How to Retire Early: 7 Steps

I was able to retire early at the age of 30 using this exact early retirement strategy. While you might be thinking, how can you retire at 30? Well, it’s important to first define what early retirement actually means to you.

What is Early Retirement?

Early retirement is no longer defined as the moment when you stop working forever, it’s simply the moment when you no longer have to work for money. But you can choose to keep working as I do if that’s what you enjoy doing.

There’s a big difference between doing work you love or a job that you could leave if you get tired of it because you have the freedom and flexibility that saving up enough money can give you.

It’s been scientifically proven that working is actually good for you and many people who completely quit working start losing their mental faculties and people who retire early might actually die sooner.

So to me, early retirement means being able to make the shift from work you have to do to work you want to do. The old school idea that when you retire you are done working, is just that, an old school idea.

Now that we’ve got that settled, let me show you how I retired early and how you can too.

Maximizing Your Early Retirement Strategy

A good early retirement strategy is built on maximizing three levers:

  1. Income – How much money you’re making
  2. Expenses – How much money you’re spending
  3. Saving – How much money you’re saving and investing

The first step in building your early retirement strategy, you need to determine your retire early or financial independence (FI) number – the amount of money you need for work to become optional.

This is by no means an exact science, since it’s a blending of how much money you need to live the life you want today and planning for a future “you” that you haven’t yet become.

Just realize, your number will change and should change, as you change. No matter where you are starting from today, it’s likely going to take you 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, maybe 30 years or more to have enough money to walk away. Over the next years, you’ll want, and need, to refine, your walk-away number calculations as the cost of your lifestyle evolves.

7 Steps to Retiring Early

  1. Figure Up How Much Money You Need to Retire
  2. Cut Back On Your Three Biggest Expenses
  3. Increase & Diversify Your Income Streams
  4. Set Your Savings Goals
  5. Create a Simple Investing Strategy
  6. Fast Track Your Early Retirement Plan by Investing More
  7. Track Your Savings Rate & Net Worth

1. How Much Money Do I Need to Retire?

While this is a hotly debated topic in the early retirement community, based on a series of papers known as the Trinity Studies, you need to save approximately 25-30x your expected annual expenses to have enough money to last you for the rest of your life.

This multiple is based on what’s known as your expected withdrawal rate, which is the percentage of your investment growth that you would be able to withdraw per year to live on. Based on this study (and many others), a safe early retirement withdrawal percentage is between 3%-4% adjusted for inflation (meaning you can also take out an additional 2%-3% per year depending on inflation).

Here’s how to calculate how much money you need to retire early:

First, figure out how much money you are spending each year by tracking your expenses.

My wife and I spend approximately $50,000 per year, and you can see an approximate breakdown of my expenses by category here:

early retirement expenses

Using myself as an example, if you spend about $50,000 per year, then you need to have somewhere in the neighborhood of ($50,000 x 25) $1,250,000 to ($50,000 x 30) $1,500,000.

While it’s impossible to account for every variable, where you want to live and whether you want to have kids will have profound impacts on how much money you need to walk away.

If you want a mansion in the Hamptons and an apartment in New York City, you are going to need millions and millions of dollars, which means you will likely need to make some huge tradeoffs in your life while you are trying to save that money.

The less money you can live on, the less you need to retire early.

[Online Tool] Calculate your own current expenses or project your future expenses

2. Cut Back On Your Three Biggest Expenses

What are your three biggest expenses?…

  1. Housing
  2. Transportation
  3. Food

While you can certainly cut back on your small purchases, you’re always going to be able to save the most money where you spend the most money. The average American family spends over 70% of their income on housing, transportation and food.

Here are the most effective ways to cut back on each.

Housing

You should do everything you can to eliminate or even make money on your housing expense. The easiest way to do this is by house hacking, which is a simple strategy where you rent or buy a 2 or 3-bedroom apartment and rent out the extra rooms to offset, completely cover, or even make money on your rent or mortgage.

