What is the first thing that comes to mind when I say, “Retiree”? This is what I think of: an older gentleman with white hair, socks up to his knees, and 3 or 4 coats of sunscreen on his nose (P.S. To my dad the just recently retired, I am not describing you - I’ll let you know if you fit this description in the future though). It’s only natural to think of a retiree as an old man, but this is not always the case.
How Do These Stereotypical Retirees Survive?
Often, the advice of a retiree is something like this, “Get a great education, find a safe secure job, and retire on your 401(k) and pension.” While many of the current retirees didn’t have a college degree, they are taking their own advice when it comes to their retirement accounts. Most of them are heavily invested in the stock market and bond market, and since they were very young, they have been consistently dumping money into these investment accounts, hoping to someday live on the huge amount of wealth that they have saved.
Let’s say a current retiree has amassed $500,000 in liquid assets. Most likely, he plans on receiving a return of 2-3% on his money, and then he’ll withdraw an additional 1-2% from the principle. With this method, his money will slowly decrease over time, but he’ll hopefully still have some left toward the end of his life.
This method of retiring is so common that it’s considered the norm currently. The reason most of us picture retirees as old and gray-haired is because it takes a lot of time to amass enough money to survive on!
Retirement is a Matter of Income, Not Age
The reason many believe that you must acquire a large basket of money is because they are unfamiliar with the concept of passive income. When a job can be performed once, but will be paid throughout your entire life, this changes views of retirement entirely! You may have only $20,000 in the bank, but with monthly checks of $10,000 regardless if you work or not, retirement is suddenly an option!
Passive Income Methods
There are many ways to develop passive income, but here are some of the most popular:
- Real Estate – If you own multiple properties that are developing a consistent monthly income, retirement is a possibility.
- Song Writing – Come up with a big hit like, “Happy Birthday” and you may never have to work again for the rest of your life!
- Book Writing – Some books create a substantial monthly revenue. Write a good one, and those monthly checks could be more than enough to retire.
- Network Marketing – This has to be one of the toughest methods of passive income (in my experience), but if you succeed, your team will continue earning money even if you’re out on your yacht for a few months.
- Web Business – If you set up a web store and hire a few individuals to maintain the orders, retirement may be knocking on your door.
These are only a few examples, but the message is loud and clear (I hope!!). You no longer have to be old to retire. You can develop a passive income and never have to work again, even as a punk teenager.
Do you have an idea for passive income? Or will you wait to retire until you’re 70?
I definitely have an idea. I have some real estate that will spin off income once it is paid off. I would like to get some more as well. I am also working on a method of deriving cash flow from the stock market using collars.
cashflowmantra recently posted..How We Got Free Satellite Radio
I have a similar mindset as you cashflowmantra. I would like to own a few pieces of real estate, but I also contribute to my 401(k) as sort of a back-up plan for retirement.
My strategy is two-fold: reduce *required* expenses as much as possible, and build passive or mostly-passive income. I could probably retire now and do ok, but at this point I’m thinking I’ll hold off for 2-3 more years — because I like my job, and that’s when we plan to do more serious traveling.
Jackie recently posted..How to Stop Spending Money
The fact that you could retire now must be a great feeling! Have you ever thought about traveling? You can always keep up your website while you travel.
My plan is to:
1) Live within my means
2) Save based on current income
3) Invest savings based on a currently appropriate asset allocation model
4) Let time do it’s thing and compound the heck out of the savings
5) Generate additional streams of income, truly passive is ideal but perhaps semi-passive is a better way to put it.
6) Try to play defense and avoid truly big mistakes
7) Avoid working in old age!
Semipassive is still ok with me! Real estate is considered passive, but it still takes some work from time to time. Great plan and good luck with it!
Retirement income can be multiple income streams too. Pension, Social Security, 403B/IRA, Roth IRA, dividends and capital gains (brokerage acct.). Blogging may add to that! My multiple streams are fixed w/cola (pension/Social Security), ordinary income (blogging), dividends & capital gains (15% tax), and tax free (Roth).
krantcents recently posted..I Want a Job
It seems you have quite the array of incomes – great job! I fear that many retirees don’t have as many. Most of them probably are limited to Social Security and some sort of investment account (most likely a 401(k)). I’m always impressed with you krantcents. Thanks for the comment!
I am steadily saving and investing. I hope to be retired young so I can pursue missions with my wife. I agree wholeheartedly—it is not at all about age but mostly about income! Great post.
Are you focusing on monthly income rather than a lump sum savings? If so, you can retire sooner.
