Your numbers are way off. In the US a young, single developer who follows a budget should be able to save at least $2k/month. $80k/year income less 25% for pa

Your numbers are way off. In the US a young, single developer who follows a budget should be able to save at least $2k/month. $80k/year income less 25% for payroll & income taxes leaves $60k/year. $1.5k/month in housing & $1.5k/month in food/utilities/cell phone/clothes/etc. is $36k/year in spending, leaving $24k for savings. (This also ignores the tax advantages of retirement accounts, which allow for more room to save or spend) The average nominal returns of the stock market are over 10% per year: a very simple & conservative investment portfolio of 60% S&P 500 index fund & 40% US Treasury bonds yields about 8.7%/year. If we assume 2.7% inflation we get 6% real return/year.