and more to investing in community/friends/skills

I generally agree and find this remark important. What is more, many modern people do the opposite - they take care of their pension, get a good one, but are left lonely and alienated in their old age, with no friends nor passions. Often divorced and with kids who don’t really want to see their grumpy old boomer parents.

However, I would suggest precaution. It is likely, even if not preferable, that you will get old in a money-driven society. Also, you don’t want to rely on you friends for (more or less) basic material needs, especially if they work their asses off to get this extra money - the potential for conflict should be apparent.

Having said that, there are financial alternatives to stocks. You can, e.g., invest in peer-to-peer loans, e.g. ones investing in renewable energy (see Trine or Enerfip). This keeps you a bit further away from big bussiness, which might be good both for your consience, and your wallet.

Also, getting away from renters, be it landlords or cloudlords, is great from financial independence.

I like that they make servers somewhere with like 99% carbon-free electricity and low water stress.

Is that big, small moderate?

Is this SEO? Or some old-style SEO-like thingy?

Necessary but not sufficient conditions