Early Retirement - Financial Freedom (Investing, Tax Planning, Retirement Strategy, Personal Finance)

James Threw the First Pitch at a Padres Game—Here’s the Real Lesson | Root Talks

• Ari Taublieb, CFP®, MBA • Episode 288

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What if the “smart” money choice isn’t the choice that builds your best life?
This Root Talks episode starts with a bucket-list moment for James—throwing the first pitch at a Padres game—and turns into a bigger lesson: money is a tool to create meaning, not a score to keep. It’s a look at the Five Types of Wealth (financial, time, social, mental, and physical) and why the spreadsheet answer isn’t always the human answer.

Ari and James share real examples: paying for time to be with family and friends, choosing health over “perfect” returns, even saying yes to a once-in-a-lifetime trip when it matters most. It’s practical retirement planning and financial planning through a different lens—purpose-driven wealth, money mindset, peace of mind.

If the goal is a life well lived, optimization means aligning dollars with values: relationships, adventure, and the stories you’ll keep telling. That’s true retirement lifestyle design... building a life you don’t want to retire from.

Watch to rethink “financially optimal,” and learn how to use your money to buy back time, reduce stress, and live on purpose.

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Advisory services are offered through Root Financial Partners, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. This content is intended for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered personalized investment, tax, or legal advice. Viewing this content does not create an advisory relationship. We do not provide tax preparation or legal services. Always consult an investment, tax or legal professional regarding your specific situation.

The strategies, case studies, and examples discussed may not be suitable for everyone. They are hypothetical and for illustrative and educational purposes only. They do not reflect actual client results and are not guarantees of future performance. All investments involve risk, including the potential loss of principal.

Comments reflect the views of individual users and do not necessarily represent the views of Root Financial. They are not verified, may not be accurate, and should not be considered testimonials or endorsements

Participation in the Retirement Planning Academy or Early Retirement Academy does not create an advisory relationship with Root Financial. These programs are educational in nature and are not a substitute for personalized financial advice. Advisory services are offered only under a written agreement with Root Financial.

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Ari Taublieb, CFP ®, MBA is the Chief Growth Officer of Root Financial Partners and a Fiduciary Financial Planner specializing in helping clients retire early with confidence.


SPEAKER_01:

Kid in high school, padres were the things that all my friends and I cared most about, San Diego Padres. We were all huge baseball fans. I grew up a huge baseball fan. Playing in the major leagues was something that I thought was my only path to being to have a job after high school and college. That's just all I could imagine myself doing. And I remember in high school, my friends and I, we would drive down to games, get the cheapest tickets we could, and we would get there early because we didn't want to pay$5 or$10 for parking. So we we would instead circle the stadium for what felt like 30 minutes, find a parking spot a mile away, really far away, and then walk again. So that was our experience of how can we get to as many Padres games as possible for as cheap as possible because we just didn't have money, but we loved the Padres growing up. Fast forward to now, and I just had the awesome privilege and opportunity to throw out the first pitch for a Padres game. Or you came down, your family came down, we got to celebrate with a whole bunch of friends and family. And it was just an incredible experience that never even registered in my mind that that was something that you could do. You know, you see people doing it, you see people obviously throw out the first pitch, but never thought anything of it until one day I get a call from Ari. And Ari calls me and he says, Hey James, you like the Padres? Yeah. I was like, Yeah, of course. You know I like the Padres. And he says, Well, are you free September 2nd? And I looked at my calendar and said, Yeah, I'm free for September 2nd. And he says, Well, good, you're throwing out the first pitch for uh the San Diego Padres. And I just laughed because I thought only Ari is who else in the world is gonna call with that type of a message of just something so totally random, totally bizarre in some ways, but also the more I thought of it, just totally awesome and perfectly in alignment with the message that we preach here of how do you live your life not in manual mode, not in this rut, not in this, okay, wake up, work, go to bed, repeat type situation, but actually live life on purpose, live life in this intentional way of almost like I don't know how you would say it, Ari, but you don't you don't follow the rules. Not in a bad way, not in like a you do things that are wrong way, but these unspoken rules of live a little life, live within your box, do the things you're supposed to do. I just don't think those have ever applied to you. Correct me if I'm wrong.

