November 30, 2023 • 33 mins
Ever pondered what it'd be like to trade the 9-5 grind for an early retirement? How about a life of sailing and adventure instead of sitting in front of the computer screen?
That's precisely what our wealth management client's, Jayne and James, did!
In this special client experience episode, I sit down with James and Jayne, who became clients of Alison Wealth Management in 2021. They sought assistance in designing and optimizing their distinctive retirement plan. We delve into their decision to exit the full-time workforce at the early age of 50 to concentrate on their passion for travel and sailing.
As we sail along with them in our conversation, you'll hear their journey - James, a former Meta (Facebook) Engineering Director and Jayne, who was in marketing at Stanford University shed light on:
👉 Early retirement decisions
👉The qualitative & quantitative aspects of their decision-making process
👉 Leaving the workforce during peak income-earning stage of life.
If you are considering an If you are considering an early retirement, or just looking for inspiration on pursing your passion, check this episode out! retirement, check this episode out!
For more episodes of our podcast, visit:
https://www.alisonwealth.com/podcast or find us on your favorite podcast player here: https://completewealthmanagement.buzzsprout.com/share
To learn more about Alison Wealth Management, please visit our website at: https://alisonwealth.com
The information provided in this presentation is not intended to be individual investment advice or legal advice. The information provided is for informational and training purposes only.
Investment advisory services are provided through Prosperity Capital Advisors LLC (“PCA”) an investment advisor registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). For a detailed discussion of PCA and its investment advisory fees, see the firm’s Form ADV and Form CRS on file with the SEC at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov. The views expressed herein represent the opinions of PCA and are not intended to predict or depict performance of any particular investment.
Advisory services are provided through Prosperity Capital Advisors LLC (“PCA”) an investment advisor registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Views expressed herein represent the opinions of PCA and are not intended to predict or depict performance of any particular investment.
All data provided, including any reference to specific securities or sectors, is provided for informational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice. It does not constitute an offer, solicitation, or recommendation to purchase any security. Consider your investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses before investing. These views are as of the date of this publication and are subject to change. Past performance is no guarantee of future performance.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dave Alison (00:08):
Hello everyone and welcome to the Complete Wealth
Management podcast.
I'm Dave Allison and in today'sepisode I've got two very
special guests actually a clientexperience spotlight.
Today I have Jane and JamesPierce joining us, and actually
joining us from quite a uniquelocation.
The title of this episode Ithought I was quite clever with
(00:29):
this one Sailing Into an EarlyRetirement with James and Jane.
The reason we call it SailingInto is they have left the Bay
Area, left the workforce and arenow officially retired and
living on a sailboat andbroadcasting this podcast from
the sailboat.
So, james and Jane, welcome andthank you so much for joining
(00:50):
us today.
Jayne Pearce (00:52):
Thanks for having us.
Thank you, yes.
Dave Alison (00:55):
So where in the world are you right now?
I know you're in the sailboat,you're inside, but whereabouts
in the world are you?
James Pearce (01:03):
So we're actually in Trinidad and Tobago,
specifically Tobago, and on theeastern coast.
There's a nice little anchoragethere, some great scuba diving
and snorkeling, so that's wherewe've been hanging out on our
sailboat scout for a few daysand, yeah, so we've had a long
journey to get down here and Idon't know whether you want to
(01:24):
say a little bit more about that.
Jayne Pearce (01:26):
I could do.
You want to know all the placeswe've been.
James Pearce (01:28):
No, it's a long story.
Jayne Pearce (01:30):
We'll summarise it .
Yeah, we started off in Bostonabout a year and a little bit
ago, so we both left the BayArea basically at the end of May
start of June 2022.
Moved straight on board theboat in Boston and spent the
summer up in the Pibcod and sortof main area, which is a pretty
(01:53):
great way to get to know theboat and learn all its little
foibles.
And then we came down the eastcoast of the US, passed through
New York, passed the Statue ofLiberty, down to the Delaware
and Chesapeake bays and, oncethe hurricane season was
officially over, we headed down.
Actually, we came by Charlestonat one point.
Dave Alison (02:15):
I got to actually get on Scout and a little tour
of some dinner in Charleston.
Jayne Pearce (02:20):
Yeah, we thought we'd come and say hi.
And then, yeah, headed over tothe Bahamas in December, and
since then we've just beenhopping our way down island by
island, through the Bahamas,turks and Caicos, dominican
Republic, puerto Rico and thenlots of Caribbean or Caribbean
islands, all the way down toGrenada through the start of the
hurricane season, because it'sgenerally just south of where
(02:43):
the hurricanes hit and so, forinsurance reasons, it's good to
be out of trouble.
And then, yeah, after a fewmonths in Grenada, we've sailed
south again, and so, yeah,trinidad and Tobago was the next
spot.
Here we are, yeah, that isawesome.
Dave Alison (02:57):
That is awesome and we'll definitely talk a little
bit more about that through theepisode.
But obviously, being in thefinancial services being kind of
a wealth management type ofpodcast, one of the reasons that
I was really really excited forthe two of you to join and kind
of be the first clientspotlight that we did on this
podcast is I'm such a bigbeliever that we work really
(03:19):
hard, we earn a living and moneyat the end of the day is just
kind of a means to the truefulfillment that we have in life
.
And I think you two are justsuch a great example of that
where the traditional I guesscall it US retirement age might
be 65 or 67, or even in somecases, all the way up to age 70,
(03:42):
and people spend a long time inthe workforce and then they say
, oh, one day I'll be able to goretire and one day I'll be able
to see the world and one dayI'll be able to do all these
things.
But in many cases they end upworking a really long time and
they retire and maybe by thetime they're 65 or 70 or even
later, they don't have thehealth or the energy or the
(04:04):
resources to go do all thethings that they said.
One day we wish we could beable to.
And I remember we met for thefirst time.
I'd have to pinpoint, I think,james, you and I had a
conversation it must have beenlike 2018, 2019, I want to say
and you guys were living in PaloAlto and kind of looking for an
(04:26):
advisor, and it's time wedidn't start working together.
And then it was a couple yearslater, I think you reached back
out and said hey, we're thinkingabout retiring, we need some
help or some guidance, and thatwas initially how our
relationship kicked off.
And I want to talk kind of alittle bit about that shortly.
But really, kind of the purposeof why I thought you could
(04:47):
bring a lot of value to some ofthe listeners here is, I'm sure
you two had not just the kind ofquantitative decisions of like
do we have enough money to beable to retire, how do we
generate a sustainableretirement income stream, all
the stuff that kind of we workon with you, but also like those
(05:07):
qualitative factors of leavingthe workforce and being able to
pursue things that you are trulypassionate about, and I think
that can really help some otherlisteners.
But before we kind of dive intoall that in the sailing and the
journey that you guys haveexperienced over the last 12
months or so, can you just talka little bit about the pierces?
Obviously that is not a nativePalo Alto accent that I hear
(05:31):
there, so I'd love to just hearboth of your kind of backstories
because I remember you sharinga little bit and it seems like
you've had somewhat of anadventurous pass as well.
It's not just picking up andmoving on a sailboat but it's
been kind of in your DNA for awhile.
But if you wouldn't mind, justkind of sharing how you ended up
in Palo Alto and then we cankind of transition into the type
(05:54):
of work that both of you werein prior to the decision to
leave the workforce and gopursue life on a sailboat.
James Pearce (06:03):
So we originate from the UK and we have two
children and, back in the UK, wedecided to leave the UK when
they were quite young, so thiswas probably about 15 or 16
years ago and we moved to Dublinfor about two or three years
(06:23):
and that was a fun chapter ofour lives.
James was he'd been working intech before then and he went to
work for a startup there and Iwas there looking after the kids
preschool and that was fun.
That was a really good chapterfor both our lives then.
