10_years_of_fake_retirement_later
00:00:00.000 | Hello, everybody.
00:00:01.880 | It's Sam from Financial Samurai.
00:00:04.080 | And in this episode, I want to wish all of you a happy Independence Day, 4th of July.
00:00:09.540 | And I also want to talk about 10 years of fake retirement later, the most important
00:00:15.280 | takeaways that I want to share with all of you.
00:00:18.600 | So back in February 2012, I decided to negotiate a severance to break free from corporate life.
00:00:24.920 | I had been working in investment banking for 13 years, and at one firm, my last firm for
00:00:30.760 | 11 years, and frankly, I was getting sick of it.
00:00:34.640 | And by mid June 2012, I was able to negotiate a severance package and collect the last of
00:00:41.640 | my three months of Warn Act pay.
00:00:44.840 | Don't confuse Warn Act pay with getting a severance check.
00:00:49.000 | Warn Act pay is mandatory pay by the company.
00:00:52.560 | A severance check is voluntary.
00:00:55.040 | Overall, it's been an incredible journey.
00:00:57.720 | However, I'm also sad I'll never be able to get those past 10 years back.
00:01:03.000 | The greater your appreciation of time, the less you will want to waste it.
00:01:07.840 | So for those of you who want to permanently leave your day job, maybe it's not permanent
00:01:12.640 | actually.
00:01:13.840 | This episode is for you.
00:01:16.160 | So first of all, why do I use the term fake retirement?
00:01:20.440 | It's pretty simple, actually.
00:01:21.880 | I consider myself a fake retiree because consistently publishing three to four times a week for
00:01:28.000 | 13 plus years takes a lot of work.
00:01:31.440 | Even though I enjoy writing, I'm still spending about 14, 15, 16 hours a week creating instead
00:01:36.960 | of consuming.
00:01:37.960 | Then I spend another four or five, six hours a week responding to comments and emails and
00:01:43.720 | inbound requests.
00:01:45.440 | So it's really a never ending process.
00:01:47.820 | And the larger your platform grows, the more inbound requests you'll receive.
00:01:53.120 | Also, since retiring from a day job in 2012, I did some consulting work part time at several
00:01:59.120 | startups for three years.
00:02:01.160 | These startups range from series seed to series C. And I just wanted to experience startup
00:02:06.680 | internet culture here in San Francisco, because I came here in 2001.
00:02:11.280 | And I thought it would be a crying shame if I didn't experience any of that.
00:02:15.220 | So I got to experience what it was like to work in a small group, and to try to do a
00:02:19.760 | lot of marketing and online acquisitions and so forth.
00:02:24.580 | But after three years, I said, Okay, I know what I need to know, I've scratched the itch.
00:02:29.520 | I don't want to do it anymore.
00:02:31.400 | It's only it was only 15 to 20 hours a week, but it'll still work.
00:02:35.240 | And the final reason why I use fake retirement is that since 2017, I've been a stay at home
00:02:40.620 | dad.
00:02:42.260 | Despite working in banking for 13 years, 60 plus hours a week, every single week, I think
00:02:48.140 | being a stay at home parent to two young children is at least 100% harder.
00:02:53.300 | You've got to always be on otherwise something bad might happen, something really bad might
00:02:58.060 | happen, they could just like fall off an edge, hurt themselves real bad or worse.
00:03:02.980 | So it's really, it's really stressful being a stay at home parent.
00:03:06.340 | I've had many of those heart jumps, those mini heart attacks, because just looking, looking
00:03:11.400 | one way, suddenly the kid just disappears.
00:03:13.740 | And you're like, Oh my gosh, where'd they go?
00:03:16.260 | And you find them in some precarious situation.
00:03:19.260 | So it's not easy being a stay at home parent.
00:03:21.220 | So if you have a stay at home spouse, or you see someone, you know, staying at home for
00:03:25.900 | three to six months to take care of their baby.
00:03:28.620 | It's not a vacation, it really isn't a vacation.
00:03:32.780 | Compared to work, the ability to work from home, I think, you know, working from home
00:03:37.180 | is kind of a vacation compared to being a stay at home parent now.
