Today's episode features Robert from Stop Ironing Shirts.

Robert worked his way up the sales career path.

Then in 2019, he retired with over 28x his annual expenses.

Fast forward to today and he saw that shrink to 18x his expenses.

People often always wonder what it would be like if they retired just before a crash.

Now you have the opportunity to see how that looks first hand.

Listen, learn, and let us know what you think about Robert's wild ride.
Episode Summary
Robert's Journey to FI

Robert didn't have much money growing up
He started noticing the people around him who did
Then he tried to reverse engineer how they got there
He contrasts how his grandparents had a structured career path and his parents didn't
His dad did end up in sales which is where Robert first found the career path

Robert Finds His Career

He graduated high school in 2000
Robert thought he'd go into computer programming
That quickly changed when he hated programming
Then he got a department store job celling cell phones
This made him realize sales was for him
Robert goes over how sales have no politics or ambiguity in pay
It also means that you can make as much as you can perform

Robert Experiences His First Crash

Robert talks about his experience with the 2008 crash
He talks about how his 401k was less than his contributions even with company match
Then he talks about how you just have to keep plugging away when it's dropping
Your earnings in a savings account simply can't keep up with inflation

Robert Discovers FI

He talks about the life decisions he made once he discovered the FI movement in 2013
The canceled fancy hotels and tried to do some of their own home renovations
Some of those changes didn't pan out but the overall path was clear for them
They looked and felt like they could retire around 5 years from that moment
In 2015 he had a good job opportunity and it locked him into three more years
The timing worked out pretty well but pulling the trigger was still scary

Crash Take 2

Robert now talks us through what life has been like during this latest crash
He went from Fat FIRE to Lean Fire in one month
Robert had also taken on a little side gig but was let go because of the turndown
He says at this point you just have to give up control
By this he means, just stay the course and don't do anything rash
Robert also gives us insight into which individual stocks may or may not be favorable as we come out of this crash
Especially focusing on companies that are getting bailouts which hinder investors
And rest easy, Robert says he's nowhere near considering full-time work

 
Key Takeaways

Sell Your Salary: Robert walks us through the high earning potential that sales brings
Trust the Process: Losing 10x your annual expenses in a month can be disturbing but Robert isn't giving up on the process

Call to Action

Research some companies you're interested in, you don't have to make any individual stock purchases but it can be a fun exercise to vet companies that you may be interested in.

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