But already you know, we wereinterested in travel and we
wanted to seek out more of achallenging environment now that
(06:47):
the kids were beyond, you know,wearing diapers and so on.
And so we moved to India for ayear and we lived, I worked on a
vineyard my background ismarketing and so I worked on a
vineyard in India.
I know that's a little spanned,a little unusual, but it is.
It's a quite a big thing inIndia and James continued doing
(07:11):
some freelance programming aswell.
So that was fun and the kidsgot to have a really good
environment.
They learned, they spoke Hindiand Barati Marati rather, and
then we went traveling aroundAsia.
We went backpacking around Asia.
That was fun for several monthsand then after that, we landed
(07:32):
the pierces, landed in Belizefor a year and we, the kids,
went to a local school there.
That was that was really goodfun on an island called
Ambergrease Key, and I did somevolunteering.
I worked at the school andJames continued with some more
programming.
He actually wrote a book on themobile internet and then that
(07:53):
was our exit to the Bay Area.
So, and then, in 2011, was it?
We moved to the Bay Area andJames he got a job, initially a
startup, but then transferred toFacebook and I ultimately then
went on to work at Stanford inmarketing.
So I think that's kind of it inthat shell, quite exciting.
Dave Alison (08:18):
I was going to say.
As I recall, in Belize, jameswasn't the only author, though.
You published a book too,didn't you?
James Pearce (08:22):
Oh, yeah, I actually wrote a children's book
as well, you're right.
Well, we're in Belize.
That was fun, yeah, so that wasa great opportunity for me to
learn about the, about thecountry, the eyes of the child
yeah, and also provide some formy kids.
Yeah, so that's pretty much it.
Did I miss any countries out,james?
Jayne Pearce (08:42):
Yeah, okay, but to preempt, I think to preempt one
of your next questions, it'simportant to stress that.
You know we try to do this sortof herabritatic lifestyle
relatively responsibly.
So we figured that once thekids were going to end up in
middle school or senior school,they were probably going to want
(09:04):
to be in one place for a decentperiod of time.
But whilst they were two toseven kind of age there was
going to be a lot moreflexibility for them to be able
to move schools without too muchdisruption.
And so we figured that, like ifthere was going to be a time
when we traveled and expose themto different cultures and
(09:26):
different countries, that wasgoing to be the period of time
when it was best to do that.
And so Ireland, india, belizethese are all I hope you know
very formative experiences forthem.
They got to go to differentschools, make those different
friends, but then, once they gotto the US, they were able to
settle down and, you know,obviously school started to
become a little bit moreacademic.
And the reason I say that'spreempting your next question, I
(09:47):
would say is obviously the stepwe've just taken to leave the
bay area altogether and move ona boat is also partly predicated
by our dreams, but it's alsoabout being just the right
timing.
There's this window where we'reable to do it.
The kids have just left thehigh school, so they've both
gone off to college.
You know, our parents are stillin good health mostly, and so
(10:09):
it really was this window where,okay, that's the opportunity
for us to do this.
We think as much about that aswe do about, oh, do we have
enough money in the bank tobetter do it?
James Pearce (10:20):
Yeah, timing has been very important.
Jayne Pearce (10:21):
Timing is the thing You've got to have the
dream, obviously.
But you can't, like you say,keep kicking the idea or the can
down the road every year,because eventually those windows
close.
James Pearce (10:31):
Yeah, and certainly our life.
Our chapter in Palo Alto wasreally a really good opportunity
for the kids to grow inthemselves in a safe environment
and I think they reallyappreciated that, having that
chance to take root for a while.
But at the same time they werevery happy with our lives
(10:51):
predating that when we wereliving in India and Belize.
They had that semi-nomadiclifestyle to them, but at the
same time I think they werehappy to also make friends and
know that there was still goingto be there in a year's time,
for example.
Dave Alison (11:05):
Well, I love what you said about the timing
because, like again hearingperspective from other clients,
you saw this as an opportunistictime, saying, hey, both the
kids are now finished with highschool and going off to college,
but financially I hear a lot ofpeople make an excuse why that
might not be the time.
They might be like, well, Ican't think about not working
(11:27):
now.
I have two kids going off tocollege and to pay for.
So I love the mindset and theattitude that you actually
brought to, that of, hey, thisis actually the most opportune
time.
Our health is here, ourparents' health is here, our
kids are out of the house and weput them through a stable time
period in high school, but nowthey're gone and they're off at
university and so now's our timeto get out and do this.
James Pearce (11:51):
I would say, actually, maybe we should see
how old we are as well, right,because we're talking about
timing and age and so on.
So yeah, we are in our early50s, just for the record.
Jayne Pearce (12:03):
There is this period between 50 and 65 where
you've got this empty nestsyndrome potentially and I don't
know, maybe this is just mypersonal take that seems like a
very long time to just have tospin the wheels, waiting for
(12:24):
retirement, when you're stillhealthy, you've still got dreams
, your kids are independent.
We would have just been goingback and forwards from the house
to work and back again, butthat's actually probably the
time we want to be out doingsomething like this.
The other thing I'll say isthat sailing and this kind of
life is quite physical, right.
Sailing a boat is hard work andwe encounter a lot of people
(12:49):
who waited until they're 65 or70 to do this sort of thing.
And it's hard because maybetheir health isn't what it used
to be, or they're not as fit asthey used to be and they have to
take things a lot easier andthey end up staying much closer
to home.
James Pearce (13:06):
I felt like we've probably still got another five,
ten years of decent healthwhere we can actually rise to
the challenge of sailing boatsacross oceans, which is what we
want to do yes, and also notonly that, but as far as timing
is concerned, as few know, theremay be grandchildren in the
future, and we hear this a lotfrom other people who have
(13:28):
retired at age 65 and they're ontheir boat, but they end up
leaving it all behind because agrandchild arrives, and so that
puts an end to their sailingvision.
But for us I don't know.
I'm hoping there weren't anygrandchildren too soon in the
(13:48):
future.
Jayne Pearce (13:49):
Pids, if you're watching this just hang in there
.
Get through university firstand you can travel you could do.
James Pearce (13:59):
Yeah, so again, another window of opportunity.
Really, of course, this is allhypothetical as well.
Right, tomorrow our healthcould deteriorate, or our
parents, or whatever.
So we take this window when wecan.
And not only that, we've beenplanning this for a few years.
(14:19):
So, prior to the kids leavinghome and going off to college,
we saw this as a potentialwindow of opportunity because we
had to plan the boat and so on,but we always knew that there
were going to be things thatcould be thrown into the mix,
like COVID, for example, or sofew.
Yeah, so it hasn't hindered ourplans.
(14:40):
Yeah, you've got to keeppushing ahead.
Dave Alison (14:43):
Yeah, exactly, so it sounds like a lot of personal
motivations, like you shared alot of great examples that were
quite well thought out and toyour point.
It's not like you woke up oneday and said, hey, honey, you
want to go live on a sailboatand get out of here.
It sounds like a lot ofpreparation and a lot of
planning.
I think, Jane I think you mighthave shared this with me at one
(15:04):
time you started on.
You guys built Scout, so it'snot like you just founded it, a
dealer, and bought the sailboat.
James Pearce (15:11):
Scout yeah, two or more years in the making, yeah.
Dave Alison (15:14):
Two or more years in the making, plenty of kind of
runway, and then, obviously,the components of thinking about
leaving work.
I know a lot of the qualitativefactors you just shared passion
for travel, passion for seeingthe world when you can and when
you have the health to do so,passion for sailing and being in
the physical health to actuallyrun a sailboat.
(15:35):
And the parents and thechildren.
You're kind of in what I wouldcall in financial planning, that
sandwich generation where yougot the parents to think about
as well as children to thinkabout, and you're kind of the
sandwich in the middle.
So thinking about quantitativeand qualitative factors going on
in their life.
