Packed lunch = retired with £1m by 40.

[Allschoolsareartschools]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgdn3qqg7po
AIBU to say I've had a packed lunch for nearly 40 years but I dont have £1m & I'm not retired yet!
Am I doing something wrong?
Seriously how out of touch is this article? Good luck to them but its nothing to do with packed lunches.

Is it out of touch?
I mean it starts with them never putting the heating on and then states they basically never spent any money on anything unnecessary, eating out at lunch being one of those things.

I've always taken a packed lunch and don't appear to be retired at 50.

One of my colleagues once realised she was spending £14 a day on food and a coffee! She wasn't rich either. She carried on doing it mind you.

That article and his "life coaching business" reek of MLM 'financial coaching' schemes where the rich person 'teaches' others how to do become as successful as them.
Why the BBC is advertising for them beggars belief. That Rich house/Poor house show has become an advert for this shite and now BBC News articles! They have literally no due diligence or common sense.

And then goes on to mention she's an actuary - she'll be earning big money!

Obviously if you save most of your earnings, especially on two high incomes, you’re going to save a lot!!

They both look so annoyingly smug that I don’t even want to click on the article.

It doesn't say what they're doing with their retirement. Do they still live equally frugally to make that £1M last another 40 odd years?

Rarely took a packed lunch, retired at 54 with £1.2m pension pot.

Didn't work for me, though I did occasionally pop over to M&S for the odd cake, probably that's why not.

We had friends like this. House had no central heating, only visited relatives for holidays etc.
He dropped dead of a heart attack in his 50s leaving her with a heap of money which she said she’d rather have used to enjoy life together.
There’s a balance to be struck.

If you earn decently but spend very little of it, not only do you accumulate savings but you need a smaller pot of money to “retire” because you have small outgoings. It’s just maths. The bigger the gap between income and outgoings, the sooner you can chose not to work. The lump should be 25 x your annual spending to give you a safe withdrawal rate of 4%. But I think there needs to be a balance to make it sustainable. I like to have heating on and occasional lunch out personally.

Oh my, once my mum recorded a TV show about these two to ‘help me’ when I had just bought my first house on a really low income, about 17k back in 2012. I had nothing left to save! I was in a fortunate position overall but none of their advice was in any way helpful when I had nothing left to trim or save each month. My mother was furious that it wasn’t helpful to me, it was evidence of my ‘bad attitude’.

These FIRE articles always boil down to the same thing - you can retire at 40 if you save excessively by living like a miser, live like a miser in retirement too...oh and either earn well into six figures by 25 or come into a substantial inheritance. Amazing!

You become "rich" by spending less than you earn. Its not a new concept.
Neither is not earning enougb to barely cover the basics.

If you have two high incomes you can easily save enough to retire in your 40s. It also depends on what sort of retirement you’re looking for…!

That sounds like an amazing achievement to buy a house on that salary!! How did it all work out?

It’s basic maths. Spend less than you earn.

It's clearly not just about the packed lunch though is it? They don't spend money at all if they don't have to, including not putting the heating on. I think it's a bit mad but if they're happy then crack on.

This! my mum had just gotten her pension and died suddenly after a terrible ten years of health. There is a balance in life. I work to live now. I don’t want to sit in a cold house and never do anything so i can retire early tbh. Tommorow isn’t guaranteed. Our health isn’t guardnteed. No good being frugal for a retirement you can’t enjoy!

Save for retirement sure ( i have a pension with tax free lump sump and plan to save more when the mortgage is done in afew years) but don’t forgo living now. Obviously those earning higher or with less outgoings often find it easier to save more for retirement too. Especially with how the cost of living is. So many now live month to month with no savings nevermind retirement savings.

Well, I’m 48 and if I’d always had packed lunches I wouldn’t be retired with £1m.

Since age 18 total earnings are just under £720k, it baffles me to think these people think it’s normal to spend more than my total income on coffee and prepackaged sandwiches!

I’ve not always been able to afford packed lunches (or any lunch!)

It sounds like a joyless existence…no heating, charging their phones when they’re out, hunting for discarded nectar points. And they obviously have well paid jobs. I mean, even if I didn’t spend a single penny of my meagre salary it would take me 40 years to save £1M. So yes, a bit out of touch.

You cheated! If only you’d resisted….just think where you’d be now!

I’ve just started watching their rebel finance school free course on YouTube. To be fair I think there’s much more to them than comes across in this article.

they did take things to extremes, but they don’t appear to preach that everyone should do that. I like that they’re very keen on running your own race and not comparing your own finances to other people.

the budget tracking tools and spreadsheets they provide for free have been useful for me