California E&S Insurance

My first six months of FIRE TLDR: I FIREd six months ago and it’s everything I hoped it would be. Don’t sweat the details and enjoy life as you pursue FIRE. March 7, 2019 marks six months since my last day at work. I enjoy reading updates from folks who have FIREd so I figure I might as well add my story to this collection of success stories. One thing that’s changed for me since my beginning on this sub is that I don’t judge other people’s decisions. I used to think that people like MMM couldn’t consider themselves retired since their blog was really their full time job now. I no longer feel that way. Our definition of retirement is solely our own. **First the background** I’m not using a throwaway account and my identity is easy to discover so I won’t be using any actual figures. Suffice to say I’m on the fat side of FIRE but by most definitions, it’s pretty low on the Fat scale. After graduating college I began my career in Television News. Within four years I was at the number one national news show as an editor. I spent seven years in that role before moving on to producing and then as a technology trainer. My income was higher than average but in no way close to some of the software engineers or doctors on this sub. In 1997 my girlfriend’s (now wife) house burned down and we were able to turn tragedy into triumph by investing the insurance money as we rebuilt the house. That enabled what came next. In 2000 we got married and my wife made a bit more money than I did. While early retirement wasn’t really on the radar at this time, financial independence certainly was and she and I were totally on the same page. The same year we got married we also: bought a vacation home with three apartments that we also rented out, bought our first boat, bought a – I know I’m going to get killed for this by this sub – timeshare. Like other things, just because you don’t find value in something doesn’t mean others don’t. We’ve enjoyed our timeshare and we really enjoy it now that I’m retired. In 2009 we bought our second vacation rental property this time in California. We had spent the last nine years vacationing in CA at least twice a year and we purchased this property in our favorite area. Our incomes continued to rise and our rentals were another stream of income. **Lifestyle inflation** I know this is frowned upon on this sub but I believe that some lifestyle inflation is not only inevitable, but necessary for a happy life while you pursue FIRE. Our lifestyle never inflated faster than our income but I did buy a second and then third boat (not at once, upgraded boats). Boating is a lifestyle I enjoy and was willing to pay for that experience. When I bought cars they were new cars but we also kept them for a minimum of 10 years and only financed at 0% interest, otherwise we paid cash. I still drive a 2003 Infiniti G35. We also enjoy fine dining and spent much more than average on that. Our savings rate was consistently between 25-30% of gross income so not massive by some measures on this sub but not shabby either. **Planning for FIRE** The plan was lifestyle heavy meaning that we planned for what to do during retirement as much as we planned the financial side of things. One part of the plan that didn’t work out was our business venture. Well, it did kind of work out but not in the way we thought it would. In 2012 I opened a franchise business that was intended to be our “passive” income during retirement. We had grand plans to open multiple locations and operate them remotely. Having been in the business for five years I do know some owners who successfully operate multiple locations in different parts of the country. Long story short, the business was not easy or passive and we sold it in 2017. The good news is that with the profits we were able to accelerate our FIRE plan by a couple of years. So we bought our fourth home (first rental property, second rental property, primary residence, and now fourth rental that would become a home). Our plan was to live half the year at our first rental property and the other half at our latest property in CA. The other two properties, our primary residence and one CA rental would be sold. The way things actually worked was that we sold our primary residence, we’re selling the first rental, keeping the CA rental and keeping the CA house. We have one mortgage that we can pay off any time we want but with interest rates so low we’re keeping the mortgage for now. My wife continues to work because she enjoys it, not because she has to. She is able to work from anywhere giving us the ability to live where we want. **The Retirement Reality** We pinch ourselves and ask how is this possible on a daily basis. During the winter months we live in a gated community in southern CA with the most stunning mountain views you could ask for and we live at the beach with an awesome boat and waverunner to enjoy on a daily basis in the summer months. We’re members at and play tennis where the largest non-major tennis tournament is held in Indian Wells. I’ve lost 40 pounds and compete in half marathons and now triathlons. We are by far, the fittest we’ve ever been and plan on getting even better. My wife has placed first and third in her age group in the last two races she’s run. We made friends at our CA house long before retiring so when me moved here this season, it was like going home to friends and family. We have not been bored for one second yet. As a matter of fact, I haven’t even had time to read a book yet. The one observation I’ll make is that there are no wrong decisions. For example, I only have about 3-4k in a Roth IRA, basically nothing. I never obsessed over it or worried about it. Whether your portfolio is in the right investment or you are perfectly optimized for taxes doesn’t matter. What matters is that you have enough to cover your expenses regardless of where that comes from. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoy reading other’s stories.

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