This IIT Bombay Graduate Is Ready To Retire At Just 29 After Working At Google & JPMorgan

At an age where most of us are just about beginning to stabilize our career, make a decent living out of it and work towards goals such as owning a home and car, an IIT Bombay graduate aged 29 has already earned enough to retire.

What Was His First Salary At Google?

Daniel George iit bombay retire 29/businessinsider

Saving enough money to retire at the age of 29 would sound like a joke to most. But IIT Bombay's graduate Daniel George has made that happen. George was just 24 when he thought of an early retirement. At that time, he had completed his summer internship and just gotten a job at tech giant Google in 2018, with an eye watering salary package of $265,000 (about Rs 2.2 crore) per year.

George, who did his bachelor's degree in engineering physics from IIT Bombay in the year 2015, says "I did the math and realized that after a couple of years of saving, I could easily go back to India and retire if I wanted to", Now, at the age of 29, the AI specialist has enough money to never worry about a salary, and retire if he wants to.

How He Invested To Save Enough To Retire At 29?

Daniel George iit bombay retire 29 /istock

The IIT Bombay graduate himself revealed how he managed to save so much money in his 20s. It all started with his high paying job at Google in the year 2018.

"Working for Google X was my dream job. It was like working in a magical fairyland. There was unlimited food and drinks and amazing facilities, including ping-pong tables, video-game rooms, soccer fields, a gym, tennis courts, and free massages in the office," George said, as per a Business Insider report. "After a year at Google, I started teaching myself more about finances and taxes. I was making more money than ever before but paying nearly 50 percent in taxes."

George then learned how to optimise his retirement accounts in order to minimise his tax liability. That is when he started investing as much money as possible into his retirement accounts.

Also Read: 5 Signs That You Are Financially Ready To Retire Early

What Smart Decisions He Made In The Journey

Daniel George iit bombay retire 29 google/shutterstock

Speaking about the sacrifices he made in his 20s to boost his savings, Daniel George mentioned that while working at Google, he spent less than 10% of his income on expenses. He did so by choosing to walk or biked to work. He never bought a car and ensured he ate three meals daily at Google, which meant he rarely paid for food. Another thing that worked for him was that his rent was quite low because he was sharing an apartment with his friends.

He added that although he was spending less, he was still having a great time, thanks to the perks of working from the Google office.

When He Understood The Magic Of Compounding

In his journey towards the goal to early retirement, understanding the magical power of compounding is what worked wonders for Daniel George , He mentioned that many people he knew bought expensive cars or houses, but he decided to invest most of his earnings. The more he saved early on, the longer time his money had to grow and compound exponentially. He realized it in his 20s itself that he could always move to low-cost-of-living cities and buy a much nicer house later. At the same time, he never felt like he was sacrificing his quality of life, and said he was happy at Google.

Eventually, George ended up investing more than $75,000 (about Rs 62 lakh) every year into the tax-advantaged accounts. That's the amount of money most of us dream of even earning, right?

Also Read; How The F.I.R.E. Method Can Help You Plan An Early Retirement

How He Switched From Google To JPMorgan

Daniel George iit bombay jpmorgan/BCCL

By the year 2020, despite having enough money to retire and return to India, George chose to stay back because by that time he had met his future wife, who was also an AI scientist with Google.

Then in June 2020, the IIT Bombay graduate was hired by US' largest bank JP Morgan to lead applied AI projects across the company. His salary also got doubled upon joining the bank. But even then, he did not waste the money.

"Even as my income and net worth increased, I still wasn't living extravagantly, other than eating out for every meal because I didn't want to cook. My only possessions were clothes, a mattress, a bed, and a 65-inch TV."

When Did He Hit The $1 Million Mark?

George revealed that two years ago, at the age of 27, he reached his first million dollars in savings. Hi stock portfolio had done well, and he had also been investing all his paychecks and the large bonuses of 70% of his base salary from JP Morgan. Then last year in August, at 29, George quit JP Morgan and cofounded a startup, ThirdEar AI.

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