Meet the Man Who Retired at 30

What advice do you have for people who are already in the middle of their career who haven’t been saving a lot for retirement? Is it too late for them to gain financial independence and retire early?

There’s no such thing as “too late” because the benefits begin immediately. My ideas aren’t really about early retirement, they’re about a more purposeful and healthy way of living that just happens to cost less. Sure, every extra dollar you have invested will give you more options in life and cut some time off your mandatory work sentence. But even if you’re already retired, the same ideas for better living still apply. I’m almost 20 years into retirement myself and I still practice everything I preach, every day.

How have you spent the last 19 years?

In three words: Raising a boy! I now have a wonderful young adult happily working away on his own business in the next room, and this has by far been the proudest achievement of both myself and his mom, who is also still semi-retired.

Adeney, 50, spends a good part of his retirement mountain biking and camping throughout the Western U.S.

Matt Nager

In my spare time outside of that main job, I’ve done pretty much everything I could think of with the extra freedom. Building multiple houses from scratch and renovating dozens of others, starting businesses with close friends, lots of travel, some philanthropy, prioritizing my health and fitness and training quite a few others, and, of course, starting the side hobby of writing the Mr. Money Mustache blog.

I assume it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. What financial challenges have you encountered since you retired?

My retirement savings were more than I needed. But back in 2008, when the financial and housing markets crashed simultaneously, I was left with a newly built house I couldn’t sell and had to rent out for years in order to make ends meet.

Then in 2018, my former wife and I decided to part ways. It was a very amicable divorce but still a shock because we each suddenly had only half of our former net worth. I initially felt stressed about the loss, but in reality there was still plenty for each of us, because we had always lived well within our means and have continued to do so since then.

Americans are working longer. According to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, the average retirement age in the U.S. was around 65 for men and 62 for women in 2023, up from 62 and 59, respectively, in 1992. How realistic is it that someone can really retire in their 30s or 40s?

Those retirement stats can be a bit misleading because there are multiple factors at play behind the numbers. For example, we are living healthier, longer lives on average, which means some people simply have the energy and desire to work longer in careers they enjoy.

On the other hand, guaranteed pensions have been on the decline, while 401(k) plans have come in to take their place. Even with rising incomes over time, this tends to leave some people behind because saving for retirement is no longer a mandatory part of the job.

How are you making your retirement savings last?

In the early-retirement community, we have a very helpful guideline we call “the 4 percent rule.” The basic idea is that every year, you can count on your retirement nest egg to kick out a sustainable income of about 4 percent of its value, which will also keep up with inflation over time. So, if you have $1 million of investments, your annual retirement income will be about $40,000.

In my own case, since I have more than $1 million in investments and my annual spending tends to be less than $40,000, partly because I own my home with no mortgage, I have even less to worry about. This turns out to be a common problem. Many of us retirees, both young and old,  have the same “problem” of a naturally conservative spending pattern and increasing wealth, so we often end up with a bigger surplus as time goes on.

Adeney offers personal finance and retirement advice on his blog. “Every extra dollar you have invested will give you more options in life and cut some time off your mandatory work sentence,” he says.

Matt Nager

How do you keep your expenses down?

I try to apply a single question to just about every bit of my spending, which I think of as “the win-win question.” What is the purpose of this purchase? Is there any way to meet the same need, or do something even better, for less money? For example, suppose that “need” is a new car. Is that mostly to meet my goal of getting to work? If so, is there a way I could simply live closer to work, by moving to a new house or getting a new job? If I live close enough, can I ride my bike to work, which not only saves money on cars and fuel but also gives me a drastic boost to my physical and mental health, which increases my energy level and reduces my future medical costs?

Sometimes, you do the analysis and you still buy the car. But by applying the “win-win question” to everything, you will find you are shifting your energy away from consumption and towards production and gaining new skills.

What kind of mustache are you sporting these days?

For practical reasons, none. I’ve grown it out a couple of times for the odd photo shoot or a talk at a conference, but I found it clashes with my love of BBQ ribs and hearty soups.