Justin went from hard-working civil engineer to hard-working stay at home dad by the age of 33.

He had dreams of one day being a lawyer and quickly realized he liked engineering better. While he did like engineering, he also really enjoyed staying home with his growing family. He and his wife did the math and realized they could make it happen in just a few short years.

The rest, as they say, is history.

We also chat about...

what the true definition of retirement is
Justin's net worth
their portfolio allocation
what their kids think of FIRE

Enjoy this chat with Justin, and please subscribe to us in iTunes if you enjoyed it!

Show notes and links from today's episode

Zero to Millionaire in 10 Years 
Intro to Travel Rewards (a guest post from Brad from ChooseFI on Coach Carson)
Roth IRA Ladder
Justin's heckin awesome blog
Justin's Twitter
Justin's Facebook

Key takeaways from our chat with Justin
1 - Paying less taxes helped Justin retire faster
There's a fine line between tax avoidance and tax evasion. Justin was on the right side of that line.

He took advantage of the many loopholes and exclusions in the US tax code to lessen taxes paid each year. He estimated they were able to save up to $15,000 a year just by putting money into various retirement accounts and having kids. An extra $15,000 a year will boost anyone's timeline to FI!
2 - Justin is more conservative now
Now that their primary way of earning money isn't high paying careers, Justin and his wife are more concerned with keeping the money they have. When the market crashes, their net worth is going to fall precipitously.

Justin would rather play it safe with his hard earned stash than eek a few more percentage points in growth out of his portfolio.
3 - The whole family travels
Justin and his wife have 3 kids for a family of 5 but they don't let that stop them from traveling.

Instead, they use travel rewards to significantly reduce the costs of travel. They use credit card sign up bonuses to accumulate points and make strategic purchases. This reduces the costs of their airline tickets and can even be used to get hotel rooms.

The other way they lower expenses is with slow travel. They take their time exploring, which means they see more and are relaxed while doing so. Most people cram way too much into vacations, but not Justin. Their last trip was to the Bahamas where they did nothing more stressful than wandering the beach during the hot part of the day.
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