Worked really hard. Live in a low cost-of-living area. I'm not rich or anything, but property taxes here are small. Small rural town. And I just lived very frugally since I was in my teens. I'm in my 40's now.

And I have some side-hustles going on. I can't really mention them, since Lemmy would hate them, but has to with ads and things. And one was a fly-by-night thing that was brief but profitable. I put all the profits into paying off my house and land.

My kids moved out and are on their own. And my gf has a good job and lives in her own place. So basically I'm totally free.

I wish I could say I was a wise investor or some wall-street tycoon. But nah, I live in a small rural conservative town. The exact kind of place that most of lemmy hates. Everyone here has cowboy hats, gun racks in their pick-ups, etc.

But I don't care. Now I don't have to work. It's weird though. By the things you read on Lemmy/Reddit, doing what I'm doing is impossible.

Well, it's impossible in a big city. But in rural towns in boring states, it's very possible.