Retire Sooner With These Strategies

Do you find yourself feeling like you won’t ever have enough money to stop working? If so, it’s time to perk up. You can retire sooner than you think by making some changes now.

Use these strategies to retire sooner than you ever dreamed of:

1. Identify activities that bring you joy and then create an income stream doing them. When you retire, you’ll have more free time to fill up. Why not do it engaging in activities you love and earning some money at the same time? Start your “cottage industry” now, while you’re working, just to try it out. Here are some examples:
   • If you like to make birdhouses for your yard, make extra to sell at local craft fairs or gardening shops.
   • Perhaps you get a kick out of being around elderly people. Start your own Elder Assistant business, charging families to “visit with and assist” elderly parents for a couple of hours a week.
   • Maybe you’ve developed a real love of gardening and taking care of your lawn. Consider mowing lawns in your neighborhood or planting bushes, weeding, and doing other gardening tasks for neighbors for a price.
   • The key is to think of ways to charge others to do what you love to do.
     
     
2. Think of creative ways to cut your expenses related to work right now. Consider the obvious costs, like carpooling, using public transportation, and carrying your lunch to work. Reduce every expense possible connected to your current work to reap the most savings and benefit your future retirement.
   
   
3. Open your mind to an adjusted lifestyle where you do more with less money. You can retire sooner if you learn to live more inexpensively now.
   • Purchase generic groceries.
   • Shop farmers’ markets for fresh produce.
   • Only buy meat that’s on sale.
   • Concentrate on “buy one get one free” offers at the grocery store.
   • Do your shopping at a discount grocery retailer.
   • Have Meatless Mondays.
   • Be more flexible about what you choose to eat, based on what’s on sale.
   • Reduce the level of cable television you pay for.
   • Get rid of your telephone land line and only pay monthly fees for your cell phone.
     
     
4. Live in a smaller house than you can afford. Your kids will eventually grow up and leave. Concern yourself with living conservatively and paying off the mortgage after you ensure all other bills are paid off. In a smaller home, you’ll live comfortably with fewer expenses.
   
   
5. Retain part-time employment now. Save 100% of what you earn from your second job and save it for retirement. Remind yourself daily that how you live, work, and save now will determine when you can retire and how you’ll live then.
   
   
6. Vow to learn how to delay gratification. Go back to the old-fashioned way of living where you save up to buy something. This way, you spend only cash to get what you want. The delay in time that it will take for you to accumulate the money to pay for the item will help you determine how much you actually want the item.

When you’re truly committed to a goal of retiring sooner, you’ll keep your focus and follow through with these six strategies. You’ll quit working before you know it and
love your simpler lifestyle!