Category Archives: Financial Independence

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Feeling dj vu as you translate your wants into resolutions this new year?

Year after year, the same pattern repeats: we resolve to change our ways. Well read more, save more, and exercise regularly. Well drink less and skip social media. Well declutter our closets and our minds.

Whether your resolution is to volunteer regularly, learn something new every day, plant more trees, or make new connections, you are not alone. Millions around the world are doing the same.

But most will give up by January 19, now dubbed Quitters Day. Surveys indicate only 4% of people will fulfill all their resolutions by the end of the year. The best of intentions will be swayed by temptation, or will crash to the wayside.

We get busy. We succumb to whims. We get tired. And we give up.

When erecting tall, strong buildings, structural engineers know that pillars are essential for withstanding heavy gales and intense earthquakes. The same principle applies to building an intentional life to create and achieve new year resolutions.

Developed by my colleague Sarah Wolek, the director of the Intentional Life Lab at the Ed Snider Center for Enterprise and Markets at the University of Maryland, the six pillar approach creates a grid for your decisions, both practical and profound.

Each of the six pillars is essential if one is missing, it weakens the structure. The three me pillars Purpose, Wellness and Prosperity connect our goals to ourselves. Together, they create self-responsibility and self-accountability. The three us pillars Relationships, Community and Nature connect our goals to our world. Together, they create consonance with the people in our life, and the places we inhabit.

Defining your Purpose identifies the values that guide your life. It enables development of character and integrity, guides your actions, and guards against inner and outer conflicts. Attaining Wellness fosters both physical and mental health. It integrates goals related to self-help and self-care, guides choices of activities and lifestyles, and provides the mainstay for relationships with others. Achieving Prosperity defines yardsticks for measuring success. It integrates goals of financial independence and self-esteem, serves to harmonize reasons with rewards, and optimizes on your aspirations and ability.

Sustaining meaningful Relationships begins with identifying who you choose to have in your life, professionally or personally. It honors each individual as an independent equal, fosters kindness over niceness, and provides win-win benefits for a healthy, long-term partnerships. Creating a Community focuses on shared values. It integrates individuals across race, religion, ethnicity and national origin, and provides opportunities for organizations and societies to learn and grow together. Connecting with Nature creates harmony with our surroundings. Nature nourishes us as we nourish our physical world, guides activities that create emotional, physical, and intellectual wellbeing and provides the space to integrate the other pillars of our life.

These six pillars provide the scaffold upon which you can develop, organize, and achieve resolutions by enacting the following three ideas.

Build Out the Why Behind Your Wants

A laundry list of best resolutions does not provide the impetus for long-lasting behavioral change unless each connects to a deeper why.

Ive seen this idea in action through the struggles my husband and I had with weight loss. Like many others, we fixated on fitting in smaller clothes, and rode the roller-coaster of losing and gaining the same pounds, rising to cheer and falling to despair.

Achieving success required us to think not in terms of size and scale, but of our life and purpose. Being able to hike in the woods, keeping pace with our daughters and dogs. Holding hands as we grow old. These whys now sustain us through the why-nots of food temptations and get us off the couch on rainy or bitterly cold days.

As Sarah Polite, a guest we met during our bi-annual stays at Hilton Head Health notes, remembering the why divorces self-worth from what the scale may say, and affirms reasons for wellness in a meaningful, connected life.

Construct the Hierarchy of Your Wants

Resolutions often compete with each other to demand your time and effort, so creating a hierarchy among them is the next building block to an intentional life. Choosing what is more vs. less important begins with owning the right and the responsibility of making critical decisions rather than leaving it for others no matter how benevolent or well meaning they may be.

Ive lived this idea in action, as a daughter and now a parent. Bearing the painful estrangement from my father led to self-esteem earned by defining and achieving my own success. Recognizing my daughters need to chart their own course led to respecting the tradeoffs they deem important. In each relationship, rocky starts have resulted in stronger bonds among independent adults.

As I noted previously on creating work-life balance, knowing what is personally important is key to reducing stress and achieving a balance of mind. Working on chores or saving for a rainy day is less burdensome when it provides financial security for you and your family. Volunteering is not a sacrifice when it is in a community representing your values and vision for the world.

A hierarchy of wants gives you the comfort to say no and the luxury to say yes to yourself and to the people in your life.

