Here’s our latest interview with a retiree as we seek to learn from those who have actually taken the retirement plunge.
If you’d like to be considered for an interview, drop me a note and we can chat about specifics.
This interview was conducted in September.
My questions are in bold italics and their responses follow in black.
Let’s get started…
GENERAL OVERVIEW
How old are you (and spouse if applicable, plus how long you’ve been married)?
We are currently 38 and 39; been together for almost 10 years, and married for 7.
Do you have kids/family (if so, how old are they)?
Yes – 2 rambunctious boys aged 4 & 1.
What area of the country do you live in (and urban or rural)?
We live in a large city in Southeast Asia (urban), although we are also doing a bit of travel in order to figure out where we’d like to live in the longer term.
Is there anything else we should know about you?
Was previously Millionaire Interview #145 & Millionaire Interview Update #39.
RETIREMENT OVERVIEW
How do you define retirement?
Retirement for me is freedom from the need to work and the ability to do whatever we choose to do without having to worry about money – which is basically being FI. For me, the RE part of FIRE is “Financial Independence, Reimagine Everything” rather than “Retire Early”; as we’re still fairly young and would still be planning to do something to contribute to the greater society as a whole once our kids are a little older.
Whether that is rejoining the corporate workforce in some form, or starting a business or working for a non-profit, or advising startups; that remains to be seen.
How long have you been retired?
A year.
Is your spouse also retired?
Yes – my spouse retired from work about 4-5 years ago, when we realized that we were well on our way to FI and also to be a stay-at-home parent to our children.
What was your career and income before retirement?
Was previously a partner in a strategy consulting firm and made between $1-1.4M a year total comp pre-tax (not including deferred bonuses). This was in the last 5-6 years as a partner. When I first started work, I was at $48K; which grew to $430K over 10 years just before making partner.
In addition, had also focused on building up an investment portfolio generating dividend income as part of my transition to FIRE. At the time of retirement, dividend income was close to $300K annually vs. our household spend of $100-150K.
Why did you retire?
It was due to a combination of factors: we were already very close to or already FI; I’d just given birth to our second child and work was becoming more stressful & challenging. I was also becoming increasingly burned out from work and it was starting to impact my mental and physical health significantly.
I’d already looked ahead and anticipated that if I stayed in work – the next 2-3 years would have been extremely challenging work-wise given the mass lay-offs in the tech & financial services sector plus many of our clients were already focused on reducing their costs (which meant reduced spend on consulting services).
Additionally, there was increasing pressure to “return to office” as firms started encouraging their teams to get back physically, which would’ve resulted in less flexibility for me – especially with a newborn and toddler at home.
Originally I’d planned to stick it out till 40, and then retire; but given the challenging circumstances ahead – my husband asked me, “What are you missing if you retire earlier?” and I realized the answer was “Not much!” I used my 6 months maternity leave to not only serve as a trial run for retirement but also to reflect and ensure that I’d worked through all the details before returning in time to resign on the first day back after maternity leave.
PREPARATION FOR RETIREMENT
When did you first start thinking seriously about retirement and when did that turn into a decision to do it?
About 10 years ago – which was about the same time I discovered FIRE. Initially, the popular brand of FIRE back then was “LeanFIRE” – which did not resonate with me.
I didn’t want to scrimp and save only to continue scrimping even in retirement. I wanted a life of abundance and free from (financial) worry.
It was only when I discovered the concept of “FatFIRE” where it really got me excited and that was also the same time when I met my husband. We bonded over crazy ideas like “What if we didn’t have to work for the rest of our lives, but instead had the freedom to do whatever we wanted and travel wherever we wanted without worrying about money?”
That was when it turned from a dream to a target; that we would hit FIRE by the time I was 40 and pull the plug.
What were the major steps you took from deciding to retire to developing a plan to do so?
Prior to discovering FIRE, I was already saving at least 20-30% of my income post-tax and had already paid off all my debt. The main issue was to estimate how large a nest egg was required to fund our retirement needs, especially if we planned to retire at 40 and didn’t run out of money later on.
