I retired at age of 41 to spend more time with family heres how you can too… – The Sun

CHRIS Mamula was working as a physical therapist when his wife Kim and him found out they were expecting a baby - and it changed their mindsets completely.

Five years later, in December 2017, the then 41-year-old handed in his notice and retired - roughly 25 years earlier than most Americans.

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Chris told The Sun he "was burning out really quickly" working in healthcare in the US.

The Pennsylvania couple, who later moved to Utah, had also fallen in love with the outdoors and wanted to build a lifestyle around it.

Yet, the biggest contributing factor came in 2012 when they learnt they were expecting another family member - a daughter, who's now nine years old.

Chris told The Sun: "When we found out we were having a child, that's when we got serious.

"That's when early retirement and financial independence came onto our radar."

To their help, Kim and Chris, now aged 44 and 45, had been savvy with their finances ever since they graduated from college.

They started living on just Kim's salary after school - and used Chris' wages to clear student and car debt - and then continued when they were out of the red.

Chris said: "We started to use my salary to save for a down payment on a house.

"And then from there, we just used my salary to pay off the mortgage quickly and to start investing.

"We always just lived on one salary and the other salary was saved. So we kind of had a 50% savings rate the whole time."

"Some years, we probably saved more because we didn't spend that much. Other years, we would splurge and do big vacations."

When they first graduated from college in 2000 and 2001, they were both on salaries of around $40,000 a year.

And by the end - before Chris retired - their salaries had increased to high five-figures of between $80,000 and $90,000.

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When it comes to retirement, the standard rule of thumb is that you'll need 25 times your yearly expenses saved up - and that you can withdraw 4% each year.

This was a target Chris and Kim aimed for too, although he said it wasn't based on a number when he later left his job.

Chris said: "I think the first question we had with most people was like, how much money do you need? And do we have enough money to retire?

"So we really focused on the finances first.

"But then as we started to get closer, it was kind of a matter of 'do we really want to retire' and what do we call the things that work provides, like purpose and just a way to fill your time and a way to give back and be of service."

Today, Chris has partnered with Darrow Kirkpatrick, founder of the blog "Can I Retire Yet?", while Kim works part-time within operations research.

Chris has also written a book, Choose FI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence, which was released in 2019.

Chris said: "I don't know if either of us will ever retire in that traditional sense that people think of sitting on the beach and sipping a drink with an umbrella.

"But we have both definitely altered our lifestyle substantially.

"Having that time and freedom to do what I want when I want is by far the biggest benefit.

"I took five years of planning, getting a grasp on car expenses and tax planning and taking over investments.

"The saving part we had been doing for a decade before that, so we had a big head start."

Four years into early retirement, Chris said he has no regrets but he noted that the whole idea of retiring is "faulty".

He said: "It was my goal. I wish it wasn't in retrospect.

"I [like] the whole idea of building financial independence and gradually using it to have leverage to design the lifestyle you want sooner.

"But I think the idea of zero work and zero income is not necessarily the best goal."

For anyone who's keen to retire early too, Chris' main tip is to find out where your money is going.

You can do this by either creating a budget, or by just tracking your spending.

He said: "Using that 25 times rule, if you don't know what you spend, you don't know what target to shoot for."

"And if you don't know what you spend, it's kind of hard to improve upon that."

After this, you'll need to create a plan on how to build up enough savings to last your retirement.

Check out our guide on the steps to retire with a $1.9million savings pot.

Money expert Tori Dunlap recently revealed on TikTok thatshe can retire next yearthanks to her booming business.

The Sun has also spoken to Jen and Travis Smith abouthow no-spend challenges helped them pay off $78,000 debtin two years.

Plus, read about how Andy and Nicole Hill paid off a $195,000 mortgage in less than four years.

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I retired at age of 41 to spend more time with family heres how you can too... - The Sun