Dreaming of retiring early? You’re not alone. More people than ever are asking the big question: how to retire early, without sacrificing lifestyle or running out of money? The good news is, early retirement isn’t just for lottery winners or tech millionaires. With the right strategies, mindset, and planning, you can chart a path to financial freedom sooner than you think.
Early Retirement Tips from People Who Did It
In this article, we’ve gathered 28 actionable tips from people who actually retired early—and stayed retired. Whether you’re just starting to explore how to retire early or you’re already on the path, their advice can help you avoid mistakes, boost savings, and accelerate your timeline. The advice is from wisdom shared on the Boldin Podcast, hosted by Steve Chen, founder and CEO of Boldin.
1. Know the Basic Formula, But Beware
The basic formula for an early retirement is to build up 25 times your annual expenses and then plan on drawing down no more than 4 percent of that value, every year. If you can afford to live on that, you should be good.
However, there are so many variables that can throw a wrench into or even improve that formula.
Rules of thumb are okay as a starting point, but a reliable retirement plan needs to be customized to you.
- To get a more nuanced (and reliable) answer about retiring early, it is best to build your own financial plan for the future. The Boldin Retirement Planner is a comprehensive system that puts the power of planning into your own hands. Input as much detail as possible and keep playing with your information until you come up with a plan that really works for you.
2. Give Yourself At Least 5–10 Years to Prepare
Early retirement might sound like a distant dream—but it doesn’t have to take forever. With focused effort and a smart plan, you can achieve financial independence in as little as five to ten years.
Karsten Jeske, creator of Early Retirement Now and a leading voice on safe withdrawal strategies, retired at 44 after a decade working in asset management. His experience proves that you don’t need to spend your entire adult life saving—you just need to be intentional with your time and money during the years that matter most.
“There’s no magic number,” Jeske says, “but five to ten years of focused planning can put early retirement within reach.”
Whether you’re in your 30s, 40s, or even 50s, it’s not too late to start. The key is to commit, plan, and take action.
3. Focus on Designing the Life You Want
Chris Mamula, a contributor to Can I Retire Yet, retired at 41 after a 16-year career as a physical therapist—not by cutting everything to the bone, but by intentionally designing the lifestyle he and his family truly wanted.
While many early retirees take a strict frugality route, Mamula took a different path.
“We just focused more on lifestyle design—how can we get everything we want without all the stress that comes with traditional retirement?” he explains.
By defining what “enough” really meant to them, the Mamulas were able to prioritize spending, reduce unnecessary obligations, and create a version of early retirement that felt both satisfying and sustainable.
- The takeaway? Don’t just plan for retirement—plan for the life you actually want to live. When your goals are clear, your financial strategy becomes much easier to tailor. Use the Boldin Planner to visualize your future expenses and how they will evolve over time.
4. Don’t Trade Freedom for a Car Payment
Joe Kuhn—also known as The Retire Early Engineer—retired at 54 after a successful career in manufacturing leadership. He now shares practical, down-to-earth financial advice on YouTube and other platforms, focused on helping everyday people achieve financial independence without the fluff.
One of Joe’s most memorable—and specific—tips? Drive an old, reliable car.
“People ask me, ‘What’s the one thing?’ A high savings rate is great, but I like to get specific: don’t let cars dictate your ego. If you drive a solid, 10-year-old car and avoid that $600/month payment, over 30 years, that one decision can put over a million dollars back in your pocket.”
Joe’s personal example? Until recently, he drove his kid’s old 2005 Camry with 150,000 miles on it—now replaced by a hand-me-down 2012 minivan from his wife. Meanwhile, his neighbors, all driving new trucks, tease him about his ride—on their way to work.
But for Joe, financial freedom beats fresh leather and new car smell. “I cut my own grass, fix things around the house, and if something breaks, I hit YouTube and figure it out,” he says. “Because now, in retirement, I have the time and flexibility to do those things.”His message is simple: The freedom not to work is worth more than a new car in the driveway.
5. Master the 5 Money Activities
Dr. Jim Dahle is an emergency physician, financial educator, and the founder of The White Coat Investor—a widely respected platform helping doctors and high-income professionals take control of their money. His mission is simple: make sure those who earn well also learn how to build lasting wealth.
On an episode of the Boldin Podcast, Dr. Dahle shared one of his foundational frameworks:
“There are five core money activities you’ve got to master: earning, saving, investing, spending, and giving. And the truth is—almost nobody is naturally good at all five.”
According to Dahle, most people have a few financial strengths and at least one area that needs work. As a self-proclaimed “natural saver,” he admitted that he excels at earning, saving, and investing—but found spending to be his personal growth area.