00:03:40.420 | Oh, yeah.
00:03:41.420 | And there's one other reason why I use fake retirement.
00:03:45.660 | Since the beginning of 2020, I've been writing a new personal finance book, right?
00:03:50.240 | Buy this, not that, how to spend your way to wealth and freedom.
00:03:54.240 | It was also something really difficult to create.
00:03:58.420 | And it's not just because writing is hard.
00:04:01.580 | But it's also because you need to collaborate with many, many minds, from the content editors
00:04:07.480 | to the copy editors.
00:04:09.500 | There are many people trying to create a book and edit a book.
00:04:13.420 | So it's not easy.
00:04:14.500 | It's kind of like some say birthing a book baby.
00:04:18.780 | So fake retiree I am and I'm going to embrace that term in all its glory because the earlier
00:04:25.580 | you retire, the sooner you're going to find something you're really passionate about doing
00:04:30.660 | and you're going to enjoy doing it because you have the ability to do so.
00:04:35.220 | So let's talk about the lessons learned after 10 years of fake retirement.
00:04:38.700 | I've been writing about achieving financial independence since July 2009, when I launched
00:04:43.140 | Financial Samurai.
00:04:44.740 | And since then, the fire movement has become more mainstream.
00:04:49.020 | Terms such as coast fire, lean fire, barista fire, slow fire, all these different types
00:04:55.420 | of flavors of financial independence have popped up to help those still far away from
00:05:00.400 | financial independence feel better about their progress.
00:05:04.500 | And knowing you're making progress is really important when you're trying to achieve financial
00:05:08.100 | freedom because you can easily get distracted.
00:05:12.460 | You can see some shiny object that you want to spend on debt.
00:05:16.960 | You can see something else that someone else is doing and you want to follow them on their
00:05:20.900 | travels and lose discipline in your saving and investing quest to build passive income.
00:05:27.940 | Achieving financial independence is a long journey.
00:05:30.540 | Therefore, if you can use these terms to help fit your situation, I think that's great.
00:05:36.380 | It'll help motivate you to keep on going, to keep on trying.
00:05:40.380 | When you achieve financial independence or when your investments can generate enough
00:05:46.280 | passive investment income to cover at least your basic living expenses, you're going to
00:05:50.540 | feel great and you're going to have a tremendous amount of freedom.
00:05:54.540 | So this brings me to the first lesson I've learned after 10 years of fake retirement.
00:05:58.900 | And that is only you will know whether you are truly financially independent or not.
00:06:05.380 | We can come up with these terms to make ourselves feel better about our progress.
00:06:09.700 | However, deep down, only you know whether you are financially independent or just faking
00:06:14.360 | it.
00:06:15.360 | And faking it is a common thing, right?
00:06:17.180 | We try to fake it before we make it.
00:06:19.700 | But faking it ultimately doesn't work when it comes to living the life you want.
00:06:24.620 | So really look deep down, crunch the numbers and see whether your finances really are enough
00:06:31.660 | or are on track.
00:06:33.720 | Because at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter what anybody else thinks about your
00:06:37.820 | financial situation.
00:06:39.300 | All that matters is whether you are able to do what you want or not because you are financially
00:06:44.140 | independent.
00:06:45.700 | The second point, and this is the second point out of 11 points.
00:06:49.620 | Your financial needs and desires will change over time.
00:06:53.380 | It's really important not to think this is what you're going to need in terms of passive
00:06:57.980 | income or net worth because your life will change.
00:07:02.180 | You will experience all these unexpected things, good and bad unfortunately, that will make
00:07:07.860 | you feel different about how much money you need.
00:07:10.780 | When I left in 2012, I thought $80,000 in passive income, good enough.
00:07:15.580 | It wasn't an extravagant lifestyle but I could survive in expensive San Francisco.
00:07:20.500 | And my next goal was to generate $150,000 in passive income by the time my wife left
00:07:25.340 | her day job as well at the age of 34 in 2015.
00:07:30.380 | And so that makes sense, right?
00:07:31.900 | Basically double $80,000.
00:07:33.700 | But then in 2017, we had our son and we thought, well, better try to make more money.
