Long before I discovered FI I did a calculation of when I could retire. Given my income and savings rate at that time, my retirement date was somewhere in my early 120’s. Clearly that was unacceptable, so I endeavored to find a way that I would be retired before (and hopefully well before) the sweet release of death. At that time (this was probably the early 2000’s) there was no FI movement, but I was and had been an avid reader of personal finance books so I thought that is where I would find my solution. The books proscribed two possibilities: investment or real estate. The calculators available at the time indicated I would need $2-$4 million to support a comfortable retirement. As I was making about eight bucks and change, this seemed…unlikely.
So real estate it was! In the intervening decades (oof, I’m old) I bought a few houses, primarily owing to the educational resources of biggerpockets.com (my profile is here). I slogged through a deal, then another deal, then a move/deal. Sometime in there I found FI through a few halfhearted perusals of MMM and the MadFIentist. But it wasn’t until I found the ChooseFI podcast (can’t remember where from) that I really bought in.
I had always had the idea of financial independence tickling around the back of my brain. Mostly in the form of wishes. “I wish I could read and play video games all day for a living,” or “how do I get to be MTV Cribs rich?” But those were really always just idle fantasies – the kind of ‘what would I do if I won the lottery’ blue sky exercise that tends to frustrate instead of illuminate. ChooseFI was talking about a life of deliberately fulfilled desire, not a hedonistic wallow in unexamined luxury, and it’s that reframing of the concept that hooked me.
I need to take a quick step back in time to share my ‘why of FI’ – two events, coincidentally two layoffs, which helped shape my journey. The first was my brother being laid off at his job. My younger brother was at the time highly paid, very hardworking, and extremely effective. His immediate superior didn’t like him – so my brother was laid off. He was later re-hired by the same company for higher pay in a new market, but the arbitrary nature of that layoff and the immediate upheaval it caused in my brother’s life stuck with me. After all, I was at the time most assuredly a peon (and a wildly underpaid one at that). So if my successful brother could be tossed aside, it would be a lot easier for that to happen to me.
The second was a few years later. I had achieved a few promotions and moved to a more secure and moderately more highly paid position in the company I worked for when my brother was laid off (different companies, just FYI). I was inside the decision loop on a round of layoffs at my employer and I realized how quickly any employee can be ‘invited to seek other career opportunities’ (to use one of my Dad’s old phrases) and have no inkling that change is coming. It can be falling production, stress on the business, a desire to hire someone’s cousin for your position, reorganization, or any one of hundreds of reasons. Most importantly, it can (and will) happen and you will likely have no idea it’s coming. Whether you’re being asked to leave is objectively warranted or not, you’re almost certainly not going to see the axe falling until you feel the cold blade striking home.
These together: a desire for retirement (ever), and two rounds of layoffs personally experienced combine into my ‘Why of FI’ – my desire to ensure that my life and happiness are never subject to the whim of another entity. If my employer can throw that kind of wrench into my life, I need the ability to sidestep said wrench, say Ha Ha, and run away before they throw another hand tool at me. But how can I do that?
Luckily, I had already been working toward financial independence, I just didn’t know it. I was working for a ‘normal’ retirement and that framework of rentals I had intended as a nest egg could be repurposed into a more immediate nest-nest. And that’s where ChooseFI has come in to redirect me on my new journey. Now, instead of trying to build a real estate empire that will support me in my dotage, I’m working to create a solid foundation of mostly passive real estate cash flow that will allow me to continue growing my investment portfolio through deferred W2 income; develop additional streams of passive or near-passive sustainable income; position myself to spend much more time with family and friends; and give me time to nurture and explore my passions.
Sounds like a pretty good idea, doesn’t it?
