Ready For Retirement
Ready For Retirement
Freedom at 60 Why He Left a Job He Loved (and Doesn’t Regret It) | Retirement Reality
Steve spent more than two decades building video games, working with a team that felt more like family than coworkers. By all measures, he loved his work. But a heart attack in 2021 changed everything, and it became the moment that pushed him to rethink the one thing he’d always said he wanted someday: an early retirement.
In this episode, Steve sits down with James Conole, CFP®, to share how a health scare, a divorce, and years of slowly learning how to budget and invest turned into the freedom he now wakes up to every day. He didn’t leave work because he hated his job. He left because he finally understood how valuable his time had become and how much life he still wanted to live.
Steve talks about losing 70 pounds, rebuilding his health through trial-and-error fitness routines, and the joy of discovering things he never had energy for during his career: jazz bands, improv lessons, spontaneous travel, and even acting classes. He also opens up about moving back to Arizona just in time to support his mom through a cancer diagnosis, a moment that revealed exactly how meaningful this new freedom is.
His story is a reminder that retirement isn’t just a math problem. It’s a life problem that you can solve by knowing what you value and experimenting until your days feel like your own again. And for Steve, these last two and half years have been better than he imagined.
Watch this episode of Retirement Reality — where real retirees share the wake-up calls, reinventions, and surprising joys that define life on the other side of work.
Want to be a guest on James’ show to help others by sharing your story? Complete this form: https://vwo3759x8i7.typeform.com/to/IwyScIeR
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Steve is not a client of Root Financial Partners, LLC and received no compensation for participating in this video. His statements reflect his own opinions and experience and are not indicative of any specific client’s experience and are not a guarantee of results. No cash or non-cash compensation was provided, and no material conflicts are known.
Advisory services are offered through Root Financial Partners, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. This content is intended for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered personalized investment, tax, or legal advice. Viewing this content does not create an advisory relationship. We do not provide tax preparation or legal services. Always consult an investment, tax or legal professional regarding your specific situation.
The strategies, case studies, and examples discussed may not be suitable for everyone. They are hypothetical and for illustrative and educational purposes only. They do not reflect actual client results and are not guarantees of future performance. All investments involve risk, including the potential loss of principal.
Comments reflect the views of individual users and do not necessarily represent the views of Root Financial. They are not verified, may not be accurate, and should not be considered testimonials or endorsements
Participation in the Retirement Planning Academy or Early Retirement Academy does not create an advisory relationship with Root Financial. These programs are educational in nature and are not a substitute for personalized financial advice. Advisory services are offered only under a written agreement with Root Financial.
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Two and a half years, you've been retired. If you could summarize retirement in one word so far, what would it be?
SPEAKER_00:Freedom. Yeah. It makes me want to sing the song. Uh I think it's Rita Franklin. She goes, Freedom, freedom, freedom. But yeah, no, it's it's been amazing. I can all my time is mine.
SPEAKER_01:When you retire, did it feel like an escape from something? And so that's where the freedom's coming from, or was it just a different level of freedom?
SPEAKER_00:I actually had a great, great job with great people. And I was at the same company for the last 23 years of my career. So it had nothing to do with the job, which I loved. And I was making some of my best money of my career at the end there, too. And but it was all about wanting that that freedom to do what I want to do when I want to do it.
SPEAKER_01:Steve had his dream job. He loved who he worked with and he was making great money, but he still decided to walk away at 60. Tune in to hear how a major health scare led to Steve rethinking what retirement even means for him and how the first two and a half years have been complete and total freedom. Enjoy today's episode with Steve. Steve, thank you for joining me today. How long have you now been retired?
SPEAKER_00:It's been almost exactly two and a half years.
SPEAKER_01:Two and a half years. And what did you do for work prior to retiring?
SPEAKER_00:I I was lucky enough to be a video game programmer. Um and I worked in games my almost my entire career, uh, other than my first two years out of college. Um so and that's something I always enjoyed as a kid is playing games and my dad brought home a computer, and and I was lucky enough to move into that and stay there my whole career. You know, it's been great.
