Escaping the Rat Race

There are many people who are pursuing FI almost solely it seems to escape the so called ‘Rat Race’. I am sure we can all relate to this in some way ourselves as work isn’t usually a place we go to beaming with energy and excitement looking forward to another day. Fridays don’t tend to be the most depressing day with Mondays being the best due to us having a whole week of wonderful bliss fueled work ahead! I have read so many FI forum posts over the years of people dreaming of never having to work for their awful boss anymore, no more long traffic filled commutes, no more office politics, no more writing TPS Reports! The list of things at work which we despise can be long indeed and being able to escape these things can be a huge motivator in striding towards FI.

You apparently didn’t put one of the new coversheets on your TPS reports – Office Space Movie quote

Despite work not being perfect and still providing frustrations at times, I  have definitely changed my views over the last few years as I have been in both a really bad job and now find myself in a really good job. This post will discuss my ever evolving thoughts on Escaping the Rat Race.

Work before FI

Its interesting trying to remember exactly how I viewed work before I started on this path to FI. I had only been working for 4 years from the age of 23 as I finished Uni at 22 and then had a gap year. I got into the FI world as it were at 27 so I hadn’t been working for very long without having FI as an ultimate future possibility. I do recall not feeling like rushing into work which is exactly why having 3 months off after graduating from Uni turned into 6 months and then finally into 1 year. I remember thinking that I will be working for the rest of my life so why rush, I have earnt a break after working hard (I was never one to leave assignment of the FYP (Final Year Project) till the last week or few days before hand in :D…. oh no wait, that was me!).

I think at this time my priorities were more on things that were happening at that moment. I certainly didn’t think about retiring early or that I might be able to do so. I was just like everyone else it seemed who used a credit card for certain stuff, my monthly money came to an end before the month itself usually so the last week was usually tight. I really needed that money to go in on pay day and it was a relief. I did feel under more pressure at work because of this bigger reliance on needing the cash and being hit negatively so quickly if I didn’t have it. Work was just something we all HAD to do for money we DESPERATELY needed.

Work in the early FI Days – The Bad Job

A big driver of my initial interest in FI was to escape the rat race. I loved to read articles and stories of people who needed to no longer work for an income. Work really was something I disliked. I had an awful boss who was very nasty, there was a really bad work atmosphere because of him. We had unmanageable work loads where it felt like you was setup for failure because in doing something, there would always be something you wasn’t doing that would be highlighted. The thought of being able to escape this situation was just awesome. The idea of FU money seemed to appeal more when having an awful boss.

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Depriving yourself whilst on the journey

When I was working at my previous place, I had a conversation with a work friend of my mine about Financial Independence. This came about because he was talking about how he had just come into a fair sum of money (£10,000) and he was not sure what to spend it on. New car?, Las Vegas? He really didn’t know what to do with it. I chimed in and said well why not invest most of it and treat yourself to something with £1,000 or something.

The conversation progressed and we spoke about it a few other times. Now at this point, I was fairly new to all of this FI business and was hooked on learning more and enjoyed talking about it more openly. I told him that with my current savings rate and a fair wind I could stop working in 23 years time at 50 and all my necessities would be met – £1000 a month with house owned. I didn’t tell him I saved over £1k a month but he could tell it was prob close to that, he was shocked… shocked that I would sacrifice so much fun, joy, entertainment for some future in 23 years time that might not even come and when it did just to live on  basics covered only. He proudly said “Live for now man, spend now while you’re still young and healthy”.

Live for now or later

This idea that I might be depriving myself wasn’t something new to me. I had heard it many times on forums and comments on certain blogs. There was a dichotomy set up of live for now OR live for later. Below are common things I have heard online, in real life and that I have come up with when thinking about it:

  • You’re only young once
  • Stop sacrificing your happiness now for future happiness that might not come or not even be what you thought it would be
  • You could lose all that money, if you spend it on doing things then you will actually get use out of it
  • Stop living your life on fast forward, why do you want to race to being older. It’s like you are racing towards the box.
  • You won’t enjoy your money as much when you’re older
  • You are restricting your life far too much
  • In short – you are depriving yourself

Am I depriving myself? Am I living my life on fast forward desperate to get to future FI. Now I think these are great questions and it’s easy to simply say no, of course not! and be done with it but there often can be some truth in the general view that you could be depriving yourself in the here and now whilst on the journey. I have certainly come to see this with myself. 

Examples of my deprived life

  • I could go on several holidays a year all around the world with many weekends away (Paris & New York even would be on the table every now and then)
  • I could own a Mercedes car, even a Porsche if I wanted instead of regular basic car
  • I could buy £200 jeans and have a full wardrobe of designer clothes but I buy from Sainsbury’s or Tesco instead
  • I could have all sorts of gold chains and expensive watches but I don’t
  • I could have a 70inch TV and buy new technology and stuff for my house almost every month. 
  • I could buy Sainsbury’s tase the difference or Tesco finest selections on all my food. I could eat like a king!

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What Financial Independence means to me

When it comes to the basics of what Financial Independence (FI) is and all the different types of FI from full FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) to just plain old Financial Independence, I think there is ample resources elsewhere that defines this and explains things such as the Safe withdrawal rate, savings rates, and precisely at what point one becomes FI. I expect most people that frequent this site will likely already understand FI in general so this post will mostly be about what FI means to me personally and why it’s such a big goal of mine to obtain it.

Despite the above, just to clarify. I define FI as simply having enough money from passive income such as a stocks/bond portfolio that will provide a person with all his expenses taken care of in perpetuity without the need to ever work again if one chooses not too.

What FI is not

Being FI is for me not about being rich or well off in the sense of driving a Mercedes Benz, going to the finest restaurants with 6 holidays a year, shopping in New York at Christmas and going to Paris every other weekend. When I am FI, it will look on the surface very ordinary for an outside observer, I will look very average and maybe even below average as my car will remain simple and functional,  my wardrobe will consist of mostly items from Sainsbury’s or Tesco. I will go on maybe 1 holiday a year with a few weekends away in the UK at times – I will essentially be very much the same as I am now outwardly except for a few major differences that are harder to see. If I choose not to work or switch to part time, my neighbors might even feel I have fallen on hard times with me not doing the usual 9 to 5 every day. They would not suspect even for a moment, that in actuality I have hundreds of thousands in investments, own my home and with a fair wind will never need to work again for an income. I am glad about this, I don’t want to attract unneeded attention as discussed.

So to summarise for me – FI will give me the ability to live a mostly normal life activity/possession wise without the need to work which in turn will give countless sustained life benefits that are harder to see from an outside observer.

FI is an enabler

For me, FI is not the end goal or life mission as it were. It is simply a goal, a challenging long term goal and on reaching that goal the result – a sustained state of affairs and circumstances that will persist for the rest of your life. It is these enablers and circumstances that make this such a juicy, awesome goal to achieve. It is a goal that once reached will bear fruit that can be enjoyed each and every day. Not only however will this bring benefits at the point it’s reached, the journey towards FI itself provides similar enablers and plenty of fruit to gorge on along the way. 

I am now going to discuss the FI enablers that stand out for me at various stages along the journey towards FI.

Enabler 1 – The possibility of FI

I think that before I come to some of the main enablers that stand out for me along the journey is firstly what many might not appreciate as much when creating articles like this which is – the mere awareness of FI and realisation that it is possible to achieve. Knowing that you are on a path towards hopefully never needing to worry about money, or even never even needing to work again as you could retire years before the norm is quite frankly liberating. Knowing you won’t HAVE to work until you’re 70 even if it results in worsening a medical condition you have is priceless. 

Enabler 2 – Freedom from Debt 

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