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welcome to the best interest podcast
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where we believe Benjamin Franklin's
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advice that an investment in knowledge
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pays the best interest both in finances
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and in your life every episode teaches
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you personal finance and investing in
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simple terms now here's your host Jesse
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Kramer hello and welcome to episode 91
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of the best interest podcast my name is
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Jesse Kramer later in today's episode
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Steve Adcock is going to be joining us
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again Steve is coming back after his
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first stop on the podcast which was way
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back in episode 16 Steve has built a
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really cool Financial Independence
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lifestyle for himself and he shares some
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of his valuable Financial Insights far
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and wide in a very succinct and
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understandable and convincing Manner and
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I think you'll really enjoy hearing what
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Steve has to say but first let's do a
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customary review of the week this one
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comes in from Shaq and Kobe who left us
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a review on Apple podcast of five star
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review saying definitely a must ad to
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your weekly Finance podcasts I'd like to
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try lots of new Finance podcasts to see
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if I like them sometimes I have to
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listen to three or four or five episodes
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to get a true feel of if the podcast
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will be beneficial to me but with the
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best interest podcast I could tell after
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just the first episode that I chose to
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try I followed the podcast immediately
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and now this podcast is part of my
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regular routine well Shack and Kobe I
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hope you're doing well thank you for
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those kind words and uh if you hear this
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sha and Kobe drop me an email at Jesse
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bestin interest. blog and we will get
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you hooked up with a super soft bestest
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t-shirt and now before Steve Adcock
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joins us today I want to ask you
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listeners a question and that question
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is how well do you know your frame what
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do I mean by your frame let's go back to
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Friend of the blog Anthony Anthony was
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around and would read some of my very
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first articles that I wrote for the best
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interest blog when I shared them on
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Facebook way back in 2018 and 2019
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Anthony's seen the best interest grow
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over time and a couple years ago this is
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probably going back to 2022 I told him
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that the best interest wasn't exactly
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what I wanted it to be I felt pretty
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directionless at the time and I was
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considering hanging up my writing gloves
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for good and in fact it was during that
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time where I wasn't recording this
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podcast at all I hung up my podcasting
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microphone for really was like 18 months
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just because before those 18 months I
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didn't feel a real passion for the
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podcast and I didn't feel like I had a
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real direction for the podcast and so I
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was talking to Anthony about this and he
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said you know Jesse you can't see the
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picture if you're standing inside the
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frame I'm outside the frame of the best
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interest so trust me when I say that
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you've got something special going on
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here the best interest is really cool
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it's different it's Unique and I can see
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that from outside the frame and you
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might not be able to see that Jesse from
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where you are inside the frame that was
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a big turning point for me and I'm I'm
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obviously over Overjoyed that the best
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interest has journeyed on to become what
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it is today and that quote that you
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can't see the picture if you're inside
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the frame it's a pivotal part of the
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human condition but many of us remain
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blind to it even after we're aware of
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the quote even after we're aware of how
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true that idea is it's still hard to
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remain cognizant of that idea it's a
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daily challenge to remove ourselves from
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our frames and gain a true outside
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perspective of what's going on in our
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lives now that same theme that same idea
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it's integral to David Foster Wallace's
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famous speech this is water which
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longtime readers and longtime listeners
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will have seen me quote countless times
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as Foster Wallace explains the point is
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that the most obvious and important
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realities are often the ones that are
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hardest to see and talk about Foster
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Wallace goes on to explain and I'm going
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to read you a somewhat long quote here
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quote here is just one example of the
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total wrongness of something that I tend
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to automatically be sure of everything
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in my own immediate experience supports
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my deep belief that I am the absolute
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center of the universe the realest most
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Vivid and most important person in
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existence we rarely think about this
