Ex-Microsoft, Amazon techie saved 90 percent of his salary for years. He now has Rs 30 crore

Jamal Robinson worked with Microsoft as a senior director of business development for its generative AI platforms and services before quitting in January.

Jamal Robinson was 17 when he knew he wanted to retire early, maybe at 45 years. Now, the 40-year-old former techie, who has worked with Amazon and Microsoft in Texas, has revealed that he retired at 39 and has successfully managed to rake up $3.5 million (about Rs 30 crore) after saving 90 percent of his salary for years.

Speaking to CNBC Make It, Robinson said that as a young teenager, he did not see a lot of people who were happy with their work lives. So, in his mind, he always thought of compressing his work years. "At 17, I set the goal to retire early at 45, which I wound up hitting six years earlier than expected," he said.

Also, Robinson built frugality into his character because his family was poor. He had to start working when he was 14 to support himself. His first job was that of a church janitor and he continued to work through college while studying computer engineering. After graduation, he worked briefly with power and energy companies before pivoting to tech, and climbed the career ladder with companies like Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, and Intel.

While his salary grew from $41,000 (about Rs 35 lakh) a year to more than $1 million (about Rs 8.6 crore), Robinson continued to be frugal and focused on increasing his savings and investments. “I went from saving 30 percent to 50 percent to 80 percent and up to [nearly] 90 percent. And that would excite me more, because I knew that that accelerated my goal to ultimately retire,” he told CNBC Make It.

When Robinson quit, he was a tech leader specialising in generative AI. It was a time when most would say his career was really taking off but Robinson had other plans.

“A lot of people think that I’m crazy to leave AI at a time where it’s so important” and could get him a $1 million paycheck, if not more, he said. But for him, it was important to focus on his goal of retiring.

Read more: Man who saved 70% of his income to retire at 34 shares why he stopped being 'hyper-frugal'