Here’s our latest interview with a millionaire as we seek to learn from those who have grown their wealth to high heights.
If you’d like to be considered for an interview, drop me a note and we can chat about specifics.
This interview took place in March. It’s a long one, so we’ll be breaking it up into two posts.
My questions are in bold italics and their responses follow in black.
OVERVIEW
How old are you (and spouse if applicable, plus how long you’ve been married)?
I am 44 years old.
My wife is 43. In July we will have been married for 16 years.
Do you have kids/family (if so, how old are they)?
We have two children.
My daughter is 14 and my son is 10.
What area of the country do you live in (and urban or rural)?
I live in a coastal town in the northeast. It is considered suburban-rural.
I have lived in this part of the country all my life – mainly to stay close to family members.
I could see myself moving to a warmer climate once the kids are older.
What is your current net worth?
As of this writing, our net worth is around $1.82 million.
What are the main assets that make up your net worth (stocks, real estate, business, home, retirement accounts, etc.) and any debt that offsets part of these?
We pay our credit cards off in full each month, they are not included in the figures above.
EARN
What is your job?
I am a mid-level manager in supply chain at a pharmaceutical company.
My wife is an elementary school teacher.
What is your annual income?
My base salary is around $169,000. Bonuses are variable – and can increase that total to approximately $175,000 to $220,000.
My wife makes around $80,000. We have no other meaningful sources of income.
Tell us about your income performance over time. What was the starting salary of your first job, how did it grow from there (and what you did to make it grow), and where are you now?
TLDR Table:
Details:
I worked at a handful of companies of various sizes over my career – from small, to mid-size, to large. They all have their pros and cons.
In 2004, fresh out of college I had the privilege to work for a small software startup company as a Training Specialist. I was employee number 11.
This job allowed me to visit over forty different states in the US and visit many unique places I might not have been able to see. (Shoutouts to Mount Rushmore, the scenic drive from Portland to Bend in Oregon, and enjoying the warmth of Charlotte in January. Ironically, I live in the northeast but Maine still eludes me.)
My job was to train users on the software the company developed. I did not know it at the time, but while we were in the early stages of the company there were periods where the owners were withholding their own pay to make sure those of us lower in the organization received our paychecks.
For me, one of the benefits of working for a small startup was we got to wear many hats, and get exposed to many areas of a business. The downside, again from my perspective at the time, was that the employee benefits were not great, but I was young, and I didn’t care too much.
Starting out, my salary was around $30K to $35K. I got the standard raises over the initial years.
Around three years in, we were acquired by a larger mid-sized company. At that point, I went from being ‘employee number ‘11 of 25’ to a company with about 100 employees.
As part of the acquisition, we were given a small bonus if we stuck around. It also opened the door to more job opportunities.
Around 2008, I received a small promotion, and I became an ‘Implementations Manager’ where I worked with new clients after a sale was completed to assist in setting them up with the software. On paper, the role sounded very intriguing.
It had elements of project management, scheduling virtual and in-person training with the trainers, and working with them to complete their implementation process. In practice, it was stressful. I always felt like I was just staying afloat, always just a little behind, and would struggle to keep up with the workload.
I didn’t see a way out within the company, so I looked externally to see what else was out there.
I ended up finding a role in a very different capacity (a mix of technical writing, with some project management) in a totally different industry. The company was larger, and had better benefits.
It seemed like a good idea at the time, so I put in my 2 weeks at my current company. The owner from the original startup company was still there, and worked to try to retain me.
But I felt that a lot of what they had to offer was ‘here’s where we can see you in the future’ vs. what was available at present, so I decided to move to the new company. We left amicably, and there will be more on that in a little bit.
Within my first week at the new company, there was an all-hands meeting. They announced that they were acquiring another company.
The impact it would have on us however, was that they were going to close our office location and move folks to the acquired company’s location in Pittsburgh. As mentioned above, staying close to family is important to me, so a move to Pittsburgh wasn’t something I was considering.
They were going to phase the move, and I had quite some time before I would be impacted. My old company caught wind of the news (I had kept in touch with friends there) and asked if I wanted to come back.
Since I was still fairly new at the new company, and the move to Pittsburgh was still a few months away, I initially turned them down. But as time crept on, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. In 2009, I had been interviewing at other locations, but my old company came calling again.
This time, I decided to give it another chance. Out of sheer luck, during the interviewing process I commented how I would be missing out on my annual bonus by leaving sooner – and they commented they could negotiate a small sign-on bonus. I wasn’t expecting that, so I felt it was nice.
It’s funny – I wasn’t crazy about the role itself – I’d be managing a small team in Quality Assurance. I wasn’t crazy about QA, and it’d be my first time managing a team.
But it was a really good period in my life. I enjoyed the people I worked with.
