The Rat Race is a financial concept defined as an endless, self-defeating or pointless pursuit.

Much like a rat chasing cheese to eat, we live our lives running towards something that we perceive as an absolute necessity, in this case, a salary.

Wait a minute… We all need to work and get paid at the end of the day because we have bills to pay and food to buy. We need to work harder and harder for a bigger pay check that will allow our family to live a comfortable life.

Right?

To help you get some perspective, I’ll tell you the story of 2 fictional characters, Eliot and Laura.

Eliot

Eliot was a brilliant Law student. After he graduated he found a well paying job that would pay for some of the things that we could not afford and he finally moved out out his parents house and rented a decent place at the centre of the city.

He kept working harder and harder because he had great ambitions. Finally he got the well deserved promotion and a bigger pay check. At the same time, he met someone special and a year after that they got married. He couldn’t live in the same small apartment, so he and his wife moved to a bigger house. 

A year after that a baby was on the way, so he moved to a company that was paying more. With the baby coming, the bills also increased, plus he needed a new car.

His career was going great, he was very talented and his pay checks were increasing. The flip side was that the expenses also kept increasing, new TV, new cars, vacations… and we didn’t get to spend a lot of time with his family.

Now life happens and the company he’s working on goes bankrupt and this month he won’t be getting a pay check. What happens to his bills? Who’s paying for that?

Because he was good at what he does, just two weeks had passed before he got a new job at a new firm but with a slightly lower income. He had accepted the offer because he needed an income, for the next monthly income.

He needs to keep running for a pay check, or else he can’t pay the bills or put food on the table.

Eliot is on the Rat Race.

Laura

Laura decided that she didn’t want to go to college. Instead she decided to become a real state agent. This career is a tough route because everything depends on rather you can sell a house or not.

Real state agents can (and will) have months in a row without selling a house, but when they do, they earn a commission which is much higher that a regular job monthly pay check.

Understanding the risk that came with her career, Laura decided to save every penny she got from commissions and instead of buying a house, she got a duplex. Instead of living on the duplex by herself, she rented out half of it and properly. As she was a real state agent she knew about the taxes and regulations so that the rent would almost completely pay out the house.

She was basically living for free.

An 2 years passed and she made another investment on a house that she new it was a bargain. She bought the house, did some renovations and rented it. If she for some reason could’t sell any houses at her job, this income would completely pay her expenses, as long as she kept a frugal lifestyle. 

Despite not making a lot of money every single month, she was exited about the opportunities and decided to create a social media presence for herself. She started a Youtube channel where she shared her journey as a real state agent and how she was investing her money.

Just one year after starting the channel and with hundreds of hours of hard work, her Youtube channel was giving her a very generous cashflow every month. Even if she stopped posting videos, they would continue to bring an income for a few years at least.

She was now making more money passively per month than her expenses.

If the company she worked for was shut down, she didn’t need to find another one. She was no longer dependent on a pay check.

She was not running the Rat Race.

So how do you quit the Rat Race?

You don’t have to follow the exact same path as Laura, just the blueprint.

• Find something you love doing (debatable but highly recommended)
• Invest your earnings
• Share your passion
• Live a free life

If you would like to know more about this topic, I recommend reading:
Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
Money – Master the Game by Tony Robbins

*These are affiliate links, if you buy from them I will earn a very small commission and you won’t have to pay more for it.

Also, here are other interesting posts you might be interested:
How to Take Advantage of Opportunities – Recession Edition
10 Things You Can Do To Earn More Money – 2020 Edition.
10 Skills you need to Develop if you want to BE RICH.

Hope you enjoyed this post, now please let me know:

Are you with Eliot or with Laura?

See you next time.

Photo by Christian .9 from Pexels