SPEAKER_01:Wonderful. Found something you enjoyed and stay with it for a while. I want to come back to that. But before I do, two and a half years, you've been retired. If you could summarize retirement in one word so far, what would it be?
SPEAKER_00:Freedom. Yeah, it makes me want to sing the song. Uh I think it's Retha Franklin. She goes, Freedom, freedom, freedom. But yeah, no, it's it's been amazing. I can all my time is mine.
SPEAKER_01:I wanted let's talk about that a bit more. Because it sounds like you had a career. You were in the video game programmer, you enjoyed video games. It was something that when you retire, did it feel like an escape from something? And so that's where the freedom's coming from, or was it just a different level of freedom that you could never have even doing a job you loved?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's the latter. I mean, I I actually had a great, great job with great people, and I was at the same company um for the last 23 years of my career, and uh, and many of those people were there a lot of those years, so we became like family. Um, so it had nothing to do with the job, which I loved, and I was making some of my best money of my career at the end there, too. And but it was all about wanting that that freedom to do what I want to do when I want to do it, and have and have my time um to use as I like to use it.
SPEAKER_01:How old were you when you retired?
SPEAKER_00:I was 60.
SPEAKER_01:So so I'm here, and you enjoyed your job, you enjoyed the people you were doing it with, you are making good money, you still decided to retire, and early's relative, but I would say an early retirement. What led to that?
SPEAKER_00:Well, well, one thing is in 2021 I had a heart attack, and and I weighed over 70 pounds more than I weigh now. And so that was a huge wake-up call, just in my life in general. Um, and after that I changed my diet and I started exercising consistently for the first time in my life, which I still do today. And it's it's actually one of my things that I enjoy doing in retirement, and it gives me plenty of time to do it. Um, but that that wake-up call probably pushed me to retire a little earlier than I might have if I if that hadn't happened.
SPEAKER_01:How soon, and thank you for sharing that, Steve. How how soon after the heart attack did you realize I got to make a change? And that change is probably retirement, so I can prioritize.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I didn't it it didn't go straight to retirement. Um it the the it went straight to health. And yeah, and it was like overnight. Um and in fact, I'm not a person that gets depressed, but I had a severe depression for one day following my heart attack. It like I had never had before. And and after that, it just like I said, total wake-up call and started eating healthy. And um I well, of course, I had to go through uh cardiac cardiac rehab, and uh and so learned a lot there. And but but no, I but way before that though, I had always been wanting to retire early. Um I had read books financial when I was a kid, like Richest Man in Babylon from way back when I was a kid, and and I had early on, I had reading about Mr. Money Mustache and the early years of the fire community. Um, so I I had always had it in the back of my mind, but the the heart attack is what pushed it forward. And then I started thinking about well, yeah, started looking at the numbers. Um and yeah, I got some financial software, and and then actually my mom has a financial financial advisor, and then and they were able to do a free consultation to also confirm what the financial software was telling me that I I could do it. And so, so yeah, it's um I had always thought I always wanted to get on the early side, but I mean it wasn't easy. I I actually I went through a divorce um when I was 45, 47, um, and I and half my 401k went to my ex-wife. Um, so that was a huge blow at that time. But it was it's actually after that that I really got started getting good with money. Um, because I I never knew how to budget. It started with budgeting. That was the important first step because I I never budgeted well. And then my ex-wife and I, we had no extra money to our name. All we had is what was in our retirement accounts, um, and actually some credit card debt, which I despise. Um but after that, I I actually found a software called YNAB. You need a budget, and that and that taught me how to budget correctly for the first time in my life. And that that that starting step was huge in getting me slowly building up my savings over time and just started thinking about finances the right way, and then started learning about investing. And um, yeah, and I forgot now where the question started here.
