Here’s a ‘scary’ email I received from a reader recently…
…I am writing this email to seek your opinion on a career move I’ve made recently. Taking inspiration from you, I’ve quit my job and have started as a full time investor. This I think was the best route for me to attain financial freedom, like you have attained.
I have been highly inspired by you and your work, and thus wanted to seek your view on what I can do to become a successful value investor and attain financial freedom…
It feels great to be an inspiration to someone, but it feels scary if the “inspired” gets the wrong inspiration.
In fact, I’ve received several such emails and calls in the past with people asking me how they can become full time investors like me, and achieve financial freedom at a young age.
The reason I call these emails ‘scary’ is because…
- I am not a full time investor.
- I have not yet attained financial freedom.
In fact, investing is what I do to keep and grow my money, like you do. Plus, I still work to earn my bread.
Yes I quit my job last year to work on Safal Niveshak…but quitting a job does not always follows/or is followed by attaining financial freedom.
It’s just that I now work from my home, work as much as I can to earn enough to survive now and in the future, and spend a lot of time with my family and things that give me happiness. Things like…
- Helping people get simple and sensible with their money, via Safal Niveshak
- Helping parents and grandparents share their life lessons with children to enable the latter to live a life of compassion and integrity, via A Letter to My Child
- Helping children with multidisciplinary learning, via a small library that I’m starting soon out of my living room
- Spending time in activities like reading and Silent Wednesday
Researching stocks and investing is just small part of my daily life.
As far as financial freedom is concerned, I have not yet attained it (it’s work-in-progress).
I work as a copywriter and content writer – writing website content and marketing mailers for companies in the financial space. This is what earns me money.
Some of my friends, cousins and ex-colleagues (and also some tribesmen) think I am “lucky” to be living this life…but few know about the scare I went through without any work or income for the first two months after I’d quit my job.
That was a choice I made, and it’s a choice that’s open for anyone to make. But when I came to know of a few who quit their jobs or are looking to quit their jobs to ‘live like me’, I was scared enough…and thus thought of writing this post about why I quit my job and how I made the decision.
Before I quit my job…
Getting out of your comfort zone is the most difficult thing in the world to do. But then, the thing that I learnt early in my life (through an advice from someone I respect a lot) was that the time to quit is before it feels painful. The worst time to quit is when the pain is the greatest, simply because decisions made during great pain are rarely good decisions.
So I decided to quit when I thought I was starting to get comfortable in my job…because that comfort was leading me to stagnation, and thus pain.
I wanted to do bigger and better things in life than to spend my precious hours working on lifeless excel models, worrying what companies were planning to do in the future, searching (in vain) for stocks that would do well in the future, and making my employer happy by doing what he wanted me to do!
I thus decided to quit, but not before I answered the following five questions…
1. Why do I want to quit?
I’m a big believer in the concept of “opportunity cost”. So I look at all my decisions on a relative basis. Even quitting my job wasn’t a decision in isolation.
I didn’t quit because I hated my boss or my job. (Yes, yes…I did that, but that was not the driving reason) 🙂
I quit because, as I wrote above, I had bigger and better things to do with my little time on this planet than work on a job that wasn’t something I wanted to do for the rest of my life, and that took away almost 15 hours of my daily life…including the arduous 3.5 hours of travel in stuffed suburban trains.
I quit because I wanted to stay close to my family, even if that meant a lower income (some people have called this an irrational decision, but so am I…irrational!)
I quit because I wanted to work towards improving my health that I’d ignored during the first eight years of my career.
I quit because I wanted to live in idleness whenever and for however long I wanted, not whenever my boss allowed.
Once I knew exactly what I wanted, I asked myself, “How much do I want it?” I wanted it very much, and thus I quit.
2. Can I do, what I want to do, without quitting?
The thought of sacrificing a big salary (stock market analysts draw much bigger salaries than they deserve) was scary at first. But then I realized that the life I wanted to live was not possible in the situation I was in when I was working on a job. I tried changing my work schedule to allow time for other things, but failed in that attempt.
I had to get the workload off my back if I wanted to run free, and thus I quit.
3. Do I have a plan B?
I did not quit without preparation. It would have been a suicide if I’d done that.
Instead, I worked towards improving my skills in simple writing, and learned the basics of technology and online marketing, to be able to do things on my own.
