Do plans like this ever take family and children into account though. As a single person it's all very well saving half your income if you are reasonably well paid. But if you have children I just don't think that's practical.

I saved a fair bit before kids. Then me and my partner made the decision that we wanted one of us at home to bring up the kids, and not have them raised by daycare workers. So now we have one income, and more expenses than before. I'm reasonably well paid, drive older small cars, don't have any particularly expensive hobbies or holidays. I still save, and contribute to a private pension, but the idea of saving 50% of my income is unachievable.

Now that's fine if you don't want kids, but I often think these lifestyle philosophies promote themselves as fantastic and obvious, and why doesn't everyone do it. But forget to balance them with the hidden sacrifices you have to make that they never seem to mention.

I want kids some day, and I know saving 50% at that time might lead to sacrifices I don't want to make. But until then, I would probably have had a professional career anywhere from 7-13 years. Those savings can then accumulate rents for a long time, even though I wont be able to contribute any new significant amounts.

I have 2 kids (5yo and 2yo) and right now no problem at following this plan (started when my first born was born). It can be done, you need to make sacrifices but the sooner you start the better you will be later on

Can I ask, do you and your partner both work?

What sacrifices are you making to get to 50% savings?

Yes! I save roughly half. I don't plan to live on where I am right now in the future, so basically every month of working means 2-3 months of "not working" in a cheaper location.

Honest question : how much do you sacrifice to be able to live on roughly half your income ?

People like to ask that question, as it gives them an easy out; "those guys probably live boring lifes".

I'd say I don't sacrifice much. I spent a month income on vacation this summer, went skiing in the alps this winter. I have hobbies I enjoy where I don't cheap out on gear or experiences.

I'm privileged to have an income that enables this. But still I'm baffled on how my peers with the same income use all their money. And I don't really see how they are able to spend most of their money, and how they benefit from it compared to me. For comparison, my salary is about $70K in Norway.

IF I'd felt I now sacrifices something of importance, it still would be worth it. I can take years off and do what I want, switch to a lower paying job with higher QoL etc, retire early or other things, while those not making the same "sacrifices" will have to work.

Know a Googler who makes $350k/yr. Lives in San Jose, CA and no kids. Says he can't figure out how to save because his "modest" expenses are too high; thus, he needs a higher salary. Borderline absurdity.

Getting a new car every 3-4 years is extremly expensive. A lot of people think they can't live with an old beater, that they absolutely must have a "new-ish" car. An old beater for those people is a 5 year old car. An old beater for me is an 15-20 year old car.

"Warren Buffett lives in a modest house that's worth 0.001% of his total wealth".

An old beater car can be a huge inconvenience though. My 16-year old (when bought) Saxo had to have bearings replaced, but the bolts for the suspension arm were so rusted they snapped during the process and cost me 1/2 the price of the car to get a new arm and bolts, too. Replaced that car with a 15-year old Astra for a little more oomph (1.6L over 1.1L) which recently had it's handbrake rust onto the disc. A few whacks with a hammer fixed that, but I couldn't use it until after the place I wanted to go was closed because I needed my girlfriend to be able to hit the foot brake when I hit the handbrake off.

Both cars required a replacement battery within a year of buying, as well as new stereo wires for the Saxo which I had to acquire from a Peugeot 106 in a scrapyard and various bulbs for the Astra. These problems are less about age but more about previous owners and myself.

I can't wait until I can afford a newer car, something closer to 5-10 years old instead of 15-20, because I won't be praying that my car will pull off every time I haven't used it for 3 days.

> Warren Buffett lives in a modest house that's worth 0.001% of his total wealth

Haha. Not very practical for most people. If you take "total wealth" to be assets - debts, my house is worth about 400% of my total wealth.

living frugal - meaning actively reflecting on expenses and consumption behavior - actually leads to realizing that life is not about acquiring status symbols to impress the wrong friends or a bigger TV. It's a very healthy virtue.

"And I don't really see how they are able to spend most of their money"

Probably on down payment on things they couldn't afford to buy by cash. Or there are plenty of hobbies that are very expensive.

>> I'm privileged to have an income that enables this

That's what I was looking for. That being true, all the rest is indeed a matter of choice and not a matter of sacrifice.

is that $70k before or after tax?

Before, I'd guess around $45k after tax.

I do the same (actually I live on more like 40% of my take-home), and I don't feel as if I've sacrificed anything.

The amount I live on has slowly gone up since I started working. It's just that when I get a raise or promotion or new job, I don't spend the new cash flow, I save it.

A couple years from now I'll probably be living on 30% of my take-home, but the amount I spend every month will probably have gone up slightly.

The question you should be asking is how much do you sacrifice by not saving?

