Here’s How A Retiree Spends $10K/Month Safely in Retirement | Retirement Reality

Bob didn’t retire because he was tired of work — he retired because life kept reminding him that time isn’t guaranteed. In this conversation with Ari Taublieb, CFP®, Bob shares how personal loss, perspective shifts, and years of disciplined saving made early retirement feel less like a risk and more like the only choice that honored the life he wanted.

He opens up about the emotional side of leaving a long career, the moment he realized he didn’t want to push the goalpost back anymore, and the confidence he found once the numbers — and his values — finally aligned. Now his days are built around health, connection, slow mornings, and the freedom he once only imagined.

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Bob 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. 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.

Transcript

Make Work Optional

SPEAKER_00 0:00

It's one thing to hear about early retirement from me who loves talking about how to retire early with confidence, which if you know me, I don't really want you to retire early if you love your job. I just want you to know when are you in a position to make work optional? And if you love what you do, keep doing it. And if you don't love what you do, go spend your time on what matters most. Because I hate the thought of you working unnecessarily. If you don't need to be working because financially you're in a great spot, I want you to know that. And at the minimum, I want you to know when that will be the case. When do you enter that recreational employment? Now, the best way to learn, in my opinion, is from people who have already done it. So, what I'm gonna be doing is still continuing my interviews because you guys have shared amazing feedback with me via email. I'm just gonna read out one of the recent responses, and this I'm gonna keep anonymous, of course. So if you want to email me what you have found most helpful, please do. It is so fun for me to get to read your responses. You can email me at ari at rootfinancial.com. And this is a response that says these interviews have changed the way I look at an early retirement. It's fun to hear about these different concepts, but when I see them applied in real life and I can hear the joy and freedom in their voice, it just hits different. So that is a great example of why I love getting to hold these interviews. So I'm gonna continue to play these interviews. These are all live right now on YouTube. So if you prefer to listen on YouTube for any reason, I know many of you who listen here on the podcast go, yeah, YouTube is not my thing. Too many ads, it's just annoying. Totally get that. I listen to many history podcasts on my podcast app, and I recently just did an audiobook with my wife. We just drove up to Carmel and from Los Angeles, and we listened to an audiobook called My Husband's Wife. And that was quite an interesting mystery. So if you need that, if you're doing a long road trip, um, I encourage you to try to guess who you think did it. It's one of those who'd done it. So the whole time I'm making bad tax jokes, and Alice didn't laugh at any of them, but I did. So, regardless, wanted to just quickly share. I totally get it. If you prefer listening on the podcast app, we're gonna hop right into the interview. But before we do, just a quick reminder: my name is Ari Talblebe. I'm a certified financial planner, host of the Early Retirement Podcast, and I love this stuff. If you cannot tell, and if you want to schedule a free call with us to learn about how we help people just like you retire with confidence, you can do so. You'll see a link in the description of this video. Now, let's go hear from some real people who retired early so we can figure out when maybe we can retire and what we should do. Thanks, guys. What would you tell someone who is in that kind of stage? You got you have to retire eventually.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

So, like there's no, I mean, you know, you could put it off and and maybe if you you know, maybe you you stay longer because if you really enjoyed the work or whatever, but it you're just putting it off the inevitable. Like it's a life change, right? And so would you rather attack all that when you're a little younger, maybe a little more energy than not? You know, between that and maybe health considerations that especially in a high stress job, and as they get older, it's tougher on your health. So, you know, those are a couple things I would point out. I mean, you're just putting off the inevitable.

Why Retire Sooner, Not Later

Meet Bob: Spending With Confidence

SPEAKER_00 3:04

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. My guest today is spending$20,000 a month in retirement and he feels great about it. He saved and invested from an early age, but he also shares how he may have wished he took a little bit more risk along the way to pursue a career that might be more fulfilling. It is a fun episode filled with tons of confidence and good stories from a big traveler. Hope you enjoy today's episode. Bob, I appreciate you coming on to the retirement reality show. I asked my guests the same question every time for the first question, which is what is one word you would use to describe retirement so far?

SPEAKER_02 4:02

I would say uh relaxing.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

I'll use that one today. I like that. Relaxing. I've had awesome, I've had um ready, I've been ready for a long time. I've also just had freedom, so relaxing. I love that. How long have you been retired now?

One Word For Retirement

SPEAKER_02 4:18

So it's almost a year. Um I did have a good six-month, I announced my retirement and my former company uh about six months ahead of time. So even though it was really I really was fortunate that I kind of got to go out on my own terms, so to speak. So about a year actually retired almost, and then I don't know, six months where I was winding down.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

So Love it. Do you mind sharing with us just how that transition occurred and when you went from, oh my gosh, I think I can retire to actually doing it.

