Exactly. It’s easy to look at someone who lives on less than you and assume they must be miserable or unhappy, but that’s usually a wrong assumption. Spending doesn’t correlate with happiness as much as people think.

That’s awesome to hear. That’s still much sooner than most people retire. Living below your means is the number one way to acquire wealth. It’s not a sexy approach, but it works.

Thank you!

I have always tried to live below my means and save money, and for the most part didn’t play the status game nearly as aggressively as many Americans. Although I am too old to be one of the 33 year old retirees you mentioned, the lifestyle I have lived has me positioned to reach financial independence within the next few years, before I turn 50, even though I really didn’t know what FIRE was until about a year ago.