Please don't take what I said too seriously, it's not meant as "life advice you should follow to the T". It was merely intended to provoke a discussion about an alternative to the way most people deal with personal finances.
As I mentioned, there are plenty of people who practice 'financial independence' who have done this before, what I'm saying is nothing new. Early Retirement Extreme [0] is a good introduction to the subject. Mr Money Mustache [1] is a bit less extreme. These are still rather extreme examples though, so no not everyone will be able to retire in 5 years, but a lot of the advice they can follow, and at least save up an emergency or investment fund of a decent amount.
I think it's irresponsible and dangerous to live paycheck to paycheck, and take on mountains of debt just to buy something you don't really need, but plenty of people do that every day.
As I mentioned, there are plenty of people who practice 'financial independence' who have done this before, what I'm saying is nothing new. Early Retirement Extreme [0] is a good introduction to the subject. Mr Money Mustache [1] is a bit less extreme. These are still rather extreme examples though, so no not everyone will be able to retire in 5 years, but a lot of the advice they can follow, and at least save up an emergency or investment fund of a decent amount.
I think it's irresponsible and dangerous to live paycheck to paycheck, and take on mountains of debt just to buy something you don't really need, but plenty of people do that every day.
[0] http://earlyretirementextreme.com/about-the-blog
[1] http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/