How to Retire in 5 Years or Less

I personally had a debt of 5 million in 1990 and was technically bankrupt. 7 years later, in 1998, I retired. If I had the information I’m giving you in this article, I would easily have done it in less than 5 years.

The steps:

• Calculate your total income and expenses
• Reduce your expenses.
• Create a surplus.
• Invest the surplus
• Replace your salary with passive income.

Total income and expenses: Create a graph of the last 6 months of your exact total income and expenses. Now you can see your exact financial situation from a cash flow point of view. Monitor this every month.

PS: A picture is worth a thousand words.

Reduce your expenses: This may require moving out of your house, renting it, and finding affordable accommodation. You must make sacrifices if you want to speed up the retirement process.

Create a surplus: Pay yourself first each month and create a surplus. This must be automated to happen every month. This money can be deposited in a savings account or in your access voucher, to be used in investments that generate income later. Keep creating this surplus which is purely for investment purposes.

Invest the surplus: Invest in cash flow positive investment properties. Use the money from the banks or find a partner who will put the money in and you will do the work. Your partner has the property as collateral.

Replace your salary with passive income: If you are willing to do without for a few years, your property income (passive income) may eventually replace your salary.

All it takes is making a decision, believing that you can do it, and then taking action.

Also, you need create systems for everything, so you can get more done in less time. For example, there are 24 hours in a day;

• 8 hours to work
• 8 hours to sleep
• 8 hours for family and recreation.

If you max out those 8 hours of work, you will find that you will eventually finish in 6 months what normally took a year. So 10 years now becomes 5 years.

The good news! You don’t need any special talents, luck, education, or higher knowledge to be financially independent. Just apply the basics and keep it simple.

The most important part to focus on is your “cash flow”

Here are some ways to increase your cash flow:

• Reduce your living expenses right away.
• Consolidate your debt.
• Pay off debt with the highest interest rates first.
• Rent or sell your home and move to an affordable apartment.
• Increase bonds (refinance) if you have investment property.
• Make your own rent if you have investment properties.
• Save on Tax Deductions: “Any expense in producing income is tax deductible.”
• Run your office from home.
• Increase your 30-year bonds.
• Rent rooms in your home.
• Turn your house into a Bed & Breakfast
• Rent your garage.
• Turn your outside rooms into a grandmother’s apartment.
• Add flooring on top of your garage.
• Find part-time work.
• Rent a property and sublet at a profit.

From the above, you will notice that you can do this without money. You use the money from the bank or someone else’s money that does not get a decent return.