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sort of natural basic self-centeredness
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because it's so socially repulsive but
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it's pretty much the same for all of us
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it is our default setting hardwired into
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our boards at Birth think about it
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there's no experience you have had that
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you are not the absolute Center of your
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world as you experience it is there in
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front of you or behind you to the left
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or right of you on your TV on your
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monitor and so on other people's
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thoughts and feelings have to be
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communicated to you somehow but your own
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are so immediate urgent real and that's
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the quote from David Foster Wallace we
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are all stuck inside our own frames our
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own frame of reference we must first
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realize and accept that truth and only
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then can we attempt to strategize a way
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out of our own frames and hopefully
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execute that strategy with some sort of
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success okay what does this all have to
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do with personal finance well our
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natural self-centered framing certainly
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affects our interactions with money the
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most obvious way to me hearkens back to
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a terrific Charlie Munger quote the
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world is not driven by greed it's driven
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by Envy in other words we don't simply
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want more stuff right that's greed
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instead we want more stuff because we
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see and feel Envy toward other people
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who have that stuff we get jealous right
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I want it too that's exactly what Katie
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Gotti tosson who was just here on
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episode 89 it's what Katie wrote about
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in her recent article called mimic
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desire and consumer choice right mimic
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desire we see what other people have
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what we see what other people are
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spending on and we want that stuff too
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we want to mime other people we recently
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spent a weekend at a a rental lake house
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here in the Finger Lakes in Upstate New
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York it was this really nice kind of old
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school old-fashioned Cottage probably
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like a 1500t 2,000t cottage on canida
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Lake a beautiful Lake beautiful views
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but as we went up and down our little
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Shoreline we were certainly staying in
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the smallest and the oldest of all the
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nearby lake houses canida lake has one
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of the highest tax rates in the country
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there's a lot of really really nice
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property there and I laughed to myself
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and I began thinking about what ended up
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being this article what ended up being
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this monologue that I'm speaking to you
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right now when I compared our rental
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house to the neighbors houses and I
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thought you know what would it be like
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to have the quote unquote worst of the
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million dooll lake houses what effect
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would that have on the psyche now it's
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easy for you and I to sit here and think
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to ourselves well I I wouldn't care
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right I would take a bad million dooll
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lake house any day of the week and and
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maybe that's true but Envy does Drive
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the world and many people would be
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affected by that isn't that wild that
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that some people would sit there and say
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sure I have a million dollar lakeh house
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but it actually doesn't feel too good
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because look at the beautiful neighbors
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houses I'm I'm sitting in this the worst
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of all these houses it it really would
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affect some people and we all have those
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different frames I feel a silver lining
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personally to have grown up in a
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relatively economically depressed area
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of rural Upstate New York I've seen
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poverty firsthand deep poverty but then
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I ended up going to a nice College the
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University of Rochester and I saw some
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eye popping wealth there so I've
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interacted with people all over the
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wealth spectrum and we can remove
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ourselves from our natural frames I
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think by understanding that for example
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poverty is fundamentally different from
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the middle class which is fundamentally
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different from the upper class
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especially in the early developmental
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years of childhood the difference in
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framing between a 10-year-old who's on
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food stamps versus a 10-year-old whose
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family owns a luxury yacht or a
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10-year-old whose family owns one of
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these $5 million lake houses the
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difference between those two children's
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framing of the world I think that's
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almost inconceivable to you or me I
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think the Gap might be too wide for any
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of to truly understand we can't see
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their pictures when we're standing
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inside our own frames but we can at
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least try we can think about what it
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must be like to be those two different
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children we can try to walk a mile in