SPEAKER_00:

That's right. I really feel that it's not a conscious decision I make. We there was a time, I think it was over a month ago now, maybe two months, where you interviewed me on my YouTube channel. And I interviewed you as well. And for those of you who have not seen this, you should check them out on our YouTube channel. On mine, you'll see a live section where I interviewed James. James interviewed myself. And if you want the full story on how James threw out this first pitch, you can go ahead and see that. That's on James's YouTube channel. But you once asked, what's your nickname? And I said, Well, I'm the initiator. I realize if I don't initiate the vacation, if I don't initiate um, whether it be going out to dinner or a movie, certain things just don't happen. So I realized in life, my mom always said, you create your own happiness. And I realized some people do. They create their own happiness by waiting for a friend to text them. And other people go, I want to hang out with my friend, so I'm going to text. So I just realized early on, my life will be better if I initiate things. And they often don't work out. But to me, I'm like, I'm at a no already. Why not try?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Yeah. I remember asking you, I said, if there was a documentary made on your life, and one day there will be a documentary made on your life, what's the title going to be? And you said, the initiator. And I said, Yeah, that's that's perfect. Um, I think there's a takeaway here. And like Ari said, yes, I tell the whole story. It was, it was so much fun. Like when Ari first called me and told me that, at first I was like, okay, I didn't know what to think at first because it's almost like me saying, I don't even know what a good example is, but just something totally random that you never even thought about doing that you don't know what to feel what feeling to associate with it. But the more I thought about it, I was like, oh, this is actually going to be pretty exciting. Got to go down on the field, got to see the players taking batting practice, got to go up to the stadium. The coolest thing, Ari, was as I threw that, I started getting text messages from people that I haven't seen in year, oh, over a decade in many cases of, hey, I'm at the stadium. I just saw you throw out the first pitch. Hey, I'm at the stadium, I haven't seen you since high school, college, whatever. Um, seeing people comments from people on YouTube. Hey, I was sitting right by home plate, and I thought I recognized you, and then I saw you throw out the first pitch. Now I see your video. How cool, you got to do this. So that was really cool. But just getting to do that, and and this is kind of where the financial planning aspect takes in, or the message that we talk about a lot of how do you align your spending and how do you align the things that you do with the things that really matter, which are your relationships, with our, which are the fun things you're doing, the peer sense of purpose. Like the thing, so not only was it okay, throw a first pitch and go home, but as we got to get a suite, we got to host friends, we got to host family, and it became this really cool experience that was so exciting for friends, for family to be part of, so exciting for me personally to be part of. Literally, that I mean, this is a stadium full of 40,000 plus people, but I could hear the suite that was filled with our friends and family as the name was announced. I I could hear you guys through through all of that, which was awesome. Um, so all that was awesome. Go to my channel. There's a full video on the experience, there's pictures, there's videos. But the tieback is okay, this isn't just an episode about I got to throw first pitch, cool. Ari did the same thing for Arsenal and their soccer field, cool. It's how do you live life on purpose? I think there's one takeaway for the way we like to help people as our advisors is not just let's keep and protect and manage your money in this little box and make sure it's growing forever. It's how do we manage that in a way that's, yeah, we're gonna do that the to the best of our ability. We're gonna optimize that however we can. But the first priority above all else when it comes to optimization, is translating that into peace of mind, is translating that into your pursuit of your adventures, translating that into your ability to do the things you want to do with the people you care about. If nothing else, that's the most important thing your money can do for you, is enable you to live the life you want to live. And so this was just like a perfect, in my mind, encapsulation of that. Yeah, there was it overkill to have a catered suite and all that stuff. You could say so, but that was such an amazing, that was a once-in-lifetime type event that on paper is like, do you really? You mean we could just get cheap seats and do this easily? Sure. But there was an experience that went along with that that made it so fun, so meaningful, truly a once-in-lifetime opportunity. And those are the types of experiences that we want all clients to have, we want all people to have is how do you identify those things that maybe aren't even on your radar, but would be really meaningful, fun things to do. And then how do you live life without these unwritten rules? So you're not supposed to do that. You're not supposed to do anything outside the realm of normal and just go do them.

SPEAKER_00:

I like the unwritten rules. So there's one story that I want to tell about someone who retired with us, and I think this is going to be applicable to many of you. So I hope this resonates. Now, James, I'm grateful that you did not quit route and join the Padres because that first pitch, I don't know if it clocked in at uh 100, but no giveaways.

SPEAKER_01:

It was not a great first pitch. It did make it there. It didn't bounce. It was a bit high, but yeah, I was hoping to be signed.

SPEAKER_00:

