Following and Funding Your Passion in Retirement

Following and Funding Your Passion in Retirement

The day Pete Kauffman and his wife, Margaret, realized they could retire brought a flood of emotions. As small business owners, the couple had to sell nearly everything to get their company going—and keeping it afloat wasn’t always easy either. They had many ups and downs through the years, but Pete remembers, “When we finally got to that day we could retire, then we could start living out our dreams about where we could go and what we could do.” He jokes about “interviewing” lakes with his wife and finding a place to call their own. But there was another dream, too, one Kauffman had his entire life—to race cars.

“It was definitely an extra budget item that had to be carefully negotiated with my better half,” Kauffman jokes.

A love of cars was something Kauffman was raised with. They were his dad’s passion, and that passion easily passed from father to son. He still remembers his first purchase. “I bought an old Jaguar, which I towed home on a rope. I paid $150 for it when I was 16. I learned how to fix that car; and when it wasn’t dropping oil all over the road, it occasionally made it from A to B.”

Kauffman’s early passion was fueled over the years. He has owned and raced old Porsches, Jaguars and BMWs. The racing bug really bit in 2004 when a friend invited him to drive a 1930 Bugatti at the historic races at Le Mans, the world’s oldest racetrack. “I asked my wife if she wanted to go to Paris. Then I asked if she minded if we made a stop along the way,” Kauffman teases. But once he was there, the experience ignited a new and different way to love cars. He says simply, “It brought tears to my eyes.” He was hooked. Over the years, Kauffman has raced cars, rebuilt cars, led several auto clubs, taught people how to race their own cars and organized classes for teenagers on how to drive safely. 

Kauffman’s time in retirement may center around cars, but that is not his sole fascination. When he’s not behind the wheel of his black 1977 Porsche 911, Kauffman golfs a few times a week and takes pride in his gardens. He even donates some of his time to help grow food for less fortunate people in his area. “I joined the local master gardener program, and we have a community garden where we grow things for the needy. Every year, I also start hundreds of seedlings, which are later transplanted to the larger garden. Last year our gardening club produced about 2,500 pounds of produce that went to the needy in my county, which is one of the poorest in Virginia.”

Continuing to enjoy his life’s passions into retirement was no accident for Kauffman. The plan to make it happen started about two decades ago when he started working with his financial advisor. Initially, Kauffman set up a 401(k) plan for his business. His road to financial freedom was through his business. Kauffman’s financial advisor helped him balance what he wanted to do personally and how his profession would provide for that. 

Reaching the final destination typically begins with a financial plan. Kauffman didn’t have one and admits that it was off his radar at the time. “Seldom did we have any focus on our long-term personal goals.” Kauffman began personal planning in hopes of setting an example for his employees to create a financial plan as well. 

“We went through the process of plotting out what we wanted retirement to look like,” says Kauffman. Over time, meetings to review Kauffman’s plan would quickly lead to his garage for a look at his latest project. Over time, Kaufmann could see how the money he was saving and investing was getting him closer and closer to his retirement goal. Kauffman says, “We eventually got the ‘go’ for retirement. That’s when the big smiles came.” 

Today, Kauffman races one Porsche and is having a second one rebuilt. His rare 1974 Porsche Carrera has been on the blocks for six years. But soon it will look as good as it did when it came off the showroom floor. “I’ve picked up all of the passions and interests I’ve had as a person and never really been able to enjoy. That’s the wonderful result of all of this. Some of them are things that are personal to me, like racing, and some of them are things like helping provide vegetables for the needy from my garden or teaching kids how to be better drivers. It’s a wonderful result of all the planning. Without that planning, none of this could have happened. We never would’ve lifted our heads up from the day-to-day struggles of running our business. The flip side is, now that it has, we literally can do what we want to do. We are truly blessed that all of this happened.”