A Japanese man recently shocked the internet after announcing that he managed to save 132 million yen ($640,000) over the last two decades with the goal of retiring early from his stressful job.
The unnamed 45-year-old man took to social media to announce that he had finally achieved FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) after dedicating the last twenty years and ten months to this goal. In the early 2000s, he managed to secure a stable but very demanding job where he was constantly required to work overtime, sometimes past midnight. He had a decent salary of around five million yen ($32,000) per year, so instead of quitting his job and looking for something less stressful, he decided to push through all the hardships and save as much money as possible so he could retire early. However, the level of frugality he endured throughout the last two decades left a lot of people wondering if his efforts were worth it.
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In his quest to save up 100 million yen as quickly as possible, the Japanese man changed his lifestyle completely. He renounced his rented apartment, opting instead to live in a basic company dormitory where he paid only 30,000 yen ($190) per month. Instead of buying the appliances and furniture he needed, he scavenged for them, using a bunch of things that other people discarded. He also never used air conditioning in the summer and used only exercises and blankets to warm himself in wintertime.
However, it was his diet that suffered the most drastic changes. In photos he regularly shared on social media with fellow would-be FIRE-achievers, the 45-year-old man who posted under the alias “The Man Who Will Definitely Resign,” to motivate himself, we can see that his meals consisted mostly of boiled rice and small pieces of fruits or vegetables. However, on extremely rough days, his dinner would consist of a simple energy drink.
Like other frugal Japanese people we featured in the past, the FIRE-seeking man used discount coupons to get the cheapest products possible. To keep himself entertained on the cheap, he spent his evenings in his dormitory watching prison-themed movies and joking that his life was very similar to that of a prisoner.
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Earlier this year, after more than two decades of extreme frugality, the man announced that he had achieved his revised target of 132 million yen ($640,000) in savings, allowing him to retire early. As a bonus, his unique experience also inspired him to write a book on achieving FIRE which proved profitable and helped him to retire even earlier than planned.
Despite his best efforts to save as much as possible, the man’s dream of retiring early might be shortlived, due to the yen’s drastic depreciation since the beginning of the year.
“If the yen keeps depreciating, I’ll never achieve financial freedom,” the man said. “What have I been working for these 21 years? It’s all meaningless, so tragic.”
The man’s experience went viral online in Japan and China, getting mixed feedback from netizens. Some declared themselves impressed by his resolve and endurance, while others were shocked by his lifestyle, adding that it was a miracle he didn’t fall ill because of his poor diet.
“His life is truly miserable,” one person wrote. “His income isn’t low in Japan. If he had invested in gold rather than just saving, he wouldn’t have lost so much.”
