How To Retire At Age 30

How I retired at age 30
The fundamentals involved mostly the 2 of us living on a shared $30,000 to $40,000 in spending money per year, including housing costs, and saving the rest.
By MSN Money partner on Tue, Dec 27, 2011 1:38 PM
This guest post comes from Mr. Money Mustache.
 
I have been asked many times to provide some more gritty details on how I became Mr. Money Mustache at such anearly age. Commenters and email writers have asked me to provide salaries and savings amounts through the years, as well as describe any windfalls or unusual maneuvers that made it all possible.
 
I have hesitated to share the details until this point, mostly because I didn't keep a written record through the years and it seemed pretty complicated and imprecise in my mind. Also, it's embarrassingto walk around in your monetary underwear in front of thousands of people. But many financial bloggers have graphs of their net worth right on the front page, so the least Mr. M. can do is provide a vague summary of some ancient history.
 
And for my own benefit, it is worth sorting things out just for the record, so doubters can be convinced, voyeurs can be entertained, and aspiring Mustachianscan compare their own progress. So here it is, my best effort at retelling the story.
 
Year 0 (1997): The full-time working career begins. Mr. Money Mustache has just finished a grueling computer engineering degree and is now ready to party. He gets right to work in early May, skipping even the university graduation ceremony because he doesn't want to miss any work (he had already moved to anew city 300 miles away from the university). Age: 23. Starting salary: $41,000. Student loans: zero -- due to low spending, about $10k of help from parents, and good high school and summer jobs.
 
But also absolutely ZERO net worth. No bank balances, never owned a car, just a bike, a backpack, and a diploma.
 
Year 1: In this first year I foolishly started out by buying a three-years-new 1994Ford Probe GT sports car for $16,000 with tax. And I borrowed money from my older sister to do it (what a clueless young man!!!). It took most of the first year to pay off that loan. I also flaunted my new salary around town with frequent bar and restaurant hopping, purchases of computer equipment and furniture, accessories for my car, and a trip to a resort in Mexico.
 
Fortunately, I didenroll in my employer's retirement savings plan. I also worked like a crazy company slave, enjoying weekends and late evenings in the office. Because of this, and a rising tech market in general, I got a raise to $57,600 at some point in the first year, resulting in a Year 1 'stash: $5,000 (in a retirement account).
 
Year 2: Through both of these first two years, I lived with roommates by sharing aseries of nice houses, which we called Nuthouse 1, 2 and 3. The rent averaged about $350 per month, plus some negligible share of utilities. With the unnecessarily expensive car paid off and the higher salary, I was able to save more: $5,000 into the retirement account, $3,000 into an employee stock purchase plan, and $10,000 in cash. Year 2 'stash: $23,000 ($13k cash/shares, $10k retirement).
 Year 3: This was late 1999, and both the job and stock markets were on fire. I got a new job and moved to the United States for a salary of $77,000. I drove the ol' Probe GT down to Boulder, Colo., and used the local newspaper to find another nice roommate situation, so my rent was only $400 a month.
 
I decided to buy a house -- but was disappointed to learn that I would need $47,000 in cashfor a down payment on a starter home, which would cost a minimum of $235,000. I cashed out the stock purchase plan shares from Year 2, which were now worth $10k, and saved up a few of my new higher paychecks. After a few months in the new job, I had the down payment. Year 3 'stash: 67k ($47k home equity, $10k retirement, $10k cash).
 
Year 4: My future wife graduated from her longer and more...