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(Edited 2024-07-18: Looking at this 3.5 years later, there's a few changes I would make. First, I avoided being too opinionated about asset allocation -- but I now think it's pretty important to have a high % of investments in stock index funds. I would not drop below 80%, except perhaps briefly during the early stages of retirement. I am currently 100% invested in stocks. Second, I recommended establishing an emergency fund in cash, then paying off all debt above 3-4% interest rate. Interest rates have since increased across the board, and you can earn 5% just sitting money in a high-yield savings account, so this no longer makes sense. I also think it can make sense to save money in investments even while holding some high-interest debt -- you might lose net worth, but you gain financial stability by having additional assets you can call on in case of job loss/etc. This is especially true if the debt is large, such as a mortgage. Third, I recommended a flat 6-12 months of expenses kept in cash. If you have sufficient amounts in stocks that you'll be financially safe even given a large market downturn, this is unnecessary. I keep ~2 months of expenses in cash (a money market fund) and the rest in stocks. Fourth, I think Fidelity is ergonomically better than Vanguard, and ETFs are ergonomically better than mutual funds. I also don't mention expense ratios. Nowadays, my default recommendation would be "Fidelity + buy VTI" instead of "Vanguard + buy VFIFX".) (Edited 2021-02-28: Added a section on how retirement is risky, and changed a few other sections to provide more context or clarify various trade-offs pointed out in the comments.) Introduction I wanted to be able to link people to a guide on early retirement that succinctly covered everything I thought was important, but I couldn't find one that I was satisfied with. So I made this. There are tons of communities and resources out there for anyone who wants to read more about retirement, investi