Interview With Accidentally Retired
Accidentally Retired
Hey guys today we are talking with Accidentally Retired who runs the website AccidentallyRetired.com and the exciting things he’s been up to since he retired in 2020.
Quick Intro
I ran across your website and was struck by how similar our stories were! Before we dive in, a little bit of back story for our readers. You were a CEO of a firm and took some time off at age 36 in 2020 to have a mini retirement/ break for 6 months and along the way realized you could retire today so just kept on enjoying life! Pretty awesome! You have 2 small children and a wife who keep you busy.
I thought today we’d take some time to get to know you a little bit better and maybe focus on some of the things people should be thinking about what the next steps after work life will look like.
So Q&A Time!!
Blind Luck Project (BLP): What’s an interesting skill you have that people wouldn’t guess when they first meet you?
Accidently Retired (AR): Hmm. I’m not really sure. I don’t think that I am particularly great at any one thing. But I am good at a lot of things.
Other people may be shocked that I am good at this or good at that. Well, the biggest difference is likely that I put in the time where they did not. Whether it is golf, bowling, video games, basketball, coding, etc. I put in the time and effort to practice enough until I got “good” - and they didn’t.
That is all that separates us, is the time and effort that you put into something.
BLP: How did you feel when you turned in your computer, badge, cellphone and left the office for the last time?
AR: It was strange.
Because of the pandemic, everything was done virtually. I had a virtual happy hour sendoff where we all had a drink and reminisced. But mostly it was awkward. Having a beer with 30-40 people over Zoom. Not a huge fan.
My team did bring over a few going away gifts to my house, which were really nice and thoughtful.
However, after building my business for nearly ten years, it really felt like I was losing a loved one. In a way, I had a small grieving period for the few weeks up until my last day. It was hard not to feel for the loss of something that was so big and instrumental in my life.
Packing up my office was even stranger. I hadn’t been to the office in three months, and there was no one there. Talk about an eerie hour or so.
And on the other side of that strangeness, was relief. Relief that now, my hours were in my hands. No more 5am video conference calls with Europe. No more last minute business trips. I was back in control!
BLP: How long did it take before you felt like you were “Retired” you know when it’s not just a long vacation, what was the biggest difference that you noticed?
AR: My plan all along was to take a mini-retirement and then figure out what to do next. During the first part of my mini-retirement, I was going to golf as much as possible, and we were going to head out to a beach rental for a three week vacation.
Of course, our vacation rental was canceled last minute...so instead of heading off to the beach, we were left brainstorming and researching new vacation ideas. Due to the massive amount of beach bookings combined with the pandemic, we ended up not going on our vacation for two more months.
My six month mini-retirement really just felt like a long vacation/break from work. But I needed that detox - I literally could not even look at a computer. After busting my butt for years and doing more video conferences and phone calls than I would ever have liked to, I was just done.
But after staying away from everything for six months, letting the stress melt away, I really began to find my new passions and interests. And ultimately, that is how AR was born.
Even now after realizing that I Accidentally Retired, I’m not sure I really feel retired, retired. It was never my plan, and I’ve been so engaged with writing on AR, parenting, and now running the new website I purchased. So, I think the verdict is still out.
BLP: Do you stay in touch with many of your old colleges? Are any of them planning to follow your lead?
AR: I have a somewhat regular call with one of my former business partners. He catches me up on the ongoings of the business, and I give him advice when asked. But mostly, we just shoot the sh*t about anything from the NFL to parenting.
I also stay in touch with some of my employees and we also started a Fantasy Football league to keep in touch. So that part is great. I really have made some good friends for life.
BLP: I’ve found in retirement a good routine is very helpful in keeping the “fire” in me I’m not the type to sit around. What does regular day look like for you?
AR: Yes, that is my issue too. Because I track my happiness, I have found that while I do enjoy sometimes lounging around, I get more happiness from being productive. When I write an article I am proud of on AR, or when I go on a six mile walk, or go out and hit the links, that for me is living life. That gives me the “fire” that I need.
Yet I have small kids, so most of my day revolves around them. My wife and I take our kids to school together, and then we usually will workout together. After that we will both typically find something productive to do, eat lunch together, and then back to doing something (blogging, researching investments, household chores, etc.). Then we head back to pick them up, play with them, and then dinner and bed. That is a typical day right now. It is more equivalent to stay-at-home parenting than that of a retiree.
BLP: In some of your articles you mentioned that money still stresses you out sometimes, I have the same feelings from time to time. What are the stresses and what have you changed about your portfolio/ spending to address that?
AR: For me, because my early retirement wasn’t fully planned out, I know that the sequence of return risk is higher than if I had worked for another year or two. Maybe the markets will continue to be kind and that will be a non-issue, but I don’t want to count on that.
And that is why I chose to go out and purchase a website. After comparing it to real estate, it was hands down a better investment that would drive cash flow, with hopefully similar effort.
If the website performs like I hope it does, then that should calm my worries about money.
Even so, whenever I worry about money, I try to remind myself that the worst case scenario is that I will go back to work. It wouldn’t be the end of the world.
BLP: Hindsight is always 20/20 Is there anything you would do differently if you were to retire today?
AR: The biggest thing I would change is that I would have taken over my finances sooner. I felt I was “too busy” to manage my own investments. At a bare minimum, I should have researched things a bit more.
Our allocations were just way too far off. We were invested like two 65 year old retirees, but in our early 30s, that makes absolutely no sense. I knew it in my gut, but I didn’t take action. This would have set us up better, and we likely wouldn’t be in this borderline Partial FIRE type of situation.
BLP: What’s something that hasn’t changed as much as you thought it would in life after retiring?
AR: I think I thought I would have more leisure time, and less productive time. Though I don’t work all that much (3-4 hours a day), and everything is now completely in my hands, I tend to pursue productive activities over leisure activities.
I would have thought this to be the opposite, but I am having too much fun writing for AR, and now have added a whole other website to the roster.
I also thought that we would do more slow travel, but so far between budgeting and life, it just hasn’t happened.
BLP: Have your priorities changed after the first year of retirement? What's different moving forward?
AR: I think my priorities are mostly the same.
Now that I bought my cash flow website, I am working on getting up to speed there. My hope is that it will help to really smooth out any sequence of return risk.
Hopefully, after a period of ramp up, I can take a breather and spend more time golfing, hiking, relaxing, etc.
Otherwise, my core focus is raising healthy, well-rounded, and productive kids.
BLP: Any advice/ final thoughts for the readers who’d like to retire early like you? (Other than following your website of course!)
AR: Plan better! Don’t end up winging it like me. That will make for a less stressful transition.
But mostly, don’t take life too seriously. Focus on your happiness over early retirement as a goal. You should never forgo any happiness in your pursuit of FIRE.
FIRE is great. I love it, but my problems pre-retirement are still my problems later now.
Focus on building your wealth, but ensuring that you are also working on your happiness at the same time.
BLP: Looking over your website looks like you have some exciting stuff going on, you recently bought a website, looking at real estate opportunities, and other ventures excited to see where you go with it all and hopefully the next few years continue to go well for you!
Thanks for taking the time to give us some insight into what's happening with you and we’ll hear from you soon!
-Cheers!
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