Partly based on ERE: The 10Y udpate

• USD 7k/Y burn rate can support a meaningful lifestyle, but he needs a lot of skills, a lot of meaningful hobbies to keep engaged
• favor free sight-seeing locations like walk/cycling in the natural
• small home is easier to maintain
• learn to live without car, even in the U.S.
• learn to cook simple yet healthy. Fish is the best animal food — not cheap but easy to cook. Jack He singled out steaming; I like microwave

This author had a lot to say about “where to spend the time meaningfully after retirement” esp. if travel and grandchildren are out of the picture.

— One of the G3 central ideas, possibly the #1 in Jacob’s philosophy was “the renaissance ideal of spending your life mastering a productive level of competence in a broad range of subjects. This arsenal of “renaissance skills” would then be combined into a mutually reinforcing web-of-goals, which made living more interesting and balanced — but also more cost- and resource-efficient and resilient in the face of the growing complexities and uncertainties of the 21st century.”

This is remotely similar to “develop all your potentials.” or self-actualization.

This ideal is simply unimportant to me. This fundamental difference is probably at the heart of my resistance to many tips from Jacob.

Actually a lot of the things Jacob spent his life on are really for fun rather than productive, such as sporting (including sailing), watch making, tool-making,, The modern economy depends on specialization, rather than everyone making his own tools.

Why doesn’t he learn to diagnose and treat all medical conditions, and even make medical instruments from raw material? That would be more practical, more productive.

Yes his and many FIRE blogs show justifications for acquiring a wide range of easy, practical (widely useful) skills, but there is a balance between versatility/resourcefulness/self-reliance vs specialization. Modern economy is built on the efficiency of specialization. I may learn tax preparation or car troubleshooting, but I won’t learn a lot of other skills.

— homesteading — is a full-page chapter in ERE: The 10Y udpate
Homesteading is one of the G3 foundations (“rite of passage” as Jacob put it) in the U.S. FIRE movement  but not necessarily in other countries. Singapore doesn’t need this skill — I will stick out my neck to say this.

DIY demands a certain level of interest and capabilities. Jacob said repeatedly that maintenance is not his favorite, not enjoyable, though his woodworking skills developed over several years. Jacob sees himself as an intellectual. So do I.

I am also uninterested in many DIY tasks, though I feel proud on my DIY achievements.