“I Would Rather Figure Retirement Out Than Continue My Job” | Retirement Reality

Kate retired at 51, not because everything was perfectly figured out, but because the pull toward freedom finally outweighed the comfort of routine.

After more than two decades in a demanding public service career, Kate realized it wasn’t the work she was tired of... it was the monotony. The same weeks. The same pressure. The feeling that life kept shrinking into Monday-through-Friday obligations. When the balance tipped just enough in favor of freedom, she trusted it and stepped away. 

In this episode of Retirement Reality, Kate shares what the first six months of retirement have really been like. Slower mornings. Better sleep. Coffee shops instead of commutes. Yoga instead of rushing. And the space to think clearly about what comes next, without forcing purpose or rushing into another identity.

She opens up about retiring without a rigid age goal, navigating the gap before traditional retirement accounts become available, living comfortably on a modest monthly spend, and why it’s okay to leave a career you enjoyed when the routine no longer fits. She also talks candidly about choosing comfort where it matters (like flying business class) while staying intentional everywhere else.

Kate’s story is a reminder that retirement doesn’t require certainty. Sometimes it’s a 51/49 decision... and trusting yourself enough to choose freedom anyway.

As you listen, consider this:
What part of your life feels routine out of habit — not because it still fits?

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Kate is not a client of Root Financial Partners, LLC and received no compensation for participating in this video. His statements reflect his own opinions and experience and are not indicative of any specific client’s experience and are not a guarantee of results. No cash or non-cash compensation was provided, and no material conflicts are known.

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. Advisor

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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.

Transcript

Welcome to Retirement Reality

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back to the Early Retirement Podcast. I hope you're enjoying these interviews. Hopefully they are resonating in a way. And if they are, just shoot me a note. Email me, ari at rootfinancial.com, and tell me, yep, super helpful or no. I missed the old content where it was more 10-15 minutes, quick tidbits, maybe a story. I make all this content for you guys. So let me know what would be helpful. And then once again, if you want, you're gonna see a link in the description to get a free guide to retiring with confidence. That is everything. So if you look and you get overwhelmed, don't be. It's not to make you go, oh my gosh, I'm missing something. It's to give you that feeling of, wow, maybe I'm not worried about something, or maybe I am worried about something that for no reason. I I just am in a better spot than I thought. Maybe it's that moment of clarity where you go, wow, yeah, maybe I can retire earlier than I thought. Or maybe you get a little sense of, wow, it's a good gut check for me to see. There's lots of things I hadn't considered. So I just want you all to get confident and finding out when you can retire, when you can make work optional. Thank you for as always listening to this podcast. I'm gonna go ahead and play the interview now. Guys, enjoy.

SPEAKER_03 1:04

A friend from college called me four or five years ago, and we had remained friendly, but it was sort of a cold call in a sense that she's a financial advisor, and she had said, Hey, are you do you have a need, any any interest in working together? And I was pretty instantly like, Yeah, let's do that. And so she then helped me understand my risk tolerance, and we had to adjust some things based investments based on my tolerance, whether it was higher, too high or too low. She kind of helped me have a little bit better vision of where exactly I stood relative to costs of living and all of that. And also to say, oh, wait, I I think I probably can do this once I hit that the appropriate amount of time as defined by the employer. Um, I could be ready to do so, which again was maybe four and a half, four and a half years prior to that time when I hit enough years to retire.

Meet Kate: Retired At 51

SPEAKER_00 1:59

What I'm doing in this new show, Retirement Reality, is having heartfelt, candid conversations with people who have already retired so you can hear from them what worked well, what didn't, and everything in between. I hope you enjoy. And if you're retired and you want to personally come share your story on a future episode, there's a link right below this in the description of this episode where you can apply to be a guest. Now go enjoy the episode.

Defining Freedom And Decompressing

SPEAKER_01 2:24

My guest today retired at 51 years old. And what's so incredible about her is she was honest, going, look, I don't think I need what other people need. Like I don't need 8,000 a month or 10,000 a month. I think honestly, if I was able to have 3,500, 4,000 a month, like I could live comfortably. The question is, should I work part-time? Because I'm naturally introverted, but I still want to do something active, and at the same time, I don't know exactly where I'm gonna live and should I buy, should I rent? She goes on to explain how having a financial advisor really helped her, but she still has questions around how does she bridge the gap until 59 and a half. There's a lot of interesting things that came up in this conversation. I think you're gonna thoroughly enjoy it, and I'm grateful that she came on and shared her story. Enjoy. Kate, thank you for joining an episode of Retirement Reality. I ask all my guests the same question first, which is what's one word you would use to describe your retirement so far?

SPEAKER_03 3:19

Oh wow. In one word. Um I I mean, I guess the first thing that came to mind was freedom.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

Freedom. I've had that a few, I've had that a few times, and it's a good word. Now pretend I gave you unlimited words. What would you say then?

SPEAKER_03 3:35

Um well, it takes a while to uh break out of that suit, if you will. I can't think of the right word or a different word right now, but it has taken me a while to kind of realize oh, wait a minute. Um last night we were talking about um if you're struggling to sleep, um, sometimes you just kind of have to go with it, you know, and embrace it. Um and it might take an hour to get back to sleep. Uh when you're working, that that's a hardship because then you gotta wake up, you know, in just another hour or two and then just kind of get through the day really, really tired, um, or chronically tired if that's a repeating cycle. But as a now that I'm retired, I've realized like, okay, obviously I would prefer to be sleeping, but um, it's okay. I can take that time to fall back asleep, and then it's I won't be sort of under some pressure to then get up promptly um to to the and then perform, right? Uh it's kind of a weird and very specific example, but that alone is just just allows you to kind of breathe a little more easily. You know, there's so much less pressure.

