Millionaires Next Door: One Couple's Frugal Path to Early Retirement | FIRE Starters: MarketWatch 

Just watching this episode of "Fire Starter" on Market Watch, and it was incredibly insightful! The concept of early retirement is not just appealing but also crucial in today's fast-paced world. Watching this show has reinforced the importance of financial independence and strategic planning for retirement. Truly inspiring content!

Two six figure incomes is alote of money in my book

ppl should forget how much these ppl are earning and instead look at how wisely they are spending their income- thats the REAL key to financial independence- too many ppl in the west WASTE money without realising that theyre wasting- they have fallen into the habit of seeing luxuries as necessities.

What is really happening to the world Economy? Economy crisis everywhere🤦‍♂️.

What I've been getting from these videos is that it's more about having the CHOICE. We don't have to earn money doing something we don't want to do. Because alot of these firestarters are people that aren't working in the normal construct of what a job is. It's about how you grow and spend your money and time.

I don't think they are average income earners if she made six figures and he was close to it. They are high income earners.

I love these FIRE family videos! So inspirational.

Whatever you think you may need, I would increase it because running out of money when your old is not a good place to be. The average annual cost today of a nursing home is $100K. What do you think it will be in 20 or 30 years? How many years do you think you can spend $100K on just a nursing home before you will run out of funds? When you consider how much you may need, plan around a worst case scenario.

I wouldve kept the house and cut other expenses such as tht grocery bill

I can’t ever not working. But what I want is a source of income that fit my schedule.

Great content for the younger generation to learn and adapt!

Like all FIRE articles/videos..... very little details ( age, current net-worth, income, budget ) to judge if someone of similar circumstance can achieve finical independence at an early age. Based on the their current income of over $200,000 a year, then most like minded couples could achieve finical independence at an early age. There are many factors that could effect their plans. AND they both still work ( and get Health Insurance, Life Insurance and D&D insurance through their employer) , so they are not "Retired" and are still working for the man currently. NO details on how they will address these 'cost' in the future without having an employer that provides them. AND with a young child, health care will eat their lunch if not employed. Great for them if they can make this work, but MOST people have debt ( most likely student loan or car ) and will not make that income for some time if at anytime with their careers.

Inspirational

More people should embrace frugality and stop focusing on "retirement" or how much other people earn. After about 3 months of focus and work, frugal living becomes second nature and the money just piles up. So glad we had a nice asset cushion going into this recent crisis. Don't be discouraged, you can start anywhere and make it. We started under a mountain of student debt and now are pretty wealthy for our age.

Good for them! My husband and I have 4 kids and find it difficult to save as the kiddos get older. He tho has a good income, we do need to find ways to cut back for sure!

They are correct to rent. They can pocket the $1050 difference on the rent vs mortgage PLUS the interest, insurance, upkeep, property taxes, etc Their focus is on the liquidity (cash) and putting a huge chunk of monthly savings into a large fixed asset with tons of costs makes little sense. As investment managers, they are likely putting those savings to work in the financial markets to generate higher, more immediate returns than in a home. Smart move.

These videos are inspiring, but I also get discouraged because of my student loan debt and I don’t have another income like these partners do. I guess all I can do is save and invest like they mentioned and pay off my debt. Thank you for sharing. Namaste, Val.

love this

Average income in America is about 68-70k household in America. This couple is a high income household. However their frugal living allows them to save exponentially faster than an average person. If you are an average income earner even if living frugally you’re going to work a lot longer and early retirement might not be until age 50-55

They were spending 110k per year before and 44k now.. And they pay 1200+ for rent. Imagine their salaries... I could retire tomorrow if I had their income...

with an income of around $175,000 this woman thinks her and her husband have a middle class income.These days that's $53,000 not $175,000.

Happy for you, Tatiana! Greetings from Ukraine ;-)

Why didn't they just pay off their mortgage instead of saving so much money and then having to rent?

$378 a month for liability only car insurance on one car? Did I read that right? These numbers don’t seem particularly frugal.

