The Voluntary Life: Recent Episodes
Jake Desyllas
A podcast about living a life of your choosing. Topics covered include financial independence, productivity, entrepreneurship, peaceful parenting, minimalism, and rational thinking.
A listener conversation about communication and mindfulness. Originally released in 2018 as a bonus episode for supporting listeners.
A discussion with a listener about tax strategies and financial freedom. The previous episodes of TVL referenced are episodes 209 and 210 with Joshua Sheats from the Radical Personal Finance Podcast. Originally released in 2017 as a bonus episode for supporting listeners.
A discussion with listeners about making a big change in life. Originally released in 2017 as a bonus episode for supporting listeners.
A conversation with listeners about the challenge of being an individual versus finding community. Originally released in 2017 as a bonus episode for supporting listeners.
Jake Desyllas interviewed on the Freecast podcast about his childhood and intellectual development. Originally released in 2017 as a bonus episode for supporting listeners.
A listener conversation originally released in 2017 as a bonus episode for supporting listeners.
A listener conversation. Originally released in 2017 as a bonus episode for supporting listeners.
A continuation of the discussion about cash in investing that I started on TVL Episode 297. Here are a couple of books for further reading:
- Fail Safe Investing by Harry Browne is a simple introduction to the permanent portfolio
- The Permanent Portfolio by Craig Rowland has a detailed discussion about cash.
Originally released in 2017 as a bonus episode for supporting listeners.
A bonus episode about how to do a daily task review. If you implement this practice, you can start the day like a rocket launching. Originally released in June 2017 as a bonus episode for supporting listeners.
This episode is part 2 of How To Sort Your Life Out. You can find Part 1 in episode 295 of The Voluntary Life. Originally released in June 2017 as a bonus episode for supporting listeners.
An update about how my approach to travel and minimalism has changed since becoming a parent. From an interview on the World Wanderers Podcast.
Show Notes:
- The World Wanderers Podcast
- Xolo.io for managing your Estonian E Residency company (use my referral code "Jake")
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
Bonus Episode 98 is about how to start a business if you don't have a concept in mind. You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
A chapter from the audiobook of Job Free by Jake Desyllas.
Show Notes:
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
Bonus episode 97 is a discussion taken from a recent livestream about some things to consider regarding investment accounts if you are implementing a permanent portfolio. Here are two books mentioned in the discussion:
The Permanent Portfolio by Craig Rowland and JM Lawson
The Global Expatriate's Guide to Investing by Andrew Hallam
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
Part 2 of the audiobook of Negotiate For Mutual Profit by Jake Desyllas. Part 1, which covered constructive communication, can be found in TVL Episode 371. Part 2, in this episode, covers the win-win negotiation method, principles, and good habits.
Show Notes:
- TVL Episode 371: Negotiate For Mutual Profit Audiobook Part 1
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
- Becoming an Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
Bonus Episode 96 is a discussion about Thomas Gordon's book Parent Effectiveness Training.
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
An overview of the topics covered in The Voluntary Life, why I focus on these topics, and what you can get from them.
Show Notes:
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
- Becoming an Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
Bonus Episode 95 is a discussion about the current state of the UK economy from the perspective of investors.
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
A discussion of the lessons that can be taken from Jim Paul's book, What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars.
Show Notes:
- What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars by Jim Paul
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
Bonus Episode 94 is a discussion from a recent livestream question about Extinction Rebellion and climate change. You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
Bonus Episode 93 is taken from a recent livestream discussion about the book The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley.
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
What are the assumptions used in "tiger" parenting, and what is the goal? This episode is a review of The Battle Hymn of The Tiger Mother by Amy Chua.
Bonus Episode 92 is about two innovative approaches to education suggested by patrons on recent livestreams. The approaches are the Montessori method and Luminar Schools.
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
How do you know whether you have enough money to live from your investments? What if you stop working and then find out that you don't have enough? This episode is a discussion with a listener about these questions.
Show Notes:
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
- Becoming an Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
On a recent livestream I was asked some interesting questions about the permanent portfolio:
- Is it too risky to hold so much in bonds in a PP, given the current bond bubble?
- Which stock market index fund should you use if you are implementing a PP inside the European Union?
Bonus episode 91 discusses these questions. You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
Ray Dalio is a well-known billionaire investor and hedge fund manager. This episode is a review of his book Principles: Life And Work.
Show Notes:
- Principles by Ray Dalio
- TVL Episode 244 Thinking Rationally Part 2: Imaginary Creatures and Machines
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
Bonus Episode 90 is a discussion about investing for income— including dividend investing— and a comparison with the permanent portfolio approach.
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
A chapter from the audiobook Job Free by Jake Desyllas.
Show Notes:
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
- Becoming an Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
Bonus Episode 89 provides a follow-up discussion about the Infinite Banking Concept (discussed in Bonus Episode 74) and goes on to talk about the idea of using leverage in investing.
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
How much risk should you take when investing? Is the Permanent Portfolio approach too risk-averse? Here's a great discussion from a recent livestream.
Show Notes:
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
- Becoming an Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
Bonus Episode 88 is a discussion about some detailed aspects of implementing a permanent portfolio, including questions such as what kind of bonds are required. It is taken from the recent livestream on Fail-Safe Investing.
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
What is it like to visit a meetup about the philosophy of objectivism? Here is my experience! This is a bonus episode for patrons originally recorded in early 2018.
Show Notes:
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
- Becoming an Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
Bonus episode 87 is a discussion from a recent livestream about lots of productivity apps and techniques. Apps discussed include Focus Pomodoro Timer, Keyboard Maestro, OmniFocus, iThoughts, InShort, Things 3, Amazing Marvin, and Set App.
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
This episode is about another four ideas that I think are life-changing. The ideas are: quiet wealth, parent effectiveness, digital minimalism, and argumentation ethics. I explain why these ideas can have such a positive impact and where you can read about them.
Show Notes:
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
- The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley
- TVL 183 Financial Independence Part 3: Buy Status Symbols or Buy Your Freedom
- Parent Effectiveness Training by Thomas Gordon
- Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
- The Economics and Ethics of Private Property by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
- A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
- Argumentation Ethics and Liberty: A Concise Guide by Stephan Kinsella
- Becoming an Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
Bonus Episodes 85 & 86 are Parts 1 & 2 of a discussion from a recent Life-Changing Ideas Livestream about the concept of Unschooling. We talked about the ideas in John Holt's book Instead of Education.
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
A chapter from the audiobook of Job Free by Jake Desyllas.
Show Notes:
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
- Becoming an Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
Bonus Episode 84 is a discussion about alternative portfolio strategies for investing. You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
Show Notes:
- Portfolio Charts
- Golden Butterfly Portfolio
- Pinwheel Portfolio
Should you use productivity systems like Getting Things Done (GTD) for your work or apply it to your whole life? Here's a discussion with a listener.
Show Notes:
- TVL 347 Why I Am Passionate About Productivity
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
- Becoming an Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
Bonus Episode 83 comes from a recent life-changing ideas livestream I did about Getting Things Done. In this part of the discussion I talk about my own productivity system. You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
Bonus Episode 82 is discussion from a recent livestream in which I was asked about whether I still think IP laws are bad for business. You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
Show Notes:
- TVL Episode 96 Entrepreneurship Part 13: IP Is Bad For Business
- Against Intellectual Property by Stephan Kinsella
- Against Intellectual Monopoly by Boldrin and Levine
Highlights from two livestream conversations with listeners about the challenges of living with purpose.
Show Notes:
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
Bonus Episode 81 is a livestream discussion about the pros and cons of intentional communities.
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
A chapter from Becoming An Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas.
Show Notes:
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
- Becoming an Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
Bonus Episode 80 is a discussion from a recent Q&A livestream about whether I'm still a minimalist. It includes a personal update from me.
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
A discussion with supporting listeners about the permanent portfolio investment strategy. How would assets like real estate would be tackled by the permanent portfolio? Why not use international stocks in a PP? Listen to the episode to hear these questions answered.
Show Notes:
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
Bonus episodes 78 and 79 form a two part series on Principled Negotiation, taken from a recent livestream with supporting listeners.
You can get access to these and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
A listener asks if he has to choose between financial independence and having children. Here's a response, including some fascinating data about the wider costs and benefits of having kids. Highlights from two bonus episodes.
Show Notes:
- Bonus Episode 35: Do You Have To Choose Between FI and Kids?
- Bonus Episode 41: Costs And Benefits Of Having Kids
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
- Selfish Reasons To Have More Kids by Bryan Caplan
- How Much Does It Cost to Raise a Child? by Go Curry Cracker
Bonus Episode 77 is a discussion from a recent livestream about alternatives to Evernote and related productivity apps. The apps mentioned are:
- Apple Notes
- Bear
- Day One
- Day One Course On The Sweet Setup
- TextExpander
- MindMeister
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
A chapter from the audiobook of Job Free by Jake Desyllas
Show Notes:
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
- Becoming an Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
Bonus Episode 76 is a discussion from a recent livestream about what children need in terms of education and community.
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
Many self-improvement lifestyle changes have a side effect. Whether your are adopting extreme saving, perpetual travel, peaceful parenting, or other changes discussed in previous episodes, the side effect may be to disrupt your relationship. Listen to this episode to find out more.
Show Notes:
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
- TVL Episode 298: Your Life Is Not On Loan
Bonus Episode 75 is a discussion with a listener about different options for health insurance as a perpetual traveller.
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
Two conversations with supporting listeners about the appeal of the philosophy of Stoicism.
Show Notes:
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
A chapter from Becoming An Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas.
Show Notes:
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
- Becoming an Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
Bonus Episode 74 is a discussion with a listener on a recent livestream about the Infinite Banking Concept.
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
This episode is about four life-changing ideas. I explain why these ideas can have such a positive impact and where you can read about them.
Over the coming months I will be hosting a series of livestream discussions for supporting listeners on life-changing ideas relating to The Voluntary Life. This episode explains the topics of the first four sessions.
Show Notes:
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
- Getting To Yes by Fischer and Ury — Principled Negotiation Livestream on June 23rd
- Join the TVL Mailing List for a free copy of Negotiate For Mutual Profit by Jake Desyllas
- Getting Things Done by David Allen — Productivity Systems Livestream on July 28th
- Instead of Education by John Holt — Unschooling Livestream on August 18th
- Fail-Safe Investing by Harry Browne — Fail-Safe Investing Livestream on September 15th
Bonus episode 73 is about the difficult question of whether to go into business with a friend. You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
Show Notes:
- TVL Episode 110 Who To Start A Business With
- TVL Bonus Episode 4: Should I Go Into Business With This Person?
This episode is about how and why I break the rules of the approach to productivity called Getting Things Done (GTD).
Show Notes:
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- An Alternative to "Waiting For" in GTD
- Episode 120: Eight Tools That Will Free Your Mind
- Episode 205: The Most Powerful Planning Tool I Know
- Episode 178: Upgrading Habits
In his book Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari suggests that everyone (including atheists) is religious in some ways. A patron raised this topic on a recent livestream. This bonus episode contains the interesting discussion we had about it.
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
The variable portfolio helps overcome some of the challenges and limitations of passive investing.
Show Notes:
- Fail-Safe Investing by Harry Browne
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
A key aspect of financial independence is knowing how to live from investments. This episode is a chapter from Jake Desyllas' audiobook Job Free. It will help you:
- Choose your approach to investing
- Decide on a portfolio design
- Work out how much money you need to accumulate, and how much you can sustainably spend each year.
Show Notes:
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
Here are the three best journalling techniques that I know to improve productivity:
- The list of tasks completed today
- The core dump
- The incredibly simple week plan.
Listen to the episode to learn how to use these techniques and kickstart your productivity!
Show Notes:
- Other TVL Episodes on productivity
- TVL Episode 191 Task Management
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
- Becoming an Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
Bonus episode 70 for patrons and backers is about rational approaches to environmental problems. It is a discussion with listeners from a recent livestream. Some interesting issues are covered:
- Bringing big topics like the environment back to what this means in terms of your own individual responsibility.
- Instead of anti-human versions of environmentalism, finding a pro-human approach to these topics
- The problem of emotional arguments in environmentalism, which often form a kind of end-times religion.
- The vital importance of rational thinking in solving any environmental issues.
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
To be productive you need to know your goal, and you must know the best action that you can take to move towards that goal at any given moment. This episode is about managing the split between planning and execution. How can you get into the right mindset for planning work, and then switch mindset for execution? How much time do you spend planning, and how much time should you spend? How can you track the amount of planning you do? What can you learn from tracking? Listen to the show to hear the answers!
Show Notes:
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
- Becoming an Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
Evernote is one of the core apps in my productivity system. I find it extremely useful, but there are also a lot of frustrating problems with the app. Evernote also has an uncertain future as the company lost its way and is struggling to get back on track.
Here's a bonus episode about the issues with Evernote and how I plan to change my use of the app going forward.
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
This episode is a critique of the popular idea of forcing children to share and a discussion of a great alternative approach.
Show Notes:
- It's OK Not to Share by Heather Shumaker
- TVL Episode 336 A Review Of Jordan Peterson’s Parenting Principles
- TVL Episode 278 Three Principles Of Philosophy Applied To Parenting
- Grit by Angela Duckworth
- Should Libertarian Parents Be Strict or Permissive? By Steven Horwitz
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
The latest bonus episode for supporting listeners is a discussion from a livestream with patrons about the topic of giving kids the freedom to explore their own beliefs.
You can get access to this and many other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
An introduction to the concept of Unjobbing, from the audiobook of Job Free by Jake Desyllas.
Show Notes:
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
This episode discusses a thought-provoking alternative theory about who Jesus was and whether he existed as a historical person.
Show Notes:
- Episode 361 A Secular Look At The Bible Part 1
- On the Historicity of Jesus: Why We Might Have Reason for Doubt by Richard Carrier
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
Michael Ostrolenk interviews Dr Jake Desyllas on The Michael Ostronlenk Show. The interview covers leaving a career behind, redesigning your life, minimalism, travel, and more!
Show Notes:
- The Michael Ostrolenk Show
- Becoming an Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas Audiobook, eBook, Paperback
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
This bonus episode comes from a recent livestream with Patrons. A listener asked me what I'm writing about at the moment- you can hear all about it in the episode! We also discussed some interesting topic suggestions from listeners for new podcast episodes and books, including life after achieving financial independence.
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
Part 1 of the audiobook of Negotiate For Mutual Profit by Jake Desyllas. Part 1 covers constructive communication. Part 2 covers the win-win negotiation method, principles, and good habits. The full audiobook is available to supporting listeners on Patreon and Bitbacker.
Show Notes:
- Join the TVL mailing list for a free PDF copy of Negotiate for Mutual Profit
- Support TVL on Patreon and get the full Negotiate For Mutual Profit audiobook, plus bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
Bonus Episode 66 is an enjoyable discussion with listeners about the potential downside of social media and other digital time sinks. We discussed numerous books in the episode:
- Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
- Deep Work by Cal Newport
- Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier
- You Are Not A Gadget by Jaron Lanier
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
Free To Learn by Peter Gray is one of the most influential books about alternative approaches to education. In this review, Jake highlights the most useful ideas in the book, especially the focus on the role of play in learning and the explanation of how school interferes with learning.
Jake also provides some criticisms of the book, such as the ideas that Peter Gray has about what hunter gatherer societies can teach us and his advocacy of Sudbury schools.
Show Notes:
- Free To Learn by Peter Gray
- TVL 366: Three Alternatives To School
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Bonus Episode 39: School Is Prison For Kids
- Bonus Episode 24: Why I'm Skeptical About Sudbury Schools
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency and get bonus episodes and other rewards
This bonus episode is about a very important topic. I was asked on a livestream about whether I've met people who have quit the rat race and are still unhappy. This episode is my response.
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
This bonus episode is about Cal Newport's book So Good They Can't Ignore You. This is a discussion with patrons from a recent livestream. We focus on the relevancy of this book for entrepreneurship, and how to apply Cal Newport's idea of deliberate practice to business.
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
Going to university often leads to living in a kind of the cultural bubble for the rest of your life. Being conscious of the ways in which you are living in a bubble is the first step in breaking out of it.
Show Notes:
- On Becoming A Person by Carl Rogers
- Coming Apart by Charles Murray
- Was Modernism Meant to Keep the Working Classes Out? by Matthew Wills
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Alternatively, Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
This bonus episode is about generating more leads for a new business. It's a discussion with a patron who has started an online and in-person maths tutoring business.
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
At the recent TVL Meetup in Barcelona I was asked about how I make podcasts, so I thought you might also find it interesting to hear about how I do it. In this bonus episode I explain my podcasting process, including the decisions behind each episode.
You can get access to this and other bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
A topic that I've found challenging ever since becoming a parent is how to stay productive. Bonus Episodes 60 & 61 are a two part series on productivity when you have kids. Even if you don't have kids, the ideas in this episode can still help you improve your own productivity.
You can get access to these bonus episodes by becoming a patron on Patreon or alternatively by supporting TVL with cryptocurrency on Bitbacker.
As soon as you become an entrepreneur, you’re in the selling business. Entrepreneurship is fundamentally a process of experimental learning through selling. This episode is a chapter from the audiobook of Becoming An Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas.
Show Notes:
- Audiobook of Becoming an Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas on Audible
- Becoming An Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas on Amazon
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
This episode explores three alternatives to school: unschooling, road-schooling and Sudbury schools.
Show Notes:
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- or Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
- TVL Barcelona Meetup on Sunday 27th January 2019
- Bonus Episode 39: School Is Prison For Kids
- Bonus Episode 21: Roadschooling
- Bonus Episode 24: Why I'm Skeptical About Sudbury Schools
The ideas covered in this episode play an important part in my outlook on how to have independence of thought. A discussion with a supporting listener.
Show Notes:
- Support TVL on Patreon and get bonus episodes and other rewards
- Support TVL on BitBacker with cryptocurrency
- TVL Episode 276: Society Is Your Relationships
- TVL Episode 85: Freedom From Intellectual Heroes
This episode summarises what's been happening with Patreon recently and explains the effect it has had on this podcast. I share some thoughts about what it all means and the future of peer-to-peer media on the internet.
Show Notes:
- Support TVL on Patreon for bonus episodes and other rewards!
- Support TVL on Bitbacker.io with Cryptocurrency
- Barcelona TVL Meetup
This episode is a chapter from the audiobook of Job Free by Jake Desyllas. This chapter explains extreme saving- a strategy for achieving financial indpendence based on frugal living. Even if this lifestyle choice is not for you, it's a fascinating approach that offers lots of food for thought for anyone interested in financial freedom.
Show Notes:
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas
- Support TVL on Patreon for bonus episodes and other rewards!
I've just released a bonus episode discussing the financial benefits and downsides of mortgages. For those interested in financial independence, this episode also touches on the broader question of the role of debt and leverage.
You can access the bonus episode here by becoming a patron of TVL on patreon.
One of my listeners asked me if I was a spiritual person… How would you respond to this question? My answer is in this episode.
Show Notes:
Become a Patron of TVL for bonus episodes and many other rewards!
This episode discusses a secular approach to understanding the Bible. It includes a recommendation for the best book that I've found on this topic, which is Isaac Asimov's Guide To The Bible.
Show Notes:
- Support TVL on Patreon for bonus episodes and rewards!
- Asimov's Guide To The Bible
One of the challenges for private investors is how to address the risk of financial crises or a meltdown in the financial system. How seriously should you take this risk? What should you do about it? How should it inform your investments?
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus epodes and rewards!
- Fail-Safe Investing by Harry Browne
- What Has Government Done to Our Money by Murray Rothbard
- Crisis Investing by Doug Casey
One of the alluring goals of the productivity system Getting Things Done (GTD) is to identify your purpose in life and align everything you do with that purpose. That idea sounds good, but what does it really mean to have a purpose in life? That's the topic of this episode.
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus epodes and rewards!
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
Your job as an entrepreneur is to be Chief Enthusiasm Inspirer for a purpose that others can rally to. This episode is a chapter from the audiobook of Becoming An Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas.
Is the family subversive to politics and religion? That's the argument in a book called The Subversive Family by Ferdinand Mount, reviewed in this episode.
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus epodes and rewards!
- The Subversive Family by Ferdinand Mount
Here are ten reasons why I am passionate about the topic of financial independence.
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus epodes and rewards!
- Job Free: Four Ways to Quite the Rat Race and Achieve Financial Freedom on Your Terms by Jake Desyllas
- The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality by Ludwig Von Mises
This episode is a review of Eric Hoffer's book The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements. Hoffer argued that all political and religious activists share the same motivations: Those who dedicate their lives to a cause are running from themselves. There are some interesting ideas in the book about the dark consequences that follow when you evade the responsibility for improving yourself and choose to act out your frustration on the world instead.
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus epodes and rewards!
- The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements by Eric Hoffer
What do you need in order to start a business? This episode is a chapter from the audiobook Becoming An Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas.
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus epodes and rewards!
- Becoming An Entrepreneur Audiobook on Audible
- Becoming an Entrepreneur on Amazon
- TVL 184 Becoming An Entrepreneur: Introduction
I've talked a lot about my strategy for investing in previous episodes, but in this interview you will hear from an investor who takes a different approach. Rob Marstrand is the founder of the investment newsletter and blog Ofwealth. He uses an approach called value investing, in contrast to the passive investing approach that I use. In this episode, Rob explains value investing from his perspective. He also provides an outsider's take on the permanent portfolio strategy that I follow.
Show Notes:
- Support TVL on Patreon!
- OfWealth
In this Touring Families podcast interview, Jake Desyllas talks about pursuing the travel lifestyle with kids, finding principles in parenting, and the challenges of choosing your own lifestyle.
