I was driving through beautiful Wyoming in the middle of nowhere when I looked down at my car’s gauge cluster and had to laugh. This is the perfect picture of my retirement, a frugal full throttle early retirement life.
It struck me funny seeing that I was averaging over 33 MPG (miles per gallon) hundreds of miles into the trip and after passing a slow-moving train of 5 vehicles that were all nose to tail including a minivan, 2 RVs and 2 Semis. After several minutes as the caboose doing below speed-limit driving I saw my opening and dropped the tranny from 6th to 5th gear and punched it to get past them all, merged back into lane, shifted back to 6th gear to coast back down to the speed limit and looked down at my gauge cluster.
I thought that this is a lot like my getting to early retirement and living in early retirement. A rewarding, satisfying, and frugal full throttle early retirement life. I don’t mean to insinuate that I am living a 100 MPH (miles per hour) on a frugal budget every day and all the time but when I need to or want to I can.
Mostly I am living my life cruising along on a manageable budget just like this road trip, either sipping gas because I am watching my shifting and engine RPM (revolutions per minute) to get to our destination for 99.999% of the time or when it’s not worth sitting behind a train of slower moving folks, I have the option to decide to drop the hammer and cruise on by as long as it is safe and no law enforcement is there to drop the hammer on me. I sure passed a lot of people my age and older to retirement. They are still cruising below the speed-limit in their non-fulfilling jobs.
So how is this like my early retirement?
Haters can’t believe it.
My Corvette’s impressive miles per gallon or my early retirement. Try to tell someone a 15-year-old American made car powered by a 350 HP V8 engine can get over 30 MPG at 79 MPH all day long and there is no convincing them. 
They will call you a liar and that is that.
The same with some people about my or anyone’s early retirement. I haven’t had someone argue with me about this in a few months but when there is an on-line finance article about early retirement the haters love to leave their comments. Can’t be done without being on the government dole, only the rich can do it, who wants to cut expenses to retire to such a boring life, must be mooching off someone, etc. Here is the deal.
Most people will never be able to experience it on their own. Either they can’t or won’t so some people would rather say it’s impossible than admit that maybe they are missing out on something. Having an open mind means you might see something that challenges your perception and exposes your mistaken reality.
Frugal Living and Savings are my Retirement Horse Power and Overdrive Gearing
I have saved enough money to retire early by living a smart frugal and balanced life just like my car has the horse power and the overdrive gearing to get me to where I want to go and just sip fuel doing it. When thinking of my savings as both fuel and horse power and my frugal habits as my overdrive, I have full control of my retirement life. But if I want to drop the hammer for speed or break budget for something that I have decided I need or want bad enough, I can.
It’s all about spending discipline so everything in moderation. When other enthusiast say I should consider buying a new Corvette (which are amazing technological and fuel economic marvels of beauty) I just say they are cool but I am perfectly happy with my ride. I then quietly think that it’s nice to know I could actually buy one but I don’t need it or want it which separates the early retired from the perpetual Merry-Go-Round riders.
I mange My Savings like I do my Fuel Tank
The gas tank is only so big to get me to where I am going so I need to manage my speed, engine RPMs and gear choice or it will take more fuel and cost to get me there. Same with my savings. It does make money but it is a finite retirement funding source. If I break discipline too much I will need to find more money to fund my early retirement journey. I am all for retiring early and often but not having to find a “job” for financial reasons. This is a passion-driven journey for me.
Why Bother?
People will ask why even have a car like that, you can only drive so fast. It’s the same with retiring early. If you have to live a simple and frugal life then what fun is that and why even bother. The answer is simple. I took control of my finances and spending to have the option and freedom to play in life on my own terms following my passions. I normally don’t speed or even want to speed but I have cut loose on a drag strip or autocross course and probably will again. Cheap thrills.
There are people with far more expensive and powerful cars just like there are many with a bigger retirement budget and savings but I get to live MY frugal full throttle early retirement life at MY planned speed. In no way do I feel compelled to keep up with the Jones’. No envy here about other people’s exotic rides or exotic travels.
Mine is a passion-driven lifestyle that I planned and successfully executed for ME which includes my automotive hobby and love for cars. I do enjoy cruising along at the speed-limit just sipping gas in my now 15-year-old sports car and living a smart frugal but fulfilling retirement lifestyle just looking forward to what lies around the curves. Nothing boring about that nor anything lacking in my life. It is an adventure.
In Conclusion
Speeding not only cost more in fuel consumption but is risky even to just pass a train of cars. There are safety issues to consider and I could be ticketed or even arrested. There are also risks with breaking my balanced and smart frugal retirement budget. Anytime I do either I better understand the risk and weigh any long-term consequences. Just because I have the horse power or bank account behind me, I need to maintain discipline to make this journey and adventure last a long time. Until someone has the experience or open mind enough to understand they will deny that it’s possible to have a frugal full throttle early retirement life.
What I call a moment of fun others will call momentary recklessness. What do you think?
Are you living a full throttle life either on your way to retirement or in retirement?
Final note, I bought the Corvette on a panic sell in early March 2009 not long after the Dow had dropped into the low 6000s for $15K cash which was thousands less than market price and I could easily get that if not more for it now after all these years. If I had invested that $15K cash back then it probably would have easily doubled and probably more by now. I do put a high value on experiences and this ride keeps providing them. Do you have a formula that you might use for experience vs. future investment gain to weigh in on such decisions? Not necessarily cars but things like travel. We all spend money to do things extra ordinary. Comments are very welcome.
I am happy with your realization. Yes, you are right. We should know the responsible driving rule. It’s your car, but you are not the only person on the road. There is more life outside your vehicle, and you should consider them more.
Thanks for your comment. I think with everything just because we can doesn’t mean we should. Having the discipline to stay the course and remember that its too easy to go over limits is a good message. Realize you may not know how far you have gone until it is too late so remain cautious to that fact.