Retiring in your 40s without striking it rich

Even though I'm still far away from retirement, I'm already looking forward to the day when I can work because I want to rather than because I need money. Undoubtedly, others are in the same boat no matter how old you are currently. This is the first year that Danielle and I maxed out our 401k contributions (though we've been aggressively contributing before that, just not to the max) in the hopes that early savings can lead to early retirement.

And apparently it can work! MSN Money has an interesting article titled, "Retired by 50: What it really takes." Granted, they aren't talking about retiring and traveling the world or spending every day on the golf course. But they do point out that making some sacrifices and saving diligently early in life will reap rewards later. (Thank you compound interest!) Another key piece of advice from the article is eliminate all debt. How can you save when you still owe others?

I'm not advocating giving up stuff you enjoy so that you can retire early at all costs, but just use reason and moderation when making decisions and pocket the extra money. Some of the examples in the article are a bit extreme, like living in a van while working as an engineer at Sun Microsystems but others make perfect sense such as living a minimal life. "It's not about what you have, it's about how little you need."

I've found that living in a one-bedroom apartment with my wife not only saves us rent money each month, it also saves us from buying things we don't need because we simply don't have space for more "stuff". We'll be at the store and see some new gizmo and get all excited about it. Then we ask ourselves "Where will we put it?" and 95% of the time we walk out empty handed.

Anyway, check out the article for some good stories about saving money early on and getting out of the rat-race while you're still young.

MSN Money - Retire by 50: What it really takes