Retiring at 62 After a Health Scare Changed Everything | Road to Retirement

Two weeks into retirement, Jatin is already proving something powerful: you don’t need decades of experience as a retiree to know when it’s time to reclaim your life. After a sudden health scare on a road trip, long days in IT project management, and years of juggling global time zones, he realized what so many pre-retirees feel but rarely admit: time is more valuable than another year of work.

In this episode, we talk through the real questions people face on the road to retirement: When is the right time to retire? How do you balance health, income, and purpose? What happens when your career has defined your schedule for decades? Jatin shares how a single wake-up moment pushed him to evaluate healthcare, savings, retirement checklists, family obligations, and how many “go-go years” he truly had left.

You’ll hear why he retired at 62, how he’s prioritizing health and running again, what early retirement feels like after decades in IT, how he’s planning travel and bucket-list adventures, and why he believes everyone should make the most of their healthiest years, long before restrictions or burnout take over.

--

Jatin 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

Create Your Custom Early Retirement Strategy Here

Get access to the same software I use for my clients and join the Early Retirement Academy here

Ari Taublieb, CFP ®, MBA  is the Chief Growth Officer of Root Financial Partners and a Fiduciary Financial Planner specializing in helping clients retire early with confidence.

Transcript

The Power Of Retire-Optional

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back to the Early Retirement Podcast. I want all of you to know the earliest time you can retire doesn't mean you actually need to retire. In fact, most people think when I say, hey, you're in a position to retire, that people just do. That doesn't happen that often. Most of the time, people go, wow, that's great to know. I'm going to keep working another year for my team so I don't just leave them high and dry. Or I've got this project. Or I don't know what I'm going to do yet in retirement, but it's really nice going to work knowing I don't actually have to be here. If I have a bad day, if politics change, I have the ability to do what I want to do, which is spend my time on whatever it is I want to do. And that's once again where I want all of you to live. I don't want you in that I don't know phase. Many of you have heard this before, but I'm a soccer player and my wife says I'm worse than hangry when I'm injured. If you don't know hangry, that's hungry and angry. A very dangerous combination. And she used to think right when I get my MRI, I'm going to be even worse than that. Why? Because I'm going to see the severity of my injury. But the truth is I relax and I relax even if the injury is bad, because now I know the truth. I have a plan. Got it. I might have to do six months of physical therapy or a year to get back on the field. But I know what I need to do in order to once again play soccer, which is the goal in this case. I want all of you to know, wow, what if markets went down right when I retired? Or what if tax brackets change? Or what if my health changes? Or what if I live longer? Or what if, what if, what if, wow, I still see that I would be in a position if I were to make the following changes. Great, I still want to retire. So if you're wondering, okay, what do I need to know before I retire? Once again, guys, you can email me the word retire in the subject line, and I will respond back with a free guide. It's a checklist to make sure you don't forget anything. If you want to build your own plan, just make sure to put in the subject line the word optimize, and then I'll send you the software that I use to build financial plans. And then finally, we love to help people retire early. So you can go to our website, rootfinancial.com, and that's when people are like, wow, I get I need to be financially educated on all retirement topics, but I don't want to actually be the one in charge of implementing it because I want to be enjoying my retirement. And it's our job to make sure we're helping you get the most true value out of what you've worked so hard for. So many people just keep working until 60, 65, thinking, you know what, that's what I got to do. That's what my parents did. But that's not the reality. The reality is there's so many of you who listen to this podcast who go, wow, maybe I could retire earlier, but don't take action on it. And we want to show you, hey, here's when it could be possible. And we're not just gonna sugarcoat it, we're not gonna blow smoke, we're gonna show, hey, here's the reality based on your situation, how much you could spend, here's what's reasonable. So it might surprise you, but it also might be a little bit of tough love. And we believe in being transparent. So hopefully the podcast resonates. I do all of this for you guys for free, and I love getting to do it. So thank you in advance for letting me record these episodes, or else it just feels like I'm talking to outer space. So appreciate you guys emailing me for these free guides. That's a long intro. Let's get to the episode.

A Fresh Retirement Story Begins

SPEAKER_01 2:50

So, right now, obviously it's only been a few weeks, but what are you most excited to now spend your time doing?

