Quit And Retire Three Years Earlier!

For most people, there is a direct correlation between how worried they are about retirement income, and how much they can actually do about it. This is because the more worried you are, the closer you probably are to retirement, and the less time you have to do anything like save up. Effective saving up requires time. Time so your money can grow. Save an extra $ a month, three years before retirement (at age ), and youll amass a grand total of $, (averaging % growth). Not likely to have a big impact on your retirement lifestyle. But what if you invested for retirement when you were NOT worried about it? What if you, say, quit smoking a pack a day at age and took the money and invested that instead? (For the purposes of this illustration, lets assume a pack costs $. and you smoke a pack a day so you invest, for easy figures sake, $ per month. Again, average compound rate of return is %.) Instead of starting to save when you start worrying about retirement (at age ), and amassing that grand total of $, by age , you start saving when youre NOT worried about retirement (at age by quitting smoking and saving that money) so you end up with, wait for it, --- $, ! What will $, do for you at age ? It would provide you with $ in additional monthly income for the rest of your life (continuing to average % growth), and you wont have to touch your capital. Or, perhaps, you could choose to retire earlier! Dont start to worry, at age , and save a paltry $, by . Instead, start saving $ more a month at age , when youre not worried, and have $, by age ! Then you could retire completely at age , by using both the principle and interest as income from to . $, would provide you with $, in income for three years! Thus, quit smoking and quit working years earlier! Of course, most of us act when we have the urge to act. (Note how the words urge and urgent have the same root.). You will tend to act on your retirement plan when it is most urgent. But long term goals are, by their very nature, NEVER URGENT! Now, perhaps THAT is something to worry about.