PM [1]
Rank : Helper
Status : Super Owner
#1
Jamal Robinson, a former techie who worked with Amazon and Microsoft, recently revealed that he retired at 39 and has successfully managed to amass a fortune of $3.5 million (about Rs 30 crore) after saving 90% of his salary for years. Speaking to CNBC Make It, the 40-year-old former techie revealed how he pulled off his impressive financial strategy and how his tech career played a pivotal role in his success. He said that he knew from the time he was 17 that he wanted to retire as soon as possible. "At 17, I set the goal to retire early at 45, which I wound up hitting six years earlier than expected," Mr Robinson told the outlet.
Mr Robinson grew up in a financially struggling household. He revealed that he took his first job as a church janitor at 14 and by 16 he worked long shifts at Taco Bell for minimum wage while also going to school. He then continued to work through college while studying computer engineering. After graduating, he pivoted to tech, got an MBA, earned nine certifications and climbed the career ladder at companies like Amazon, Microsoft, IBM and Intel, he said.
By 39, Mr Robinson was a techie specialising in generative AI. He revealed that his salary salary grew from $41,000 (about Rs 35 lakh) a year to more than $1 million (about Rs 8.6 crore). But despite his high earnings, the 40-year-old said that he remained committed to his savings plan, progressively increasing his savings rate from 30% to nearly 90%.
"I went from saving 30% to 50% to 80% and up to (nearly) 90%. And that would excite me more, because I knew that that accelerated my goal to ultimately retire," Mr Robinson told the outlet.
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Mr Robinson said that he decided to quit his job when he approached $3.5 million in portfolio. "A lot of people think that I'm crazy to leave AI at a time where it's so important" and could command him a $1 million paycheck, if not more, he said.
However, "for me, it was always important to focus on my goal of retiring so I could focus on myself (and) make sure that I'm doing things to make the world a better place," he continued.