Many of us love our day to day jobs. Many of us do not even remotely like our day to day jobs. But we are all in the same boat. At some point in our lives, we will have to stop working. But what will we do when we no longer work? That is why we need an exit strategy!
For most people, their exit strategy is very, very simple. Work until they are 65-70 years old. At which point they will use a combination of 401K payouts and social security to survive. Hopefully, their house is paid off, and if it is, they still are on a fixed income for the rest of their lives.
I believe that we can plan a better exit strategy. We are smart enough, and have enough resources (internet), to build a solid foundation of wealth. Through a combination of family, life hacking, side hustles, real estate, businesses, and investments, we can generate a great strategy that not only fosters wealth but happiness as well.
Family: Family is the most important aspect of our strategy. Grandparents, parents, and children (grandkids) need to all work together. “Together we rise, divided we fall”. I believe most grandparents would love to see their grandkids grow up. We can all work together to ensure everyone in the family is happy and taken care of. Some examples are: Grandparents move into the home and sell their house. They can use that money to add an addition to their children’s home. They can babysit for free and drive kids to school. Little things like this keep our wealth inside the family.
Life Hacking: We have to use our awareness and surroundings in order to make extra income. My favorite life hack is renting rooms. I currently make $1600 a month renting out 2 master suites. An Uber driver makes roughly $10 an hour. So $1600 is exactly what an Uber driver makes working full time. Other life hacks include growing your own fruits and veggies, as well as raising chickens for the eggs. Not only are you saving on grocery costs but you can sell the excess to friends and co-workers.
Side Hustles: Remember, we use our earned income to build businesses and investment portfolios. So if we work some side hustles like Uber, food delivery, second job, dog-walking, etc, then we are adding to our pool of money for business and investments. If you earn $1600 a month driving Uber, ensure you are investing all of it into your investment portfolio.
Real Estate: The ultimate way to build wealth and generate income. Real Estate is the hardest category to get into. You need to prove you have access to capital and income in order to get a loan. Do whatever it takes to earn your way into your first home. I believe everyone should strive to have two homes when they exit out. They can life hack (rent rooms) in the one they live in and also rent out the other one. Once both are paid off, that is money in the bank. Getting into real estate should be one of your first investment/business goals.
Businesses: I consider real estate a business. Whether that is renting out rooms or renting out homes, I consider it a business. I do not like the word “passive income” attached to real estate. Once you have a home you also have other methods to build income such as; AirBnB, renting parking spaces, and renting out land. Of course, there are tons of other businesses that you can open and be successful at. We use our businesses for supplemental income, so the pressure to make tons of money is not there. Therefore, do something you enjoy.
Investments: This is the last category of income streams. We should be using earned income to build investment income from the day we start working. However, most of us didn’t get the memo, so we are a little behind. Remember the 4 parts of an investment portfolio are High Yield Savings, Bonds, Stocks, and Real Estate. Once we start the income portfolio, it starts to compound and grow upon its self. We just need to get it started and keep feeding it income.
Retirees should have a least 6 streams of income. 401K and social security are not enough to have an amazing retirement. Grow your streams of income, work with your family, life hack, and most importantly, be happy!
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