Becoming debt-free after years of struggling under the crushing weight of consumer debt was an amazing feeling. Many people will never understand the gravity of being debt-free. It is as if you are floating on a cloud of air.
However, being debt-free is just the beginning of a long journey towards the land of a happy retirement. We still have a lot of work to do to prepare ourselves for a Happy Cash Flow Retirement.
First, I want to explain why being debt-free is just the beginning. Most people who become debt-free believe that they have financial security. I talked about this false feeling in “Financial Security vs. Financial Freedom.”
How Much Do You Need for Retirement?
There is one huge problem with having no debt and believing you have security—your job is a huge question mark. Your job does not bring you security. If you are debt-free and still work a job, what happens if you lose your paycheck?
This is the point where people start saving money in a high-yield savings account. They get a nice lump sum of cash, say one year’s worth of salary, and they feel even more secure. I recommended this course of action in “Be Smarter Than the Average Bear (Market),” to prevent people from panicking during a market correction.
But again, even saving a year’s worth of salary is still not enough—no matter how amazing an accomplishment. Nope, you will need to increase your income streams. I am not trying to scare you or set crazy unachievable goals, but the truth speaks volumes.
The fact of the matter is that unless you control your income stream, you will always be beholden to someone else. We cannot go into retirement without having our own income stream.
Being debt-free allows us the freedom to pursue our income streams with full attention. Debt is the full power of compounding working against us. Now, it is time to turn that compound interest calculator into a positive working for us.
So Josh, what do we do after we achieve debt-freedom? We invest in ourselves and our income streams. We get smart-as-hell in the ways of passive income—retirement planning, investing for dividends, cryptocurrencies, real estate, and business.
Happiness Isn’t Free
I’ll point you in the direction of a few books that will explain the process of preparing for retirement through passive income. Once you have an overall view, you will naturally gravitate towards income streams that interest you.
For example, under the “investing” income stream, you have multiple different methods, such as dividend growth investing, income investing, and index fund investing. But, first, let’s look at some great retirement books that will give us insight into the mindset you need after we become debt-free.
“How to Retire on Dividends” is a book about the love of dividend income. You should read this if you have any interest in dividend income. Most people would like to understand how dividends work, so this is a great resource.
“The Passive Income Myth” talks about blogging, dividends, and real estate. If you want to build a diversified income portfolio, I highly recommend this book.
“Passive Income, Aggressive Retirement” is all about passive income streams that you can leverage throughout your life. The author explains coin-op machines, real estate, and writing.
“Don’t Gamble with Retirement 3 + 4” is my favorite of the bunch because I wrote this one. It is 700 pages of passive income goodness, and even better, it is entirely free. Download it now!
7 Great Work From Home Strategies
Conclusion. I’ll keep this one short because the main idea is to progress your income after your debt-freedom. If you have to work a job to receive income, you are not free! We want income coming into our accounts all-day every day, even while we sleep.
I understand that it is a mindset shift, but that’s why I write these articles. I never knew the words passive income, dividends, and high-yield until I turned 38 years old. I don’t want you to be in the same boat that I was in two years ago.
My article “4 Steps to Become Rich (book)” explains the four steps to wealth in detail. They are
- Destroy Debt
- Reduce Expenses
- Increase Income
- Obtain Assets
Good Luck on your journey, and congratulations on achieving debt-freedom; few ever will. If you want to read more from me, I have 600+ articles (many with free PDFs) on my website MilitaryFamilyInvesting.com and over 220+ books on Amazon. Enjoy and Happy Investing!
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Disclosure: I am not a financial advisor or money manager, and any knowledge is given as guidance and not direct actionable investment advice. I am an Amazon Affiliate. Please research any investment vehicles that are being considered. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
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