The Top 10 Reasons Why You Won't Get To An Early Retirement

Yo!

I'm finishing off the last hours of my first week of vacation and so far...it has sucked!  I've had a sinus infection for like 8 straight days and am now just starting to feel human again.  I'm looking forward to next week when I'll be at full strength and my days will be more routine-like for vacation.  About the only thing I've done well so far is take naps...one long one per day.  They are so refreshing!  They give me a glimpse into the future of when I'll be retiring, able to nap at will without a care in the world.  For now, one of my greatest cares in the world is reaching early retirement.  Keepin' an eye on the prize can be a challenging thing for the best of us, and long vacations, come with the lure and complacency of "takin' it easy."

For you today, I have the top 10 things that can keep You from making it to an early retirement.  Here they are in no particular order:

Source

1) You don't have a money group.  These are friends, who like you, desire reaching early retirement and find talking about money as normal and commonplace as talking about current events.  If you can't text a friend about a stock, or email a buddy about a business move you need an opinion on, then you are doing it all wrong!  You need to be able to talk shop with someone about money related endeavors without feeling awkward or intrusive.

2) You have not communicated your early retirement goal to your significant other.  You and your partner must be able to talk money matters just as, if not more so, easily as you can with members of your money group.  AND...you must be in support/agreement of this goal with one another, i.e., one person cannot be sabotaging the other with each passing day.

3) You don't review your finances often enough.  What's often enough?  For me, it's like once a month.  For many of you, it's maybe once a year.

4) You don't introspectively evaluate your (poor) money habits, and make necessary changes.  In fact, you may not even know you have poor money habits because you think buying crap you don't need all the time is what everyone does.

5) Your home is your prison.  When you come home from a hard's day work, you'd rather eat, watch television, and relax until it's bedtime instead of improving yourself by perhaps spending 1 or 2 hours making up for your lack of financial literacy.

6) You have no early retirement game plan.  How will you get to early retirement?  Have you done a backwards map, starting with what the end looks like?

7) You don't automate your savings.  You wait until the end of the month to see what's left and then put this measly amount into a savings account.  You should automate paying yourself first!  You don't even need a budget to do this.

8) You don't look for ways to supplement your income.  Your salary isn't going to take you to the promise land...I promise!

9) You take on bad debt.  You buy a car every 5.5 years.  You over rely on your credit card, and have more than a $7K balance.

10) You don't accept personal responsibility for your poor money choices.  Instead you blame the government, Wall Street, or the economy.  You, in essence, victimize yourself.  "Woe is me."

The biggest reason for not making strides toward an early retirement comes down to YOU.  You are your own worst enemy, as the saying goes.  But you don't have to be.  Print this list out and pin it somewhere.  Compare what you are doing or not doing now to it.  Can you tack on or tack off a few more things on this list?  If not, then HOW can you?  Never put a wall in front of yourself.  Ask a question that presents a thinking opportunity for you and brainstorm solutions.

With that...I'm off to continue my vacation from work.  Let me see what else I can get into these next few days.  Take care and don't forget to subscribe to CCM blog if you liked this post and want more like them in your inbox.