Retire Early & Do These 15 Things

Retirement is not an age; it's a number. When you hit your number, you can choose to retire. That number is when your investments generate at least 20 percent more than your expected cost of living. Yet, most people still look at retirement as an age milestone. Most people retire after the age of 65, but there are some out there who do it in their 30s and 40s. No matter when you choose or get to retire, you will need a game plan. By the end of this video, you'll know exactly what your best course of action will be.

Here are 15 things to do after you retire. Welcome to Alux! Keep going, but with none of the pressure or stress. Turns out that people actually find pleasure, value, and purpose in going to work and being productive. What we don't like is all the nonsense and pressure that comes with it, right? Dealing with deadlines, bosses, and difficult clients. If that wasn't the case, you'd actually enjoy working. The goal of retirement is to retire from the pain and stress caused by these factors, to not have to do things you don't want to do, and to remove the time pressure caused by tight deadlines. You want to be able to wake up when you want, do what you want, and how you want.

The moment you understand this definition of retirement, your worldview will change. Retirement isn't about sipping cocktails on a beach until death inevitably comes for you. That vision of reality is actually a marketing poster from the 70s, which was used to manipulate factory workers into doing hard work until the age of 65 and then for travel agencies to sell more tickets. It served as a goal that very few people got to enjoy.

Look, in reality, it gets really boring, really fast. Consider moving, or at least travel the world. Most people choose their primary residence based on proximity to their workplace. If that's the case for you, you might find yourself better suited somewhere else. Moving one hour away might drop your cost of living considerably or at least get you more bang for the same buck spent. Plus, you always said you wanted to live in nature or near the sound of waves in the morning.

The idea of retirement is to enjoy life while you still can. If you can do it through your 30s, sprinkling in some retirement here and there while you work remotely, that's a lot better than waiting to be 65 to travel the world. Ice cream doesn't taste the same when your body hurts most of the time, so why wait? The world is so vast and filled with amazement that even if you tried, you wouldn't be able to get all of it in.

So, figure out who you are and what parts of it would be right for you. Some people will find themselves on the other side of the planet in a different religion. Others will find themselves in their backyard. You are where your feet are, so walk to different places and see what it feels like. Rid yourself of any debt and do not incur new ones.

Retirement, as we've already established, is about freedom, and one cannot be free unless they break the chains keeping them constrained. Debt contracts are the modern-day equivalent of slavery. Someone else reaps the benefits of your hard work. By the time retirement rolls around, make sure that you're free from any form of debt. If you're able to retire and escape, the last thing you want to do is chain yourself back.

As long as you live, remember that all debts carry interest. You first pay the interest, and then you start repaying the loan. Do not put yourself in situations where you have to enslave yourself. You only need three types of investments: easily convertible stores of value, cash flow, and appreciation of assets over the medium and long term.

People like to make investments for retirement sound a lot more complicated than it is, so let's walk you through it once and for all. Convertible store of value—so first, you need to make sure the money you manage to save doesn't lose its value due to inflation. So, no just keeping money in the bank or under your mattress.

The Alux rule to remember here: money loses value over time unless invested. The goal with this one is to have your money invested in something that you can easily turn into cash. Fixed-term deposits or fixed-term government bonds suck because if an emergency presents itself, it's going to be pretty hard for you to access that money. Same with real estate; selling your home isn't going to happen overnight.

That's why most people invest in stocks or an index like the S&P 500, because their growth will usually outpace inflation. So, at least the value is retained. If the situation requires it, you can easily liquidate as much as you need and have the money in your bank account the next day.

Next up: cash flow. You still need to get a consistent flow of money coming in, even in retirement. Owning parts of businesses you no longer play a part in managing, owning rental properties, or dividend-paying stocks will allow you to use wealth you acquired to get yourself paid consistently. Our favorite is commercial property in city centers.

Owning commercial property where the tenant is a bank or a pharmacy is one of the most stress-free cash flow plays. They stick around for years, self-manage, and usually are pretty hassle-free. Lastly, appreciating assets medium to long term. These are investments you make when you are cash abundant and can afford to make long-term plays for great financial returns. A good example is buying land.

If you buy it fairly cheaply now, hold onto it for 5, 10, or 20 years, and then you exit. Every five to ten years, you should check up on these and see if you still want to hold onto them or are open to new opportunities. Anything that historically goes up in value over time can serve this function, but personally, we'd rather own land, forests, or lakes than to simply have this bucket of investment tied into, let's say, silver or gold.

Speaking of combining business and pleasure, surround yourself with beauty. Invest in art. You've worked hard to be able to get to retirement; you're supposed to enjoy life at this point, not contract and barely survive. Most of your life so far has been about the grind, so you barely got around to enjoying the beautiful things. Discover culture, discover art, discover beautiful buildings.

