income. Banks just don’t want to deal with you as much once you FIRE.
February 3rd, 2022 – T minus 58 and counting!
Partnerships on Your Journey
We have found that establishing partnerships along our journey is a hugely important yet in reality very scary step. It can easily be so scary to share your plans that you shun forming partnerships.
My suggestion would be to carefully consider what partnerships would be beneficial, limit these but at some point you need to trust a few people on your journey. I would advise you to be cautious and certainly to resist the urge to have diarrhea of the mouth in telling way more people than needed. However, we have found that a few key partnerships can be greatly beneficial.
We have a money manager that manages about 40% of our assets for the past 4+ years. We manage the balance. Previously we were 100% DIY folk. Having this partnership in place previously has been very helpful. It is nice to have another skilled set of eyes looking over your plan. We are constantly asking “What are we missing?” in regards to our plan. Some people really don’t want to be critiqued but our advice would be to embrace this process of feedback.
Professional partners can be a very sticky situation. I report directly to the COO. I needed a partner who I could trust to run my plan by but also answer all kinds of process questions regarding benefits, COBRA, wages, 401K, etc. We needed a partner but truthfully it was scary picking one.
Eventually I took the leap of faith and spoke with the Director of People Ops who also reports to the COO. It has been extremely helpful and we have been able to flesh out an exit strategy that should benefit both the employee (me) and the employer. To this point, as far as I can tell, he has been trustworthy and has not shared my plan with others. So what is my exit plan you ask??
Mickey Exit Plan
I plan on giving my company 8 weeks notice. I have a pretty impactful role and I suspect they will not be able to backfill my role quickly so it was important to me to give them as much landing strip as possible.
It will benefit the company but honestly it was very important to me to be as helpful as possible. In the end I have to live with me and Mickey felt it was best for him. My plan is to continue to work as hard as ever in these 8 weeks and help with the transition as much as possible. Win – Win.
Minnie Exit Plan
Minnie currently has two jobs that she juggles.
She babysits a 2 year old a few days a week. The mother is a teacher so just as Minnie winds down to May 1st, the mother will be winding down her teaching season. This makes for an easy transition as the mother is home all summer anyway.
Minnie also still works (off the books, thank you) at her high school job. Yep, 40 years at the same chocolate store (amazing chocolates! – if you live in northern NJ send me a message and I will share the name). She is purposely working through Valentine’s Day (the place is insane at this time) and through Easter (bunny season is busy) because she wants to leave on a high note.
Again good for the employer but also important to the employee. Win – Win.
February 4th, 2022 – T minus 57 and counting!
On Friday our journey took an unexpected turn. I am sure it will be one of many over the next 120 days and we certainly had many prior to me starting this thread.
Mickey has worked for a start up company since Sept 2020 which is a huge departure from most of his career in more of a corporate environment. In many ways it has been refreshing and in many ways it has been the same damn poop that drove us to begin focusing on financial independence years 10+ years ago.
Well, we did not pay year end bonuses in 2021. We had in the past but through a mix of poor business decisions, money was tight at year end. No sweat, a bonus is just that, a bonus, and we do not count on these to fund our lifestyle.
Well at our 2022 All Hands Zoom call on Friday (about 60 people) the COO (my boss) announced that they found the money, saving the day and that bonuses would not only be paid but would be deposited into our accounts this Tuesday. I have no idea if it is $1 or $100K but if I were to guess, I bet it will be between $10K and $20K for me (gross). Nice surprise.
HOWEVER, I plan to announced my retirement plans on Monday (tomorrow). So basically announce that I am retiring April 1st on Monday, shock everyone and then get a bonus check on Tuesday. WHAT?
So after a brief moment of thought and after touching base with the Director of People Ops, I decided nothing really has changed and I will still announce my retirement plans tomorrow. Now I know many of you would say wait for the bonus to clear. Personally I see no reason to do so.
First, the bonus is for 2021. Second, I am retiring, not leaving for another company. Third, I am offering 8 weeks notice to help land the transition which I think is very fair. Fourth, I don’t need nor give much of a crap about the money. We have our FU Money (love JL Collins for this reference) so FU!
In the end if they are crappy to me and pull back the bonus that is on them, not me. I do not think they will do so but hey, what do I care? I have money, what I need is time to enjoy life more. 🙂
February 7th, 2022 – T minus 54 and counting!
Mickey officially announced his intention to retire today.
I took the complete high road following a proper announcement protocol. Spoke with the COO and then all my direct reports.
Then I scheduled time to Zoom with both owners and explain that I am retiring and not truly resigning for another role.
Lastly, I contacted several friends across the organization so that they heard the news from me vs on the street.
Overall, the process went smoothly but took most of the day.
My last day is officially April 1st! Happy April Fools Day!!
Overall the discussions went well. I believe the fact that I was providing 8 weeks of notice was well received and helped take the edge of my announcement. Additionally, I spoke openly and sincerely about my early retirement plans. I think people appreciated the sincerity and openness.
