[lucaspiller]

Becoming rich (assuming it’s not handed to you by your parents) isn’t about how much you earn [0], but about how much you save. If you earn $120k/year, but only spend $20k/year, after five years you will have half a million in the bank.

The hard part is convincing yourself (and your family) that you don’t need to go that resturant or you don’t need that new car. Obviously younger people have the advantage here, as they typically have less attachments.

There’s a point where this can get a bit too extreme, but it depends on what’s important for you. Having that house within walking distance of your office, or cycling 10 miles to work and retiring at 35? If this is interesting to you, take a look at the various financial independence/early retirement communities.

[0] After a certain point, but I’d argue pretty much everyone working in tech is there.

[thesmallestcat]

I hate to split hairs, but you'll take home about $80k on a $120k salary, so the plan you've proposed would require over eight years of slumming it, not five.

More on topic, imagine that you try to retire with $500k in the bank at 35. Even if you're willing to slum it at $20k/year for the rest of your life, you'll only make it to 60! And that's ignoring the elephant in the room, inflation. With mandatory health insurance, $20k/year's going to be tough to clear too. You're probably going to have to seek disability status to qualify for government assistance at some point if you are fixed on the "early retirement" goal.

Now, it's not like you're going to throw the $500k in a mattress. Surely some combination of bonds, index funds and specie can spare you from the worst of outcomes. I don't know about you, but all of this sounds like a mean and tentative existence to me, babysitting a nest egg. There's not much wiggle-room for taking risks, like starting a business that's more interesting than "freelance programmer."

In summary, I doubt that one can retire early with any comfort off of a decade of decent earnings. That's not really controversial, but it disagrees with your financial advice, which I suspect is dangerous. I think it's a bit irresponsible to suggest that somebody spend the prime of their life squeezing out every last penny. I think it's unrealistic to suggest that the difference in rent between a convenient walking commute and a safe, 10-mile bicycling commute can equal the budgeting difference you've proposed. Lastly, you're ignoring the opportunity cost of living like a monk when it comes to professional networking, or more important things like having a varied and healthy social life.

[lucaspiller]

Please don't take what I said too seriously, it's not meant as "life advice you should follow to the T". It was merely intended to provoke a discussion about an alternative to the way most people deal with personal finances.

As I mentioned, there are plenty of people who practice 'financial independence' who have done this before, what I'm saying is nothing new. Early Retirement Extreme [0] is a good introduction to the subject. Mr Money Mustache [1] is a bit less extreme. These are still rather extreme examples though, so no not everyone will be able to retire in 5 years, but a lot of the advice they can follow, and at least save up an emergency or investment fund of a decent amount.

I think it's irresponsible and dangerous to live paycheck to paycheck, and take on mountains of debt just to buy something you don't really need, but plenty of people do that every day.

[0] http://earlyretirementextreme.com/about-the-blog

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

[toomuchtodo]

You can live on $24k/year from $600k in invested assets. With mandatory health insurance, its income tested, not means tested; living on $24k/year means a family's premiums will be heavily or fully subsidized (under current ACA law).

> In summary, I doubt that one can retire early with any comfort off of a decade of decent earnings.

It can be done.

"A Brief History of the ‘Stash: How we Saved from Zero to Retirement in Nine Years"

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/09/15/a-brief-history-of...

"Getting Rich: from Zero to Hero in One Blog Post"

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/02/22/getting-rich-from-...

[thesmallestcat]

This guy and his wife are making $160k gross in 2003, and that's on the fifth year. I plugged that into a .gov inflation calculator just now and got $216k equivalent today! Some numbers are omitted, but they're nearing $200k by 2004 and certainly clearing it by 2006. Then when he "retires" he's pulling 50k with a side business? Everything about this is misleading.

[jonmb]

Root of Good did it too with a modest income compared to Mr. Money Mustache.

http://www.rootofgood.com

Lots of people have done this successfully, making use of the "4% rule". Though it's always helpful to have a fun side income.