Life After Work And Slow Travel

SPEAKER_02 4:48

Yeah, so I would I'll admit I was always been a little obsessed retire early. Um but not retiring, I always caveat that because uh it's more retiring from the corporate world. So uh my my job was I was uh um I was at the same company for most of my career. I started at an accounting firm, but I transitioned to a financial services company. It was a very large company, and I would never would have guessed I would have stayed so long, frankly. But things came up and you know, opportunities came up. I really believed in the mission of the company, those kind of things. So I ended up staying 26 years before I actually retired. Yeah, which I never, even in my generation, that's kind of rare. You know, like I never would have, and I never intentionally did that, but it just worked out. Um but I always wanted to retire like a little early, again, from the corporate world. Um as I got closer, you know, I uh at first I was 50, and then I was like, well, you know, I'm kind of it's really hard at the end because you work so hard to get to a certain place. Um so then I kind of said 55, but then um when I was 52, um I got an opportunity to kind of leave in a way where it was kind of like I was 55. I got some of the benefits of being 55. Long story, but I actually had opportunity to leave a little early, kind of in a good way. Um so I took advantage of that. So I was 52 when I actually actually retired. Um I probably could have gone a year or two earlier. Um I've always been a saver, so like so that wasn't a as big concern. It was probably more about just, you know, I know once you leave that job, there's no like I could probably get another job, but there's no way I'd probably get the same kind of job, you know, if I you know went back to the workforce. It's just really a it's you know, just a something you really take time to think about and make that decision.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

Yeah, most people want to retire once, and it sounds like you did that and did that well. What are some hobbies, should I say, or just things that you enjoyed doing that you weren't really able to do because you were just working so much that you're now doing now?

Structure, Family, And Purpose

SPEAKER_02 6:39

Yeah, I don't know if there's a there honestly is not a lot of that. Um big traveler, so um, you know, I always thought I would wait to retirement to travel, but our kids as I got older really enjoyed like international travel. Which so we really started doing that like why they were still living with us, so to speak. So I would say more travel, which I probably will do a little more travel and probably more um slow travel, if you've heard that kind of concept before, like where you take your time and you know, maybe stay in one place longer and really kind of get immerse yourself in the culture, so to speak. Um so I'll probably do more of that. Um another big one is just I've always somewhat prioritized health, but honestly, you know, my job was, I mean, and a lot of times 60 hours a week, weekend calls, that kind of job, you know. So like I prioritize health for sure, but I always in retirement, I always thought I would do something else. Like so, which is why I always hesitated to call it retirement, because it's I'm just retiring from this high stress, you know, you know, 60 hour week at times job that I liked a lot of it, like the people. It wasn't that, it's just it was just a lot. And as you get older, you just lose patience for that in some ways, you know. Like, what am I doing here? Like, do I really want to be doing this, you know, and stress out and all those kind of things. So I guess there's a lot I'm doing more than I was doing a little of before. But I do I started just now and I can talk more about it just to pursue like what's really next. Like, I gotta have something else. I can talk about a little bit of how I fill my time more, but it I've always known I I gotta go to something part-time, like part-time work, something. Um, I can talk more about that, but um, I'm still probably figuring that out, honestly. You know, 10 months. Let's talk about it. Like, yeah. So um, you know, it's weird when you retire. I wouldn't say the biggest surprise maybe is how willing people are to use your time. So and my my kids are probably the worst offenders. So, you know, once you stop working, I mean, in some ways, work can be a big excuse because especially for me, I mean, at six, you know, working all these hours and you know, stressed out, it's like, less important, you know, sorry, I I don't have time for that, or I can't help you. Now it's like, you know, my son needs something. Hey, you're not working? Well, you know, why don't you come out? You know, he lives close by. Come on, you know, you can come help me with this. I'm like, well, and it is nice to do those things, don't get me wrong, but it's amazing how those things, you know, fill your time pretty quickly. Like it just shocked me in terms of I thought I'd be sitting around a little more and be like, oh, I'm gonna do a day. And that really, really hasn't happened a whole lot.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

So that's interesting because a lot of people do worry about being bored and what my day's gonna look like. So do you mind taking us through a day of what Bob's life looks like?

SPEAKER_02 9:18

I do, I I did find adding some structure, especially Monday through Friday, is helpful. So um, you know, a lot of my friends are not retired. And one just like we have a good kind of set of neighborhoods. We've been in the same neighborhood for like 20 plus years. So we have a good set of like neighborhood friends, so to speak, and they're just starting to think about it. One just actually retired recently, but most of them aren't retired. So I still try to live a little bit by the weekend and the week. Um, so during the week, I do put some structure in of like, hey, in the morning, you know, wake up, watch the news, work out, like some level of structure, then the afternoon it's probably less structured. But there's even little things I've found, like I don't I don't watch TV during the day. Like it's just like nothing wrong with TV, and that's not for everybody, but just I don't need the TV on all day, you know, even if I'm even if I'm doing stuff where I could have it on. Um so there's little things like that, but I don't uh don't put a ton of structure into my day, but a little bit is helpful.

