Guide To Retiring Before You’re Tired Or Fired! (4)

Strategies for planned retirement

Just how difficult is it to burn the bridge behind you after landing in an enemy territory, knowing that there are only two options left: defeat the enemy and live or be defeated and die?

I found myself treading this path in 1984. I didn’t plan to go about it the topsy-turvy way. I had wanted to attract investors to team up with me in the publishing venture I came up with. I invested the first three months of that year trying to woo investors but there was no luck.

That was largely due to my inexperience, I should quickly add. I concluded that it would be difficult for me to get people to invest in the sports publishing business. And I didn’t have a savings account or any form of investment to fall back on.

Then one afternoon in October 1984 while I was on leave, after reading about The Guardian’s management decision to slash staff salary by 25%, the idea just dropped in my mind that I should go and start the sports publishing business that I had abandoned because I couldn’t raise capital.

The thinking that propelled the decision was this: I reasoned that if on a full salary I wasn’t having a savings account, what would happen if 25% was deducted from it?

Right then, a critical question popped up in my head: Would I be worse off starting the sports publishing business with what I had than retaining my job and earning 25% less?

I can’t tell you by what logic I came to the conclusion that I would be better off starting the publishing business with no seed capital anywhere in sight but just an idea. But that was the decision I took. And when I drove home and told my wife what I was thinking, she gave the idea her nod. And that was it!

I was a devotee of the late Tai Solarin. And what he said in one of his articles that I had read was floating in my head during this period. He had said that if you don’t know how to swim and you find yourself at the bank of a river where you have no choice but to go to the other side, your best option is to jump into the river first and then start thinking of how to stay afloat and cross the river.

What I read in Napoleon Hill’s Think And Grow Rich was also in line with what Tai Solarin recommended. According to Napoleon Hill, an army general in a war situation got his troop into an enemy territory and burned the bridge they used to get there.

As the bridge was still burning, he told the troop that the only way they could remain alive was to defeat the enemies on whose territory they were now standing. Not surprisingly, they won the combat.

It’s more than 25 years between the time I jumped blindly into the river and now, hoping I would swim to safety rather than sink. In between this period, I’ve discovered a less hazardous way of transiting from an employee/not employed to being self-employed and from there to becoming a business owner and, then, an investor. Here is what is entailed:

1. Decide today that you will not be a liability to the people around you in your old age

Whether or not you’re employed right now, recognize the fact that you have no choice but to plan for your retirement. Pretending that it will not come is foolishness. Preparing for it is your best option. And the best way to prepare for it is to plan towards it, your present age notwithstanding.

What that means is that you must start by opening a savings account and start operating it. Then, move money from your savings account into investment account and start to invest wisely. To invest wisely means that you must be financially literate.

Why is this important? If you go through my story again, you’ll discover that I didn’t have a savings account, not to talk of having some money set aside for emergencies.

Looking back, that was very foolish of me. It happened because I wasn’t any wiser. But you reading this article should learn from my mistake and make sure that it never happens to you.

2. Constantly think of other ways you could turn the experience you’re currently gaining into money in your bank account

Whatever it is that you’re engaged in, right now, can be turned into a big business. Many people don’t know that. Most products and services you see in the marketplace today are an improvement on an existing product or service or a combination of products or services.

What makes it possible for those who come up with them is their ability to concentrate their thought on it until they see something new that they can derive from it.

One quick example. I got my sports publishing business idea right from my employment as a sports writer. And going further back, I got into sports writing from my playing basketball and being a football fan.

3. Consistently invest in self development

Investment in self development is another secret weapon for getting ready for a retirement that you orchestrate by yourself. You’ve decided what you will do when you leave your current employment and you have chosen your terminal date.

The next thing is to keep educating yourself about that line of business or activity. Attend seminars. Read books that are in line with what you will be doing when you leave your current employment.

4. Get a mentor

Someone must have excelled in the activity that you want to move on to next. Contact the person if possible and tell him about your plans. If you’ve chosen the right person, you’ll get the right advice from the person. You’ll be guided into what to do and what not to do.

Most often, we leave this aspect until the last minute when we are about to retire from our current job or when we are out of it and we want to start something else. That is already too late. The time to get a good mentor is when you have set your next career or business goal.

5. Never allow your side interest to interfere with your current job

A lot of people miss it here. They get so involved in their side interest to the detriment of their current job. That is not right. You can only use your spare time to develop your plans. It can be done. All it takes is discipline and understanding.

For example, if your weekends are free, nothing stops you from attending a seminar on financial literacy. But if a seminar you want to attend clashes with your duty call, then go for your job. There shouldn’t be any debate about that.

6. Commit your plans into the hands of GOD

My own experience in life has come to teach me that doing anything without putting GOD in the picture is one of the biggest mistakes that we can make in our quest to succeed and prosper in life. Each time I have told My Father in Heaven what I’m planning to do, I’ve found that I always get it done easily than when I tried to go it alone.

Now, I don’t even think of doing anything without first getting His clearance and clear direction. That is something for you to emulate.

These six steps are critical to your successful disengagement from your current job into what you choose to do next. With this plan in place, you will never be afraid of being suddenly asked to leave your current job.

Even more important, you’ll be prepared to move to your next calling when the time comes, assuming you’re not stampeded into jumping in prematurely.