We just can’t seem to wrap our heads around traditional retirement. We have a plan, a good plan, it’s our “financial freedom plan”. We can’t stop thinking about this we know its tangible, we know we can do it.
Right now we bothhave stable good paying jobs in the healthcare field.Good benefits, good time off, and we both somewhat enjoy our jobs.
We own a couple of nice cars and some really nice mountain bikes 🙂 We don’t have any big inheritance coming in and overall I consider us to be middle of the road folks. I tell you this information because I want everyone to realize we aren’t special. If we can cut the strings so can you.
We are working our ass’s off to create a life of freedom. A life where we aren’t tied to the so-called 9-5 jobs. We want to enjoy life now, we both realize there are no guarantees for later.
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Why Is Financial Freedom Important?
We love to travel.We’ve been married for12 years and have traveled together to Central America, South America, Vietnam, Nepal, Mexico, Thailand, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Europe and all over the US and Canada. Sounds pretty good right? It absolutely is and we are very thankful.
We typically travel for 3-4 week periods as this we feel is the minimum to really start to immerse yourself in another culture.We also find that 4 weeks is about the time we start asking ourselves, why are we going back?
How Do You Get To Financial Freedom?
Wehave avan and love to mountain bike and ski. We make it apoint to spend a few weeks a year living out of the van. Just recently we returned from atrip through Arizona, Colorado, and Utah hitting all the classic riding spots.
Again 4 weeks is that magic number where you can really start to settle in. One thing we notice is that we don’t miss asingle material possession we have back home. We’ve got a big house, tons of crap and toys.
But again and again, when returning from these trips we realize that we just don’t miss all that stuff. If it can’t fit in the van then we don’t need it. These trips are a good reset, a reminder to what we actually need.
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How DoI live A Life Of Freedom?
It’s really easy to get caught up in the rat race. Jobs, career, and money. More! More! More!Bigger! Bigger! Bigger!My wife andI are certainly guilty of this.
Now, I don’t necessarily regret buying a nice house or treating ourselves to nice mountain bikes. For one thing, we have some investment ideas for our house in the future.
But what really makes us happy isn’t the big house and career. It’s the freedom. The freedom to take in all Five of The Senses.The sites, smells, tastes, songs, and the occasional smack from life. These, after all, are what create lasting memories.
Thisis a magical planet we live on and we have only one shot at taking it all in.
What Is Freedom In Our Life?
• We have been fortunate to have started investing early. Roth IRA’s to be specific. We will share our biggest lessons learned with early investment with hopes of getting more people started young.
• We will share some key savings accounts that everyone should have. Like an Emergency Fund and the best-kept secret of using an HSA(Health Savings Account) for early retirement.
• A real big concern right now is healthcare. We will be retiring in our mid 40’s and have a long time till Medicare kicks in. Lots of discussions to be had on this topic. It’s even more personal as we are both in the healthcare field. Again more to come on those HSA accounts.
• Lots to talk about on flexible income opportunities. Neither of us wants to stop working altogether but rather want the freedom to travel and earn a small living on the road. From blogging to teaching English online. We have lots to look at.
• Most importantly we have the drive to make this happen. Travel and working under our own terms is so important to us that we won’t stop till we have it.
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- Traditional IRA vs. Roth Ira for retirement
- Health Savings Plans and why they are the ultimate tool for retirement
- How much do you need for retirement using the 4% rule
- 10 Most and least expensive states for health insurance
- How to save for your emergency fund
- 17 Tips on how to make money fast
Traditional Retirement? No Thanks
Watch us, or better yet join us on our journey of separating ourselves from the rigid framework ofa career to a more independent and free way of living.
We will be setting goals and benchmarks for our own success, both short and long-term. At the time of writing this, my wife is 37 and I am 40 neither of us wants to wait another minute. This will be an educational and fun ride as we navigate this dream. Stay tuned!