Surprises And Helping Loved Ones

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Love that. What what has surprised you about retirement? Anything, whether it be, hey, I honestly am just not worried. Like before I used to worry, and like you already said, prioritizing health. Is it just there's a huge weight off my shoulders? Are you now at this point of what surprised me was just truly that my coworkers and friends, they just couldn't believe that I did it at this age and that was hard. Like, what was surprising about retiring at the age you did?

SPEAKER_02 10:38

Yeah, it wasn't. I mean, honestly, I've always talked about retiring early. So when I even got to the Yeah, like even by some of my maybe my mom should be like, I thought you'd be retired by now. You always talked about that for years. So uh, but I do get a lot, I do get a lot of um like some of my friends like, what like what do you do all day? You know, I got questions, and they're kind of the same, like they're near my age, so they're in the same spot. But not a lot of not a lot of surprises there. Um, you know, I I think one thing which people have seen right away, like having more time though, it's very helpful for like there's things with my family's friends where I could help them in certain ways. Like I'm the I'm kind of a finance person, you know, my family, you know, so like there's I would always help them, but now I can actually be a little more proactive. Like, hey, we talked about you doing XYZ, you doing that, you know. So I found ways like kind of some purpose, I would say, you know, in helping it's helping, like helping family members. We have a we have a I have a one member he's older and he's having a health challenge, it's like I can help that person, you know, and that's great. Like I never could do that before, and it's like a very simple, like rewarding like thing to do.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

So that's awesome. Okay, let's talk about 20-year-old Bob. You say you're the finance person. How did you become the finance person? Was it a parent? Was it a class?

SPEAKER_02 11:52

I always I started like didn't grow up a lot of money, so not I wouldn't say poor by any means, but you know, didn't have any of the extras, you know, just have the basics kind of thing. But growing up, if we wanted anything extra, we had to work for it. So right away, my first job was um paper up. And the way it worked back then was you you're really a small business owner. You actually you actually buy the papers and then you sell them. So you're you got like you're actually managing a business. Um and that like kind of we kind of weird maybe, but that's from day one, just got me interested in business and finance. So I went to school for that. Um I ended up just having a career in that. So I always was, you know, I think when you're a CPA, which I am, it's like people just assume you know everything about taxes and everything. So I don't know everything. Um, but you know, I always get the questions. So um I ended up doing a lot of research for you know, kind of family and friends on those things.

SPEAKER_00 12:43

Do you do your friends and families' taxes?

SPEAKER_02 12:46

A little bit. We used to have actually a family business for years. My wife's also CPA, which I know is sounds real nerdy, but um, she did a lot of the books for the business. So yeah, a little bit. Um, but I definitely try to like help them out with you know how to best you know minimize their taxes, so to speak. Um it's a very complicated world out there. I don't know how people do it, you know.

SPEAKER_00 13:07

100%. Let me ask this because I'm just so curious. I've got my list of questions that I, of course, love getting to, but it's fun talking to cool people, so I appreciate it. I see you've got that map behind you. What are some of your favorite places that you've traveled to? And I love that you actually brought up, hey, we didn't just wait till I retired. Like we traveled while we had our energy and health and kids were loving it. So any insights there is appreciated.

SPEAKER_02 13:29

Yeah, um, I'm and I to that point, you were exactly right. Like I always like I'm so glad. Like, I don't feel we're gonna travel a lot a ton. I have a lot of places I want to go, but I don't feel it's pressure because we've what we've already been to a ton of places, you know. So nice not to you know feel that feel that pressure. But I would say, I mean, I've been to Europe a lot, probably at least 12 times. I don't know. And uh I really like you know, if you're going to Europe, I always tell people Portugal is one of my favorite places in Europe. But a couple other cool places I've been is Iceland. I've I I'd rec highly recommend that to anybody because it's a very different kind of place. Um and my retirement trip was I mean it just kind of happened that way, we didn't really plan it, but uh was Costa Rica, which was and also like amazing place. Monkeys just sitting on our balcony. It just it's a very unique place as well. So those are probably a few of the my favorites, but I have uh I have a lot of pins on this in this map right here that are like in Europe, some a lot of the like Central America, you know, Caribbean. I needed some over in the I'm doing the wrong way here, but you know, some some in the Far East, so to speak. Yeah, I need to get to that area of the area of the world.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

So that's awesome. I do actually see a lot of comments coming through talking about slow travel, but I haven't spoken to anyone at length about it. For some people, I think they hear it and think, okay, slow travel, so like if I want to stay an extra week, that's what I do, but I think there's more to it than that. So Oh yeah.

