How To Retire In 7 Years Starting With $0 (Proven Step-By-Step Plan)

You love what you do. You also love the idea of not doing it one day. But it's getting harder to know the best way to move into the future—towards retirement. We hear about inflation, rate hikes, the changing market. Gotta get the kids through college, build an emergency fund. And then there's retirement. Here's where Fidelity comes in. Fidelity can help you find clarity in saving for the future, even as your path and priorities evolve. How? Well, they'll help you create a free personalized plan that adapts as your priorities change. They'll also show you what's called timely insights, small tips on ways to save and invest to help meet your goals. And you can monitor your plan so you stay on target. The future's coming, and so is retirement. Fidelity can help you take it on your way. Learn more at fidelity.com/future. Expenses charged by your investments and other costs and fees associated with trading or transacting in your account apply. Fidelity Brokerage Services member, NYSE SIPC.

And this just in, the Comcast Business Price Lock Guarantee is back. For a limited time, you can lock in the same great rate on gig-speed internet and advanced security for 5 years, all from the company with 99.9% network reliability. Switch to the Comcast Business 5-year price lock guarantee today. Learn more at comcastbusiness.com. Ends March 29th, 2026. I need to retire in 7 years and I currently have $0 in savings. What do I do? That's a real question I got from a listener called Vicki. Vicki is 53 years old, former accountant, empty nester. She's smart, she's capable, she's disciplined, but she's starting late. And when most people hear that, the advice that comes fast and brutal all over the internet is it's too late. Just lower your expectations. Be realistic. Is this even possible? Yes, it is possible. I know because I did it. And if I wanted to retire today, I could because I followed a very specific 5-step plan that I'm going to share with you today. Now I got to warn you, this plan is not popular with cautious traditional thinkers. It's not going to win you any applause from most of your friends and family who believe that retirement only comes after, like, working hard for 40 years and sacrificing everything. If you're starting late, saving harder and skipping lattes won't save you. The only way is something most people never consider: building an asset you can sell. Let me show you how. Welcome back to the $100 MBA Show. I'm your host, Omar Zinhom, where I deliver practical business lessons 3 times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, to help you start, grow, and scale your business. I got a quick favor to ask. If this show has helped you in any way, leave me a quick review. You could do so wherever you listen to podcasts. This helps me and my team reach even more people who need the same no-fluff, practical business advice that you're getting from the show. It only takes a few seconds, but it makes a huge difference. Thanks for being a part of our journey to help others on their journey. Step 1 of 5 steps is build an asset, not another job. This is where most people immediately go wrong. They hear retire and they think, I got to save harder. I got to spend less. I got to max out retirement accounts and hope the market just behaves and does what it is supposed to do. That works if you're starting at 25. It doesn't work if you're starting at 50. Time is not on your side. I got to tell you the truth. You don't need another job. You need an asset. An asset is something that creates value without requiring your constant presence. It's something that can grow over time and can eventually be sold. Key point here. Some examples are like a software business, a content brand with products, a niche service that can be systemized. You don't need to be technical. You don't need to be famous. You don't need to be special in any way. You need to solve a real problem for a specific group of people with the experiences and skills you already have. That's how assets are built. For example, Vicki, who asked this question, is a former accountant. She can hire other talented people to provide the service and start to scale. And grow value in her company. Step 2, and that's where we get into step 2, is to grow the asset to a $2 million in profit business. Notice I didn't say $2 million in revenue, $2 million in profit. What you have left over after expenses. This is where clarity matters. You don't need a billion-dollar company or unicorn startup of some sort. No, you don't need a massive team. You don't need millions of followers on social media. You need a business that can produce results. And by results, I mean $400,000 to $500,000 in profit each year. Over the course of 4 to 5 years, that can slowly grow to become $2 million in profit. And that's very achievable if you have a high margin offer, one clear core product or offering, tight operations, you're very thrifty when it comes to costs, and you focus on execution, on delivering on your promises. Now, most people never reach this stage, not because it's impossible, but because they get distracted. Too many ideas, too many