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He certainly could be, if he keeps living on $25k/year. See [0] and run some calculations at [1]. 0: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-s

He certainly could be, if he keeps living on $25k/year. See [0] and run some calculations at [1]. 0: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-behind-early-retirement/ http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-sim... 1: https://networthify.com/calculator/earlyretirement https://networthify.com/calculator/earlyretirement

opportune 9y ago
People generally don't retire to $25k/year, especially if they eventually get married and have children. The only way to really make something like that work is to move somewhere extremely inexpensive like SEA. That's unrealistic for most people. This is the one thing that has always struck me as odd abut the FIRE community. FIRE is a good goal but it's highly abnormal for people to retire early with these very low annual salaries for themselves. Sure, it works if you're a single childless 30 year old. But you also generally have to be comfortable staying single and childless if you're going to "retire" to $25k/year.
- umanwizard 9y ago
  Does SEA mean Seattle? My mind is blown that Seattle comes to your mind as the least expensive place in the US...
  - pc86 9y ago
    Southeast Asia.
  - opportune 9y ago
    No, Southeast Asia. E.g. Indonesia or Thailand (just not Singapore)
    - umanwizard 9y ago
      Ah, got it, thanks.
- abalone 9y ago
  There are a lot of areas of the U.S. where people actually do retire on $25K/year. Having said that, they probably own their home, have cheap Medicare and have paid all child-related expenses at that point. So you're right, for most 30 year olds it's a different story. Also, even if people budget a $25K/year retirement there is always the possibility of needing long term nursing home care in the last years of life. (Say, if you're a football player that suffers dementia later in life.) Depending on the quality of care, that can wipe out even a $1M nest egg. It's a big financial concern at that age. It's not covered by insurance the way that, say, a heart attack or stroke is.
  - opportune 9y ago
    Yes, I don't mean to exclude those people. Both pairs of my grandparents had a fixed income of less than that. But as you said, they didn't have many personal expenses beyond bills and food.
sokoloff 9y ago
Agree. See a financial model here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14868501 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14868501

opportune 9y ago

People generally don't retire to $25k/year, especially if they eventually get married and have children. The only way to really make something like that work is to move somewhere extremely inexpensive like SEA. That's unrealistic for most people. This is the one thing that has always struck me as odd abut the FIRE community. FIRE is a good goal but it's highly abnormal for people to retire early with these very low annual salaries for themselves. Sure, it works if you're a single childless 30 year old. But you also generally have to be comfortable staying single and childless if you're going to "retire" to $25k/year.

umanwizard 9y ago
Does SEA mean Seattle? My mind is blown that Seattle comes to your mind as the least expensive place in the US...
- pc86 9y ago
  Southeast Asia.
- opportune 9y ago
  No, Southeast Asia. E.g. Indonesia or Thailand (just not Singapore)
  - umanwizard 9y ago
    Ah, got it, thanks.
abalone 9y ago
There are a lot of areas of the U.S. where people actually do retire on $25K/year. Having said that, they probably own their home, have cheap Medicare and have paid all child-related expenses at that point. So you're right, for most 30 year olds it's a different story. Also, even if people budget a $25K/year retirement there is always the possibility of needing long term nursing home care in the last years of life. (Say, if you're a football player that suffers dementia later in life.) Depending on the quality of care, that can wipe out even a $1M nest egg. It's a big financial concern at that age. It's not covered by insurance the way that, say, a heart attack or stroke is.
- opportune 9y ago
  Yes, I don't mean to exclude those people. Both pairs of my grandparents had a fixed income of less than that. But as you said, they didn't have many personal expenses beyond bills and food.

sokoloff 9y ago

Agree. See a financial model here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14868501 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14868501