But talk to me a little bitabout kind of the quantitative
(15:59):
considerations because, withoutsharing any details, the reality
of most people as they reachtheir mid-40s, their early 50s,
their late 50s, they tend toalso be in some of their kind of
key earning years and walk usthrough kind of just some
(16:20):
thoughts that went through theconversation of hey, is this
actually the right thing to do?
Should we walk away from theworkforce right now?
And, james, obviously atFacebook there was stock and
every tech company has bestingschedules and thought of walking
away from company stock andunvested stock, which tend to be
kind of some of the goldenhandcuffs that keep people from
(16:42):
doing this.
But what did any of that kindof look like for you, just
conversationally?
Jayne Pearce (16:50):
Well, you alluded to this.
I think a little bit.
You always feel like, oh, if wewould just wait another six
months, I'll get that promo orI'll get another bonus or
there'll be another stock vest.
And that's a rat race.
I mean, you never get off thattreadmill until you legally need
to stop At some point.
You've just got to call it.
(17:12):
And I'd like to think that if Ihad stayed at Facebook or Metta,
I would have had a healthycareer from where I was and
great, I would have got 65 and Iwould have a little bit more in
the bank account.
And I've missed out on 15 yearsworth of adventuring around the
world with my wife.
So at some point you've got tosay what's really important.
(17:33):
And just chasing after thatnext job title or chasing after
that next lump of money in yourbank account, that can be a
little fatal in the sense thatit's not the end of the world if
you do, but it's for us, not inthe trade-off we were prepared
to make.
And obviously it was a luckydecade or a lucky necessarily
but it was a good decade forFacebook and for the tech
(17:55):
industry in general.
So we had done relatively well.
We'd had the chance to investin real estate.
So we had a house in Palo Altowhich we had to sell to be able
to do this.
And yeah, at the end of the day, you just weigh up all those
quantitative things and in ourcase, the quality of life won
pretty easily.
(18:16):
And I will say, just to go backand maybe provide a little
addendum to your intro where yousaid we are officially retired
I mean, it's official, right, wehaven't signed some document,
but it says we'll never go backand do some work if we need to.
So I think we're both luckyboth with my online skills and
James design and marketingskills Like we very easily can
(18:39):
keep ourselves busy, both justto keep our brains ticking over
or to make a little bit of extramoney if we ever needed to.
And fortunately and I don't seethat as a one-way street time's
a really tough and there's likesome four-year-long recession
and our financial advisordoesn't get us through it
properly Then we can always goback to the workhouse and do a
(19:00):
bit of work to top up thecoffers.
So yeah, that's been anotherthing.
I think that helped us makethis decision, knowing that it's
not an irreversible decisionand our skills are going to be
pretty transferable if we everneeded to go back and do a
little bit more.
Dave Alison (19:15):
Yeah, let's talk about that for a minute.
And so, again, I think the wordretirement is the wrong word.
I think a lot of our clientsthey get to a work optional
place in their life where theycan go pursue other passions
that they have In your case,traveling, sailing, doing the
things that you want to do.
I know, james, just in workingwith other Facebook clients like
(19:37):
when you're at Facebook oryou're working at a company like
that you're surrounded by someof the smartest people in the
world and I would imagine it canbe a pretty competitive and
challenging environment to be in, especially like you were there
for what?
Well, over 10 years, right.
Yeah yeah, I mean, there's alsonot a lot of people, from what
I've heard, that have been at acompany like Facebook for more
(20:01):
than a 10-year time period, soyou had some longevity at the
company when you decided toleave, right yeah?
Jayne Pearce (20:08):
Yeah, I mean that was actually arguably a harder
part of the decision than thefinancial one was just the
friends and relationships andwhat we were doing.
Walking away from all that, Istill felt there were lots of
things that needed to be done.
I believed in the company'smission, a lot of what it was
trying to achieve and, yeah,giving up on that and that sort
(20:30):
of large element of purpose inmy life, and so that worried me
a little bit actually, that Iwas going to suddenly be at the
loose end and not know what todo and not have that kind of
creative purpose to keep memoving forward.
Of course, I didn't need toworry at all because the minute
I stopped working I jumped upsomething else to do, and so
I've had plenty of things to doin my spare time which may not
(20:52):
be as financially successful asFacebook, but which keep my
brain working, which keep meinteracting with people online.
You know I'm basically writingopen source software, so I'm
still getting to interact withthe same kinds of smart people
that I did in the professionalrealm.
Even though I'm in the middleof nowhere, I can still get to
have those relationships andthat fills that kind of big
(21:14):
purpose checkbox that I need tofill and James is saying she's
got a whole bunch of thingswhere you can talk about
yourself.
But you know a lot of thingsthat we use to keep our brains
going.
James Pearce (21:23):
And yeah, I think it's really important.
Actually, you know a lot ofpeople they say, well, what do
you do, you know, with your time, assuming they think that we've
retired.
And it's true, you know, thereis a lot of time that, where we
have which we have to ourselves,when we're not sailing, and not
only that, but we, you know,it's an opportunity for me.
I see it as an opportunity todo all those things now that I
(21:44):
wasn't able to do.
I didn't have the time to dowhile we were busy working and,
obviously, taking care of thekids with them growing up.
So now, you know, I can learn alanguage, I can read all those
books, I can do that art orwhatever.
It's great.
So it's like, all those thingsthat I just wasn't able to do, I
put off, I'm able to do now.
Dave Alison (22:05):
Yeah, and I think that's the biggest difference,
especially in the pattern ofearly retirement.
I mean, I've seen so many timesthrough you know the
opportunities that I have inhelping people retire that if
they wait a long time and thenthey retire, it's almost like
when they leave the workforcethey lose their purpose in life
or their identity a little bit,because they spent so much time
(22:28):
helping build the company thatthey've built and it's just like
they kind of flounder and theyget lost.
But it sounds like you guyshave done a great job at you
know filling that void ofkeeping yourself like I mean,
james, in your case I wouldimagine it's a lot of technical,
you know capabilities to stayon top of what's happening in
tech and in your field, thethings that you're doing right
(22:50):
now to keep you on top of yourgame.
Jayne Pearce (22:52):
Yeah, but all I need is a cell signal, right,
and then I got it, so I don'tneed to be physically located in
Silicon Valley anymore.
Arguably more enjoyable, right,because I get to do it entirely
on my terms and I get to learnwhatever technology I want to
learn.
I get to build whatever it is Iwant to build, and if it's
successful, great.
If it isn't, well.
I guess I learned some stuff,so it's actually a pretty sweet
(23:14):
outcome.
Dave Alison (23:15):
What's been, any unexpected challenges or aspects
of this whole leaving I can'tsay retirement anymore because I
can't say you're retired, right, but leaving the full-time
workforce at Stanford and atFacebook or Meta to kind of the
adjustment that you have rightnow.
(23:36):
What is it If you were to lookback over the last 18 months and
say I wasn't anticipating thishappening?
Or maybe if somebody elsepreparing to do something
similar to this, maybe not liveon a sailboat but go pursue
something different in theirlife?
Anything that kind of standsout to you, Other than, of
course, the year you decide todo it.
We have a big stock marketcorrection on top of it, but
(23:57):
we've weathered that storm.
We had a plan in place.
We had the soon bucket fundedup, the bucket plan that got us
there, but any kind of bigunexpected challenges.
Jayne Pearce (24:07):
I don't think we're any Boats are very
expensive.
James Pearce (24:10):
And we knew they were very expensive, but they're
still very expensive.
Jayne Pearce (24:14):
However much money you think you're going to spend
on a boat, you're wrong.
As people say, a sailing boatis the most expensive way to
travel for free.
And I would say, before we setout on this whole journey,
obviously we sat down with youand we had what we thought our
annual expenditures were goingto be both kind of capex and
opex.
The first year of a boat it wasway more, I think, capex than
(24:36):
we were expecting.