“I’ve spent the last 5–10 years trying to get better at spending—not just spending more, but spending well. That means using money in ways that actually make me happier, improve the lives of others, or give me real value.”
He points out that thoughtful spending takes as much discipline and intentionality as saving. It’s about aligning money with meaning, not just holding onto it. So what’s the takeaway? Whether you’re a high earner, a frugal minimalist, or just getting started, mastery means evaluating all five activities—not just the ones that come easily.
6. Follow the Second Rule of Early Retirement
Sam Dongen, more commonly known as the Financial Samurai, is a widely respected blogger and author of Millionaire Milestones: Simple Steps to Seven Figures and Buy This Not That: How to Spend Your Way to Wealth and Freedom. Known for his sharp wit and practical mindset, Dongen blends behavioral finance with lived experience to help people achieve financial independence without losing perspective—or their nerve.
On the Boldin Podcast, Dongen shared a tip for early retirement, “The first rule of financial independence is to not lose money. And the second rule is… don’t forget the first rule.”
But that’s just the start. Dongen warns that reaching your FI number isn’t a license to throw caution to the wind. “If you want to retire early and achieve FIRE,” he says, “you can’t just walk into your boss’s office and say, ‘See you later.’ You have to figure out a way to negotiate a severance package—to give yourself a buffer, a cushion, and peace of mind.”
Why the extra caution? Because, as Dongen points out, fear doesn’t retire when you do. Even with millions in the bank, a recession, bear market, or correction can trigger anxiety. “It doesn’t matter how much money you have,” he says. “You’ll still worry—am I going to lose everything I worked so hard for? It always feels that way.”
The good news? Those tough moments don’t last forever. “The average recession lasts about 10 months,” Dongen adds. “And it’s not forever.”
- His point is clear: financial independence is about more than a number—it’s about resilience, planning, and managing your mind as much as your money. And yes, remembering the rules.
7. How to Retire Early? Budget!
Knowing what you spend now and what you might spend in the future is critical for retirement and especially if you want to know how to retire early.
Fritz Gilbert, the author of The Retirement Manifesto, spent 30 years at a single company building a successful career before retiring at age 55. He recommended this: “We’ve never really been big budgeters. For a year, we tracked every single penny we spent because we wanted to know as realistically as we could, what our spending was. And then we adjusted it for how we thought things would change in retirement, etc…”
- The Boldin Retirement Planner allows you to create a really detailed budget now and document how those numbers will change in the future. The system even enables you to enter necessary spending as well as nice to spend amounts. It is fun and easy to think through how your spending will change over the rest of your life in over 70 different categories.
8. Know Where You Are on the Early Retirement Spectrum
According to Dongen, one of the most important realizations for anyone pursuing financial independence is this: FIRE is a spectrum. Dongen broke down the growing diversity within the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement—and why knowing where you fall on that spectrum is key.
“There’s Lean FIRE, Barista FIRE, Coast FIRE, Fat FIRE… there’s even Wife FIRE. And they’re all valid.”
Here’s a quick breakdown of the most common FIRE flavors:
- Lean FIRE: Retiring early on a minimalist lifestyle, typically with a very low cost of living.
- Barista FIRE: Reaching partial financial independence, then supplementing with part-time work (like a barista) for flexibility and healthcare.
- Coast FIRE: Saving aggressively early so your investments can grow on their own while you coast into full retirement without saving more.
- Fat FIRE: Retiring early with a high level of comfort, luxury, and financial cushion.
- Wife FIRE (as Dongen jokingly describes it): When one partner—often a high-earning woman—continues to work, enabling the other to retire early. “We’re seeing a huge shift,” he notes, “with more women becoming the breadwinners and men choosing to step back or pivot into more fulfilling non-income-producing roles.”
Dongen emphasizes that none of these paths is inherently better than another. The real key is intentionality—knowing what kind of life you want and aligning your financial plan to get there. “If we’re not changing,” he says, “we’re choosing.”
Whether you dream of traveling the world in a van or retiring in San Francisco and relocating to Honolulu later in life, the path is yours to define. The only mistake is thinking there’s only one “right” version of early retirement.
9. Sandbag Your Numbers
You don’t want to get your numbers wrong and end up not having the retirement you want to have.
Gilbert recommends sandbagging your numbers – adding a cushion to how much you think you are going to spend. He says: “Be conservative in your estimates. I decided to use $2,500 for my healthcare expense, and Karsten is at $2000. So I tended to sandbag a lot of my numbers to the high side just to be safe.”
“I would just encourage people to focus on the numbers and really take some time to look at your spending.”
