Meet the Sault man who ‘retired’ at 35 — and still works by choice

In a world that tells you to buy more, spend more, and work forever to afford it all, Luke Macmichael has chosen a different path.

The 46-year-old father of six from Sault Ste. Marie earns a modest salary in technical support at Algoma Steel, but he saves half of it.

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He doesn’t drink. He doesn’t eat out often. He drives a Toyota Corolla, “the cheapest car on the lot.” And by his estimates, he could have retired more than a decade ago.

But Macmichael doesn’t see frugality as sacrifice. To him, it’s freedom.

“I more or less feel like I’ve been retired since I was 35,” he told The Sault Star, over coffee and juice at a café, a rarity in his lifestyle. “Work is always better when you don’t need the money.”

That sense of freedom, he explained, came from decades of disci