Hitting Rock Bottom at 63
How Getting Fired at 63 Triggered a Career Change and Financial Freedom at 69
Two words shattered everything I thought I knew about career security and financial freedom at 69. The elevator doors closed behind me for the last time on a late Tuesday afternoon. Eighteen years reduced to a cardboard box. “Effective immediately.” income
Two words that shattered everything I thought I knew about security, loyalty, and my place in the world. I’d heard those words in movies and read them in news articles about other people’s lives. I never imagined they’d be spoken to me in the familiar conference room where I’d celebrated important team wins and participated in countless meetings for nearly two decades and enjoyed financial freedom at 69.
The senior manager’s voice seemed distant and muffled as he continued with the standard script—turning in my office keys, my company computer, and my company car. But all I could think of was, “Is this really happening?” Eighteen years of early mornings, late nights, missed family dinners, and weekend emails. Gone.
I mindlessly pulled personal items from drawers I’d organized many times before: a water bottle, family photos, a framed recognition certificate that suddenly felt like a cruel joke, and my son’s crayon drawing from third grade —the one where he’d drawn me in a suit with a big smile, labeled “My Dad the Important Man.” Important. Right.
It was a hot Phoenix day as I fumbled to open the car door holding a cardboard box. The weight of the box felt like nothing. The weight of what it represented crushed me. As the heat poured out of my car I thought, “How did that even happen?”
My thoughts soon shifted to survival. The math was brutally unforgiving—at sixty-three, I was on track to be broke by 65. Our savings wouldn’t last a full year. After that, nothing.
No pension. No backup plan. If we raided our 401K that might give us a little more than a year. I’d planned to work seven more years, not because I loved the job, but because I had to. Now salary, car, benefits – gone! My world imploded in a fifteen-minute meeting that began with pleasant small talk about a recent corporate dinner.
Mary would be starting dinner soon, completely unaware that our comfortable middle-class life had just imploded. How do you tell your wife of thirty years that the man she trusted to provide for her had failed?
She did nothing to deserve this except believe in me. It’s hard to express the regret that was consuming me at that moment.
After four decades of work, even the thought of being dependent on government assistance or charity was something I couldn’t allow in my mind. This was a financial freefall unfolding before my eyes.
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The Pink Slip That Became an Unexpected Beginning
But here’s what I couldn’t have known sitting in that scorching car: that devastating day would become the greatest gift of my career. My 18 years there were good—the company treated me very well, and not only do I have no resentment, I’m deeply grateful.
Because that crisis that felt like an ending became the beginning of our journey to financial freedom, leading to an amazing seven-figure portfolio by age 69—something I never thought possible.
What surprised me most was discovering that 69 wasn’t the end of our wealth journey—it became the launch pad where our portfolio growth really took off, defying everything I’d been told about aging and money.
What I Mean by Wealth
This isn’t a story about getting lucky or becoming a billionaire. It’s about getting desperate enough to finally learn that financial freedom —having enough passive income to be comfortable enough to make work optional—is possible at any age when you follow the right principles.
Approaching my Financial Cliff
My wife, Mary, had been a stay-at-home mom for most of our marriage. We had a young adult son still living at home. Telling her I’d been fired was like admitting I’d failed not just in my career, but as the man she’d trusted to take care of us.
When I finally arrived home and explained to her what had happened, her support was unwavering, but I could see the deep worry that she just couldn’t hide in her eyes.
We both knew the harsh truth: replacing my substantial income and benefits at my age would be a monumental challenge. The thought of going back into the corporate grind, working for someone else after so many years, felt suffocating. Mentally, I was ready to leave that life behind, but financially, we were in no position to do so.
The numbers painted a devastating picture.
I kept asking myself: “I had 40 years to build wealth—what happened?” What was I thinking? Where had I been going?” At this late date I now understand I was wandering in circles financially for 40 long years. Do you know how embarrassing that is to admit to myself, let alone put in print?
The Job Hunt – A Dead End
Despite the knot of dread in my stomach, I knew I had to find a job. I forced myself to apply, sending out resume after resume. The response was underwhelming. A few phone interviews, but never a follow-up. I remember one hiring manager, who sounded quite young, mentioned my almost two decades of corporate leadership but her tone seemed different.
She simply said, “We’re looking for someone with a fresh perspective. How would you bring that to our team?” It seemed like she meant, “Is that even possible?” It stung, it felt like my hard-won experience was more of a liability.