SPEAKER_00 2:56

So the main thing is like I want my priority is to health and wellness, right? So take back my health. I mean, wanted to make sure that whatever longevity left, that I wanted to live happily and and I don't want to travel, let's put it this way. Uh some of one of my colleagues mentioned that you don't want to travel in wheelchair, whatever that current go-go years are that I wanted to capitalize on that and see what best I can do. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

This series, Road to Retirement, is designed to hear from people like you. You're going to hear from real people who want to retire early, and they're sharing what's worked well for them so far. How close are they? Some people you're gonna listen to are a month out, other people are 10 years out. So there's a wide range of people, and all of these different people are gonna help you retire early from them kindly sharing their story. Now, if you haven't seen it already, I have another series here called Retirement Reality, where people who have already retired will share here's what worked, here's what's actually been more difficult than I thought, and so much more. Today's episode is a road to retirement. So if you're on your way to retirement, this episode might resonate even more. Enjoy. My guest today said it best when he says he does not want to travel in a wheelchair and how he had a health event occur out of nowhere that really made him think differently about retirement. Now, he wasn't miserable at his work, but he didn't find fulfillment anymore. So he got serious about looking into when retirement could happen. And he realized that financially he wish he retired years ago. It was this other stuff making sure that he had his ducks in a row that he explains in the episode that was really kind of giving him hesitation. So I hope that you guys can take insights from what Jateen kindly shares with us and apply that to your own situation. I'm so grateful he came on the show and shared this because I learned a lot. Enjoy. Jateen, thank you for coming on the show, Road to Retirement. This is a fun episode because this new series is where I get to talk to people on their way to retirement. My other show, Retirement Reality, is designed to hear from people who have already retired. They've been retired maybe for a few years, and they're able to share. Here's what it's actually been like. You are an interesting case, my friend, because when you did apply to come on this show, you were working, and now you are retired. So we get to hear the most recent example of someone who is literally just a few weeks retired. Is that right? Yes, it's just about like uh two weeks, under two weeks. Two weeks. So this could have easily been a retirement reality episode, but because you are so freshly retired, I'm throwing this on our new road to retirement category. It could go either way, and the questions are similar. But I would love to start by asking. So it's been a few weeks, you could have retired at any time. Why did you retire now?

The Health Wake-Up Call

SPEAKER_00 5:45

So it was uh uh to be honestly with you, it was like a more of a struggle for between heart and mind for me. And and there was a uh if you have asked me this three years back, I I I would I don't have I I did not have any answer for it. Oh, I don't know when I can retire, but then there was an uh some episode happened in my life that uh wait woke me up and I said, Okay, I need to start thinking thoroughly how soon I can retire, and we were just uh discussing I was discussing with my wife and say like why can't we retire and all those things, right? So I prepared some basic checklist which kind of uh I went through and this year like uh uh everything uh everything got like lined up. So I took a plunge basically that okay, let's take it and and just uh two weeks back I am happily retired now. So basically my uh my idea was to to be like not going into the uh so-called traditional fire calculation and things like that. It was more of a basic checklist, like do I have this, this, this kind of uh sit situation where like okay, I have completed my checklist and now what? Do do you really want to work or do I need to work? No, if I don't, then and it just happened to be that uh at workplace there was an opportunity that arise, and I said, Okay, I'll take the plunge and uh okay, I'm out.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

Well, I'm happy you took the plunge, and I want to learn more about your story because this is something that comes up way more often than I ever would have thought when I started in the industry. You said there was an event that occurred. Is that health related?

SPEAKER_00 7:52

Yes, so so uh I'll don't go into too much detail, but like just for a time uh point of view, like I I was on a road trip and uh from home to visiting my daughter, and then um on on the way about like 150 miles away, that what happened was we stopped at s uh Starbucks to get a coffee and I fainted there. And just don't know what why and I was not able to walk back to the car because my wife was sitting there inside the car, so I by the time I reached I I had no idea how how long it did it take. It was early in the morning, so that kind of uh we we came back home and went through like close to about three to four months of uh all the checkups and things like that, thorough, thorough check of what went wrong and whatnot. Couldn't fit quite figure it out, and that that was like the case that I said okay, I need to I need to start thinking seriously about like what if scenarios and started looking into it. So yeah, that's where the journey started. I mean my in journey, I should say journey, but it that's where my quest to getting retired early started.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

I appreciate you sharing that, and that will definitely wake you up. And you know, I'll hear a lot of people say, I have a 30-year retirement horizon from 60 to 90 or 65 to 95, and I'll say, No, you don't. And they'll say, Well, how do you know how long I'm gonna live? I go, There's 30 years of living, but how much of that is really living to the degree where you're enjoying it? So, how many good years do you have of optimal health and energy? That's a different number. So I appreciate once again you sharing that because it's not easy to talk about, but it is very real that health things will certainly make someone start that quest seriously. Do you feel with your previous job that you were able to prioritize your health and do what you needed to do? Was it just so stressful you didn't have the time to do that?

