Whether you are planing for early retirement or not, in the end you will need money to live. You will not be able to work for ever or even not be able to find work for ever. So start investing early. If you are planning for an early retirement, just starting early is not sufficient. You will also need to save aggressively. Get out of debt as soon as you can. Once you have cleared most of your debts, target saving aggressively. This may be the hardest step for most people. We just get used to a certain style of living and as our income increases, so does our expenses. I am not saying that you should be penny pinching, but consider where your expenses are going and think if it is really a need or is just something you want.If nothing, try not to increase expenses even as your income increases and that should help. Most of the time the expenses are related to maintaining a social status. Get rid of that feeling.