How I will make enough money to retire early

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With large drops in house prices you may be thinking of changing your investment plans. However, the reasons why property is the best investment have not changed and in fact now may be more true than ever.

There are many ways to invest money and it may be that you are considering changing your long term plans having watched the prices go through a significant downturn. But I would encourage you to hold firm as the incredible benefits are still there and you will only lose out if you lose your nerve.

Read more at: Why Property is Still the Best Investment

After paying rent for several years to a landlord who spent most of his year on holiday, I promised myself I would be in that position one day so I could enjoy early retirement.

Of course you not only make money on rent (which must be more than any mortgage) the property will most certainly go up in value so you have residual income and a lump sum at the end.

After so many holidays in Greece we got to love the people, the culture and of course the weather.

With the desire to invest in property we decided to take the plunge and risk a development in Greece

You do hear many horror stories about buying an overseas property which leave people without their life savings and no-where to retire to. But nothing ventured nothing gained, as they say.

AND guess what, we have had an absolutely wonderful time in deciding on the area; deciding on property or build; finding land; designing the villa; and of course many visits to develop the property. All this up to the first day when we could sleep there and have breakfast on the balcony. Of course there is also the view of the mountains from our bedroom and the sea from our veranda!

Come and see for yourself including a series of pictures of the build at:
Our property in Greece

Or come and stay at the property yourself! We had had a long term tenant who has had to move on so while we are looking for a similar arrangement we are advertising it for short term stays too.

See our advert at:

Advert for the property

The agent / builder we used in Greece was a key to the success.

He is English, married to a Greek lady and been building in Greece for over 20 years.
We dont get commission but he was so helpful and passionate about the build that we cant recommend him highly enough. He made a highly risky business into a great and safe adventure.

Andrew Blackler at Evia Villas

I read somewhere (actually it was "Why is that idiot rich and I am not?!" which I recommend as a great read...) .that you should aim for three properties to rent.

Well after a great deal of elbow grease and exciting risk to the whole family, (luck favours the brave) we are now in a position to rent out our UK home.

We have been fortunate to get a very good stable tenant and after a few months more of investing (its amazing what systems fail directly a tenant moves in!) we are now getting good income from the property.

Now then where shall we expand next... America (cheap properties)? Another one in Greece (probably not the right time)...more in the UK? (probably lowest risk).

Another way I use to make money online is to be an affiliate selling other peoples products for a good commission.

For example have a look at one of my sites:

Keyword Analyzer

Here I have joined with IBPromoter to sell their excellent search engine optimizer application. I can earn hundreds of dollars for simply promoting their web pages. This can be done very cheaply and just sit in the background with no work on my part once it is set up.

Another example is a simple Blog I set up on Blogger.com. These are completely free and so a great way to get into free methods to make money online.

See my example at:

Mens Divorce Resource

This is a site designed to provide links to resources for men struggling with divorce. Some of the links are to free information and some to products of which I am an affiliate. Hopefully all are useful to the viewers.
This was free to setup and again just runs in the background.

Why not give it a try?
Go and see if any products appeal to you. Then create a free blog or a hosted website advertising the products and have fun with free advertising to tell the world.

For the majority of us there is no better investment than private rental properties.

Even with the recent dreadful financial problems the world is facing, the private rental property market is as safe and secure as anything you can have put your money into.
You should be riding this storm out with a solid asset and rental income that is paying the mortgage.

Of course, no investment is without risk but the main risk with private rental property is the loss of the rent - which of course we pay the extra insurance on so that it does not affect us.

If you are looking to invest in private rental properties then it is good to learn from those who have been through the process of preparing a property for rent to improve both the chance of high rent and to reduce any risks to the investment.

A good summary of this requirement is that the property must be in good repair and show no signs of previous occupancy.

Preparing to rent the property

A good place to start, if this property is currently your home, is to inform the mortgage company you want to change the use of the property to private rental and ensure they have no objections. There will be a fee (there is always a fee!) for this change.

