MMM acknowledged in the article or comments that it was a lot of income and it took even him twice as long.
The article also doesn't get into how much she saved in that five years, but my guess is about $400-500K based on:
- the very fact that it took a year to pay off the student loan at $95k
- starting base pay of $160k (assume there were increases and bonuses along way so maybe $200k+ on average over five years, and could be much higher) and cleared about $125 after all taxes and benefits.
- she said (article or her own blog) that her expenses were really low (including rent with utilities of $750/month, packed meals, rode bike or bus to work, dinners paid for by work, etc and probably had no time for fun)....my guess is her expenses were probably $1500-$2000/month total.
$125k clear - $24k living expenses x 5 years - $95k student loans = $404k.
Anyway, she worked hard, didn't spend her money and then walked away wiht an amoun that a lot of people on this forum would feel is not enough....ballsy maybe, self aware definitely.