I discovered Jacob Fund Lisker by way of his website earlyretirementextreme.com. The website features a great archive section that includes several years of Jacob's blogs about personal finance, financial independence, and lifestyle design. I found the content on the website compelling, interesting, fun, and very well-written. As someone with a high degree of interest in achieving financial freedom, I found myself tearing through the blog archives and visiting the website frequently to check in on the growing forum community. I was excited to learn that Jacob was presenting his strategy and philosophy in book form, and I was one of the early buyers of the "ERE" book in late 2010.

I found the book to be very read-able and helpful but also quirky. The idea that one could "retire" in his early 30s seemed a little far-fetched at first, but Jacob lays out his experiences and suggestions in a very simple and straightforward way. While he does not share much in the way of specific investment advice, he goes out of his way to explain his philosophy and outlines an approach to achieving financial freedom that anyone could adapt to their own circumstances.

It has been over six months since I read the "ERE" book. I find myself thinking about it a lot and I have re-visited several sections since my original reading. One of the chapters that has stuck with me the most is the first one "A different frame of mind". The story of Plato's Cave, where slaves toil away in the shadows without having the perspective to understand that there is a broader world full of alternative lifestyle choices, is a perfect allegory for the corporate careerism that many people choose. I found the idea of looking at life as more of an adventure to be very compelling.

The next two chapters, "The lock-in" and "Economic degrees of freedom" lay out, first, the costs and risks of pursuing the typical modern lifestyle approaches (college, career, status, possessions, etc), and, second, the degrees of freedom inherent in that system. The author outlines four economic classifications (salary man, businessman, working man, Renassaince man) which are easily relatable. He presents a model showing an alternative way of looking at lifestyle behaviors which should be taught to every high school student.

The chapter on "Renaissance lifestyle" is a fun read. I never equated getting rid of my old junk, house cleaning, etc with the likes of da Vinci and Michelangelo, but after reading that chapter I clearly saw the link between becoming more financially self-reliant and having the time necessary to pursue a broader range of personal goals which could lead to a greater sense of self-fulfillment. I got a little lost in the latter part of that chapter when the author got caught up in specific approaches to wardrobe selection, eating, transportation, etc., but even that perspective is helpful as an example of one person's pursuit of the broader goals of independence and self-guidance.

The author comes off as an extremely intelligent and unique-thinking person. At one point he goes into great detail about the merits of his trusty rain jacket. A little later, he devotes an entire section to complex financial ratios that are likely to confuse all but the most quantitative thinkers. That said, I think anyone who seeks financial independence as a goal - and is open to some fresh approaches that will help achieve that goal at a relative early age - would benefit from reading this book. The book does not take long to read, but it is packed with interesting information and perspectives, and you will find yourself coming back to it often as you begin to build your own plan to financial independence.

This book has many positive qualities, particularly as a refreshingly blunt stance against consumerism. I have read this book, the accompanying blog, and sought out some extra interviews and podcasts featuring Mr. Fisker -- to me he is fun to read and listen to, prods me out of my comfort zone at times, and he provides plenty of concrete logic for his sometimes extreme-sounding statements. As a comparatively math-challenged individual myself, I enjoy that he lays out some equations that I can follow along with for my own amusement and education. I have been a fan of frugality blogs and simple-living websites and I find Jacob's take on these topics to be very methodical. While in tune with commonly-encountered teachings of others in the frugality space, Mr. Fisker leans on his scientific and academic background to present equations and graphs to support his stances. If you are like me and find frugality a twisted type of "fun" in a sense, then you'll certainly enjoy Mr. Fisker's materials, including this book.

I found Mr. Fisker's discussion of his "Renaissance Man" trope valuable and interesting, as well as how clearly he contrasts the dangers and risks of being a "Salary Man" (as he terms it in his model) who is tied to a single stream of income. Deep down many of us already know these risks and feel them intuitively, but have had trouble articulating why. His various analyses of the utility of a person's possessions, home size, and travel (foot vs. bike vs. car) are all equally worthwhile. I have made several lifestyle modifications based on the teachings in this book, and I know that they do work.