We also planned to have children; so wanted to ensure we had a sufficiently large nest egg to support them as well. From what I’d gleaned from other FIRE blogs; the typical ways of ensuring sufficient cash flow before accessing retirement funds would be: creating a savings/investment portfolio large enough to draw down on over our lifetime or creating some form of passive income.
I liked the idea of passive income much more, as I did not like the idea of having to draw down on my assets other than in times of extreme emergency. Also – this meant that there was a chance of not only preserving our nest egg but also growing it even in retirement; which would mitigate most of our worries on whether we’d run out of money plus give us extra wiggle room to increase spend whenever we wanted without having to scrimp on other things.
In terms of passive income; typical options ranged from investing in real estate, starting a business, or investing in the market. I chose to focus on creating an investment portfolio that generated 5% dividends annually.
Another reason for focusing on dividend income is that the bulk of my wealth & income are based in countries where there are no taxes on dividends but do have taxes on capital gains (sale of stocks/other assets), real estate (rental/sale of property) and other income.
The financial aspects of FIRE were surprisingly straightforward once you’ve got the basics in place (e.g. Earn, Save & Invest). As earnings increased, we avoided lifestyle inflation and kept costs relatively constant.
That allowed us to put more towards savings and investment which continued to snowball. We also focused on paying off my husband’s education & mortgage loans (which he did before he retired) so that we’d be completely debt-free.
The non-financial aspects were trickier as my work had been extremely demanding time-wise and I didn’t have much time left over to develop any hobbies other than travel and relaxation. I was a bit worried about how to fill up my time – although, with 2 young children, I figured I’d be kept busy for the first few years at any rate!
I was also burnt out from work and was looking forward to at least 6-12 months of doing absolutely nothing work-wise in order to decompress.
However, I did spend some time during my maternity leave reflecting on what aspects of my previous job I enjoyed the most (people development, mentoring) and what I could do to focus more on that post-FIRE. I took up a career coaching qualification during my maternity leave and qualified just after I officially resigned from my firm, so I’d have something to focus on (besides kids) post-FIRE.
What did your pre-retirement financials look like?
See below a comparison of financials over the last few years. I included an additional line item on retirement accounts which was previously excluded in my last 2 interviews. 2023 is my pre-retirement financials, and 2024 is my current post-retirement financials.
What was your overall financial plan for retirement?
See above table for reference. I had a few key criteria before pulling the plug:
- Costs:
- I tracked our household spending for the last 9-10 years; so I knew how much we typically spent. It was a bit trickier since kids came along in the last 4 years plus Covid disrupted our typical travel, but that was where I added some buffers to mitigate the uncertainty. Prior to kids – our household spend was typically between $60-75K (depending on the amount of travel). With kids, our baseline household spend was around $100K (but added a buffer to $150K to allow for additional travel post-FIRE).