Oh, we've got to buy a liferaft.
Dave Alison (24:39):
Oh, we've got to buy a kite.
James Pearce (24:40):
Oh, we've got to buy a wingfoil.
You know what I mean?
You need to buy a wingfoil.
I mean, we have to get by awingfoil.
Jayne Pearce (24:48):
And so, yeah, I think that first year it's not
and I think we have to justaccept it's not a steady state
and it would be easy to getfreaked out by that.
It would be easy to look at allthis capex and kind of confuse
it for ongoing opex and thenstart to worry that you're going
to be able to make it.
But I think after, yeah,probably almost literally a year
, our expenditures kind ofsettled down a bit.
(25:10):
The boat, we kind of knowwhat's what, got a better sense
of what things cost.
Obviously we're also in arelatively cheap part of the
world.
It doesn't cost a lot to anchorfor free in the Caribbean and
most of the time we are justanchoring.
And we're not having to stay inexpensive marinas and so forth.
And so, yeah, I think, justunderstanding that there are
(25:30):
going to be these kind of verylumpy expenditure periods which
I guess is true of anyone that'sretiring and actually planning
to do something, right Becausethose somethings are going to be
irregular and they're going tocome up with different costs and
so doing an annual budget wasjust kind of a tricky thing to
start off with.
But I think we've refined thatnow.
I mean, speaking for myself, itwasn't something that was
(25:52):
keeping me awake at night, butit was just something that I
think we have.
We probably knew we could neverhave prepared for that, and I
think that's so right To yourpoint and you made a good
comment.
Dave Alison (26:04):
Maybe you're not going to go live on a sailboat
for other people that arelistening to this and might not
have the exact same challenges,but typically when I see your
first year retirement, I meanit's just a lot of unknowns.
You know, when you retire, everyday is like a Saturday and if
you think about Monday throughSunday, you typically spend the
most amount of money on aSaturday because you're out and
about and doing things and goingout to dinner or whatnot, and
(26:28):
obviously you guys are a littlemore confined, especially if
you're not at port or anchoredand you're out sailing.
It's not like you're orderingon Amazon every day or going out
to dinner every night.
So you might have some of thosedifferent budgetary concerns
your first year in retirement,but it makes a lot of people
very nervous that that firstyear of just trying to figure
(26:48):
out how these expenses are goingto settle in and what does it
look like, and that's why wealways think about when you
start to think about retirementincome.
It's like bumper bowling, thatyou try to put up two bumpers on
either side from reallythrowing a gutter ball, but
you're going to bounce aroundquite a bit for that first year
to two years as you settle intothings.
Jayne Pearce (27:08):
Yeah, and, like I said, it was also a year when
the markets were pretty confused, and so I could imagine, if you
project oh, as the next 20years going to be like this year
, then, yeah, you're going tohave a sleepless night, but I
think able, with your help, tolook at the bigger picture.
Think about these larger cycles, and there are these anomalous
(27:29):
years or periods of financialturmoil, but they never last
that long, and so just realizethat the nature of average is
that there'll be other yearswhich seem very boring and where
the growth is more healthy, andso forth, and you just have to
wait for those to come to andnot get spooked by the anomalous
.
Dave Alison (27:48):
Yeah, exactly.
Well, as we land the plane, youhave two quick, two kind of
final wrap ups for you.
So what was your favoritedestination along the East Coast
as you were traveling down andthen, flip side, what's been
your favorite destination in theCaribbean so far?
Jayne Pearce (28:03):
Well, I don't know .
We're going to have to runthrough mentally all the places
we've been to.
Yeah, actually, maine, I likeMaine a lot.
It was a really beautifulBar-la-World I think.
There's like maybe one or twomonths a year when it's just
like absolutely phenomenal.
So we were up there in Juneinto July and, yeah, I really,
(28:28):
really loved that.
There was a place called BarHarbor we got to it's pretty
much the furthest north we gotand, yeah, beautiful mountains,
lots of hiking, the kayaking andnot too much fog, and so that
was really spectacular.
That was like nowhere elsewould ever been in the US, I
think.
So, yeah, I enjoyed that.
But then again we were also inNew York.
We sailed past Manhattan.
James Pearce (28:48):
That was my favorite.
It was being able to take ourown boat down through Manhattan.
Did we anchor?
We did we anchored just downfrom the top, yeah.
Dave Alison (28:57):
James, somewhere along the way you anchored up
and actually spoke at a techconference, didn't you?
James Pearce (29:02):
Oh yeah, that was the place.
Jayne Pearce (29:03):
Yeah Well, yeah, when we were in New York, there
happened to be a job streetconference going on, so I hopped
off the boat and scammed acrossand gave a tour.
We got back on again, but yeah,no, that was great.
And then, well, obviously, weenjoyed Charleston.
That was another part of theworld we'd never been to, and as
we came further south, as forthe Caribbean, I actually really
(29:23):
liked the southern part of theBahamas, which I guess isn't
technically the Caribbean, butit's a little bit harder to get
to.
There are islands that are alittle bit off the beaten track,
pretty remote, beautiful bluewaters, nice shallow bays and
lots of lobsters and fish to go.
James Pearce (29:41):
He likes catching lobsters.
I went yesterday.
Jayne Pearce (29:43):
But, yeah, I really loved the Bahamas but,
yeah, the whole of the Caribbeanis obviously awesome.
James Pearce (29:48):
I really liked Guadalupe.
That was my favorite, justmaybe because of the French
connection and the food.
Yeah, it was really nice.
Jayne Pearce (29:55):
But yeah, this is the start of our next season, so
, having headed out from Grenada, we're obviously here in Tobago
.
We are looking for a luckyweather window to see whether we
can get the wind to take usdown to South America for a
little bit.
We'd love to go and exploreplaces like Guiana and Suriname,
but that's very dependent onthe wind and so if that doesn't
(30:15):
happen, we'll probably just hangout here for a bit.
But yeah, we're hoping to, overthe course of the next six to
seven months, move westwardsacross the Caribbean, so we'll
get to go to places like Cubaand Jamaica and Baleas, the ABC
Islands yeah, maybe end upgetting down towards Panama, and
(30:35):
by then we're thinking aboutwhat to do after Panama.
We're nice.
James Pearce (30:40):
That's another season.
Dave Alison (30:41):
Sounds like it and now the compost.
That all sounds absolutelyamazing.
If anyone wants to follow theJourney Scout sailing on
Facebook, right, they can go,and I know you guys are always
posting pictures of the Journeyalong the way.
It looks absolutely amazing.
And we'll just wrap up with oneadditional thing.
I mean, if somebody islistening and they have the
(31:01):
financial wherewithal, what'syour advice, kind of looking
back again over the last twoyears, is it just do it?
What do you think in terms ofany peace of mind or additional
insight you could give somebodyon something like this?
James Pearce (31:15):
Well, for me, if you've got the passion and you
really want to do something,then go ahead and do it,
regardless of the financialsituation, right?
Dave Alison (31:25):
I legally can't say that I'm licensed.
I'm a financial advisor.
Go blow all your money on aworldwide trip, but I'm just
joking.
James Pearce (31:33):
Yeah.
Jayne Pearce (31:34):
No, I don't think we just said let's go do it Like
.
I mean, we thought about theconsiderations, made sure we
were doing responsibly, but wewere very self-aware about not
having that.
Oh, let's just put it off alittle bit, kind of thing.
So I think that would be myadvice Think about what it is
you want to do and plan aroundthat, rather than looking in
your bank account, waiting forthat to get to a certain number
(31:55):
and then deciding what to do.
So make sure that you have beenconfused the means with the end
.
Focus on the end and the meanswill take care of themselves.
Dave Alison (32:03):
That's great.
That's fantastic Properplanning like anything else, and
James and Jayna, thank you somuch.
I see the boat rocking in thebackground.
