How I retired in 9 years on a corporate programmer salary
I admire OP's financial project and appreciate his sharing it. I imagine quite a few people may benefit from it.<p>But make no mistake about it, the #1 reason for any "How I did <anything regarding money>" is really, "I am cheap."<p>We only get one chance at this life, and the thing that bothers me the most is, "What are you missing that you're too frugal to consider?"<p>Some of the greatest pleasures of my life came as a result of a discretionary purchase. Incredible people, experiences, even business opportunities came my way because I bought a product, went to an event, or took a trip that most frugal people I know wouldn't have.<p>Once you decide to be frugal, you'll probably be stuck that way for life because you'll rarely be in position to take advantage of those opportunities that would break the cycle.<p>If that works for you, fine. But not for me. I may not be extravagant, but I don't want to miss any wonderful opportunity because I was too worried about my bank balance. In the grand scheme of things, how sad that would be.<p></sipsLatte><p>[EDIT: Yes there is a difference between "cheap" and "frugal". Every time I mention "frugal" above, I really meant "cheap", but I was trying to be nice.  I will leave it that way to make the thread below make sense. Also, I failed to mention that there's a big difference between being cheap because you have to and being cheap because you choose to.]