- Passive income:
- Ensuring that our passive income was at least 2-3x annual household spend to allow for increases in spend and hedge against inflation plus to continue growing the nest egg. Current passive income is $325K+ vs. household spend of $100-150K
- Emergency buffer
- At least 3-5 years’ worth of annual household expenses in cash as a buffer against SORR (sequence of returns risk) or any unexpected large spend. Currently, this is $375K but will continue to rebuild the buffer to cover #3b
- Building up a significant cash stash for once we’ve figured out where we’ll live long term. We’ve already started applying for the investor Golden Visa, as that provides the fastest route to citizenship (5 years of investment with minimum residential requirements, after which you’re eligible for the specific country & EU citizenship). Once we’ve figured out where we’d like to live, we’d also likely want to buy a place – so would like to build up some cash for that, since getting a mortgage in a foreign country with no job would be difficult
- Funding our children’s education, there are a few options:
- the rental income of $15-16K annually will continue to be paid into our children’s savings accounts. Over 15-20 years, that should grow to about $225K-$300K (not including interest). This also doesn’t include any gifts (we typically deposit any birthday/Christmas money from grandparents in there as well)
- the $1.1M retirement account allows for up to 1/3 of the money to be withdrawn prior to 60 for various purposes (e.g. buying a house, paying for your own or your kids’ education or medical expenses). Assuming 5% compounding rate, that would be worth about $2-2.5M in 15-20 years, when our children go to college
- cash-flowing it from our passive income, which in 15-20 years would at least be 1.5-2x current levels assuming we continued to reinvest the excess income at similar rates to today (currently reinvesting 50-60% of dividend income)
- Insurance:
- Medical & travel insurance which I buy annually to cover hospitalization, critical illness, and travel; plus public healthcare in our current country is pretty decent & cheap, even if it does have long-ish wait times
- Parents & in-laws:
- Checking that our parents are in a good shape financially; whilst we don’t know the exact figures – we know that both sets of parents are able to fund their own retirements; although we do have some buffers set aside for emergency issues if it arises in the future (see #2-3).
Who helped you develop this plan?
Mostly developed on my own, with inputs from various FIRE blogs that I’d been reading (ESI Money, the Simple Dollar, etc.).
Most of the FIRE blogs I see are US-centric; so a lot of the discussion about IRA/Roth IRAs, 401K’s, US tax implications on dividends and other forms of income, etc. are less applicable for me since I’m based in Asia; but it was useful to see how people thought about similar issues re: healthcare, retirement funds, supporting kids and parents, etc.
What plans did you make in advance to leave your job?
I made the decision to leave in early 2023, but decided to wait until after my maternity leave to do so in order to ensure that it wasn’t due to emotional or hormonal stress.
It also enabled me to collect 6 months of full pay whilst on maternity leave and spend time with my newborn as well as set in motion various things that I wouldn’t have had time to do otherwise (e.g. getting a coaching qualification, learning how to drive, getting my financial house in order, claiming all relevant medical/other benefits, etc.).
What were your pre-retirement concerns (financial or non-financial)?
Pre-retirement, my concerns are typical of most folks – “What if we run out of money? How will we fund our medical expenses? What if we get bored?”
But I spent the 6 months running & re-running various scenarios and decided that worst case, I could always (*gasp*) return to work. I could also do various things to keep me in the loop or at least on the periphery of the business world so as to stay relevant or explore new paths.
How did you handle deciding on and paying for healthcare?
As mentioned, we bought medical insurance for hospitalization and critical illnesses on an annual basis; but otherwise decided to pay for anything else out of pocket. The reason for this is that both private and public healthcare in our current country is reasonably good quality and affordable.
If we move to Europe, Europe’s public healthcare systems are also pretty good and relatively affordable. By then we’d be citizens or at least semi-permanent residents – so we’d be eligible for their public healthcare as well as educational services.
How did you tell your family and friends of your plans?
We told my parents and my spouse’s parents first during my maternity leave that I was planning to quit my job. They were surprised but supportive.
They still don’t know the full extent of our finances but trust that we have things figured out. We’ve not mentioned it explicitly to our extended family other than a couple of cousins that I’m close to.
To everyone else – we’re either “taking a temporary career break to focus on family” or we simply don’t mention it.
As for friends, I waited until I was at least a month into retirement before letting our closest friends know. Our closest friends knew of our FIRE ambitions, so were happy for us.
As for the rest, it depends on the occasion. My husband prefers that we call it a “temporary career break” rather than “retirement” since he prefers stealth wealth mode; so that’s our party line whenever we meet acquaintances or folks that we’re less close to.
Did you have/make any plans for how you’d spend your time in retirement?
Our short-term goals in retirement were for me to decompress & recover from my burnout, spend more time with our family and loved ones as well as start traveling to figure out where we’d like to live in the longer term.
The first 2-3 months were busy with getting my driver’s license as well as my coaching qualification. After that, we went on a few local as well as international trips with family.