SPEAKER_01:No, thank you a lot there. That there was a heart attack. There was the the brief scent of even depression following that. There was a divorce, there was learning to budget, there was the sense of always wanting to retire early, but needing to develop the skills to actually be able to do so. I want to cover each of those just even briefly. The depression, what what what when you were feeling that, what was the depression over? Was it the fact that my goodness, I almost just lost my life, or was it something related to inability to prioritize health? What was causing that?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, it's uh the first thing you said. Um, just the scare. I mean, I have two grown sons, um, and I want to be there for them. And that's another reason for staying in great health. And I don't have grandkids yet, but they're coming, and I want to be there for my grandkids as well. But but yeah, it was just that it was mostly that, just wanting to be there for my sons and and live a long, long life. Yeah. And and I'm I've I've always been in technology. I I want to see where technology goes as long as I can. Like virtual reality is fascinating to me. And so yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You gotta be around long enough to see grandchildren and also see where technology take us uh in this crazy journey we're on. Um, so what was that? So you had the heart attack in 2021. You retired in 2023, correct?
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_01:What was that journey like? So you always wanted to retire early. This maybe accelerated things or really brought things into perspective. Can you just kind of walk us through how did how did that because it's one thing to realize, oh, I need to prioritize this. It's another thing to actually do it. And in your case, it wasn't just health, but I think it was also retirement was more of like phase two of that, to be able to fully prioritize not just health, but also freedom, flexibility, all of that. How did how did what did that process look like? Was it an immediate, easy, I can now prioritize this and do this, or was it a a a series of things you worked through to get to where you are?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it was it was kind of it wasn't immediate, it was more gradual. Um I mean, yeah, I I guess I'd always I said I always wanted to retire early, but I never really had any action plan and and dates in mind um until after the heart attack. And it was gradual, and I just started thinking, yeah, it would be great to have my time to myself and be able to pursue some other things in life. And and um, and that's when I started thinking about it gradually and the numbers. And I had a I have a friend that retired really young just because uh he had a rotten situation with his job. Um and his his mom was going through some some things, and the job didn't make it easy. Um but but he handled it um and he had it was probably like five years before before me, and he was younger than me, um, as a college buddy. Um so, anyways, I I had seen examples of it, and um yeah, I just it was just a gradual thing, and then I yeah, I started looking at the money and yeah, can I retire? And then I started getting excited about it um a couple of years before, yeah, until I finally said, yeah, this is it. And then, oh yeah, well, I'll I'll talk about that later. But yeah, then I came up with a plan on how I was gonna tell my work because I I did like my job a lot and I wanted to give them plenty of time.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Oh well, I do want to touch upon that one second. But what I what happened is it sounds like the plan finally there was always a desire to retire early, but never maybe wasn't a formalized plan of how to do that. I think so many people feel that. If I want to retire, I want to do this, I want to travel, but the missing link between where they are and where they want to be, it just put simply a plan. What are you gonna do to move from where you are to where you want to go? What do you need to do with your 401k? What do you need to do with the budget? What do you need to do with health insurance, social security, whatever the case might be? And it sounds like the health scare was really the thing that said, time to connect the dots between what I'm saying I want and the practical steps to get there.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. Yeah, because it it's easy to um just stay in the same path that you're on and just yeah, keep doing what you're doing. And it's that's easy. It's it's hard to break out of that and uh and make these next steps, um, which yeah, I have I even though I had talked about it, but I had never put it in action, and then I start putting it in action.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, and one of the hopes of the show, too, is I'm hoping that for people listening, it's not a heart attack that's the wake-up call to say, get a plan in order to do this. It's the lessons from Steve, it's the lessons from others of okay, like there was a forcing factor there, but maybe this episode can be that forcing factor for some people of all that's missing, all that stands between them and what they want to do is get a plan in order. You can do this on your own, you can do this with software, you can do this with the financial advisor, whatever it is, get that plan. Because to go back to what you said, freedom is the word that you've used to describe the last two and a half years, and you enjoyed what you did for work. So, how much more so are you enjoying now? And I'm and we're gonna hear about that in just a second. But how was that preparing to tell your work? Knowing this is a job you love with people you love, making good money. What fears did you have? What what uh what did that feel like as you're preparing to tell them?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I don't I don't know if there were any fears. Um and and I didn't get any pushback, which kind of surprised me a little bit. But but I think because I had that heart attack, I think that's why I didn't get any pushback. Um, but uh yeah, um I lost my train of thought here. Um what were we talking about again?