As for weaknesses:

Mr. Fisker admits (in blogs and elsewhere) to being a pessimist -- a "glass-half-empty" type of personality. This is to his credit, and only improves his credibility in my eyes. He is interested in "survivalist" topics and generally buys into various futurist dystopia scenarios (even though these have been proven false over and over again, a-la Malthusian catastrophes and similar). This inherent pessimism comes through in the book in certain parts which are devoted to heavy-handedly bashing of certain elements of society. It's almost as if he has a comedic and thinly-veiled hatred of specific things, like washing machines and even egg-cookers! Though I am confused by that last one, because although he states egg-cookers are a monumental menace, I'm not sure I've ever actually seen one in real life. In Mr. Fisker's world only basic objects with multiple modes of use would exist. A nice ideal, but useless to rant against.

Take the washing machine as an example. Mr. Fisker goes to great lengths to examine, in every part of the book, the costs of labor, costs of purchases, costs of power, charts of depreciation and interest of investments . . . he even calculates the opportunity costs of the time spent driving a car as "time spent not exercising." Therefore it is curious he gives short shrift to the obvious positives that come with the ownership of things like washing machines and refrigerators.

Like many people who lived in civilization and went to University, Mr. Fisker can tend to wax poetically about, and perhaps overly romanticize the pre-industrial lifestyles of our ancestors. Our grandmothers praised the washing machine because it freed them of hours of drudgery. Refrigerators mean that you are freed from the cost of say, your whole family getting food poisoning. A freezer allows you to buy in bulk and save money, too. But to him these objects simply "cost electricity" and are synonymous with "Waste" with a capital "W".

I think Mr. Fisker's experiences, and his advice, are colored to suit single men, or perhaps single people with like-minded partners. Many parts are interesting thought experiments, but impractical if not impossible to implement for families. Kids have the darnedest way of destroying your plans for frugality, as any parent knows.

My final critique of this book is that it has a large blind spot about financial leverage. In his zeal to promote small homes, few possessions, and quasi-nomadic lifestyles (one gets the feeling Mr. Fisker is planning to flee at any moment . . .) he ignores the very useful tool of financial leverage -- probably because it doesn't suit his personal risk tolerance. I would argue in fact that it is the tool of financial leverage itself that drives people to buy homes in the first place, and not some misguided and ingrained sense of learned consumer buffoonery. If people can leverage an investment that appreciates, can be sold later for a (sometimes) large profit, and get to live in relative luxury in the meantime? One could argue that form of investing beats the pants off of watching some numbers tick up and down in a brokerage account while you freeze in a shack.

First off, I have not finished the book, I'm about half way through.

EDIT: I have now finished the book.

I'm a reader of the author's blog. I have not read all of the blog, but I think it is accurate to say that this book is a more concise, organized and expanded version of the author's blog - it is not a straight copy and paste of his blog.

It's relatively pretty hefty, which makes my mind feel like I'm getting my money's worth : D

The same take-away message that is found in the blog is found in this book as well - the broad strategy is extremely simple: Increase your saving rate to a huge amount, 60 - 80% of take home pay. Your saving rate is inversely proportional to your spending rate. It is up to the reader to figure out which is easier to comprehend mentally : to decrease spending or increase savings. Invest the money you save. At some point in time in the future, live off the earnings of your assets while maintaining the same spending rate. From a high-level view, the steps are very simple. The difficulty comes in implementing and obtaining that savings rate. Do I believe it's possible? Yes. Will most people, including myself, be able or want to obtain that rate? No.

