Dear DTA,
I just lost a lot of money in a divorce. Have to rebuild almost from scratch. 50 years old. Where do I even start?
-Hank P.
Hi, Hank.
Terribly sorry to hear about the divorce and ensuing financial losses.
It’s not nice to lose a relationship. The financial suffering only compounds the pain.
But there is a silver lining in all of this.
You’re older and wiser for it. This was a learning experience.
Plus, Hank, you’re not too old to start over.
People are living longer, better, richer, and healthier lives than at any point in human history.
50 is still relatively young!
I want to show you just how much can be accomplished in only a few short years.
Indeed, I fully believe you could put yourself on track for a wealthy and healthy retirement.
For proof of what’s possible, check out my Early Retirement Blueprint.
I know. You’re not necessarily in a position to retire early. Not starting over at 50.
But there’s absolutely no reason you can’t radically change your life between now and 60.
Seeing as how a lot of retirees are out there working menial jobs well into their 60s and 70s, I’d consider being able to happily live life on your terms from age 60 on as a huge win!
That’s especially considering that you’re getting a bit of a late start here.
Getting back to the Blueprint, I went from flat broke at 27 years old to financially independent and retired early at 33.
That’s just six years!
Starting from a position of indebtedness, no less.
Maybe you can’t do just like I did.
But even if you’re able to put some of these concepts to work, you could find yourself in a pretty amazing position at 60 – four extra years beyond what I was working with.
Some of these concepts are simple. And timeless. And proven.
I’m talking about living below your means and intelligently investing your savings, Hank.
Sounds boring?
Well, that’s exactly what becoming wealthy and successful looks and sounds like.
Boring is beautiful.
Besides, there’s nothing boring about having a sizable amount of net worth working for you and generating the passive income you need to go about your life as you please.
I even transparently show you exactly what that looks like for me.
My FIRE Fund is my real-money early retirement stock portfolio.
It generates the five-figure passive dividend income I need to live off of.
You even have a huge advantage over me.
I heavily rely on my FIRE Fund its passive income.
That’s because I’m only in my 30s.
But with your age and time horizon, you’d be looking at supplementing your wealth and passive income with Social Security.
That’s before factoring in any other wealth and income I don’t know of (401(k), IRA, pension, etc.).
I’m not necessarily advocating this, but you could take your SS benefit early – as early as age 62.
If you can take the time between now and then to change your lifestyle, build good savings habits, and intelligently invest large sums of capital for the long term, I’m confident you could set yourself up for thousands of dollars per month in total income.
That’s even assuming you don’t make a lot of money from your job.
I most certainly didn’t.
I worked for a car dealership and made a very middle-class income, before I pulled the plug for good at age 32.
The Blueprint is a starting point. It’s designed to open your mind and get you thinking.
Once you’re aware of the possibilities and ready to dig in, we’ve got you covered with some fantastic resources.
First, make sure to read fellow contributor Dave Van Knapp’s Dividend Growth Investing Lessons.
This is a free guide that covers the ins and outs of dividend growth investing.
This is the strategy that I personally used to retire so young in life.
If you read the Blueprint and Dave’s articles, I think you’ll quickly start to understand why this is such an amazing strategy for building sustainable wealth and growing passive income.
After all, it comes down to investing in world-class enterprises for the long term.
World-class enterprises that are producing growing profit and directly sharing that growing profit with their shareholders.
That sharing comes in the form of growing cash dividend payments.
These growing cash dividend payments could provide you enough increasing passive income to pay your bills, retire, and live the life of your dreams!
You’ll certainly never be short on investment ideas, Hank.
The Dividend Champions, Contenders, and Challengers list is a compilation of more than 800 US-listed stocks that have increased their dividends each year for at least the last five consecutive years.
In addition, I highlight a compelling long-term dividend growth stock investment idea every Sunday.
These ideas go through multiple filters, including valuation analysis from professional equity analysts.
Once they pass a number of fundamental hurdles, I present them to the community in the Undervalued Dividend Growth Stock of the Week series.
Once you’re well on your way to building wealth and passive income, just remember to be careful about future relationships.
You don’t want to rebuild from the ground up only to see your castle knocked down again.
For example, it might behoove you to seriously research the idea of getting a prenuptial agreement before any future nuptial.
You’re still young, Hank.
You’ve got plenty of time to build your finances back up.
But time is always of the essence.
Make sure to get started today.
I wish you luck and success.
Jason Fieber
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Disclaimer: Jason Fieber is not a licensed financial advisor, tax professional, or stock broker. Please consult with a licensed investment professional before investing any of your money. If your money is not FDIC insured, it may decline in value. To protect the privacy of our readers, any names published in this article are under aliases. In addition, text may be edited, omitted or paraphrased for grammar or length.