What do you consider "retiring early"?
My brother just "retired" from his government job at age 44. He's a happy man. I also think he will run out of money if he's not thrifty.
I myself enjoy what I do and never want to retire. I suppose if I had all my debt paid off and had money left over after helping out my daughter and maybe my mom financially, maybe I'd give more to charity.
I didn't pay cash for my house, but we made as large of a down payment as we could, and pay it off more aggressively than necessary. Which may not be the most financially prudent thing, but getting rid of all debt would make me a happier man.
Why do you have car payments? Wouldn't it be better to pay cash for the car and invest the money you pay on the payments in something with a return on investment? I'm asking, not accusing.
Do you carry any credit card debt from month to month? If you do, that makes you stupid.
I have no credit card debt. I don't charge credit cards and pay them off at the end of the month either. I don't spend more than I have in my checking account. I usually put whatever I have left over into my savings account each pay period. I have a couple of thousand every two weeks to spend on whatever I want. Usually I end up with a surplus.
I pay more than my minimum car payments each month. I put the max into my 401k. But if I see something I want to buy I buy it. Is this some sort of contest?
I could I guess save up five years for a car but as interest payments are next to nothing on new cars it really doesn't make any sense. Also you will earn next to nothing putting your money in the bank. What can you invest in now that will guarantee you a ROI of any substance?
Did you pay cash for your house?
So you can retire early? Well if you use those two egg mcmuffins for 3 bucks every day you could save quite a bit of money.