Friends,
On 28th February 2023, I have completed 5 years since I resigned from my prestigious and stable job at L&T Infotech (Now LTIMindtree).
True to my conviction, L&T was my first and last job. Instead of working for money, I now work for pleasure and the gratification of helping others, giving me a meaningful life.
So, on this 5th anniversary today, I am sharing my life story with you.
In late 2017, I was completely prepared to quit my job, as my financial freedom target was already completed in 2016. However, it took me 2 long years to contemplate the “softer aspects”. In a way, I lost 2 years of my life just to tackle these aspects. We will come to it later.
I used to share my plan with my friends, but the conversations would go like this.
“Oh, why are you quitting after 22 years of stint in a world-class company like L&T? Are you a victim of corporate politics?”
“No, I have the best boss and a fantastic team that one can imagine in corporate life!”
“Well then?” The asker is visibly astonished. “So, you have got a good offer, huh?”
“No, I won’t be doing any more jobs”
“So, you are taking a sabbatical for some time, it’s good for you to be away from the stress”
“Well, I do not have much stress in my work life, but this job is not something that I’d like to do for the rest of my life. So, I won’t be doing it any more!”
“What? How will you manage? Your daughter is yet to pass her board exams. Her education, marriage? Even if you take a break for a year or two, how will you live without the salary?”
“Well, I won’t be working for money anymore, and it’s not 2 years. As far as my calculation goes, I won’t need to work at least till I am 70 years old.”
“Lottery लग गयी है क्या? कि दूर के मामा की estate मिल गयी? (Did you win any lottery or have inherited properties from a remote uncle?) Is your wife earning a hefty salary?”
“Nothing of that sort. My wife has a noble profession. She is a teacher, but she quit her job due to medical reasons and now they are offering a low-profile job. I told her no more compromises from now on! So, both of us will become free (aka jobless 😄), once I quit”
Further conversation would become much more difficult for my friends as they have never come across an instance such as this. They would simply assume I’ve gone insane!😄
But when I put up my resignation (You can read my note to my friends on my blog, as-44.com), my best friends started panicking! Although they didn’t show me in front of me about their panic, I could feel it. They thought it cannot be true and that I would take back my resignation, or at least get into another job within 6 months or a year.
That’s when I created my first material for the financial awareness session and presented it to my team to explain How and Why I am taking such a decision.
But the challenges did not end there. I had more emotional challenges which are what I call “softer aspects”. Let me tell you from my experience that these “softer aspects” are immensely difficult! In fact, I believe they are harder than getting financial freedom itself. It is about how you manage your self-talk, orient your decision, and have convincing answers to all the worldly questions.
Let’s get to that one by one!
- Now you will be 24×7 at home with your wife. What else can you do without poking your nose in her job and picking up fights with her on petty issues 😄?
The video I shared earlier on this Whatsapp AS-44 group would answer it to a great extent! (To join my अर्थस्वातंत्र्य Whatsapp group, pls send me a WA message with your small introduction – your name, city, age, education, your job profile and your interests at https://wa.me/919322324698)
- How can you best spend your time being true to yourself and useful to others?
- What are your hobbies? Frankly, I had lost touch with most of my hobbies to such an extent that I had forgotten what I used to like and enjoy, I am sure your situation is no different. So this is something you should keep asking yourself every day, what would you be doing after you retire or take early financial freedom?
After seeing my conviction in my decision, most of my friends started asking me to teach them and enable them to take financial freedom. So, I found this activity interesting, meaningful, and useful too. But for that I felt, I must have a formal qualification.
Thus I started giving a series of SEBI-NISM exams for investment advisors, while my daughter was giving her class X board exam! I also started giving Financial Literacy sessions free of cost, which I am still doing, because I feel that most of my friends are not living the life they deserve and are unaware that they can do it too. I gave my sessions in NGOs where the salaries of employees were to the tune of 10000 a month. With my formula, they too are eligible for earning their financial freedom, if they wish!
The point is that even after earning financial freedom, you are still answerable to the following questions before you decide to quit your full-time job, and you must have the conviction to face and answer them. These are critical ones
- What will you do the whole day after you retire?
- What if your plan fails?
- Why do you want to leave the job and lose your monthly pay cheques?
- What is the good reason you are taking this ludicrous decision and putting your family at risk?
A handful of my friends are stuck in this situation. As I define it, financial freedom is the status of your personal finance. But leaving your job is optional. Because of having a lack of confidence in their plan, and lack of courage in answering the above questions, people still continue their stressful life, not knowing their dream life is awaiting them!
Just to touch upon question #2 above, which is the prime one in everyone’s mind, I’ll share my experience.
After I quit my job in 2018, the world really “broke” due to corona within 2 years, but I can tell you with pride that because of the financial freedom I earned, frankly I was not impacted at all. While many suffered job/salary cuts and business losses. Mind you, it is not a matter of luck, rather you just cannot leave your family’s future relying on luck.
Your plan must anticipate the unexpected! That is to say, you must always expect the “unexpected”. This is different from regular financial risk assessment.
When I see financial planners, they do not have any clue what to do in such scenarios.
Before I ventured on my journey, I took advice from 3 independent financial advisors, but none could confirm or reject my plan or could give any valuable suggestions. Later I realized that if those who are preaching “financial freedom” haven’t gotten the freedom themselves, how can they guide others?
Financial Freedom as a concept can be proven mathematically and I’ve proven it practically, too. So it’s a no-brainer to believe. But the additional delicate aspects are more daunting as they involve emotions.
Another significant soft aspect you have to deal with is losing your official title! That is something even retired people do not digest very well. You were holding your position at some organization. That gave you your identity, some authority, you had your place/cubicle/cabin/secretary, respect, your team, colleagues, and so on. Poof! and suddenly, all of this will vanish!
Now, when you are asked what are you doing? It becomes challenging to answer that! Since I chose to help others in this very path, for me “Financial Freedom Director” is answering that question! It doesn’t matter if I am earning anything from being that or not 😄. After getting your financial freedom, additional income is irrelevant. But it is certainly helping me quench the asker’s curiosity.
For me, my convincing answer is “I am nobody”😄 because, at the end of the day, that is the truth! That gives you an enormous amount of freedom and power to become anybody that you would like to become! No subject is limited to me now.
I have my answers to the remaining questions too! But that will make this article too long! So, that is the homework for you to answer. Whatsapp me your answers or where you couldn’t answer any questions. I’ll be glad to help you there, too!
Till then enjoy your life. Have an enriching today to create a better tomorrow!
-Kiran Bhave
Financial Freedom Director, AS-44.com
28 February 2023
https://wa.me/919322324698