Being a software dev, what is the fastest and safest way to financial freedom?

Your regular 9-5 corp job is probably the safest way to financial freedom.

At least in the short term. It's turbulent out there right now to try to find a new job or start your own thing.

Freelancing is hard, really hard, it's possible but tough to transition to.

Checkout the podcast, StartupsForTheRestOfUs.com, start in the archives, episode 1 and follow Rob's story.

It's definitely a lot of work upfront and luck to do your own thing. But the podcast is good and might give you some inspiration.

I would plan on returning to your 9-5, at least till the pandemic runs it's course, I'm expecting that to take 12 to 18 months minimum. Stable income, health ins.

Up your life insurance, make sure it isn't tied to your employment, part of what you're looking for might be peace of mind that your family is taken care of.

Focus on your health. My friend early in college was diagnosed with stage IV cancer, she got in to St. Judes, was cured and is still doing well today.

Your own thing can introduce stress, but if your wife works you can probably balance that.

What should you do right now?

Focus on getting back to your 9-5, but also build an audience, teach what you know, if you provide value there is a huge opportunity to sell info products to developers if you can distill your valuable knowledge out to an audience.

https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/098-adam-wathan-of-refa...

Good luck my friend.

The fastest way involves a ton of luck. Start your own company, or become an early employee of a startup with stock options. Hope the company executes well and earns tons of revenue, or gets bought out. This is not the safest.

The safest way is boring as heck. Spend less than you earn. A lot less.

Take that extra money and invest it in non-risky stocks. You should be able to get 5% return per year at a minimum. I prefer dividend reinvestment plans because that way I get more stocks each quarter, along with the shares increasing in price.

You could also look at buying real estate and renting it out, as that traditionally increases in value. However being a landlord can be tough, and it's not always guaranteed to result in an increase in value.

I love this comment because it relates to me. I've had multiple older men: my father, my grandfather, and a few "guiding male role models" who have steered me the way of real estate and while I can see the value in it, it bores me, terrifies me, and excites me at the same time. I have no passion for it. I don't have any desire to fix what other people break or attempt to collect rent every month. It sounds great when you have good tenants, but it takes a lot of years of mistakes and lessons to get to be a good landlord with good paying tenants.

Instead, I focus on virtual real estate: the SaaS market, which makes it easier to collect rent and leads me to your point of starting a business: find something people need and sell it. Make sure you save for Uncle Sam and the companies who help you along the way, and you can definitely build something from there.

Starting with other companies definitely takes a bit of patience and learning to work together and having the same goals. Everything starts off with a simple idea and it only takes chemistry to make it mean something. So its possible and there are plenty of websites to help those two people meet.

As for your suggestion with stocks, I do the same thing with stocks but I am a bit of a risk taker because I still have about 30 more years of work -- 15 if I am lucky. Depending on your age, you should certainly be willing to take risks, while creating a safety net for yourself.

If you're single and a developer, making upwards of 5 digits to 6 digits a year, then you really have no worries, and you should consult a financial advisor to let you know when you can genuinely retire if you don't change your life -- or help you figure out a few things if you do.

If you're married, you can still make it work, but you'll have to sit everyone down and explain to her that sacrifices may need to be made. It's not about cash-stuffing or putting away that extra $100 instead of taking everyone out to the movies. It's more about being more frugal, less wasteful.

As for the fastest and safest way of getting rich? Build something everyone wants. A service, a tool, a package, anything... and make the world realize they didn't know they needed this in their life. We all didn't know we needed Netflix or Disney+... but during the qurantine, our lives are far more entertaining than sitting there in your house in 1919, fearing anyone that sneezed. Oh, and Dominoe's Pizza. You don't actually need it, but you just ordered it.

Hi,

First, glad your cancer is under control. Take care. Your health is really important. The happiness in your family is also really important. I would like to mention also that the years you will have now are unique, especially if you have children. Enjoy it as much as possible, that time never comes back.

On the other hand, the focus on getting financial freedom seems weird to me. Similarly to being a reality TV star, I think the chances to succeed are quite low, and it may even not be a path to happiness. Struggle is a big part of the pleasures of life, remove the struggle, and you are missing something.

I think you should focus more on having a nice life, with a nice way to earn enough money. If you keep your skills relevant (which you should anyways), you will generally find a job until retirement, and if you do not like your job, you can easily change. So you should not sacrifice your life now to edge a non-existing risk.

Now, if you have a huge passion and want to work a crazy amount to make that a success, you should for sure go for it. But this is a different story with a different objective, and, maybe, if you are succesfull, as a side-effect, you will get financial independence.

I wouldn’t ignore your personal aspirations and go back to the 9-5. We only get one life. Live it how you want, for yourself. Sometimes that means doing scary things or things others don’t want you to do.

Financial freedom is a mindset and an approach to money where you always have more than you need. The way you achieve that is to spend less than you earn. Someone can be financially free working at a café.

I would radically reduce your spending to what is actually needed, to reduce pressure from quitting your job. Forget about being rich from quitting your 9-5 and realize you can be happier with less money. You can be happy without new clothes, a car, Netflix subscriptions, eating out, video games, etc.

If you want to freelance, my most effective strategy to acquire clients was to email startups looking for full time engineers and offer to do contract work for slightly lower rates on my own terms. Worked especially well for startups that had listings open for more than a few months. Most startups can’t afford decent engineers, so take advantage. That’s what I would do without a network.

