Saving for retirement is crucial to ensure a safety net when you’re no longer working. The best way to guarantee a steady income in your later years is by investing and saving as much as possible while you’re still employed. A new financial movement called Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) is gaining popularity. FIRE advocates aim for early retirement by saving up to 70% of their annual income, allowing for minimal withdrawals from their savings later. That’s what one Japanese man decided to do after living a frugal lifestyle for 21 years in order to accumulate 100 million yen (more than Rs 5 crore) and retire early.
The 45-year-old anonymous man started his savings strategy in the early 2000s after landing a steady but tough job, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP). The organisation he was employed by mandated that workers put in extra hours, often until after midnight and propagated the belief that future happiness could only be attained via hard labour and overtime.
The man, whose yearly pay was about five million yen, reportedly set out to live the FIRE lifestyle and created a detailed strategy to save 100 million yen as soon as possible. As inspiration, he started by referring to himself online as “The Man Who Will Definitely Resign.”
He paid 30,000 yen (over Rs 16,000) a month in rent and scrounged for all of his furnishings and appliances for more than 20 years while residing in a workplace dormitory, SCMP reports. He reportedly ate very little; his usual supper would be a bowl of rice, some salty veggies and a sour plum.
Occasionally, dinner consisted of little more than an energy drink that he received for free from convenience stores. In the evenings, as per SCMP, he would watch movies with prison themes and joke that working for this exploitative corporation was no different than serving a 20-year jail term.
He also indulged in cola and biscuits for dinner. The man even started eating sweet potatoes all summer long after his microwave broke, cooking them on his colleague’s car’s windscreen in the summertime heat.
He also never used a heater or air conditioning; instead, he would perform squats to warm up in the winter and wear a damp T-shirt to cool down in the summer.
After 20 years and 10 months of employment with the firm, he eventually declared on social media that he had saved 135 million yen (more than Rs 7 crore), SCMP reports.
His modest way of living also served as the impetus for writing a book full of money-saving advice, which brought in additional revenue. Now that he’s financially independent, he reportedly bought a microwave to make hot meals and makes himself four cooked eggs for breakfast.
SCMP reports that his happiness was fleeting, as he recently revealed that the weakening of the yen since the start of this year had caused a huge reduction in his funds.
“If the yen keeps depreciating, I’ll never achieve financial freedom. What have I been working for these 21 years? It’s all meaningless, so tragic,” he told the news outlet.
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