The Matt Viera Newsletter Turns 2 Today

Good morning!

I hope this finds you well.

Welcome to another edition of The Matt Viera Newsletter.

The newsletter with the goal to inspire you to invest in life experiences.

Thank you for your continued support.

If you enjoy The Matt Viera Newsletter, please forward this email to one person you believe would enjoy reading this.

2022 was a good summer for me.

During that summer, I spent five weeks in Spain (one week in Seville and four weeks in Barcelona) on a mini-retirement.

As fantastic as that experience was, one other event occurred while I was in Barcelona that changed the course of my financial life.

My federal student loans were forgiven to the tune of ~$153,000 because of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

It was like winning the lottery.

I felt as if a heavy weight was lifted off of my shoulders.

Shortly afterward, as I was sitting on the balcony of the Airbnb we were staying in, looking out over the city of Barcelona, I said to myself:

This is the life I actually want to live. I no longer want to trade my time for money. I want to be able to do what I want, when I want, wherever I want.

I decided right there and then to make some intentional financial moves to turn that goal into reality.

And I wanted to document that journey through a newsletter to inspire others to live the life they actually want to live as well.

I published the first article of The Matt Viera Newsletter on October 1, 2022 (you can read the first two articles I posted here and here).

However, the newsletter evolved from one focused on personal finance to one focused on investing life experiences (an extremely important topic to me).

I sincerely believe most people can achieve their financial goals and invest in life experiences along the way.

I do not believe investing in life experiences will inhibit progress towards anyone’s financial goals.

What do I mean by “investing in life experiences”?

For me, investing in life experiences include, but are not limited to, investing money and time in:

• Mini-retirements

• Off-grid getaways

• Cross-country road trips

Explore the world (and the occasional beach vacation when the opportunity presents itself).

Those three life experiences are important to me for a variety of reasons, the most important being that life is entirely too short.

Life experiences are so important to me that I transitioned from practicing law to a career in education to have more time to experience life outside of an office while I work towards achieving my financial goals.

We all have a choice: we can follow the default path and work for 40+ years only to retire in our 60s and then try to pursue life experiences.

Or you can make the choice to design a life that enables you to pursue life experiences before it’s too late.

Now, when I published the first article of this newsletter, I had three audacious goals:

• Have at least $1 million in assets

• Own real estate both within and outside of New York City

• Save one-year of my salary in my savings account as an emergency fund

The ultimate goal: retire in five years (2027)

How am I doing towards those goals?

Let’s just say that I moved the needle forward these past two years, but not as much as I would’ve liked.

Why not?

I didn’t have an actionable plan to achieve those goals.

Sure, I contribute pre-tax income into my retirement account from every paycheck, I invest weekly, and I do not have any credit card debt (I did pay off all of my credit card debt and one private student loan in the past two years, so that’s worth celebrating).

But I need to develop an actionable plan if I want to retire comfortably.

So here are my updated goals:

• Pay off my RV by 2028

• Pay off my last student loan by 2028

• Pay off my auto loan by December 31, 2024

• Save at least half of my take-home pay for 9 months

• Buy real estate within New York City by December 31, 2024

• Buy real estate outside of New York City by December 31, 2025

• Build my emergency fund to one year of essential expenses (~$25,000)

My retirement goal has been updated to 2028 because that’s the year I’ll be eligible to draw a pension.

I share this with you for three reasons:

• To finally develop an action plan to achieve those goals

• To hold myself accountable

• To inspire you

And that’s what this newsletter has always been about: inspire you to live the life you actually want to live.

And have some fun along the way.

We are so involved with the daily grind that it becomes a challenge to (or an excuse not to) sit down and reflect on what we want out of life.

We’re distracted.

We get comfortable.

We tell ourselves there is always tomorrow.

The next thing you know, time has passed you by, and you realize (like I did when I turned 50 in 2022):

“I have more life behind me than I do ahead of me.”

Remember: you have options.

You can continue to sit there and do nothing.

Or you can make a decision and do something.

I challenge you to explore your options.

I challenge you to come up with 3-5 audacious goals you’d like to achieve in the next 3-5 years.

Develop an action plan to achieve those goals.

Execute that plan ruthlessly.

And have some fun along the way by investing in life experiences.

You only have one life.

No one on their deathbed ever said:

“I wish I spent more time in the office.”

I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank you for joining me on this journey over the past two years.

Thank you to those who have been with me since the beginning of this newsletter!

Thank you to those who joined any time during the past two years and recently!

I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter as much as I enjoy sharing it weekly.

Quotes that caught my attention:

“Never underestimate the power you have to take your life in a new direction.” ―Germany Kent

“It’s never too late to become who you want to be. I hope you live a life that you’re proud of, and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over.” ―F. Scott Fitzgerald

You can find the collection of financial tools & resources that helped me grow from a 6-figure debt to a 6-figure net worth by clicking here.

Thanks for reading!

Please feel free to reply to this email with suggestions, questions, or comments.

I read every email.

If you have a question about personal finance, travel, or mini-retirements, email me and ask and I’ll discuss the answer in a future article.

If you enjoy The Matt Viera Newsletter, please forward this email to one person you believe would enjoy reading this.

I’m ready to follow you on X (formerly known as Twitter)!

I definitely want to read past articles of The Matt Viera Newsletter!

I’m not a subscriber to The Matt Viera Newsletter and I’m ready to subscribe!