I think I might have just saw apeak of a mountain or something
behind you there as we went oneway, so we will let you run.
Hopefully we have a good breakin the weather and you could get
on with your journey.
And this was fantastic.
(32:24):
Thank you so much for the timeand for being such a great
client at Allison Wealth.
Jayne Pearce (32:29):
Yeah, it's been a lot of fun.
Thank you for all you'resupposed to have for and, yeah,
hope this was helpful forsomeone.
Dave Alison (32:33):
Sounds good, Thanks everyone.
Speaker 4 (32:35):
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business in the state of Ohio.
Allison Wealth Management andPCA are separate, non-affiliated
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Pca does not provide tax orlegal advice.
Insurance and tax servicesoffered through Allison Wealth
(32:55):
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(33:18):
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invest or send money.
Hello everyone and welcome to the Complete Wealth
Management podcast.
I'm Dave Allison and in today'sepisode I've got two very
special guests actually a clientexperience spotlight.
Today I have Jane and JamesPierce joining us, and actually
joining us from quite a uniquelocation.
The title of this episode Ithought I was quite clever with
(00:29):
this one Sailing Into an EarlyRetirement with James and Jane.
The reason we call it SailingInto is they have left the Bay
Area, left the workforce and arenow officially retired and
living on a sailboat andbroadcasting this podcast from
the sailboat.
So, james and Jane, welcome andthank you so much for joining
(00:50):
us today.
Jayne Pearce (00:52):
Thanks for having us.
Thank you, yes.
Dave Alison (00:55):
So where in the world are you right now?
I know you're in the sailboat,you're inside, but whereabouts
in the world are you?
James Pearce (01:03):
So we're actually in Trinidad and Tobago,
specifically Tobago, and on theeastern coast.
There's a nice little anchoragethere, some great scuba diving
and snorkeling, so that's wherewe've been hanging out on our
sailboat scout for a few daysand, yeah, so we've had a long
journey to get down here and Idon't know whether you want to
(01:24):
say a little bit more about that.
Jayne Pearce (01:26):
I could do.
You want to know all the placeswe've been.
James Pearce (01:28):
No, it's a long story.
Jayne Pearce (01:30):
We'll summarise it .
Yeah, we started off in Bostonabout a year and a little bit
ago, so we both left the BayArea basically at the end of May
start of June 2022.
Moved straight on board theboat in Boston and spent the
summer up in the Pibcod and sortof main area, which is a pretty
(01:53):
great way to get to know theboat and learn all its little
foibles.
And then we came down the eastcoast of the US, passed through
New York, passed the Statue ofLiberty, down to the Delaware
and Chesapeake bays and, oncethe hurricane season was
officially over, we headed down.
Actually, we came by Charlestonat one point.
Dave Alison (02:15):
I got to actually get on Scout and a little tour
of some dinner in Charleston.
Jayne Pearce (02:20):
Yeah, we thought we'd come and say hi.
And then, yeah, headed over tothe Bahamas in December, and
since then we've just beenhopping our way down island by
island, through the Bahamas,turks and Caicos, dominican
Republic, puerto Rico and thenlots of Caribbean or Caribbean
islands, all the way down toGrenada through the start of the
hurricane season, because it'sgenerally just south of where
(02:43):
the hurricanes hit and so, forinsurance reasons, it's good to
be out of trouble.
And then, yeah, after a fewmonths in Grenada, we've sailed
south again, and so, yeah,trinidad and Tobago was the next
spot.
Here we are, yeah, that isawesome.
Dave Alison (02:57):
That is awesome and we'll definitely talk a little
bit more about that through theepisode.
But obviously, being in thefinancial services being kind of
a wealth management type ofpodcast, one of the reasons that
I was really really excited forthe two of you to join and kind
of be the first clientspotlight that we did on this
podcast is I'm such a bigbeliever that we work really
(03:19):
hard, we earn a living and moneyat the end of the day is just
kind of a means to the truefulfillment that we have in life
.
And I think you two are justsuch a great example of that
where the traditional I guesscall it US retirement age might
be 65 or 67, or even in somecases, all the way up to age 70,
(03:42):
and people spend a long time inthe workforce and then they say
, oh, one day I'll be able to goretire and one day I'll be able
to see the world and one dayI'll be able to do all these
things.
But in many cases they end upworking a really long time and
they retire and maybe by thetime they're 65 or 70 or even
later, they don't have thehealth or the energy or the
(04:04):
resources to go do all thethings that they said.
One day we wish we could beable to.
And I remember we met for thefirst time.
I'd have to pinpoint, I think,james, you and I had a
conversation it must have beenlike 2018, 2019, I want to say
and you guys were living in PaloAlto and kind of looking for an
(04:26):
advisor, and it's time wedidn't start working together.
And then it was a couple yearslater, I think you reached back
out and said hey, we're thinkingabout retiring, we need some
help or some guidance, and thatwas initially how our
relationship kicked off.
And I want to talk kind of alittle bit about that shortly.
But really, kind of the purposeof why I thought you could
(04:47):
bring a lot of value to some ofthe listeners here is, I'm sure
you two had not just the kind ofquantitative decisions of like
do we have enough money to beable to retire, how do we
generate a sustainableretirement income stream, all
the stuff that kind of we workon with you, but also like those
(05:07):
qualitative factors of leavingthe workforce and being able to
pursue things that you are trulypassionate about, and I think
that can really help some otherlisteners.
But before we kind of dive intoall that in the sailing and the
journey that you guys haveexperienced over the last 12
months or so, can you just talka little bit about the pierces?
Obviously that is not a nativePalo Alto accent that I hear
(05:31):
there, so I'd love to just hearboth of your kind of backstories
because I remember you sharinga little bit and it seems like
you've had somewhat of anadventurous pass as well.
It's not just picking up andmoving on a sailboat but it's
been kind of in your DNA for awhile.
But if you wouldn't mind, justkind of sharing how you ended up
in Palo Alto and then we cankind of transition into the type
(05:54):
of work that both of you werein prior to the decision to
leave the workforce and gopursue life on a sailboat.
James Pearce (06:03):
So we originate from the UK and we have two
children and, back in the UK, wedecided to leave the UK when
they were quite young, so thiswas probably about 15 or 16
years ago and we moved to Dublinfor about two or three years
(06:23):
and that was a fun chapter ofour lives.
James was he'd been working intech before then and he went to
work for a startup there and Iwas there looking after the kids
preschool and that was fun.
That was a really good chapterfor both our lives then.
But already you know, we wereinterested in travel and we
wanted to seek out more of achallenging environment now that
(06:47):
the kids were beyond, you know,wearing diapers and so on.
And so we moved to India for ayear and we lived, I worked on a
vineyard my background ismarketing and so I worked on a
vineyard in India.
I know that's a little spanned,a little unusual, but it is.
It's a quite a big thing inIndia and James continued doing
(07:11):
some freelance programming aswell.
So that was fun and the kidsgot to have a really good
environment.
They learned, they spoke Hindiand Barati Marati rather, and
then we went traveling aroundAsia.
We went backpacking around Asia.
That was fun for several monthsand then after that, we landed
(07:32):
the pierces, landed in Belizefor a year and we, the kids,
went to a local school there.
That was that was really goodfun on an island called
Ambergrease Key, and I did somevolunteering.
I worked at the school andJames continued with some more
programming.
He actually wrote a book on themobile internet and then that
(07:53):
was our exit to the Bay Area.
So, and then, in 2011, was it?
We moved to the Bay Area andJames he got a job, initially a
startup, but then transferred toFacebook and I ultimately then
went on to work at Stanford inmarketing.
So I think that's kind of it inthat shell, quite exciting.
Dave Alison (08:18):
I was going to say.
As I recall, in Belize, jameswasn't the only author, though.
You published a book too,didn't you?