Hmmm…I like the idea of coming up with a new birthday song
Actually, I know a few people who collect royalties for kids songs they wrote. It’s a few thousand dollars each year – not bad for a few notes!
Tim @ Faith and Finance recently posted..What’s Your Mustard Seed Doing?
That sounds pretty sweet! I want to write a song and collect on the royalties.
Interesting, b/c I think it’s more a matter of AGE than income! Why? Because we can’t earn more life, but we can always earn more money!
Financial Samurai recently posted..Was The “Lost Decade” Really Lost For Investors?
Interesting point FS. Are you looking at retirement as a negative thing? Like, retirement is the point where you can no longer work? I look at retirement as not having to work a regular job anymore, but rather, surviving on other sources of income.
No, I look at retirement is a fun stage in life. But, making money is easy as compared to making more life.
That’s why the age is WAY more important than income.
Financial Samurai recently posted..Will Greece Default And Blow Up The World?
Ahhh. I’ve got ya. While many people think that making money is tough, they should go out and try to make more life! That’s why I would like to make as much as I can early on so that I can enjoy life!
Great post Derek. I am with you. The amount of income you make the better. It helps support us later on. I am with Squirrelers. We have similar plans.
Miss T @ Prairie Eco-Thrifter recently posted..Seven Reasons To Avoid Penny Auction Sites
Extra money today with a side gig could lead to an income that replaces a job! You never know, and you might find yourself contemplating retirement.
I have the beginnings of multiple income streams. Though my secondary income stream will not pay all the bills alone, it helps will increasing my retirement savings and if the primary job was lost it would almost cover COBRA so it is a start. It covers 15% of my income so I just need about 6 more rentals and some more stocks/bonds to cover the expenses when the rentals are not rented.
Ginger recently posted..Combining deals
That sounds awesome! It sounds like you’ve taken the first steps and you’re on your way to complete success! Keep it up, and report back with your results! I’d love to hear the updates.
I’m with you! If you have positive cash flow without having to work full time, you’re set!!!
That’s my plan, but the execution is the difficult part.
retirebyforty recently posted..2011 New Year’s Resolutions – Summer Update
You got it! Execution definitely takes some time and patience (as well as some great decision-making), but once it’s done, I’m sure it will be 100% worth it!
Agreed!! Now… to just figure out how to build those income streams… easier said than done. I’m looking at the rental property angle.
Ashley @ Money Talks recently posted..I’m going to the Financial Bloggers Conference!
Property is so affordable in our area! I could buy a 2 bedroom, 1 bath house right now for less than $50,000! I’m getting antsy, but would love to pay down our newly purchased house first.
Yeah, it is about our passive income indeed. Bigger it means faster to reach the retirement level.
Dana recently posted..Candlestick Patterns: 4 Weak Bullish Reversal Signal Part I
You got it Dana. The more passive income, the more chance you have of retiring early. Any plans for you to earn that passive income?
Although retirement seems so far off, it most certainly is comforting knowing that there are several passive income opportunities available. It would be wise for any retiree hopeful to consider one or more passive income options while also learning about traditional stocks and investment methods as well. The best bet is to strengthen your options by opening as many doors as possible for your future plans down the road. Retirement very well may come much sooner than you think!
You’re right! Keep all those doors open and have as many income streams as possible!
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[...] Life and My Finances tells us that retirement is about income rather than age, and that couldn’t be more true. I don’t know at what age I’ll retire, but financial independence at a young age is important for me regardless. Share and Enjoy: Posted in Roundups SHARE THIS Twitter Facebook Delicious StumbleUpon E-mail « I Said It Before…And I’ll Say It Again No Comments Yet [...]
Well, I DO have 3 or 4 coats of sunscreen on my nose, but I also own a rental property (and my boyriend owns a second rental property), run a growing blog, and am working towards my goal of writing books. So I’m hopefully heading towards passive income …. which I’ll be spending on more sunscreen.
Paula @ AffordAnything.org recently posted..Property and the Pursuit of Happiness
Great job Paula! Writing books is a great way to develop income as well! I’m actually in the process of writing a very useful eBook right now! It should be done before the end of this month.
Retirement is something that actually affects our lives especially when it comes to old aged people.. so i think it’s best that one should be prepared enough to handle the situation when retirement is getting near..
Jennifer Smith recently posted..Common Diseases When Experiencing Old Age
The main issue is that one should start preparing for their retirement years when they are young. But, for most of us, we just figured we had loads of time and could think about that later! No so. Why not just develop multiple incomes now so that we’ll have plenty when we retire.