Savings, Mindset, And Life Setup

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Oh, I have like 10,000 more questions, but I'm relating because I know when I have to catch a flight, I'll wake up, sometimes not even at the time of my alarm, but it's I'll wake up at three in the morning because I'm like, I know I have a flight later and then you don't sleep well for the rest of that. So totally makes sense. Let me ask you this because I'm too curious already. So, first, before we get the full Kate story, how old are you today? 51. 51, and how long have you been retired?

SPEAKER_03 5:06

Approximately uh six months. So June 1st is when my retirement took effect.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Okay, so almost, almost okay, incredible. So six months, oh my gosh, there's 12 million directions. But here's where I'd like to start. Some people think, oh my gosh, retiring at 51, they must come out the womb and get a Roth IRA first thing they do before even, you know, eating or walking. It's Roth IRA and you know, company match. And I I mean, that's just not real life. But I'm curious from you, did you start saving instantly? Did you always want to retire at 51? Like, what was your process?

SPEAKER_03 5:42

Yeah, so I didn't have that explicit goal, like by this threshold age or whatever it might be, uh, you know, uh phase of life. Um, I didn't have anything specific, like I will retire by that time. However, I will say that um I probably partly just who I am, as well as what was modeled in our family, I would say sort of emphasized um being practical and living within your means and saving and reti saving for retirement, um, and just kind of uh sort of weaving all of those together, even with or without that specific goal, um, has uh allowed me, um, plus one other thing which I'll mention has sort of allowed me a little bit of that flexibility and freedom to jump or to make that jump um maybe uh earlier rather than later. And the other thing that uh helps maybe in some ways and hurts in other ways is I'm not married and I never have been. So on one hand, that may sort of increase my costs of living, uh, because you're not doing the dual income thing. But I also don't have kids. So on that hand, uh those expenses I've never had to really deal with. So whether that's fortunate or unfortunate, it is what it is. Um and I I I do think that has helped me to, at least from the financial standpoint, have the ability and flexibility to make decisions to retire sooner.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Very well.

SPEAKER_03 7:09

That is like typical.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

Yes, understood. Now, some people have a lot of anxiety of retiring because of financial reasons, which is rational. You don't want to run out of money. There's other people that go, look, I know financially I can retire. I'm worried who the heck am I gonna hang out with if I retire at the age I do? Because my friends, they don't seem like they're in a position like me. Did you know you could retire before you retired? And was it just, hey, I'm pushing it back because what am I gonna find myself doing, like purpose, or was it purely once financially you knew you didn't need to keep working, I'm out of there?

Healthcare Before Medicare

SPEAKER_03 7:45

Yeah, so yeah, there's a lot there. Um from the social standpoint, I honestly didn't give that a whole lot of thought. Um I d I'm not too concerned because I'll I'm first of all, I'm introverted. Um I do really well alone, and I'll find that path, I think. Um so that was less of a cur concern for me. I do see now, I I do see that I will need to find a purpose, I think, just to feel fulfilled. But I also have confidence that I will find that at some point. So I don't feel like urgency or pressure, um, but instead I do feel some faith on that front. And then financially, um I forget how you had phrased it, but I can say so I participated in like the savings, the 401k, um, and then had some investments on my own in funds. You know, I don't I don't make my own decisions necessarily. I let the fund managers do that. But I do a friend from college called me four or five years ago, and we had remained friendly, but it was sort of a cold call in the sense that she's a financial advisor, and she had said, Hey, are you do you have a need, any any interest in working together? And I was pretty instantly like, yeah, let's do that. Um, and so she then helped me um understand my risk tolerance, and we had to adjust some things based investments based on my tolerance, whether it was higher, too high or too low. Um, and and so I think she helped me do, even though I was participating in all the programs, um like 401k, I mean, she kind of helped me have a little bit better vision of where exactly I stood relative to costs of living and all of that. And then, and also to say, oh wait, I I think I probably can do this once I hit that the appropriate amount of time as defined by the employer, um, I could be ready to do so, which again was maybe four and a half, four and a half years prior to that time when I hit enough years to retire.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

Understood. To be eligible to retire. You're like, I'm in a good position. Once I hit that perfect time, that's when it makes sense. Now, let me ask this um on the healthcare front, because that scares a lot of people. So, how am I gonna pay for healthcare before Medicare? Does your, and we don't need to know your exact employer, but did your employer assist with that? Was there a program? Was it, hey, Kate, you're on your own, good luck. How did that factor into your decision?

SPEAKER_03 10:16

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It it does and is a factor uh for me, as for most of us, I assume. Um and so our employer had options to kind of roll into to to participate, pay into um a retirement version of the medical packages they had offered for uh for full-time employees. Um and so between that program as well as um some also I was a public employee, right? And so I I have access to the program that the employer offered for medical care as well as a government-provided uh forms of of healthcare.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

Awesome. Some people, Kate, will come to me and they'll say, you know, Ari, I'm just I'm just a modest guy. I'm not a big spender. It's like, look, 15,000, 20,000 a month, I'm good. And I'm like, that to some, that would be like, I don't even know how they would spend that. And other people are like, hey, do you think I'm gonna ever be able to retire? I spend like a thousand a month. So I get a wide range of people. Now the truth is it always depends, but do you mind sharing generally, outside of like one big trip or one big car? Is there a certain amount every month that you find if you spend it, you can live comfortably?

