I want to share with you a simple investing challenge that can help you to achieve financial independence and retire early – also known as FIRE.
This challenge is coming from someone who already took it on and overcame it. And I was able to quit my job and retire in my early 30s because of it. I now live off of the five-figure annual dividend income my stock portfolio generates for me.
Let me tell you, honestly, it’s an amazing position to be in. It’s all about that sweet, sweet freedom.
Being able to do what you want, when you want, where you want, why you want, with whom you want is priceless.
The investing challenge I’m going to tell you about is simple. But simple doesn’t mean easy.
This challenge is actually very difficult. Just as climbing a mountain is a pretty straightforward idea on paper, it’s very, very difficult to actually do it. But anything worth having in life is worth working hard for.
If this challenge were easy, everyone would be financially independent and retired early.
You ready for a challenge?
Let’s dig in.
I’m presenting this investing challenge to you readers for two reasons.
The first reason is that it’s simple to remember. There’s nothing complicated about this. But there’s another reason. And the second reason is even more important.
This challenge will result in success. I know because I’ve done it and am personally experiencing the rewards.
The math checks out. And I can almost guarantee you that if you take this challenge on, you will achieve financial independence and retire early. You will achieve FIRE.
Now, you can’t retire early if you don’t have any time. So this challenge is largely going to apply to you youngins out there.
But this challenge can still deliver remarkable results at any age. Even if you’re already in your 50s and can take this challenge on to become 50% financially independent within a few years, that’d still be a great outcome.
Financial independence is wonderful. But it’d still be fantastic to have half of your expenses covered by passive income, right?
So no matter how old you are, strongly consider undertaking the ultimate FIRE investing challenge.
The challenge is this: Invest at least as much as you spend.
That’s right. Whatever you spend, match it with investing.
If you spend, say, $2,000 per month, you should challenge yourself to invest at least $2,000 per month.
Of course, this challenge is impossible to undertake if you don’t know what you’re spending. As I’ve noted in prior videos, it’s critical that you track every single penny of your spending.
If you start tracking your spending, you’re gonna find that you spend much more than you think you do. And that’s okay. That just tells you where the fat is. Can’t cut the fat out if you don’t know where it is.
This challenge implies a 50% savings rate. You’ll be saving and investing half of your income and spending the other half.
Think that’s too difficult? Don’t make enough money? Well, what you make is less important than you think. You can outspend any income. Instead, take a look at those expenses. If you find it hard to invest what you spend, figure out how to spend less. Focusing on what you keep over what you make is so important. One you do, you’ll see the need to spend less.
If you spend less, that’ll help you in two ways.
First, the challenge will be easier by virtue of a lower spending target to match. Second, you’ll have more money to invest by virtue of less money going out the door on expenses.
I personally undertook this challenge for myself.
And this helped turn my life around. I was worth less than a baby at 27 years old. That’s right. A baby is worth $0 – no assets and no liabilities. I was in debt at 27. So a baby that can’t walk or talk was worth more than me at 27 years old. That’s embarrassing, right?
So I started investing as much as I was spending. Sometimes much more than I was spending. The more I saved, the more I invested. And the more I invested, the more I wanted to save and invest.
I invested my savings into high-quality dividend growth stocks, which supercharged my results and started raining down upon me safe, growing dividends. And I was able to reinvest those safe, growing dividends, which bought me more stocks paying safe, growing dividends.
Undertaking this challenge and absolutely smashing it helped me to achieve financial independence and retire in my early 30s.
I went from below broke to financially free in under a decade. And I did that after growing up on welfare in Detroit, having my parents abandon me, not having a college degree, and never having a high-paying job. So if I can do this, you can do it. This challenge might seem hard at first, but it actually gets easier and easier as you go.
Seeing a wealth and passive income snowball start to form and grow bigger right in front of your eyes is awesome.
There’s a positive reinforcement here. The challenge rewards you in real-time with more wealth and passive income. And the more wealth and passive income you build, the more you’ll want to build. It’s like a gravitational pull toward success.
Success begets more success. Wealth begets more wealth. Passive income begets more passive income.
And financial independence begets freedom, autonomy, and happiness. You can’t get to the mountaintop without taking that first step. And you can’t achieve financial independence without saving and investing that first dollar.
As for where to invest those dollars, make sure to follow our channel.
We’re putting out a ton of videos that highlight compelling dividend growth stocks for long-term investment. You’ll never be short on ideas or opportunities here.
So get busy with matching your spending on a dollar-for-dollar basis by investing at least as much as you spend.
Then watch that wealth and passive income snowball grow right in front of your eyes. I’ll see you on the mountaintop.
— Jason Fieber
P.S. If you’d like access to my entire six-figure dividend growth stock portfolio, as well as stock trades I make with my own money, I’ve made all of that available exclusively through Patreon.
Source: DividendsAndIncome.com