Do You Have Enough to Retire Early?

This review is part of my “Operation buy nothing but by all means whore yourself as a writer in exchange for goods and or services.”

Admittedly, the title needs work.

Anita was kind enough to gift me a copy of her book after I pestered her life out about it.

I’d love to think that it was out of recognition of my awesomeness as a writer but it had more to do with Anita’s awesomeness as a human and the fact that in the UK most of us have to pay for Interlibrary Loans.

She put me under no obligation to write anything of course but when I want to read a book, blag a copy, and genuinely LOVE it, then by golly it’s getting a review.

Anita Dhake was a lawyer but retired at 33 after saving like a motherf*****r until she achieved financial independence.

She wrote about it as Thrifty gal on her blog ‘The Power of Thrift’, along with other witty and entertaining ramblings, and eventually, this culminated in the book.

‘Operation Enough!’ covers how to achieve financial independence but it’s mostly about the why-to, Anita’s personal story, and what constitutes ‘enough’ for you.

Now, taking the financial advice of someone who was only able to retire early because they earned enough to be filthy rich is a bit like asking the underpant gnomes about what to do with your sock drawer.

But she’s SO FUNNY!

She also has a thing about Judge Judy.

And explains finance using comical avatars.

So what’s not to love?

I’ve done a lot of reading about financial independence. If you want the philosophy try “Early Retirement Extreme” by Jacob Lund Fisker.

If you just want to know where to invest your money check out “The Simple Path To Wealth” by JL Collins. Or, read “Your Money Or Your Life” if you want to kick it old school.

There’s also a number of F.I.R.E. bloggers, but none of them are particularly fun or entertaining.

‘Operation Enough!’ is hands down the most fun I’ve had reading about financial independence.

If you’re a reader of her blog, you’ll love it. And if you read the book first, you’ll fast become a convert and promptly start reading her blog thepowerofthrift.com.

Sure, the advice is pretty straightforward:

“Spend money on what you repeatedly do. After you buy the necessities, you can buy control over your life. Control your time. Do you have autonomy? Are you doing what you want to do?”

But sometimes you just need to be yelled at.

The key takeaway bit of wisdom for me was: “The most valuable thing money can buy is freedom from worrying about money.”

I agree so much with this!

Whenever someone says to me ‘money is just for spending’ I want to punch them repeatedly in the head.

The best thing money can buy is freedom and peace of mind.

Operation Enough is an entertaining read. It’s also proof positive that anything is more inspiring if you give it a silly name.

I’d love to see more Operations books to come on other subjects.

My own operations include Operation Leave The House and Operation Take The Stairs.

Above all else, I hope that Anita keeps writing because she clearly has a gift for it.

The whole point of financial independence isn’t that you do nothing for the rest of your life — it’s that you discover your passions and live your dreams once you’ve got all that money nonsense out of the way.

James Garside is an independent journalist, author, and travel writer. Join Chapter 23 for the inside track on all their creative projects and insights about life, work, and travel.