We also did an unplanned 3-month break in Europe earlier this spring, which was amazing!
We’d originally planned to spend a month in a European country, since we had a shortlist of potential countries to explore as part of our longer-term plan to settle down somewhere. Three weeks before we were due to fly out, I came across a program called Boundless Life (Boundless Life: Education, Homes, Community for digital nomad families) – which caters to families of digital nomads across a range of countries (Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain, Montenegro & Indonesia).
They provided not only education for kids aged from 1-14; but also accommodation for the families as well as a co-working hub for the parents to work from and a community of like-minded folks who wanted to slow travel the world with their kids without missing school. In the space of 24 hours, we decided to extend our 1-month trip to 3 months and made arrangements accordingly re: schools, accommodations, flights, etc.
It was an amazing experience – so much so that we decided to do another stint next spring in another European country as it’s the perfect way for us to experience what it’s like living in a different country, with our kids going to school, making friends and doing normal everyday things as well as touristy things.
It was also at this stage that we decided to apply for a Golden Visa, as we’d decided that we’d likely want to live in Europe in the longer term; but haven’t decided on which country as yet. We plan to try living in a different European country for a few months each year and see which one we like best.
After a few years; we’d hopefully have a better idea of which country we’d like to settle down in and make plans to move accordingly.
I also got started on my coaching and am slowly building up a small portfolio of clients across multiple industries and disciplines. It’s been extremely rewarding and fulfilling to see tangible change and benefits for my clients; and I’m also learning a lot as well in terms of types of topics and styles of coaching to use in different situations.
It’s been surprisingly busy so far, and I don’t miss work at all. Most days it’s pretty busy as we’re stay-at-home parents to 2 rambunctious little boys, but it’s also pretty amazing that we can just take off and spend 3 months in a random country just because we feel like it.
Obviously, it requires some planning and preparation; but the freedom and ability to just do things like that still amazes me and I’m extremely grateful to be in a position to do so and to create such amazing memories with my children whilst they’re still young and want to spend time with us.
THE ACT OF RETIRING
How did you ultimately retire?
One of the reasons I decided to retire right after coming back from maternity leave was that it reduced the amount of handover required and I also avoided having to make any future work commitments. During my maternity leave I had already maximized all my health benefits as well as figured out logistics like insurance (both medical & travel), electronics (replacing my work phone, laptop, etc.) and had everything in place before I sent out the fateful email to my regional lead.
It was surprisingly straightforward, as I’d already handed over the bulk of my responsibilities over to various folks before I went on maternity leave; so it was just a matter of setting up a call with the lead partner of my region and informing him that I was not coming back. In the space of a week, I had multiple calls with various fellow partners that I worked with, as well as increasing levels of seniority of senior management as my resignation came as a surprise to most folks.
Once they realized that I was not going to change my mind; the whole logistics of leaving was surprisingly quick. I shared my client files with the relevant teams, handed over my work laptop and phone, had a couple of farewell lunches and dinners with partners and clients that I worked with in various countries; and sent out a final farewell email to the broader teams. And that was it.
What went well?
The resignation process was extremely smooth; partly because I chose to do it just before coming back from maternity leave (so handover was straightforward) and partly because I couched it as a “temporary career break to focus on family”.
I also tried to ensure that I left on good terms so that if I ever wanted to go back – whether full-time or as a part-time contractor, it would be possible.
What didn’t go so well?
Nothing – everything went as expected.
Perhaps something that surprised me a little was that even though I’d been with the firm for 16 years and worked in multiple regions and was well known with senior leadership; as soon as it was clear I was on the way out – everyone just moved on to something else. I guess it’s true what they say – companies don’t care about you once you stop adding to their bottom line.
How did you ultimately find the courage to do it?
As mentioned; combination of knowing that we were FI, giving birth to my second child, and increasing challenges at work which no longer made it worthwhile.
