Is it possible to stop working before everyone else?

Achieving financial independence is the goal for many investors. However, all too often it seems impossible to achieve. Yet there are Canadians and Americans who have made the choice to stop working before the age of 40. Who are these young retirees and how do they manage their finances? Here are four young retired who have decided to change their destiny.

Root of Good

Justin, an American living in North Carolina, is approaching midlife. He has been retired since the age of 33. To be able to retire so early, he saved diligently for almost 10 years and invested a lot. When he started working after graduation, his earnings and those of his wife totalled well below $100,000 a year. When he retired in 2013, his household income was $150,000 a year. When he was still working, he saved much of his income in 401k, IRA, HSA, and 529 accounts, and regular brokerage accounts. These investments significantly grew in value, which enabled him to stop working so early. In fact, he became a millionaire in 10 years.

On  his site, Justin posts monthly content in which he shares the state of his finances, his investments, his travels and his advice to become a young, well-rounded retiree.

1500 Days to Freedom

This 41-year old American lives in Colorado with his family and aims to retire at age 43. When he finished university, he refused to buy a nice car, as well as all the other extravagant pleasures to which he had access. He and his wife share the same lifestyle which allowed him to take on this crazy challenge: to retire before everyone else. It was from reading articles about other people who shared his state of mind that he got the idea to create his blog.

The objective of his blog is to encourage others to adopt his simple and frugal lifestyle. You can find several articles, an FAQ and impressive detail about all his investments.

Million Dollar Journey

This blog is published by a Canadian who has made wise stock market investments. He started investing when he was only 16, and since then his thirst for investing has never waned. Having become a millionaire at 35, his goal now is to achieve financial freedom and build a portfolio of passive income that will generate enough income to pay for his family’s expenses.

This blog’s purpose is, first and foremost to follow the investor’s financial history, who has a strong predilection for stocks that pay dividends. You will also find many articles about various investing topics, saving and financial freedom. In addition, the articles are for both beginners and those who are more experienced.

Mr. Money Mustache

Peter Adeney is THE expert on early retirement. He’s a bona-fide guru, know in his 40s but retired since the age of 30. He, too, managed to retire thanks to a simple lifestyle and regular payments into his investment accounts. He is part of the US-born movement called FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early). According to him, many middle class people can improve their way of life by better managing their expenses.

By investing most of his income while working, he was able to amass $600,000 worth of investments in addition to a house worth $200,000. On his blog, you will learn about his journey to retirement from his beginnings to today.

In particular, Adeney believes in the rule of 4%. According to this rule, the minimum amount you must have when you retire should be 25 times your annual expenses. This way, you’ll be able to support yourself forever by taking 4% off this capital every year, assuming you get a 7% market return (the historical average) and that inflation is only 3% or less (the Bank of Canada target is 2%). Let’s take an example: A couple with an annual budget of $35,000 a year should therefore have a minimum of $875,000 when they retire.

If you want to start investing in the stock market and become financially independent, open a Dejardins Online Brokerage account and take advantage of our free cours about investing.