Sonia Smith has extensive knowledge on how to make her dollars last a lifetime.
The 47-year-old former accountant retired from his 9-to-5 job in June, but Smith didn’t have $1.5 million in his bank account, but some This is necessary for Gen Xers to retire before 50.
In 2019, she started working for a multi-level-marketing cosmetics company to earn income outside of her corporate job. Smith said she had two major financial goals she aimed to achieve before retiring.
First, she wanted a reliable monthly income from her work with a makeup company, which she asked to remain anonymous for legal reasons.
“I wanted to get to a financial position where I was bringing $10,000 into my home with my business that wasn’t my 9-to-5,” Smith told Business Insider.
Second, she planned for her 401(k) to reach at least half of five years’ worth of her corporate salary. Smith said she Started looking into her 401(k). “Very early” in her career, and it paid off.
Smith is a married mother of three grown children. She and her husband live in San Antonio in a home they own since 2014.
“I wanted to make sure I had the ability to pay my bills if something happened to other people in my household,” Smith said.
So, she made her 401(k) a priority early on, making sure she put money into it every week. It sounds simple enough, but a third US adults plan to retire on Social Security alone Despite what financial experts say, according to an August report from personal finance firm NerdWallet.
Although she’s not a millionaire, Smith credits her own experience working in finance and her side hustle for helping her leave the workforce early. She wasn’t quite ready to retire when she did, but decided to take a step back to care for her aging parents.
Investing is one area Smith said she wishes she had explored sooner. She told BI that her 401(k) didn’t reach the goals she set for it, and that investing when she was in her 20s could have made her retirement easier.
“My advice to anyone under 30 who wants to retire before age 60 is to get a financial advisor,” Smith said.
The key, she said, is to “listen to what they have to say about how to invest your money because it’s not just about the 401(k).” She advised the youth to start looking for investment opportunities from the moment they are hired.
Smith’s retirement plan wasn’t perfect, but it was effective when paired with the support system in her family.
Ultimately, she said, it’s about doing the work to learn “how your money works for you.”
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