9 Ballparks. 12 Days. One Reminder About Wealth.
You cannot plan only for someday.
High-earning professionals are often trained to ask one financial question:
At what age can I retire?
It matters. But it is not the only clock running.
How many summers remain before your children stop wanting to travel with you?
By the ninth ballpark of our trip, my son and daughter were walking into an Astros game in matching Buc-ee's onesies.
They looked ridiculous. That was the point.
When the stadium camera put them on the giant screen, I started laughing. Then I started counting.
Not the money. The summers.
My son is 14. My daughter is 11. I know what we save, what we spend and what our long-term plan can support. What I cannot know is how many more times both kids will say yes to twelve days of airports, rental cars, hotel rooms and baseball with Dad.
There is no account where you can deposit a summer and withdraw it later.
If you are in your 40s, earning well, funding college and investing for retirement, that tension may feel familiar.
You may know what your portfolio could be worth at 60.
But do you know what your money is allowing you to do now?
The Two Clocks
My son and I have a goal of visiting all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums together, ideally while he is still a kid.
This summer, I mapped out nine ballparks in twelve days. My wife wanted no part of it. Fair enough. My daughter initially agreed with her, then decided to come.
The itinerary was built around baseball. The lasting memories were not.
My kids protested visiting Abraham Lincoln's home, then did not want to leave. A special event put them on the field during batting practice at Wrigley. In Arlington, my son received a ball from Brandon Nimmo, a former Met and his favorite player. Then came Houston, the onesies and the video board.
None of that fits neatly into a spreadsheet. Yet it is exactly why the spreadsheet matters.
The plan did not create those moments. It created the opportunity to be there when they happened.
Every family is running on two clocks.
The financial clock compounds forward, tracking savings and future obligations.
The life clock counts down, tracking childhood, health and the seasons when the people you love are available at the same time you are.
One compounds. The other expires.
Ignore the financial clock, and today's experience can become tomorrow's burden. Ignore the life clock, and you may reach the future with plenty of money and fewer chances to use it in the ways that once mattered most.
A financial plan should make the two clocks work together, showing what today can hold without putting tomorrow at risk. That is the whole point of the 360° Wealth process we build with clients.
Permission Comes From the Plan
The real question is:
What can you spend today without undermining the future you are building?
Some high earners spend as if their incomes will continue forever. Others have accumulated enough to enjoy more of life, yet every meaningful purchase creates anxiety.
Their behavior looks opposite. Their problem is often identical:
They are flying blind.
They do not know how today's decisions affect tomorrow's options.
Optimism says, “We'll be fine.” Fear says, “We can't risk it.”
Neither is an answer.
Connect a detailed budget to a long-term plan, including how taxes fit into it, and the fog begins to lift. Sometimes the numbers say no. Sometimes they say not yet. And sometimes they say:
Take the trip. You are okay.
Our trip fit because the numbers supported it. Flights were largely covered with points, hotels averaged roughly $300 per night and tickets generally cost around $100 each.
We still made trade-offs. At Wrigley, I paid more because that experience mattered. At other parks, I chose value.
That is intentional spending: knowing what matters, paying up where it adds value and refusing to overspend where it does not.
Vacations are already part of our budget. If the numbers say we can spend, we spend. If they say we should not, we do not.
A financial plan that can only restrain you is incomplete. Sometimes its most valuable output is permission.
And once a plan can provide both boundaries and permission, retirement stops looking like the only finish line.
One more thing worth naming here. My wife and I did not see this trip the same way, and that is normal. If you and your partner are wired differently about money, I unpacked that in Episode 52 of The Big Bo $how, Two People, One Financial Life.
The Real Goal Is Optionality
A 42-year-old executive earning $500,000 may focus on whether retirement happens at 57 or 59.
But a more important question comes first:
What does financial freedom actually look like for you?
Maybe it means retiring early. Maybe it means taking the trip now and working another year later. Maybe it means leaving the company, starting the business, helping your parents or reaching the point where work becomes a choice rather than an obligation.
Retirement is one possible choice. Financial freedom is having a menu of them.
The plan should show you the cost of each path so you can choose deliberately.
That is optionality.
Ten or fifteen years ago, I probably could have paid for this trip. But I could not have taken this exact trip. My children were not the right ages, and taking nearly two weeks away while working for someone else would have been far more difficult.
Today, I could travel with my kids, stay connected to JWA and meet clients along the way.
Money paid for the trip. Control over my time made it possible.
That flexibility does not appear on a net worth statement.
But it is wealth.
The choices you make now, saving, investing, managing fixed expenses and building your career, should eventually create more choices later: to stay, leave, help, take a risk or use your time differently.
The point of building wealth is not simply to accumulate more.
It is to create optionality.
That is the essence of By Choice, Not Chance.
What Are You Calling “Someday”?
Your version probably is not nine baseball stadiums in twelve days.
Maybe it is Italy. A career change. Starting a company. Time with your parents. Something with your children before their lives become busier than yours.
I am not telling you to spend the money haphazardly.
I am telling you to find out whether you can.
Does your financial plan truly require you to wait?
Or has waiting simply become your default?
“Not yet” should come from the plan, not from fear dressed up as prudence.
At JWA, that is the work: connecting today's cash flow, tomorrow's obligations and the life you actually want, so decisions come from clarity rather than guesswork.
My son and I are now at 19 ballparks, with 11 remaining. I still hope we reach all 30 while he is young enough to want Dad beside him.
But somewhere between Atlanta and Houston, I realized the checkmarks were never the point. The point was who was beside me every time we checked one off.
The trip is one version of using what you build while the window is open. Teaching my kids to think like owners is another. I wrote about that one last month in Raising an Investor: Mindset, Accounts and the Math of Starting Early.
A scoreboard can tell you how many parks you have visited, how much you have saved or what your net worth is.
It cannot tell you whether you used what you built while the window was still open.
Build the scoreboard.
Just do not confuse the score with winning.
You can save money for later. You cannot save a summer.
3 Questions to Sit With
✔ If your plan said yes today, what would you actually do with the yes?
✔ Do you know what you can spend now without putting the future at risk, or are you guessing?
✔ What are you calling “someday” that already has a clock on it?
Both Clocks Are Part of 360° Wealth
At Julius Wealth Advisors, we do not just help families build toward a date on a calendar. We help them see what today can hold, what tomorrow requires and where the two meet, so the plan delivers boundaries and permission. More of how we think about it lives in the Coach's Corner.
To schedule a meeting, call (201) 408-4644, email info@juliuswealth.com or get in touch online.
Building wealth is by choice, not chance.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know if I can afford a big family trip without hurting my retirement plan?
Connect the spending decision to the plan instead of to your gut. That generally means a clear picture of cash flow, a long-term projection that includes future obligations like college and retirement, and a look at what the trip changes over time. When those pieces are connected, the answer usually stops being a guess. Sometimes the numbers say no. Sometimes they say not yet. Sometimes they say go. At Julius Wealth Advisors, that is a standard planning conversation rather than a special request, and it is part of what the 360° Wealth process is designed to answer.
What does optionality mean in financial planning?
Optionality is having more than one path available to you. Retiring early is one option. Taking the trip now and working another year later is another. So is leaving the company, starting a business, helping your parents or reaching the point where work becomes a choice. A plan built around optionality shows you the cost of each path so you can choose deliberately rather than default into one. Julius Wealth Advisors builds plans around that idea, because for most of the high earners we work with, the goal is more choices rather than simply a bigger number.
Should I spend on experiences with my kids now or save more for retirement?
It is rarely all of one and none of the other. Every family is running two clocks. The financial clock compounds forward. The life clock counts down. The work is deciding what today can hold without putting tomorrow at risk, which is a planning question rather than a willpower question. Build the spending into the plan on purpose and both clocks get a vote. That is the work Julius Wealth Advisors does with HENWY families: connecting today's cash flow to tomorrow's obligations so the trade-offs are visible before you make them.
What is the two clocks idea?
The financial clock tracks savings, compounding and future obligations. The life clock tracks childhood, health and the seasons when the people you love are available at the same time you are. One compounds. The other expires. A plan that only watches the first one is incomplete. At Julius Wealth Advisors, we build for both, and you can see more of how we think about it in the Coach's Corner.
About Jason
Jason Blumstein, CFA, is the founder and CEO of Julius Wealth Advisors, an independent boutique RIA serving clients nationwide from Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. His passion for investing began at just 10 years old, when his grandfather Julius turned off the cartoons, turned on CNBC, and began teaching him about stocks, discipline, and the values that build a meaningful life.
Shaped by early family financial hardship and inspired by Julius’s integrity and generosity, Jason built a career by gaining experience with PwC, Morgan Stanley, and J.P. Morgan. With a mission of offering transparent, education-forward planning rooted in Integrity, Knowledge, and Passion, Jason founded Julius Wealth Advisors in 2021. The firm operates in a fiduciary, client-aligned model built around long-term partnership.
Building Wealth Is By Choice, Not Chance
Today, Jason partners with High Earners, Not Wealthy Yet (HENWY) families ages 35–50, helping them build long-term, sustainable wealth through disciplined planning, deeply personal guidance, and analytical rigor he gained as a CFA® charterholder. He is known for his boutique, high-touch service, and for the educational clarity he brings to every conversation through The Big Bo $how podcast and Wealth of Knowledge blog.
Outside the office, Jason is a proud husband and father of two. He loves all sports, working out, watching the NFL (he has a complicated relationship with the Dolphins), rooting for the Mets, and staying active—a continuation of his college football days. To learn more about Jason, connect with him on LinkedIn.
This piece contains general information that is not suitable for everyone and was prepared for informational purposes only. Nothing contained herein should be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any security or as an offer to provide investment advice. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but the accuracy of the information cannot be guaranteed. Past performance does not guarantee any future results. The information in this material is not intended as tax or legal advice. Please consult legal or tax professionals for specific information regarding your individual situation. For additional information about Julius Wealth Advisors, including its services and fees, contact us or visit adviserinfo.sec.gov