independence I think is what actually makes people happy in life, or at least it's a big part of it that tends to go overlooked. Every dollar of debt that you have is a piece of your future that somebody else owns. Building money to show people how much money you have is the fastest way to have less money. The only way to build wealth is to have a gap between your ego and your income. Any assets ability to let you do what you want when you want with whom you want has an ROY that cannot be found on a spreadsheet and is so powerful and easy to overlook.