Part rant, part social commentary...
I think most would agree that the big appeal of this and similar websites is the freedom aspect of financial independence (FI): do what you want when you want. I'm sure many (including me) came here looking for a way out of a job they don't love. But clearly if you love your job you can still pursue FI, because it turns your job into an expression of your freedom, rather the chains of your wage slavery (WS). (I'm usually big on grey areas and the idea of the continuum, but I tend towards a binary position on FI versus WS.)
I'm going to go out on a limb here and make a possibly controversial statement: if you are raising children, your FI goal is as much about your kids as it is you. Perhaps it's even more about your kids. The financial aspect of that should be obvious: if you're FI, your family clearly has its most basic and essential needs met. But what about the non-material aspect of it? A huge component of my motivation for FI is so that I can spend more time with my children. MMM himself has stated this explicitly, numerous times, that a big motivation for him to retire was that he didn't want his job obligations to get in the way of time with his son.
I was lucky to land a position that makes achieving FI relatively easy. That's a fancy way of saying my pay is quite high. Part of that comes from getting in on the ground floor when the company started, but it's also due to industry norms being what they are: in this line of business (electronic trading), higher-than-average pay and big bonuses ares standard.
But the flipside of the coin is a workaholic culture. I've only seen the work culture of one firm, but I'm told it's the unwritten rule. Over the years, I've managed to cut my daily hours from 12 to 11, and most recently down to 10. I feel like I couldn't have pulled that off if it weren't for my length of service and connections, as I'm now effectively in the "slacker" category.
The Antimustachian point of all this is that I'm surrounded by people who similarly have a relatively easy path to FI, but choose work. And my perception is that this particular flavor of Antimustachianism is different from the usual variety we poke fun at in this sub-forum: as far as I can tell, no one seems to be living the lavish lifestyle that their pay enables; I don't believe there is rampant "keeping up with the Jonses" behavior. Instead, I think it's old-fashioned workaholism.
I've nothing against being a workaholic... unless you have kids. I'm not speaking to people who are working extra hard to make ends meet or pull themselves out of debt or undo past actions. Or fresh grads looking get ahead early in the game. Or people without children in general. Rather, I'm speaking to people like my colleagues, who are, in my not-so-humble-opinion, clearly putting their work ahead of their families. It's not material indulgence, it's work indulgence. I think work is to many of my colleagues what new cars and bigger houses and designer clothes are to other people. It's not like we're saving lives or building bridges or educating people... Wall Street is classic greed disguised as a profession.
