Accelerated savings rate due to side hustle - what to do now?

[Grinding for Freedom]

Thanks to a semi-passive side hustle I’ve ramped up over the past 2 years, I'm currently able to save 100% of my corporate paycheck on the stock market. I'd like to ask for your insight - what would you do in this situation.

SOURCES OF INCOME:

* The side hustle (based on equipment rental) is generating me about 2000-2500$/month after all taxes and expenses - well enough for a single guy to pay monthly expenses and even have some fun. The overall workload is small, less than 4 hours per month, but it requires my physical presence at least 2-4 times per month. Also, monthly demand fluctuations and lack of comprehensive insurance make it a bit too risky to be fully relied on.

* My corporate job pays me 4000$/month after taxes. The job supports remote working extremely well; In theory, I could probably visit the office less than once per month, if I wanted to. However, to me freedom is not so much about physical freedom, but freedom of thought. Corporate work is still corporate work, even if I do it from home or from a beach.

INVESTMENTS:

* I'm holding approximately 300 000$ stock portfolio at the moment. And I'm investing 100% of my corporate paycheck on stock market. That is, about 50000$/year.

* My 1/3 paid apartment is worth 300 000$.

* However, my mortgage (200k$) and investment loan (100k$) make about 300 000$ combined. The interest rates for both are very low, and my plan is to delay the payback of these as long as possible.

I feel like I'm finally on the right track towards FIREing in the future. All I would need to do is to stay on the track for as long as I can take it. According to my calculations, it would take about 7 years to have big enough portfolio to consider myself as "financially independent".

SO, WHAT'S THE PROBLEM:

7 years feels like a long time to just do the daily grind and invest the monthly paychecks, while waiting for the magic of compounding happen. And the corporate job - though it's the best and most suitable corporate job I can imagine - is still holding me back as a spiritual and emotional human being.

But are there any (realistic) alternatives than keep on grinding until 2027, if I want to be one day able to FIRE solely on my stock portfolio? Am I playing it too safe, or missing something important here? What would you do?

[HPstache]

Thanks to a semi-passive side hustle I’ve ramped up over the past 2 years, I'm currently able to save 100% of my corporate paycheck on the stock market. I'd like to ask for your insight - what would you do in this situation.

SOURCES OF INCOME:

* The side hustle (based on equipment rental) is generating me about 2000-2500$/month after all taxes and expenses - well enough for a single guy to pay monthly expenses and even have some fun. The overall workload is small, less than 4 hours per month, but it requires my physical presence at least 2-4 times per month. Also, monthly demand fluctuations and lack of comprehensive insurance make it a bit too risky to be fully relied on.

* My corporate job pays me 4000$/month after taxes. The job supports remote working extremely well; In theory, I could probably visit the office less than once per month, if I wanted to. However, to me freedom is not so much about physical freedom, but freedom of thought. Corporate work is still corporate work, even if I do it from home or from a beach.

INVESTMENTS:

* I'm holding approximately 300 000$ stock portfolio at the moment. And I'm investing 100% of my corporate paycheck on stock market. That is, about 50000$/year.

* My 1/3 paid apartment is worth 300 000$.

* However, my mortgage (200k$) and investment loan (100k$) make about 300 000$ combined. The interest rates for both are very low, and my plan is to delay the payback of these as long as possible.

I feel like I'm finally on the right track towards FIREing in the future. All I would need to do is to stay on the track for as long as I can take it. According to my calculations, it would take about 7 years to have big enough portfolio to consider myself as "financially independent".

SO, WHAT'S THE PROBLEM:

7 years feels like a long time to just do the daily grind and invest the monthly paychecks, while waiting for the magic of compounding happen. And the corporate job - though it's the best and most suitable corporate job I can imagine - is still holding me back as a spiritual and emotional human being.

But are there any (realistic) alternatives than keep on grinding until 2027, if I want to be one day able to FIRE solely on my stock portfolio? Am I playing it too safe, or missing something important here? What would you do?

What are your expenses?  That's the other half of the early retirement equation.  Can you reduce your expenses at all?  Cutting expenses is usually easier than saving at a higher rate for someone who is a little loose with their spending.  What is your investment loan, is that for your semi-passive side hustle?

