Most of us dream of working from home and earning a full-time income on a part-time basis. Unfortunately if the recent news of raising the retirement age of people working in Singapore to 68 years old materializes, it seems like instead of retiring early, many more Singaporeans will be working for many more years than initially planned.

Singapore is currently in the process of extending the retirement age from 62 to 65 years old and expects to put the law in place by 2012. This will be done through legislation by making it compulsory for employers to re-employ workers in Singapore after 62 years old. The main reason for raising the retirement age ceiling is because of the rising life expectancy of people in developed countries, which in turn put pressure on the average Singaporean to take more time to save enough money for their retirement.

What this means for the average Singaporean is that you are expected to work longer, earning a salary in a job that pays decently in Singapore and defer your retirement plans.

You may be asking yourself, is this the kind of lifestyle you would like to have for the rest of your life? Are there any other options which you could pursue to get yourself out of the rat race faster? What do you need to do to pursue financial freedom and enjoy your retirement earlier?

When you ask yourself these questions, you need to remember that the legal retirement age is set by the Government to ensure that the employers and companies continue to employ you up to a certain age. However it does not mean that you cannot declare earlier retirement if you have the means to do so.

I believe that to achieve financial freedom, the first step is ensure sure that you could generate a second or multiple streams of income, while you continue to work in your day job. Subsequently, grow your streams of income to a level that is equal to your salary, and eventually exceeding your salary. Some people choose to generate our alternative streams of income by earning money at home in Singapore through Internet Marketing or setting up blogging businesses. Once you could generate different income streams consistently, consider reinvesting the money saved, which could beat inflation by generating additional passive income through dividends. When done properly, you could be on the way to achieving financial freedom and retiring much earlier.