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL for bonus episodes and many other rewards!
- Touring Families Podcast
This episode presents some interesting research demonstrating that following the news and current events can make you more stupid. Understanding the psychology behind this effect helps improve your rational thinking. It also explains why predicting doom is so popular and always sounds clever.
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus epodes and rewards!
- The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley
- Good News is Gradual, Bad New Sudden by Matt Ridley
This episode provides my perspective, as a former free-range kid, on the concept of free-range childhood. It is a review of the book Free-Range Kids: How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Childrenby Lenore Skenazy.
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus epodes and rewards!
- Free-Range Kids: How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children by Lenore Skenazy
- Episode 341: Peaceful Parenting, Unschooling, and Self-Directed Education
Chapter One from the audiobook of Becoming an Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas.
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus epodes and rewards!
- Becoming An Entrepreneur Audiobook on Audible
- Becoming an Entrepreneur on Amazon
- TVL 184 Becoming An Entrepreneur: Introduction
Ten reasons why I am passionate about productivity systems and getting things done.
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
- Previous TVL episodes on productivity
- Bonus episodes and resources on productivity
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
If you enjoy a travel lifestyle, is it better to go fully nomadic or have a base to come back to between trips? Here's an update about our experience of both nomadic travel and having a base, and how our approach has changed since starting a family.
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and reward
- 241 Selling Our Home To Travel The World
- 252 Adapting To Big Changes
- 255 The Path to Permanent Travel And Minimalism
Investing brings emotional and psychological challenges. These challenges can lead to poor investment decisions, but they can also make you unhappy even if you do end up making a good return. This episode is about strategies for dealing with the emotional challenges of investing.
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas
- Portfoliocharts.com
- Fail-Safe Investing by Harry Browne
- TVL 167 The Permanent Portfolio
One of the most radical ideas I've come across is this: People are not free ultimately because they voluntarily consent to their servitude. Etienne de La Boetie wrote "A Discourse on Voluntary Servitude" during the Renaissance period. His book had a huge influence on many philosophers and inspired the civil disobedience movement. But, is it relevant to your personal life as well?
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
- "Discourse on Voluntary Servitude" by Etienne de La Boetie
I've had some interesting listener feedback from the recent episodes about questioning education. In this episode I respond to some of the points raised by listeners.
Show Notes:
339 Questioning Education
340 Review of The Case Against Education
The Paradox of Choice, by psychologist Barry Schwarz, is a book that has influenced many people interested in minimalism. Schwarz argues that the extensive freedom of choice in affluent societies has become detrimental to psychological and emotional well-being. This episode provides a critical review of Barry Schwarz's arguments.
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
- The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by Barry Schwartz
- The Paradox of Choice TED Talk
- 227 Review of The Better Angels of Our Nature by Stephen Pinker
A interview with James and Taylor Davis from the One Free Family podcast. James and Taylor explain their approach to peaceful parenting and unschooling. We had a great discussion about questioning the concept of self-directed learning, and many other interesting topics.
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
- One Free Family Podcast
- 338: Leadership and Parenting
- 17 Unschooling Part 1: Instead of Education
Most of what you learn in school and college is practically useless, yet education is (often) a very good investment. How can this be? This episode is a review of Bryan Caplan's book, The Case Against Education.
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
- The Case Against Education by Bryan Caplan
- 339 Questioning Education
- 261 Thinking Rationally Part 7: The Irrationality Of Politics
This episode is the first in a series questioning key life choices around the topic of education. How valuable is education? How much education does it make a sense to get? Does education lead to greater freedom and fulfillment in life? I introduce different views on education that I will be exploring: the traditional view, the rebel view, and the realist view. I talk about why I think it is valuable to question education, even though getting a good education worked very well for me.
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
- The Case Against Education by Bryan Caplan
- 40 Alternatives to College by James Altucher
What kind of leadership role do you have as a parent? What are the most important responsibilities of parents? This episode explores different answers to these questions.
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
- One Free Family Podcast - A new take on peaceful parenting
- Unruffled Podcast by Janet Lansbury
- 336: A Review of Jordan Peterson's Parenting Principles
- 312: The Unjobbing Way
This episode is about managing and tracking investments, as part of your journey towards financial independence. I explain the calculations that I find useful to track my portfolio. I'm not a financial advisor and I've had to teach myself about money, so I'm explaining what I've learned as food for thought for other independent investors working towards FI.
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
- Episode 181 Financial Independence Part 1: What You Need To Know About Your Money
- Episode 219 How To Do A Monthly Financial Review
- Episode 223 A Guide To Passive Investment Portfolios: Interview With Tyler From Portfolio Charts
- PortfolieCharts.com
- Becoming an Entrepreneur: How to Find Freedom and Fulfillment as a Business Owner by Jake Desyllas
- Job Free: Four Ways to Quit the Rat Race and Achieve Financial Freedom on Your Terms by Jake Desyllas
This episode is a review of Jordan Peterson's suggested principles for parenting, which he put forward in a chapter of his book "12 Rules For Life". In the episode, I explain why I disagree with Peterson's ideas and recommendations regarding parenting. Listen to the episode to find out more.
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
- 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote for Chaos by Jordan Peterson
- TVL 328: Punished By Rewards Part 1
- Parent Effectiveness Training By Thomas Gordon
- Unruffled Podcast
Harry Browne's book, "How I Found Freedom in an Unfree world" had a huge influence on me. This episode examines the subject of one chapter in that book: freedom from pretence. I explore Harry's suggestions about finding freedom from pretence, and then provide my own thoughts on the topic.
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
- How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World by Harry Browne
- Self-Deception - Episode 202 of The Voluntary Life
- Getting Real: 10 Truths Skills You Need to Live an Authentic Life by Susan Campbell - Episode of the Psychology Book Club Podcast
How free are you? This episode is about a thought-provoking story by the philosopher Robert Nozick called "The Tale of the Slave". It is taken from his book "Anarchy, State, and Utopia."
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
- Anarchy, State, and Utopia: Second Edition by Robert Nozick
This episode is about some interesting opportunities that I am currently exploring for living in Portugal and Spain as an expat. I outline some of the potential benefits of Portugal's Non-Habitual Resident Scheme and Spain's Non-Lucrative Visa scheme. These residency options are particularly relevant for digital nomads. Depending on where you are from, one of these two countries could be a good option for you. I'm still learning about this and I may not know all the relevant issues yet, so if you are interested in pursuing these options you will still need to look into the details and get professional advice.
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
- TVL Episode 58 on Emigrating in Europe
This episode is about the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, and whether or not there is anything useful in his work for those interested in finding individual freedom. I've read some great Nietzsche quotes about finding freedom in life. At the same time, he has a reputation for being very authoritarian and anti-individualistic, and he is known to have been a major philosophical influence on Nazism. So what did he really think about individual freedom?
Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
Show Notes:
- Nietzsche and The Nazis by Stephen Hicks
"Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill is a well-known and influential book about wealth and personal development. The topics covered by this book are very relevant to The Voluntary Life, so I wanted to read this book to see why it is so famous. I share my thoughts about the book in this review.
Show Notes:
- Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
- TVL Patreon Page
Stephanie Murphy and I discuss a thought-provoking video by Daniel Mackler about the question: Are You Ready to Have Children?
Show Notes:
- "Are You Ready to Have Children? - Challenging Questionnaire For Prospective Parents" by Daniel Mackler
- TVL Patreon Page
Support The Voluntary Life on Patreon for bonus episodes and rewards!
This is the second part of a review of Alfie Kohn's book, Punished by Rewards. This episode addresses the idea of incentive schemes in business and evaluates Kohn's claims in his book.
Show Notes:
- Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn
- TVL Patreon Page
- TVL 328 Punished By Rewards Part 1
- Drive by Dan Pink
Become a Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
I found Alfie Kohn's book, Punished by Rewards, both interesting and frustrating to read. Some ideas in the book are great, and I also have some significant criticisms.
Part 1 of the review, in this episode, discusses the topic of rewards and punishment in parenting and schooling. Part 2 will tackle incentives in business in the next episode.
Show Notes:
- Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn
- TVL Patreon Page
- TVL 244 Thinking Rationally Part 2: Imaginary Creatures and Machines
- Instead of Education by John Holt
- TVL review of Instead of Education by John Holt
- Parent Effectiveness Training by Thomas Gordon
This episode is an interview with someone who's been involved in financing many famous Silicon Valley startups. Warren Hogarth was a partner at Sequoia Capital and now runs his own finance business, Empower. In this interview he gives an insider take on the pros and cons of venture capital for entrepreneurs.
Become a Patron of The Voluntary Life to get bonus episodes every week and many other rewards!
Show Notes:
- Sequoia Capital
- Empower Finance
- Term Sheet Templates and Examples for entrepreneurs
Jim Rohn was an influential figure in the fields of personal development and financial independence. This episode is a discussion of his ideas including his book, My Philosophy For Successful Living.
Support The Voluntary Life on Patreon for bonus episodes and other rewards!
Part 2 of a discussion about useful ideas in the book "In Sheep's Clothing: Understanding and Dealing with Manipulative People" by Dr. George K. Simon.
Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
How do you defend yourself against manipulative people? Part 1 of a discussion about some useful ideas in the book "In Sheep's Clothing: Understanding and Dealing with Manipulative People" by Dr. George K. Simon.
Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
Sebastian Haffner’s memoirs of his time in Berlin between 1914 and 1933 give a fascinating account of everyday life during the rise of a totalitarian regime. This episode explores the most interesting aspects of his book. I talk about what this extreme situation shows us about the effect that politics has on civil society.
Become a Patron of The Voluntary Life for bonus episodes!
An episode about the best way to inoculate yourself against irrational ideas.
Show Notes:
- Become a Patron of The Voluntary Life for bonus episodes!
- Argumentum ad Absurdum
- The Candlemakers' Petition by Frederic Bastiat
- TVL Episode 225 Comparative Advantage Is Mind-blowing
A discussion with Hannah Braime about our travel experiences and life as expats in Barcelona. We talk about travel with kids, Barcelona as a destination for expats, current events in Catalonia, and more!
Become a Patron to get bonus episodes of The Voluntary Life
Why invest in gold? What is the best way to do so? Is gold obsolete as an investment now that cryptocurrencies exist? This episode answers many listener questions about investing in gold from my perspective as a private investor following the Permanent Portfolio strategy. I am not a financial advisor. As always with investing, you will need to do your own research. Thanks so much to all the patrons who provided great questions for this topic.
Show Notes:
- Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
- Fail-Safe Investing by Harry Browne
- The Permanent Portfolio by Craig Rowland
- TVL Episode 69: Inflation: The Hidden Tax
- BullionVault (Affiliate link)
Should you leave your adult children an inheritance? Should you base your own financial plans around the expectation of receiving an inheritance one day? These questions are relevant to parenting, financial independence, and many other key topics covered on TVL.
Show Notes:
Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley
An episode about how to use mind maps as a productivity tool to plan any project and support your creative thinking.
Show Notes:
- The Mind Map Book by Tony Buzan
- iThoughts
- Exporting Omnifocus Tasks To Mind Maps Script
- Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
If you are investing towards financial freedom, you face a decision: which asset classes should you put your money in? This episode is about one of the main asset classes: fixed-income securities, or bonds. Bonds can behave in strange ways as an investment, especially in times when interest rates are very low (as they are at present). I'm not a financial advisor and this episode is just my opinions, so you will need to do your own research, but this episode will give you food for thought.
Show Notes:
Support The Voluntary Life on Patreon and get Bonus episodes!
How could you apply the 80/20 Principle to parenting? In this episode, Jake answers this question using evidence from a fascinating empirical study into how childhood experiences can impact your health and wellbeing for the rest of your life.
Show Notes:
- Support The Voluntary Life on Patreon
- ACE Study Wiki Page
- Explanation of ACE Study
- CDC page on ACE Study
Many people who are interested in personal freedom and self-improvement find value in an approach to negotiation called Nonviolent Communication (NVC). In this episode, I provide an assessment of NVC, outlining aspects that I find useful, problems with the approach, and some misconceptions of the framework.
Show Notes:
- Become a patron of TVL
- Nonviolent Communication By Marshall Rosenberg
- Psychology Book Club Episode on NVC
- NVC wikipedia page
- Getting To Yes by Fischer and Ury
- Parent Effectiveness Training by Thomas Gordon
- TVL Review of Better Angels of Our Nature
- Economics and Ethics of Private Property by Hans Hermann Hoppe
In this episode I explain what I've learned from my favourite TV show and why I recommend that you watch it if you are an entrepreneur or are interested in business. The Profit is an MSNBC show about entrepreneur Marcus Lemonis investing in small businesses.
Show Notes:
- The Profit
- Marcus Lemonis
- What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith
- Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
James Davis is a great example of an "unjobber". His unconventional work life has included making money as a professional poker player, transforming a children's summer camp, and starting an online fantasy sports business. In this interview, James talks about how he successfully pursued the unjobbing lifestyle and how you can do so too.
Show Notes:
- James' businesses discussed in the show: Camp Stomping Ground, Longacre , and DFSR
- Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
In this episode, Jake talks about growing up with a view of marriage as an outdated tradition with negative connotations, and how his view changed as he came to understand the positive reasons to get married. Whatever your current view of marriage, this discussion will give you food for thought.
Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
The Estonian E-Residency program is worth considering for anyone running a business online as a digital nomad. In this episode I explain the background to e-residency, how the application process works, and what the benefits are.
Show Notes:
- E-Residency Application Page
- Xolo.io (formerly Leapin.EU) (Use my referral code: “Jake” for a discount)
- Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
The tiny house movement is relevant for anyone interested in minimalism, frugal living, and a travel-oriented lifestyle. In this interview, Link Wilcox talks about her project to build a tiny house.
Show Notes:
- Link's Website
- TVL Patreon Website
Jake's speech at the Freecoast Festival 2017, presenting five ways to live the voluntary life:
- Rational Thinking
- Personal Freedom
- Peaceful Parenting
- Financial Independence
- Internationalisation
Show Notes:
- Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
- The Freecoast Festival
What does forgiveness mean? What is it for? Should you forgive others in order to be free? Or is the idea of forgiveness a trap? Check out the episode to find out more!
Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
This episode answers questions from TVL listeners on the topic of investing in stocks. It provides an introduction to low-cost, passive investing with index funds. When choosing investment funds, a key issue for passive investors is the expense ratio. This episode explains the huge difference between average expense ratios and those of low-cost funds.
I am not a financial advisor. This episode is about what I've learned as an individual investor but, as always, you will need to do your own research.
Show Notes:
- Vanguard
- Fail-Safe Investing by Harry Browne
Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
This episode is about suggestions for implementing a weekly review for productivity. It is a conversation from the patron-only livestream that I do with supporting listeners every month. You will find it helpful if you are interested in implementing or upgrading your own weekly review habit.
Show Notes:
- The GTD Virtual Study Group Podcast
- Become a Patron of The Voluntary Life
Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
This week's episode is a discussion with Hannah Braime about a very interesting book called Against Therapy by Jeffrey Masson. We recorded this for the Psychology Book Club Podcast. I'm including it on The Voluntary Life because it is highly relevant to everyone interested in self-knowledge and psychological freedom.
Show Notes:
- Psychology Book Club Podcast
- Against Therapy by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
- The Assault On Truth by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
- One Nation Under Therapy by Christina Hoff Summers
Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
This episode presents some very interesting data on the average age of entrepreneurs when they start their first business. You might find the results surprising...
The research cited is the Kauffman Foundation study in the US and the Sandler Training study in the UK.
Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
This episode presents the implicit principles that underpin non-peaceful parenting, and contrasts them with the principles of peaceful parenting that was discussed in Episode 278.
Show Notes:
- Episode 272 Why I Choose Peaceful Parenting
- Episode 278 Three Principles Of Philosophy Applied To Parenting
Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
Is unselfishness a virtue? Or is the idea of unselfishness a trap used to prevent you from living your own life? What is selfishness anyway?
This week's episode is about different theories of selfishness, including Harry Browne's idea of the unselfishness trap and an alternative definition of selfishness by Oscar Wilde.
Show Notes:
- Become A Patron of The Voluntary Life
Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
This week's episode is a response to this listener email:
"I am very close to the financial independence. I have listened to some podcasts you have on the topic, but I still have some doubts. I know that my parents will not understand why I am not getting up every morning to go to the office. I know that my friends will ask about my next professional challenges and why I decided to quit. I cannot mention the financial independence because it will generate envy, and that is not a comfortable situation. Is lying the only solution? Or breaking up with your parents, brothers and friends?"
Show Notes:
* The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley
* TVL Episode 189— Envy: A Theory Of Social Behaviour By Helmut Schoek
Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
There is a saying in investing that "cash is trash", because cash provides such low returns and loses value owing to inflation. Yet every investor has to deal with cash in some way and there is always some role for cash within a portfolio. So how much of your net worth should you have in cash? Why hold it? When should you rebalance in and out of cash?
Harry Browne thought carefully about the role of cash with his permanent portfolio strategy. His insights on cash are useful for all investors, regardless of your particular approach. In this episode I explain the role of cash in investing from a permanent portfolio strategy perspective. As always, your money is your own responsibility. I am not a financial advisor.
Show Notes:
* Become A Patron of The Voluntary Life
* Fail-Safe Investing by Harry Browne
Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
This week's episode is a response to this listener email:
"I've been a long term listener, but honestly I'm having a difficult time [seeing why I should be] a paid subscriber. I listen to several podcasts and a similar characteristic seems to be FI and hosts who are millionaires. Provide real value for those who don't enjoy that status and the money will come. There's too many of us who want to be financially independent but don't have a system to get there. Figure out a way to teach the methods and you'll never have to ask for donations."
The Voluntary Life now has a Patreon page! In the first week of TVL on Patreon, my patrons have received: * The first exclusive patron podcast episode (How To Sort Your Life Out Part 2) * An Evernote template for Areas of Responsibility from my own productivity system * Behind-the-scenes information about the running costs of the podcast * Three e-books by Jake * And lots more!
Become a Patron today to get all these goodies and more to come, including this week's patron-only episode, "How To Do A Daily Review". Show Notes:
- The Voluntary Life Patreon Page
Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
The Areas of Responsibility framework is a very powerful productivity technique for sorting your life out. It helps me answer questions such as:
* What am I doing with my life, and why?
* Is what I am doing right now a good use of my time?
* What should I devote my efforts to in order to build the life I want?
In this episode, I introduce Areas of Responsibility and explain how to start implementing them.
I've also got some big developments to tell you about. I want to completely upgrade The Voluntary Life, provide a whole new range of bonus content, and enable new ways for you to connect with me and other supporting listeners. Please help me by becoming a patron of the show and supporting me with a monthly amount of your choosing, through Patreon. Sign up and get your bonuses now at patreon.com/thevoluntarylife The first bonus episode has already been recorded and it goes deeper into the same theme as this one, as Part 2 of How To Sort Your Life out.
Show Notes:
* The Voluntary Life Patreon Page
* TVL 232 The Next Level — Horizons of Focus Part 1 (School Sucks Interview)
* TVL 185 How To Set Meaningful Goals For The Year Ahead
"Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places and under any circumstances to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake." Carlo Cipolla
In the 1970s, an economic historian called Carlo Cipolla wrote a provocative article titled "The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity". His theory emphasises the destructiveness of stupid behaviour, and explains why it is so underestimated and misunderstood.
Show Notes:
* The Basic Laws Of Human Stupidity by Carlo M. Cipolla
* The Five Universal Laws Of Stupidity by Corrine Purtill
* Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
This week's episode features Hannah and me discussing our move to Girona. We talk about adapting to a travel lifestyle with a baby, the challenges of minimalism and travel, beautiful Girona as an expat location, and many more topics!
Show Notes:
* Hannah Braime
* TVL 254: Perpetual Travel With Kids Part 1: Interview With Go Curry Cracker
* Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
A response to this interesting listener question:
"Hi Jake, I would like to hear your thoughts on making the decision to have a child. I am 33 years old, and there are lots of expectations on this one. I find it difficult to escape this identity trap and to know for myself if I want to become a parent or not. I know it's a BIG one, and it is personal, but your podcast is probably the only place which talks about parenting from a unique perspective different than the norm. I will be curious to hear your view, especially as a new parent."
Show Notes:
* Episode 290: Escaping The Identity Trap
* Episode 283: Minimalism and Parenting (Featuring Hannah Braime)
* Episode 268: Family Pressure, Expensive Weddings, And Kids
* Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
The identity trap is an idea from Harry Browne's book How I Found Freedom In An Unfree World. Harry suggested that some widely held assumptions about life are false. By accepting such false assumptions, you lose your freedom. He called these false assumptions "traps".
The identity trap is the belief that you should be the person that others want you to be, rather than being yourself. There are two key questions to ask yourself in order to escape the identity trap. Listen to the episode to find out more.
Show Notes:
* TVL Episode Discussing How I Found Freedom In An Unfree World
* How I Found Freedom In An Unfree World by Harry Browne
* Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
This weeks episode is about how to manage your own productivity system for getting things done. It comes from an interview that I did a while ago on the Valiant Growth podcast. In the interview, I talk about various techniques for managing your own productivity system, including:
* The different components of a productivity system
* Undertaking regular reviews
* Choosing between different productivity tools, such a task-management apps and paper-based systems.