Retire early, or Retreat early? Many cases, people retreat early = spending less and less, thus save more.

They rent ? 588 / month groceries seems alot for two adults and a baby. But, good for them to be able to retire young and save 70% of their uncome

Shouldn’t the house be something they keep and cut other expenses and when they are ready to retire sell the house and make extra money (or maybe by the time they are ready to retire the house would be paid off). I dont know, but hey they are doing a good job at saving a majority of their income.

Why does insurance cost nearly $400 for liability only?!?

Renting can be smart but you don't earn anything on your rent money. Our house has appreciated $100,000 in 4 years. There's no way we would have earned that type of return if we were renters. There are also tax breaks for homeowners (in the U.S).

Where are their microphones?! It's so hard to hear anything

"Cat: $27/month" made it sounds like they have a subscription service where they got to bring home different cats each month

So the FIRE movement is live frugal so you can retire early ? What happens if you die before retiring and you didn't get to enjoy life as much while you were alive because you were living frugal

These FIRE videos are sort of a cringe flex, as in "look at me, I did it, you can do it too, if you can't do it you're either lazy or stupid." Usually it's very high earners living frugally by choice. It's not possible for the vast majority of people who make just enough to get by.

Why is the music so loud when they are talking?

i can't believe they were spending $110k a year! That is so much! As a single person, I only spend about $45,000 a year

work smart

Just like the dirty secret of "How this guy is a millionaire business owner at 22!" stories is that they often got a lot of seed money from wealthy parents or friends, the unspoken secret of FIRE is that you have one or two people who make very good money and choose to live extremely frugally. Good for them, but we shouldn't pretend that this will scale to all people.

FIRE movement = mandatory spouse

Wow

I wonder if they include their travel expenses in their total expenses which they mention is just above 44 thousand.

i like to live frugal . i'm happy with less as long as i have more life and less work at a Job i work my butt off at.

This is interesting. Simple life may be better. Most are slaves to the system of work.

How do I join this movement, does it exist in Nigeria, this is my country where I live,

People always ask us how we can travel all the time while still in our 30s and then I explian passive income and thier eyes glaze over. We focus on the financial independence since I retired early and it made me depressed. Now we create travel videos on our channel showing people what is possible.

Sounds a lot like giving up. What’s the point of retiring so young with no wealth? It seems like MW shouldn’t be encouraging people to live off small investments. Bull markets don’t last and these folks aren’t stacked deep enough to survive the downturn.

You can retire immediately if u don’t over consume.... the first to collapse are the MNC that try to convince u to buy a phone every year.

Less is more🤔

This is kind of difficult for cos I don't have a job, how do I begin

Танечка молодец

a lot of these things the folks on here are doing is nothing new lol. Some people have been doing these tactics for years lol.

Occasionally, but not often, a couple will be so in tune with each others goals that it works out. This could be one of those times. Another draconic concept is that a woman can't fend for herself and will need to take the man for 50% of this wealth or she can't possibly survive. Women are empowered to provide for themselves and the only help the should expect is child support for a reasonable number. Having said that, every serious relationship I have been in kept the finances separate with the understanding that my retirement is mine and theirs is theirs.

Cat $27 dollars a month, first thing to go.

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Bottom line....they don't know true middle class when they didn't start there. Changing the use of money and knowing where it all goes is a great key to start, then disiplin yourself from your wants and live off the simples of what you need.., Gain the capital from the massive change of money uses and invest for returns and not losses.. (real estate, stocks, etc...) and gain the type of independence you seek...point blank period!

Biggest problem in this one is.. possible divorce. That one will force both to start all over.

middle class earners...? In what state are they middle class...LOL!

I know when and why you are here :)

Lol...they both still working........lol....lololol.... this ain't FIRE.

Not for the average Joe's in this world. Load of nonsense. Their income defaults this method in my opinion.

Retiring early sounds lazy.working hard,acquiring more experience and knowledge sounds noble apart from generating wealth.

Islam ! Is correct about women!

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