Full-time vs Freelance, I found that the price of buying freedom is...

I have experienced both freelance and full-time work.
Freelance income is unstable, fluctuating high and low, and my mood will also fluctuate with the income.
Although there is a fixed income at work, one inevitably has to do some tasks that they do not like.

I was just thinking, is it possible to pay myself a salary, not a very high one, just above average would be fine, then rent a shared office, work for myself, and pay myself a salary? I set my salary at 10,000 RMB a month.

So if you pay yourself a salary of 10,000 every month for 35 years, how much do you need? 11235 = 4.2 million, so let's round it up to 5 million.

When I calculated this number, I couldn't calm down for a long time. 5 million, 5 million could buy my freedom, 5 million could achieve basic financial freedom, (if I don't pursue luxury cars and villas, just living an ordinary life.)

Then we might as well calculate more accurately, adding inflation. In the past 10 years, domestic inflation has not been very stable, especially approaching 0 in 2024 and 2025. However, during the highest point of inflation in the past 10 years, it was close to 3%, so let's calculate based on 3%.

If the inflation rate is 3% per year, then 5 million after 35 years would be equivalent to a purchasing power of 14.045 million today.

So if you have 15 million now, then you can really be free!

In fact, there is another solution: investing while spending. As long as the returns on the investment outpace inflation, it may not even require 14 million; perhaps 10 million would be sufficient.

So let's set a small goal for ourselves first, to earn 10 million!