I’ve been thinking a lot recently about my college days and why it is that I’ve always loved being a student. My son goes to a daycare near our state university, so I’ve been spending a lot of time on campus lately. Every morning, I drop him off, then head off to the student union to get some work done. Working at the union brings back memories – it’s the same place that I used to study at back when I was in law school nearly a decade ago.
Being in this college environment got me thinking about the surprising parallels between the life of a student and the goals of financial independence. When I think about it, a lot of the reasons I’ve always enjoyed being a student are the same reasons that I imagine many people aim for financial independence. More freedom and time. Fewer people looking over your shoulder. More control of your life.Â
I’m not financially independent, so I can’t say what financial independence really feels like. But what I do know is that the things that made me happy in school are pretty similar to the things that I want out of financial independence. Here are a few things that come to mind.
Controlling Your Own TimeÂ
The life of a student is interesting. You usually don’t have any money – but what you do have is time. Not necessarily a ton of free time (although you definitely do have more free time compared to other stages of your life).
The thing you definitely have, though, is more control of your time. Of course, you have classes. But those make up a small part of your day – a few hours at most. When I was in school (even in law school), classes rarely made up more than 3 hours of my day. The rest of the day was mine to use however I thought best.Â
I loved having control of my time like this. It didn’t mean I could do anything I wanted. But it did mean I could control what I was doing and when I did it. I seem to work better at night. So that’s when I worked most of the time. During the day, I did the things that made the most sense to me.
It was this freedom I had over my time that made my transition into the working world rough. I was in school for a long time – 4 years of undergrad, plus 3 years of law school. After 7 years where I had a lot of control over my time and a lot of autonomy over my life, going into an office with a boss that controlled the majority of my waking hours was a shock. I couldn’t do the things I wanted to do during the day. In fact, at every job I had, I received stern warnings that I needed to be at the office by a specific time.
It’s probably why when things got really tough at work, I thought about going back to school. Even now, most of my backup plans consist of me going back to school.Â
Having some semblance of control over your life is important. I think that’s what most of us want – some level of control and autonomy over our lives. That doesn’t mean doing anything we want anytime we want.
But if I want to do something during the day, I want to feel like I can do it without having someone yell at me for not being at my desk.
Long-Term Goals, Long Vacations, And Assignments With End Dates
One thing that always frustrated me about the working world was how things never seemed to end. You’d get an assignment, finish it up, and then immediately have something else to work on. I felt like I was running in place.Â
I’m pretty good at grinding through things. In college, I could grind through final exams, working 12 hours a day for weeks if I had to. And in my first year of law school, I worked 12 or more hours per day, every day, for an entire semester. What made the grinding possible was knowing that there was an end date. I’d finish up exams or get through a semester, and I’d know that I would have a month off to do my own thing.
Things weren’t like that when I started working at a regular job. No matter what I did, I knew that something else would be waiting for me. You can grit and grind through anything for a while. But grinding through things forever isn’t something that people should do. I know I couldn’t do it.Â
Students have long-term assignments and long-term goals. There are end dates. It’s all well-defined. Financial independence seems to be similar. You create your own goals and projects. Sometimes you’ll need to grind through things. But when you want to stop, you get to stop. Â
Not Getting Hassled By Bosses
By far the thing I’ve always hated most about working a regular corporate job was getting hassled by superiors. It’s not a failing on my bosses or that I had bad bosses or anything – it’s really more about me and how I like to work.
I’ve always been an independent worker. I think that’s why school worked well for me. School gives you assignments with long deadlines and general guidelines to follow. But after you get your assignment, there really isn’t much oversight from anyone. You know when it’s due. And you need to get things done by then (of course, this freedom usually meant getting assignments done the night before it was due).
The bane of work for me was the update meeting. Every job I had, I’d have chunks of my day where I needed to give updates about what I was doing. I get why you have to do this. In an organization, you have a lot of moving parts and people need to know what other people are doing and where they are.Â
But that wasn’t for me. I just wanted work to be like the way school was. Give me something to do, tell me when I need to do it by, and I’ll go do it.Â
The best thing about financial independence has to be the fact that no one controls you and no one can hassle you. Student life doesn’t seem so different. There’s some hassling. But for the most part, you’re doing your thing, on your time.
