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Editor's note: The holidays are a great time to think about how to live a richer, fuller life. So for the last five days, we've published a series of essays from Dr. Steve Sjuggerud on how to do just that. Today's essay is one of our favorite stories. Let us know what you think of it – and the whole series – here.
How to Retire With No SavingsBy
Sunday, November 27, 2011
"Do you have any savings?" I asked my friend Tony.
"Not really, no," he answered.
Tony is in his 50s. And he didn't sound worried in the least. How is that possible?
I was surprised Tony was so relaxed...
My wife, for example, couldn't consider living like that. My wife is hard-wired to save instead of spend. She really doesn't spend. And even though we have saved and invested well... she STILL worries.
Tony quit his job five years ago. And then he sold off a good deal of his possessions to finance living his dream.
Tony now builds extremely fine guitars. He's earned critical acclaim. He's doing what he always wanted to do. And he intends to do it for the rest of his life.
I visited Tony in Indiana. I came to visit so he could help me build my own guitar...
 "This is my retirement," Tony said, pointing his arms around his shop.
"The Larson Brothers built guitars until they died in their 70s," he reminded me. "And John D'Angelico and Jimmy D'Aquisto built guitars until they died, too." Tony intends to do like these legends did.
Five years ago, he had a "good" job as a computer graphic artist. And before that, he worked as a cabinetmaker. But making cabinets or pushing a computer mouse were not what he wanted to do with his life.
Guitars were always his passion. He'd been building and tinkering with them since the 1980s. So he took the leap. If it didn't work, he figured he could sell off the contents of his guitar workshop and return to being a graphic artist.
I am not as bold as Tony. But I do admire him for following his passion. He took what must have seemed like an enormous risk five years ago. But now he's able to say something most people will never be able to say... he's living his dream, doing what he wants to for a living.
Tony has "retired" with basically no savings. And yet he is happy, because he has set up the rest of his life to do what he loves.
Is following your dream worth a shot? Can you turn that into a way to make money? If it doesn't work, do you have something to fall back on? You only live once... Think about it.
Good investing,
Steve
Further Reading:
Palm Beach Letter publisher and self-made millionaire Mark Ford warns DailyWealth readers about the biggest mistake retirees make. "It's a common mistake... Yet, I've never heard it mentioned by retirement experts," he writes. "Nor have I read a word about it in retirement books..."
Steve's parents weren't "interested in the stock market or other schemes that got popular over the decades." Instead, they created their nest egg with a strategy that Steve suggests you take advantage of today. Read more here: How My Hero Created His Wealth.
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