5 Reasons Why You Should Work Seasonally While Coasting to Financial Independence.
Seasonal living is a natural way of life.
When I reached Coast FI around age 30, I decided it was time to downshift my career.
I was working hard at the time, putting in a lot of hours each week for a company I loved. But, I knew I couldn’t sustain it, and with my daughter being born around the same time, frankly, I didn’t want to. So I pivoted—turning to a combination of freelance writing and seasonal tax prep to cover our living expenses.
It was the perfect alignment of luck and preparation.
My wife and I were lucky we’d heard of the FIRE movement years earlier. We’d been preparing for FIRE by aggressively contributing to our investment accounts, saving close to 50% of our income some years. We were also lucky to learn about Slow FI when our daughter was born, an alternative approach to financial independence that shifts the focus away from the destination and emphasizes the journey.
This alignment of luck and preparation allowed us to transition to coast FI, working just enough to cover our living expenses while letting our investments do the heavy lifting in the background, powered by the effects of compounding over long periods.
Seasonal work has been such an excellent fit for me, so I want to tell you 5 reasons why you should work seasonally while coasting to financial independence.
1. Seasonal living is a natural way of life.
“Humans used to live in a way that was innately more in touch with the seasons; indeed, many people around the world still do.” — Leah Payne.
One thing I never expected about seasonal work is how natural it would feel.
But it makes sense—seasonal living has been around as long as humans. Our ancient ancestors used to live in harmony with the seasons, adapting to fit the rhythms of nature. They would plant in the spring, harvest in the summer and fall, and hunker down for the winter.
This was the natural ebb and flow of life for many years.
But now, our way of living has changed, causing us to disconnect from the rhythm of the seasons. Unfortunately, this disconnect can cause us to feel out of touch with nature and unaware of the changing seasons around us. But seasonal living is a way to combat this disconnect.
Seasonal living is intentional—a purposeful decision to reconnect with the rhythms of nature.
There are various levers you can pull to live seasonally, including the following:
Seasonal eating—buying and preparing foods that are in season and locally sourced.
Seasonal work—choosing work that has a defined start and end point.
Spending more time outdoors—by getting outside, you can begin to notice the change of seasons and appreciate what each offers.
Seasonal decorating—you can bring the season into your home through the decor you choose.
Seasonal celebration—by celebrating the change of seasons, you can mark the beginning and end of each season, identifying the transition from one to the next.
2. Seasonal work has a definitive start and end point.
One of my favorite parts about seasonal tax prep is I know it starts in January and ends in April.
This has a couple of unique benefits. First, it helps me keep going when the going gets tough. There’s no way around it: tax season can be challenging. But knowing that the end is in sight makes it more bearable as I work through the challenge.
It’s like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, knowing that the end is just up ahead.
Second, it helps us plan the rest of our year around the tax season. Since I know that work will be busy from January to April, it makes it easy to plan travel and other adventures around the tax season, knowing that I won’t be as busy once the season is over. This also helps push us to take advantage of the rest of the year since January to April is essentially blocked off.
More on that next.
3. Being busy for part of the year will spur you to make the most of the off-season.
Another benefit to working seasonally is the motivation to travel during the off-season.
Since I know that work will be busy from January to April, I avoid planning any trips or vacations during that time. This allows me to focus on my work and be as productive as possible. But then, our travel calendar opens up significantly.
In a way, it’s like our travel demand is pent up during the tax season and then released during the offseason.
This motivates us to plan trips for the rest of the year, especially during the summer, as tax season has just wrapped up. For example, last summer, we took six weeks and traveled up the coast of California, enjoying the pacific coast highway for most of the journey. This was a great way to decompress after the tax season and scratch our travel itch.
This summer, we plan to travel to France for a wedding, Wisconsin to visit my wife’s family, and then the Oregon Coast for a big beach trip with my family.
4. You can take advantage of overtime to boost your earnings.
One benefit of many seasonal jobs is that the busy season is, well, busy.
Tax season is a great example. Outside of tax season, tax prep work is slow, almost non-existent. But, for those 3-4 months every year, there’s as much work as you can handle. That means you’ve got the opportunity to boost your earnings for that period, depending on how much you want to work.
For example, at TurboTax, everything over 40 hours per week is considered overtime.
So, for tax preparers making $30 per hour, everything over 40 hours is paid at $45/hour, an excellent wage for seasonal work. In addition, throughout the tax season, TurboTax offers a variety of incentives and bonuses to increase coverage when it’s busy. These incentives often add hundreds of dollars to your paycheck for picking up a couple of extra shifts on the weekend or preparing a certain amount of returns over a specific period.
The ability to boost your earnings during the busy season can often mean working less, or not at all, during the off-season.
5. There’s an awesome energy at the beginning of the season.
Lastly, I love the energy at the beginning of a new season.
At TurboTax, tax experts come back in waves, with more seasoned experts coming back first, followed by newer experts. This allows the seasoned preparers to test out any tech adjustments from the year before and offer feedback before the season starts. This is a time of new beginnings, and the energy is electric.
Then, as newer preparers start to onboard, it’s fun to be able to share any knowledge or unique tips you have before the season commences.
The energy at the beginning of a new season helps me power through the work ahead. It’s fun getting to reconnect with teammates from last year and meet new teammates for this upcoming season. This energy level is fairly unique to seasonal work as it can be challenging to find in year-round employment, aside from starting new projects or undergoing a reorganization.
In the end, seasonal work is one of my favorite parts of coasting to financial independence. It’s a great lifestyle fit and allows me to boost my earnings for the season while enjoying a fun work energy with my teammates. Best of all, it lets me shift my focus away from work during the off-season, emphasizing travel and adventure through the summer and fall.
But, seasonal work is not for everyone, and that’s okay. If you’re coasting to FI or considering coasting, there are many different jobs and styles of working that could be a good fit. If you want to learn more, click below 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇
