<prompt> Human: Hi all,In my mid-20s, Im relatively new to the personal finance world, though I have been maxing out my retirement savings ever since full-time work started. From a more philosophical, psychological perspective I suppose, how did you strategize your retirement? Did you evaluate your numbers and say, I want this much by this date, therefore I should aim to be making this much and spending this much...or did you simply maximize your income and minimize your spending as much as possible? I feel like a lot of people I know at my age, who are doing well in their careers and live quite frugally, do the latter, but Im sure a concrete plan definitely helps, at least in terms of encouraging you to reach certain metrics to keep you on track. In regards to explicitly planning early retirement via metrics, the PROS I can see are: - Measurable- Pushes you to reach certain numbers by budgeting, making more side money, etcCONS:- Life changes often, especially when you are in your 20s30s, so youd have to update your metricsplan accordingly- If you hit your targets, it could make you complacent ? and not strive for higher income or whatnotCurious about your thoughts or experiences! Id venture to guess most people use a combination of both, but I feel there might be a general driving principle behind it all.  <response>: Check out rfinancialindependence 