Changing My Mindset on the Path to Financial Freedom

Just four years ago, at 25 years old, I was stuck in a job that I hated and questioning my career choice. I was terrified that I had taken out student loans to get a degree for a job that I was going to be burnt out from in only a year. I was afraid I would be miserable and stuck in a job just because I had bills to pay and couldn’t afford to leave. I had seen my dad stuck in a career for 25 years that he hated because he had a wife and kids that he needed to take care of. I was determined that that wouldn’t be me.

Don’t get me wrong, my dad is a very successful, smart guy, but he did a job he hated for so long until he was laid off (a blessing in disguise, really). It had been drilled into my head that I needed to get a decent-paying job after law school and pay off my loans. My way of thinking was always that I would go to school, get a job, pay off debt, save for a nice, single family house, and continue to grind for the W-2.

Just six months into my first law firm job, I realized that litigation and working a nine-to-five was not for me. I felt myself slipping back into a depression and barely spending time with my dog, family, and friends. Enough was enough. I decided that I was going to start my own firm, do more transactional work, perhaps real estate law or estate planning, and see how I liked that (real estate law was what I ended up doing). It took another six months to work up the courage to actually leave my job – I was worried that I’d fail and have no income. I was also worried what my parents, especially my dad, would think.

Going out on my own and changing from a career in litigation to a career in real estate law was the best decision I made. While I made mistakes along the way and lost some money in that first year (that’s a story for another time), my entire mindset changed. As I previously said, I thought paying off my loans, saving up for a luxury home, and eventually having a family was what I had to do. That’s the American Dream after all. I had never thought of investing in real estate or financial freedom as an attainable goal. Just two years after quitting my job, however, my fiancée amd I bought our first investment property – a four-unit in Pawtucket, RI. We are looking to continue building that portfolio.

The path I chose to take comes with its sacrifices. I need to get out there, hustle, and earn every dollar I make. I recently joined a national title company and I am extremely happy with how my career has turned out just four years after graduating from law school. I cut back on unnecessary expenses and I try to live as frugally as possible. We don’t go out to eat or spend a ton on vacations (not like we could anyways during these times). In the long-run, however, this is what is going to get us to attaining financial freedom and eventually only work because we want to, not because we have to.