00:07:39.180 | Healthcare costs, the premiums per month were about $2,000.
00:07:43.380 | And then we looked up the preschool costs were $2,000 to $3,000 a month.
00:07:47.760 | So we said, okay, $50,000 more.
00:07:50.760 | So that brings us to $200,000.
00:07:52.820 | And then at the end of 2019, we were blessed with a daughter.
00:07:56.900 | So we thought, well, another $50,000 it is then.
00:08:01.060 | So it just kept on going up.
00:08:02.380 | It's kind of like inflation.
00:08:04.060 | It just keeps on going up and you really need to be flexible in how much you need and how
00:08:09.540 | much you want.
00:08:11.160 | Because these are good things that have happened to us.
00:08:13.300 | And I know eventually, there are going to be bad things that happen to us, accidents,
00:08:17.780 | sicknesses, taking care of our parents and our relatives and our friends and so forth.
00:08:22.660 | So just because you think you'll need X amount of passive income to retire early, doesn't
00:08:26.660 | mean that amount will stay static forever.
00:08:29.820 | And so I highly encourage everyone to start generating supplemental retirement income
00:08:35.180 | once your day job is done.
00:08:37.420 | All right, three, you will adopt a dynamic safe withdrawal rate and be more flexible
00:08:43.420 | overall.
00:08:45.200 | Because your financial needs and desires will change over time.
00:08:48.480 | You should also be flexible with your safe withdrawal rate.
00:08:51.480 | The best safe withdrawal rate is a dynamic one.
00:08:54.300 | And that dynamic one I think is based off my formula, the Financial Samurai safe withdrawal
00:08:59.320 | rate formula of 80% times the 10 year bond yield.
00:09:04.900 | Contrary to what academics might say, there is no one fixed safe withdrawal rate to go
00:09:10.100 | by.
00:09:11.100 | I'm a practitioner of early retirement who let go of a day job security in 2012.
00:09:16.860 | I don't have a salary.
00:09:18.860 | I don't have a pension waiting for me.
00:09:21.420 | I just can't pontificate.
00:09:23.140 | I really need to go through and live this life and figure things out.
00:09:27.460 | And I'm telling you, folks, you've got to be dynamic in your withdrawal rate and in
00:09:31.940 | your thought.
00:09:33.720 | And one of the reasons why I think the 10 year bond yield is a fantastic barometer because
00:09:38.180 | it shows us it tells us what the expectations are for inflation, for economic growth, for
00:09:45.940 | corporate earnings growth, for unemployment.
00:09:48.980 | So these are all really important things we need to be aware about while we're trying
00:09:53.380 | to build more wealth and while we're trying to decumulate our wealth in retirement.
00:09:59.100 | Every single economic situation is different.
00:10:02.060 | Therefore, you need to be dynamic and flexible.
00:10:05.580 | Four, you will eventually take your freedom for granted.
00:10:09.020 | This is kind of sad, isn't it?
00:10:10.540 | You take your freedom for granted.
00:10:12.860 | Unfortunately, the hedonic treadmill is the main reason why achieving financial independence
00:10:18.940 | won't solve all your problems.
00:10:21.300 | It does feel amazing to be able to do what you want whenever you want, but it just it
00:10:26.960 | just doesn't last sadly.
00:10:28.540 | I mean, maybe that great feeling might last for about three to six months.
00:10:33.780 | But after that, you just kind of revert back to your mean.
00:10:37.620 | For example, while you were working, you might have felt giddy leaving work at 3 p.m. to
00:10:42.180 | have a drink with a colleague, thinking to yourself, "Oh, you are getting paid to drink.
00:10:47.820 | Sweet!"
00:10:48.940 | But then once you have total independence, you might actually start getting annoyed meeting
00:10:52.900 | up so late.
00:10:53.900 | You'd be like, "Can we just have, you know, happy hour at like one o'clock or 12 while
00:10:59.420 | we're eating?"
00:11:00.420 | It'd be so much more efficient that way instead of three o'clock.
00:11:04.500 | Once you leave your day job, you will naturally create your own routine.
00:11:09.140 | And this routine is just going to replace your old routine.
