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
Drove back to Austin
Tried a new boxing class
Did my first Dexa scan (10.1% body fat)
Spent a week in Miami
Attended Ultra music festival
Went to two additional concerts
Drove back to Texas Coast

April 2024

More remodeling on Texas beach house
Found outfits for our engagement (surprise to Leslie)
Made pies/desserts for Leslie’s Brother’s 50th birthday
Spent two weeks in Portugal
Got engaged
A quick trip to Paris
Volunteered for Preservation Austin home tour
Spent a week in Puerto Vallarta

May 2024

Hosted my parents in Austin
Threw an engagement party
Another trip to the Texas Coast
Yoga wellness day trip
DeadMau5 show in Austin
Spent 10 days in Chicago
Attended Beyond Wonderland music festival in Chicago
Tons of catching up with friends, sporting events, new restaurants, museums etc

June 2024

4 more days in Chicago
House sitting for Leslie’s brother
10 days in Mississippi
More work on the flip house
Cookout for Father’s Day
Consumer Product Goods event
Spent a week in Alaska
Took a private plane flight around the glaciers and mountains

July 2024

Spent two weeks across Oregon/Washington
Odesza concert at The Gorge on the 4th of July
Oregon Coast stay
Clamming
Exploring Portland
Berry Picking
Beautiful hikes
Highland cow experience
House sitting for Leslie’s Brother
Week in Puerto Rico

August 2024

Traveled to southern Mississippi
Attended my Aunt’s wedding
Spent a couple of days with my Aunt
Spent over two weeks in Africa
Hiked Kilimanjaro
Did African Safari

September 2024

Boat day Lake Austin
Knocked off some local Austin restaurants from the wishlist
Began planning our 6 month international trip
Started taking running more seriously
Mississippi State vs Texas football game
Hosted friends from Mississippi
Kygo concert

October 2024

F45 photoshoot
Celebrated Rhonda’s birthday
Staycation downtown Austin
Maggie Rogers concert
ACL
Domdolla concert
Baking spree (first biscuits, high protein desserts)
Started building cookbook
Vintage culture concert
Ride along in a rally car
Leslie 10yr college reunion

November 2024

Austin Networking getaway weekend
Wedding Expo
Hosted 5k / Friendsgiving
Spent 11 days in Dallas with my best friend
Creed concert
Hyrox race
4 days in Mercury Texas for Thanksgiving
Wooli concert

It’s obvious that Justin didn’t get bored in retirement or feel as though he was just sitting around being worthless.
We hope you enjoyed this detailed breakdown and case study of what a real example of retirement looks like.
If you found value in the episode, please share it with a friend!
Links from the Episode

Justin’s Retirement Announcement Episode
$5,000,000 Net Worth and 2,000,000 Downloads Episode

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