Andrew tells us about his mini retirement

Andrew is constantly thinking, talking, or writing about his never-ending pursuit of a better life & career through personal experiments, lessons learned, and smart money habits. In 2017, he took a detour off the path towards financial independence and embarked on a one-year mini-retirement. Now he is using the insights gained from a year off to reframe his goals and ambitions for decades to come.

 

Welcome Back!

 

[:] So Andrew took a mini retirement, when he was last on the show he was in the middle of it, now we have a chance to catch up with him and see how it went. First off, how did you plan for your mini retirement? Was there a dollar figure you needed to save up?

Spoke last right at the beginning of his mini retirement, it wasn’t planned but it evolved over time, the plan was to travel the world, their number figure was $40,000 each. There was a lot of stuff that happened in their personal lives that changed their plans- Andrew’s wife got diagnosed with Thyroid cancer. Andrew was also completely burned out at work and got a lot of time to think about things

[:] Are there some things you weren’t expecting from your mini retirement? Like finding stuff to keep you busy etc?

Andrew did a lot better job of his time keeping himself busy Coming up with a long list of things to do was important and gave him clarity Taking things one small piece at a time is really important, read Bird by Bird.

[:] Looking back, did your mini retirement go according to plan? With your spending goals?

Andrew was obsessive about his money and definitely had a number in mind and wanted to make sure he kept strong tabs on spending money. Ended up spending the less of any year since they started tracking their expenses Ended up trying to beat his goals and only spent about $30,000 in the whole year

 

[:] You took a break off your FI route, would you say your mini retirement set you back? And if you could go back, would you do it again?

Yes Andrew would do it again, even with some of the more difficult parts of it. It didn’t make that much of a dent in their FI journey

 

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[:] What is your savings or retirement plan?

Stayed the same after mini retirement, lifestyle expenses have been in check Baseline spending and save the rest

 

[:] Do you have a favorite book?

Millennial Money Retire Early Not the Penny Pinching Way

 

[:] Favorite quote you like to live by?

“Bird by bird” - focusing on one thing at a time

 

[:] Any other parting piece of guidance?

Focus on more than just the money, having a magic money is great but there’s more to life than that