[derekp7]

yeah, my post was general (I just replied to your last post, didn't infer context from your previous one). But anyway, the numbers still work out at any income level -- if you invest 20% if your income at 8% for 23 years, you can then live off the savings for the next 40 years (assuming you withdraw from your savings 80% of your income level, which is the amount you were living off previously, and that the savings still nets you 8% annually). So if you are making 20,000, and invest 4,000 a year (20%), your are living off of 16,000. Then after 23 years, you can withdraw 16,000 from savings for the next 40 years.

This is simplified ignoring taxes, and also not counting for inflation (you'd want to work for 30 years to be able to draw enough extra to cover inflation -- however your contributions will be increasing during that 30 years since hopefully your pay goes up faster than inflation).