Leading By Example

My wife, Soni, and I pulled the trigger and bought a second home in Naples this past December.

Just last week I was invited to play golf with a client that flew down from O’Hare and his threesome in Naples.  We had a great time.  He wondered aloud if I felt any guilt now that I have two homes (Glen Ellyn & Naples) while he’s five years older than me and living in one.

I said, “Nope, I’m leading by example”. At our last meeting with his wife, we spent an hour together going over their retirement income plan and the result was my telling them “I’m giving you the financial permission to comfortably buy a 2^nd home any time you want. That’s what the numbers tell us. Your plan is rock solid. Go for it”!

I’ve had similar meetings with many of my 55+-year-old clients. Thanks in large part to what they’ve saved and when they began saving, they’ve accumulated more than enough money to make a move. I like the term “financial permission”.

Depending on the situation, people may continue to work (like me), retire altogether, or earn some part-time income.

Maybe I’m leading a new movement. It’s the empty nester – I don’t have to wait until I retire to buy a second home – I can work remotely from wherever I want. Either way, you can’t take it with you. Blog link- IDEAL 4 POINT RETIREMENT PLAN

This morning when I checked my email inbox I was greeted with some tragic news. A Glen Ellyn acquaintance of mine had a seizure and was pronounced brain dead in the past couple of days. He was a healthy 50 something-year-old father of two and an avid golfer (like me).  No one knows how long we have left.

Facing the fact some of us are in the second half of life is easy to overlook.

I’ve been playing a little golf while in Naples. One thing I noticed while golfing was the other golfers were quite a bit older than me. In a recent round, the elderly male golfers in my foursome were playing from the red, lady’s tees.

That left me thinking: “I wonder how many more years I’ll play from the “Men’s tees’”?

Time for me to put life on a “full-court press” mindset. Live well while I still can.

The clock is ticking for all of us. In order to have accumulated the six or seven-figure numbers you have on all your different financial statements you sacrificed consumption when you were younger and able to enjoy that money so that it would grow and give you financial freedom later in life.

When does “later in life” begin?

When are you going to start spending the numbers on your statements?

What do you still want to do while you’re healthy enough to enjoy it?

Article Link – These 2 numbers sum up why the housing market won’t get back to normal for a long time

Yes, I am leading by example. This home for sale opportunity fell into our lap when one of my wife’s clients told us one year ago this was going on the market the following October. When they didn’t raise the price while housing inflation was running rampant coupled with the horrible IL government lockdowns, crime, and all the stuff we don’t like going on in IL, we took it as a nod from the Good Lord above this was a “can’t miss opportunity” and we took it.

I didn’t wait until I retired to move and neither did my wife. Soni is a hairstylist and she figured out a way to book all her appointments in Glen Ellyn during one week of the month. She will commute back and forth for that one week.

I’ve set up a home office in Naples and have been having computer share meetings on demand. I’ll be heading up north every now and then during the winter as needed and we will both be back in town during the warmer months of the year. Having these two great locations will allow me to extend my career for many years as I have no plans of ever stopping my work.

I’ve always written about the balancing act between living for “now” and saving for “later”. I’ve saved for my three kids’ college tuition, room & board, retirement, a down payment for this home, and more. Along the way, I had a good time spending some of our money on family vacations and other things. I’m still living the way I’ve always told my clients and followers to do.

If I weren’t working I’d be tapping into my savings and many retirees can afford to start doing that. While far from a tragedy, many of you will never come close to spending the money you have saved.

At some point, when you are older, you will compare your expenses with the income and savings you’ve accumulated and realize you’ve got WAY MORE MONEY than you will ever spend. I know that’s the case for many of my clients.

Maybe you will wish you did what my wife and I did and bought a 2^nd home. Whatever your personal wishes may be, it’s to time to explore the financial impact and make a plan to make them happen if possible.

Let’s set up a meeting to discuss your options.

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