I could feel their disinterest, the unspoken question: Why would we hire you at 63-years-old when we could get someone half your age, willing to work for half the salary? To be honest, I think we both had the same level of interest in them hiring me. My feeling of desperation grew with each new week. It felt like I was walking a financial tightrope in a gale-force wind.
Sleepless Nights and Grocery Store Anxiety Income
Sleep, usually my sanctuary, became a battlefield of worry. I remember waking up in the middle of the night, my mind racing: No income. Bills coming in fast. What happens when the money runs out? What if we become homeless? While that leap to homelessness might seem extreme, my fear was all too real.
The depth of my unemployment hit me hardest on a midweek grocery trip with Mary. There was a good sale and she asked for some help getting what we needed. The store was one of those no-frills discount places I don’t think I’d ever set foot in before. Women with their children filled every aisle—not a single businessman in sight. It was a Wednesday morning, and I knew every other man my age was at work. I felt completely out of place, like I was wearing a sign that screamed “unemployed failure.”
I was the provider who now couldn’t provide. The successful executive was reduced to… this. Whatever “this” was. The shame was suffocating. My career wasn’t just ending—it was ending in complete, humiliating disaster. I wanted to do something, anything, to regain control, to prove I wasn’t the helpless failure I felt like at that moment. But there was nothing to do except stand there, drowning in the reality of how far I’d fallen.
A Glimmer of Hope
After about a month of pointless job applications, I knew I was spinning my wheels. The only thing moving fast was our shrinking cash reserves. Then a risky thought cautiously surfaced: What if I started my own business?
I’d been avoiding this thought for weeks, but desperation has a way of forcing clarity. The traditional job market had made it clear: at 63, I wasn’t what they wanted. Maybe it was time to stop asking for permission and start creating my own opportunity.
Memories of my painful past business failures flooded my mind: crushing debt, years of struggle, the humbling return to employee life. But this time, something was different. I had learned hard and painful lessons I will never forget.
Those entrepreneurial failures had burned four non-negotiable rules into my memory – my personal uncompromising laws for any future business venture:
No physical products – I previously sold physical products and I realized my personal true strength was in selling intangible products.
No staff to manage – a support staff is great but I did not want one I was responsible to recruit and manage, not my strength! I’m a doer not a supervisor.
No debt – with my failed business I went deeply in debt that took years to pay off. No more business debt ever.
Consistent repeat sales – I previously sold products that people bought very infrequently, so I had little to no repeat sales. I realized frequent repeat sales were important to me.
This wasn’t a list of nice to haves; it was a battle-hardened blueprint for success, tailored specifically for me. With this clear direction, I was able to refocus and slowly begin to pick up the pieces of my shattered optimism.
I finally felt a flicker of hope, a fragile belief that I might have a fighting chance. Despite the dire circumstances—maybe even because of them—I felt like that general from the Battle of the Bulge who said, “They’ve got us surrounded—the poor bastards!”
I reached out to my network, exploring opportunities both within and beyond my current industry. Eventually, I came across an independent sales agent role, straight commission.
It ticked every single box: intangible products, no staff, no financial investment required, and excellent repeat sales potential. The product line was solid, something I genuinely believed helped businesses and their customers in an important way. Even though I had never done this type of work before, it felt right, despite my uncertainty of a 100% commission-based income.
Throughout my career, I’ve heard countless people complain about their jobs and pay—I was one of them. But I’ve come to believe people have significant control over both if they make up their minds to take control, despite how scary it may seem.
The important thing is to identify the skills that people are willing to pay good money for. These are the skills that solve critical problems or deliver tangible value people desperately need.
When I talked to Mary about it she was unwavering in her support, I took the leap.
The Long, Hard Climb
The first six months felt like swimming upstream in concrete—a grueling blur of cold calls, constant rejections, and zero commissions to show for it. I was so naive and it showed. I remember when a prospect asked for marketing materials to review I realized I forgot to bring them with me. “What salesperson doesn’t bring marketing materials?” I thought, walking back to my car. If I were actually an employee, I would have fired me.
I quickly realized this local market was built on decades-old relationships, and I was the complete outsider trying to break in. “I’ve worked with my agent for years—I’m not switching,” became the phrase I heard daily.
