Working at 44… But Wondering If Retirement Is Closer Than He Thinks | Road to Retirement

At 44, Dominic isn’t rushing retirement, he’s designing his life toward it with intention. With a career in nonprofit fundraising, a young family, and a deep commitment to generosity and purpose, he’s asking the questions many pre-retirees think about quietly: 
How much is enough? 
How do you balance saving for the future without sacrificing the present? 
And what does a meaningful retirement actually look like?

In this conversation, Dominic shares his long-term vision for retirement, including extended travel, hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, mentoring others, and continuing work that serves something bigger than himself. We talk about early retirement planning without a fixed date, the tradeoffs between saving and spending, building flexibility through brokerage (“superhero”) accounts, and why financial independence doesn’t mean stepping away from contribution.

You’ll hear how he started saving at 21, how he and his wife approach money conversations, how giving fits into his financial philosophy, and why intentional decisions matter more than perfect ones. This episode explores retirement planning through the lens of values, impact, and freedom, not just numbers.

If you’re on the road to retirement and want clarity without pressure, flexibility without fear, and a plan that supports both life today and life later, this is for you.

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Dominic 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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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

When Retirement Becomes 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 gonna 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 gonna 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 gonna be even worse than that. Why? Because I'm gonna 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?

Free Guides And Planning Help

SPEAKER_01 1:26

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 gotta do, that's what my parents did, but that 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. Thank you for watching. What I've also learned for listening to your early retirement podcast, I love getting the hosties. I'm not going to make different content every single week. And that is because I love you. Now please be smart about this. Before you actually execute the strategy that you see me talk about or different mistakes, please talk to your federal. I will not promise to it. I respond to every single person so far. And if I find it will be helpful for us, I will absolutely make an episode on it. Other people at the very least give you some insight. So there's a wide range of people. Thanks, guys.

Road To Retirement Series Setup

SPEAKER_01 3:51

All of these different people are going to 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 might just be the kindest guest I've had on the show. And that's saying a lot because I've had some incredible people, but he does such a good job explaining what he's actually feeling when it comes to retirement, and how he wants everyone to be more generous, and how he's trying to prioritize himself, and he's honest about mistakes he's made, and how he's now starting to make sure that he is not making mistakes that other people have and how you can learn from them to make sure you're retiring on your own terms. And he's even shared how much he loves his job. I just think you're gonna love this episode. Enough of me rambling.

Dominic’s Travel Driven Retirement Vision

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Enjoy. Dominic, thank you for joining an episode of Road to Retirement. This is a fun show where I get to hear from people like you, and I feel like I have the best seat in the house, because there's a lot of people watching this who are also hoping to retire early. And someone who is open to sharing what their process has been so far, even if they haven't retired yet, will make them feel more heard than you could imagine. So, what I'm gonna do is ask you the first question that I ask all my guests what are you most excited to spend your time doing once you retire?

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Well, thanks for having me on, Ari. It's a pleasure and an honor. And I I to answer that first question is I I love to travel. And it's been a part of my life uh over these last two decades. And um, traveling would be something that I'm most looking forward to to be able to do more of that to have the time and allowance, because obviously with work um it it restricts you from being a have have more of an opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

Love it. Now let's talk about Dominic retired for a moment. Are you talking domestic travel international or taking an RV? Or what does it look like?

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Sure. It's probably a little bit of all. Um one of the one of the dreams that I do have, I don't know if it's going to be possible with family life and all this, but I I would love to hike the PCT. Um, starting down in Mexico and working way up to Canada. Um, it's about a five to six month trip. I would love to do that. It's it's not been an opportunity yet in my life to be able to. I've done a lot of backpacking. But then also international travel. I've been out to um Europe a couple times. Uh, got married in Mexico. My wife is Mexican, so we've uh we've spent a little bit of time in Mexico and not the Cancun, Mexico, but the but the depth, uh the deep heart of Mexico, which has been pretty fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Real Mexico. I like real Mexico. I would imagine it's pretty tough if you were to go to your employer and go, so yeah, instead of two weeks off, I'm gonna do six months off. Um so I'm excited for when that day could come. Now, do you have a retirement date circled on your calendar? Are you thinking when it financially makes sense?