SPEAKER_03 11:29

Yeah, that's a good question. Some of that for me is TBD because um it will depend on where I live and the costs of living, right? Which are high. I'm in the US, um, and they tend to be high, and they can vary obviously from area to area. But if I could keep, at least for starters, right, and this may change over time, but if I could estimate keep it maybe in the, I don't know, maybe like$3,000 range,$3,500, somewhere in there.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Um including um are you planning on renting in retirement?

SPEAKER_03 12:04

It would include housing, yes. And I don't I don't know yet if I'll rent or buy. Um everything is really very much up in the air for me. Um Yeah, and I realized that would probably be the floor, right, versus the ceiling of how much I'd want to pay per month.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

Well, I appreciate you sharing that because some people think they have to have it exactly dialed in before they retire. And if you do that, you might work until you're 85 because you'll never have it perfectly dialed in. And there's really easy ways to find a reason to keep working. Oh, one more year, and you know, my team really needs me, and oh my gosh, this or that. Um did that factor into your decision-making process to retire about your team? Was it hard to prioritize yourself and say, I'm gonna go retire? And with that, if you're open to sharing, how did you actually tell your company that you're walking away?

SPEAKER_03 12:55

Yeah, that's a good question. And you alluded to something too that I wanted to similar, right? That I um that brought something to mind. So um so I oh the the first piece was the sort of concern or fear, maybe even of making enough to get by. And that absolutely would have would have and could have been one thing to drive me to stay longer. Um without that uh the planning that my advisor that I mentioned and and having participated in um retirement programs and also um being a little bit frugal, right? All those things have helped. However, so I I do have that fear of having enough month-to-month. Um but the even if it's 5149, like that there was just a slightly higher enough desire to just be free, right? And not have that Monday through Friday sort of routine um obligation, basically, where your weekends are too short, your vacations are too short, your three-day weekends go so fast, all of a sudden it's always Sunday night and you're packing your lunch, right? Um, I was just ready to be free of that. And it to me it felt the routine felt kind of boring. And I don't even mean the work itself, I just mean that routine day after day and week after week. I was kind of just ready for something different.

Telling The Employer And Letting Go

SPEAKER_01 14:21

I love it. Okay, let me ask this because I know I sometimes I get too excited. I ask 12 questions in one second. When you was there a I sense that it's I and I like the way you phrased it. You're like 5149. I've never heard it phrased that way, but there's certain people that will run all the pros, cons, like a relationship of okay, so someone might be the perfect height and this or this or that, but you got a feeling, and your feelings like they hit it all, but like I still don't feel it. So I don't know what you want me to do. It seems similar of like, yeah, look, I I'm probably making good money. Yes, there's more health care if I stay longer. Yes, it everything looks better, but like I don't know what you want me to tell you, I want to walk away. So in your case, if that's how you felt, I imagine it wasn't difficult to actually tell your employer, I'm leaving, or am I wrong? And it was difficult.

SPEAKER_03 15:06

Yeah, good question. I'm gonna make a quick note so to mention things I don't want to forget. So there there are, I do it was and probably are just that little piece of me that was like, yeah, but there were upcoming opportunities, or I was just starting to kind of reach a pinnacle, right? Um, and and sort of really enjoying opportunities to sometimes guide or mentor people coming up behind us. Um and so there's a little bit of loss of those opportunities that I thought about and think about. Um and so two things either one, it was still my that that freedom was still kind of overrode everything else, and or like a belief that I I can find ways to do that even now, in some other way, some other place. Um and so it's still that desire to go still kind of rode one one the day, if you will. Um, and then communicating to my employer was I I think honestly, it would have been really hard, like an earlier version of me would have felt bad or felt guilty. Oh, oh gee, um, what am I leaving behind? And I care about that. But I think I've I've 23 years was enough time and just the the I don't know, growth or whatever you go through as we grow older. I guess I'll just throw it out there, um brings with it a an element of like, yeah, I I feel bad, but I also I gotta, it's time and I gotta do this um for me or for my family or for whatever other reason. And that allowed me to approach the employer without feeling too much like awkward or guilt or that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Well, kudos to you because it's hard. So everyone in the comments who's watching this, give Kate some love. And if there's a question you have for Kate, let me know because I'll use this to ask better questions in the future. I'm curious, Kate, uh, what you wrote down there. Do you want to share it now or do you want me to come back to that?

SPEAKER_03 17:04

Yeah, the one note I had written was which I I think I spoke to was the opportunities again to like lead or or mentor or guide folks coming up behind us. Um, which again, I I I may have missed some of those, but I also have faith that I'll be able to find other opportunities if it feels important enough to me.