I bought a laptop and started developing content for Safal Niveshak during my travel to and from office (at times, I found people staring at me as I typed on my laptop while standing in the local train).
But then, I never prepared a business plan and never had a plan B.
This might sound like a foolish decision, but in hindsight, I think whatever little success I’ve made of my writing business and Safal Niveshak, it’s because I focused…because I had no plan B…no escape route.
All I said to myself was, “You want it so much, then just do it!”
…and thus I quit.
4. Do I have the support of my family?
Now this is one of the most important parts of the process of quitting your job, especially if you have dependents.
When I decided to quit my job, I had my wife and daughter to take care of…plus another child was on its way. So I “had to have” a buy in into this decision from my wife.
Not only did I get her unending support, I also found support from my daughter who was ready to sacrifice her future toys and gifts just to see Papa with her…and thus I quit.
5. Am I placed comfortably on my finances?
Quitting a job to follow your passion is a lovely thought, except when it comes to your finances.
So here are three things that I ensured before I quit my job:
- I paid off my home loan out of my savings and some help from the family – I cut my financial liability to zero.
- I had enough saved to cover 35 months of expenses (so this was a sort of plan B for me)
- As a family, we were willing to cut down on our lifestyle expenses.
I now earn just 50% of what I would have earned if I was on a job now, but I’m 5x more content with what I’m doing now.
Plus, as far as my financial life is concerned, I have not compromised on my savings at all. I still save and invest 50% of my monthly income, which if I can compound at 15% per year, I would be able to spend my retirement comfortably.
In fact, if I were to stop earning now, I can survive financially for the next 70 months…or 3 years more than when I had quit my job.
All this because for me and my wife, the equation of “Earn – Save = Spend” holds paramount. That’s the simplest financial plan we continue to work on.
Some lessons I want to share
Here are some lessons from my experience in quitting my job and living a life my way…just in case you are sailing in the same boat as I was 20 months back:
- You don’t need to quit your job if you can work on your passion alongside.
- Quitting your job must be the last resort, or when you find the burden unbearable and abusive.
- Quitting a job and living a fulfilling life isn’t as easy as those who have done it would make out to be. Things get scary at times.
- Quitting you job will affect others in your life, so it’s critical that you have an honest conversation with your family first and get their buy into the decision.
- Learn an important and sellable skill before you quit your job to start on your own.
- Quitting a job to live as an investor can be a path to hell. Don’t expect investing to make you rich, but to keep you rich. It’s the earning from your work, and what you do with it, that will make you rich.
- Practice minimalism and lean living at least a year before you plan to quit your job. Instant compromises are heart breaking!
- Save money to use as initial capital for your business, and then keep your expenses low. Don’t borrow money for your business till the time you aren’t generating cash. As an investor, you hate cash guzzling businesses, right?
- Don’t believe people who tell you – “How I quit my job, doubled my pay and cut my hours in half”…or something like this. They will not help you if you reach a point of no return.
Before you quit your job…
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ~ Mark Twain
Writing, meditating, sharing, caring, and giving. That’s what I’m doing now.
I’ve refused to be a slave to others’ expectations, and have decided to avoid the traps of money, status, and perceived success. So, to my old life, I’ve bid farewell.
But I won’t advise you to take inspiration from me and quit your job.
This is because I believe there are two ways to live a fulfilling life…
- To have passion in your life, and
- To have life in your passion
I have chosen the second way, because that is where my heart lies.
Your heart might lie somewhere else. But if you are still considering quitting your job, I would suggest you answer the above five questions (and maybe more like these) to understand clearly what you are getting into.
If the answers give you the confidence to quit your job and break free, read the following passage and get going. I came across this passage just when I was about to quit my job (as I was searching for inspiration), and then yesterday.
Not me, this should serve the real inspiration for you!
Love Your Path by Paolo Coelho
- The path begins at a crossroads. There you can stop and think what direction you want to take. But don’t spend too much time thinking or you’ll never leave the spot. Ask yourself the classic Carlos Castaneda question: Which of these paths has a heart?
- The path doesn’t last forever. It’s a blessing to travel the path for some time, but one day it will come to an end, so be prepared to take leave of it at any moment.
- Honor your path. It was your choice, your decision, and just as you respect the ground you step on, that ground will respect your feet. Always do what’s best to conserve and keep your path and it will do the same for you.
