Work on your own terms

I recently read (and mostly enjoyed) Julien and Kiersten Saunders’ personal finance book,?Cashing Out. They offer various suggestions for building up savings and seeing that wealth grow through investing. They also advanced this intriguing idea: You should think of your career as being about 15 years long.

No, you don’t need to retire at age 37 (or in your mid-40s if you went to grad school). But the idea is that once you start working, you should structure your life and finances so that after about 15 years, you’re mostly working because you want to, not because you have to. By keeping expenses low, aggressively growing your income, and investing, you will reach a point where you have a lot more options.?

I like this idea a lot more than much of the usual Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) literature. A number of prominent voices in this community tout how they have “retired” at very early ages. However, they are now writing books, blog posts, and newsletters, and giving talks and hosting podcasts about their “retirement” — all activities that often generate income. In other words, they’re working exactly how I work. I do not consider myself retired! Work isn’t defined as “stuff you don’t want to do.”?

But working does feel very different when you are doing it because you want to, and you have the ability to change it, or scale up or down, or “cash out” and walk away should things go awry. Given that you’ll likely have the ability to do something income-producing over the rest of your natural life, building up enough wealth to support that freedom in 15 years could be doable. Challenging but doable goals can be very motivating.?

After about 15 years, Julien and Kiersten Saunders both left their corporate careers to focus on their creative pursuits. They paid off debt, lived frugally, and built up their side business?Rich and Regular?(which eventually became their main gig). You might not want to start your own business, but maybe you’d like the freedom to try different sorts of work, or take some time in between jobs to pursue other projects. Real wealth is not about flashy possessions (which, if they cost a lot, can actively work against building wealth!). It’s about being able to live life on your own terms.

So how close are you to that mark? What would it take to get there? Work can be a source of great joy and meaningful life — but it’s particularly sweet when it feels fully chosen.

PS?Have you read my personal finance book,?All the Money in the World? It came out in 2012, but since it’s about how we think about money, and how money can affect happiness, much is still relevant. If you enjoy my time management work, I think you’ll like this book too. You can grab a copy?here.?

This article originally appeared in an email to my newsletter subscribers. You can sign up at https://lauravanderkam.com/contact/.