Retirement Archives - Making Sense Of Cents

9 Early Retirement Stories That Will Motivate You

Last Updated: July 18, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 2 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I love a good early retirement or financial independence story! Everyone is so different, and it’s interesting to see how people have approached early retirement and financial independence.

Plus, everyone has a unique idea and vision of what early retirement or financial independence means to them.

If you are interested in learning about how to reach early retirement, the stories I’m going to share today will teach, motivate, and inspire you.

Early retirement may sound like a dream, but there are more and more people who are trying to retire early as part of the FIRE movement. If you haven’t heard of the concept before, FIRE stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early.

There are many different versions of FIRE, and it can mean being debt-free, retiring early, quitting your regular job to work a less stressful job, and so on.

There are many reasons why a person may want to reach early retirement or financial independence, such as:

Pursuing a passion without worrying about making an income
Having more time to travel
Having freedom
Spending more time with family and those that you love

Finding a good early retirement story may give you the boost of energy you need to keep working on your side hustles, find new ways to save, and put more money towards investments and retirement accounts.

You may also learn new tips and tricks for reaching early retirement that you would never think to try.

You may find one or two stories about reaching FIRE in this article that will really click with you – perhaps the person was in a similar situation, lives near you, has the same hobbies, or something else.

In today’s article, I am sharing 9 interviews and guest posts with people who have reached early retirement or financial independence. I ask each person to share their story, and you will learn things such as:

How much they saved for early retirement
How/if they still earn income after they quit their jobs
Their tips and tricks on how they saved money so quickly for retirement
How much they spend annually not that they’ve retired early

And more.

While some of their strategies may seem crazy or impossible to you, it shows different ways to approach financial independence. [Read more…]

What Are Dividends & How Do They Work? A Beginner’s Guide

Last Updated: November 10, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 8 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

What are dividends?

This is a question I hear quite often from people who are starting to invest. Or, you might ask, “what are dividends?” when learning about the benefits of investing.

Either way, you will start reading about the term “dividends” as you start investing, saving for retirement, improving your financial future, and so on.

But, what are dividends?

Dividends are simply a payment in cash or stock that public companies distribute to their shareholders.

That’s the simplest way to answer the question, but there is still a lot to understand about what are dividends.

Whether you have a basic idea of what dividends are or if they are a completely new concept to you, I want to talk about dividends with you today.

As you start investing more, dividends are a term that will eventually come up, and I think it’s a great thing to learn about when it comes to investing and saving for retirement.

Like other important financial concepts, understanding what are dividends and how they work can help you improve your financial situation now and into the future.

Dividend investing is when you invest in stocks that pay dividends. This can be a good source of income for people like you and me, and it’s rather passive.

Investing is important because it means you are making your money work for you. If you weren’t investing, your money would just be sitting there and not earning a thing.

Today, I am going to talk about some common questions I’ve heard about dividends, such as what are dividends, how they work, what stocks pay dividends, how to live off of dividends, and more. [Read more…]

What You Need To Know About Investing, Retirement Planning, and More

Last Updated: March 21, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 2 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Are you interested in learning how to invest, start retirement planning, and more? Today’s article will allow you to get started with retirement planning and help with each step along the way.

Planning for retirement and starting to invest can be a very intimidating topic for the average person, and I completely understand that.

However, once you start, everything becomes much easier. You just have to get over that hump, and you can do that by reading up on the different retirement planning topics.

Today, I am rounding up some of my most helpful articles in these areas, so that you can reach financial freedom and start retirement planning.

Some of the topics below include:

How to save for retirement
Answers to 13 of the most popular retirement planning questions
How to start investing
Why you should be careful with 401k loans
What is financial independence retire early?
Different ways to save and invest for retirement
Planning tips for the future and for your family, such as obtaining life insurance, estate planning, and more.