Emergency Response Career Insights

SPEAKER_01 17:22

Yeah, interesting. This reminds me of, I won't go too long here, but there was a story where I was talking to a new client and they told me they really want to spend time on their health. And I said, Okay, um, so why don't you retire? Financially, you're in a good position. They go, Well, well, my team needs me. I go, so you really want to spend time on your health, or your team needs you? Like, which one do you really want? And I was just pressing them on it. And they're like, Well, I I mean, I know I gotta prioritize my health. I know I need to. That was his words. I know I need to, but my team needs me. And I'm like, look, you you can't have both of those unless you're able to balance that well in life, that's one thing, but it doesn't sound like that's the case. So I said, Are you able to do both of those? And they're like, no, it's very much one or the other right now. I was like, okay, let's pretend we don't have this conversation ever, and you, you know, are just living your life. Do you think you would ever just put yourself first? In fact, when's the last time you put yourself first? And he had no idea. He was like, and he was overweight because he was like, I go out to these parties with my employers and I feel bad if I ever decline things. And it was like going to the nth degree of this. And he was like, Oh my gosh, I don't actually know how I would even tell my employer that I'm leaving. Interesting. Because that concept would be putting myself first, which I don't even know how to do. So we found that it was not financial at all. It was purely emotional. Putting himself first would make another team member potentially have a smaller burden, even if his burden is like this over here. And so a lot of you who watch the content will say, why is it financially I feel like I could retire, but I'm worried about what if markets go down? Or what if it turns out I spend more than I think or I live longer? And I like your 5149 of you're probably gonna have all those thoughts. And if you didn't, that'd be even weirder. But then there's how much does freedom outweigh those things? So now I'm curious, Kate, um, do you mind sharing what a day in the life generally look like, whatever degree you're comfortable sharing when you were working compared to what a day in the life looks like now? And you might think some of these details, you're like, who wants to know this? The people want to know what time were you waking up? Um, were you packing lunch? Like, what did a normal day look like at work? And then we'll come to what days look like now.

SPEAKER_03 19:28

Yeah, certainly. I I think some of I would want to ask the gentleman that you talked about too, like, what do you want? You know? I'm not sure. Well, I I wasn't there, of course, but I never in in the really brief summary that you gave, never really understood what it what did he want, you know, versus what he needed.

SPEAKER_04 19:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:46

Um needs needs matter, but I think in this case at least, this context wants matter as well.

SPEAKER_04 19:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 19:53

Um, but I think there's a lot of conditioning, right? Which which we can come back to if we if we want to. So a day in my life when I was working was so I I generally tried to commute keep my commute fairly short, 15, 20 minutes at the most. So in general, um, I'd get up maybe 6 30, which isn't too awful. Um and it would it would definitely involve packing lunch, but I wouldn't what I admit it would involve basically skipping breakfast and just grabbing a coffee to take with me. Um and and just eating poor snacky type stuff in the morning, which was not ideal. But it was all in the name of get up, get ready, go to work, and and start getting to work, right? Um and then so workday might be like something like eight to four thirty-ish, um, plus or minus. And our employer was was pretty generous during that time. If your schedule allowed, you could break away and get an hour-long workout at times during the workday. So sometimes that would happen. Um, and if not, I would either try to bicycle commute as much as I could and call that my workout for the day, call it good, um, or do something, you know, leave work around 4 30 and then try and do something um after the fact, as far as exercise is concerned. And so then maybe, you know, 6 30 or 7, you're thinking about dinner and then just kind of sitting down and and and do a little bit of nothing for the rest of the evening.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

Yeah. Did you enjoy what you did for a living, or was it more of it pays the bills and provides security?

SPEAKER_03 21:34

Yeah, I did. Um, I did. And there was, I would summarize primarily the incident and emergency response uh management and response.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 21:44

And then um to to include eventually over the course of later in my career, that involved like the planning and the um training that takes place before an incident, ideally before, so that folks are adequately prepared to respond when something does happen. Um and I did enjoy that. Work. I will say emergency response is hard work because it can be very long days and several days working if you're responding to like a specific severe incident. You can be there for quite a while working several days in a row, long hours. That piece was hard. But I did, I absolutely enjoyed the planning and the preparation that happens for those incidents. The only thing really, the piece that was hard for me was the the routine, I think. When it was um I I I boredom is the word that comes to mind. Maybe there's a better word for it, but monotony. Yeah, that's it. Just the everyday kind of the same thing, even though the work is definitely interesting.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:46

Still somehow it felt monotonous at the same time, if that makes any sense.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

It does. Do you plan on ever working again part-time, doing something else? Or do you feel like no?

SPEAKER_03 22:56

Yeah, I do. Um, I I think that's probably likely. Um, and I would imagine it would be either like a part-time or maybe seasonal, um, or sort of gig, uh like project-based employment. Um, something along those lines that allows for m more breaks um in between, either shifts or in between projects or what have you, in between seasons.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

And no more monotony. Let's just, I mean, pretend there was a is there a perfect job in your mind that you think of of if I could seasonally do this or part-time do this?

SPEAKER_03 23:30

Yeah, that's a good question. I I would think for me, and it I think this is vastly different for every person, but something that involves um some time outdoors, although nothing too hardcore or intense, and then maybe something with an element of of physicality, right? If I don't know if that's a word, but um to where you can be a little bit active, but also again, you're not killing yourself and you're not killing your body. Um but it's just sort of sort of functionally, you're able to kind of use your body and express yourself in physical ways while doing something.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

Yeah, but that's so broad. I don't know. Not a financial need, but I know what you mean. Like what's coming to my mind is because sometimes I'll brainstorm things with clients of people who go, look, I I am naturally introverted. Some people say I need to have a huge community. I don't feel that need. Just because you're talking about response teams, my first thought was like, what if you are, and I have no idea if you even like skiing, but if you're skiing, but you're also you're moving to help people, so you're responding, you're on the slopes, it's seasonal, it's one of those things that oftentimes not saying you would do this, but people will buy a plu a home just because it feels like it's more secure when in reality they have enough money that they could rent and be in one part of the world and then go to another part of the world. And if they bought that home for a financial purpose, it means they maybe would have not gotten to enjoy all these other potential opportunities. So how are you viewing kind of opportunities the next kind of five, 10 years?

