Ok, what are you supposed to spend your money on then? I wonder if the author realizes you can't take your money with you when you die. Is the point of money to just accumulate it and then pass off the balance to someone else?
Even if you have rock solid financial security, it'll one day be shattered when your health inevitably becomes poor and you die. Your net worth will become zero no matter what you do.
One said time, which I agree with, but I'll add stability and power. Having enough money to live for 10+ years unemployed is nice when suddenly your current job is driving you nuts. Or you want to hop into a new field. Or start a sustainable privately-owned company that doesn't need / couldn't benefit from VC-style growth.
Having more stuff doesn't make one happier by default. Stability is more important. The tradeoff is status among certain groups of people; and if you care, then keep doing what you're doing I guess.
I think the point was more "don't spend because it's implied you need to spend" and instead just take time to think a bit about what you actually want/need. If you don't succumb to frivolous spending, that's great!
A lot of people have issues with frivolous spending though, and those who should be very well off based on their salary end up living paycheck to paycheck while accumulating things that just end up in storage or in a pile. Eating out all the time, buying stuff just because it's on sale, getting the newest and latest/greatest just because, it happens all the time and so much effort gets put into collecting and curating a mass of "stuff" that doesn't really ever prove valuable to the buyer. The author talks about the "keeping up with the Joneses" phenomenon, but it doesn't even have to be that expensive. Just look at how popular the "____"-crate market was for awhile. (still is?)
Neither the author nor myself is advocating that everyone must live a spartan lifestyle, but simply to review what it is you do put time, energy, and money into.
Time. I'm lucky I get to trade some money for time. Instead of spending the weekend cleaning my house I can pay someone fortnightly to do it for me. I can pay for a meal to be delivered to me if I don't want to cook for myself. I can pay for my groceries to be delivered to save me having to wait in line at the store.
Financial independence and for some: early retirement. You die when you die, but you can spend decades of your life free if you earn a decent salary and control your spending. Time is the most scarce resource we have. Money does equal time, so when you spend your money, you spend your life.
Even if you have rock solid financial security, it'll one day be shattered when your health inevitably becomes poor and you die. Your net worth will become zero no matter what you do.