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Comment by jwblackwell | Hacker News Reader

I think the author nails the key flaw for me - what experiences are you going to miss out on by living so frugally? Would I have gone travelling round the world had I'd been worried about saving 70% of my income? Or risked it on a new startup idea? Probably not. And by retiring so early surely you're condemning yourself to a life of careful spending so you don't run out of cash? No thanks.

It's worth avoiding unnecessary indulgence and everyone should probably save more but I personally feel a better strategy is to find a happy work/life balance and try and set some passive income streams up so you can at least relax earlier if not entirely retire.

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When people talk about retiring early, "retiring" usually doesn't mean the same as when you talk about it in the traditional context (ie. sitting on the porch all day). I can't speak for others, but for me this kind of article is about establishing enough financial security to not have to work every day if I don't want to. Not necessarily quitting my job just because I can, but knowing that I could without significantly affecting my quality of life.

Yeah, the capitalist part or definition of freedom. The freedom to chose is vital. Think back to all those articles posted about silly insane interview, bad employers, etc. If you are financially independent, you can simply walk. You can choose. You are free.

I often wonder is this is partly what goes on in the UK with our welfare state. We have, or once had, that freedom to chose because we could rely on a base level safety blanket.

The goal for me is to not to have to worry too much about money - build up assets (saving, investments) at a sensible rate and enjoy life. The most utterly miserable people I've known personally either had no money (and therefore had to spend a lot of time worrying about it) or actually had plenty money but spent all of the time worrying about spending anything at all and therefore made themselves equally as miserable as people who actually had no money.

Aim to maximise happiness, after all "you're a long time dead".

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