Then I discovered getting even a few clients was only half the battle because then things got even more intense—competing reps immediately swarmed them, trying to steal them back. It was a junkyard dog fight, and I was definitely the Chihuahua—after eighteen years in a respected corporate position, I was completely out of my element, with my 64th birthday tightening like a vice around my options.
Within a month, I landed my first small client. The sign-up process was confusing, clunky, but it happened. Fortunately at this point I was remembering to bring the contract with me. I was immensely grateful for having an actual client. I quickly discovered that acquiring clients was excruciatingly slow, a relentless cycle of rejection and repeat visits.
To make matters worse, I didn’t earn a dime until a client’s customer purchased a product, another slow, uncertain process. Over half the clients I signed up never sold a single product, meaning all that effort yielded nothing. It was the most difficult business I had ever tried.
Mary saw my struggle, but she also saw my deep commitment. One day, she decided to jump in, first driving me to prospects, then handling the administrative tasks that bogged me down.
Her involvement was great, it freed me to focus on sales, marketing, and client training. With Mary’s help, my daily number of cold calls shot up. A wonderful bonus was the time we spent together, talking, laughing, strategizing. Our complementary skills made us a powerful, two-person team.
Still, even with Mary’s help, earning commissions remained a tedious grinding, uphill battle. Many of the reps I competed against were half my age with twice the stamina—probably eager to put that old man out of business before he even got started.
Being kicked when you’re down
Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse, some competing reps (fortunately not most) started to tell my clients and prospects that they heard the company I was representing was struggling and going out of business, which was a complete lie. Now I had the extra challenge of convincing people of the truth.
But as I struggled through those dark months, I kept thinking about a conversation that would prove pivotal.
Cory’s Regret
I thought of my former co-worker, Cory. A skilled and personable guy, he’d once owned a successful business. When I asked him what happened, he described a nightmare year: crippling staff turnover (one salesperson alone represented 50% of his sales), a harsh economy, maxed-out credit lines, and agonizing cash flow. He truly believed his business wouldn’t survive.
Coincidentally, Cory’s brother, Mark, owned the exact same type of business in another region. Despite the challenging economy, Mark was thriving—debt-free, successful, and brimming with optimism. Aware of Cory’s struggles, Mark offered to buy his business. Cory, initially torn, finally agreed, seeing it as a lifeline from an incredibly painful situation.
This led Cory to a corporate job, ironically at the same company that later fired me. Over the years, I watched his frustration grow, often complaining under the constraints of limited flexibility, income, benefits, and management.
One day, Mark visited Cory, and I got to meet him. He had not only survived but exploded his business. He was incredibly successful, enjoying substantial income, the freedom of ownership, and all the benefits that came with it.
Shortly before my employment was terminated, I asked Cory, “If you could do it over, would you have sold your business?” His lips tightened, and his voice, rough with unspoken pain, replied emphatically, “No. I should’ve just hung in there and done whatever it took to work through and solve the problems.” It was unmistakably the deepest regret of his career.
That conversation would echo in my mind during my darkest moments.
No Plan B
Cory’s experience was a priceless blessing to me. It clarified my choice: persevere and find solutions, or quit. Quitting wasn’t an option; I had no Plan B. I was firmly committed to doing whatever it took, knowing my four self-employment lessons were the right path.
Still, in my deepest struggles, a fleeting thought would sometimes surface: had I missed a fifth lesson—maybe I should have found a really easy business to start?
“Pray like everything depends on God, then get up and work like everything depends on you.” This quote brought Mary and me both peace and strength. We just kept praying and working, without stopping either.
Slowly, agonizingly, we started to see a small trickle of growth in commissions. I clung to that encouragement, improving some each month at signing up new businesses. I started creating training and marketing materials for clients, and some non-producers even started selling a little.
I recalled the CEO of the company I represented visiting Phoenix. We met at a McDonald’s, a brief, humble setting for a conversation I’ll never forget. His blunt words still echo: “David, everyone in our office is impressed with you, but we can’t figure out why you’re not effective.
I know you are putting in significant effort but your sales results are not reflecting that.” I knew my sales were pathetic, and admitted, “I’m just as puzzled.” Despite all that, I just knew there was no way I was giving up on this.
The Darkest Hours
But doubt has a way of creeping in during the darkest hours. That night, lying awake at 2 AM, the weight of it all threatened to suffocate me. Five months of brutal work. Hundreds of rejections. Countless cold calls that led nowhere.
