Retire At 30

[polak]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

I have a friend who retired at 43. Started work as an engineer in the early 80s straight out of university, paid off his house within 5 years, lived like a pauper (still does), invested everything left over after his meager expenses, got a buyout after 20 years on the job, and retired. Owing to the stock market, he has twice as money on the bank now as when he retired 12 years ago.

Some things to keep in mind. The interior of his house looks exactly the way it did when he bought it in 1982 - same carpet, linoleum, etc. Never had kids. Married late in life to someone who is also dedicated to an incredibly frugal lifestyle.

It's not just a matter of discipline. You need a certain temperament, which is probably inborn.

Sounds like a nightmare.

Different strokes for different folks.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

I have a friend who retired at 43. Started work as an engineer in the early 80s straight out of university, paid off his house within 5 years, lived like a pauper (still does), invested everything left over after his meager expenses, got a buyout after 20 years on the job, and retired. Owing to the stock market, he has twice as money on the bank now as when he retired 12 years ago.

Some things to keep in mind. The interior of his house looks exactly the way it did when he bought it in 1982 - same carpet, linoleum, etc. Never had kids. Married late in life to someone who is also dedicated to an incredibly frugal lifestyle.

It's not just a matter of discipline. You need a certain temperament, which is probably inborn.

I would be miserable in this situation. To each his own.

[CaptainYooh]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

I would be miserable in this situation. To each his own.

I had the same thought. We know a couple that bought a small old house in 1991 for $125,000, paid it off in 7 years putting every penny into it and they still live in it. No renovations. They do travel a lot though.

[Northendzone]

there was that young woamn from calgary who was on oprah - she was a millionaire at 15 or something. she was thrifty and did well on investments.

i think this is a difficult way to live - even moreso if you have kids. do you tell your kids there will be no extra lessons for anything or sports because you want to retire when you turn 40? and they can do whatever they want when they become of age.

personally i am not disciplined enough for forego short term extras (vacations, bikes, golfing etc) to retire early.

[Ozy_Flame]

Retire is a weird concept. Retire from what? A crappy job? The rat race? People who retire at 30 (which is such a minute minority its basically non-existent) busy themselves with other things.

I think "retire" in an antiquated concept that's really pressured by the baby boomer generation and their parents.

[CaptainYooh]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Retire is a weird concept. Retire from what? A crappy job? The rat race? People who retire at 30 (which is such a minute minority its basically non-existent) busy themselves with other things.

I think "retire" in an antiquated concept that's really pressured by the baby boomer generation and their parents.

This is a pretty gross generalization, I think. Not everyone has a dream job allowing them to do what they love each and every day, sipping wine in South California while they are at it. Most people work because they have to work to support themselves and their families and they work the jobs they have been trained to do due to the circumstances at the time when they were young. So, yes, I am sure most people do consider retirement as a logical end to their working careers and the start of their deserved resting years.

Personally, I would love to be useful and needed "when I'm 64" and to be able to pick and choose work that I can and want to do, perhaps, in lesser number of hours, volunteer more, spend more time with my photo-camera etc. But I don't expect everyone to share the same retirement goal. To some – it would be complete abandonment of the "having to work" lifestyle and escape to their dream place with no plans at all.

[Wood]

Good for the people who pull this off

The idea of being retired early is nice but I don't think it's something realistic for myself. I think I'm pretty good with money but I wouldn't want to cut out vacations and I plan on having kids

I'll be happy to enjoy everything I can as I work, take vacations and buy nice things for myself, have a family, and then retire at 55

I think I'll be pretty bored when I retire as well, when I do I'm sure I'll do something part time. I just had 9 days off work and didn't go anywhere. I couldn't do that for more than 2 weeks

[Peanut]

I really like his website. Besides all the "oh, lucky in real estate" and "oh, his website makes 6 figures" (now), the big thing to me is his family of 3 lives on $25k a year. I read his 2014 spending summary and the whole family used 2 tanks of gas. For the YEAR.

He also spends only $75/week on groceries for the whole family. Which I was amazed by. But then I read one of his posts describing how he takes shots of straight olive oil on hikes because olive oil is such a cheap protein source. That's straight up disgusting. I want to be retired but not so intensely that I'm drinking olive oil for cheap nutrition. I think there's a good balance somewhere between saving aggressively and still living your life while you're working. It seems he gets a lot of enjoyment out of being extremely frugal. So for him, it works. I think I would be unhappy being *that* frugal but I could definitely be more frugal than I have been in the past.

He's just preaching basically extreme fiscal discipline so that you can have the freedom of time in your life, free from mortgages and salaries and long workdays. I like his blog a lot.

