I didn’t watch the video linked to here from HN, but I enjoyed the discussion. One person’s advice and life circumstance rarely applies to the general population, but this comment was particularly poignant:

I have a client, nice old lady, a widow, in her 70’s and while working on her computer she started talking about her life and times. She warned me about working too much and told me her tale of woe.

She and her husband worked all their lives, raised a family and saved their money. Their plan was to retire early at 55-60 and then travel the world once kids were grown. All was going according to plan and they both retired but then her husband got colon cancer and died 6 months after he retired before they took a single trip.

She wasn’t bitter but clearly regretted deferring life for work, and she did not want me to make the same mistake. After her husband died she tried to travel but said it was just too difficult to carry on without her husband. Sad to see her living with a broken heart.