Form Consistencies Across Your Wants

While tradeoffs are a reality of life, creating consistencies across wants can provide solutions and optimize effort.

As a simple example, goals related to wellness, relationships, community or nature can be achieved simultaneously with a friend you seek to connect with, if you plant trees or work towards a common cause instead of rich and liquor-laden dinners.

More broadly, Ive taught this idea in action to life-long learners at the Smith School of Business. Accepting the false dichotomy between profit and purpose, students often frame their choices as an either-or, unfairly bashing business as antithetical to social value creation. In the Intentional Life Lab at the Ed Snider Center, we instead encourage students to be enterprising in their own world to solve grand challenges at scale and scope.

As I note in previous columns, doing so preserves human dignity and harmonizes the me and us pillars through win-win outcomes.

Regardless of past failures, this new year goal setters can avoid being a dismal statistic.

Not giving up or giving in when pursuing wants can be bolstered through the six-pillar approach to link our goals to ourselves and our world. Connecting to the whys, and creating hierarchy and consistency in our wants can motivate and animate us to invest the hard work, develop clear strategies, and chart effective implementation plans.

For the payoff of achieving happiness is very worth your time.

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Six Pillars For Building An Intentional Life In This New Year - Forbes

SHKOOBY REBRANDA New Beginning

Shkooby has been developing and building its products in stealth mode. According to reliable sources, they are now ready to deliver a staking dapp and a fully-fledged metaverse.

According to Shkooby Inus official Medium and reliable sources, they rebrand their logo, website, and narrative. In addition, they have revealed a working product of their staking dapp and metaverse.

About a month ago, Shkooby Inu was released. The project had an explosive launch day, going from $10,000 market cap to $150,000,000 market capa 1499900% increase in one day. However, the momentum slowed down as the Shkooby team focused their efforts on development. They have now revealed that they are ready.

SHKOOBY will deliver a unified metaverse experience, integrating DEFIs most delicate chances by enabling users to harvest tokens and NFT prizes while using them inside the ShkoobyVerse. According to the Shkooby team, their objective is to dominate the meme market with undeniable utility.

Metaverse

Shkooby is building the next-generation metaverse and meme-token. According to their Medium, the Shkooby team has been researching, developing, and hiring talent to achieve their extensive roadmap and goals for 2022. With their main goal being, The main aim is to develop, build and expand upon our own Virtual world and metaverse, the ShkoobyVerse. We are convinced that this is where the future of business, finance, education, gaming, and of course, cryptocurrency lies.

Combining the beauty of cryptocurrency and the metaverse within these computer-generated environments. Shkooby is giving every individual a fair shot at financial independence in a fun and interactive manner.

Shkooby is devoting all of its efforts to building the next-generation metaverse, which will combine the thriving community of a meme token with the functionality of a genuine product.

The SHKOOBYVERSE (metaverse) will comprise different components that will create an exciting virtual world containing exciting events and games. Everything in the Metaverse is accessible for $SHKOOBY token holders, giving its native token a massive use case. They will have a dedicated Events Room in the ShkoobyVerse, where live music events, DJs, celebrity meet-and-greets, exclusive parties, and premiere streaming events will occur.

Their self-proclaimed metaverse, SHKOOBYVERSE, will include an exclusive events room, community networking room, games room, and Elite SHKOOBYGANG Room, for the top 200 SHKOOBY holders.

DAPP

The Shkooby DAPP will allow anyone to earn passive income from one of the most lucrative and highest APY pools on the market. The only requirement is to stake SHKOOBY tokens. Top contributors will be highlighted on the dedicated leaderboard.

One Step Further

The Shkooby team chose to take it a step farther than just establishing a metaverse. The team has declared that they recognize the communitys and future generations interests in accumulating financial prosperity and breaking free from the systems shackles. Shkooby has embraced that idea and is developing a virtual environment that will enable individuals to earn passive income and build wealth while doing what they desire.

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Shkooby Coming Out Of Stealth Mode | Bitcoinist.com - bitcoinist.com

The South African Savings Institute (SASI) is encouraging people to find an additional income and increase their savings capacity this year.

The organisation is offering tips that can be implemented in January, to help improve financial well-being for the year ahead. Prabashini Moodley reports

South Africans have fallen on challenging times in the last two years, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, businesses were torched and damaged, stock was stolen and lives were lost. This was yet another blow to many suffering financial hardship.

