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How to retire today!
You won't need a million bucks to do it
By Paul B. Farrell, CBS.MarketWatch.com
LOS ANGELES (CBS.MW) - Retire today? Yes, today! And this is no theory. I've done it at least three times. So can you.
The first time I just walked into my boss and told him I was leaving. The decision took just seconds to make. That quick.
Yes, I was frustrated, for three years, thinking, praying, uncertain. A sudden, unexpected telegram did it. The next day, I retired. I was free, even though I stayed three months to wrap things up.
Here are eight lessons that I learned that might help you to retire – at this very moment!
Lesson #1: No, you don't need a million bucks
Stop listening to Wall Street's conspiracy of brokers, financial advisers, fund companies and online retirement calculators. Scare tactics warning you'll need a million bucks to retire!
In "You're Fifty, Now What?" Charles Schwab says you need $230,000 for every $10,000 income. That's almost a $1.2 million portfolio for $50,000 annual income. Only millionaires can retire?
What a hoax. A multi-millionaire investor attending Warren Buffet's Omaha barbecue told me many of his buddies lived on $30,000. And the Employee Benefit Research Institute says 80 percent of retirees actually live on less than $22,000 a year.
Read Ralph Warner's "Get A Life: You Don't Need A Million To Retire Well"
"Instead of focusing almost exclusively on our finances, we should be thinking about the things that truly make a difference ... health, spiritual life, relationships with family and friends, and having a plate full of interesting things to do," Warner writes.
Money's not the problem.
Lesson #2: Plan to retire, and retire, and retire, and ...
Which reminds me, $30,000 was all I had the second time I retired. But it was enough. Besides, retiring's not a death sentence, it's a "new-life" sentence! You can always come out of retirement. That's your safety net.
Retirees tell me they're busier than ever. Volunteering. Travel. Golf. Grandkids. Turning hobbies into businesses.
I know a guy who retired from the military. Then government. Then a corporation. And he had plans after that. It's never "over." That's the new retirement. New starts. Doing what you love.
Lesson #3: When it's time to go ... you'll know
The moment will come when you know, deep in your soul. It'll be crystal clear, after weeks, even years of thinking about it. A sudden turning point! You're a teacher. Nurse. Programmer. Lawyer. Doing stuff you can do well until you die. But you're not happy, not fulfilled.
You want to write a book. Travel the world. Be a pastry cook. Run a flower shop. Something tugs at you and cries to break free. It can't be denied. But you hold back. You'll know when to go - suddenly and when you least expect
it. Today? Trust me, you'll know.
Lesson #4: You have a job to do - discover it
Physicist Gary Zukav's "Seat of The Soul" inspired me.
"Each soul comes to the Earth with gifts [and] enters into a sacred agreement with the Universe to accomplish specific goals ... Whatever the task your soul has agreed to, whatever its contract with the Universe, all of the experiences of your life serve to awaken within you the memory of that contract, and to prepare you to fulfill it," Zukav wrote.
Find it. Do it.
Lesson #5: Leap ... and the net will appear!
Listen closely - your decision will not be rational. Trrust your gut and act immediately, or you'll sink back into self-doubt: You don't have that million bucks. And the future's unclear. You fear failure. You have family
obligations. Listen, there's never a perfect time.
"Leap!" says Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way, "and the net will appear."
Martial artist Chuck Norris wanted to become an actor. Steve McQueen's advice?
"Remember that philosophy of yours that you always stressed to students: Set goals, visualize the results of those goals, and then be determined to succeed by overcoming any obstacles in the way. You've been preaching this
to me for two years, and now you're saying there's something you can't do?"
That did it.
Lesson #6: Action is more important than goals
Yes, I know it's "politically incorrect" not to have concrete goals, aka a "mission." But that's as bad as saying you need a million bucks before retiring. You'll grow old waiting.
At my Wall Street retirement party, the boss assured me I could come back. I left for the American Film Institute in Hollywood. Stayed one day! Quit.
I went back to New York, but not Wall Street. I was free. I wrote scripts. I worked for a film producer. Finally, I went back to Hollywood. I struggled for four years, and eventually headed a cable news network.
Don't get me wrong. Goals help, but the simpler the better. Action is more important than goals. As mythologist Joseph Campbell said: "Follow your bliss and doors will open where there were no doors before."
Lesson #7: PMA - and a smile
In "Success Through Positive Mental Attitude," Napolean Hill and Clement Stone found the secret to success:
"After years spent studying successful men, the authors have come to the conclusion that a positive mental attitude is the one simple secret shared by them all."
Plus a smile!
Lesson #8: Trust yourself - the Universe trusts you
I could have ignored that telegram. It cost me a million. But I knew it was time. Scary, yes. Uncertain, definitely. And it didn't turn out anything like I expected. But somehow I knew I was protected and guided.
But at some mysterious point, you have no choice but to go. Each must enter "the forest at a point that he himself had chosen where it is darkest and there is no path," Campbell says. "If there is a path, it is someone else's path and you are not on the adventure."
When it's time, you'll know. Then leap!