SPEAKER_00 6:58

I don't have a date circled on the calendar. Uh but I I uh you know, I'd love to. I mean, in my mind, I've got 60 as as a framework. Um so that that's kind of the the framework right now. How old are you today? I'm four I'll be 44 in December.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

Awesome.

Loving Your Job With More Freedom

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Okay, you look great. I'll say I want everyone to know the earliest time work can become optional. And if you love what you do, great, keep doing it. Or if you could work less, awesome. Would that be an option? And so one of the things that I tell everyone is once you find out you don't have to keep working, people expect that you they just quit. That's not really what happens. What happens is people go, it's way better going to work knowing I don't have to be here. And then they start to negotiate more in their favor and go, I'm gonna take Fridays off or I'm gonna do two months off. And when I come back, my role is gonna look like this. And you start to set your own terms. So we'll talk about if part-time income or consulting is even an option down the future in the in a little bit. But do you mind sharing a little bit about the Dominic story, what you do for a living? Do you enjoy it?

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Yeah, and see, you know, part of that is um I I may want to continue working after 60. Um but what you were saying right there, uh, as far as not feeling the the need, I believe would just allow so much more freedom, even in my work and and the way that I present myself. And um I just think there'd just be a clarity and a freedom that I look forward to, even if I want to continue to work, because I love what I do. Um I I've been my my whole career in the last 20 years has been in a nonprofit. Uh I work for a a Catholic national organization called St. Paul's Outreach. And um I've I my um my work is I I'm stationed in Ohio, but um I go around the country working with this. I do fundraising right now. And so I I meet with donors and then help help them, inspire them to to be generous. So really a lot of a lot of my work has been in philanthropy and uh and encouraging people to make a difference in the world. Amazing.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

And you have my a new nickname for you. You're gonna be the king of articulation because the way you speak is just brilliant, truly. Okay, let's let's fast forward for a second. Let's pretend I said, Dominic, you have enough money, you don't have to work ever again, but you can now set your schedule and let's go out beyond the first year. Because the first year, we already know what you're doing the first six months, and then from there we'll be able to maybe take more trips and you'll you'll just be enjoying life. But let's go a year past. So you've been retired now, a year. Yeah, would you still work for this company? Would you still do something like this? Because some people go, once I don't have to work ever, again, I'm out of here. I hate my job. I'm retiring yesterday if I could. But other people share what you just shared, which is look, I like what I do, but maybe I just have more time to do other things. What would you do?

SPEAKER_00 10:14

So just to make sure I understand, so a a year's gone by. A year's gone by. Years gone by. Financially, you're good to go no matter what. Yep. You know, I I think I would be open for engaging in this work. Um, and it may not be with the the group that I'm with right now, but um I really do love sitting down and talking with folks to listen to their dreams and their desires to impact the world. And so that's as a as a fundraiser, as someone who encourages people, uh that is my favorite part of my job is to have a cup of coffee with someone and listen to them and help give them an avenue to make a difference. And if I'm 61 years old and uh yeah, I'd still want to do that. I I I don't see that retirement is going to be something where it's self-serving for me. Um, I've never lived as a self-serving person. Um, I won I want to be a self-gift and uh and help other people be a self-gift. So if it wasn't fundraising, it'd be some other means of mentorship or something. But maybe I'm mentoring young fundraisers who are just starting out, uh, or maybe I'm doing some mentorship with uh, you know, our work is college ministry. So I I work with a lot of college students through that and just helping especially young men um uh advance in their life as as uh workers, as career opportunities, as fathers, as uh as as disciples of Jesus, that's that's what I would like to do.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

