Check out "Your Money or Your Life" by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez. Although some of the specifics no longer apply because 30-year Treasury bonds aren't near 10% like they were when the author became financially independent (in the 1980s), a lot of the rest sounds like something you'd be interested. Actually, it looks like there's a revised edition (2008) that I had not seen until just now. In brief, the book is about cutting un-needed expenses, and earning as much as you can, in order to start making enough interest income to no longer need to work, at which point you can do what you would do if you didn't have to get paid, if you so desire.