MORE THINGS I NO LONGER DO THANKS TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM!

When I originally composed my seminal article, Things I No Longer Do Thanks to Financial Freedom, I was actually still working, with the end of my esteemed career only seconds away. As anyone who has ever retired (early or not) knows, being that close affords you a seemingly wondrous perspective into the preposterous and absurd machinations of all things inherent in “corporate life.”

As such, I was brimming with excitement, angst, and invective as I penned what would be a take-no-prisoners style excoriation of everything I execrated about my executive position. Upon publishing, I was actually a bit surprised that the venomous screed, intentionally laden with a sugary, wry humor, would, in fact, touch far more nerves than I ever could have imagined. It was immediately picked up and featured by some rather large FIRE sites and, even after, a year and a half of writing, still remains the undisputed champion of all my articles.

Whilst composing, I had a modicum of self-awareness to realize that I was seriously geezed-up on my impending freedom and recall quite vividly wondering if at some point in the future I would still be thankful of all of these things I would soon no longer have to do.

After nearly two years of walking away from my career, I can unequivocally attest that I, without a preponderance of doubt, still actively despise everything I viciously lampooned in that article. In fact, after this much time, I’ve become cognizant that there are many more things I am grateful that I no longer do thanks to financial freedom. So, to misquote U2 yet again, let us peer at some of the additional things that we can leave behind.

“Financial independence and freedom, in general, are all about choice. They are as much about not doing things as they are about relentlessly pursuing all we are impassioned by.”

STRESS ABOUT LOSING MY JOB

In all candor, it was the recent fallout from the global pandemic and the horrifically historic U.S. unemployment figures that got my mind cogitating on this entire subject and re-reading my original article. Blinded by insanely low unemployment figures and personal marketability at the time of writing, I unwittingly missed the most obvious benefit of financial independence – not having a job to lose.

Without being in any way dependent on a job, or even having one, ameliorates all fear of actually losing it. And, I have had jobs in historically uncertain times (2008 to be precise) and worried incessantly about losing it, until I did. Which, of course became a whole ‘nother realm of goddamned panic. Like many, I made it through just fine. In fact, far better than fine. That said, not having to fret about losing one’s job is a pretty fantastic feeling.

FEAR OF THE ABOMINABLE TAXMAN

My esteemed blogging pal, Accidental Fire, recently published a superb article on many of the trade-offs of working less than full-time. Not surprisingly, his list started with the largest and, consequently, most obvious: not getting a full-time paycheck. I will assert this is, incontrovertibly, true, however, through another lens, it also means you are no longer paying full-time taxes.

While I am certainly grateful to have done exceedingly well in my particular profession as a Fortune 500 executive and earned quite well. I never, at any point, was comfortable with giving 50% of it away in federal and state income taxes. Every time I looked at a pay stub, the old Eddy Murphy line of “Half, Eddy! Half!” always cluttered my mind. Then I’d compute that I had to work a 60 hour work week to effectively do my executive gig, but was paid based upon 40. Then half would disappear and I’d be left with a net of 20 hours of actual pay for a 60-hour week. Honestly, after giving millions of my earnings away in taxes during my career, I’m actually stoked that my current effective tax rate is now less than 1%.

FIRING PEOPLE

This was particularly predominant in my line of work as a VP of HR for very, very large corporations. Even coming up as an HR manager, I never, ever liked or enjoyed firing people. Even in times when they deserved it. It’s uncomfortable, awkward and ignoble for all involved. I always told myself that if it ever became untroubling or easy, then it was a signal that my soul had been lost. That said, I became amazingly proficient at it, to the point where someone once said, “If I ever have to get fired, I hope it’s by you.” But I always despised it. Even more so, when some incompetent manager would stall while I was there as a witness and would then have to jump in to save everyone’s dignity. In any event, I’m eternally grateful that’s something I no longer do.

PLACE POLITICS OVER SELF

Admittedly, I struggled with this title. It was originally “Political Correctness,” but that was both a misnomer as well as obscure. Here’s what I mean. Oft-times at work (particularly at the executive level) one must always be attuned to political affiliations, behave in a way that preserves employment (see Stink of Fear), and “go with the flow” even if that manifests in a repudiation of one’s individual values or beliefs. Or even just calling bullshit on idiocy.

