I retired at the age of 27…

I didn’t win the lottery or sell a start-up, and I’m definitely no genius. What I did do was retire the unconventional way, and the truth is that you can do the same… and you can do it early on life, before the age of 65.

Growing up, I only knew of one way to retire: you work hard for a long time, save up and eventually in the 2nd half of life, you can (potentially) retire.

Unfortunately, that way takes a long time and I’ve never had a lot of patience.

The good news, however, is that I learned that you actually don’t have to wait. There are numerous ways that you can retire, all of which are much quicker than the traditional route.

Robert Kiyosaki of Rich Dad, Poor Dad defines wealth in terms of time. I also define retirement in the same way. If you have enough wealth (as in, time), then you can retire.

Wealth is a number of days forward that you can survive without working. Wealth is measured in time, not dollars. – Robert Kiyosaki

The trick is… well, I won’t give it away just yet.

The 4 ways to retire early:

1. Have a Lot of Money

The most common way to retire is of course by building up a large fund. It doesn’t matter how you get your money; all that matters is that you think you have enough that you never need to work again.

Most people go the traditional route: saving and building wealth slowly, and then eventually they retire hoping that their money will last them for the rest of their life.

In order to speed up the process of building your wealth, you have to master this formula.  [Read more…]