A lot depends on how well I know the person and how well that person knows me. To those who know me reasonably well, I reply, "No kids, no debts, and a big blob of company stock I cashed out before it dropped in late 2008." To those I do not know well, I include only the company stock cash-out part and that ends the conversation.
As I see it, being able to ER 5 years ago when I was 45 was the combination of some good life choices, LBYM, and some luck. Being an outlier my whole life gave me the mental ability to withstand peer pressure to make decisions which went against the grain, especially being childfree. I know the company stock thing was a big "luck" factor in my being able to ER, but then again I had many coworkers who had a lot, often much more, in company stock than I did but could not ER because they had made different lifestyle choices which made them keep working. And some coworkers (and others) who could ER chose not to because they simply liked working. Without the company stock, I would still have been able to ER but probably not when I did and it would have been tougher and costlier.