- Be well-equipped. Carry a small rake, a spade, a penknife. Understand that penknives are no use for dry leaves, and rakes are useless for herbs that are deep-rooted. Know what tool to use at each moment. And take care of your tools, because they’re your best allies.
- The path goes forward and backward. At times you have to go back because something was lost, or a message to be delivered was forgotten in your pocket. A well tended path enables you to go back without any great problem.
- Take care of the path before you take care of what’s around you. Attention and concentration are fundamental. Don’t be distracted by the dry leaves at the edges. Use your energy to tend and conserve the ground that accepts your steps.
- Be patient. Sometimes the same tasks have to be repeated, like tearing up weeds or closing holes that appear after unexpected rain. Don’t let that annoy you; it’s part of the journey. Even though you’re tired, even though certain tasks are repeated so often, be patient.
- Paths cross. People can tell you what the weather is like elsewhere. Listen to advice, but make your own decisions. You’re responsible for the path entrusted to you.
- Nature follows its own rules. You have to be prepared for sudden changes in the fall, slippery ice in winter, the temptations of flowers in spring, thirst and showers in the summer. Make the most of each of these seasons, and don’t complain about their characteristics.
- Make your path a mirror of yourself. By no means let yourself be influenced by the way others care for their paths. You have your own soul to listen to, and the birds to whisper translations of what your soul is saying.
- Love your path. Without this, nothing makes any sense.
By the way, my doors and windows are open if you need any help and guidance in making the decision to quit your job. I’d love to play the devil’s advocate!
As for my consultancy fee, it’s a cup of coffee and your promise to share the learning with someone needy in the future…again for just a cup of coffee. 🙂
Vishal, you have articulated this very well.
Best wishes and look forward to see you regularly at Silent Wednesdays 🙂
Cheers,
Deven
Thanks Deven! Yes, I will be there to listen to my heart beat each time. 🙂
Excellent and one of your best post.
I will suggest two books “Four hour work week” by Timothy Ferris and “Gift of job loss” by Michael Froehls. After my role was made redundant a year back, these books helped me tremendously in arriving at my decision of not pursuing full time job again but to start on my own to pursue my dream. The book by Timothy Ferris is quite controversial and I myself do not agree with lot of stuff. But the first 50 pages of the book are worth more than its price. In Four hour work week Timothy Ferris suggest to write down the best case and worst case scenario of one’s decision and how one will tackle it. Though I begin the exercise half-heartedly, I realized that putting things on paper gives lot of clarity.
Hi Anil Kumar,
I have heard of this book “Four hour work week” . Can you please mention top 3 things one should take from this book?
Also, I would like to know how this book “Gift of job loss” has helped you.
Thank you.
Regards,
Avadhut
Firstly Vishal, as always, you have put it down very well. Am sure your writing/ copy writing skills are well utilised here.
If men cannot understand simple things like Writing, meditating, sharing, caring, and giving, all complicated things have little meaning. One should do what gives him or her happiness, comfort, pleasure while keeping health in order. In a program the instructor mentioned ‘we are busy spending all our health to get wealth and then we spend all our wealth to get back health :-)).’
I too wrote down the questions and answers and gave weightages to each to help me decide between two job options when I changed jobs. It is natural that doubts reappear and when you look at these notes you are reassured/ can analyse your next decision better.
Inspiration should be from within having assessed your alternatives and what one can stretch to given the possibilities. Those who achieve exceptional outcomes (which also is relative) may have done so in a totally different context, which we may not be aware of or had indeed some gift/ talent which we may or may not have, so keep your mind open and analyse very well before you take a decision like quitting a job.
Each person would have his own questions and answers and risk appetite.
Thank you Sir for suggesting books.
You seem to be an avid reader.
Any other books on any topic which you may like to recommend to fellow readers ?
Sudhir, you may have read “Who Moved My Cheese”, an amazing one-hour read on dealing with change. Plus, “One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way”. These are two amazing books for those who are looking to take the next steps but fear the unknown. Regards.
Who moved my cheese helped me change my job once. 🙂
I second your view and suggestion Anil! Thanks for sharing.
Vishal,
Excellent and well written article, straight from the experienced person. I believe every word of it and you are an inspiration to many. Yes to me, including your open mindedness to share everything. One day, I would love to acquire skills of open mindedness and sharing that you have.
You have my best wishes for life 🙂
Avadhut
Frankly Avadhut the fact that you acknowledge open mindedness itself indicates its presence.
