Early retirement: Man achieves FIRE at 36 thanks to investing $5 a week | Personal Finance | Finance
Michael Quan was able to achieve an early retirement by the age of 36 thanks to investing – and you can too.
The now-46-year-old set out to reach FIRE, which stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early.
This is a growing financial movement that involves people making larger contributions to their savings and investments, as well as adopting a more frugal lifestyle.
In order to hit this goal, Mr Quan began investing at 26 and continued to do so for the following 10 years.
He shared that he learned the importance of making passive income from his uncles who had investments in business and real estate.
Speaking to Good Morning America, the father-of-two broke down what FIRE means to him personally.
On his FIRE journey, the early retiree said: “The goal wasn’t necessarily to retire super early.
“It was to really get to a place of financial independence or financial freedom where I didn’t have to work for money, where I could ultimately choose what I want to do with my time.
“I was like, ‘You know what? That’s great. You get to focus on what really matters to you most and you get to be super intentional with your life.”
The San Diego native invested his money into multiple stocks and indexes over the years which resulted in it growing.
When he worked full-time, Mr. Quan founded his technology investing company which he later received an unsolicited offer to get bought over.
With his company now sold, he realized he had more free time to spend with his family and pursue other passions.
One of the key aspects people need to adopt to achieve FIRE is adopting the right mindset, according to Mr Quan.
The entrepreneur wrote a guide “The FIRE Planner” to share tips with people on how to retire early.
Mr Quan added: “I just started investing in the stock market and spending $5 a week, investing into stocks and so that really got me interested in building a portfolio at a young age, even before I started my company.
“Because I was building a business, I had the opportunity to cash out some of that equity and put that into real estate.
“I decided, I have a unique opportunity to be home and present with the kids. I have a lot of shots to build another business but only one shot at being a great dad.”