James Pearce (08:22):
Oh, yeah, I actually wrote a children's book
as well, you're right.
Well, we're in Belize.
That was fun, yeah, so that wasa great opportunity for me to
learn about the, about thecountry, the eyes of the child
yeah, and also provide some formy kids.
Yeah, so that's pretty much it.
Did I miss any countries out,james?
Jayne Pearce (08:42):
Yeah, okay, but to preempt, I think to preempt one
of your next questions, it'simportant to stress that.
You know we try to do this sortof herabritatic lifestyle
relatively responsibly.
So we figured that once thekids were going to end up in
middle school or senior school,they were probably going to want
(09:04):
to be in one place for a decentperiod of time.
But whilst they were two toseven kind of age there was
going to be a lot moreflexibility for them to be able
to move schools without too muchdisruption.
And so we figured that, like ifthere was going to be a time
when we traveled and expose themto different cultures and
(09:26):
different countries, that wasgoing to be the period of time
when it was best to do that.
And so Ireland, india, belizethese are all I hope you know
very formative experiences forthem.
They got to go to differentschools, make those different
friends, but then, once they gotto the US, they were able to
settle down and, you know,obviously school started to
become a little bit moreacademic.
And the reason I say that'spreempting your next question, I
(09:47):
would say is obviously the stepwe've just taken to leave the
bay area altogether and move ona boat is also partly predicated
by our dreams, but it's alsoabout being just the right
timing.
There's this window where we'reable to do it.
The kids have just left thehigh school, so they've both
gone off to college.
You know, our parents are stillin good health mostly, and so
(10:09):
it really was this window where,okay, that's the opportunity
for us to do this.
We think as much about that aswe do about, oh, do we have
enough money in the bank tobetter do it?
James Pearce (10:20):
Yeah, timing has been very important.
Jayne Pearce (10:21):
Timing is the thing You've got to have the
dream, obviously.
But you can't, like you say,keep kicking the idea or the can
down the road every year,because eventually those windows
close.
James Pearce (10:31):
Yeah, and certainly our life.
Our chapter in Palo Alto wasreally a really good opportunity
for the kids to grow inthemselves in a safe environment
and I think they reallyappreciated that, having that
chance to take root for a while.
But at the same time they werevery happy with our lives
(10:51):
predating that when we wereliving in India and Belize.
They had that semi-nomadiclifestyle to them, but at the
same time I think they werehappy to also make friends and
know that there was still goingto be there in a year's time,
for example.
Dave Alison (11:05):
Well, I love what you said about the timing
because, like again hearingperspective from other clients,
you saw this as an opportunistictime, saying, hey, both the
kids are now finished with highschool and going off to college,
but financially I hear a lot ofpeople make an excuse why that
might not be the time.
They might be like, well, Ican't think about not working
(11:27):
now.
I have two kids going off tocollege and to pay for.
So I love the mindset and theattitude that you actually
brought to, that of, hey, thisis actually the most opportune
time.
Our health is here, ourparents' health is here, our
kids are out of the house and weput them through a stable time
period in high school, but nowthey're gone and they're off at
university and so now's our timeto get out and do this.
James Pearce (11:51):
I would say, actually, maybe we should see
how old we are as well, right,because we're talking about
timing and age and so on.
So yeah, we are in our early50s, just for the record.
Jayne Pearce (12:03):
There is this period between 50 and 65 where
you've got this empty nestsyndrome potentially and I don't
know, maybe this is just mypersonal take that seems like a
very long time to just have tospin the wheels, waiting for
(12:24):
retirement, when you're stillhealthy, you've still got dreams
, your kids are independent.
We would have just been goingback and forwards from the house
to work and back again, butthat's actually probably the
time we want to be out doingsomething like this.
The other thing I'll say isthat sailing and this kind of
life is quite physical, right.
Sailing a boat is hard work andwe encounter a lot of people
(12:49):
who waited until they're 65 or70 to do this sort of thing.
And it's hard because maybetheir health isn't what it used
to be, or they're not as fit asthey used to be and they have to
take things a lot easier andthey end up staying much closer
to home.
James Pearce (13:06):
I felt like we've probably still got another five,
ten years of decent healthwhere we can actually rise to
the challenge of sailing boatsacross oceans, which is what we
want to do yes, and also notonly that, but as far as timing
is concerned, as few know, theremay be grandchildren in the
future, and we hear this a lotfrom other people who have
(13:28):
retired at age 65 and they're ontheir boat, but they end up
leaving it all behind because agrandchild arrives, and so that
puts an end to their sailingvision.
But for us I don't know.
I'm hoping there weren't anygrandchildren too soon in the
(13:48):
future.
Jayne Pearce (13:49):
Pids, if you're watching this just hang in there
.
Get through university firstand you can travel you could do.
James Pearce (13:59):
Yeah, so again, another window of opportunity.
Really, of course, this is allhypothetical as well.
Right, tomorrow our healthcould deteriorate, or our
parents, or whatever.
So we take this window when wecan.
And not only that, we've beenplanning this for a few years.
(14:19):
So, prior to the kids leavinghome and going off to college,
we saw this as a potentialwindow of opportunity because we
had to plan the boat and so on,but we always knew that there
were going to be things thatcould be thrown into the mix,
like COVID, for example, or sofew.
Yeah, so it hasn't hindered ourplans.
(14:40):
Yeah, you've got to keeppushing ahead.
Dave Alison (14:43):
Yeah, exactly, so it sounds like a lot of personal
motivations, like you shared alot of great examples that were
quite well thought out and toyour point.
It's not like you woke up oneday and said, hey, honey, you
want to go live on a sailboatand get out of here.
It sounds like a lot ofpreparation and a lot of
planning.
I think, Jane I think you mighthave shared this with me at one
(15:04):
time you started on.
You guys built Scout, so it'snot like you just founded it, a
dealer, and bought the sailboat.
James Pearce (15:11):
Scout yeah, two or more years in the making, yeah.
Dave Alison (15:14):
Two or more years in the making, plenty of kind of
runway, and then, obviously,the components of thinking about
leaving work.
I know a lot of the qualitativefactors you just shared passion
for travel, passion for seeingthe world when you can and when
you have the health to do so,passion for sailing and being in
the physical health to actuallyrun a sailboat.
(15:35):
And the parents and thechildren.
You're kind of in what I wouldcall in financial planning, that
sandwich generation where yougot the parents to think about
as well as children to thinkabout, and you're kind of the
sandwich in the middle.
So thinking about quantitativeand qualitative factors going on
in their life.
But talk to me a little bitabout kind of the quantitative
(15:59):
considerations because, withoutsharing any details, the reality
of most people as they reachtheir mid-40s, their early 50s,
their late 50s, they tend toalso be in some of their kind of
key earning years and walk usthrough kind of just some
(16:20):
thoughts that went through theconversation of hey, is this
actually the right thing to do?
Should we walk away from theworkforce right now?
And, james, obviously atFacebook there was stock and
every tech company has bestingschedules and thought of walking
away from company stock andunvested stock, which tend to be
kind of some of the goldenhandcuffs that keep people from
(16:42):
doing this.
But what did any of that kindof look like for you, just
conversationally?
Jayne Pearce (16:50):
Well, you alluded to this.
I think a little bit.
You always feel like, oh, if wewould just wait another six
months, I'll get that promo orI'll get another bonus or
there'll be another stock vest.
And that's a rat race.
I mean, you never get off thattreadmill until you legally need
to stop At some point.
You've just got to call it.
(17:12):
And I'd like to think that if Ihad stayed at Facebook or Metta,
I would have had a healthycareer from where I was and
great, I would have got 65 and Iwould have a little bit more in
the bank account.
And I've missed out on 15 yearsworth of adventuring around the
world with my wife.
So at some point you've got tosay what's really important.