[polak]

But not only is he preaching extreme fiscal discipline with his family, but his entire adult life.

Sounds to me like the guy wasted his 20's and 30's and will now try to enjoy being an old man.

[Peanut]

I think the thing is that he (and his family) enjoy being super frugal. I don't think he's being disingenuous when he talks about how much he loves his frugal life, and he doesn't feel like he's wasted his 30's by living frugally and getting to spend his time how he wants to (i.e. with his family and pursuing all his super frugal interests).

Meh. Just my impression. I don't think he feels like he's sacrificing anything. It's just his mindset.

[polak]

Yup you're probably right. Like I said, different strokes for different folks.

I'm sacrificing a vacation this year in order to buy a place and it feels like such a waste to me. I'm basically the complete opposite of this guy.

I pray that this is the last time a financial decision outweighs my desire for new experiences. Wishful thinking, I know, but that's the dream.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Peanut

I think the thing is that he (and his family) enjoy being super frugal. I don't think he's being disingenuous when he talks about how much he loves his frugal life, and he doesn't feel like he's wasted his 30's by living frugally and getting to spend his time how he wants to (i.e. with his family and pursuing all his super frugal interests).

This. Some people (like the friend I cited above) get tremendous satisfaction from being frugal. I wouldn't even say it's a chore for them, because it would stress them out not to be frugal. That's why I say it's more a matter of innate temperament than anything else.

[Regorium]

Originally Posted by Peanut

He's just preaching basically extreme fiscal discipline so that you can have the freedom of time in your life, free from mortgages and salaries and long workdays. I like his blog a lot.

I get that that's the point that he preaches, but I think it is completely incorrect.

So you can spend 25k a year on a family of 3. Great! But what if your take-home is only 40k a year?

It'll never work. You need to work on that income side - and if fiscal discipline allows you to do that (by going back to school, or having the capital to take a risk or something like that) then that's fine, but saving $10 a day on coffee or a meal is never going to get you to financial independence.

My argument against him, is that if their household income was 100k+ a year in the year 2000, they could've easily done what they did with spending 50k a year. His financial independence is 90% based on his income and investments, and 10% based on financial discipline. But he preaches on his blog as if it was the other way around.

[OMG!WTF!]

I kind of retired at 28 in that it was the last time I had a job. I've been much busier ever since because the threat of having to be employed again is seriously motivating. It requires a major alteration of your thoughts to pull off a total drop out but maybe that's what these websites are about. They seem to be trying to get people off the idea that you need a job or you're going to die sad, broke and alone. I've never been so broke as when I had a decent job.

[DoubleF]

This MMM guy sounds like extreme couponing and extreme cheapskates combined. Well... extreme couponing is actually sorta cool, extreme cheapskates is just screwed up, so somewhere in the middle?

[Sylvanfan]

I always feel like these threads are criticizing the ever living crap out of someone like me who has a job, a wife and one ,soon to be two kids.

At 25 I was in great shape financially. At 39 I'm pretty much a disaster that's about to get worse.

[Calgary14]

With a website earning 6 figures and working as a carpenter on the side I'm not sure if I'd consider MMM as fully retired yet. Maybe more of a career change.

I admire his dislike for vehicles as it sounds like they use bikes to get around almost all the time. Cars are a huge money pit and we'd all be better off financially by either using them less or giving them up entirely. Giving them up entirely may be a bit extreme for some (including myself) as it's just not feasible to bike here for at least half the year

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

I always feel like these threads are criticizing the ever living crap out of someone like me who has a job, a wife and one ,soon to be two kids.

At 25 I was in great shape financially. At 39 I'm pretty much a disaster that's about to get worse.

That was me too! No mortgage, good nest egg, did what I wanted. Then got married and had a couple of kids, mortgage, daycare, RESPS, etc. and it feels like I am way behind financially. Thing is, I wouldn't change it for the world.

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by HockeyIlliterate

Taken at face value, I've never been able to get his math to work.

But, then again, you can't really take MMM (or any financial blogger, for that matter) entirely at face value.

But he's great at marketing a blog and a potential lifestyle.

Only work 9 years to support you for the next half century, the math simply doesn't work even if you don't spend a penny. That's not what MMM has done but that's what he advertises.

But it does shed light that you can make money doing these financial porn websites.

Like I said million dollar journey is a better read. The author details his income, investment strategy monthly and how he amassed a million dollar networth over a long period of time, rather than chalking everything up to extreme frugality.

[rotten42]

Oh...and don;t get divorced. That f%cks everything up.