It’s really easy to do and is the fastest way to increase your savings rate (percentage of your income that you’re saving) and net worth (your assets minus your liabilities).

Transportation

Don’t buy a car if you don’t need one. If you do, always buy a used car. The average American works for a year and a half of their life in order to buy a new car. In most cities in the United States, you can buy a used car that will get you from point A to B safely and is also reliable for under $5,000.

Instead of spending $40K+ on a new car, invest the savings by buying a used car. If you’re commuting to and from work, here are some of our best tips for how to save money commuting.

Food

There are so many ways to save money on food. Make food at home. Buy in bulk. Eat less meat. Calculate your cost per unit when comparison shopping. Whenever you eat out or get your food delivered you’re paying an incredible cost for convenience. Here are some good ways to save money eating out.

Here are another 101 ways to save money.

3. Increase and Diversify Your Income Streams

After you’ve optimized your expenses, the next step is to go out and try to make more money. The more money you make the more money you can save and invest. There are two places you should start – optimizing your full-time job and starting a side hustle.

Back in the day you’d go to school, get a job, work at it for 30-40 years, and peace out into retirement if you made it that far. Your company took care of you with a lifetime pension (free money for the rest of your life!), but now we are left to fend for ourselves. Thankfully it’s never been easier in history to make more money.

Today there are now more tools, strategies, and blueprints for making money. You can learn skills insanely quickly on YouTube in less than a week, you can replicate someone else’s blueprint and map it to your own business, and you can join a community of other people who are working together to make money and build wealth.

Optimize Your 9 to 5

Whether you currently live your full-time job or not, because it’s where you’re making money right now, you should optimize it so you’re making as much money as you can. Negotiate a raise and work remote opportunities so you have more control over your time and more time to make money on the side.

Make sure you’re maximizing all of your employee benefits, including commuter benefits, HSAs, and all retirement investing account opportunities. Here’s a deep dive video into how to optimize your 9 to 5.

Start a Side Hustle

Anyone can go out and make a few hundred extra bucks a week on the side. You make extra money doing anything – mow lawns, walk dogs, shovel snow, babysit, code online, tutor, make deliveries, chauffeur people, flip on eBay, sell a product on Amazon, participate in focus groups, or an infinite number of things.

But not all side hustles are created equal, and some can make you a lot more money than others. The best and worst thing about side hustling is you can literally make money doing anything.

If you are side hustling for someone else, the money you can make will always be limited by the number of hours you have in the day. It’s really tough to get off your 9 to 5 job and hop in a Lyft to drive all night. Sure, people do it and it’s definitely a popular side hustle.

While you might think you are working for yourself, you are actually working for Lyft. Sure, it gives you flexibility and freedom, but no matter how much you drive for Uber or Lyft or deliver for Doordash or Instacart, you’ll always be limited to your own hours. You can’t scale Lyft driving because it’s limited to your own time.

So you need to think about side hustles that you can do and build a business. This doesn’t mean you have to hire your own employers, but you can probably make more money if you do. Profitable side hustling is all about the money/time tradeoff, so you will make a lot more money if you’re the person at the top. This is just one of the many reasons blogging is a great side hustle. To learn how to make money blogging check out my Free 7 Day Blogging Side Hustle Course.

Some side hustles will take a lot more time to get off the ground than others – for example, if you have an amazing idea for a new mobile app, but you don’t know how to code, it’s going to take a lot of time to get that idea off the ground. But mowing lawns in the evenings or on the weekends doesn’t require anything more than the ability to mow lawns.

This doesn’t mean that if you’re busy you can’t find time to side hustle, it just means that you should calibrate the difficulty of your side hustle based on the amount of time you have. I know many families who work side hustle at night after their kids go to bed and some who even bring their kids along on the weekend. They are able to do it, because they schedule their time well and they just really want it.

While you can make money doing pretty much anything, it’s a lot easier to make money doing something you love or at least like – not only are you more likely to stick with it, but it also won’t feel like work.

