Traditional retirement planning advice focuses on one thing, and one thing only: money.
Put away X% of your salary. Invest your money in this or that retirement plan. Didn’t save enough? Downsize and spend less money.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with this focus on $$$ but I think a lot of people miss the point. Is money really the most valuable asset you can leverage to achieve the retirement you want?
Not at all.
In this day and age, the money you have and your ability to save it matter way less than your most valuable asset: time.
A McDonald’s employee can tell you with confidence what their time is worth: $15/hour. But when you spend years earning a fixed income from a salaried job, the value of your time starts to sway out of focus.
Start making the most of every moment of your work life and you’ll still end up with the same paycheck every month.
If your income is fixed, then the only obvious way you can improve your retirement outlook is to just spend less of it. But that’s inherently limited as well. You can only tighten your belt so far.
So what’s the solution?
Start taking advantage of your most valuable asset to fill the gap: time.
No matter if retirement is 3 years away or 15, you can make good use of time to earn more money and make retirement a reality. Once you realize what your time is worth and start optimizing your use of it, you’ll be able to build other streams of income beyond your salaried job.
As a corporate worker myself, I understand how daunting the idea sounds. Can you really build a successful business using nights and weekends?
The answer is yes, if you can implement one of the most important (and most overlooked) keys to success: focus.
A few years ago, I took a hard look at my daily habits and implemented a new strategy to optimize my use of time. I achieved focus, and now I run several successful online businesses as a result. I still hold down a corporate job as well, but I know I can walk away from it and still maintain financial security. It’s my retirement planning dream.
The No Nest Egg Retirement Plan is an online community where you can learn to optimize your use of time, achieve focus, and start on the road to retirement success.