Gosh, you are a cool guy, Dominic. And the reason I'm bringing this up is if you knew financially you didn't have to work more, you might be able to make an even bigger difference because you could spend more time where you think it it helps the most. On the flip side, and I'm curious your thoughts here, so I never want to interrupt, but I I do think it's worth noting a lot of people will, and I'll tell this story often, but I'll do it real quick. I had someone who once said, Are you not gonna like me because I'm not gonna retire and make the money you thought I was gonna make. And I said, What do you mean? They said, Well, I was kind of a big baller. I was making like $300,000 plus dollars a year, and now I'm gonna do what really excites me, but I'm only bringing in $20,000 a year. And I said, You've got it all wrong. And he said, Are you just like being nice? I go, you know, I don't have that in me. I'm gonna be transparent. And I said, You bring in $20,000 a year in helps way more than you think because it's $20,000 less that needs to come from your portfolio, which means that can keep compounding. Do you see that value? And they're like, oh, I'm thinking differently about it. So pretend Dominic at 55, you were to potentially walk away from full time, but now you can do some of these other things and maybe take other disciples and really have an even bigger impact. But it meant maybe you were working longer. Maybe you worked till 65 or 70, but just at a smaller scale. Is that something that even sounds attractive? Or are you more like at 55, I would never want to have to make any money ever again?

SPEAKER_00 13:27

I don't, I don't know. I haven't really thought about it in those terms. Um, part of part of your podcast has got me thinking in a little little different ways. Uh, you know, I've been really listening to your podcast for just about three months. And um, it would be a question I I don't know how to answer that right now.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

Um I like that, by the way. I I think the most powerful thing, and I tell this to all my advisors here, I go, please say I don't know. Because there's nothing more frustrating when you go to the doctor and you can tell they're not really confident in their answer and they're kind of giving you an answer. And I'm like, do you know how much better I'd feel if you just said you don't know and like thought about it? So I appreciate that, but it's something to think about because most people will write it off and go, well, at 60, I've got to make sure I have enough money forever. Not always the case. If you knew you were gonna do something, for example, I know I'm gonna do something. I don't know what it's gonna be, but I'm gonna do something. I don't want to rely on making money, and if I don't, then I'm on the street, but I know I'm gonna do something. So maybe that means I can switch into a career I enjoy even more. Luckily, I love what I do now, but I didn't before. So something to think about. Now, if you're comfortable, let's switch gears a little bit to learn how you financially even started thinking about retirement. Was it I got my first job and I went to a conference and all new employees were there and they said 401k, and you know, I got a poster in my bedroom that says 401k, or was it more of uh, you know what, I I just didn't really know where to start, and so I just thought maybe I'll try something. How did you financially start deciding to save for retirement?

Early Money Habits And First IRA

SPEAKER_00 15:03

Sure. Um, you know, I'd I'd start with my first job. I was uh seventh grade and I was I was a caddy on the golf course, and that job has paid dividends in my life for many, many reasons that I I won't go into, but it was a fantastic job for me. And I would walk away seventh grade, be out there on the course, 20 bucks. And my buddy wanted to go over to McDonald's and spend five bucks on food. And I'm thinking, what? Like, we just we just made 20 bucks and you want to you want to burn five? Um, and and for me, you know, that that's a memory that I have that I always wanted to be smart with my money. And that went through high school. Um, I had heard, I don't remember when I had heard about it. It may have been around 19, um, that that I that IRAs are good things to invest in. Well, not a good thing to invest in, and it's starting an IRA is a good thing. So at age 21, I remember taking a thousand dollars and handing it over to the bank, and it was a big deal because it was a thousand bucks, and I'm not gonna see that for a long time. I didn't quite understand what what I was doing, um, but I knew from the advice that I had heard that it was a good thing to do. Um there's so many more resources today than back then just to learn and hop on podcast or YouTube what you're doing. I I mean, I would have known so much more as a 21-year-old had I had some of the accessibility now that's out there. But that that was my my first investment uh at 21 years old, opening up an IRA and uh with a thousand bucks. And then I started doing monthly deposits after that.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