Video Series

Check out our post on How to Live Without a Job.

4. Set Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Annual Savings Goals

I break down all of my money goals into daily goals. I still deposit money every day into my investment accounts and track my net worth for free using Personal Capital. Our minds are built to think about today. Our ancestors weren’t able to comprehend years into the future. This is one of the reasons it’s so hard for us to save money.

You’ve probably tried those retirement calculators or have used the retirement projector at Personal Capital. Most of the calculators come out with a number you will need to “retire” based on your inputs and current progression. The numbers are usually big and run into the millions. Who can save $1,272,000 dollars? I was barely able to buy a burrito when I first started.

These numbers are so large, they seem impossible to reach, don’t resonate with us, and actually discourage saving. But, backed by academic research, a lot changes when we start thinking about money in daily increments. If you are nerdy like me and want to go deeper on this topic check out the research of USC professor Daphna Oysterman.

So what should your daily goal be? I did some calculations and determined I needed to try and save approximately $50 a day in order to reach financial independence in 30 years. It can’t be a coincidence that I needed to save a Grant a day!

It’s a simple calculation, and I even created an early retirement calculator that makes it easy to figure out. In order to get to $1,250,000 I needed to save $50 a day and have an expected 5% annual compounding rate (a pretty reasonable expectation over a 30-year period). Thinking about it in annual terms I needed to save $18,250 a year. Max out that 401K!

Then I started really thinking. If I could save even $51 a day then I could fast-track my financial independence. This was a mind-blowing moment for me. Just $1 more per day. I was hooked.

To figure out when you can retire early, check out this early retirement calculator:

Assumptions

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5. Create a Simple Investing Strategy

A good early retirement investing strategy should be simple, focused on stocks, bonds, and real estate, and be executed consistently. You should have both a short-term investing (money you’ll need in the next five years) and long-term investing (money you’ll need in 10+ years) strategy.

While you can invest in anything, only invest in what you understand, and stick with asset classes that have performed well historically like stocks, bonds, and real estate. It’s also essential to make sure your money is working as hard as it can for you by investing in a tax-efficient way. This just means that you invest in your accounts the right way.

To learn more about how to invest for early retirement check out my step-by-step posts on best investing strategies and my early retirement investing strategy, as well as my book Financial Freedom, where I’ve outlined a 7-step investing strategy to help anyone retire early.

6. Fast Track Your Early Retirement by Investing More

I started depositing as much money as possible every day into my investment accounts. I downloaded the Vanguard app and literally make deposits every single day directly into my investment accounts. Some days it was only $5, but I rarely missed a day. Then I started a side hustle and put 100% of what I made directly into the same Vanguard account. I barely let deposits clear my bank account. The minute I saw the money in there I put it into an investment account.

I got really stoked when I was able to pass the $ 50-a-day deposit threshold. I started to feel in control. I knew that I was ahead. Every day that I deposited more than $50 I was ahead in my retirement savings.

Then I started trying to make as much money as possible every day so I could invest it. I stopped thinking long-term and thought every day about making that $50 threshold. When I got a bonus or a new client, those were just bonus points. BOOM, right into my investment account.

Do your own calculation – you might need a lot less.

Here is how much you need to save per day to reach your number:

early retirement 50 dollars day

Depositing money into my investment accounts every day felt, and still feels, like a game.

Fifty dollars went from being my daily goal to being my daily minimum. I started depositing $70, then $80, then $100 dollars a day. Then as my side hustles started really taking off I started depositing $500+ a day. Every check I got I put as much in as I could that day, but still kept my daily $50 deposit goal. Then I put $5,000 in a day, then $20,000 and the rest is history.

Using this early retirement hack I was able to reduce my 30-year saving plan down to just 5 years and reach financial independence!

I still do this to this day. Now I automate most of it and simply have the money pulled out of my account and put into Vanguard. My current minimum threshold is $200/day.