The Gap To 59½ And Brokerage

SPEAKER_03 25:03

Yeah, that's it's funny that you mentioned that because I um I'm in, I I have gotten some birth chart readings, which um I'm sure that sounds weird to a lot of people, but um but I've I find that pretty informative and and one element of of of who I am, it would really thrive if I could be in different locations at different times or different parts of the year or what have you, and just have that the travel and adventure and a little bit of variety. Um and so that is absolutely at the fore of my mind is is that affordable? And then and how, and I'm sure there are ways, and it may involve seasonal employment. Say if there's two locations, seasonal employment at one or both of those locations to supplement. Uh I do have a pension, but I don't think I mentioned that. Um so to supplement that pension um and help with costs of living, especially if we're potentially talking about two different places, right? That's gonna take some planning, I think, and maybe even creativity to make that feasible.

SPEAKER_01 26:09

It definitely does. And and the last thing I'd want would be for you to feel like you have to do it, because that defeats the purpose of the freedom part. But if you're able to financially swing it and you enjoy it, then awesome. Uh let me ask this if I can. A lot of people on their way to retirement feel like one event might occur that throws them off. It's, oh my gosh, a huge health event occurred, or I was divorced, or it turns out my saving got cut dramatically. Was there one event or anything that occurred up until your retirement date that you thought might throw off your plans?

A Day In Retired Life

SPEAKER_03 26:45

Yeah, that's a really good question. Um, and I have to think about that. I nothing immediately comes to mind um other than you know, certain uh needs that the that an older car, right, that you gotta replace the tires or a timing belt or whatever it might be. I can't think of a specific. You know, and those things happen, right? So that's probably not too terribly unpredictable. Um I have probably been fairly fortunate in terms of being so far knock on wood, sort of avoiding anything really catastrophic. Um by the same token, I probably have saved well enough to to weather any such of a storm, even if at that point it did then compel like, okay, I might need to go um seek employment to to kind of bolster that back up. Um but yeah, I I really can't think of anything specific.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Okay. Oh, that's okay. And if some comes to mind, I'm curious. But that's good, by the way. Um what? Yeah, this is a fun question, and you'll see my my questions are very different from traditional advisors. So your advisor sounds lovely because she was able to um make it stick in some way to go, hey Kate, this is a reality. Um I and I'm very vocal about how I do not like the risk tolerance question, which all my viewers, not all, but many of you know that the example I'll tell is if I have a couple in front of me, I'll say, What's your or what was the full story that I told? I think I did it like two weeks ago, but I was talking to a couple and uh they said, You forgot to ask me something. I go, Oh, what is it? They're like, my risk tolerance, that feels pretty important. I go, okay, I'll do it right now. What's your risk tolerance? And the the wife said an eight and the husband said a three. I go, okay, let's assume markets go down. What is it now? They're like, oh, I'm a two now. I'm a negative thousand. I'm like, well, it's almost like saying, what's your pain tolerance until you get punched in the face? Then your tolerance is very different. And so nothing your advisor did wrong. It's what I would say 99% of advisors ask is what's your risk tolerance? Trying to gauge. But there's a risk of being obviously when when people hear conservative, they'll go, I don't want to run out of money. I don't want you mad at me when you're 80 with too much money. And there's certain people that that's not going to be their concern. The concern is they're going to run out. There's other people who have saved and invested well. So different people have different concerns naturally. But the question I'm going to ask you, which I bet has not been asked yet. And if it has, I'll be very impressed. If I said, Kate, you have to spend$10,000 a month, I'm forcing you to spend$10 a month. If you don't do it, it goes to your least favorite political party. Yeah, that'll get you talking. Okay. You can't you can't save it, it doesn't go to the next month, can't go to charity. You have to spend 10 a month. Here's a blank check. That's by the way, in addition to your pension. So you've got to spend tons of money and it does not go over to the next month. What would you spend it on?

SPEAKER_03 29:35

Oh, yeah, that's an awesome question. Um and if I've been asked that, I don't remember. Um that's a man, I I would probably breathe a sigh of relief, first of all. Because I do think about making sure I I want to live within my means, but I also I don't want to um first of all, I yeah, I have to think about safety, right? Um and making sure I'm in a safe area where I can feel pretty safe. Um and I to be quite frank with you, and at least in the US, that likely means paying a little bit more for uh costs of living, right? So those things are on my mind, and then that this extra 10,000 would be a big relief in that sense.

Travel Style And Spending Tradeoffs

SPEAKER_01 30:18

Wow. See, I didn't think we were gonna say that because I thought you were almost, I mean, maybe not at full relief now, because I know you prioritize freedom, but I would have thought you would have said, I have no idea how I'd spend it. I already have more than enough. But what you're saying is, no, it'd actually be really nice if you told me I had to have another 10,000 a month. So do you feel right now that whether it be your portfolio or otherwise is getting you by today and it's I'm still looking for something else? Or how are you viewing creating income the next 50 years?

SPEAKER_03 30:51

Um yeah, that's a good question. It's probably a a combination of means, right? Uh so a pension, um possible like the employment that we talked about part-time or seasonal supplemental type stuff.