And while most people think of these as frivolous spending, rich people actually treat them as investments. Owning a Picasso not only enriches your space visually, but also your bank account. The misconception is that people think unless you are a billionaire or multi-millionaire, there's no way for you to capitalize on investments like art because historically, they've had a high barrier of entry. But not anymore!

Our friends at Masterworks have made blue-chip art investing available to everyone. They handpick the best-selling artists based on historical data. They buy the painting as a whole, then break the ownership into parts—the same way a company would do with shares. So instead of buying the entire painting, you can simply own a percentage of a painting for as low as a couple of hundred bucks. When the painting is sold a few months or years later, the profit is distributed among the owners.

Owning a Banksy, Warhol, or Picasso has never been easier. If you're ready to diversify your portfolio and add some beauty into your life while investing like the rich do, go to alux.com/art right now. Because you're an Aluxer, and they were kind enough to sponsor this video, you get to skip the waiting list that other people have to get on in order to have access to this kind of investment. That's alux.com/art, or simply click the link in the description.

Pure spending in check, and you'll be okay. The biggest killer of financial happiness is unchecked spending. The best day of owning a boat is the day you buy it. Every other day, you think about how you shouldn't have bought that damn boat. You don't need jet skis, you don't need fancy clothes or random toys; you need peace, not status. As long as you spend less than the money you have coming in, you will be okay.

My friend, mentor someone. No matter what way you get to retirement, you had to go through some things to eventually come out the other end. Along the way, you learned so much. There aren't many things out there as fulfilling as helping someone else achieve their potential or at least help them not make the same mistakes that you've made. Save them the pain, the misery, and some of the unfairness that you had to deal with.

Choose them wisely; make sure they're able to listen and are worthy of your time and wisdom. The thing about success is that their success becomes your success. That's why you feel excitement when your favorite sports team wins. That's why we're so excited when we receive emails with your success stories at contact@alux.com.

We've built this entire business on the premise of helping others, and it's proved to be one of the most rewarding things we've ever done. Right now, the thing about mentorship is that there's a physical limitation to the number of people you can mentor, and your expertise will go on with them.

With writing, at least in theory, it'll last forever. Writing a book, any kind of book, is one of those legacy plays everyone should consider. If not for the masses, at least for future generations in your family to know about the way that you saw the world, what life was like day to day, and the kind of problems and joys you encountered.

You might think there's nothing particularly interesting going on in your day-to-day life right now, but 100, 200, 300 years from now, the world will look completely different, which will make your present life extraordinary in contrast. This is why we visit museums or watch documentaries glued to the screen. What seemed mundane back then becomes extraordinary in the present. So, write a book, Aluxer, and you know, try to make it a good one!

Enjoy the art of maintenance—home and body. More time on your hands means more time to look around and see what needs to be done. Three things every person should get good at:

Number one, fixing their environment. Get good with your hands; be able to fix things around the house. Learn how to use tools, and not having to rely on someone else gives you a feeling of independence and control over your destiny.

Number two: learn food. Learn to grow it, but even more importantly, learn to cook it. People always gather around food. The best nights you'll ever have in your life will be around food with your family and close ones. Give them a reason to show up.

And lastly, number three: healthy lifestyle with friends. Think about picking an activity that isn't stationary. Swimming, for example, is great for your joints, mobility, and weight control. It keeps you young! Golf is another great activity where you get to spend a lot of time in nature, basking in the sun while surrounded by friends that you can banter with.

This is why most rich people go golfing. Fix yourself and level up. Retirement moves the focus from solving other people's problems to solving your own. Turns out you're actually better at the first one than the second. You've actually gotten away with most of it because you were so busy with work, but now the negatives have become apparent to everyone else, including yourself.

It's time for you to become the main focus of your efforts. At Alux, we believe in what we call the five pillars of a good life: wealth, health, relationships, intellect, and the ability to control your emotions. Without all five of these, your life can spin into chaos.

Your money won't matter if you lack health and a supporting family. It's also pretty hard to focus on internal peace if your kids don't have food on the table. You need all five of these to win the proverbial game of life.

Everything we've done at Alux slowly and strategically builds you up in all five pillars. So, if you want to go after all five of them the smart way, go to alux.com/app and download the Alux app. We built it specifically on the five-pillar framework. Only actionable and practical advice from industry experts is designed to help you level up.

Ninety-one percent of our app users have either achieved their primary goal in life, or since getting the app, have made substantial progress toward it. It only costs $99 a year, and it will pay for itself almost immediately. Download it by going to alux.com/app, and you'll see what kind of impact it'll have on your life.

