Financial advisor says flexible work cuts his path to freedom from 20 years to 3

Brian Herriot, a financial advisor and entrepreneur in Alameda, California, says redesigning work around flexibility shortened his own path to financial independence from 20 years to three. His new book argues that adding flexible work to the usual save-and-invest strategy can bring time freedom years earlier.

Why it matters: - Herriot's framework targets a problem many workers face: traditional retirement math can push real freedom decades away. - The model argues that flexible work can create time freedom while people still have kids at home or aging parents nearby. - Herriot says the approach can help workers avoid waiting until 65 to control their schedules.

What happened: - Brian Herriot, a financial advisor by trade, ran his own numbers after the 2020 market selloff and initially found he would be financially independent in 20 years, at 65. - He then recalculated using flexible work as a third lever and found a path to time freedom in three years. - Herriot says he took his first full summer off in 2023 and has taken every summer off since. - Herriot is based in Alameda, California, and hosts The Time Freedom Podcast.

The details: - Herriot's Time Freedom Formula™ uses three levers: lifestyle expenses, investment income and flexible work. - He argues most people only use the first two levers, which keeps the timeline stuck at 65. - Saving and investing still matter in Herriot's view, and working later in life can still fit a strong plan if the work is desirable. - Herriot said his perspective was shaped by his wife Claire's 1999 double lung transplant for cystic fibrosis, after which she nearly died the next day. - Claire had grown up with an 18-year life expectancy and is now 27 years past the transplant. - Herriot said he spent two decades in a long commute and missed too much of his son's childhood before changing his work model. - His book, Time Freedom: Rethink Your Work and Money to Create a Life You Love Now, is endorsed by Cal Newport, Héctor García and Tiffany "The Budgetnista" Aliche. - The book is a Next Big Idea Club September 2026 Must-Read. - Time Freedom is set for release Sept. 15 from Page Two Simplified. - More information is available at timefreedom.life.

Between the lines: - The pitch is less about leaving work and more about reshaping work so money and schedule control arrive sooner. - That framing broadens the idea of financial independence beyond full retirement. - The message also reflects a growing interest in lifestyle businesses and portfolio careers that fund flexibility instead of a hard stop.

What's next: - Herriot is available for interviews on money confidence, flexible work and building a lifestyle business. - The book's release on Sept. 15 will put his framework in front of a wider audience. - Herriot's public platform also includes his podcast and social channels linked in the release.