Avadhut, I agree with Sudhir’s view. 🙂
Frankly to me pursuit of wealth can be a very pure pursuit which if not polluted by any other low level desires can be very helpful to society but provided it is done ethically i.e. basis hard work and ability.
The school in which my kids study mentions ‘vidya dadati vinayam’ in its logo. It means with vidya (read gyan) we attain vinay (humility, modesty), from vinay we attain wealth and with wealth we protect dharm. So to me this is a very simple clear message passed through the ages.
And therefore good sincere action 9which helps oneself and society) and not quitting is the essence of a fruitful life. Problems occur when actions are made with malicious intent (like everything for myself, stealing, hoarding, etc) which is what gyan and character helps to keep us away from.
It’s indeed a simple and clear message. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks vishal for sharing. It will be very useful to peoples who plan to live their dream. Also it shows the importance of emergency fund /CASH in this situations. I have seen peoples who are wish andn talent. But they never get started because of inadequate plan.
I hope this is useful, Murali. Those who don’t appreciate the importance of emergency fund often find themselves into emergencies.
Hello Vishal,
Just loved this post.
This post reminds me lines from a famous book “Think and Grow Rich”
“I will burn all bridges behind me, and stake my ENTIRE FUTURE on my ability to get what I want. (I leave myself) no possible way of retreat. (I) had to win or perish!”
“Every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to burn his ships and cut all sources of retreat. Only by so doing can one be sure of maintaining that state of mind known as a BURNING DESIRE TO WIN, essential to success. ”
That’s another wonderful book, Harshad. Thanks for sharing the big idea! Burning your ship is agreeable and sometimes important if you believe in your path ahead with complete integrity.
This is a fantastic write-up! Not only this would provide an inspiration to many who are at the crossroad of life, facing a dilemma as to what to do, but your own experience narrated so well would also prevent many from making a mistake and ruining their life ahead by committing harakiri.
I am sure, most of us have thought about this topic of attaining financial freedom, retiring early but few would have achieved this utopian dream; and, this post by Vishal would help everyone in making a decision regarding this subject.
But, really, a very well-written post!
Thanks for the appreciation, Manish!
HI Vishal,
I know exactly what you mean here.
I am in same boat.
The more i read you , the more i start admiring you.
Thanks for being there and enlighting us about the true meaning of life in a way.
Thanks
Nitin Kumar
It’s always a pleasure, Nitin. Thanks for believing!
Its very enlightening to read your newsletters. I am amazed at the thought process you apply in every aspect of life.. & the best part is.. you are prepared for failures. You dare to dream and simultaneously you are grounded also to accept if things didn’t turn out as you’ve wished. I appreciate your plan B strategy – I feel it gives a lot of confidence & enthu to goahead with your Paln A.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.. i don’t know much about investing nor I intend to become a full time investor, but definetly reading your mails are helping me to take better decisions.
Thanks & regards,
Pragya
Pragya, I think having a few noble friends (like I found in my wife and daughter) is a must if you want to dare to dream and also be prepared for failures. Thanks anyways for reading. Regards.
Hi Vishal,
Thanks for sharing your experiences and the real challenges. The decision to start something of your own is interesting and romantic, but when seen in the light of your monthly salary and position disappearing, then it looks impossible.
I’ve been passionate about investing, personal finance and also worked on writing and training in these areas.
Is there a possibility of Safal Niveshak starting courses/workshops where people can benefit from? There are some portals such as Jago Investor which have these offline programs too. Any plans for this in future?
I’m also interested in working with or contributing to SN if there is a possibility. Let me know your views or suggestions.
Thanks,
Sridhar
Sridhar, nice to know that yo share the passion.
I already conduct workshops across cities. I’ve conducted six till now (Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, and Ahmedabad). Kolkata is next. Where do you live? Regards.
Dear Vishal,
Thanks for such a honest, crystal clear thoughts on quiting Job, which is rare to get.
I wish for a day to have a cup of coffee with you.
With kind regards
Y Ashokraj
Dear Ashok, you are most welcome. 🙂
Hi Vishal,
Great article, i also faced a similar problem sometime back ago. But a few things stopped me from taking the plunge.
I made a list of all the things and thought on each of them point by point. So here is the list.
1) Boss
2) Work
3) Time to read on value investing.
