Welcome to Thought Experiment #5.
At the beginning of each second month, a thought experiment question will be tweeted under the hashtag #ThoughtExperiment and everyone is invited to participate with their own posts, these will then go live together on the 15th of the next month (you can still join in after this date). Below is the question asked for this Thought Experiment.
Life is good. You finally did it! You pulled the plug on your day job after reaching financial independence. You never have to work for money ever again. But, you’re bored. You need something to do… You need a project! You grab a piece of paper and a pen and start thinking. Now that you’re financially free, what projects do you want to complete? However ambitious, however small, you now have the time to pursue anything that you like, what will you accomplish?
As always tweet @SavingNinja if you have participated and I’ll add your post to the list below!
Thought Experiment #5
in-deed-a-bly
CaveMan @ DitchTheCave
A Way to Less
Cashflow Cop
Merely curious
Sam @ A Simple Life
Gentlemans Family Finances
Marc @ Finance Your Fire
Dr FIRE
The FIRE Shrink
Young FI Guy
Fretful Finance
theFIREstarter
What Life Could Be
Money For The Modern Girl
Reaching financial independence is a dream for you and me but have you ever stopped to ask yourself why? A lot of people would quickly jump to the conclusion that it’s because they hate their job but when you dig into the root of it, you’d realise that it’s actually time that they desire most.
You always look back towards your former years with longing, missing the freedom and happiness that having more free time grants you. When you’re in school, you don’t realise how much free time you actually have, time that you can dedicate to whatever your heart desires. The leakage of your time gets progressively worse as you work your way through college, university, your career, and eventually; kids.
People long for that time back. They look back with misery at all of the free time that they wasted as a youth when they’ve undoubtedly collected so many dreams during their adult years but simply don’t have time to pursue any of them until they’re at the ripe old age of 68.
It’s sad to think that the majority of the world will never get to realise their dreams. They’ll never even get to begin their projects or deduce their ideal life. Since leaving adolescence people always tell you to kick your dreams to the kirb… “Get a real job that pays the bills,” they say. Our society is built off of these broken dreams, the broken dreams of a civilisation. Who would truly choose to work for 5 days a week, sat in front of a computer screen, if money wasn’t part of the equation?
That’s what makes our FIRE movement so special. We say F U to the norms of society. We will not wait around until we are grey and old to realise our dreams. We will realise them as soon as we can, we won’t fall prey to the materialistic propaganda.
So, what will I do once I am free, once my “real life” begins?
The Thrill of the Game
When growing up I always wanted to be a game developer. This type of job seemed so out of reach when I was in school, I felt that it was almost like saying that I wanted to be an astronaut or rocket scientist. I went to college to study Computer Science, knowing that I wanted to do something which involved computers. Then, to my delight, I found the perfect university course to pursue my passion: Computer Game Development.
Unfortunately, money took control after I left university and instead of going after the much more difficult (and lower paid) job titles such as game developer, I went into mobile application development. But I still knew that I wanted the thrill of making a game. Nothing quite beats the feeling that you get when you’ve made a game from a bunch of algorithms and then watch someone play it. I told myself that I would make games in my spare time whilst working in a higher paid job… But of course I haven’t, due to one thing…
Time - Or lack thereof.
Making a game is hard work, it would be incredibly difficult and stressful to do so whilst working a 9 till 5. But nothing would be more exciting than not working and dedicating a whole year or more to designing and developing a fully fledged indie game. Having a title on the Steam store (or maybe Project Stadia in the future?) would be a dream come true.
Writing
One of my favorite hobbies is reading and since starting this blog, I’ve started to quite like writing too! One of my retirement projects will definitely be to write a novel. Not just any novel, I want to write an epic fantasy.
Much like my desire to create a game, I’d love to sit down and design a huge character set and plot line and methodically write each chapter and sequence (see the Snowflake Method ). It’s said that writing a fantasy novel is pretty darn difficult, but I’d have time on my side, and with that, I think I’d be OK!
Related posts:
What Would you do if you got Given £1 Million
If you Could Reset Your Life
If you Had 10 Years Left to Live
Mobile Applications
Throughout my long career as a mobile application developer I’ve released dozens of apps for Android and iOS but I’ve not yet had the time to create any apps for myself. I’ve started a bunch of them but seem to never finish! When retired I’d have to keep my skills up to date and I’d like to do so by creating my own applications.
These apps would probably start off with useful software that would help with my own life, I’ve already got a half built app that helps me keep track of my spending! I really should finish it soon…
Building
This would be a more long term project and I think the most important one. I’ve always wanted to buy a big plot of land and build structures myself. I’d start off with a simple wood shed and eventually build my own sawmill, barn, and stables. Eventually I’d love to also be able to build my forever family home. Although it may run the risk of turning into a shanty shack!
Ultimately this project will be the Ranch project where I’d try and build a fully renewable living facility which includes its own power generator, waste disposal, water filtration and crops. I may be way too overambitious with this one, real life isn’t much like Minecraft! But with time on your hands, you can learn anything.
These are my main passion projects that I’ll pursue when I retire. I’d never realised before that all of my dream projects revolve around creating things. Each one involves building something and being able to share that creation with others. When I’m ever feeling low on my journey toward financial independence, I’ll refer back to this post as a reminder of why I’m doing all of this:
To take back my time and chase my dreams.
What will you do when you are retired?