Broke at 37.
Self-made millionaire.
Frugal, Author of Filling the Glass: The Skeptic’s Guide to Positive Thinking in Business.
Semi-retiree by choice (“It’s incredibly difficult to turn off the moneymaking machine” ).
Barry Maher is living life and loving it.
Here are some words from Barry himself:
I’m semi-retired and loving it! Through saving and investing, a lot of hard work, and more than a little luck, I’m able to afford to retire completely.
But why should I, when as a speaker I’ve got the kind of part-time job that many people only dream of having: traveling all over the country, all over the world, staying at great locations, and meeting fascinating people? People who not only hang on my every word (well, almost every word) but, the delight of every senior, actually think I’m worth listening to.
Because the real payoff is connecting with the audience, everyone from the smiling woman who couldn’t wait for the presentation to start to the guy in the back row with his arms crossed who was planning to slip out the door the minute the session lagged.
Of course, it’s not all five-star resorts and standing ovations. Even beyond the frazzled meeting planners and the occasional night stranded in some airports, there was the CEO who discovered his competition was in the audience and told me to speak about nothing for the next three hours
The audience at the opening keynote in New Orleans at 8 AM after the first night of Mardi Gras; the friendly audience member in the Middle East who casually mentioned how much he admired Osama Bin Laden; the Colonel in the Sultan’s army who accidentally stranded us out in the desert 75 miles from the nearest town; and many more!
Favorite Part of the Interview
The advice I would give is just what I’ve said before, is to actually take charge of your life. And you can’t take charge of your life if you’re paying out money to other people if you’re in debt. They’re in charge of your life; the bank’s in charge of your life, the finance company is in charge of your life. You’ve got to get out from the thumb of other people if you’re actually going to succeed.
Now you may have a great boss, and that’s perfectly fine, and your career may involve you being…working for that boss, and that’s perfectly fine too. But if you can have the freedom to tell that boss exactly what the truth is of the circumstances that you’re in without fear of well, I can’t tell him that because that may hurt my promotion chances, that might hurt my career with the company, you’re not going to be as effective an employee as you should be, and you’re ultimately not going to be as successful as you should be.
So the idea is to get out from under the thumb of whatever circumstances you’re in so you actually do have the freedom to succeed in the way that you would like to.
Maher is among many retirees and semi-retirees whose journey to financial freedom is featured in the free eBook, “The Definitive Guide to Becoming the Retiree Next Door,” published by MoneyTips.com. While most Americans worry that they won’t have enough money to retire, this group of successful retirees shows that many fulfilling paths are possible despite the challenges.
I definitely agree that you really aren’t fully in control of your life until you’re debt-free. Getting there is a struggle, but it’ll be worth all that work! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
There is nothing good about debt and he’s right, you can’t truly live the life you want if you’ve got debt. The freedom one gets from being debt free is unbelievable. Far better than the dread of creditors, banks and people who harass and demand money from you that you don’t have. Getting out of debt is a gift you give yourself – the gift of freedom and stress free living.