This British man was able to retire in Orlando at age 58 — despite a bunch of ‘not-so-wise’ financial decisions. Here are his 5 essential strategies for an early retirement

1. Pay into your pension

Barry started his career as an apprentice at Rolls-Royce in the U.K. when he was just 16 years old. It was a union shop, and upon receiving his first paycheck, he noticed that money had been deducted for a pension. At 16, he wasn’t too happy about it.

But that attitude changed over the years. He even started paying advanced voluntary contributions on top of his normal contributions whenever he could.

“Pay your pension as soon as you can, because over those 40 years, that money accrues and… that is what allows you to be able to retire early,” he said.

Not everyone has access to a pension, but maxing out your 401(k) employer-sponsored retirement account at work and/or contributing to an individual retirement account (IRA) can also help you meet those goals.

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2. Pay back debt as quickly as possible

While the couple has taken out mortgages and car loans over the years, they avoided other types of debt, like racking up credit cards. If they didn’t have the money for something, they generally didn’t buy it.

And, when they did have to take out a loan, they’d make extra payments whenever possible. “So, if we got the loan for seven years, we’d try and pay it off in three, because it’s really the interest you’re paying,” Barry explained.

The same goes for mortgages, like reducing a 20-year mortgage to 15 years, “just to be able to save on the interest.”

3. Get a good financial planner

When Barry talks about his “not-so-wise” financial decisions, it has a lot to do with an unscrupulous financial adviser — a situation that eventually resulted in a court settlement for the Bazzas.

Since that time, they’ve found a reputable financial planner who helped them figure out how much they’d need to retire early in their dream destination (Orlando) at the same standard of living they’re accustomed to.

“We can’t control what we can’t measure,” Barry said, adding that a retirement budget should be a living document. “I updated it this year… because prices have gone up from 10 years ago.”

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4. Make a retirement plan

Here, Barry is talking about the “big plan,” not just a financial plan. The couple started talking about their retirement 20 years ago when vacationing in the U.S. They moved to the States in 2005 and started seriously planning their retirements around 2010.

That means deciding when you want to retire and how you want to spend your time in retirement.

For Barry and his wife, that meant deciding they wanted to move to Orlando and spend their golden years riding roller coasters at theme parks.

But Barry said you also need to be flexible, since you can’t plan for every detail. “We’re not living where we thought we’d live,” he said, referring to their residence, so there has to be some “give and take in the plan.”

5. Be flexible with your plans

While they’ve calculated their risks as best as possible, they also recognize that their circumstances could change.

Say, for example, the market crashed and they lost some of their savings. They’d adjust their plan; maybe one of them would have to go back to work, or they’d have to sell one of their two vehicles.

Barry also recommends having a years’ to two years’ worth of cash on hand — what you would spend annually — as part of your financial plan to weather these types of unexpected storms.

But taking calculated risks means you can still enjoy the journey. “The one thing I’ve learned as I get older is you can always get more money,” he said. “You can’t get more time.”