Exit the rat race: real freedom

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I've been working since age 11, starting with a 7 day a week (!) paper route. This was in Minnesota. Ergo, blizzards. Weekends early morn as in 6am. Weekdays after school. Lasted I think 2 years. Back then we had to 'collect' meaning knock on doors, every house, to get paid. I would do that during football game on Sunday as realized more folks are home then watching. Talk about no tech old school payments. Why didn't the newspaper send them invoices, then pay us? Depending on your age you'll remember this too: paying the kid when they came a-knocking. Can you imagine 11 year olds, solo, door knocking now? Forget about it. 

I was more or less broke into my 30s. Or at least poor. Partly due to being in school until I was 25. Partly to making shite wages for years. My degree wasn't helpful to fat stacks but I could get work at least. It wasn't until I entered market research, and discovered how it's a pseudo-science, that I realized big bucks were possible. I earned an M.S. in a degree that included one year of 700-level statistics. Also, survey design & theory. None of which was useful until I entered the market research field and realized it was filled with people who had no idea what a standard deviation was, let alone larger protocols in actual measurement science. 

And yet, they were running teams, making sales, doing project management with big budgets, all around me. And they knew fuck all about measurement science. I mean literally nothing. They just spouted the mission statement, the 'we do quality work here' bullshit slogan stuff. And clients, the brand companies, buy it, and still do. But we'll deep dive this in another later post. 

Never had kids, that's a biggie to an early retirement. Maybe the biggest? Neck & neck is getting out of debt. I used to think debt was motivating, and maybe it is. Motivated me to stay in shit jobs for idjit bosses far too long. 

Simplified freedom formula:

  1. No kids (you can have kids or you can have money cushion, pick one)
  2. No debt (whatever it is: pay it off)
  3. Homeowner (no mortgage)
  4. No new cars
  5. No bad investments
  6. Don't only focus on what you make; focus on what you spend
I got into bitcoin mid 2019 through a 24-year-old colleague & crypto guru. Got lucky crossing paths with him for sure. Bitcoins were around $10k then. Bought a few. Rolled over my small flatlined ($20k balance) Roth IRA to iTrust Capital (a crypto Roth firm). That $20k is now $150k. In 2 years. Along the way I discovered bitcoin 'miners' as a regular stock investment (miners 'make' bitcoin). Got lucky with the timing, maybe. But that counts too. How much? Up well into 6 figures in profit in 2.5 years. Nice gig if you can get it. 

I quit working in beginning of 2020, finally. I'm way, way younger than the 'normal' retirement age. But I realized I can withdraw $45k/yr, considered taxable income, from my investments. For a long time. Then, I could walk away from the rat race, keep my taxes low and (key) secure low-cost health insurance. And that's it: I'm done. I don't need a job to feel like I actually exist. Do you? Bunch of my buddies do. They dig the paycheck treadmill. Reminder:

A paycheck is the drug they give you when they want you to forget about your dreams.    

In Q3 2021 I moved most of my conventional IRA into short term T-bills (BIL) which flatline regardless of the market. Also sold all my MARA around then, keeping that on the sidelines still. The other conventional chunk is in 3 stocks. Two are drug companies (ACAD & DARE) the other is a bitcoin miner I like long term (BITF). Currently all down; buy the dip! One or more of these will be a winner in a few years. I'm fine if they don't but at least one will 'moon.' 

Here's a shiny new interesting blurb on exiting the rat race, or 'antiwork.' If you're keen on this topic, check it out.  

Freedom isn't about waving a flag or screaming at school boards. 

Freedom is the ability to live life how & where you wish.

Update September 2023: 

  • Sold all BIL & bought TCPC
  • Sold all ACAD & bought TCPC
  • Roth IRA back to earth, $60k ish