Much of the book goes into philosophy and concepts that explore the status quo way of life in so-called Consumer/Capitalistic countries. Why do we live this certain way? Is there another way? Why do we usually do A instead of B or C? What happens if we do E? etc. Personally I can say I've acquired new paradigms, ways of looking at the world that I've never before considered. For example, the main thesis of the ERE strategy is very novel to me. Perhaps I am naive or just not smart - and that's OK - but I have never considered that a possible path in life was:

"Save a huge, huge amount as soon as possible, cut spending, and live off of the earnings by your 30s."

My world view has only ever been : "Get educated, work, use money to acquire your needs and wants, as time goes on, acquire more money for more wants, retire in old age."

That interesting idea itself is worth the price of the book. There are many other ideas and concepts explored within the book. Some of the same rants against consumerism come up again and again - I guess that's called a "theme" - but personally it hasn't distracted me. You know coming in the main view of the author. Sit back and pick his mind for other novel ideas you might not be familiar with.

The book contains few in the way of finance "tactics" that you can implement and more so the broad "How" and "Why's" of living his particular way of life. The steps for ERE are simple and straightforward, probably a grade school kid could understand them in principle - I see the book as supplementing the ERE steps, providing motivation in way of showing you other possible ways of living and viewing the world while explaining and deconstructing the status quo/consumer society that we live in. The tint of your glasses through which you view the world have a lot to do with how you interact with the world. This book gives you some new shades of color to work with.

This book took every retirement notion I've ever had and dumped it on its head. The author shows the whole 20th/21st century Western planned life narrative of grow up, go to college, work in a career track until you're ready to die, then retire and die as a bogus schtick. I'm ashamed to admit I spent most of my life believing that. This book is the constructive advice a high school career counselor should have given after telling you "No, you can't be a pirate" or "You ain't gonna be an astronaut with those grades." To summarize the book's advice: orient your life around saving and investing your money to retire early. Not the retirement of the early 20th century awaiting death as an infirm senior citizen. Nor as the late 20th century retirement "active" senior citizen golfing, bingo playing, or vanilla travel. But "retire" in your 30s or 40s to an active life of hobbies, education, contemplation, family activities, volunteer work, or travel. Basically what YOU want to do with YOUR life. I really wish I'd had this book 20 years ago.

Now admittedly if you grew up knowing exactly what you want to do and it involves the typical western career track this book isn't worth your time. In any case it's not an option for wimps. The author admits considerable effort, discipline, and continuous learning are necessary to build the savings and investments to retire. The savings and investments are key - once you have 25 times your annual wage invested you can live off the interest (4%). You won't live in luxury but by the time you succeed you'll have acclimated your self not to. You will have to reject the whole consumerist luxury lifestyle dominating our age. Fancy cars, cable TV, eating out weekly, coffeehouses, retail therapy etc. must be cut to fuel your investments. It's not a sacrifice - a sacrifice is giving up one valuable thing or something of equal or greater value. If you've ever lived in a 3rd world country on its terms or lived rough in the military you know such luxuries are unnecessary. Only according to advertising are they "needs". What you get in return for this effort is freedom. Freedom from corporate cubicles, sociopath bosses, miserable coworkers, commutes, tedious meetings - the whole "Office Space" experience. Indeed, freedom from the very things that often provoke inane consumerist spending. (How many times do you "need" Starbucks lattes? Or "deserve" a big screen TV?)

The only thing I find awkward is the author's writing style because he's an academic and a technocrat. But take that as a heads up not a deal breaker. Read this book. And don't believe the whiny haters - a growing number of people opt for what the author recommends and succeed even if they're imperfect at the exact steps. I believe this book's recommendations may be the panacea for all the corporate consumerist ills plaguing modern life while keeping the good.

