Would you spend $1000 on dinner for a special occasion – or more? Eric and Jason recently enjoyed a milestone birthday celebration with their spouses + friends at a world famous restaurant. The total cost may shock you. In this episode, they talk about the experience, spending decisions pre- vs, post-financial independence, and whether it was actually worth it.
Show notes may be found below the video
Show Notes
Essential Background:
- This episode concerned the celebration of a life milestone, that being a 50th birthday. For more content on Jason’s retirement milestones, check out these 2SFI episodes: What I Learned in My First Year of “Early Retirement (1 year), My New Life: Two Years After Early Retirement (2 years), Finding My Way in Early Retirement: A 30 Month Check-In (2.5 years), and Ask an Early Retiree Anything! Live Q&A with Jason (3 years).
- Jason also blogged about this experience over at the next phase is now in the article “Whenever I Call You Friend”. As a bonus – if you don’t recognize the title, perhaps you may know the amazing song of the same name made famous by Kenny Loggins and Stevie Nicks. Give it time – it turns into a real banger!
Interested in learning more about The French Laundry? Their website is a great source for further details about the restaurant, their current menus, as well as Chef Thomas Keller. At the site you’ll also find links to his other restaurants; helpful if you’re based in places like New York, Las Vegas, or Florida!
The image below is a photo of the menu from our meal at the restaurant.
Perhaps like us, you’ve enjoyed episodes of A Chef’s Tour, and may remember Anthony Bourdain once visited The French Laundry on that show for a very special dinner. While the menu served to him and the other chefs was even more expansive than the normal, it provides a ready example of the artistry of Chef Keller and his team at the restaurant.
For more on Chef Keller, we recommend checking out his MasterClass episodes. Far from highly technical haute cuisine guidance, these videos are simple to understand for cooks at any level, and provide excellent foundational instruction on kitchen technique.
Speaking of milestones, free resources like Empower (formerly Personal Capital) can make tracking FI milestones, a lot easier. We both use and really like this free tool for tracking investment accounts, understanding asset allocation + rebalancing opportunities, and monitoring net worth. Empower employs a simple account linking process to make it a more automated experience. Give it a try risk-free! (affiliate link; free program )
A note from Jason – Every episode of Two Sides of FI provides an opportunity for reflection, and this episode provokes a lot of emotions for me. On one hand, it feels really good to recall memories of a truly special and wonderful experience, sharing a key lifetime milestone with Eric, Lorri, Laura, and our friends. However, openly talking about spending a lot of money on something as luxurious as fine dining admittedly feels more than a little weird. I don’t think it’s unusual to feel emotions like guilt or embarrassment in this situation, is it? In any case, I truly enjoyed our conversation about this wonderful occasion we spent together, and I earnestly hope that you will too.
Have you checked out the Two Sides of FI Discord server? If you’re not familiar, this is an instant messaging social network. Ours is meant to be a community for viewers of our show, as well as a space to discuss all things relation to FIRE. It’s totally open, free of charge, and is anonymous as you’d like. This makes it a safe space to talk about financial topics you might otherwise be sensitive about sharing. Come check it out and see if it fits your interests! There are both desktop and mobile apps available.
Did you know Jason resumed blogging? To be notified of his future posts, please consider subscribing here. He’s also archived his old blog, which documents the first 1.5 years after he retired from his career, and started even before Two Sides of FI began. Get more information on those archived posts here.
You can find information on the tools we mention in each episode along with additional information in the Resources section of this site.
- Eric’s business: 30X40 Design Workshop
- Jason’s blog: the next phase is now
- Eric’s YouTube Channel
- Our podcast