No one wants to work forever. As much as we love our careers initially, doing something for 30 to 40 years can tax our nervous systems.
The idea of having multiple years in retirement is a relatively new concept. Before, people would work until they died. Once we moved into the city and began having 40-year work weeks, it became more acceptable to work toward your retirement.
Pulling the rug from under us. The early years of the retirement system were golden because of government and corporate-sponsored pension plans (defined benefit).
J.O.M.O.: The Joy of Missing Out
The employee would simply work for 30 years, and the government or corporation would ensure they lived the rest of their lives with the same quality of life.
However, the pension system was expensive. People began to live longer, use more medical care, and expect more benefits. The corporations and governments wanted out, so they created the 401K plan (defined contribution).
Under the 401K plan, the employee is responsible for funding their own retirement. The system expects the employee to adjust their lifestyle in order to save enough for their future. Sounds difficult, yes?
Are you preparing for retirement? Our parents and the education system trained us to be great employees. In fact, we even convince ourselves that we WANT to work until we are 65 or 70 years old.
Advertising 104: Appeal to the 8 Basic Needs
However, deep down, we know the truth. We want to free ourselves from the bondage of work and enjoy our lives. But we also understand we have to pay bills until the day we die.
How can we have our free time but still have enough income to live? It’s one of life’s biggest mysteries.
If you want true freedom of time, money, and movement, you must strive for financial freedom, not retirement. Let me give my loose definition of each before I proceed.
What is retirement? Retirement is when a person stops working and using their resources to pay their bills. These resources can include pensions, 401Ks, retirement accounts, and other assets. In short, you are an employee who stops working.
What is financial freedom? Financial Freedom is the art of building enough income from assets to cover all of your expenses.
Creative Financing in Real Estate 104: Private Money
What is the difference between the two? The main difference between the two is that a person striving for financial freedom understands they control their own destiny.
The minute their assets produce enough passive income to cover their expenses, they become free. Therefore, if they increase their assets and lower their expenses, they can free themselves much faster than waiting until they receive social security.
The path to financial freedom becomes a spiritual journey because you will need to cleanse yourself of everything people have taught you since birth.
What is your quality of life? Americans choose to become indentured servants based on their quality of life. We value our lifestyles more than our time.
Dividends vs. Royalties part II
When we aim to retire at age 65 or 70, we basically want to keep the same quality of life forever. We work hard to buy a house in a nice neighborhood, have two cars, raise kids, and educate them.
The money stops if we don’t work, so we continue working until our bodies break. We are working to maintain our quality of life. Remember this statement, “Your quality of life determines how long you’ll stay in the workforce.”
The person aiming for financial freedom understands that if they can lower their quality of life, even for 3-5 years, they can leave the workforce almost 20 to 30 years earlier. We call this living below your means.
The art of living below your means. When you live below your means, you shield yourself from all outside influences. You are going against social norms, and people will have their opinions about your actions.
Become CEO of Yourself
However, you are on a spiritual journey to create a sustainable, compact lifestyle focusing on relationships and helping others. Even better, once you are free, you want to help others achieve financial freedom.
My wife and I lived below our means for almost five years. We had a lovely house and two paid-off cars. We decided to have roommates for five years.
I also had to go overseas for three years without my family so we could continue to pay down debt and save for the future. It wasn’t fun, but it also wasn’t that bad.
Now, we are sitting pretty. We are both retired; I’m 42, and she is 39. We amassed over $200,000 in our dividends portfolio during that five-year stint. This nest egg will continue to grow and compound while generating more dividends for our lifetimes.
Become an Entrepreneur BEFORE You Start A Business
This dividend portfolio goes nicely with our military pension, rental income, book royalties, and options trading. Living below our means also prepared us for early retirement and financial freedom.
Can you live below your means? Most people will never achieve financial freedom because they can’t imagine living below their means.
When I talk to people in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, it’s clear they are only working to purchase nicer things or go on trips.
Living below your means can take many different forms. Let’s look at a few ways to adjust your lifestyle to save 50% of your income.
- If you make $300,000/year in California, but you send your family to live in Alabama. You can purchase a home outright and save $1 million as a nest egg.
- If you work remotely, earn $100,000/year, and move to Thailand. You can easily save $50,000 to $60,000 per year.
- You live in a nice neighborhood, but you have two roommates. You save all the income from your roommates.
- You drive a luxury vehicle but rent it on the weekends to pay for it. You also take a carpool to work some days.
- You decide to stay in the military for 30 years, although you can earn higher pay in the civilian sector.
The goal of living below your means is to save and invest 50% of your income. Yes, you can still do it today. You will just need to see what most people will never see.
How to Determine the Right Time to Buy a House
Reintegrating with family. Another way to assist your efforts toward financial freedom is to work with your family. Moving in with your family or having your siblings move in with you can significantly increase your savings rate.
When people left their farms for the city, they also dissolved essential family ties. Today, we are all alone, working as a one or two-person unit against a world of capitalists.
The math is pretty simple: working with family can shave 20 years off of your time in the workforce. Add that to living below your means, and you can become financially free in your 40s.
Financial Independence through Real Estate
Conclusion. Do you want to work forever? You can leave the workforce as soon as you can cover your expenses with passive income.
The only number you need to know is how much your lifestyle costs. My wife and I can live on $6,000/month. Our military pension is $8,500. We are financially free.
If you can live on $5,000 monthly, you can cobble together multiple passive income streams to cover this amount.
Some examples are roommates ($2,000), dividends ($1,000), renting a car ($1,000), and online editing ($1,000). Now you are free.
4 Steps to Become Rich
Once you become free, you can start building the life of your dreams. You can add more income as you require. Trust me: it’s much better than waiting for your boss to give you a raise.
The major difference between retirement and financial freedom is that one person lives below their means and cleanses their soul of consumerism and materialism.
After the cleansing, they see the world for what it is: a place to help others and pay it forward. To become financially free, you must determine how much your lifestyle costs. The lower, the better. 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