This guy's advice probably doesn't apply to 90% of real life people. Unless you are making SERIOUS bank, like $300k plus per year, saving 75% of income isn't possible. My gosh. We make about $160k and our RENT alone is 30% of our take home monthly pay. And no, we don't get to choose where we live, the military does. We have another $1200 in monthly obligations (nothing we can cut out: utilities, insurance, 529 and IRA contributions, etc) before we even get to everyday spending for food, gas, etc.
Besides, who wants to retire at 30? What does this guy do all day? Oh, right, he has a blog and affiliated content, so he is still working...
Of course, that's why we're all still working.
Yes he works, but the work he does is what he
wants to do and when he feels like it. Not dragging himself home after an exhausting day, with the hours set by someone else. He was a software/computer engineer and graduated when the internet first exploded all over the world so the timing of his job helped with $15-20k annual raises. He didn't save 75%, he saved 66%, not that either would be attainable for me. Another thing that made this easier for him, compared to most of us here, is that he delayed parenthood until after becoming FI. Even blogging in retirement is earning him over $100k, just by leisurely writing an article each day about money.
I admit, I can't follow all of his advice but I take bits and pieces. Kind of the same way I like DR's advice but I couldn't cut cable, stop retirement contributions, and sell dh's truck simply to eliminate his loan. It's just too extreme. Still, I took his snowball philosophy and applied it and now debt-free except our mortgage. The same with MMM. When he says keeping the AC at 72 is like living in a meat locker, I knew we wouldn't see eye to eye. (Wait til his wife turns 50. That minimal AC crap will come to a screeching halt.)
Still, I see a lot of overspending by people I know who then whine that they can't save any money. They don't have the first thing paid off before undertaking a 2nd thing to pay off. It's times like this I completely see his point. They have way more house than they need, 2 new cars, keep buying new stuff, replacing stuff before it even gets old, buy lunch every day, $150 sneakers, etc and they're broke and can't figure out why. (And now borrowing from her retirement account)
A lot of what he talks about is just getting into the mindset of not being so quick to spend money so easily and to align our choices in life with being able to save and build our net worth. For most of us not in the military, where we live, where we work and how we get around are choices we made and can still choose to change them. Some things we can't change. Any time we have more than we need, he feels we're wasting money. I get that but I'm finding a happy medium. I'm way beyond 30. Beyond 50. I'd be happy to make some smarter financial choices than the ones I made in my 20s and 30s that led me to join this thread in my 40s.
Even if I can't retire early, I'd like to feel financially secure asap and through retirement.
I've also been reading The Millionaire Next Door (book from
Amazon) and these blogs:
https://www.getrichslowly.org/
http://www.budgetsaresexy.com/