Freed by 50

It’s been a while since I posted anything, but thankfully I don’t think anyone was out there dying for my next post. The truth is I was caught up in the boring middle, and with the stock market in a slump I was pretending to not pay attention to money.

An interesting confluence of events happened a few weeks ago. First, as the market recovered I realized (once again) that if I never save another dime for retirement I’ll be able to retire at 58 and live my current life indefinitely. But I am still saving for retirement. Pretty heavily in fact. If I continue on the way I’m going and maxing out my 401k and mega backdoor Roth to the tune of $66,000 per year, I can easily retire in 7.5 years.

But here I am focusing on retirement again. 58 is 14 years off, and 50 is six years off. A lot can happen in that time. A lot should happen in that time.

In the next 14 years I’ll get kind of old (gasp!). I’ll see two of my three kids graduate high school and potentially head off to college. I’ll bury both of my parents, my dog, and likely my father-in-law. I’ll pay off my house, own a few cars, take a lifetime of family vacations, hit financial independence, and many more great things. I could even die.

Shit. That’s where I got stuck.

The second event was when friend of mine mentioned he was reading “Die with Zero.” This is a fantastic book that I think every saver should read. I read this book many years ago when I was in a very different place in life, so I chose to re-read the book. Among many other great points, “Die with Zero” tells us that we should absolutely be saving for that beautiful tomorrow, but that tomorrow is not guaranteed, so we shouldn’t forget to live today. It also reminds us that in that far off tomorrow we may not be able to do the wonderful things we envision doing today. For instance, I’d love to climb up to see Machu Picchu today, but how will my 58 year old self feel about that? Could I even do it then?

$66,000 is a lot of money to save every year. And when we’re not doing renovations of one kind or another, I also reinvest the majority of my RSU income, which amounts to tens of thousands more that I don’t enjoy today. Could I possibly give myself permission to cut back a bit on the investing and spend more money enjoying today?

I’m trying very hard to do just that. My wife and I have begun planning a 2024 Disney trip, our first with the kids, and we’re putting very little cap on the expense. I also just recently replaced my 12 year old two burner Weber with a massive Kirkland 12 burner stone island, and then after a particularly difficult cook with my three year old electric cabinet smoker I broke down and bought a Traeger IronwoodXL. I may have lost my mind.

You may look at this and say I’ve missed the point of “Die with Zero.” The book tells us we should be spending our money on experiences that will provide memories that last a lifetime. One of my goals for 2023 is to have more fun and remember how to spend money. Along those lines, one of my favorite things to do is to create meals that take all day to cook, and then share them with friends and family. These couple of things that I purchased will produce memories and experiences for years to come.

I’ve also decided to flex my “unlimited vacation” muscles and have put in over a month of time off during the summer. And I’ll be taking quite a bit of time around the holiday’s too. Whereas I usually tend to do staycations, we’ve peppered in short trips around the Northeast. Once my youngest is out of diapers, we plan to switch to long trips.

If this means saving less, so be it. As “Die with Zero” advocates for creating buckets of time throughout one’s life, or epochs, or whatever you choose to call them, perhaps my time as a “super saver” is coming to an end. I can continue to save towards my retirement, but allow myself to use that extra money to enjoy life now too.