As The Great Resignation has taught us, which is the 2020 and 2021 wave of employees who decided to leave their jobs, there’s another way to work, too.

Because of that phenomenon, we managed to gain new insights and ways to retire early. And if you’ve read anything on our website, you know we couldn’t wait to share it with you!

Besides, what if there’s a better way to retire? After all, if you carefully plan your retirement and add some purpose to it, early retirement isn’t necessarily totally out of the question. It might even allow you to quit that daily grind you’re so tired of.

Here’s how to retire early.

Even if retiring early sounds a bit like a pipe dream for most of us, it could still be done. However, you might need to plan it really well to turn it into reality.

And since not everyone decides to take the path of early retirement, some steps might still be common among those who want to achieve it. You might have to consider at least other options and gather enough money to fund a realistic lifestyle.

Make lifestyle changes.

The more money you save, the more likely you are to be able to afford to retire early. Making the right cuts to your lifestyle is probably one of the easiest ways to guarantee that most of your money will go into your savings.

There are many ways to cut spending, from the well-known “giving up your daily latte” to the more substantial act of downsizing your home. You’ll have to consider which expenses you could cut. The more you manage to save early on, the less you will have to worry about money later.

Increase your income.

As you’re working hard to save for your golden years, especially if you’re at your career peak, you could use professional expertise to make more money by taking a second job or even a side gig.

Moreover, you could work as a consultant and use your favorite crafting hobby to sell goods on Etsy, or even list your other apartment on Airbnb.

Then, put everything you earn out of it into a retirement account or invest it. This nest egg of retirement savings is exactly what you need to rely on later in life.

Make a financial plan.

As you’re generating savings and earnings to retire early, you might still have to keep some money to make it last for the rest of your life. You could find a trusted financial advisor who will help you look at your current age and desired retirement age.

We can definitely confirm that diversifying your investment accounts and strategies could help you stretch your retirement budget even further.

Create passive income streams.

There are plenty of hours in a day that you can work, so cobbling together all the extra sources of passive income is an efficient solution. As you can see from the name, passive income refers to rental or investment income, and it usually flows into your account without you needing to be an active participant in its generation.

Besides, you can have multiple passive income streams without any of them taking up a great deal of your time. The money you earn in your side jobs might fund those much-needed investments.

Stay on top of your plan.

If you ask yourself how much money you would need to retire at 55, then you have to be very good with estimates, especially when it comes to your income and expenses.

It’s not easy to decide on your retirement income, depending on projections of your Social Security income, pension income, and even any other side job you might anticipate.

Your expenses, on the other hand, could be much harder to calculate. Besides, in its Consumer Expenditure Surveys, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics offered enough data that would suggest how much a 65-year-old spends these days, compared with the average spending across the United States.

You can use this piece of information as a personal guide for your own projected retirement spending. For instance, if you’re planning to travel way more in your retirement, you might have to adjust the BLS figures for that specific category.

Is retiring early worth the effort?

I bet everyone wants to retire early, but if you’re one of those people who is seriously considering it, you might have to come to terms with your own reality.

What you need to ask yourself is exactly how much you are willing to give up. Because if you don’t see yourself taking away an enormous percentage of your income, one efficient strategy is to semi-rate very early on and take some consulting or part-time gigs.

The next great question you might have to ask yourself is if it’s really worth it. If you retire early, you might have access to more free time and less stress.

But you will also have to give up on other things along the way, like social outings, those material goods you love, and other life experiences. Besides, once you retire, you will probably be the only one you know with extra free time, which will force you to fill your days with solo activities.

Well, once you’re deep into your savings plan, you might be motivated to pursue your dreams.

Ultimately, this type of behavior might turn out to be quite rewarding because your brain will know what it needs to do to achieve the next goal.

This behavior would also require that you sacrifice some spending in order to save. Before you know it, you will save more and more, adjusting your lifestyle to live just below your current income. A couple of decades of savings will get you very far, and you might, in fact, be able to retire early.

So, when should you retire?

Probably the best retirement age is the one at which you can live comfortably and still enjoy the fruits of your labor. That also depends on the individual, to be honest.

No matter what you do, you might need a plan that starts with saving away as much money as possible. You should also retire when you feel like you have all the needed ducks in a row, like health insurance, real estate, and, of course, financial stability.

What is the best age to retire?

If you even think about retiring early, you need to remember that there could be a couple of disadvantages when it comes to early retirement. Above everything, no matter what your retirement goals are, what you have saved up for retirement might have to be enough for the rest of your life.

For instance, it might be way too soon to retire if you can’t afford health insurance until you get your Medicare funds.

Can you even retire after 25 years in the work field?

In most industries, you could retire or get your pension after 25 years of service, like people working in some unions, state departments, or even government jobs. Restrictions might still apply, and in those cases, retirement before that point could imply a reduced pension.

If you found this article useful, then you definitely need to read this, too: 20 Best Places to Retire in 2024