How a NZ couple used sharemarket investments to become 'work optional' in 11 years

<p><strong>Each week BusinessDesk and the NZ Herald's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's the strategies one couple used to radically reduce how much they needed to work. Hosted by Frances Cook.</strong></p> <p>The idea of investing enough that you can live off the passive income often seems the stuff of dreams. </p> <p>Surely it's just for those who earn the mega big bucks? Or it'll take 20 years, 30 years, maybe even more. </p> <p>Well one New Zealand couple managed it in 11 years, and while they earned a decent salary, it wasn't anything crazy. </p> <p>In fact, they say they could have achieved financial independence even sooner if they'd avoided a few mistakes along the way. </p> <p>They're now at the stage where they don't technically need to work, although they do choose to work part time in order to have some extra fun money. </p> <p>That's what the financial independence world calls becoming "work optional". </p> <p>So how did they do it?</p> <p>For the latest podcast, I talked to Ruth Henderson, also known as The Happy Saver.</p> <ul> <li>If you have a question about this podcast, or a question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookNZ/">Facebook here</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/">Instagram here</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/FrancesCook">Twitter here</a>.</li> </ul><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>