But you can start at any level that is comfortable for you. There are a ton of ways you can take this idea and run with it. Try depositing $5/day to start and then increase it $1/week. Trust me you probably aren’t going to miss that extra dollar.

There are a ton of apps you can use like Acorn and Digit to do this for you, but good old-fashioned manual depositing via your investment app (Betterment, Vanguard, Personal Capital, or any others) all make it super easy to deposit.

Personally, I use a combination of both automated and manual investments, since automation is my base and then I supplement it manually.

7. Track Your Savings Rate and Net-Worth

It’s not about how much money you make, it’s about how much money you keep and invest. You want the $1 you make to be worth $5, $10, or $20 in the future. This is how you amplify your time. The two most important numbers to track your early retirement strategy – are your savings rate and your net worth.

Savings Rate

Your savings is the percentage of your income that you’re saving either before or after taxes in all of your accounts (retirement, savings, etc.). There is a direct correlation between your savings rate and the years it will take you to retire early. The savings rate math is simple. No matter how much money you’re making, here’s how long you have to work to save 1 year of living expenses.

Working Years To Save 1 Year of Living Expenses Depending on Savings Rates:

  • 10% savings rate: 9 years of work (1-0.1)/0.1
  • 25% savings rate: 3 years of work (1-0.25)/0.25
  • 50% savings rate: 1 year of work (1-0.5)/0.5
  • 75% savings rate: 1/3 of a year of work(1-0.75)/0.75

As you can see the higher your savings rate the faster you’ll be able to retire early. Calculate your savings rate using our savings rate calculator.

Net-Worth

While your income, your savings rate, your investment returns, your debt to income ratio, and all those other numbers are important when optimizing your money, the single most important metric that you should be tracking is your net worth.

Your net-worth measures how much money you are worth by subtracting your liabilities (debt/what you owe) from your assets (what you own that has value, your cash, and investments). It doesn’t matter how much money you make if you spend it all.

Calculate your net worth using our net-worth calculator and monitor your net worth using the powerful free net-worth tracker Personal Capital.

You Can Retire Early Too!

The more you invest every day, the faster you will retire early. If it means that much to you, you’ll make time for it. Every $10 you invest today, could help you reach early retirement days, weeks, or maybe even months sooner in the future. Imagine how much time making that extra investment is buying you in the future time.

Now that you’ve learned how to retire early, you need to pay attention to the mechanics and make decisions that minimize taxes, minimize fees, and invest consistently in the right accounts the right way, so you can reach early retirement as quickly as possible.

To learn more about how to retire early and the exact steps I took to retire at 30 check out my book Financial Freedom: A Proven Path to All The Money You Will Ever Need.

