It's easy to retire early. All you have to do is try to save as more as possible.
Let's say you can live with $30 000 a year. The 4% rules says that you need $750000 in net worth. With a compounding calculator, you can quickly calculate what you need to get to your financial goals.
Let's say I start with a $5000 investment, I add $500 each month, and it yields 10%/year. In 30 years, I have now $1,229,430.96. Nice, isn't it?
And a 10%/year return isn't irrealistic with something like the S&P 500 or the Dow Jones.
Status:: #wiki/notes/mature
Plantations:: Investing
References:: @jlcollinsnhStocksPartVII2012