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their shoes in fact when we have that
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saying to walk a mile in someone else's
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shoes that's another way of saying get
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out of your frame and get into their
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frame it might be more than just a
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thought experiment though you might have
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to see it for yourself to talk to people
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who are different from you to truly
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immerse yourself in the day-to-day
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aspects of others lives that might be
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one of the only ways to really get
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yourself out of your frame and into
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someone else's frame to understand if
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we're talking here about personal
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finance to understand how other people
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have different views of money or
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resources or things or travel or
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experiences to understand how other
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people have just a different frame than
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you and and one of the last framing
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ideas that I thought of especially when
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it comes to to money here is this idea
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of who do you trust perhaps the easiest
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way to get get out of your natural
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framing is by seeking mentorship or
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advice from a loved one from a trusted
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counselor from an older Mentor someone
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like that one of the most rewarding
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aspects of the best interest of running
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the best interest is providing that
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exact kind of help to those of you who
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ask for it and one of my favorite parts
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of my day job is understanding the
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frames of the people who I work with
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then trying to act as this neutral third
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party to provide them advice in their
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best interest uninhibited by the
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confines of their own frame you know
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it's it's interesting working with
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someone who tends to be a chronic overs
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spender and trying to pull back the
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reins on that by trying to remove them
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from their own frame and and I'm trying
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to provide them advice where I'm outside
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their frame and looking in or the
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opposite happens all the time too people
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who are chronic under Spenders and
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encouraging them to spend more people
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who really like taking on risk people
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who really like avoiding risk and
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providing them advice again that that is
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more neutral and uninhibited by their
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own frames cuz without that kind of
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advice they're likely going to stand
00:10:01
inside their frames and do something
00:10:03
that's suboptimal for for who knows for
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some sort of undetermined amount of time
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like all our frames though these people
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who I just mentioned their frames make
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it challenging for them to see the
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bigger picture a great example I loved
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the conversations that I had here in the
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Late July and early August of 2024 about
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the flash crash if you don't remember
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between I think mid July and the first
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week of August the S&P 500 dropped
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something like 8% and then over the next
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2 weeks it recovered that full 8% and
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here we are at the end of September
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making all-time highs again the
00:10:39
conversations around that flash crash
00:10:41
the conversations where some people were
00:10:43
really jolted by the market dropping so
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quickly by seeing their portfolios drop
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so quickly because in their frames that
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was a very sudden exposure to risk that
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maybe they either weren't anticipating
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or they forgot what it was like and it
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was very fun for me to have
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conversations and remind people that hey
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this is part of equity investing
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hopefully that sinks in and over the
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long period of time they start to
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realize okay yeah these kind of
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Corrections are just perfectly normal
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par for the course if it doesn't sink in
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and it causes them to lose sleep well
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there's another conversation to be had
00:11:15
there anyway the same goes for
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relationship problems career advice
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Forks in the road try to find someone
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outside of your frame to talk to and
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what advice can that person give to you
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so thank you again to Friend of the blog
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friend of the podcast Anthony for the
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original quote that inspired this
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monologue today thanks to Canad dig Lake
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I suppose thanks to the flash crash for
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some of these anecdotes that fit in
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today and I'd be interested what you all
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think if you know yourself well enough
00:11:42
to really Define the confines of your
00:11:45
frame and then what actions you're
00:11:47
taking to try to remove yourself from
00:11:49
the frame or try to get outside
00:11:50
perspective because there are times
00:11:52
where I have doubts about how well I
00:11:54
even understand my own frame but I'm
00:11:56
still trying to to feel around in the
00:11:58
dark for for it here's a quick ad and
00:12:01
then we'll get back to the show every
00:12:03
week I send a quick free email to
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thousands of readers that shares three
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explains some important Concept in the
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news that week it's a great primer to
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boost your financial knoow but Jesse I
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don't want another email well this might
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not be for you but I do hear you which
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is why I make it very short sweet and
