Success Stories: $980,000 Retirement Kitty By Age 47

Money brings us the story of Shawn Larsen. I remember reading this one in the hard-copy magazine, but it took some doing for me to dig it back up again online! At the time of the article, Larsen was 47 and earning about $180,000 a year as a seismologist for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. His net worth was about $980,000—and he was on track to hit his goal of retiring early, at age 50:

He figures that when he combines the money he’ll save over the next three years with the $680,000 he already has in mutual funds (mostly low-cost index funds) and his $300,000 in retirement accounts, he’ll have enough to supplement his $30,000-a-year pension and even afford occasional splurges, like his dream of climbing Mount Everest, which he figures could set him back $75,000.

How did he do it? At last check, Larsen was saving more than 50% of his salary.

All I can say is: Wow.