4) Money
5) Recognition
6) Financial freedom
Boss and work at the office was never an issue. I work in an IT company and thankfully the amount of stress and tension that i have made myself face is a lot less compared to what my peers do to themselves. And its not because of my boss or my work. These two are perennially hateful. Its just that i stopped participating in the rat race (promotion, onsite to America, Europe and all) and started to focus all my energy on value investing.
Also, i live near to my office so commuting time is less and i have ample time to do myriad things.
The time at the office was always an issue so i figured out a way. I followed an approach where you say complete A, B, and C items in 1 day but inform to the client that only A is completed on 1 day, B on day 2 and C on day 3. I know this is not ethically correct but when you look at the cash piles (IT budgets) of these big US, UK banks you can let your conscience go easy 🙂
As far as money, recognition and financial freedom was concerned, i was making enough money to support my monthly needs and enough for saving purposes. And as far as financial freedom, recognition and truck loads of money is concerned, I would like to say “Rome was not build in a day”. Just have patience and read Vishal’s mails 🙂 and by God’s Will you will get all three.
All in all i thought if i get my head straight and be sensible i can make a decent living while continuing with my current job and be happy.
And yes to top it all, there is always value investing that i just love and read about it as much as possible.
Current status – I have stopped dreaming of building Rome in a day and have become focused on being happy and slowly but gradually building a decent portfolio. The only rush that i have in life is that of gaining as much knowledge, information about value investing as possible which i know that even if i become next Warren Buffett would not get exhausted. 🙂
Thanks,
Keyur
These are great insights, Keyur. Thanks for sharing with the tribe! 🙂
Ha ha Keyur I loved your idealism splattered with pragmatism. Well thought and well written.
Hi Keyur,
I am in the same boat as yours. Would be nice to get in touch with you. If you can share your email then it would be great. I have just started with value investing and parallely reducing my home loan.
Would like to discuss and take knowledge on value investing.
Thanks,
Vivek H.
Well written Vishal.
There is a great learning for the new investors like me from the article “How I Quit My Job And Found Myself”.
Really you are doing a good job.keep it up.
Thanks Nirmal!
Very well written sir … fantastic …
Thank your Niren!
Dear Vishal,
Thanks for this lovely post.
Yes.. I am also in this conundrum of wanting to quit, but not being
prepared for it.
Thanks for some balanced views.. makes sense to decide really why I
need to quit and not for the sake of quitting.
Thanks again for sharing your own example.
Best regards,
Akbar
I hope this helps, Akbar. All the best!
Hi Vishal,
Good Morning!! Really liked the below post.
I am in a similar situation being in the process of just starting my own personal finance planning and advisory business. But I am not writing to tell you that I got inspired by you. So dont be scared!!
Its definitely needs to be a well thought out decision not only about short term goals but also about how it would shape up over the long term. You cant predict the future but it makes sense to visualise the future for yourself. I believe in the maxim “You become what you really want to be”. To me, this is the most important thing when you quit a full time job to start something on your own. You should have some idea how your new business would look like in 3 years, 5 years, 10 years and 20 years down the line. I have tried to mentally map how my business would look like in the above time frames.
I have secured the family finances for the next 3 years including my housing loan. I could have pulled on for another 12 months to eliminate the loan component but I felt it was like dragging it too much. So, have taken a call to start it now.
The future is uncertain in business like every other thing in Life! So uncertainty is a friend you have to live with. The other thing I have realised as part of starting my own venture is that you need to really work much harder than while being employed. The stories of working half of time, earning double the money and spending quality time with the family and all would happen only after sometime. You need to be patient to achieve this.
Overall, its an experience worth living! I am enjoying every moment of it.
Thanks once again for this thoughtful article.
Regards
Venkateswaran
Thanks for sharing your story, Venkat! I must say that it was inspiring. 🙂
V niče article Vishal, the temptation is v high unless the truth is spoken ! Well written ! Kudos Santosh
Thank you Santosh!
Hi Vishal,
Your posts are always superb to read…and this one is masterpiece for someone like me who is indecisive about his job. There is always a lot to learn from you and your humbleness. Thanks for your wonderful guidance.
Vikas Kukreja
Thanks for the appreciation, Vikas!
Though Safal Niveshak has become a cult in itself, I wouldn’t mind if name of the blog is changed to Invest_In_Life.
🙂
Carry on the inspirational work Vishal… Really love what you preach and teach. One of the prime goals of life should be to ‘Become Rememberable’. And if people do remember you for what you have done, even after 2-3 generations, you have had a worthwhile stay on earth.