00:11:12.260 | And if you have to make commitments outside your normal new routine, you might feel agitated.
00:11:17.620 | In fact, I know you will.
00:11:19.340 | All right, fifth point, fifth takeaway, you will likely have a recurring desire to return
00:11:24.420 | to work.
00:11:25.480 | This is a really interesting phenomenon because the longer you do something, the more you're
00:11:29.820 | going to miss doing that thing.
00:11:32.580 | Once you leave your day job, you know, you're going to start second guessing your fake retirement
00:11:36.980 | decision, especially if you leave very early on.
00:11:40.820 | If you don't retire to something purposeful, something you would really enjoy doing, the
00:11:45.220 | greater your desire to return to work will be.
00:11:48.900 | For me, I've battled the urge to return to work at least three times.
00:11:52.340 | First time in 2012 when I just left work.
00:11:55.580 | I was like, "Oh, is this the right thing to do to give up this multiple six-figure potential
00:12:01.500 | job?
00:12:02.500 | Hmm, man, I better interview with other competing firms just to make sure I wasn't making a
00:12:08.780 | mistake."
00:12:09.780 | Second time I wanted to return to work, 2018, a year after my son was born.
00:12:15.060 | I felt I needed to start earning again to better take care of my family.
00:12:19.460 | Just seemed like that was the responsible thing to do as the father of the household.
00:12:24.300 | And then after spending so much time taking care of my son at home, I started fantasizing
00:12:29.540 | going back to work because I felt maybe it would be like a nice vacation.
00:12:33.580 | You know, you just commute for 15 to 25 minutes, you go to the water cooler and talk to your
00:12:39.860 | friends and then you have lunch and then you have happy hour.
00:12:43.700 | And of course, you do some work in the office, right?
00:12:47.480 | But that sounded pretty nice to hang out with a lot of adults again.
00:12:51.140 | And then the final time I wanted to go back to work, not truly wanted to, but I was thinking
00:12:56.540 | about it, was a year after the pandemic began because so many people I knew started working
00:13:02.780 | from home, right?
00:13:03.780 | If you didn't have to commute, that was like my number one PITA for going to work was the
00:13:08.500 | commute.
00:13:09.500 | If you didn't have to commute, that was pretty good.
00:13:11.420 | If you had a flexible schedule, even better.
00:13:14.220 | I had so many friends who were able to work from home who were asking me to play tennis
00:13:18.380 | with them at 11am, noon and 1pm.
00:13:21.860 | So I figured, hey, if you can make good money not having to work or not having to work really
00:13:27.660 | hard, sign me up.
00:13:30.020 | So for those of you who have worked from home jobs, definitely appreciate that flexibility
00:13:35.380 | because I think it's just wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
00:13:38.140 | You know what?
00:13:39.140 | Maybe it is a grass is greener syndrome because I do have friends who work from home and they
00:13:44.060 | say they can't even go to the bathroom or they're scheduling a bathroom break because
00:13:49.340 | they have so many back to back video calls.
00:13:53.380 | So that doesn't seem fun.
00:13:54.780 | All right, six, you appreciate time more, not less.
00:13:59.180 | You would think having more time would make you become less appreciative of time.
00:14:03.940 | After all, increased supply generally leads to a decline in prices, a decline in appreciation.
00:14:11.480 | But the opposite is true.
00:14:13.220 | Because when you can do whatever you want, you're no longer forced to do things you absolutely
00:14:17.700 | don't want to do.
00:14:19.260 | Therefore, every minute that is wasted has a greater opportunity cost.
00:14:24.820 | For example, when I was working, clients would show up late all the time to meetings.
00:14:30.220 | But I didn't really care because they were the client and I had nowhere else to go.
00:14:34.980 | I was on the job.
00:14:36.740 | But if someone shows up 30 minutes late today, I'm going to be really, really agitated because
00:14:43.060 | I could have spent that time playing with my daughter, writing on Financial Samurai,
00:14:48.220 | playing tennis or my favorite activity in the afternoon, napping.
00:14:53.460 | When you're able to optimize your time by only doing what you want, spending your time
00:14:58.740 | sub optimally starts to feel pretty bad.
