MMM commented in a blog post years back how you get to the point where your investments turn your life into a treadmill that actually propels you forward, rather than pushing you back. I think this thread does a spot-on job of illustrating why that is so true.
If you look at my net worth, my soldiers produce 6.16 new soldiers for me every working hour. With my current pension value included, that becomes 8.64 soldiers.
As my net worth has recently spiked since being exposed to MMM principals, I'm just starting to feel like I'm getting propelled forward. This makes sense, considering I now have a person working a full-time minimum wage job for me. And the worker even gets not one, but two types of raises...the raise my worker earns on it's own even if I stopped saving, plus the bonuses I'm constantly giving it each time I place money into a 403, IRA, pay down mortgage principal, etc.
But the propelling goes beyond the finances. Your confidence in the future increases, which paradoxically makes it easier to live in the present. It increases your propensity and ability for generosity, which improves your relationships, which all increases your happiness. All that seems like a much better use of funds than eating out all the time, television, etc.