Now, in Janu-worry after all the festive season spending, the South African Savings Institute says, smart financial planning now can mean less stress in the year ahead. SASI Acting CEO Gerald Mwandiambia says with motivation levels high in January, its a great time to set in motion a savings plan for the year.

The best savings technique is really to have a financial plan or goal. January is a great opportunity for you to set those goals for the year ahead. This includes, how you going to manage your budget and specific savings goals for the year ahead. Each individual has their own personal economy and that your goals and your lifestyle are specifically for yourself.

Mwandiambia says discipline is a cornerstone of a healthy savings culture. By activating stop orders and joining stokvel movement savings will become a monthly bill that needs to be paid. He details the most effective ways to meet your financial commitments and save at the same time.

In order to save, you need sacrifice, commitment and discipline. Sacrifice is saving money you could do something else with. Commitment in terms of having the plan. You need to try and save using automation. That helps with discipline. This is setting up stop orders, so money goes to the right places. Something very important is a stokvel. This helps with the discipline as well the group forces you to comply and stick to certain standards.

Its that time of year when families are facing large annual expenses that many have not prepared for. These include school fees and uniforms. Mwandiambia is encouraging South Africans to look outside the box and make 2022 the year that they increase their savings with an additional income.

Many of us work 8 hours but after that 8 hours, it leaves 16 hours to do something else. Its very important to have secondary or tertiary incomes and look at how you can make that extra R100 a week. At the end of the day, when you annualise it it ends up being real money. South Africans limit themselves to earning a salary but you can increase your earning potential. So I say, make 2022 that year when you find that additional income to help you save.

Stokvel a means of saving

Its not all doom and gloom though, and resourcefulness is rewarded. Sixty-year-old Surie Govender from Verulam in KwaZulu-Natal initiated a new stokvel scheme in November last year, before the December spending frenzy.

She has been running the stokvel movement for women in her family and friends in her area for the last twenty years. She says, over the years women have gained financial independence through the savings scheme.

They like a lump some of the money where they can use it to do something in the house. Some of them say, they just want to buy a TV cash if they buy from the shop, they will pay interest. Here, you take a lump some and there is no interest. You got no choice, you cant use the money for something else, the money has to be paid. This is a saving because you pay towards it every month. What I did, the bathroom, the kitchen, our outbuilding, the shower.

For a sound financial year ahead, experts advice is to make saving a priority.

Re-evaluating wasteful spending habits, monitoring electricity and water usage and paying off debt faster are other money-saving tips to implement in 2022.

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SASI encourages people to find additional incomes and increase savings - SABC News

Anamika Pandeys father was a businessman, and growing up, she closely witnessed how each generation was involved in making peoples lives better. Her grandfather fought for the rights of teachers; her father was making education affordable across Eastern UP.

Having spent most of her childhood across Lucknow and Gorakhpur, she discovered there was a big divide between men and women. She was the first girl in the family to step out of the city for graduation. After completing her graduation from NIT Warangal, she worked with BigBasket before deciding to start Naario, a food brand that offers organic cereals, condiments, and beverages.

The pain point was simple but the main aim was to change mindsets and bat for inclusivity of women in every way. And thats why the name.

Naario combines the essence of two words - naari (woman) and opportunity - and aims at democratising good food while building a community of women who are more than ready to tie their creative talents to their identity.

Anamika explains: I grew up believing in people and their power. I had multiple internships with startups during my college days, and this allowed me to get a hang of the culture. While I was back home, celebrating my birthday in December 2019, I asked my mum a very simple question over chai Why do you not launch your Lucknowi masala as a product? I see people getting crazy about homemade food these days. My mom crushed me with her reply, Log kya kahenge ki ab Pandeyji ki bahu ko paise kamane ki zaroorat lagi hai (What will people say? Pandeyjis daughter-in-law now has to work to earn money?)

This problem statement that led her to start Naario from her hometown, Gorakhpur.

Anamika says she wanted to marry health and taste in everyday food items, and amid COVID it had become all the more imperative to follow a healthy lifestyle.

She got together a bunch of women, including her mother, and ran a small workshop in Gorakhpur at the end of January 2021 to understand what they had to offer. Six homemakers turned up with different products, out of which four were a major hit.

The next step was to start a small Facebook group to connect with like-minded women. This led to a business model where women who were passionate about food could launch their products under Naario and others who liked the thrill of business could head distribution in their respective localities. All this would contribute to financial independence.