SPEAKER_00 10:02

No, so so that's a good question, Ari. But uh there were times like I mean the days were long. Day starts at 6 a.m. in the morning and ends at four, five o'clock, because most of pre post-COVID it was like working from home kind of thing, more or less. There were days that I used to go to the office, but like uh it was more the day starts because my team in different time zones and different countries, like uh so morning goes to one time zone, evening goes to the second time, afternoon go to the second, and evening to the current time zone. So it was like more more distributed, and you always have a long day's end of the day, right? And not able to do what you want to do, basically go out, do exercise or do because I like running and it was like I was falling behind on that schedule.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Did you ever and I know I'm skipping around here, I'm just too curious. Did you ever faint before that one incident or that that was the first time it ever?

SPEAKER_00 11:12

That was the first time in my life it happened, and uh uh knock on wood, it will not probably happen again, but like uh uh it's just did not uh I did not had uh anything after

IT Stress And Reclaiming Fitness

SPEAKER_00 11:25

that kind of situation, but that was uh eye-opener for me.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Definitely. How old are you today? Um 62. 62, so recently retired a few weeks. What was your career?

SPEAKER_00 11:40

Uh my career is like more on IT project management and and uh and release is software management, so it was more design build built and test kind of a situation and doing more on a project management side of it, leading to I've spoken to a few people.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Sorry to interrupt there, Jateen. I've spoken to a few people who worked in IT and said they always felt like they were on. You're just constantly kind of on call. Is that the experience you felt?

SPEAKER_00 12:12

Absolutely. It was like uh more on uh all the releases start coming up one after another, mostly working on multiple release and solving the problem, and it was challenge. Challenge meaning I like challenges. So I mean it was uh I always welcome, and and uh sometimes the things were like it all challenge finds me.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

Yeah. And let's talk about not just running, but now that you're retired, one of my favorite questions is what are some things you're now able to spend time on that you otherwise could not have because you are working? Maybe you can go to national parks during the week, maybe you can just travel more. Now it depends, is your spouse still working and all of that. So, right now, obviously it's only been a few weeks, but what are you most excited to now spend your time doing?

SPEAKER_00 13:02

So the main thing is like I want my priority is to uh health and wellness, right? So take back my health. I mean, I wanted to make sure that whatever longevity left that I wanted to to to be live happily and and I don't want to travel, let's put it this way. Uh some of one of my colleagues m mentioned that you don't want to travel in wheelchair. So that's what uh whatever that uh current go-go years are that I wanted to I wanted to wanted to capitalize on that and see what best I can do. So yeah, uh we do have some bucket list, but like yes, that's uh something for future, correct.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

So right now, so obviously it's only been a few weeks, some people will really stress, okay, that actual transition into retirement, meaning I'm worried to tell my boss I'm retiring, or I'm worried that I'm gonna leave and my team is now gonna have a miserable next few years because they're gonna miss me so much, even though it's difficult for humble people like yourself to say that. Was it hard to leave your team, or, and there's no shame if it wasn't the case, was it the matter of look, timing just worked and I just said I'm gonna prioritize myself? Like, what was the actual transition like?

SPEAKER_00 14:20

So, actual transition was like uh timing is timing worked on my side, and like I had like enough uh proper time that was given, so the transition was very smooth. And and I found out that like uh during the transition that how much work I was putting in, right? So once you transfer or do a knowledge transfer to not one person, more than one person, then you will realize that like okay. The efforts and time that you were putting in were like excessive.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

Yeah, more than you thought. You're just doing what you think is a daily task in the life of Jatin, but the truth is you're like, wow, I might be doing the tasks of four people.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

Yeah, I never felt like that, but like I probably I was doing doing more more than I asked for.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

And that's because you even said it. You like challenges as I do. It's more fun to live a life where that's included. Let's talk about purpose a little bit. And this is something that you might not be worrying about. It's only been a few weeks, but I want to ask anyways. Certain people will say, you know what, it's going to be weird because now that I'm retired, I don't have to do anything. I have to go find those challenges on my own, and that's difficult because I don't have that sense of fulfillment, like finishing a project. Other people are like, look, I'll worry about that when that comes. I'm just trying to enjoy my retirement right now. Is that something that maybe even down the line is something you ever think about? That kind of purpose and fulfillment, or not so much?