I love that. By the way, I was the person more like you where I had a buddy, we were delivering pizza for it was DeMores, and I'm thinking about it right now because I remember driving and being really bad at finding the addresses of these homes, going, if I can't do this, how am I ever gonna do anything? And I remember he wanted to, I think it was like we got a $30 tip from like one wealthy lady. And he was like, Hey, let's go here and let's buy a smoothie or whatever it was. And I remember being like, that that would be like 20 minutes of us, like, we just die for 20 minutes. I want to burn that like in like 10 seconds. And he's like, Yeah, like we we we just did it. Shouldn't we do something? Like we just got this tip. And I was like, that that just like didn't sit with me. So I think we come from our feelings, which doesn't make sense. Now, sometimes that means we'll have a partner that has the opposite feeling that's maybe a better spender. Now, in in my case, and everyone, now I've only been married for you know three months, so I'm not a veteran here, but in my case, congratulations. Thank you very much. Um, you know, we have, and I'm gonna connect all the dots here in a second, but you know, we have a prenup, we openly discuss money. One of us is more of a spender than the other, and it helps balance each other out. My most recent guest, for those who saw my episode last week, she was divorced and openly discussed how not having a prenup and having different financial values and beliefs ended up causing a divorce and not leading to optimal financial things.

Marriage Money Talks And Spending Balance

SPEAKER_01 18:36

Do you openly discuss finances with your wife? How do you guys view finances? It's more interesting than you'd imagine.

SPEAKER_00 18:45

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Um, so I've only been married for a little over two and a half years. Okay, so so I I get me and my wife got married a little later in life. Uh I was I was 40. And um yeah, it it we even when we were dating, we began talking finances, um, partly because I am who I am. Um, I'm not gonna go into a relationship. I'm not gonna go into an engagement without having those conversations. It's too important. And um, and so certainly while we were in our our dating phase of our relationship, I was bringing up finances, sharing how I viewed things, listening to her, how she viewed things, and then also observing one another uh while we're on dates and how we handle um money just during a dating relationship. Then when engagement um uh happened, we started getting a little bit more into the weeds. And then as as marriage has been going on and we've started a family, we have a little baby, uh 20 month old, and um yeah, so finances is is part of our relationship. Uh I I am the driver of of the finances, but I'm always bringing my wife into the conversation because it's very in my esteem, it's very important that the two are on the same page. And as you said, Ari, my wife is more of a spender, I'm more of a saver. So it's good. That balance is good. And um she has to she helps me work muscles that I'm not used to, and then I help her work muscles that she's not used to. And honestly, what it's what it's been it's been beautiful because of the mutual respect that we have for each other, but um we're able we're able to have real conversation and um and come to agreement wherever we we might have um a conflict, and those conflicts don't become huge because we're having these conversations.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

I can tell you're an incredible partner. Now I know we've only spoken for 20 minutes, but I can tell your wife is lucky because there's lots of people out there that go, yeah, you know, my husband will ask me a question or or my partner will ask me a question, but I I can tell they're just asking to ask. They're not truly listening. They're not saying, okay, what did you say there? Thinking and then responding. It's almost like, I don't want there to be dead space, so I'm gonna say something. I can tell you don't do that, and I think that's very powerful, and the world could use more of that. I love, and I bet you're similar to me, like we're gonna be fine on Chipotle. We we don't maybe need all the date nights and like we're we're good, versus in a healthy way, our spouse will encourage us to maybe take a little bit nicer of a trip, and then we end up enjoying it. So there's a nice balance there.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

Exactly. I mean, you know, like even you know, lodging is been something I always as a single guy oh just just go cheap on lodging when you're on on vacation and you know so that that's been something that pushes me a little bit um and and I just I find that um as I continue to grow in uh in my career and and development and feel feel um more financially stable because you know there really are stages in in our our journey of finance and it everyone has a journey of finance and um and and there are stages and and I'm realizing like oh okay like you know I feel a little more I feel a little more comfortable being able to spend a little bit more than I felt 10 years ago um and and I think what's going to happen is I'm gonna feel more comfortable 10 10 years from now because the journey continues but I think what's so important and all in the journey is that you make wise decisions and intentional decisions. And that's something that um has always been important. It goes back to the McDonald's and the caddy is like uh make a wise decision because I another little story that I had I was I was eight years old and my first big purchase was a Game Boy and if you remember the console the device the black and white and it was a hundred bucks and I'm an eight year old and a hundred bucks was a lot of money and I saved up and I bought it with my own money and um and that was being able to do something like that it it like lifted you up and it was it was mine. I worked for it and whatever I did you know my parents gave me the money it was probably mostly from from my parents but you know but but it was it was what I bought and I think that those things are are significant and and um and that's what that's what money is for it's for um saving and enjoying and giving and and and that's the way I I look at all of this is that if you're not doing all three of those there's probably a a miss in in there.