Naarios products range from breakfast cereal and beverages to condiments and are priced from Rs 100 onwards.

The product might be a 200-year-old rose sherbet recipe or a very rich and cultural take on muesli. The team brainstorms with a large number of people to understand what they actually need in a product, what should the packaging look like, and more. The manufacturing process on ground involves more than 70 percent women while the packaging pays homage to Indian heritage by focusing on varied textiles and fabrics.

The spices are made by women in Kashipur, Uttarakhand, the jaggery powder and 9in1 flour in Lucknow, and the muesli and filter coffee in Tiruchengode, Tamil Nadu.

The audience in Tier II cities, however, are mums, young and old. These are women who take ownership of their familys health and wellbeing. Their identity is very closely linked to what they cook and feed their family, and who in some way are trying to create their own identity.

Naarios impact is not just aimed at financial independence of women.

Anamika elaborates, Recently, a Naario partner lost her husband. She was a homemaker from Lucknow. We took her on payroll as a business development manager because of her consistently great performance. If Naario, as a brand, is able to bring this impact to womens life where they dont think they are alone after a major setback in life, half my work is done.

While competition in this segment is intense, Anamika believes in collaboration over competition.

The solo founder chose to go the angel investments route for funding of Naario in the pre-seed stage. She claims the brand has been growing consistently since its launch with a monthly growth rate of 25-30 percent.

The future seems bright for anyone who is betting on their own health, right? We are looking to expand our product subcategories and our presence across the country, and also start listings on multiple platforms so we are there when and where our consumer decides to buy Naario, Anamika says.

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How this woman-led organic brand aims to democratise good food while building a community of women - YourStory

Royal Editor of Harpers Bazaar US and co-author of Prince Harry and Meghan biography Finding Freedom, Omid Scobie, suggested the Sussexes' desire to leave the Royal Family could be attributed to their demands of the press. Mr Scobie believed the royal couple had asked for a review into who was allowed into the royal press pack and said Meghan wanted more US outlets to be involved, considering she is American. But the pair were told the institution could not oblige and if they wanted to decide who they spoke to they would have to fund it themselves and be independent, according to Mr Scobie.

Speaking on the BBCs podcast Harry, Meghan and the Media, Mr Scobie claimed there were rumblings from the Sussexes over which media platforms had access to them.

Mr Scobie said: The first conversations about wanting financial independence actually were born out of Prince Harry's frustration of having to work alongside the royal press pack.

For him, he wanted that distance, for Meghan, she was frustrated that there was never any inclusion when it came to foreign publications, particularly those in the US.

She is American. why can't there be American newspapers or television networks allowed to cover?"

He added: Or have the same level of access as British media organisations.

But of course, as they're often told, that's not how things are done.

And so when Harry really raised the issue or the question of could we operate away from the press pack and carry out our own engagements with members of the press that we want to work with.

The answer that came from the top was, well, if you fund it yourself, you can pay for your own engagement.

Mr Scobie said the conversation planted one of the first seeds for Harry and Meghan to pursue independence.

The royal expert then claimed when Harry wanted to speak to other royals about the issue, who had insisted on speaking face-to-face, he encountered resistance as he was unable to secure time to meet them.

Harry and Meghan were eventually allowed to meet with the other royals in January which was when details of their departure from the family began to be leaked.

Mr Scobie claimed the leak meant the story now became out of Prince Harry and Meghans control and they would struggle to shape it how they deemed fit.

DON'T MISS

In a BBC documentary called "The Princes and The Press", Mr Scobie also claimed that the royal households were briefing against one another to secure favourable coverage.

Mr Scobie said negative stories about the Sussexes had been briefed by royal households with journalist Dan Wootton instead arguing people came to the press because they were "getting annoyed" over their behaviour.

A joint statement from the royal households read: "A free, responsible and open Press is of vital importance to a healthy democracy.

"However, too often overblown and unfounded claims from unnamed sources are presented as facts and it is disappointing when anyone, including the BBC, gives them credibility."

Harry, Meghan and The Media released its five-part series on BBC Sounds after rumours circulated it had been shelved due to royal backlash.

