Retire Before Mom And Dad by Rob Berger

Retire Before Mom and Dad by Rob Berger breaks down the numbers behind achieving financial freedom. While many Americans face daunting retirement shortfalls, Berger simplifies the process, showing that anyone can plan and invest wisely to retire comfortably, regardless of income.

Money Multiplier Superpower

Compounding
- Earn money on both your original investment and money it earned
- Wealth multiplies with no extra effort
- Ex: save 5% of your $50,000 salary from age 22 to 67
- Savings: ~$208/month
- Return: 9.3%
- Results without investing: $112,320
- Results with investing: $1,708,072
Power of Time
- Start 1 year later → $153,504 less
- Start 5 years later → $643,197 less
- Start 20 years later → $1,462,889 less
Power of Amount
- Save $200/month → $65,695 less
- Save $225/month → $139,602 more
Power of Return
- 9.3% → $1,708,072
- 9.0% → $1,540,214

What is Financial Freedom?

Financial Freedom = ability to live off your savings
- Even partial independence gives decision-making freedom
- Ex: debt forces you to stick with a job for pay
Slingshot Effect → exponential growth, not linear
- Save $500, spend $4,500 → 9 months to save 1 month expenses
- Save $1,000, spend $4,000 → 4 months to save 1 month expenses
Savings rate matters more than salary
- 10% savings: $500k salary vs $50k salary
- Both need 9 years to save 1 year of expenses
Save 25x annual expenses to retire safely
- Withdrawing 4% annually preserves savings for life
- Accounts for inflation, market dips, conservative portfolios later
- Compounding makes it easier: $5/day for 45 years = $1.23 million

Levels of Financial Freedom

Level 1	1 Month of Expenses Saved
Level 2	3 Months of Expenses Saved
Level 3	6 Months of Expenses Saved
Level 4	1 Year of Expenses Saved
Level 5	5 Years of Expenses Saved
Level 6	10 Years of Expenses Saved
Level 7	25 Years of Expenses Saved