SPEAKER_00 15:54

So I I I mean, I I'm still going through, as you said, like it's just a beginning. So I I uh the main thing that there are things that, as I said, like main purpose is to like prioritizing health if there's anything that I wanted to do. And and other part is like be uh travel a little bit of it and spending time with my uh my kids, two daughters I have. So that's uh uh that's the main thing that I I'm I'm looking into it, right? So that's uh I'm still trying to organize myself like what should be my day-to-day activity right now. I mean it uh if you if you ask me like what I did first few days, like I just wedge out. Uh just uh first two days were like and then I realized like this is not the my style. I because I was always working and like all of a sudden that slowdown comes, then you will realize oh what I'm missing right now. But now I'm not missing the work, I would say, but uh and and trying to find out like the purpose, like what else what activities I can do, and that's where like uh I'm trying to focus on that area.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

You have a lot more time to go running. I'm curious because we've had other runners on the show. What's your style of running? Are you a marathon guy? Are you a sprinter?

SPEAKER_00 17:29

No, so so I'm uh I'm not up to that. I I'm I wanted to prepare myself for like maybe if possible to do a half marathon, but I'm not there yet. I just can't go up to uh uh to that level yet. Uh I'm trying to build that stamina and see if I can do it. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Uh maybe next year we'll do a follow-up where you've already run your po your half marathon. And I and I say it kind of not jokingly, but I'll say, hey, your job's to train for retirement. Like people go train for retirement. What do you mean? I go, yeah, when you're in the gym, like you are training to go on these trips, to take these hikes. These are things that make it hopefully more fun going to the gym because we all know it's more fun when you're training for an event. You're training for retirement, which I think is fun.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Are you right now, like, I'm gonna ask, and this is I don't know your wife's name, but I if your wife was here, I would say, wife, how has Jatin's mindset changed since he's retired? Now it's only been a few weeks, but I'm curious what she would say. If I were to ask her, how do you think Jatine's acted? Is it different? Do you find he's calmer? Is there less stress? Is it wow? You know, Jateen, as much as I love you, you've been home a lot recently, and I kind of miss a little me time. What's that been like?

SPEAKER_00 18:55

So uh so that's a good question. But like, I mean, uh uh she first impression was like, yeah, now that you are retired, get back to the uh basic start uh working towards your physical fitness and and whatever you need to do. And don't just sit around.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

Don't have the couch retirement.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

Yeah. Don't be a couch couch potato. Don't be a couch potato.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

Let's talk a little bit, and sorry for the interruption. Sometimes when we do the well, I do all my interviews virtually. I can't tell if someone has stopped. So please tell me to shut the heck up whenever possible.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

No, no, no, you're good. You're good, you're good.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

Um three years ago is really when this quest began. Some people will start planning for retirement legitimately when they get their first job. Like, I'm gonna get a 401k, I'm gonna start maxing that out as much as I can. I'm gonna retire by 50. That's my goal. Other people are like, you know, I want to enjoy what I do. I don't want to save every last dollar. I'm gonna save for my retirement because I know that's smart, but it doesn't stress me out. And then one day I'll retire. And it's just a thought. How did you approach retirement? Was it more of the, yes, I'm gonna try to save to my 401k and optimize my finances from an early age? Or was it more of I'm just gonna do what I'm doing until one day it makes sense to retire, or an event like your health event occurred?

