As it so happens, this resonates with me.<p>All through my professional life, I lived frugally, saved as much as I possibly could, made conservative, yet not "bunker mentality," investments, and avoided personal debt like the plague. Being exactly where I am today, has always been a goal.<p>I also made sure that every job I did, <i>shipped</i>. I sometimes had to "<i>hode by dose</i>", as it passed by, on its way out the door, but I became habituated to <i>shipping</i>. As a manager, I never stopped coding, but it had to be shunted to "nights and weekends." Again, I always <i>shipped</i>; even my open-source work. In fact, I designed, curated, and eventually turned over, a project that has become a world-standard infrastructure, used by thousands, around the world. It's really still in its infancy, even though I started it in 2008-2009.<p>I was fortunate to work for a company that is absolutely <i>crazy</i> about Quality, and I learned to have an ethos of personal Integrity, which has worked out quite well. My fiscal conservatism also worked out nicely in my management career.<p>Then, when my company finally wound up the department I led, and no one would hire me, I happened to have plenty set aside to retire. I'm not happy about being forced into it, but I am happy that it happened, despite my best efforts.<p>I have been able to pivot -fairly easily-, to a lone-wolf programmer (even though I spent my entire career in fairly diverse and large teams), and I found folks that like the kind of software I write, so my habit of <i>ship</i> is already paying dividends (not really. I don't make a dime, and that's just fine with me).