At the end of February I will have the honour of being a presenter at a TEDx event. tedxchilliwack.com The theme of the event is 'Stories that empower us.' My talk is the last of one on the schedule. As I considered the theme of my talk, one subject struck me as really important. 'It's time to retire!' I retired at age twenty-three and firmly believe almost everyone could retire early if they chose. My definition of retirement is as follows... I'll get up when I want. I don't commute. My schedule is flexible. We have enough to be comfortable. We stay home or travel for fun. We do what we love every day, surrounded by family. We have fun. We have a backyard shop where we build cool stuff. And the list goes on...

I see so many people around me putting off these things for decades while they work at something they don't enjoy. Their hope is to be wealthy, healthy and fit enough to be able to do these things when they are too old to work. They trade away their best years against the future few. Is that really logical? So how do we retire early? My talk will show how I did it at age twenty-three and stayed happily retired ever since.

I strongly believe that the small choices we make every single day effect our lives and future in a profound way. We are tomorrow what we choose to do and be today. It sure beats working!