At some point, more $$ wasn’t going to add much benefit to my life if I was too busy and stressed to enjoy it, and the birth of my second child brought home to me how short our time with our children and loved ones were. The thought of missing key milestones with our children whilst I spent all my time away from my family until they were grown scared me far more than missing out on future millions that we would never spend.
RETIREMENT LIFE
How was the adjustment, especially the first few months after retirement?
The first few months felt like a continuation of my maternity leave, so there was very little to adjust to. What did feel different was the fact that I no longer had a deadline to return to work hanging over me, and the sense of relief and happiness was amazing.
Even whilst on maternity leave, I’d always had some low-level stress as people would occasionally reach out about work-related stuff – whereas afterward there was zero contact whatsoever.
How is retirement life now? What do you like about it and what do you dislike?
As mentioned; our lives have been surprisingly busy since we’re pretty much stay-at-home parents dealing with 2 kids under 5. What I like about it is the fact that I can take my kids to & from school every day and spend time with them without having to feel like I have to rush somewhere.
It’s not just the key milestones, but just the daily joys and tears that life with two toddlers bring. It’s tiring but also extremely rewarding to see them develop day by day.
I also had the opportunity to slowly develop my coaching portfolio as well as reconnecting with old high school friends (and teachers!) that I’ve not met in over 20 years.
What I dislike about it is that I never realized how many illnesses 2 kids can catch from school or daycare! Sometimes it feels like they’re home half the month with various seasonal bugs going round.
Unlike other retirees who retire when their kids are in college or launched from the nest; we don’t have as much free time as we originally thought we would.
What do you do with your time? What does an average day look like?
Since our kids go to school/daycare, our lives still revolve around a Monday-Friday cycle in terms of sending kids to and from school, preparing their breakfast, dinner and bedtime routines, etc. In the hours that the kids are at school/daycare, we either relax or do some coaching (me), or sports (my husband), or meet up with friends.
We tend to go out and do our shopping or exploring during the week, so that’s more like a “weekend” for us. Weekends we tend to avoid going out to avoid the crowds, so we spend it with the grandparents instead.
We also break it up with the occasional trips. Typically we do shorter trips every couple of months throughout the year and a 1-2 big ones (like 3 months in Europe) whenever we find something interesting.
Even though we could technically travel all year round; we don’t really want to. I’ve come to realise that traveling with young children is pretty exhausting since you don’t have an established network or support infrastructure; and having to go to an emergency A&E in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language when your child is extremely ill isn’t fun.
However, as they get older and hopefully less prone to illness – we are looking forward to doing more fun stuff like campervanning across Europe.
What are the major activities that fill up your time in retirement? Are there any new ones you’re planning to try?
See above. For now, our lives revolve around our kids and their school routines plus the occasional travel.
As they get older, we plan to do more interesting travel (e.g. camping, road trips, hikes) as well as more solo trips/adult-only trips. I’d also like to start trying out different types of things to see what might be my second “career” when the kids are older.
What is your social life like?
I’ve expanded my social network with other parents through playdates and school drop-off/pick-ups. I’ve also started reconnecting with old high-school friends and we meet up once or twice a month; whilst other friends we also meet up a few times a month.
Folks from work I haven’t really kept in touch with except if I’ve traveling to a country where they’re working/living (most of my client work was overseas). We see my parents every weekend, and his parents once a year when we go back to visit (although we do FaceTime them every couple weeks so that they can speak with the kids).
My husband has his own group of friends who he regularly plays sports with. He plays badminton, tennis, padel and pickleball during the week so there’s different groups of folks that he meets up with for that.
He also travels to other countries to meet up with other friends as well, and goes kitesurfing in different countries every few months.
Looking back, what would you have done differently?
Not much. I think the biggest adjustment for me was realizing how busy we’d be as stay-at-home parents!
I’d always been the one going to work whilst my husband was the SAH parent, so I’d never realized how much there was to do. Now that I get a chance to experience it – am truly appreciative of how busy it is.
Was there any emotional impact from leaving the workforce?