Final ThoughtsÂ
In many ways, the benefits and aims of financial independence aren’t that far off from what it’s like to be a student. It’s not the same, of course. Someone that’s financially independent has money. Someone in school is likely broke.Â
But both people have more time on their hands compared to most. They both are hopefully using their time to improve themselves and learn new things. And importantly, they both have time that they get to control – at least to a greater extent than most people.Â
More Recommended Ebike/Scooters
Check out these other ebikes/scooters I've had the chance to do a review for:
- GEN3 Outcross Bike – The GEN3 Outcross is a solid, affordable fat tire ebike that does a good job of doing what I need it to do. It works great for city riding, giving me a smooth ride in all conditions. It’s works really well as a winter ebike since the fat tires give it good traction over snow and ice. Check out my GEN3 Outcross Review.
- Himiway Escape Bike – The Himiway Escape is an interesting bike for anyone looking for a moped-style ebike. If you’re a gig economy worker, the Himiway Escape is particularly interesting and it’s possible to think of it as an investment, especially if you can opt to do deliveries with the Himiway versus using a car. It’s not cheap, but you can definitely make your money back when you compare the mileage you’ll put on your car versus using an ebike. Check out my Himiway Escape Bike Review.
- Espin Sport Bike – The Espin Sport is a good ebike for someone who is looking for an ebike that feels and rides more like a regular bike. There are many ebikes that are really only bikes in name. In reality, they’re basically electric mopeds. The Espin Sport, by contrast, is a bike you could probably ride without the battery and you’d feel like you’re just riding a regular bike. Check out my Espin Sport Review.
- Varla Eagle One Scooter – The Varla Eagle One is an excellent scooter that can make sense for a lot of people. It can work as a primary mode of transportation. You can use it to work on gig economy apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. And it can also be a recreational vehicle if you’d prefer to use it for that. Check out my Varla Eagle One Review.
- Fucare H3 Scooter – The Fucare H3 is a fun scooter and I’ve enjoyed testing it out. For a daily commuter or quick trips or errands, the Fucare H3 is probably the scooter I’ll use. It’s portable and easy to maneuver, so it’s just easier to take on the road when I need it. Check out my Fucare H3 Scooter Review.
More Recommended Investing App Bonuses
For additional investing app bonuses, be sure to check out the ones below:
- M1 Finance ($100) – This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account. Check out my M1 Finance Referral Bonus – Step-By-Step Guide.
- SoFi Invest ($25) – SoFi Invest is an easy brokerage account bonus that you can earn with just a few minutes of work. Use my SoFi Invest referral link, fund your SoFi Invest brokerage account with $100 and you’ll get $25 of free stock. I also have a step-by-step guide for the SoFi Invest referral bonus.
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More Recommended Bank Account Bonuses
If you’re looking for more easy bank bonuses, check out the below options. These bonuses are all easy to earn and have no fees or minimum balance requirements to worry about.
- Chime ($100) - Chime is a free bank account that offers a referral bonus if you use a referral link and complete a direct deposit of $200 or more. In practice, any ACH transfer into this account triggers the bonus. This bonus is easy to earn and posts instantly, so you’ll know if you met the requirements as soon as you move money into the account. I wrote a step-by-step guide on how to earn your Chime referral bonus that I recommend you check out.
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- SoFi Money ($275) – SoFi Money is a free checking account from SoFi. They’re currently offering a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi account with a referral link and deposit $10. You can also make an additional $250 as well if you complete a direct deposit. This is a good bank that is also 100% free, so you won’t have to worry about managing this account. Here’s a post I wrote with instructions on how to earn your SoFi Money bonus: SoFi Money Referral Bonus: Step By Step Guide.
- Fairwinds Credit Union ($100) – Fairwinds Credit Union is offering a referral bonus for users that sign up using a referral link. Fairwinds has no fees or minimum balance, so this is a particularly easy bonus to earn. Since this is a smaller credit union, my gut instinct tells me this offer won’t be around long, so if you’re in a position to meet the bonus requirements, grab this bonus before it’s gone. Here is my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Fairwinds Credit Union bonus.
