A startup is a toss up. The key to financial independence is lowering your living expenses.

Read http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-sim... to see why, then start at http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/02/22/getting-rich-from-...

For a programmer-oriented guide that talks a little about financial independence (and eventually a book with much more info): https://codewithoutrules.com/saneworkweek/

Doing a startup is gambling, and it's gambling in a particularly high-risk way. If all you have is $50k in savings, you should not put that money anywhere near a startup. The money that isn't in your immediate checking account should be in a low-fee index fund, especially if $50k is all you have.

Startups are are terrible way to retire. Work a boring job for 10 years and save a lot and you are done. Many many many people in startups never make as much as people in boring jobs.

If you're in the US, and are a programmer, your savings are way way too low for your age. It means you either haven't been changing jobs often enough, getting massive raises every time, or you spend too much.

If you're a US citizen, consider finding a well paid hourly remote job, and move somewhere cheap. You can reduce your work hours to literally 1-2 per week, enough to sustain yourself. Europe is quite cheap if you avoid big cities, Switzerland, and Norway. Most of Asia is very cheap except Singapore and Japan. There's also Africa, South America, and a gazillion island nations.

How much should a programmer have saved by 31?

Depends on variables and goals. If you want to retire by 35, a lot. I'd you want to retire at 70, then perhaps 50k is on track.

I have 200k at 24...

I have just 5k at 23... I live in a third world country where USD 2k monthly salary for programmer is considered top-tier level...

Whether or not you have saved enough should be a function of living expenses, not wages.

If you have $5k and can live on $600/month, that's great. If you need $1k/month in expenses, then it's not great at all.

As soon as possible, you need to have enough saved to cover an unexpected, large expense (car/home repair, medical emergency, moving to a new place, etc.) and at least 6 months of living expenses. I personally have at least 12 months of living expenses at any given time.

One reason it's worth doing a startup if you know something other people don't. For example, you've been working in an industry, have some knowledge of that industry's inefficiencies, and can efficiently tackle those inefficiencies with technology.

A college kid with zero savings can become billionaire. An old rich billionaire can spend millions of dollars trying to build 100 products people don't want. There's no right answer to your question. The only advice I heard that made sense to me was:

%99 of the people are looking for: security, then comfort, then becoming rich

%1 of the people are looking to becoming rich, then comfort, then security

"Simply" re-order your priorities.