Reddit poster poses a crucial retirement question: Retire early or retire rich? — here are 3 things that can help you do both

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Would you rather retire rich or retire early?

Both options sound enticing — retiring early and having more time to enjoy life without the shackles of work, and retiring with a solid amount of savings that can go toward making your retirement dreams a reality.

Reddit user david8840 asked members of the r/Fire subreddit this question: “If you had a choice between retiring at 40 with a pre-tax retirement income of $125,000 per year, or retiring at 60 with $300,000 per year (in today’s dollars), which would you choose and why?”

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The name of this subreddit — FIRE — stands for “Financial Independence, Retire Early” which is a financial movement that motivates people to aim for financial independence before the traditional retirement age so they can retire early.

However, many Americans aren’t in a place where they could even consider FIRE as an option. A study from earlier this year by the National Institute on Retirement Security found that 55% of Americans are concerned they can’t reach financial security in retirement.

If you find yourself stuck on the question or you’re behind on your retirement saving, there are things you can do to safeguard your dreams for your golden years.

Here’s how you can work, invest and save toward the goal of retiring early and retiring rich as you decide which is the path to take.

Make a plan for your savings

Responses to david8840’s Reddit post were mixed. User ComprehensiveYam said “I’d probably stick it out a bit and go for rich. Having surpassed this level of income already I can say that it’d be tough to go back down the ladder especially given the freedom it gives us.”

Meanwhile lottadot wrote “If I could generate $125k/yr gross off my retirement assets at a 2-3% SWR I’d retire today.”

Finding the right vehicle for your retirement savings is a great place to start feeling confident in your post-work future.vPersonal finance personalities like Suze Orman have long touted the benefits of tax-advantaged retirement accounts like IRAs.

There are numerous options out there, including some that can help protect your retirement fund against economic volatility, such as a gold IRA.

By opening a gold IRA — a type of individual retirement account that allows you to invest in gold and other precious metals in physical forms — with the help of Goldco you can enjoy the tax advantages of a traditional IRA and enjoy the inflation-hedging benefits of gold so you can diversify your portfolio and stabilize your finances at the same time.

You can also try out high-yield savings account options as a catalyst for your retirement savings, such as the cash account from Wealthfront.

Wealthfront is an online brokerage offering a range of products from automated investing to cash accounts.

Their high-yield cash account offers 5% APY — that’s 10x the national average — making it a great option to bulk up your retirement savings over time.

If you’re unsure of what’s the right fit for your retirement fund, or just want to get professional advice so you feel confident in your retirement planning, it might be time to speak with a financial advisor.

With Advisor.com, getting set up with a suitable — and professionally-vetted — advisor is easy. All you need to do is answer a few questions about your financial situation and goals, and they’ll match you with a range of advisors. Plus, you can reach out for a completely free consultation to ensure you find the right fit.

Invest in alternative assets

Your stock portfolio isn’t the only vehicle that can help you ride into retirement in style. There are alternative investments that can not only be a solid way to save up money for retirement, but they can also provide you with passive income during retirement and supplement your nest egg.

And there are many platforms out there that make alternative investing accessible and simple, so you have a variety to choose from based on your financial goals and personal interests.

For instance, real estate values typically increase over time, even amidst the market’s ebbs and flows. This reliable appreciation makes real estate a trustworthy investment to fund your retirement.

You can enter the world of real estate through Fundrise — an investment app that makes investing in REITs easily accessible at a minimum investment amount of $10 .

Fundrise’s eREITs are designed to seize private real estate’s consistent income-generating potential to deliver dividends on a quarterly basis. Plus, they will allocate your portfolio to a mix of eREITS so your account is tailored to your risk tolerance and goals.

But, REITs residential properties aren’t your only option for investing in real estate.

Read more: Rich young Americans have lost confidence in the stock market — and are betting on these assets instead. Get in now for strong long-term tailwinds

Accredited investors should check out First National Realty Partners, a company that allows you to invest in necessity-based commercial real estate without having to find the deals yourself.

Through FNRP’s platform, you gain access to properties leased by national brands like Whole Foods. And because these properties are rooted in essentials, they’ll stand the test of time even amidst economic volatility.

If real estate isn’t your thing, you can invest in something more creative with a platform like Masterworks which allows you to invest in fine art — and you don’t need millions to do it.

With Masterworks, you can dip your toes into the world of fine art without dropping millions on a painting at an auction. Their investment platform allows you to buy and sell shares of iconic works of art — as in Banksy and Picasso-level iconic — just as you would stocks.

Optimize your spending and investments

While cutting down on unnecessary spending to make room for savings and investments is a good tool to build up your wealth before retirement, you also can’t deny that there are things you inevitably have to spend money on.

That being said, if you’re intentional you can make the most of your spending and see it reflected in your retirement fund with tools like Acorns.

Acorns is an automated saving and investing app that helps turn your spare change into savings for the future.

When you link your bank account to Acorns and spend as you normally would, they’ll round up each purchase you make to the nearest dollar and invest the remaining change in a diversified portfolio of ETFs where it can grow into some solid savings.

Sign up today and get a $20 bonus investment to help you get started.

Acknowledging that investing is one of the key ways to retire rich is just one step. Actually optimizing those investments with specific strategies like direct indexing is what can level up your retirement fund. Direct indexing is an investment strategy typically used by high net worth individuals.

But, Frec — an index investing platform — is making it accessible with their low management fees starting at 0.10%. Direct indexing involves directly purchasing the components of an index to maximize tax loss harvesting.

Frec can help you lower your tax bill, so you have more money to put toward your retirement. And even better, their powerful algorithms will perform trades automatically so you don’t have to worry about it. Signing up takes just two minutes so you can quickly get started with saving money on your retirement investments.

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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.