Show Notes:
* Valiant Growth Podcast
* Episode 258 Getting Started With Productivity Systems (Valiant Growth Interview)
* All Previous Productivity Episodes
A response to this listener question:
"From what I gather, for much of your 20s and 30s you worked very hard on building your business and for long hours each day. It has clearly paid off for you, as you've sold the business and enjoyed many years of financial independence. But is this something you'd recommend for younger people? What's the best way of thinking about the work/life balance at that stage of life? I find myself thinking, what if I worked extremely hard for many years and died in a freak accident before I'd got to have significant life experiences? It may seem like pessimism, but to focus almost entirely on ones work must require some delayed gratification, unless your truly love your work. Similar issues are involved with extreme saving. I thought you might have some good insights about the sort of questions to ask yourself to get a better understanding of how to approach this."
Show Notes: * Job Free by Jake Desyllas * Mr Money Mustache * Early Retirement Extreme * Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
Simon writes for digital nomads, perpetual travellers, and location independent entrepreneurs on his blog Freedom Surfer. In this interview, he talks about his own journey to location independence and his thoughts on the pros and cons of this lifestyle. He explains how he tackles the practical challenges of perpetual travel, such as business formation, banking, and taxation.
Show Notes:
* Freedom Surfer
* Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
In this week's episode, my guest Sebastian Kühn talks about the benefits and challenges of running a location-independent business. He shares his own experiences setting up businesses in Hong Kong and Estonia, as well as his thoughts on the Estonian E-Residency program. Sebastian Kühn is a the author of a website for digital nomads called Wireless Life.
Show Notes:
* Wireless Life
* Recording of Sebastian's Webinar on Estonian E-Residency and Business Formation
* Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
This week's episode is a review of David Allen's book, Making It All Work. This book is about applying principles of productivity beyond work, to life as a whole. The review is a discussion between myself and Chris Stefanick taken from Chris' podcast, Choice Conversations.
Show Notes:
* Choice Conversations
* Making It All Work by David Allen
* How To Read A Book by Mortimer Adler
* Other episodes on productivity
* Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
It is not often that Hollywood makes movies which explore real business challenges. The Founder is a movie about how Ray Kroc created a global restaurant franchise from a small business started by the MacDonald brothers. This podcast episode is about what entrepreneurs can learn from the ideas shown in the movie.
Show Notes:
- The Founder (Movie)
- Fact Checking The Founder
- Grinding It Out by Ray Kroc
- Becoming An Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas
- Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
Does becoming a parent mean giving up a minimalist lifestyle? In this episode Hannah and Jake discuss their experience of minimalism and parenting. Some of the topics covered include:
* Baby-wearing as an alternative to prams
* Co-sleeping as an alternative to cots
* Breastfeeding and baby-led weaning as alternative to bottle feeding and baby foods
* Buying second-hand stuff for babies
* How attachment parenting and respectful parenting fit in with minimalism
Show Notes:
* Hannah Braime
* Examples of Baby Wearing (baby carriers)
* Co-Sleeping With Infants (University of Notre Dame)
* Breastfeeding and baby-led attachment
* Sleeping Like A Baby: Simple Sleep Solutions for Infants and Toddlers by Pinky McKay
* The Fourth Trimester by Susan Brink
* The Attachment Parenting Book by William Sears
* Baby-led Weaning: Helping Your Baby to Love Good Food by Gill Rapley
* Brain Rules For Baby by John Medina
* Your Self-Confident Baby by Magda Gerber
* Information on risks of second hand mattresses
* Unruffled Podcast by Janet Lansbury
* The Philosophical Baby by Alison Gopnick
* Previous episodes on parenting
* Previous episodes on minimalism
* Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
Jake is interviewed on The Sample Hour podcast with the host, Drew Sample. We had a wide-ranging discussion covering options for living a job-free life, productivity, minimalism as a parent, and motivation— including the fear that motivates me.
Show Notes:
* The Sample Hour
* Job Free by Jake Desyllas
* Becoming An Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas
* Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
In this episode, I respond to listener feedback about peaceful parenting. Some of the topics covered include:
* Is spanking justified?
* What about minor kinds of aggression in parenting, such as confiscating possessions?
* One listener's experience of practicing peaceful parenting for 18 years.
* How come I argue against the use of psychotropic drugs on children?
Show Notes:
* Previous Parenting Episodes
* The Myth Of Mental Illness by Thomas Szasz
* Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
Although it might not seem like it, disagreeing is a skill. To disagree well is not only an important skill, but also a learnable one. Most people disagree so poorly that they fail to even make an argument. This podcast episode presents Paul Graham's excellent article "How To Disagree" and discusses the concept of a hierarchy of disagreement.
Show Notes:
* How To Disagree by Paul Graham
* Graham's Hierarchy Of Disagreement
* Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
Hannah and I discuss ways to design a life without regrets. Hannah talks about how to use journaling to stay conscious of what really matters to you. I explain my own journaling exercise inspired by her approach- Each week I complete the following sentence stems:
* The most courageous expression of my feelings at the moment would be…
* The best opportunity for quality time this week is …
* If I were to let myself be happier, I would …
* The most extraordinary thing that I can work on these days is …
* The best thing I can do to get more transparency in what I do these days is …
* The best opportunity for automation in what I do these days is …
* The thing am I doing regularly that I least inspired by is …
* We are at our best these days when …
* The thing I am most concerned about going wrong this week is …
* The way I would handle that is …
* The thing I am most resisting at the moment is …
* The most audacious goal that haven't fully admitted to myself is …
Listen to the episode to find out more!
Show Notes:
* Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware
* Journaling for a Life of No Regrets by Hannah Braime
* Paul Graham's Todo Items (in response to Bronnie Ware's article).
* Episode 269: Review of A Guide to the Good Life by William B. Irvine
* The Crossroads of Should and Must: Find and Follow Your Passion by Elle Luna
* Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
This episode is about three principles of philosophy applied to parenting:
1. Children own themselves (all people are self-owners).
2. Parents have positive obligations towards their children (all individuals are responsible for their own actions).
3. It is wrong to initiate aggression against children (initiating aggression against anyone is unjustifiable).
Philosophical principles don't provide detailed prescriptions for parenting, but they do give a framework for understanding which parenting practices are ethical.
If a principle is valid, then all its logical implications are valid too, even if those implications challenge widely-accepted practices. In the episode, I show how these principles can be applied to reevaluate many common parenting practices.
Show Notes:
* TVL Episode 272 Why I Choose Peaceful Parenting
* Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
What will you do when you reach financial independence and job freedom? In this episode, I suggest some of the major opportunities that make this lifestyle worth striving to achieve, based on my own experience. Good luck on your journey, and let me know what you think!
Show Notes:
* Job Free by Jake Desyllas
* Becoming An Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas
* Episode 254 Perpetual Travel With Kids Part 1: Interview With Go Curry Cracker
* Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
Paul Johnson's book, Intellectuals, provides many examples of the disastrous personal lives of intellectuals like Jean Jaques Rousseau, Karl Marx, Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Why do so many intellectuals—who famously argue for a better society— behave so badly in their personal relationships? Johnson suggests a few explanations, such as their need for attention and desire to post-rationalise bad decisions.
There is also something about the way that these intellectuals think that leads them to neglect the people close to them. They share a faulty view of society, from which it makes sense for them to care so little about their personal relationships. In this episode, I argue that a correct understanding of society leads to investing in your personal relationships, because your society is your relationships.
Show Notes:
* Intellectuals by Paul Johnson
* Episode 244 Thinking Rationally Part 2: Imaginary Creatures and Machines
* Become A Patron of TVL to get bonus episodes and rewards!
Jake's guide to the most helpful books on productivity, including why each one is recommend and what to expect from it.
Show Notes:
* Getting Things Done by David Allen
* Making It All Work by David Allen
* Ready For Anything By David Allen
* The Power Of Less by Leo Babauta (Review in TVL Episode 253)
* Manage Your Day-to-Day edited by Jocelyn Glei
* The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg (Discussion in TVL Episode 178)
* The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
* The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
* How To Read A Book by Mortimer J. Adler
* The Pomodoro Technique by Francesco Cirillo (Discussion in TVL Episode 120)
* The 80/20 Principle By Richard Koch
* The 4 Hour Workweek By Tim Ferriss
* Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Dan Pink
* Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy F. Baumeister
* The Universe Doesn't Give a Flying F-ck About You by Johnny B. Truant (Discussion in TVL Episode 141)
Personal freedom comes from individual choice and individual responsibility, as opposed to collective identity and collective responsibility. If you want to achieve personal freedom, don’t join imaginary teams. Listen to the episode to find out more! Show Notes:
* TVL 244 Thinking Rationally Part 2: Imaginary Creatures and Machines
* TVL 245 Thinking Rationally Part 3: Anti-Rational Ideas
Jake's guide to the most helpful books on entrepreneurship, including why each book is recommend and what you can expect from it. As mentioned in the episode, if you want to get a free copy of Jake's book "Negotiate For Mutual Profit", sign up to the TVL mailing list here.
Show Notes:
* Becoming an Entrepreneur: How to Find Freedom and Fulfillment as a Business Owner by Jake Desyllas
* The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
* The Founder's Dilemmas by Noam Wasserman
* The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki
* Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
* The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber
* The Goal by Eliyahu M. by Goldratt
* Critical Chain by Eliyahu M. by Goldratt
* The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufmann
* Getting to Yes by Fischer and Ury
* Negotiate For Mutual Profit by Jake Desyllas (free when you sign up to TVL email list)
* How to Master the Art of Selling by Tom Hopkins
* Drive by Dan Pink
* Discipline Without Punishment by Dick Grote
* Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type by Isabel Briggs Myers
* Built to Sell by John Warrillow
* Finish Big by Bo Burlingham
* Anything You Want by Derek Sivers
* Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson
* How To Get Rich By Felix Dennis
I choose to parent without violence or aggression. This means I eschew various actions that a lot of parents still consider acceptable- actions such as spanking, hitting, yelling, psychotropic drugs, circumcision, and so on. In this episode, I explain my own reasons for choosing to practice peaceful parenting.
Show Notes:
* What Is Peaceful Parenting?
* Parent Effectiveness Training by Thomas Gordon
* The Milgram Experiment
* TVL Series Your Own Moral Compass Part 1 (E151), Part 2 (E152), and Part 3 (E153)
Jake's guide to the best books on pursuing financial independence. Some of the books are must-reads, whereas others are suggested for specific purposes or additional information only. No country-specific books are included, so the list is relevant regardless of where you live. Listen to the episode to find out why I recommend each book and what you can expect from them.
Show Notes:
* Job Free by Jake Desyllas
* Financial Independence Series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4
* The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley
* Stop Acting Rich by Thomas Stanley
* Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
* Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicky Rubin
* Fail Safe Investing by Harry Browne (TVL Review)
* Why the Best-Laid Investment Plans Usually Go Wrong by Harry Browne
* The Permanent Portfolio by Craig Rowland and J.M. Lawson
* A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel (TVL Review)
* The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John Bogle
* Guide to Investing In Gold and Silver by Michael Maloney
* Where Are the Customers' Yachts? by Fred Schwed
* The 4% Rule and Safe Withdrawal Rates In Retirement by Todd Tressider
* The Global Expatriate's Guide to Investing by Andrew Hallam
* What Has Government Done to Our Money by Murray Rothbard
A discussion of a very thought-provoking article by the late Harry Browne, called “A Gift for My Daughter”. The episode includes a recording of Harry reading his own words.
Harry’s ideas had a huge influence on me, but I don’t agree with him about everything. This article is particularly interesting because it explains an important truth, and yet I think it also demonstrates one of Harry’s most significant blindspots.
Show Notes:
* A Gift for My Daughter by Harry Browne
* TVL Episode On How I Found Freedom In An Unfree World
* How I Found Freedom In An Unfree World by Harry Browne
* Fail Safe Investing by Harry Browne
* Job Free by Jake Desyllas
* Episode 265: A Review Of Escape From Childhood By John Holt
In this episode I am joined by my wife Hannah Braime to discuss William B. Irvine's book, A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy. This book argues that the philosophy of stoicism is relevant to modern life and can be used to help you live well, according to your own values. We recorded the episode for the Psychology Book Club. I am sharing it here because the themes are highly relevant to The Voluntary Life.
Show Notes:
* A Guide To The Good Life by William B. Irvine
* Psychology Book Club
* Hannah Braime
A listener asks:
"How do you cope with family and friend pressure to buy bigger and better and to have an expensive wedding and kids, which leaves you with no ability to save and get ahead in life?"
What do you think? Listen to the episode to hear my response.
Why do people spend so much of their disposable income on consumption and save so little towards their own financial independence? This episode presents four competing theories that try to answer this question:
* Theory 1: People are brainwashed into consumerism by advertising.
* Theory 2: Spending escalates as people try to keep up with their peer groups.
* Theory 3: Central bank policies have undermined saving.
* Theory 4: Spending is the path of least resistance, so you won't save unless you have sufficient motivation.
Which (if any) of these theories have merit? Is there a better explanation? Let me know what you think! Show Notes:
* Job Free by Jake Desyllas
Many people who write about financial independence emphasise the benefits of self-sufficiency and DIY as part of their lifestyle. Will it help your journey to financial independence to try to be self-sufficient? Does it make financial sense to do your own repairs and renovations? This episode provides a different perspective.
Show Notes:
* Job Free by Jake Desyllas
* TVL Episode 225: Comparative Advantage Is Mind-blowing
* I, Pencil by Leonard Read
* How to Make a $1500 Sandwich in Only 6 Months
John Holt was a leading figure in the school reform movement, who became increasingly interested in how children learn outside of school—what he called “unschooling.” He wrote many influential books about alternatives to schooling and he helped start the modern homeschooling movement.
His book Escape From Childhood provides a thought-provoking critique of how most adults treat children, and a vision of how we could treat children with dignity, giving them greater freedom.
Show Notes:
* Escape From Childhood by John Holt
* TVL Discussion of Instead of Education by John Holt
* Previous TVL Episodes on Unschooling
In his book Stop Acting Rich, author Thomas Stanley explained a way to calculate your relative net worth, taking into account both your age and your income. He used this calculation to create a wealth index, which you can use to judge whether you are on the path to FI, or whether you are burning more of your income than you should.
In the episode I explain how the wealth index is calculated and provide commentary on how to use it. There is also a free website that does the calculation for you.
Show Notes:
* The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley
* Stop Acting Rich By Thomas Stanley
* TVL Episode 80: Financial Freedom Milestones
* Website To Check Your Wealth Index by Hugh Chou
* TVL Episode 242: Financial Pros And Cons Of Home Ownership
An historical overview of rational ethics, focussing on the revolution in moral philosophy that happened during the Enlightenment. Although there was amazing progress during the Enlightenment, the contradictions of enlightenment thinkers eventually led them to lose their way on ethics and abandon a rational approach to morality. Understanding this background is helpful if you want to use rational thinking to make sense of ethics for yourself.
Show Notes:
* TVL Episode 151 Your Own Moral Compass Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3
* TED talk by Michael Huemer: The Progress of Liberalism
* Episode 227 Review Of The Better Angels Of Our Nature By Steven Pinker
* All Previous Episodes in the Thinking Rationally Series
Many ideas that have been debunked long ago nonetheless remain very popular. This episode highlights three popular irrational biases about economics, taken from Brian Caplan's book The Myth Of The Rational Voter. The biases covered are the pessimism bias, the anti-market bias, and the anti-foreign bias.
Show Notes:
* All Previous Episodes in the Thinking Rationally Series
* The Myth Of The Rational Voter by Bryan Caplan
* Episode 90 Rational Optimism Versus Doom Porn
* The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley
* Episode 227 Review Of The Better Angels Of Our Nature By Steven Pinker
* The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined by Steven Pinker
* Entrepreneurship Part 4: Profit Is Sanity
* Episode 176 The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality by Ludwig Von Mises Part 1 (and Part 2)
* Episode 225 Comparative Advantage Is Mind-blowing
Politics brings out the worst in people. As the economist Joseph Schumpeter put it,
"The typical citizen drops down to a lower level of mental performance as soon as he enters the political field. He argues and analyzes in a way which he would readily recognize as infantile within the sphere of his real interests. He becomes a primitive again."
This episode is about the problem of political irrationality. Why are political beliefs so irrational? How does this affect your life? Listen to the episode to find out more!
Show Notes:
* All Previous Episodes in the Thinking Rationally Series
* The Myth Of The Rational Voter by Bryan Caplan
* George Carlin On Politics
* Michael Heumer on The Irrationality Of Politics
A review of Peter Breggin's book, Guilt Shame And Anxiety: Understanding And Overcoming Negative Emotions, originally published on another podcast hosted by Jake and Hannah, The Psychology Book Club Podcast.
Peter Breggin's book is very relevant to many topics covered on The Voluntary Life. In the episode, Hannah and Jake discuss the challenging ideas presented in the book and how they can help you achieve greater psychological freedom.
Show Notes
* Psychology Book Club Podcast
* Guilt Shame and Anxiety by Peter Breggin
* TVL 247 Thinking Rationally Part 5: Reason And Emotions
An interview with Jake by Fumnanya, host of The Limit Breaker podcast. The interview covers interesting questions on the topic of breaking limits in business and life, including Jake's influences, founding and selling a business, the path to a job free life, and much more.
Show Notes:
* The Limit Breaker Podcast
* Becoming An Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas
* Job Free by Jake Desyllas
* Jake Desyllas Writing Website
* Getting Things Done by David Allen
* Getting To Yes by Fischer and Ury
* How I Found Freedom In An Unfree World by Harry Browne
* OmniFocus
This episode is an interview of Jake on the Valiant Growth podcast about getting started with productivity systems. A lot of people want to start using productivity tools and systems, but feel overwhelmed by all the options, jargon, and complexity. This episode will give you clear pointers about how to start simple and achieve massive improvements to your productivity.
Show Notes
* Valiant Growth Podcast
* Getting Things Done by David Allen
* The Power Of Less by Leo Babauta
* Other Productivity Episodes
One of my favourite productivity techniques is the Someday Maybe List— an idea from David Allen's book, Getting Things Done. Many people ignore this particular aspect of GTD, but I love it. This episode provides suggestions about how to get the most out of a kick-ass someday maybe list. Topics covered include:
* The Purpose of Someday Maybe List
* The benefits of managing your list in Evernote
* How tagging, sorting, images, and other Evernote features can make your Someday Maybe List more inspiring and useful.
Show Notes:
* Evernote
* Getting Things Done by David Allen
* Episode 156: How To Unleash Your Creative Thinking
* Other Productivity Episodes
Youtube presenters Mike and Lauren are back to talk about travel with kids. We catch up about all the things that they have been up to since I last spoke to them back in Episode 164. Their adventures include having a baby in Costa Rica, buying an RV, transitioning to life on the road, and planning to buy a barge to live on in Europe!
Show Notes:
* Episode 164— We Plan To Retire At 30: Interview with Mike and Lauren
* Mike and Lauren Website
* Mike And Lauren Youtube Channel
* Episode 254— Perpetual Travel With Kids Part 1: Interview With Go Curry Cracker
Jake was interviewed on World Wanderers Podcast about he sold a business, an apartment, and all of his stuff except one bag, to move to Panama. Jake shares what it has been like to live with less, and what the path to permanent travel has been like, including what has been done and what still needs to be done. He tells us what life has been like in Panama, and the pros and cons to life on the road.
Show Notes:
- The World Wanderers Podcast
- Job Free by Jake Desyllas
A fun conversation with Jeremy and Winnie from Go Curry Cracker. Back in Episode 162, we talked about their path to financial independence through extreme saving, and their lifestyle of perpetual travel in early retirement. In this episode, they talk about their experience of perpetual travel as a family. Their son Julian makes makes a guest appearance too!
Show Notes:
* Go Curry Cracker
* TVL 162 Spend Little, Save More, Travel the World: Interview with Go Curry Cracker
Leo Babauta's book, The Power Of Less, is about using habits to help you focus on what matters in life. In this review, I talk about some of the most helpful ideas in the book, especially the suggestions about establishing a productive morning routine to kickstart your day. I also talk about some of the limitations of the book, and make suggestions for other useful books on this topic.
Show Notes:
* The Power Of Less by Leo Babauta
* Getting Things Done by David Allen
* The Power Of Habit by Charles Duhigg
* TVL Episode 178: Upgrading Habits
* All Previous Episodes On Productivity
Back in episode 217, my wife Hannah and I spoke about the beginning of our adventure moving to Panama. In this episode we talk about a lot of big changes that have happened since then! The episode provides an insight into our story, but it also touches on many themes important to The Voluntary Life. We discuss travel, minimalism, and adapting to big changes in life.
Show Notes:
* TVL Episode 217: Panama Our Adventure Begins
* TVL Episode 77: Internationalising Yourself
* Becoming Who You Are
Entrepreneurship is not just about building a business, it is also about building yourself. I see entrepreneurship as an intensive personal development program. This episode is from a recent interview that I gave about this topic on the Valiant Growth podcast.
Show Notes:
* Valiant Growth Podcast
* Becoming an Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas
* Job Free by Jake Desyllas
* Drive by Dan Pink
This episode contains the introduction of the audiobook version of Jake Desyllas' latest book, Job Free. Whether you want to achieve financial independence and retire early, or simply never work for anyone else again, this book provides an essential guide to the different lifestyle-design strategies open to you.
You can get hold of the audiobook on Amazon and Audible, and it will shortly be available on iTunes. If you prefer reading, you can also get a paperback or e-book version on Amazon.
Show Notes:
* Job Free audiobook, paperback, and e-book on Amazon
* Job Free audiobook on Audible.com
If you are interested in minimalism or a travel-oriented lifestyle, moving to a digital-only book library is a great benefit. Even if you don't plan to travel, switching to e-books has a ton of other advantages over maintaining paper books. This episode is all about the tools and techniques for managing an e-book library, including:
* Making the transition from a physical to a digital library.
