Over the past several months, I’ve been fascinated by the idea of early retirement. Just the term early retirement can bring up a few different questions.

What is early?

I consider early to be anytime before when most people would retire. A quick search on the internet brought up a US News article where they surveyed 5100 employees and only 2 percent expected to retire before the age of 55. So we could consider anything before the age of 55 to be “early”.

What is retirement?

Well, that’s a different thing to different people. I view it as no longer having to do the 8-5 anymore. Essentially, financial freedom to do what I want when I want. It’s the point where investments and assets are making enough money to cover our everyday living expenses. At that point, we could do what we want, when we want without living like paupers.

What’s next?

I’ve learned a bit and plan on reading more on the topic from different sources. One authority on the topic is Mr. Money Mustache. Another that my wife found recently is The Money Habit.

Do you know of any authorities in early retirement? Is it a dream of yours to one day quit your 8-5? Let me know in the comments below. I plan on writing more about this topic as I learn more and develop a plan of my own.

It’s also the time of year to start planning what you want to do next year. Let me know what you’ve got planned in the comments concerning your financial future.