Derek Foster is Canadian and some of his theories apply best here (no health insurance requirement). Here is a link to a Canadian site with a very long thread on his book: Financial Webring Forum :: View topic - Stop Working: Here's How You Can!
Derek Foster is Canadian and some of his theories apply best here (no health insurance requirement). Here is a link to a Canadian site with a very long thread on his book: Financial Webring Forum :: View topic - Stop Working: Here's How You Can!
In 1944 Anne Scheiber, a lifelong federal employee whose income never surpassed $3,150 a year--yes, the figure is correct!--invested $5,000 in blue-chip stocks. When she died in 1995 her stocks were worth $22 million--that figure is also correct!--and she was receiving an annual income of over $1 million in dividends from them. The Dividend Growth Investment Strategy tells how she did it and how others can invest long-term in stock for retirement income.
Dividend-growth stocks can pay off big over a period of many decades (The Power of Dividend Growth).
One of the paragraphs in the book The Dividend Growth Investment Strategy: How to Keep Your Retirement Income Doubling Every Five Years is the following, which shows what half a century of compounding can do:
Compounding works wonders when left to do its magic over a period of many decades (which is why it's important to start when one is young). It might be possible to retire on one's investment income after only a couple of decades when starting from scratch by using the strategy of LBYM and investing the rest intelligently (assuming good health and few family responsibilities). It may take others a decade or two longer, but it doesn't matter how long it takes once you arrive (i.e., the supermarket checkout clerk doesn't care how long it took you to be able to live on the investment income you are using to pay for your groceries).
The book The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich probably describes how many people on this list were able to FIRE. I was using the principles described in this book long before it was written because the book is about basic financial common sense. The book reinforced what I was doing and helped me steer clear of the "get rich quick" schemes (such as trying to time the market) that were a temptation when the market took its tumble after the dot-com bust.
Combining the approaches described in these two books should result in a winning strategy anyone can use to FIRE. I was able to FIRE using the "total return" approach (with managed accounts) described in the book Work Less, Live More. Now I'm putting fresh money into dividend growth stocks to get a margin of safety so that my FIRE situation is that much stronger (the current volatile market conditions are providing a strong motivation to stick to my plan, in addition to allowing me to buy good dividend growth stocks on the cheap).
The recently-published book The Ultimate Dividend Playbook: Income, Insight and Independence for Today's Investor describes what to look for in a good dividend-paying stock. I've found that investing $20 in a good personal finance book provides a very high ROI once its principles are digested and practiced (and one can raise that ROI even higher by borrowing these kinds of books from the local library).
This is what happens when benefits are strictly means-tested for current annual income. Even young, able-bodied folks with substantial assets can suckle from the public teat.Another thing that doesn't seem to be real popular about Derek is his taking advantage of some Canadian Child Support System.
Just read through the discussion on the link - thanks.
Truth is he has an an income from multiple sources - his dividend paying portfolio, the Canadian government income support for children of low income parents, rent from a property he owns plus book sales.
Nice loophole there. I don't fault someone for using legal means to "game the system" like this, but it does show that perhaps some laws and tax breaks/credits need to be tightened up a bit...Actually the $400,000 portfolio might work out for him. Why? In Canada dividend income is given a low tax rate, when you get down to the lowest tax bracket your tax credit becomes greater than your dividend. So Mr. Foster isn't paying ANY income tax. None, zero, zip, $0.
In the first place, toss away 100k, us Americans are tougher, 300k is more challenging, I'm the only guy that could/did pull it, not recommended for anyone else - although a few posters here beat my all time 12k, one budget.
'Do or do not - there is no try' Yoda
'Never tell me the odds' - Han Solo.
heh heh heh - Canadian woosie probably uses heat in winter. . 'Don't read books!' - unclemick.
BTW - retire on 300k - boy! I'd never try THAT again. All praise to balanced index and Mr Bogle.
In the first place, toss away 100k, us Americans are tougher, 300k is more challenging, I'm the only guy that could/did pull it off( a legend in my own mind), not recommended for anyone else - although a few posters here beat my all time 12k, one yr. budget.
BTW - retire on 300k - boy! I'd never try THAT again. All praise to balanced index and Mr Bogle.
Until her death last year my grand mother lived on less than $500 a month, saving almost half of her social security check each month. And her brother lived on even less that that claiming my grandmother was wasting money when she installed central heating in her house.
But living in a country that provides its citizens with a wide range of social benefits is definitely an advantage for the people who retire on less. ... So if your not ashamed to play the system, your net income might actually be much higher than $1350. It could actually start to rival the average net income earned by working people with decent qualifications!
Good grief! What were they saving their money for? I guess they were happy enough with what they have, and I am sure that they did not feel deprived. Which shows happiness is just a state of mind.
About the European systems, no wonder so many of them have stagnant economies...
No kidding. But it is the choice they have made for themselves. Sacrifice growth for more income equalities. It seems to work for them and while I do appreciate some aspects of such policy, I also recognize that it encourages free loading and other less appealing human behavior.
My wife's nephew married a Dannish girl. From him, we learned that her family hated their socialist policies. In fact, quite a few of her family members have emigrated to the US. Yet, some surveys on "national happiness" reported that overall, many European countries have happier campers than the US. It has a lot to do with economic security, I am sure. But the Americans do not realize that they can create their own security, like your grandparents and grand uncle have done.
PS. I've probably misread your post. Your relatives were living in Europe, not the US, yes?