SPEAKER_01:Telling telling your firm you're gonna retire. Tell your company, I'm gonna retire. Was that scary? Was it easy?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no. Yeah, it wasn't scary, but uh, I wanted to come up with a plan and I wanted to give them plenty of time because they had been really good to me, so I wanted to be good to my company. Um so I because a lot of people talk about a month or two months, but I said, okay, I'm gonna give them six months. Um, so they have plenty of time because and I knew what they need to replace, and they need to work on um getting um other programmers in to cover my what I my specialty was. And uh so I want to give them plenty of time, and then it turned out I gave me more time because at one point they're just trying to decide whether we're gonna hire a new programmer or um get some a contractor to work on a particular thing, um, part of our project. And so I said, okay, well, I gotta tell them now because I knew the right answer was to get a programmer, uh, not a um contractor. And so I told them about nine months before I retired. And so I think they appreciated that, and and we used it to good effect, and we got an excellent programmer, which helped make my transition much easier. And I had plenty of time to impart my wisdom um to the next generation.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Is there anything, Steve, you miss about work? You even given the fact that you're in love and retirement, anything you miss about work?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, just the people, the hanging out with uh my friends um from work. And and well, that another thing is is I stayed in, I was in San Diego, and um I I stayed there for a year after I retired. But then I since have moved to Arizona um in in 2024, um, which is where I'm originally from, my home state, and it's where my my mom is and friend and other friends and family. Um, but uh yeah, can you imagine I left San Diego for Arizona for that for that heat up in perfect weather? But um, but it's been a great move for me. And and also finance is um fact factored in there too, because I knew my money went a lot further here in Arizona than they did in California just because of taxes and property taxes and cost of living and lots of lots of other reasons.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. Very cool. I want to shift gears a little bit. A lot of people, you and I were talking before we hit record, of a lot of people, they plan for retirement, and their planning is purely financial. They run the numbers, they get the software, they do the budgeting, and they think that the numbers alone are going to get them to this point of feeling confident that they can do it. And they realize there's still a gap because it's not just are you financially prepared? There's also the are you mentally prepared, are you psychologically prepared? Do you know what you want to do? And I think just hearing stories of what's on the other side, the good and the bad, is so helpful to a lot of people. Will you share just the highlights, the lowlights, everything in between of how the first two and a half years have gone for you?
SPEAKER_00:Sure. Um, well, first of all, yeah, I I wasn't caught by surprise because I had been I had thought about it a lot, especially since after the heart attack, about how I wanted to live my life and um and how retirement might look. I thought about it a lot. So I I knew and and it and it and it worked out exactly as I had hoped, and better than I had hoped, actually. Um, because I wanted to get back into music, which I had um I had always always played music. Um, and so I was able to get into a couple of jazz bands um since retirement, and I'm I'm playing more as much or more than I was even planning on. Um so that's been great. I'm I've been getting jazz lessons, um, improv lessons. I I took an acting class, which is just something out of the blue. I'd I just had interested in the process of acting, but I had I didn't know anything about it. So I said, you know what, I'm gonna do something to get out of my comfort zone. That's something I couldn't do during my working years. Um so that was just something I I didn't even think about until after I was retired. And I did that, that was fun. I met some really neat people and had a blast room.
SPEAKER_01:Was that scary to do? Did it did it take you a while to psych yourself up to say, I'm gonna do this new scary thing, or was it a pretty simple decision and then you did it?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I kind of I kind of just said, you know what, I started thinking about it, said, hey, that'd be fun. And I started looking around, Googling about what was available in Arizona, and I found something, and it turned out to be the perfect foundational acting class and met great people. And and yeah, I was a little out of my comfort zone in the class, but I um well I've I was I always had to perform music on a stage, so I I'm a little bit comfortable with getting out there, but it's still a different muscle. And yeah, just let loose and and do all these wild things in front of other people. Um, so it took a little bit, but yeah, definitely out of my comfort zone, but but it wasn't too bad.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:How many of these things that you're doing now? Music, obviously you just mentioned acting, other hobbies, how many of these are things that you could have done in your working years versus how much of this is only possible being fully retired?