platforms, too many pivots. Focus beats brilliance every single time. As they say, most businesses die of indigestion and not starvation. Too many ideas. By the way, if this kind of thinking is resonating with you, make sure you subscribe to the show because we have an upcoming episode that I'm working on that's called 5 Realistic Side Hustles for People Who Are Over 50. That require no new skills. Even if you just need a few thousand dollars more each month on the side so that you can retire comfortably, this episode will show you how. Hit subscribe so you don't miss that episode once it comes out. Step 3: Sell the asset. This is the part people avoid talking about because they fall in love with their business. They see it being so profitable and it's growing. But listen carefully. You don't build a business just to run it forever. Okay? You can't because you will die. Right? You build it to create options for yourself. Remember, we're doing this as a means to an end because you got 7 years to retire. Selling your business is not quitting. It's graduating. And the thing about selling anything is you need to sell it when it's on the up, right? When it's valuable, when it's promising. It's really hard to sell a business when it's really doing well. I get it. But that's the best time to sell because it's really hard to sell a business when it's on the way down or even plateauing. You want to be in a position of leverage. If you build a clean, profitable, well-run asset, buyers will pay you a premium, especially if they see growth year after year. They will pay 3x to 6x annual profit, sometimes more. But these are the averages for buying a business that has these types of profits. If you're making $2 million in profit, that's really impressive. That means if your business is earning $2 million in profit, you could sell your business for $6 to $12 million. That's not theory. That's how exits work. I know 'cause I experienced it. And that lump sum becomes the fuel for your next chapter and leans us into step 4. Today's episode is sponsored by Rosetta Stone. If you have travel coming up, spring break, summer vacations, weddings abroad, or an international work trip, imagine arriving actually understanding the language. Ordering your food and coffee confidently, connecting with locals, feeling immersed instead of just visiting. For example, Nicole and I are going to Europe this summer. We're going to Paris, we're going to Italy, we're going to Greece, and I've been working on my Italian with Rosetta Stone. And boy, am I making progress. And it's for good reason, because Rosetta Stone has been the trusted leader in language learning for over 30 years. Their immersive, intuitive method helps you naturally absorb your new language. No memorizing random vocabulary lists and no relying on translations. Instead, you learn by connecting words visually and meaning in context, the way language is meant to be learned. I love how simple the lessons are. It's very, very easy to jump into a lesson and do 5, 10 minutes of language learning. My favorite thing about Rosetta Stone is that my pronunciation has improved with their True Accent feature. For example, as I'm learning Italian, I don't say grazie anymore. I say grazie. I can't wait to feel like a local as I travel through Italy in my upcoming trip. Ready to start learning a new language this spring? Visit RosettaStone.com/MBA today to explore Rosetta Stone and choose the language that's right for you. Go to RosettaStone.com/MBA now and begin your language learning journey. Today's episode is sponsored by Quo. This year, let's make it all about not missing opportunities. And that starts with not missing calls because a missed call is money out the door. Quo helps you and your team share one business number, reply faster, and stay on top of every customer conversation so you never miss an opportunity to connect with your customers, which is why today's episode is sponsored by Quo, spelled Q-U-O, the modern alternative to run your business communications. QO works everywhere you are, right from an app on your phone or computer, and lets you keep your existing number, add new numbers or teammates in minutes, sync your CRM, and rely on seamless routing and call flows as your business scales. QO isn't just a phone system, it's a smart system. QO's AI automatically logs calls, generates summaries, and highlights next steps so nothing gets lost. Make this the year where no opportunity and no customer slips away. Try QWO for free plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to qwo.com/mba. That's qwo.com/mba. QWO, no missed calls, no missed customers. Now before you start blowing all that cash, We're going to be smart. We're going to lower expenses and be intentional as you prepare for retirement. This isn't about deprivation. It's about clarity. It's about you knowing what you can live off comfortably and in a way that feels good. Okay. When you know exactly how much it costs to live well, and I'm not talking about being extravagant, but just feeling comfortable and feeling like, hey, you're retiring in your own style. Like, for example, if your lifestyle requires you to spend like $1 million a year, retirement