Want to retire young?

I do. Heck, some months I think I’m half way there already. I feel like some people judge me that I just want to be lazy, some people picture us as being overly successful and rolling in the moolah, and others just chuckle at how our immature brains could think that is an option.

Let’s say this- retiring isn’t quitting work, it’s quitting mandatory work.  I do not have any sum of money worth bragging about, and you’d laugh if you saw my savings account, last point- go ahead and laugh at my ‘silly idea’. In case you don’t know this– I THRIVE off people doubting us. 😈 #truestory

Being fed the story that we have to work for someone until we’re in our 60’s or 70’s to be able to take out last few ‘golden years’ off is ridiculous. If you’re drinking that water- and buying it, I’m sorry. And please stop. YOU control what YOU choose to do. Prayer always, but you hold the ability to make each and every day what it is.

I am turning 30 this December, and I am actively working on my retirement. I don’t call it that necessarily, we call it “our future”, “life worth living”, “the gift of the present”. Follow my thought train if you will–

Why do we work? Ok, we work to pay bills, buy food, pay off debt, have money to go do fun things, buy stuff we want, to live. That’s probably the majority of where all working man money goes, right?

So what if we get to the heart of those things– what if you didn’t have bills? (or had very few) What if we were more self sustainable? What if our home and vehicle were paid for? What if we realized the act of accumulating stuff doesn’t bring true happiness?

If we handled some of those things, then would you have to work? Or work as much as you do today? If you only required even a few hundred bucks a month, a few thousand a year, to live off of- what could you do with all the other time? Working is essentially an employer purchasing your time- what if your time was yours again?

I don’t have a set time frame- God will lead that path, but I’m actively working on my retirement. My plan isn’t as fancy and detailed as a financial advisor would create (and I used to be one of those, created many retirement plans, this is different), but it works. And I think it sure as hell beats being in my 60’s and 70’s counting down for time to be my own again.

Retirement Plan:

Don’t accumulate debt. We have a little now, DO NOT ADD TO IT. No credit cards, no loans, nothin’! Pay it off however you prefer- Snowball Effect, let it sit for 7 years, call up each creditor and haggle a low amount pay off. Your call. But do NOT add to it.

Keep working our hustle like there’s no tomorrow- we’ve got 4 main focuses in our plan as of today and we’re going for it.

Keep expenses down starting now. The more you realize that you being marketed to 24/7 in a giant game of every company taking your last dollar… the easier it is to just say no. Stop hemorrhaging cash now, look at your expenses and cut out what’s just unnecessary.

Pay off & own out right as much as you can. Lose car payments and anything else! I can’t wait to own our car outright- and even then, when we had to buy a car we went with a well cared for used car that cost us a fraction of what most end up paying. We will have paid less for our gorgeous, pristine condition Mercedes SUV than we did when we bought our first/only brand new car– a Kia sedan. True story- who’s the one getting played now?

Buy a chunk of land and build a simple home. We are looking for a remote lot, full of nature, and surrounded by God’s creation. As far as the home- I want something we can build using alternative building materials. Think straw bale, cobb, shipping containers, etc… Cost effective and manageable with our skills (none), ability to learn and bribe helpers. 😄

Continue to up our self sustainability! Grow our own food, buy in bulk, reduce, reuse, recycle. The less we have to depend on the stores and companies, the less we have to pay for. Put in the work up front, reap the rewards. Solar power, your own water source, self sustainability is a lost art. And addictive in the pursuit to reclaim.

Enjoy your time. We don’t know how much of it we’ll get- why waste it? Why do I want to set myself up for a life where I control my time each day? Because I want to be with my kids, I want to have fun, explore, travel, work alongside my husband, volunteer with orphanages in poor countries, lay in a hammock and nap on a hot afternoon, learn to do macrame, grow old and play with my grandbabies all day, to raise our own farm animals and grow our own garden foods. I want my time to be mine. And that is worth the work to set it up, and that is why waiting for someone to give me the ‘go ahead’ just won’t do.

There’s a million stories of those retiring young and pursuing life- you could sit back and count a million reasons why that couldn’t ever be you- or you could throw your arms up and say “Just do it!”

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