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Meghan Markle wanted Royal Family to be 'more inclusive' with US media, expert claims - Express

Stress on womens financial independence and investment

FE ONLINE DESK | Published: January 07, 2022 12:46:54

BRAC Bank TARA in association with BRAC EPL Stock Brokerage Ltd has recently arranged a webinar titled Grow Your Money to facilitate womens financial independence and investment as well.

Shabnaz Amin Auditi, associate professor of Finance at Dhaka University, Anika Mafiz, research analyst of BRAC EPL Stock Brokerage Ltd, and Rashada Akter, investor of BRAC EPL Stock Brokerage Ltd, were present in the virtual event, moderated by Fardina Hafiz, head of Customer Experience, BRAC Bank, according to a statement.

Shabnaz Amin Aditi discussed the importance of women's financial independence and the ways of achieving it. She encouraged women to start investing even the amount is smaller. She also talked about the options of investment and the way to know about them.

The speakers highlighted the capital market as one of the key means of investment. In her speech, Anika Mafiz focused the opportunities and benefits of investment in the capital market. She also highlighted why and how a woman can start her investment journey.

Investor Rashada Akter shared her own investment journey and how she was benefitted by investing in the capital market. She also emphasised the digitalisation of the stock market for women and the necessity of women employees in a brokerage for the comfortable service.

To motivate women to invest in the capital market, BRAC EPL Stock Brokerage Limited will provide special benefits to BRAC Bank TARA customers. In addition, it will continue to conduct awareness programmes regarding other services as well as ensure women's participation in the financial sector, added the organisers.

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BRAC Bank TARA in association with BRAC EPL Stock Brokerage arranges webinar Grow Your Money - The Financial Express

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Shanna Due, a financial planner with District Capital Management in Washington D.C., says that about 10% of her clients ask about the Financial Independence, Retire Early, or FIRE, movement. Most want to retire by 50, she says, or they want financial independence so theyre not tied to any one career.

They want to have the financial flexibility to follow a new path if they want, she says.

FIRE strategies typically require a lot of discipline, and theyre not for everyone. Followers save aggressively and live well below their means in hopes of acquiring financial flexibility and retiring years before is typical.

Individuals aiming to retire by 50 might need to accumulate 75% of their current annual income for every year they expect to be retired, Due says. So if a worker has current income of $100,000 a year, and is planning on a 35-year retirement, he or she would need more than $2.6 million by age 50.

The only way you amass so much money is saving heavily from the get-go. A 30-year-old with $50,000 in savings would likely be saving 50% or more of his or her salary over the next 20 years to approach this goal.

Before committing to an aggressive strategy like this, Due warns her clients to consider three factors carefully.

Understand your motivations

A FIRE strategy works best when you have a clearly defined reason for why you want to retire early and achieve financial independence. Its different for different people. For some, their goal is to travel full time, while others want to leave a job they dont like while maintaining their current lifestyle. Without clear direction, it may be hard to follow through with the discipline needed to save aggressively and live frugally.

If you get on a FIRE plan, you have to make sacrifices along the way, Due says. Say youre 25 years old and all your friends want to spend summer backpacking through Europe, if youve already set up your reasoning as to why you want to have $1.4 million in the bank by 40, its simple to say no because you have a clearly defined purpose.

Know what retirement means to you

Many individuals dont have a clear idea of what their retirement will look like, and that can make planning difficult. If your goal is to retire early, then what? Due asks. Will you just sit at home all day, or does it mean instead of working at your current engineering firm, you work for Habitat for Humanity building houses?

Deep reflection on what you want to accomplish can help you determine how aggressively to pursue a FIRE strategy. For example, I find that most people really just want financial flexibility, Due says, allowing them to work at jobs they are more passionate about. That doesnt necessarily require the strict savings and frugality needed to retire decades early. Nailing down your plans can help you understand which FIRE strategies are needed. Once you identify those, you can decide whether they are feasible.

Consider future life changes

When considering a long-term FIRE strategy, its important to consider future eventsplanned and unplanned, Due says.

An emergency fund covering a year or mores worth of expenses can help cover catastrophic unexpected events like illness or layoff.

But what about other life events? For example, if you have children, or want them in the future, will the expense of childcare or saving for a college education allow you to meet FIRE goals? Similarly, if you plan to care for aging parents, will the cost of care mean postponing early retirement?

Its important to remember that without the proper planning you could spend your entire 20s and 30s sacrificing and not actually reap the benefits of it. Due says. You have to be strong in your reasoning and make sure youre clear on what happiness means to you.