- Interested in reliable healthcare estimates? Use the Boldin Retirement Planner. It will take your age, location, and health status into account and apply healthcare spending as predicted over your lifetime.
10. Work One Extra Year for Extra Cushion but Not Another and Another and Another Year
Jeske felt like he could retire a year or two before he actually did. However, it is such a massive decision that he decided to work a little longer to give himself an extra cushion.
Gilbert also worked an extra year. “I talked to my uncle, he retired early and he said, let me just give you one piece of advice. He said, ‘If you’re not quite sure on the numbers, put in one more year.’ But, then he added: ‘Don’t put in one more year, and then one more year and then one more year.’ Right? Just put in one more year, pad the numbers because you’ll never make the kind of money you’re making now, right in the peak year career.”
However, Mamula likens the idea of working one more year to playing a game of chicken. He said, “Are you going to run out of money or are you going to run out of life first? So you’re trading in this lifestyle that we didn’t like working all the time, for a different undesirable lifestyle where you’re constantly worried about money.”
11. Make Trade-Offs
Every financial decision comes with a trade-off—especially when it comes to staying in the workforce longer than you need to. Fritz Gilbert, creator of The Retirement Manifesto, challenges the assumption that continuing to work is the safer choice.
“If you stay working, you’re risking giving up one more year of healthy life—when you could be out living it instead of stuck in a cubicle.”
Work isn’t the enemy—many people find meaning and fulfillment in their careers. But if you’re simply grinding it out for the paycheck, it’s worth asking: what are you giving up in return?
There’s no one right answer. The key is to be aware of your trade-offs and make decisions that align with the life you truly want, while you’re still healthy enough to enjoy it.
12. How to Retire Early: Know Which Dials to Turn
According to Jeske when it comes to figuring out if and when you can retire, there are two specific metrics to analyze. He says: “So, in my personal view, obviously there are two dials that you can play with. One is what is your retirement budget? The other is what is your withdrawal rate?”
“Say you have a $50,000 budget and you have a 4% withdrawal rate, then you multiply your $50,000 budget by 25, and that’s how much you need to have. So at some point, I looked at the numbers and the numbers became so ridiculous that I said, ‘Well, even with a 3% withdrawal rate and $100,000 budget, I can retire, what exactly am I waiting for?””
- The Boldin Retirement Planner enables you to play with both your budget as well as your withdrawal rate. See your maximum withdrawal rate or specify a specific percentage over your lifetime, and compare either of those scenarios to your withdrawals based on spending needs.
13. Save 50 Percent of Your Income
Most people who want to particularly retire early are saving at least 50 percent of their income. It is difficult but possible.
14. Savings Should Hurt
Dongen doesn’t sugarcoat the path to early retirement. He laid down a tough-love truth bomb for anyone serious about reaching financial independence:
“If the amount of money you’re saving and investing each month doesn’t hurt, you’re not saving and investing enough.”
According to Dongen, building wealth fast requires more than spreadsheets and compound interest—it requires intentional discomfort. If your spending habits aren’t changing month to month—if you’re not feeling the pinch—it likely means your savings rate is too low to move the needle.
He points out a sobering stat: the average American saves just 5% of their income. At that rate, it takes 20 years of work to fund a single year of financial freedom. “That’s crazy,” Dongen says. “No wonder people have to retire at 65—or never retire at all.”
But there’s a smarter way. “If you start saving 20%, for example, that’s five years of work to buy one year of freedom,” he explains. “Now you’re getting somewhere.”Dongen’s takeaway is clear: the path to early retirement should feel a little uncomfortable, because that discomfort is proof you’re doing the hard, intentional work of buying back your future.
15. Beware of Lifestyle Inflation: It is Hard to Go Back
We often talk about lifestyle inflation in terms of spending, but freedom can be its own kind of lifestyle inflation, too.
Chris Mamula, who retired early from a career in physical therapy, originally thought he’d ease into retirement gradually, picking up part-time work or doing occasional travel assignments to stay active and earn some income. But once he fully stepped away from his career and experienced the flexibility of financial independence, everything changed.
“Now that I’ve had this freedom, it would be extremely hard to go back. I equate it to the ultimate lifestyle inflation. I’m allergic to anything that feels like a time commitment.”
Mamula doesn’t say this from a place of laziness—he’s a self-described hard worker. But after tasting what it feels like to own his time completely, the idea of returning to a regular job feels nearly impossible.
The takeaway? Once you experience true autonomy, it can redefine your idea of what’s worth your time. Plan for that shift—and don’t assume you’ll want to “just go back” once you’ve stepped away.
16. You Might Not Go Back to the Grind, But You May Work
Like Mamula, both Jeske and Gilbert are also maintaining side gigs or work that they enjoy.
