I’ve been dreaming about my Happy Cash Flow Retirement (HCFR) for over four years. Now, I am three weeks into my new life as a retired Marine.
Retirement is about doing the things you love with the people you adore. However, the foundation of your HCFR is your budget.
If you can live comfortably and happily on a tight budget, any additional income streams will improve your life.
Blogging is Tough: Commodity vs. Content Blogs
Today, I want to dive deep into how to stay on budget, create additional income streams, and make your retirement as exciting and fun as possible. Let’s begin.
Building your budget. The most vital part of your retirement plan is your budget. Be advised that living on a budget and a fixed income are two separate things entirely.
Living on a fixed income means you let someone else determine your lifestyle. Suppose you bring in $5,000/month from social security and a pension.
When you live on a fixed income, your income is your budget. This means that you fall behind every month because emergencies or maintenance throw you off budget.
Counting on Crypto 3
If you’re living on a budget, it allows you to save for emergencies and investing. If you make $5,000/month, you may budget $500 toward saving and $500 toward investing.
Eventually, you’ll begin to earn more income from investing, while your savings will prevent you from going into credit card debt.
Living on your budget. From the above example, the budgeting couple would need to live on $4,000/month so they can save and invest $1,000.
This is where most people fail during retirement—adjusting their lifestyle. I don’t know if it’s pride, ego, or ignorance, but people refuse to change their lifestyle to match their income.
The Magic of Talking to Yourself
My military pension is about $8,000/month. My wife and I walked away from our jobs because our mortgage is $1,900, and bills add another $3,000.
We both have a small spending allowance, and we can save & invest $1,000 a month. If we decided to retire in California (as opposed to Florida), we would both be working at this very moment.
Instead, I am writing in my comfortable house at 7:17 AM, and my wife is outside with our dog. I couldn’t dream of a better life.
Don’t settle for an OK life. Now that you can thrive on a tight budget, it’s time to add more income streams.
Passive Income for Everyone!
Adding income streams gives you the benefit of traveling, eating out, shopping, and visiting family. Your core budget is for surviving and having minimal fun.
The more income streams you have, the more extraordinary your lifestyle will become. However, ensure that your desired income stream matches your desired free time.
Be sure not to create yourself a 10-20 hour per week job if that’s not what you want. Think long and hard about how you want your life to look, and build income streams around your vision.
Dividends for the win. The best type of income for retirement is dividend income. Dividends are the lifeblood of your new HCFR.
The Magic of Automated Income Investing
As you invest $500 or more monthly, your dividend income will grow. My wife and I have been investing for four years, and we earn $1,300 a month in dividends.
We live an extraordinary life on our regular pension income. Now, we add in another $1,300/month of free money.
We reinvest most of this money but extract at least $400/month to help pay for family nights and other events.
The sooner you start investing for dividends, the faster your income stream will grow to something special. We continue to add to our dividend portfolio every month in hopes of reaching $10,000/month in the next five years.
Five Takeaways from “SKILL”
Trading options gives you options. If you want to earn an exceptional income with little time investment, options trading may be the answer.
I am a part-time options trader and aim only to make 5-10% per month on my invested capital. For reference, a good dividend stock pays 5% per year.
By trading options, you can earn 60-120% per year on your invested capital. However, options trading is brutal and can be unforgiving if you are emotional (fear & greed).
My wife and I each have $20,000 options portfolios, generating $1,000 to $2,000 per month each.
This is a ton of money for us. Of course, we could become greedy and add more money to the pot or conduct riskier trades, but we avoid this nonsense.
Dividend Investing in Your 60s
We aim to give us some additional income to pay for emergencies and invest more into dividends.
Real estate is annoying but necessary. We own three homes and rent out two. We earn $650 total after we pay those two mortgages.
Our homes will serve our kids well in the future, so that is why we keep them. Maintaining those homes is annoying and expensive, but our kids have a massive lead in life because of these homes.
Writing and content creation. Finally, being creative is a must during your HCFR. It’s not a good idea to sit around watching TV.
The Magic of Remote Work
Instead, you can share content about your old job, retired life, hobby, or marriage. Whatever you decide, pick a plan and stick to it.
The person who sticks to their passion will amass great wealth. Making content should be a passion so it can become a significant income stream.
Conclusion. Start building and living on your budget now. If you can live on it now, you can transition to retirement soon.
Start asking questions to other retirees so you can plan for unexpected expenses. The more seriously you take retirement, the better you will enjoy your dream. Good Luck!
- PDF of the Month: Don’t Gamble with Retirement 11 (Free 410-Page PDF)
- Free PDF Downloads: Download FREE PDF LIST here
- Financial Mindset: Become CEO of Yourself 2 (Free 196-Page PDF)
- Retirement Planning: Your Retirement Planning Guide 2 (Free 255-Page PDF)
- Investing: How We Plan to Retire on Dividends 4 (Free 139-Page PDF)
- Cryptocurrencies: Counting on Crypto 2 (Free 159-Page PDF)
- Real Estate: Financial Independence through Real Estate 4 (Free 112-Page PDF)
- Business: Retire Rich, Retire Comfortable with a Business 4 (Free 149-Page PDF)
- Latest DGWR: Don’t Gamble with Retirement 11 (Free 410-Page PDF)
- Everything!: The Biggest Book on Passive Income Ever 3! (book)(Web Edition)(Art Edition)
- Writer’s Comparison: M1 Macbook Air vs. GalaxyBook3 Pro 360
- Read My Books for Free: Free Kindle Books Schedule
- Book Design: Design Tips on YouTube
- Kindle Unlimited: Why I Finally Subscribed Kindle Unlimited (learn more)
- Book Reviews: 505 Takeaways from 101 Books (pdf)
- Writing: The Publishing Chronicles (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5)
- Best REIT- Fundrise: Fundrise vs. US Treasuries (Join Fundrise)
- Follow us: On our Facebook Page and Join our Facebook Group
- Support the Channel on Cash App: $Kingmarine1981
- For more detailed analysis, join my Youtube: MFI YouTube Channel
PDF of the Month: Don’t Gamble with Retirement 11 (Free 410-Page PDF)
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. All Right Reserved Military Family Investing
Leave a Reply