> ...bare minimum savings, assuming their lifestyle would never change and nothing would ever go wrong. Isn't the status quo of working a 9-5 and saving ~10% (

> ...bare minimum savings, assuming their lifestyle would never change and nothing would ever go wrong. Isn't the status quo of working a 9-5 and saving ~10% (aka spending 90%) of your salary exactly this? Having ~25x living expenses saved up seems like a significantly less fragile position than you're suggesting. Even this "failure" case, the author ended his 6 years of not earning a penny with more money than he started. And he was able to get a job when he decided he wanted one. > Most of these people would be much happier if they simply invested time and energy into finding a job they enjoy Lots of people don't enjoy things that are necessarily financially viable. Putting in a finite amount of time to free yourself to pursue interests without concern for the financials makes a lot of sense.