You Don't Need a Side Hustle
I constantly receive variations of this question:
“Andre, if I want to FIRE faster, should I start a side hustle, buy a business, create online courses, or start buying AirBnBs?”
My answer is an emphatic NO! If your primary goal is FIRE, and you are already earning a FAANG-level income, focusing on your FAANG career will give you the highest probability of success.
The Myth of the Side Hustle
For those already in FAANG, focusing on your day job will be one of the highest ROI things you can.
Do you really think that adding a side hustle will help you escape the FAANG grind?
What ends up happening is that you add the side hustle grind to the FAANG grind and burnout 3x as fast. Stop it. Please!
The most successful FAANG FIRE individuals are not the ones with side hustles, not the ones with YouTube channels, not the ones with newsletters, courses, coaching classes, or even any online visibility. They are the senior workers who crush it at their job. The product manager who consistently executes. The data scientist who understands their specific area and can deeply inform their team's direction through data. That designer who intimately cares about the holistic experience across the company. That engineer who seems to consistently account for 70% of your team’s topline metric impact.
They have already won the income game. They can focus on nailing the financial basics without the distraction of a side hustle for income and reach their goals.
Understanding FIRE for High Earners
FIRE isn’t complicated. There are only a handful of inputs. One of the most crucial being Income. Most FIRE content on the internet is intended for the most broad audience. You have to understand that you are not the average FIRE audience.
From a recent FAANG FIRE reader survey, 50% of you have a household income of $500k or more.
$500,000 per year puts you in the top 2% of households in the US! That’s incredibly powerful. You have so much potential to hit your financial goals. This is why I write FAANGFIRE. I just want a few percent more of you to nail the basics which will give you the ultimate gift, optionality of time.
You are winning the income side of the equation already!
Side Projects vs. Side Hustles
This isn’t to discourage you from having side projects! Some of the most successful FAANG workers seem to have dozens of side projects!
I am a big fan of having side projects you’re passionate about. Things that energize you! Things that tug you back to your computer at night and make you decide to skip that extra episode of Black Mirror.
I have always had a side project, you are reading one of them.
Choose a side projects you are passionate about, rather than just for the money. You don't need to grind when you already won the earnings game.
Focus on side projects that will fuel your soul, not your bank account.
The Exceptions Aren't the Rule
There are edge cases of ex-FAANG employees who are absolutely crushing it in their solo endeavors. They are making multiples of their FAANG income and living that glamorous solopreneur lifestyle.
Peel the curtain back and you will realize most are exceptions. They are also likely working their asses off and putting in more work than they ever did at their FAANG job. You will see them launching new courses, building new apps, picking up sponsors left and right. All of that is a tremendous amount of work.
Even after all of that, most who follow that same path are still hoping for their side projects to take off.
You need to realize how rare it is to replace a FAANG level income with these projects. Again, more than 50% of households subscribed here are earning more than $500k per year. That is the 1% of the 1% of creators out there, and I promise they are grinding like hell to get there. IF they stop that grind… that income drops off to $0 surprisingly quick.
Let’s turn to Zach Wilson, Ex-Meta, Ex-Airbnb, Ex-NFLX Data Engineer for his personal thoughts on the topic:
Making Your FAANG Job Sustainable
FAANG incomes can be a grind. There is a reason these companies pay so damn much. They will make you earn every last dollar.
The struggle is that the opportunity cost of doing nearly anything else is so high. You make so much in tech that doing literally anything else would come with a substantial drop in income. And a side hustle does nothing to solve that. It will simply lead to faster burnout.
I am not saying to throw up your hands and just accept the grind. I want you to shift your thinking away from making more income to thinking about ways that can make earning the high total compensation that comes with that grind more sustainable.
What are things you could be doing to spend more to make it sustainable?
Think about literally anything that makes working feel worth it.
Spend more on living closer to work, upgrading your home office, taking weekend trips, nicer vacations, hiring a personal trainer, and outsourcing meal prep.
Note: If you are already spending nearly all of your salary + RSU vests the above advice isn’t for you. I am talking about those who seem to be sprinting towards FIRE. 80%+ saving rates.
Just think about what happens if you increase your spend by $2k more per month. If that extra $2k per month enables you to stick out that $500k job even a few months more, it would be positive ROI.
I actually modeled this, even if the $2k per month increase is permanent, it added less than one year.
You can ask yourself: “Would spending the extra $2k per month make it easier for me to stay in this job for one more month?”
Before you rage quit ahead of that next vest, think about how you might be able to throw a little money at the problem to see if there are ways to make it more sustainable for that extra few months.
It is a balancing act. You make a lot of money. That doesn’t mean you should stay in a situation that is killing your mental health. Who cares about being able to retire if you are miserable, depressed, out of shape.
Closing Thoughts
There are creators who are pushing everyone to become solopreneurs. I am asking you to take a step back and realize that you are not everyone else. You already won the income game. For someone making $75k per year the possibility of replacing their income with a side hustle is very much a possibility. For someone making $500k… that is the exception.
I get really worried when I see very high W2 earners wanting to dive into side hustles, buy boring businesses, go down “passive income” rabbit holes. You already won that side of the equation. Spend your time optimizing other parts of your life, like your health, relationships, happiness, and things that can make earning that high income more sustainable.
Looking to learn how to “nail the basics” and make sure you are leveraging your FAANG salary towards FIRE? My “Cash Flow Waterfall” breaks down the essential steps:
The Cash Flow Waterfall
I first introduced the FAANG FIRE Savings Prioritization Waterfall in the “Where I Would Save $100k Per Year” post, but I never broke down WHY things are in this order.
Loved this advice, Andre. Sometimes it's better to live the present instead of always playing it for the future. If your side hussle brings you joy, then of course do it. But if it's draining you then focus on your primary job and also spend a little bit to make it worthwhile. Totally agree with you here!
Great post, Andre — I completely agree. For most people in FAANG, the highest ROI comes from expanding scope, not chasing a side hustle. I shared some additional thoughts from my own experience going from L3 to L10 across multiple big tech companies:
https://formertechbro.substack.com/p/forget-the-side-hustle-focus-on-scope
Well worth thinking about how to play the game while you're still in it.