
I retired at 30. The best part isn't leisure – it's freedom. - edward
http://www.vox.com/2015/7/27/9023415/mr-money-mustache-retirement
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SlipperySlope
I retired at 55, nine years ago broadly using the well known principles and
agree that "Creation of new ideas, new enterprises, or new things is the
biggest joy of being alive".

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boredprogrammer
_For anyone familiar with the principles of personal finance and investing, my
trick was unimpressive and easily reproducible: Just spend much less than you
earn and pour the difference into efficient index funds._

This is the usual US centric nonsense where a certain privileged few can use
their privilege to get out of the rat race, whereas the vast majority of the
planet can't even get into that race in the first place, never mind hack it
for these sort of benefits. I'm rather sick of the bullshit claims that there
is no magic and that anybody else can do this too - this is patently untrue.
You are ultra privileged; you lucked out in the ethnic and circumstances
lottery. By all means share how you did it, but please stop intimating thats
its at all possible for the vast majority of the rest of us to do this.

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pavehwk
You're right. There is magic here. It's called 1st grade math. For this to
work, income minus expenses must be much greater 0.

You don't need to be rich or privileged or win the "ethic and circumstances
lottery" as you called it. The key is to live well within your means and save
the difference. Saving 25x your annual expenses is something anyone (even
someone making minimum wage) can do but it does take time hard work and the
willingness to defer gratification. Do you really need that fancy vacation or
the iPhone 10x++? Or do you want financial freedom at some point in the
future?

It's your choice. Choose wisely.

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danaw
Do you really think that someone making minimum wage is able to save 25x their
income? Do you think those same people are buying "iPhone 10+++" and "fancy
vacations"? That sounds insane.

Doing some basic math assuming $8/hr minimum wage at 40hr/wk with no vacation:
$16,640/yr

Your assumption then is that someone can live off of $665 a year?

It's hard to even survive on minimum wage let alone save anything.

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hwstar
Doing this on minimum wage isn't going to work as you can't live below your
means at that income level. You do need to learn a trade, or profession (like
Engineering) which allows you to save, then live below your means.

There's a lot of entities in this world trying to sell products and services
you really don't need. All of this is a big diversion, and most people get
caught up in it.

What most people don't realize is, once they get in their mid fifties, it
becomes harder to hold on to a high-paying job (Engineers: I'm looking at you)
If you don't have a nest-egg built up in your mid fifties, you might be in for
a serious lifestyle adjustment.

I was employed as an engineer for over 30 years, and in November of 2014, I
was laid off. I'm in my mid fifties. Because I did something similar to what
MMM did and lived below my means, I'm not hurting due to the layoff. Would I
like to go back to work? Yes. Do I have a choice of how I want to work and for
whom I want to? Most definitely. This is what MMM calls a "Position of
Strength". If more people lived below their means, and were in a position of
strength, there would be a lot more interesting work to be had at a good rate.