Plus, I’m sharing several early retirement stories from real people. [Read more…]

13 Best Early Retirement Books – You NEED To Read These Books

Last Updated: March 5, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 8 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Do you want to learn how to retire early? Today, I’m sharing the best early retirement books to motivate you and help you start planning for your future.

Early retirement is very popular right now, and you may be wondering if it’s possible for you and how to make it happen.

If early retirement is something you’re dreaming about, then I highly recommend reading the books I’m sharing with you today.

Many of the best early retirement books focus on FIRE, which stands for financial independence, retire early. FIRE can mean many different things, but books about FIRE are some of my favorites to read because they are very informative and give me lots of motivation.

The books below can help you learn more about FIRE, as well as dive deeper into the many different ways to become financially independent and retire early.

Reading books about early retirement can be a great way to learn specific actions steps that you need to take to reach early retirement. [Read more…]

What Is Estate Planning? Do I Need To Do This?

Last Updated: March 5, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 11 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

What is estate planning?

Over the years, I have received plenty of questions about creating a will and estate planning.

After all, anyone over the age of 18 probably needs to have at least some part of an estate plan.

Quick note about an easy giveaway: Vicki and Amy are also giving away three of their Estate Planning 101 books away. Simply leave a comment below and I will randomly select three winners.

Recently, I asked you, my readers, what questions you have about estate planning. Some of the questions you had included:

What is estate planning and why is it important?
Is there a situation in which you would not need an estate plan?
At what age should I start estate planning?
Should I do my estate planning myself or hire a lawyer?
What is the difference between a trust and a will?
Who should have a will or trust?
Who is best to make the executor of your estate plan?
What happens if a person passes away without an estate plan?
What are the main steps in estate planning?

Because this is not an area that I’m an expert in, I gave these questions to Vicki Cook and Amy Blacklock who are experts in the area of estate planning.

Vicki Cook and Amy Blacklock are coauthors of Estate Planning 101 and cofounders of the award-winning personal finance website Women Who Money. Vicki’s also the founder and blogger behind Make Smarter Decisions, and Amy’s the founder and blogger behind the award-winning site Life Zemplified. Additionally, they’ve been frequent contributors to GOBankingRates, Wealthfit, Medi-Share, and various personal finance sites around the web. [Read more…]

How I Retired At Age 30 with $500,000

Last Updated: February 13, 2023 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 25 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

My monthly Extraordinary Lives series is something that I really enjoy sharing with you all, and I’m back with another great interview. Today’s interview is with Purple, who retired at the end of 2020 at the age of 30, with $500,000 invested.

Are you interested in financial independence and/or early retirement?

If so, this interview is for you!

You probably know Purple from the popular blog APurpleLife.com. APurpleLife.com is one of my favorite blogs, so I’m excited to share this interview with you.

In this interview, you’ll learn:

How an early retirement amount of $500,000 was chosen
Why she chose to retire early
The career she had before she retired early
Whether or not she still earns income in early retirement
The sacrifices that had to be made to reach early retirement
Her choice of health insurance as an early retiree and full-time nomad

And more!

This interview is packed full of valuable information on reaching early retirement. [Read more…]

9 Tips For Financial Success And Freedom – Take Control Of Your Money

Last Updated: July 5, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 7 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Achieving financial success is something that many people want to reach.

It makes sense as money can greatly determine how a person lives their life.

Money can even be a factor in your happiness. I’m not saying that money equals happiness, but if you’re stressed about money, you may feel depressed, inadequate, or have other negative feelings.

I completely understand that there are some situations where things are outside of your control, leading to a lot of financial stress and awful feelings.

It can be incredibly difficult to overcome situations like that.

Still, I truly believe that there are things you can do to become more financially secure and reach financial freedom. Everyone’s path will be different, but I believe it’s possible.

So, what is financial freedom and financial success? And, how do you become financially successful?

Financial success means something different to everyone.

It could mean that you no longer have debt, that you no longer have stress from money, money no longer controls you, you have paid off your house, you’ve reached retirement, or something else. [Read more…]