E-Book Overview
Forget searching for the right job—start building a life in which you don’t need a job. A job-free life is possible, and you have options about how to achieve it. This book provides real-world examples of people who have successfully quit the rat race using four different strategies: extreme saving, unjobbing, lifestyle businesses, and startups. Whether you want to achieve financial independence and retire early, or simply never work for anyone else again, this book provides an essential guide to the different lifestyle-design strategies open to you. An inspiring and concise introduction to job freedom and financial independence, by someone who has achieved both.
E-Book Content
Contents Title Page Introduction Chapter One: Extreme Saving Chapter Two: Unjobbing Chapter Three: Lifestyle Businesses Chapter Four: Startups Chapter Five: Choosing a Job-Free Lifestyle Chapter Six: The Psychological Challenge Appendix: About Investing Bibliography Acknowledgements About the Author Dedication Endnotes 2 Job Free Four Ways to Quit the Rat Race and Achieve Financial Freedom on Your Terms by Jake Desyllas 3 Introduction Whoever will be free must make himself free. —Max Stirner Peter’s Story Sometimes a single conversation can change your life, by opening your mind to possibilities never dreamed of. I was lucky to have such a conversation at a young age, quite unexpectedly. It happened when Peter told me how he planned to become a millionaire, retire early, and never work in a job again. At the age of sixteen, I was trying to make sense of Marxism. My parents were both socialists, and I wanted to be one too. But the more I read about Marxism, the less sense it made. I was asking a lot of questions that my mother couldn’t answer. She suggested that I speak to a man called Peter, who had previously been involved in the same political group as her. When I met Peter, he was in his mid-twenties and I was a teenager. He had a wellpaid job in the City, London’s financial center. I visited Peter at his small Greenwich apartment, where he showed me into a room he called his “library.” Every wall had floor-to-ceiling shelving, stacked full with books. Peter seemed to have read every important book I had heard of in the fields of philosophy, history, and politics. Whenever I borrowed one of these books in the years to come, I would find pages of his neatly written notes tucked inside the covers. He formed his own theories and viewpoints about everything he read, but he was unconcerned about publishing any of his ideas. Peter was not a typical city worker. His favorite character from literature was Sherlock Holmes, whose demeanor he obviously emulated—he even smoked a pipe. He rarely socialized and was awkward around strangers, especially women. His favorite activity was discussing philosophy in an armchair in his library, with a glass of whiskey, surrounded by a fog of pipe smoke. Peter had suffered an extremely harsh childhood in poverty. He was an orphan, adopted by violently abusive parents. His adoptive parents were ignorant and did not value education, but he had nonetheless succeeded in getting into Cambridge, one of the most exclusive universities in the country. Over many late nights, many cigarettes for me, and many pipe refills for Peter, I questioned him about Marxism. Rather than defend his former ideology, Peter recognized fallacies in the arguments. He frankly acknowledged that ideas he had previously advocated were not just fallacious, but also incredibly destructive. As a result of our discussions, he abandoned Marxism once and for all, and I gave up on the idea of becoming a convert. We became good friends. A couple of years after we met, Peter and I had the conversation that changed my 4 life. By this time, Peter had left his city job and set up his own business. I learned a