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  • Comment Author image blank
    Saving money and investing early is the best way for your retirement plan. As what my financial advisor said the earlier the better. And yes, retirement calculator helps a lot when you are making a plan.
  • Comment Author image blank
    Hi Grant, beautifully structured article. covered all topics one could think of (or not) in this regards! cutting down on expenses was nice and an aha moment for me. side hustle, strategy all well written. thank you.
  • Comment Author image blank
    […] Grant Sabatier at Millennial Money […]
  • Comment Author image blank
    […] recently read an article about a $50 a day retirement plan on Millennial Money. If you were to invest $50 a day for 30 years you would end up with 1.2 million […]
  • Comment Author image blank
    Hi! Smart post! I want to invest my year end bonus, but no idea where to start. Do you have a post to show step by step on how to invest like you did? Thanks
  • Comment Author image blank
    Good to see I’m not the only one using a daily strategy. I found your page by searching to see if anyone was recommending this system. I completely agree that investing everyday is addictive and rewarding. I’ve found it much easier and achievable to drop small amounts in everyday rather than a monthly lump sum. It’s usually the first thing I do every morning, often before I’ve got out of bed! Good luck everyone
  • Comment Author image blank
    Hello Grant, This is a great post and has motivated me and others to try this strategy. I am confused on how to start. I have a 401K but only contribute a small amount so that I have enough cash each month to pay the bills etc..I rather look at my savings each day or week and then invest a certain amount to a fund. But can I also invest in a Roth, since I don't know if I am eligible because of my combined income with my wife. Or is there a good taxable account I could start maybe. Confused investor!!
  • Comment Author image blank
    Hey Grant, Plenty of great advice in here. Committing to a daily amount to invest takes the abstract concept of eventual financial freedom and focuses it down to a bite-sized level that each person can make sense of. I recently paid my truck off which was the last piece of debt that I had. As a result, I'm able to invest an additional ~$20 per day. It all adds up. Take care, Ryan
  • Comment Author image blank
    Hey Grant, You write a wonderful post for me about early retirement strategy. It can help to evaluate my earlier spending and how much I have to invest monthly to reach that point of financial freedom. I have also used your calculator It working wisely. Thank You!
  • Comment Author image blank
    Hi Grant, Great post by you about early retirement strategy. I'm 35 years old and now engaged in a job. Your strategy helps me to learn more about early plans of retirement. Thank You!
  • Comment Author image blank
    I started with $5 a day back in college. When all my friends were getting an extra drink at last call, I had water and started investing in myself. Now I am up to $87 daily savings. It's important for young adults to find their inner money mindset. Or else, the millennial generation is going to be poorer than our parents. Keep spreading words of encouragement Grant!
  • Comment Author image blank
    Hello! I am fresh out of college and diving in to personal finance. I have a question on investing. When you say that you deposit money every day in to your "investment accounts", what exactly is meant by "investment accounts"? I am determined to start investing my money but have no idea where to start when we say "investing accounts". Are these stocks? What kind of accounts are these, and furthermore, how does one actually go about setting up these accounts? Through sites like Ally Financial for example? Any info here to help get started is appreciated. Thank you very much!
  • Comment Author image blank
    Thanks, Grant! What do you think of apps like Acorn or Robinhood?
  • Comment Author image blank
    Love the article Grant! Thanks! We are just starting and wondering the easiest way to start. You mentioned Vangaurd in the comments. I'll look into it. What do you think about apps like Acorn or Robinhood?
  • Comment Author image blank
    Grant can you comment on where you are depositing this money? As you know the IRS has a maximum for 401k contribution of around 18k and a maximum of 5500 on an IRA annually. With that said other than investing in stocks I dont see where else the money from $200/day could be contributed to? Other than a standard savings account
  • Comment Author image blank
    Great post sir! $50 a day is a great way to start. Or sometimes just save a cup of coffee a day could make a big difference. Thanks for writing!
  • Comment Author image blank
    Mr. Money Moustache says invest in vanguard with Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. It requires a minimum of 3,000 to get started. Do you just save 3K and then start investing? Or is there something that a poor graduate student can start investing in that is just as good?
    • Grant Sabatier
      You can start with a Total Stock Market ETF that has no minimum.
  • Comment Author image blank
    An insightful post. While I can't afford to save $50/day, I have implemented the strategy starting where I am and with what I have. My goal is to scale up accordingly. I hope that one day I too can save $20k/day! That is just insane!
  • Comment Author image blank
