I'm having trouble seeing what the author's definition of freedom is. Financial "security" is one definition I hear people use, and he brings up. But that can be gone in a moment or you can die and it doesn't matter, as his father did.

Freedom from what? Freedom to do what? I think that has to be defined first.

The freest people I have met are those who don't worry about what they can't control, work hard at what they can, and are content with the ups and downs of life. Money seems, to me, to be uncorrelated-- at least above a minimum threshold.