Are people really getting independently wealthy at young age that common? I know a few successful folks, but they certainly aren't young when they MADE it. I know a lot of folks who worked in startups but never got anywhere near what I earn consistently in the past 20 years.
Retiring means different things to different people. Many people don't plan for things like future health conditions, inflation, etc. Some have kids and want to pay for their college and leave something for them, others don't have kids or don't care. Some want to travel the world in retirement and some just want a log cabin away from everyone.
Also, while I think there's less of it on HN than the rest of the internet, most people overstate their income, savings, skills, experience, etc.
There's also a confirmation bias taking place, because most people aren't posting "I can't retire until I'm 72 because I have 4 kids to put through college and the stock market has screwed my 401k!" Your sample size on this is extremely small. ;)
<insert star wars "stay on target" meme here>
Ignore what you _think_ everyone else around you is accomplishing. Focus on yourself. Most of what you believe is taking place around you is smoke and mirrors.
You don’t need to FIRE to still get rich enough to retire before the traditional retirement age when your a tech guy making multiples of the median household income.
Then add in a few people winning the equity lottery
I don’t understand that. I read that many times, including money mustache. I just can’t imagine 1/4 income is sufficient. Again, I’m not trying to be difficult but I don’t know anyone who was able to FIRE that way.
I wasn’t talking about any of the new FIRE movements. Just normal ol’ retirement, but early. If you make a lot of money in your career and are smart about saving, it’s not difficult to imagine that you could shift your retirement age from 65 to 55 or even 50