00:15:02.420 | All right, seven, you realize how strange it is to take instruction from other adults
00:15:08.560 | all day long.
00:15:10.420 | The longer I'm away from work, the more peculiar I think it is that over a billion people voluntarily
00:15:15.740 | listen to other adults for 40 plus hours a week.
00:15:18.640 | And then once the work hours are done, we're all equal outside of work.
00:15:23.500 | And maybe this is confidence speaking, because, you know, we're spending a lot of hours, at
00:15:30.060 | least before in the office, you know, kowtowing to our superiors and our seniors.
00:15:36.460 | And it's just the way things are.
00:15:37.720 | But you know, when you don't have to do that anymore, you realize everybody is equal, whether
00:15:43.300 | you see them at the supermarket, shopping for lettuce and tomatoes or at a concert,
00:15:50.420 | or at the movies, you know, your boss, even if she's a billionaire, doesn't have more
00:15:56.660 | rights than you outside of work.
00:15:59.420 | And that's the way it should be, I think, in the work environment, where we're treated
00:16:04.140 | equally, at least respectfully equally.
00:16:08.020 | So the questions that I have to ask you all are, what would you do if you were already
00:16:13.200 | financially secure?
00:16:15.240 | What are you burying inside to conform?
00:16:19.120 | And which truths have you suppressed, so you don't jeopardize your status?
00:16:24.640 | One of the biggest benefits of FIRE is being able to be who you are, without as much fear
00:16:30.480 | of persecution or judgment.
00:16:33.360 | Eight, you will lose and then regain your identity.
00:16:37.560 | Given our work is a big part of who we are, once you leave your job, you will lose a part
00:16:42.600 | of your identity.
00:16:43.640 | And the longer you work, the harder the transition to retirement or fake retirement will be.
00:16:48.760 | It's definitely one of the negatives of early retirement I've talked about before.
00:16:53.600 | And if you are truly retired, you might start feeling useless to society.
00:16:58.920 | Many of you start feeling useless, the chances of feeling constantly sad or depressed or
00:17:05.560 | lonely go way up.
00:17:08.440 | Because at the end of the day, we all want to feel like we're contributing something
00:17:11.440 | meaningful.
00:17:12.440 | I know I do.
00:17:13.440 | It's one of the reasons why I write and I respond.
00:17:16.640 | I spend these hours every single week for so long.
00:17:20.340 | It feels good to be a contributor.
00:17:22.560 | Therefore, nobody really retires early and does nothing.
00:17:26.120 | Instead, early retirees eventually find something they would do for free because they enjoy
00:17:31.680 | it.
00:17:32.680 | So in my case, it's writing and connecting with people online.
00:17:35.920 | I'm writing about my experiences, other people's experiences and stories.
00:17:40.600 | I'm not pumping out endless search engine optimization affiliate content because that
00:17:45.720 | is boring.
00:17:47.160 | And I know it's a business and you can make money.
00:17:49.160 | Yeah, I'll do some sponsor posts every once in a while, especially for those corporates
00:17:56.040 | supporting my endeavors such as my book.
00:17:59.680 | But that's not the main reason why I want to write.
00:18:01.400 | I want to write because it feels good.
00:18:04.000 | It's helpful.
00:18:05.000 | It's cathartic.
00:18:06.000 | And you will find a new identity that will replace your old one due to gaining a new
00:18:12.720 | purpose.
00:18:14.080 | But you might have to lose that identity and figure things out for a while.
00:18:17.800 | Okay, nine out of 11.
00:18:19.920 | You start thinking more about what type of legacy you want to leave.
00:18:24.200 | And you really don't think about legacy in your 20s or 30s.
00:18:27.760 | You start thinking about your legacy, I think, in your 40s.
00:18:30.480 | And also after you have children, because you know, or you hope, you know, God bless
00:18:34.760 | them, God bless your family, that they will outlive you.
00:18:38.200 | I mean, I don't want to outlive anybody in my family.
00:18:42.920 | So along with wanting a sense of purpose during fake retirement, you will also want to accomplish
00:18:47.400 | something you're very proud of.
