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 September.
My questions are in bold italics and their responses follow in black.
Let’s get started…
OVERVIEW
How old are you (and spouse if applicable, plus how long you’ve been married)?
I turned 60 in July. My wife is a young 52 years old.
We will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary in October this year. It’s been a great 25 years with my sweetheart!
Do you have kids/family (if so, how old are they)?
We have 21-year-old twins. Both are currently in college. Our son will graduate next spring as his major offers the opportunity to earn his degree in 3 years.
Our daughter will graduate in Spring 2027. We are happy that they both choose degrees that will result in a job that is in demand and will also benefit society.
What area of the country do you live in (and urban or rural)?
We live in the suburbs of a small city in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S.
What is your current net worth?
Our net worth is approximately $6,500,000.
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?
- Cash (Checking, CD, Savings, and Money Market) = $302,000
- 401K, IR,A and other retirement plans = $3,800,000
- 529 Plans = $122,000
- Taxable Mutual Funds = $1,776,000
- Home (primary residence) = $500,000 (per Zillow). I believe this value is pretty accurate as recent comparable home sales in our neighborhood sold at that number.
We have no debt other than credit cards that we pay off each month. We haven’t had a mortgage since about 2015.
We overfunded our 529 Plan for my son, as we did not anticipate him earning his degree in 3 years. There will be approximately $50,000 remaining, which is his to use for further education.
EARN
What is your job?
I am a Director of Project Services at a global EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) company.
My wife is the Managing Director of our household.
Over the years, she has worked part-time jobs related to her teaching background. These part-time jobs were more to get her out of the house than to make real income (I always called it Mocha Money).
What is your annual income?
I transitioned to part-time work (25-30 hours/week) in March this year. My 2024 salary working as a full-time employee was $240,000/year.
In addition, I was eligible to earn up to a 10% bonus of my annual salary.
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?
- 1979 – I started working at age 14 at a hardware store. I worked through high school. I started at $2.00/hour and ended at $3.35/hour.
- 1988 – I graduated with a degree in Industrial Engineering. My first job’s annual salary was $27,000/yr ($12.98/hour!)
- 2005 – I crossed the $100,000 per year in salary.
- 2011 – $145,000/year – accepted department manager position
- 2020 – $180,000/year
- 2022 – $204,000/year
- 2023 – $224,800/year -promoted to current position
- 2024 – $240,000/year
What tips do you have for others who want to grow their career-related income?
Believe in yourself and be willing to take a risk. I had managed small project teams (
However, the position required a cross-country relocation. Taking this position has been one of my best decisions for my career as well as for my family.
It has really accelerated my career and increased my income substantially.
I was lucky to work for a company that offered generous tuition reimbursement. They had no annual cap on the tuition they would reimburse.
Therefore, I decided to pursue getting a master’s degree in project management. I managed to get my degree in less than 2 years for free.
I would recommend pursuing an advanced degree as it increases your job knowledge as well as your marketability.
Take advantage of the tuition reimbursement benefit if your company offers it. Most people don’t.
What’s your work-life balance look like?
My work-life balance now is very good with being part-time. In my early years, I often worked 50 to 60 hours a week.
I would never turn down working overtime, as I saw this as additional money to be invested. Some years in the recent past were very difficult as there were substantial travel requirements.
Very glad that’s now in the rear-view mirror.
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?
No other income streams currently. Back in 2000 and 2001, I taught courses at the Graduate level in subjects (Engineering Economics, Project Management) related to my career.
I taught at the same school that I got my master’s degree. I was paid a flat $1,800 per class (10-week term).
I determined after teaching four classes that this sideline gig was not for me.
SAVE
What is your annual spending?
We spend around $10,000/month for all our expenses, not including our Scandinavian trip or our children’s college tuition.
We took a very relaxing, amazing 10-day trip to Scandinavia, which cost around $11,000 for the four of us. It was worth every penny we spent.
What are the main categories (expenses) this spending breaks into?
I do not track our expenses on a line-by-line basis. I did this when my paychecks were less and money was tighter.
We put all our expenses on our credit cards except for utilities and charity, which is drawn directly from our checking account. I use automatic withdrawal from our checking account for our credit cards also.
Both credit cards that we use offer cash back. I love using the cash back on our Discover card to buy gift cards for stores we frequently shop at.
For example, you can get a Home Depot gift card for $100 with using $90 in cash back savings. That’s a nice return.
Do you have a budget? If so, how do you implement it?
We do not have a budget. We take a very simple approach to budgeting and how we track our spending.
I have a good sense of what our monthly expenses are. I then project what the monthly expenditures will be, including our credit card statements.
