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This is Optimal Finance Daily. Want to retire early? Beat inflation with a one-two punch

by Chris of keepthrifty.com.

So you've figured out whether you'll ever be able to retire. Now you're itching for that next step, figuring out how to retire early. After hearing all of these amazing stories of people

retiring in their 30s and 40s, you want to know the secrets to getting there on your own. If you're ready

to go there, I'm ready to take you through it. The trick to retiring early is beating inflation.

Today, we'll go through how to do that with a one-two punch. A typical money situation.

Let's build a baseline scenario to understand why the combination of earning and

frugality are so powerful. A 2018 college graduate can expect an average starting salary of roughly

$50,000. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer expenditure survey, let's say the average

person making 50 grand is spending about $48,500.

That's a savings rate of about 3.5%.

Let's call our hypothetical worker Mo Ney.

From this point on, if Mo does an adequate job, we can expect annual raises

that are roughly in line with inflation, about 2.5% each year. While those raises might look fine

...