I'm a big fan of the Financial Independence Retire Early or FIRE Movement. The big idea is that if you are a relatively high income individual, keep your expenses low, and invest in low cost index funds, you can retire early, often within 15 years.
That being said, I found this blog hilarious.
Joe Millennial spends a bit too much time on Reddit and decides to try something called The FIRE Movement. FIRE stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early. He reads of people retiring at age 35 (or even 30!) and having scads of time to pursue their dreams, unshackled from the drudgery of their stultifying 9-to-5 jobs.
So here is how it goes.
Joe graduates from college and gets a job in the cube farm for $80,000 a year. He gets the cheapest apartment possible, rides a bike instead of driving, and eats ramen noodles. He does this for ten years, saving up to 70% of his income, and investing it in low-cost index funds. At the end of ten years, he has a million or so saved up, more if he is lucky. At that point, he retires to play the guitar or paint happy little trees, and gradually draws down his savings over time. If the stock market keeps going up as planned, he can stay retired for 50 more years, and get really good at guitar.
The is the fucking stupidest thing I have ever heard of in my life.
Jared Dillan