Generosity Tithing And Meaningful Giving

SPEAKER_01 24:23

I'd love to get your insight on something because I think you're uniquely qualified for this. Now do I have 10 million more questions I'd love to ask you yes but I'm very curious and the reason is because of what we say here at Root, our company we say our goal is to help you get the most out of life with your money. Not get the most money out of life and we transparently have a lot of people who are good savers. They max out their 401 their Roth IRA they are maxing out and then they go wow I have more money than I ever thought and now they're wondering how do I spend it? Now if you're listening to this not in a comfortable financial position I'm sure you're thinking I'll help them spend it. But the truth is there are more people than you can think of who are actually struggling to spend and they're wondering should I give to a charity? Should I consider giving to my heirs? How do I even think about tithing? And because of your role and we have lots of clients who do tithing and I was not as familiar with the world when I initially started as an advisor and I asked a client I said so how much are you giving? And they said time I said and I you know I'm a new advisor I'm like well time doesn't really fit in my I kind of need a numerical value. And they said oh are you new I said oh yeah I'm a new advisor so what is it a thousand a month? They go we give our time and that was their version of giving and it made me go wow there's a really deep way of there's time there's money your I'm curious what are you doing in terms of how you view tithing how you educate people on this because I think it'll help not only people who are saving today but other retirees go wow I can do more and help more people get the most out of life with my money.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

There's not a an X number you know some sometimes in Christian circles there can be a percentage um and um 10% gets gets a lot of times the the number I think that's a fine start like um but maybe maybe people can't start at 10% um but I find 10% is a push it's a lot of money. 10% is a lot of money um and you feel something um and and um but giving of your time that is that is you can tie I've heard people tithing their time um I think at the end of the day Ari the the most important thing is that um you're being generous um generosity is something that's that's really important um and and at and there and you can't quantify that so you know um a lot of it is you have to look inside yourself and say well am I am I being a generous person through the time that I give through the resources that I have um and or am I trying to just consume for myself and that takes self-reflection and and knowledge of who you are and so what my encouragement for anybody is live generously be generous um you know it it doesn't mean a lot if you build a kingdom for yourself um oftentimes the people that that do build for themselves are often the most miserable people um I sit down with so many generous people and you know you you often say that you have the best job in the world well i i'm sorry I have the best job in the world um I sit down with so many amazing individuals who they inspire me and um I want to be like them so you know it's that's what that's what this world's about.

SPEAKER_01 28:24

That's awesome. And and there are I've had clients tell me stories of them saying you know we gave so much that it became an expectation where now all of a sudden we feel like if we don't we're like letting the community down. I've had other people who said we're in a great spot financially but if we would have given more along the way we would have felt better and we still would have been fine. And so just like you said there's not a perfect system but switching financially a little bit because you actually did an incredible segue whether you know it or not you said 10% look it's a good starting spot. Maybe it's a lot for certain people and not enough for others.

4% Rule Limits And Real Concerns

SPEAKER_01 28:59

It depends. That's how I kind of view the 4% rule. The 4% rule is it's a good starting spot because it's just it's easy to understand. But I'll ask clients, I'll say let's pretend markets went up 10%. How much do you think you should take from your portfolio? They'll say I don't know. And I'll say okay what if markets went down 20%? What do you think you should take? They say I don't know. I go do you think it should be the same amount based off what markets do? They go no that's not really logical. I go so the 4% rule doesn't really make sense in that way. Now it's a good starting spot. It's a gut check. It's like if you put a thermometer into steak and it said the temperature you want, that doesn't mean it's it's perfect. It it might not have crusty edges. It might not still be the type of steak you want but it it's edible. That's the 4% rule and so I want to ask not necessarily what fears you have regarding retirement but I'm curious what's top of mind for you? Is it am I saving a knife? Is it am I do I have it in the right account? Is it healthcare?

