First of all, thanks for stopping by and checking us out! Second, let me tell you a bit about who we are and why I’m writing this blog. My name is Becky and my husband is Stephen. We are originally from Texas, and when Stephen retired in 2018 we moved to the mountains of Colorado. We moved from sea level with heat and humidity to 8500 feet and cold and dry.
Our Background
Stephen and I spent a big chunk of our adult life making poor choices. Choices about relationships, parenting and money. The short version of the story (read the whole story here) is we started living out our faith and our relationship with Jesus Christ in our 40’s. As a result, we started making better choices in our marriage and parenting.
Believe me, it was baby steps at first, but we gradually made progress. Then at 50 years old, we started making better choices with our money.
Our Money Skills
Our skill in handling money comes only from our own experiences and being students of “The School of Hard Knocks.” But, we have a passion for helping others who are struggling. Either struggling with a lack of knowledge or not starting as early as you should.
Our Goal
Our goal is to share the basics of sound financial literacy in the framework of our faith. We want to offer hope to those who don’t know how to start with their finances and are afraid “It’s too late!”
As a little dash of spice, we will throw in some of our experiences in learning how to be retired and learning how to live in the mountains. It’s beautiful, but does anyone have any oxygen?!
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8
Looks great! Awesome post! 🙂
Thanks for the comment. Glad you liked it!
Thank you, Becky, for sharing your story and your testimony.
It was great meeting you so randomly at Fincon 2019 at the end of that day, where we shared so much.
– “Adrian”
Adrian, Thanks for visiting my site and leaving a comment. I really enjoyed getting to know you and the privilege of praying with you for your family. Taking care of aging parents is not easy. Hopefully, we can share other tips and encouragements!
Best of luck! So inspiring!!
Thanks! It was great meeting you face to face at FinCon.
Can’t wait to see how your journey plays out!! Colorado is amazing!!
Thanks for the encouragement and checking it out!
This is great! Can’t wait to read more about your FI journey!
Thanks for checking it out and the encouragement!
Very inspiring and encouraging!! I look forward to more!
Thanks Kacie!
Hi Becky, just listned to the podcast and I was very impressed. I especially resonate with the perspective that sometimes God puts us in difficult situations so that we can change unhealthy habits. I’m curious what kind of income Stephen was making at 50 when you guys started really saving for retirement and college and weddings? It seems like there were a lot of big expenses happening but you were still able to save as well?
Traci, Thanks for checking out the website! I don’t have the numbers with me, but his income was about a median income for the US when he first went back to a W2 job. It increased as he went because of his experience as a 50+ yo. God blessed us SO much after we started making wiser choices and one of the blessings was college scholarships. Our first child had a 100% scholarship, the second had about 75% and the 3rd did a combo of community college and scholarships. We were able to cash flow college because of this. We have 2 boys and one girl, so we only had one wedding with the larger price tag. For all 3, we gave them an amount of money with the instructions to SPEND WISELY! They kept what wasn’t spent. This gave each couple a chance to practice budgeting and money conversations. All 3 had weddings they were proud of.
Thanks for the questions. Let me know if there’s anything else. I’ve recently created a Started At 50 FB group. Feel free to join, if you like. That’s a great place for conversations, too.
Becky, just watched the podcast today. Thanks for putting yourself out there. You and Stephen’s story is similar to what my wife and I experienced. Meaning a life event caused us to re-evaluate our goals and sort smacked us on the forehead and said “Wake up!”. I am an avid bicycler and in March of 2005 (in my mid 40’s) I was hit by a Buick while on a lunchtime ride from the office. I was lucky in that surgery would get me back to almost 100% physically, but this accident made us realize how unprepared we were. How precarious our financial situation was. I had insurance, but there were out of pocket costs. And we were way under insured. I was on short term disability for a period. My left patella was shattered and it took three surgeries before I was back walking and also able to get back on the bicycle.
Before the accident we were the normal American consumer. Had a car loan, other consumer debt. Mortgage. Not saving hardly at all. No emergency fund. Ignorance is bliss.
After the accident we became very focused on our finances. We worked to become debt free except for the home. We started fully funding our 401k’s, Roth IRA’s and actually started planning for retirement. I am now 60 (soon to be 61). My wife and I are avid sailors. Have sailed together since getting married in the early 80’s. Our current sailboat (our fifth one) is an Ericson E380 that we bought with cash. We down sized our home so as to be rid of our large mortgage. We don’t finance anything. We are now on track to retire when I am 63. So from 2005 until present day we went from having practically nothing saved for retirement to having enough to fund retirement (early for us). It can be done, but you have to stay focused on the finish line and make some sacrifices now.
Take care.
Leslie, I love hearing stories like this!!! You guys have crushed it! I’m so impressed. Thanks for sharing your story. It will encourage others to see that they can do this too! And I’m excited to meet another sailor/cruiser. We had a Catalina 30 and a Hunter 31 back in the day. I have to say I love my race car, but I REALLY miss sailing.
I have started a FB group, Started At 50. Feel free to join. That’s a place where we can have more conversations.