Life as a 12-Month Full-Time Investor: Beta Test Phase
Recently, I was laid off not once but twice over a span of 18 months. During this time, I got a chance to beta test my life as a full-time investor—a lifestyle I’ve long wanted to live. While one year is a short span to judge how well I’ve managed to live off my portfolio, I truly believe this period has acted as a beta test for the life I want. It’s helped prime me for when I get to do this for real, long-term.
I’m not gonna lie, it stung when it happened. But in hindsight, it was probably the push I needed. If I hadn’t spent the last ~15+ years deep-diving into personal finance and investing, I don’t think I’d have handled it this well.
I’ve always kept my finances tight, my PF well-structured, and more importantly—my head in the game. That helped a lot. I’ve lived off my portfolio this past year, and touchwood, it’s worked.
A lot of credit goes to the books that shaped how I think. The ones that taught me the basics and then some—One Up on Wall Street (Peter Lynch), Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits (Philip Fisher), Coffee Can Investing (Saurabh Mukherjea), 100 Baggers (Christopher Mayer), and of course The 5 Rules for Successful Stock Investing (Pat Dorsey). I also really liked Morningstar Guide to Mutual Funds by Christine Benz and yeah, Rich Dad Poor Dad by Kiyosaki—say what you want, but that book did set the tone early on.
But being a full-time investor is a bit different. That’s where A Simple Path to Wealth (JL Collins) and How to Retire (Christine Benz) really helped. They talk about financial independence in a no-nonsense way. The kind of stuff we should be taught in school, but aren’t.
I’ve been following the 4% withdrawal rule quite closely. So let’s say you’ve got $100,000 invested. It grows at ~10% annually, inflation eats away ~5%, and taxes take another 10%. Even with that, the math checks out—you can keep withdrawing 4% every year and your portfolio just… keeps going.
Yes, you heard that right.
It can last indefinitely.
Let that sink in.
It blew my mind when I first understood it. And it still does. This idea that you don’t have to trade time for money forever—that if you stay disciplined, patient, and humble, your money can work for you. Forever.
“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.” — Seneca
I’d like to think being a patient investor is my tiny version of living that truth.
While I continue to live like a full-time investor as I write this, like any middle-class person, I’m still on the lookout for a job or opportunity that truly excites me. 