Book Review: “The 4-Hour Workweek” strikes a chord
Timothy Ferriss’s 4-Hour Workweek does what only the best books can do. He strikes a chord deep within us, confirms thoughts we have always vaguely felt to be true, and points us to a path that offers new hope for the future. Some of the salient points covered by the author are:
1. Retirement as a goal is flawed. Doing the same thing for 8 hours a day until you crash or stop permanently is the wrong way to live. Ferriss says alternating periods of activity and rest are necessary to survive, not to mention thrive. He advocates spreading “mini-retirement” throughout life rather than accumulating recovery and enjoyment of retirement years.
2. The question one must ask is not “What do I want in life?” or “What are my goals?” but the real question should be “What would excite me?”. To get more focused, you need to ask yourself, “What would I do if I couldn’t fail or if I were 10 times smarter than the rest of the world?”
3. Getting fired, despite being a surprise and leaving you struggling to get back on your feet, is often a godsend. Someone else made the decision for you and it is impossible for you to sit in the wrong job for the rest of your life. Most people are not lucky enough to be fired and suffer a slow spiritual death after 30 or 40 years of putting up with mediocre.
The author describes several insightful ways to free up time for mini-retirement.
1. Start your own business, then hand over the reins to someone else to run operations for you. You become the owner of a ghost. As Ferriss quotes the Guardian of the Gates of the Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz, “The orders are that no one can see the Great Oz! No one, not how!”
2. Outsource your work to domestic and foreign virtual companies that specialize in outsourcing.
3. Negotiate with your current boss to work at home instead of working in the office. This allows you to focus your efforts on the important aspects of your work and get it done faster and more efficiently.
While I think these are all reasonable options, this is where I part ways with the author, in terms of how I approach passive income streams.
What works for me is buying houses to fix, repair and rent. The work is charged up front with the initial purchase and repair of the property. After that initial push, like the 4-hour workweek, it requires minimal input and can allow time for mini-retirements.
For me, the advantage of real estate is that it provides both long-term and short-term profit. Long-term from the average 5% increase in equity, and short-term from monthly rent payments and tax deductions. If you hand over your rental properties to a management company, you travel for free.
This is not to take anything away from the 4-hour work week. On the contrary, the book is worth reading because it is eminently thought-provoking and written in a wildly entertaining style. (His hilarious job resignation letter to fill in the blanks for Mad Lib is a work of mad genius.) However, as I mentioned, the book goes much further, examining deeper issues in life and work that are rarely tackled in such a gripping way.
Another excellent book that also takes a meaningful look at work and money issues is “Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship With Money and Achieving Financial Independence” by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin.