Independence Through Frugality

I have a friend who has done a very interesting thing. He has lived frugally and saved sacrificially in order to have a cash account larger than his yearly salary. I'm not going to tell you the interesting name of his account. But here we'll just refer to it as his good-bye-to-you account. When he had finally accumulated more money than a year's pay, he took his bank statement and showed it to his boss. He explained it as his good-bye-to-you account. He wasn't quitting his job; he was just saying if ever the boss doesn't treat him right or if things ever go wrong, he's not dependent upon the boss. He has this money, and he can say good-bye. He has independence.