This wishes to congratulate all readers on reaching a new decade.
Here are some personal thoughts this new year.
a) 2019 is about a rare successful personal transformation
The hardest part about a FIRE journey is to transform your identity post-retirement. Can you accept your personal identity without your pre-FIRE career ?
Compared to even other FIRE aspirants, I managed to pull a once in a lifetime transformation to freelancer/businessman. Although I don't really believe that this is something many financial independent folks should attempt (because they might just want to find more meaningful and relaxed employment for someone else), there is huge psychological pay-off when you transition out of getting paid for time spent into getting paid for results.
The business world is unrelentingly results-oriented but if you have something that benefits other people, the rewards are aplenty but you need to market yourself well to make things happen. I consider myself a pretty poor marketer and salesman but I am glad my partners can make up for these weaknesses.
This may be one of the rare instances in my life where I can get paid a new magnitudes more while spending way less time compared to working for someone else.
b) 2019 is also about letting go and moving on
As we transform, we have to let go of our own lives. I begin this new decade without my dad who has been a great support for me throughout my life.
At the career level, placing more bets on becoming a successful trainer means giving up on the idea that I can marry tech and law and disrupt the legal industry. I think this is fine industry to get into regardless of whether you are a computer scientist or lawyer.
c) Some things stay the same no matter which realm or decade you belong to
Within the personal domain, I realized that in spite of transformation, nothing really changes. As I move from the D&D Wulin into the Investment trainer Wulin the same characters and archetypes always repeats itself from the sour boomer who thinks he knows better than the younger punks to the bitter person that is always ready to convert his lack of success into a moral high ground. Some personalities are just like literary tropes.
For the first time in my life, I think my health may potentially raise an issue as I get older, as a defensive maneuver I have decided to hire a personal trainer to help me build up enough muscle to maintain my lifestyle. This means going to the gym like all the jokers who have made new year resolutions this year. Maybe I will start later this year as resolutions will start to lose some power sometime end-Feb when I can start my regime.
For the financial discussion on investments, there should be a three-part discussion on the Early Retirement Masterclass portfolio as we open 2020 on the Dr. Wealth website.
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