A mother of two explained how she retired at age 41, with less than $1 million in the bank, after working non-stop since she was 14.
Lakisha Simmons retired from her 9-to-5 job in 2021 and hasn’t looked back.
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Growing up, she always saw her family do jobs that required physical labor.
He taught her that “you do what you have to do to take care of your family.”
But she had a goal of retiring at 45 and joining the financially independent movement, retire early – or FIRE.
She was making $150,000 a year as an assistant professor at Belmont University, and things were getting stressful.
His classes moved online at the height of the pandemic and work became more demanding than ever.
“I looked at my investments even during the pandemic and realized how much they grew,” she said in an interview with CNBC Do it.
She realized she could stop working full-time sooner than expected with just $850,000.
Simmons was below her goal of saving 25 times the amount she needed to live on, but she knew she could do side hustles like speaking engagements and running her Etsy store to keep growing her funds.
“I have other ways to generate income, so I knew I didn’t need to have my entire $1 million nest egg to live on,” she said.
She didn’t make any contributions to her investments after retiring, but in less than a year, she grew the value to more than $900,000.
More than half of your investment portfolio is deep in the S&P 500 index and another 25% is spread across the rest of the stock market.
Simmons also owns individual shares in companies such as Apple and Amazon.
A DAY IN THE LIFE
In retirement, Simmons wakes up and spends quality time with his children every morning.
When they arrive at school, she begins working on herself and her current endeavors.
She even has a few mentees who she is also helping to achieve financial independence.
“Believe it or not, the days go by quickly when you’re laid off,” she said.
Simmons admits he’s had to downsize a bit, but he still lives comfortably.
At the beginning of her FIRE journey, she looked at her budget line by line and started cutting things.
When I think about what’s next for me, there are so many opportunities out there
Lakisha Simmons
“I had an Audible subscription, and I cut it off and went to the library,” she said.
“I looked at everything in that budget and said, ‘Where can I find a replacement for this?’”
She tried to get things for free, like moving to the library, or drastically reduced the cost.
“FIRE offers choices and opportunities,” she said.
“I don’t want anyone to think you FUCK and then ride off into the sunset.
“Now I am living my life more fully. When I think about what’s next, there are a lot of opportunities.”
CHEERED UP
Simmons and many others have used the money-saving strategy known as “lean” FIRE.
This involves creating a very tight budget that reduces all extra expenses.
Tanner Firl plans to retire at just 35 using the FIRE method.
The 29-year-old has already saved $380,000 and plans to save at least $625,000 before he retires.
He earns $135,000 a year as a software engineer, but plans to live off just $25,000 a year from his investment portfolio.
“We have also gained a reputation among our friends and family for being very frugal and frugal,” Firl said.
“We end up getting a lot of free stuff just because a family member sees something free on the side of the road and thinks we might like it.”
“In life, there is no shortage of experiences, and most of the experiences that will make you happy are probably free or extremely cheap.”
A financial expert recently revealed why the popular 50/30/20 rule doesn’t work.
Plus, see how a couple retired at age 40 with just $540,000.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
