Comment by auxym

GP's example of 5 years is a very short timeframe, however. A big part of achieving financial independence is compound interest returns on investments in low-fee index funds.

Try a quick spreadsheet for yourself. You can assume 5-6 % real returns. Play around with savings rates, GP suggested over 80%, which is more agressive than I've ever heard. Try 60%, which would leave you with 60k disposable, and you'll see things go up very fast in the 10-15 year range.

In fact, MMM shows that it actually all reduces to a really simple calculation, and with that 60 % savings rate, you're 12.5 years away from retirement (if you start at 0 net worth).

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-sim...