I had this dream come to me as I was turning 28 years old.
It’s still pretty clear to me, even to this day.
It was this visualization where I would walk to my mailbox in the sunny mid-afternoon to collect whatever fresh dividend check(s) that had just been delivered.
And that would basically be my “work” for the day.
Tough work, I know. I’m building up a sweat just thinking about it.
Kind of funny to look back on my naivety now, since we all know that dividends don’t really come by “check” anymore. Things are made even easier for shareholders these days, as dividends are deposited electronically, whereby they can be transferred to bank accounts and spent fairly quickly.
The joke’s on me. The “work” I thought I’d be doing isn’t even necessary: no trips to the mailbox or banks are required.
This is probably a huge relief, right? How much easier can life get?
Well, it’s fun to retrospectively look back on that dream now. Because I’m there. There’s rarely a day I wake up without fresh cash deposited into one of my accounts – cash I didn’t have to do anything to receive (other than hold shares in high-quality businesses that pay growing dividends in my Full-Time Fund).
I wake up without an alarm clock. I hit the gym. Spend time with my puppies. Occasionally make my way to the beach.
Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow is another day to do it all over again.
It’s a dream come true!
But there’s also been a paradigm shift.
I now realize that the dream isn’t hacking life so that you can limit work and challenges in life. The dream is to constantly strive toward one’s own potential by seeking out new and appropriate challenges.
It’s all about pursuing happiness and purpose, not making things as easy as possible.
In fact, things should be difficult fairly often. It’s through challenges that I’ve been able to grow and evolve. Without difficulties and challenges, I wilt like a flower without water. Challenges are my water. And breaking through these challenges, becoming a better version of myself, allows me to bloom.
Some may think financial freedom is all about leisure. I disagree. If anything, financial freedom is anti-leisure.
In my opinion, one of financial freedom’s biggest benefits is that it allows one to align their lifestyle and interests/skills with the appropriate challenges at the appropriate time.
That’s because not all challenges are created equal.
Taking apart a refrigerator and putting it back together is a challenge.
So is writing a book.
I’ve done the latter; never done the former.
There’s a good reason for that: I don’t enjoy taking apart refrigerators. I do, however, enjoy writing.
Financial independence gives you the power to fill your life with challenges that suit you, while being able to simultaneously discard the challenges that don’t make sense. That’s an incredible gift.
And as you change, the challenges you want to take on will likely change. Being able to position yourself correctly as you go is amazing.
While it seems to me that most people fear change, I do not. I think one reason why change is looked at in a negative light is because people like the security blanket that is a regular paycheck. People are afraid of the unknown, especially if it means that income may no longer be reliable. But once you no longer need that pacifier, you can customize your life to your needs as you go.
I can say for sure that I’m happier now that I’ve been able to discard the challenge that was my prior career in the auto industry, as the dislike I felt for the job is something that strongly motivated me to become financially independent in the first place.
It’s been more than two years since I last “clocked in”. I’m in the prime of my life here, yet I don’t have to trot down to any 9-5. It’s an amazing feeling.
I’m essentially retired in my early 30s.
But that doesn’t mean I’m happy without any challenges at all.
They just have to be the right challenges at the right time.
And that’s just one more great thing about financial independence. When one doesn’t have to place such a strong emphasis on the paycheck portion of a challenge, the whole world opens up. A paradigm shift occurs.
And so I’ve been giving great thought to this lately, as I search for the next set of great challenges in my life.
After much deliberation, I’ve decided that I want to spend more time directly impacting people in a positive but tangible manner. I want to work with people. I want to connect.
I want to help you, guide you, support you, and show you the light.
Ever since I first started writing about the journey to financial independence, it’s really been mostly about me. What I’m doing. What I’m saving. What I’m investing in. The challenges I’m overcoming.
And I’ve had great fun being as transparent as possible. I’ve spent years discussing every penny I earned and spent. I showed what a dividend snowball looks like in real-time. I’ve analyzed my investments. And I’ve provided the blueprint. I’m the proof in the pudding. I’ve been this human experiment. It’s all made me a better person, and I think it’s made a lot of you better, too.
But I think the time has come to make this more about you.
I want to know how I can help you. I want to be a mentor to other people striving toward their potential. I want to be a guide. I want to be a benevolent drill sergeant, there to keep pushing you. I want to teach.
And so I’m going to be announcing a major change in my professional life very soon. I still plan to continue writing, as I thoroughly enjoy it. It really does make me happy.
But I’m going to be spending a bit less time on that aspect of my life and a bit more time with this new aspect moving forward.
I sometimes feel underutilized, as if I could be doing so much more. And I’ll sit here, writing away, thinking about how I could better leverage my talent and experience to positively change the world. It’s something that eats away at me a little bit.
Moreover, writing can be a very lonely venture. It’s just me and a computer oftentimes. It can be easy to feel disconnected from the world. I crave connections. And I want to help people. This next challenge is a way to connect and help.
So it’s time to redirect some of my passion for all of this. My enthusiasm for saving, investing, and achieving financial independence is almost boundless. And I want to use that enthusiasm to directly help others climb their own mountains. If I could be in a position to personally guide someone to a better life, I’d be remiss if I didn’t step into that role.
Keep an eye out. I’ll be announcing this next phase in my life, which can help so many others in their lives, very soon.
How about you? Do you regularly seek out new, appropriate challenges? Why or why not? Are you interested in directly working together? Would you find value in a mentor?
Thanks for reading.
