I keep seeing this play out.

A freshly-minted accountant lands a solid $2,500/month gig. Feels like they’ve “made it.” Then lifestyle creep sets in: new car, nicer apartment, expensive weekends.

What nobody tells them is: If they just took $800/month and dropped it into a boring, tax-efficient portfolio, they’d hit $65k in 5 years. No overtime. No side hustle. No kidney sales required.

It’s not theory it’s arithmetic.

The real gap between retiring free vs. working until 65 isn’t luck. It’s: start early, don’t blow the bag, and let compounding do its thing.

Now here’s the kicker: What happens if instead of “boring” they added some Bitcoin into the mix? The path gets shortened dramatically.

Question for you guys: Do you think most 20-somethings would actually do this… or is lifestyle inflation too damn strong?