Assuming 0% inflation or a real return on the $1M well above 4%, no health issues, no change in expenses, no massive drawdown in the market in year one, etc. B

Assuming 0% inflation or a real return on the $1M well above 4%, no health issues, no change in expenses, no massive drawdown in the market in year one, etc. Build a spreadsheet that has "expected return" (e.g., 1.06) and inflation (e.g., 1.03), annual expenses, taxes, starting principal, and then project out the annual rate of return net of expenses + taxes for 30-60 years from age 30. You will be surprised at how soon $1 million seems like nothing. Keep in mind that both expenses and returns can see shocks (not to mention taxes) that put you in a situation where "be below your earnings" assumption goes underwater and the compounding effects work against you rather than for you. All I'm saying is this: be prepared that 5-20 years into your super-early retirement that you're kicked back into the job market--so have skills and a reasonable path for where you're going to come back into the market. It's not really a coincidence that many of these early retirement lifestyle gurus are supplementing their decisions via the job of competing for eyeballs as bloggers.