SPEAKER_00 20:21

So so for me, it was more more towards like uh how can I maximize my savings and uh growth, right? So so that was uh I mean that was my plan all along, right? I mean, when I was saving every every bit of a dollar wherever you can possibly and save it. But the main when I started checking for or thinking about my retirement, I saw that like what are the gaps that I have? I need to bridge those and how fast I can do that, or what are the best uh things I can do? Because key key question was always will be on your mind is like your health insurance, how you are going to fulfill that, right? Because like uh my wife is younger than me, and like if I retire and she's on my uh my insurance, so like how can we manage that? So so once those questions were answered and I said, like, nope, that's it. I mean, my my daughters were there independent, they were doing on their own. So I said, okay, now it is

Healthcare Planning Without Fear

SPEAKER_00 21:31

time for me to take care of myself and do whatever I want to do it, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:37

So love it. Let's talk about the healthcare portion for a little bit, because this is something I hear about all the time. And and I'll be very honest with people. I promise I'm not mean, I'm just very transparent, and I'll say, look, you're cheating yourself when someone tells me I can't retire early because of healthcare. I go, it's something you definitely need to factor in. And we have clients, by the way, that are spending legitimately. $2,000 a month as a couple before 65. Like those people exist. Now they're in a fine spot to do so and still be okay. So it makes sense for them. They could say, you know what? Let's not do it. Let's work till we're 65. Then Medicare kicks, but they want to prioritize their health. So they have the finances to do so. There's other people that will say, well, I don't want to spend $2,000 a month. That's insane. And the good news is you don't have to. And if you massage your income well, you make sure you're staying under certain thresholds, you get really wise with tax strategy. We have other clients that are spending a few hundred bucks a month, and they will share, honestly, that they have better coverage than when they were working. So it is a wide spectrum, and it's something I urge people not to just write off as a I can't retire because of healthcare. But it is important to think about what's been the process so far for you as someone who's only been retired for a few weeks.

SPEAKER_00 22:52

So for me, it was easy because I figured it out like uh there was a milestone that I reached at work. So company offers a retiree medical, and and that's a milestone I reached this year. And I said, okay, now if I am able to retire, and this is what tells me that I I have to pay for insurance, but like at least I have insurance that I can rely on and get that insurance. So that was the key key basically for me.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

Once you had that healthcare coverage, you I imagine that was a peace of mind. Do you mind sharing our did you retire with a mortgage or no mortgage? No, I don't have any mortgage. No mortgage, great. So right now, what I'll see a lot of people do, and I hope you don't fall subject to this trap, is they're gonna do the following, ready?

Spending Anxiety And Travel Dreams

SPEAKER_01 23:49

So there's kind of two people here. They're gonna go, you know what? Yes, I have my energy, I have my health right now, but I don't have Social Security. And so everything's up to my portfolio, and I've got to pay for healthcare, so I'm not gonna spend too much money. And then there's other people that go, yeah, I mean, I get that person, but this is the time to spend it. This is when I want to enjoy it. In the future, I'll have Social Security. In the future, maybe there's gonna be, you know, required distributions. And maybe when my health isn't in the same spot, I'm not going to want to spend as much money in my 80s versus my 60s. So what I'll see is certain people underspend in the years they have their optimal energy and health because they're just so scared of running out of money. And I will say that's a rational thought. If you didn't have that thought, that would be weird. But I also don't want you mad at me when you're 80 or 90 with plenty of money going, why didn't I take these trips? Why didn't I maybe fly first class? Because I've had clients share me stories with me, excuse me, where they'll go, all right, I was too frugal. I didn't fly business class. And if I did, when I landed at that one place I wanted to really travel and enjoy it, I would have been able to, you know, enjoy it more because the first two days I wouldn't have been as jet lagged. Or like it's all about how do we really get the most out of these experiences. So right now, are you saying, you know what, I am prioritizing these years to take the travel? Are you doing the business class flights? Does that naturally just feel difficult because you're an inherent saver? How do you look at this?

SPEAKER_00 25:21

Good question. Uh uh I have not tried that traveling yet, right? So it's just like a two weeks out there or so, but yes, um uh we are we are looking towards a trip next year or something that uh my wife wanted to have it with my both kids or both daughters, and maybe I don't want to spill the wins at this point, but like uh uh I may I may do something uh of that nature probably.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

Okay, we're not gonna promise anything if they hear this, it's not confirmed. We don't want them already looking up, well, you know, dad said we're gonna be business class or anything.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

Right, right. So I don't want to uh give them a false impression at this point.

SPEAKER_01 26:05

That makes sense. What are, I mean, you don't have to tell me exactly, but what are some of those places that you're excited to visit?

