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Dreaming of Retiring Early? Follow These Tips From Actual Self-Made Millionaires Who Turned The Dream to Reality

A lot of people dream of being able to retire earlier than normal. Who wouldn’t, right? Surely, the thought of working well into one’s 60s isn’t appealing to many. Unfortunately, not all of them get to fulfill this goal due to a variety of reasons.

To help those trying to get their finances straight and save enough to retire in their 40s or even 30s, here are some practical advice from people who actually succeeded in doing so.

Tracking Your Finances

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Many early retirees recommend people to be constantly on top of their finances

For Physician on FIRE blogger and 43-year-old retiree, Leif Dahleen, all early retirees should begin their journey by taking inventory of their finances first. To do this, one needs to find out their net worth and calculate their annual expenditure.

Dahleen believes that these are the two building blocks that’ll help people to get started on a track to financial independence. After all, one needs to know their starting point to reach their goal destination.

This said the work shouldn’t stop there. Tracking finances should be an ongoing task, especially keeping tabs of one’s net worth. According to 28-year-old retiree JP Livingston, doing so would give a person the momentum to further build their wealth and improve their ‘financial picture’.

Meanwhile, for Financial Samurai blogger Sam Dogen, who retired at just 34 years old, knowing where he was in terms of his net worth reminded him of how much more he has to go to reach his goal.

Practicing Frugality

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Opting to cook and eat meals at home can add up to some big savings in the long run

Another way to fast track one’s retirement is to practice living frugally, which can be a challenging thing especially living in a society obsessed with consuming. But it can be done as shown by people like retired 30-something schoolteachers, Ali and Joe Olson, who managed to cut down their annual expenses to just $20,000.

According to Joe, they did this feat by making frugal yet strategic choices. For example, they chose to drive the same cars they already owned instead of replacing them for newer models and minimizing the number of times they eat out.

Angela Rozmyn, an early retiree in the making, did something similar. According to Rozmyn, she cut down her household of three’s monthly food budget from $2,000 to just $800 by just decreasing grocery trips and not splurging on expensive lunches.

Increasing Earning Potential

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One way to earn more is to create passive streams of income like a monetized blog, for example

Of course, retiring early won’t be a reality with just saving. One must also learn how to increase their earnings. This can be achieved through a variety of ways from retraining to qualify for higher-paying positions or buy starting ‘side hustles’. Millionaire Grant Sabatier has the same mindset. Retiring at just 30 years old, Sabatier said that earning more gives people the opportunity to invest more.

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