[AnActualGirl]

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If money is the only way you keep score, good for you...and I'm not being a wise ass.

Some people don't see it that way - I could have gotten into any residency I wanted, pretty much. Optho or Derm or Plastics - easily double (or more) what I make - but I like my job. I live in a beautiful home, have a wonderful wife, and plenty of time to do things I want to do. I still fly coach most places, but seem to survive somehow.....

Might be worth mentioning that in my 20+ years of practicing Emergency Medicine, I've probably seen a couple of hundred people die in front of me. None of them chose as their last words "I wish I'd spent more time working...."

MM MD

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I think you're missing some of what Chaos and others are getting at here. The point is not just to accumulate money for the sake of having more money, the point is to make smart choices with your money so that through your investments, your money works for you rather than vice versa - the point is to be able to work LESS. Regardless of whether or not you're at a job you love or a job you hate, if you couldn't stop working tomorrow if you wanted to, you're working for your money. The ultimate goal here isn't really the money itself, it's the freedom that it creates. Then when you're dying, you can say that you did everything you wanted to. It's hard to understand why anyone wouldn't want that.