Early Retirement Guide For Lazy People
Retirement seems like a dream to many young folks. Long gone are the days of stable careers, most pensions, and cheap real estate. You have to fight for every penny in today’s economy and now they’ve even discontinued pennies. What is a brokie to do? Follow the five points below and you will be in tip top shape and likely even be able to retire early.
- Save as much money as you can. This might seem obvious but your savings rate is the key to being able to retire early. It also conditions you to live on less money and therefore you will likely spend less on frivolous bullshit and be able to retire much earlier. An extremely high savings rate has a dual purpose of accelerating your savings and it means that you won’t have as much income in retirement to replace. Let’s consider two examples. In both scenarios you make $70,0000. In scenario one you only save 15% of your income. This would allow you to retire in 42.8 years. Have fun with that pal. Now let’s say you are able to save 30% of your income instead. You can now retire in 28 years, saving you over 14 years of misery. Play around with more simple math using this calculator.
- Avoid debt. America has become a hyper consumerist society. I was perplexed when I started my first job how many recent graduated instantly bought brand new vehicles. I was driving the car my grandma gave me in high school and I continued to do so until it completed rusted out. Still got me to work. Pay off your high-interest debt as soon as you can. Avoid car loans like the plague. It makes literally no sense to take out a loan, in particular a long one, on a depreciating asset. If you have to finance it, you cannot afford to own it. Make a slight exception for your primary home. However, advice in this realm has also become retarded. I would advise putting at least 20% down, taking out a 30-year loan but planning to pay it off like its a 15-year loan, and ensuring that your payment still fits your budget on that accelerated schedule.
- Automate your investments. No matter where your money is going, and we will touch on that in point four, you should automate your investments. Take the human responsibility out of it. When your direct deposit hits your checking account, boom, take 15% (ideally more) out and put it into your IRA. Even better, if you have a workplace retirement plan take out that money before it even hits your checking account so you can’t even spend it. Also automate increasing contributions. Automate your savings into your e-fund. Automate everything. And leave yourself enough cushion to have some fun ok.
- Understand the order of investments. Have a basic understanding of optimal investment priorities. Dave Ramsey has his baby steps which many people use as a starter guide. Better yet, follow the Bogleheads prioritization flowchart and you will be in top shape.
- Invest in Precious Metals. Know when to break the rules and stray from the path. One place to do this is your overall assett allocation. You need to be investing heavily into precious metals, and more specifically, silver. I recommend at least 20% of your portfolio be in silver, ideally physical.
There you have it. You can be the laziest, stupidest person on the planet and if you follow these rules you will become ridiculously rich. There really are no excuses in America. If you are a brokie you are likely low IQ and/or lazy. Don’t be a brokie.
