What do I do for a living?

Yesterday I was out running at the high school track, at 9:30am.? Also at the track was a guy playing with his dog, and we struck up a conversation.? After a little bit, he asked me "what do you do for a living?"

It seems like a simple question, but it’s one I have not answered easily over the last few years.? I usually throw out some combination of ‘consulting’, ‘stay at home dad’, ‘marketing’, ‘I’ve worked in corporate America’, ‘I used to work at xyz’, etc.?

However, he wasn’t someone that I had met before, he had already said he was 60 years old, and given that he was also at the track in the middle of a “workday” – it felt like an easier situation than normal.

So I simply said “I’m retired.”??

That’s the accurate answer….at least right now.? It’s the goal that my wife and I had in mind from basically when we got together.? Work hard, save money, have kids, be able to ‘retire’ when our kids reached school-age so that we could be around them as much as possible, and then figure it out from there.? ?

But it’s a hard answer to give people 1-on-1.? It’s hard because I’m 41 years old and it’s not in the norm of a typical response.? It’s hard because sometimes it’s someone who would not be able to relate (for a variety of reasons), sometimes people don’t believe it, sometimes people judge (rightly or wrongly) the ‘purpose’ in a life without a FT career, and sometimes it just feels like gloating.? This is why I usually go with the potpourri of answers, and why my Linkedin profile says "Consultant" when I've really only consulted for <10 hrs in the last year.

The response from this guy though was normal….1) not the answer he was expecting, 2) “wow, that’s awesome,” and? 3) the standard questions…..did you sell a start-up, did you own a business, and the never asked but under the surface (did you come from family money, inherit $, win the lottery, etc.).?

So to answer…..We didn’t sell a start-up.? We didn’t own a business.? We don’t come from any “family money.”? We didn’t win the lottery.? We didn’t have a ‘get rich quick scheme’.? We didn’t have side hustles to go along with a normal job.? We don’t own 100 apartments.?

So I told him “no – didn’t do any of those, my wife and I both just worked jobs at big corporations…but we ran our finances and budget like just one of us worked…and saved/invested the rest.”? There’s no big secret….it’s similar to what Dave Ramsey or Suze Orman talk about, similar to the FIRE approach, similar to Buffett/etc talking about ‘making your $ work for you."?

There’s obviously more personal detail behind this (investment and spending decisions, lifestyle, personality attributes, trade-offs, luck, risk, etc.), and decisions we’ve made don’t align perfectly with Orman, Ramsey, FIRE, Buffett, or anyone else.? Nor should they in my opinion.?

The guy’s response then was “you should teach this.”?

To be honest, I have never wanted to do that, because everyone’s journey is their own.? What’s right for me, may not be right for them.? And what’s right for me right now, may not be what’s right for me in the future.? I may pull a Tom Brady and make a comeback…..or my best laid plans may implode.?

But the conversation did get me thinking that it may be helpful to at least say this publicly and from someone who isn’t a content-creator or influencer.?

I believe that everybody, no matter their personal situation, has the ability to control more of their financial freedom.? It doesn’t take a start-up, owning a business, being a mini real-estate mogul, eating only ramen noodles for a year, etc.???

I don’t want to “teach” anyone, but I’m definitely open to “helping.”? It would be hugely fulfilling to me to be able to “pay it forward” a bit.?

So if there is anyone out there who wants someone to listen to his or her situation, or to hear more about someone else’s…shoot me a message.? And to be clear, I’m not trying to get paid for talking to anyone….I’ll even buy YOU a cup of coffee.

?

?