The further along we get on our savings journey, the more I realise the importance of designing your life to suit your passions as soon as you can.

At the beginning of the journey I was more than willing to stay at an unfulfilling job for 10 to 15 years. It’s not a bad job, but it also doesn’t spark joy at the risk of sounding like a 4 ft 7 in Japanese woman.

It seemed doable. At the financial independence discovery stage, I was excited and roaring to go. Well that grew tired pretty quick and now I am in the boring middle. I have changed my tune, and am no longer willing to spend over 40 hours a week doing something I’d rather not be doing. Not for another 8 more years anyway.

Financial independence is not the goal

Along the path, I’ve realised that financial independence is not the end goal. In the beginning I naively thought it was. How awesome would it be to not have to work I thought. Spend all day relaxing, and not having to deal with all the corporate BS that a middle management job entails.

Sure, there is nothing wrong with doing nothing. But only some of the time. We are still human and we need things that challenge us and help us grow. But in order to be fulfilled, we need to be passionate about our challenges. Things we enjoy.

That is why financial independence is so important. Even though it isn’t the end goal, it allows us to live our most desirable lives answerable only to ourselves. It is the gateway to our ultimate goals, whatever they may be.

If you are on the financial independence journey and haven’t comprehensively thought about the next stage of your life you may not be too happy, and financial independence will not solve your problems.

You need more to strive for than just running away from a job. To most effectively utilise the benefits of financial independence, you need to be running TOWARDS something. Knowing what that something is can be difficult for some, but if you can figure that out before reaching financial independence, then chances are you will be stoked with your new life and how you are using your newfound free time.

For me, I’ve started a few things in the last few years that I am passionate about:

• Writing about financial independence

• Giving financial advice

• Volunteering in the community

• Going to the gym

• Running

• A young family
  

Financial independence will allow me to do MORE of these things I enjoy so much. If I did not have such things to run towards, then I would not be able to enjoy the benefits of financial independence.

If I was currently not doing anything on that list, chances are I wouldn’t start doing them in retirement. Because if they were that important to you, you’d be doing them already.

Final thoughts

When I look to pull the plug on my full time job in about 3 years, I won’t be financially independent in terms of never having to work again. However, some of the things that I will be doing with my newfound time will create income for me.

Thanks to the previous years of savings, I won’t need a lot to maintain my lifestyle. However, if I am going to be working in my desired life anyway, then why not start living my ideal life BEFORE I reach full FI?

There comes a point where enough is enough.

By building a life that I am running towards, I am excited for the next phase. Not because I will no longer be doing something (unfulfilling work) today, but because I will be doing more of what I love. If it were 8 more years however, it would be very difficult to be too excited.

The information contained on this site is the opinion of the individual author(s) based on their personal opinions, observation, research, and years of experience. The information offered by this website is general education only and is not meant to be taken as individualised financial advice, legal advice, tax advice, or any other kind of advice. You can read more of my disclaimer here