00:18:49.920 | In other words, you will want to leave behind something positive others will benefit from
00:18:54.360 | after you're gone.
00:18:56.240 | For me, that's Financial Samurai because the internet lasts forever.
00:19:00.680 | And also my soon to be released book, Buy This, Not That on July 19.
00:19:05.960 | It has the potential to help a new segment of the book reading public.
00:19:09.680 | I'm confident the book will change the reader's life for the better.
00:19:13.760 | I can also die easier knowing I did everything possible to try and help others with their
00:19:18.720 | finances.
00:19:19.720 | Whether it's writing on financialsamurai.com, recording these podcasts, or writing this
00:19:25.960 | book.
00:19:26.960 | I don't think I could have worked more to try to help others gain financial independence.
00:19:33.200 | Because trust me on this one, financial independence is worth fighting for.
00:19:37.040 | Those hours that you put in early on or even now, will pay dividends in the future.
00:19:42.480 | That time you spend learning about money, learning about investing, learning about new
00:19:46.680 | methodologies, just surrounding yourself with people who are on the same quest.
00:19:52.760 | It's so amazing and it's so worth it.
00:19:55.360 | Because once you get to about $300,000 in investable assets, you'll start getting that
00:20:00.360 | feeling like, "Hey, this could be what financial independence feels like."
00:20:05.520 | Because if you return 10% on $300,000, that's $30,000 and most people can probably live
00:20:11.760 | off that, right?
00:20:13.700 | And then as you start building momentum, it just becomes so fun, so encouraging, and it
00:20:19.780 | is something that you want to share with others because it feels so liberating.
00:20:23.980 | When you look back on your life, you want to have some defining moments you'll always
00:20:29.260 | remember.
00:20:30.740 | Such wonderful moments might include graduating from high school or college, getting your
00:20:35.460 | first job, starting a company, winning an award, and having your first baby.
00:20:41.740 | Further, the more difficult the environment, the more you will want to create fond memories
00:20:47.340 | to shut out those difficult memories.
00:20:50.260 | When I look back on the pandemic period, I will happily remember three things.
00:20:54.700 | One, my wife birthing our daughter at the end of 2019.
00:20:59.380 | Two, keeping our kids safe and providing them with lots of love, play, and attention.
00:21:06.100 | And three, publishing a personal finance book that positively impacted everyone who read
00:21:11.580 | it.
00:21:12.580 | All right, 10.
00:21:15.460 | Nobody really cares what you do, so make sure you live for yourself.
00:21:21.140 | This is so important, folks.
00:21:24.060 | Whether you retire early to go on some huge trip around the world or you retire to start
00:21:31.340 | a new solopreneur business, do what you want.
00:21:34.600 | The only people who may criticize your fake retirement are members of the Internet Retirement
00:21:38.900 | Police.
00:21:40.020 | They'll try to arrest you for doing anything that generates income, anything that requires
00:21:44.860 | time, thinking, and effort.
00:21:48.060 | Even if you say you are a fake retiree, sometimes, they might still lob grenades at you, especially
00:21:54.660 | if you spend any time on Twitter.
00:21:57.980 | But the reality is, so long as you're not hurting anybody, everyday normal people don't
00:22:03.460 | care how you live your lifestyle.
00:22:06.100 | Most people are just too busy worrying about their own problems.
00:22:09.940 | Their own goals.
00:22:11.500 | The only people who get bent out of shape about how you describe your situation are
00:22:17.300 | those who want what you have.
00:22:20.540 | So accept your fake retirement in all its glory.
00:22:24.020 | It helps reduce criticism.
00:22:25.620 | Because really, the main goal is to conserve as much of your life energy as possible to
00:22:31.780 | do more of what you want.
00:22:34.660 | At the end of the day, you're only letting yourself down if you don't pursue your dreams.
00:22:41.340 | I was going to leave you with 10 points, but an 11th point came up.
00:22:45.540 | And that is, your courage will continue to increase.
00:22:49.660 | It's one of the biggest takeaways of fake retirement, early retirement.
00:22:54.860 | The fear in your head is often worse than reality.