* Choosing a database application for managing e-books.
* Organising an e-book library with tags and other metadata.
* Having a system for keeping your own notes about books.
Show Notes:
* TVL Episode 115 How To Go Paperless Part 1
* TVL Episode 157 How To Go Paperless Part 2
* Free e-books at the Mises Institute and Online Library of Liberty
* Calibre (Free e-book management App)
* Evernote
This episode is about the role of rational thinking in life. Rational thinking is a discipline of self-mastery, similar to the discipline of achieving physical fitness. I tackle some misconceptions about rational thinking and answer these questions:
* What does cognitive science tell us about thinking rationally?
* What are the costs of thinking rationally, and what are the benefits?
Show Notes:
* How To Think For Yourself Series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
* Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure
* They Live
If you want to think rationally, what role do your emotions play? Is there a conflict between thinking rationally and experiencing feelings? In this episode, I explain the history of ideas around reason and emotion, and provide an overview of how to think rationally about feelings. Although the Enlightenment was a revolution in thinking rationally, Enlightenment philosophers never resolved their contradictions about the relationship between reason and the emotions, leaving a legacy of confusion about this topic. Instead of slavishly following feelings or repressing and ignoring them, rational thinking gives you a deeper, richer emotional life. Rational thinking enables you to pay attention to your feelings and make use of their valuable information.
Show Notes:
* Othello by William Shakespeare
* The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks
* Episode 189— Envy: A Theory Of Social Behaviour by Helmut Schoek
So far, the Thinking Rationally series has generated more listener feedback than any previous episodes! In this episode, I respond to feedback on the topic of faith versus reason. Here are the questions covered:
* Can reason be accommodated within religious faith?
* Don't we all live by some kind of faith, anyway?
* Do I argue that we are "nothing more than matter in motion"?
* Did I present a fair history of Christianity?
Show Notes:
* Episode 243— Thinking Rationally Part 1: Faith Versus Reason
* How To Think For Yourself Series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
* Job Free by Jake Desyllas
* How To Leave A Review on Amazon
Rational thinking transforms your life, by giving you autonomy and the freedom of the individual. Since it spread during the Enlightenment, rational thinking has also transformed society and created the modern world. Yet many influential philosophers explicitly rejected rational thinking, because they understood where it would lead and did not like what they saw. This episode is about anti-rational ideas. I cover how these ideas emerged as a reaction to the Enlightenment, and why such anti-rational ideas are so popular today among contemporary philosophers.
Show Notes:
* Explaining Postmodernism by Stephen Hicks (free pdf and audiobook on author's website)
* Intellectuals by Paul Johnson
The biggest challenge of thinking rationally is not learning new techniques, it is overcoming irrational and anti-rational ways of thinking. In Part 1 of this series, I talked about how religious faith conflicts with your rational faculty. This episode is about a secular way of thinking that will derail your rationality. It is a way of thinking about society that seems to be very rational, but is in fact an abuse of reason. Listen to the episode to find out more!
Show Notes: * The Counter Revolution Of Science by Friedrich Hayek
Rational thinking is the engine behind all the great achievements of the modern world. It is the vital tool for making your own choices and for freeing yourself from prejudices and indoctrination. This series of episodes summarises all the best ideas that I've found about how to think rationally. Part 1 uses the example of the history of Christianity in Europe to explain the conflict between religion and rational thinking.
Show Notes:
* The Closing Of The Western Mind by Charles Freeman
* If A Then B: How the World Discovered Logic by Michael Shenefelt and Heidi White
Home ownership is often touted as a financially savvy choice, but is it? This episode explores the financial pros and cons of buying your own home for those interested in financial independence.
Show Notes:
* The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley
* I'm not a financial advisor and you will need to do your own research.
As part of adopting a minimalist lifestyle and becoming expats, we sold everything that would not fit into one suitcase each. The biggest part of our downsizing was selling our apartment and all the furniture in it. This episode is about the practical and psychological lessons from selling the flat, getting rid of all our stuff, and changing from being homeowners to travelling renters.
Show Notes:
* Home Inventory App (mac)
* Episode 217— Panama: Our Adventure Begins
* Other Episodes on Minimalism
* Job Free by Jake Desyllas
Kevin Koskella from the Freedom Lovin podcast interviews Jake about the ideas in his book, Job Free, as well as life in Panama, entrepreneurship, and the permanent portfolio.
Show Notes:
* Freedom Lovin Podcast
* Job Free by Jake Desyllas (now in paperback and kindle)
Preparing for a life of travel involved getting rid of anything that I could not take with me in one suitcase. One big source of clutter to address was clothes. My clothes took up a lot of space, yet I hardly ever wore many of them. As part of my extreme decluttering, I got rid of every item of clothing beyond a minimal set that would fit with my one-suitcase plan. The process included making an inventory, deciding what to keep or get rid of, and selling or giving away a huge amount of clothes. Whether you plan to travel or not, this episode will give you some food for thought about changing your approach to clothes.
Show Notes:
* Previous Episodes on Minimalism
* Home Inventory App (Mac)
* Job Free by Jake Desyllas
This episode is about how I moved all my data into the cloud. This has been an essential part of adopting a digital nomad lifestyle but is also relevant for anyone who wants a more minimalist, clutter-free life.
I digitised any data that could be, such as music, movies, photos, books, and documents. Once digital, I moved all my data into cloud storage of one kind or another. Then I got rid of all data clutter that was part of my stuff: CDs, DVDs, photos, spare computers, etc. Now all my data lives in the cloud.
In the episode, I explain how I implemented a zero data system, and I outline some of the key issues to address. These include privacy (encryption), backup, redundancy, and sync vs archive.
Show Notes:
* Article: Zero Data: Thoughts About Sync, Storage, and Backup
* TVL Episodes on minimalism
* Going Paperless Part 1 and Part 2
* Cloud Music: iTunes Match, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play Music
* Cloud Movies: Netflix, iTunes
* Cloud Storage: Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud
* Cloud Books: Calibre E-Book Management
* Cloud Notes: Evernote
* Encryption: SpiderOak, Boxcryptor, FileVault
* Backup: Crashplan, Backblaze, Time Machine, SuperDuper
Brian Sovryn of the Sovryn Tech Podcast interviews Jake about his lifestyle of perpetual travel and minimalism, and the technology that makes it possible.
Show Notes:
* Sovryn Tech Episode 165
* Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i Mobile Document Scanner
* Calibre E-Book Management
* Evernote
* VoiceDream
* AirBnB
* Uber
* Google Translate
* Keyboard Maestro
* Mac Power Users Podcast
* TripAdvisor Offline Guides
* TripIt
* Becoming An Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas
* Job Free by Jake Desyllas
The Free State Project is a social experiment encouraging 20,000 people interested in "liberty in our lifetime" to move together to New Hampshire. The idea is to create an intentional community of like-minded people who are interested in personal and political liberty. By concentrating people with similar values in one place, the aim is to have a greater impact on the local culture and thereby generate more freedom. In this episode, I interview Stephanie Murphy and Brian Sovryn—two members of the Free State Project— about their experiences in New Hampshire as part of this community.
Show Notes:
* The Free State Project
* Job Free paperback edition
* Stephanie Murphy Voice
* Sovryn Tech Podcast
* Porcfest Festival
Brett Veinotte from the School Sucks Podcast and Jake Desyllas from The Voluntary Life discuss the process of upgrading and maintaining positive habits. Topic covered include:
* Habits may seem trivial, but the are the most important part of a productivity system
* Two approaches to change: slow and steady vs. New Year's resolution
* Triggers for activating habits vs. friction against habits
* How do we do it? morning routine, 7 Weeks (Android app), Jake uses Way of Life (iOS)
* No matter what else is going on, do the simple things; even though these seemingly minor habits are the first thing that fall by the wayside when we're really busy
* Jake: "Habits dramatically reduce the amount of willpower and brainpower required to get things done. Once you have implemented a habit and can do it on autopilot, you conserve willpower and brainpower, helping you get more done."
* Willpower is a scarce resource; it degrades decision to decision
* Identifying resources beyond willpower
* Jake: "Habits are easiest to adopt when they are simple to understand, when you minimize any friction at the start of the action, when there are clear environmental triggers that tell your unconscious to start the habit, and when you have feedback (rewards) for completion."
Show Notes: * School Sucks Podcast * Willpower by Roy Baumeister * The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg * Manage Your Day-to-Day by Jocelyn Glei * Job Free by Jake Desyllas * Al Switzler Ted Talk
This week's episode comes from Joshua Sheats, host of the Radical Personal Finance podcast:
"Most of us in the Radical Personal Finance community are pursuing our own financial independence. And most of us want to get there as quickly as possible. But, most of us only have one idea of one way to get there. Did you know there are a bunch of different ways to go job-free and gain financial freedom? I'm excited to bring you my interview with Jake Desyllas, author of "Job Free: Four Ways to Quit the Rat Race and Achieve Financial Freedom on Your Terms.""
Show Notes:
Job Free by Jake Desyllas
Radical Personal Finance Podcast
Part 2 of the discussion between Brett Veinotte and Jake Desyllas about using Horizons of Focus for productivity and purpose. In this episode, we conclude our discussion by talking about how to identify your vision for your future, and how to find purpose in life.
Show Notes:
* Episode 232 The Next Level — Horizons of Focus Part 1
* School Sucks Podcast
* The Voluntary Life Productivity Episodes
Brett Veinotte from School Sucks podcast interviews Jake Desyllas about using Horizons of Focus for productivity and purpose. In this episode (part 1) we introduce the concept of horizons of focus and talk about the best ways to identify actions, projects, goals, and areas or responsibility.
Show Notes
* School Sucks Podcast
* The Voluntary Life Productivity Episodes
* Automated Mindmaps Using OmniFocus
* Horizons of Focus
Ashe from the Liberty Entrepreneurs podcast interviews Jake about starting a business, selling a business, and financial independence. They talk about Jake's background, becoming an entrepreneur, selling a company, and life afterwards. In this episode, you can hear about the people and books that influenced Jake, and some hacks and suggestions for anyone interested in starting a business.
Show Notes:
* Liberty Entrepreneurs Podcast
* Becoming an Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas
* How I Found Freedom In An Unfree World by Harry Browne
* The Ultimate Guide to Journaling by Hannah Braime
* Anything You Want by Derek Sivers
* Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson
* Getting to Yes by Fisher and Ury
I had an amazing experience getting feedback during the writing of my new book, Job Free: Four Ways to Quit the Rat Race and Achieve Financial Freedom on Your Terms. I had 165 beta readers during development. That's a lot of feedback!
This episode is about the process of crowdsourcing feedback, using the example of my experience writing Job Free. I describe the workflows, tools and benefits of crowdsourcing feedback. I also tell you all about my new book, and explain how it can help you achieve real freedom in your own life.
Show Notes:
* Job Free by Jake Desyllas
* Becoming an Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas
* Presentation on Four Ways to Quit the Rat Race
* 99 Designs
* The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki
In this interview, Tuur and Becca talk about life as perpetual travellers, living on bitcoin. They describe how they got interested in bitcoin and how it has become an integral part of their international lifestyle. They also explain how they cope with the roller-coaster volatility of living from bitcoin.
Tuur was one of the first investment newsletter writers to recommend bitcoin. He describes his own journey in the industry, and shares his thoughts about where bitcoin is headed.
Show Notes:
* Previous TVL episodes about Bitcoin
* Tuur Demeester on Twitter
* Adamant Research Report "How To Position For The Next Rally In Bitcoin"
This episode shares some fascinating ideas about how to understand culture, identity and civilization. The historian Steve Davies argues that rather than being at the end of a long story of "western civilization", we are at the beginning of something radically new, unplanned and totally alien to the historical cultures of both the "West" and everywhere else before circa 1800. I've summarised these ideas in the podcast, but I also recommend that you watch the thought-provoking lecture by Steve Davies. Show Notes: * Stephen Davies on Western Civilisation * The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley
This episode is a review of a fascinating book, The Better Angels Of Our Nature, by Steven Pinker. The following quote summarises the book's main argument:
"Believe it or not—and I know that most people do not—violence has declined over long stretches of time, and today we may be living in the most peaceable era in our species’ existence. The decline, to be sure, has not been smooth; it has not brought violence down to zero; and it is not guaranteed to continue. But it is an unmistakable development, visible on scales from millennia to years, from the waging of wars to the spanking of children."
Steven Pinker
Show Notes:
* The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined by Steven Pinker
This episode is about three concepts that I've found helpful for managing money. These concepts are about the big-picture when it comes to money, rather than the details. They express the mindset for achieving financial independence. Here is a summary of the ideas discussed:
1. Be Your Own CFO: managing your own money as you would manage the finance of a business.
2. Be Investment-Oriented, Not Consumption-Oriented
3. Be A Passive Investor.
Show Notes: * How to Be the CFO of Your Own Life by Luke Landes * How to Become CFO of Your Life by JD Roth * E219 How To Do A Monthly Financial Review * The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley * E155: Review of A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel * Please note: I'm not a financial advisor and your money is your responsibility.
Comparative advantage is a simple idea from economics, but its implications are mind-blowing. It is a process that most people misunderstand, but it is at the root of everything that we create. Comparative advantage is intimately linked to what it means to be human.
Show Notes:
* Economist article on comparative advantage
* Matt Ridley on comparative advantage
Benjamin Constant was a French classical liberal writer who lived through the French revolution and the reign of terror. Assessing what had gone wrong with the revolution, he came up with a distinction between two conflicting ideas of "liberty" that had influenced the people involved— an ancient concept of liberty and a modern one. His distinction is still useful today and can help make sense of the incompatible ways in which different people talk about freedom.
Show Notes:
* The Liberty of Ancients Compared with that of Moderns by Benjamin Constant (1816)
Portfoliocharts.com is a brilliant, free resource for passive investors. It provides a comparison of all the main passive investment portfolios using funky charts to visually explain the data. The site was created by Tyler, an early retiree with a background in mechanical engineering. Tyler created the site for fun as a personal project, but I think it is the best guide to passive investing portfolios on the web.
In this interview, Tyler gives his own take on passive investing and talks about how to use the portfolio charts site. He explains some interesting results from his analysis and shows how they challenge common myths about portfolios.
Show Notes:
* Portfolio Charts Website
* @portfoliocharts
* I'm not a financial advisor and your money is your responsibility.
This episode is part 2 of the interview with Justin from Root of Good. Justin talks about how the goal of early retirement differs from mainstream ideas of "success". He provides suggestions for those interested in pursing early retirement.
Show Notes:
Root of Good
Jack Ma Interview
There are many practical steps required to reach financial independence, but there are also some interesting psychological challenges to early retirement. Who would you be without your job? What would you do all day if you never had to work? Justin retired at the age of 33. He writes about financial independence at the Root of Good blog. In this interview, he gives his take on the psychological side of financial independence and describes his early-retirement lifestyle.
Show Notes:
* Root of Good Blog
* The Early Retiree's Weekly Schedule
Many people find getting started as an individual investor daunting. This episode is about how little I knew about investing when I got started. I describe what I came to expect from investing as I learned more about it. If you are starting out in investing, I think hearing my experience will be relevant for you.
Show Notes
* Fail-Safe Investing: Lifelong Financial Security in 30 Minutes by Harry Browne
* Where Are the Customers' Yachts by Fred Schwed
* The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John Bogle
* Previous TVL Episodes on financial independence
* I'm not a financial advisor and your money is your responsibility.
It took me a long time to work out how to stay on top of my finances. After a lot of trial and error, I developed the habit of doing a monthly financial review. This is what enables me to confidently manage my finances without having to think about money all the time. In this episode, I explain how you can implement your own monthly financial review. Topics covered include:
* Habits to set up when implementing a monthly review, including dedicating adequate time (about 4 hours per month) and making a detailed checklist or task list to use.
* Key questions to consider when designing your monthly financial review system, such as whether to use an online finance app or one that runs on your own computer.
* Stages of the monthly financial review to implement: downloading finance data, cleaning data, inputting data, reconciling, and analysis (budget, investments, and net worth calculation)
Show Notes:
* Some software options for your checklist: Evernote and Omnifocus
* Some finance apps: iBank, Mint, Personal Capital
* Software for automating renaming and moving of files: Hazel
* TVL Episode 181 on budgeting and net worth calculation
In previous episodes of this podcast, I've explored different ways to live a job-free lifestyle. I've interviewed extreme savers, unjobbers, lifestyle entrepreneurs, and startup entrepreneurs. Many listeners have raised an important question about these lifestyles: how do you choose between these different strategies for quitting the rat race? How do you decide which job-free lifestyle you want to pursue for yourself? This week's episode discusses this question and provides suggestions for how to choose a job-free lifestyle.
Show Notes
* TVL Episode 124: Four Ways To Quit The Rat Race
* Video of Four Ways To Quit The Rat Race Presentation
* Becoming an Entrepreneur: How to Find Freedom and Fulfillment as a Business Owner
This episode is a discussion with a special guest— my wife Hannah Braime, who is the host of Becoming Who You Are. We've just moved to Panama and we love it here already. In this episode we talk about all the preparations involved in our move, the start of our travel lifestyle, and our first impressions of life in Panama.
Show Notes:
* Hannah Braime
* Previous TVL episodes on travel
* TVL episode 130: Interview with Pete Sisco
A listener shared these reflections with me:
"I like to think I'm a moral person but many times in my career (and in the careers of friends), I've been forced to choose between unethical behavior and possibly losing my job. I handled this on a case by case manner, where I had to weight the importance of the unethical behavior, the likelihood of me being punished, the odds of me successfully elevating the issue to a superior, how much the unethical behavior would actually hurt the injured party, etc. In other words, my response was ambiguous and led to a lot of sleepless nights."
The listener went on to explain that achieving financial independence strengthened his or her moral backbone and make it easier to say no to bad people at work. This is a brilliant insight and highlights one of the great benefits of financial independence. In this episode I share some suggestions about how you can use entrepreneurship, extreme saving and unjobbing to make it easier for you to do the right thing.
“Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough.” Charles Warner
Over the last three years, I've reduced my possessions to only those things that will fit inside one suitcase and one hand luggage bag. My wife and I decided to pursue extreme decluttering, in order to make a lifestyle of long-term travel more practical.
Decluttering was easy at first, but got harder the more extreme I took it. My possessions were not just serving practical needs, but emotional ones too. I had to work out how to address those needs before I could get rid of my stuff. Decluttering also forced me to acknowledge mistakes I had made in the past— mistakes I preferred to avoid thinking about.
Overall, extreme decluttering has been a fantastic learning process. I feel much freer because of it. I think that you can benefit in a similar way by decluttering, even if you don't want to reduce your stuff in such an extreme way as I did.
Show Notes:
* Previous episodes on Minimalism
* Going Paperless part 1 and part 2
* Episode on Inventory
* Home Inventory app
* GoodReads
* If This Then That
* Evernote
* Apple Photos
In this episode, special guest Hannah Braime talks about how to free yourself from a life of drama and move to a life of empowerment. Hannah is a coach, author, and host of Becoming Who You Are.
We discuss some powerful concepts from the field of psychology that Hannah uses in her coaching. She explains how easy it is to get stuck playing a series of roles in your life— acting out a script written by someone else. These roles are all too familiar: "the victim", "the persecutor" and "the rescuer". Hannah explains how to empower yourself to leave such roles behind and live life according to your own plans. I really enjoyed the discussion and I think you will find it both interesting and helpful.
Show Notes:
* Becoming Who You Are
* Videos about The Drama Triangle
* Joseph Campbell
* Transactional Analysis
* Games People Play by Eric Berne
* Karpman Drama Triangle
* The Power of TED by David Emerald
Here is how you reach true conclusions about any question in life: start with undeniable premises and use valid logic. Logic— used in reasoned argument— is the universal, impartial method that humans have for finding the truth together peacefully. Yet very few people use logic consistently. I discuss some reasons why it is so hard to be logically consistent. The most important reason is that it takes courage to follow an argument to its logical conclusion, especially if the conclusion is not accepted by the majority of people around you. If you want to think for yourself, you need more than just valid logic— you also have to have the courage to follow it.
Show Notes:
* Ad Populum Fallacy
* If A, Then B: How the World Discovered Logic by Michael Shenefelt & Heidi White
* The Right To Ignore The State by Herbert Spencer
* Why I Don't Vote by George Carlin
* Murray Rothbard
* Hans-Hermann Hoppe
In the last episode I suggested two key challenges to resolve if you want to think for yourself:
1. How do you tell truth from falsehood?
2. How do you know what you can be certain of?
This episode is about how the scientific method can help address the first of these challenges: determining truth. I provide a summary of the philosophy of science and the rules for deciding whether a theory qualifies as scientific.
However, there is a huge problem with the philosophy of science when it comes to addressing the challenge of certainty. The scientific method—as defined by leading philosophers of science—is self-contradictory. It's not even an accurate representation of what practicing scientists do (which is why scientists tend to ignore philosophers and just get on with it). In the episode, I explain how rationality is the necessary foundation of science—more fundamental even than empiricism—and how it provides the certainty that makes the scientific method possible.
Show Notes:
* Karl Popper
* This Lecture by Hans-Hermann Hoppe about the philosophy of science provides a deeper discussion of many ideas covered in this episode with reference to economics.
* Image Source: Bruno Gilli/ESO
You can't be free unless you can think for yourself. If someone else is doing your thinking for you, then it's not your life that you are living.
When you know how to think of yourself, you cannot be controlled or manipulated. Your life is truly in your hands and is up to you what you do with it.
This episode is part one of a new series on how to think for yourself. The episode introduces the two biggest problems you have to overcome if you want to think for yourself:
- How can you tell truth from falsehood?
- How do you know what you can be certain of?
This episode is part two of an interview with Joshua Sheats, host of the Radical Personal Finance podcast. Joshua shares his insights on tax strategies for those pursuing financial freedom. In part one of the interview (last week's episode), we covered tax strategies for employees. In this episode, we discuss tax strategies for entrepreneurs. Joshua describes his own experience developing a lifestyle business and the tax advantages that this provides.
Show Notes:
* Radical Personal Finance Podcast
* As always, it's up to you what you do with your money. I'm not a financial advisor and you will need to do your own research.
Tax is the biggest expense category for most people. It is crucial for everyone interested in financial freedom to understand tax and develop a tax strategy. Yet many of the leading books on financial independence hardly mention tax. In this interview, Joshua Sheats provides a wealth of insights on this topic.
Joshua trained as a financial planner and now runs the Radical Personal Finance podcast. In part one of the interview (this episode), Joshua discusses tax strategies for employees. In part two (next week), we discuss tax strategies for entrepreneurs.
Show Notes:
* Radical Personal Finance Podcast
* Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez
* The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley
* IRA and Roth IRA
* Mad Fientist
* Go Curry Cracker
* Laurence Kotlikoff
* As always, it's up to you what you do with your money. I'm not a financial advisor and you will need to do your own research.
If you want to quit your job to pursue a more freedom-oriented lifestyle (such as entrepreneurship), there are many challenges to overcome. Some challenges are practical, such as replacing the job income that you no longer have. This episode is about the psychological challenges. Even an unfulfilling job has a psychological "pull" that is easy to take for granted because it provides:
* A sense of purpose
* Structure for your life
* A ready-made community
Part of the fear that many people feel about quitting their jobs relates to losing the sense of purpose, structure, and community that comes from a job. To live job-free, you have to create your own sense of purpose, your own structure for life, and your own community. You can hear more about this topic in the podcast episode.
Show Notes:
* E136 Your Purpose In Life
* E101 How To Dream Big
* E185 How To Set Meaningful Goals
* All Previous Episodes On Productivity (for creating structure)
* E139 How To Build A Network
If you are an entrepreneur, you might want to sell your business one day (or at least have that option). There are many issues to tackle in order to make selling a real possibility. For one thing, you need to identify a potential buyer.
This podcast episode provides an overview of the two main groups of potential buyers: strategic and financial. I suggest some issues to consider when looking for each kind of buyer and I explain why I would always prefer a strategic buyer.
Show Notes:
Finish Big: How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Companies on Top by Bo Burlingham
Are successful entrepreneurs just "lucky"? This episode is about the role of luck in business. Here are some of the ideas discussed:
* The main job of the entrepreneur is to minimise chance and uncertainty. "Luck" is not the basis of success, it is the enemy.
* People confuse the success or failure of a business idea with the success or failure of an entrepreneur's career—they are not the same thing. Successful entrepreneurs have many failures behind them.
* A business is not static. It is not a matter of chance whether it succeeds or fails. You can adapt and change everything about your business as you go, and thereby improve your chance of success with every step.
* There will always be influences that are entirely outside your control. But even those things outside your control can be managed and adapted to.
This episode is about the most powerful tool that I know for planning anything. A process map is a tool for visualising a workflow. It's also called a workflow map or a network diagram—there are many different names for this tool.
It's a way of clarifying exactly what has to happen to in order for you to get all the way from where you are now, to your final goal. The map shows the dependencies between all inputs, processes, and outputs. This identifies the logic of all the work ahead of you.
You don't need to be involved in project management to benefit from creating workflow maps. Visualising your workflows can help you achieve your goals in any aspect of life. However, a workflow diagram is also the basis of many useful project management tools, like a PERT Chart or Gantt chart. If you want to get more into project management, you can use this tool to identify the critical path and critical chain.
Show Notes:
* TVL Episode 120 Eight Tools That Will Free Your Mind
* The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two
* InShort Diagramming App (Mac)
This episode is about making sense of two important concepts: frugality and minimalism. Frugality means to be economical or sparing with regard to money, but this definition prompts the question: what are the criteria for deciding if a choice is economical? Similarly, the definition of minimalism (to own the minimum amount of possessions) also prompts a question: what are the criteria for deciding what the minimum is?
Both these ideas only make sense if they are defined in relation to your goals and purpose in life. Using examples from entrepreneurship, I suggest ways to define frugality and minimalism in relation to your goals.
Show Notes:
* TVL Episode 136: Your Purpose In Life
* TVL Episode 116 (for discussion of the 4% rule)
* The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement Eliyahu M. by Goldratt
In this interview, Sarah tells her early retirement story and talks about life after quitting the rat race. We discuss why she has chosen housesitting both as a lifestyle choice and as a great financial benefit. She discusses the pros and cons of housesitting and provides some advice for people thinking about making the jump to early retirement.
Show Notes:
* Honoring My Compass
In order to gain self-knowledge, you have to reduce the gap between what you think about yourself and reality. Although this is often an uncomfortable process, the truth is always liberating. In this episode, I share two theories from social psychology about why we sometimes lie to ourselves and fool ourselves, as well as suggestions for overcoming these tendencies. I describe some of my own approaches to overcoming self-deception by getting objective data about my life.
Show Notes
* Trivers' Theory of Self-Deception
* The Better Angels of Our Nature by Stephen Pinker
* The Dunning-Kruger Effect
* TVL E200 Quantified Self
* TVL Episode The Unexamined Business Is Not Worth Building
Jake shares his own tools and systems for independent learning. These are the hacks for proactive learning, rather than being an uncritical consumer of ideas. Topics covered include:
* Making objectives for your learning and capturing them in Evernote
* Coping with the information firehose
* Filtering your search for learning materials using reading lists and subject tagging in Pocket app.
* Capturing learning resources in databases using apps like Calibre and Evernote
* Effective note taking with mind maps, highlights and written notes
* Critical thinking
* Habits to support learning
* Automating parts of your learning system
Show Notes:
* Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think by Peter Diamantis
* Evernote app
* Jeffrey Tucker interview
* Pocket App
* Mind Mapping, Mindmaps and Mind Maps: Tutorials, Information and How-tos
* iThoughts Mindmapping App
* Voicedream app
* Drafts app
* Calibre app
* IFTTT
* GoodReads
* How to Effectively Read and Implement Books
* TVL 178 Upgrading Habits
This episode is about using technology to automatically collect and analyse data about your life. I share some examples of my own automated tracking of health and productivity data. I'm using various apps to analyse the data in the background and compile all the results into an automated, objective journal. It's getting easier all the time to quantify your life with minimal effort. Doing so can give you objective data and meaningful analysis about whatever matters to you. This can help you to live a more conscious and fulfilled life.
Show Notes:
* Quantified Self
* Fitbit One by Fitbit
* Timing App (mac)
* RescueTime
* ifttt.com
* GiftttDy
* Day One Journal App
* Applescript
* Keyboard Maestro
Is owning a car really worth it? This episode is about the financial and lifestyle benefits of deliberately choosing not to own a car (I'm in my early 40s and I've never owned one). Topics covered include:
* Why owning a car is often a waste of money
* The health and lifestyle benefits of living car free, especially walking and cycling
* Alternatives to car ownership including car clubs, peer-to-peer transport (e.g. Uber and Lyft), public transport
* The problem of car dependency and why it exists
* Challenges of not owning a car
* Suggestions for how to live car free
Show Notes:
* The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs
* Life Between Buildings by Jan Gehl
* TVL E74 City Air Will Make You Free
* Walking 10,000 steps per day
We are all subject to a psychological process called decision fatigue: every choice you make depletes your willpower and lowers your ability to self-regulate. This is true for trivial decisions as well as life changing ones. By designing trivial decisions out of your life, you can retain decision making capability for the things that really matter to you. In this episode I share some of my own experiences with avoiding decision fatigue and explain why I think minimalism is a great way to help you focus on the things that really matter.
Show Notes:
* Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy Baumeister
* The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
* Article: Decision Fatigue Exhausts Self-Regulatory Resources But So Does Accommodating to Unchosen Alternatives
* Image Credit: mylerdude
Brett Veinotte is an educator and host of School Sucks Podcast. This episode is an interesting discussion with Brett about the power of conformity and how to resist it. Topics covered include:
* How conformity to "normal" spending habits prevents people achieving financial independence
* Solomon Asch's conformity experiments and what we can learn from them
* How conformity can alter your perception
* The importance of allies in resisting conformity
* The role of privacy in reducing conformity
* The danger of conforming to a subculture (and still being a conformist)
* How exposure to different views can increase your independence of thought
Show Notes:
* School Sucks Podcast
* School Sucks Facebook Group
* Solomon Asch Conformity Experiments
* Opinions and Social Pressure by Solomon Asch
* Stanley Milgram's Obedience Experiments
* Berns' study of conformity
* The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem by Nathaniel Branden
* Doug Stanhope on Nationalism
In this episode, I interview life coach and author Hannah Braime (my lovely wife) about the relationship between self knowledge and entrepreneurship. Hannah is the host of the personal development website Becoming Who You Are. As a coach she helps people to develop their self knowledge and live a more authentic, fulfilling life. She is the organiser of an upcoming online symposium, The Entrepreneur's Inner World. Topics we cover include:
* The role of self knowledge in entrepreneurship
* Key themes that came up when Hannah interviewed 24 entrepreneurs
* The benefits of entrepreneurship for personal growth
Show Notes
* Becoming Who You Are
* The Entrepreneur's Inner World Symposium
* The Ultimate Guide to Journaling by Hannah Braime (free sample chapter here)
* Anything You Want by Derek Sivers
* Ep. 142 Extraordinary Time: An Interview With Augusto Pinaud
* Double Double: How to Double Your Revenue and Profit in 3 Years or Less by Cameron Herald
* The VIA Survey (Online Strengths Questionnaire)
* The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work by Shawn Achor
* Becoming an Entrepreneur: How to Find Freedom and Fulfillment as a Business Owner by Jake Desyllas
Cherie and Chris live on a converted vintage bus that they have packed with technology. They call themselves technomads (technology-enabled nomads). The bus has a solar electric system, lithium ion batteries, a mobile internet setup, and lots of other fun gadgets. Cherie & Chris work online whilst travelling and visiting new places. In this interview they share their inspiring story, including both the highlights and the downsides of life on the road.
Show Notes: * Technomadia Website
This episode is a review of the classic personal finance book Your Money or Your Life. Topics covered include:
* The inspiring story of the author Joe Dominguez—an early retiree who devoted his life to promoting financial independence for everyone
* An overview of the 9 steps to financial independence suggested in the book
* Strengths of the book, especially its focus on actionable steps that you can take to change your life
* Weaknesses of the book, especially regarding the discussion of investment.
Show Notes:
* Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez
This episode is a review of the book Cashing in on the American Dream: How to Retire at 35 by Paul Terhorst. Paul and his wife Vicky have been living the early retirement lifestyle successfully for the last 30 years, as perpetual travellers. This book was written back in the 1980s and was one of the first books to suggest a strategy for financial independence.
The book is aimed towards employees (rather than entrepreneurs) and especially people in well-paid jobs. Paul discusses how to tackle the challenges of quitting a lucrative career and radically changing your lifestyle. His strategy is an early example of the extreme saving approach that I discussed in my presentation on four ways to quit the rat race.
The investment suggestions in the book are out of date now and all the numbers have to be doubled for inflation, however it still contains a lot of useful ideas that will be of interest to anyone aiming for financial independence.
Show Notes
* Cashing in on the American Dream: How to Retire at 35 by Paul Terhorst
* Paul and Vicky's Website
* Article about Paul Terhorst now
* Four Ways To Quit The Rat Race presentation
I got rid of my TV about 15 years ago and I have never regretted it. In this episode, I provide suggestions for how to upgrade your media diet using far better sources than broadcast media. Here's a summary of the system that I adopted for my media diet:
* I got rid of my TV (and radio and newspapers too). I did this because vegging out in from of the TV was an addictive path of least resistance for media consumption. I didn't want my choice of what to watch to be limited to what TV channels would broadcast.
* I actively collect things to watch later from the internet, from streaming services and social media. Everything goes into my media queue. This is very easy to do with capture tools like pocket, instapaper, WatchLater app and Evernote. I also collect things to listen to later and read later in the same way.
* I tag everything in my media queue with my own tags, so that I know why I have collected each media item. These tags allow me to organise my media queue by projects I am doing, topics I am interesed in, or just different moods I am in.
* When I want to watch something, I look at my tag lists and make a conscious decision about what to watch.
* Having a media queue helps me be more discerning about what media I consume. I end up deleting many of the videos before watching them because they don't seem interesting after all. I highly recommend trying life without a TV.
Show Notes:
* Business Insider Article on TV use
* TVL Episode 120: Eight Tools That Will Free Your Mind
* Pocket App
* Instapaper App
* WatchLater App
* Evernote
* Voice Dream App
* Photo Credit: jason a. cina
Whatever you want to get done in life, a task management app is the most valuable productivity tool that I can recommend to help you. In this episode, I explain what a task management app is and outline why it is so useful. I provide examples of how I use a task management app to help reach my goals, as well as some tips for power users. Topics covered include:
* Origins of task management apps and some current examples
* The benefits of a task management app over simple "to do" lists.
* The inefficiency of switching tasks and the value of focussed work
* How to use an app to create well-defined tasks that are easier to complete
* The power of filtering your commitments by context
* The value of checklists and how a task manager can store them
* creating your own "perspectives" on tasks
* The most valuable feature to look for in a task management app: filtering by availability
Show Notes:
* Omnifocus App by Omnigroup
* Things App by Cultured Code
* The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
Comedian Rosie Tran interviews entrepreneur, financial freedom advocate, and author of Becoming an Entrepreneur, Jake Desyllas. They discuss the psychology behind financial freedom and the baggage that many people have associated with money, the importance of being on the same page as your significant other, and why less is always more! Great tips on breaking out of the employee mindset and becoming a free thinker!
Show Notes:
Out Of The Box Podcast
Why are "haters gonna hate"? This episode is a review of a fascinating book called Envy: A Theory of Social Behaviour by Helmut Schoek. Here are some of ideas that are discussed in the review:
* What envy is and how it differs from jealousy or a desire to emulate
* The key feature of envy being strongest where status differences are small
* Why envy exists in every society and why it could never be completely eliminated
* Why envy is camouflaged
* The link between envy and irrational thinking
* Schoeck's theory of why envy exists and how it might have some positive role (as well as being highly destructive)
* You can cure yourself of envious feelings by turning it into creativity instead of destructiveness
* Why you must never let haters stop you from doing something wonderful
Show Notes:
Envy: A Theory Of Social Behaviour By Helmut Schoeck
This episode is about how personal relationships can either be the most important source of support in achieving financial independence, or the biggest hinderance. Topics covered include:
* Romantic relationships
* Friends and neighbours
* Family
Show Notes:
* E166 Retired at 33: Interview with Justin from Root of Good
* E164 We Plan To Retire At 30: Interview with Mike and Lauren
* The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley
* E162 Spend Little, Save More, Travel the World: Interview with Go Curry Cracker
* E147 Rosie Tran Interview: Financial Freedom and Personal Development
* Trading Up: Why Consumers Want New Luxury Goods by Silverstein and Fiske
* The Overspent American by Juliet Schor
* E171 From Million Dollar House To Tiny Home: Interview With Jacki Rigoni
* 118 Decluttering And Community Selling: Interview with Jorja Leavitt
* Financial Independence From Parents
* Image Credit: Charlie Foster
This week's show is a discussion with my lovely wife Hannah Braime about how to read more than 50 books per year (Hannah reads over 100 per year!). Hannah is a life coach and the host of the website Becoming Who You Are. In the episode we talk about why reading matters and share all the hacks we know for getting more reading done.
Show Notes:
* Becoming Who You Are
* How many books can you read in a lifetime? from Cosmos by Carl Sagan
* Calibre free e-book library management application
* Voice Dream iOS App
* Kindle Highlight Feature
* MacJournal
* GoodReads
* Drafts iOS app
* Evernote
As an entrepreneur, I wanted to learn more about the project planning because I needed to delegate and collaborate with others. I now see project planning as integral to getting things done in all areas of life. This episode is my own take on an approach called the natural planning model. These are the three minimal steps I use in planning every project:
* Naming the outcome
* Identifying the next action
* Reviewing each project regularly
If I am stuck on a project, the more detailed planning I do includes:
* Mindmaps
* Creating a project documentation template in Evernote
* Writing down more details about the purpose and mission to clarify this for myself
* Journaling and brainstorming
* Identifying project components and milestones
* Scheduling and programming tasks in a task management app (I use Omnifocus)
Show Notes:
* Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
* Omnifocus
* Evernote
* Image: Kamil Lehmann
For many years I wanted to set meaningful goals for the year ahead, but struggled with the process. I never knew quite where to start and I often felt like I was just making goals up, without any real emotional connection to them. Consequently, I wasn't really committed to my goals and I found the whole process of making annual goals frustrating. I often gave up and didn't bother with the whole thing.
Over time, I've developed a method of setting annual goals as part of my overall productivity systems. Now that I have a method, I find setting and meeting goals much easier and, best of all, the goal-setting process has many other benefits, regardless of whether I meet a goal. In this episode I explain my method of goal setting. Here is a very short overview of the steps:
1. Divide up your life into all your Areas Of Responsibility. I have 15 of them with names like Finances, Health, Relationship, Friends, Writing, Podcasting etc.
2. Make a page for each Area Of Responsibility. I use Evernote, but use whatever works for you.
3. On each AOR page, work out what this aspect of your life means to you. I do this using Mindmaps, unstructured journalling, and some structured writing (details are in the podcast).
4. Add a section to each AOR page where you write down all your specific aims: what you want to change, implement, improve, or enhance about this aspect of your life. For inspiration, review your vision board for each AOR (If you don't know about vision boards see episode 101 on How To Dream Big).
5. Put all your list of aims together and read through to get an overview of everything you want from all aspects of your life.
6. From your list, choose 4 or 5 Big Hairy Audacious Goals for the year ahead—whatever you feel most emotionally committed to.
7. I also choose some Less Hairy goals for the year ahead too.
8. Set yourself a reminder to review your list of goals regularly throughout the year (at least quarterly).
9. Tick off the goals as you reach them. Celebrate reaching your goals. Be supportive to yourself- if you only got to 70% of an original goal at year-end, celebrate the 70% win too.
10. Rinse and repeat at the end of the year.
Show Notes:
* Episode 101 How To Dream Big
* Getting Things Done by David Allen
* The Simple Way To Achieve Your Big Hairy Audacious Goals by Hannah Braime
* Photo Credit: kmillard92 cc
This week's episode is an excerpt from the audiobook edition of my book, Becoming an Entrepreneur. If you prefer reading, you can get the ebook and paperback editions on Amazon. The paperback edition is the perfect christmas gift to encourage your friends to become entrepreneurs!
Show Notes:
* Audiobook on Audible.com
* Audiobook on Audible.co.uk
* E-book, paperback, or audiobook on Amazon.com
* E-book, paperback, or audiobook on Amazon.co.uk
This episode is about the main barrier to financial independence: consuming for status instead of investing for wealth. You have a choice: you can either buy status symbols or your can buy financial freedom, but not both. Topics covered in the episode include:
* Why everything you think about "the rich" is probably wrong
* How most high income people blow their chance at financial independence
* How you can buy financial freedom instead of getting caught in the culture of capital consumption
Show Notes:
* Stop Acting Rich by Thomas Stanley
* Image Credit: Jonas Nilsson Lee
There are many different routes to financial independence. In past episodes I've interviewed people who have achieved financial independence through extreme saving as a salaried employee. My own route was through entrepreneurship—growing and selling a business. Whichever route you take, you need a strategy to address common challenges. There are three core questions that your plan needs to address:
* How do you plan to make good money?
* How do you plan to save a huge amount of what you make?
* How do you plan to invest what you have saved?
In this episode I suggest important things to consider for each of these three components of your plan. As always with money topics, you will need to do your own research. I'm not a financial advisor.
Show Notes: * The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley * How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World by Harry Browne * Image: Sylwia Bartyzel
Understanding your personal finances is crucial if you want to achieve financial independence and gain more freedom in your life. Most people don't learn anything useful about personal finances growing up and are not taught about it in school (I certainly wasn't). It took me a long time to work out what I really need to know about my personal finances. I hope that by sharing what I've learned, I can help you acquire financial literacy faster than I did. This podcast episode covers the three most important things that you need to get in place immediately:
* Tracking and categorising of all your expenditure and income
* Calculating and tracking your net worth
* Using a budget to stay on track with your financial goals
In the episode I provide an overview of these three topics and explain how you can use personal finance software to help automate the process of tracking them. As always, you are responsible for your money and you will need to do your own research. I am not a financial advisor.
Show Notes:
* ibank for mac
* Mint
* The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley
* Image credit Tracy O via Compfight cc
We're selling our apartment, selling all our stuff, and leaving England behind to travel the world indefinitely. This means taking minimalism to the next level, since we'll only take with us those few possessions that will fit into two bags that we can fly with. To help with the task of getting rid of so much, I've created an inventory of everything that I own. This is a useful tool that I first heard about from the blog Man Vs Debt and read about in Your Money or Your Life.
