"Ideally, my dream job is to just work for myself (I'm sure that's everyone else's too). Sure, there are tradeoffs with that, but there's something about working when you want, where you want."
Have you ever worked for yourself? Because I can guarantee you, unless you bill $500 / hour and have a lifestyle you can sustain on $4000 / month, you will never 'work when you want, where you want'. Ferris is a charlatan - like most self-help books, there are some fundamentally good (if vague) ideas in his books, but please don't fall in the trap of believing that what he describes is doable as easy as he makes it out to be, and/or in a sustainable way.
(I work for myself, and I prefer it over working for a boss, but in the end it's still the same bullshit you need to put up with - and then some).
You obviously have never seen how a king lives. At $4k, you will live like the median American. Maybe that looks good if you're from $1/day but, it's not nearly royal ever.
If you take into consideration your quality of life, it's probably better than a lot of medieval (and even more recent) royals. A car replaces a horse drawn carriage which required a driver, stable staff, etc. You can get meals delivered from restaurants for minimal cost. You have access to a massive variety of foods from around the world. Fresh fruit, veg, and meat is easily affordable. You have a machine to wash your dirty dishes. You have a machine to wash your clothing.
You have access to nearly every piece of human knowledge on demand for almost no cost. You can communicate with anyone, anywhere in the world, at any time, for virtually no cost. You have access to more sources of entertainment than you could consume in a lifetime, at a very low cost. In your pocket you carry a super computer with a multi-core processor, high resolution display, solid state storage measured in gigabytes, with voice and touch interface, that can access all these things over a wireless high speed internet connection.
Every person living in a developed country is living a lifestyle that would have required many servants in any other era. People are just spoiled, greedy, entitled shits. They have no appreciation for how good their lives are. They have no comprehension of the complexity of the underlying systems that make their lives so incredibly easy. And yet they always want MORE.
FYI, 'living like a king' doesn't mean 'live like a 14th century royalty'. It's a saying that means 'live a pleasurable life without worries about practical matters like money, and generally be much better off than those around you who you can pay to do things for you'.
Exactly, and at $4,000/month you would have to be conscious about your money spending habits, else that income will quickly disappear. Sure, you can stretch that amount to provide you ample comforts but you'll be making specific decisions to cut back on certain things or perks to provide a high enough standard of living in other areas.
When I think of "living like a king" I don't particularly imagine "14th century royalty", but I do imagine being able to buy the latest laptop with ample memory and an SSD, for example, without having to think twice about the expense.
Sure, and if you can find some gigs that pay $500/hour, you're golden. I'm perfectly happy living on $4000 / month myself, and probably a bit less too. My point was that only at that baseline you can really 'choose how much and when to work'.
(also, $4000 / month pre tax and expenses is less than $2000 / month pretty much anywhere in the developed world.)
Perhaps the better idea is to first become financially independent (see: Your Money or Your Life). Once free from having the need to work, then you really can be your own boss.
Have you ever worked for yourself? Because I can guarantee you, unless you bill $500 / hour and have a lifestyle you can sustain on $4000 / month, you will never 'work when you want, where you want'. Ferris is a charlatan - like most self-help books, there are some fundamentally good (if vague) ideas in his books, but please don't fall in the trap of believing that what he describes is doable as easy as he makes it out to be, and/or in a sustainable way.
(I work for myself, and I prefer it over working for a boss, but in the end it's still the same bullshit you need to put up with - and then some).