Have you heard the saying, “Facts tell Stories Sell?”
Well I’m gonna give you both today.
I was recently having a conversation with a retired couple at my gym named Dave and Christine.
They’re in their late sixties, super active (golf, tennis, gym, etc.) and have been training with us for years.
They have the retirement most people dream of. This includes:
- Zero financial worries
- Time to do whatever they choose (They love spending time with their kids and grand kids)
- Travel to exotic places
- Healthy to enjoy it all
- The ability to live by their kids on Long Island (not cheap)
Contrast this with:
- 71% of people say they worry about money
- 33% of people have zero saved for retirement
- The average person about to “retire” has 136K saved
If 136K seems like a decent amount, remember people are living longer and even at a very healthy return that 136K will only yield 10K or so per year – certainly not enough to live off.
So how did Dave and Chris do it? Did they have 2 high powered jobs? Not quite.
They told me how they valued Chris being home with the kids so she didn’t work.
So then Dave must have been killing it. Not quite.
In his 30s while he and his wife were raising 2 small kids, he made 30K. Keep in mind it was cheaper to live back then but still!
So how did they do it? He told me he was tempted several times to upgrade his house to a bigger one but didn’t. It was hard not to because all of his peers were. They also didn’t go on any fancy vacations. They did things like camping that didn’t cost much money but paid dividends in terms of experience.
Was it hard to live simply while everyone else was living it up? They said it was at times but they wouldn’t have traded it for anything. Their kids never wanted for anything and turned out to be successful adults. One of them is also a client of ours.
Dave eventually made more money as his career progressed but it all started with them having clarity of what they wanted out of life. They knew what they were willing to sacrifice and what they weren’t (e.g. mom staying home).
Is this exciting? Maybe not, but the truth is that building a good life, wealth, or anything else worthwhile just isn’t that exciting.
It’s all about clarity, focus, and discipline.
It’s actually more like watching paint dry. It’s much more exciting to chase shiny object syndrome, play the slots in Vegas, or bet the farm on a new upcoming stock but we know how these things usually turn out.
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