J.L. Collins

So this was not a problem.

What's interesting about the 50% is I get pushback.

That's not surprising, but what might be surprising is it comes from both directions.

So the pushback you'd expect would be the people who say, well, nobody can actually do that.

That's just silly stuff.

And to that, I respond, well, I did it.

And I know lots of people who did it.

I actually now have a book out called Pathfinders that's filled with people who've done it.

So I'm sorry.

You can't tell me it can't be done.

You can tell me you choose not to do it.

And I respect that.

It's your money.

But the pushback also comes from the other direction where people say, 50%, Jay, hell, you're a piker.

I mean, I do 60, 70, 80%.

You know, what kind of slacker are you?

So 50% is just for me the sweet spot that gave me the best lifestyle along with accumulating fairly rapidly what I really wanted.

And then, of course, as my income expanded,

So did both the half that I was living on and the half I was investing.

So years later, when I was making $100,000 a year, well, my lifestyle had expanded by five times to $50,000.