This book is the ultimate summary of all other personal finance books. The author has a keen analytical mind, which promotes knowledge from various discoveries about the subjects of money management and use. The money we earn can be used in a much more efficient manner, and we can keep and invest most of it. The book is full of methods and formulas to assist in learning the best way to utilize the income that finds it's way into your life. Following the strategies, it would be possible to retire from working for a living in a very short time. The book covers such items as housing, transportation, education, possessions of all kinds, and how these areas weigh us down and rob our resources. The author discusses how these expenses can be managed, and how to go about reducing your cost for them. The author takes you through the work, spend, and consume cycles that most people are caught up in, which only promotes continuing work, spend, and consume cycles. Once you learn how to avoid these traps, your income becomes yours, and can be put to work for you, instead of the other way around.

I found the book to be an exciting concept of personal financial management. With the economic realities of the current times, many people are looking for ways out of complex, excessive spending lifestyles. This book is valuable to people of any age group or income level. The strategies are aimed at anyone who wish to "opt out" of handing all their earnings over to the standard consumer way of living, and use that income for the good of themselves, instead. I was especially pleased with the size of the book, the author's writing style, and the chapter numerical divisions. The book will become an excellent reference for those trying to sort out their financial goals and achieve them. Following the guidelines will save you money, improve your ability to manage your money, and help you understand the fundamentals of investing.

This is the 3rd early retirement book I've read. Mr. Fisker is clearly a very intelligent man with a gift for understanding systems and synthesizing conceptual models. In particular, his perspectives on finance and economics are actually quite valuable and I think anyone interested in early retirement or financial independence should adopt a similar approach to thinking about work and money.

Now onto the bad.

This is a pedantic, overly conceptual, esoteric work on a very practical subject. Yes, I get that he says at the outset that his aim was to write a philosophical guide that would help people think critically about personal finance and economics and make their own decisions rather than following a "list". A noble aim, but in all his abstract redundancy he LOSES the reader. Not because the concepts are out of grasp, but his delivery is just so bloody boring. I wanted to grab him through the pages and just scream "DUDE!! talk to me like a normal person!!"

He also has a bunch of pet peeves that he keeps reiterating throughout the book such as: lawns, egg boilers, TV shows, and washing machines. There's also gratuitous not-so-subtle allusions that he is the prototypical "Renaissance Man" and the rest of us are just cretins going to work, running our marathons, and taking our beach vacations.

Look, it is pretty badass that he retired at age 30. No one can argue with that. But instead of all the redundant abstracts, tell us HOW you did it, practically. A philosophy primer would be great---even necessary---but most readers want actionable, accessible content. And that is where Mr. Fisker failed.

You see, a problem with these hyper-intellectual types is they simply cannot meet people where they are. They lack the emotional acuity (or development) to connect with a wide variety of people on a topic, which is part of what makes a good writer.

I think in the future if he is going to pen another tome, he should enlist the help of a co-writer (or a professional editor) who can help shape this amorphous mass of theory into a functional, relatable piece that walks down the aisle and ENGAGES people, rather than harangues them from the podium.

Overall the book is worth the read and not similar to a lot of finance/retirement literature, which made it interesting. It's not an easy or even enjoyable read, but the information is thought provoking and worth considering. I definitely learned some useful concepts to apply or at least think about how to apply to my financial and even life strategy. The author addresses a philosophy of lifestyle which could enable one to retire in as little as 5 years, but most would consider it too extreme to adopt - it also assumes that you invest your savings (75% if income) intelligently and effectively enough to generate a sufficient return. I don't plan on banking on early retirement after reading this, but it did give me some ideas of how I can save more and change my mindset in general on spending and how to earn money or substitute earning money with acquiring skills so that I don't have to pay someone to do something for me. Don't expect specifics on investing advice. The book focuses on the philosophy and advantages of adopting a Renaissance man outlook arguing that having more skills in different areas is better than having a honed skill in a single area as a source of income - it is a valid argument and food for thought. The presentation of the argument is pretty dry and esoteric unfortunately, complete with elaborate mathematical formulas and graphs that sometimes are so abstract and/or primitive that they make the concept more difficult to understand instead of help break it down better. The production of the book makes an already difficult read even more uncomfortable by adopting a small font size which also isn't very bold or dark against the page - it took me a while to get adjusted to this. But, the effort is worth it because the content is not of the cookie cutter or conventional type, which gives the book a lot of value in my opinion. It might be best to check if your library has it first, and if you get something out of the content, then buy the book to support the author's efforts. While I found the author's ideas and suggestions to be somewhat impractical in today's world, it was still apparent that much thought and effort was put into the book and the ideas themselves are worth mulling over and considering.