Image courtesy of: bplanet at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
Jason –
Love the passion and I agree – if this is what you love, then I think going out and touching as many people as you can with your experiences, beliefs and suggestions would be the way to go – you’ll meet many new people along the way and help many lives; something I aspire to do as well soon enough.
When the girlfriend hears me talk about early retirement and freedom, she associates that with a couch and a computer – I say “no, it’s about taking on challenges and helping others as much as possible every single day; as long as that is truly what you also love doing”. Keep on challenging yourself, that’s what life is about, learning endlessly.
-Lanny
Lanny,
Thanks, man!
Yeah, I couldn’t agree more. Financial independence definitely isn’t about sitting around on a couch with a computer. If that’s all it ends up being for someone, I think that’s really a waste. I’m actually doing quite a bit right now, but I still feel like I’m leaving a lot of potential on the table.
In the end, you should be doing what you love, what gives meaning and purpose to your life. And you should be happy. If that means sitting on the couch, so be it. But I think 99% of people who are driven enough to get to this point are going to see that financial independence is really just the beginning. If you have certain capabilities, just ignoring them will eat away at you.
Thanks for dropping by!
Best regards.
Hi,
I´m glad to hear that you have something new and exciting up your sleeve. Looking forward reading about it.
Best regards petrusko
petrusko,
I’m really excited. It’s basically just going to complement what I’m doing here.
But I think it’s the start of a whole new phase of my life. I see myself less as a “blogger” and more as a motivational figure. I just want to help and inspire people. This is another step in that direction. 🙂
I’ll be making the changes over the coming days.
Cheers!
Either a fitness instructor or a financial planner?
Joseph,
Kind of a mix of the two. It’s something I did for a short period of time when I was running Dividend Mantra, but it quickly became overwhelming. I now have far more time and energy for it. I’ll be making the change to the site here in the next day or so.
I do still have desire to potentially be a fitness instructor/personal trainer, though. That might be something I try down the road. So many possibilities. 🙂
Best wishes!
I’m getting the motivational speaker vibe.
scott,
If I could eventually parlay all that I’ve done into something like that, I’d love to. If the right opportunity pops up, I’m all over it. I watched this documentary about Tony Robbins not too long ago. It really inspired me to try to move in that direction, to become an inspirational figure. And this move is a step toward that.
Best regards.
A portfolio review service would be cool… Look over people’s portfolios and identify any potential issues or improvements that could be made. For a reasonable fee of course…
Brandon,
That’s definitely a great idea. The potential issue there is that one is severely limited in terms of what one can recommend if they’re not licensed. You can get in a lot of trouble by recommending specific investments.
The service I’m going to be offering is going to be more broad in scope, but I’ve done a lot of one-on-one help in the area of stock/business analysis, which is a lot of fun. I really wanted to do more coaching when I was running Dividend Mantra, but I just didn’t have the time. I now have a lot more time (and energy) to really go at it. 🙂
Thanks for the suggestion!
Cheers.
Hello Jason, thanks for the post. I see you have $310k in your portfolio. How much are you collecting in dividend per year? Do you plan on not spending the dividends (until sometime far in the future) so that your portfolio can continue growing?
Jan,
I’m expecting to receive a little over $11,000 in dividend income in 2017. I’m actually planning to add a column to the portfolio spreadsheet in order to display annual income from each holding. That update will probably supersede the usual monthly income updates, which will allow me a little more time to focus on my new endeavor. But this way, anyone can go and see at any time exactly what the income is.
As for your second question, I don’t have any definitive plans there. It really all depends on how much active income I continue to earn. It also depends on how much I want to give away. Right now, I’m just reinvesting the dividend income, as my active income allows me to do that. But if the dividend income is necessary to cover me for a while, or if I want to give more away, I’m not averse to “flipping the switch” and using it to pay my bills. My urgency to buy stock is greatly diminished these days, as I’ve discussed quite a bit. I’m already in a very comfortable financial position, which is why I’m focusing on other things now. I still enjoy investing, however, so I hope to buy stock when it makes sense for me.
Cheers!
Many think of retirement as playing shuffle board until your hip goes bad, because that’s all they have seen. It shouldn’t be about that, it should be about freedom to search out what your passionate about. Unfortunately, many I know don’t retire until forced to do so due to their health. Then it’s too late. Glad you got out with your life still in front of you. I hope to do the same.
bluegrassdividends,
Yeah, that’s the common idea of retirement because too many people retire when they’re old and used up.
But if you’re able to do what you want, when you want, with whom you want at a young age, the whole concept is very, very different. You’re then free to tackle whatever challenges, pursuits, activities, and hobbies that make sense to you. And as you change, those things will likely change. It’s all part of customizing your life and aligning your lifestyle with your particular value system.
Hope you’re able to join us! 🙂
Best wishes.
Hello, Jason
Im super excited about your new phase too. looking forward to seeing it.
I definitely did not think that helping people or doing things for people would feel good, but you know what, it makes you feel amazing, that you actually can help someone, even if its the smallest things.
i never expected or would of thought that, especially in my younger days growing up
Brett,
Well, the logo of the site was changed yesterday, so the cat is out of the bag. 🙂
Helping people feels great. I think one’s maximum potential happiness is unlocked only after they’re able to routinely help people in a somewhat significant way. If you’re able to make your mark on the world, and make it a better place, that’s an incredible legacy. It’s all part of self-transcendence, which is the last step in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Thanks for dropping by!
Best regards.