You may not be at the age of considering taking early retirement, in fact it might be the last thing on your mind! However time has a habit of passing quickly and with retirement age getting evermore later the desire to retire earlier may be here before you know it.
The drudgery of working 9-5 until you are heading towards your 70’s is not everyone’s idea of a great way to live when heading towards old age. If you take action now and save for a possible early retirement, at least you will have the option of retiring early or not. Many people make the dream of retiring early a reality, but it takes many years of saving and investing.
Invest
Investing any savings is likely to be more lucrative than leaving savings in an account with low interest rates. Investment is not without risk, but with expert guidance and advice intuitive investments have the potential to be very lucrative. There are many forms of investments available. You could consider trading on the financial market. Trading in stocks, shares and commodities. This option is more accessible these days with many trading platforms available for the general public to utilise. Most platforms also offer the opportunity to practice first, before parting with real cash.
You could also choose to invest in property. If you are adept at DIY or have skills in the building trade you could complete renovation projects to sell on at a profit or create a rental portfolio. Another option would be to invest in real estate with a property broker such as nnn properties.
Always ensure you take advice before choosing to invest your hard earned savings. Watch out for “get rich quick” schemes. If they sound too good to be true they most likely are!
Save!
Saving money sounds an easy concept in theory, however to save and budget effectively you need to stay in total control of your finances. Get into the habit of putting away a certain percentage of your wage every month and the amount will soon start to mount up. Don’t put saving off until another day, do it today and you will see progress much more quickly.
Saving enough money for retirement at first seems an impossible task, however you won’t need as much money to live on once retired. You won’t have the costs related to the daily commute and you will most likely not have any dependents as children will have flown the nest.
Earn
You could consider increasing your income by creating a side hustle. Many people have hobbies and skills which can be potentially a lucrative source of income. If you choose to earn money by doing something you enjoy in addition to your “day” job, it won’t even feel like work! So, if you are a talented baker, artist, musician or writer – promote your skills and add some much needed money to your retirement fund.
When people choose to retire they either give up work completely, go semi retired in their current job or work part time in areas as described above. Any form of income you can generate once retired will be conducive as to what age you retire. If you aim to stop work completely you will need more savings.