I haven't achieved it, but I'm taking the safe route: Avoid lifestyle creep. Invest as much as I can for long-term gains (index funds, bonds etc.). Then live of

I haven't achieved it, but I'm taking the safe route: Avoid lifestyle creep. Invest as much as I can for long-term gains (index funds, bonds etc.). Then live off slowly selling it off. So no passive income from a business. (I feel most people claiming "passive income" from those are actually working on them anyway, though) By living off 50% of my paycheck, I can invest 50%. This roughly means for each year I work, I have one year saved up. However, after saving up many years, interest of interests have accumulated, so the first year I saved gives me more free years when I choose to "spend it". That's how I think about it, for the math, safe withdrawal rate etc. reddits r/financialindependence has a lot of resources. Most can achieve FI on modest income, so as a developer it should be double-doable.