Financial freedom looks different when you have spent years working twelve-hour days.

For me, it looks like buying beef and pork from a local farmer. Growing vegetables in my own garden. Having time to prepare a meal. Going fishing without fitting the entire trip into a vacation schedule approved by my employer.

Those are ordinary things. Having the freedom to choose them matters.

Real estate helped me build that freedom. It gave me a way to create options beyond exchanging my time for a paycheck.

Reading Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken recently reminded me why those options matter—and why the purpose behind an investment deserves as much attention as the projected return.

What Does Food Have to Do With Financial Freedom?

Ultra-Processed People examines the science, economics, and commercial incentives behind ultra-processed food. It raises questions about how our food environment influences what we eat.

Consider someone coming home after a twelve-hour shift.

They are tired. Their family needs dinner. Tomorrow’s alarm is already getting closer.

A drive-through offers an immediate answer. Shopping, preparing ingredients, cooking, and cleaning up require time and energy they may have already spent at work.

We can tell that person to make healthier choices. But advice alone does not change their schedule, budget, or access to food.

Where someone lives matters, too. Research in some communities has found greater exposure to fast-food restaurants in lower-income neighborhoods. The pattern varies by location, but it raises an important question: how much practical choice does someone have when convenient food is everywhere and affordable, nutritious alternatives are harder to reach?

That is what connects this discussion to money.

Financial flexibility can give you more room to act on your priorities. Time to shop. Time to cook. Time to exercise. Time to step away from a schedule that leaves you exhausted.

Money cannot guarantee health or happiness. It can expand the choices available to you.

The Cost of a Twelve-Hour Workday

A paycheck shows what you earned. It does not show everything earning it cost you.

There is the commute. The missed dinner. The weekend spent recovering. The vacation you could take only when the schedule allowed it.

I know that routine.

My employer determined when I needed to report for work. Time off required planning around someone else’s needs. Even a vacation came with a return date when my time belonged to the job again.

A W-2 job can provide stability, benefits, and a foundation for building wealth. But when your household depends entirely on the next paycheck, your ability to change that arrangement can be limited.

For me, the question became: How could I build income and assets that gave me more control over my life?

Real estate became one answer.

How Real Estate Investing Gave Me More Options

Real estate gave me a way to apply knowledge, capital, and work toward building assets.

I could evaluate a property, understand the costs, develop an exit strategy, and decide whether the opportunity supported my goals.

Over time, that helped me gain more control over my schedule.

Today, I buy meat from a local farmer and grow some of my own vegetables. I have more opportunity to prepare food, get outside, and decide how to spend my day.

These choices require resources. That is precisely why I wanted to build them.

Real estate investing also involves work and risk. A rental can have vacancies and repairs. A renovation can exceed its budget. An investment managed by someone else can perform below expectations.

I have learned that owning an investment does not automatically mean you control its outcome.

The goal is to build options through decisions you understand—not replace one source of pressure with another.

What Is Financial Freedom Through Real Estate?

Financial freedom through real estate means using property investments to support the life you want, with enough financial flexibility to make meaningful choices about work and time.

It does not have to begin with replacing your entire salary.

Your first goal might be to:

• Reduce your reliance on overtime.

• Build an additional source of income.

• Create room to change jobs.

• Strengthen your financial reserves.

• Work toward greater flexibility in retirement.

A useful goal is specific enough to evaluate.

“I want to be rich” gives you little direction.

“I want enough additional net income to reduce my overtime hours” gives you a purpose. You can then examine whether an investment’s expected income, expenses, workload, and risks fit that purpose.

Start With Your Purpose Before You Buy a Property

Before looking at listings, write down what you want an investment to make possible.

Then connect that purpose to a plan.

1. Define the Option You Want to Create

What would change in your life if you had more financial flexibility?

Name it. More evenings at home. Fewer shifts. A different career. More control over retirement.

That answer should guide your investment strategy.

2. Build Your Buy Box

Your buy box defines the properties you are willing to consider.

It should address location, property type, price range, condition, and intended use. A clear buy box helps you evaluate opportunities consistently.

For investors in Southeast Michigan, the details should reflect the specific neighborhood and property—not a broad headline about the Michigan housing market.

3. Underwrite the Full Cost

Rent is revenue. What remains after expenses is what matters to your plan.

Account for financing, taxes, insurance, maintenance, vacancies, management, and reserves. For a renovation, examine the purchase price, rehab budget, holding costs, selling costs, and a realistic after-repair value.

An investment that requires constant attention may fit poorly with a goal of having more free time.

4. Understand Your Financing

Money has a cost.

Your own cash has an opportunity cost. Borrowed money brings repayment obligations and terms that affect the deal.

Evaluate how financing changes both the expected return and your ability to handle a setback.

5. Plan Your Exit and Your Business

Know what you intend to do with the property and what you could do if conditions change.

Your business plan should connect the investment to your resources, responsibilities, and goals. A property needs to make sense within that larger plan.

Evidence Over Emotion

Frustration with your job can motivate you to make a change. It should not make the investment decision for you.

A property still needs to work financially. The risks still need to be understood. Your reserves still need to be adequate.

My approach is simple:

Evidence Over Emotion.
Decisions Driven by Evidence.

I want to know what the numbers support, what could go wrong, and whether the investment serves the purpose we started with.

What Would More Options Mean for You?

Reading Ultra-Processed People made me think about how much our surroundings and schedules shape our daily decisions.

Real estate cannot solve every problem discussed in that book. In my life, it has helped me create the time and flexibility to make choices that matter to me.

That is why I invest.

Before asking how many properties you should own, ask what you want those properties to help you do.

Ready to explore your next step? Schedule a conversation with Unruh Property. We’ll start with your goals and examine how real estate could fit your plan.

Steve Unruh is a Michigan real estate agent, investor, Army Infantry veteran, and retired Michigan State Trooper. Through Unruh Property, he helps buyers, sellers, and investors evaluate real estate decisions using evidence, practical experience, and clear goals.