SPEAKER_00:Well, the music, uh I always I always kept up on my instrument. I play the trombone. And uh I kept up on it while I was re while I was working, um, but not playing a lot of bands. I played on occasional bands um over the years, uh, but not nothing regularly. Um but I kept up and practiced. Um sometime. I mean I'm sure I had some time where I went years without playing much, but uh I kept on a little bit, but um, but yeah, so that was something. And and I was too tired to I couldn't practice during the day, and by the time I wanted to practice, it would be later at night, and and I didn't want to bug my neighbors, so so it wasn't a great time to practice. Um so now I can practice all during the day, all day long if I want. But um so that's something. Um and then yeah, and just playing in these bands, I I wouldn't have had the time or energy. I I was always like when I was working, I'd after my job, I would I would just um be on the couch watching TV and and I had no energy to to do things that now I have tons of energy. And working out too. I can work out, I had to work out early morning or it was too hard in the evening, so I don't do early mornings while I was working. Um luckily I was working from home for a little while because of COVID and all that, and so I was able to actually get some sets in while I'm working. Um, so that was that was kind of cool, but uh but I definitely didn't have the time to dedicate to it that I have now.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. One of the things you said uh a couple minutes ago, Steve, was that you thought a lot about what you wanted retirement to look like. And I think that's a very healthy exercise to have an idea of what you are retired to, what you want life to look like. Not that you can perfectly predict it, but to have some sense of what am I getting myself into? What do I want to do if you do it by purpose? And then just drift into something that becomes very reactionary. How do you think is that simply something that's it's literally just a thought? Do you journal? Do you talk to people? Do you read think what does thinking about what you want life to look like look like for you?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well, I I guess it's just a lot of thought and um and based on things I I had read and and watched about early retirement and how other people had done it. But uh yeah, it was and yeah, it's it's really important. I mean, I've talked to people now that like some of my coworkers from the past, and some of them, yeah, they don't they haven't thought about it at all, and they just think, yeah, this is what I'm doing, and I'm gonna do it till retirement age. Um and they don't really have, and they maybe don't have a lot of hobbies, and so maybe working is is still good for them to keep do to keep working. Um but but if somebody has a lot of hobbies and a lot of things that they like to do that they can't do while they're working, um that's those are the people that yeah, I can really think about. Oh yeah, traveling. I did I did a lot of travel, I've done a lot of traveling since I retired. That's something that I couldn't I mean, I could do like a like one or two trips a year or on the shorter side, but now I can do long trips and I can do uh open-ended trips. Um they don't have to have a certain date where I'm done, which is gives me more freedom um on vacation. I can stay another week in Italy if I if I wanted to. Um, so yeah, it's that's been fantastic too.
SPEAKER_01:Sorry, have you gone somewhere where you said I'm loving this so much, I'm gonna stay around for another five days, seven days.
SPEAKER_00:I I don't know if I've done um done that yet, but but when I when I did take a European trip in 2023 after my retirement, um I uh oh yeah, so the first I had I went to Edinburgh, Scotland, I went to um France, um and then and then to Italy. And the first two legs I had kind of all planned out and and I I was meeting my son for a lot of that. Um and then the last leg in Italy, I didn't plan it at all. Um I didn't have hotels or anything, and I just figured it out as I went, so that was different, or where I was gonna go in Italy. And it was getting towards the end of my trip, so I was getting a little tired. So I didn't want to, I'm glad I didn't have a bunch of different locations. So I ended up just going to Rome and and and Florence. Um, and I'm glad I didn't have all kinds of other things planned. Um, so yeah, so that was a time where I was able to just um go with the flow and and do what was fun and where I was enjoying things.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, very cool. Um back to you had thought a lot about what you wanted life to look like in retirement, you'd also planned financially for what retirement might look like. How close is what you're actually spending today as you talk about budgeting and talk about what is it gonna cost? How close is what you're actually spending to what you thought retirement would cost?
