My wife and I retired with 22 times our income. Why don't more people do what we did?

By Quentin Fottrell

 'The vast majority of people I've known are intimidated by money's power, imbue it with almost magical qualities' 

 "I built an AI 'person' out of money who could work for me when I am unable or unwilling to work." (Photo subject is a model.) 

 Dear Quentin, 

 I previously wrote to you about my own financial journey ("I nearly made a major misstep: I took my Social Security at 64 instead of 70. Here's why.") If you'll humor a brief philosophical rant, I think one of the roots of our personal money problems is a fundamental misunderstanding of money. Most people think of money as a macro phenomenon or externality. 

 The vast majority of people I've known are intimidated by money's power, imbue it with almost magical qualities - particularly around growing it - and end up feeling they can't understand the smoke and mystery around it, so they let it slip out of mind. I think it would help people to have a more personal definition of money as a central component of a life well lived. 

 I built an AI "person" out of money who could work for me when I am unable or unwilling to work. When I nurture this "other person," it becomes more enduring than I am. The energy of my excess work creates more energy, and it can eventually take care of me. I am "cloning" myself for retirement. Not taking care of your money becomes, in a visceral sense, not taking care of yourself. 

 In our best years, my wife and I have had a combined earned income of $195,000, yet we accumulated 22 times that. When she retires in five years, we should have 30-32 times our best earning years. (She earns $163,000; basic matched retirement, 403(b) plus 457(b). I save about $8,000 a year on $34,000 self-directed contributions.) 

 We've been able to balance between Roth and tax-deferred accounts so that we will be drawing income in the fourth tax bracket while never fully filling the third bracket with taxable income. I don't mean this to sound braggy, but more a reflection of pride in building a sound, durable and balanced structure - hours and hours of spreadsheets, testing and retesting strategies. 

 Why don't more people do what we did? 

 Retired at 64 

 Related: 'Americans are not great at managing money': Social Security and Medicare saved my father from financial ruin 

 You can email The Moneyist with any financial and ethical questions at qfottrell@marketwatch.com. The Moneyist regrets he cannot reply to questions individually. 

 Hand over market-related anxieties to your silent, hardworking virtual self. He will keep doing what he always does. 

 Dear Retired, 

 Let's talk about your financially fit Marathon Man. 

 That has got to be one of the most vivid descriptions of a healthy relationship with money: You are nurturing the excess energy from all of the work you have done throughout the years. Your savings and investments are an avatar representing this Marathon Man, your most productive self. Your labor and salary become a virtual wind farm generating more and more money, until it powers your home and car and life throughout your retirement. 

 Amen to that! Like any system that depends on compounding interest - earning a return on the interest in addition to the principal - your investments rarely move in a straight line. Over time, they will look like the jagged profile of a mountain range. There will be short, sharp peaks and valleys, but if you can't stand the rises and falls in altitude, hand over those anxieties to your silent, hardworking virtual self. He will keep doing what he does. 

 Financial markets are a mystery to many, and there are myriad reasons why: the lack of financial-literacy training in schools and colleges; the idea that money is for the rich or those in the know; and the financial system - and press - using terms to describe money that can be offputting at best and exclusionary and elitist at worst. That is why MarketWatch exists, to democratize financial news, and why The Moneyist column exists too. 

 Sharp edges vs. soft power 

 The Moneyist column attempts to break down all the sharp edges and soft power that money represents: the obtuse and often surreal investing concepts; the easy mistakes people make by treating money as a persona non grata third wheel in relationships (like not discussing prenups, joint accounts or life goals before getting married or buying a house); and all the ways money can be leveraged to settle old scores and disrupt the equal flow of a family's inheritance. 

 Money is emotional, sure, but it's also powerful, as you point out, and we - not our banker or adviser or lawyer or accountant - are the source of that power. Consider all of the tools we can employ to grow our nest egg from 401(k)s, IRAs, index funds, ETFS and real-estate purchases, while sacrificing certain wants and some needs to get to that place where our virtual "self" is operating independently and finally is ready to give up those spoils (cue Roth conversions). 

 Money is powerful and we - not our banker, adviser or lawyer - are the source of that power. 

 Another reason why your Marathon Man is a formidable way to visualize your financial future: He must embody all of your experience. That's why, per your last letter, you took Social Security at 64 instead of 70 - because it represented just 20% of your annual income, so why wait? Plus you did not expect to break even by the time you and your Marathon Man run out of battery, so, again, why wait? But as you say, this clone will go on long after you're gone. 

 The kind of growth you and your wife experienced benefited from decades of strong market returns (notwithstanding bumps along the way, like the Great Recession and the 2020 global pandemic), plus historically low inflation and interest rates, which all added up to a financial environment that rewarded long-term equity exposure. And if your Marathon Man retired into a down market? He would, I hope, remain upright and stoic until the storm had passed. 

 Personalizing your journey 

 Your image of the virtual self personalizes your financial journey. I receive too many letters from readers who have lost control and/or understanding of what's happening to their money and why - like the reader who discovered his parents' adviser was charging them a 3% fee, or the wealthy investor who was mad at their adviser for trading options even though he made a killing. You and your Marathon Man should be on the same page. 

 The more we fear something, the more we come to quietly resent it. I wonder whether this man - who is 48, earns $65,000 a year and has $48,000 in debt, but has no money set aside for retirement - was avoiding investing because it created anxiety and a sense of hopelessness. If he had you, he could have imagined a version of himself slowly, imperfectly building a modest house made of money that - fingers crossed - would be complete by the time he retires. 

 Someone who has no retirement savings in middle age can, unfortunately, receive the same amount of scorn as a well-heeled retiree who has $10 million in middle age. It's OK for both to have questions. It's OK to feel scared. It's OK to change your habits and break out of your comfort zone of savings accounts, checking accounts, CDs and annuities, as your friend finally did. It's OK to make mistakes. And it's even better to learn from them. 

 Don't miss: 'The numbers don't lie': If I had invested my Social Security in the S&P 500 I'd have $4 million. Is the system broken? 

 More columns from Quentin Fottrell: 

 'The S&P 500 seems to be doing particularly well': I'm 66. Is this a good time to invest $100,000 in the stock market? 

 'We're all worried the honey pot will run dry': Does the U.S. government borrow from my Social Security to fund federal programs? 

 'There is an imbalance of power': My husband has cancer. Why must we wait two hours for a 10-minute CT scan? 

 Check out The Moneyist's private Facebook group, where members help answer life's thorniest money issues. Post your questions, or weigh in on the latest Moneyist columns. 

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 -Quentin Fottrell 

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