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full of only the essentials a whopping
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and maybe you will too you can subscribe
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for free on the homepage at bestter
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interest. blog again that's a free no
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strings attached subscription at bestin
00:12:49
interest. blog let's welcome Steve
00:12:52
Adcock onto the podcast Steve achieved
00:12:55
Financial Independence at age 35 back in
00:12:57
2016 he quit full-time work and now
00:13:00
lives a sustainable life in an off-grid
00:13:03
home with his wife out in the middle of
00:13:05
the desert he shares his wisdom through
00:13:08
his own brand and he's got a couple
00:13:09
Brands he's got Steve Adcock us he also
00:13:11
has millionaire habits which I think is
00:13:13
his bigger brand and we will talk about
00:13:15
those things today and we will share
00:13:16
links to you listeners here in the show
00:13:18
notes Steve's also a regular contributor
00:13:20
on market watch Forbes uh he's on CNBC
00:13:23
all the time I think you're really going
00:13:25
to enjoy the sharp and quippy nature of
00:13:28
Steve's ADV advice today we have a fun
00:13:30
conversation so without further Ado here
00:13:32
is Steve
00:13:33
[Music]
00:13:38
atock Well Steve thank you for coming
00:13:40
back and thinking back to episode 16
00:13:42
when you originally were on the best
00:13:44
interest podcast which is over 3 years
00:13:46
old at this point I know at that time
00:13:48
you gave us kind of this overarching
00:13:51
fire Journey if you will like you know
00:13:53
where you were as a young employee when
00:13:55
you didn't know what you were doing and
00:13:56
investing in personal finance all the
00:13:57
way up till today or or at that time
00:14:00
just to ground the audience today though
00:14:02
I thought a good place to start would be
00:14:03
if you could remind us of where you were
00:14:05
when you pulled the trigger on early
00:14:07
retirement when you said today is my
00:14:08
last day of work and I'm now fired or
00:14:11
whatever you thought you were at the
00:14:13
time you know it's been what seven or
00:14:14
eight years and then maybe if you could
00:14:16
describe to us what your life has been
00:14:18
like since then and with a little bit of
00:14:20
an emphasis on your financial life it
00:14:22
was December 23rd of 2016 that was my
00:14:25
last official day of working a full-time
00:14:28
job best Christmas I could ever give
00:14:30
myself it was a very surreal moment
00:14:31
because I was 35 years old at the time
00:14:34
and I knew unless something went
00:14:36
terribly wrong unless it all hit the fan
00:14:38
I was never really going to have to have
00:14:41
to work another day for the rest of my
00:14:45
life and I emphasize that that phrase
00:14:48
have to because that's the beauty of
00:14:50
financial Independence and I really like
00:14:53
to consider myself to be more
00:14:55
financially independent rather than
00:14:58
early retired Ed at this point because
00:15:01
you know one of the things that I've
00:15:02
learned since retiring early is how many
00:15:04
opportunities there are out there to get
00:15:07
involved in stuff just doing things and
00:15:09
when you have a marketable skill guess
00:15:11
what those things turn into an income
00:15:14
and that's really what has happened over
00:15:16
the last eight years but I started right
00:15:19
out of college when I was like 23 years
00:15:22
old 2004 time frame I remember my first
00:15:26
day in the office like it was yesterday
00:15:29
maybe it was my my second day I don't
00:15:30
know really shortly after I first began
00:15:33
my career I was like I was in the office
00:15:35
I took a look around at everybody just
00:15:37
doing their job sitting in their Cube
00:15:39
and I was like this is it this is what I
00:15:41
have to look forward to for the next you
00:15:43
know 40 45 years of my working career
00:15:46
there's no this is crazy there's no way
00:15:49
now at the time I didn't have anything
00:15:51
figured out I didn't have a concept of
00:15:54
early retirement or financial
00:15:55
Independence so believe me I wasn't this
00:15:58
this money expert from the very
00:15:59
beginning and I had a plan I knew
00:16:02
exactly what I was going to do I had
00:16:04
zero things zero things goose egg of
00:16:08
things figured out at that time all I
00:16:11
knew was this probably wasn't going to
00:16:14
work long term fast forward about 10
00:16:18
years and I was the typical employee I
00:16:21
earned good money I was a software
00:16:22
developer at the time so you know in
00:16:24
Tech in it you make good money I had the
00:16:27
house in the suburbs I had had the
00:16:29
supercharged Corvette I had the brand
00:16:31
new Cadillac CTS I had the Yamaha R1
00:16:36
sport bike so I was having lots of fun
00:16:39
yeah nice toys the insurance on that R1
00:16:43
was like
00:16:43
$220 a month just for the insurance by
00:16:47
the way crazy crazy crazy but people my
00:16:50
age at 26 or something at the time well
00:16:53
I guess it was a little older than that
00:16:55
but they kill themselves on bikes they
00:16:57
wreck them wreck their bikes all the
00:16:59
time that's why it was so expensive but
00:17:01
anyway it was a probably when I was 30
00:17:04
31 years old and that's really where I
00:17:07
think the rubber met the road in terms
00:17:09
of what I what I had to do with my
00:17:11
future it was a Saturday morning just
00:17:14
like any other Saturday I walked out to
00:17:16
my garage I don't know where where I was
00:17:18
going but I reached up to open up the
00:17:20
garage door like I normally would just
00:17:22
robotically but for whatever reason
00:17:23
something stopped me I just didn't do it
00:17:25
I could not open the garage door and
00:17:28
then I turned around and I looked at
00:17:30
what was in my garage the house in the
00:17:32
suburbs again the Corvette the sport
00:17:35
bike the Cadillac you know I have all
00:17:37
these toys I have all the you know the
00:17:40
markings the objects that supposed to
00:17:43
you know mean success to a lot of people
00:17:46
and me included quite frankly at the
00:17:48
time but something was still missing I
00:17:50
still wasn't satisfied with what was
00:17:54
going on in my life and what my future
00:17:56
was going to look like it was I was on
00:17:58
this this hamster wheel I thought maybe
00:18:01
it was golden handcuffs at at the time
00:18:03
in fact it probably was but I think that
00:18:05
was the first time where I admitted to
00:18:07
myself that I can't just keep earning
00:18:10
and spending earning and spending
00:18:11
earning and spending because I've done
00:18:13
that I'm doing that right now and yet
00:18:16
I'm still not happy so this is not
00:18:19
working for me it's not going to
00:18:21
continue working for me something has
00:18:23
got to give and at that point that was
00:18:26
like that light that that light in my
00:18:28
head finally got turned on this cannot
00:18:32
happen this cannot continue forward and
00:18:35
around that time I found and if you
00:18:38
follow the fire movement I know you are
00:18:41
familiar with this person I found the Mr
00:18:43
Money Mustache blog and he was a
00:18:47
software developer just like me who
00:18:49
earned good money just like me he lived
00:18:51
in Colorado just one state north of me
00:18:53
in in um Arizona so I connected with him
00:18:57
very very well started following his
00:18:59
journey some of the things that he
00:19:01
started to do to
00:19:03
prioritize the financial Independence
00:19:06
part so he can quit or be able to do
00:19:09
whatever he wants without having to
00:19:11
worry about that paycheck that that
00:19:13
twice a month paycheck slowly but surely
00:19:16
I started to put the pieces into place I
00:19:18
met my future wife and that's really
00:19:21
where things started to amp up because
00:19:23
she's a rocket scientist way smarter
00:19:26
than I am will always be smarter than I
00:19:28
am so the rocket scientists also made
00:19:30
good money so by the end of our careers
00:19:32
in 2013 man we were making 220 G's a
00:19:35
year and back then that was good money
00:19:38
it's good money now but it was
00:19:39
especially good money back then so we
00:19:42
had a choice we had a decision to make I
00:19:44
know I'm rambling here I'll be done in
00:19:45
just a second we had a decision to make
00:19:47
we could either live like rock stars you
00:19:50
know the vacation home expensive dinners
00:19:52
you know jewelry movies whatever or we
00:19:56
can start saving the vast majority of
00:19:58
what we make and we can do whatever we
00:20:01
want with our lives for the rest of our
00:20:04
lives and ultimately that's what we
00:20:05
ended up doing we saved
00:20:08
75% of our combined salaries and our
00:20:11
combined salaries was 220,000 so 75%
00:20:14
that's a hell of a lot of money and that
00:20:16
adds up quick and we did that for about
00:20:18
three years sold everything bought an
00:20:22
Airstream travel the country for a
00:20:24
living got that the travel bug out of
00:20:26
our system to to some degree that in
00:20:28
2019 we bought an off-grid house in the
00:20:31
desert and that's where we are now in
00:20:33
2024 just uh living the dream and doing
00:20:36
whatever we want how was that lifestyle
00:20:39
change initially I could imagine for
00:20:42
people listening right now maybe they
00:20:44
think they spend too much in their own
00:20:46
life but at the same time the thought of
00:20:49
going without some of the luxuries that
00:20:51
that spending buys them might be a
00:20:52
little intimidating or they might feel a
00:20:54
little bit deprived without that so what
00:20:56
was that process like for you guys
00:20:58
whether just the logistics themselves or
00:21:00
just the emotions involved between
00:21:02
having all the toys in the garage and
00:21:03
and spending and living life that way
00:21:05
all the way down to saving 75% of your
00:21:08
annual income I will tell you this the
00:21:11
hardest part and this is probably true
00:21:12
for almost everything the hardest part
00:21:14
is the beginning just getting over that
00:21:16
initial hump of first deciding that this
00:21:20
is not working I'm going to do this and
00:21:24
these are the things I'm going to do to
00:21:25
put that in place that is by far the
00:21:28
hardest part of this you know widescale
00:21:32
lifestyle change living that change
00:21:36
after you get through the initial hump
00:21:38
living that change is no sweat I mean I
00:21:41
used to thought that I couldn't live
00:21:43
without ESPN at one point in my life but
00:21:46
guess what I'm not dead I'm still here I
00:21:48
lived just fine thank you very much
00:21:51
without the cable TV and and lots of
00:21:53
these other things that we stopped
00:21:55
spending money on I mean we went out to
00:21:56
eat maybe once a month we gave ourselves
00:21:59
50 bucks a month that's it to go out to
00:22:02
eat and I love going out to eat
00:22:04
absolutely freaking love going out I
00:22:07
love restaurants the the the whole
00:22:09
environment I just love it but we cut it
00:22:11
back to maybe once a month but you know
00:22:14
what like like I said once you once you
00:22:16
get over that initial hump you really
00:22:19
got to push through at the beginning but
00:22:22
once that snowball starts to build it's
00:22:24
like this isn't so bad that's not so bad
00:22:28
I don't I didn't really need this anyway
00:22:30
yeah I guess it was nice to have but I'm
00:22:32
not really all that less happy because
00:22:36
I'm not doing those things or I'm not
00:22:37
spending money on those things I I think
00:22:40
we realize that after a month or two
00:22:43
after making that initial you know
00:22:45
lifestyle change it's like this is no
00:22:47
sweat in fact I wish we can do more I
00:22:50
wish we could cut back even more so we
00:22:52
can get to financial Independence even
00:22:55
quicker now of course you have to
00:22:57
balance that so your life doesn't feel
00:23:00
like a sacrifice nobody wants to feel
00:23:03
like they're sacrificing the things that
00:23:05
actually mean something to you so things
00:23:07
are going to look differently to US
00:23:09
versus you of course the things that we
00:23:11
spend money on you might not need to
00:23:12
spend money on those things and vice
00:23:14
versa and that's fine but I think the
00:23:16
important thing to remember is to work
00:23:19
backwards look at where you want to be
00:23:22
and when you want to be there so it's
00:23:24
2024 now let's say you want to retire or
00:23:27
achieve Financial Independence let's say
00:23:29
in 2028 so you got four years so what do
00:23:32
you got to do to get to that point in
00:23:34
four years how much money do you think
00:23:36
you need in order to be financially
00:23:39
independent in
00:23:40
2028 then how much money do you have to
00:23:43
save how much money do you have to
00:23:45
invest assuming maybe 6 to 8% gains if
00:23:49
you're investing in the market over the
00:23:51
years and as you work backwards you can
00:23:54
slowly get down to that monthly budget I
00:23:57
think that you have to stick to now in
00:24:00
order to get to where you want to be
00:24:03
then and here's the secret you will be
00:24:06
surprised at how often you achieve
00:24:10
results quicker faster than you think
00:24:13
you're going to I wanted to retire at 40
00:24:17
that was my initial goal back then back
00:24:20
when I was 30 31 years old I wanted
00:24:22
another 10 years and that's it but we
00:24:25
retired in five now granted I did marry
00:24:28
somebody with a salary so that helped
00:24:31
tremendously it wasn't everything that
00:24:33
just I did so circumstances do affect
00:24:36
that by a large Factor circumstances can
00:24:39
affect that but if you put your mind to
00:24:42
it you set your focus to it every single
00:24:45
day and you really try not to waiver I
00:24:48
think you're going to achieve that goal
00:24:51
faster than you think you will yeah it's
00:24:53
a practice right it's this ongoing
00:24:55
practice of steady habits over time it's
00:24:58
the water that breaks through the rock
00:25:00
over many years of erosion it's that
00:25:01
kind of thing or at least that's the way
00:25:03
that I approach personal finance and
00:25:05
investing it's these good habits these
00:25:07
millionaire habits you could say which
00:25:09
we'll come back to that that phrasing
00:25:10
for you Steve but it's these it's these
00:25:12
habits that you just set up and practice
00:25:14
over years at a time and I agree with
00:25:16
you that sure you know you and I have
00:25:19
had the Tailwinds of a really nice stock
00:25:21
market over the last 10 or 15 years that
00:25:24
we've been really focused on this kind
00:25:25
of stuff even without those really nice
00:25:27
tail wins just the idea that over long
00:25:30
periods of time these Investments tend
00:25:32
to perform in the positive direction for
00:25:33
us and the thing that you can control is
00:25:36
what you're saving what you're spending
00:25:38
and to some extent what you're earning
00:25:40
compounding happens pretty quickly uh
00:25:42
especially if you choose not to pay
00:25:43
attention to it or you only check in
00:25:44
once in a while you'll surprise yourself
00:25:46
with what can happen over three or six
00:25:48
months over a year over a few years
00:25:50
thinking Steve through what it's been
00:25:53
like for you from 2016 till today I I
00:25:55
had some some Market thoughts for you if
00:25:57
you will cuz I haven't spoken to you
00:26:00
since 2022 happened and I think 2022 was
00:26:04
probably the first prolonged barar
00:26:06
Market that you and your wife went
00:26:08
through I mean covid sure was a bit of a
00:26:10
shock for two or three months but I'm
00:26:12
just curious when you guys here you are
00:26:15
you are earning some income which I
00:26:16
think is worth pointing out to the
00:26:17
listeners right you've got all these
00:26:19
interesting side hustles that you're
00:26:20
still doing but still your nest EG
00:26:22
probably took a pretty big hit in 2022
00:26:25
but what was your mindset during that
00:26:27
time I mean we were down and this was
00:26:29
during the worst of covid about
00:26:33
$220,000 in in assets so we weren't down
00:26:37
that in liquid cash we were down that in
00:26:39
assets our stock values decreased by
00:26:41
over 200 G's and it's like yeah that
00:26:45
sucks but when you have a long-term
00:26:47
mindset it really doesn't matter so I
00:26:51
know it's easy for us to say but it
00:26:54
didn't really factor into the equation
00:26:56
whatsoever for us and one of the things
00:26:59
that's nice about our lifestyle is we
00:27:02
chose to live off- grid which means we
00:27:04
don't have a power bill we don't have a
00:27:06
water bill we we do have a a well on
00:27:08
site that we get our water from we power
00:27:10
that with our solar system and we have a
00:27:12
septic system so other than like
00:27:14
internet and like basic insurance we can
00:27:17
live almost as cheap as we want out here
00:27:20
so I think that really helps with our
00:27:22
life the expenses that fund our
00:27:26
lifestyle right now it's a little higher
00:27:28
because the Market's doing well we're
00:27:30
making good money why not enjoy
00:27:32
ourselves and there's absolutely nothing
00:27:34
wrong with that as long as you don't go
00:27:36
overboard with it but if things if that
00:27:38
recession hits like in 2022 like during
00:27:41
covid and you start to cut back those
00:27:43
expenses I mean we can really live so
00:27:47
darn cheap out here and that's something
00:27:50
that we actually did plan we SE out we
00:27:53
wanted to live off grid so we didn't
00:27:55
have all these utilities and it's really
00:27:58
worked out super well for us we did
00:28:00
upgrade our system so in the end we
00:28:03
probably spent more money with the
00:28:05
batteries and the solar system then we
00:28:08
would have spent just paying our monthly
00:28:10
utility bill but the other side of that
00:28:13
is we spent that money when the market
00:28:15
was good which is exactly when you want
00:28:18
to do some of those upgrades so when the
00:28:20
market tanks if it does well when it
00:28:23
does it always does it es and flows then
00:28:25
you can cut back but we already already
00:28:28
have that nice quote unquote expensive
00:28:31
infrastructure in place that we bought
00:28:33
when the market was up so we can enjoy
00:28:34
it when the Market's down and when you
00:28:37
have like like I said before when you
00:28:39
have that long-term mindset these es and
00:28:41
flows really don't matter too much we
00:28:45
look at our
00:28:46
finances maybe for five minutes a month
00:28:50
that's it we're not moving money we're
00:28:52
not rebalancing we don't do any of that
00:28:54
we are the perfect example of passive
00:28:57
invest s active investors and especially
00:29:00
day Traders tend not to make money
00:29:04
compared with passive passive almost
00:29:08
always unless you're really good at what
00:29:10
you do almost always outperforms active
00:29:13
investing and day trading especially day
00:29:16
trading I don't like to look at stocks
00:29:18
and and yields and price to earnings
00:29:21
ratios and what Nvidia earned last
00:29:24
quarter I don't care I just want to
00:29:26
enjoy myself and I want to see my my net
00:29:28
worth rise and that is where passive
00:29:31
income investing really shines yeah I I
00:29:34
think that's a that's a terrific role
00:29:35
model for what all of our our listeners
00:29:38
should aspire to Steve is is just to
00:29:40
keep costs low diversify passive
00:29:43
investing is the way stick it out for
00:29:45
the long run you don't have to log in
00:29:47
every week or every month not even every
00:29:48
quarter if you don't want to I I really
00:29:50
liked I wanted to go back to something
00:29:52
you spoke about there Steve which was
00:29:53
that that you and your wife adjust your
00:29:55
spending or at the very least you try
00:29:57
not to plan any large expenses if the
00:29:59
Market's down and and that is exactly
00:30:02
the same Principle as what we talked
00:30:04
about on a couple recent episodes one
00:30:06
with Tyler from portfolio charts the
00:30:08
other with Rob Burger I mean that's
00:30:09
essentially the sequence of returns risk
00:30:11
that you're thinking about there which
00:30:12
is yeah sometimes returns will be poor
00:30:14
especially early in retirement it's
00:30:16
possible and ideally if you can have
00:30:19
flexibility in your retirement plan you
00:30:21
don't want to have to sell your shares
00:30:22
when they're down to to fund your
00:30:24
lifestyle you'd rather wait for the
00:30:26
market to recover and you should feel
00:30:27
more more optimistic and enthusiastic
00:30:29
about spending your money at that time
00:30:31
so that's really smart but that said
00:30:34
other than bare markets and bad asset
00:30:36
performance I feel like one of the other
00:30:38
main fears of retirees is inflation
00:30:42
which we know has been in the headlines
00:30:44
has has been real during your retirement
00:30:46
especially these last couple years so
00:30:48
again I mean has inflation caused any
00:30:50
sort of concern for you not really it
00:30:53
might take us if we wanted to go on a
00:30:55
vacation or something and now it t now
00:30:57
it costs $88,000 instead of $5,000 maybe
00:31:00
we would wait a little bit longer but
00:31:02
it's not necessarily like we wouldn't do
00:31:03
it we would just adjust accordingly
00:31:06
that's a discretionary spend but what if
00:31:08
it's like groceries or something that
00:31:10
you know we all got to eat so we all
00:31:12
have to pay whatever the whatever the
00:31:14
supermarket wants to charge things are
00:31:16
going up there's no question about that
00:31:19
but then again so so are salaries at
00:31:21
least in concept if you're not getting a
00:31:23
cost of living raise I think that's a
00:31:25
huge huge problem because then your
00:31:28
salary is not keeping up with inflation
00:31:31
but I think there are most of the time
00:31:32
there are things that you can do to help
00:31:35
combat inflation spending first just
00:31:38
don't spend money on the things that
00:31:40
have increased enough now obviously you
00:31:43
can't always do that like in the case of
00:31:45
food but you don't always have to buy
00:31:47
the name brand stuff you can buy things
00:31:50
that just happen to be on sale even if
00:31:52
it's not something that you have your
00:31:53
heart set on or oh I love giradelli
00:31:56
chocolates I have to have giradelli
00:31:57
Pockets even though this other brand is
00:31:59
half off if it's important enough to you
00:32:02
and your budget is what's the word I
00:32:04
guess sensitive to the higher cost of
00:32:07
inflation start making those decisions
00:32:10
start looking for those coupons start
00:32:12
buying the things that that that are on
00:32:14
sale don't necessarily always buy the
00:32:16
name brand products if you can help it I
00:32:19
think those things will help you to save
00:32:21
money as well as buying in bulk
00:32:24
especially your your Staples cook more
00:32:27
with rice and beans and those kinds of
00:32:30
foods that are filling they're
00:32:31
relatively healthy they got great macros
00:32:34
lot lot of carbs with rice of course but
00:32:37
there there's usually things that you
00:32:40
can do even with food that will help you
00:32:43
stay healthy but also minimize the
00:32:45
impact on your wallet it's going to take
00:32:47
some practice like I said before it's
00:32:50
that initial lifestyle change that
00:32:52
initial okay this is not working for me
00:32:55
I have to do this now and these are the
00:32:57
things that I'm going to do to put that
00:32:59
into place once you get that down you're
00:33:02
going to find probably I don't know 90%
00:33:05
of the time once you start getting into
00:33:08
that new routine of buying these
00:33:10
different things at the grocery stores
00:33:12
buying off brands at department stores
00:33:15
it's going to become second age it's
00:33:16
like this this shirt's just fine it was
00:33:18
$15 it's not a $60 bral Flor in polo
00:33:21
shirt but you know what I don't really
00:33:23
need a $60 roran polo shirt this one
00:33:26
covers me just as well as that one did
00:33:28
those kinds of of decisions over time is
00:33:31
going to make a big big difference to
00:33:33
your monthly budget yeah it's easy to
00:33:35
fall into I think of them as spending
00:33:37
habits and the one that I can the
00:33:39
anecdotal spending habit is okay here in
00:33:41
Rochester we're actually the home city
00:33:44
of Wegman's grocery stores which is this
00:33:46
northeast East Coast you know very
00:33:49
highly respected grocery store brand and
00:33:51
if you've ever been in a Wegman's it's
00:33:53
got every kind of item you could ever
00:33:55
imagine plus it has a lot of extra stuff
00:33:57
that's kind of cool but of course
00:33:58
expensive you know there's an olive bar
00:34:01
and all the different kind of cheeses
00:34:02
you can imagine and plenty of employees
00:34:04
to always help you out and not
00:34:07
surprisingly uh Wegman's prices have
00:34:09
really been affected by inflation
00:34:12
possibly more than other grocery stores
00:34:13
I'm not really sure but after seeing a
00:34:15
few Wegman's bills over the last couple
00:34:17
years I was like I'm kind of in this
00:34:18
money habit if you will of just yeah
00:34:20
Wegman is my grocery store automatic
00:34:22
every time and I don't really think
00:34:24
twice about what I'm spending there as
00:34:25
far as food goes you know I'm I'm making
00:34:27
enough of a living that I want to eat
00:34:28
what I want to eat well then I went to
00:34:30
Aldi which for us is literally across
00:34:33
the street from Wegman's and man if Aldi
00:34:35
isn't you know 60% of the price of
00:34:38
Wegman I'd be shocked I I mean it was an
00:34:40
immediate I immediately noticed the
00:34:42
difference so now probably three4 of our
00:34:45
grocery dollars are spent at Aldi all
00:34:47
the essentials all the basics why would
00:34:49
I buy oats at Wegman's if I can save a
00:34:52
dollar at Aldi why buy berries you know
00:34:54
Etc sure once in a while some something
00:34:56
that's a little bit nicer a little bit
00:34:58
special or maybe Aldi just doesn't have
00:34:59
it but that's just one simple money
00:35:02
habit a simple one and you could look at
00:35:03
your home gym you could look at the
00:35:05
streaming services that you pay for
00:35:07
there're all these little money habits
00:35:09
that we have built into our life These
00:35:10
spending habits and it's easy just to
00:35:12
overlook them but if you actually open
00:35:14
up the hood odds are you could probably
00:35:17
save some dollars there streaming
00:35:18
services boy I don't have any numbers to
00:35:21
back this up but I'm really curious how
00:35:23
many people quit cable to save money but
00:35:26
then spend just as much money maybe even
00:35:27
more on all of these different streaming
00:35:30
services there's so many now it seems
00:35:32
like every single freaking channel has a
00:35:35
subscription service that they want you
00:35:36
to subscribe to it's it's absolutely
00:35:39
crazy I think we have Netflix we have
00:35:41
Amazon Prime we might have Paramount but
00:35:45
I think that's it we got three that's
00:35:47
pretty good that's pretty good that's I
00:35:49
think the average cable bill is in the
00:35:51
neighborhood of 120 to 140 a month and
00:35:55
we probably pay 40
00:35:58
something like that that alone if you
00:36:00
could just if you can just re yourself
00:36:01
in a little bit but even with that let
00:36:04
let me take a step back even with that
00:36:06
if that really like you get your jollies
00:36:08
off by having access to all of these
00:36:12
streaming services and that really just
00:36:15
deep down provides value to you and your
00:36:19
family maybe you have family night you
00:36:21
all get together on Fridays or something
00:36:23
and you watch something those expenses
00:36:26
can be worth it it's not like you have
00:36:29
to cut out all of these things that you
00:36:31
otherwise would enjoy doing the piece
00:36:33
that I want you to remember here is well
00:36:36
the key I guess is to be
00:36:38
intentional with where you're spending
00:36:41
your money and understand or be honest
00:36:44
with yourself about yes I am spending X
00:36:47
number of dollars on this service or on
00:36:51
this product and I am getting that
00:36:53
amount of value out of it if that's true
00:36:57
that's probably a good expense but if
00:37:00
you haven't watched you know X streaming
00:37:02
service or used X product in the last
00:37:04
three months guess what you probably
00:37:07
don't need that maybe cancel it and
00:37:09
subscribe to it again if you need it in
00:37:11
the future but just take a look through
00:37:13
your bank statement and your credit card
00:37:15
just cursory look just go through each
00:37:18
line at the end of this month and just
00:37:21
see where all of that money is going I
00:37:24
bet you'll be surprised at how many
00:37:26
subscription Services you are still
00:37:29
paying for and don't use and maybe don't
00:37:32
even remember signing up for for those
00:37:35
of you listening who who just heard