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Want to Retire at Age 50? Do Some Hard Thinking First. - Barron's

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Achieving financial independence and leaving the workforce before the traditional retirement age of 65 has become an aspiration for many people.

For Jackie Cummings Koski, that goal became a reality when she retired with $1.3 million at age 49. Koski didn't house hack her way to riches or build a YouTube presence that earns her hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. Instead, she credits the start of her wealth-building journey to her childhood.

Her family, which included her single father and five siblings, grew up poor in South Carolina. According to Koski, it wasn't an ideal situation but her father worked hard and was able to put food on the table.

"What stuck with me from that experience was that I didn't want to be poor when I got older," she said. However, the same sentiment resurfaced again later in life after her 11-year marriage ended. Again, she was determined to never be poor again.

"The divorce was one of the biggest wake up calls I had," Koski explained. "It scared me because now I was alone and I needed to make sure I wasn't going to go back to poverty. So that's what got me started with thinking about my money and building my wealth."

Here are some crucial steps she took that allowed her to retire at age 49 with $1.3 million.

After her divorce Koski became very interested in the stock market, but she was still quite uncomfortable with the idea of investing her own money and potentially losing it. However, she ended up joining an investing club to better understand what to do with her money. A friend from work told her about one group in particular called BetterInvesting, which still exists today (for which Koski now sits on the Board of Directors).

During the club meetings, participants learned how the stock market worked and were even taught and encouraged to invest small, non-intimidating amounts of money.

"I ended up joining [the investing club] and I'm still a member today," Koski said. "That allowed me to increase my comfort level with investing. Eventually, I wasn't scared of investing anymore."

This was around 2007. But even after joining, Koski improved her financial know-how by listening to podcasts. And by 2013 when social media had really taken off, she also joined some online FIRE communities. FIRE, which stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early, is an idea or end goal shared by people who wanted to achieve financial independence and leave the workforce before the traditional retirement age of 65.

"That was my biggest takeaway from this," Koski said. "You don't have to do things in a silo. You can find a community that you resonate with and can learn through."

Even before Koski joined the investing club, she had been contributing to her 401(k) account at work, and she even contributed enough to receive her employer match. However, she admits that at the time, she didn't really know what she was doing.

"I never thought of it as investing at the time," she said. "But my learning through the investment club taught me otherwise, and I started questioning what I was invested in through work. I decided that I should put my money in places where I can get both growth and a tax break, so I started maxing out my 401(k) and contributing to a Roth IRA."

With a Roth IRA, you can contribute your after-tax money to an account and invest it in a variety of stocks, index funds, mutual funds and ETF's. You won't owe taxes on withdrawals made in retirement since you've already paid taxes on the money. This is why a Roth IRA can be such an instrumental part of your wealth-building plan and there are lots of different ways you can open an account.

You can use a brokerage like Fidelity or Charles Schwab , or download a robo-advisor app like Betterment or Wealthfront, to open a traditional or Roth IRA. Robo-advisors help you determine which investments make sense for you based on yourrisk tolerance, goals and retirement date.Robo-advisorsalso take on the task of automatically rebalancing your portfolio as you get closer to the target date for your goals (be it retirement or buying a house). This way, you don't have to worry about adjusting the allocation yourself.

Note that with tax-advantaged retirement accounts, like a 401(k) and IRA, you won't be able to make withdrawals until age 59 and a half, unless you're willing to pay taxes and penalty fees. While saving in these accounts may not allow you to retire much earlier than the traditional retirement age, they are a key tool in building wealth for the long term.

In addition to contributing to her 401(k) and Roth IRA, Koski also invested in one more tax-advantaged account: her HSA (health savings account).

HSA accounts were designed for consumers who have high deductible health plans (HDHP) to be able to save for upcoming medical expenses. Contributions are made pre-tax through an employer-sponsored HSA plan that's the first advantage of an HSA. Similar to a 401(k), you can also invest the contributions made to an HSA.

The second tax advantage is that all growth of your HSA funds aretax-free. And the third advantage is that you can withdraw the funds from your HSA tax-free for qualified medical expenses. But if you don't want to use the money for healthcare-related purposes, you can wait until age 65 to withdraw funds for any reason.

So an HSA isn't just a way to save for medical expenses; it can also be an instrumental way to accumulate a sizable, tax-free nest egg.