(17:33):
And just chasing after thatnext job title or chasing after
that next lump of money in yourbank account, that can be a
little fatal in the sense thatit's not the end of the world if
you do, but it's for us, not inthe trade-off we were prepared
to make.
And obviously it was a luckydecade or a lucky necessarily
but it was a good decade forFacebook and for the tech
(17:55):
industry in general.
So we had done relatively well.
We'd had the chance to investin real estate.
So we had a house in Palo Altowhich we had to sell to be able
to do this.
And yeah, at the end of the day, you just weigh up all those
quantitative things and in ourcase, the quality of life won
pretty easily.
(18:16):
And I will say, just to go backand maybe provide a little
addendum to your intro where yousaid we are officially retired
I mean, it's official, right, wehaven't signed some document,
but it says we'll never go backand do some work if we need to.
So I think we're both luckyboth with my online skills and
James design and marketingskills Like we very easily can
(18:39):
keep ourselves busy, both justto keep our brains ticking over
or to make a little bit of extramoney if we ever needed to.
And fortunately and I don't seethat as a one-way street time's
a really tough and there's likesome four-year-long recession
and our financial advisordoesn't get us through it
properly Then we can always goback to the workhouse and do a
(19:00):
bit of work to top up thecoffers.
So yeah, that's been anotherthing.
I think that helped us makethis decision, knowing that it's
not an irreversible decisionand our skills are going to be
pretty transferable if we everneeded to go back and do a
little bit more.
Dave Alison (19:15):
Yeah, let's talk about that for a minute.
And so, again, I think the wordretirement is the wrong word.
I think a lot of our clientsthey get to a work optional
place in their life where theycan go pursue other passions
that they have In your case,traveling, sailing, doing the
things that you want to do.
I know, james, just in workingwith other Facebook clients like
(19:37):
when you're at Facebook oryou're working at a company like
that you're surrounded by someof the smartest people in the
world and I would imagine it canbe a pretty competitive and
challenging environment to be in, especially like you were there
for what?
Well, over 10 years, right.
Yeah yeah, I mean, there's alsonot a lot of people, from what
I've heard, that have been at acompany like Facebook for more
(20:01):
than a 10-year time period, soyou had some longevity at the
company when you decided toleave, right yeah?
Jayne Pearce (20:08):
Yeah, I mean that was actually arguably a harder
part of the decision than thefinancial one was just the
friends and relationships andwhat we were doing.
Walking away from all that, Istill felt there were lots of
things that needed to be done.
I believed in the company'smission, a lot of what it was
trying to achieve and, yeah,giving up on that and that sort
(20:30):
of large element of purpose inmy life, and so that worried me
a little bit actually, that Iwas going to suddenly be at the
loose end and not know what todo and not have that kind of
creative purpose to keep memoving forward.
Of course, I didn't need toworry at all because the minute
I stopped working I jumped upsomething else to do, and so
I've had plenty of things to doin my spare time which may not
(20:52):
be as financially successful asFacebook, but which keep my
brain working, which keep meinteracting with people online.
You know I'm basically writingopen source software, so I'm
still getting to interact withthe same kinds of smart people
that I did in the professionalrealm.
Even though I'm in the middleof nowhere, I can still get to
have those relationships andthat fills that kind of big
(21:14):
purpose checkbox that I need tofill and James is saying she's
got a whole bunch of thingswhere you can talk about
yourself.
But you know a lot of thingsthat we use to keep our brains
going.
James Pearce (21:23):
And yeah, I think it's really important.
Actually, you know a lot ofpeople they say, well, what do
you do, you know, with your time, assuming they think that we've
retired.
And it's true, you know, thereis a lot of time that, where we
have which we have to ourselves,when we're not sailing, and not
only that, but we, you know,it's an opportunity for me.
I see it as an opportunity todo all those things now that I
(21:44):
wasn't able to do.
I didn't have the time to dowhile we were busy working and,
obviously, taking care of thekids with them growing up.
So now, you know, I can learn alanguage, I can read all those
books, I can do that art orwhatever.
It's great.
So it's like, all those thingsthat I just wasn't able to do, I
put off, I'm able to do now.
Dave Alison (22:05):
Yeah, and I think that's the biggest difference,
especially in the pattern ofearly retirement.
I mean, I've seen so many timesthrough you know the
opportunities that I have inhelping people retire that if
they wait a long time and thenthey retire, it's almost like
when they leave the workforcethey lose their purpose in life
or their identity a little bit,because they spent so much time
(22:28):
helping build the company thatthey've built and it's just like
they kind of flounder and theyget lost.
But it sounds like you guyshave done a great job at you
know filling that void ofkeeping yourself like I mean,
james, in your case I wouldimagine it's a lot of technical,
you know capabilities to stayon top of what's happening in
tech and in your field, thethings that you're doing right
(22:50):
now to keep you on top of yourgame.
Jayne Pearce (22:52):
Yeah, but all I need is a cell signal, right,
and then I got it, so I don'tneed to be physically located in
Silicon Valley anymore.
Arguably more enjoyable, right,because I get to do it entirely
on my terms and I get to learnwhatever technology I want to
learn.
I get to build whatever it is Iwant to build, and if it's
successful, great.
If it isn't, well.
I guess I learned some stuff,so it's actually a pretty sweet
(23:14):
outcome.
Dave Alison (23:15):
What's been, any unexpected challenges or aspects
of this whole leaving I can'tsay retirement anymore because I
can't say you're retired, right, but leaving the full-time
workforce at Stanford and atFacebook or Meta to kind of the
adjustment that you have rightnow.
(23:36):
What is it If you were to lookback over the last 18 months and
say I wasn't anticipating thishappening?
Or maybe if somebody elsepreparing to do something
similar to this, maybe not liveon a sailboat but go pursue
something different in theirlife?
Anything that kind of standsout to you, Other than, of
course, the year you decide todo it.
We have a big stock marketcorrection on top of it, but
(23:57):
we've weathered that storm.
We had a plan in place.
We had the soon bucket fundedup, the bucket plan that got us
there, but any kind of bigunexpected challenges.
Jayne Pearce (24:07):
I don't think we're any Boats are very
expensive.
James Pearce (24:10):
And we knew they were very expensive, but they're
still very expensive.
Jayne Pearce (24:14):
However much money you think you're going to spend
on a boat, you're wrong.
As people say, a sailing boatis the most expensive way to
travel for free.
And I would say, before we setout on this whole journey,
obviously we sat down with youand we had what we thought our
annual expenditures were goingto be both kind of capex and
opex.
The first year of a boat it wasway more, I think, capex than
(24:36):
we were expecting.
Oh, we've got to buy a liferaft.
Dave Alison (24:39):
Oh, we've got to buy a kite.
James Pearce (24:40):
Oh, we've got to buy a wingfoil.
You know what I mean?
You need to buy a wingfoil.
I mean, we have to get by awingfoil.
Jayne Pearce (24:48):
And so, yeah, I think that first year it's not
and I think we have to justaccept it's not a steady state
and it would be easy to getfreaked out by that.
It would be easy to look at allthis capex and kind of confuse
it for ongoing opex and thenstart to worry that you're going
to be able to make it.
But I think after, yeah,probably almost literally a year
, our expenditures kind ofsettled down a bit.
(25:10):
The boat, we kind of knowwhat's what, got a better sense
of what things cost.
Obviously we're also in arelatively cheap part of the
world.
It doesn't cost a lot to anchorfor free in the Caribbean and
most of the time we are justanchoring.
And we're not having to stay inexpensive marinas and so forth.
And so, yeah, I think, justunderstanding that there are
(25:30):
going to be these kind of verylumpy expenditure periods which
I guess is true of anyone that'sretiring and actually planning
to do something, right Becausethose somethings are going to be
irregular and they're going tocome up with different costs and
so doing an annual budget wasjust kind of a tricky thing to
start off with.
But I think we've refined thatnow.