As a real-life example, there was a president of a business line that I reported to. He was wildly eccentric, but delivered results and could easily have ended my career if I spoke to him like someone who could not. I can’t say compulsive note-taking is on the autism spectrum as I’m not qualified to do so, but that was his thing. To the extent that he could not comprehend much incoming information being so engrossed in documenting life around him. Today, my financially independent statement to him would be, “Hey! Stop taking notes like some cracked-up court stenographer, asshole, and listen to what we’re saying.” At the time it was, “Hey! Notes. That’s a brilliant idea.” I still wonder what he did/does with all those notebooks. Probably like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory, he’s got a suite of storage units.

PRODUCTIVITY

Hot diggity – Being free from the omnipresent, stifling yoke of productivity was one of the greatest rewards of financial freedom. Make no mistake. Now that I am nearly two years out from working, I’ve really come to realize that our national obsession with productivity is actually something more akin to a malaise, but likely closer to a unified form of brainwashing. I will openly admit, that I am naturally a “doer,” in that I’m am hyper achievement oriented and cannot be idle at all (unless reading). But the difference here is that I define my own productivity, not someone else.

Waking up each day to a calendar in which Every. Single. Second. is a) accounted for and b) by something that resembles “productivity” of some sort, particularly if it’s driven by work, is a form of self-imposed slavery. Why are there so many websites, blog articles, etc. that are focused on how “productive” you can be? Productive for whom? Who is writing these things anyway? Financial freedom means living by your definition of productivity, not your boss’ or the owner of the company you work for.

SUPERFICIALITY / DIRECTING YOUR OWN CAST

Here’s how I think most of us operate, or maybe it’s just me. If I like you and we are legitimately united by joint passions, interests, views, etc., then we’re friends. Just because we happen to be employed by the same organization or on the same “team” is not a, de facto, basis for the former. Sure, like everyone, I enjoy being around people, even if I don’t necessarily desire to be friends with them. But the level of imposed friendly superficiality in the workplace is something I’ve never missed – not for a hot second. Don’t get me wrong though, I do “love you like a co-worker.”

Also, unlike a captive work environment, I now have the near-absolute ability to fill my life and daily interactions with a cast of my own choosing. Notwithstanding, general public encounters with the likes of retail folks, neighbors, etc., my life only involves those with whom I choose to interact with. Not shockingly, it’s peopled with, well, people I like and love and have legitimate bonds with that aren’t forced upon me. They are my friends, not my “team mates.”

HAVE A BOSS

There’s the old adage, “Everyone has a boss,” which was, clearly, coined by someone who always had one or was playing at being some existential twat. The reality is that not everyone has a boss. I certainly don’t. To be fair, over the course of my career, I had far more good bosses than bad ones. My last one was fantastic and there were others who made me seriously contemplate bringing in a can of bear spray to the board room. I’m certain that many of my former direct reports would put me in both categories to be objective on this. But let’s all be real here – none of us wants a boss.

The reality is that the financially free individual is only and exclusively accountable to themselves. No one else. This alone is worth the price of admission. That said, I’ve come to find that many days, I am quite an asshole, productivity-obsessed boss to myself. I imagine the good thing is that if I ever need to fire myself it will be in an extremely sophisticated, graceful fashion characterized by both respect and dignity.

CONCLUSION

So. There you have it. A list of even more things I no longer do thanks to financial freedom. Even now, after two years, it still feels as good to get those ones off my chest as did the topics that made the original article. While my topics may have expanded, my original advice still stands as rock solid:

“If you’re ever in doubt of your FIRE aspirations, DON’T BE! Keep at it and it will be worth it – I promise!

What are some of the things you have left or can’t wait to leave behind on your journey to financial independence? I’d enjoy hearing from you?

BONUS SECTION FOR THOSE WHO’VE READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

While this article certainly expands on what I’m grateful to have left behind or no longer do, I did exhaust a scintilla of time wondering if there’s anything I truly miss. And there is. At the height of my career, I was constantly surrounded by extremely bright, highly-educated, motivated, passionate professionals. I actually do miss that quite a bit, but certainly, it’s zero trade-off for financial freedom.

P.S. – I’ve spent time in many airports since ceasing to work and I am here to assure you, the ubiquitous seas of urine are, sadly, still there.