How to Retire Younger than Mr. Money Mustache

Golfing buddies taking a break at the Vic Ferrari Charity Golf Event for Children’s Hospital

Several years ago while surfing the web I ran across a guy called Mr. Money Mustache, written by some crazy guy out in Colorado*. His claim to fame was that he retired at age 30, to which the Internet Retirement Police took him to task, claiming he did not ‘really’ retire at age 30. Not me. I sat back in my chair and wondered: What took him so long?

Fast forward to last weekend where my 21 year old daughter, Heather, complained about issues with her supervisor at work. It was the perfect opportunity for me, dear ‘ol dad, the Wealthy Accountant, to share some golden nuggets of truth.

The people living with me, sometimes known as family, are quite accustomed to my rants on how to live life, sometimes known as ‘dad’s little psychotic episodes’. The good father that I am, I share my lifetime of experiences liberally and sometimes even add a modest amount of BS. Let me be 100% clear here; I never lie. Ever!

Last weekend I had the perfect opportunity to explain to Heather how she can retire by age 25, younger than Mr. Money Mustache, and live the life she wants. The best part with my plan is she only has to work a half day three months a year followed by a nine month vacation.

Here is my, once again, flawless logic. Take a page from dad’s book. You see, dad, the Wealthy Accountant, started his business as a tax preparer only. In my mind there was no better job. For three months I work out of my home preparing taxes and for nine months I horse around. By working out of the home, overhead is almost zero. With a small amount of training, a computer and tax software you can bang out a couple hundred tax returns each spring filling your coffers with $30,000 – $50,000. Now you can enjoy a well-deserved nine month vacation after working that grueling part-time job for two and a half months. How do you do it?

Enter George Carlin

As much fun as I had with my daughter’s plight, there was a serious grain of truth to my reasoning. George Carlin was the best comedian to ever live. What made George so good was how he made us laugh. He told few jokes. What he did was show how the world really is until we saw the absurdity and started laughing.

The world could use George Carlin’s flawless logic right about now. The old paradigm of working 40 or more hours per week as the only way to get ahead is dead wrong. Have you ever noticed how many hours a day you really work? Filter out the bathroom breaks, socializing, checking email, picking your nose and scratching your butt and you will find you actually work four or fewer hours per day while the boss coughs up a hairball for a full eight hour workday. Even is the dead of tax season when I am hyper productive I noticed I only really working maybe six or seven hours per day. The stress of such productivity eventually wears me out and kills my productivity. Few people can remain productive for more than a few hours at a time.

Somewhere deep within these thoughts are nuggets of truth for living life. Technology has made our life even easier. The income you produce from ten to maybe as high as twenty hours a week covers all your needs and most of your wants. All the extra hours at the office are filled in to satisfy the clock.

Your personal life is no different. Bills, income and investing can all be set on autopilot. Computers do all the work for you. Machines make our lives so easy we now run to the gym so we can lift something and improve our health. That problem did not exist 100 years ago.

I challenge you, as I challenged my daughter, Heather. When you work, work. Get the work done and move on to enjoying your personal life. Back on the farm we have a saying: push, shove or get the hell out of the way. And talking about farming; I grew up on a farm. There were always breaks between unloading each wagon of hay. We worked hard in spring and fall, enjoying more free time (fishing anyone) the remainder of the year.

Heather has no desire to be a tax accountant. Maybe I can talk you into it. According to Robert Half (a temp agency for accounting professionals) informed me recently that during the Great Recession the unemployment rate in the accounting/tax industry reached a whopping 1.9%. It currently stands at 1.2%. We could use a few more good men (and women) in the field. The work is fun and you meet wonderful people. The best part is you can make a difference in so many people’s lives. A massive number of accounting firms would love to hire you full-time during tax season and reduce your hours to twenty or so hours a week the rest of the year. Heck, many would hire you for three months of tax season and give you the rest of the year off if you want. Or, you can work out of your home and set your own hours.

How Young Will You Retire

Once you have enough money to live you are working only to work, a fool’s errand. It is a lesson I still need to learn. I love my business, employees, clients and my work so I continue growing my practice. Pete, over at Mr. Money Mustache, thinks I’m “insane” to be working like I do at my age. My only retort is, “I am happy.” The reason I am happy is because I do what I love and have plenty of time off three quarters of the year. In my mind I make a difference; it is all that matters to me.

I told Heather she could retire at 25, younger than Mr. Money Mustache. I was only half joking. You don’t need to work 40 hours a week anymore to live ‘right’. Living ‘smart’ is better. Reduce your wants and enjoy all the best stuff life has to offer: family, friends, and walks in the park, sunrise, sunset and more. Go for a bike ride with your significant other. Meditate. Just relax. Yes, I know; I need to practice what I preach. I invite you to join me on my journey. I have walked a bit of it already so I have experiences to share.

* Mr. Money Mustache and I know each other. Do not consider my warped humor a rude retort.