Early Retiree Reveals The Truth About Finding Purpose In Retirement | Retirement Reality

Sue reveals her transition into an early retirement after a significant career. Sue shares how she finds fulfillment and purpose and shares powerful stories!

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Sue 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.

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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

Why Make Work Optional

SPEAKER_01 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. Do you mind sharing with us? Give us the backstory. Why did you choose to retire at the time you did? What was that transition like? And then we'll get into some fun stuff.

Meet The Host And Free Call

SPEAKER_00 2:40

I you know what? I I got to the point where I think I I really didn't need to work anymore. And it felt good to just walk away.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Kudos to you. Quitter, I hear winner. You're the one that won. 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. Today's guest left her role as an executive who previously worked at the Big Four and she has never looked back. She didn't retire. She says she stopped working, and she is a lifelong learner who is now pursuing her time with friends, family, and more social groups than you can count. Enjoy. Sue, thank you for joining for another episode of Retirement Reality. I ask all my guests the same question first. What is one word you would use to describe your retirement so far?

Today’s Guest: Sue’s Background

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Uh new a lot lots of new learnings. Um, not necessarily in the field that I came from, but learnings on the next stage of life, learnings on new relationships, learnings on projects that I never had time to get to. So yeah, pretty much that's it.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

Learning. Let's I like that. I'm excited to hear about these projects. How long have you been retired? A year. Okay, one year. Do you mind sharing with us? Give us the backstory. Why did you choose to retire at the time you did? What was that transition like? And then we'll get into some fun stuff.

One Word For Retirement

Sue’s Path To Financial Freedom

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Yeah, I'm probably not a good role model on early retirement, meaning um, I kind of planned ahead. I didn't I didn't have a time frame. Um, I didn't even have a dollar as far as marked on my portfolio because a lot of people retire early because they reach a certain mild milestone. It was I had a feeling in my early 40s that my career path was gonna be a little rough because of just lack of mentorship that I had in my journey. I I moved a lot of states, um, and so and I reached, I've done a lot of great work in my 30s and 40s, and I had kind of a challenge trying to find that next fit in my 40s and 50s. So I set I set a goal for myself back in my early 40s to really focus on gaining financial freedom. And it wasn't a targeted date or a targeted portfolio like I mentioned. It was I knew I had to get myself there because my primary job um as Sue Wynn is a mother and wife. It's not a career person. And so the career was just the means to get to my my my real job. But once I I got there and once I felt like I was financially able to just step away from that career path, that was when I actually did it. So it wasn't it wasn't target date, like I said. Um, but it was a it was a plan. It was a pretty long-term plan. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Do you feel it was difficult to be the mother and wife that you wanted while you were working? And what was your position at the company you were at?

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Yeah. Um my positions were all always in corporate finance. Well, I my my career path was I started uh in a traditional CPA role, worked big for audit, went out of uh out of audit into industry after I got my MBA. I went back into consulting. And you as you as you know, I'm sure a lot of your colleagues have mentioned to you in the consulting world, you're working in the grays. There is no playbook to get to the end goal. You're working in the gray. And when you're working with companies that have never seen and done what you you've done, you know, trained to do, it's it was kind of challenging. So um I think that was that led to the trajectory of my career path, kind of in the gray. And I I was comfortable with that, but I think it was just the organizations I worked with, they weren't comfortable with working in the grays. Uh, I really enjoyed the teams I was building because I'm a team builder. Um, but unfortunately, it was the leadership uh that I worked under. And I think I saw a few uh episodes that you did, Ari, that you said the same thing with your other clients, and I think yourself even.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

Yep.

Choosing To Walk Away

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Um, and that kind of striked me, and I'm like, yeah, that's pretty much Sue also. I loved what I do, did, but I just I couldn't find that right fit. And you call me a quitter. I you know, and I I got to the point where I think I I really didn't need to work anymore. And it felt good to just walk away.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Kudos to you. Quitter, I hear winner. You're the one that won. Um, what has surprised you the most about moving from the traditional, I gotta wake up, I've got work, I've got deadlines, I've got you know everything you have to do to well, I really don't have a strict schedule. What surprised you the most?

