On average women in the UK retire at 64, whilst men retire at 65.
Retiring early, may not appeal to everyone, however taking these 4 steps may lead to financial independence and allow you to have more options to do what you want later on in life.
If you want to retire early, here are the 4 steps you need to take – (hint – it is about taking control of your personal finances).
Step 1 – Reduce Expenses | Spend Wisely
Taking this first step allows you to reduce your expenditure as much as you can, whilst continuing to live and enjoy present day life.
If you have not already – creating a budget and tracking your expenses will allow you to spend wisely and puts you in control of where you want your money to go.
This ties in with changing your mindset to thinking about your longterm needs and wants, and what changes you can do now to meet your longterm goals. Start setting SMART goals covering your short, medium and longterm financial wants.
Step 2 – Increase Income
What are ways you can increase your income now in order to save and invest more. Are you able to ask for a pay rise a work, or even change job to earn more, or can you start a side hustle?
Is their a skillset that you hold or hobby that you enjoy that you are able to monetise and start earning a passive income stream?
Step 3 – Save
Saving as much as you can now, will allow you to more money aside to help build up your wealth and retirement pot.
By making a savings plan, such as a budget which will allow you to control your expenditure and the amount you are able to save each month. You may need to make small and big changes to you current lifestyle to ensure you are saving as much as you can.
Step 4 – Invest into the Stock Market
If you have followed the 3 steps above, you should be able to have control of where your money is going and potentially have money available each month to put towards investing in the stock market.
Putting your money in investments instead of sitting in savings or a Cash ISA will provide it the best chance to grow in value over the long term. Take a look at opening an ISA (Individual Savings Account) which will protect your money from tax, and Index Funds which track the stock market are often a popular option to invest in.
Find out how to start investing in a few simple steps on this post.