00:37:37
Steve say that and you think to yourself
00:37:38
like oh well that's that's just money
00:37:39
Basics and you know I kind of want
00:37:41
something different than that or I don't
00:37:43
want to go back to a budget and looking
00:37:45
well let me tell you this so I work with
00:37:46
there's seven cfps on staff here where
00:37:49
it work certified financial planners
00:37:50
right that that's what we do here we
00:37:52
work with clients all over the spectrum
00:37:54
that is one of the fundamental things
00:37:55
that we bring up with our clients I'll
00:37:57
ask say if I were to look at the last 3
00:37:59
months of your credit card statements do
00:38:01
you feel like right now without looking
00:38:02
at them you've got a pretty good feel
00:38:04
for what you spent and what you spent
00:38:06
out how much you spent all those kind of
00:38:08
things and if the answer is no that's
00:38:10
usually bit of a yellow flag where we
00:38:12
just we want to bring it up and we want
00:38:13
to say hey the the fundamental
00:38:15
Foundation of your financial life is
00:38:18
what you earn and what you spend period
00:38:20
so if you're not really sure what you're
00:38:22
spending or how you're spending it that
00:38:25
is a problem that we need to address
00:38:26
early on so getting yourself familiar
00:38:29
with how much you're spending on a
00:38:30
monthly basis and what you're spending
00:38:31
it on is huge and you could have a PhD
00:38:34
in economics and still not quite have
00:38:37
that under control it's worth
00:38:38
understanding that sad but true I mean
00:38:40
I've never seen anybody eat fewer
00:38:43
calories than normal and not lose weight
00:38:46
I've also seen nobody spend less than
00:38:49
they make and not build wealth it it
00:38:52
really is that freaking simple it's not
00:38:55
always easy depending on who you you are
00:38:57
and your circumstances I get that but
00:39:00
the basics we always have to go back to
00:39:02
those Basics because a lot of people
00:39:05
simply don't have those down I don't
00:39:07
know how many people what the percentage
00:39:09
is now of people who couldn't fund an a
00:39:12
$1,000 emergency without going into debt
00:39:15
because they have zero emergency savings
00:39:18
zero they just put it on their credit
00:39:19
card and let it ride for 3 months guess
00:39:22
what millions of people are in that boat
00:39:26
that those are the Basics that millions
00:39:28
of people still aren't able to grasp
00:39:31
like you said that's why we have to keep
00:39:32
coming back to this because it is common
00:39:35
and if you do have those basics down you
00:39:38
are way ahead of the curve but if you
00:39:40
don't then this constant reinforcement
00:39:44
to look at those Basics don't think you
00:39:46
got to be in the clouds yet just start
00:39:48
at ground level build from there and let
00:39:51
that savings go let your your in
00:39:54
Investments go and I think you're going
00:39:56
to find that fin Cal Independence is
00:39:58
going to happen way earlier in life than
00:40:01
you expect it to but you really got to
00:40:03
start at that ground level I totally
00:40:05
agree here's a quick ad and then we'll
00:40:08
get back to the show serious question
00:40:11
why do podcasters constantly ask for
00:40:13
ratings and reviews yes they do help
00:40:16
highlight our shows to new listeners
00:40:17
they help strangers find us on Apple
00:40:19
podcast and Spotify it's totally true
00:40:21
and a good reason to ask for ratings and
00:40:23
reviews but I have something more
00:40:25
important at least more important to me
00:40:28
I want to know if you like this stuff I
00:40:30
want to know if you like my podcast
00:40:32
episodes my monologues my guests the
00:40:34
information I share with you in the
00:40:35
stories I tell I want to improve and
00:40:38
make your listening more enjoyable in
00:40:39
the process so yeah I would love to read
00:40:42
your reviews and sure if you throw a
00:40:44
rating in there too that's great if you
00:40:46
like what I'm doing please share it with
00:40:48
me it's such a great feeling to read
00:40:50
your feedback I'd love to read your
00:40:52
review or see a rating on Apple podcast
00:40:55
or Spotify thank you I almost want to
00:40:58
Pivot a little bit Steve I want to shine
00:40:59
a spotlight on your your retirement
00:41:02
story you know your post-retirement
00:41:03
story if you will because I think from
00:41:06
the outside looking in whether people
00:41:07
are thinking about a traditional
00:41:09
retirement or they're reading stories
00:41:10
about the fire lifestyle there's some
00:41:13
semblance of okay I think by now we're
00:41:16
past the meme of cocktails on the beach
00:41:18
we're past that part but still it's you
00:41:21
know okay well how much pickle ball or
00:41:22
golf are you going to play You're going
00:41:23
to volunteer at the library like what
00:41:25
are you going to do to fill your time
00:41:27
but I'm pretty sure that you've got a a
00:41:28
pretty unique retirement lifestyle that
00:41:31
like I alluded to before you filled it
00:41:33
with projects some of those projects pay
00:41:36
you and because they're paying you maybe
00:41:38
it means you don't have to lean on your
00:41:39
portfolio quite as much can you dive
00:41:42
into some of those details for us I
00:41:44
don't think we've taken a dime from our
00:41:46
investments since we've retired into
00:41:48
well I again I use that term loosely
00:41:51
retired yeah you you left the corporate
00:41:53
world for sure right you left the
00:41:54
corporate world yeah no no question
00:41:56
about it that's the nice thing about fi
00:41:58
you can try different things see what
00:42:01
you like see what you don't ditch the
00:42:03
things you don't like keep the things
00:42:04
you do regardless of whether they pay
00:42:07
you money or not who cares if you enjoy
00:42:09
doing those things do them that is the
00:42:11
great thing about this lifestyle so for
00:42:14
me I tried lots of different things I
00:42:16
tried YouTube I even I I even considered
00:42:19
starting a podcast and did not go down
00:42:21
that wrote because that just another
00:42:22
thing on top of everything else I'm
00:42:24
doing but for me it was the writing
00:42:26
starting a newsletter getting involved
00:42:27
on social media and talking about these
00:42:30
things over and over and over again and
00:42:33
now I earn thousands of dollars a month
00:42:35
just by doing something that I probably
00:42:37
would have been doing anyway I Didn't Do
00:42:39
It for the money but I'm also not going
00:42:42
to turn down money if it's a good
00:42:44
opportunity for me that's not a
00:42:46
millionaire habit you never turn down
00:42:49
income unless it's going to negatively
00:42:52
impact your lifestyle or your family
00:42:56
those are two great reasons to turn down
00:42:58
income but for me neither of those two
00:43:02
were true so now I am doing the things
00:43:04
that I would do anyway I've probably
00:43:06
replaced three4 of my salary from the IT
00:43:10
world just having fun writing about
00:43:12
money talking about money engaging with
00:43:15
with people on social about money that's
00:43:17
what makes this early retirement
00:43:19
lifestyle so rewarding but I want you to
00:43:22
remember you might not replace a quarter
00:43:26
of your salary after you you quit but
00:43:28
that's fine the key is have a hobby find
00:43:32
out what you're good at and what you
00:43:34
want to be doing after you Achieve
00:43:37
Financial Independence and then quit
00:43:39
your job and then pursue that lifestyle
00:43:42
do not pursue it before there's a lot of
00:43:46
people who have the money part down
00:43:48
right they make lots of money they have
00:43:50
millions of dollars in Investments they
00:43:52
don't want to work anymore so they quit
00:43:54
they have no no hobby so what do they do
00:43:57
get up turn on Netflix they bingee on
00:43:59
some series they get caught up on this
00:44:02
and that whatever and then two or three
00:44:04
weeks down down the road I like to call
00:44:05
this the bell curve of early retirement
00:44:08
happiness so at the beginning of early
00:44:11
retirement right you're you're happiness
00:44:13
goes up you're on the left hand side of
00:44:15
the bell curve it's great you no longer
00:44:17
have to get up in the morning well at
00:44:19
6:00 a.m. or whatever you have to get up
00:44:21
eventually but you can do whatever you
00:44:23
want you get to plan your day you're
00:44:25
just so unbelievably happy that
00:44:27
happiness level is just going straight
00:44:29
up you're on the left hand side of that
00:44:31
bell curve but then after 2 3 weeks
00:44:34
maybe two three months depending on who
00:44:36
you are your happiness begins to level
00:44:38
off so you're at the you're getting to
00:44:40
the top of that bell curve the very top
00:44:42
and it's like you start to realize maybe
00:44:45
I can't just watch Netflix all day maybe
00:44:48
this isn't going to do it for me for for
00:44:49
the next 30 you know 20 30 40 years and
00:44:53
if you don't make a change guess what
00:44:54
happens to your happiness you go down to
00:44:56
the other side you go to the other side
00:44:58
the right hand side of that bell curve
00:44:59
it's like a roller coaster now your
00:45:01
happiness actually decreases and believe
00:45:04
it or not you know you might be in a
00:45:06
position now where it's like anything
00:45:08
would be better than this I can't
00:45:10
imagine watching Netflix and being less
00:45:13
happy than I am now but you would be
00:45:16
surprised that when your purpose is
00:45:18
taken away from you and even if you
00:45:20
don't like your job a lot of people
00:45:22
derive purpose from what they do for a
00:45:25
living so if that is taken away from you
00:45:28
you have no purpose you have no reason
