Mikael Rieck is the author of more than hundred articles on topics of how to make money both online and offline. He has been online since 1999 and has always had a passion for money making opportunities and teaching others how to make a profit.7 Steps to Achieve Early Retirement Capability
I don’t recall ever meeting someone that had a job and didn’t want to be able to retire early from that job. Even people that actually like what they are doing at their job would want the ability to be able to quit or at least not be dependant of the paycheck each month. So what do I see as the key aspects for an early retirement?
1. Start as soon as possible
The best thing to do is start as early as you possibly can. The more time you have to work on it the less effort you will have to put in. Unfortunately too many people are starting out too late and are therefore struggling with making ends meet and often can’t see their way out of the everyday hassle.
2. Find out what you want
You need to be clear about what it is that you actually want. Do you want to retire by a certain age or do you want to retire when you have made a certain amount of money or is it something completely different? The point is that if you don’t know what it is that you want you will have a very tough time actually achieving it.
3. Make a commitment to yourself
I talked about it yesterday because I find that most people lack the actually commitment to really achieve anything when it comes to early retirement. Without the right commitment of doing whatever it takes you are very unlikely to ever be successful at it.
4. Create a plan for achieving your goal
Know that you know what it is that you want and you have made a commitment to yourself about actually doing it you will need to map out a plan to follow. You might know the saying that goes “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail” and I believe that it is very true. So spend a little time setting up that specific plan that you would want to follow.
5. Refine your plan
Even if you try to create the perfect plan it is not going to happen. There will be stuff that you didn’t anticipate and instead of being frustrated I suggest that you just adjust your plan and move ahead. On the way to your final goal you’re very likely to have adjusted your plan several times but that is what was required in order to get to that goal.
6. Follow through on your plan
Making a commitment and having a plan to follow will only work if you actually do the work that the plan says is required. Without putting in the consistent effort you’re not going to see the results that you want and you’ll need to revise you’re plan even more. Don’t go down that road. Stick to the plan that you have set out no matter what.
7. Accept that it will take time
The reason that I said to start as early as possible is that this is going to take time and depending on what goal you have made for yourself it is going to take more or less time to reach it. You must accept that this time will have to pass and the best thing you can do is just to work the plan and keep doing it until you have reached your goal and are able to retire early.
To Your Success,
Mikael
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4 Responses so far
Manshu
May 16th, 2009
2:58 am
“Do you want to retire by a certain age or do you want to retire when you have made a certain amount of money or is it something completely different?”
This is a really important statement and for most people I know it becomes a certain sum of money which is like a moving target. At first, it is a million, then when they reach that it’s having a million after going to europe, then a million after having bought that 2.5 million house. It just keeps moving.
Mikael
May 16th, 2009
3:22 am
But isn’t it great that you can have moving targets and aim higher and achieve more? I find that truly fascinating and inspiring. If only you’re able to enjoy what you already have I see nothing wrong in trying to achieve all that you can achieve.
Andrew
May 16th, 2009
8:48 am
Mikael,
You have hit on an interesting point for me.
Personally, I am thirty-two and have been putting small amounts away for retirement ever since I commenced full time employment.
Trouble is, I have never actually made a retirement plan, so whilst I have been actively working towards generating the capacity to retire if I so wish, I can’t say that I have been ‘working the plan’ because I simply have never made a plan to work in the first place!
Mikael
May 16th, 2009
11:44 am
@Andrew,
And that is a very important acknowledgment. You’re doing what the majority is doing but you are now one step further. You are actually thinking about whether what you’re doing will actually give you the results that you want. Most people never do that and therefore end up struggling once they are retired.
To start off I did the exact same thing because that was what was thought by my parents and peers and I didn’t know that there was another way.
But know I have luckily realized that blindly handing my money to people that really don’t care about them (bankers, investment people etc.) might not be the most intelligent way to prepare for retirement.
What is right and what is wrong will always be a matter of opinion but the important part is that we take action and do our own research and analysis. We’re the only ones that really truly care about our money. Nobody else does (even if we would like to think to).
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