AIMING FOR RETIREMENT BY 35, 25 NOW – ADVICE!!!!

H Mel,

At age 25 you have a great goal to "retire" or at least have more choices in your life by the time you're 35. Most people over-estimate what they can achieve in a year however they often under-estimate what can be achieved in a decade.

You have 10 years to live your plan.

First you need to decide "what you want". Quantify it. Is it  $ 100,000 net income per year, 200,000 or a million? Do you want $ 10 million of net assets, or some other figure. Where will you live? How will you spend your time, with whom? Often including others in your dreams and wishes gives more purpose to your vision and the impetus to follow thru on your plan.

Once you have established what you want and how much……. you need to work backwards and form a roadmap of how you will get there. You need a master plan and more manageable stepping stones (yearly and maybe six monthly). Will it involve passive investing (I note you have three properties from another thread you started) and funding purchases thru equity growth and your JOB. Or will you take a more active role, by adding value thru reno's and developing to manufacture/release more growth thru a higher and better use for the assets you own and will acquire.

It may be worthwhile thinking of adding other income streams such as shares (investing or trading) and/or some type of part time business.

I have proposed more questions than answers for you to ponder, but have found that unless you are clear on what you want and put a deadline on it, the discipline to follow thru may be lost. Goals are dreams with a deadline. Without some time frame and accountability along the way (milestones), dreams and wishes remain exactly that…..dreams and wishes.

You need knowledge (read as much as you can) and take informed action. Try and get around others who are where you want to go. Forums are great but a real life mentor who can challenge you and keep you accountable will hasten your journey.

Congratulations on your progress so far.

I was fortunate to retire at 39 and could have quiet easily lived of passive income from property rents and dividends from my share portfolio for the rest of my life.

After 6 months or so it is suprising that when you have nothing to get up for in the morning other than take the kids to school time can be boring and time ticks away if you havent planned for it. It was simple my wife gave me the option of moving out from under her feet all day or going back to work.

I decided to start my own boutique mortgage brokerage and financial planning consultancy and pick and choose the clients i took on. I enjoyed helping others reach their investment goals and now work longer and harder than I ever did but love every minute of it.

I can take a day off any time I want to attend a school function or take the wife to lunch but then often sit in the office late at night answering emails and writing proposals for clients.

All i would say is "Plan to retire" but keep the mind active and have an interest or activity to keep you going.

Start small and build your portfolio using responsible gearing and time.
Pay off bad debts that do not generate an income or are tax effective.

Get yourself a good mortgage broker who has trodded the same path as you and work with them. I have clients who i have financed 10 -20 homes for them and they still come back and back. Only limiting factor is your income.

Remember it is Time in the market and not Timing of the market that drives long term success.

Hi, well said, Richard.

What would we not give to have the wisdom of age & the aspirations & visions of youth?

I'm settling on a small business next Friday so I have a licence to distribute food. The dumplings I make are going out faster than I intended. So the food licence will be good.

What do we do when we 'retire'? My sister stitched & knitted & found even then, you can only give away so many pairs of bootees so she started supplying a couple of shops. Incidentally, she's in Italy & she travelled business class too.

The above is not to brag about how much we have achieved, it's to illustrate that we need to 'do' something with our time. A couple of years ago, I decided to build some houses & now that's done, I find I still have too much time.

So everyone's right, we need to find 'meaning in life'.

Have a good week,
KY