Page 40 - DIY Investor Magazine | Issue 33

A MOMENT ON THE TUBE:
FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE AS
A SELF-EMPLOYED – THE DISCOVERY
Bankeronwheels.com is dedicated to making you Financially Independent; here is Kathrin’s story.
Some of our readers are also part, or interested in, the Financial Independence, Retire Early Movement (also known as “FIRE”). When Financial Independence (“FI”) first became popular, most people interested in the concept were engineers or those in stable, high-powered jobs.
But in recent years, the movement has attracted more people from all walks of life.
As part of Bankeronwheels.com Lifestyle series, I will share why and how I started pursuing financial independence and how the concept has shaped my life; today, we’ll discuss the discovery process.
How did I find out about Financial Independence? Why did the concept speak to me so much?
• As soon as I began reading, I knew I’d found something special. Everything he wrote just made sense to me. “Why didn’t I think of this before? It’s so obvious!” I thought.
MY PATH TO FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE
MY STARTING POINT
By the time we’re an adult, we all have a “money story”. Some of us grew up in poor families that had to struggle for survival, while others internalised a parent’s spendy ways.
Almost everyone on the FI path can pinpoint the reason why they are interested in being independent from a job. For me, the trigger was becoming self-employed.
Having a variable income really forced me to focus on my finances and plan for monthly fluctuations in my profits.
GROWING UP IN SWITZERLAND
I grew up in rural Switzerland, and until I was in my mid-20s and independent from my parents for the first time, money wasn’t a big concern for me. Because my father was a lawyer and my mother inherited a lot of assets from her family, there was always enough in our household.
What’s more, I’m an only child, so my parents could concentrate all their resources on me.
Fortunately, they are sensible people, and they instilled good habits in me; from a young age, my mother spoke to me about moderation and not spending more than you owe.
“Buy now, pay later” was a shocking concept to her, and she passed this mindset on to me; the fact that mindless consumption wasn’t a part of my life growing up has helped me internalise the FI concepts very quickly.
• Despite this, I felt afraid. Every month, my earnings fluctuated, and clients could stop working with me at any moment. When you’re self-employed, there is very little job security.
THE WHY – A MOMENT ON THE TUBE
BECOMING INDEPENDENT
At age 24, my parents would have been happy to keep supporting me and my dreams of becoming a professional contemporary dancer; but I felt the need to stand on my own two feet. While I’d worked part-time as a ballet teacher for several years, I’d never fully supported myself.
So, I moved to England and became a self-employed Pilates instructor and German tutor.
I arrived in London with six months’ worth of expenses and
no job. However, the directors of the Pilates teacher training course I attended gave me the names of five studios in London to apply to.
At the end of two weeks, I had my first client lined up; by the six-month mark, I was fully able to support myself.
SELF-EMPLOYMENT AND STABILITY
During my university years, I’d built up the habit of limiting my spending. I kept this up throughout my first year as a freelancer, so I soon had several hundred pounds left over at the end of each month.
DIY Investor Magazine · Apr 2022 40