SPEAKER_00 26:12

So so yeah, that's a good question. There are like a two are on my list, but uh that's probably one of them is my wife list as well. But uh that's like in Himalayas, and probably uh you might have heard the name Mount Kailash, which is like uh um that's where like uh uh we wanted to go where we took a trip there, and that's uh that's one place, and the other place is probably possible uh maybe in the not next year, but the following will be in New Zealand, is one of the lists. Very fun.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

I'm basically a travel agent, by the way, at this point, because all I hear about from my clients is where they travel to. Um, let's go a little deeper on the financial side, if that's okay. And and I tell everyone, don't share any information you're uncomfortable with, but it is fun for people to get to hear. Wait, for example, someone might be listening to this younger than you, going, wait a second, Jatine retired with comfort, and he wants to spend even maybe less than I do. Maybe I should start looking into this. So this does inspire a lot of people. If I were to give you a monthly check, and we're gonna exclude trips from this because those are more one-off things. You don't have a mortgage. If I were to give you a monthly check and it's blank, how much would you write in there so that you could just enjoy retirement? Don't go crazy on me, but you know, how much does that need to say every single month so that you can enjoy retirement comfortably?

SPEAKER_00 27:42

For me, it's like uh uh probably uh seven thousand, five thousand. Uh uh, I mean, this is just for my expenses, not for like counting other things, taxes and insurance and things like that, apart from that. Yeah, it's probably good enough number.

SPEAKER_01 28:05

So then there's of course, hey, for example, if we're pulling from a 401k, if we pull 5,000, we don't really end up with 5,000. We have to pay for taxes, obviously. So I'm just saying what's after taxes. So if you had 5,000 a month every month, and then let's say another, you know, here's 25,000 bucks for like this one special trip in a given year, or here's you know, extra healthcare or like a home remodel. That's separate stuff. You'd feel that's pretty comfortable. Is that safe to say? Well, yeah, I'm pretty comfortably, right? Okay, let's then uh do a little fun exercise because this is how I like to work with our clients. Let's pretend I forced you, okay, to take $10,000 a month. So I'm doubling that. So now it's $120,000. If you don't spend it, it goes away. It does not get saved to the next year. It in fact goes to your least favorite political party. Yeah, that gets people talking, okay. So now it's going away to your least favorite political party. If you don't spend it, you have to. You're allowed to give it to charities, you're allowed to give more money to children, but that money is going to your account every month. What are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 29:18

Oh you put me on spot. So so yeah, I'll I'll definitely use it. Uh I mean uh it won't be a discretionary spending, I would say, but like yes, there will be some uh something that uh maybe buy a new car or something like that, or or maybe gift a car to uh to daughters if they need it or something else, or I mean I can I can think of number of number of items like that, right? So yes. Uh and travel is another thing that I can spend on.

SPEAKER_01 29:56

Let me tell you why I like asking the question. I like asking the question because it helps me better understand your priorities. So you said maybe I'd give a car to my daughter uh or daughters, maybe we would take more trips. And so I'll ask people to dream big. And in our meetings, we'll spend a lot of time with this, especially the initial meeting. And sometimes I'll inflate it and say it's 200,000 or 300, just so I can see how someone thinks. And what we'll find is a lot of people will go, wow, if you really gave me that amount of money, I couldn't spend it if I tried. It's just not even in me. I don't know what I would do. I'm not the type of person who wants to buy a Lamborghini anyway. Like that would stress me out or make me feel even worse. So I'll say, okay, well, what is important? And let's just pretend you would have found a lot of value out of what's called, um, I'll joke and call it appetizer planning. Meaning there's a lot of people who retire on 5,000 a month and go, I'm enjoying it. I mean, I'm not buying appetizers because, you know, that's just not who I am. But if I really had another thousand a month, yeah, maybe I would get the calamari or extra salads when I went out or dessert or whatever that may be. And if that adds a lot of value to life, which money does not at all value, but there are things it can help with. Let's pretend we found for you it was $6,500 a month that would really just make an elevated experience. It doesn't mean we do that forever. I'm not the nice guy that goes, great, that's what you want, so here you go. But I do want to make sure that we can get clear about the timing of retirement. And the reason I say that is let's pretend you were to pass away with five million dollars and your daughters do not receive any additional income for a down payment or a car when it really could have helped them and you would have felt really good to do that. We can model that out for you and go, wow, here's what it would do to your plan if we did that. And you might see

Family Money Talk And Giving

SPEAKER_01 31:43

there's fewer dollars at the end, but you also might see that you'd be more than okay. So one of the things we're trying to do is avoid regret later in life. Of course, we don't want someone to run out of money, but that's a tough balance. How do you think about that?