I'm convinced that making an inventory of all your stuff can benefit everyone, not just those who plan to sell it all as we do. In this podcast episode, I explain some of the advantages of making an inventory of your stuff. An inventory can help you-
* get an overview of what you own (most people have lost track of all the stuff they have accumulated)
* identify the value of your possessions, as part of calculating your net worth.
* develop a more conscious ownership of your stuff, so that you can get rid of all the clutter that you are not using.
* make money by selling what you don't need.
I used a dedicated application called Home Inventory to create my inventory. In the podcast I suggest some of the useful things you can do if you use a database or dedicated inventory app.
Show Notes:
* Episode 133 Going Minimalist
* All Previous Episodes on Minimalism
* Pictures of Every Single Item We Own by Adam Baker (Man Vs Debt)
* Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicky Rubin
* Home Inventory App for Mac
Everyone knows that to succeed as an entrepreneur (and just to be productive) you have to learn to delegate. However, in this episode I make the case for why it's preferable to automate a task rather than delegate it, when possible. I provide some examples of how I use automation to help my own productivity, such as:
* Text expansion (automated reuse of blocks of standard text) using TextExpander
* File manipulation (automating your own procedures for naming, changing and filing documents using Hazel
* Dictation and transcription using Dragon Dictate and Siri
* Scripting using AppleScript, Automator and Keyboard maestro for mac.
I also provide links to some resources that I use for learning about automation:
* Mac Power Users podcast
* Screencasts Online (tutorials for mac software)
Show Notes: * Episode 108: Three Ways To Delegate
This episode covers everything I've learned about upgrading my habits to improve my life. Here's a brief summary of the points covered:
* Habits are the most important demonstration of your character: you are what you do repetitively.
* By consciously upgrading your habits, you have an opportunity to implement your vision of who you want to be, in your day-to-day life.
* Habits are powerful because steady persistence always beats the mad dash.
* Habits dramatically reduce the amount of willpower and brainpower required to get things done. Once you have implemented a habit and can do it on autopilot, you conserve willpower and brainpower, helping you get more done.
* Habits are easiest to adopt when they are simple to understand, when you minimise any friction at the start of the action, when there are clear environmental triggers that tell your unconscious to start the habit, and when you have feedback (rewards) for completion.
* I recommend the use of a habit tracking app like lift.do. In the podcast, I provide some examples of habits that I am currently working on and describe how I use this app to help me implement them.
* The episode covers the best books to read more about habits (listed in the show notes below) and I talk about many of the tips that I've gathered from these resources.
Show Notes:
* Previous episodes on productivity
* Interview with Augusto Pinaud
* Lift Habit Tracking App
* Interview with Lift CEO Tony Stubblebine
* The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work by Shawn Achor
* The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
* Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy F. Baumeister
* Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind) edited by Jocelyn K. Glei
* Photo credit: Todd Quackenbush
Why is there a lot of resentment towards entrepreneurs among intellectuals, white collar workers, extended members of successful business families, and artists? This episode is Part 2 of a discussion of "The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality" by Ludwig Von Mises. In this episode, I explain Mises' own theories about resentment towards entrepreneurs from specific groups.
Show Notes
The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality by Ludwig Von Mises (free ebook)
Becoming An Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas
Why do some people hate entrepreneurs? This episode explores some answers to this question put forward by Ludwig Von Mises in "The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality".
Show Notes: * The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality by Ludwig Von Mises (free ebook) * Becoming An Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas
In this podcast episode, I outline the mindset that is most conducive to becoming a successful entrepreneur. This mindset is the culture of entrepreneurship. I provide a contrast with the culture of politics, to show what's special about the culture of entrepreneurship.
Show Notes: Becoming an Entrepreneur: How to Find Freedom and Fulfillment as a Business Owner
This is part 2 of my review of Harry Browne's book Fail-Safe Investing. It contains a discussion of the rest of Harry Browne's rules for financial safety:
Rule #11: Create a bulletproof portfolio for protection.
Rule #12: Speculate only with money you can afford to lose.
Rule #13: Keep some assets outside the country in which you live.
Rule #14: Use tax reduction accounts.
Rule #15: Enjoy yourself with a budget for pleasure.
Rule #16: When in doubt, err on the side of safety.
Show Notes:
* Fail-Safe Investing by Harry Browne
* Episode 173: Fail-Safe Investing Part 1
* Episode on Financial Preparedness (discussion of the different economic conditions)
* Permanent Portfolio Historical Returns
* As always, it's up to you what you do with your money. I'm not a financial advisor and you will need to do your own research.
This episode is the first in a two part review of my favourite investment book, Fail-Safe Investing by Harry Browne. In this episode I discuss the background to this investing approach and provide an overview of Harry's top 10 rules of financial safety:
Rule #1: Your career provides your wealth.
Rule #2: Don't assume you can replace your wealth.
Rule #3: Recognize the difference between investing and speculating.
Rule #4: No one can predict the future.
Rule #5: No one can move you in and out of investments consistently with precise and profitable timing.
Rule #6: No trading system will work as well in the future as it did in the past.
Rule #7: Don't use leverage.
Rule #8: Don't let anyone make your decisions.
Rule #9: Don't ever do anything you don't understand.
Rule #10: Don't depend on any one investment, institution, or person for your safety
Show Notes: * Fail-Safe Investing by Harry Browne * As always, it's up to you what you do with your money. I'm not a financial advisor and you will need to do your own research.
There are many aspects of life that you can work to improve, in order to create the life you want. In this episode, I make the case for prioritising your personal finances, before focussing on other personal development goals.
This episode is an interview with Jacki Rigoni, who blogs at Post-Consumer Life. Jacki and her husband realised that their million dollar house was really just a million dollars of mortgage debt which they would have to work like crazy to pay off until the age of 75. So they decided to sell the house, get rid of the debt, buy a plot of land, build their own tiny home, and live off-grid. Listen to the episode to hear Jacki describe her inspiring story.
This episode is an interview with Bobby Casey, founder of Global Wealth Protection and many other internationalization businesses. Bobby talks about his own background as an entrepreneur, how he became interested in the internationalisation field, and his life as a perpetual traveler. He explains some of the key ideas of asset protection, such as the role of offshore trusts and companies. He also discusses the opportunities for establishing residency in different countries for tax benefits, as a place to live and in some cases to gain a second citizenship.
An episode about two inter-related questions that are crucial to your happiness in life:
* How will you achieve financial security and/or independence?
* How will you find fulfilment?
It's your responsibility to find your own answers to these questions, repeatedly throughout your life. Nobody can answer them for you. This episode provides some suggestions about how to think about these questions, to help you develop a more conscious strategy to address them.
Show Notes: * Episode 124 Four Ways To Quit The Rat Race * Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Dan Pink
This episode is about the most powerful technique I know for overcoming deadlock in negotiations and resolving disputes, both in business and in personal relationships. The technique involves a very straightforward concept that everyone understands, but it is often ignored or usually only tried when it is already too late.
Show Notes: * Episode 144 Win-Win Negotiation Part 1: Communication * Episode 145 Win-Win Negotiation Part 2: Strength and Value
Joshua Sheats invited me onto the Radical Personal Finance podcast to discuss the Permanent Portfolio investment strategy for individual private investors. In this episode we talk about many aspects of the PP strategy including:
* my own reasons for choosing this investment strategy
* the design of the portfolio
* the philosophy behind the approach
* strengths and weaknesses of the PP
Show Notes:
* Radical Personal Finance Episode 30
* Recordings of Harry Browne’s investing radio shows
* Permanent Portfolio discussion forum
* “Wild About Harry” – article by William Bernstein about the Permanent Portfolio
* Fail Safe Investing by Harry Browne
* The Permanent Portfolio: Harry Browne’s Long-Term Investment Strategy by Craig Rowland and JM Lawson
As always regarding investment, do your own research. I am not a financial advisor and this isn't advice, it's my own experience and opinions. My intention is to encourage you to think for yourself.
Justin retired at the age of 33. He writes about his journey to financial independence on his blog Root of Good. In this interview, he discusses his path to financial independence from intensive saving. Topics covered include:
* Saving all salary increases and avoiding lifestyle inflation
* Cost-effective housing, transport and food choices
* The importance of having agreement with your spouse towards your financial goals
* Children and financial independence
Show Notes
* Root of Good
Joshua from Radical Personal Finance Podcast invited me on his show to talk about entrepreneurship. We talked about learning entrepreneurial skills, voluntary versus compulsory education, the importance of selling in life, the ethical nature of business, and the positive power of entrepreneurship.
Show Notes:
* Four Ways To Quit The Rat Race Presentation
* Radical Personal Finance Podcast
* Becoming an Entrepreneur
Mike and Lauren have average-income jobs, no big inheritance or bonuses, and they plan to retire at the age of 30. They share all the facts about their journey to financial independence on their youtube channel. In this interview, they talk about the practicalities of intensive saving, the challenges of making unconventional life choices, and their dream to sail around the world.
Show Notes:
* Mike and Lauren's website
* Get Rich Slowly
* Early Retirement Extreme
Jeffrey Tucker interviews Jake Desyllas about his book Becoming an Entrepreneur. They discuss how to think like an entrepreneur and the amazing potential of entrepreneurship, both for personal growth and for a better world. Jeffrey is the founder and Chief Liberty Officer of Liberty.me, Distinguished Fellow of FEE, head of LFB.org, and founder of CryptoCurrencyCon.com.
Show Notes:
- Liberty.me
- Becoming an Entrepreneur on Amazon.com
- Becoming an Entrepreneur on Amazon.co.uk
This episode is an interview with Jeremy and Winnie, authors of the blog Go Curry Cracker. In the interview, Jeremy and Winnie share their inspiring journey to financial independence through intensive saving. They describe the lifestyle choices that enabled them to retire early in their 30s and travel the world.
This episode is a review of the book Built to Sell by John Warrillow. The book is about how to sell a business, including how to transform your business to make it sellable.
In this review, I discuss a central idea of the book: productising your services so that the business can work without you (the entrepreneur). I compare this with Michael Gerber's idea of creating a "franchise prototype" and the idea in my own book of "making yourself redundant" using proceduralisation and standardisation.
Show Notes
- Built to Sell by John Warrillow
- The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber
- Becoming an Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas
This episode is a conversation I had with Chris Stefanick on his podcast Choice Conversations. We planned to talk about financial freedom, but ended up covering many topics including childhood influences, entrepreneurship, different approaches to investment, and much more!
Show Notes:
* Choice Conversations Podcast
* Four Ways To Quit The Rat Race Presentation
A podcast episode about the potential of life and society without politics.
Show Notes:
- Franz Oppenheimer's book The State
- Henry David Thoreau quote
- Gustave de Molinari's book The Production of Security
- Michael Huemer's book The Problem of Political Authority
- Photo Credit: danorbit. via Compfight cc
A podcast episode about how becoming an entrepreneur can be pretty embarrassing, and how that's ok.
Show Notes
- Embarrassment
- Four Stages of Competence
- Photo Credit: Alex E. Proimos via Compfight cc
This episode is the second part of a series on how to go paperless. It explains how to digitise your paper books using destructive book scanning.
Show Notes:
- How To Go Paperless Part 1
- Article: Destructive Scanning For Fun And Profit
- VoiceDream App
This podcast episode presents a range of techniques to support your creative thinking. Some of the techniques covered are outlined below:
- The focussed journalling technique called extraordinary time is great for thinking creatively about challenges in life.
- Another productive method of focussed journalling is the use of regular creative review questions for supporting ongoing creative thinking.
- The practice of noting and reviewing someday/maybe projects nurtures your dreams and helps you turn them into plans.
- Affirmations help you to be the best version of yourself by reminding yourself of what you have committed to do and who you are committed to be.
- Various other techniques are presented in the podcast, many of which come from the creative review part of the weekly review in GTD (Getting Things Done).
Show Notes
- Episode on Mental Decluttering
- Episode on How To Stay On Top With A Weekly Review
- Episode on Extraordinary Time
- Other Previous Episodes on productivity
- Getting Things Done by David Allen
- Photo Credit: mortimer? via Compfight cc
This week's podcast episode is a discussion of Burton Malkiel's famous investment book "A Random Walk Down Wall Street". Malkiel's key point is that stock market prices are inherently unpredictable. He further argues that investment advisor techniques such as technical analysis and fundamental analysis cannot be used to reliably beat market averages. In light of this, he recommends the alternative approach of passive investment.
In the podcast, I summarise the contents of the book, discuss the main arguments, outline some criticisms, and suggest other books and ideas that may be of interest.
Show Notes:
- A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel
- The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John Bogle
- What Has Government Done to Our Money by Murray Rothbard (free download)
- Economic Science and the Austrian Method by Hans-Hermann Hoppe (free download)
- Fail-Safe Investing by Harry Browne
- Mr Money Mustache blog
- Early Retirement Extreme blog
- Becoming an Entrepreneur book
This episode is about a technique for staying on top of all your commitments known as the weekly review. It helps you get a handle on all your commitments, decide what you want and don't want to do with your time and maintain all aspects of your life in working order. The idea for this technique comes from the Getting Things Done approach to personal productivity, but you can adapt it to your own purposes even if you don't practice GTD. Topics covered in the episode include:
- The three parts to a weekly review: a clear review (discussed in the episode mental decluttering), a current review (this episode) and a creative review (future episode).
- The value of identifying areas of responsibility in your life and reviewing them each week
- How to get an overview of all live projects, including urgency and importance
- The review of each live project and the importance of identifying next actions.
- The use of agendas and waiting lists for all the people in your life
- The Calendar review and weekly plan of tasks and decisions
Show Notes:
- Episode on Mental Decluttering
- Other Previous Episodes on productivity
- Getting Things Done by David Allen
- Photo Credit: Thomas Frost Jensen via Compfight cc
Part three in a series on developing your own independent moral compass. Here is a summary of the ideas covered:
- Moral behaviour evolved as an evolutionary adaptation to gain the advantages of the division of labour that come from peaceful cooperation.
- The act of peaceful communication logically contains and implies the criteria for moral rules.
- There are four rules for avoiding conflict over scarce resources that are valid according to the criteria of universality, logical coherence and non-contradiction by behaviour.
- The rules are inherent in the nature of peaceful communication and can't be argued against without self-contradiction.
- Rule 1: Each individual has exclusive control of his or her own physical body.
- Rule 2: The exclusive control of a previously unowned scarce resource belongs to the first person to "homestead" the resource.
- Rule 3: The exclusive control of a newly produced scarce object belongs to the person to created the object (as long as they owned the component resources that they made it from).
- Rule 4: Justly acquired control over scarce resources can be given away or traded by voluntary agreement.
- These four rules together comprise the non-aggression principle.
Protecting yourself from straightforward aggression is a practical matter. Protecting yourself from aggression that is disguised with bogus moral justifications is more complex: you need your own moral compass to avoid confusion. The purpose of this series has been to outline the principles necessary to reconstruct valid moral rules for yourself, so that you are not duped by bogus moral justifications.
Show Notes:
- The Economics and Ethics of Private Property by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
- Photo Credit: chrisotruro via Compfight cc
Part two in a series on developing your own independent moral compass. Four criteria are outlined that can be used to assess whether any law or rule of behaviour is moral. The criteria discussed are:
- Enables conflict avoidance regarding scarce resources
- Universal
- Logically coherent
- Actions always speak louder than words (any rule can't involve a so-called performative contradiction)
An episode about developing your own independent moral compass. Topics covered:
- The huge influence of morality and moral arguments.
- Examples of different approaches to morality.
- The real purpose of shared moral rules.
- The benefits of developing your own moral compass.
An episode about my new book Becoming an Entrepreneur: How to Find Freedom and Fulfillment as a Business Owner. Topics covered include:
- First reviews of the book from readers.
- What the book is about and why I wrote it.
- The process of writing and self-publishing, including my struggles along the way.
- My experiment in crowdsourcing feedback with "beta-readers" from TVL listeners.
- Future plans.
Show Notes:
- Get the book on Amazon.com
- Get the book on Amazon.co.uk
- Cover design by Will Moyer
Pete Blacow has taken two career breaks to travel the world. In this episode he shares his experience of long-term travel and taking time out from working. Topics covered include the practical issues of taking a career break, the pros and cons of long-term travel, and Pete's recommendations for anyone interested in travelling the world.
Show Notes:
- The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
This episode is about freeing your mind by decluttering all your mental baggage on a regular basis. Topic covered include:
- The benefits of going on an information and media diet
- The importance of having a trusted system for how to declutter your mind and control the information buildup around you.
- The role of a weekly clear-out, as part of a weekly review
- Applying the "inbox-zero" approach beyond email to digital inboxes, physical inboxes, social inboxes, and life in general.
Show Notes
- Getting Things Done by David Allen
- Inbox Zero talk by Merlin Mann
Comedian Rosie Tran (@FunnyRosie) interviews financial freedom advocate, investor, and host of The Voluntary Life Podcast, Jake Desyllas (@jakedesyllas). They discuss the various ways to escape the rat race. Jake talks about the different techniques he has discovered, including unjobbing, extreme saving, business ownership, investing, and more. Also, in depth discussion on the importance of personal and self development in the process of financial freedom.
This episode is an interview that I did with Kevin Koskella from Freedom Lovin podcast. Kevin and I talk about expat life in Mexico: the pros, cons and experiences.
Part 2 in a series on win-win negotiation. This episode explains the process of principled negotiation and answers two key questions for any negotiation:
* What determines your negotiating strength?
* How do you create value in a negotiation?
Show Notes
* Getting to Yes by Fischer and Ury
* Episode 144 Win-Win Negotiation Part 1: Communication
* Episode on Negotiation from 2012
* Best Alternative To A Negotiated Agreement
* Dovetailing in negotiations
Part 1 of a series on win-win negotiation. This episode covers communication as an integral part of negotiation. Jake highlights some useful techniques from psychology to help you communicate productively in negotiations.
Show Notes:
* Getting to Yes by Fischer and Ury
* Active Listening
* Games People Play by Eric Berne
* I-Messages
An interview with Daniel Mackler about his new book Breaking From Your Parents. Daniel talks about why he chose to tackle this taboo subject, based on his own personal experience and that of many others. The interview was recorded in January 2014, and the book has since been released.
Show Notes:
- Breaking from Your Parents ebook by Daniel Mackler
- Psychological Freedom: An Interview With Daniel Mackler
- Daniel's website Wild Truth (http://wildtruth.net)
- Daniel's videos on confronting your parents Part 1 and part 2
An interview with Augusto Pinaud about the concept of Extrodinary Time. Augusto is the author of 10 books including 25 Tips for Productivity. In this episode he explains his technique of devoting dedicated time to working on extraordinary challenges. He provides inspiring suggestions for how to push yourself beyond the comfort zone of doing good work and get to truly great work.
Show Notes:
- Augusto Pinaud Website, Twitter @apinaud and email
- 25 Tips for Productivity
-
iPadOnly. The first real post-PC Book
- GTD Virtual Study Group Podcast
- Omnifocus
- The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
- Do More Great Work by Michael Bungay Stanier
"Most people think that they need to be tapped on the shoulder by the Epic Fairy if they ever hope to be epic, or if they're ever going to have the audacity to do something truly epic. But it's not true. Want to be epic? Just do epic s**t. There's nothing else to it." Johnny Truant
An episode about ideas to help you make a habit of doing epic things.
Show Notes:
- The Universe Doesn't Give a Flying F-k About You by Johnny B. Truant
- Getting Things Done by David Allen
- Why Making My Tasks Emotional Increased My Productivity by Robyn Scott
- Do More Great Work: Stop the Busywork. Start the Work That Matters. by Michael Bungay Stanier
- Augusto Pinaud
- GTD Virtual Study Group Podcast
This episode provides some thoughts on common objections to entrepreneurship. Topics covered include:
- The myth of an entrepreneur "personality type".
- Entrepreneurship as a personal development programme that can benefit anyone
- The possibility of a world where everyone is an entrepreneur
This episode is about how to develop and strengthen your network of business contacts. The ideas discussed are also relevant for friendships. Topic covered include:
- Following Through on Commitments
- Responding in Time
- Making Introductions
- Referrals and Recommendations
- Acts of Kindness and Helpfulness
Show Notes:
- Getting Things Done by David Allen
- Inbox Zero talk by Merlin Mann
- How The World's Top Relationship Builder Makes Introductions
- Referrals
- 50 Ways to Show Gratitude for the People in Your Life
- How (Small) Heroic Acts of Kindness Will Grow Your Business
Photo Credit: Paul Watson
This episode is about identifying your purpose in life. Topics covered include:
- The concept of Horizons of Focus used in David Allen's "Getting Things Done"
- How to manifest your life's purpose in every action that you do.
- Identifying and addressing gaps in your integrity
- Identifying the level of integrity shown by other people in your life.
Show Notes:
- Getting Things Done by David Allen
- Episode 101: How To Dream Big (about visions and goals)
- All previous episodes on productivity
This episode is about financial freedom and asking oneself the question "how much is enough?"
Show Notes
- Episode 116 (about the 4% rule and financial freedom)
- Article: "My husband retired young and goofs off all day"
- Episode 119 (Todd Tressider Interview)
The biggest challenge to becoming an entrepreneur is overcoming your conditioning. It's never been a better time to start your own business, yet we are all conditioned to think like worker drones. This episode is about how to break your employee conditioning.
Show Notes:
- Episode 111 on Risk in Entrepreneurship
- The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves by Matt Ridley
- The Peter Principle
An update on my experience of going minimalist. Topics covered:
* The benefits of minimalism
* How it feels getting rid of stuff
* The downside of minimalism?
