[anticorporate]

Agreed. I'm quite content living a rather simple lifestyle, owning very few new things, doing almost of the maintenance on my belongings myself. The "magic number" was really more about giving myself permission than anything else.

The one thing you do have to factor for, though, is what happens if you don't keep your health. The thing that kept me in tech a little longer than I hoped to be there was a parent with long-term care needs. I could live a happy life on ~$2k a month, but it took five times that just to keep my mom alive the last few years of her life.

Living that cheaply does require adopting the lifestyle. But cooking at home or eating a casado from the local soda instead of a US-style restaurant meal sounds preferable to me anyway.

[999900000999]

Sorry about your family’s experience with the Healthcare Industrial Complex.

It’s really designed to drain every last dime.

As bleak as it sounds I made sure to take a long vacation last year at the spur of the moment. Tomorrow isn’t promised and you might save for a retirement that you never see.

I hope to do this every time I’m laid off or otherwise with an abundance of free time

[Loughla]

Like all things, there's a balance between spending everything now and planning for the future.

I always tell my kids that they won't inherit much cash, but they're having a great time with all of the vacations and fun equipment we have.

We will have enough money to retire and live for 30-35 years at most, frugally, and 15-20 if we really go nuts. I'll be dead waaaaayyyy before that, so it'll be up to my spouse to piss away the cash.

[999900000999]

I agree.

After seeing how fast my family wasted the proceeds of an estate that took 60 years to build, I don't think leaving a large amount of money is a great idea.

A certain someone just didn't want to work, and while that's fine if you invest the money and move to Vietnam, it won't sustain you if you want to stay in America.

I'm sure your spouse would rather party with you today vs having no you and a lot of money. Can you retire today ?