Many successful people in their 40s could quit work already if they only decreased their monthly costs.

I think it is more important than ever to manage your wealth in a way that sustains you from capital alone in a world where employment gets progressively more toxic.

The way to achieve it is buying maintenance efficient and cheap car, make renovations smart, make good choices all around to minimise expenses. Operate your life like a corporation. First, cut the expenditures.

For me the ability to do whatever I am interested in at the moment, is worth almost any sacrifice.

Then I can seek one time contracts or short time jobs that fulfil my mental needs.

My monthly expenses are no more than 5000 dollars and mostly consistently less than that.

Which is okay because the money spending doesn’t bring me any joy nowadays. The money isn’t what gives me happiness. Only other people can provide that and activities that are dirt cheap usually, like reading or broadly understood hacking

Consumption is a short lived and deceptive joy that causes more guilt than whatever dopamine it is worth really. Governments hate people like me which means I must be doing something right.

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ashkulz 3 hours ago | parent [-]

I think that's a very simplistic take, it doesn't account for people who need to support children's education and/or healthcare for parents.

Both are areas where costs are going up at a rate which is much higher than official inflation rates, and comp increases often don't even match inflation!

So the need for working till you're forced to give up still remains.

	▲	juleiie 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Also disregard this because I don't live in USA with its ridiculous healthcare costs even if my conversion of numbers accounted for purchasing power parity, it did not calculate monthly healthcare expenses that in my locale are only 1/7 of median national wage per month flat which I assume is a much better ratio than in USA and very predictable. As per children, contraception exists and you should use it as kid is a dubious and too risky investment. You could for instance raise a little sociopath or two. Healthcare for parents is for me at least letting them into a boat in the ocean when they get first alzheimer's symptoms like in Hemingway Old man and the sea. Native Americans used to do it. They just released their old guys to the forest or steppes. Which reinforces my point about the kids being rather bad investment. Do not count on that. It's objectively more wise to save 500k-1mil from raising a kid to invest that money and spend it when old, hiring a professional caretaker. Have friends, spouse, not kids. In any case it probably only matters that USA healthcare costs are so exorbitant. This is the crux to why it could never work for americans unless you are at much higher financial level than any sort of frugal upper middle class specialist in 40s. It's the only western country where retiring earlier is so expensive. I thought maybe it would make up in the extra money you can make and save in taxes without VAT but no, after research I think that healthcare is so much pricier that it is incomparable. So it is not simplistic but it's different environment altogether, one in which it actually works and I am really grateful for that.