00:45:30
to get up in the morning you're like
00:45:33
what is the purpose of life and I know
00:45:35
nobody thinks this is going to happen to
00:45:37
them I totally get it but you would be
00:45:40
surprised at how many people go through
00:45:42
this very same dilemma they retire from
00:45:47
something they don't retire to something
00:45:51
so you really really really have to have
00:45:53
that two like you're retiring two that
00:45:57
next career quote unquote you have to
00:46:00
know what that's going to be and you
00:46:02
have to be reasonably certain that
00:46:04
you're going to be able to do it in
00:46:06
early retirement before quitting
00:46:09
otherwise you have no business retiring
00:46:12
early you have no business quitting your
00:46:14
job you might as well just keep chugging
00:46:16
down that road keep earning that income
00:46:18
until you have that critical piece about
00:46:22
what's going to fill your life without a
00:46:25
full-time job that is absolutely key if
00:46:27
you don't have that do not retire
00:46:30
thankfully I did have that I knew what I
00:46:32
was going to do I I didn't know what
00:46:34
like these exact pieces that I put in
00:46:37
place now I didn't necessarily have that
00:46:39
figured out but I had a good direction I
00:46:41
knew the things that I was going to
00:46:43
start exploring with and playing with
00:46:44
and seeing what what works and
00:46:46
ultimately it it did but if you don't
00:46:48
have that just keep working until you
00:46:51
have that postc career purpose figured
00:46:55
out yeah directional details I I really
00:46:58
I I like that phrase a lot Direction
00:46:59
over details you don't need to have all
00:47:01
the details but you really have to know
00:47:02
your direction a little bit and you
00:47:04
reminded me Steve I might get this stat
00:47:06
a tiny bit wrong but this is from uh the
00:47:08
retirement Manifesto this is from Fritz
00:47:10
Gilbert there's a stat out there that
00:47:12
about 28% of retirees now this is where
00:47:16
it's important that I get it right it's
00:47:17
I know it's 28% and it's either that at
00:47:20
one point they go through a depressive
00:47:22
episode related to being retired or just
00:47:24
that they are depressed in retirement
00:47:26
it's one of the two and and there is an
00:47:27
important difference between those two
00:47:29
but the upshot or the lesson I take from
00:47:32
that is that it's very easy to enter
00:47:34
retirement and of course like you said
00:47:36
start off on this High because great
00:47:39
you've now untethered yourself from
00:47:41
daily work or at least you know a daily
00:47:44
job the corporate world whatever it may
00:47:46
be but then how are you going to fill
00:47:48
the void of those social connections how
00:47:50
are you going to fill the void of that
00:47:52
feeling of accomplishing something
00:47:54
that's fun too how are you going to fill
00:47:56
those eight or 10 or 12 hours a day
00:47:58
where you used to be grinding and sure
00:48:00
maybe grinding wasn't always fun but at
00:48:02
least you were doing something
00:48:03
productive and and your brain needs that
00:48:05
there's a second great stat and then
00:48:07
I'll throw it back over to you where
00:48:08
sure the the number one concern for the
00:48:11
average pre- retiree is financial if you
00:48:14
were to list out all you know
00:48:15
pre-retirees and what their concerns are
00:48:17
the most common biggest concern is
00:48:19
financial but finances are rarely one of
00:48:22
the top concerns for post retirees
00:48:24
because they realize the finances are
00:48:25
fine just like a position you find
00:48:27
yourself in and that you alluded to but
00:48:29
many post retirees realize oh there's so
00:48:32
much more to life that I was kind of
00:48:34
overlooking and now there's this void
00:48:35
and I'm not quite sure how to fill it I
00:48:38
don't think my wife would mind me saying
00:48:40
this but she went into that depressive
00:48:42
State about a year after she left her
00:48:46
job and she was filling that void with
00:48:48
just reading she would read literally
00:48:50
all day long because it was just
00:48:52
something to distract her from the fact
00:48:53
that she had nothing to do and this was
00:48:55
back when we were traveling full time
00:48:56
time in our Airstream I was on the
00:48:59
computer doing doing my thing but she
00:49:01
didn't really have that she didn't have
00:49:03
something to do every day and she was
00:49:06
getting pretty depressed and she got a
00:49:09
little bit more involved with the
00:49:11
YouTube channel that we were doing at
00:49:12
that time ultimately we we stopped doing
00:49:14
that now she's doing a lot of real
00:49:16
estate that keeps her busy and even some
00:49:18
engineering now on the side as well so
00:49:21
she did eventually find that it kind of
00:49:23
meant her working more of a traditional
00:49:26
job now
00:49:27
than traditional retirement I guess but
00:49:30
we definitely do have firsthand
00:49:32
knowledge of how common that can be and
00:49:35
how easy it is how easy it is to fall
00:49:38
into that because nobody thinks they're
00:49:40
going to have that problem otherwise
00:49:41
they wouldn't retire all they know is I
00:49:44
don't like this so I want to get away
00:49:47
from this but they don't necessarily
00:49:49
stop to think about where they're going
00:49:52
to they're just so concerned about
00:49:54
getting away that they don't have the
00:49:56
right direction or they don't have a
00:49:57
direction at all so Fritz is stat I'm
00:50:01
sure it's 28% in some point in their
00:50:04
early retirement lifestyle experience
00:50:07
some ter some type of you know quote
00:50:09
unquote depression to you know a varying
00:50:11
degree which is so unbelievably common a
00:50:13
third that's almost a third of people
00:50:16
that's an incredibly High number of
00:50:19
people who are retiring to to nothing so
00:50:22
I know I'm belaboring the the point here
00:50:24
but I'm doing that because it's
00:50:27
incredibly important not to sever your
00:50:31
link to purpose to communication to you
00:50:34
know your social outlet to a reason to
00:50:37
get up in the morning you cannot sever
00:50:40
that until you have something in place
00:50:42
that you're going to retire to cannot
00:50:44
stress that enough Steve I feel like you
00:50:46
you've delivered so many powerful points
00:50:49
today succinctly and you've worded and
00:50:51
you shared your stories with us so well
00:50:53
and you've shared some of these
00:50:54
millionaire habits with us so well and
00:50:56
bearing the lead here I brought up that
00:50:57
term eight times tell us what
00:50:58
millionaire habits is tell us where
00:51:00
listeners can reach out to you can
00:51:02
follow you can hear more of what you
00:51:03
have to say can connect with you
00:51:05
millionaire habits is the newsletter
00:51:07
that I send out once a week I go through
00:51:10
a lot of the topics that we discussed
00:51:12
today just in email so it go straight to
00:51:14
your inbox absolutely free I do have a
00:51:16
paid upgrade for more content if that's
00:51:19
what you're into which of course I would
00:51:21
highly recommend that because I do give
00:51:23
a lot more value to the premium
00:51:25
subscribers of my email list but it's at
00:51:28
millionaire habits. us you'll see a a
00:51:31
little sign up form there if you scroll
00:51:33
down just a little bit I also have a
00:51:35
bunch of other resources on that website
00:51:37
for you to go through from beginner to
00:51:38
Advanced and everything in between
00:51:41
that's where I spend the majority of my
00:51:43
writing time at millionaire habits. us
00:51:46
if you are on Twitter I'm on Steve onpe
00:51:49
that's my handle has nothing to do with
00:51:51
drugs I never did speed it was back when
00:51:54
I had my Corvette I like to go fast I
00:51:56
started this Twitter account back then
00:51:58
should have changed it a long time ago
00:52:00
but that ship is sailed so anyway on
00:52:02
Twitter or X I guess now Steve on speed
00:52:05
and Instagram at millionaire habits
00:52:07
without the I and the A and the Habit so
00:52:10
that's where you can find me and that's
00:52:12
where I have spent probably way too much
00:52:14
of my time but I just love it too much
00:52:16
to to step away from those Outlets well
00:52:18
those links for you listeners everything
00:52:21
will be in the show notes for you to
00:52:22
easily and quickly find it and Steve
00:52:24
Adcock millionaire habits thank you for
00:52:26
for coming on the best interest podcast
00:52:28
for a second time you are very welcome I
00:52:30
am glad to be here and uh I got to say
00:52:32
you were great the first time but you
00:52:34
are even better this time you are you're
00:52:36
getting way more you are a natural at
00:52:38
this my friend I just love the
00:52:41
progression that your podcast has has
00:52:43
taken and what you're doing with it so
00:52:44
great job thanks for having me thank you
00:52:47
very much I appreciate it
00:52:49
Steve thanks for tuning in to this
00:52:51
episode of the best interest podcast if
00:52:54
you have a question for Jesse to answer
00:52:55
on a future episode send him an email at
00:52:58
Jesse bestter interest. blog again
00:53:01
that's Jesse ATB bestter interest. blog
00:53:05
did you enjoy the show subscribe rate
00:53:07
and review the podcast wherever you
00:53:09
listen this helps others find the show
00:53:11
and invest in knowledge themselves and
00:53:14
we really appreciate it we'll catch you
00:53:15
on the next episode of the best interest
00:53:21
podcast the best interest podcast is a
00:53:23
personal podcast met for education and
00:53:25
entertainment
00:53:26
it should not be taken as Financial
00:53:28
advice and is not prescriptive of your
00:53:30
financial situation