SPEAKER_00:I yeah, it's been uh I have I haven't slowed down on my spending, I'll be honest with you. It's I mean, I've um it's I I and I didn't really yeah, and I probably needed to put more thought into what my retirement spending would be. All but but so far, well, and and I am it's kind of a I'm gonna do it in an intuitive manner too, because we have all these rules, the 4% rule, or or now it's a 4% 4.7% rule or or whatever, and all and these guardrails approaches, all these different things. And I've just kind of do it intuitively. The the the market's been up, so uh, so I'm I'm spending kind of freely. I've I've I've uh I've been enjoying my money, and and I know now's the time to enjoy it and spend it. Um if if the market has a downturn, I I would I'll probably slow slow down. But I I mean I do know what my core expenses are. Um so if if I had to, I I I know I'll last a long time. And um, and I've and I've thought a lot about when I'm gonna start Social Security, and I'm I think I'm gonna wait till 70. Um, so that'll extend because I I hope to live a long time now because uh I'm be keeping my health up. And uh so my goal is to maximize social security, and I think that alone would cover my core expenses um starting at 70 uh going forward. And and we know things slow down eventually, but I I hope not I hope to extend that further and further as um I mean uh as medical advances keep going. I mean, people are living longer and they're living healthier longer, and I hope they keep keep up with that trend.
SPEAKER_01:And health is obviously a big priority for you right now. What did you do? So you lost 70 pounds after the heart attack, you're really prioritizing your health. For a lot of people, health has been so deprioritized they don't even know what to do to get back into the routine. Is it daily walks? Is it going to the gym? Is it swimming? Is it pickleball? What does your health routine look like? What's what's been so effective, allowing you to lose 70 pounds and seemingly really enjoying what you're doing for your health routine?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well, I mean, it's it took many, many years to put on those extra pounds. So you can't expect to get rid of it all at once. So it's been a gradual process over the those four years. Well, I mean, I started before I retired. I started on that journey. Um, but so it's been about four years of of and then a lot of it's trial and error and and watching, uh, and YouTube is great for lots of different fitness um sources. Um so I've tried lots of different things. It sort of started off gradually just with the caloric deficit, um, and then changing my diet, because I I I like to joke that I used to be on a cheeseburger diet because I ate a lot of way too many cheeseburgers. Um so and I learned in my my cardio rehab I I gotta start eating fish and chicken and um because I'm still a carnivore. Um and so I'm still gonna eat meat, but uh I'm I cut out a lot of the red meat, although I have put some of the red meat back in, but I'm still within moderation. And as I'm in in much better health now, um feeling good and watching that. But yeah, I started gradually, yeah, just caloric deficit, and then I said, Oh, you know what, I gotta start weight training. So I started doing weight training, um, and not uh not even going to a gym, but I I had my own adjustable dumbbells and a in a weight bench, um, and a pull-up bar and uh a dip bar, and so I was doing that at home, um, so along with the caloric deficit. And oh, and I was doing cardio. I had I bought a an elliptical machine. Um, so I was doing that. Um the cardio was probably the thing I enjoyed the least. I just just do it sitting on a stationary um exercise um machine was kind of boring. Even with iFit and following a trainer around the world or whatever, and it changing elevations, it was pretty cool technology. But um so but yeah, so I so I kept evolving my my health journey too. So it I a few years ago I found this I switched from from weights. I I used to get joint issues on like bicep curls and my elbows and um and different things. Um and so I switched to these heavy bands with a it's a foot plate and and bands and uh and a bar and like an Olympic type bar, um solid bar. Um and you can do all these different exercises, and they're not and it's not like the light bands that we had like in cardio rehab, but these are heavy duty, there's a whole range of them, so you can go up in and weight um and even combine them. But anyway, so I switched from from traditional weights to these heavy-duty bands, and um now all my joint pains went away, and I'm still haven't lost any strength and um and continue to lose lose weight and and gain strength, or at least get my maintain my strength while I'm losing weight. Um, and then cardio, I I figured out a secret to cardio for me, which was virtual reality of all things, because um I found I had a I had a headset, this MetaQuest 3 headset, and um I started saying, yeah, uh I bet I could find some exercises on that because you're moving around and and I found this software called Supernatural, where you're in these 3D environments all over the world, and uh you're hitting targets to music. They have different modes. There's one called flow, and you're hitting all these targets, and you're you know moving around and and and squatting and and back up, and and then there's also a boxing mode, so you're ducking and weaving and and boxing. Um and so that turned out to be fun fun cardio. And so I've been doing that since April of this year, and very consistently, and I I sold my elliptical because I I found a new way to do cardio because I I had tried walking all and just getting my steps in, but that it really wasn't for me in it. It was it was very time consuming. And I'd rather um do a little more higher intensity cardio for shorter tier period and and have fun with it.
