The Money Trap (escaping 9-5 life)

^{Read time - 4 minutes / Disclosure}

 

Escaping 9-5 life means:

- Seeing family more.

- Doing things you like.

- Avoiding things you don't like.

Unfortunately, most people feel stuck in their 9-5 job.

 

The Old Way

 

Going to school became a thing in the 1800s.

By the 1900s, daily attendance was mandatory and became a law in most states.

The government decided what people learned.

And encouraged a lifestyle that looks like this:

- Go to school.

- Get a good job.

- Work 40-50 hour weeks.

- Retire in your 60s and have more time freedom.

At age 62 you can apply to receive social security payments from the government.

And take money out of your retirement accounts to pay your bills.

Most people still follow this "old way" of doing things.

And it worked well for a long time.

Heck, it's the way I followed too.

And usually looks like this:

 

 

But in my 30s I noticed things were changing.

- Companies laid people off to save a few bucks.

- The social security system was running out of money.

- Daily living costs seemed higher than the wages many companies were willing to pay their employees.

 

The truth is..

The old way doesn't work very well anymore.

It worked well for our parents and their parents.

But today..

For many people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s.

It feels like a trap.

And many people are wondering:

Will I ever be able to retire?

 

This hit me like a ton of bricks 5 years into my job as a banker at Chase.

I knew in my early 20s working a 9-5 for 40 years wasn't how I wanted to live my life.

But I hadn't yet figured out how to leave my 9-5 without worrying about money.

How to make a non 9-5 life work.

That's when I noticed a new trend among some millennial and gen z banking customers.

A new way of living and working.

A way that seemed much better than the old way.

A way that allowed me to leave my 9-5 job in my 30s.

And it looked like this:

 

 

The new way wasn't about working a 9-5 for 40 years and retiring at age 62.

It was about working and living differently.

About having more free time sooner in life.

Instead of saving it up until the very end when we're old and gray.

 

 

The 9-5 Escape

 

Here's 4 steps that helped me go from the old way of living to the new way and quit my 9-5 job.

Hope it's useful.

Let's dive in:

 

1. The Current Reality

 

Knowing what you don't want in life can change everything.

It sure did for me.

Realizing I didn't want to spend 40 years of my life:

- Sitting in a cubicle.

- On conference calls.

- Being told when I can and can't take a vacation.

...motivated the heck out of me to find a different way to live my life.

I think Lindsay nails the feeling perfectly:

 

We work 8 hours a day to enjoy 5 hours in the evening.

We work 5 days a week to enjoy 2 days on the weekend.

We work 48 weeks a year to enjoy 4 weeks of PTO.

We work 45 years to enjoy 10 years in retirement.

Idk about you but I just simply can’t accept that for my life.

— Lindsay (@lindsaybitcoin) June 8, 2024

Knowing what you don't want in life can be a huge source of motivation to chase after what you do want.

 

2. The Perfect Day

 

Imagine just working part time for yourself.

How would that look?

I thought a lot about this after discovering this new way of living and working.

Many of the customers I came across in banking that went from the old way to the new way had created their own little online business.

They figured out how to turn their knowledge into a part time income.

And the crazy thing..

Many of these people were making more money working part time for themself then they made working a full time job.

 

The personal trainer at 24 hour fitness started their own little online personal training business.

The accountant at a big accounting firm started their own little online money coaching business.

The psychologist at a high school started their own little online counseling business.

 

After seeing many people do this.

I started to wonder..

How the heck could I do this too?

Take everything I'd learned working a 9-5 job.

And turn that knowledge into a little part time business.

To have more control over my time.

To spend more time with family and friends.

To spend less time working.

If that sounds interesting to you. I think Justin Welsh is one of the smartest guys to follow to learn exactly how to do this.

 

Today, my little one-person business crossed $10M in total revenue.

It took 2,119 days, I ran zero ads & I operate at a ~89% margin.

Here are the 23 steps of my wild & strange journey:

Hope they are helpful to someone ↓

— Justin Welsh (@thejustinwelsh) May 26, 2025

 

Imagining your perfect day and exactly how your life would look can be a great source of motivation to move you closer to your goals.

 

3. The Money Reset

 

It's hard to quit a 9-5 job to pursue something new without fixing your finances first.

And my finances needed a lot of work.

After working in banking for several years.

I created a little money guide and started using it 30 minutes a month to help me save and invest more money.

My goal was to get this number as low as possible (while still living a good life).

 

^{Example money guide}

And get this number as high as possible so I could invest more money and save a big cushion of money before leaving 9-5 life.

 

^{Example money guide}

(​a copy of my free money guide​)

 

Money guides can help you build wealth faster so you can leave 9-5 life sooner (if you want).

 

4. The Intense Investor

 

Finding ways to invest a lot of money.

Can lead to a lot of passive income.

And passive income helps cover monthly bills.

I figured, the more passive income I created with investments like stocks and real estate.

The sooner I could turn in my notice and leave my 9-5 job.

To have more control of my time.

To just work part time.

To do my own thing.

Seeing the different ways people made and saved money in banking was helpful.

So I created a free cheat sheet with many of the different ways:

 

 

Saving and investing more money every month and creating passive income helps make leaving 9-5 life early much easier.

 

The bottom line

 

Quitting my 9-5 job at age 39 scared the hell out of me.

But what scared me more..

Was talking to people that were 20 years ahead of me.

People that worked a 9-5 job and sat in a cubicle for 40 years.

People that had regrets and wished they'd taken more chances.

People that said if doing it all over again they would save and invest more money earlier in life so they had more options.

 

After leaving my job as a banker at Chase.

I did home loans part time the first few years as a self employed loan broker.

That was the best idea I could think of to just work part time for myself using knowledge from my 9-5 job.

Then stopped and started focusing on building this little online education business (Millennial Wealth).

The last 6 years have been a wild but interesting journey.

 

If you've ever thought about saving more money, investing more money and leaving 9-5 life early to do your own thing.

To have more freedom.

To not have to ask to go on vacation.

To eventually spend more time with friends and family.

It sure isn't easy.

But it's worth it and I'm rooting for you.

That's all for today.

See you next Saturday.