And it doesn’t involve an onerous amount of savings, says one financial consultant. : SINGAPORE: My personal journey towards early retirement started in my mid-twenties when I studied for my Masters in Applied Finance at the National University of Singapore. But at 39, the dividends from my investment portfolio began to exceed my take home pay and I was able to not just retire from the corporate workforce altogether, but was also able to pay my way through a three-year Doctor of Jurisprudence program in Singapore Management University using my dividend payouts.