You are getting left behind in the rat race and this is making you miserable. And what happens if you finally do catch up? Will that truly make you happier? Per

You are getting left behind in the rat race and this is making you miserable. And what happens if you finally do catch up? Will that truly make you happier? Perhaps the best way to be happier is to completely exit this race and design a new lifestyle Here's an idea. Move abroad to an area such as S.E. Asia where you can reset your expectations in life and live cheaply. The new experiences will inject excitement into all the little things you never noticed back home. Your frugal lifestyle will allow you to save money at a more rapid pace. Perhaps you would even be able to sock away the same amount of money each month as friends and family who are making a lot more than you are. Certainly this would be the case if you measured your savings based on your lowered living expenses (one mediocre month of freelancing in some places can bring in enough cash to pay for many months of living expenses in some regions of S.E. Asia.) If you were to setup a legit business elsewhere, then you get all sorts of interesting options for lowering your taxes. The Philippines has special economic zones where new businesses can get a tax holiday for something like 3 - 6 years. Your personal income isn't taxed by the U.S. until it hits something like 90K per year (assuming that you're personal income is being taxed by the country you are residing in.) With creative accounting, you could probably figure out all sorts of ways to seriously reduce your tax bill (or even eliminate it entirely.) Maybe you want to get out of freelancing but still enjoy working independently. What better way to bootstrap new business ideas than by living in a country where you can pay your monthly bills with one hour of billable work per day? That gives you a lot of free time to develop other ideas. Or you could build up your savings and then do something radical like doubling your rates. There are also interesting opportunities in emerging markets which aren't options in the U.S. because of higher levels of saturation and competition. Don't short change yourself. You have six hard earned but valuable years of freelance experience. Get out of the rat race and watch everyone else envy you rather than the other way around.