Be Part Of The WealthyBy40 (#WB40) Movement

Today I would like to invite all of you to the WealthyBy40 (#WB40) Movement, which is really a challenge.
I started this challenge to myself in 2016 just before my 27th birthday by registering the domain, symbolising my aim to attain financial freedom by the age of 40. What sparked my desire for this was a random encounter I had with a complete stranger on the train.
I commute by train to work most days (you can read about my train commuting hacks here) and I tend to catch the same train each morning. The crowd on that train is usually quite fixed – early morning commuters who work in central London. There’s one guy, let’s call him Joe, in his early forties, who lives a few stops before mine and who always appeared to be exhausted and had a dazed stare during the most of journey as if life had sucked all the energy out of him. Given that we sat across each other most days, I started talking to him one day and discovered that he had to get up at 5am each morning to catch a train and then the subway to a desk job that he detests, work for 10 hours and performed the same ritual in reverse, getting to his dinner table just before 8pm. He didn’t get much time with the family and felt financial strained most of the time. The only reason why he did this was because he couldn’t afford not to work. He didn’t have the financial freedom and such lack of freedom was hampering his happiness and degrading his health.
That 2-minute exchange had a profound impact on me. It made me extremely sad to see someone dedicating 60% of his daily life to a task that he dislikes. What a profoundly unfortunate existence!
I vowed to myself that I will be the exactly opposite of that by the time I reach his age. I will be the “anti-Joe”.

Why 40?

Well 2 reasons. Firstly Joe was around 40, which created the “reverse” role-model for me to escape from. Secondly I wanted to register but that domain had already been taken so 40 was the next alternative. Plus I think 40 is a great age as
  • It gives me another 10 years to achieve my goal.
  • Most people have the least financial freedom at that age (kids, mortgage, elderly care and retirement savings) so that presents an interesting challenge.

What is the challenge?

First let’s start by clarifying what this challenge does NOT involve.
This is not a conventional contest where there’s only a single winner. In fact you are not competing against anyone else, but instead against YOURSELF. You will be responsible for setting up a goal and then achieve them by certain age.
Secondly as a result of the above, each person will face a different goal and it is up to you to be honest with yourself and define what level of challenge you are comfortable with.
The WB40 challenge is defined as follows:
Can you reach financial freedom and career satisfaction by the age of 40?
Now both prerequisites (financial freedom and career satisfaction) are vague and subjective, therefore you need to define for yourself:
  • At what income level do you consider having achieved financial freedom (FF)?
  • Can the income level withstand inflation and your future expenditure needs?
  • Would you like a single source of income or multiple?
  • What does career satisfaction mean to you?
Let me share my personal WB40 challenge goals with you.
By the age of 40 (in 12 years’ time), I’d like to achieve:
  • They should be from at least 3 different sources

What happens if I’m older than 40?

Please do not let age become a deterrent as you need an ambitious yet realistic time horizon to achieve financial independence and career satisfaction. If you are approaching or over 40, then simply set a 10-year time horizon and turbo charge towards your goal.

Wrap up

Think about what it takes to achieve your own financial freedom and career satisfaction in an ambitious yet realistic time horizon, then write them down and remind yourself of it the first thing after you rise every single morning. You will then notice positive changes in your mindset and behaviour.
So what are your WB40 goals? Please share them below and let yourself to be held accountable to them. Your future self will thank you.