How to Retire the Cheapskate Way: The Ultimate Cheapskate's Guide to a Better, Earlier, Happier Retirement

In my own lexicon, being a “cheapskate” is a virtue, not a vice. It’s not about being greedy or dishonest, and it’s not about sacrifice or deprivation. It’s all about choices—deciding what’s really important in your life (particularly those things that come without a price tag) and skipping the rest.

That’s why “return on noninvestment” (as in “NOT SPENDING!”) is ultimately a far more important and powerful concept than the incessantly discussed, debated, and written-about concept of “return on investment.

And, you know, a light just came on,” she says. “It made us realize that there’s a whole wide world out there, and even though we live in a small town in Mississippi where most people don’t do this sort of thing (world travel), we could actually go out there and see it … but only if we didn’t have debt and if we set our priorities on what we really

Debtor Dementia. (FYI: “Debtor Dementia” or, in Latin, Insaneous Borrowlingus, is a condition I first diagnosed years ago, a delusional state that otherwise rational people enter once they begin borrowing money.

the importance of consistently living below your means throughout your life cannot be overstated.

it conditions you to live on a fixed, limited amount of money; think of it as “test-driving” your retirement lifestyle/budget.

I took a full year just to explore multiple directions simultaneously. I dabbled at buying and selling antiques and other unique artifacts through a local consignment shop; I tried to parlay my love of gardening and working outdoors into some project work for neighbors; I even became “the Bonsai Guy” for a while,

But you should spend some time thinking about and planning for how you might manage just the opposite: success.

becoming a volunteer usher at theaters and concert halls. Those facilities that use volunteers as ushers—and a great many do—typically allow you to see the shows for free and often invite volunteers to backstage events and other special functions.

Take out a piece of paper (or several) and just start writing down everything—and I mean everything—you enjoy doing in life. Don’t get bogged down by trying to keep it organized, or profound, or something that will ever be seen by anyone other than you.