Ha ha, Dev! 🙂
Thanks for the appreciation and motivation! You yourself are doing a good work.
Great article Vishal. Thing to remember is that investing is how you grow your money. For that one needs source of money. Even Warren Buffet is into insurance business. Another thing you mentioned about is lifeless excel models. I so agree with you… & merger & acquisition models are even more soulless. Trust me… :P… Stock market analysts get paid more than what they deserve. Spot on…. :P… M&A analysts get paid because they are cheap labour if you count in the working hours and mindless grunt-work & giant task of pampering egos…
Thanks for sharing the belief, Gaurav! 🙂
“If I look back at my own life and identify key decisions I took that explain my current situation, I find that most of those decisions required burning bridges. On the other hand, in my day-to-day affairs including investment-related affairs, I find that preserving optionality has helped me in making better decisions.” This is what Prof Sanjay Bakshi said in this post. Though this post relates to invesment, as Prof bakshi said it can be applied successfully to our own life.
I thought this can provide another tool to arrive at a decision whether to quit job or not.
Thanks for sharing your experiences, Vishal.I must say I felt like reading myself through out this post.This post will add great value to people like me who are on their way to achieve financial independence and following their own dreams.
Hi Vishal,
Thanks a lot for all that you are doing. It’s indeed a very big thing. I have come across your website thru this article as the first one and i really liked every word of it. Very thoughtful and nicely articulated. Specially, the lifeless excel models and other vague things that we all are doling most of the time and fooling ourselves just to survive for the next day and procrastinating our exit from the comfort zone. Ofcourse, i understand that most of us continue with it for the responsiblities and other social issues that we have to face everyday. Finally, cheers for the website and sharing your thoughts. Will surely spread the good word for it amongst my circle.
Kind Rgds
Shahzad
Hi vishal,
I was really touched by the following words.
“As for my consultancy fee, it’s a cup of coffee and your promise to share the learning with someone needy in the future…again for just a cup of coffee.”
You had yourself mentioned that” I now earn just 50% of what I would have earned if I was on a job now, but I’m 5x more content with what I’m doing now.”
If anybody in your position would be trying to compensate this loss of income by some additional income. But just a cup of coffee as fee. Hats off to you.
Regards
Kumar
Hi Vishal,
Latest Safal Niveshak tribesman but I am sure many more to follow to enlighten themselves by reading your thoughts. Truly inspiring article. Lots of lessons to be learnt by reading your articles. Will surely collect the books recommended.
Thanks and regards,
Amaresh Nabar.
Another excellent article. Really, this article has objectivity and skips bias views – A quality of a good value-investor 🙂
Hats off to you for such a brilliant article. I am really impressed by your writing style and clearness of your thoughts.
Not actually wanting to quit current job, but it was a good read.
Sometimes, when I feel that I should leave this job, I just write down pros- and cons- of current job and future job/business/work. That helps me make a clear decision.
Quite easily the best article of the year.
BTW my first visit. Keep up the good work.
Vishal,
It may look like a bit exaggerated but whenever I read such kind of excellent posts I feel as if God is speaking through your words…keep up the good work through ur posts…:-)
Hi Vishal,
In one of the comments you have mentioned about workshops.
What kind of workshops do you undertake?
And what is the course curriculum?
Hey Vishal, Been there done that. Congrats on your leap of faith. That is what Life is all about, read how i did it.
Inspiring, Manish! Thanks for sharing your story. Regards.
inspiring your story and comments!
Hi,
It was nice to read,
I had same view of environmental pressure on defining my life and success.
I had to quit because the pain was unbearable…..
I hope you are doing fine, Sundar. All the best!
So well crafted and clear , really loved your way to express your thought with deeper and rational writing.
Truly inspiring.
Vishal you have put a very practical approach. Most People make such decisions as an escape from present situation. One has to be very sensible for making such decision. And yes you should always have a constant inflow of money to be an investor unless you have enough to live your rest life without worry. Looking forward to meet you in Kolkata on 31th August.
Thanks Rakesh!
Awesome blog, writing, ebooks, i re learned, following you.
Thks for sharing lots of great idea, ebooks, silent wednesday, letter to your daugther. I need make one too.
May greatness follow you and me.
Steven
from SG
ps: saw your link from sean seah’s resources.
Thanks Steven. All the best!
