Okay, so your argument is you know better than a professor at MIT who studies this stuff.

K.

You may want to consider:

1) If I had to rely on a bus/bike for work, I would not have a job.

2) If I did have a reliable cell phone with data capable of providing a wifi hotspot in an emergency, I would not have a job.

3) If I did not have a solid internet connection, I would not have a job.

A number of things you claim are luxuries, really are not luxuries if you want to be employed in a number of fields. Even the guy that does the basic helpdesk stuff needs that and he only is paid $30k a year.

You also are ignoring one-off costs like repairs and medical costs when you quote these numbers and thump your chest. I have annual medical costs [beyond insurance] of 10% of your claimed spending. For fuck's sake.

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/mcdonalds-sample-budget-sheet-...

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/07/mcdonald...

> McDonald's Can't Figure Out How Its Workers Survive on Minimum Wage

Hell, even the McDonald's Sample Budget everyone calls a joke has over $12,000 in annual expenses.

http://livingwage.mit.edu/places/2616103000

> The rent figure given is for having your own one bedroom apartment with no roommates

> I am living a lower class lifestyle right now as I type this. I live in a shared home with 2 other people.

$649 is the housing budget including utilities, cleaning supplies, and all other related expenses not just rent.

https://annarbor.craigslist.org/sha/5024320646.html - $500
https://annarbor.craigslist.org/hou/5025045124.html - $400
https://annarbor.craigslist.org/sha/5024006969.html - $400

Yeah, these people are renting one bedrooms. Sure buddy. $400+money for utilities,etc. puts them safely within the $649 budget and they aren't renting one bedroom apartments now are they?

I honestly don't even believe you at this point because you are clearly oblivious to the going rental rate in your own f'n city.

> EDIT: After seeing your comment above I want to point out that at no point did I assert you could retire by 30 years old on this kind of income. If you're trying to argue that point then it's a strawman. I will also add that if you're still making ~20k/yr all of your life then you've made some financial mistakes in regards to your actual career choices, even janitorial staff end up around 35k/yr after a while.

You support the prevailing view of /r/FinancialIndependence and their idols who make claims about retiring in their 30s like that.

That isn't a strawman and I quoted an article where they did exactly that. How am I supposed to read your mind and realize the very group you chose to use as a benchmark to discuss:

> If you manage not to fall victim to either of those then you can save a substantial portion of your income towards a very early retirement should you choose to do so.

Maybe you should be more specific then rather than cry strawman when those FI folks talking about "very early retirement", its retirement in their 30s.

Cry strawman if you want but by the standards of the community you were talking about, 30s is what that phrase means and I can point to a ton of posts/blogs in relation to that group of people.