Retire at 30

A new trend toward a frugal lifestyle might change Western societies

Many cities have witness a resurgence in urban gardening

Austerity is a hotly disputed concept. Reducing debt is a painful process. Half of southern Europe's youth are unemployed. Governments get sacked, while the rich fear for both deflation and inflation. On the other hand, the revelations about the sloppiness of Reinhart and Rogoff discredit what was taken as solid academic support for austerity measures.

While societies grapple with austerity, there is a growing movement among individuals who seem to find comfort and even redemption in exactly that: zero debt, solid investments and a frugal and eco-conscious lifestyle.

Don't get me wrong: this trend is not dictated by necessity and the need to get by with less resources due to unemployment and poor prospects. Rather it is a growing movement among the young, well-educated and high-income professionals who strive to escape the rat race of their parents' generation and who now look for independence and emancipation from consumerism.

Mr. Money Mustache is the new ambassador of frugal living

One of the most popular representatives of this trend is "Mr. Money Mustache", who, the Washington Post claims, is here to tell you that "early retirement doesn't only happen to Powerball winners and those who luck into a big inheritance". He and his wife retired from their middle-income jobs before starting a family, reports WaPo.

The moniker "Mustache" plays on the phrase "you must stash your cash". On his website, he lays out financial advice for a way of living that has found adherents numbering in the hundreds of thousands. He told the Washington Post, "My future wife and I moved in together and DIY-renovated a junky house into a nice one, kept old cars while our friends drove fancy ones, biked to work instead of driving, cooked at home and went out to restaurants less, and it all just added up to saving more than half of what we earned. We invested this surplus as we went, never inflating our already-luxurious lives, and eventually the passive income from stock dividends and a rental house was more than enough to pay for our needs, about $25,000 per year for our family of three, with a paid-off house and no other debt".

A $25,000-income per year might not guarantee a luxurious life, but there are many who actively discuss how to follow a similar regime of austerity, by reducing liabilities and turning to a lifestyle that is both self-contained and sustainable.

Other examples abound:

• Fashionable young women love to combine style and sustainability, thus explaining the rise of vintage clothing stores

• Urban gardening is fast-growing trend in all cities in the West. More and more people are growing their own organic greens on their balconies or on urban fallow land. In Berlin, three "town house" areas have become overrun with urban gardeners, and the lease for these coveted lots has now been limited to three years with no extensions possible, to accommodate the demand.

• Company cars were once a tempting fringe benefit to attract the best and the brightest talents. Today, firms entice instead with mobility concepts, including access to car sharing, unlimited train travel schemes and even bicycles.

As we have learned from preceding generations, the aims and the habits that form from the mid-20s to the early-30s have a tendency to stick. The baby-boomers' appetite for consumerism and their dreams of a family home dominated for several decades and may have even contributed to the one of the biggest economic crises in recent history. This new emerging trend toward frugality might as well form and influence habits and lifestyles—and yes, even economies—for the next years to come.

TO

Image credit: Mr. Money Mustache on his website and diamond geezer on flickr.com