Did not we'll we'll wait for the five-year contract to come through. Um, Otani Cannol, there's gonna be a a baseball off, even though that's not a real thing. So some of you are thinking, wow, this is pretty cool. I mean, James threw the first pitch, and you know, he used to want to be able to just park there, and now he got to be in the stadium. I think it's cool, but I think there's something equally as cool, potentially actually more cool, some would say cooler using proper English right there. So I had a client who said they wanted to fly first class because they've never done it before. And I said, How about a private jet? And you could tell when I said private jet, they thought, great, that's fun for you to dream and maybe do this with the other clients just to get them talking. But clearly I'm not going on a private jet. And I said, Tell me more about your goals. I want to know more. How much would you love to travel? Tell me about their health. And they are very honest. And some clients get into it immediately with us, certain clients it takes a little bit to warm up. But this client was like, look, my mom's not in great health. She's always wanted to go to Antarctica, and I would love to do a trip like that. And I said, Do you mind if we just search together? Because I think this might shock you. She said, Okay. So many of you know Jet National Geographic. Well, they have private jet tours. And even by me saying private jet, this client is thinking, private jet, nope, not me. I work 35 years, blue collar. I can't do that. You can see that's what her brain is saying. And we look it up, and it's$87,000. Do a three-week private jet tour around Antarctica and all these cool places. And she said,$87,000, that's more money than I've saved the last three years. I don't even know how I could do that. But she had saved really well. And she's like, I don't know how long my mom is going to have. And she did that. Now, what did she sacrifice to do that? She didn't buy a new car the next year, which was one of her goals. She didn't do a home remodel. She still was able to help out her grandchild. So she had to prioritize. And did it mean she traveled less the next two years? Yep, it did mean that. But she was able to do a private jet tour with National Geographic, something she totally wrote off in her head because she heard the words private jet. Now, if I didn't bring that up, I'm not saying she wouldn't have gone and figured it out. But part of our job is to help clients dream and we don't just say you get to do it. It's here are trade-offs. Let's prioritize. So if I asked all of you, would you rather throw the first pitch or do a private jet tour with National Geographic? I think most of you would choose National Geographic, unless you're a huge baseball fan, in which case you'd say you're nuts for even putting that as a comparison. But the reason we bring this up is we say the sign of a good financial plan is a life well lived. And part of our job is to show you if we're not doing it, how on earth should you listen to us? I mean, you could listen, but in the same way we say there's tons of CFPs out there. But when we're, James and I, taking the CFP course, there's lots of people who we would not let manage a dime of our money, let alone hold our lunchbox. And we work at home. So we don't even have a lunchbox. So I say this because I want you all to take a second, just like we've shared in the last few episodes, specifically the last episode, two weeks ago, where James said, get a piece of paper and write out, okay, what would you spend your time doing? What would you do if you truly had a blank check? And you might not even think private jet is an option. You might not even think throwing a first pitch is an option. But I don't believe in these rules. And so if you can at least dream and think for a second, what would I do? We're not saying you get to do it, but these are things that hopefully are making you think a little differently. Anything to add there, James?

SPEAKER_01:

Just that it's gonna it's gonna it's going to hurt. Like it's it's going to hurt to say 87, and not everyone should do this, not everyone's in a position to do this. But I'll use your the client you mentioned as an example.$87,000 writing that check, that's going to hurt. But what's going to hurt more is waking up one day in 20, 30 years, realizing that$87,000's turned to$287,000. But now there's no one left to enjoy it with. Now I don't have my health to enjoy it. Now there's what am I going to do with this now? And so there's the pain of spending and there's the pain of regret. Don't just spend for the sake of spending. We've talked about that, we've reinforced that. But there's, you know, there's the old quote: there's the pain of discipline and there's a pain of regret. One is in ounces, one is in pounds or something. You know, that there's there's pain to be disciplined, but the pain of regret, the pain of that is gonna weigh on you so much heavier. I think that could be applied here too. Successful spending, responsible spending, that's going to hurt sometimes for these people that have built up this identity, this habit of prioritizing savings and living within their means. There's no, there's going to be an element of pain with that, but the bigger pain is gonna be what happens when your mother's no longer here and you can't take that trip with her? What happens when your spouse is no longer here and you can't enjoy what you've saved this money for? What happens when your children, who you say, well, I'm saving this for them? What happens when they're so financially responsible or so financially well helped that whatever inheritance you're gonna leave them doesn't actually move the needle? But you've missed out on the things that you could have done along the way with them, with your spouse, with your parents, with your friends. And so there's no formula for this, as much as I think the answer for all of us is within us, just taking the time to sit with that and realize, what am I gonna do? There's uh gosh, what's that quote? I went to went to Aspen with my family a few months ago, and there's that quote, I forget by its who, who it's from, but that what do you plan to do with this one wild and precious life you have? Some something along those lines. I think I'm ruined. There's something to you have one life, one precious life. What are the things you're going to do to make it matter? And I think that you are very good about just living by default in that way, Ari, of not being subject to the unwritten rules of what you're supposed to do and just living and saying if something's gonna bring me or someone I love or know enjoyment and purpose, like I'm gonna do it, and not being hindered by our limited thinking of what life could look like.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, thank you, James, and you deserve it more than anyone. So if you want to see the full video, make sure to check out James' channel. I also want to make sure you all know my new series, Retirement Reality. There's many episodes by the time this gets released, but every Saturday I have retirees share their story. So if you want to hear that, make sure to tune in. That's on my YouTube channel. That is something that I find resonates with many people because it's not just me saying, Yep, you know, I had a client take this great private jet tour, but it's them explaining, I'm so glad I'm doing this, and here's why I did it, and here was the struggle. So if that's of interest, make sure to check those out every Saturday. And then we will see you guys next time.