One month later – Financial Shenanigans #5
Recapping the first month of the financial freedom experiment.
I had to renew my tourist registration in Montenegro today, which means that it's been a month since I arrived here. This is an attempt to sum up my thoughts and observations from the first month of financial independence.
To say that it went according to plan would be a lie. In a positive way, though. There really wasn't much of a plan to start with. I did have some expectations, though, which turned out to be unreasonable.
Expectation #1 - I will have plenty of free time.
Expectation #2 - everything will be very smooth, orderly and relaxing.
Expectation #3 - not having a meaningful purpose will not be a problem.
I had grand plans for all that free time too. I was going to work out, spend time with family, watch lots of European cycling races, read and do some occasional work.
But apparently, not having a full-time job doesn't exempt you from being time-poor. Now that my time was genuinely mine, I wanted to spend it in the best possible way. Which is a challenge if you don't know what the best possible way is. Prioritisation is hard in the best of times, but especially when you are not clear on your own priorities. So lesson #1 - come up with some sort of internal rank of what's important.
I think that some of the uneasiness about "wasting" time came from not having a direction. On the one hand, I felt that finding that direction should be a priority. I never wanted to be financially independent, not to work. Instead, I wanted to do work that aligned with my values and my view of the world. On the other hand, I knew that taking a break was okay. I could just relax and spend time with family. And yet I still felt a bit anxious. Perhaps it's the age thing. Or maybe something resembling conscience. It's probably much easier to completely ignore the world in your 20s 😊
Towards the end of the month, I had an accidental, random realisation. Researching crypto projects for my articles and freelance gigs made me more aware of the potential of this space. I have been quite pessimistic about us achieving structural changes in our society. There are too many systemic flaws that have now been ingrained in our behaviour. But I think that innovations in the cryptocurrency space, from the blockchain itself to smart contracts, make structural change possible. With that in mind, I re-structured my old website and will work with crypto projects to help facilitate those changes. If you are curious, you can check out the website here.
The financial aspect of not having a job has been quite interesting as well. Psychologically, there's a certain level of caution when it comes to spending any money. I have definitely trended towards ordering the cheapest drink (usually beer) or food (usually pizza). This hasn't detracted from my overall experience, though.
Another observation on this front is the availability of freelance work. Picking up projects hasn't been too problematic. I have been doing up to 15 hours a week of paid work. All in all, between the passive income and some active income, I was even able to save some money this month. This side of things has undoubtedly exceeded my low expectations.
Overall, I'm thrilled with how the first month of this experiment turned out. On to the next one!
P.S. The next newsletter will feature a Q&A with a close friend of mine, James Ransome, so tune in for this one.