Emotionally, I have been a wreck for the past 72 hours and still am a bit. Not exactly sure why but this has been pretty stressful in the near-term. Pretty odd and not what I expected. Any psychologists in the audience? Haha.
I think some relief will set in over the next few days and that should help me a bit. Can’t eat Tums forever!
Anyway, the ball is rolling officially. 🙂
February 8th, 2022 – T minus 53 and counting!
Received my extremely modest surprise 2021 bonus today. Apparently all were very modest. No drama to the event despite me giving notice on Monday.
Just to add a bit of color. My bonus for sincerely helping the company to make millions last year was $5K gross. The sofa they bought for the conference room for the new building was $40K. Haha.
And today our portfolio, on a fair but not amazing day, went up $20K.
Any wonder why the W2 life does not work for Mickey any more??
February 10th, 2022 – T minus 51 and counting!
For Mickey it has been interesting how many coworkers have asked, “How can you possibly afford to retire at age 56?”.
I see it as an opportunity to share and be helpful so I have been fully open and honest with anyone who wants to talk about FIRE. I have been sharing all the details of our journey down to gritty numbers.
I figure if I can help anyone else along the way, we are all better off. 🙂
I think it would be really neat to try and help as many people at my workplace as possible before I ride off into the sunset.
February 11th, 2022 – T minus 50 and counting!
Mickey got through week 1 of his 8 week extended ride into the sunset.
Interesting close out to week 1. Today I and our Quality Assurance Manager (direct report) were asked to meet with the COO and others to discuss a proposed effort that is absolutely impossible to successfully complete in the timeframe needed. In the past I would have dreaded these circular discussions where leadership tries to defy the laws of physics. Today was way easier for me.
Today’s meeting was way more upbeat for me although I felt bad for my QA Manager. After 45 minutes of circular discussions that ended a leadership plea of “what if we just throw money at this problem”, we finally halted the onslaught and ended the meeting. As we walked away, my QA Manager turned to me and said, “This is a complete mess and you will not be here for it. It will be a complete sh*t show”. All I could offer was…“Yup”. 🙂
The COO also asked me semi-jokingly if I had changed my mind. Yeah…”no” was my answer.
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To continue this story, click over and read part 2.
The Crusher says
ESI Folk – Feel free to post any specific questions or comments and I will do my best to add details to help!
The Crusher says
FYI – This is my countdown! 🙂
Scott H says
If your sons are Huey, Dewey, and Louie, shouldn’t you and your wife be Donald and Daisy?😆
The Crusher says
Hey Scott, you are absolutely correct. Would have been much more straight forward if Mickey and Minnie had just tied the knot and pumped out 3 boys!
Steveark says
I gave 8 weeks notice too, but I did next to nothing work wise during that time. I was the overall boss and there was no way I’d be signing any environmental permits or reports that could come back to haunt me. They also had a party and a dinner event for me and my wife. It was very amicable and in fact I’ve done a good bit of consulting for them in the last six years making another half million or so in income, just for the entertainment value. I do very little now but I am doing a lobbying gig for them at our state capital tomorrow. They had a lot of trouble replacing me, they went through two or three people before they found someone who they were happy with a year or two ago. Our spending is in line with yours and our assets are not that much more, mostly because my consulting paid all our expenses for year one through five and we’ve only just been withdrawing for the last year. I use low cost advisors, Vanguard, Personal Capital and Betterment for the bulk of our money and they’ve saved me way more than their fees by preventing some stupid pet tricks I would have otherwise made. I have very much enjoyed the stress free nature of only working a few hours a week at first and now a few hours a month. I do have a heavy volunteer schedule, chairing a college board of trustees and chairing the board of a large charitable foundation as well as mentoring at my Alma Mater and doing some pro bono consulting for a couple of billionaire friends on some economic development projects to add good jobs and improve health care here. I also retired at 60 so I worked a few more years than you. I found my fears were totally unfounded and love this life, I think you will too!
The Crusher says
Thanks for sharing. We have not really gotten into a groove yet as we are in the middle of selling our NJ home and moving to Florida. So currentlky our life is dynamic and kinda messy. However, I have seen a glimpse into how nice it is to be time independent and I agree – IT IS AMAZING!!
As our host always says, Retire as soon as you can!
MI-202 says
I really do enjoy reading these countdowns and look forward to parts 2 and 3. These let me daydream a little bit about how it will be for me in a few years.
The Crusher says
Glad to share. No worries, you will get there. Just continue to grind away making positive, incremental gains and you will be shocked how quickly your snowball will grow!
Sylvie says
Me too. So exciting to read!
Tom from MD says
Ditto!
David @iretiredyoung says
Your countdown took me on a walk down memory lane (6 years ago). I gave 3 months notice (which was what my contract required) and worked hard during that period. I 100% agree that doing what is right is important.
My downfall was that I was persuaded to return on a part time consultancy basis – definitely a mistake! It was flattering to be asked, I thought the extra money wouldn’t hurt, but I’d mentally checked out and my heart was no longer in it. If I look for a silver lining, perhaps the part time role (which only lasted for 4 months) helped bridge the gap from full time work to full time early retirement, but I’m sure I’d have done just fine without that.
