Retirement Archives - Making Sense Of Cents

How This Couple Retired at 38 and 41

May 23, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 44 Comments

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How This Couple Retired at 38 and 41 My monthly Extraordinary Lives series is something that I'm really enjoying doing. First up was JP Livingston, who retired with a net worth over $2,000,000 at the age of 28. Today's interview is with Tanja Hester, who retired at the end of 2017 at the age of 38.

You probably know her from the amazing blog Our Next Life. Our Next Life is one of my favorite blogs, so I'm glad Tanja said yes to this interview!

In this interview, you'll learn:

How she managed to retire so early;
How she still lives comfortably in one of the most beautiful places in the world;
Her advice for retiring early no matter what your career choice is;
How she decided how much she needed to retire on;
The sacrifices she has had to make;

And more! This interview is packed full of valuable information! [Read more…]

The 4 Best Tools to Keep You Safe in Retirement

May 17, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 3 Comments

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The following is a sponsored post.

Retirement is the most complicated time in your life, financially. That’s driven by many factors, including: (1) you don’t know how long your retirement will last, (2) you won’t have a traditional salary coming in the door, and (3) you might not have the same mental capacities as you do now to make financial decisions.

The complicated nature of retirement has increased over time as life expectancy has increased — from around 60 years in 1930 to closer to 80 years today — and pensions have gone away. Maybe your parent or grandparent has a pension? That pension, which might not seem like a big deal when you’re young, makes a big difference in retirement. It fixes all three issues listed above by providing you a continuation of your salary for as long as you live. Now, not only are employers not offering them, but many of us don’t have traditional jobs with benefits in the first place. [Read more…]

How This Couple Retired In Their 30s and Now Travel Around The World: An Interview With Go Curry Cracker

April 18, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 22 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

How This Couple Retired In Their 30s and Now Travel Around The World: An Interview With Go Curry Cracker My monthly Extraordinary Lives series is something that I really enjoying doing. First up was JP Livingston, who retired with a net worth over $2,000,000 at the age of 28. Today's interview is with Jeremy, Winnie, and Julian, also known as the family behind Go Curry Cracker.

With the goal of traveling around the world, Jeremy and Winnie were in their 30s when they retired around six years ago. Their 3-year-old son travels with them and has already been to 29 countries as well!

They were able to do this by saving intensively – over 70% of their after-tax income.

In this interview, you'll learn:

How they retired in their 30s.
What made them want to retire early.
How they live comfortably, rent houses with private pools, fly business class, and travel a ton – as opposed to the myth that early retirees are boring and just eat beans and rice to survive.
How they decided on the amount they needed to retire.
What they do about health insurance in early retirement.

And more! This interview is jam packed full of great information! [Read more…]

How Elizabeth Reached Financial Independence by 32 And Moved To A Homestead

February 28, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 93 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

How Elizabeth Reached Financial Independence by 32 And Moved To A Homestead #FinancialIndependence #frugal #frugalwoods #earlyretirement My monthly Extraordinary Lives series is something that I'm really enjoying doing. First up was JP Livingston, who retired with a net worth over $2,000,000 at the age of 28. Today's interview is with Elizabeth, who reached financial independence at the age of 32.

Elizabeth Willard Thames, better known as Mrs. Frugalwoods, is the creator of the award-winning personal finance blog, Frugalwoods.com. At age 32 she “reached financial independence and left a successful career in the city to create a more meaningful, purpose-driven life on a 66-acre homestead in the woods of Vermont” with her husband and young daughter.

Thames is the author of the book, Meet The Frugalwoods: Achieving Financial Independence Through Simple Living. Before becoming a writer and homesteader, she worked for 10 years in the non-profit sector as a fundraiser and communications manager. [Read more…]

Retiring Early: Is Early Retirement For The Crazy and Boring?

February 5, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 24 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

For most people, retirement means something that only older people do after decades and decades of working. However, more and more people are thinking about early retirement. And, when I say early retirement, I mean being financially secure enough that you don’t need to work unless you want to.

Even though it takes a lot of work and planning to retire early, some people seem to think that early retirees aren’t very smart, are lazy, or even boring.

I see this a lot when I read articles about people who have retired early. I always scroll down to the comments of these articles because I find it interesting to see what people have to say about early retirement. I’m always shocked, and saddened, when I read comments that say these early retirees are being careless and won’t be able to live exciting lives after they retire.

Some people assume these people haven’t saved enough and are naively thinking their money will last forever. Some assume early retirees just want to stop working because they are lazy. Others think that early retirees just sit around all day and do nothing in order to save money. [Read more…]

How to Take a Mini-Retirement And Love Your Life

January 1, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 45 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Today, my friend Jillian, from Mini-Retirements Mastered course and Montana Money Adventures, is sharing a guest post about mini retirements. This subject is something I find to be super interesting and she is definitely the expert at it! Below is her story and advice.

Fifteen years ago, I fell in love with my husband and we started planning our life together. But I had this crazy idea. What if we took mini-retirements? Mini-retirements go by many names: Sabbaticals, Gap Years, Time Off.

Essentially, it's all the same idea: taking time away from the 9-5 to focus on things that really matter to us. It could be for a year or two, or just a month off.

The problem? We were in NO place to be thinking about mini-retirements! That first year we had over $50,000 in debt and only earned 12k. The next year was a little better, but not by much. Still, I held on to that dream. [Read more…]

Change Your Life By Saving Just $1 More Each Day – How Much Should A Person Save Each Month?

December 4, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 38 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

We all know that saving money is important, and asking yourself “how much money should I save?” can be a difficult question to answer when beginning. Being a personal finance expert, I am asked this question a lot.

How much money should I save each month? How much do I need to retire? These are common questions I receive and you will finally receive an answer! #howmuchmoneyshouldisave #howmuchmoneyshouldyousave #howmuchdoineedtoretire Between saving for emergencies, retirement, vacations, etc. there are a lot of things to consider. And, knowing how much to save is something that many people don't often talk about. When it does come up, it can seem like there is no straight answer.

I’ve talked a lot about savings on this blog, and in my post 56% Of Americans Have Less Than $10,000 Saved For Retirement, I stated that 56% of Americans have less than an average of $10,000 in retirement savings and 33% have no retirement savings at all. This is something incredibly important to address!

Other interesting statistics mentioned in this article include:

42% of millennials have not begun saving for retirement.
52% of Gen Xers have less than $10,000 in retirement savings.
About 30% of respondents age 55 and over have no retirement savings whatsoever.
Nearly 75% of Americans over 40 are behind on saving for retirement.

[Read more…]

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