This advice from my grandfather helped me retire early from Google at 55

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Matt Lowrie, 55, a former Google employee who lives in Colorado. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I’ve always been interested in financial independence and investing.

When I was a kid I asked my grandad, who was big into investing, about inflation and he bought me a children’s book about it. He set up brokerage accounts for each of his grandchildren, which is how my investing journey started.

Google hired me…