In a recent retirement confidence survey, 36% of retirees reported that they retired early—and this isn’t just by coincidence. Many of these retirees have common traits and characteristics that led them achieving a happy and early retirement.
Retiring early requires a lot of discipline and a vision of what you want your retirement to look like. The good news is, it can be done! In his book You Can Retire Sooner Than You Think, Wes Moss spent months surveying retirees and learning the shared habits and traits of the happy versus unhappy retirees. Of the “happy retiree” group surveyed, some of the common traits included:
- At least $500,000 in liquid net worth
- A home value of at least $300,000
- No mortgage, or if they do, a mortgage payoff is in sight
- A well-defined understanding of their purpose in life
- Two (sometimes three) sources of income
These are just a few of the traits that separated the group of happy retirees. So if you’re ready to start planning an early and happy retirement for yourself, here are four ways you can start:
- Align your resources to retire early. Use free tools such as a retirement calculator or Social Security Optimizer to review where you are currently and where you need to be to hit your retirement goal.
- Come up with a plan. After you make some calculations, start crunching the numbers and planning what’s important to you.
- Consider what will impact your savings. Review things like debt payments, health care needs, and assess how these factors will impact your savings.
- Decide on a method for continuous success. Besides your savings, come up with other investing methods that will sustain you during retirement and keep your income flowing.
Discover more details in our latest short guide, How to Retire Sooner.