SPEAKER_04 31:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:04

Um when I hit the age thresholds, then the the um I do have like a Roth IRA, and then who knows what'll happen with Social Security, but other investment funds. Um, whenever I hit those threshold ages, those monies, that new income, right, will start to arrive. Um and so I I would say the combination of all of those sorts of so it's almost like there's this gap today.

SPEAKER_01 31:29

What do we do from now to 59 and a half? But we have the pension, but hopefully you don't make this mistake. But I'll see a lot of people, Kate, go, I'm not gonna like enjoy the next five, 10 years of my life because I don't have Social Security yet. It's too much pressure to pull from my portfolio. I don't want to pay the taxes and penalties, and I'm over here going, hey, this is the time you've got your energy and health, but I don't want you to unnecessarily pay penalties and taxes, which is why I talk about what's called a superhero account often, um, which is another name for a brokerage account. Do you have a brokerage account? Um, or is that something that anyone informed you of?

SPEAKER_03 32:03

That's a good question. I'd have to go back and look. I think yes, but uh I'd I would have to review what I have uh have worked with and um signed up for, right? Or deposited into via my uh advisor.

SPEAKER_01 32:18

Yeah. Um, how could you know, right? Like this is all I do all day. If you asked me to save anyone's life, I'd be in trouble. In your world.

SPEAKER_03 32:26

You all have our strengths, right?

Values-Based Spending And Comfort

SPEAKER_01 32:28

Yeah, exactly. Okay, let me ask this then. So this this gap until 59 and a half, um, we've got the pension, maybe we do something seasonal. Obviously, it's hopefully it's not of reliance. We don't know, of course, what that could be, but how important is it to you that it's in a place where you can do more of the activities you want to do? For example, we you kindly shared with us, okay, what it you woke up at 6 30 and now you're you're going to work, maybe you're having a whatever, a chewy bar, whatever it may be. Yeah. Something that's not optimal, let's just say. Exactly. And let's fast forward to today, like the last six months. Even if I were to like yesterday, what did yesterday look like in Kate's life?

SPEAKER_03 33:09

Um, that's a really good question. So if I uh slept a little bit later, right, than you do typically when you're working.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

Is that like nine or like seven?

SPEAKER_03 33:19

Yeah, something. No, I think it was eight, right in the middle.

unknown 33:22

Nice.

SPEAKER_03 33:23

I wake up, you know, uh have a slow morning, and that's a huge thing for me is slow mornings. Okay. Which allows you like coffee. Um uh eating a little bit better than a uh tubi bar or whatever we call it. Um I am trying to limit the news, right? But I'll I'll watch a little bit of YouTube, um, whatever that might be from day to day. Um and then um you know what I did? Then I enjoyed a coffee shop session, which I love to do, and I I've looked over some notes that I had written down for for your my interview with you today, um, which was it's I just love to do that. I go to a coffee shop and have a little task, but nothing too hard.

SPEAKER_01 34:05

Yeah, I like that too.

SPEAKER_03 34:07

Be among people and the music and whatever you're drinking and stuff. So that was pretty nice.

SPEAKER_01 34:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:12

Um did some yoga, which was lovely.

SPEAKER_01 34:15

Um and then so I'm in the or on your own in your like yeah, good question.

SPEAKER_03 34:20

I am especially now after COVID, I prefer in-person classes. Um right now it was at home, which is totally fine. But once I'm sort of settled, uh that'll be a goal is to find a way to get to in-person yoga classes.

SPEAKER_01 34:34

Yeah, I'm in-person because if it's on my phone, notifications come up. If I try to remember it in my head, I I like to be cued and not think of anything. And so I'm I'm with you there. Where are you thinking around the country to go? Like if there's two states that you are targeting today, what would those be? And is that because of financial reasons? Is it, hey, I want the weather?

SPEAKER_03 34:56

Yeah, weather's a big one for sure. Uh so I would say tentatively, um, at least sort of candidate areas, if you will, would be like Oregon, Washington, state, Washington state. Um or uh someplace like um Colorado, northern New Mexico, northern Arizona, somewhere in that region. Um I am originally from and sort of right now sort of temporarily stationed in the north in New York State.

SPEAKER_02 35:24

Nice.

SPEAKER_03 35:25

Um but yeah, I probably somewhere out west, um, at least for for for a place to start andor one location if I had the good fortune to have a couple different locations.

SPEAKER_01 35:36

Yeah, interesting. Yeah, is there anything else that over the next 50 years you're like, I have to do this, whether it be I'm doing Mount Kilimanjaro or I'm buying a Ferrari. What's on Kate's bucket list, if anything?

SPEAKER_03 35:50

Ooh, yeah, that's a really cool question. Um, I d I love riding my bike, and so that's easy. That's low-hanging fruit, right? Um, so anything if I can continue to do to ride my bike and do yoga, that stuff isn't too terribly difficult. Um I did just take my first ever trip to Europe, and and so to go back would be amazing. Um that was a really nice time. Um, and so yeah, some probably more travel.

SPEAKER_01 36:18

More travel. Are are we talking business class, hostile style? What's your travel style?

SPEAKER_03 36:25

Yeah, uh not hostile style.

SPEAKER_01 36:29

I didn't think so.

SPEAKER_03 36:30

Yeah, no, I I did fly business.

SPEAKER_01 36:32

Um man was always I'm always proud, by the way, when people do, because it's when you get there, if you don't, you might be if you just spent two days in bed and recovering. And so, anyways, um That's right.

