Reached FI at 60: How to Switch from Accumulation to Drawdown with Bill Yount

BiggerPockets Money Podcast

BiggerPockets

Education, Investing, Business

4.5 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 16 January 2026

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

You've hit financial independence—now what? How do you actually start spending the money you've spent years accumulating? Bill Yount reached FI at 60 after a 10-year journey, and he's figured out the answer. Bill shares his complete decumulation strategy—the detailed plan he built with a flat-fee financial advisor to transition from wealth building to wealth preservation. This isn't just theory; Bill is actively living this plan and stress-testing it in real time. This Episode Covers: Bill achieving financial independence at age 60 The psychological shift from saving to spending after a decade of accumulation How to build a comprehensive drawdown plan (and why Bill hired help) Working with a flat-fee financial advisor vs. AUM advisors Portfolio rebalancing when transitioning to retirement Risk parity strategy and how it fits into retirement portfolios Stress-testing your financial plan: running scenarios to ensure you won't run out Social security timing decisions and optimization Retirement withdrawal strategies: the 4% rule and alternatives How much to actually spend in early retirement Helping your kids build wealth without jeopardizing your own retirement Financial independence for late starters: proof it's not too late after 50 Managing the emotional transition from accumulation to distribution phase Investment strategy changes in decumulation If you're approaching FI, already there and uncertain about spending, or starting your FIRE journey later in life, Bill's practical, well-planned approach shows you exactly how to transition from building wealth to confidently living off it. Subscribe to our Weekly Newsletter: www.biggerpocketsmoney.com Want to be a guest on the show? Apply here: https://biggerpocketsmoney.com/contact/ Get 50% Off Your First Year of Monarch by using code ‘Pockets’: https://www.monarchmoney.com/ Connect with Bill Yount: Website: https://catchinguptofi.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catchinguptofi/ Connect with Scott and Mindy: Scott: https://www.instagram.com/scott_trench/ Mindy: https://www.instagram.com/_mindyatbp/ Follow BiggerPockets Money on Social: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BPMoney Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/biggerpocketsmoney/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Bill Yount just did it. After a 10-year journey to catch up to FI, he ran the numbers and discovered he'd made it.
0:06.1	Now he's adjusting his portfolio to preserve wealth instead of building it. So how is Bill going to
0:10.9	draw it down? That's what we'll be talking about today.
0:18.2	Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the Bigger Pockets Money podcast. My name is Mindy Jensen,
0:22.4	and with me as always is my already caught up to FI co-host, Scott Trench. Indy, that intro
0:26.8	was fiery. I'm so excited to have Bill on from catching up to FI. Once again, we are going to discuss
0:33.6	the moment he found out he achieved financial independence. We're going to discuss his decumulation
0:37.2	strategy. We're going to talk about the comprehensive financial plan that he's built
0:41.1	and the way he found his planner who manages his assets but does not charge an assets under
0:46.9	management fee, which we are big fans of avoiding here at Bigger Pockets Money that assets under management
0:51.9	fee. So super excited for this discussion. Bill, welcome to Bigger Pockets Money. Scott, Mindy, as always, it's great to talk to you. Yeah, it's weird being caught up to five. I've been catching up to five for nine years. And I'm not sure what to do with it now. For those who are unfamiliar, Bill's journey is as a doctor catching up to financial independence.
1:11.8	And I think you realized Bill in your 50s that you were not on track to have a comfortable
1:16.0	retirement the way things were going and made a sharp pivot around those eight or nine
1:19.5	years ago.
1:20.3	To get to where you're at today, you did have that higher income and also the higher spending
1:23.4	that goes along with being a doctor.
1:25.2	And I'm excited now to hear about the transition into financial
1:28.4	independence. So can you tell us a little bit about what happened the last maybe year or so when you
1:32.6	kind of learned that you were financially independent? Yeah, Scott, you're right. In 2016 or so,
1:37.6	when I was around 52, I kind of woke up to we're not ready. And over the last eight or nine years,
1:42.4	my wife and I've been working very hard to get to FI,
1:46.5	and I didn't think it was going to come for the next two or three years, but for my 60th birthday,
	...

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