The next step is to find a good rental agent to find your tenants and manage the property for you. Unless you are going to be living nearby and have the time to look after the property yourself it is a good idea to have a property manager. This way you can leave the whole business to run itself. Its not free but you will be!

Keep the government happy

Fill out the form that tells the tax office of your intentions to receive rent. If you are being paid through an agent they may be legally required to keep a percentage of the rent until you show proof you have done this. You also will need certificates for Gas and Energy Performance. Your agent will be able to point you to these agencies.

Decoration and maintenance of the private rental property

You absolutely must bring the whole private rental property up to an excellent standard. But remember that you are decorating for the new tenant not for yourself - you are not going to live there! Choose neutral colours like white and light browns. Paint everywhere and replace wallpaper where necessary.

Do all those maintenance jobs you keep putting off. You may have been able to live with them but the new tenant will not be so tolerant. Fix those leaks. Repair that step you keep tripping over.

Consider replacing the white goods with cheap easy to use equipment that will have new warranties.

If you have lived in the house for a long time then start selling the things you dont need. The more time you have the better price you can ask. Dont wait until the end and you have to panic sell at a low price.

Hire a trailer (not skips) - which is invaluable to take all that stuff to the recycling centre and dump. As many trips as you like at no cost.
Sell your cars and buy a little run-around (with a tow-bar!). You can then get a good price and small cheap cars are easier to sell.

Cut back the garden to a minimum possible to provide a clean canvass for the tenants. Plant some colour. Leave basic tools for the tenants.
Get rid of the moss from the patio (its amazing the effect it can have). Fix and paint the fences.

Have the chimney swept. This may be a legal requirement to ensure it is safe for the tenant to use. It may be a shame but if in doubt then block it off and put a vase of flowers in front of it instead.

Clean all the carpets. Clean the windows.

Once you can move out, have the whole house professionally cleaned. Especially including the oven.

Tenants of private rental properties would usually pay all the household bills so do not forget to cancel the phone, broadband, cable and satelite TV.

Do not forget to read the meters ready for the new private rental tenants to pay the bills.
Re-direct your post. You really cannot expect your tenants to look after your post for you.

Arrange through the rental property agent for boiler, Gas and plumbing maintenance. You do not really want to have to be called everytime there is a problem.

Lastly write out any other useful information about the property that the new tenants will need to live comfortably in the property such as emergency numbers for Gas and Electric problems, the location of water taps, fuse boxes, electric and gas meters, and telephone points. Perhaps even include a short welcome message to make the private rental property feel more like a home.

All these preparations will help you get the best rent and the most satisfied tenants who will want to stay with you and leave you to look for your next private rental properties.

Of course we moved to America just at the time of the depression.

The relocation package has helped with the rent while we establish ourselves but that is coming to an end so we need to decide what to do next.

Shall we buy another property?
If so, is America the right place?

There is the concern that we will be spreading our properties too wide and so risk losing control.
However, there is also the thought that we would be spreading the risk.

It is certainly worth investigating however so we have started looking at a possible mortgage in Connecticut.

The first hurdle is lack of credit history in the country. Our history in the UK doesn't appear to be relevant.
In fact it took 7 months for us even to be able to get a credit card (check out the issues on our 'Move to America' lens.)

Currently it looks as though we need to have about a 20% deposit to move forward.

Of course in this crisis there are some pretty good deals.
The area we are looking at is a somewhat rich area and so the deals are not as good as some we have seen

But you can still get a good three bedroom house with half an acre of land, a lake view and and a big basement for $300,000.(200k GBP)
20% of that is $60k of course which isn't something we have under the mattress after the extra costs of doing our UK house up before renting!

Hmmm. Rent for a little longer until we have credit history? It hurts to give all that money to someone else when we will need it for buying.

I will keep you informed of our progress...

If you are struggling to get a long term tenant for your private rental property then you may consider trying to find short term tenants. Preparing your property for short term rental is a very different exercise.

