The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Happiest ’round the world retiree
Last month, the world’s coolest grandma called into my radio show. ’Round the World Robyn, as I’ve affectionately dubbed her, needed advice on how to pay for an epic 50th anniversary trip with her spouse and an equally awesome African safari with her kids and grandkids. Although she didn’t bite when I pitched her to bring me along, her story — and the retirement planning principles it offers — is worth unpacking.
Disclaimer: Robyn is a rare breed of retiree. She’s blessed with the trifecta of ample income, health and mobility and a fun-loving family. So while this may not be your story in its entirety, parts of it can be!
Where’s she going?
With her sweetie, ’Round the World Robyn is eyeing a multiweek, Around the World by Private Jet expedition with National Geographic. Alongside a team of top historians, anthropologists and photographers, she’ll hop chartered flights to UNESCO World Heritage sites like Easter Island and the Great Barrier Reef. Of course, world-class accommodations and stunning
the company stopped selling some nicotine products in November, in anticipation of Food and Drug Administration restrictions on fruit and dessert-flavored e-cigarettes. The increased FDA scrutiny was intended to curb underage e-cigarette adoption.
Juul has said it mainly promotes its products to smokers looking to quit and that it never intended for kids to use them. It took steps last year to reduce youth adoption, including the removal of Juul social media accounts. The company declined to comment on the investor briefing.
The financial results, which haven’t been previously reported, help explain why American tobacco giant Altria Group Inc. paid a hefty premium for Juul stock in December. Altria, which sells Marlboro cigarettes in the U.S., acquired a 35 percent stake in Juul and valued the vaping business at $38 billion. That made the San Francisco-based company one of the world’s most valuable startups and turned the two founders into billionaires.
On a conference call last month to discuss Altria’s quarterly earnings report, four-fifths of analysts’ questions focused on the Juul investment. Howard Willard, Altria’s chief executive officer, said they would probably get a closer look at the privately held company’s financial performance later this year if the deal is approved by regulators. “We are excited about Juul’s domestic growth and international prospects,” Willard said. “Juul’s 2018 growth was quite remarkable.”
Altria told analysts that Juul generated about $200 million in 2017. The person briefed on the latest results told Bloomberg that Juul’s 2018 revenue was $1.3 billion and that it made a profit of $12.4 million. Juul anticipates 26 percent of sales will come from international customers by the end of this year. It expects 2019 sales growth of about 160 percent. Meanwhile, Altria’s annual growth rate has been less than 1 percent for the last two years.