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

One's values must be known accurately to determine the right lifestyle, and they must be known precisely to make good

For our modern purposes, the fields can perhaps be grouped into seven generic fields--physiological, economical, intellectual, emotional, social, technical, and ecological.

First, reduce waste and increase efficiency. It's possible to live with the same benefits as the rest of society for one quarter of what the average consumer spends. Many of these expenses are eliminated by only owning what is actually used, and maintaining what is bought.

Third, find something meaningful to do instead of work. If your work is really meaningful to you, you can keep working, knowing that you are living a less wasteful existence and that you have the financial security to leave your job at any time.

The best way to understand the Renaissance man is through the use of an analogy--a university. Most universities research and teach a wide variety of subjects that are further split into courses taught by corresponding experts. In other words, the subjects are diversified. This means that if any one or even several subjects suddenly became obsolete

It's important to understand that doing the right thing (good strategy) is much more important than doing things right (good tactics). This is why this book is short on tactics and long on strategies. Strategy is about defining the end-goals. Tactics is about the means to those ends. One thing that was crucial in formulating the strategy towards a

In fact, by taking the other end of the bargain, saving as much as other people are spending on wants, it's possible to retire and live on invested savings after just five years of full-time work.

After learning a complicated subject, see if you can explain it to your mother35 or use it in an otherwise unrelated field.

What I'll describe here is another kind of life, the life of an independently wealthy and widely skilled person--a modern Renaissance man.