Most people think about retirement in some sense. You may be one of the “average” people looking for retirement at 65, or you may be someone who is aiming to retire early.
Early retirement may not be for everyone: it usually means that you have to go to some form of extreme in order to reach it. You may have to work long hours, cut your expenses a good amount, or even both. However, I’ve never heard a complaint from those who retire early.
Also, there are many websites that talk a lot about early retirement that you may want to read if you are serious about having this goal. My favorites include Mr. Money Mustache, Retire By 40, Create My Independence and Johnny Moneyseed.
1. Determine how you will live during early retirement.
You need to really think about how you want to spend your retirement in order to determine how you will reach early retirement. Will you be traveling the world? Will you move to a cheaper foreign country? Will you have children? Will you have grandchildren? How will you pay for anything medical that arises?
2. Figure out how much you will realistically spend in retirement.
For some reason, most think that they will spend less when they are in retirement. However, that is not always the case. You will have more free time and therefore will have more time to possibly spend money. Also, you will have to start paying for your own health insurance if it is currently being covered by your employer. The cost of this may shock you if you are not used to it.
3. Figure out how much you need to save in order to retire early.
Of course, the big factor of whether or not you can retire early is whether you actually have enough retirement funds. You need to figure out exactly how much you need to retire and how you can stretch that amount for decades to come. For example, if you want to retire in 10 years at the age of 35, you need to figure out exactly how much you need to survive in order to stretch your retirement funds for almost another 50 or 60 years.
4. Start making as much money as you can.
One way to reach early retirement is to make as much money as you realistically can. Definitely do not engage in anything illegal, but try to get as many promotions and pay raises as you can. Work hard and know what your next step to reach that next pay level is.
This is where certain people aren’t interested in early retirement. Do you want a lifelong job that you love? Or do you want a job that will allow you to retire early? Usually it will be hard to have both.
There are many fields that you may be interested in to make more money. You can go into engineering, sales, certain financial sector jobs and more. Or you could work a day job and earn extra income on the side as well.
5. Look for passive income.
If your goal is early retirement and you no longer want to work, you may want to look into making monthly income through passive sources. This way you are still bringing in money each month, but all that is required from you is occasional maintenance.
Ideas for passive income include rental properties, investing in dividend-paying stocks, and more.
6. Cut your expenses.
If you want to reach retirement as soon as possible, then you may want to make as much as you can, and also cut your expenses as much as you can. Doing both at the same time can drastically increase your savings rate.
Look for any expenses that you can cut out of your budget. I am a firm believer of enjoying your money but also saving it. So, cutting your expenses does not mean that you need to cut everything out in your life that you enjoy. It means that you need to find a healthy medium.
There are many ways for you to get a better value for your money: ask for discounts, use coupons, buy quality items, and so on. Do you really need a 5,000 square foot home? Analyze anything and everything in your life. I’m sure there is something that you can cut out of your budget.
Do you want to retire early? Why, or why not?
