1 Year Since Retirement | The Financial Independence Show Podcast
Justin retired 1 year ago today!
What did he do? How does he feel? Did the numbers work out as expected?
Luckily for you, he's dropped all the answers to that in the show with the highlights below.
Read on for Justin's notes:
Numerical Highlights from Year 1:
* Averaged around $2500/mo or $30k/yr spending
* Networth increased by ~400k ($1.7M -> $2.1M)
* Continued to save money
* 4% SWR + Passive Income = ~13k/mo or $156k/yr if I wanted
Retirement Feelings Explained:
Relaxed: just being yourself and no corporate coating,
Awkward: Realizing every American interaction with someone starts off with work followed by me trying to explain the situation and balancing the outward perception from <oh poor thing is jobless> to <this prick trying to flaunt how good he has it>
Proud: as someone who is often hard on themself for not sticking to things, financial independence took real commitment for ~9 years.
Scared: that I’ll have great ideas I want to try, memories I want to make, relationships I want to strengthen, or things I want to discuss… but discover that those I want to do it with don’t want those things at all
Relieved: After a year, I find similarities to the relief I felt over telling everyone I gave up alcohol. Saying aloud that I’ve done something that 99% of people will never do felt very weird at first, but then I adjusted to that 1% weirdo being my story, and the people who truly care about me let you be that 1% weirdo. And that exchange ends with a lot of relief.
Responsible: I feel a responsibility to push the people I love the most to take ownership of their financial lives
Satisfied: Not from a mentality that everything that needs to be accomplished is accomplished. My sense of satisfaction comes from knowing that the first year of retirement was worth every decision and delayed gratification even if it’s the only year of financial freedom I ever get.
Detailed Breakdown of Year 1 Activities:
December 2023
Hosted my niece for a week in Austin
Made custom laser engraved gifts for my mom and good friend
Tried Franklins BBQ and Interstellar BBQ for the first time
Planned and purchased everything for a kitchen remodel
Saw several movies
Redesigned ripped dip packaging
Attended consumer product goods meetups
Went to the trail of lights
Did a baby kangaroo feeding experience
Redesigned my Dad’s upstairs to be a sudo apartment in Mississippi
Ripped up old flooring and prepped concrete for staining
Replaced all the windows in the flip
Spent two weeks in Mississippi
Enjoyed Christmas with my family
Tons of workouts
January 2024
Two weeks in Mississippi
Someone hit and totaled my Tesla
Redid Kitchen in Leslie’s family beach house
Lots of other projects there like replacing all the hardware for the doors
Spent a week on the Texas coast
Saw several movies
Lots of cooking
Lots of workouts
Dove into Ninja Creamis
February 2024
Spent two weeks on the Texas coast
More beach house remodeling
Went to the Austin Symphony
Took the train to Dallas
Completed the purchase of my New (to me) Tesla Model Y
Spent a couple of days with my best friend in Dallas
Spent a week in Mississippi
Lots of remodeling on the flip house
Attended a Rodeo
Took my niece to a concert in Nashville
March 2024
Spent two weeks in Mississippi
Played golf
Replaced doors and painted the exterior of the flip house
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