Housing, Kids, And Boundaries

SPEAKER_02 14:49

Yeah, like I we've done a we've kind of we've definitely learned our one of our first trips was to um as a family, our kids were still on younger side, it was Italy. And even by today, my son will say, Yeah, that's that's a great trip, but man, we just we're running all all over the place. So as the every year we went maybe back to Europe or somewhere else, we slowed down a little, and you know, to the point where like we'd be somewhere for almost two weeks, and then now I would say when I think it's when I say slow travel, I would say it's more like spending a month someplace. And you know, with you really can do like you can do that fairly uh cheaply too if you're smart about it. You go off season. If you stay like you could stay outside, for example, you could stay outside Paris, you know, in a suburb and train in all the time or do other things, see the countryside. That is not you know, you can spend a month doing that easily. And it really isn't as expensive, you know. If you don't if you're not if you're not working, you know, it really isn't as expensive as you think uh to do that.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

Uh sorry to interrupt, I was just too curious. Are you booking Airbnb or VRBO? How are you actually extraordinary?

SPEAKER_02 15:51

Oh yeah, usually we well with four people, we have I have two children. Uh with four people, it's like it's a no-brainer to do those things. You know, not with two people, what would be interesting with the is me and my wife just travel without our kids. We'll just see what works best there. But we have like four people. Yeah, I'm a big Airbnb. Airbnb fan. Love it. Um, how old are your children? Oh, they're both um well, actually, my son just graduated and my daughter's still in college, so they're they're 20, um, 21, they'll be 22 and 20.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

So awesome. I see a lot of people hesitant to retire early because it's oh, I still have kids in college, then grad school, and on top of that, healthcare and what if we live till we're 100. Beyond running the financial projections to make sure that you're in a good spot, what about what would you say to someone who's hesitant to retire early because they go, well, I still have got children and there's gonna be college and who knows about all the other expenses? Any any insight there?

SPEAKER_02 16:48

Yeah, I mean, I think it just depends. I guess it depends how much you saved and all those things. But, you know, obviously I think everybody wants to help their kids. And even today, you know, you think of like stuff you heard about on the news, like housing prices. You know, it's hard, it's hard starting out. You know, I think it there's probably some validity to that. Uh, but at the same time, you know, you can't do everything for your kids. I mean, you can give them some help, but you want them to be resilient people. You don't want them to be overly dependent on their parents, you know. So I would say like you want to be there to help, and maybe you can strategically help in certain places. Um, but at some point, I mean they gotta figure it out, you know, and and uh that's what I had to do, you know. Like, I mean, my parents definitely helped me, but they didn't, you know, they I wasn't, you know, getting money from them after I graduated college kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

Yeah, no monthly stipend there.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

No, no, not at all.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

My parents were the same way. Um okay, let me ask, I'm just I'm fascinated. When it comes to having that financial brain, what I see a lot of is people who are really intelligent, they are always running the scenarios. The Monte Carlos, they're going, oh my gosh, analysis paralysis sometimes. You've got not just one smart financial brain, it sounds like, but maybe two. Is your wife equally involved in the planning process? Does she go, hey Bob, I'm gonna let you run that. I trust you. How do you guys manage finances?

SPEAKER_02 18:05

Uh well, one thing we do talk about a lot is how we want to spend our money. So, and that's you know, to me, that's what it's it all starts with that. Like how much, you know, what like it's not so much the amount, it's like how. And like what really, you know, do you see yourself doing a retirement and making sure you can afford those things? So we definitely talk about that a lot. When it comes to projections and things, I've definitely done some of that. Like, obviously, used to be, you know, years ago, you have a bad day at work. What do you do? You run your projections. You know, like it just like it's almost therapeutic, you know. You know what's gonna say, you know what's gonna say. It's not gonna tell you new. Um, but uh, I've kind of passed that. Like, I think once you get a certain point, like I mean, I I didn't grow up a lot of money. I like I I don't I'm not too worried about like running out of money or anything like that. In the worst scenario, if we did do something to ultra our spending, which I don't foresee, it is what it is, but like honestly, once I, you know, I I probably worked a little harder than I should have, you know, in some ways. You know, so uh I really didn't have the problem of like, can I go? Is it the right time, you know, financially is more like, okay, when's the right time just to give up work and you know let it go?

SPEAKER_00 19:08

Was it difficult to go to your boss or coworkers at the time and say, hey, I'm I'm doing it?

SPEAKER_02 19:16

Yeah, it was a little weird because I was a little on the younger side. Um, but one thing that really influenced me at the company I worked at was I I it's not this simple, but there were people like me who were like, hey, I want to retire when I can and just move on to other things. And there's others that um I mean, literally, they they put so much of their identity in their job that they struggled to like they didn't want to leave. I mean, there was people that like some some jobs you had to retire at 65, they'd they'd work to the last day, you know. So I was always just floored. Like, and I would tell people at the company that I'm like, uh these people want to stay to six. I'm not doing that, you know. Like all along, I was always pretty honest about like I'm not gonna be here to 65. I'm just telling you right now, you know. So it wasn't it wasn't. Why was it why'd you wait so long? Yeah, so it wasn't a big shocker in some ways, but uh again, I I worked for great people and um treated me extremely well, so I was probably lucky because it's corporate world's tough to navigate. You know, I never have a lot of friends, I got lucky, I think. I mean a lot of friends who got laid off, you know, you know, later in a career, and it's hard to recover from that. And so I I was pretty fortunate.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

Yeah, that is difficult, but it sounds like you were not struggling to actually go do it, which I hear a lot of. I hear a lot of like I don't want to tell them I'm retiring early at 53 or 54 or whatever age because I know they're nowhere close to it. I don't want to make them feel bad, but then again, I do want to put myself first. So it's actually it's it's nice to hear you went, yeah, no, I'm doing what I want to do.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

And one thing I always tell people too when they ask me, like, wow, you were you know, I always say, like, well, if you like your job and you're happy, and like in I like my job, but it was just a lot, it was really a lot. And I I kind of was getting burned out. But if you like your job and you, you know, maybe it's something you can do and still it doesn't prevent you from doing other things you want to do for exp, keep doing it. Like that, there's nothing wrong with that. You know, there's no it's not a contest. I mean, if I was in a job I loved and it was 40 hours a week, I'd probably still be working, you know.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

That's that's a great outlook. I talk about the recreational employment phase. I actually hate the word retirement. Retirement to me sometimes feels like, oh, is it ending or like am I just done? No. Recreational employment. Are you working because you want to or because you have to? And if you like doing it, like to your point, keep doing it. You did already maybe do some foreshadowing on this, maybe unintentionally, about maybe part-time something. Are you thinking about some other aspect of work or was I picking up on that incorrectly?

Tracking Spending And $20K Monthly

SPEAKER_02 21:37

Yeah, I had final though, like so now it's like 10 months and whatever. Like, there's definitely things, it's great, I have time to do help family members and things, all kinds, you know, stuff like that. But it's probably not quite enough, you know, to kind of keep me occupied. And I think there's something to um just having, you know, being committed to something. Like I did a this training course on something I just wanted to learn more on, and I had it yeah, it was a couple hours a day, but it was just nice to have some. Something like I signed up for, I committed to, I have to I have to do it. You know, like just not have a your whole world just being, you know, open, you know, having a little almost put some structure in your in your day a little bit too. So I've always well, there's certain like small business things I wanted to do, and and uh, you know, I was always kind of risk adverse about quitting my job and you know, risking my family finances for that. So now I'm at a point where that's not an issue. So I there's definitely some like part-time things I want to explore, and and uh it's something with like the company I worked at was you know, like we really helped our customers, but I was so far removed. Like I I never talked to a customer, you know. Like I was in fine, I was in corporate finance, I didn't talk to you know customers. Yeah, so doing something, I'm trying to figure out something I can do where I can help people, and also be you know, like directly, so to speak, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 22:48

Are there communities and groups that you said, hey, I'm gonna join these volunteering, or you're like, my time gets spent with my son's needs?

SPEAKER_02 22:57

No, I I just like there I think eventually I I I want to try some like, you know, like again, part-time work or small business, you know, kind of thing, consulting, something like that first. I mean, I thought, you know, I think eventually I would get into more and more um volunteering. Um, like I thought about that. I know there's some things I could do, like um I think AARP is a program where you can volunteer like tax. You know, I'll probably do something like that. You know, things uh there was probably some volunteering. I was also um kind of lightly tested the waters on teaching.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:29

I do have a like a degree. I can I'm I can teach certain subjects. Um so I'm I'm also exploring that.

SPEAKER_00 23:35

I like that. You you're let's just call it in between. You're retired from that job. I like that. I'm retired from 60 hour weeks, bosses, deadlines, commuting. If you had do you have to do commuting or was it work from home?

SPEAKER_02 23:48

Oh no, it was I mean, COVID not so much, but otherwise it's you know, half-hour drive, which you know, by California standards it's nothing, but by Ohio standards, that's you know, that's rush hour.

Guilt-Free Spending On Experiences

SPEAKER_00 23:58

Yeah, that's that's a road trip. Um okay, let me ask this. When it comes to the financial side of things, and feel free to, of course, share as much as you'd like or as little. Um, I will find some people go, yeah, I want to spend$5,000 a month. Oh no, I have way more time. I'm going out to eat more, I'm doing stuff. I really need$8,000. Uh, if I had 15, then I'd be really comfortable. Do you find you're spending a similar amount each month? Does it wildly fluctuate outside of travel?

SPEAKER_02 24:25

Uh now one thing I did do the past couple years was as I was approaching potential retirement is track spending. And I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't do it like it to the finite degree, but I would track like how much we spend on travel. Yeah, for example, you know, some things like that. Um so I do have a good sense of what we spend money on. It's not it's not so much trying to cut expenses. I just like really like the idea of like I'm gonna spend money on things that I value. And you know, so I do track our spending more so from the standpoint of like, are we just spending a lot of money on you know, junk? I don't know, like you know, like things we don't need. And so I do track it. Um it fluctuates with travel quite a bit. Um, and you know, we still are supporting our kids in certain ways. Uh so it does, but um, you know, I don't, I don't, I'm not a budget Nazi or anything of that of that nature. Yeah, yeah. I just like knowing where money where I'm spending money. I don't mind spending it. I just want to know where like where it's going.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

Makes perfect sense. Is there an amount that you find generally excluding travel if you take big trips or go first class or anything like that, but that you're like, hey, it's generally in that, you know, it's five thousand.

SPEAKER_02 25:30

We we plan on spending with travel, which is lumpy, but uh averaging out to about twenty thousand a month.

SPEAKER_00 25:37

Awesome. Yeah. We have yeah, we have clients that go 20,000 a month, I don't even know how I could retire. And we have other clients that go, I don't even know how I would spend that amount. Do you um find that when you are spending on those, let's call it more high-ticket items, it's like, hey, I've saved and invested for this, I'm doing it guilt-free, or is it still weird because you're like, gosh, I know I I can do it, but it just feels weird.

SPEAKER_02 26:01

No, I mean, I don't, it's almost like I really don't have a problem um spending on things. I don't know. I mean, even though I'm a frugal person, my wife is too, but over the years we realized like, what do you, you know, what are we saving all this money for? You know, we can't enjoy it. And you know, we're we're at a point in our lives where this is, you know, we're we're our kids are still, you know, they're they're in college, but we still see them a lot. Like we do trips with them, like why wouldn't we spend money on this? Actually, my my uh my grandparents and or my my wife's parents, they they instead of like giving us gifts over the years, they've always taken us on trips. Best gift ever. Like, like you know, that was that and we've got I've kind of seen that, how well that goes. And so I I don't have a problem spending money on things. Um if you talk to me like 10-15 years ago, it might have been a little different.

SPEAKER_00 26:45

Yeah, well that's awesome, yeah. I love that. What about saving for retirement? There's a lot of people that will just max out their 401k, do everything they can, sacrifice like lifestyle entirely. Doesn't sound like that was an issue of yours because you're able to spend on trips and things along the way. But what was that experience like early on on your career versus in your 30s and 40s? Did you ramp up spending as you made more money along the way? Was it I'm always gonna try to get the employer match? How did you approach that?

Healthcare Costs And Peace Of Mind

SPEAKER_02 27:14

Yeah, I think the biggest thing we did, which um we when but when my my wife and I got married fairly not record college, but fairly, fairly so. But we got married and you know, living together, we right away said we're gonna live on one income. And it's amaz and you know this as doing what you do, but like it's amazing the money we saved in our 20s and early 30s, like what that's worth. Like, like saving early is just I I didn't even know what I was I knew we knew what we were doing, but we were just like, wow, if we're gonna she actually stayed home for the kids um most of the time. Um she works on part-time. But um the first 10 years, we just we s was we saved one income, and that alone is just you know that that's probably why I'm retired early. I mean, we saved a lot of money along the way. Um and I was fortunate that I, you know, did well at my company, but that was a big I tell my kids that all the time, you know, a dollar you save in your 20s is worth like 10. You know, I mean just it's it's phenomenal.

SPEAKER_00 28:14

So do they listen? Do you feel they're like or they're like, oh dad, I get it, you love this stuff.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

No, they listen. I think they listen. They they they they've uh you know they've appreciated their lifestyle, I think, and they understand like, you know, um that takes saving.

SPEAKER_00 28:31

That doesn't kind of you know that doesn't happen automatically kind of thing. Yeah, that's awesome. Did you see a change in yourself when you retired?

SPEAKER_02 28:38

Uh probably just a general generally nicer person. I don't know. I mean, when you're like again, I was in a pretty high service job, but it wasn't like just me, it wasn't like my job, it was like everybody around me. Like we were all in the same. I mean, it wasn't like you know, it was just the company the last couple years, um, just the division I was in, just going through some tough times. So that makes it always tougher on everybody. Um it's doing fine, but like the the point is like, you know, just so stressed all the time, it's just like, you know, it's um you know, you just have less patience for other things. Now it's like, you know, nothing I don't get rattled very often, that's for sure.

Advice For The Hesitant Early Retiree

SPEAKER_00 29:13

So that's awesome. That there's a phrase I hear a lot. I can't wait to retire and redate my spouse because it's been 30 years. We haven't really seen each other. I obviously your your wife isn't with us today, but in terms of her retirement and how she's viewing her time and you guys having more time together, are you like, oh, this is awesome? Like we're almost like in our 20s again. How do you look at that?

SPEAKER_02 29:34

She actually she she actually went back, she's uh she's actually still working. Okay. She had an opportunity, they asked her to kind of come back to her company full time, and she kind of missed out on work. Like, this is not in the financial plan at all, like you know, but she um, you know, this is her last chance to kind of work, so to speak, because they're it's a company, she knows people. So she's actually so you know, we've kind of we've had a little bit of a role reversal where like I'm trying to make her life easier. It's not a it's not like a it's not an easy job or anything like that, but it's it's it's it's uh you know, at least a four-hour week job kind of thing. But um I try to, you know, make take everything else off her plate, you know, in terms of so she can actually I wouldn't say enjoy work, but have that opportunity because she kind of she gave that up, you know, frankly, having kids. She would have had a great career if she didn't if she didn't stay home. That's awesome. So she kind of gave she kind of gave that up. So it's like, you know, this is her probably last chance to, you know, work a little bit and actually, you know, just have that experience.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

I don't hear that often. I love your perspective because most people are like, here's what you got to do. Look, I retired early, I did it, my job was good, it gave me a good lifestyle, and here I am. You're like, no, if if I would have loved it, I would be keep doing it. And my wife enjoying it. Could you see your wife continuing to do do it for a good amount of time?

Final Reflections And Younger Self

SPEAKER_02 30:43

Oh, I don't, I mean, as long as she likes it kind of thing, but we definitely want to do things, you know, with you know, travel and things like that. So her job's pretty flexible, but at the end of the day, like I yeah, I don't see her like doing a super long time or anything like that. None of it, neither one of us ever, you know, wanted to work like in our 60s and and uh I just if you know if if we could make it work, obviously something easier said than done. I you know, I I definitely acknowledge that. Um, but you can, it's just like as you get older, I just don't you know, working full time. Uh you know, I'm not that one's something I want to do.

SPEAKER_00 31:16

Yes, makes perfect sense. There's a lot of people who have hesitancy to retire early because of healthcare. That's one of the biggest reasons people are you know reluctant to do it at the age that a lot of people like yourself are able to do it. And I'll often talk about okay, pretend you truly had to pay out of pocket for everything. Could you still afford it? And I'm not saying you'd like doing it, but can you do it? Did the healthcare aspect give you pause that you think made you delay a few more years? Or why do you think you say, hey, I know I could have done it earlier, you didn't?

SPEAKER_02 31:45

Yeah, that never really phased me too much. I know it can be a big, it can be a big alley. I that's the one reason. Uh I I think I mentioned this briefly. I was kind of worked at 55 because that's something like there's a benefit I get from my employer of uh working to that age, and I ended up getting I end up getting it anyway, the way I I left the company. So I had to actually have access to health insurance until I'm 65. If I want it, I don't use that, not using it now.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

Yeah.

Final Thoughts And Disclaimer

SPEAKER_02 32:10

No, it's not it's not that cheap, honestly. Uh, but it's like something that's there. So that kind of gave me again, it's not that cheap, but uh at least I I can always get it. I was guaranteed to get it, you know, kind of thing. So that gave me a little bit of peace of mind, um, even though it's not cheap that I have something because the health insurance environment seems very volatile. You know, changes. Um I got a ways to go for for Medicare. So can I so that giving that benefit of my yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:36

Can I guess how much just for fun? Can I guess how much you're you could pay just for fun? No, I'll tell you, I was gonna say eight hundred and fifty dollars a month. Oh yeah, I'm close. It's like about two thousand a month. What eight hundred fifty dollars, so two thousand for each of you? Uh no, total. Total, got it. Okay, got it. So yeah. So maybe okay, maybe not far off what you're doing. Yeah. But no, but still, the fact that two, I mean, that to your point, is it's a significant amount of money. You're looking at, let's call it,$25,000 a year or so. And but what I love about what you're sharing there is if you're if you have the means to do it, there's people that go, well, that just seems crazy. So much for healthcare. But if you have the means to do it, why not do it?

SPEAKER_02 33:17

No, I've never bought into that. Like, I mean, it's it's an expense. It's uh it's can't be a big expense, honestly, but I never bought into like that should drive your retirement. I mean, like, you gotta put the budget or your spending, but at the end of the day, it's like you spend a lot more on drival than that, to be honest.

SPEAKER_00 33:32

You know, yeah, no, makes perfect. I love I love you have a very healthy outlook of this. I want to ask, just in terms of imagine you can speak to someone who's hesitant to retire early. Financially, they feel good to go. Would you be like, look, just make sure you have some things planned? But to be honest, your your son's gonna call you all the time. Obviously, every situation's different. But if you could speak to someone and say, hey, if your finances are set, because there's a lot of people who do have comfortable finances, but they're unsure is it the right time, we'll talk about oftentimes at root, when's the last time you've done something for the first time? And people like myself, I just got married, so that's new, hopefully new and for the final time. And I don't remember before that. I mean, the last thing I did for the first time went to college like nine years ago before that. So there's a lot of people who are just scared to make this change, and it sounds like you've done an amazing job. I can hear it and feel it from you. What would you tell someone who is in that kind of stage?

SPEAKER_02 34:33

Well, I don't think I'm perfect. I'm sure there's things I've not done well. Um, but I would say like it would maybe back to the story I told about you know, some people in my company, if you know, you got you have to retire eventually. So like there's no, I mean, you know, you could put it off and and maybe if you you know, maybe you you stay longer because if you really enjoy the work or whatever, but it you're just putting it off inevitable, you know. And would you rather tackle like it's a life change, right? And so would you rather tackle that when you're a little younger, maybe a little more energy than than not? You know, so um between that and maybe health considerations that you know people tend to, you know, if they're especially in a high stress job, and as they get older, it's tougher on your health. So, you know, those are a couple of things I would point out. I mean, you're just putting off the kind of dying or job, which that's that's fair too, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 35:20

Yeah, if you really love it, that that's your that's your chair. You could die in your parking spot. Um your confidence is coming through the screen, which whether you recognize it or not, it is really truly, Bob. I talk to a lot of people who retire early and they're like, Yeah, I hope I did the right decision. Did did I do the right decision? Like they're almost asking for validation. You're like, dude, I don't even I don't even get it. Like, just if you have the means to do it, go do it, enjoy it. But you're also being honest, saying, look, when you took that course, it felt good because you had something you kind of had to do. Do you struggle with that in terms of, okay, I don't have deadlines anymore or projects, and it was kind of fulfilling to have that? Or are you like, no, I'm glad I did it that time, and then I was really glad I was done with it.

SPEAKER_02 36:01

Oh no, I I would still want to pursue more of those things. Like, you know, some level of like it's just finding something again. I'm not gonna give up my like I think about teaching, for example. It's done, you know, I've done a little bit of that like in past lives, and you know, I I I hesitate because man, it's like a very there's no flexibility to that. Like I've had friends who've done that, you know, and like the class goes on, like this is a semester, you know, you can't like take a vacation middle of semester, you know. So but I really would enjoy doing it. So it's just finding things that like that can be, you know, hit check certain boxes, and as I kind of mentioned before, you know, can be flexible, but also like it's truly helping people. Um, so I'm still searching for that thing. Hopefully, if I talk to you in a year from now, I I have that. But I would say at the same time, like I don't feel rushed to find it. You know, I mean, like I know it's out there, and I think as time goes by, it probably would be more of a gap in my retirement, not having like something part-time or doing something like that. But I don't feel like I gotta run out and find it tomorrow, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 36:59

Yeah, it does make sense because I'm thinking right now to myself, I go, I can tell that you would enjoy it if you could work part-time. But to your point, look, if you're working at a university as an example, they've got you know the system that they're on, quarter system or semester. And if you're like, that's the time to go to Portugal, you can't really say, like, hey guys, so here's the thing. So um, that makes perfect sense.

SPEAKER_02 37:21

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:22

I'm curious, just is the the point I would like to end on, if it's okay with you, unless there's anything else you care to share. But what I like to do at this point is I like to go silent for about a minute, and I like to let you talk to your younger self. And there might be someone out there who's in their 20s listening to this or 30s or 40s, and who knows what age, and they want to just hear, okay, what should I have done? And they get to hear it now, and you get to give yourself credit. You could be like, hey, remember that one time you were thinking about leaving, but you didn't, and you stuck in it, and like, good job. Like, look at you now. Like you retired early and you did it, and you told people you would, and like, great job. You can also share, hey, the the biggest thing was living off the one income. Whatever it is that you think someone else would take tremendous value from hearing, I will stay silent for the next minute and let you share.

SPEAKER_02 38:08

Yeah, I'd probably say just early on finding the right balance of saving, but also doing a career. Like, I'll admit it, like if I could looking back on my career, um, I liked most of it, but you know, I was always worried about making money. Um, so and that, you know, it helped me in the long run, but you know, looking back, like, should I have tried to do something, you know, left that company has do something to do a more variety of things. So I I would just encourage like somebody in their 20s, like, find a balance. I mean, in this world, you have to save money. You're on, you know, you're on your own for your I mean, you know, the way this, the way this world is set up, you have to sit, especially in America, you need to take control of your retirement savings. So find a way to save money, but don't don't do that at the sacrifice of like still enjoying your life in the time, you know, wherever you may be. Um, I just you know, there's some people that I think go too far with that, just all I do is say worry about saving money. I wouldn't go that far. You gotta find that happy medium. Um a lot of times if you find what you'd like to do, it all kind of works out.

SPEAKER_00 39:09

Great advice. Bob, so appreciate you coming on. And that's it for this episode. Thanks, Bob. Nice talking with you. You too. 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.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.