SPEAKER_01:So it's all evolved.
SPEAKER_00:I switched I switched the the bands, I yeah, yeah, to the fun cardio, and so I found what works for me. So I love it. Um so now, yeah, and I've been it's been like four years of strength training consistently, and and I had always done it as a kid and as I got older, but only for it only lasts like two, three, three months if I was lucky at a time. And now it's been it's been just consistent.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Well, I think the principle here that I'm hearing is is identify the things that are important. In this case, it's health, but it could be relationships, it could be hobby, like it could be anything, and then experiment. What you started with isn't what you're still doing now. You bought the elliptical, but now you're doing something different. You started with strength training, but now you're doing something different. And I think that that's if I had to guess probably why retirement's been so amazing is you're not afraid to try things that align with what you value and then iterate and find that thing and not expect it to be perfect the first time around, whether it's acting classes, health stuff, what you're doing for travel, the right thing is gonna be found if you just keep sticking with it. Um, a few more questions before we wrap your state. At the very beginning, I could just tell that retirement these first two and a half years of retirement have been incredible. Is there one particular moment that stands out where you said that was a moment that just kind of summarizes how this has been? The freedom I've experienced, the enjoyment of it all. Does any moment come to mind?
SPEAKER_00:Well, yeah, there's a few moments. Well, one is not so positive. Um I I moved back to Arizona in 2020. And my mom was diagnosed with colon cancer at the end of 2024. So, but the fact that I'm here and able to help her out and see her often has been a great boon for in my retirement that I was that the timing worked out so well that I'm able to be here for her. So that's not a not so great thing, but great that I'm there for her, and she I know she really appreciates it. But then, yeah, just the freedom and I've been able to travel and see both my both of my sons are on opposite coasts. One's in Brooklyn, New York, and one's in Santa Cruz, California. So I need to travel to see them, and they're working, so they can't travel as much. But so I'm able to go out to New York and have a fantastic time out there. And this summer I went to Santa Cruz and hung out with my son there, and we had a great time. And so, yeah, and then traveling to Europe was a great moment. And um and yeah, just the freedom to go at any time. I can I can leave my home and be and go go somewhere or go do something. I I have plans to go see my I have a brother in Oregon. I can go I'm gonna go see him soon. It's like there's like so many choices of things to do. Um so yeah, yeah, those, yeah. It's been a lot of great moments.
