Not sure how that would work out. Contributing $30,000 per year to a fund that averages 8% per year for 20 years only gets you $1.4 million. If he lives to 80, this is only $35,000 per year, which will be next to nothing eventually due to inflation. If he left it in the market and drew 5% per year, he could get $70,000 per year, but that becomes extremely risky as you would have to draw during market downturns, which would quickly deplete the account.

The problem with early retirement is how many years you still have left. It requires far more than a normal retirement. Everyone has their own standard of what is acceptable, but IMO a comfortable retirement at 40 requires somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 million. You could do with less if you want to eat ramen noodles for the next 40 years because you can’t really afford to enjoy retirement.