Archive of posts from September 2018


  • Sep 28, 2018

    How Much Do You Need To Retire?

    I have touched upon this point briefly in step 5 of How to Retire Early in 5 Steps, but I thought I should expand a bit on that. Most people suggest the 4% rule, which basically states that if your expenses can be met by withdrawing 4% of your corpus, then that should be the corpus size. For example, if you need Rs. 50,000 per month to meet all your expenses comfortably in your retirement, then your corpus needs to be Rs. 50,000 * 12 / 4% = Rs. 1.5 crores. But does it really work?

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  • Sep 20, 2018

    How Soon Can You Retire?

    Like I mentioned in the previous post, there are really just two variables that you can control, which determine how soon you can retire. They are your expenses and savings. Remember step 4 of How to Retire Early in 5 Steps? Plan a Simple Retired Life. The lesser the expenses today, the less it will be in future after adjusting for inflation. If you like a rich lifestyle today, then as the years go by, not only will inflation cause the expenses to go up, but you will want higher and better lifestyle which adds up. Your savings will not be able to handle the burden of your expenses. The less your expenses, and more your savings, the earlier you can retire. But how soon? That is the question that I want to answer in this post.

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  • Sep 14, 2018

    Would You Rather Have Freedom or Stuff?

    One of the most important trait that people who want to retire early need to practise is minimalism. If you keep buying more stuff, you will take longer to retire. I made this mistake early in my life, but I was not too late to correct course. Especially because some of the things come with a burden of lifetime maintenance; for example owning a car. The constant repairs, upkeep and insurance keep adding to your expenses. Not just vehicles but every single thing that you own, ends up owning you. So if you would rather have freedom, you have to give up stuff. This is in continuation of step 2 of How to Retire Early in 5 Steps — Rid Yourself of Debt and Save Aggressively.

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  • Sep 7, 2018

    Borrow From Future or Gift Yourself in Future?

    Would you borrow a gift from the future or would you rather save up for a surprise gift in the future? That is how taking a loan vs saving works. If you take a loan, then you are borrowing money from your future. If you are saving, you will gift yourself a surprise in the future. Make your choice. In this post, I want to elaborate a bit more on step 2 of How to Retire Early in 5 Steps – Rid Yourself of Debt and Save Aggressively.

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