SPEAKER_03 36:43

And coach, I uh man, I feel a little entitled ish saying this, but those are coach is hard.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

It is no, it is. I I mean look, you're not wrong, and there's a lot of people that go, I just don't have it in me. They have$10 million, I can't fly business class. They'll think back to go, do you know what I would have done to get$5,000? I'm seeing you go, no problem. That's interesting. Why is that no problem?

Advice To Younger Self

SPEAKER_03 37:07

Oh man, I think it's it's just that ability to breathe a little easier, and you got a little more space. Um, and you might even um it's it's it's it's less or it's easier to avoid the small talk, if you know what I mean. I don't I don't have a whole lot of interest in that.

SPEAKER_01 37:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:25

Sounds terrible.

SPEAKER_01 37:26

No, it doesn't. I'm I'm anti-small talk. Are you kidding me? I I put the AirPods in no matter what. I that's my style. So uh I got yeah, exactly. You got the headphones.

SPEAKER_03 37:37

But you know sorry, I can't hear you.

SPEAKER_01 37:39

Yeah, yeah. Sorry, what was that? Um uh it's not financial, I don't do it. Um I'm curious though, because this is fascinating. Most people that will tell me that maybe the low end is$3,500 a month spending and the high ends, let's call it five. Yeah, uh they have a natural discomfort to purchasing a business class or first class ticket, but it seems to me you're more of the person, don't let me put words in your mouth, who's more interested in re in traveling less, but maybe nicer, as opposed to retiring more often, but in coach. Or am I looking at that wrong?

SPEAKER_03 38:13

Yeah, no, I'd say that's fair. And I think two two things come to mind. Um, and one is sorry, this pan I nervous habit, which might be.

SPEAKER_01 38:22

No, you're good. I have a sneaky.

How An Advisor Helped

SPEAKER_03 38:24

Yeah, right on. I'm very fidgety. Um yeah, oh, so I I I tend to um it I do I am of sort of a dichotomous approach, I think, because I am I'm very cautious when it comes to spending. But then once I'm I'll watch and I'll say, like, you know, I'm actually doing okay. And that trip I I can get it paid for fairly promptly, and it's not gonna break the bank. Thank first of all, I'm grateful for everything, right? Gratitude, nothing but gratitude. So I do appreciate um how lucky I am. But um w if I see that you know what, it's okay. It's okay. You've worked hard and you've worked with your advisor and you've lined some things up and um and saved some money um through like living within your means. So I I can see that I it's okay to make choices to fly business and be a little more comfortable and rest better and be ready for that one awesome trip once you land. Um it's totally worth it to me every time, three times over, especially when I'm in a lot of other ways, I live within my means, which then allows that a little bit more um I won't say extravagance, but comfort. I'll just say comfort.

SPEAKER_01 39:39

I love that. And I'm a huge believer. Spend like crazy on things you really love and be extremely frugal on things you don't care about. I'm not a wine guy. A lot of people are. Good for you. I couldn't tell you anything about wine from this water bottle right here. But what I can tell you is I will spend, I'll buy 10 pairs of soccer cleats because I don't want that one cleat to go out of business or else my wide Jewish feet are gonna have a problem. So um I completely resonate with what you're sharing there, Kate. This has been more helpful than you know. More people are gonna watch and listen and go, wow, Kate's explaining a lot of the things that I'm worrying about. I know the biggest thing, and you guys all get in the comments and tell me if I'm right or wrong here. I'm happy to be wrong, is I feel like I gotta have it perfectly sorted before I retire. But that freedom sometimes outweighs all of that. And there's this a time where eventually you just go, you know what? I've had it. Like the freedom, the monotony, I'm done with it. So the way I like to end these shows, Kate, is by shutting the heck up myself. And I get it to let you talk to your younger self. And you can tell your younger self anything. You can say, you know what, younger Kate, you did great. Like you maybe don't remember, but you added to that 401k even when times were tough. You can say, you know, Kate, remember that one time you thought about this one promotion, but instead you decided to do this or that. That wasn't why. What whatever you want that you think might help other people, because there's a lot of people watching right now who want to be where you are one day. They want to have the courage to be able to go, you know what, I'm retiring, even though I don't have every single thing possibly figured out. Um, so I will be quiet and give you the floor.

SPEAKER_03 41:12

Oh man. Well, the first thing that, or a couple, two things I think came to mind. One was just like ex what I would say to my younger self is express yourself. Um, because I think I was I was very reserved and and kind of held back a bunch. Um, even when times I might have had something to say or or something I wanted to celebrate or express. So just like let that out. Um, and then the other thing is I would say it's okay. I would tell myself it's okay. Because I think there are choices that I made probably out of like hesitation or fear. And I'm talking professional and career choices, and um they would have probably helped me get to higher levels of my career, but I just wasn't ready to make like achieve a certification or a credential or that kind of thing. Um, and in certain times I I did not opt to do that and um probably hurt a little bit. Um, but for whatever reason, it just wasn't right for me at that time. Um, and that's okay, right? And in and I hopefully I I have landed and will land on my feet, regardless. Um, and so if it just doesn't feel right, then even if you don't know the reason why, you're like, trust that instinct and and it's okay. I think that's honestly.

