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Can you really retire early? Saving a ton of money now and/or building a business could make retiring early a reality!
Jason Fieber from DividendMantra.com and Kraig Mathias from CreateMyIndependence.com share their stories of saving tons of money so they can retire early, really early!
Saving for retirement in non-retirement options
Jason and Kraig are debt free and have a lot of money in savings. If they were to follow Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps they would be in Baby Step 4, Investing 15% for retirement.
However, they are saving money in non-retirement accounts so that they can stop working sooner. In our interview they share stories about being in debt and making the choice to completely revolutionize their future.
Jason Fieber from DividendMantra.com
Jason was featured on the Today Show (watch the 8 minute video here). His goal is to work hard, invest most of his income, and build a portfolio that will provide him with an income stream that will support him when he is 40. He hopes to stop working in order to travel and be a philanthropist while his stocks pay him dividends as income. You can find out more about him at http://DividendMantra.com (Click here for the article mentioned in this episode)
Kraig Mathias from CreateMyIndependence.com
Kraig Mathias worked for 6 years to save up 5 years worth of living expenses. He recently quit his job and is pursuing some small business ideas. A couple years ago he started blogging at http://YoungCheapLiving.com, has since transitioned to http://www.createmyindependence.com and is now creating http://HowToUseMint.com.
The Chasing Financial Freedom podcast
Kraig and Jason have started a podcast: The Chasing Financial Freedom podcast is about escaping the rat race to spend time where it really matters. They share their passion to the microphone through discussions about why financial freedom is worth sacrificing for and the challenges that accompany living below your means.
UPDATE: The podcast has since been retired. Kraig has started a solo podcast called the Create My Independence podcast. Jason has been a guest on two shows already.
Can You Retire Early?
Whether you decide to build a portfolio of dividend-producing stocks or quit your job to start a small business, the first step Jason and Kraig took was to live on less than they makes. They eliminated their debt and started to learn more about saving and investing wisely.
Learn how to get out of debt and make wise investing decisions. Let me know if I can help you learn more about how money really works and how to pay attention, not interest.
Great interviews! Thanks. As Jason and Kraig demonstrate, there are many paths to the goal of “retirement” of Financial Independence as I perfer to call it in order to avoid the internet “retirement police”.
I am pursuing yet another path: Paying off my real estate rental houses ($177,650) in only 3.5 years. I started paying off the balance in January and am on track to pay off the first 50k by this December. Then I’ll snowball those funds in order to knock out the next one until all are paid off in another couple of years.
That will give me $2,500.00 per month ($30k per year) in free and clear rental income (managed by a rental company). I’m blooging about my experiences along the way. It’s fun and interesting.
Thanks again for the interviews!
That’s awesome! I’ve always been tempted to get into rental real estate myself but the timing just isn’t right. However, we only have 27 payments left on our house. Once we cashflow our daughter’s car, college, and wedding (in that order please) then it might be time to seriously consider buying a rental.
Here is a question for you: If you were to move, would you consider turning your current home into a rental?
Really enjoyed the dive into some investing conversation. Now that we are debt free we are looking for other ways to spend our extra money. Thanks to this interview I am now looking into dividends as another income source for when we do retire.
Brent: It’s amazing how many different income-producing options there are out there: Dividends, rental real estate, business income, even a CD ladder could allow someone a somewhat steady stream of income. I think a mix of two or more would be wise, similar to diversifying an investment portfolio, but it takes a bunch of money to do that.
Right now we are concentrating on living on less than we make, avoiding debt by saving for future purchases, and saving in tax-favored retirement plans. Once we are debt free like you then we will be entertaining more ideas for investing and producing income for our later years.
I’m glad you enjoyed the interview!
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