[golgappi]

I work at a startup and I am 25. I have saved up some money and seriously considering retirement by the time I am 30.

Not that I have a lot of money saved up. I just have a couple of thousand bucks. Nothing fancy. But to me it is a seed money to try out new things, at an age where making huge mistakes wouldn't result in me being 70 and penniless. There will still be enough time to return back to IT once (if) I fail miserably. And it will also be an extended break in the worst case.

I want to explore the world, jobs, hobbies, people. I have realized the 8 hours everyday I spend on my desk is the best time to be out and about. The sunshine is literally gone by the time I get off work. If this is what hundreds of years of progress and planning has led to, I think we have failed.

So yes, I support people who think about retiring early, and actually living their lives when they are still young. If youth is the best time of one's life, it shouldn't be wasted on the desk.

[hnnewguy]

>So yes, I support people who think about retiring early. If youth is the best time of one's life, it shouldn't be wasted on the desk

It's funny, the different perspectives people have on retirement.

I don't plan on ever retiring. What would I do? Very much the same things I'm already doing. I've tried to organize my life that way.

[downrightmike]

I agree. I'll only retire when my body gives out. I decided what kind of old man I want to be and I won't be one of those hunched and shriveled guys. I intend on making it to 140. People who retire die.

[daxfohl]

Ahh, to be 25 and single again. Trust me by the time you're 35 and have kids you'll have a different sense of what's important. Your kids will be your sunshine but also your responsibility. Early retirement, living on a couple thousand dollars a year, will seem like the dumbest idea ever.

[noarchy]

>Ahh, to be 25 and single again. Trust me by the time you're 35 and have kids you'll have a different sense of what's important. Your kids will be your sunshine but also your responsibility. Early retirement, living on a couple thousand dollars a year, will seem like the dumbest idea ever.

That's a choice that a 25 year old need not make.

For those of us who have hit or are even beyond 35, and chose not to have kids, things look very different. Particularly if you work in North American IT, you're able to funnel all of that extra disposable income into things like early retirement, as well as improving your day-to-day quality of life (that could be vacations, gadgets, whatever you'd like...).

[daxfohl]

Yes, don't get me wrong, I think it's great to have early retirement as a goal, and maybe even try it out for a while (it was my goal from an early age and I tried it out for three years in my late 20's / early 30's). It's excellent motivation to save money when you're starting out.

And I was in the same boat; when backpacking through Thailand I thought, "Thailand is cheap, I'll just raise a family here". Well sure, for backpackers it's easy to live on 3K per year. But with a couple kids, you'll likely want a safe car (stupidly expensive there), decent schools (again), something nicer than a backpacker hostel, etc. Heck, flights home to visit family will run close to 10K per year alone.

[mmorett]

A couple of thousand? 9k won't even allow you to retire in Afghanistan.

:-)

[sqyttles]

Retiring at 30 = being a boring person for your 40s, 50s, etc.

I think a better situation is to be financially secure by your 30s (be completely out of debt, pay off a mortgage, have money for children, etc.) and then have the ability to start companies or work freelance for the rest of your life rather than being a slave to the 9-to-5 grind.

I do like the concept of getting rich slowly and learning slowly. I would love to peruse multiple degrees (I already have two) just out of the love of learning and also meeting other lovers of knowledge.

[Broken_Hippo]

I think you simply value the work environment much more than anyone that "retires" at 30, much similar to people that continue to work after winning a large lottery. And that's ok. For most people that want extremely early retirement, though, it is time to spend with family: Time to learn: time to experience. Not a lot of people acheive this, but that's the dream.

[platz]

You probably need ~1.7 to 2.5 million to retire, and even that's not going to be at 30

[lotharbot]

depends on the lifestyle you want to live.

My wife and I might retire in our mid-30s, in the US but not in an expensive area, and be completely comfortable with well under $1 million in assets. Because we live a laid back, low cost lifestyle -- with the house paid off (as of this week) our burn rate is dropping to under $20k per year.

You might need considerably more money to maintain your desired lifestyle. There's nothing wrong with that -- but recognize that not everyone is you.

[darkmighty]

May I ask what is your definition of retirement? I just can't imagine to stop working at that age (maybe it's because I haven't even started).

[lotharbot]

raise the kids. Make indie games, with the understanding that it doesn't matter if they never make significant revenue. Write. Read. Study. The key point here is really "not needing to earn more money" rather than "not doing anything".

[frostmatthew]

> If this is what hundreds of years of progress and planning has led to, I think we have failed.

You're saying this after complaining spending eight hours a day (presumably five days a week) at your desk. That leaves far more leisure time than most [working class] people had "hundreds of years" ago.

[jwatte]

While this comparison is true for 100-200 year ago industrial jobs, and farming in subsistence conditions, the original hunter gatherers had plenty of free time, and that's what we're evolved for. Main problem is, there's to many of us for hunting and gathering to be sustainable...

[misiti3780]

a couple hundred thousand is not enough to retire at 30 though ....

[fasouto]

He is 25, and he plans to retire at 30, in 5 years he may save another couple thousands more. Let's put on the lower part of the "couple" spectrum and say he have 200.000, in 5 years he will have 400.000 USD. This money is enough to retire early with the 4% rule http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/05/29/how-much-do-i-need...

Maybe you are assuming that he want to live in the states, with the interest of this money he could live easily in Spain, Thailand, Argentina, etc...

[wizzard]

When someone says "a couple thousand" you think of 200k as a lower bound?

[eigenvector]

The English colloquialisms "a couple" or "a few" are generally accepted to mean 1 < x < 5.

[willthames]

A couple and a couple of hundred are quite different though!

The original post suggests ~$2000, not ~200k

[misiti3780]

thailand maybe - spain seems like a stretch

[halfcat]

It can be [1]. Instead of saving 10-15% of your income, suppose you cut your expenses drastically and started saving 80% of your income. The math works out that you will be financially independent within 5-7 years and no longer have a requirement to work for money.

[1] http://earlyretirementextreme.com

[obstacle1]

Note he said a couple thousand, not a couple hundred thousand.