VGSLX (a REIT) also dropped like 25% last year. Individual areas of real estate may have done well, but plenty did poorly with the continued influx of remote work, RTO failures, and higher monetary concerns due to layoffs and fears of a looming recession. By the end of 2022, quite a few residential properties in my area (suburb of a large city) listed at initial sky-high valuations, didn't find any takers, and have been seeing a continuous slow decline while bleeding money in utilities, listing prices, and property taxes.

Your Money or Your Life also brings up the life and retirement investment aspect of it. It's the book that popularized the term financial independence, i.e. r/financialindependence, which is about having enough income from your investments to cover all of your expenses.

Like with everything else, personal finance is personal, and you want to strike a balance that makes sense for you. There's a bunch of dated stuff in there since the book was first published in '92 (even if it's been revised since then and has a 2018 release), but there's some solid advice there too. The advice can just get lost in the 'you can't afford a house because you spend money on avocado toast!' reproaches some people/news outlets take online.

You don't need to deprive yourself, just be deliberate in your spending. If you can reduce your expenses by $10 a week, that's ~$520 a year. Invest that for 10 years at 7% growth (after removing inflation), and that's a solid $7000 dollars. (Your expenses in retirement are also $500 less per year than they would be otherwise, but maybe that doesn't matter for your eating out decision). If you decide 'hey, that's still worth it to me,' then make that financial decision and spend the money guilt-free with the knowledge that it's a conscious choice rather than something that ran away from you.