My wife and I quit our jobs to start our own business in 2015 at age 35. My singular goal since that point has been to never work for anyone else again! I consider ourselves financially independent, not only because we meet the traditional FIRE cash stash metrics, but because we have full control of the income dial and we like what we do. I found this article and it resonated with me -
https://yourmoneygeek.com/financial-independent-retire-early-self-employed/. For us, it really was about shedding the bureaucracy (leadership meetings, expense reports, employee evaluations) and all the other fictional hurdles that drain efficiency. Also, if I'm working 60 hours/week, I want 60 hours of work to show up in my bank account, so self-employment definitely solves those problems.
Not trying to rehash the argument over what the word "retirement" means, I'm simply trying to figure out what target I'm shooting at, or perhaps I'm already there. It does seem like any income that is not truly passive (i.e., I do absolutely nothing and a check shows up anyway) involves some form or 'work'. For instance, the rental property game still involves doing something, it may not be much, but it's not zero work. The blog I linked to draws a line in the sand and says that's not RE, that SE (self-employment). I'm cool with that, and so long as I'm working for myself, I get to control what I do, when I do it, and who I do it for. We plan on taking extended breaks from 'working' but we'll probably have this business for 30+ more years (mainly because we like it and we can work as little as 1.5 hours per week and meet all expense without touching the stash).
So my question is what target are/were you shooting at? All passive income and zero income producing work, or some form of self-employed financial independence. My take on MMM is that FIRE allows the pursuit of entrepreneurship (even if loosely structured) when otherwise that would've been too big of a risk (or too much work). I am only considering these questions due to the high resonance of the MMM message, but it has also created this quest for FIRE that I'm not sure I even need to be on. I will appreciate your perspectives!
