-
Lindsey and David Barber save 75 to 80% of their income for their son’s retirement and future.
-
Although the millennial couple has enough money to retire early, they plan to continue working.
-
They said they had worked too many long days to simply sell their businesses and retire.
Lindsey Harrison Barber, 34, and her husband David Barber, 35, have enough to retire early, but neither has any intention of slowing down.
Lindsey owns a marketing agency while David owns an insurance company, which together generate eight figures in revenue. According to financial documents provided to Business Insider, they set aside a six-figure amount each year for retirement and their son, saving about 75 to 80% of their income. Although they have the means to retire and travel, both said retirement would be at odds with everything they’ve worked toward for the last decade.
“We value the flexibility we have and so there is really no reason for us to retire because we can enjoy the life that we have created for ourselves and that fits now because of the hard work.” “We started 10, 15 years ago,” Lindsey said.
Both are not tied to the 9-to-5 corporate lifestyle, making time for a personal trainer, having lunch together and spending time with their son between work hours. They’re not working on a bigger house and said they see little reason to move on to the next big house if they’re happy with what they have.
“I almost feel like we live like we’re retired to a certain extent because we have the flexibility and the freedom, but at the end of the day that’s not the case; “We’re still putting in the work,” Lindsey said.
Many Americans strive for financial independence. This is often defined by having enough money to cover your entire living expenses without having to work again. Some are part of the FIRE movement—financial independence, early retirement—while others are turning away from early retirement, whether to continue building generational wealth or to move into less stressful roles where they still have something to do.
Expanding their agencies and wealth
David grew up in the lower middle class. His father was a manager at a retail store and his mother stayed home to care for the children. The family moved to North Carolina, Texas, Kentucky and Ohio for his father’s job. His father eventually moved into the insurance industry and raised his children with the philosophy of frugal living.
David said he had been working since he was 16, starting at a grocery store between 25 and 30 hours a week during high school. He also earned his insurance license in college so he could work part-time. He financed his studies with a small contribution from his parents and completed his studies debt-free.
Lindsey, who grew up middle class, said her mother, who worked for an anti-drug nonprofit, was her role model for working hard and making a difference. Her father traveled frequently for work and eventually opened a lawn mowing business on the side.
Throughout her studies, she completed internships at marketing and PR agencies and landed a position in communications straight after completing her studies. She used her contacts to open her own full-service marketing agency in 2014.
Lindsey said that even though she was making good money on the leadership team at her previous company, she wanted to take a big risk. She started with one client who paid her $1,400 a month and slowly built her client base. Ultimately, she switched from pure social media marketing to a full-service agency within the first five months.
Lindsey said her goal is to achieve stability as quickly as possible so she can help her husband get settled into his new insurance agency. Sometimes they would stay up until 3 a.m. working, even though both have achieved a better work-life balance.
“I wanted him to be able to grind without feeling like I was in the way and vice versa,” she said. “So we had a really good balance at the start of our business, which really gave us the flexibility to spend more time with our son and not necessarily have to go in at 8 a.m. and toil for 90 hours.”
Although he didn’t make much revenue in his first few years, he grew his customer base through word of mouth and referrals. His agency now employs eight people.
“Since starting the agency from scratch, there have been a lot of 70, 80, 90 hour work weeks. When we started, the premium was $0, and we’ve built it up to the size it is now in the 11 years since it opened,” said David.
Achieve financial independence
As they began their journey to financial independence, Lindsey and David lived well below their means, spending only on essentials and investing in their businesses. Both knew that by the time they were 30, they wanted to have enough nest egg so that they could theoretically retire or take on fewer responsibilities at work.
The couple bought a home in 2016 and recently bought an eight-bedroom beach house in North Carolina, which they manage as a short-term rental. David said they were lucky to have bought their homes when they did, as the value of both homes almost doubled, although they attribute their luck in part to how quickly they decided to buy the home.
Despite the success of their businesses, both said their savings philosophy hasn’t changed much. They said they wouldn’t think about retiring until they were in their mid-40s, and even then they expected to continue working in consulting or financial advice.
They have no debt other than their primary residence and beachfront rental property, and have secured low mortgage rates on both.
“Buying property has greatly strengthened our ability to be where we are now, but I think to be fair, we have been very strategic about it by working hard, keeping our heads down and being very conscious about it “Thinking about how we spent our money in the early years,” Lindsey said.
The two continue to maintain some of their savings strategies, such as reducing vouchers to save on coffee and groceries. Lindsey said she will still stop herself from buying a $30 purse if she doesn’t need it.
“We see a lot of people online strutting their stuff and talking about how much money they make and throwing out these arbitrary numbers and it makes us laugh because we could easily do that but we just don’t,” Lindsey said.
Still, they spend an “astronomical amount” on big purchases that have personal meaning to them, such as an “astronomical amount” to see North Carolina State’s Final Four game. They try not to compromise the quality of their grocery shopping and invest in their long-term health.
“It’s just interesting how we come in somewhere and clip coupons, but when there’s something that could be a life experience, we don’t even think twice about it,” she said.
Are you striving for financial independence or have you achieved it? Contact this reporter at [email protected].
Read the original article on Business Insider