A nice summary but nothing groundbreaking
I read Job Free: Four Ways to Quit the Rat Race and Achieve Freedom on Your Terms last week.
I found it through the author’s blog The Voluntary Life and decided to buy it as I liked the look of the blog and the book had a low price ($3.99 on Kindle).
Job Free is a nice summary of four strategies that allow you to avoid a traditional job, some thoughts on the practical and psychological challenges of doing so, and an appendix on investing.
The four strategies are:
- Extreme saving: saving large amounts of your salary and amassing enough money to become financially independent
- Unjobbing: designing your life so that you don’t need much money, thus allowing you to do what you love (like music, crafts, or sports) even though it doesn’t pay well
- Lifestyle business: a small business or freelancing that is enjoyable and gives you some time freedom while still providing enough money
- Startup: trying to make a big business with a view to selling it and becoming financially independent
The content was a good fit for this blog, and I realized after reading that I am actually pursuing three of the strategies right now 😉
I didn’t find anything particularly new in this book, but it was a nice concise summary of the options and the author writes well. Each chapter also links to several podcasts on the same topic, so if you are a podcast person (I am not) this could be a nice additional feature.
I still think The Millionaire Fastlane or How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World are better books on this subject, but Job Free could be worth your time if you want a short introduction or if you will enjoy the linked podcast material.
How about you? Are you trying to escape the rat race?