235: Why a High-Income Doesn’t Automatically Fast Track You to FI

BiggerPockets Money Podcast

High-income earners have a better shot at retiring early than those making a median income. That being said, with more money comes more investing risk. After the great recession, Bob Haines was sitting on a $300,000 loss from leveraging too many properties to flip. This put the possibility of retiring early multiple years behind. But, even with a money mistake as large as Bob’s, he’s been able to retire at age forty-four, a good twenty-one years before the standard retirement age.

You could say that Bob’s early retirement sprung from his ability to take risks, leave jobs, and go where the money was. Bob went from making $40,000 a year at his first job to $500,000 less than a decade later. While a $500,000 salary was not the norm for Bob, these frequent career and company jumps allowed him to build up a massive cash position ($250k) and invest for retirement faster.

Funnily enough, the first time Bob heard about the FI movement, he quickly calculated his FI number and realized he had already hit it. While he took a couple more years to finally pull the trigger and get over his “one more year” dilemma, Bob and his wife were able to retire in 2018 and 2019, allowing them to travel, spend time with family, and enjoy life at the beach.

In This Episode We Cover

Why small salary increases can massively change a financial position

Calculating your market salary and finding a job that matches it

The world of “pre-sales engineering” allows for huge compensation

The mistakes you can make when sitting on a large amount of cash

Over-leveraging yourself in real estate and biting off more than you can chew

How to shake off “one more year syndrome” to enjoy early retirement

Fighting lifestyle creep even as your salary expands exponentially

And So Much More!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices