Slow FI: A Win-Win Situation?

I think it’s no secret at this point that I am a HUGE fan of the concept of slow FI (financial independence). Coined by The Fioneers, slow FI describes the process of using the financial freedom gained along the path to financial independence to start building a life you don’t even need to retire from, to start living your best life now.

For some, it may seem too good to be true. But is it? Or instead, is it actually a win-win situation? Let me tell you why I believe it’s the latter!

The idea for this blog post came about all because last year, I submitted a question to a podcast. And the answer I received left me spinning (so much so that it took me a year to finally get this post down on “paper”).

If you’re new to the blog, you can read all about my story here, but regular readers know that I didn’t come around to the slow FI mindset the easy way. I was churning away on the hamster wheel of life, chasing after someone else’s definition of success, when I realized I couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t sustain my life at that speed any longer.

Once I slowed down, taking a pay-cut for a much easier job, I discovered I had all these passions for life outside of my job. Desires I didn’t even know I had because I was moving at too fast of a pace to recognize them. Now that these passions are out in the open, my ultimate goal is to downshift to part-time work, so that I have more time to focus on some of my passion projects like this blog.

This goal of part-time work especially came about when I discovered something called my Sparketype. I wrote in much more detail about the Sparketype assessment and what it is in this post. In short, I discovered from taking the assessment that my primary Sparketype, the work that truly makes me come alive, is more in line with my passion projects and not at all involved in the work I do for income. However, since I make a good income from my job and I do enjoy many aspects of it, this realization fueled the desire to eventually shift to part-time work, so I could continue to make income and continue on my journey to financial independence while getting more time to do passion projects.

So, when a new podcast was launched by the creator of the Sparketype assessment and author of the corresponding book, specifically in the context of work, and was seeking questions from listeners to be answered on the air, I felt compelled to ask one.

I asked about how one knows when is the right time to downshift when it comes to work. Basically, I wanted to know what they thought about the “golden handcuffs” dilemma. How would I know when it was time to move to part-time in service of my goals vs staying full-time a little longer and making more money in a job I didn’t hate?

In this 30-ish minute episode (which you can listen to here, if you’d like), the podcast hosts discussed some of their takeaways from my situation, which I’ll share more about below, but at the very end, one of the hosts said something that stopped me in my tracks.

She said she thought I had a win-win situation.

She explained that if I stayed where I was (in a full-time job that I liked well enough making good money toward my goals), I’d be just dandy. But she also harped on the fact that I have so many options to consider. I just have to figure out what I want, what’s most important, and then I can make a decision to go about getting what I want. For example, do I want a different work schedule? A different employee status? A different boss?

My mind was blown. I had never thought of my situation through that lens before. When it came to downshifting, I always felt uncertain and anxious. But she was so right, I do have options! (And don’t I always argue on this blog how much money gives us options?? I needed to hear my own advice!)

But this conclusion from the podcast host also got me thinking. If she thought my situation was a win-win, could slow FI in general also be a win-win situation?

After some reflection, I decided that the answer was a resounding YES. Here’s why I think taking a slow FI path is a win-win situation.

It gives you the chance to experiment with “retirement life” before retirement

As I alluded to above, one of the things that really stuck with me that the podcast host said was how I have options. And I realized, it’s ALL about the options. I’m ALWAYS writing on the blog about how money gives you options. And slow FI gives you the ability to try out these options now, not wait until retirement to live the dream.

Slow FI lets you start living the dream now.

As you gain more and more financial freedom, you can start to experiment with your life. Maybe you just paid off your student loans, or you have a fully funded emergency fund, or you have a hefty chunk of savings/F-You money, or maybe you’re even close to hitting coast FI (the point at which you no longer need to save into investments; the money you’ve already saved will grow so you reach full FI at traditional retirement age).

Any level of financial freedom provides at least some ability to try out options.

I also love what one of the podcast hosts said about experimenting and options. “Give it a try, see if it works. Worst case scenario? It doesn’t work. And guess what? You still have more options.”

People, there are an unlimited number of options out there for how to live your life! Even when we think we’re out of options, there are always more. Don’t believe me? Hopefully you have at least one other person out there you can talk to about this stuff (if you’re lucky, you may even have an accountability partner). Ask them to brainstorm with you! You wouldn’t believe the power in even just one more perspective. You don’t even have to like or try any of their ideas! Sometimes just hearing others’ ideas helps you get your ideas flowing.

You can do things that are not traditional

I don’t know a single other person in my industry who works part-time. Even some of the freelance medical writers I know actually work more hours than me. I know that when I downshift to part-time work, I will be the exception instead of the norm. Besides having to work through the limiting beliefs around that (for example, who am I to work part-time when no one else around me does?), slow FI provides the ability to choose to go against the grain, to do something that’s not the norm.

Once again, friends, options abound! If you want to stay full-time to keep the same income but the schedule is dragging you down, could you work 40 hours in 4 days? Could you stretch out the week, having shorter working days but less time off?

Or, if you’re looking to shift to part-time work, what would work best for you in this regard? Could you take Fridays off (or another day of the week)? Or maybe you only take Fridays off in the summer.* Maybe you want to work 30 hours in 4 days, or drop down to 24 hours and work three 8-hour days.

One thing that really hit home for me from the podcast was, again, how much room there is for experimentation here.

Even if you are in a full-time, W2 job, I sincerely do not think all is lost. My #1-choice plan all along has been to negotiate part-time work at a full-time job. Maybe it’s naive, but I’ve just always thought I could do that. Partly because I’m a good worker. And partly because I am a people person and pride myself on being able to have difficult conversations.

But one of the podcast hosts gave me some additional confidence in this plan. She said that in jobs these days, “everything is on the table.” If a company likes you and wants to keep you, she argues, you’d be surprised what can be worked out.

I think my confidence around this plan was also built up a bit when I left my last job. Part of me wanted to ask if they’d make a counteroffer, but I ultimately decided I didn’t want to stay there even if they did counteroffer, so I didn’t ask. However, when I gave my notice, I met with my boss and she asked if there was anything they could do to keep me. When I said no, my boss’s boss asked to meet with me, and again asked what they could do. Part of me wonders how far they would have gone to keep me, but I’ll never know. What’s more important is that I learned I have negotiation power after all. They confirmed for me that I might have been successful asking to go to part time (even if I had to threaten quitting, which I would be prepared to do in that situation).

*When I joined my new company, I learned that they implement something called “summer hours” where you work 8.5 hours for 4 days out of the week in order to leave at 1:00 pm on Fridays. This is an option workers can take during weeks from Memorial Day to Labor Day. You can opt in and out every week, you just have to communicate with your manager, and of course it may not always be possible depending on business needs (but they also have a relatively strict no-meeting Fridays rule). Sure, it’s still a bit rigid compared to the freedom one has with entrepreneurship/freelancing, but it is one of the more flexible and creative policies I’ve seen so far at a W2 job. I’m excited to try it out and see what it’s like!

You can take risks

Or, if you’re already relatively risk tolerant, you can take bigger risks.

Certain experiments you may do to test out a specific lifestyle that feel a little more high stakes become risks. And having financial buffers in place due to saving and investing allow one to take more risks.

Maybe you really want to turn your passion project into a side hustle or a full-blown business. Slow FI can allow you to do that. Knowing you have some level of financial freedom due to the money you’ve already saved can allow you to be a bit more risky with your life planning. If things don’t work out, you have a financial cushion to fall back on while you figure out what’s next.

Slow FI allowed me to take a risk with my new job. Coast FI is one of the milestones under the umbrella of slow FI. Being coast FI means that if I didn’t save another dollar into my investments, they would still grow to allow me to retire at traditional age. Knowing that I’m already coast FI helps tremendously in my ability to take risks, to get creative with my working life. Hitting this milestone can give you a sort of peace of mind, which helps when considering risks.

I had a relatively cushy job at my last company. My stress levels were incredibly low, and I was making good enough money. But there were certain things that weren’t fulfilling me, especially when I thought about staying there long-term and eventually going part-time with them. Thanks to the freedom and peace of mind that slow FI allows, I had the courage to try out another company that I think might fill in those gaps, and yet is still aligned with my long-term goals. Plus, now I know I can always go back to my previous company if the grass doesn’t turn out to be greener.

Closing thoughts: do some visioning

One of the pieces of advice the podcast hosts gave to me was to do some visioning. Figure out exactly what it is that I want. And then ask myself what that would look like. What would I say yes or no to? Only then can I come up with a plan for how to get there.

I encourage you to do the same, especially if you have any level of financial freedom and are wondering what to do next. Slow FI means a lot of different things to a lot of different people (personal finance is personal, after all), and it can be whatever you want to make of it.

If you’re looking for inspiration, I highly recommend The Fioneers’ Slow FI Interview series. You can read about so many people taking a unique slow FI path. I can also point you to two of my blog posts that discuss how to go about figuring out what you would or could do in retirement, which can facilitate changes you can make to take a slow FI lifestyle:

• What Did You Love To Do As A Kid
• What I Would Do If I Wasn’t Working Full-Time

Ultimately, your FI journey is your own. But I personally think it’d be nuts not to at least consider a slow FI journey. For me, it comes down to confidence in my finances and confidence in uncertainty. I can do it financially. I can drop the hustle and grind culture we live in, and go for creativity and freedom. And I can deal with the uncertainty of what comes next for the gift of freedom.

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What do you think? Have I convinced you yet that the slow FI path is the way to go? Or are you already living your own version of the dream slow FI lifestyle? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear from you!