On the financial independence track, where does happiness come in? When should we slow our portfolio growth to focus on lifestyle? I don’t think there is a prescriptive answer that fits everyone. These questions require us to look at why we want financial independence and examine what we are willing to sacrifice to achieve it, or at least achieve it as quickly as possible.
I sacrificed somewhere around $20,000-30,000 in annual pay to be happier.
Leaving my previous job wasn’t my first attempt at gaining some of myself back. First, I tried cutting back my days in the office, which helped, but I still felt overwhelmed. To better understand why I made that decision, here is what a typical day looked like.
Wake up at 5:00 AM, get in a one-hour workout, spend the next 30 minutes getting ready, and arrive at work around 7:00-7:15 AM to pre-chart on patients and review results before my first patient at 8. See patients from 8 until noon, then spend my lunch break catching up on charts before heading back into clinic from 1 until 5. Finish another hour of charting, get home around 6:30, and start dinner before my wife got home from her 13-hour shift.
Eleven-hour days became the norm, which I eventually accepted. What really wore on me were the bad days where I would be there for 12 or 13 hours, usually because of things completely outside my control. It really wasn’t about needing to work the extra hour; it was the effect it had on us as a couple when we were both drained and still needed to make dinner, do the dishes, pick up the house, and get ready to do it all over again the next day.
Then there was the work that followed me home. Logging in after hours, on my midweek day off, or over the weekend to handle results, call patients, or finish charting. That isn’t always easy for your friends, family, or spouse to understand. My wife was always supportive, but understandably concerned.
“You worked 60 hours this week, but you still didn’t finish all your work?”
To add to it, I was surprised by how bitter I was becoming in such a short period of time. I would catch myself muttering under my breath, “I hate this job,” because a patient showed up 25 minutes late or because someone was roomed 20 minutes behind schedule due to a staffing issue.
Three years isn’t very long when most people spend forty years of their lives working. So for a while I thought the answer was simply to push through. I kept moving the finish line.
“Do this for ten more years.”
“If you cut back on spending, you can get there in eight.”
“If you see patients during your lunch break, your productivity bonus will be better in six months.”
Looking back, that way of thinking seems crazy for two obvious reasons.
First, I was miserable from working, yet I thought the solution was to work more and work harder.
Second, my job was to take care of people.
Sure, I could have seen two or three more patients each day, but would I have been giving them my best care? Part of what made the job so draining was that it takes time to be a good provider. I wanted to be the provider who called patients back, spent extra time answering questions, wrote thoughtful notes, and went the extra mile. Trying to squeeze even more into a day that was already full would have taken away from that.
Thankfully, while on a two-week vacation overseas, completely removed from work and the responsibilities waiting for us at home, my wife and I had what felt like a crazy idea: apply for a professor position. It would be a pay cut, but it also meant a significant reduction in hours. Some weeks I work half the hours I used to, and I genuinely enjoy teaching.
So I took the leap.
Despite feeling underqualified with only one year of adjunct experience, I made it through the interview process, gave my lecture demonstration, and was fortunate enough to get the job.
Now I’ve been there for a full year.
I don’t feel guilty about working out or going for a run. Dinner is almost always ready on time. I rarely check email on the weekends. I’m not rushing out the door every morning.
Even on the weeks I work more than 40 hours at the college, it is usually doing something I enjoy, or at least don’t mind doing. I still work clinically one day a week, and those days can still be exhausting, but I can do anything once a week.
If I ever wanted to reverse the pay cut, I always have the option to pick up more clinical shifts. In the meantime, I’m happier.
I’m still saving. I’m still investing. I’m still paying down the mortgage. Sure, the checking account doesn’t grow quite as fast, but our expenses have gone down too. We eat out less, and life simply feels less rushed.
To think about it another way, would it be worth staying miserable for another five years if the alternative was working at a job I enjoy for ten?
For me, the answer is no.
I’d rather work longer doing something I enjoy than race toward an arbitrary finish line I created on a spreadsheet. Financial independence was never supposed to become another job. The goal wasn’t to retire as fast as possible. The goal was to build a life I actually wanted to live.
If reaching financial independence takes me a few extra years because I’m happier along the way, I think that’s a trade I’m willing to make.