I thought it’d have taken me longer to stop thinking about work or even missing work; but after the first week, I’d completely forgotten about it. This is interesting, as prior to retiring – I’d have said that my entire identity was tied up with work, and that I valued myself as a person based on who I was at work.
What surprises (financial or non-financial, good or bad) have you had since retiring and how have you handled them?
Work-wise: In the first few months since retiring, I received multiple emails and calls from recruiters keen to get me back into the workforce as a partner to another consulting firm or other similar roles. After I’d explained I was only interested in extremely part-time roles (max 2-3 hours a week), the interest has since died down.
I did receive a few interesting opportunities (like Board members for a large corporation); but that has also either died down or is slowly going through the process. I’m not too fussed, but it was interesting to see how much activity there was in the first few months after I left from external recruiters.
It also helped to reassure me that if I did want to get back into the workforce, it would be possible (although majority of them only want full-time roles).
The biggest surprise I’ve had is more a major shift in expectations of what being a stay-at-home parent is like. Prior to this, I’d never realized how busy it can be – so have had to manage my expectations around what else I can do on top of it or whilst the kids are in school.
I also realize that it’s only a short window whilst they are still young and so dependent on us. Later when they’re older and have their own groups of friends; it’ll be different – so am enjoying this season in life; diapers, sickness and all!
What are your future plans?
In the next 3-5 years:
- To continue spending a few months in a different country in Europe each year until we figure out where we’d like to live longer term.
- To enjoy time with our kids now.
- To explore different things to see what might take off as my second “career/passion project” when the kids are older.
- To get comfortable taking more solo trips and adult-only trips; even though my husband encourages me to do so – I just don’t feel comfortable doing it when the kids are so young.
RETIREMENT FINANCES
How has your financial plan performed compared to what you had estimated before retirement?
Financially – our plan has done pretty well despite the market volatility and increased spend this year. On the plus side, our dividend income has been fairly stable despite the market volatility.
As you can see from the previous table, our net worth has actually increased in the past year since retirement. A large part of this is thanks to Mr. Market and currency appreciation in the last few months vis-à-vis the USD (our NW is held in multiple currencies converted to USD for ease of reference).
Can you give us some insights into your post-retirement spending and income? How much do you spend annually and on what? And where does the income to pay for your spending come from?
See below table comparing pre-(2023) and post-retirement (2024) spending.
The biggest change is travel since we spent 3 months in Europe on top of our usual other trips. Since we plan to do this for the next 3-5 years, this will continue to be our biggest line item.
Food & drink has also increased since we spent time in Europe. All other items remain roughly similar.
The “Family” bucket used to be what we spent to bring our extended families along on our trips, but now have just lumped it all under “Travel” in 2024 so that’s why it looks so much less.
As mentioned, we get our income from dividends – which is currently providing about $325K+ vs. our targeted annual spend of $100-150K. The rest is reinvested to continue growing our dividend portfolio as well as rebuilding our cash stash (which we target to have about $500K in cash).
How are you handling Social Security, required minimum distributions, tax issues and the like?
Since we are not US citizens and not living in the US; none of these apply to us. Where we live, we get taxed on earned income, and rental/sale of assets but not dividends – so we don’t have many taxes to consider.
In terms of social security – we can’t withdraw from our retirement accounts until age 55/60, which is 15-20+ years away; so again, it’s not something that we need to worry about for now.
Did you return to paid work? Why or why not?
Not yet so far; but may consider doing something part-time or on a consulting basis when the kids are older.
Did you find it hard going from being a saver to a spender?
I would have said yes, but looking at our spending this year – it seems not!
We definitely splurged on travel, but otherwise have maintained a similar lifestyle and spending to the previous years.
Looking back, what do you wish you knew in advance?
That there’s a lot more to life than work – and that I didn’t have to worry about how I’d spend my time!
What advice do you have for those wanting to retire?