    Very nice strategy to motivate anyone to save. I started off years ago doing 3-5% and am now doing many times that. I had to work my way though. I think just about any goal is attainable, if you want it bad enough. Thanks, GBM
  • Comment Author image blank
    Hi Grant, love the blog and the super short podcast tips, learning so much! Quick question, you say you deposit money into your investment account daily but do you invest that money daily? I would think this would incur a large amount of transaction fees from the broker (in your case vanguard)?! If you don't invest it daily, do you have a certain threshold before you invest it? Thanks!
    • Grant Sabatier
      Yes daily, most Vanguard funds don't charge a transaction fee! https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/fees
  • Comment Author image blank
    I read that you had 7 income streams from side hustles. What type of side hustles did you have producing those revenue streams?
    • Grant Sabatier
      Hi John. Here are some of the many side hustles I've done: https://millennialmoney.com/best-side-hustles/
  • Comment Author image blank
    I did exactly this a few years ago. I knew I was going to retire early and wanted to make a final push to pad my overall assets and net worth. So I identified $100 per day for as many days in a row as I could. This was in addition to what I was already saving normally. So it was like finding new ways to save or generate savings. The best were recurring fees that I was able to reduce (like optimizing insurance and cancelling cable), but I also just sold stuff that I didn't need anymore (like an old snowboard that was actually a collectors item). In two weeks, I managed to unlock $2,800 in pretty low hanging fruit--which worked out to well over $100 per day. I think this approach is so much better than trying to budget.
    • Grant Sabatier
      Thanks Tom! I'm all about that low-hanging fruit.
  • Comment Author image blank
    Hey Grant, i read this article of yours a while ago and it was pure inspiration&motivation for me. - TX - Breaking down the numbers to the daily amount made it seem a lot easier to realize. I cut costs at all corners and reached 50$ a day this year. Greetings form Germany, DividendSolutions
    • Grant Sabatier
      YESSSSSS! This is great to here. Keep me posted on how the $50 a day strategy goes this year!
  • Comment Author image blank
    I am 47 we only make 18 000$ a year so..."only" saving 18 000$ a year? What would you suggest? The 50$ a day is good for people that makes 40 000$ a year
    • Comment Author image blank
      Hi Julie. Start small and increase savings when you can. I started at $5 per day.
  • Comment Author image blank
    Would this concept be different for someone in Canada? Would someone in Canada use a different app?
    • Comment Author image blank
      Hi Jessa. I don't know much about Canada, but the concept of daily saving definitely still applies. You can use whatever investing app you feel comfortable with - the key is to stick with it!
  • Comment Author image blank
    Where did the $1.2MM figure come from? Just curious if this is for a single person and if I would need to multiply by 2 if married. Thanks! Great article!
    • Comment Author image blank
      I came from me multiplying my expected annual expenses of $50,000 x 25 (which is a baseline calculation of money needed to retire). Annual expenses x 25.
  • Comment Author image blank
    What were some of your side hustles? For millennials, pumping out $18,250 per year (equivalent of $50.00 per day) in after tax dollars would be quite an achievement given the costs of student loans, housing expenses, and living costs that compete for the paycheck. In Buffalo, NY....a single income earner making a gross salary of $40,000 would expect to have around $31,300 after taxes. Less $50.00 per day...that leaves $13,050 for all of life's living expenses! What was your strategy for building up your salary in order to be able to hit your $50.00 per day goal?
    • Comment Author image blank
      These ar all great questions Michael. I started at $5 per day and then tried to quickly escalate my savings rate. I did this through side hustling and making money any way I could - even if it was just for small amounts of money, every day I thought about how I could save more money that day. To your point it's hard to save that much making $40,000, but I hear from readers who do and save at least 50% of their income - it either comes down to choices and sacrifices at that salary level, or making more money by getting a raise or side hustling.
  • Comment Author image blank
    This is a great tip using human nature. Thank you. I am a complete novice at financing and investing. My biggest question is what kind of investment account do you use? like a mutual fund? I save vigorously, but just my old fashioned savings account. I think the key here from reading your article is putting money into an investment account, not just a simple savings account. However, with investment account, isn't it possible we may lose money if the market crashes? That's my vague understanding of investment anyway... Or maybe there are more secure ways to have an investment account? Would love to know. Thank you
    • Comment Author image blank
