Mid-Life Retirement

From Steve Renault:

Born and educated in Ontario, the middle child of a Presbyterian minister and a Scottish Mother, I understood what it meant to live on a budget and be happy. Even though my Dad’s salary was meagre, if we did without, I never knew. At 22, I was lucky and ambitious enough to have my cousin introduce me to the world of financial trading. I moved through the ranks from the floor of the stock exchange, to the retail desk and onto the institutional side, where I eventually became Vice President of Trading, Partner, and finally Director and Owner of a Brokerage Firm. I worked for some of the largest names on the street and most of the major banks. It was my job to advise and encourage trading in the largest managed funds in Canada and the United States. Billions in mutual fund and pension fund dollars were made and lost based on the advice of our trading desk. At the age of 40, after taking our boutique firm from less than $ 3 million a year to over $ 24 million a year and seeing the effect of money on the individuals I worked with, I listened to my father’s words, “When is enough enough?” Being married with five children and two grandchildren,I decided to check out/retire in the middle and avoid a midlife crisis. Today, after 20 plus years in the market and being retired for 14 years, traveling to over 45 countries, I understand how money is made and lost in the market and what that means to a retiree.