Financial Autonomy

The goal for many in the Financial Autonomy community is to retire early. Early retirement means different things to different people, but as I always talk about, Financial Autonomy is about gaining choice. So whether you’re early retirement consists of lying on the beach in Fiji at age 40, or traveling around Australia with your caravan when you’re 55 and picking up odd jobs as they crop up, this post is for you. I haven’t gone into a tonne of detail on any of these 6 ideas, because to my mind, a hack means a short cut, and so that’s what I’m delivering here today. 1.  Work out your expenses Start by determining what you spend now. The banks are coming up with good tools to help you in this area. There’s also a good tool at the MoneySmart web site. Once you’ve figured that out, create a second version with what you would expect that to become once you retire. Will you travel more? Will you go down to one car in the household. Perhaps the kids will be off your hands and so food costs will decline. Maybe you’