Three months ago I handed in my notice and a couple of weeks later I retracted it. This week was my birthday and one of the reasons I quit when I did was that I wanted to be “free” by then, as if I couldn’t enjoy it unless I was. However, sitting here now, I still don’t have any regrets about “unquitting”.
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So why did I quit, and why did I change my mind?
Before handing in my notice I had been working towards the goal of working freelance for a while. I wanted the flexibility to be able to work mainly while the kids were at school. I also felt that this move would challenge and reward me more than staying at a full-time job working at one company.
To prepare for quitting I had been following my own plan: saving a “milestone” amount in my Stocks and Shares ISA, keeping some as cash to use as a cushion for any periods I’m not earning. I had been doing qualifications on the side and building up my network. My plan was to get ready to quit, and then do it in the first quarter of next year.
An impulsive moment…
I ended up quitting quite a few months before I had originally planned to because I had been feeling a build up of frustration. I also had a major wave of impulsivity, knowing I had my birthday coming up, and thought “if I don’t do it now I never will”.
Afterwards I poured all my energy into planning my new business. The fear and pressure sparked my creativity and I had loads of ideas. Just like I thought it would. But I was also losing much more sleep than usual worrying about having made my life much more difficult than it needed to be, especially as costs are rising.
Having doubts
When I faced the reality of quitting, I started to see all of the great things about my job. The great colleagues and relationships I have and the chance to do interesting work that matters. I also spoke to an ex-colleague who used to be a freelancer. He brought to life all of the unpleasant sides of working freelance and encouraged me to explore if I could stay. By then I was very ready to hear him.
What I learnt during my period of having quit was that the “runway” of money I had saved, £100k, was too small for my dwindling risk appetite. I am the primary breadwinner in our household, so the shortfall that I need to earn for us to cover our costs is big. Our income from our rental and investments isn’t big enough to generate income to cover my costs, and it would pain me to tear through my savings if my freelance career didn’t take off. I really value my steady stream of income and the ability to switch off at the weekend.
I also realised that if I want to make this lifestyle change work, I needed a much stronger network of relationships and to already have some active income outside of work, at least one or two clients or a steady passive income outside of our rental.
I’ve reached Coast FI now, but what I learnt is that that is not enough to make ME feel like I can quit, because even for me to contribute what usually need to to cover my costs means being able to find work from day one.
So when will I, will I be ready?
I’d still like to quit fairly soon to be able to spend more time with my kids at this awesome age, but I think I need to have more things in place to be ready. These are:
- Build up my savings and investments to be able to pay off the mortgage on our rental in about ten years
- This is part of our early retirement plan. As we are on an interest only mortgage, if we can’t pay off the balance we will be forced to sell it in our mid-fifties. Saving another £150k means that we will have the option to keep it. If I’ve saved this, I can go freelance without worrying that a reduced income will jeopardise this plan.
- Building up my profile more
- I could go freelance and get lucky based on the small number of strong relationships that I have in my professional network. However, more likely than not I’d be doing something I enjoy less than what I’m doing now and not even have the flexibility I have now, because I’d be too scared to turn any offers.
- Having some guaranteed freelance income
- This might be one or two clients, or income from a content-related side hustle. I cannot take this leap, having the responsibilities I do to my family, without at least having this in place. Of these three goals, this is the one that will give me the most confidence.
How will I make this happen?
I still feel so strongly the tension between being on a financial independence journey and enjoying family life. I just do not want to prioritise shortening the time to get there over time in the present.
For me, the question is not “what should I do with my money?” but “what should I do with my time?”.
Money-wise, I am doing the big things. I’m putting 20% of my salary into my pension (including my employer contributions) and maxing out my ISA. We have less money at the moment because we have an expensive family gym membership and get a cleaner twice a week, but it’s made a big difference to our quality of life so I’m fine with the fact that I can’t invest so much, and very grateful to be able to afford both.
If I have any money left over after my ISA allowance it will go into Premium Bonds. When I reach the max, I’ll make a new plan. This is my new emergency fund (as I’m slowly transferring my existing one into investments) and will also contribute towards the pot that I’m saving and investing to be able to pay off our rental property one day, if we want to.
Tweaks to the strategy
My goal right now is to be financially independent enough to go freelance. I will work towards this by using my time wisely to explore side incomes that support my future freelance career, such as consulting work, running educational workshops, creating e-learnings and creating content about sustainability in the business world.
This means giving up things that don’t support this (and that I don’t enjoy). I’ll still blog here because I like it, it helps me and I know some other people have found some of my blogs of value too. I got a lovely message from someone a few months ago that inspired me to get back blogging after taking a break while studying. Although I don’t have many readers, all the ones who have reached out to me (and haven’t been spammers) have been awesome.
Getting another job is also an option, if it pays better and allows me to develop my skills and knowledge more quickly. I would only take another role, though, if I believed I could maintain the positive work life balance that I have now. I can work intensely, and travel occasionally, but I’m not giving up being able to spend time with my children during the week and having my weekends free.
I’ll also double down on health and fitness. Feeling happy and energetic makes everything so much better and easier. It’s good for now and it’s good for my future life too. Early retirement would be much better if I’m in good health and I don’t want to wait until then to get healthy. I’ve signed up to a half-marathon in February because I’ve been enjoying running so much and having a training plan is great because it takes out the decision-making element.
Accepting a slower journey on the path to FI
When I feel a bit frustrated or impatient about where I am I try to savour all the moments, of which there are millions, where my FI progress is totally irrelevant. When I’m playing with my kids, going for a long run, joking around with my partner or indulging in my hobbies, I’m living my dream life regardless of whether I am financially independent or not.
If I were financially independent, and I was still as lucky and blessed as I am now to be with my family, then I’d just have (I imagine) a few more of those moments and memories.
So I’m still on a FI journey, but a slow one that prioritises making the most of family life now and treats any FI progress as a bonus. I’m putting any entrepreneurial energy into projects that support being able to go freelance, and when I am freelance, that will be my key to speeding up the FI journey.
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