- Upgrade ($50) – Upgrade is a free checking account that’s currently offering a $50 referral bonus if you open an account and complete three debit card transactions. These bonus terms are easy to meet, so it’s well worth doing this bonus as soon as you can. Importantly, this bonus says that it’s now scheduled to end on April 15, 2023. As long as you get your account opened before April 15th, you should be eligible. Here’s a post I wrote with more details: Upgrade $50 Referral Bonus – Step By Step Directions.
- Current ($50) – Current is a free fintech bank that’s offering new users a $50 referral bonus after signing up for an account using a referral link.Current is an easy bonus to earn and also gives you access to three savings accounts that pay you 4% interest on up to $2,000. That means you can put away up to $6,000 earning 4% interest. That’s very good and makes Current an account I recommend to everyone. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Current Bank bonus.
- Digital Federal Credit Union ($20) – Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU) is a free, nationwide credit union that I recommend to readers for two reasons. First, DCU has a $20 referral bonus if you open a free DCU checking account with a referral link. Second, DCU has a saving account that gives you 6.17% interest on your first $1,000. Check out my in-depth post on how to set this account up.
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- Varo ($30) – Varo is a free fintech banking app similar to Chime or Current. It’s currently offering a $30 bonus to new users that open a new Varo account with a referral link. The bonus for this bank is very easy to meet, all you need to do is spend $20 within 30 days of opening your Varo account. Check out my step-by-step guide to learn how to earn this bonus.
Kevin is an attorney and the blogger behind Financial Panther, a blog about personal finance, travel hacking, and side hustling using the gig economy. He paid off $87,000 worth of student loans in just 2.5 years by choosing not to live like a big shot lawyer.
Kevin is passionate about earning money using the gig economy and you can see all the ways he makes extra income every month in his side hustle reports.
Kevin is also big on using the latest fintech apps to improve his finances. Some of Kevin's favorite fintech apps include:
- SoFi Money. A really good checking account with absolutely no fees. You'll get a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi Money account with a referral link, and an additional $250 if you complete a direct deposit.
- US Bank Business. US Bank is currently offering new business customers a $500 signup bonus after opening a new account and meeting certain requirements.
- M1 Finance. This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account.
- DCU. Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU) is a free, nationwide credit union that I recommend to readers for two reasons. First, DCU has a $20 referral bonus if you open a free DCU checking account with a referral link. Second, DCU has a savings account that gives you 6.17% interest on your first $1,000.
- Personal Capital. One of best free apps you can use to monitor your portfolio and track your net worth. This is one of the apps I use to track my financial accounts.
Feel free to send Kevin a message here.
Oh, man. I feel you when you say that “The bane of work for me was the update meeting.” Like you, I get why organizations have them, but as someone who, without fail, gets assignments done on time and in as good of shape as possible, I all but completely resent having to have to take the time to prepare for and participate in those meetings and to experience the accompanying stress of them (even when i’m not the person being interrogated). And that’s to say nothing of the excruciatingly tedious nature of these meetings when they’re group meetings. I’d love it if the prevailing practice for businesses was that one’s solid, good track record gave one a sort of “get-out-of-jail-free card.”
For me, it’s just stressful having to tell people what I’m doing. I know it needs to be done, but the anxiety kills me.
In some ways.. You could actually look at financial independence as a way to get back to school and work on whatever projects you want to whenever you want to.
To those people who think FIRE people will be bored with retiring early… Well… It’s no different from going back to college!
In my state, you can take college classes at out state university for $10 per credit if you’re over 60 years old. That’s something I’d definitely do in the future.
There is a little nostalgia to being so openly, unabashedly poor in college. I’ll never have the same value for a dollar as I did in those days. But, you’re right, retirement provides all the same perks, with the added bonus of actually being able to spend money on enjoyable activities.
It’s kind of nice – no one’s judging you. Just do your thing. It’s why I think paying off debt and saving towards Coast FIRE level is easier when you’re younger. You can live on nothing and there aren’t a ton of expectations on you yet. Once you get older, start having kids, a better career, etc, it gets harder to live like you’re a student.
Great analogy. When I was in school, I was able to make time for all sorts of hobbies and projects. Then the structure of the traditional workday made those things a lot harder to do. I’ve resented it ever since!