There is a difference between being a millionaire with a million to live on vs being a millionaire of total net worth. If you are calculating net worth, it’s assets - debt.
If you have a million dollar house that you owe $800k, you have around $180k net worth of that house. Even if you own a $1M house outright, you can’t live on that million dollar home.
For myself, financial independence means you have enough money to do what you want, buy pretty much what you want without going into debt. For example, we spent $100k on stuff last year that we really didn’t need, but our net worth grew over $120k for the year, so we made much more than what we frivolous spent.
I sold out of a couple pensions during my 40+ years of working because I thought I could make more money investing that money myself instead of getting pension money in retirement. Our money keeps growing while we live off of the dividends.
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