Save a percentage of your income. Dump it into a broad index fund. Your savings rate — not your income — decides when you can stop working.
If you save 10 % of your take-home pay, you're putting away one year of future spending every nine years you work. That's slow. If you save 50 %, you put away a year of future spending every single year. That's fast. Everything else — the funds, the strategy, the tax tricks — is noise next to this one number.
Years to retirement are the same for everyone — a bus driver and a CEO on the same savings rate retire on the same day. The capital columns show what the number actually looks like at three example take-home incomes.
| Save | Years to retire | € 40 k income | € 80 k income | € 150 k income |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 % | 51years | 900 k € | 1.80 m € | 3.38 m € |
| 15 % | 43years | 850 k € | 1.70 m € | 3.19 m € |
| 20 % | 37years | 800 k € | 1.60 m € | 3 m € |
| 25 % | 32years | 750 k € | 1.50 m € | 2.81 m € |
| 30 % | 28years | 700 k € | 1.40 m € | 2.62 m € |
| 35 % | 25years | 650 k € | 1.30 m € | 2.44 m € |
| 40 % | 22years | 600 k € | 1.20 m € | 2.25 m € |
| 45 % | 19.0years | 550 k € | 1.10 m € | 2.06 m € |
| 50 % | 16.6years | 500 k € | 1 m € | 1.88 m € |
| 55 % | 14.4years | 450 k € | 900 k € | 1.69 m € |
| 60 % | 12.4years | 400 k € | 800 k € | 1.50 m € |
| 65 % | 10.5years | 350 k € | 700 k € | 1.31 m € |
| 70 % | 8.8years | 300 k € | 600 k € | 1.13 m € |
| 75 % | 7.1years | 250 k € | 500 k € | 938 k € |
| 80 % | 5.6years | 200 k € | 400 k € | 750 k € |
Years assume a 5 % real return and a 4 % safe withdrawal rate, starting from zero. Capital = 25 × (income − savings) — the amount that funds your current lifestyle, forever.
Pick a rate. Automate the transfer. Buy the index. Don't check it.
The table doesn't care about your salary — only about the gap between what you earn and what you spend.