Make sure you’ve got multiple buffers in place; a lot of folks tend to assume that they’d spend less when they retire when that may not actually be true. Whilst work-related costs will go down, there will be new activities to replace it depending on what you do in retirement; so better to be prudent and over-budget rather than under-budget so you don’t have to worry about expanding your spend.
Also – have at least a rough idea of what you’re retiring to so that the transition is smoother and more enjoyable. Have a good mix of regular activities throughout the weeks/months so that you’ve got some structure but also allow a fair amount of free time so that you can explore and try out any new opportunities as and when they come.
This is really eye-opening, to be able to make that kind of money in your young adult days. How did you end up with that career path and stick with it long enough to know it would pay off? Love that your plan is so detailed, and you’ve even created a buffer to help your parents out in retirement, not many people think about that.
Thanks! In terms of career – I studied Economics in university and at the time (mid 2000s) everyone in my peer group was either going to investment banking or management consulting. I did 2 banking internships and decided it wasn’t for me – so made the jump to consulting in my final year. Got lucky and stayed with the same firm throughout.
I didn’t know that it would pay off – I never thought I’d stay so long to be honest. But I was lucky and had some amazing mentors who supported me and helped me get to where I was. So now I pay it forward and focus on mentoring & coaching younger folks in their careers.
Thanks for sharing this! Kudos and such an inspiration! I’m particularly impressed with your dividends you earn. I know that you’ve shared some details on your previous interviews, but would you mind sharing more on your fund details. Thanks.
Hi Sri – what would you like to know?
Would you be able to share the exact funds you’ve invested in? 5% Dividends is impressive!
PIMCO global income / balanced income, Allianz income & growth are my top 3 dividend earners (5-6% dividend yield). I’ve got others that are in the 3-4% range as well like First State Dividend Advantage.
As usual – caveats apply: don’t just take advice from internet strangers and do your own homework before investing
What an incredible story. My husband and I are not much older than you and plan to retire in the next 5-6 years. We will have young kids. I had no idea the nomad group existed. We will absolutely be looking into that because our conversation is always around should we actually retire when the kids are that young because it’s not like we could travel outside of their school schedules…. this may provide a better option for that. Thank you for sharing and congratulations on your success!!
Thank you! If you’d like to know more about the nomad group – feel free to DM or ping me on the MMM forum and I can share more details. The amount of outdoor time and practical stuff kids learnt was amazing (even for 4 and 1). My 4 year old learnt how to read (not just simple ABC books but encyclopedias and science books after 3 months) and also how to cook (pizza, pasta, egg tarts). My 1 year old learnt how to tidy up after himself and his favourite activity now is to help sweep the floor!
Thanks for the interview and transparency!
I can really relate to “To everyone else – we’re either “taking a temporary career break to focus on family” or we simply don’t mention it. ” and can feel the *gasp* worst case, go back to work!
Hi, a number of similarities to my situation, except I’m in my mid 50s already….
I’m currently living in Europe on a long term visa, but definitely would like to get EU citizenship. Which one are you doing, the Portugal route? Is the investment something you expect to get back, and even better have some return on? I was looking at the Portugal route, but didn’t find an investment fund that I was confident I would at least return my investment.
I’m impressed you were able to walk away from your jobs. I understand the market and children reasons, but I guess a couple of years of additional substantial income were possible no matter what happened in the market. My net worth is a little higher and I don’t have as many years left in my life, but I’m still finding it hard to walk away.
Hi Clay
Yes – we’re going the Portugal route for the visa. I engaged a visa consultancy firm to help sort out the admin plus provide a shortlist of eligible funds for investment.
I don’t really expect to make a huge return to be honest. If it stayed flat I’d be happy. I view it as an opportunity cost for getting EU citizenship for me and my family, so I’m fine with it not making a return.
In terms of walking away – I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve had, but also now feel it’s time for a new chapter. Even if I don’t make anywhere close to this again, the fact I was able to for multiple years give me confidence that I can still earn $$ if I really need to.