Marta, 34 — Berlin
A developer who thinks the exit is for other people.
Can a developer who never counted retire early?
Marta earns well and spends €2,400 a month without thinking hard about it. She has €120,000 invested and puts away €2,000 a month. She assumes freedom is decades away, so she's never actually counted.
16 yrs 4 mo at 50
Their numbers, in the tools
The Exit Calculator, prefilled Find your country the way they would The rules where they live: Germany · cost index 108.3Sixteen years feels like a sentence — until she trims €300 a month. Needing less counts twice: the €300 goes into the pot AND shrinks the pot she needs. Same job, same city: the exit moves to 13 yrs 6 mo. Almost three years of her life, bought back with one standing order.
Marta's trap isn't money — it's never having counted. The number felt like a mountain, so she never priced it; priced, it turns out to be a road with a length.
The trim is her real lever, because needing less counts twice. She doesn't need a promotion or a windfall. She needs a standing order and a start date.
Next exit: Tomás & Ana, 41 and 39 — Rotterdam
Everyone here runs at a deliberately modest 5% real return (after inflation) and a ×30 number — the calculators default to showing you more of the range; drag the sliders yourself. The people are invented, the arithmetic is real, and none of it is advice.
Bring me a challenge.
The Exit Audit, then ninety minutes: a straight verdict, real alternatives with their pros and cons, and your first move. If you want someone to nod along, I’m the wrong person to pay.