SPEAKER_01 42:31

It's refreshing. I love that, Kate, because it's really hard. I mean, I've been in situations, I think we all have been, and if there's one that comes to mind, please put it in the comments. But there's one that I remember I was in a situation we were talking about growth initiatives, and I just I had an idea, but I thought, you know what? If I don't say anything, I'm not in a tough spot. Like I'm exactly where I am, and I'm currently comfortable and I'm paying my bills. So like the thought of speaking up felt like, okay, maybe I feel that I could contribute, but the the risk is what if I say something and they go, that's the dumbest idea ever, you're fired, which they are not gonna do, but it crossed my mind because that's just what we do as humans. We're human, totally. I love that you're saying, look, it's okay that you felt that way. You felt that way for a reason, but maybe if you could be introspective and nowadays start to ask yourself, okay, it's probably unlikely they're gonna fire you if you have one stupid idea. Maybe share that because it could create a completely different life that might actually resonate. So I appreciate you sharing that, Kate. Anything else you want to share with the audience about retirement as a whole, what it's been like for you, or any final message?

Final Thoughts and Disclaimer

SPEAKER_03 43:40

Well, I you know, I will say working with my advisor, I I she helped do a couple of things, a couple things. So, one is it like you sort of touched on envision like, okay, there is that gap, and that's exactly right between uh 51 and 59 and a half, and the other higher ages for other types of funds, right? Um so we helped sort of envision with. through the models that uh that you guys have, right? Where you can add, okay, what what type of housing will you be purchasing and how much would you want to set aside for that purchase? And what other um things do you need for your life, both whether it's medical or just the basic odd things that we obviously need, food and utilities and such. Um and we we kind of even if it was just sort of guesstimating um for the now, at least it helped conceptualize the outlay that I would need during said gap. Which which I wasn't really thinking along those lines, like what the hell's gonna happen between retirement age X and 59 and a half. I didn't wasn't really thinking about that. And so I'm very fortunate and grateful for for her and for those conversations. And and that just really helped paint a much better picture than I had ever been thinking about prior. So I guess if that if somebody has the ability that I guess I'm plugging the that work with an advisor if at all possible.

SPEAKER_01 44:59

Yeah and I'm I'm the weird advisor who says everyone doesn't need an advisor. And certain people don't like when I say that because they're like oh that's bad on the industry. Aren't you an advisor? I'm like look certain people need surgery. Those people should go to the doctor. If my leg's not broken and it feels fine, I really don't feel the need to go to the doctor. So um I'm a financial advisor and I don't think everyone needs me. But there are things that obviously I feel we can help with and the the things I tell people to look out for if you are on the search for an advisor is number one, are they a CFP? CFP is certified financial planner. I'm a CFP and no one should hire me because I'm a CFP. I tell people once again how many doctors would you never let touch your body? There's probably a lot out there, okay? And just because I'm a CFP doesn't mean you hire someone. So that's number one. Number two is fiduciary. So are they required to act in your best interest? If not and you'd think well shouldn't everyone be a fiduciary? You'd think so but no there's fiduciary standard and suitability standard. So suitability is if you ask your advisor, hey, what do you think I should invest in to create income? And if they start telling you that there's a product that you just have to have your next question should be how much does that pay you? Nothing wrong with getting paid but we have to know what are the commissions and fees because in our world there's way more that people just don't know about. Once again how could they? So fiduciary CFP, then from there the question to always ask is do you work with people like me? Because there's some people that are like I specialize in equity comp of people that all work at Microsoft. Great. Well it's probably not a good fit. There's other people that work with people who want to retire early like me or there's other people that specialize in you know people in their late stage of life whatever that may be. And then finally the fourth and I think most important thing to ask is do you like them? Because you're gonna be talking to them a lot. I mean this is someone that's gonna know your deepest darkest you know secrets and fears and if you're not crying in meetings we're probably not getting to the brute of it. And sometimes the questions are fun like your least favorite political party what else would you spend money on? But we don't just ask it to ask we ask it to go, okay, great. So you would love to spend 12 a month got it to do that we'd have to do this. We don't want to do that but maybe six a month is actually our sweet spot. So that means you should do this instead of this. Or maybe we should tweak make more dividends so that you don't have to worry as much about income today but then in 10 years completely switch that. So as long as you have an advisor that you can comfortably share everything with you're gonna be in a good spot. So Kate, I love that you brought that up and I appreciate you coming on the show. Thank you. If you enjoyed this episode of Retirement Reality check out how we help people retire with confidence. You can see we have an FAQ section on our website. If you just hover over the resources tab you can go ahead and see this FAQ section here and learn everything about what it's like to work with us including our personalized planning process, a quick overview of how everything works, do you have enough money to become a client? Where will your money be? Everything from tax planning to fees we are extremely transparent and want to make sure that you're working with someone that resonates with you. Hopefully you enjoyed this episode and if you once again want to be a guest on a future show so that you can share your story you can see that in the link of this episode. Thanks thank you all as always for listening to the early retirement podcast. I love getting to host these shows and make different content for you guys every single week. I've not missed a single week in years and that is because I love getting to do this. Now please be smart about this before you actually execute any strategy that you see me talk about or hear me talk about should I say please talk to your financial advisor, your tax preparer, your estate attorney please be smart about this. None of this should be construed as financial advice this is for fun, educational informational purposes only once again just quick disclaimer here guys please be smart about this appreciate you listening as always and you can of course submit a question on my website early retirementpodcast dot com if you of course want me to address a specific case study or topic I will not promise I can get to it but I respond to every single person and if I find it will be helpful for a lot of people I will absolutely make an episode on it at the very least give you some insight. That's it. Thanks guys