Property is always a good investment compared to every other type of financial venture. It may be that you get a buzz from seeing shares go up and then depressed when they go down and that this roller coaster ride is what gets you out of bed. But what other means of investment can you make with someone elses money and either use it while it makes money or even create a second income with the same investment?

Read more at: Preparing Your Private Rental Property

While advertising our Greek property I have been asked about flights and car hire. Of course the little voice inside me said "I wonder whether I can partner with someone to provide these".

So...I am building a contract with two companies that will give me a percentage for any car hire or flights I manage to arrange through the site!

You never know....

Of course it is important to build up your savings as well as your assets - but more important for those of us who want to retire early is to build a residual income.

This is money that keeps coming in even after you have stopped updating your websites, blogs and possibly even your squidoo!

So how can you do this?

Well we should not forget your property portfolio. This is hopefully going to bring in rent every month with no effort on your part. If you have built wisely the rent could be substantial compared to any remaining mortgage or loans.
Of course you could sell the properties and put the funds into a savings account if the interest rate gets back to something sensible.

And maybe that is the time to get into stocks and shares or foreign exchange. The cash generated by the equity built into the property could become the foundation for the percentage profits you can make either through brokers or using your own automatic financial applications.

But even more rewarding should be the internet business.
If you have spent your working life creating websites that sell e-products and have built them to be found by the search engines then you can hopefully keep earning even once you down your keyboard to pick up the G&T on your sunny balcony.

So remember to make this part of your plan and you will not be dependant on the meagre pension that most people survive on in their retirement.

I keep hearing that that 'there is a book in all of us' and I have attempted writing one before.

Apart from the fun of writing one, this is another possible means to residual income.

Have you thought of doing this? How about a non-fiction text book of what you do every day?
Children's books? Regular column?

Come see the blog on How to Become An Author

Howabout something musical? Anything that gets created once and sells many time.

Maybe I have a best seller inside me somewhere trying to get out?

Well guess what. I written a book! I actually got down and did it. And I can see a series for the subject area. (In fact I have started number 2).

I have sent it to a publisher and am awaiting the verdict. Of course it may be 'Rubbish' or 'Not interested' - but who knows?

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

This is an introduction to my new novel - Sum of Memories : The essence of the soul

Who am I?
Am I the body that everyone recognises? Then if it is deformed do I cease to be me?
Am I my personality? Do I become a different person if I go through a life changing experience?
Am I a spirit, an empty life-force that becomes me through a unique experience of life?

The novel is a fictional look into the aspects of the soul that make me - me!

Many people dream of living forever by transferring into a younger body. But how do you think you and the people around you will react ?
Click here for a free preview:

Sum of Memories in paperback at Lulu


It is now also available as a download!
So if you prefer to read on your laptop or have a Kindle type book reader then this is for you!

Sum of Memories for download

Format Full Book
Online Reading (HTML)
Online Reading (JavaScript)
Kindle (.mobi)
Epub (open industry format, good for Stanza reader, others)
PDF (good for highly formatted books, or for home printing)
RTF (readable on most word processors)
LRF (for Sony Reader)
Palm Doc (PDB) (for Palm reading devices)
Plain Text (download) (flexible, but lacks much formatting)
Plain Text (view) (viewable as web page)

There are many internet content creation sites that need writers for information and 'how to..' articles.

Generally the site either pays a small amount upfront or the article goes online with advertisements and you get a proportion of the payment if anyone clicks on an ad.

The adverts are generally Google ads. Google charge the company advertising everytime someone clicks - say $1 - and then Google pays the content company 68% or 68c in our example. The content company then pays you, the writer, a proportion of that - say 34c.

So if your article gets thousands of views and tens of people click on ads then you can earn a few dollars per article per month.
Keep writing articles and when you have 100 articles you get a few hundred dollars every month - even when you stop writing!

