<prompt> Human: This was inspired by all the people on this thread : saying that they aim to retire at 45. Surely there must be lots of people on this thread that have reached their goal?  <response>: I hope to work because I really want to work at age 45, not because I need the income.My plan is to save 50 of my take-home pay for my first 20 years of my career. You get used to making less pretty quickly, though, the first few months are really rough when you see how much you could be spending.But as it turns out, with modest rates of return, you end up with a lot of money if you do this. Increasing your savings rate has a profound effect on how early you can retire.Consider: - Saving 10 means you save a year living expenses after 9 years - Saving 25 means you save a year living expenses after 4 - Saving 50 means every year, you save a year living expensesWith any sort of growth at all its easy to see how saving significantly can let you have some sort of early retirement. 