I managed work/life balance better at this time point. I got married, and had my first child. I think I enjoyed everything surrounding the role more than the role itself.
However, around 2013 or so things started to change. The company’s owners sold the company to another investment firm.
There was a changing of the guard, and my boss was let go. They wanted to keep me, but I felt like things were different, and decided to test the waters.
That’s when I was offered a job at the pharmaceutical company. The old company tried to counter, but their counter was lower than the offer I was about to receive, so I left.
My new role was back into project management. At first, I felt a little lost at such a large company.
There was a lot to learn, as well as a ton of acronyms. I ended up getting a good project in my first year, as well as assisting in others that would help me grow.
But as is typical in large companies there was a ‘re-org’ in my first year. Not only was my role being eliminated, my entire department was being disbanded.
Some people were matrixed into different parts of newly created departments, but I was not. (First in first out, so to speak). I stayed on good terms with folks at the company, and they encouraged me to apply to other roles within the new departments.
I interviewed for a role in financial portfolio management. It would have a lot of interactions with folks from my previous role, which was nice.
Within a week of my ‘impact date’ (the date I would be officially let go) I was offered a position.
Being impacted by the re-org was an eye-opening experience. I wanted to find ways to set myself apart from others, in the event of another re-org (of which there would be many!)
One of the benefits of working for a larger company is they offer tuition reimbursement. I decided to get both PMP (Project Management Professional) certified and get my MBA.
The MBA was a three year program, but the company paid for all tuition expenses with the exception of books. It was a great experience.
In addition to the learning, since the professors came on site to teach, I got to meet other folks in different parts of our organization. After each course started we would go around the room, introduce ourselves, say what we did at the company, etc.
In the first class of the first year, I worked my way into a study group. We remained a consistent study group throughout the entirety of the MBA program.
Two of the members in the program worked in supply chain. Whenever we would talk about work, I found what they did intriguing, and they seemed to enjoy what they did as well.
After completing my MBA, I felt like growth opportunities were limited in my current department, and saw postings in the supply chain organization. I reached out to one of my former classmates, and we had an informal information sharing conversation.
They encouraged me to apply. After interviewing, I was offered a role in the organization.
I’ve been in that part of the company since 2021, joining during the COVID shutdown. It’s been a great experience, and I feel appreciated for all the work I do in the organization.
What tips do you have for others who want to grow their career-related income?
I know there is a lot to be said for switching companies. A lot can also be said for growing within a company.
In the examples above, I think I show it can be done in either scenario – if the timing and opportunities are right. If there’s room for growth at an existing company – and you’re happy – it could be a good opportunity to stay.
Conversely, if you feel stuck and there are no opportunities internally in sight, it’s okay to look elsewhere.
In addition, what are things you can do that would set you apart from others? “Most things being equal” – what sets you apart? That’s what I tried to do in the above with the PMP and MBA. Make yourself difficult for companies to want to ‘lose you’ if there’s ever a time they have to reduce employee head count.
Last but not least – build connections and don’t burn bridges. I was able to grow my career in multiple instances by maintaining good relationships.
In one instance, I returned to a prior employer when an opportunity was presented. In another instance, I was able to advance into a new role in a different part of my current employer’s organization because I had built connections with my peers.
Increase your probabilities for growth by growing and maintaining your connections.
What’s your work-life balance look like?
It’s not horrible, but it’s not perfect. I am always trying to find ways to improve my work-life balance.
I love the idea of time-boxing – blocking time on your schedule to do focused work, rather than responding to emails and attending meetings all day. But my current role makes executing that idea difficult.
I work for a global company. When I log on in the morning my inbox is flooded with a mix of urgent and important items from across the world that I need to address.
In addition to that, I am invited to meetings that the scheduling of are outside of my control.
I try to balance that with accepting the fact that my mornings will always be random – and to triage as best I can until things calm down later in the day. My afternoons allow for more time to ‘catch up’ or focus on the things I originally intended to do.
On a day to day basis, I don’t work often on nights or weekends. However, due to the nature of my role – taking time off is difficult.
If I do totally unplug, the work will pile up while I am gone and I end up working extra hours to ‘get back to zero.’ The same is true if there are conferences or all day events.
We can have someone cover for us while we’re out, but they can only do so much.
So for me, (and I’m not saying this works for everyone), even when I am out, I may check emails here and there to avoid any emergency situations. It keeps me sane, but does mean I might work a little bit while I am supposed to be out.
I do try to keep it to a minimum when taking time off. (This equates to maybe 10 minutes a day in ideal scenarios.)
Do you have any sources of income besides your career? If so, can you list them, give us a feel for how much you earn with each, and offer some insight into how you developed them?
I do not have any major sources of income besides my career.
I love folks with stories of side-hustles – but for me, all of my income is from my career.
SAVE
What is your annual spending?