This is well-written and very interesting. I have been exercising my frugal muscle for quite some time, but Jacob takes it to a whole new level. My husband is now reading this and we are enjoying some in-depth discussions on our values and many long held beliefs we never really questioned before. Why do we have 2 cars and a cell phone plan? Why do we live in an expensive neighborhood and pay so much for vacations every year? We calculated that even though we have no debt and save 40% of our current net pay, we could actually save more like 65% if we made a few life style choices that now seem quite reasonable (get rid of the SUV, bike more, use pay by the minute phones, and one I am doing right now--switch from $20 bottles of wine to $6 boxes of wine).

My husband will retire from the Navy in less than 2 years at age 50. I can't tell you how many people are baffled when he says he has no intention of getting another job. "But you could work for the state for another 20 years and get 2 pensions!" or some variation on this theme. It's true he could do that or he could use his skills to fix up an old cabin, make his own beer, play guitar, hike with me, cook for friends and family, read great books, garden, nap, etc. Time is so much for valuable than money and money is so wasted in our society.

I happen to like my job (well most days) and am not all that handy. This book explains that I am a typical "specialist" who makes good money because I can do one thing really well (marketing). I am actually OK with this arrangement for a bit longer. My ego enjoys it. I loved the way Jacob go into the philosophy of corporate America and consumerism and I now feel much more thoughtful about my job and the choices I make every day. The fact that I live way below my means and have no debt means that I am never afraid of lay-offs or losing my job. I think this makes me a better employee as I am often the only one in a meeting with the courage to say what needs to be said.

So happy I stumbled not this book and the website.

Livsförändrade bok. Fantastisk att ge verktyg att förändra ens ekonomiska liv om man vill.

Ich beschäftige mich nun schon seit einigen Jahren mit den Themen finanzielle Freiheit, früher in Rente gehen, Semi-Retirement und den dazu nötigen Voraussetzungen wie Sparen und Investieren. Ich habe einige Bücher und Blogs dazu gelesen und vor ca. einem Jahr auch Early Retirement Extreme. Schaut man sich die vorhandenen Rezensionen an, so fällt zunächst auf, dass es erstens deutlich mehr amerikanische Rezensionen gibt, was logisch ist bei einer amerikanischen Publikation, und zweitens, dass diese im Durchschnitt auch besser ausfallen als deutsche oder britische.

In der Tat sind die Umstände in den USA und Europa nicht Eins zu Eins vergleichbar, z.B. scheint es in den USA einfacher zu sein, billig einzukaufen und je nach Region auch zu wohnen. Außerdem scheinen die Löhne für Mittelklasse-Jobs deutlich höher zu sein und die Hürden um einen solchen Job zu bekommen, niedriger. Jedoch denke ich, dass auch der Glaube an sich selbst, die Motivationsfähigkeit und Bereitschaft zu Risiko und Veränderung in den USA höher sind, als in Europa. All diese Gründe könnten mögliche Erklärungen für die unterschiedlichen Bewertungen sein.

Doch nun zum Buch, dessen Autor mir durch seinen sehr guten Blog bekannt wurde, welcher auch Grundlage für das Buch ist. Jacob Lund Fisker hat sich nicht nur eingehende Gedanken zum Thema gemacht, sondern hat auch selber die Entwicklung vom Arbeitnehmer zur finanziell unabhängigen Person durchlebt. Von daher handelt es sich um Erfahrungsbericht und Ratgeber zugleich. Der Mann weiß also wovon er spricht.

