It’s not a problem if you prepare for it

Buffalo famously gets a lot of snow. Growing up there, though, no one really freaked out about it, because we had machines to get rid of it and the attitude that it was hardly a problem worth hyperventilating over.

Most problems are like that. When we prepare for them and get used to them, they’re not problems anymore. They’re merely the way it is.

Thrift, Furthering Education & Early Retirement from ThriftyGal

Thriftygal not only got a normal economics degree in her early 20s, and did some full-time work in various industries to pay the bills. But she then went back and got a law degree from the University of Chicago law school on her own dime, which is apparently one of the country’s top five, with tuition currently listed at $55,503 per year. A pretty grinding kind of luck that sounds suspiciously like hard work.

I remember talking to a friend while we were in law school after interviewing with these giant firms. I asked him if I made four times what the average person made, why couldn’t I retire four times earlier? He assured me it didn’t work that way*, but I wasn’t sold on his reasons. I’ve never been a materialistic person, so the idea of stuff didn’t appeal to me. The idea of freedom and having my time be my own, sleeping in, reading and traveling, now THAT was the life I craved.

As soon as my average monthly expenses for the past few years were less than my projected passive income, I knew I could live the same lifestyle I currently had (and loved) and wouldn’t need to work anymore

I have a little over a year’s worth of expenses in my checking account. The rest of my money is tucked away in investments. When my checking account money starts to run out next January, I may look for a part-time job if the stock market is still in the meh range, but that’s a problem for future me

My advice to people who are striving is to be sure to have a clear idea of what you want your life to be post-retirement. Have lists of things you want to do and accomplish because if you’re the type of person who has the discipline to retire early, you’re probably the type of person who won’t be happy as a couch potato.

When I retired 10 years ago I didn’t know exactly what was in store – I only knew that I wanted my weekdays to be as fun and productive as my weekends seemed to be.

Your time to financial independence depends not on your income, but on your savings rate.

How to Win with $ in a Down Market

For the last several years, we’ve seen an upward cycle, or a bull market, with stocks growing 70% in the last five years. That’s been awesome for retirement accounts, which have set average-balance records thanks to both investment growth and increased contributions from enthusiastic investors.

But one of the stock-market facts of life is that what goes up will eventually come down. For long-term investors like you, a downturn, or bear market, is a reason to be alert—but it’s not a reason to be alarmed.

The fact is, your retirement account can get a huge boost from a bear market with a simple strategy you’re probably already using: dollar cost averaging (DCA).

By purchasing shares as the values drop, you lower your average price per share. That minimizes the impact of your losses and maximizes your potential for growth. If you’d panicked and stopped investing in January, your average price per share would have been much higher. Plus, you’d have fewer shares to take advantage of the rebound.