SPEAKER_01:Freedom to do what you want, when you want, with who you want, uh, and all of that. Um you have you you clearly did a lot of your own research, learning, watching videos, listening to podcasts, reading, getting feedback from others. Are there any kind of core pieces of advice that were transformational to your ability to retire when you're able to retire, or transformational your ability to enjoy retirement and the way that you have enjoyed it that you would want to share with the listeners?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well, I mean, it I mean, it starts with the the money base, I mean, which for me was for me was budgeting. That was my big eye-opener. Um, so once I learned how to budget and budget well, that led that was like the root root, no pun intended, of the tree that uh that started my financial journey on the right track. Um, and then yeah, and then and it wasn't until I was I used to always just do my my match um in my 401k, but when I hit 50, I started max maxing out my my 401k and as well as the catch-up contributions. And and I think soon after that we had HSA available to us, so I maxed out my HSA. So I was maxing out all my retirement vehicles. Um and that's been oh well, I guess that yeah, that's the HSA has been a huge boon for a lot of people aren't retiring because of medical. Um they like that they're getting insurance from their jobs, but to me it hasn't been a big deal at all. Uh I'm still luckily I was lucky to have three years of Cobra, and I'm just gonna finish that up going into next year. Um and so I'm only gonna have to be on the ACA for about 20 months or private insurance or whatever. I still have to look into that. I started I started looking at ACA and I I'm not going to do that. I'm gonna go to my maximum Cobra because it's cheaper. Um, and and I've been doing Roth conversions in retirement. Um, and so that's making my salary salary high. I'm going up to a certain tax bracket and stopping there. Um, and so I'm not gonna get any subsidies anyway. So so that I don't have to worry about that. Um but so yeah, um, and I have and yeah, lots of reading early on. Um some great books I read and and podcasts, and there's a this guy named Rob Berger that I was really instrumental. I found him early when he started doing his podcast, financial podcast. He's a guy who retired early from being a lawyer. Um and he's and he's pretty big now on on YouTube, and um he came out with a book, and um, but he he had some great ideas. And then yeah, as far as um so I I I'm a do-it-yourselfer. I like doing my own finances, but I because I love I love it and I stay on top of it, and it's fun for me. But anybody who doesn't enjoy that part of it, yeah, I think they should get a financial advisor. In fact, I was I was doing my mom's for a little while, and actually I'm still doing a little bit of it, but um, she ended up getting a financial advisor, um, which actually made it easier for me because I don't have to get uh I can concentrate on my thing and not worry so much about hers, and know it's hers and that she's in good hands. Um and yeah, but I I but I vetted those people and they're good, they're good, and just like I've vetted you guys, and I think you guys are excellent, and then that's why I've I'm on today, because I I found you guys early on in your pod on your uh YouTube journey and been really impressed with you guys, and and your knowledge is all spot on from everything that I've I've learned and and and known.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, thank you for that, Steve. Appreciate it. As we wrap, I want you to think of that person that's watching this and was maybe in similar shoes as you, where they they're financially prepared, they know they want to retire, but there's maybe some fears about what's on the other side, am I gonna regret it? What am I gonna do? If you could speak to that person, knowing what you know about your experience at least, what would you tell them? Not about the financial side of things, but what's waiting for them on the other side.
SPEAKER_00:Well, well, I do have to mention what finan what you made me think of just now financially is because I was I wasn't sure how it was gonna look. Um, and in and uh spending your money with no income coming in is a lot different than when you have a job and and money's coming in. So I was worried about that. But I would tell people, yeah, um, well, I mean, I there's a there is a fear of sequence of returns risk, but for me it's been fantastic, and and my net worth has continued to grow, and so that's been a nice surprise while I'm spending pretty pretty freely. Um so and and sure, I'll adjust if if things go south, um, or when they invariably do, because we know that's gonna happen. But you know what, we know that all happen eventually, but yeah, you've got to prepare prepare for the ups and downs. Um, but yeah, no, as far as freedom, yeah, just think about what you what you want to do, try to envision what you want your life to look like in retirement, and then just go for that. And um, and and it's been for me, it's been as good or better than I even imagined. Um and uh yeah, oh yeah, and I did mention that the HSA for healthcare, uh now I have no fears of how I'm gonna pay my um my COVID or my ACA and to get me to to Medicare age. Um so yeah, don't let don't let um that stop you from retiring because I do see a lot of people say, Oh, I'm not gonna retire until um I get to Medicare age.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, thank you, Steve, for that. And just one more time, my guidance to the audience listening from what I've learned from you is don't be afraid to try new things and don't be afraid to understand what do you value, and then how do you do things that align with that? It's gonna have benefits that maybe you couldn't even have anticipated. The freedom to be with your mother, or she was diagnosed with her diagnosis, the freedom to be with your sons as they're on different sides of the country, the freedom to pursue the things that are most important to you, some of those things you couldn't have known prior to retiring. But being in a position where you had the freedom and the willingness to keep trying new things, amazing to see how fun it's been for you and how much you've enjoyed it. So thank you, Steve, for coming on, and thank you for sharing your experiences here on this episode of Retirement Reality.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. It's been great talking to you.
