Not sure if this is what you meant, but the point of the article is that he achieved the feeling of financial freedom that millionaires have by spending less mo

Not sure if this is what you meant, but the point of the article is that he achieved the feeling of financial freedom that millionaires have by spending less money - "what it was like to get rich". I think there are pretty big differences between feeling like a millionaire and being one. And presumably the author does as well, because they kept many of the millions he got from selling his company.