I had lunch with an ex-colleague from my corporate-duty-days yesterday. She asked me how was it possible (sic!) to achieve financial freedom by the age of 44? Hmm, that made me think. I was not able to come up with a simple straightforward answer that could be fit into one crisp sentence that could be comprehended while munching on a bowl of uncooperative Pasta Carbonara. So afterward, I started to list down some factors that worked in my case (individual results may vary):

1. Sleep (not too much, but regular sleep of at least 6 hours)
2. Not smoking (not even passive)
3. Not gambling (not even socially)
4. Not too much of alcohol (besides the occasional social drinking)
5. Sex (lots of it and predominantly social)
6. Not following the herd (different is better than better)
7. Not having great material possessions but having few wants (spend less because the power of wanting trumps ...

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