SPEAKER_00 7:58

That I loved it. I really did. Um, I've always been a commuter. Um, I've always worked inside the city, or I was always on a plane, and I was fine with that in my 20s, 30s, 40s. It was fun, it was sexy. But you just, you know, you've heard it from a lot of your older clients. It it it wears out on you. Um, and I but being retired now, I I love it. I love not having a schedule.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

So I can I can literally feel it from you through the screen. You're like, I see that joy. What are some things that you had to put off? And it doesn't sound like you hated your job, it sounds like you actually did enjoy it, the team you work with, but some of that other, to your point, not so sexy stuff that you have to deal with. But what were some things that you had to put off because you were just so busy that now you have time for?

SPEAKER_00 8:48

Being an accountant, traditional accountant, we're we're OCD. And I know you get it because you're you know, you're in the finance world. It was paying a strict attention to me, myself, my health, my health. Um, it's always been my number one priority in health, but I'm just OCD on health in general. So now I get to actually study longevity, I get to plan longevity financially, but it's also planning my health and and learning from others on how to improve that longevity. Um I didn't have the time. I didn't have the time to do that when I was working. Yeah.

A Day In Sue’s Life

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Sorry to interrupt. It's not as easy, I will say. In person, it's very easy to not interrupt, but sometimes I get too excited when you start saying something. So apologies there. Have you seen the Netflix show, The Blue Zones? No. Okay, you should you, I think you'll get a kick out of it. It's just all about longevity and health and how the happiest people are laughing all the time, but they still have some schedule. So I asked this because I want to hear about a day in the life of Sue. What does your day look like? What time do you wake up? What are you eating? When are you hanging out with friends, family until you go to bed?

Family Planning And Supporting Kids

SPEAKER_00 10:05

Yeah, I get up around seven, and I always fit in an hour workout every day. I I take one day off, and that's because I do a lot of um uh strength training. I do, I'm not supposed to do as much cardio, but I love cardio, so I do it. So I fit an hour in a day. I garden. I live in Houston, Texas, which is probably four months, I'm sorry, nine months of intense heat. So I'm out, I'm outdoors a lot. Um, I love to garden. Uh I love to take care of our flowers. Um, so I have little pockets of groups that I belong to. It could be the garden club, it could be my fitness friends, I volunteer at the church, um, not excessively, um, because I just I don't know, I just have too many hobbies. That's that's my problem. So I do volunteer, I do volunteer at the church. Um, and I'm always planning for the kids. Our kids are in our early in their early 20s. Um, one is working uh with a job. So in in his area, I'm planning for real estate, you know, scouting when when is his first real estate property? Our daughter is still in her last year at school. She's an opera singer. And do I know how to raise an opera singer? No, no, so I'm learning that field in addition to help helping her take that next extra level, not in a talent, in a creative sense. She's got coaches for that, but more of just allowing her to explore the areas she needs to explore. And another great thing about uh being financially independent and being able to take care of other people you know in your family is I get to help her build her dream. Um, I can't say that, you know, about our my situation, you know, just because not everybody was had that luxury of growing up in a family that allowed that allowed you to build your dreams. And now I can say that I am with our kids.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

Yeah, that's so cool. Yeah. I want to know a little bit about the dynamic with you and your husband. Every relationship is different with how they manage finances. Does your husband go, Sue? You're gonna run the finances. I trust you, we're good. Is it a collaborative effort? How do you guys talk about that?

Centralizing Assets And Teaching Adults

SPEAKER_00 12:27

Um, well, I'm a I'm a financial planner as far as pro professionally, but for corporate for corporate corporations. So I I pretty much have handled all the finances. And then I set the budget, and then but he's he's the executive team, mean hit, Ben, Ben and I. Cool. So when we're getting ready to make an executive decision, so our our next project is doing phase three of our remodels of our house. Well, I've got I I've got what I need to do as far as our projects, I don't necessarily know how much it's gonna cost. So I'm doing I'm doing the scoping. I'm the project managing manager manager, I'm scoping it. And then when I've got a a list of things I'm ready to present, then he helps me decide. But he kind of he's pretty hands-off. But back to the retirement question, I before I I stopped working, I centralized all of our assets, our investment assets in one brokerage, loaded everything on and on the app on their phones. Our kids are on the same brokerage. So we my husband and I can see our portfolio from our phone, we can see our kids' you know, assets. We're pretty much the administrators. We're not executing the the movements of cash, but we're their advisors. And and my goal is sooner or later, our assets are going to transfer to them, the kids. But it won't be a surprise when it happens.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

So that's interesting. Because a lot of families struggle to talk about finances. It's taboo. Did you raise them in a way so that they are aware of how finances are discussed? What was that like?

SPEAKER_00 14:08

Yeah, it's it didn't start young, or you know, because you know kids they'll grow up, their maturity levels are just different. Now that they're in their 20s or their early 20s, they're ready. We're talking, we're ready to talk about real adult stuff. I don't hide anything from them now. But before it was very simple, we would talk about just simple um decision analysis on buying this versus delaying this to get something else. But now we're we we we can talk about adult subjects since they are adults. So it's kind of fun. Yeah.

Market Dips And Sequence Risk

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Oh, that is cool. I think you would have very fun dinners. Okay, I'm curious now, because this has all been positive, which I love. I like having fun conversations, but I will joke on YouTube that I'm the meanest advisor. I promise I'm not mean, I'm very transparent. Has anything scared you about retirement? Whether it be I used to have, you know, this big position where people relied on me in groups and teams, and now that purpose side is, well, maybe they're a little bit less. Yes, I get more time with friends and family, but the purpose, the fulfillment, does that worry you at all?

The Exit Conversation At Work

SPEAKER_00 15:15

It did before I decided to walk away from work. But these podcasts, including yours, helped me gain that confidence. Um, I would reach out for tools because the retirement planning is not something a CPA would do, um, especially me, because I wasn't in that field. So I I had to kind of a lot of self self-development, learning, picking up tools, trying to figure it out myself. I mean, sure, I built, I did build our retirement plan in uh in Excel, but it's gonna, you know, it's not gonna be perfect. So it was nice to have other tools out there other than Excel to help me um gain that confidence that I can do what I need to do. Um but scare, I just any any well, that's my rule of thumb. If I if I'm scared about anything, I just research it. I I either research it, reach out to friends that I know have been there and gain their advice. Um I'm not afraid of asking for help. But yeah, there, yeah, so those those times that I'm scared, it's usually of something that's new. And it's not necessarily just retirement. Um, but the lot the P the the kind of dip we had in April was our was my first dip, uh, you know, in retirement. I we and I'm never this is my first. What am I supposed to do? Um, but I I found ways to quickly find tools to study the dips in the market um and to study sequences of return. And but I'm studying it as it's happening. I'm not just studying, you know, based on history. I'm studying it as it as it's happening. Yeah.

Identity, Hobbies, And New Friends

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Yeah. There's people that say practice retirement. That sounds good, but until I'm actually living in it, it's really not that helpful of advice. I love that you have communities, whether it be at church or whether it be with your fitness group. I have an interesting question for you. A lot of people, more than I bet you would guess, are hesitant to retire because of the conversation they are going to have to have with a boss or a coworker. Maybe it's jealousy, maybe it's anger, where you go share to your coworker, hey, I'm thinking about retiring early and they're nowhere near retirement. And that brings up other feelings. Or your boss goes, no, no, Sue, trust me, here's a here's a great package, just two more years, just three more years. Please stay. What was the conversation like to leave the workforce?

SPEAKER_00 17:42

It wasn't that well thought through, Ari. I wish I could say uh I had a boss that, you know, to kind of prep him or her in advance. No, it was it was me that I had to prep. Um but you know, back to your question, yes, I shared a lot with a lot of my colleagues. Um, even today, there are a lot of my friends and really close friends, 65, they're still working. And the main thing I hear from them on why they're not they're not retired yet is they just don't know what to do when they're retired. So to me, I I know I've always had hobbies, I've always had interests outside of work. Um, even before, yeah, this is just my my personality, but I I I don't I wouldn't expect anyone to change their personality. But don't always assume that work work is it. Uh work doesn't define you. Um I what when I'm 60, when I'm when I'm 75, I really am not gonna care what you did when you were in your 40s. I I'm really not gonna care. Because right now, Sue is making friends who are 65 or 75, much older than me. Because to me, they're the valuable friends. They're gonna teach me things that I don't know today at 56. And I look, I look to my old friends, and great, they're great and all, they're great, they're there, they're great, but I really don't want to talk about history. It's done. I can't undo it. But now I'm enjoying learning and meeting friends that are much wiser than I am. So um I I think people might be afraid of that, maybe creating new friendships also. Yeah.

Learning From Others’ Health Journeys

SPEAKER_01 19:24

Interesting. Let's talk about prioritizing health because that's a big reason that you chose to retire early. When you were working, was it one of those things where you're like, hey, I know I need to work out, but there's just so much to get to, and then I've got the kids and I've got to make sure I'm still a good wife. Like prioritizing health is one thing to say and another thing to do. So I know you're working out an hour every day now. Did you also do that when you were working? How are you now able to take it a step further?

SPEAKER_00 19:53

Yeah, well, you'll you'll get to hear my crazy habits. Uh, when I was working, I would take two-hour lunches. Yep. Love it. But I would have to fit it in a day that I could take two hours, but I'm not gonna tell people that I'm taking two-hour lunches. I'm just gonna disappear.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

Um, but at least I'm not, you know, drinking all the job or something. Um, so I would I would do it, fit it in during lunch. Um, I'm not a big morning workout person because it just exhausts me for the rest of the day. Um, and then I would fit it in after. If I can't do it during the day, it'll be after work. Um, my commute was always long in Houston. So I packed my gym bag in addition to my briefcase. And uh I would stop off after work at the at the local gym, you know, that's close to work, and I'd fit it in that way. Weekends, I was religious about it on weekends, but to me, working out and eating clean, that's that adds to my productivity um in my job. And if I didn't do that, I I would probably be a much more unproductive worker. Uh and I say it's the same now that I'm not working, it it's just a part of my scheduling routine, just like going to the dentist every six months. It I have to fit it in my schedule. Um, because I feel it if I don't.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

So what have you learned? I love that by the way. What have you learned about longevity and health that you've been researching that you would want other people who are in a similar stage of life with, I mean, potentially 35, 40 plus years to live, potentially longer, where you're like, oh, this is something that I'm spending time researching on. I'd love to share this with others.

The Epiphany: Validating The Plan

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Oh, I'm not a I'm not a scientist, um, but I I'm 'cause I'm see, I'm I have friends right now in their sixties that are literally um just they they've got autoimmune uh ill illnesses, literally they They call it sudden health issues. You can't have sudden health issues in the in your 60s. Yes, there's some um issues that maybe you you might have had in in your own young age. You know, those you cannot you sometimes can't control. But a lot of my dear friends in their 60s and 70s, they just suddenly collapse, suddenly sent to the hospital, sudden, sudden strokes. Well, maybe they didn't start paying attention to that in their 20s and 30s and 40s. It it takes decades to get ill. Um so all I can do for them is just continue because I'm I'm a big networker. I'm I meet people of all different health habits. I have Book Dear Friend, he's in his early 60s, probably 20 plus bouts of cancer already. Um he's on so much meds. Uh he's he's in pain almost every single day. Um, but he's got the best of um attitude, the best. He's seeing the best of experts and specialists here in Houston. I mean, Houston is the best medical center in the country, so he's seeing the best. So when I meet friends that have issues, you could you could name it. It could yeah, I would just send my friends to Chris because I may I may not help you. I don't have the same issues you do, but Chris can help. He he will help refer you to the right doctors and ask the right questions. Um, but have my friends called him? Maybe not. But I'm just gonna still I'm gonna still refer him, you know.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

Because if I if I was in their shoes, I I would want help. I would want help. That's interesting.

Net Worth Tracking And Tradeoffs

SPEAKER_01 23:43

It's so cool that you have that network and that you're now really just being the best version of Sue. Because a lot of people think, yeah, when I retire, I'll have more time, and I'll be asked the question of how much time, how am I going to fulfill that time? Well, how many ideas might you think of that won't come up because you're busy working, that now you have the freedom to explore? And for all of those who don't know how Sue came on the show, along with everyone, I send out an email with a survey saying, hey, do you want to come on the show and share your story? And you had shared, hey, I was at the executive level, I now have time with friends and family. Do you mind sharing a little bit about what that means to you, having friend and family time now, and really how you came about to make the decision?

Message To Her Younger Self

SPEAKER_00 24:27

Yeah, like I mentioned, I have pockets of friends, I have uh retired friends that we we talk about real retirement issues, we talk about estate planning, we talk about taxes. Um I've created new uh friendship net networking groups through early retirement groups. We actually I have three of them. We we call in every other week. One is a all women's group. Um they're out in the uh the west coast here. I actually referred your firm, root financial, to them. They're in San Diego. I I go, you guys, you have to call these guys. They're they're great. Um, because you know what they're always asking, do you know, do you know how do you shop for a CFP or do you know of uh any? And I was like, well, not in Southern California, but these guys who I watch, but yeah, so back to yeah, our groups. Uh so one is a all women's group, another is in the East Coast. It's a mixture of men and women. Some some are still working, some are still trying to figure it out. Um and then the third group, most of them are here in the central sector where I live, uh, a lot of them in Texas. So it's kind of nice having pockets of networks in all all different countries. I mentioned my my fitness friends. Um so based on the front the friend groups that I have, it we our discussions are different. Um, it's definitely not all about retirement because that'll bore some people, I guess. I try and I know, yeah.

How We Help And Transparency

SPEAKER_01 25:56

Not me, and we could do hours of this, but yes, you're right, some people. Um, I've had it's pretty funny, some people say, Yeah, I really like listening to the podcast, it's great analysis. And you know, my my uh husband will fall asleep to your voice. And I'll say, well, if that was taken out of context, that might seem a bit odd. But um, in all seriousness, a lot of people want to retire to travel. But it sounds like you were traveling for the majority of your career as well. So I'm curious right now, what does travel look like? Do you have that goal? Did you feel that itch was scratched?

Disclaimers And Listener Q&A Invite

SPEAKER_00 26:26

It's definitely um an increased goal. Um my husband's a golfer. So um that the only trip that he will take is if he can bring his golf clubs. I mean, we we were planning Yellowstone not too long ago, and we've both been to Yellowstone. And I I for I think he forgot that there's you know golf courses up in Montana too. But uh we're traveling a lot more now. My husband and I were it's it's kind of nice. We've been married almost 30 years, and we're still learning a lot about each other, and we're realizing, hey, this is the reason why we married each other because we can do we can do these things, you know, together. We enjoy the same things together. Um, we enjoy eat eating the same foods together. Um, so but our travel is right now. I'm actually in Palm Springs with a group of um his golf friends. I've become friends with the wives, and so we're traveling together now.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

Um but yeah, and you've got time to do this for me.

SPEAKER_00 27:31

Yes, because that's just the way I love helping people.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

That's awesome. You are cool. Okay, I'm very curious. When anyone is talking about traveling, there's different goals. When people talk about cooking as a relationship, some people cook together, some people like to be cooked for. I want to talk about the following phrase that I hear a lot, which is I can't wait to retire and redate my spouse because it's been 30 years, because we've been working like crazy. And there are so many people that have shared, you know what, I did end that relationship, but it's because we didn't have time with each other and we weren't intentional about that. How did you, and obviously none of us are relationship experts, but I did just get married, so I'm I've got about two weeks of experience as a married man. Congratulations. Thank you very much. So, how did you make it work throughout your working time? And I love what you brought up, which is well, this is why we married each other, and now you're getting to explore it. So, any insights there I think people would love to hear.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

How did we how do we grow with each other as as we were working? Gosh, sorry. Uh we we were never really in the same house much. You know, when we when we were in our 20s. He, you know, he was he's a former police officer. So his hours were way different from mine. I was getting uh my graduate program when we first got married. I was traveling for work, so we never really synced up uh other than maybe to let's meet to go skiing in Denver or something. And we we fit in the travel when we could. Um and we never had um concerns about being apart. I'm just I'm just definitely not a jealous type, and neither is he, which is a good thing. Um but when we when our kids were young, uh, we also had a business. I didn't I didn't share that with you. We we dropped it over 10 years ago. Again, we were never really in the same house, even though we had two young kids. He's busy with the business, I'm busy juggling a job, a career, um, and two young kids and diapers. And and he would take the night shift or the day shift, depending on which or whatever. But we never we never had a concern about our marriage because we always we always focused on the kids. Even though, yeah, we had we had professional goals, we always focused on the kids. Yes, our our our marriage and our personal life and our vacation definitely was dropped at the wayside. Um and it was challenging, you know, of course it is when you don't have time for yourself, let alone sleep. What's a what's a vacation, right? Um, but I think I think as time grew on, as kids matured, as as I pulled myself away from my career, um it just gave us some more of a breathing room. And definitely, since I've stopped working, um he was actually Ben was actually very concerned when I decided I'm I'm not going back to work. I literally told him, I said, I'm not gonna find work. I'm not going back to work. So don't expect me to move too far from the sofa. We had we literally had those conversations. And he thought, I'm sure he thought I was odd because I'm not like I'm not normally like that. But I just I came to an epiphany and I just said, no, I'm gonna do things a little bit different, you know. Um, I'm not I don't I'm not worried about the financials anymore. You know, I was stressed before in our 40s, but I'm not. So I yeah, so it's kind of nice not to to have that stress. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:20

It should be nice, and you deserved it, and I love hearing this. What do you think that epiphany was? Was it a moment where you heard someone say something that resonated? Was it a coworker? Was it a story? Was it I woke up? What was the feeling that made you go, it's time?

