Comments on: Should You Quit Your Job to Pursue Your Passion?

By: ALR

ALR — Thu, 11 Jan 2018 17:12:49 +0000

In reply to Zach @ Four Pillar Freedom. Yes, that's the one. Thanks!

By: Zach @ Four Pillar Freedom

Zach @ Four Pillar Freedom — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 13:47:21 +0000

In reply to ALR.

The article you’re referring to might be this one by Keep Thrifty – https://www.keepthrifty.com/2017/01/30/introducing-retirement-freedom/ , which is an article I love as well. It’s a great feeling to know that your FI number by 65 is already covered based on your current savings. Best of luck in 2018 🙂

By: ALR

ALR — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 15:19:47 +0000

Great post. I think the financial launching point is when you reach retirement inevitability. Another blogger (who I can’t remember now sorry!) introduced me to this concept. It’s when your current retirement assets will grow to your FI number by the time your 65 with no additional contributions. Basically, your old age retirement is secure. If you start saving in your early 20s this is pretty easy. We just hit our number last year at age 27, started saving at 21. Knowing that old age is covered means from now until then we just need to cover our day to day expenses, which frees us up to take pay cuts for more ideal work. Personally we’re taking 2018 to really think about what we want and the plan is to starting using our financial flexibility in 2019.

By: Zach @ Four Pillar Freedom

Zach @ Four Pillar Freedom — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 10:40:54 +0000

In reply to Graham @ Reverse the Crush. I'm glad you found value in this post, Graham! Patience is definitely key. It's best to build up some savings, skills, and experience, before taking the leap to being your own boss and using your creative interests to earn a living. Dedicated hard work for only a few short years can be the ticket to reaching a financial launching point :)

By: Graham @ Reverse the Crush

Graham @ Reverse the Crush — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 16:14:44 +0000

This is such an outstanding post, Zach! Thanks for writing. I have definitely struggled with the balance between business and art. I’ve experienced this first hand as I literally quit my day job to pursue more meaningful work for a year. In all honesty, it didn’t work because I was going through other personal things, and I didn’t have a defined plan. Although I did discover the creative job I wanted to spend more time on (blogging), I experienced the challenge of creating while running out of money at the end. It was difficult to know what to blog about during that time. With that said, I really like your launching point strategy. I think I am on a similar path as you are with investing and building a side hustle on the side. However, I need to work a lot harder. Thanks for sharing!

By: Mr. Mofi

Mr. Mofi — Sun, 29 Oct 2017 00:22:55 +0000

Another really insightful piece, thanks again. The concept of a launching point helps to articulate something that I’ve been thinking on for a while.
Here is where being super crisp about the objective comes in to play. I note that you’ve clearly stated that full FI is not necessary to reaching your launching point. That’s awesome! It will change the options that are on the table for you as you approach that point. I look forward to reading more about your progress.

By: Zach @ Four Pillar Freedom

Zach @ Four Pillar Freedom — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 22:41:17 +0000

In reply to SMM. Sometimes the only way to find out what makes us happy long-term is to embrace the journey. By practicing patience and working on building income streams from your creative interests you can get a feel for whether or not running your own business/freelancing is actually something that makes you happy. But it always helps to save money at every step in the journey to make life more enjoyable and less stressful.

By: Zach @ Four Pillar Freedom

Zach @ Four Pillar Freedom — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 22:39:06 +0000

In reply to Dave @ Married with Money. I definitely agree with your points about expected value and risk tolerance. That's why some people may be comfortable quitting their day job with only a few thousand in the bank while others might need a few hundred thousand to reach that level of comfort. There's no silver bullet, everyone has their own financial launching point. Best of luck on your own path, Dave :)

By: Zach @ Four Pillar Freedom

Zach @ Four Pillar Freedom — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 22:37:21 +0000

In reply to Lane Beck. I think it depends on your personality. For some people, they simply work better alone as a solo-entrepreneur. For others, it might be possible to morph a job into something they love. It helps to be deeply in tune with your true values and interests and know what works best for you.

By: Zach @ Four Pillar Freedom

Zach @ Four Pillar Freedom — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 22:35:25 +0000

In reply to Sabbaticalia.

You nailed it. The point at which your day job is no longer necessary and even potentially hindering your progress with your other work is the point at which you should feel comfortable quitting. I think the biggest problem for most people is they’re too impatient to sit and build a decent side business so they either quit their day job too soon and fall flat on their face or they quit their creative pursuit before they get off the ground.

Thanks for the feedback and best of luck on your own journey 🙂