Our savings hemorrhaging with every passing week. I was 64 years old, failing at something I’d convinced Mary I could do, proving conventional wisdom right, it was too late to start over.
The math was inescapable: if I quit now, we could conserve and maybe have more months before we were completely broke.
If I kept going and failed anyway, we’d have less. Every day I continued was another day gambling with our survival. The smart move, the responsible move, was to stop the bleeding, take any job I could find, and face reality, dreams don’t come true at 64.
For a terrifying moment, surrender felt like relief. I could call it off tomorrow. Tell Mary I tried. Admit defeat before we lost everything. Let someone younger, faster, better suited do this.
Then Mary’s face flashed through my mind—her unwavering belief in me when I had none in myself. And Cory’s voice: “I should’ve just hung in there and figured it out.” That was his deepest regret, and I was seconds away from making it mine.
No No there was no Plan B. I had to keep fighting.
I’ve always known something to be true about myself, “I’m slow to catch on – but once I do – look out.” Isadore Sharp, founder of Four Seasons Hotels, once said, “Excellence is the capacity to take pain.” I was certainly learning how to take a lot of pain. I just hoped the “excellence” part didn’t get lost in the process.
Breaking Through: When Persistence Finally Pays Off
As I meticulously observed what was working and what wasn’t, I began compiling a one-page summary of bullet points. My list grew weekly, and every Friday afternoon, I’d review it. It became my “one-page agency compass,” a tool to navigate the treacherous waters and steer me in the right direction.
One crucial item on that compass was: When things get tough, hang in there & figure it out. Avoid Cory’s regret. I found my compass to be a priceless tool for sharpening the sales and business skills I really needed.
You’ve probably heard the parable: A person struggles to cut down a tree with a dull saw. Someone suggests they take a break to sharpen it. The person refuses, grumbling they’re too busy sawing.
They continue toiling inefficiently, while someone nearby who took the time to sharpen their saw finishes the job in a fraction of the time. Taking time for the right skill sharpening and self-improvement ultimately puts you in charge of your income and your career satisfaction.
“When you’re green, you’re growing. When you’re ripe, you rot.” Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald’s
We just kept working and learning, relentlessly. The second six months felt like pushing a massive flywheel. Initially, it was incredibly hard to get moving, spinning agonizingly slowly—much like my first six months. But gradually, steadily, it began to pick up some momentum.
My small network of clients selling for me, combined with my slow but consistent addition of new clients, started to generate noticeable growth each month. Some clients sold well, some didn’t, but we just kept pushing.
A wave of overwhelming relief
I kept Cory’s words as a strengthening guide: “Just hang in there and figure it out.” Month after month, rejection after rejection, I refused to quit.
Then something incredible happened.
In the tenth month, just one year after I was fired, my commission check reached 82% of my previous corporate salary. The next month, it didn’t just pass it, it blew past it by 131%. I was overwhelmed with gratitude. We were going to make it.
We didn’t even take time to celebrate. We just kept pushing. The flywheel was finally spinning. Within another year, our income doubled my former salary, and kept growing. With every setback and every lesson, Mary and I became stronger, more capable, more certain of the path ahead.
Our success started to get noticed. I was invited to speak on a regional conference call, sharing sales tips. Other reps from different markets contacted me for one-on-one advice. I deeply understood the pain some of them were going through and was happy to help.
Mary’s contributions were essential. Her meticulous organizational skills perfectly complemented my flexible, creative sales approach. Early on, she suggested creating client files. I laughed, “Files? We don’t need files, we need more sales.” Fortunately, she ignored me. Those records have saved us more times than I can count.
Designed by a Guy Who Needed It Way Simpler Than Most
Mary’s incredibly smart, so smart that as a youth she scored just one point shy of the genius range on an IQ test. I, on the other hand, failed second grade. Together, we make one average intelligent person. And if someone like me, never once accused of being a genius, can build wealth with a simple one-page wealth compass, then anyone can.
Validation: My Toughest Competitor Confirms My Different Path
A few years into my independent agency, I received a call from an account manager at the supplier’s corporate office. He told me an unexpected story. A few senior managers had recently attended a national industry convention.
As they walked through the center, company name tags prominent, a man approached them. “I hate your company,” he declared. Understandably startled, they stared. Then he smiled. “I don’t mean it that way,” he clarified. “Every time I go into a business that sells your company’s products and try to switch them to mine, it’s very frustrating because I can’t get them to leave you.