SPEAKER_00 31:35

Well, I I mentioned I I I built um a retirement model, financial model in Excel. And you know, it was just it was rough. But once I found the tools that was able to validate my models, I said, hey, I'm I'm breathing, I'm letting go. I I don't need to prove to anyone anymore uh that I have I have to work with people that I don't respect. Um I just don't. They're not, yeah, they're not they're not gonna be around when I age, or they're not gonna be around uh for my grandkids. So I just I didn't have that attachment um once I validated my financial model. And I I tell my friends and family the same thing. You don't have to build this in Excel. I can help you. These are free tools, whether you use it or not. I don't, I don't need to see your numbers, just do it, you know, and quit and quit being so concerned that you can that you still have to work. Um so I haven't gotten through to anyone yet, Ari. I don't know, I don't know how you do what you do. I guess because you know, there's people that come to you that they're ready to talk about. Most a lot of my friends and and family, they're they're not ready to talk about it. Um, but I do find I do find some friends um through my uh early retirement network groups. It's nice to share those ideas with my new you know, networks now. Um, but I'm I'm not gonna stop talking about it.

SPEAKER_01 33:13

I bet you get through to them more than you think because I can I'm not just saying that to be nice. I'll have people who I can tell they watch the content and then two years later they go, okay, now now maybe I'll look into this. So you are planting an important seed. I want to ask, because a lot of people I'll talk to will start working, max out their 401k, do all these right things, but not travel at all or sacrifice lifestyle to the nth degree. Then other people won't start saving until they're 40s and go, why can't I retire early? How did you balance that?

SPEAKER_00 33:47

Um, I was always thinking of net worth. I I had the picture of network, not just in my head, but on paper. It was in Excel. And I was watching it grow year over year over year over year. And if I'm not contributing to my network, meaning my retirement or our portfolio, I'm downsizing. I'm I'm moving real estate. Um, so I study ways to increase that network worth as fast as I can. It's easy for me because I'm I have a an accounting and a finance background, but sometimes it's not so easy for others who don't. Um, but that's the scary part. You you have to think about it. It's it's like um losing weight. You you have to be fanatic about it. It's a it's a daily, daily uh goal. It can't be just when I feel like you know losing five pounds to go to a wedding or something. No, it has to be a religious daily effort. And I think that's what helped me.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

Well, it is clear why you were able to do it. And Sue, this was more valuable than you can imagine. Here's how I like to end the show. I'm gonna go silent for the next minute, and you get to talk to your younger self, and you get to say anything. You can say, Sue, you did it. Remember when you were thinking about your net worth and what you wanted it to get to and you did it, and those times when you were on the plane and you were like, oh my gosh, one day I'm not gonna have to travel as much, but I'm still enjoying it. You can talk to a early retiree, someone who's thinking about retiring, but they're just not over the hump yet of financially am I there? What should I think about? There's so much going on. You get to talk to whoever you want. Most people in this case um go one of two ways. They just talk to the younger self, and it feels good to say it all out there and go, you know what, you're really great more than you know, because you did XYZ, or you can just share some tips with someone who might be thinking about retirement in the near future. So I will go silent now for the next minute or so and let you have the floor.

SPEAKER_00 35:55

I would say to my younger self, um, there's there's you're you may be conscious about spending, um, but there's multiple ways to get to where what you want without having to spend. Um the joys of living in your 20s, 30s, 40s is really it's it's around you. And I see it in the young folks today in their in their 20s, they're so resourceful. I was never that resourceful in my 20s. Always ask for help and don't be afraid to ask. Um, that's what I would say to my younger self.

SPEAKER_01 36:36

I love it. Sue, thank you so much for being willing to come on the show.

SPEAKER_00 36:40

Thank you, Ari. Appreciate it. All right, have a good one.

SPEAKER_01 36:44

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. 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.