How My Wife & I Retired in 10 Years (Starting With $0)

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26 Feb 2025

Retiring early is a dream for many, but few believe it’s possible, especially if you’re starting with nothing. My wife and I managed to retire in just 10 years, despite beginning our journey with zero savings and no financial head start. While it wasn’t always easy, we followed a disciplined approach that allowed us to accumulate enough wealth to achieve financial independence far sooner than we ever imagined.

In this article, we’ll break down exactly how we did it, step by step. We’ll cover the strategies we used to maximize income, slash expenses, invest aggressively, and design a lifestyle that prioritized freedom over material possessions. If you’re looking for a blueprint to escape the 9-to-5 grind in a decade or less, this guide will show you how.

Step 1: Creating a Clear Financial Plan

The first step to retiring early is having a clear and realistic financial plan. When my wife and I made the decision to pursue early retirement, we started by setting a specific goal: accumulate enough money to sustain our desired lifestyle indefinitely.

Defining Our Retirement Number

We used the 4% rule, which suggests that if you withdraw 4% of your investments annually, your portfolio should last indefinitely. To determine how much we needed, we estimated our annual expenses and multiplied that by 25. For example, if we needed $40,000 per year to live comfortably, our target was $1 million in investments.

Tracking Expenses and Identifying Waste

Before we could start saving aggressively, we needed to know exactly where our money was going. We meticulously tracked every dollar we spent for several months, categorizing expenses and identifying areas where we could cut back. This process was eye-opening and helped us free up thousands of dollars that we could redirect toward investments.

Step 2: Maximizing Income Through Career Growth and Side Hustles

While cutting expenses is crucial, increasing income accelerates financial independence even faster. We focused on growing our primary incomes while also building multiple streams of revenue.

Negotiating Raises and Advancing in Our Careers

Rather than settling for stagnant salaries, we became proactive about earning more:

We took on additional responsibilities to justify salary increases.
We pursued certifications and skills that made us more valuable to our employers.
We strategically switched jobs when better-paying opportunities arose.

These efforts allowed both of us to increase our incomes by 50-100% over a few years, drastically boosting our savings rate.

Starting Side Hustles

We didn’t rely solely on our 9-to-5 jobs. We launched several side businesses and passive income streams, including:

Freelancing and consulting
Rental property investing
Online businesses
Dividend stock investing

The extra income from these ventures compounded our savings and provided financial security even before we retired.

Step 3: Aggressive Saving and Frugality

One of the biggest factors in our early retirement success was our ultra-high savings rate. While most people save 10-15% of their income, we pushed ours to 50-70%.

Living Below Our Means

Instead of upgrading our lifestyle with every pay raise, we chose to live like we were still making our starting salaries. This meant:

Driving used cars instead of financing new ones.
Living in a modest home instead of buying the biggest house we could afford.
Cooking at home instead of dining out frequently.
Travel hacking to take vacations cheaply.

Eliminating Debt

We aggressively paid off all high-interest debt, ensuring that we weren’t wasting money on unnecessary interest payments. This freed up more cash for investing.

Step 4: Investing Wisely and Letting Compound Interest Work

With a strong savings rate in place, the next step was putting our money to work. We focused on high-growth, low-cost investments that aligned with our early retirement goal.

Stock Market Investing

Our primary investment strategy was index fund investing, specifically:

S&P 500 index funds for long-term growth.
Total market funds for diversification.
Dividend stocks to create a passive income stream.

We contributed the maximum to tax-advantaged accounts like 401(k)s, IRAs, and HSAs, then invested additional savings in taxable brokerage accounts.

Real Estate Investing

In addition to stocks, we invested in rental properties to generate passive income. We started with one small property, then reinvested profits into more rentals over time. By the time we retired, we had several cash-flowing properties that covered a significant portion of our living expenses.

Avoiding Speculation and High Fees

We stayed away from high-risk investments like day trading, speculative stocks, or get-rich-quick schemes. Keeping costs low and sticking to proven strategies allowed our investments to compound steadily over time.

Step 5: Designing a Sustainable Retirement Lifestyle

By following the above strategies, we hit our financial independence number in just 10 years. But retiring early isn’t just about having money—it’s about designing a fulfilling life.

Maintaining a Low-Cost Lifestyle

Even in retirement, we kept expenses low by:

Living in a low-cost area
Traveling affordably
Continuing to manage rental properties for extra income

Finding Purpose Beyond Work

Retirement doesn’t mean doing nothing. We pursued passion projects, volunteered, and took on part-time work that we genuinely enjoyed.

Ensuring Long-Term Financial Security

We maintained a conservative withdrawal strategy, ensuring our portfolio would last indefinitely. This meant adjusting our spending in market downturns and continuing to earn small amounts of passive income.

Conclusion

Retiring in 10 years, starting with nothing, may seem impossible, but it’s not. By maximizing income, saving aggressively, investing wisely, and maintaining a modest lifestyle, my wife and I were able to achieve financial independence far sooner than the traditional retirement age.

If you’re willing to adopt similar habits and stay disciplined, you can do it too. The key is to start today, remain consistent, and focus on building real wealth rather than just increasing expenses. Financial freedom is within reach, it just takes a strategic plan and the determination to see it through.