I mean, speaking for myself, itwasn't something that was
(25:52):
keeping me awake at night, butit was just something that I
think we have.
We probably knew we could neverhave prepared for that, and I
think that's so right To yourpoint and you made a good
comment.
Dave Alison (26:04):
Maybe you're not going to go live on a sailboat
for other people that arelistening to this and might not
have the exact same challenges,but typically when I see your
first year retirement, I meanit's just a lot of unknowns.
You know, when you retire, everyday is like a Saturday and if
you think about Monday throughSunday, you typically spend the
most amount of money on aSaturday because you're out and
about and doing things and goingout to dinner or whatnot, and
(26:28):
obviously you guys are a littlemore confined, especially if
you're not at port or anchoredand you're out sailing.
It's not like you're orderingon Amazon every day or going out
to dinner every night.
So you might have some of thosedifferent budgetary concerns
your first year in retirement,but it makes a lot of people
very nervous that that firstyear of just trying to figure
(26:48):
out how these expenses are goingto settle in and what does it
look like, and that's why wealways think about when you
start to think about retirementincome.
It's like bumper bowling, thatyou try to put up two bumpers on
either side from reallythrowing a gutter ball, but
you're going to bounce aroundquite a bit for that first year
to two years as you settle intothings.
Jayne Pearce (27:08):
Yeah, and, like I said, it was also a year when
the markets were pretty confused, and so I could imagine, if you
project oh, as the next 20years going to be like this year
, then, yeah, you're going tohave a sleepless night, but I
think able, with your help, tolook at the bigger picture.
Think about these larger cycles, and there are these anomalous
(27:29):
years or periods of financialturmoil, but they never last
that long, and so just realizethat the nature of average is
that there'll be other yearswhich seem very boring and where
the growth is more healthy, andso forth, and you just have to
wait for those to come to andnot get spooked by the anomalous
.
Dave Alison (27:48):
Yeah, exactly.
Well, as we land the plane, youhave two quick, two kind of
final wrap ups for you.
So what was your favoritedestination along the East Coast
as you were traveling down andthen, flip side, what's been
your favorite destination in theCaribbean so far?
Jayne Pearce (28:03):
Well, I don't know .
We're going to have to runthrough mentally all the places
we've been to.
Yeah, actually, maine, I likeMaine a lot.
It was a really beautifulBar-la-World I think.
There's like maybe one or twomonths a year when it's just
like absolutely phenomenal.
So we were up there in Juneinto July and, yeah, I really,
(28:28):
really loved that.
There was a place called BarHarbor we got to it's pretty
much the furthest north we gotand, yeah, beautiful mountains,
lots of hiking, the kayaking andnot too much fog, and so that
was really spectacular.
That was like nowhere elsewould ever been in the US, I
think.
So, yeah, I enjoyed that.
But then again we were also inNew York.
We sailed past Manhattan.
James Pearce (28:48):
That was my favorite.
It was being able to take ourown boat down through Manhattan.
Did we anchor?
We did we anchored just downfrom the top, yeah.
Dave Alison (28:57):
James, somewhere along the way you anchored up
and actually spoke at a techconference, didn't you?
James Pearce (29:02):
Oh yeah, that was the place.
Jayne Pearce (29:03):
Yeah Well, yeah, when we were in New York, there
happened to be a job streetconference going on, so I hopped
off the boat and scammed acrossand gave a tour.
We got back on again, but yeah,no, that was great.
And then, well, obviously, weenjoyed Charleston.
That was another part of theworld we'd never been to, and as
we came further south, as forthe Caribbean, I actually really
(29:23):
liked the southern part of theBahamas, which I guess isn't
technically the Caribbean, butit's a little bit harder to get
to.
There are islands that are alittle bit off the beaten track,
pretty remote, beautiful bluewaters, nice shallow bays and
lots of lobsters and fish to go.
James Pearce (29:41):
He likes catching lobsters.
I went yesterday.
Jayne Pearce (29:43):
But, yeah, I really loved the Bahamas but,
yeah, the whole of the Caribbeanis obviously awesome.
James Pearce (29:48):
I really liked Guadalupe.
That was my favorite, justmaybe because of the French
connection and the food.
Yeah, it was really nice.
Jayne Pearce (29:55):
But yeah, this is the start of our next season, so
, having headed out from Grenada, we're obviously here in Tobago
.
We are looking for a luckyweather window to see whether we
can get the wind to take usdown to South America for a
little bit.
We'd love to go and exploreplaces like Guiana and Suriname,
but that's very dependent onthe wind and so if that doesn't
(30:15):
happen, we'll probably just hangout here for a bit.
But yeah, we're hoping to, overthe course of the next six to
seven months, move westwardsacross the Caribbean, so we'll
get to go to places like Cubaand Jamaica and Baleas, the ABC
Islands yeah, maybe end upgetting down towards Panama, and
(30:35):
by then we're thinking aboutwhat to do after Panama.
We're nice.
James Pearce (30:40):
That's another season.
Dave Alison (30:41):
Sounds like it and now the compost.
That all sounds absolutelyamazing.
If anyone wants to follow theJourney Scout sailing on
Facebook, right, they can go,and I know you guys are always
posting pictures of the Journeyalong the way.
It looks absolutely amazing.
And we'll just wrap up with oneadditional thing.
I mean, if somebody islistening and they have the
(31:01):
financial wherewithal, what'syour advice, kind of looking
back again over the last twoyears, is it just do it?
What do you think in terms ofany peace of mind or additional
insight you could give somebodyon something like this?
James Pearce (31:15):
Well, for me, if you've got the passion and you
really want to do something,then go ahead and do it,
regardless of the financialsituation, right?
Dave Alison (31:25):
I legally can't say that I'm licensed.
I'm a financial advisor.
Go blow all your money on aworldwide trip, but I'm just
joking.
James Pearce (31:33):
Yeah.
Jayne Pearce (31:34):
No, I don't think we just said let's go do it Like
.
I mean, we thought about theconsiderations, made sure we
were doing responsibly, but wewere very self-aware about not
having that.
Oh, let's just put it off alittle bit, kind of thing.
So I think that would be myadvice Think about what it is
you want to do and plan aroundthat, rather than looking in
your bank account, waiting forthat to get to a certain number
(31:55):
and then deciding what to do.
So make sure that you have beenconfused the means with the end
.
Focus on the end and the meanswill take care of themselves.
Dave Alison (32:03):
That's great.
That's fantastic Properplanning like anything else, and
James and Jayna, thank you somuch.
I see the boat rocking in thebackground.
I think I might have just saw apeak of a mountain or something
behind you there as we went oneway, so we will let you run.
Hopefully we have a good breakin the weather and you could get
on with your journey.
And this was fantastic.
(32:24):
Thank you so much for the timeand for being such a great
client at Allison Wealth.
Jayne Pearce (32:29):
Yeah, it's been a lot of fun.
Thank you for all you'resupposed to have for and, yeah,
hope this was helpful forsomeone.
Dave Alison (32:33):
Sounds good, Thanks everyone.
Speaker 4 (32:35):
Financial planning and advisory services are
offered through ProsperityCapital Advisor, pca, an SEC
registered investment advisorwith its principal place of
business in the state of Ohio.
Allison Wealth Management andPCA are separate, non-affiliated
entities.
Pca does not provide tax orlegal advice.
Insurance and tax servicesoffered through Allison Wealth
(32:55):
Management are not affiliatedwith PCA.
Information received from thisvideo should not be viewed as
individual investment advice.
Content may have been createdby a third party and was not
written or created by a PCAaffiliated advisor and does not
represent the views and opinionsof PCA or its subsidiary.
For information pertaining tothe registration status of PCA,
please contact the firm or referto the Investment Advisor
(33:18):
public disclosure website.
For additional informationabout PCA, including fees and
services, send for ourdisclosure statement as set
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