Early Retirement Blog

Today is Your Financial Independence Day

Over two centuries ago, on the 4th of July 1776, Americans declared their independence from the British empire. This 4th of July you can declare your independence from the Wall Street empire.

Just as only a small portion of the American population gained true independence on that fateful day 223 years ago, (the majority of the population was comprised of poor white indentured servants, black slaves, and ethnically cleansed native people who would not receive their independence for centuries to come) today the vast majority of Americans are financial wage slaves of Wall Street.

Only a very small minority of Americans in the year 2009 enjoy financial independence.   The rest spend their entire lives toiling away as wage slaves to support the Wall Street empire, working many years longer than necessary, filling the coffers of the empire with additional income from fees and commissions.

Wall Street uses an army of financial planners, 401k administrators, and lobbyists to insure that Americans will never achieve financial independence.   Wall Street owned magazines and newspapers print financial propaganda, a mixture of fear, greed, and distraction, that keeps workers worried, unsatisfied, and confused.

However, the main weapon used by the Wall Street empire, to deny Americans  their financial freedom, is the formula for calculating retirement savings needs.    Retirement is financial independence, the point at which you no longer have to work, to financially support yourself.

Used for generations by tens of millions of working Americans, the Wall Street formula for calculating retirement savings needs, over-estimates the amount of savings needed to retire, forcing Americans to work many years longer than necessary.   And by design, the formula makes it nearly impossible, for   average working Americans to achieve financial freedom.

The Wall Street formula uses a percentage of a worker’s salary to calculate their retirement savings needs.

Retirement = 80% of Salary

The Wall Street formula guesses that a worker will need to be able to spend the equivalent of 80% of their current salary every year in retirement.   The 80% part of the formula is an over estimation. The salary part is used to keep you in wage slavery.

The only purpose in using a person’s salary in the formula, is to punish Americans whenever they get a pay raise, using their salary to keep them in wage slavery.   Every increase in your salary, using the Wall Street formula, increases the amount of savings you need to retire.

The truth is that the amount of savings you need to retire, the amount of savings you need to achieve financial independence, is not determined by your salary.   The truth is how much you spend in retirement, determines how much savings you need for retirement, and when you can achieve financial independence.

And since you control how much you will spend in retirement, you control how much savings you need for retirement, and when you can retire.

You are in control of your financial independence – Wall Street uses your salary to control you.

Millions of working Americans are in a position to be financially independent right now, or with a few lifestyle changes, could achieve financial independence much sooner than they ever imagined.   Becoming financially independent is a simple three step process:

3 Steps to Financial Independence:

Step1 – Determine how much you need to spend
Step 2 – Calculate how much savings you will need
Step 3 – Save towards financial independence

Step 1
Determine how much you need to spend, to support you and your family, when you stop working.   And remember, the less you spend in retirement, the less savings you need, the sooner you will become financially independent. You need to create a retirement budget. Check out our retirement budgeting software, that makes planning and maintaining your retirement, simple and easy.

Step 2
Calculate how much savings you need to become financially independent.  How much savings you need to retire is determined by how much you plan to spend when you retire.   You control how much you will spend in retirement, therefore, you control how much savings you will need for retirement.

The less you spend in retirement, the less savings you will need for retirement, the sooner you can become financially independent.   Use our free retirement calculator to find out how much savings you really need to retire.  It’s a lot less than you think.

Step 3
Once you know how much savings you need to become financially independent, begin saving as much as you possibly can to reach your goal of financial independence, and remember, you can always reduce the amount of savings you need by reducing the amount you will spend in retirement.

Using the Early Retirement Planning formula and method, enables you to retire with less savings and many years earlier, by calculating the positive impact living a green lifestyle has on your retirement savings needs.

For instance, if you decide to give up your car in retirement, you can retire with $180,000 less in retirement savings.   How many extra years of working will it take you to save an extra $180,000?  Give up your car before you retire, use public transportation to commute to work, and after 20 years of investing the savings you could have an additional $400,000 in retirement savings.

Going Green, conserving your financial resources, is the key to financial independence.

Wall Street has Americans hooked on a lifestyle of consumption, that is damaging to the environment, and to your retirement.   Using your financial resources to destroy earth’s natural resources,   and in the process, placing generations of American families in debt.

Families who owe more than they own, who can never become financially independent, who can never stop working.

Visit the Early Retirement Planning Website to learn how to become financially independent.