      Thanks Dana. Yes an investment can always lose money, but the stock market has historically always gone up over any 10 year period. But I always think about investing for the long term, so your personal circumstances may be different. When you think about investing long term, the key is to invest as much as you can as frequently as you can (Google search dollar cost averaging). I invest mostly in low-cost index funds through Vanguard. You can learn more about my investing strategies by clicking here and here.
  • Comment Author image blank
    thanks
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    This sounds like a great idea, and I'm sure it is to save daily. However, not many people can reach that same amount, without a tremendous "side hustle". Most of us 9 to 5'er's don't have time for a side hustle or one that pays so hugely. What is your side hustle?
    • Comment Author image blank
      Thanks CT. The $50 was my number I needed to hit - there are so many factors that impact what your own number should be. The key idea is that when you transition from thinking about saving once a month to once a day. What worked best for me was investing a little each day until I could get up to the $50 mark. When I started I was only investing $5 a day and worked hard to find side hustles to push that number higher. Most of my side hustles have been focused on digital marketing - you can check out more here: https://millennialmoney.com/best-side-hustles/
  • Comment Author image blank
    Grant, I currently have a Roth IRA at Vanguard, with I max out yearly. You have motivated me to start the $50 daily strategy! What type of investment account did you deposit your $50 into at Vanguard? Do I pick the investments within this account? Thanks.
    • Comment Author image blank
      Hi Sue - checkout https://millennialmoney.com/millennial-money-portfolio/
  • Comment Author image blank
    This is a great concept to build a habit and achieve large goals. Another way to look at contributions... some plans focus on auto increasing annually. Say your target is 15% and you're at 10%. Instead of doing a full percent increase each year break it down monthly. 1/12% increase each month. This takes the sting away while you ramp up to your goal. Great post.
    • Comment Author image blank
      Thanks Warren.
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    I think that's a great way to save. Personally, I can't do it everyday, but I'm glad it works for you. It's just easier for me to do it once per month or something like that. You gotta take it one day at a time.
    • Comment Author image blank
      Thanks Jow. Whatever works - as long as the saving happens. I personally always made excuses when I pushed it to the end of the month.
  • Comment Author image blank
    Great idea! We as humans work best when we break the task at hand down to the smallest measurable task. This is a perfect example of that. Thanks for sharing!
    • Comment Author image blank
      Thanks Charlie.
  • Comment Author image blank
    My 29 year old son and I both read this post. Mind. Blown. Scott Lara, Jax Fl.
    • Comment Author image blank
      Thanks Scott!
  • Comment Author image blank
    I love the concept of breaking down goals to make them more achievable. When I first read I'd need to save $1 million to retire I looked at my bank balance and thought 'this is never going to happen.' By breaking it down it didn't feel so overwhelming. Seeing that my current savings rate it will take me 33 years to reach my goal has also been a motivator to increase my income and I've been working on that for a little while now. + 1 as well for manually transferring money. It's fortnightly for me in line with my pay periods, however it is really motivating to actually see the money moving. Thanks for a great post!
    • Comment Author image blank
      Thanks Miss Balance. I was overwhelmed too and saving daily helped make it more manageable, and accessible to me.
  • Comment Author image blank
    Great idea! Think I'll start this once we get settled in our new place
    • Comment Author image blank
      Thanks Jen. Best of luck! Let me know how it goes.
  • Comment Author image blank
    I LOVE this! I blog a lot about found money and this is a great example of it. I also have a son named Grant. :)
    • Comment Author image blank
      Nice! I've met 11 Grants in my life. Most of them were under 10 years old. Maybe it's getting more popular? My Mom picked it because she didn't want me to have a nickname. Now she calls me Millennial Money - lol. j/k. Thanks for the kind words Julie.
  • Comment Author image blank
    Hey, any strategy that helps us reach savings goals is a good strategy! I'm all for it, thanks for sharing.
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      Thanks Kurt.
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    Good post. I like the idea of it being a game and competing with yourself. I've been selling stuff on eBay and I transfer money everyday from my PayPal account into my savings account. I think it's very motivating to see the progress and growing balances.
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      Nice Frugal Prof. It's definitely super motivating transferring money daily. I'm happy to hear you've been saving your eBay side hustle money. Great call!
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    This is great! I usually look at what I can do monthly versus daily... I guess with some minor tweaks I could start upping that! When you start turning it into a game and get serious about playing, this can really add up!
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      Try it! It's a lot of fun. Thanks Steven.