I ran a report in Quicken looking at the last four years (January 2022 to December 2025) broken out by year.
Including taxes, we average $157,100 in spending. If you back out taxes, that goes down to $94,600.
What are the main categories (expenses) this spending breaks into?
Note in the table below – I have a column for % of Annual Spending. There are two figures for percentages. The first includes taxes. The second ignores taxes and then redistributes the percentages. My thinking may be flawed, but I figured I’d show it both ways just in case.
Also – I am aware my ‘Taxes’ figure may be high – but it is because my wife and I have a ‘yours, mine, ours’ approach to money – and she has less taken out in Federal, which used to hurt us at tax-time. I would offset it by having more taken out on my paycheck. While my goal was to try to ‘break even’ at tax time, I often overestimated and then ended up getting a larger refund after filing. I say this more for clarification if anyone is wondering why those might seem high in the below.
Final note – Also because my wife and I do a ‘yours, mine, ours’ approach – I also realize this may not tell the full picture for expenses. The major expense she pays that is not factored in below is our daughter’s dance classes. (She jokes she doesn’t want me to see what it costs. 🙂 ). So while her income is mentioned in the above, dance-specific expenses are excluded in the below. It is the only major expense my wife pays from the ‘her’ bucket that is not included.
Do you have a budget? If so, how do you implement it?
We don’t really follow a budget.
I created one in Quicken, and adjust the amounts every few years, but I never remember to check against it.
What percentage of your gross income do you save and how has that changed over time?
Intentionally – I save 12% of my paycheck in my Roth 401k. My company matches 4.5%. I also put $400 a month into each child’s 529 plan ($800 total).
My wife contributes 4% to a 403(b) that does not include a match.
In the past, I was very regimented with fully funding Roth IRA’s for both my wife and myself – but I stopped doing that once we hit the income limits. I did experiment a little with backdoor Roth investments, but was not consistent with it. I am currently focusing on paying down the HELOC vs. saving above what I am currently doing.
What’s your best tip for saving (accumulating) money?
The way I look at it – as a corporate employee – I don’t have much influence over my salary (earn). One thing I can try to control is where the money I make goes (save/invest).
I automate some things. As mentioned above, 12% of my paycheck automatically goes into my 401k.
This happens with bonuses as well. I also transfer money each month into an online savings account that earns better interest than my local bank.
This is used for short-term saving/emergency fund building. Once a month I transfer money into my children’s 529 accounts.
There are many things I like to do manually to ‘see’ the change. But in this instance, when it comes to saving and investing – a lot of it is automated. If you never ‘see it’ you can’t spend it.
What’s your best tip for spending less money?
While I don’t keep a budget, I do track all my spending in Quicken. Every so often I will run “Spending by Category” reports to see if anything stands out.
I am also the type of person that enjoys ‘finding the best deal possible’ and is willing to wait to get a better price. I’ll do paralysis analysis research on something I’m interested in and create a table of features listing the pros and cons.
Price is always a factor. Once I narrow down on the item I want, I’ll then search the price history of products to see ‘what was the best price this item went for’ and then wait patiently for it to go on sale.
I also believe there is a balance between ‘value’ and ‘price’. You can get a cheap belt for $20 that will fall apart in a year.
Or you can get a more expensive belt for $40 that will last a lifetime. That is a simple example, but I do feel you ‘get what you pay for’ on both the high and the low ends.
At the same time, if a generic grocery item tastes identical (or close enough) to a more expensive name-brand, I’m content with the generic.
I do 95% of the grocery shopping. I have an app on my phone where I keep track of unit prices.
Some will argue the unit price is right there on the price tag. I find it’s not always consistent, or the units can be different from one product to another.
Additionally, I factor in the sale price when calculating the unit price. When I see an item is at a certain threshold, I stock up.
One last thing – and I wasn’t sure where to fit it so I’ll put it here – I try to utilize cash back credit cards as best as I can (meaning as best as I can, and not as best as humanly possible).
I use my Amex Blue to get 6% cash back at grocery stores, Citi Double for 2% ‘everywhere else’, Chase Freedom for the ‘rotating 5% categories’ and my Costco card for Dining/Gas/Costco.
What is your favorite thing to spend money on/your secret splurge?
I enjoy eating at restaurants, cooking food (although I am cursed with a house of picky eaters), playing video games, and buying books. To save on video games and due to time constraints, I am usually years behind the hottest game.
To save on books, I enjoy going to a large used book store nearby and ‘treasure hunting’ for a good book that is still of decent quality. I also will buy ebooks when they go on sale at the $2 or less range if it’s something I’m interested in.
I like the idea of playing physical board games, but struggle to find people with similar interests, and don’t always love the setup costs (time) with solo board gaming.
———————————
Pretty great start so far, huh?
To read the rest of this story, stay tuned!