Regards,
Vishal
Vishal,
Greetings from Malaysia!
Came across your web site a few days ago. Find your articles helpful, easy to read, to the point and inspirational. What you are covering is universal and not just for India. Your writing style is excellent!
I have quitted my job for 2 years now and retired early. The work pride, satisfaction and thrill seem to have deserted me and thus I surrendered the key to my office door. With some 10 years of pre-planning for my early retirement, I managed to sign the paper the second time (i.e., re-sign. Ha). I read the book (5 Lessons From A Millionaire Friend On Health and Wealth) a few weeks before I left the company and I was happy that I was already doing 4 of the 5 lessons. The 5th lesson where I scored low is helping others. Time for me to add some fuel to this 5th lesson! Ha.
You look a bit like my friend I worked with in Oman (Bala).
All the best!
Cheerio.
Hi Vishal – I have been reading your articles for a long time now and have learnt a lot from them and have applied many of these lessons to my life. Thank you for that.
I have three questions for you and would be glad if you could provide your perspective:
a. What do you do to keep yourself motivated?
b. Where do you look to for inspiration?
c. How do you deal with failure and setbacks?
Thanks!
Thanks Subhodeep!
a. What do you do to keep yourself motivated?
I am passionate about what I do, so that keeps me motivated. A feedback loop – trying to write good stuff that benefits people, and people sending me testimonials that motivates me to keep writing good stuff – also motivates. I also often think of what could have happened if this hadn’t worked out, and then thank my stars that it did, and that also keeps me motivated.
b. Where do you look to for inspiration?
My family…my kids. Nature. Failures. Books.
c. How do you deal with failure and setbacks?
I don’t have any Plan-B, so that keeps me going even in the face of setbacks and failures.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Vishal
Hi Vishal,
Very helpful article and probably answers my questions that I sent you earlier. I should have seen this earlier. Thanks for sharing these insights which will help me take more informed and calculated decision in future. Again, I have realized that choosing a career as an investor would be challenging to the point making income and eventually it may end up “daily gambling”. So instead I am still looking forward to find out my passion where I can find my ” life in my passion ”
Thanks a lot, much appreciated.
Bhavin
Great post Vishal! Thanks for sharing your experiences and thanks to fellow members as well for sharing their experiences/ views.
I’m in my late 20s and I quit my consulting job very recently not because I hated my job (though the job was not great). I quit more so because I wanted control over my time. I didn’t quite like the idea of waking up on time everyday (come what may), get ready and give the best part of my day (9 Am – 7 Pm which I call it my prime time) to some mediocre work which I do only for a monthly wage.
Im quite confident I will be able to figure out what best to do with my time going forward and at the same time also manage my personal finances (started working on my idea already). I should also confess, I do have little doubts in my mind about how things are going to pan out but I’m positive. As regards finances, since i paid for my MBA myself, at this point in time I only have 15 months’ expenses as savings (I’m single). Only time will tell how risky or otherwise my decision was.
P.S: I’m saying all the above with some amount of work experience (5years) and b-schooling to go with it.
Cheers!
Wonderful, Giri! I wish you all the best. Let me know if you have any questions and want to talk over.
Thanks Vishal! Certainly I will.
Hi Vishal
Your opinion on ‘Rich Dad, Poor dad’, Please?
Regards
Jayashree
It’s a good book, Jayashree.
Wow!!! Thanks Vishal!!!!
Thanks Jaya 🙂
Hi Vishal
I really enjoyed your post , and couldn’t agree more with what you have so succinctly laid out. And, I find myself in the same boat. Want to quit my job , and want to follow my passion – which coincidentally happens to be ‘investing’. Now if ‘investing’ is the passion than I would be remiss if don’t apply my basic principles of investing to real life, which leads my to most favorite analogy I often use. Prior to launching any space mission, NASA assesses readiness , which depends on plethora of internal & external variables and at the slightest hint of un-favorable conditions, launch is postponed.
Applying this framework and making an unbiased decision will inevitably lead to a successful outcome.
Thanks a great way to think, Nitin. Thanks for sharing it here. Regards.
Vishal – Nice article. Enjoyed reading the article and comments as well.
Thanks Vivek. Regards.
You are honest in your writing.
Thanks for this wonderful write. An honest and realistic account of the thinking process involved before one makes the decision to do something unconventional, quit one’s job and does something else that is more meaningful to oneself. In my case, I quit legal practice to focus on stock investments. So far, thankfully. I have enough income to save and spend. I do my best to adopt minimalist habits. Meantime, I am settling my housing loans.
Glad to know that your family is with you in all this. Some spouses seem to expect the other to be the sole provider, especially if the other were a professional, the spouse keeping her portion of income, the other expected to increase the income and spend money in the equation: Income – Save = Spend. To me, the expectation is a definite mistake that ruins a marriage partnership. A sweet wife with value investing and minimalist habits, what more can one ask for of her. 🙂
Take care. Best wishes.
Hi Vishal
I’m in early forties and have started practising the formula of “earning – saving = spending” and am primarily into index investing (which I guess is a no brainer for common investors like us).
I’m also planning to quit my job by 2020.
Please advise what corpus I should target to accumulate to make myself financially free till 2020 considering I should need about 75000-80000 per month for next about 30-35 years.
Great. It was a such a pleasure to read this post. This is the first post I’ve read on your blog (I’ve already subscribed).
I see, with great pain, about the financial ignorance of masses (I am one of them) and I am glad people like you are working towards it. I am sure your posts have inspired many and there are many many more to add to that list.
I’ve recently started my journey to become financially independent. But, I must say you’re already doing what many dream to do. Best of luck.
Hi Vishal,
For a would be investor or entrepreneur, your post clearly gives an introspective and objective insight about the very dilemma of coming out of one’s comfort zone and venturing into the seemingly discomfort of uncharted territory of his innate liking by choice. Even going for a simple nature walk, it needs all thoughtful actions before handed in terms of available options, planning, gears and accessories, which makes the whole experience worth relishing later.
Thanks..
That’s true, Mr. Singh. Regards.
Hi Vishal,
hats off to you, yesterday only i discuss with my wife about that i want to quit the job and go back india and her question was, what i will do, my answer was we will sort it out and then i google about it and found this article. very great article, very good taught process and now my statement has changed that i will quit my job in 2 year and this 2 year i will follow a plan to make sure i am ready enough.
You had yourself mentioned that” I now earn just 50% of what I would have earned if I was on a job now, but I’m 5x more content with what I’m doing now.” so i am also ready to take a income cut as it gives you time to spend your family, which is priceless or time to do what you love.
i am following your 2 year plan to learn value investment, i am your fan already, but more i read about it, the more i started liking your life, principal.
hats off, keep writing, keep motivating.
Glad to know that, Manish. Thanks for your kind words, and all the best as you get down to working on your dreams. Regards.
Hi Vishal,
Though I chanced upon this article little late, but I told to myself that its never late for a right decision. Your pointers shall help me in the though process of the decision I am about to make. Thanks for the great article.
All the best to your Safal Nivesh.
Regards
Ramesh
Glad to know that Ramesh. Thanks a lot!
And all the best!
Regards,
Vishal
Brilliantly Articulated!
coves good pieces of advice for those willing to grow
Thanks for sharing your journey!
Regards,
Harsh Tiwari
Hi Vishal,
Very well written article. The way you put forth your entire decision making process into this article is amazing.
I am a fresher and have just completed my education, evaluating my options and this article has, indirectly, given me a new viewpoint while making my career decison.
Thanks a lot!!
I am working in office right now, and reading this side by side.
An article with absolute clarity of thought and truly inspiring 🙂
Very honest answer…You are awesome!!! I found you on internet after studying warren buffett and Charlie.
Thanks for all your efforts and it is really worth it. You are giving good to the world, in return you will receive the same..
Dear Vishal,
Its wonderful. These are exact feelings; the way emotions and thought process evolve when someone decides to quit job.
I experienced the same in year 2017 when I decided to leave job after serving 13 long years in corporate world.
I thank god that today I found you and your website which will help and teach me to achieve my goals.
Bravo!
Thanks,
Aniket Pachore
P.S. I will not immediately repay my home loan that’s for sure.
Vishal, what you did in order to leave your job was commendable!
You got your family’s approval and support, even your daughter was willing to sacrifice her own needs, but you did everything to shelter yourself from disaster should it strike. To pay off your home loan and save 36 months of expenses as a father and husband is outstanding and you still managed to save money to pour into investments?? Man, what a great money manager you are!!
Well, your dream has materialised as far as i’m concerned irrespective of the money you are currently earning.
Great Article and thanks for Sharing.