You won't need a million bucks to do it
By Paul B. Farrell, CBS.MarketWatch.com
LOS ANGELES (CBS.MW) - Retire today? Yes, today! And this is no theory. I've done it at least three times. So can you.
The first time I just walked into my boss and told him I was leaving. The decision took just seconds to make. That quick.
Yes, I was frustrated, for three years, thinking, praying, uncertain. A sudden, unexpected telegram did it. The next day, I retired. I was free, even though I stayed three months to wrap things up.
Here are eight lessons that I learned that might help you to retire – at this very moment!
Lesson #1: No, you don't need a million bucks
Stop listening to Wall Street's conspiracy of brokers, financial advisers, fund companies and online retirement calculators. Scare tactics warning you'll need a million bucks to retire!
In "You're Fifty, Now What?" Charles Schwab says you need $230,000 for every $10,000 income. That's almost a $1.2 million portfolio for $50,000 annual income. Only millionaires can retire?
What a hoax. A multi-millionaire investor attending Warren Buffet's Omaha barbecue told me many of his buddies lived on $30,000. And the Employee Benefit Research Institute says 80 percent of retirees actually live on less than $22,000 a year.
Read Ralph Warner's "Get A Life: You Don't Need A Million To Retire Well"
"Instead of focusing almost exclusively on our finances, we should be thinking about the things that truly make a difference ... health, spiritual life, relationships with family and friends, and having a plate full of interesting things to do," Warner writes.
Money's not the problem.
Lesson #2: Plan to retire, and retire, and retire, and ...
Which reminds me, $30,000 was all I had the second time I retired. But it was enough. Besides, retiring's not a death sentence, it's a "new-life" sentence! You can always come out of retirement. That's your safety net.
Retirees tell me they're busier than ever. Volunteering. Travel. Golf. Grandkids. Turning hobbies into businesses.
I know a guy who retired from the military. Then government. Then a corporation. And he had plans after that. It's never "over." That's the new retirement. New starts. Doing what you love.
Lesson #3: When it's time to go ... you'll know
The moment will come when you know, deep in your soul. It'll be crystal clear, after weeks, even years of thinking about it. A sudden turning point! You're a teacher. Nurse. Programmer. Lawyer. Doing stuff you can do well until you die. But you're not happy, not fulfilled.
You want to write a book. Travel the world. Be a pastry cook. Run a flower shop. Something tugs at you and cries to break free. It can't be denied. But you hold back. You'll know when to go - suddenly and when you least expect
it. Today? Trust me, you'll know.
Lesson #4: You have a job to do - discover it
Physicist Gary Zukav's "Seat of The Soul" inspired me.
"Each soul comes to the Earth with gifts [and] enters into a sacred agreement with the Universe to accomplish specific goals ... Whatever the task your soul has agreed to, whatever its contract with the Universe, all of the experiences of your life serve to awaken within you the memory of that contract, and to prepare you to fulfill it," Zukav wrote.
Find it. Do it.
Lesson #5: Leap ... and the net will appear!
Listen closely - your decision will not be rational. Trrust your gut and act immediately, or you'll sink back into self-doubt: You don't have that million bucks. And the future's unclear. You fear failure. You have family
obligations. Listen, there's never a perfect time.
"Leap!" says Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way, "and the net will appear."
Martial artist Chuck Norris wanted to become an actor. Steve McQueen's advice?
"Remember that philosophy of yours that you always stressed to students: Set goals, visualize the results of those goals, and then be determined to succeed by overcoming any obstacles in the way. You've been preaching this
to me for two years, and now you're saying there's something you can't do?"
That did it.
Lesson #6: Action is more important than goals
Yes, I know it's "politically incorrect" not to have concrete goals, aka a "mission." But that's as bad as saying you need a million bucks before retiring. You'll grow old waiting.
At my Wall Street retirement party, the boss assured me I could come back. I left for the American Film Institute in Hollywood. Stayed one day! Quit.
I went back to New York, but not Wall Street. I was free. I wrote scripts. I worked for a film producer. Finally, I went back to Hollywood. I struggled for four years, and eventually headed a cable news network.
Don't get me wrong. Goals help, but the simpler the better. Action is more important than goals. As mythologist Joseph Campbell said: "Follow your bliss and doors will open where there were no doors before."
Lesson #7: PMA - and a smile
In "Success Through Positive Mental Attitude," Napolean Hill and Clement Stone found the secret to success:
"After years spent studying successful men, the authors have come to the conclusion that a positive mental attitude is the one simple secret shared by them all."
Plus a smile!
Lesson #8: Trust yourself - the Universe trusts you
I could have ignored that telegram. It cost me a million. But I knew it was time. Scary, yes. Uncertain, definitely. And it didn't turn out anything like I expected. But somehow I knew I was protected and guided.
But at some mysterious point, you have no choice but to go. Each must enter "the forest at a point that he himself had chosen where it is darkest and there is no path," Campbell says. "If there is a path, it is someone else's path and you are not on the adventure."
When it's time, you'll know. Then leap!
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