00:22:58.180 | I see this time and time again.
00:23:00.580 | In fact, fear is one of the key ingredients for achieving financial freedom.
00:23:05.300 | Because without fear, you won't be motivated enough to save aggressively, to invest wisely,
00:23:11.540 | to plan for the various unknowns.
00:23:14.740 | Fear of failure also makes you try harder to reduce your chances of failure.
00:23:21.180 | It's a very positive feeling, fear.
00:23:24.540 | And as your fear dissipates, your courage grows.
00:23:28.420 | With regards to early retirement, courage first starts with giving up a paycheck and
00:23:32.420 | realizing being jobless isn't so bad.
00:23:35.740 | You will most likely figure out a way to make things work by trying new things.
00:23:40.380 | And worst case, you can always go back to work.
00:23:43.340 | Remember, your financial independence number is not real if you don't change a suboptimal
00:23:49.460 | situation.
00:23:50.460 | So if you think, you know, whatever it is you have, 500 grand, a million, 2 million,
00:23:54.420 | 5 million, whatnot, is financially independent, but you're still in a terrible marriage, you
00:24:01.860 | still work for a boss you don't like, you still live in a town that disrespects you.
00:24:09.740 | Whatever the case may be, you've got to change.
00:24:13.020 | You got to change.
00:24:14.020 | If you're truly financially independent, you better use your money to change and make your
00:24:18.900 | life better.
00:24:19.900 | Otherwise, you got to keep on going.
00:24:22.760 | One of the interesting things I've experienced is I've had a greater courage to be disliked
00:24:28.060 | by speaking my mind more often.
00:24:31.260 | I'd much rather be authentic and lose readers than act like a power-hungry politician to
00:24:37.700 | grow support.
00:24:38.700 | It just doesn't feel right.
00:24:40.300 | In fact, it feels amazing not to have to pretend to be someone you are not.
00:24:45.820 | In competitive sports, I just realized I've played 23 United States Tennis Association
00:24:51.140 | matches in the first half of 2022 after taking a two-year hiatus thanks to the virus.
00:24:57.460 | The thing is, it's really tough to compete because your record is online forever and
00:25:04.620 | people don't want to compete and lose because it's embarrassing.
00:25:08.380 | But I don't care.
00:25:11.300 | I just want to compete.
00:25:12.300 | I think it's fun.
00:25:13.300 | Yes, fear of losing and the frustration of losing is still there, but I still want to
00:25:18.540 | compete so bring it on.
00:25:21.420 | Gaining more courage to be yourself might be the most valuable personal development
00:25:26.820 | gift of this entire early retirement process.
00:25:30.980 | All right, everybody.
00:25:31.980 | I hope you enjoyed the key takeaways after 10 years of fake retirement.
00:25:38.340 | Ten years have gone by so quickly and let us not waste a single moment of our lives.
00:25:45.940 | Being able to do what I want thanks to the money that I have is one of the main reasons
00:25:51.300 | why I wrote Buy This, Not That, How to Spend Your Way to Wealth and Freedom.
00:25:57.120 | The book will provide you the frameworks necessary to build more wealth quicker in a risk-appropriate
00:26:03.260 | manner and it will tackle some of life's biggest dilemmas many of us will face.
00:26:10.080 | So I appreciate your support in picking up a hard copy.
00:26:13.020 | You'll see the charts.
00:26:14.020 | You'll see the beautiful art by Colleen Kong Savage.
00:26:17.420 | Check it out at FinancialSamurai.com/btnt.
00:26:23.500 | Also subscribe to my newsletter FinancialSamurai.com/newsletter.
00:26:29.620 | And good news, Buy This, Not That is tracking to be a Wall Street Journal bestseller upon
00:26:35.500 | debut.
00:26:36.540 | It's already a number one bestseller on Amazon in the retirement planning division and it's
00:26:41.660 | all thanks to you.
00:26:42.820 | So I really appreciate your support.
00:26:44.820 | Thanks for reading.
00:26:45.820 | Thanks for listening.
00:26:46.820 | Thanks for subscribing and thanks for sharing.
00:26:49.180 | I'll talk to you all later.