Welcome to the 12th post of my blogger interview series. Today’s interview is with Adam from I Want To Retire Soon – IWTRS. Adam has blogged since 2013. He’s a consistent blogger, usually posting more than once a week. He’s also a consistent investor, buying stocks every week.
I Want To Retire Soon is a blog that focuses of dividend stock investing. Adam’s goal may sound familiar to you; retire as soon as he can ;-). He’s making great progress towards his goal. Adam’s current annual dividends income clocks in at just under $1,500. If he keeps investing weekly it will not be long before the snowball effect of dividends kicks in. I hope you enjoy getting to know more about Adam and his site, I Want To Retire Soon. Here’s a link to all of my Blogger Interviews.
I Want To Retire Soon Interview
Where do you live?
Small Town outside of Grand Rapids, MI
What are your hobbies?
Collecting and playing retro video games, playing euro board games, and photography.
Which countries or major cities have you lived in or traveled to?
I have only lived in 2 cities in 35 years. I have been very fortunate to travel the world though including India, Japan, Tahiti, and Europe.
Which sports or teams are your favorites?
All major Detroit teams. Pistons, Tigers, Lions, and Redwings!
What’s the best vacation you’ve ever taken?
Honeymoon to Tahiti. We went to Moorea and each morning we got up and snorkeled for an hour outside our over the water bungalow. Incredible experience of a lifetime.
When you were a child, what profession did you want to be?
Video Game Developer
What is your career today?
Automotive Project Manager. I have a degree in Computer engineering and an MBA. Neither of which I am really putting to use these days.
What is your primary motivation to reach financial independence and retire early?
As Dr. Wayne Dyer once said: “Of all the death-bed regrets I have heard about, not one of them has been, “I wish I had spent more time at the office”. I have 3 kids and a lot of fun hobbies that need my love and attention.
At what age are you planning on retiring?
I would love to be able to quit my corporate job in 10 years when I turn 45. Then do something part-time that I actually enjoy.
What’s the first thing you’ll do when you retire?
Take a long vacation with my wife someplace warm with drinks flowing!
If money were no object, but you had to have a job what would you do for a living?
I am good at many things but a master of nothing so ideally I would work a job for a few months then move on to something else. I have always wanted to be a train engineer to see what its like traveling the world at the head of a train. I imagine it gets dull like most jobs though, so I would then like to work at a hobby shop for a bit, then on to the next thing, and so on….
If you could go back in time, what investment advice would you give to your past self?
As much as we try to tell the youngsters, not many heed this advice: START INVESTING NOW! Even if you lose money, you understand how it works and the potential of what it can do for your life. Also, learn to understand what a budget is and how to stick to it (I am still learning this one).
If you could only use one metric to evaluate a stock, which one would you choose?
Trend in the Dividend Payout ratio. It really is a compounded set of metrics, but it incorporates the earnings data with what they are paying out and how that is changing over time. If it is rising each year, it may be cause for concern. If it is high to begin with, you need to investigate. If its staying low and consistent and they are raising dividends each year, then they are probably doing it right.
How do you stay the course when markets are down?
By looking at a chart of the S&P over its life. There are ups and downs, but it has always recovered and most likely always will. Living through 2008 and even 2002, I have seen some bad stretches. If you are diversified and are buying quality companies, there isn’t much to worry about.
What’s your favorite aspect of blogging?
Getting feedback and providing value. I don’t have nearly enough time right now to fully dedicate to my blog, but I love to talk about the details of investing with others. I am an engineer so I love the details.
Why should people read your blog?
I am trying to be as transparent as possible in my journey. I also like data to base my decisions so I publish a weekly report of over 75 bloggers buy and sell activity.
Which 5 blogs do you visit the most?
A Frugal Family’s Journey
Div 4 Son
Dividend Growth Investor
Roadmap 2 Retire
Well Rounded Investor
What’s your best source of traffic to your blog?
Twitter, Captain Dividend, Roadmap2Retire and Passive Income Pursuit!
Why do you blog?
I love to learn and I love to write. I love writing new posts with the thought of someone (even if its’ just 1 or 2 people) finding it useful. Most importantly though, it’s just fun and a cheap “hobby” for me.
What’s the name and URL of your blog or blogs?
I Want To Retire Soon – http://www.iwtrs.com/
My Thoughts On IWTRS
I’ve followed I Want To Retire Soon for over two years. I enjoy IWTRS posts and I really enjoy his weekly buys and sells series. It’s great to see what most of us are doing all in one place.
Adam and I have a lot more in common than I thought we did. In the early 1900’s My mother’s side of the family came to America from Prussia and The Netherlands. The entire family settled in and around Grand Rapids, Michigan. Most of the family is still there. My grandparents were the only ones to go west to California.
Both Adam and I have computer engineering backgrounds and MBAs. I too worked for many years as a project manager. And I’m a classic video game junkie. I have most of the original gaming consoles and games. My office is full of Atari 2600, ColecoVision, and Sega SG – 1000 games.
This is why I really enjoy blogger interviews. I had no idea that we had so much in common until Adam agreed to take part in this interview series.