See: Suite101 Freelance Writing for the Internet

Many, many people are put off of internet businesses before they get anywhere near reading about the real opportunity. This is because of the hype and spin generally found in the company standard marketing sites.
Because of this I am looking at designing many more of my own that we can all be happy with.

Of course its not just Christians who want to do business with integrity and honesty and I know the vast majority will want to be sure each opportunity is a real business.

Read more at: Can Christians be Involved in an Internet Business?

How ever much you enjoy your work, or not, you are very likely to be thinking of ways to allow you to retire early. Thinking about it is not enough, you must plan the way, and it may require some sacrifices starting from today.

There are many ways to achieve early retirement but none of them will happen unless you plan a way for it to happen. Whether you want to have a property portfolio bringing in rent; an Internet business selling affiliate products; a foriegn exchange robot buying and selling currency or residual income from a series of books - nothing will happen to help you retire early unless you start the journey today.

I woke up one morning to find yet again that our office landlord was away on holiday at some far away place while we were slaving at our desks to earn our daily bread. This was a well defined moment where it occured to me that if I was to put my efforts to good use then it would be to achieve a residual income that would enable me to simply stop working and live off the fruits of my labour. The chance of living in the mediteranian with no mortgage and a reliable regular income that would pay for my new lifestyle suddenly became a dream and a reality. I would not need much, just enough to buy food and wine and allow me to write and paint or perhaps serve the community at home or abroad.

Starting that day was a journey to my goal that included great adventures and at times some sacrifices.

Having seen the success of my landlord the obvious place to start was with property. The more you look into building a property portfolio the more attractive it becomes. No other investment allows you to borrow the money and then use it to build your income in the same way. Perhaps the nearest equivalent is borrowing to buy stock for a shop but then you have the task of selling all that stock at a good enough profit to buy more stock. Compare that to getting a mortgage to buy a property that you can live in while it grows in value. Or perhaps you let it out and receive rent that pays back the money you borrowed and gives you a small income at the same time. So this was my first route to early retirement.

There have been some sacrifices required to buy the property. While others may have money to spare now or can access it from their savings accounts when the feeling takes them, the property manager should try at all costs to stick with the plan and leave the money in the property. Remember that house prices may go up and down but they have always performed at least equal to the stock market - and without the risk of losing everything, assuming no earthquake or war. It may be that at the very least you can retire to your property.

Investment in the Internet is very different. There are many gurus out there who will be very keen to sell their latest idea for making 10,000 pounds or dollars a month - but be sure that they are the only ones who make anything and it is from you buying their ideas. So if this area appeals to you, look for some real content and even real products that you can sell.
The sacrifice when trying to set up an internet business should be almost entirely time and very little cash. Time each evening in setting up your websites and finding ways to point people to them. This can be fun but you will become intimately connected to your computer sacrificing time with your family and friends.

There are other ways of creating residual income to allow you to retire early and all of them will require some sacrifice.

Above all sacrifice yourself to your plan. Whatever path you chose it will only be by having a plan and sticking to it that you will achieve your goal to retire early.

Become a freelance writer!





Latest Articles by Dave Corby

There is another method of making money on the internet which does not require us to sell anything.

Companies will pay for hot leads and so they go through agencies and give the opportunity to people to do their advertising for them. Every lead passed to the company that fills in their application form is worth a great deal to them.

So if you know how to advertise even if you use free ads then you can make money even if the people who reply do not actually buy anything.

Another way of making some residual income is to make use of any traffic you have going to any of your websites.

As an example i have partnered with a travel and car hire company to give a new service to anyone who comes to my Greek Villa website.
This is an excellent way to provide a complete service to your customers and make a little money too.

To make money we must have customers and when it comes to the internet that means a continual stream of visitors or traffic.

While we can use search engine optimisation to help Google find us, that is a battle thousands if not millions are fighting for.

Try experimenting with video channels like youtube and dailymotion. These sites can bring millions of visitors in just a few days if the video is right and the description is right.

Come to my channel at YouCorbyCo