Early Retirement Extreme: A philosophical and practical guide to financial independence

For an investor, the start of financial independence includes a strong vision of one day creating a metaphorical forest and living harmoniously with the forest. It starts by planting seeds. These seeds grow into saplings and the mind starts connecting the vision to the upcoming reality of a mature forest. When you live for the future, your present

An "investor" is thus a person who lives from his assets. A capitalist is an "investor." A hunter-gatherer, who has a way of life that has survived for tens of thousands of years, is to a large extent also an "investor." "Investing" typically requires a great deal of knowledge and familiarity with one's asset

Conversely, a hunter-gatherer lives in an environment conducive to living. The traditional hunter-gatherer works 15 hours a week to gather resources from his environment. With our level of technology and understanding, we can gather resources from our environment more effectively and only work a few hours a week, or part of the year, or develop eno

Spouses and significant others When writing and talking about this lifestyle, the most common lament I hear is that, "This would be a lot easier if I was single." Technically, this is not true: Due to economy of scale, two or more people working together towards homeotelic goals will always be better off than two people working separately

Searching the Internet for any of the terms above should lead to people interested in one or another way of living. They do exist. Don't think that the only way to live is in a house in suburbia or an apartment in the city.

Yet many runners and other people who do several hours of aerobic exercise each week often suffer from "fat aerobics instructor syndrome," with deposits of stubborn fat in annoying places that just won't go away and even increase. The problem is that running or aerobic exercise in itself does very little for fat loss. Low-intensity exerci

However, clothes should be considered durable goods (see Depreciation schedules) and tools to serve a purpose. This means that an item must be carefully considered (if in doubt, always postpone). It must look good, fit the body, fit the temperature, not be sticky nor restrictive. If it doesn't allow a comfortable five mile walk or standing around o

think that a good guideline per person for living arrangements is $200-350/month/person or about 10-15% of your net salary. If anyone tries to convince you to spend more, they're trying to sell you into a lifetime of wage work (see this figure). In some places this buys more than in other places. As far as I'm concerned, the percentage is absolute.

A Renaissance lifestyle Few consciously think about complex strategies in daily living. On a daily basis, a functional strategy is invisible. Rarely do we step back and re-examine our strategy (lifestyle design). Most of the time we simply adopt the tactics that are handed down through the system without a second thought