I also add in our paychecks with the date the money will be posted to our checking account. Below is an example using fictitious numbers:
I find this simple approach works fine for us.
What percentage of your gross income do you save and how has that changed over time?
For my first 10 working years, my savings percentage averaged 25% of my gross income. We did have a challenging few years (2017-2018) where it was difficult to save anything based on my employment situation.
Currently, we are saving approximately 13% of my gross income. I max out my 401K contributions, both Base and the over-50 catch-up.
I have taken my foot off the saving gas pedal in the last few years. Our investments have grown so well over time that I don’t feel the need to be as aggressive with saving.
What’s your best tip for saving (accumulating) money?
Having a spouse that shares in your financial approach. My wife does an outstanding job of being cost-conscious in her purchases.
In addition, automatic withdrawals are the easiest way to save money. If you don’t have the money available to spend, it’s very difficult to spend it.
For almost 20 years, I had $450 per month deducted from my checking account to invest in mutual funds (Vanguard 500 Index ($250/month) and Vanguard Long Term Tax Exempt($200/month)). This dollar cost averaging approach has certainly contributed to our current net worth.
What’s your best tip for spending less money?
Stay away from being jealous of your neighbor’s commercialism and fancy car. We are constantly bombarded by the media to buy the next best thing.
Avoid the temptation. Also, we never felt the need to increase our spending when my salary increased.
In addition, my wife and I discuss major purchases (>$500) to make sure we’re on the same page before we buy the item.
We are also starting to use Facebook Marketplace more. Why buy a shelving unit new for $100 when a used one for $30 will work just as well?
What is your favorite thing to spend money on/your secret splurge?
We like to take very nice, relaxing vacations. We love travelling.
Upon my retirement, we plan to visit more countries in Europe as well as the Western US and Canada.
INVEST
What is your investment philosophy/plan?
I believe in buy and hold with adding using dollar cost averaging. We do not invest in individual stocks, only mutual funds.
I don’t have the time nor the desire to research and pick stocks.
What has been your best investment?
Our best investment have been the low-cost mutual funds offered by Vanguard.
What has been your worst investment?
We started our married life living in the townhouse I owned. After a year, we decided that we should buy a single-family home in anticipation of having a family.
It was a tough real estate market for buyers, and we were outbid on a few offers. Because of this, our real estate agent recommended a town adjacent to the towns we were originally interested in.
We bought a fixer-upper house in this town. Over the 3 years or so we lived there, I made substantial improvements like adding hardwood floors on the first floor, putting in a new roof, remodeling the kitchen, etc.
Unfortunately, a few months after our children were born, we determined that there was illegal activity occurring in the rental house next door. We felt it was unsafe to live there and sold the house at a significant loss.
We wanted out. We learned valuable lessons from this unfortunate experience, which has helped us in subsequent home purchases.
However, this experience has soured us on real estate as an investment option.
What’s been your overall return?
I have averaged an overall annual return of around 9%.
How often do you monitor/review your portfolio?
I typically check monthly. In January, I use year end statements to determine our investments annual net worth for the past year.
Here are my yearly totals since I began tracking it more diligently due to achieving millionaire status in 2011:
NET WORTH
How did you accumulate your net worth?
My net worth was achieved by consistently maxing out our 401K contributions over my working career. In addition, I set up automatic investing ($450/month) in Vanguard 500 Index and Long Term Tax Exempt Bond Funds.
Automatic investing is nearly painless and is a great way to grow your money due to the effects of compounding.
There was no inheritance when my parents passed away. Over 20 years ago, my wife and I were gifted $10,000 each from her grandparents.
The money was invested in our Vanguard 500 Index fund.
What would you say is your greatest strength in the ESI wealth-building model (Earn, Save or Invest) and why would you say it’s tops?
I would say saving money has been our greatest asset. We have never paid a penny in credit card interest fees or any late fees.
We have never had any debt other than our mortgage and cars, and we pay off our bills every month on time.
While I feel that my salary over the years has been respectable, it’s never been what I consider to be a high salary.
I did not achieve a 6-figure salary until age 40. Regardless, I am happy with how our investments/wealth worked out, so I don’t believe I would have changed my approach.
What road bumps did you face along the way to becoming a millionaire and how did you handle them?
I was laid off in mid-2017. The next two years were very challenging from a salary perspective.
I accepted a position at a lower salary in order to be employed. During these two years, we saved very little.
What are you currently doing to maintain/grow your net worth?
2025 has been an interesting year for the markets, but we have been staying the course. I have never panicked during any of the market downturns over the years.
