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Interested in the FIRE movement but not sure about early retirement? Learn about financial independence without focusing on retirement!
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Much has been said about early retirement. Even our blog is a testament to that. Just take a look at our
Being financially independent is different from simply being able to retire early, after all. In a nutshell, financial independence means that you can enjoy your life as it is without having to worry about money. In fact, it can even help you finally do the job you want without having to worry about earning money at all.
To quote Steve in one of his
“Financial Independence is more important than early retirement.”
You don’t have to stop working if you don’t want to—obviously—but what does financial independence look like when you separate it from early retirement?
Why would you want financial independence if you don’t plan to stop working anytime soon? Maybe you’re someone who has been interested in the FIRE movement but finds that not all of the (more extreme) ideas and themes resonate with you. Maybe you feel stressed when it comes to work or employment, but you can’t figure out why. Those aren’t just gut feelings; they’re signs you probably fall into one or more of the following scenarios and that it might be right for you to pursue financial independence in order to…
And just to be clear, here’s what financial independence is not:
With that out of the way, how do you attain financial independence anyway? Here are a few steps:
Then here’s another question for you: do you think your job will last forever? Will you always have clients? Is your company built for the long haul? What if it suddenly gets bought one day and you lose your job overnight…what then?
This is the reason why it’s best to invest your money into different “baskets” depending on your risk tolerance. Put some money in stocks, then allocate some for bonds.
Wait until your investment bears fruit as well. There are trust funds, for instance, that need to mature for several years in order for you to get the most out of your plan. It can be worrisome to see the stocks decline and dip from time to time, that’s for sure, but know that it will be able to recover in the long run.
Think with the long-term in mind.
“Saving money has little to do with getting rich”.
Now, don’t freak out. Allow me to explain. Saving money does help, but it is not enough. For instance, you want to save a couple of dollars each day by packing your own lunch to work. That will allow you to save a thousand dollars probably in a year. That’s great...but will it make you rich? No.
You want a solid way to get wealthier? Find
On the other hand, employed people will find this a little bit more challenging to do. Unless you finally land that promotion you’ve been working hard for this past year, the only way to increase your income is to get a (profitable) side hustle.
So what is cash flow anyway? In the simplest way possible, it is your regular income and spending. If the money coming in is greater than the money going out then you have a positive cash flow. If there’s more money going out than coming in then you have a negative cash flow and a VERY big problem.
One efficient way of making sure that you always avoid those kinds of issues is to
Please keep in mind that we are cutting down only unnecessary costs. This is not about living on a tight budget, it is about having a clear understanding of your income and expenses. Once you have that understanding you will manage your finances in a much better way. Managing your incomes is one of the keys to achieving financial independence.
Is there a faster way to grow your income? Two words: real estate. Never underestimate the profit that rent and property resell can bring. You can start with a single property and rent it out.
You don’t even have to start with long-term rent. Home-sharing through websites like Airbnb and VRBO allows you to rent out your space on a short-term basis. In fact, there’s even an option to stay in the property as you rent out a part of its space.
But of course, let’s be real.
The profit is not going to be as much as if you just went ahead and invested in a starter home, but it’s still better than nothing. You can gradually grow your profit and move on to other property investments. What’s more, is that banks LOVE smart real estate investors. They’ll probably even offer a helping hand later on!
There are many options out there for creating streams of income to achieve financial independence, but those five are some of the most solid tips, and none of them involve giving up your morning latte. As simple as it sounds, there’s one more thing to keep in mind: timing.
It is never too late to start learning about financial literacy but any time you wait equates to dollars left on the table. It is always a good time to get some help from a financial advisor. The best time to start working on your financial independent future is NOW.
In fact, even Millennials know that it’s best to start early. Remember when #MillennialRetirementPlans broke Twitter last month? We even published an entire article about it
This hashtag in itself recognizes the importance of starting early. Today, millennials are roughly 23-38 years old. The particular tweet that we’ve even highlighted in that article mentioned cultivating kids in order to grow up as millionaires.
That’s how early we should all start thinking about financial liberation. As kids. I still cringe a little bit whenever I think of all of my time wasted in the corporate world, working that 9 to 5 and even with my high-paying salary, I accumulated debt, just to “keep up”.
I wish I’d have known all about financial independence sooner. Then I’d have written and published this post earlier in order to impart whatever wisdom I’ve learned through experience pronto as well.
But alas, experience doesn’t work that way. That’s why I sincerely hope that you have learned much from reading my article today and that it saves you from the entire trial-and-error cycle that we all want to avoid.
So, which tips are you thinking of trying out soon? What are the life goals that you want to achieve once you gain financial independence? Feel free to share your thoughts below!
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Financial independence implies not having to worry about money anymore, but rather focus on what you want to do, in your free time and your passions.
However, being financially independent is not to be perceived as having an infinite amount of money, so you should not spend everything in one go.
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In order to attain financial independence, consider some of the below steps:
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In order to feel less stressed about your expenses, start doing the research on how to achieve financial independence now.
It will save you a lot of frustration that might emerge due to work while also making you feel more satisfied with your own life.
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Early retirement is not defined as when you stop working forever, but as having the freedom and flexibility that saving up enough money can give you if you want to leave a job.
...A good early retirement strategy is built on maximizing three aspects: Income, expenses, and savings.
To build your early retirement strategy, you need to determine your retire early or financial independence (FI) number. It is the amount of money you need for work to become optional. Be aware that the number will (and should) change as you change, and your desired lifestyle evolves.
Based on a series of papers known as the Trinity Studies, you need to save 25-30 times your expected annual expenses to have enough money to last you for the rest of your life.
This multiple is based on the percentage of your investment growth that you would be able to withdraw per year. A safe early retirement withdrawal percentage is between 3%-4%.
The popular 50/30/20 rule states that you should reserve 50 percent of your budget for essentials like rent and food, 30 percent for discretionary spending, and 20 percent for savings.
But ...
Assuming you're in your 20s or 30s and can earn an average investment return of five percent a year, you'll need to save about 20 percent of your income so you can reach financial independence when you're older.
Financial independence means that you can maintain your chosen lifestyle entirely from the interest of your investments and dividends.
The four percent rule states that you could withdraw four percent of your principal balance every year and live on this indefinitely. That means you need to save 25 times your annual expenses to become financially independent.
The four percent rule is not perfect. There is no risk-free investment that yields that much today. Sudden inflation could also cause a problem.