SPEAKER_00 29:55

What maybe not keeps you up at night but what makes you think you know what I've got to get serious about retirement yeah I I think it's uh probably a a similar concern that everyone has is uh will uh will I have enough um and and then so so the way that I've approached it is I I'm I'm a supercharger. So if I can if I can front load things and make a little more sacrifice now it puts me in a in a better position to make some pivots later um where if I if I don't supercharge and I try to like well on the back end try to make those pivots then you you have less options. So that's how I've approached it. But then in in the back of my mind it's like well am I am I saving too much? Am I not enjoying enough now? Because you know there are right now my family we're we're we we're able to do everything that we we need and and many things that we want so so pray praise God for that. I I'm so so grateful for for where we are and how how God has blessed us. But we do say no um to to things that could could could add value to us but it's like okay well let's say no right now. And and you know and so in the back of my mind I think well you know do I really need to save that much am I am I saving too much um so that you know I I don't want to get to the point where there's just too much um so it it's this balancing act um I feel like right now the way that I'm approaching it is to say well let's let's keep let's keep driving hard for um for a little longer and and then and then maybe maybe I can start to let off. I I it so that's kind of how I'm how I'm approaching it. Don't know if it's right or wrong um but but and there's not really a right or a wrong it's just the way that um we're we're handling it right now.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

Yeah so I appreciate that insight and I'll tell you a quick story which might help you or anyone who's watching feeling similar because I don't think you're alone who you're going look right now we can do what we want to do. Are there other things we'd love to do? Sure but we can do a lot of what we want and our needs are met so we're comfortable. Does it feel good adding extra today beyond what maybe we need so that for a future date we could maybe retire earlier? Of course there is that balance of how much is enough but I told this story recently and I think it's a powerful one and it's why I

Defining Retirement Spending And Travel

SPEAKER_01 32:50

love this stuff. So someone reached out to me and they said they want to spend $6,000 a month in retirement before I go on is there an amount Dominic that you're somewhat targeting to spend in retirement or not throughout through that yet?

SPEAKER_00 33:01

Well I've just started engaging your your retirement um software so um and prior to that I I had ideas and thoughts but I'm kind of going into this thing. So some things that I've been thinking um I I pulled together uh really about forty three hundred dollars a month could support our our our lifestyle with adding just a little bit more in there but then but that doesn't include vacation and um travel. So and it doesn't include giving. So I've I've removed some of those those aspects. So that's how that's how your software does it. So the 4300 is pretty much the standard life and then and then there's there's the add-ons that uh with with travel and giving um uh replacement of cars so you know and so I've kind of built out those things as well so you know we don't live a lavish lifestyle um but but I'd like to supercharge the the travel I mean in my mind I'll I'll throw the number out there that I would love to do it sounds sounds like a lot of money but it would be it'd be great $30,000 a year to be able to take uh three nice trips. Um I mean that's kind of how how I'm thinking uh on those lines um so that's a little of how I've thought it through right now I like how you're thinking through it I'm gonna go even deeper and I think you're gonna resonate with this.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

So I this person I was speaking to I have them in my head right now so they wanted to spend six thousand a month that's $72,000 a year. Now you're at $4,300 a month let's just call it $60,000 a year. But you also would love to take trips $30,000 a year. Are you going to take the trips at 30,000 a year forever? Maybe not in your 70s or 80s but let's just pretend that it gets replaced with other things. Let's just call it $100,000. If I said Dominic here's $100,000 every single year in retirement it would be safe to say you'd be living comfortably is that safe to say yeah and that's not counting taxes and all that no no a hundred thousand yeah here's a blank check a hundred thousand it's definitely living higher like more than what we have right now

