Money, Wealth & Financial Freedom
Compound interest, freedom math, and asymmetric bets — personal finance for people optimizing the rest of their lives too.
The High Savings Rate Shortcut: Why 50% Saved Compounds Faster Than 50% More Earned
The path to wealth that ignores income optimization entirely. Mr Money Mustache's framework, refined with the actual math of savings rate vs return rate.
Side Hustles And Skill Stacking: The Adams-Ravikant Asymmetric Career Move
Scott Adams's "talent stack" + Naval Ravikant's "permissionless leverage" + side income = the modern asymmetric career strategy. Why being top 25% at three things beats top 1% at one.
Salary Negotiation: The Most Asymmetric Bet In Personal Finance
30 minutes of conversation can produce $10,000+ in additional annual income for decades. The downside is essentially zero. Yet most people don't negotiate. Why the upside-downside math is so absurd, and the framework that makes negotiation easier.
Debt Snowball vs Avalanche: The Math, The Psychology, And The Winner For You
Two methods of paying off debt: smallest balance first (snowball, Ramsey) or highest interest first (avalanche, math-optimal). The math says avalanche. The behavioral data says snowball wins for most people. Why both can be right.
The Value Of Time: When To Pay Someone Else And When To DIY
Calculating your effective hourly rate and using it as a decision filter for spending vs DIY is one of the highest-leverage mental moves in personal finance. Most decisions are obvious once you do the math.
The 25× Rule: When You Can Actually Stop Working
25 times your annual expenses, invested in broad-market assets, lets you withdraw 4% per year for 30+ years with very low probability of running out. The Trinity Study, refined for modern conditions.
Lifestyle Creep: The Invisible Tax That Eats 100% Of Your Raises
Every raise gets absorbed into rising expenses until net savings is no higher than at half the salary. The hedonic-treadmill mechanism applied to money. How to keep your raises this time.
Emergency Fund: The Boring Buffer That Prevents Financial Disasters
3-6 months of expenses in a liquid account. The most under-loved piece of personal finance — and the single intervention that prevents most catastrophes from compounding into multi-year setbacks.
Index Funds vs Active Management: Why The Market Beats Almost Every Fund Manager
Active fund managers underperform the index 80% of the time over a decade. The mechanics: fees, transaction costs, and the impossibility of consistently beating an efficient market. John Bogle's whole-career argument, with the data.
Compound Interest: The Math Everyone Praises And Almost Nobody Acts On
Einstein allegedly called compound interest the eighth wonder of the world. The math is simple. The implications are violent. Why most people miss the actual leverage point.
Hedonic Adaptation: Why Money Stops Buying Happiness
Kahneman-Deaton on income and wellbeing, the 2021 Killingsworth update, and what the actual data says about money buying happiness.