How much daily effort would you be willing to invest to retire a year early? | brokeGIRLrich
Two years?
Ten?
What if it only required a few minutes each day?
Okay, I realize this is starting to sound like one of those get-rich-quick schemes circulating on Instagram.
That’s not my intention, though.
Recently, I’ve been reflecting on the income generated from my blog.
After 11 years of blogging, I never expected to strike it rich; my initial goal was simply to cover the minimal costs of running the site.
Over time, I’ve experienced some financial success, netting nearly $80,000 over the years.
While that’s a significant amount, I can’t help but think about the effort it took to reach that figure.
In the beginning, blogging served as a valuable tool for me to deepen my knowledge of personal finance — an experience worth far more than that $80,000.
As time went on, however, much of my saving and investing became automated, and my main job grew busier, causing me to shelve many side hustles, including my favorite topic to write about.
This shift made my blog less exciting and turned content creation into a challenge. I often struggled to highlight successes, mainly because my focus has shifted toward future aspirations like retirement.
Over the past five years, I have occasionally thought about closing down brokeGIRLrich, questioning if the stress is justified.
But then I considered that $80,000. While I haven’t deposited it all in an investment account, part of it has indeed been allocated to retirement and brokerage accounts.
The effort I’ve put in, combined with my frugal lifestyle, gives me the potential to retire two years earlier because of my blog.
This realization shifted my perspective on the whole endeavor. It has required considerable effort at times, but always on my own terms.
Beyond that, assuming a 7% annual return (a number that has held true many years), that amount could theoretically double every 7-8 years.
Now that I’m 40, if I invest that total and plan for annual spending of about $40,000, aiming to retire at 67 — 27 years from now — I could reduce that target age to 65 with just my blog income.
By the time I’m 48, without adding extra contributions, I might be able to push that down to 63. By 56, it could be down to 59.
If I continue my blogging journey, by 51, I could potentially accrue another two years of saved income.
This seemingly simple side hustle, centered around a topic I enjoy, could effortlessly cut down nearly a decade from my working years.
While it probably won’t play out exactly like that — I do tend to spend a good portion of my earnings — viewing it through this lens makes the effort feel much more rewarding. Plus, there’s nothing stopping me from investing my earnings, except perhaps my penchant for unnecessary purchases and takeout.
The takeaway here is that even small, consistent efforts over time can lead to substantial changes.
What steps are you taking to break free from the daily grind a little earlier?