SPEAKER_00 31:57

Absolutely. I mean, I I can help my daughter both the daughters wherever they they need. And that's the that's the way I uh we've been raised, and uh from the from my uh through my parents, my wife is in the same situation that help them out wherever we can, and she thinks like that, like yeah. Instead of keeping the money, just give it out to the kids and then let them enjoy their life and they can use it. Uh uh, I mean they're they were they are raised in such a way that they will not misuse it. Let's put it this way, they will they will either save it or maybe like invest it and do something better, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:41

So that is the way their job.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

Yeah, I mean that's uh that's the way we look at uh both of us.

SPEAKER_01 32:48

Let me ask this, and if this c question is confusing, please let me know. Is money a taboo topic in your family? If you're at the dinner table, could you comfortably um ask your daughter, hey, what are you doing with your Roth I array? Could they go, hey dad, you know, I want to make sure you know that I never want any dollars, but if that you were to pass, what should I do with it? How is money discussed?

SPEAKER_00 33:12

No, we don't discuss that.

SPEAKER_01 33:13

Doesn't it's not discussed, and that is not uncommon.

SPEAKER_00 33:17

No, it's not common. That other thing is like uh they actually come to me and uh for an advice, like, okay, what do I do with this? What do how do I do this, or how do I save this? Why don't uh so help me out kind of uh situation?

SPEAKER_01 33:32

But like why do you think that is? Because you know, culture, every culture is different, but as an example, my family, so I'm culturally Jewish, I'm not extremely religious, but culturally, I will I I remember going, it's gonna be weird. I don't want to ask my parents about how much money they have because I'm concerned they're gonna think that I'm hoping for some reason they pass away or some nonsense. So I said, Look, mom, dad, I want you to know I'm expecting nothing. If something does ever come, that so be it, but I'm not planning on it. In fact, I'd rather nothing. You guys spend everything you work so hard for and take us on more trips if that's important to you. Let's do more things as a family together, because that to me is more valuable, but it's your money. I have time to make my own money. You should do what you want to do. What would you like, though, if something were to happen? And if I didn't ask that question, I'll be honest, I would not sleep as well as I do today. And they told me, honestly, Ari, if this happened, I'd expect you to do this with your brother. I'd expect you to do this with this charity that you know we've been speaking to for a long time. And I went, wow, now I know what their wishes would do. But that was something that I was stressing for a while to even bring up. And every culture is different. Why do you think it's something that is naturally not easy to discuss?

SPEAKER_00 34:47

No, it's not about easy or not easy, but like I mean, they they know uh uh the situation, right? I mean, uh they are aware of it. What happened for for example, something happens to me, they know what to do. They are they they are uh they they are aware of it, what they need to take action and whatnot. So so they uh every year we we just review our our things, uh uh especially during uh whenever they are at home, we just discuss that every end of the year, right? So this is what the situation is that you need to take care of.

SPEAKER_01 35:22

Awesome. I love hearing that. Let me ask this: if you weren't here for any reason, is your spouse the person who's like, hey, I like this finance stuff, I'm gonna want to manage and maybe do the conversions and all that fancy stuff I talk about, or is she like, no, no, no, that's Jottine, that's your job.

SPEAKER_00 35:40

No, so she she is not into the finances, she's more into sp not I would say spending, but like, I mean, she is more on the saving side of it, but like she she won't even uh I mean all the bills, she will be uh struggling how to pay the bills, basically.

SPEAKER_01 35:58

Let me just say this it's actually a good balance because if she was the saver as well, and you are now two savers, you look back and you go, we should have spent more. And if both people are spenders, you don't get to the retirement position that you're in. So um that's very common, I'll see for a good team. Let me ask this, because you've had perspective with your health event, and this is how I like to end these episodes.

Advice For Retiring Five Years Out

SPEAKER_01 36:24

You know, you let me ask this first before I ask my final question. Let's pretend you never fainted. How long do you think you would have worked?

SPEAKER_00 36:34

As I said, like I would I I would be still working because I wasn't it was not that like I it was a though it was a stressful, but like I was enjoying the work. But the work-life balance was like a little thrown off, right, for me. So I just said okay, now I need to take care of whatever we do. Because like I at a at a point like I would say uh accumulation of uh wealth reaches to a point of diminished returns, right? So so I would say like uh having more time becomes more uh I would say having more time becomes more valuable than more more money for me. So that was the aspect that I was or or things that were going through my mind.

