When I first discovered FIRE about 8 years ago, I was excited about the possibility of saving enough money to exit the rat race and say goodbye to a adequately well paid, but unfulfilling job.

But FIRE should not be about running away from something.

You won’t be much better off, unless you have something to run towards to. Passions, challenges and time well spent with friends and family.

Leaving a dreadful job will see a lot of relief initially, but as with everything in life, we adapt. You will get used to not having that bad job, but that won’t be enough. You need something to fill that time.

financial independence - what are you going to do with your time?

This to me has been the biggest surprise in the last eight years or so that I have turned my financial life around. That the journey to financial independence has been more a philosophical one, than a financial one.

One where I have been forced to ask myself those hard questions of what I am going to do with my time.

Easy decisions are how to save our money and how much. It is much harder to dig deeper and determine our true identities and what we want most to do with our time. Once we no longer need money to live, it can leave us exposed if we don’t know. So over the years, I have made decisions that will make the transition easier and far more fulfilling.

I have started a financial advice business. We are moving to a small town to enjoy a slower pace of life with the kids. I have started taking my physical health more seriously. I started volunteering. These are just some of things I am looking forward to doing more of when we get closer to financial independence and decide to slow down.

There are other things I will add to this list over the next few years as we get more time to do so too. I have a few ideas of things I want to try out and see if anything sticks.

It is ok to have some unknown. It is exciting not filling every hour of your days and leaving some unscripted time for whatever you feel at the time.

But, most of us still crave some structured challenges and passions to keep us motivated and well.

The path to financial independence has helped me cystalise what it is I actually want most out of life. Far more than I would have otherwise, and that, to me, has been the biggest benefit of approaching financial independence.

What is important is not the money, but what the money can buy. Time on what we love the most.

If you need help with optimising your lifestyle, then get in touch today.

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