75 - Want to become loaded for life? Nathan Carter Author of Loadforlife.com shares how

Self Reliant Wealth

At the age of 27 I returned to the United States with my girlfriend (now wife) after completing an assignment with the Peace Corps. Readjusting to life in America had a few surprises, most of which were pleasant like regular hot water and a wide range of options in grocery stores. But one of the shocks was seeing friends, who had skipped graduate school and two years in Africa, who were now four or five years into their careers. They were earning good salaries and appeared financially secure. We wouldn't trade the experiences we had overseas, but it made me realize I knew nothing about investing and I had a sense of unease that I was financially way behind my peers. Fortunately, fear can be an excellent motivator.

I spent my nights and weekends learning the difference between stocks, bonds, IRAs, index funds, REITS, and eventually rental properties. The Motley Fool was a great help as were books like Rich Dad, Poor Dad and the Millionaire Next Door. Along the way, I read that the medical device company Medtronic writes a 100 year strategic plan to chart its future. I thought if a company has a 100 year plan, then we needed a 30 year plan. I used retirement calculators to determine what we needed to save to be financially free. Saving this amount would allow us to retire at the age of 57 and to continue traveling overseas. This seven figure goal looked daunting at the time. I was making $24,000 a year and my wife was making about $30,000. I had $1,500 remaining from the $4,800 Peace Corps provided to help returning volunteers readjust to America. I had spent the balance traveling for months in the Middle East including hitchhiking in Syria, Jordan and Israel. We designed a plan that would let us retire in 30 years, but were able to reach our goal in 12 years. Since then we have hit this finical goal two more times well before age 57.

Connect with Nathan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-carter208/

https://www.facebook.com/NCLoaded4Life

https://twitter.com/NC_Loaded4Life

Loaded For Life:

https://www.loadedforlife.com/

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