SPEAKER_01 37:25

I love that. So what you you would rather have more time, you're time rich as opposed to more money rich. And that is we always say the the most valuable asset and the only non-renewable currency. So um, Jateen, here's how I like to end the show. You get to talk to someone who's gonna retire in five years. They're an imaginary person. It can be someone that's a coworker in your head right now, it can be you five years ago, it could be whoever you want, but you get to give advice. And obviously the advice depends. What you want in retirement is different from what they want. But you have perspective now. You're someone who's retired, even if it's only been two weeks, but you can tell yourself, look, if you're working in IT, as many people who watch this show do, you're going to always feel like there's never enough. And I'm telling you, you gotta shut the phone off or whatever it may be. You'll know the advice, not me. What would you tell someone?

SPEAKER_00 38:21

So there's two things I would say, like, why are you working? Meaning, like uh you have a reason of working, and once those shag clocks are ticked, say like why I'm working, then you ask yourself, like, do you want to work? Yes or no? And if it is uh uh helping you in a sense like uh working additional hours or you you want to do a trade-off with your time to your money, and that's where like uh basic things will come into play, right? And as long as you are you are healthy, you are good, and you you can utilize your time more efficiently and enjoy your life a little more selfishly by uh retiring early. I mean uh to put into one line I would say to make the most out of your healthiest years that gives you like a chance to enjoy enjoy life in a little selfish way. Before other restrictions will start kicking in. When I say restriction, it may be your health or your your other restrictions, could be anything before it starts kicking in. So yes, go for it retiredly if you can. I would do it ten times.

SPEAKER_01 39:52

I think that's great advice. And those restrictions, you don't know when they're always gonna come up. And you had an awakening that has now allowed you to do it even earlier. My final question, I know I've said final question three times now, so I apologize, but I just love these conversations. Would you have retired earlier if financially you knew you could? Or do you feel you retired at the right time?

SPEAKER_00 40:16

I mean, uh the so financial was uh never an issue for me to to retire early. It was more on like uh uh social obligation with the family and making sure that like uh I have everything lined up and all those things are like uh ticked, then uh I would definitely re retire, yes.

SPEAKER_01 40:40

Let's assume those stars aligned earlier, like pretend they aligned at 55 and just family and it just worked out, and financially you're in a good spot. Would you have retired at 55, or does that still feel too early?

SPEAKER_00 40:55

Uh uh so I would definitely retire at 55 if I uh the stars were aligned. Uh it just all the obligations that I have to admit, and as I said, like the check check box or tick, yeah, you're you're good.

SPEAKER_01 41:12

Those checkbox, I I really like that because a lot of people will feel like, okay, financially the plan looks pretty good. I think I can retire, but I've got a kid in college. Or look, I've got a spouse that they just started some new venture and it's just not the right time. Or you know what, I'm thinking about potentially doing this trip, but that's gonna impact. I also want to move potentially in retirement. So all those stars do need to align so that it's comfortable. So I'm glad you took the time. But it is encouraging to hear that you would have retired even earlier. And I hope for all of you it does not take uh a feint or something else to finally go, you know what? I'm gonna start prioritizing me and my health. And Jatin, you said it best. Be selfish. And that's hard to do, by the way. Naturally, it's something that good people don't do well. It is difficult to say, I'm gonna put me first, but you heard it from Jatin. So thank you for coming on the show.

SPEAKER_00 42:05

Thank you for inviting and I appreciate you.

Wrap-Up And Listener Resources

SPEAKER_01 42:09

Thank you all, as always, for listening to the early retirement podcast. I love getting to host these shows and make different content for you guys every single week. I've not missed a single week in years, and that is because I love getting to do this. Now, please be smart about this before you actually execute any strategy that you see me talk about or hear me talk about, should I say, please talk to your financial advisor, your tax preparer, your estate attorney. Please be smart about this. None of this should be construed as financial advice. This is for fun, educational, informational purposes only. Once again, just quick disclaimer here, guys, please be smart about this. Appreciate you listening as always. And you can, of course, submit a question on my website, early retirementpodcast.com. If you, of course, want me to address a specific case study or topic. I will not promise I can get to it, but I respond to every single person. And if I find it will be helpful for a lot of people, I will absolutely make an episode on it. At the very least, give you some insight. That's it. Thanks, guys.