Superhero Account And Early Retirement Bridge

SPEAKER_01 35:21

more than you need. Okay so I told someone recently I said you're on track to retire and you should not retire and they go well that sounds weird I go let me explain and this person was 42 years old I believe potentially 44 something I think 42 though. They were 42 and they had about $8000 saved. Of their 8000 saved 6000 was in a 401 and 2000 was in a superhero account. And we were discussing the weird concept to them of no longer adding to their 401 in a maximum capacity which felt weird because they're like I've got to max it out in years. And we explored it and one of the things we discussed was how the rule of 72 works. Have you heard of this rule? Okay so how long does it take to double your money? So if we're getting a 10% rate of return that's taking seven years. So they went okay I'm 42 in 15 years if I don't touch my money my money would theoretically double twice. So 600K becomes 1.2 becomes 2.4 they're like 2.4 I go that's without you adding any new money and so they said why did you tell me I was not on track but that I could retire but I shouldn't I said you're gonna be fine from 60 to 90, 95. That is not my concern. My concern is the early years and you overspending and now you're in retirement you interrupted compound interest there's healthcare there's a home remodel or buying new cars. So I need to minimize the chance of something going wrong. And from 60 to 95 you're great. So they're like what do I do? In their case they had already supercharged using your word their 401 and pre-401k and pre-tax accounts so well the superhero was lacking. And that's what they needed to really bridge the gap, which is why I call it my favorite account. Now pretend the roles were reversed and they had 600,000 in their superhero and 2000 in a 401. Well I'd be having very different advice I'd be like well we're gonna be able to bridge the gap fine but I'm worried about future you so I bring up this example because they went wait a second are you telling me maybe I should stop saving? I go not entirely but to this account and they said why I said you already did a great job. You did the supercharge work. So it made them think for the first time wait I could retire earlier if I start saving to the right account because if they just added more money to their 401 but nothing to their brokerage account they still probably shouldn't retire for way longer than they need to. So there becomes a point where if they wanted to save more, I'd say great, you're naturally a saver, you're not giving up other things in life. But if we're gonna do it that that brokerage account is where we can pull from and start to maybe try a retirement. So in your case Dominic obviously I don't know your assets but you could say you know what if my situation was similar to that maybe I actually start and for the first time in your life maybe you would say I'm gonna take six months off and if this particular corporation were to terminate me for any reason that's fine because financially I could go to this other company and I could do it and maybe it would give me the time to explore what I really want to do and learn more and you'd have way more comfort doing it knowing you'd be okay either way. But if we did not fund that superhero account to that degree, it just decreases flexibility. And I only tell this long story here because I had someone and I remember this very well who reached out to me very angry. They were 47 with I believe $3 million and they said they were upset at me. And I said okay what did I do? And I'm sorry and they were just on YouTube and they said they were very upset because I didn't talk about superhero accounts enough. I thought I'd talk about them a lot but now I do it more because of this one person. So it helped and they said Ari I want to quit my job. I said okay how much do you want to spend and I was just commenting back and forth. And they could they would not pay any penalties or taxes on their 401k because it would just crush their soul even if they'd be fine to do it. And so they were like I oversaved not financially but to the wrong account. If I had just tweaked where I saved but not the amount I'd be in a completely different situation and I wouldn't be working unnecessarily for a boss I don't enjoy. I go well that's the power of good math. So maybe too much information but any of that sound like English?

SPEAKER_00 39:34

Oh

Taxes Mistakes And Learning Faster

SPEAKER_00 39:35

yeah totally tracking everything um I'm I'm laughing at in my in my mind because um in January of 2025 I I made a I made a choice to start taking out from my brokerage. I wasn't listening to you at this point so so I started taking out of my brokerage and started funding more of my 401k because I wasn't max maxing that out and and so I was putting some some more money in because I was like well I'm I'm putting in at Roth so I'm not gonna pay taxes so I'm like well I'll I'll do that. So I started and then you know I started coming across your your work and talking about the superhero account and the brokerage part of me is like shoot why did I take money out of that um now it's not all lost and and said I still have some and you did it at 43 you know imagine like now you've understood have you heard me talk about tax gain harvesting at all? Yeah yeah and I I knew that before before you came in or before I introduced you but some of this stuff is also I'm I'm learning it as well um so I've never I've never done tax heart harvesting so um but I but I know the concept uh so yeah I'll I tell people who sorry to interrupt sometimes on the virtual interviews it's more difficult but to tell if someone's done so I never try to interrupt but I obviously get very amped about this stuff.

