#133: Financial Independence Through the Strenuous Life With Mr. Money Mustache

We are actually batshit crazy in this country, and a lot of other countries don't have the same consumption disease that we have. So, you can get a long way just by doing the opposite of what everybody else does because we're all doing it wrong.

How many people have cable TV? $100/month or more. That's an expense you can just wipe out today ... That's $1,200/year, compounds into $15,000 per decade by the time you invest that money conservatively.

What you need to do is figure out how much you're spending, and then you need 25-30 times that amount invested, and that will generate passive cash flow that you can live off, more or less, for the rest of your life.

Some people think you win the game if you get the most luxuries and spend as much as your paycheck as you can without getting in trouble, whereas I always thought I won the game for keeping as much money as possible and accomplishing the most stuff myself.

Just tune out of TV and advertising ... TV is designed for nothing but to make you want more stuff.

Accomplishing and learning is a much stronger source of happiness than any kind of big screen TV or nicer pair of golf shoes and stuff is going to provide you.

You can live on 10% of your take-home pay if you really got badass about it. People do this. People live on $4,000/year in the US.