Another thing that comes to mind it making your business super "legit" and sell it.  For something profiting 2,000-2,500/mo , someone would likely be willing to pay a bit over $100K for a business like that, that would for sure add to your "stache".  You would need to have good accounting to prove profitability, and it would have to have good "curb appeal" for a buyer (strong marketing, etc.).  Alternatively, could you purchase more of whatever you rent (would love details on this BTW) and increase you business profits to $4K?  Could you quite your day job and semi-retire on that?

Just some spitballing ideas from a fellow entrepreneur.

[marty998]

You just need patience. FIRE isn’t a guaranteed right or entitlement. No easy way unless you win lotto/inheritance/large insurance payout.

You need to keep up the discipline to keep doing what you are currently doing well until you reach your goal. And if you’re not happy in your corporate job then you’re doing it wrong. I have one and I’m quite satisfied with it.

Congrats anyway on figuring out a method that works for you to get there. Most people don’t get that far.

[Grinding for Freedom]

What are your expenses?  That's the other half of the early retirement equation.  Can you reduce your expenses at all?  Cutting expenses is usually easier than saving at a higher rate for someone who is a little loose with their spending.  What is your investment loan, is that for your semi-passive side hustle?

Another thing that comes to mind it making your business super "legit" and sell it.  For something profiting 2,000-2,500/mo , someone would likely be willing to pay a bit over $100K for a business like that, that would for sure add to your "stache".  You would need to have good accounting to prove profitability, and it would have to have good "curb appeal" for a buyer (strong marketing, etc.).  Alternatively, could you purchase more of whatever you rent (would love details on this BTW) and increase you business profits to $4K?  Could you quite your day job and semi-retire on that?

Just some spitballing ideas from a fellow entrepreneur.

Thanks for encouraging reply with actionable thoughts. Cutting the expenses is sure an option, though I feel that adding another 5k per year wouldn't change the big picture drastically - i still need to work 5+ years. The investment loan is used purely to leverage the size of stock portfolio from 200k to 300k, the side hustle is completely free of any debt. Selling the business is probably something that needs a bit more thought, unless I want to run the business for the rest of my life.

Regarding the business, I don't want to expose all the details here, as there might be other Finnish readers and I don't wanna provoke competition. ;) Let's just say that it is certain type of expensive special equipment which is much more practical to rent than own. Required about 30000$ initial investment from me, and I probably wouldn't have had the guts to do it, unless it's was related to my personal interests as well.

[Rusted Rose]

I am not being facetious when I say that a change in attitude or point of view could make a huge difference and allow you to see your situation more like, "All I have to do is cruise easy for 7 years and I'm golden. Sweet deal!"

The work I've done on myself over the last couple of years has changed my life in ways I sooo deeply appreciate, and it allows me to be calm, happy, hopeful, and productive despite being wayyy behind on my material success at this point (long story, tl;dr).

The material side of things is only about half of life, and the rest is one's inner work. And that is what can help you find the patience and discipline that marty998 mentions, with a ton of ease and without the "grind" factor.  I can't even imagine calling what I do a grind, because I have specifically held out for a situation that does what I want it to. It's work, for sure, but I won't/don't do things I hate anymore and I'm super, super clear on what I will not compromise on ever again.

If you hate your corp job and your mental state is suffering, then I'd suggest maybe changing that up. But before you do, you could consider looking into the increasingly popular concept of reconceptualizing your job instead of just substituting it with something else that is likely to feel the same again pretty quickly.

For me, the actionable step has been to dig into a ton of wisdom via audiobooks and just keep following any threads of it that continue to interest me.

[Sibley]

I'm sorry, but spiritual and mental freedom? Maye I'm too practical or whatever, but you've fallen in to a giant pit of woo if you think that your corporate job is enslaving your mind and spirit. There are LOTS of people who hold down boring day jobs and then create art or music or whatever on the weekends. Every cosplayer I know of has a day job.

You have an incredible setup here. Don't screw it up.

[marty998]

I'm sorry, but spiritual and mental freedom? Maye I'm too practical or whatever, but you've fallen in to a giant pit of woo if you think that your corporate job is enslaving your mind and spirit.

I was too nice to say this :D

Hippie shit influencer nonsense lol.