SPEAKER_01 41:08

The reason it it means so much to me is I go if you're good with math you can live a better life. And it's really that simple and the reason I love this brokerage account is it can act like a Roth IRA. Once you retire those six months that you're hiking and living life and doing what you want to do I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_00 41:25

And and you know like and and that's where it's like because I was thinking uh it's some of some of what I'm learning from you is that um you the capital gains tax you you can you can you can work with that and pay pay lower amounts to to possibly pay nothing. And um and so it it's just uh it's it's a what I've also learned in this journey of finance is that um everyone's going to make some mistakes along the way. I would I would find it hard to imagine that that uh there's somebody out there that hasn't made mistakes. The question is how how big are the mistakes that you make and do you learn from the mistakes and um and can you keep pivoting and not let the mistake that you make derail you to say well now I'm now I can't go on because I made this mistake. Because I've you know I I've I've made some mistakes but but you just make them you live with it and and you just keep going. And and what I'm finding at at my age now is it it's really possible. And you don't have to I mean I've been working for a nonprofit I I don't I have I've not been making tons of money but I can say that um with wise decisions and making some mistakes along the way um this is any anybody can anybody can be um successful in in this area of of retirement planning. You just have to be thoughtful in it and intentional. And that's I'm so passionate about it because it's it's um it's important it's important for people everyone's life money is an important thing it's not everything and it's not going to bring you happiness but it's important.

SPEAKER_01 43:34

I can tell you're beaming about this stuff which I love by the way and look I made the biggest mistake and maybe not the biggest but I tell this often I told it last week I maxed out my four one K at twenty two because I thought it was the right thing to do. I max it out if I don't max it out I'm not doing well and I sacrificed eating lunch and my health took a big role at the time I mean that I was too nice sounds like something I w w would have would have done too like you know like don't I was too nervous to ask about if I should have a Roth IRA because I was working at a company where it was so often discussed. I went, well, I can't be the late one. I can't be the one that doesn't know. So the best time to start is yesterday. The next best time to start is today. So I love, I want to finish with this journey word that you keep bringing up because it

Keep Going Mindset And Closing

SPEAKER_01 44:23

is a journey. You're right. And there's no true wrong. It's just trade-offs. That's all life is all about. So what I like to do to end these episodes, Dominic, is I like to shut the heck up myself. And I let you talk to someone who's thinking about retiring. It can be any time frame. You could talk to yourself at 20. You could talk to a friend or a coworker in your head. You could talk to whoever you want. Now, obviously, you're not retired. So it's not giving advice of here's what I did that was so amazing, as much as here's lessons I've learned and what I would urge you to consider. And you already brought up beautiful things of be insightful, be intentional, um, make sure you're saving, but the way you want it to be safe. For example, you're a supercharger. I might know there's people out there listening who are like, I'm not superchargers, I'm a super spender or whatever it is. So I'm gonna shut the heck up so that you have the floor here to share.

SPEAKER_00 45:14

Well, it's similar to what I was just saying is that anyone can can succeed in in this. Um it's there's so many resources out there to to to get involved uh in and understanding finances. Um and whether you are in a lot of debt right now and you need to pull yourself out of the debt, or you have uh a zero net worth and and you're trying to climb a mountain, or you've got ten million dollars you know, the whole spectrum. Um I just continue to believe in yourself that you can can do this. Um that uh you know, I I I listen to a lot of people on YouTube always keep complaining that the system is against you, uh, or the system is against me, and there's just no way out of the system. And that's just head trash as you as you use as you say. It it is um the system's not against you. Um you you just there's everyone has challenges. Um so so take those challenges as opportunities to to grow from and and to embrace life um and continue to to push forward. And that would be my advice is just keep going. And I'm telling that to myself too. I'm not there, just keep going. And I've found in in my life is that um if you if if you try to make good decisions along the journey, um, and and try to to live a good life, things work out well. It you know, it doesn't mean that there's not going to be hardships. I I mean believe me, there's been hardships in my life, and um, but those hardships allow you to grow from if if you embrace them in a in a way that you can grow from them.

SPEAKER_01 47:35

Dominic, you have inspired me, and I appreciate you coming and sharing all of this. Guys, if you resonated with this episode, please give Dominic some love in the comments. Dominic, thank you for coming on. Thank you, Ari. I really appreciate it. 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.