Still reading through the pages but I think the general consensus is: always live within your means.
I'm still working towards financial independence, hope to pick up some tips here!

Thanks all for contributing.

Living below means is also subjective. How much below means? Some cut down expenses so much that I do not know whether to call it frugal or miserly. I mean, you can’t only plan for the future. You have to live in the present too. You must also enjoy the journey to FIRE. At least it should not be like a torture to reach there.

I think the economics terminology is “marginal utility”. What is the extra satisfaction we get per extra unit of money we spent. To give an example: take a person with income of 10k and he spends 3k only with saving rate of 70%. If he increases his expenses to 6k. The extra 3k will provide a lot of utility/satisfaction because he can now enjoy air cond, high speed Internet, once a while outings with friends for drink or cafes . In such a case, the savings of 3k over the long run is in my opinion not wise. If his income later increases to 20k, then a case can be made for him to maintain his expenses at 6k because, once the most basic needs/wants are covered, additional spending provides lesser and lesser utility . So, ya, it’s a constant evaluation of “how much more happy am I going to be by spending this money” . If you are driving a Myvi, probably spending more on a Vios does not provide much added utility.. but going from taking bus to driving Axia is a huge increase in utility .