As Gilbert said, “It’s interesting that even if you didn’t plan on earning any money, let’s face it, a lot of us that are in this F.I.R.E. community are pretty driven people who’re pretty successful. And there’s going to be opportunities, the difference is, the opportunities are doing something that you love. So, I think you’ll find that there is income even if you’re not planning for it. So don’t sacrifice all your life to continue working to get that withdrawal rate down to 3%, 2.5%.”
17. The Early Retirement Mindset Is Different for Everyone
Retiring early takes some sacrifice. The will to spend less and save a lot more can come from many different places.
Gilbert came from a family culture that was very anti-debt and frugal. His wife’s family had to file for bankruptcy while she was in college and she didn’t like that feeling of scarcity.
Mamula and his wife just started saving 50% of their salaries as a security blanket, they were not specifically trying to figure out how to retire early.
Your financial personality – developed over your lifetime – will play a part in determining whether or not you can retire early. Figuring out what motivates you and what is behind your money habits can be a useful part of figuring out how to retire early.
18. The Courage to Leap into Retirement is Part Math, Part Overcoming the Fear of the Unknown
Figuring out when you can retire can be a mathematical calculation, very much rooted in facts and figures. However, actually deciding to quit work and live a different kind of life is a more difficult and very qualitative decision.
Gilbert described it this way, “In that last year that I was working, I was like, okay, the math is fine, the numbers are great. I quit worrying about money. I didn’t have the angst about the financial side, it was more like almost an obsessive curiosity about what this life is going to be like in retirement. And, what am I going to do with myself? What’s my purpose going to be?”
19. Get Out of Your 401K
When David Chen (the brother of a childhood friend of Steve Chen), was unexpectedly let go from his corporate job, he discovered something many people overlook: your 401(k) might be safe, but it’s also limiting. Most employer-sponsored plans offer a narrow set of investment choices, often yielding average returns.
By rolling over his 401(k)s into an IRA, David gained greater control and flexibility. That move allowed him to invest in companies he believed in, most notably Apple, just before a major stock split. The result? A leap toward financial independence that would have been impossible inside a traditional 401(k). His lesson is clear: IRAs offer freedom that 401(k)s often don’t. Whether you’re changing jobs or exploring in-service rollovers while still working, it’s worth asking: Could an IRA unlock better opportunities for your retirement?
20. Prepare for the Soft Side of Retirement
Gilbert emphasized that it is really important for people to prepare for their life after early retirement, not just their financial life after early retirement.
He said, “It’s really important for people as they’re getting close to what I call the starting line, that they do really spend some introspective time talking about that or thinking about it, talking with their spouse. Because the research says, it’s the people that do the most amount of time planning for the soft side that have the best transitions into retirement.”
“It’s been proven and the risk of depression goes up 40% in retirement, big numbers. But the way you avoid that is by increasing the amount of time that you prepare for it before retirement. And that’s really all the soft stuff. So that’s where our focus was and it worked out well for us.”
21. Be Ready to Retire to Something
For Mike Richardson, retirement wasn’t about walking away—it was about moving toward something new. After decades in high-level tech leadership, including his role as Nationwide’s CTO, Mike made the decision to step into a new chapter of life that aligned more closely with his evolving values and interests.
“Losing my wife, Amy, and then my father in 2022 made me stop and ask: How much time do I have left? And do I want to keep spending it doing what I’ve always done?”
The answer, for Mike, was no. He realized he had achieved what he wanted in his technology career and was ready for something different—something more meaningful. Today, that includes his work as a Boldin Coach, helping others navigate the next phase of life, and volunteering with AARP’s Tax-Aide program, using his skills to give back to his community.
Mike’s story is a reminder that retirement isn’t just about leaving work—it’s about finding purpose on the other side. It’s about being ready to retire to something, not just from something. Whether that means coaching, service, travel, or new creative pursuits, the transition is more fulfilling when it’s intentional.
22. Be Prepared to Change Your Mind About Goals and Interests
While Mamula agrees that preparing for the soft side of retirement is important, he has also found that interests are likely to change and that you should be open to that change!
He said, “I put in a lot of thought on the softer side. But what I’ve found is, I don’t think I’m very good at predicting what I’m going to want and what’s going to make me happy. And I think like research shows that’s a pretty common thing actually, that the things that we think are going to make us happy once you achieve them, oftentimes they don’t.”
“And so I think that’s just something to be aware of and to think about. And I think there’s a lot of value in planning and thinking about these things. But also you have to understand that, as things change, your perspectives change and you might be surprised by what you find on the other side.”
