Smart Cookies

Last week, we introduced you to David and Kathy who are real examples of Smart Cookies living and owning their richest lives.

This New Years Eve, over a dinner with friends, David and Kathy decided that now was their time – their time to live a life that they had not just dreamed about, but had been working towards for years – a life of ultimate freedom. They made the decision to leave their lives in Denver behind, and move their family to Argentina.

This week, we want to share with you exactly how they created a position of such incredible financial freedom and to share with you the wealth of experience that they hope to gain, and are already starting to feel from this experience. Enjoy!

Q: What sacrifices did you make, how did you prioritize your money over the years to make your dreams a reality?

Kathy: I don’t view any of the financial choices that we made as sacrifices. We certainly did not live an impoverished life, but as money became more available to us, we chose to live below our means. When we had the chance to take luxurious family vacations, we chose not to. We thought, why just go visit now, when we can go live their later.

Q: What other creative things did you do to save?

David : We were both raised in lower to middle class families, and when we graduated we knew we had to fend for ourselves and create our own financial well being. It became a game for me – trying to save money. For example, if I had to travel for work for an extended period of time and I was given a housing allowance, I would pocket the housing allowance and stay in a friend’s basement. In the meantime, I would sublet my place while I was away to make even more money. I would also double or triple up on points while I was traveling, booking with a card that gave me points, on an airline that gave me points, that allowed me to stay in a hotel that earned points. I found intense joy in doing more with less. I really did become addicted to the game of saving money.

Q: Was there anything you intentionally did without, so that you could have MORE in the future?

David: Kathy drove a car didn’t cost that much, but she decided to fall in love with it. We never purchased anything that we couldn’t pay off at the end of the month. But again, we did use plastic to earn the points.

David: We also made a conscious choice to not necessarily choose careers that we were “passionate” about, but ones that would bring in enough income and afford us the benefits necessary so that we could live and embrace our passions now. In fact, for a while Kathy’s career became something she grew to like less and less, but she stuck it out, because she knew what the payoff would be at the end. I’m not sure how I feel about the idea that you have to work in a career that you would consider your passion. Consider your life’s passion, your family’s passion, and do what you have to do, to make living that passion a reality.

Q: What were your friends doing with their money at this point?

David: As our income rose, so did that of our friends. We watched as almost everyone around us bought nicer homes, nicer cars, more TV’s more jewelery, and we took pride and found joy in embracing a different path. And now our decision to live well below our means is paying great dividends in the freedom we know have, that many of our friends will never experience.

Q: What did you do to help your money grow even more?

David: Our financial strategy wasn’t all about making decisions to go without, the freedom we enjoy now is also a result of the strategy we employed to help our money grow. There really wasn’t any fancy formula, we just stuck diligently to a plan to create longterm stable wealth. One of the first financial books I read was the Wealthy Barber and I learned that by dollar cost averaging, paying yourself first and by taking advantage of compound interest, I could set my family up for long term security. So that is what I did.

Q: What has preparing for this rip to Argentina taught you about money and wealth?

Kathy: How little we need to truly be happy. Even in the process of going through our possessions, getting rid of all of the “stuff” that weighed us down in our home, I feel like our lives have been put in such a beautiful perspective. We feel, lighter and freer already. And if we can learn to live with even less while we’re away, I know we will be able to bring those habits back with us.

For our family living with less stuff, obviously saves us money because we aren’t constantly in “buying mode” but is also gives us freedom and clarity to focus and enjoy the experiences that will really bring us closer together.

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We will keep you posted on David and Kathy’s adventure in Argentina. Thank you so much to the both of them, for sharing their story with us and for inspiring us with their boldness, and passion.

Hasta Luego!

And in the meantime Cookies, please share your thoughts below. What do you think about living a life with less “stuff”. And also do you think you could chose to love and enjoy a career that isn’t necessarily your dream job, if it afforded you a life you were passionate about?

Thoughts to ponder as you head into your week!