A lot of people don’t think of early retirement because they felt that it is an impossible task. Let me state here that it is possible to retire early if you can solve the hard problems that early retirement imposes. The solutions to these hard problems is what I called secrets.

Secrets, by definition, are uncovered solutions to hard problems. That is why they are called secrets. If everyone knows about the solutions, we would call them conventions. If everyone thinks there is no solution, we would call them impossible tasks. Secrets represents the problems that are hard, by not impossible, which is why knowing the solutions create a powerful leverage for the person.

Most will think that early retirement is an impossible task. Hence, there are no secrets left to explore, no possible solutions to uncover. The purpose of this blog is to provide these solutions so that secrets can become conventions and everyone who came across this blog at least have a path to his or her early financial freedom.

What are the hard problems in early retirement?

Cash flow is definitely one of the most difficult problem for people who wants to retire early. It is a hard problem because generating revenue outside of your job is hard. That doesn’t mean there are solutions to it. In fact, there are many but you must take the effort to study and implement them.

One of my secrets is to invest in websites. This is a relatively new area that very few have considered. By buying a portfolio of sites that brings in constant revenue, it is possible to retire comfortably in Singapore or Malaysia. See my calculation here on how to generate $10,000 per month by investing $50k.

To use this secret, you must be familar with how online traffic works and how to convert these traffic into dollars and cents. This will take some time but it is by all means, not an impossible task. Once you understand how traffic can be generated and maintain without much effort, you are ready to invest in websites and work your way towards your financial freedom.

Learning how to invest in alternate assets is a secret

The financial markets is full of secrets to exploit. If you believe there are none, that means you believe in markets being 100% efficient. I, however, don’t share that belief. I believe markets, because they are participated by humans, will never be 100% efficient. When there is inefficiency, then there will be secrets that you can exploit to make full use of your existing money.

The biggest secret is that most banks cannot provide high returns due to

• Incomplete knowledge of alternate investments
• A need to manage the risk profile of the bank
• Lazy but greedy, thus exploiting us to the max

So, if your investment strategy consist of putting money into banks, then you are not exploiting any advantages. The secret to getting a return that is higher than 4% or even 5% is to use the Internet and take back your investment decisions. See the range of products that are currently available in the market but not offered by the banks.

A personal favourite example of mine is domain names. Learning to buy and sell domains can yield a much better return. You will of course need to first target your potential buyers and then find ways to buy domain names for prices that are cheaper than what these buyers are willing to pay.

Another alternate investment is peer to peer loans. Take a look at sites such as Prosper.com or LendingClub.com and you will see returns that are much higher than what the local banks are offfering. Again, there will be a learning curve but this is what secrets are all about. Learning about something that is not open to everyone and then exploiting that knowledge to your advantage. If you think secrets don’t need hard work to master, then you are sorely mistaken.

Summary

Secrets are the hidden solutions to hard problems. If you want to retire early, you must first believe that they are secrets to be found. Once you find them, then you need to take the time to master and apply these secrets. That is how you can have an early retirement.