23. Know What’s Important to You
Jackie Cummings Koski is a financial educator, author of F.I.R.E. For Dummies, and co-host of the popular podcast Catching Up to FI, which helps people who discover financial independence later in life take smart, empowered action. Jackie reached financial independence as a single mom after overcoming significant life obstacles, and now she focuses on helping others do the same—on their own terms.
In a recent episode of the Boldin Podcast, Jackie shared a powerful story about judgment, values, and the role of financial professionals:
“Even though they hadn’t reached financial independence or retired early, they had so much clarity. One woman I worked with owned a luxury vehicle—something I also own. It wasn’t about shame or judgment. But after taking a close look at her priorities and long-term goals, she later chose to sell the car. That decision was hers—not something I ever pushed. That’s the beauty of this work.”
Jackie’s insight gets to the heart of values-based planning: Financial guidance isn’t about telling people what to cut—it’s about helping them discover what really matters. She stresses that we can’t know what to trim or change until we understand someone’s story, values, and emotional connection to their financial choices.
“Our job as financial professionals isn’t to dictate—it’s to listen. When we really hear people, we can support their value system, not impose our own. That’s where real change—and real buy-in—happens.”Jackie reminds us that financial freedom doesn’t come from deprivation—it comes from clarity, and from aligning your money with what matters most.
24. Have a Positive Attitude!
Want to know how to retire early? A positive attitude is key! A positive attitude can get you through a lot of difficulties you might experience.
Gilbert noticed that almost everyone he knows who has retired early is positive. He talked about this positivity, “I think it’s really important to focus on your attitude. Jeske’s like, ‘Hey, I’m fine winging it. I’m good with that.’ He has an attitude of positivity. And, Chris, I think you’ve got the attitude, where you’re receptive to try new things, ‘Hey, let’s move to Utah and climb mountains.’”
“I think having a positive attitude and having a curious mindset is really the key.”
25. Take the Leap
At some point, the spreadsheets have done all they can. You’ve run the numbers, double-checked your projections, and confirmed—yes, you can afford to retire. The final step isn’t financial. It’s mental.
Fritz Gilbert, creator of The Retirement Manifesto, puts it plainly:
“Once the numbers say you’re good to go, it becomes a mental game, not a numbers game. And there’s no reason to let fear block you from the life you’ve worked so hard to build.”
He encourages would-be retirees to trust their plan and take the leap:
“Run all the retirement calculators—including that awesome one over at Boldin. Then, once you know you’ve got enough, pull the plug and go. Life will work out okay.”
The hardest part of financial independence is often learning to spend the nest egg you spent decades building. But Gilbert’s advice is clear: don’t let fear delay the joy and freedom you’ve already earned.
26. Be Ready for Freedom, Travel, and Time
Ask early retirees what surprised them most in their first year, and one theme comes up again and again: freedom.
Chris Mamula puts it simply:
“I don’t think I’ve had true freedom with my time since 11th grade. I’ve never gone more than two weeks without school or work—usually both. To suddenly have full control of my time… it’s unbelievable.”
Along with freedom, travel often becomes the go-to joy of early retirement. Fritz Gilbert shared how he and his wife embraced their newfound time by hitting the road:
“When people picture retirement, they think travel—and that’s exactly what we did. We called it the Great American Road Trip: 10,000 miles in our RV, taking our time and really soaking in the experience.”
Karsten Jeske took a global approach, spending seven months traveling the world at his own pace. For him, the beauty wasn’t just in the destinations—it was in the open-ended, low-stress nature of exploring without a countdown clock.
The message is clear: early retirement isn’t just about stopping work—it’s about reclaiming your time and choosing how you want to spend it.
27. Confront Your Mortality
Doc G—a physician, podcaster, and author of Taking Stock—reached financial independence early, but his most powerful insights came not from spreadsheets or savings rates, but from witnessing the realities of death firsthand.
In a recent conversation, he shared a perspective few in the financial world talk about:
“We deny this idea of death because it’s scary. But it can actually help us make better decisions—financial and otherwise—right now.”
As a hospice doctor, Doc G saw patients given just months to live suddenly reevaluate everything: what mattered, what they regretted, what they wished they’d done sooner. He argues that this clarity shouldn’t be reserved for the final chapter.
“What if we thought this way in our twenties or thirties? What if we stopped waiting for a terminal diagnosis to start living fully?”Confronting mortality doesn’t have to be morbid—it can be motivating. It can push you to prioritize joy, relationships, purpose, and time over accumulating things or climbing endless ladders. And it can help you design a financial life that supports what really matters before it’s too late.
28. Retire Early and Find Happiness
These early retirees mention that they are happy with their decision with very few regrets.