feels impossible. But if your retirement is like more like, I'm going to spend $200,000 a year or $300,000 a year, it's very possible. Now you're playing a game that you can win. You're in a position of power. Okay. Now that you know, okay, this is my budget for retirement, how much I can pay for my expenses and live well if I stick to this budget. Even if it's just a little bit over the budget, I'll be okay. Now, step 5, invest in cash flow assets. Only now does traditional advice finally make sense because now you have some money to invest. After selling your asset, you want to move your capital into conservative income-producing investments, dividend-paying investments, boring, predictable cash flow vehicles. Okay, I know this sounds a lot of jargon. And by the way, this is not financial advice. Speak to an accountant or a lawyer, right? I'm just giving you something for education purposes, okay? So that you can wrap your head around how this is possible. At this stage, the goal isn't growth. The goal is income without effort because you're retired, right? You're not working anymore. So you're going to try to find assets like real estate that can generate rent, like, you know, putting money in the stock market and taking a dividend that can actually give you cash flow positive returns and meet your financial goals. Now, One of the things I highly recommend is to invest in a financial advisor or financial expert. I highly recommend you shop around because I shopped around a lot until I found a great one. Why? Because it's money well spent. These people are definitely well-versed in how to invest money and they know how to get you to your goals. So you could say, hey, this is how much money I need every year to live comfortably. Here's my lump sum from my sale of my business. How do I invest this money so that I can have that recurring income. Now, I highly recommend when you're looking for a financial advisor, find somebody with a fixed fee. These people don't have a dog in the game. When they take some sort of percentage of your returns, then, you know, it can be kind of skewed. I kind of like the fact that they have a fixed fee because when they have a fixed fee, they're going to do everything they can to help you out. And they're not biased. They're not going to try to convince you to do something that you're not comfortable with so that they can make more money. At least that's my experience. So why does this work? And why do most people never do this? Most people try to retire by playing defense, by saving leftovers, right? By avoiding risk. But when you have a limited time, when you have 7 years to retire, this plan has to be all offense. It requires you to, you know, brush up your skills and develop some business skills, focus up, right? You're going to have some short-term discomfort for the next 7 years, but you're going to have a long-term comfort and long-term thinking of, hey, oh, in 7 years I'm going to retire. Everything's going to be smooth sailing from there once I sell my asset. And it works because you're not relying on time or luck or markets behavior. You're actually taking control of the situation. You're relying on value creation and value always gets paid. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. Everybody who's listening, Vicki, who asked today's question, if you're listening, Yes, it is possible, but not with the old rules, not with fear, not with excuses. 7 years are going to pass away like this, right? Snap of the fingers. The only question is, will you still be asking, is it too late? Or will you be living a life that finally feels like yours? You're going to need to invest to earn that life. You need to invest these next 7 years. It's going to be a little bit harder than the last 7 years. But you're going to take control and make it happen. If this episode clicked for you, then you're going to want to check out one of our previous episodes that we published called How to Make Your First Million Dollars in One Year Without Getting Lucky, no matter what your circumstances are. I'm not saying it's easy, but I'm giving you a game plan and it will help you understand what to build and why this plan will actually work for you. If you found today's episode helpful and you want more practical business lessons to help you start, grow, and scale your business, the best thing you could do is subscribe to this podcast. Hit subscribe or follow on your favorite podcast app, the one that you're using right now, whether it's Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. By hitting subscribe, you get our next episode automatically, and it's the best way to support the show. It's absolutely free, and it's a way for you to commit to growing your business. And now that you've subscribed, I'll check you in the next episode.

Hey girl, what's happen— is that your antiperspirant? Uh, yeah. Let me see that can. Aluminum butane— I cannot pronounce that. You have to switch to Native deodorant. Native's simple formula has only clean ingredients. It gives you effective 72-hour odor protection with no hydrocarbon propellant. Wow, this smells heavenly! Clean, effective 72-hour odor protection isn't a myth. It's Native.