Notes on a free life.
How I think about freedom, money and the default script, in plain words, no advice. The same thinking I bring to a session.
I retired into a falling market
My first year out was the year stocks fell and prices spiked. I did nothing about the market, worried more about the supermarket, and learnt what a plan is really for.
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How long are you planning for?
Most of us plan our money to last thirty years and then quietly hope to live a lot longer than that. I put the contradiction to a group of investors in Lisbon: two true stories, a thought experiment, and where I land.
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The list
I retired with a list of everything I'd finally do. Most entries died on contact with the freedom; the survivors surprised me. What the list is actually for, and when to start yours.
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The spreadsheet goblin
I once walked across Dublin to save a bus fare, and put my whole portfolio where the fees were lowest from day one. Which optimisations are worth it, from someone who's lived both ends of the spreadsheet.
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I retired at 34
The whole exit, told straight: proved on a bicycle, finished with a flight to Lisbon, celebrated with nothing. And the record corrected: I was 34, not 33. I never remember my age.
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Why people don't quit
Some of my friends have been one year away for five years. It stopped being about the money a long time ago. On fear, and the cheapest first step I've seen actually work.
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Buying freedom
How many years of freedom are you buying this month? I used to price everything that way. What's left of the arithmetic now, and the things people misprice most.
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The blank page
Nobody warns you about the morning after financial independence: the freedom turns up empty-handed. What I've learnt about filling it.
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The number
The maths from the talk: how big the pot, why I count thirty times spending rather than twenty-five, and what I actually hold. Still not advice, just my own sums, shown.
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Own your time
Notes from a talk I gave on financial independence, tightened up. None of it is advice. It's just how I think about money.
ReadBring me a challenge.
The Exit Audit, then ninety minutes: a straight verdict, real alternatives with their pros and cons, and your first move. If you want someone to nod along, I’m the wrong person to pay.