Wie auch der Titel des Buches sagt, beschreibt Fisker natürlich einen extrem schnellen Weg, welcher auch extreme Vorgehensweisen voraussetzt. Das sollte Sie jedoch nicht abschrecken, denn letztendlich geht es ja zunächst einmal darum sich inspirieren zu lassen und dann zu entscheiden, wie ihr eigener Weg aussehen könnte.

Wer zunächst in das Thema hineinschnuppern möchte oder ungern auf Englisch liest, der kann mittlerweile auch auf gute deutsche Bücher zurückgreifen. So eignet sich als Einstieg zum Beispiel Der einfachste und kürzeste Geld-Ratgeber der Welt.

Wenn Sie den Ideen in diesem Buch zustimmen, dann kann der nächste Schritt Work Less, Live More: The Way to Semi-Retirement (Work Less, Live More: The New Way to Retire Early) oder Early Retirement Extreme sein.

Finanzielle Freiheit, Early Retirement und Semi-Retirement sind sehr spannende Themen! Ich kann nur jedem raten sich damit zu beschäftigen, egal mit welchem Buch sie anfangen, wenn sie einmal begeistert sind von der Idee, werden sie weiter lesen und vor allen Dingen auch selber aktiv werden!

This was one of the first books I bought for the Kindle that really began to use the additional features that the machine offers. Specifically, the ability to cut and clip paragraphs that you find notable and the ability to make your own notes as you read were very useful as I worked my way through the text. For me, the most enjoyable thing about this book was that it offered quite a different take on the world of money. Instead of giving advice on how to amass a fortune that might allow you retire early in comfort or luxury, it challenges the whole notion about what exactly you need that money for? Coming to think of it, why are you working every hour God sends to spend the small amount of free time you actually get lying exhausted on the couch, surrounded by gadgets you have no notion of using and people that you have little energy to really interact with? Yes, of course you can retire early, but before you do it, think long and hard about what you will do with the time and how much money you will really need to enjoy that time in a way that you will find personally fulfilling.

I really enjoyed the section of the book entitled "The Lock In" that examines the almost insane cycle most people have got themselves into in Western society - working and working to buy largely meaningless stuff in exchange for losing the time that they could use to enjoy the stuff that they've bought! In this way, the book is more a philosophical examination of our society and values than a text book that will help you save and invest for a life of retirement luxury.

For those of us who actually largely enjoy our job and the world of work, there is still much to take away from the book. It helped me qualify some half-baked notions about retiring at 55 for example, and gave some tips on how to calculate what I'd need to do so, while also pushing me to think about what I wanted to do with the time once I'd reached that goal. As the title suggests, you can take an extreme view of retiring early - live rent free in a tent at the bottom of a friend's garden, live on porridge and boiled water and write that book you keep fantasising about. You don't need much money for that, and you'll have all the free time in the world. Unfortunately, it will also feel like it.

The reality of life is that you do need a bit of money for the life of milk and honey. The fact that Mr Fisker seems quite keen to sell more copies of this book (as evidenced in his blog) recognises this. Maybe he is quite keen on having that Mercedes after all. Nevertheless, if you want a stimulating, amusing and different take on our world of finance and early retirement from the rat race, investing some of your hard earned time and money on this book is definitely worth it.

Visione alternativa di come gestire i soldi. Il titolo è volutamente esagerato, penso che gli argomenti trattati siano molto più che andare in pensione prima del tempo. Dei veri e propri consigli su come gestire i propri risparmi come un’azienda. Approccio abbastanza rigoroso, durante la prima parte anche un po’ pesante nel descrivere la sua personale visione del mondo ma andando avanti con il libro ti rendi conto sono pagine utili per capire meglio i consigli della seconda parte del libro.

This book probably changed my life. Lets use the principles and get out of the rat race now. Its pretty easy with this one in hand.