Financial Planning - theory very simple, execution to achieve goal damn difficult!

Financial planning theory is very simple, yet the execution to achieve the goal is damn difficult!

The ultimate goal of financial planning is to be able to retire (retire early hopefully) and smell the roses with passive income to cover your living costs (may include draw-down of your capital but you hope it can last until you "go"!).

Financial planning theory here it goes:
1) When you earn from your job, spend less and save more.
2) Make your savings work hard for you via investment.
3) Hopefully by 55 years old (or even earlier), your capital has grown big enough that this capital is self-sustainable to generate sufficient passive income that is sufficient for your living expenses and you don't have to rely on income from work!