As I have been refining my goal to retire by the age that I am 27 (meaning that I work less than 3 days a week to maintain passive income streams), I have received a lot of helpful feedback. One of the biggest critiques that I have heard is that I need more specifics. I need specific goals and target dates to help push myself. As I have been working out the details, I have put some details on paper. I figured I would share you my detailed retirement plan that will allow me to retire by the age of 27. I hope you will understand that there are still some details that I need to nail down, but this is a huge improvement.
Phase 1 – Increase Online Income / Quit Day Job
I have been working hard to expand my efforts with various blogs. I know own 3 blogs by myself, contribute to a couple others, and have a few partnerships. I think I have the base established for what will become a diversified portfolio of blogs. If I can build up my three blogs that I own myself, I think that will be enough to help me reach my target amount of income for phase one.
Target Income: $2500
As part of the 30k Challenge, I am working to earn $30,000 from blogging in 2012. In order to reach this goal, that means that I have to earn $2500 each month on average. I think it will be difficult in the first couple of months, but I have a great base that should reach beyond this amount to compensate for the first couple of months. Since I am already aiming for this goal and it is close to what I currently make, my goal is to earn $2500.
Target Date: 1/1/2013
Because I know that I cannot continue at the pace that I am going forever, I do suspect that I will quit my day job. My plan is to quit my day job by January 2013. I need to stay at my current job for certain benefits that will continue through the end of December and I might as well “work” through the Christmas season to take advantage of the paid holiday. This isn’t set in stone, but I will do it as long as I have 3-4 consistent months at or above my target amount of income.
Phase 2 – Expand Online Empire / Cut Back Time Commitment
Once I quit my day job, I plan to expand my online empire and start delegating tasks. I will hire staff writers for some of my blogs in order to free up some time and allow me to continue my cycle of building up profitable blogs/websites. I will make this shift gradually so that I don’t over-commit my income from blogs. I believe that if I can create / manage the blogs to a point where they are successful, I can delegate tasks to reduce my time commitment. That is what part of my retirement goal is all about – giving me more time to do what I find meaning in.
Target Date: 6/1/2013
I want to reduce my time commitment while also increasing or sustaining my net income from online efforts, so that I can begin to diversify beyond online income.
Phase 3 – Diversify Beyond Online
By the time I have reached this point, I hope to have a sizable down payment saved up in order to invest in real estate that will generate a positive cash flow. This will allow me to have a long term investment. I plan to continue to invest in real estate as I can afford the down payment(s) from my online income. This will provide me further diversification and an extra cushion should online income cut out in the future (who can guarantee that this will continue forever, right?). I hope to have 1-2 properties by 6/1/2014 (before my 27th birthday). Once I reach this state, I will decide whether I want to continue to expand into real estate or work on paying off the mortgages earlier. For these kind of details, you will have to wait to see what I choose to do.
I will continue to restrict myself from working more than 3 days a week so that I still have the freedom to enjoy life. While I do want to stay busy (retirement isn’t just sitting around all day), this early retirement plan is ultimately about the freedom that it will allow me. I don’t want to become a workaholic just for the sake of earning more money. I believe I can live comfortably with this plan and still help others along the way.
So, stay tuned for more information. I have put up a progress bar on the right hand of this site that will be updated as I make progress. Each month, I will update my latest income report figure for everyone to see on a quick basis. If you want more details, you can read my passive income reports. Yes, I know that my income on these is not completely passive, but it is all part of the plan. Eventually it will be!
I love reading about people’s plans. This sounds pretty good to me!
Thank you for being so open with your readers! I find it very motivating to see what others are up to and what their goals are. Do you have a goal of what you want to do once you semi-retire? i.e. sit by the beach? raise children?
Thanks for laying out your plan. It’s interesting to see your timeline for the early retirement. It seems more accomplishable after seeing the plan laid out (I’m a plan person though). Good luck and I’ll be following closely.
Thanks TOF. Yes, I agree. It seems more manageable when it is written down (or typed out).
You only need 30k to quit you day job?
Yep – I live simply and my wife works too. We could get by on her income, but my income lets us invest for our future and enjoy a few luxuries.
Plus, with 30k, I would feel comfortable enough that I can increase my online income.
Corey you just gave me a huge idea for a post. I’m not sure even if I replace my income that I would leave my current job. I’m curious what is your “I’m not quitting number?” Say you made 200k, would you quit your job once you made that from your blog? How could you leave 200k behind?
That’s a good question – I’m not sure. It would be hard to leave 200k behind, but if I were making 200k from online, I would probably quit.
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I have the same goals — online income plus rental real estate. I can’t wait to see your progress!
Thanks Paula. I am moving along nicely. If I can progressing at this rate, I will be there in no time.
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It still amazes me that you can generate such a nice income from such a few blogs. Would you mind sharing how you built up to such a high level? It seems unattainable to some of us.
The two best things you can do is to write quality content and network with other blogs. I will try to share more in future posts, as this is the purpose of my site.
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