Focus on the family. Retirement allows you the opportunity to spend that time you always said you wanted to spend with your kids or your partner. The biggest mistake that parents make is thinking they can buy their kids a happy childhood. Oh, how much they're mistaken!

The kid is not going to remember the car or even the home as much as they'll remember those few instances where you really saw them, when you were there for them, when you made them feel safe and happy. Happiness is the result of moments well spent together. In the process of building, most people forget what their partners or children need.

When you don't know what to do, you end up doing more of what you know. So, most people bury themselves in work to make more money, thinking that the money will somehow make up for their emotional absence. Once out of that loop, it doesn't feel comfortable starting over, but that's what you must do.

It's the same with the few who are lucky enough to still have their parents alive. Statistically, how much times do you think you'll physically be able to still see your parents? Two or three times a year, maybe? How many years do they have left? That number is a lot lower than you thought it would be, isn't it? So, be present, Aluxer!

Do the little things. Go on an adventure with your kids. Romance your partner. Cook a meal with your mom and drink a beer with your dad. It might be that one moment that you look back on for years to come.

Top 100 everything in terms of splurging. We live in the Golden Age of content, right? Your mind is ready to be blown away and taken on a million trips if you've got the time. Read the top 100 books, watch the top 100 films, listen to the top 100 best albums of all time, play the top 100 video games.

Every single one of these is going to allow you to experience a different life. You'll laugh, cry, gasp, be frightened, and more from the comfort of your retirement. When was the last time you really immersed yourself in a good book or a film without letting reality creep in? Look for great stories and follow these great storytellers. You're in for a journey, my friend!

Sit around and do nothing. The Italians call it Dolce; it means the sweetness of doing nothing. Our entire culture has brainwashed everyone into being these ultra-productive machines, where the grind is non-stop. Hustle culture will have you spending more time making your bed than you spend sleeping in it.

It's all artificial chaos. If you zoom all the way out of that and zoom into the little things, you'll realize life is more like poetry than a game of Tetris. Flowers smell really nice. The summer wind feels different on your skin. Coffee tastes differently.

Being able to do nothing went from something the poor did to something only the super-rich can afford to do, and they don't even get it right. Our minds and souls open when we stop looking into the past or the future and instead just look around us. Wear the lens of appreciation.

You're one of the lucky few who get to see the day of retirement. Take every day in, and when you're done doing nothing, do that one thing you always regretted not doing. For some, it's learning to play an instrument. For others, it's mastering chess, running a marathon, painting, photography, learning French, getting a black belt in Jiu Jitsu, or seeing all Seven Wonders of the World. Whatever it is, just do it! There's no time like the present.

Sure, it might seem kind of silly at first to start as a beginner at this stage in your life, but by now, you've acquired an emotional maturity to know that the rest of the world doesn't really care or think that much about you. You are free from that. You're pretty much doing this alone for yourself, and you're having a wonderful time doing it.

And finally, plant a tree in the shade of which you will never sit. If you were fortunate enough to retire and there's still some excess time, money, and energy, well, there's nothing greater than paying it forward for future generations. If you've got the brains for it, solve the problems in your community.

If you still got the appetite for more, expand. Build things that will outlast you. There's always a need out there in the world, so find one that you have the power to alleviate, and then do it. Don't give them fish; build fishing boats or fishing rods and teach others how to use them or build them themselves.

This is why last year we built the first Alux International School in Uganda, a project that we hope to be the first of many. Before the end of the year, we're hoping to provide water to multiple communities in Burundi, the world's poorest country. Do things that are in your power, even if they're small. Your life will expand in more ways than you could possibly think.

If you've not hit your retirement number or age just yet, don't worry, you're going to get there. But we're curious to know which of these 15 do you look forward to the most? Let us know in the comments, Aluxer! And for those of you still watching, we've reserved a special bonus: figure out your relationship to the universe.

Some will call it spirituality, religion, or faith; you can call it whatever you want as long as you make peace with it. Find your God even if it stares back at you when you look in the mirror. Find your God even if it's the sprout from a seed you plant. Even if you're an atheist, behave like there's more to the universe than meets the eye. At least that's a more interesting open-ended question to leave unanswered.

Live a life worth remembering, Aluxer. We hope you will, and at least one of these ideas in this video has sparked something in you. If it did, write the word "spark" in the comments so that way we know our videos are helping you to move forward in life.

Thanks for spending some time with us today, Aluxer! We're so glad you did. If you found value in today's video, please give us a like, hit that bell icon to never miss an upload, and hey, don't forget to subscribe. Thank you!