Financial independence?

So i sat at the bank today and got schooled. There were a number of reasons why i wants to improve my understanding of my financial situation. With Garland moving in, I decided it was time to make sure he could open his room window and therefore decided to invest in replacing the other half of my house windows. Now the first set cost me 3 months to cover....but thanks to my cheap ass last month (spent less than a $100 on the credit card)...i can try to pay for the rest of it now.

Also..with much talk of housing bubbles bursting, interest rates, points, float, bubble baths, rubber duckies....shit...as u can tell... I'm not all that interested in much of the financial world. Guess i'm pretty old school in that sense. I work and get paid. Hopefully for what i'm worth or more. I get a bill...i pay it. If i'm having a hard time...i don't spend. I don't lavish much on myself....but when i do..damn..its pretty lavish. I am the eternal college student. I stay up till 2am..and can live off cold pizza. Anyways, i digress.

So..this investing in the house, figured it'd be good to try to use the "money i'm making" from buying the house...to help pay for some of its aesthetics. So i sit and talk to the bank officer.

For the most part, she's really surprised i had little to know comprehension of my loan. Well..someone explained it to me someday..and i believed him..so i signed. Now i want to ask about it again. She explains to me more about my loan...but again....housing bubble became bubble bath..and i started staring into the space behind her. Then came a series of questions that brought me back to reality.

BANK: Do you plan on keeping your house?
Ray: umm...yes.
BANK: Why are you paying additional to the principal?
Ray: umm..to pay it off?
BANK: WHY? if you plan on staying there, you can invest in other things.
Ray: I have a account with you...i want to maintain my minimum balance to get the max on my interest
BANK: WHY?..our checking interest rates are crap.

So ...yeah. She told me..looking at my income, she's surprised i'm not starving and living the life of a hermit. Granted my "nest egg" has been getting a bit smaller lately...but thats understandable with the "home improvement" stuff i've been doing.

Anyways...walking out...i starting thinking my next career move will be a island hermit...where i can trade my daily collection of shells and coconuts...in exchange for native trinkets and fruits. I'll have to go primal to get me some fish or meat.

Oh yeah...IRS just dinged me for not stating my $4 income from disney stock in 2003. Frickn eh.. ... I need to find my island.