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    Great hack! I love this approach of viewing it on a daily schedule. Weekly or monthly can be easy to forget!
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      Thanks Matt. A Grant a day makes retirement possible!
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    Great way to break the goals down into daily chunks in a way that makes the goals not just comprehensible, but also manageable for most people. I think everyone who lives moderately comfortable today could probably find a way to finance those $50 per day, either by reducing expenses or by hustling on the side.
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      Thanks Lars-Christian.
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    We don't need that much money to retire. The financial industry tries to convince us we need millions to retire safely, but we know people are retiring with so much less. $50k a year is $137 a day! Maybe I am cheap but I can't imagine spending that much... Great post!
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      Thanks! I agree. I think a lot of people will need a lot less money than they think. But better safe than sorry right. $50K a year is a lot of money most places today, but who knows what $50K can buy in 30 years.
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    Love this hack! It's a great way to break down what seems like an impossible goal, like a million dollars in savings, and see it as achievable through small daily steps. It's certainly worth a try if you're finding it difficult to put away money towards long-term goals or financial independence - start with just a few dollars a day and work your way up.
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      Thanks Liz!
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    Hey Grant, I usually just try to save a percentage of my income. However, this seems like it could be a really motivating way to save. Thanks for sharing!
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      Thanks Graham. It's definitely worth testing a few ways. It was always easier and more effective for me to think about hitting a daily savings goal. The daily habit was/is huge for me. But taking the same idea I could also save $350 per week or $1,400 a month and still get there. BUT...... when I do it every day I always try and deposit more. When I tried to do it each week I would be like boom, $350 deposit done! Doing the deposit every day really helps me push it. So some days I was putting in $100 or more - then looking back at the end of the month I would have put in $2,600 instead of just the $1,400 if I just deposited monthly. That's key for me.
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    Good hack. Personally I don't do this daily, but to prevent myself from overspending when I get my paycheck I put aside the money which I need for special tasks. One third goes to mortgage payment, one third goes to savings account/emergency fund and one third remains for monthly expenses. The only trick in this that I cannot use money directly from the savings account so in case of something emergency expense I need manual work to make it available, and if you have to do something like that you have to have a good reason. Also if there is something left of the money for monthly expenses in the end of the month it goes also directly to the savings. (Please don't judge me for not investing my savings, unfortunately I don't have easy access to brokerage accounts)
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      Thanks Peter. It sounds like you have a system that works for you - which is most important. This is just the system that worked best for me and really help bring the idea of "saving enough for retirement" down to earth for me. I couldn't grasp the huge numbers and I know this trips a lot of people up. It's just too daunting. But $50 a day seemed doable for me and when I really started maximizing it every day, my investing account really started to build a lot faster than I expected. Where are you located?
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    Awesome hack but did you have a daily cash flow? I am trying to transfer money every week since I get pay every week, but I don't really see what difference it can do to transfer this amount on a daily basis.
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      Good question. Yes as my side hustles picked up I started having more frequent cash flow. It's also more of a mindset, where the daily deposits have made a bigger impact than weekly ones. I tried weekly and would forget, or put it off if I had a big expense. Doing it daily really got me excited and focused on my finances. So for example even when I got a bi-weekly check instead of depositing it at that time, I would wait and put it in at $50 a day so I knew I was sticking to my plan. When there was extra I would deposit extra. Some days If I only have $60 for that day, I'd forgo going out so I could put the $50 in. For me it's mindset and daily repetition that works best. Hope this helps. Thanks TFT.
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    Simple but such a great hack, thanks for sharing! I know how awesome it feels when my automated transfer shows up in my investment account once a month - I can totally see how it would be so much more rewarding to do it manually and daily (addictive, in a good way!).
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      Thanks Kate. This one hack changed my life. I hope it helps others do the same!