This is a guest post by Millionaire Mob, a blog focused on investing in dividend growth stocks and travel hacking.
It was August 2011. I was freshly out of undergraduate school and about to start my first day working as an investment banker for a large bank in Chicago. I was eager, motivated and ready to do whatever it took to be the next finance king. The cover of Fortune magazine was so close. I could just see it.
After over 6 years of the grueling gauntlet of financial modeling slavery, I realized that isn’t the way to financial success or making a difference in this world.
Why isn’t a gauntlet of modeling and pitch decks the way of living?
First off, it didn’t take me a long time to realize that I would never truly see the world from an open eyes perspective if I spent 14 hours a day working on a financial model or PowerPoint presentation. The paychecks are great. The ‘bonus day’ is great where you would receive 100% (or more) of your salary in the form of a bonus.
All that came at a price including your Vice President emailing you at midnight telling you that you did everything wrong in a presentation or waking up in the morning saying that you need to recreate an entire deck because it ‘wasn’t even close to being client ready.’ Or, the culture of people bragging how much they earned and how much would be spent in one night.
I found myself being the complete opposite. Wearing beaten down shoes to saving every dollar to pay down student loans. Or, save enough to buy a reasonable home.
I realized this wasn’t the way to truly enjoy the life you live. We all only have one life to live. Making a difference and working with people that also want to change the world is important.
One quote comes to mind that really summed up my experience:
“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”-Steve Jobs
I truly learned a lot working in investment banking. You learn several points that are invaluable and can be leveraged into new ventures such as:
- You often work with and build relationships with C-Level executives
- There is the ability to learn a number of different tasks, such as creating a model to help determine if your client should continue to open more stores in a certain location or not
- You are never hungry. Imagine eating every meal at your desk. Every meal is basically expensed and so there’s no shortage of food to go around. My stomach expanded as a result…
I knew this wasn’t sustainable. I had to find a better way, but also pay the bills.
What is the better way forward for freedom (financially too)?
I found myself back to the drawing board. What can I do that I can make a difference AND learn at the same time? Why can’t I take my lessons learned and skills to do a greater good of providing financial expertise to others that have less experience? This lead me to becoming an entrepreneur or a multi-tasked side hustler.
The true meaning of financial freedom (to me) is building an income to cover all of your expenses, traveling the world and learning every day. I’ve been able to keep my expenses as low as possible for travel experiences via travel hacking. This enables me to continue my path of saving and investing.
In addition, our favorite way to secure the most optimal total return is by investing in dividend growth stocks and using all additional income to reinvest in a dividend growth portfolio. The future of work is no longer in a traditional cubicle or desk. The future of work is collaborative and shared work. The freelancer economy is growing at a rapid rate. Find ways to get involved now and start earning some side hustle income to build a better financial future.
When you think about your next move, ask yourself is the timing right? You need to ensure that you’ve built a sustainable future and/or reliable income before making the big move. Develop a prudent plan to hit your goals and do what you love. I like to think of the 3P’s for financial freedom: Patience, Planning and Progress. Obtaining financial freedom is easy.
- The hard part is getting started on your plan.
- The patience is execution of the plan.
- The progress is the end goal and your ultimate achievement of financial freedom. By achieving financial freedom, you are free to do what you love.
Do what you love and love what you do
How do you find out what you ultimately want to do in life? Whatever hobbies you have in life, you can earn a living off of. For me, this is travel.
I suggest following the below steps to achieve financial freedom and ultimately live a better lifestyle:
- Stay up to-date on the latest and greatest opportunities in personal finance
- Provide prudent research and guidance to help people secure their financial future
- Find ways for people to grow their nest egg through solid investment advice without the financial incentive
- Search for the best travel experiences, so you can go out and enjoy the best things in life
By doing what you love, you put yourself in a position for success at day one. This success is enabled by unlocking your abilities with your passion. I’m a firm believer of if you love what you are doing, you should never worry about money. The money will follow. Focus on doing high-quality work that helps others. Build a source of income that enables you to unlock your true passion.
What are you doing to achieve financial independence? Remove the ‘work’ component to your work life balance equation… by having a life. Don’t be afraid to do something crazy.
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