The typical road to retirement looks like this: Graduate college.

Fill it with stuff.

Work for at least 40 years to pay for the stuff.

A couple pose for a picture with their dog in front of their house

Shane and Melissa teach classes at the same CrossFit gym where they work out. Chris Zuppa/The Penny Hoarder

For many people, this path has lost its appeal, and theyre turning toward a different one.

Its called financial independence, or FI for short.

Our team has compiled alist of creative waysyou can fatten your bank account this week.

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This is a long list, so dont get overwhelmed.

Well keep it updated as offers changes or expire.

People who pursue financial independence have decided their time is worth more than their money.

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And theyre willing to make sacrifices to have more of it.

They turned those talks into the best-selling book Your Money or Your Life.

Over a decade later, blogger Pete Adeney, also known asMr.

Money Mustache, further popularized financial independence by equating it with early retirement.

Adeney and his wife practiced extreme frugality to save 66% of their incomes as software engineers.

They retired with a paid-off home when they were both 30.

So he looked for other stories of people pursuing FI.

Shane had a car he loved, but it got horrible gas mileage and had dropped significantly in value.

Theyre also planning ways to save after they reach financial independence.

Melissa is taking canning classes, and Shane has learned to make sourdough bread.

Its so much cheaper than buying bread, he said.

They plan to move into a mortgage-free home when they retire.

Reaching financial independence isnt just about raising your income and lowering your spending.

But their vision for the future drives their day-to-day decisions.

The easiest and most common way is to invest it in retirement accounts.

They put these savings intolow-cost index funds.

But there are alternatives.

His portfolio generated enough passive income for him to become financially independent in his 30s.

The supplemental income is also helpful in times the stock market doesnt produce as much growth as planned.

… but What if You Dont Make Six Figures?

Sure, Shane and Melissa have great incomes.

Hes been a diesel hydraulic mechanic at the same company for over 10 years, and shes an accountant.

They can afford to save a large portion of their money.

But most of us arent making six figures, even in two-income households.

So what options are there for the rest of us?

Fortunately, investment growth isnt the only passive income option to reach financial independence.

In 2016, Jonathan Mendonsa and Brad Barrett started theChoose FI podcast.

FI-seekers stack these strategies on top of one another to optimize what they have to work with.

FI is often dismissed as unattainable foraverage income earners.

And thats never a bad thing.

Jen Smith is a former staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.

Probably not as good as youd like.

It always seems like an uphill battle to build (and keep) a decent amount in savings.

But what if your car breaks down, or you have a sudden medical bill?

Ask one of these companies to help…