What next? Deciding what to do after achieving financial freedom

Financial freedom is only half the journey. The harder question is what you want your money to make possible once you no longer need to work

I was barely 54 when I exited Apnapaisa, the startup I had built over 15 years, after its acquisition by a strategic investor. I had enough money to feel financially secure. As I had signed a non-compete with the acquirer, I could no longer do what I had always done. For the first time in my life, I was at a loose end. 

The acquisition brought a stream of wealth managers to my office. Some began selling before they even sat down. Others were better and tried to understand my needs. But even they could only offer what their organisation had to sell. That was my light-bulb moment: The starting point had to be the client, not a product. 

At first, I thought the job was largely about investments — understanding goals, resources and risk profile, and building a suitable portfolio. I soon learnt that building the portfolio was the easier part. Helping the investor stay with it when markets fell, or headlines frightened them, was harder. To do that well, we had to understand why the client was investing. That led to a deeper realisation. Clients say they want returns. Of course they do. But what they really care about is what those returns let them do. 

I remember a client who wanted to become an entrepreneur but feared leaving a secure job. We showed him that even without a salary for some time, his family would remain financially comfortable. I could share my own experience of leaving a secure job to become an entrepreneur. While the number crunching helped, I suspect it was sharing my personal experience that nudged him to become an entrepreneur. Another client accepted lower pay for a more flexible role, wanting more time with his children. He realised spending more time with his family was better than higher pay. 

Those experiences changed the question we began asking: Not ‘How much return can be earned?’ but ‘What do you want your money to make possible?’ Before investing, understand what you want your life to look like. That sounds obvious. It is surprisingly difficult. Ask yourself: What would you stop doing if there were no money constraints? How would you change your life if you had just five years to live? What would you regret not having done? 

Those conversations changed the way I looked at my own life. One of the most meaningful things a client said to me was: “We are so glad you are in our lives.” It made me wonder how such services could reach far more people. That grew into an audacious dream: “A Financial Plan for every Indian by 2047” and drew me deeper into the Association of Registered Investment Advisers (ARIA), working with peers to make financial planning mainstream. 

Somewhere along the way, what had begun as a way of filling my time after Apnapaisa became something more important. It became my purpose. I had spent years helping clients see that financial security gave them the freedom to choose their lives. Then I realised the same thing had happened to me — financial security had given me the freedom to find work that became meaningful.  

My experience made me look differently at our financially successful clients. Many had already answered one question: Will I have enough money to stop working? Few had asked the harder one: What will I do when I no longer have to work?

The answer need not be grand. Purpose need not come with a capital P. It could mean teaching, helping people around you, mentoring someone younger, spending more time with family, learning something new or living differently. Purpose is deeply personal. 

Truth be told, I had spent years planning for financial freedom. I had never planned what I would do with it. I was lucky. Purpose found me almost by accident when I was at a loose end in life. Looking back, that may be the bigger lesson. Perhaps we spend too much time planning how to become financially free and too little asking what we want to be free for. 

 

The writer heads Fee-Only Investment Advisors LLP, a Sebi-registered investment advisor; X: @harshroongta