Retired by 50: What it really takes

Shortly after their eldest daughter was born, Brad accepted a job that more than doubled his pay to $110,000 but that required a move from their home in New Jersey to Southern California.

Although Brad's co-workers were living in McMansions and gated communities, the Bolons bought a 1,500-square-foot townhouse in a less-affluent area of Thousand Oaks. The townhouse was literally across the street from Brad's office, which meant he could stroll to work and the family could get by with one car -- "a beat-up old pickup," Janine called it.

The family was also within walking distance of three grocery stores and a public library, which further reduced their fuel consumption. Janine home-schooled the kids, now ages 11, 8, 5 and 4, and made saving money her priority.

"We saved $35 a month by hanging the laundry instead of using the dryer," Janine said. "We didn't use our air conditioner more than six or seven days of the year," an accomplishment in sunny Southern California.

"We went to 'U pick it' farms. I'd go with the kids and we'd pick fruit . . . and can them and make preserves," Janine said. "And I used a price book. That saved us $3,000 to $5,000 every year."

(A price book, for frugality newbies, is a notebook where you track the prices of commonly purchased items at local stores over time so you can spot the true bargains and stock up.)

As Brad's income rose, the family resisted the urge to ratchet up its spending and instead focused on building its net worth.

"We made a whole bunch of life decisions that put us in a good position," Janine said. "We lived on $33,000 to $36,000 a year. . . . The rest of our income we were stuffing into investments and Brad's 401(k)."

Their lifestyle was incomprehensible to many around them. Her middle-income neighbors would sometimes leave donations, such as clothes for the kids, on her porch.

"They were the nicest people," Janine said. "They assumed we must be pennies away from bankruptcy."

Snubbed but satisfied

The Bolons remember a distinctly chillier reception from some of Brad's co-workers who lived in vast homes, sent their kids to private schools and drove fancy cars. But Janine said she never let their snubs bother her.

"I would walk into (a work social event) in my $60 thrift-store gown and my $10 Payless shoes and I would feel like an actual millionaire, because I was and they weren't," Janine said. "I didn't have to drive a Mercedes to show people I'm wealthy."

In 2004, after eight years in California, the family pulled the plug. The Bolons sold their townhouse for a tidy profit and moved to a home in Cedar City, Utah, for which they paid cash.

The family could live solely on the income from investments, Janine said, but they prefer to leave the money alone to grow. Brad consults for a local community college. Janine is studying for a Ph.D. and has created a part-time business teaching others her money-saving techniques through books, a Web site and lectures.

Their passion now is philanthropy. The Bolons believe strongly that giving away at least 20% of the family's income is essential to their financial and spiritual success.

Fred Ecks and Ann Haebig

Work always seemed a bit overrated to Fred Ecks, 41.

Ecks got his first full-time job at 21 after graduating from California Polytechnic State University with a degree in computer science. Eight months later, he headed back to school to get a master's degree.

"I missed the freedom," Ecks said, "and the opportunity to learn something new every day."

He lasted about a year at his next full-time job before returning to school for a doctorate. At one point, he tried to figure out how much he would need to save to live on the interest of his investments, given the 8% or so that short-term government bonds could earn back then. The sum -- $121,000 -- seemed impossibly huge at the time.

"It would take me 10 years to save that much. I'd be 34," he remembered thinking. That seemed impossibly old, "so I gave up."

Ecks eventually settled in to full-time work, got married and bought a house in Boulder, Colo. He had a mortgage, credit card debt "and lots of toys," Ecks remembered. And he was getting "tired of being tired all of the time."

He was at a coffee shop when he heard a radio program about the book, "Your Money or Your Life" (the same book that helped transform the Bolons' lives). He went next door to a bookstore and bought the tome, which he "devoured" over the next weekend. He became "a man with a mission" to save enough money so that he could say goodbye forever to paid work.

That was in 1994, when he was 28. Seven years later, at age 35, he achieved his goal, although he said it's only recently that he's felt comfortable saying he's retired.

Continued: Living in a van

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