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Early Retirement Planning
When we were young little thought was given to senior living or retirement. In fact, getting old was never going to happen as we were going to live forever, right?
Fast forward the next forty years or so, and life and money is very much different to what it was when you were a kid. Call it what you will; cash, income salary, wages. It's all the same and just describes the paper we spend every day.
Wouldn't it be great if we lived in a world where material possessions could be purchased with a gleeful smile or a kind word? Unfortunately, that's never going too happened and everyone of us will have to make ends-meat somehow...
Hopefully you will journey through life in a profession that you enjoy. Still, even if you do secure your dream job the need for early retirement planning should still be given careful thought; and priority.
Imagine what it must be like to be financially stable, to be able to live through middle-age and seniority doing the things, and visiting the places you've always dreamt about, without having to worry about the burden that a lack of money brings.
This kind of life is certainly achievable for a lot of over 50's. Having said that early retirement planning can be very difficult, especially when you consider all your outgoings and debt accumulated over the years.
"First things first, you need to reduce your debt..."
I know words are cheap and in practice paying of debt is difficult, but think about this, be just overpaying your mortgage with any spare cash you have each month will dramatically reduce the overall amount of interest you pay. Thereby, enabling you to pay off your mortgage earlier. If that's not a incentive to mortgage free living, I don't know what is.
Credit card debt is another stumbling block to financial freedom. However, by shopping around for a credit card with low interest rate repayments will again reduce your overall debt further.
Be prudent with your income. Only spend what you have too, and try to avoid the temptation of material objects that you don't really need. Seldom will those new pair of shoes really be the bargain of the century. After all, a bargain is only a bargain if it's truly required., right?
Focus on the main goal of early retirement planning. Set a fixed budget for your weekly shopping and do all you can to stick to it. Try to avoid regularly dining out at restaurants and spending lots of money on alcohol or junk food. Remember, if it's not needed it's a waste of money and one less pound in your pot.
Instead, invest spare money into a high interest savings account and forget about it while it accrues interest. This is the way you plan for your future and retirement
The key to early retirement planning is very simple and can be broken down to just four words:
"Spend Less - Save More..."
Imprint those four little words into your brain, and make the first giant step to financial freedom and early retirement planning.