* Some suggestions for going minimalist
Show Notes
* It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff by Peter Walsh
* Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i
* Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
Andrew is the founder and host of the Nomad Capitalist website and radio show. In this interview he describes his life as an expat entrepreneur, including:
- travels through South East Asia
- Becoming a nomad capitalist
- different opportunities for investment abroad
- Diversification: do you need it?
- Dealing with the practicalities of doing business on the road
- perpetual travel: the good and the bad
David is an entrepreneur and perpetual traveller. He is the founder of a successful technology consultancy and has been travelling around the world with his family for many years. In this episode he shares his experience of perpetual travel and entrepreneurship, including:
- The idea that got David and his wife travelling.
- The influence that The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber had on him
- How David turned an IT consultancy into a passive income business
- Experiences of living in Argentina, Spain and Thailand
- The benefits of minimalism and travel
- The psychological rewards of travel: learning to live more freely and operating without the rulebook you were given.
- The challenges of travel and how they are part of the experience
Show Notes:
The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber
David's Company
Family Kahn Blog
Email David
Pete Sisco is an entrepreneur, blogger and author of The Freedom App. In this interview, Pete talks about his life as a perpetual traveller including:
- Long term travel with a family
- Self-publishing
- Passive income businesses
- Working with people all over the world
- Dealing with bureaucracies when travelling
- Perpetual travel as the ultimate personal freedom
Show Notes:
- Pete's website and blog
- The Freedom App book
An interview with Kevin Koskella, host of the Freedom Lovin' blog and podcast. Kevin talks about his life as a perpetual traveller. He explains his approach to funding a digital nomad lifestyle with online passive income businesses and shares some of the best and worst experiences of his permanent travel life!
This episode is an interview with strength trainer and youtube personality Elliott Hulse. In the interview Elliot talks about his approach to getting freedom by creating a non-job. Topics covered include:
- Growing up rebellious
- What it means to have a non job
- Sharing your ideas, even though you suck at first
- How to finance the early days of your non job
- Perseverance
- What to do if there is not much demand for what you are passionate about
- Being more expansive than your expertise
Show Notes
- Elliott's Youtube channel and Facebook Page
- Campaign For Non Jobs Website
- Previous TVL episodes on Unjobbing
Stephanie Murphy interviews Jake Desyllas on the Porc Therapy podcast. We talk about different strategies to escape the rat race, including unjobbing, intensive saving, passive income businesses and selling a business. The discussion focusses on some questions about pursuing financial freedom, including:
- What is financial freedom?
- College- is it worth it?
- Does having kids make financial freedom impossible?
- How does becoming a stay-at-home parent fit into the idea of quitting the rat race?
- Is "voluntary poverty" a viable strategy for financial freedom?
- Do you have to be a sleaze to start a passive income business?
- What's the role of Bitcoin in an investment strategy like the Permanent Portfolio?
- Why doesn't the Permanent Portfolio contain silver?
- How do intensive savers do it?
Show Notes:
- Episode 124 (Original Talk on Four Ways To Quit The Rat Race)
- Harry Browne's book on the Permanent Portfolio
- Early Retirement Extreme blog and book
- Mr Money Moustache
This episode is a recent interview about Getting Things Done that I did on the School Sucks Podcast. The discussion is with Brett Veinotte and here is his summary:
"This is the sixth and final (for now) installment in a series of shows inspired by my experience with and successes after reading the book, Getting Things Done by David Allen. Jake Desyllas joins me to discuss his experience with GTD, and to share his Eight Tools For A Freed Mind."
The Question and Answer session from my talk about Four Ways To Quit The Rat Race. See Episode 124 for the main talk.
Audio from a presentation given at the 2013 Libertopia conference. The talk explains how I quit the rat race aged 38 and what I have learned about different ways that other people have found to do so. There are four basic ways to quit the rat race presented in the talk:
- Unjobbing
- Intensive Saving
- Passive Income
- Selling A Business
Show Notes:
- Michael Fogler's book Un-Jobbing
- Linda Breen Pierce's book Choosing Simplicity
- Elliot Hulse
- Your Money or Your Life
- Amy Dacyczyn's book The Complete Tightwad Gazette
- Early Retirement Extreme blog and book
- Mr Money Moustache
- Introduction to the Permanent Portfolio
- Smart Passive Income
- Tim Ferriss' blog and book The 4-Hour Workweek
- Laura Roeder
- Derek Sivers' book Anything You Want
A podcast mashup with Hannah Braime of Becoming Who You Are and Stephanie Murphy of Porc Therapy.
Entrepreneurs have to make hundreds of decisions about their businesses every day. It is easy to lose sight of which decisions are the really big ones- the ones that have huge repercussions. The big decisions are also an opportunity to express your individuality and creativity as an entrepreneur: to make a conscious choice about the purpose and design of your business. This podcast provides an overview of what the big decisions are:
-
Choosing your own goals and motives Why am I an entrepreneur? What is my own motivation? What do I want? How do my motives for being an entrepreneur fit in with my vision for my life? I have found that being conscious about my own motivation is key to ensuring that I can gain fulfilment from being in business.
-
Choosing the purpose of the business Why does my business exist? What's the purpose of the business? Deciding on a clear purpose for your business gives coherence to all your actions and decision. For me, that comes down to identifying what this business is going to do to provide value to others and make other people's lives better.
3 Choosing business partners Am I going into business with others, or alone. Why? This choice has huge ramifications and it is extremely useful to be very conscious of why you are making any choices with regard to cofounders.
-
Choosing how to finance the venture Why do I want funding? What am I going to do with it? It's easy to assume you need as much money as possible to start, but you have many choices as to how to approach financing the venture.
-
Choosing how to sell How am I going to make money? Why will customers give me money? There is an interplay in this decision, as we all learn from customers as we come to understand their reasons for buying.
-
Choosing the design of your operation How are we going to organise the work? Why are we working in this way? There is often a temptation to recreate the processes from your last job, however being a business owner gives you the opportunity to consciously design the workflow of your business.
-
Choosing your approach to profit How much profit do I aim to make? How am I going to do it?
-
Choosing your approach to growth How big do I want this business to be, and why? It's easy to assume that you want growth, but bigger means more complex.
-
Choosing how you will exit How do you plan to exit the business? Everyone has to exit someday. Many entrepreneurs want to sell, but even those who don't will have to plan for some kind of exit, either through a succession plan or simply ceasing to trade one day.
This episode provides an overview of eight tools that can free your mind and massively boost your productivity. One of the things that makes us human is our ability to extend the power of our minds with tools. The tools are only effective when combined with the right habits (repetitive behaviours). Be sure to look up and learn more about the productivity habits mentioned with each tool.
-
A Concentration Timer Your mind is not free if you are distracted and interrupted all the time. A concentration timer is a simple tool that helps your mind focus for short bursts of concentration and then give your brain rest periods. A concentration timer is just a stopwatch with an alarm. Examples include a stopwatch app or a simple kitchen timer. The habit needed to make the most of this tool is to forgo multi-tasking, take regular breaks, and protect your concentration when working by managing interruptions. To learn more about the best practice habits for using a concentration timer read about The Pomodoro Technique.
-
A Journal Writing is an amazing ability unique to humans. Getting your thoughts out of your head by writing them down gives your mind far more freedom to explore them and view them objectively. A journal can simply be a pen and paper, or a dedicated physical journal, a digital journalling app like Macjournal or web based journalling service like 750 Words. Use a password protected journal app (or a lockable one if paper-based) to give your mind full freedom to express anything. The habit required to make the most of a journal is to maintain regular journalling every day. Read more about journalling in The Ultimate Guide to Journaling.
-
A Ubiquitous Capture Tool A ubiquitous capture tool or mobile thought and information capture tool gives you the opportunity to have potentially useful ideas anywhere but still allows you to get on with your day (and not have to remember everything). Examples of a capture tool can be a simple pen and paper, a Hipster PDA, a note taking app like Drafts or Evernote, even the voice memo or camera feature of your phone. Read more about capture tools in Getting Things Done by David Allen.
-
A "Stuff Funnel" A stuff funnel is a system of discrete inboxes to funnel new information into one location where it can be processed. All kinds of stuff shows up in your life (letters, emails, receipts, manuals, downloaded files etc) and clogs your mind. In order to mentally 'process' the stuff and identify what you want to do with it, you need a complete set of inboxes. Since most people have both a physical inbox and various digital inboxes (email inbox, download folder, task manager inbox etc), you can think of the full set of your inboxes as a funnel for information coming into your life. The habit needed to make good use of this tool is to make sure you put all the stuff that comes into your life into a designated in-box that is part of your funnel and clear the funnel regularly (empty all the in-boxes). Read more about processing stuff in Getting Things Done by David Allen.
-
A Task Management Tool A task management app is a tool to organise and work with all your "to-do" items, projects, goals and other task management information. If you don't use a tool for this, these to do items remain constantly on your mind, taking up mental effort. At the simplest level, a pen and some paper can serve as a task management tool. Various software apps can also be used, such as Things, Omnifocus and Evernote. These tools are only effective when combined with the habit of organising all your project and task information in the tool and working with it daily.
-
A Reference Material Store A reference material store allows you to put information that you might need in future in a safe place, freeing your mind to forget about it. A filing cabinet is a physical example and Evernote is a digital example. The habit needed to make use of this tool is ensuring that you put all the information you might need into your reference store.
-
A Mind Mapping Tool Mind maps free you to be conscious of all the intuitive connections that your mind can make. They are bubble and stick diagrams of your thoughts and their connections. A mind mapping tool can be as simple as a pen and paper, or a specific application like iThoughs HD. It can take some time to develop the habit of doing mind maps and allowing yourself to make those intuitive connections, but it is well worth it.
-
A Media Queue System A media queue system is a set of tools to allow you to save media to consume later, so you can avoid being distracted when someone sends you a link. You might see an interesting article online and use a tool like instapaper to save it to read later. Similarly youtube has a watch later feature and Amazon allows you to make wish lists for things you may buy later.
Show Notes * The Pomodoro Technique by Francesco Cirillo (downloadable pdf) * The Ultimate Guide to Journaling by Hannah Braime * Getting Things Done by David Allen * The Getting Things Done Virtual Study Group Podcast
This episode is an interview with Todd Tressider, founder of financialmentor.com. Todd founded Financial Mentor to educate business owners and investors about the wealth building principles he learned from years as an entrepreneur in the investment management industry. In the interview, Todd outlines his definition of financial freedom and discusses the hurdles you need to overcome if you want to achieve it. He talks about the importance of developing your own wealth plan and identifies some of the key requirements necessary for your plan to be successful. As always regarding investment, do your own research. I am not a financial advisor.
This episode is an interview with Jorja Leavitt, founder of Sharetown.com. Jorja is an entrepreneur and mother of four, living in Las Vegas. In the interview, she shares her experiences of moving to a minimalist lifestyle. She talks about the freedom that she has found from decluttering and selling unnecessary stuff. She highlights the great opportunities to trade at a community level, using social media platforms such as Facebook.
Show Notes:
- Sharetown Facebook App
- Article on selling all your stuff by Never Ending Voyage
This episode is an interview of me by Kevin at Freedom Lovin' Podcast. Here’s what we covered:
- What does freedom mean?
- Why entrepreneurship is important
- Living in Mexico
- Minimalism/going paperless
- Tips on becoming more free in your life
This episode provides a mind blowing way of thinking about the true cost of your monthly expenses. If you are interested in achieving financial freedom, then it makes sense to look at each monthly recurring expense as really costing you 300 times more. For example, a gym membership that costs £80 per month really costs £24,000 (in dollars, a $120 monthly gym membership really costs $36,000). The episode explains this perspective in more detail. In summary:
- You have financial freedom when you don't have to work to support yourself. Therefore, if you want to be financially free, you have to think of paying for things from the interest on your passive investments.
- Although there is a lot of debate about the numbers, the most widely used assumption is that you can live from 4% of your portfolio (the so called 4% rule). This assumes that on average your portfolio will make enough to cover for both inflation and you drawing down 4% (I personally think it's better to use 3% to be on the safe side, but let's use the most commonly used assumption to illustrate the point).
- The 4% rule implies that you need a net worth that is 25 times your annual expenses to be financially free. To apply that to monthly expenses, simply multiply the 25 by 12 (for 12 months) and you need investments that are 300 times your recurring monthly expenses. So any monthly expense really requires 300 times more in capital to pay for it when financially free.
- This is why for the £80 per month gym membership, you need £24,000 in capital saved to pay that membership when financially free. That figure (£24,000) is more than the annul expenses of most people in the UK.
- This is why frugality and saving is so powerful as a way to get more financial freedom. It is more powerful to save expenses than to keep increasing your income because more income won't make you more free unless you control expenses.
- I'm not a financial advisor and as always, you need to do your own research. I think this perspective is useful and it has been very helpful to me.
- That's why I won't be getting a gym membership again anytime soon. There are plenty of free ways of getting good exercise!
Further Reading: * Mr Money Moustache article about the 4% Rule * Retiring Sooner: How to Accelerate Your Financial Independence by Darrow Kirkpatrick * The 4% Rule and Safe Withdrawal Rates In Retirement by Todd Tressider
This episode is about how to go paperless and what the benefits are. Topics covered include:
- How accumulating paper limits your flexibility and freedom
- Simple steps to reduce the paper you accumulate such as using e-billing and e-books.
- Ways to minimise the paper books you own, such as selling them as soon as you have read them
- Key tools for digitizing your paper and going paperless: a multipage scanner (such as the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i), a shredder and Evernote
- Keeping labelling and metadata simple: the three key attributes of date, location and person/organisation
- Options about where to store digital data: secure encrypted drives vs services like Evernote
- What to scan and what to simply delete.
A good site for more tips about going paperless is DocumentSnap
This episode is a recent interview I did on the Nomad Capitalist Report radio show. The interview is by Andrew Henderson and here's his summary:
"Live from Mexico, Jake Desyllas of The Voluntary Life podcast talks entrepreneurship and freedom. He shares tips to building a location independent business, being a global entrepreneur, and prospering anywhere in the world. He shares suggestions from his jet-setting life, talks about the best countries in South America, and dispels myths about Mexico “they” don’t want you to know."
Podcast Episode
An episode about freedom from stuff. Topics covered include:
* What I learned living from a backpack for 7+ months
* Why owning stuff is not wealth
* The hidden financial and psychological costs of owning stuff
* How your stuff can control you
* The goal of purposeful ownership
* Strategies for minimalism: paperless, zero data and selling all your crap
An episode about finding and clarifying the purpose of your business. Why does your business exist? Topics covered include:
- The limits of "Mission Statements"
- The benefits of a really short elevator pitch for your business' purpose: encapsulating it all in just 3 words
- It can often take a long time to move from intuitive to fully conscious business purpose. Don't worry, you can get going and discover it on the way
- Three things to think about to clarify your purpose: What will inspire you? What will inspire others? What do you have the capability to deliver?
Show Notes:
- Episode 107 (Part 1 of What Kind of Business Should I Start?)
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
- The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki
- Making It All Work by David Allen
An episode about the financial risks and rewards of entrepreneurship and what they mean for your motivation in starting a business. Here's some harsh data about the financial risks and rewards:
* More than half of startups cease trading within the first five years.
* Entrepreneurs on average earn significantly less income over 10 years than they would have earned in paid employment. There are debates about the numbers but one study (Hamilton) suggests a 35% earnings differential.
* Entrepreneurs on average don’t earn a better return on their investment by founding startups than they would have by investing in publicly traded stocks (in fact they earn less from a risk return perspective).
* Nevertheless, the majority of affluent people are self-made entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs make-up less than 20% of the workforce in America, but account for 66% of the millionaires. Of the millionaire entrepreneurs, 80% of them are self-made: they are first generation wealth holders (Stanley).
What are we to make of such statistics? I argue that the high financial risk (and potentially high reward) make it even more important to do entrepreneurship for intrinsic motivations:
* Purpose: building a business because you want to make a dent on the universe and you believe that what you are doing will make peoples' lives better.
* Autonomy: being an entrepreneur because it gives you freedom to live and work as you want to (not as someone else thinks you should)
* Mastery: overcoming the challenges of learning how to build a business is rewarding in itself.
The episode ends with a discussion of the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic motivations for making money itself. The intrinsic motivation to make money is for the freedom (financial freedom) that it gives you.
Show Notes:
* "Start Up Failure Rates: The Definitive Numbers" By Scott Shane
* “What Do Small Businesses Do?” Erik Hurst and Benjamin Wild Pugsley
* "Does Entrepreneurship Pay? An Empirical Analysis of the Returns of Self-Employment" by Barton H. Hamilton, 2000
* "The Returns to Entrepreneurial Investment: A Private Equity Premium Puzzle?" By Tobias J. Moskowitz and Annette Vissing Jørgense
* The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley
This episode is about things to consider when choosing co-founders to go into business with. Topics covered include:
* Do you need co-founders?
* The advantages of choosing co-founders who are different to yourself (in background, skills, personality, and business networks)
* The importance of shared core values and purpose for co-founders
* Research by Noam Wasserman shows that teams made from former co-workers are the most stable. Teams made from former strangers are the second most stable of the three groups Wasserman analysed. Teams made from friends and family are the least stable.
Show Notes: * The Founder's Dilemmas by Noam Wasserman * The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley * The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki
This episode is about three approaches to delegating work within your business. No business can grow unless the founder is able to delegate work to a wider team of people. It's essential that tasks are properly delegated and that the business owner doesn't abdicate responsibility. However, there are three very different ways to delegate:
* The Operations Manual Approach is where detailed standards and procedures are defined for how all tasks are to be undertaken. Work is typically undertaken by relatively inexperienced employees, who learn to follow detailed specifications.
* The Results Only Work Environment is where employees are given clear targets or results to meet and it is up to them how they do so. They create their own work procedures and have maximum freedom on issues like whether to work at home.
* The Outsourcing Approach is wherework is delegated to independent contractors or virtual assistants. Fixed costs are kept low by avoiding hiring employees as much as possible. Work is typically outsourced on a specific fee-for-project basis.
The episode explores the advantages and disadvantages of each of these approaches.
Show Notes: * Anything You Want by Derek Sivers * The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber * Maverick by Ricardo Semler * Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson * Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson * The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss * How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World by Harry Browne
If you want to become an entrepreneur but are not sure what kind of business you would like to start, what framework can you use to help you decide? There are two things to consider that will provide you with a strong advantage:
1. Starting a business to create a solution that you will be a customer for
This is sometimes called "eating your own dog-food". To be successful, all businesses have to deliver value to customers: they have to make something that people want. If you use the product or service that your company makes, it helps you understand whether it is providing value.
2. Starting a business in an industry that you understand
Industry experience provides valuable knowledge about the opportunities and constraints that your business will face. Some examples of industry knowledge are:
* knowing where your potential customers shop
* understanding why they buy
* knowing how potential distributors or affiliates work
* understanding what the major concerns of key contacts for your business are
If you don't make something that you yourself would be a customer for and you don't have a good understanding of the industry, you are flying blind. Try to develop a business where you have at least one of these two advantages. Also, try to increase your awareness of the aspect that is missing.
This episode is about the pros and cons of being self-employed vs being a business owner. Both options have advantages and disadvantages, but mixing the two does not work well.
In the self-employed/freelancer model, you sell your time, cover your own expenses and keep all profit. This works best when you have a valuable skill and lots of industry contacts, as you are able to undercut bigger companies on price but keep your overheads low. If it works, you get the advantage of a lot of flexibility to work or take time off. The disadvantage is that you are dependent on work for income, so there is much less financial freedom in the long term. You don't build up value in business itself (nobody wants to buy a job) and it can be hard to keep your overheads low for longer (as you may need to start investing in marketing, new equipment etc). So it's a vulnerable model over the long term.
The business owner model is the idea to create a value generating machine. The focus here is on developing standards and procedures to make yourself (the founder) unnecessary to the running of the business as quickly as possible. The advantage of this model is that you create an income stream and a source of value (the business itself) that you can sell in the future, or live from as passive income. This has the potential for much greater financial freedom as well as the freedom to step away from the work in the longer term. The disadvantage is that you have more risk in the initial period, as businesses take more investment. You also get much less free time in the initial period, as the startup phase of a business is more stressful than freelance work.
Either model can give you a lot of benefits, but be careful not to get stuck between these two models- you can end up with all the stress and none of the benefits. If that happens, it isn't creating a business, it's creating a job (and the worst kind of job, because you can't stop doing it). I hope this podcast will help you be conscious of which model you are adopting and to move more clearly to one or the other if you are currently stuck in-between.
Show Notes:
The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber
The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
Anything You Want by Derek Sivers
This episode is about how to diversify your investments for lower risk and higher return. The issues covered include:
* The problems with a simple "buy and hold" approach, whereby you invest all your money in your one favorite asset (be that stocks, gold or anything else).
* The problems with the "market timing" approach to investing and why it doesn't work.
* The benefits of diversifying your portfolio
* How to properly diversify your portfolio by using different asset classes, rather than just different securities.
* How to use rebalancing bands to harvest volatility, increase your return and reduce risk.
You can get more information about the concept of the permanent portfolio discussed in this episode in Harry Browne's book "Fail-Safe Investing" and in many of the previous Voluntary Life podcast episodes on investing.
As always regarding investment, do your own research. I am not an advisor and this isn't advice of any kind, it's just my own opinions based on my experience.