No sense in starting now.
Like many, I use Boldin (New Retirement) as well as my Excel spreadsheet to plan and forecast my investments. Both methods show the same results; over 90% chance of fully funding our plan through our longevity.
Do you have a target net worth you are trying to attain?
Beyond watching our money grow, we really don’t have a targeted, specific amount. We should be comfortable in early retirement with the new worth we currently have.
I believe it will be challenging for me to go from a savings/investing mindset to a spending mindset.
How old were you when you made your first million and have you had any significant behavior shifts since then?
I became a Millionaire at age 46. Becoming a Millionaire has not changed my approach to investing.
We are content with our life and don’t need “toys” to feel justified or important. We feel we are blessed and want to be generous with our wealth.
What personal habits and/or traits have you developed that have made you successful at growing your net worth?
I am very cost-conscious and always look for ways to save money. Growing up lower middle class in a family of six, my parents had to pinch pennies.
I guess their habits rubbed off on me. Any money saved was then invested in the stock market.
What money mistakes have you made along the way that others can learn from?
I would have made my 401K contributions to a Roth account.
Converting these regular 401k contributions to a Roth in the future will result in significant taxes as the money has compounded and grown substantially.
What advice do you have for ESI Money readers on how to become wealthy?
Remember that time is your ally. Be patient and stay the course. It’s very true that making the first million is the hardest. It took me 23 years to do it.
Our investments have now grown to $6 million in around 14 years since.
Always pay yourself first. Do this by using automatic investments which pull the money directly from your checking (or savings) account.
Marry well. You want your spouse to be on the same financial page as you.
FUTURE
What are your plans for the future regarding lifestyle?
I will be taking early retirement at the end of this year. My wife and I intend to increase our travel plans.
We are very content with our lifestyle and don’t intend to change it in retirement.
What are your retirement plans?
When I am retired at the end of the year, I’ll have more time to read ESI posts as well as the knowledge share on the Millionaires Money Mentors!
I don’t intend to adjust our investment approach. I believe we are positioned well.
My wife and I love playing tennis and we will make this a priority. Going to the gym each day is another priority we share.
We intend to volunteer at a local ministry that we feel passionate about.
Are there any issues in retirement that concern you? If so, how are you planning to address them?
With early retirement and with my wife being 8 years younger than I, my biggest concern is health insurance.
The concern is not necessarily the premiums cost. Rather, it’s finding a plan that has our doctors in network with a solid prescription drug plan while still being accepted by these providers.
I am hopeful that the ACA is not eventually eliminated.
MISCELLANEOUS
How did you learn about finances and at what age did it “click”?
My parents did not believe in the stock market as they lived through the Great Depression. As a kid, I never planned to become a millionaire.
I just wanted to have a more comfortable life than what my parents had. At age 25, I took a basic investments class at a local community college.
Being an Industrial Engineer, I understood basic Finance and the time value of money (Engineering Economics). This class opened my eyes to investment options beyond CDs.
Who inspired you to excel in life? Who are your heroes?
My Dad was my inspiration and hero. He was an immigrant who came to the United States in 1950 with nothing.
He worked hard, never complained, and made sure his four children all got college degrees. My Dad was a huge believer in the power of education.
Do you have any favorite money books you like/recommend? If so, can you share with us your top three and why you like them?
I find that “How to Make Your Money Last” by Jane Bryant Quinn is a great, simple read for retirement planning. The book covers social security, pensions, health insurance and spending in retirement.
I use it almost as a reference manual in preparation for my early retirement.
I also enjoy “The Millionaire Next Door”. The book addresses why it makes financial sense to be frugal and practice economical consumption.
It addresses how to save money and develop economical spending habits. I consider it a must-read for those striving to grow their wealth and be financially independent.
I find the advice and wisdom of the Millionaire Money Mentors (MMM) to be invaluable. I have used the site to validate I was on track for early retirement.
I received some amazing feedback from the Mentors.
Do you give to charity? Why or why not? If you do, what percent of time/money do you give?
Yes, we give to our church and support other Christian ministries (like Compassion). My wife is very active in our church as a deacon, member of the choir, as well as on the hospitality team.
Upon retirement, I plan to become more active in our church.
Do you plan to leave an inheritance for your heirs (how do you plan to distribute your wealth at your death)? What are your reasons behind this plan?
My wife and I believe that our money is really not ours but God’s. At death, we plan to give our two children 25% each of our wealth.
We do not believe in generational wealth, as our opinion is that it tends to make the recipients dependent and lazy. The remaining 50% will be given to Christian ministries that support spreading the gospel and help those in need.
