This is really the secret to life as far as I'm concerned, the idea of getting to a decent steady living state which doesn't take too much of your time and energy to maintain. You can combine it with the principle of geoarbitrage and get there faster than most people realize. Once you reach that point you can optimize your time however you prefer, whether it's health, creative pursuits, further income growth or anything else. It's a powerful place to be.

This right here. Except for me arts would be entertainment art. Indie gamedev without the worry of commercial success, making films, fun art projects for the sake of it

> I don't need nice cars, yachts, mansions or expensive friends. I want to be able to rent in a reasonably pleasant place, and then have the rest of my life to pursue what keeps me interested.

That's what I always wanted. Enough that I never did anything long enough to get hugely wealthy from it. But hey, I still get to spend the rest of my life playing. I'm not sure that I'd recommend it as a career choice, but it's been interesting.

This is tempting, and it sounds really nice.

I'm wondering why so many people go back to the "rat race" (as a commenter wrote earlier) despite this seems to make so much sense.

> I'm wondering why so many people go back to the "rat race" (as a commenter wrote earlier) despite this seems to make so much sense.

Because, in general [1], people that would retire after making "Fuck You money" are not driven enough to make FU money. Or, put another way, people that are hugely successful enjoy (or need in some way) the rat race.

[1] The "in general" is very important in this sentence. Of course there are some people to which this doesn't apply, either because they got lucky (e.g., by being an early employee of a billion dollar startup), or because their success and the necessary work "cured" their drive and ambition.

> my one non-renewable resource

That's a beautiful way to put it.