The Crusher says
Yeah, I kind of knew that lingering through part time work was not for me. I am much more an all in or all out personality.
MI-226 says
What a great interview. It’s great to see a “normal” countdown with real life numbers and experiences. You will find that all your worries were mostly unfounded, and you wasted a lot of Tums for nothing. You’ve obviously been intelligent enough to amass a great nest egg, you’ve figured out the exit plan, you’ve raised three adult ducklings, and you’ll also (easily) adjust to any minor bumps along the wonderful retirement road. They will likely be much more minor than you ever imagined or projected. We are in our sixth year of FIRE (just turned 57 this month and my Minnie is 56). It has amazed me how simple and easy it was for us to make the adjustment to retirement. The one surprise for me was the length of corporate induced PTSD after 20+ years of corporate America. I expected a couple of months of adjustment, but it was actually more like 18 months to finally let it all go completely. (It’s amazing how deep those scars run.) The financial part was an easy slam dunk, and we’ve had very few other surprises, and I doubt you will either. Overall it’s been much easier than I ever imagined, and life is wonderful. We could’ve left 2-3 years earlier in retrospect, so I say…pull the trigger as soon as possible! Time is hard to replace with a little more money. So relax and enjoy the ride.
Enjoy your new freedoms! Cheers to a job well done! Welcome to the FIREside!
The Crusher says
“You will find that all your worries were mostly unfounded, and you wasted a lot of Tums for nothing”
Now that is funny! You are probably correct.
Wow – you really FIREd at a young age. Good for you! Congrats!!!!
RE@54 says
Wait, we are supposed retire sooner? Ha ha.
Originally, we were set to retire in 12/23 when I hit 54.5 and wife is 52. We looked at numbers again and evaluated our work situation. We decided to work six more months to 6/24 when I hit 55. The pension payout would be more comfortable and we would only be working 50% of the last six months as we use up our vacation time. This is not a one more year syndrome. 6/24 is the hard deadline, however, if work situation changes in downward fashion, 12/23 is still feasible. Ha ha.
It was a tough decision to add six more months to our countdown. I was getting used to crossing off the months and then had to add six more….Ha ha.
Looking forward to part 2.
The Crusher says
You hit on one of the better realities of being financially independent – you get to create and dial in YOUR exit plan. Regardless of what that is or becomes, you have the helm of the ship.
That is so empowering. CONGRATS!
TF says
In the past I would have dreaded these circular discussions where leadership tries to defy the laws of physics. Today was way easier for me.
I about spit out my beer when I read this! I love what I do but this comes up all the time. I am a PM and also FIRE with FU.money so our COO is used to me telling them they are dreaming. I can’t emphasize how much being FIRE changes your attitude in these situations. Yet, I do give it the college try and (miracles do happen) we sometimes meet those crazy deliveries.
The Crusher says
I agree fully! Never stop trying to impact positively. NEVER!
However, it is nice when you have your FU Money and can mentally distance yourself from mindless corporate stupidity. 🙂
pwilliam says
I am also 56, with similar income and net worth, so this article (and your original interview) really feels familiar on several levels. Like you, we spend well below our means, but with some additional family complexity, we are targeting a 2026/27 retirement. Best of luck to you.
The Crusher says
That is an awesome goal. Good for you.
You are 100% correct that personal finance is, after all, personal. Everyone’s situation is unique. Your ability to chart your own course is the key. KUDOS!
The Crusher says
You hit on one of the better realities of being financially independent – you get to create and dial in YOUR exit plan. Regardless of what that is or becomes, you have the helm of the ship.
That is so empowering. CONGRATS!
The Crusher says
Look at me – stuttering and double posting. Damn! 🙂
$3.0M+ says
I got a chuckle out of your Feb 10 entry. The question I usually get is “What are you going to *do* when you retire?” To borrow a thought from all my financial/retirement blog reading, Work Does Not Define Me. I have plenty of things to do! (One study shows happy retirees typically have north of 3-4 activities. Right now, I count 11.) A few question the funding bit, but I simply sidestep that line of questioning by mentioning I have both SS and a pension.
I had originally given 9 months unofficial notice as finding replacements with my skills has been difficult for the company. I later adjusted that to 7 months to align with the end of the contract I was on.
I retired yesterday.
Off to read Part II….
The Crusher says
“I retired yesterday.” – CONGRATS!! That is so awesome. I suspect you will never look back!
D says
I could retire at 55, but waited until I was 57, so my coworkers spent 2 years visiting me to say goodbye… “Whatever”. I spent the last 2 years managing a lot of IT people, half of which I never met and did not know their specific responsibilities… “OK”. The last year, I really enjoyed the long walks with a cup of tea… they were the best breaks that I ever had. Anyway I had a great career as a Computer Scientist and Systems Engineer serving Crimal Justice and Academia. I am forever grateful for my work experiences and am having way to much fun in retirement… 🙂