[yawgmoth]

Other companies pay great salaries. In Detroit, for example, you can make 100-130k with a much lower cost of living (even if you're living downtown or in one of the wealthy suburbs). I presume Chicago, Boston, ATL, etc., would be just as lucrative if not moreso. If the bar is based on salary and hours, you can make it in a lot of places.

[pc86]

Arguably if your goal as a software developer is to make as much money as possible and retire as soon as possible, you should probably work on HFT in the lowest-COL area that supports that field (maybe Chicago with a long train commute or something?)

I'm a team lead and make less than an entry level developer at any SF or NYC shop, but I'm willing to bet that I can save more and have more put away for retirement than most as well.

[dceddia]

This is along the lines of what Mr. Money Mustache [0] recommends, minus the long commute. For anyone interested in early retirement through working hard and saving money, his blog is absolutely worth a read.

It could be a bit of a lifestyle change (or maybe you're already close and you don't know it!), but for people with software-developer-level salaries, early retirement is absolutely within reach.

[0] http://www.mrmoneymustache.com

[pc86]

Yeah, I am assuming that long train ride + cheap mortgage is probably cheaper than very short commute + downtown Chicago rent, which may not be the case everywhere. And quality of life goes down pretty quickly with increases in commute.