Here's a less stressful alternative as a counter of sorts... How about, live frugally, try to get a house in a not super expensive area, overpay the mortgage to get monthly payments down. Then work somewhere that's not super stressful or demanding, possibly public sector which can be very fulfilling, earning not as much as you might otherwise have, but having a nice enough life. Trying to accumulate millions so you never have to work seems to me something that's hard to do and stressful and won't necessarily make people happy because while having a job that sucks is no good, having no job doesn't necessarily being joy either. In fact just having a nice job seems to me the best option, and one can pick and choose if one doesn't need huge income. Motivation for this post = trying to steer people away from stuff that mightn't make them happy, and offer alternatives :). (My life is somewhat like that described above, despite having a family to support. Over the years maybe I could've earned far more. Not at all sure I'd be "happier" if I had)