Pauline Paquin used to work in IT but she got bored. “I didn’t like the corporate world. So I did nothing to improve my career. I did hustle on the side, but could probably have earned more, and left earlier, if I had worked harder”. Pauline left her job because freelancing was earning her more, then she lost her clients after six months. She had no plan B so she started blogging. She saved every penny she could for a few years so she could buy rental properties. Then she left her job to relocate to Guatemala, where she now runs a little guest house and makes a living blogging. Her investments provide enough to live under the sun for the rest of her life but she likes to keep busy so she keep investing in real estate and writing.
When Pauline realized she wanted to leave the 9 to 5, she was just getting started with personal finance. That was a concept she knew about from a logical point of view but hadn’t educated herself much. Pauline found “I Will Teach You To Be Rich” helped a lot, as well as frugality blogs like “The Simple Dollar”. Today they have both morphed into something else, but if you dig through the archives there are great posts.
A New Life
Now Pauline is having the time to do the things she wants to do and living every day exactly the way she wants to. She is usually up at 6am with the sun, but sometimes you will find her napping at 10am, or 5pm. “I can spend a day exploring around, I can spend a day in bed. Every day I listen to my body and move when I feel like moving, eat when I’m hungry, work when I want to. Before I felt like life was out of control because I had to do things”.
Pauline also loves being able to spend quality time with people. When they have a week long holiday, she can spend two full days with them, whereas before, she’d be busy spending her week long holiday somewhere. “Quitting your job and being financially independent is awesome. But you have to have things that move you. Maybe it is being a stay at home parent, freelancing, volunteering, or training for a marathon”. Chances are, if you found the drive to reach financial independence, you are already a motivated person. But it is like being in a candy store. Yes, you can eat all the candy, it doesn’t mean it is a good idea.
Pauline just built a house in Guatemala and run a guest house nearby, so for now she is taking it easy. She has a lot of travel planned for 2016, and is going back to blogging after a hiatus. The next big trip is driving a motorcycle down to Patagonia.
You can follow Pauline Paquin at reachfinancialindependence.com