"I had a $500 deductible that I wasn't even meeting so I decided putting money into an HSA was a good fit for me, especially since I could invest that money, too," Koski said. "So I had three tax-advantaged accounts and that came from increasing my comfort with the stock market."

Koski reminisced about how once she started working as a teen, she would save every $2 bill she came across. But the habit unknowingly followed her into adulthood.

"I would get a check and deposit it at the bank and they would give me a $2 bill," she said. "And even as an adult I just kept saving those $2 bills until I decided I didn't need to collect them anymore. I ended up with $3,200 just by saving $2 bills. But I grew into a habit from saving because of that and it stuck with me."

By the time she started getting salary bonuses and bumps at work, she had already built that muscle for saving so it was easier for her to just save the extra income to reach her goals a little faster. In fact, she recommends that everyone build this habit, especially if they feel they have competing priorities and expenses.

"When you're young in 20's and 30's, you're in a bottleneck where you have so many things going on at the same time, like getting out of school, having debt and living on your own. All those competing priorities make it very hard to save," Koski explained. "If you can't save a meaningful dollar amount, think about building that muscle over time by creating the habit of automatically putting something even a small amount into your investing account regularly."

It can sometimes be tough to manually move your money into your savings or investment account. Sometimes you may just forget while other times you might get bogged down by other expenses and feel like you don't want to move more money out of your account. But when you automate your savings, you effectively prevent yourself from choosing to not save money. You can usually set up recurring savings through your online bank account, or you can use an app like Digit to automatically save small, random amounts of money each day.

One of the most important things you could do when pursuing financial independence is figuring out how much money you need before you can officially say you never have to work again. This number (popularly known as your FIRE number) is the amount of money you need invested if you want to withdraw a portion of your investments each year without running out of cash.

The yearly withdrawal rate typically goes off of the 4% rule, which says that in the first year of retirement you can comfortably withdraw 4% of your investments then slightly adjust your withdrawal rate as needed each year after that. Historical data shows that living off 4% of your retirement portfolio should allow you to cover your expenses for 30 years.

Koski used this rule to determine how much money she needed to have on hand.

"I came up with my FIRE number by figuring out how much money I spend each year, which was about $40,000, and multiplying it by 25," she said. "I calculated that I would need $1,000,000 to be able to withdraw 4% each year."

To figure out how much money you're likely to spend each year, you'll need to track your yearly expenses. The Mint app does that for you once you connect your bank accounts to the app (you can also connect your investment accounts, credit cards and other financial accounts to see your net worth).

Koski does note, however, that even once you finally reach your FIRE number, you may still face some emotional hurdles when it comes to the idea of walking away from your job and retiring early.

"I actually reached my FIRE number at age 46 but it was still very uncomfortable because I had to get used to the idea that I wouldn't be coupled with a job and would need to pay for my own health insurance," she said. "So I didn't actually retire for another few more years."

Koski was able to reach financial independence through a combination of good financial habits, but it all really started with improving her financial education and understanding what numbers made sense for her.

But whether or not you're pursuing FIRE, turning your financial situation around and investing money can be stressful and even daunting. But Koski leaves the following advice: "Don't deprive yourself and take away your fun because you'll lose the energy to keep making these financial moves. It has to be sustainable. Give yourself credit and celebrate the small wins."

Editorial Note: Opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Select editorial staffs alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any third party.

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This woman grew her wealth and retired by age 49 here are 5 major steps she took to do it - CNBC

From scarcity in life to doing part-time jobs like tutoring and sewing clothes to enabling financial inclusion for women by women, Lakhimi Baruah has seen it all. The 71-year old from Jorhat in Assam founded Konoklota Mahila Urban Cooperative Bank (KMUCB) in 1998 with the vision to provide underprivileged women with self-employment opportunities, encourage thrift, and educate on financial independence.

Baruah was awarded the Beyond Business award at the ETPrime Women Leadership Awards 2021 for revolutionizing the way social initiatives are delivered and creating societal impact at scale.

It was a struggle for her right at the onset, she lost her mother at birth, and her father passed away when she was a teenager. She was raised by relatives and forced to abandon higher studies due to financial constraints. She later completed her education while working to contribute to the household income.