They are so loyal to your rep, Nassief, they won’t even consider it. I’m a top producer for my company but don’t know how he does it.” This vendor rep was one of the most successful in my market, a direct, highly aggressive competitor.
Hearing that confirmed something important: I didn’t need to be a stereotypical, high-pressure salesperson. I could be myself, build genuine connections, and still compete successfully—retaining clients so effectively that even my toughest competitors couldn’t pry them away. The CEO, once puzzled by my slow start, became my biggest cheerleader.
He would travel to Phoenix specifically to meet with me and take Mary and me out for wonderful dinners. The company even flew us to their corporate headquarters, treating us with incredible generosity. While I appreciated their kindness, what I was most grateful for was being saved from the financial quicks and I felt I was sinking in.
Revisiting the past with relief
One ordinary afternoon, Mary needed to pick up some things after we’d visited clients. Standing in that grocery store in the middle of a work day, I suddenly remembered that anxious visit right after being fired—when every minute away from earning an income felt like failure. The contrast struck me: we hadn’t just survived; we were thriving.
Looking Back
Being abruptly expelled from corporate life felt like the worst day of my career. It turned out to be the best. I’m grateful for what it forced me to face and for finally learning what I wished I had known at 25 or 35 or yes 55.
Those failures taught me how to rebuild and changed how I see my own journey. Forty years of making more than my fair share of money mistakes showed me the traps too many people fall into and the simple approaches that actually hold up when life gets messy.
When I finally reached financial freedom at sixty-nine, I realized something important. My career transformation helped, but the money strategies I discovered work at almost any income level. I just wish I had known them decades earlier.
My Compass
My focus has always been on delivering excellent service and respect. I hold sincere gratitude for every client and want to help grow their businesses as helping them continues to grow mine. My one-page agency compass continues to navigate me on the right path as I regularly tweak and refine my approach.
But creating that agency compass was only the beginning of my journey to true financial freedom. Here’s what most personal finance books either skip entirely or barely mention: your career and income are the foundation of your financial freedom. While you can absolutely build wealth on any income—even a janitor’s pay (which you will see)—it’s smart to maximize your career and income potential continually. Most financial advice assumes you’ve already figured out the income piece, but that’s often a major barrier people face.
The complete journey
This book is different. We’re going to cover the complete journey—from maximizing your income potential to building lasting wealth, with all the crucial steps in between, many that other books assume you already know.
In the next chapter, I’ll share specific solutions for improving your career and income, especially when you feel like you’ve tried everything and nothing seems to work. Then, step by step, chapter by chapter, I’ll take you through the simple path I took to gain financial freedom in less than six years: how to optimize your income, protect and grow your investments safely, and build the kind of wealth that gives you real security and freedom.
Because as I learned in that scorching Phoenix parking lot, sometimes what feels like an ending is actually the beginning of something far better than you ever imagined possible.
Why I Am Sharing This With You.
I didn’t write this book because I wanted to be an author. I wrote it because I feel a profound responsibility to share what I discovered. When the elevator doors closed on my corporate career, I was standing on the edge of financial ruin—vulnerable, older, and terrified.
The ‘Compass’ I found didn’t just save our family from what could have been a financially tragic ending; it gave us a level of freedom I thought was mathematically impossible at my age.
Without question this was a gift. I know I didn’t have the ability to do this on my own. And I’ve realized that when you’re handed a lifeline in the middle of a storm, the ultimate in selfishness is to keep it to yourself once you reach the shore.
I’m writing this because I want to pass that lifeline to you, providing a safe and no-nonsense path for anyone facing a financial obstacle that feels impossible to overcome. If you are seeking a breakthrough for yourself and your family, I want you to know: this is a journey you don’t have to take alone. This compass can guide you, as it has me, to a type of freedom most people think is beyond their reach.
Your North Star
Even devastating setbacks can be transformed into opportunities for profound career, personal and financial growth, but only if you refuse to quit and continually refine and adapt.
Your Next Step
Don’t wait for rock bottom to discover your potential. Right now, identify one skill that aligns with your strengths and that people really need. Then commit to improving it daily, ensuring you’re always growing and controlling your income.
Visit Why Most People Walk in Financial Circles (And How I Found My` Way Out at 63)