If you have the skills you can find clients. Research freelancing. Be proactive. Take action. You will see results.

If you need any help or want to talk email me, it’s in my profile.

For many people, as soon as they have money they want to spend it, and to acquire even more. People really waste their money on things that don't matter (e.g. fancy car that is no more reliable or comfortable than a moderately priced one second hand) rather than setting themselves up with a home and all the tools and opportunities they need to pursue their hobbies.

Perhaps the problem is that people don't have hobbies. Maslow's Hierarchy culminates in self-actualisation. People become desperate when they get to this point thinking money can satisfy all their needs.

I know someone who lives on social security and is building soft X-ray generators in his shed (he has shown me). He made it out of rather crude parts (e.g. Vegemite jar). Built his own vacuum pump. He has the respect of countless colleagues, a kind nature and exceptional talent.

Today's culture of consumerism in the West has really been ingrained in to some people.

I concur with those saying keeping the 9-to-5 is probably the most stable. It sounds like you've done some thinking and had some life realizations (which is good), and now are valuing things different in your life. This is perfectly normal and good. Of course if there are really bad reasons you don't want to go back (toxic environment, etc.) then don't.

But put it this way: if you go back, and it doesn't work out, you can always leave later. The worst that would happen is they would fire you or lay you off, and then you would get unemployment, which you probably wouldn't be able to collect if you quit.

Maybe going back to your job with your new perspective might even be healthier. Sometimes I just need to care less about my work, and more about my life.

Also, as someone who was self employed for a bit, never underestimate the value of health insurance, especially if you are likely to have medical costs. It's really expensive if you pay for it on your own. It honestly shocked me, and that was for just me, and I have no health conditions.

As for financial freedom, there are two parts: what you bring in, and what you spend. My first suggestion as a stoic would be keep your lifestyle simple. Don't let lifestyle inflation eat away your money for no reason. Having money allows you to save, invest, and take more risks.

Maybe you could start a side hustle to look for clients before you make a leap. Sometimes getting a taste will really change how you feel, and it's best to do that before making any changes that can't be undone.

Good luck.

If your goal is financial independence, and not just "get rich", then put as much energy into simplifying your life and having a small personal "run rate" as you do into your income.

This :) Financial independence is not really about the amount of money you make, but the amount you spend. It sounds corny, but there are plenty of people with every kind of income who'd have to find a new place to live if their income was halved in a few months.. On the flipside, there are also plenty of people who could manage just fine with half of what they earned. My upkeep is about 15% of my salary, and I'm not highly paid.

Alternatively, become stupid-rich before quitting your job, but, that's statistically not going to happen, and you're actually less in control of that than you'd think.. Plenty of people work real hard to achieve that and their hard work only gets them to average, while others just happen to be at the right place at the right time.

Congrats on the remission.

Financial freedom is a tough goal to explain for a number of reason. Most notably because it is different for each person. Myself I have a family and I consider us rich. Never missed a rent payment, always enough for cloths, food etc. How is that not rich?

That said, most people struggle with bills because outgo often exceeds income. The root of which is a failure to distinguish between need and want. So changing your question to how to I improve my money such that outgo is less than income - you use the most common method for fixing any habit - Write it down - everything - every penny. When you go shopping, you go with a list - not on the list - do not buy - oh you forgot to write down Milk? Write it now - do home - do you still need milk? Then go back and buy it. Yes a tedious exercise, but you might decide the impulse to buy milk is not worth the trip, or you will learn to write better lists. So yeah 10 beers at the pub i probably not on the list - so you would have to cut down on that.

Then it is time to invest, I recommend mutual funds. At your age, go for growth. Growth goes up and down more than anything else, but all the downs are typically fixed in 2 years, outside 5 years. Side corollary when you know you will need the money, about 5 years out, pull it from growth. But only if the market is good, if it is recovering, set a quantitative goal (like PE of 20), then pull it, as that should easily occur within the 5 years.

Avoid gambling and the lottery, those are just a tax on people who do not understand math.

If you can do a startup, on the side, sweet! Does your wife work?

"Fastest" and "safest" are almost diametrically opposed on this topic. The fastest is usually the riskiest.

I agree with a lot of the comments here about keeping your current job and maybe doing some side work.

One thing I hadn't heard mentioned is reducing costs. The two interdependent ways to financial freedom are reducing cost and increasing income.

Personally, I would like to move to a cheaper area to buy land and start a small farm. It wouldn't bring in a lot of money, but I could live more simply. Obviously this is a lifestyle change and would require some sacrifices.

I still believe it's real estate. As someone in the tech space, you should be able to do house hacking quite easily. Let that portfolio grow and then 1031 into larger commercial properties. If you work remote, it may be even easier. Happy to talk shop with whomever wants to.

Friend had Lymphoma over 10 years ago. Still going strong.

https://twocents.lifehacker.com/the-basics-of-fire-financial...

Fastest and safest? Get a job at a FAANG or similar, and climb the ladder. In about 15 years, if you save most of your income, you'll be a millionaire.

Let me know if you're interested working on some side hustle :)

Perhaps consider that achieving financial freedom may cost you more time than you want to give up at this point. It's front loading the work. Have an easy job with a good life insurance plan, and everything will be fine...

Being 1099 and sub-contracting