Baruah shares that she was frequently questioned on the need for a separate bank for women when there were conventional banks. She responded, "We accept deposits as low as Rs 20 from daily wage women labourers. Moreover, women come with various reasons to take a loan, for instance, educational loan for their daughters; some come to start a business like a roadside eatery or a shop, some want agricultural loans. We have also provided Rs 500 as a loan and have seen women buying an insurance policy with that amount. It is women who understand these reasons and hence the requirement for a women cooperative bank powered by women."

KMUCB has working capital of over Rs 13 crores and an impressive recovery rate of 93%; it has also reduced the dependency on informal money lending. Spread across three Assam districts, Jorhat, Sibsagar, and Golaghat, the bank has over 45,000 account holders, primarily women. Over 75% of the account holders are illiterate and from disadvantaged sections of society. The bank has plans to open a branch in all the districts of Assam. "Many self-help women groups have benefited from the bank's micro-credit and credit facilities," she added.

For the exceptional work rendered to society, KMUCB received the Nari Shakti Award from the former President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, in 2016. In addition, Baruah was awarded the Padma Shri in 2021 to empower women in Assam financially.

Along with Lakhimi Baruah, the other distinguished nominees for the Beyond Business award were Dr. Rukmini Banerji, Chief Executive Officer, Pratham Education Foundation; Neerja Birla, Founder and Chairperson, Aditya Birla Education Trust and Mpower; Rohini Nilekani, Chairperson of Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies, Co-founder of EkStep, and Founder of Arghyam; and Sheetal Mehta, Executive Director, KC Mahindra Education Trust.

Lakhimi Baruahs full-length interview is an inspiring journey of a woman who helped 45,000 women from the tribal and other marginalized communities to achieve financial independence. The interview with subtitles is available exclusively on the website of ETPrime Women Leadership Awards.

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Lakhimi Baruah wins Beyond Business award for taking banking to the poor and underprivileged women in Assa - Economic Times

What does early retirement mean to you? Does it mean leaving your career behind in your mid-50s? Late 50s? Early 60s?

No matter what retirement age you're targeting, you should know that it is possible to meet your goal, even if you're an average earner. But retiring early also requires a lot of careful planning, as well as knowing what pitfalls to avoid. Here are three dangerous ones that could ruin your plans if you're not careful.

Image source: Getty Images.

The more debt you take on, the more difficult it will be to consistently fund a retirement plan. But without a decent pile of savings, you might struggle to leave the workforce when you want to.

If you're set on retiring early, keep what could be your single largest debt -- your mortgage -- to a reasonable level. That means not necessarily borrowing the full amount you qualify for.

You should also do your best to steer clear of credit card debt as a matter of course. Credit cards are notorious for charging high interest rates, and too much of this type of debt could eat up a large chunk of your income and prevent you from meeting your savings goals.

The money in your IRA or 401(k) plan shouldn't sit there doing nothing. Rather, you'll want to fuel your contributions' growth by investing your retirement savings.

But be careful not to play it too safe. Though bonds are far less volatile than stocks, their returns don't tend to be as generous. And if you don't grow your money aggressively enough, you may not manage to retire when you want to.

Imagine you do a good job of socking away $500 a month in your retirement plan starting at age 22 with the goal of retiring at age 62. That's the earliest age you can sign up to collect Social Security.

If you invest conservatively, you might generate a 4% average annual return during that window, leaving you with a total savings balance of $570,000. That's a decent sum of money, but possibly not enough to allow for an early retirement.

On the other hand, if you load up on stocks, you might manage to generate an 8% average annual return in your retirement plan, which is just below the stock market's historical average. And in that case, you'll be sitting on an ending balance of a little over $1.5 million.

If you're a parent, it's natural to want to help your children as much as possible -- even once they've grown. But if you divert too much of your earnings to helping your adult children cover their bills, you might struggle to meet your savings goal and retire when you want to.

A better bet? Encourage financial independence among your children, and try to find ways to provide nonmonetary support.

If your kids have kids, you can offer to watch them as your schedule allows for so your children can spend less on child care. But don't take money earmarked for your retirement savings and give it to your grown kids to help them pay their basic expenses -- not unless they've encountered an emergency of their own, like an illness or layoff.

Early retirement is something a lot of people strive for. If it's a goal of yours, be sure to avoid these traps that could wreck your chances of leaving the workforce on your own terms.

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3 Things That Could Get in the Way of an Early Retirement - The Motley Fool