I could get fired tomorrow and my bills would still all be paid for years. When I retire it's going to be in a big house with kids and grandkids that have their college paid for. I can retire at 45 if I really want to. Knowing all that is incredibly comforting and peaceful.

Just the feeling is worth it. I used to spend my entire paycheck on bills and put the next month's spending on a credit card. My net worth was negative. That way sucks. This way is better.

People probably thought I had more money before because of all the useless flashy crap I bought. Fuck those people, I'm doing way better than all of them now and I know it.

I used to drive a really nice car thinking it made me seem important or something. Now I know only idiots are fooled by that trick, and to everyone else the car just made me look broke and stupid.

While I probably don't earn as much as OP, when I compare myself to my friends, I earn more than most and still spend less, living on about half my income too.

Main differences in lifestyle are I don't buy shit (I don't even shop online at all most of the time so no temptation, when I consider buying an item I ask myself "do i really need this" and most often find that I don't, I try to get most items from nearby businesses, I don't subscribe to stuff may it be paying services or even newsletters, hell I even found half of my furniture on the streets or second hand), I cook like 90% of my meals (takeaway is an extra 2-3 times per month average, I bring my food to work, I try to do as much as possible from scrap), I don't spend as much time/money in bars or other social activities as them, and I don't take trips across the globe (I am lucky enough to have enough family-owned places to spend my vacations at, I also avoid flying far for ecological reasons).

Pretty close to what I'm doing except the travelling/flying part, which is important to me. I don't even like "owning stuff" or subscriptions so I naturally only buy things I can't go without.

I live on ~30% of my income, which I would consider a modest "upper entry level developer" in my country. I don't feel like I sacrifice anything, though it is true that I'm lucky to share an already cheap apartment with my SO. (But we also only have heating in two of our rooms, and not even a sink in the bathroom - we brush our teeth in the kitchen. I guess this would already be inacceptable for many...) I don't own a car because I can bike or walk everywhere. I only use prepaid cards for my mobile phone, no data plan, because I always found the idea of paying for mobile internet ridiculous when there is wifi all around us. (Plus, I don't like how being online all the times makes me check my phone so often.) I don't need a new shiny phone every two years and will use my Fairphone 2 until it dies on me. I do eat out 3-4 times a week for lunch at work, but when at home I cook 99% of the time. Sometimes I eat out with friends, go to the cinema etc. I buy clothes maybe once or twice a year but avoid expensive brands like the plague, except for things like running shoes or other "long term equipment".

When it comes to my hobbies, I don't sacrifice anything, but I naturally like to do things that are inexpensive or for free like excercising and spending time outdoors, reading, watching movies... My most expensive hobby is probably indoor rock-climbing, which I don't do that often sadly, and the subscription to the martial arts club that I train at weekly. I just spent almost 500€ to attend PyCon this year, and nearly three times that much for my yearly holiday.

For me it's not even a concious act of saving, I just naturally live this way and don't need much. I don't like owning too many things, they feel like a burden. The money keeps accumulating (I saved 30K€ the last two years, living as described above), and I honestly don't know what to do with it or how to use it wisely in regards of the future... Real estate seems like a good investment, but comes with its own problems.

>how much do you sacrifice to be able to live on roughly half your income ?

Unless the person has a very high salary, the sacrifice is that they don't have kids.

But why would anyone need expensive offspring that will experience the downfall of our planet (and have its share participating in draining the last ressources), let alone numerous copies of it ?

All jokes aside, tbh I doubt that people start living frugal on half an income and then go on living paycheck to paycheck because of kids.

Because living frugal often means questioning your decisions and I doubt the motivation for parenthood withstands this easily, and also because I guess one can be frugal in a familial setting too, if you have a partner who shares your interest.

All the kids I see have way much more shit than their attention span could ever care for, parents want gardens even though it's expensive and unnecessary, buy new when they outgrow everything so fast anyways... They don't need all this stuff, exactly like we don't need most of it.

For me the only part that is a sacrifice, I guess that would be a "feature" for people who like cooking, is that I basically don't eat out when I'm at home. On the other hand I travel about 2 months a year and I just do that then.

This really depends on your income and where you live. I sacrifice nothing as half of my income is enough to cover lifestyle I want.

Thanks for sharing, that's pretty interesting.

My question is how do you typically invest your savings? Do you invest it into stocks, or something like Lending Club?

Index funds, mostly.

Money won't help very much if society collapses.

How do you propose we save for the future then? Gold? Bottle caps?

I propose that we change society to be fairer rather than have people suggest living on half your income is a viable retirement plan.

Failing that, 5.56mm rounds and canned goods.

> change society to be fairer

I hope by this you mean "Rewards come from hard work and delayed gratification" rather than "take from the rich, give to the poor".

You realize that saving half your income is actually living on a sixth. The government always get a third.