It has never been easier to live and work abroad. If you are self-employed and work online there is nothing to stop you. Why nor sublet your apartment for a few months and live abroad in a fascinating (and potentially cheap) destination? Here is a list of all the things that make long term travel super easy:
* Have your home post rerouted to friend (or commercial service) who scans it into a Dropbox account for you. If a friend does it, buy them a multi-page scanner for this.
* Get a professional agent to manage the sublet of your apartment back home
* AirBnB for renting longer term accommodation (especially for whole apartments)
* TripAdvisor for short term hotel stays
* Cloud services for file storage (e.g. dropbox, google drive)
* Clound services for backup (e.g. Crashplan or Backblaze)
* A small scanner app on your smartphone for scanning any paper you need to keep (receipts etc) when abroad
* Get your online banking set up for all the transaction types you will need to do
* Get your Credit/Debit cards set for use abroad
* A password manager (e.g. LastPass, 1Password) for your online passwords
* An E reader (e.g. a kindle, iPad) to enable you to read as many books as you want while you are away
* A lightweight laptop for your work
* A Smartphone with a nice camera for taking pictures and getting online
* An external encrypted drive for local storage/backup
* International plugs for all your devices
An episode about how to use goals and visions to move forward in creating the life you want.
Show Notes:
Previous Episode on GTD
Getting Things Done by David Allen
This episode is about the concept of limited liability and it's role in entrepreneurship.
* The purpose of the limited liability principle is not to protect the entrepreneur as director or manager of a business, it is for the protection of investors.
* There is a big difference between this principle and how the actual law of limited liability works in practice. The law is messy and confusing, with strange concepts such as "corporate personhood" granted by the State.
* I argue that the principle of limited liability for investors could be implemented through contracts and that the whole messy legal implementation that we currently have is unnecessary to achieve investor protection.
* I argue that it makes sense for entrepreneurs to use contractual limits of liability wherever possible and to use insurance whenever you need to reduce risk in that way.
* The reality for small business entrepreneurs is that you will not be able to hide behind a shield of limited liability, for example you will be expected to personally underwrite loans.
These are just my opinions. As always, you need to rely on your own due diligence and get your own legal advice.
This episode discusses the question of risk in investment, speculation and entrepreneurship. When is it a good idea to take risk and when isn't it? I share my own personal opinion.
Podcast Episode
An episode on how to scale and optimise your business to make more profit and enhance your competitive advantage. The issues covered include:
* Standardisation: making one version of what you do
* Proceduralisation: making one version of how you do it
* Optimisation: speeding up and automating your procedures
* Knowledge Capture: maintaining and growing your operation within the context of staff coming and going
* Optimising at the level of the whole business: only doing the things that it makes sense to do
This episode is about employing people as an entrepreneur. Topics covered include:
* The destructive legacy of the reward and punishment paradigm from school
* Why pay isn't as important as you think
* The importance purpose, mastery and autonomy in motivation
* The problem with relying on interviews for hiring and alternative ways of finding great people
* The value of freelancers or independent contractors
* What employing people teaches you about taking responsibility for your side of a relationship and how it deepens your respect for individuality
Show Notes: * Dan Pink Talk on Motivation * Discipline Without Punishment by Dick Grote * Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type by Isabel Briggs Myers
An episode about the problems with Intellectual Property, from the perspective of an entrepreneur. I started off thinking that IP is an integral and necessary part of entrepreneurship. I thought that it would be very important for my business. I have now come to see IP law as something that:
* prevents innovation,
* is immoral,
* promotes conflict,
* diverts resources to unproductive uses
* and is ultimately unnecessary for making money from ideas.
Show Notes: * Against Intellectual Monopoly by Boldrin and Levine * Article about the Shopping Cart case * Against Intellectual Property by Kinsella
Part 2 of an interview with entrepreneur Judd Weiss, talking about business relationships. In this episode Judd talks about:
- The pitfalls of employing people
- The benefits of partnering or affiliate relationships
- How to create awesome relationships with clients
Part 1 of an interview with entrepreneur Judd Weiss, talking about business relationships. In this episode Judd shares his thoughts and experiences about how to approach working relationships in general and the question of going into business with others.
- Should friends go into business together?
- What makes a good business partnership?
- Why do so many business partnerships go so badly wrong?
Find out in this episode.
Part 2 in the short series of podcasts about The Voluntary Life. This episode is all about the podcast itself.
- The podcast comes out once per week and is a mix of solo-casts and interviews. Some topics are covered in more detail as a series, like the entrepreneurship series.
- The aim of the podcast is personal freedom empowerment: providing ideas for finding the maximum freedom in your own life, within an unfree world.
- The podcast always takes a constructive approach: the angle on any topic is- what can you do to maximise your freedom in this area of life?
- All the topics are about things that are actionable and personally relevant at an individual level.
- The podcast aims to explore the approach of living a free and voluntary life across all aspects of life (work, personal relationships, finances etc).
- We showcase examples of voluntary living through interviews with people who have maximised their freedom in a particular aspects of life.
The first in a series of podcasts introducing The Voluntary Life, both as a concept and as a podcast. This episode explains the concept of living a 'voluntary life', which is a life lived according to the principle of free choice. The extent to which we have the freedom to make our own choices about our lives (and to respect the free choices of others) is the extent to which we are leading the voluntary life. This concept applies across aspects of life, as diverse as freedom at work, financial freedom, freedom in personal relationships and psychological freedom.
The following principles underpin the concept of living a voluntary life:
- Voluntary living is the highest expression of individuation possible. The deepest experience of being alive comes from our ability to express our personality and individuality in our free choices. The more free you are, the more alive you are.
- Voluntary living is the only truly moral way to live. A voluntary life is one lived in accordance with the Non-Agression Principle, which is the fundamental moral framework from which all valid morality is derived.
- Voluntary interaction is responsible for all the greatest achievements of humanity. Peaceful co-operation of individuals through trade and entrepreneurship has given us all the enlightenment, technological progress, economic development and civilisation (in the best sense of the word) that we now enjoy.
- The voluntary life must start from the individual and his or her own choices. You have to be the change you want to see in the world. This is why the show is called "the voluntary life" and not "the voluntary society".
A podcast about how to overcome indecision, paralysis and procrastination about entrepreneurship and JFDI (Just F-ing Do It). There are some objective hinderances to creating and running a business, especially if you have other major commitments in your life that you need to focus on first. However, often the battle is really an internal psychological one. How do you get into the mindset of being able to JFDI? This episode contains some suggestions about giving yourself permission:
- Permission to fail
- Permission to be imperfect
- Permission to piss people off
- Permission to succeed
A message of optimism. Happy New Year!
Show Notes:
- The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves by Matt Ridley
- Article on the recent massive decline in poverty
Some thoughts on what it is that frightens people about the free market, based on my own experience. The fear of the market is often expressed in very abstract arguments about whether free markets would really work (if we had them) and what their relationship is to poverty etc. However, at an individual level, I believe people fear markets because of how vulnerable you can feel when taking part in voluntary exchange:
- Trade on the free market involves selling to others. This opens you up to the potential for rejection and failure, which can be scary.
- The division of labour involves choosing to specialise in some skill or area of work that might one day become obsolete, which can feel vulnerable. It also involves taking responsibility for specific outcomes- the buck stops with you- which challenges any defences against the fear of responsibility.
- Respect for private property rights involves looking after your stuff and respecting other people's stuff. This opens you up to the potential for feelings of humiliation if you don't understand how or why others have made a success of selling when you have not yet been able to.
It's understandable to fear the free market. It can be scary to launch yourself into entrepreneurship, as well as being wonderful. However, some people project their personal fears of the market into abstract theories: they blame the market itself for the world's ills. That approach will prevent you from overcoming your fears and limit your potential.
This episode is an interview with Edwin, an expat entrepreneur in Chile. Edwin talks about his experience on an entrepreneurship visa in Chile and shares his thoughts about the pros and cons of Chile as a place to live and to create a startup in. He discusses other things to consider regarding coming to Chile as an entrepreneur, including his views on the Start-up Chile grant, some comparisons of cost of living and considerations on quality of life in Chile as an expat. You can contact Edwin at edwininchile@gmail.com.
An interview with Eduardo Marty, who founded Junior Achievement in Argentina and in many other Latin American countries. Junior Achievement is a charity that teaches entrepreneurship to children and young adults.
Eduardo has also held academic posts as professor at the University Francisco Marroquín, Guatemala, and the University of Buenos Aires. He is one of the few academics who is truly passionate about the need for young people to learn the practical skills of entrepreneurship. As he says in the interview; "the problem with intellectuals is that they are always running out of money".
In this entertaining interview, he discusses his experiences and his adventures in a life dedicated to helping kids realise their entrepreneurial potential, including a narrow escape from being imprisoned in Cuba when he tried to establish Junior Achievement there.
This episode is about gaining freedom from intellectual heroes. I share some thoughts about how to extract the best ideas from thinkers that you admire, without relying on someone else to think for you. I talk about some ways I have found for gaining intellectual independence, including:
- Taking apart the "package deal" of a set of new ideas to use the ones that work and discard the ones that don't.
- Learning to trust your own judgement: if an idea doesn't make sense to you, it's probably because the idea is incoherent.
- Starting from the assumption that "everything is a remix", even if an idea appears to be very original or is presented as very new.
Ultimately, intellectual independence is about giving up the emotional search for leaders. It is a part of growing up and being an adult to stop looking for intellectual heroes and to treat every thinker as someone who puts their pants on one leg at a time, just like you and me. A really important aspect of intellectual freedom is to give up deference to our heroes- to take what we can from their ideas and own those ideas for ourselves, so that we truly think for ourselves. That's what free people do: they think for themselves.
This episode is an interview with Joel Bowman, the managing editor of The Daily Reckoning e-newsletter email and former managing editor of the Rude Awakening. After completing his degree in media communications and journalism in his home country of Australia, Joel moved to Baltimore to join the Agora Financial team. His keen interest in travel and macroeconomics first took him to New York where he regularly reported from Wall Street, and he now writes from and lives all over the world.
Joel currently lives in Buenos Aires. In the interview he gives his perspective on life as an expat in the city and provides an overview of what has been happening to the economy in Argentina recently.
Apologies for the technical problems with the recording: the audio cuts out very briefly intermittently throughout the interview, but it is still possible to understand the interview.
This episode covers a lot of questions I faced getting started in investing as a private investor and my own experience in tackling these questions:
- Why invest (i.e. why not just leave your money in a bank)?
- Who is going to manage your investments, an external manager or yourself?
- Are you going to be an active investor (e.g. analysing individual securities for value and trading more often) or a passive investor (e.g. using index funds and trading less often)?
- Which asset classes are you going to invest in (e.g. stocks, bonds, precious metals, cash)? How will you allocate and balance assets in your portfolio?
- Which individual securities are you going to select within each asset class (e.g if you decide to buy bonds, which individual bonds will you choose)?
- When should you start investing, within the context of your overall personal financial planning?
- When should you buy or sell individual assets? Will you try to time the market or will you automatically rebalance a portfolio based on an asset allocation strategy?
- Where should you invest? Should you have geographic diversification and if so, what kind?
You can also get more information about the concept of the permanent portfolio discussed in this episode in Harry Browne's book "Fail-Safe Investing" and in many of the previous Voluntary Life podcast episodes on investing.
As always regarding investment, do your own research. I am not an advisor and this isn't advice of any kind, it's just my own opinions based on my experience.
This episode is about saving money and it's relationship with freedom. Many people are trapped in a "wage slavery" lifestyle, living from month to month. Although their income rises during their career, their expenses scale correspondingly (or even lead ahead, creating debt). There are two approaches to developing the savings that allow get you out of this trap:
- One route is to increase earnings without increasing expenses, creating savings. The difficulty with this approach is that the higher the income, the bigger the tendency or temptation to spend more on a more comfortable lifestyle.
- The other approach is to decrease expenses without decreasing earnings, by focussing on minimising living expenses as much as possible. The challenge with this approach is to do so without losing income (for example, moving to a low cost location might not make it possible to keep a well paid job).
Jake talks about his experience focussing on the first approach and discusses some of the benefits in terms of freedom that saving provides:
- Developing an emergency fund of approximately 3 months expenses reduces a huge amount of stress associated with living month to month and enables you to cope with unexpected expenses or irregular cashflow.
- Developing savings to cover 1 year of expenses opens up a huge degree of freedom, for example to start your own business, to leave a job if you don't like it or even to change your life in other ways such as by emigrating to another country.
This podcast and blog summary contains only personal opinions, it does not constitute financial advice and I am not a financial advisor.
This episode is about the freedom that comes from getting out of debt.
We live in a time when being in debt is the norm in our society. The basis of the debt culture lies in government policies (such as inflating the money supply and artificially lowering interest rates) that actively incentivise individuals to get into debt. These government policies filter through into opportunities for debt everywhere that are encouraged by mainstream culture. For example: student loans for college, credit for consumer goods, the mainstream ideal of home ownership and the mortgage debt that goes with it. Debt becomes a way of life for most people, which can lead to rationalising it and being over-optimistic about it's impact.
Ultimately debt always reduces your financial freedom. It is always restricting the freedom of action of your future self. Jake talks about his experience of being in debt and getting out of debt. The podcast goes on to focus on the benefits of being debt free:
- The main benefit is in increasing your freedom of action when you are out of debt
- When debt is cleared it removes a constant source of worry
- Deciding on how to use your money can be a pleasure again and an aspect of freedom
- Removing debt is an aspect of self-care: it is financial self-care
This podcast and blog summary contains only my personal opinions, it does not constitute financial advice and I am not a financial advisor.
This episode is a about the significant milestones along the way towards achieving financial freedom. In my opinion, reaching each of these milestones brings you closer to being financially free and it is useful to take a step back and consider what the steps along the way of your journey will be. Some milestones to consider are suggested:
Financial independence or "paying your own way", whereby you are sustaining yourself from your job or work income on a month to month basis. You are not living off parents, not living from significant subsidies from your family, not accumulating student debt and not accumulating credit card debt. It's important to note role how going to college significantly delays reaching this milestone and how many people do not achieve this milestone until they are in their 30s or later.
Achieving positive net worth, whereby your assets are greater than your liabilities. This is often what people mean when they talk about "getting out of debt" (although that is not exactly the same). It is important to be aware that consumer credit and mortgate debt can significantly hinder or delay you reaching this goal.
Making your first investment, for example by purchasing an income producing asset like shares or bonds. The key distinction is that this is not just money you haven't used yet which you are putting aside until you spend it, it is money you do not intend to ever spend. You are putting this money to work for you creating income. Although a lot of people consider purchasing a house with a mortgage as their first big investment, a property for your own use is really a consumption item.
Net worth surpasses annual expenses- in other words, your savings (assets) could keep you going for 1 year if you needed to. This means you have a significant safety buffer, but if you did have to use your savings it would mean that you consume your capital and you would be back to square 1.
Annual passive investment income becomes larger than your annual expenses: this is real financial freedom, as you can now live off your passive income. For this to be sustainable it needs to take into account the effect of inflation, taxes etc. However, once you can sustainably live from your passive income, you are financially free.
This podcast and blog summary contains only my personal opinions, it does not constitute financial advice and I am not a financial advisor.
This episode is about the entrepreneurial mindset. What kind of thinking do you need to be an entrepreneur? More importantly, how will doing entrepreneurship change the way that you think? Jake talks about some key aspects of the entrepreneurial mentality including:
- cultivating optimism and perseverance
- using the trial and error method
- acceptance of failure and the possibility of failure
- a deep rooted focus on sales
- a results-oriented outlook
- thrift and developing a reluctance to spend time or money without demonstrated good value
- being market oriented and having a tendency to look for voluntary solutions in all of life
This episode is about the issue of shared ownership in business. It covers key questions that anyone considering going into business with others will face, including:
* Should you go into business with others or be a sole owner-entrepreneur?
* If you do go into business with others, how will you split ownership?
* How will you ensure that the owners are all incentivised to add value to the business? In other words, how will you avoid the free-rider problem?
* How are you going to make decisions together efficiently and avoid deadlock?
* What will you do if the owners no longer want to work together, or one of them wants out?
Jake provides his own experience in facing these questions and summarises some of the options available to consider. It's up to you to decide what the best choices are for your own business. This podcast will help you make these decisions.
This episode is an interview with Craig Rowland, who is the co-author of a new book called The Permanent Portfolio: Harry Browne's Long-Term Investment Strategy. In the episode we discuss the Permanent Portfolio strategy and many of the insights from Craig's new book. We talk about the way in which the Permanent Portfolio approach differs from other investment strategies including:
- The choice of being an independent investor as opposed to entrusting your money to someone else
- Achieving diversification in investing, as opposed to the Warren Buffet quote of "putting all your eggs in one basket and watching the basket very closely".
- Using an asset allocation strategy based on identifying how assets react to each of the possible economic conditions, as opposed to asset allocation based on correlation studies.
- The problems with trying to time the market in investing
- The benefits of a passive investing approach that rebalances according to a strategy of maintaining diversification.
We also talk about some particular practical issues relating to the portfolio including * Creating your own portfolio versus using the Permanent Portfolio fund (and differences in the fund's approach to the classic PP strategy) * The growth of passive indexing strategies in stocks and how this aspect of the Permanent Portfolio approach is now more mainstream * Craig's thoughts on how best to own gold bullion and the tradeoff between convenience and safety. * How the permanent portfolio can help independent investors in the current context of artificially low interest rates and Quantitative Easing.
You can also get more information about the concept of the permanent portfolio in Harry Browne's book "Fail-Safe Investing" and in many of the previous Voluntary Life podcast episodes on investing. Neither Craig nor Jake are financial advisors or dealers of any kind and this podcast only expresses our opinions.
This episode discusses ways in which you can overcome the limitations of the country in which you happen to have been born and, as much as possible, live with the whole of planet earth as your homeland. The topics covered include:
- Travelling and seeing the world, to help you make conscious choices about where you want to spend your life
- Taking the opportunity to live abroad for extended periods of time so that you can experience life in different parts of the world
- Learning another language and giving yourself different tools to think with
- Internationalising some of your assets, as geo-political diversification in case of catastrophic events such as a war.
- If you have the opportunity, taking advantage of the chance to obtain dual nationality to further extend your flexibility in terms of where you can work or live.
This episode is about the most advanced democracy on earth. It is about the most effective system we have for letting everyone have their say, working together to change society in a non-violent way.... Oh and it's probably not what you think.
Show Notes: * Ludwig Von Mises' "The Anti-capitalistic Mentality" * Churchill's quote on democracy * Karl Popper's views on democracy can be found in The Open Society and Its Enemies
This episode is about where you choose to live and the impact that this choice can have on your level of freedom. Many people who have written about personal and political liberty have suggested a link between where you choose to live and how free you are. In the podcast we explore 3 different ideas about this choice:
* The ideas in "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau: finding freedom by living self-sufficiently alone in a rural setting
* The idea of 'Galts Gulch' in "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand: finding freedom by living in a small community of like-minded people (again in a rural setting with an emphasis on self-sufficiency)
* The idea that 'City Air Makes You Free' (expressed by writers such as Jane Jacobs): finding freedom in the division of labour and diversity that cities provide.
Arguably, the benefits of self-sufficiency have been overestimated in books like Walden and Atlas Shrugged, whereas the benefits of interdependence in cities have been under-appreciated by previous writers on liberty. It is suggested that Galt's Gulch wouldn't actually work in real life because it would lack the division of labour of a big city that is necessary to support the kind of advanced and specialised roles of it's inhabitants. In contrast, living in a city can provide many opportunities for greater work and personal freedom because of the benefits of the division of labour in cities.
Show Notes * Origin of the phrase City Air Makes You Free * The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs * Previous episode of The Voluntary Life about Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
This episode is a review of the book "The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich" by Tim Ferriss. It is a skype conversation with a group of friends. The ideas that we discuss include:
- taking mini-retirements and getting out of a one-track career mentality
- extended travelling
- testing new entrepreneurial ideas with sales pages on the web before starting
- outsourcing tasks to a virtual assistant
- Tim Ferriss' personality and how it influences the style and content of the book
This episode is about how you as an individual can help alleviate poverty in a non-political, principled way. It's an economic view of how you can reduce poverty through economic development and the wealth that it generates. Jake presents ideas of the economist Ludwig Von Mises about how you can create economic progress and development, focussing on three key activities:
* creating technical innovation, which helps to make everything cheaper for everyone within the economy
* being an entrepreneur, which creates new value and wealth in the economy
* being a saver and investor, which provides resources for the future economic development (either of your own business or that of others)
The podcast discusses how each of these activities help reduce your own poverty and that of the world as a whole.
Show Notes * Ludwig Von Mises The Anti-capitalistic Mentality * Stephan Kinsella Against Intellectual Property
This episode is an interview with Kristov, an application security specialist, about what kind of measures individuals can take to ensure a level of security and privacy for their computers and their online life. In the interview, we cover security and privacy for a range of topics including:
* email use
* web browsing
* malware and viruses
* password managers
* data storage
* use of torrents
* VOIP and chat
* application security for entrepreneurs
The second part of the interview from the Becoming Who You Are Podcast. We talk about a whole range of topics including:
- The fear of criticism that can come up when putting creative work out there
- The challenges of being yourself at work
- The future of The Voluntary Life podcast
- The difference between abstract business planning and being conscious of what's really happening in your business now
- The balance between having dreams and staying in touch with reality
- Getting support from the people in your life
- Doing what you love
This episode is an interview with Marc de Mesel, who was previously on the show talking about investing in Europe. Marc runs a blog on investing in Europe in dutch and also an investing blog in english.
In this episode, Marc talks about the hidden tax that is inflation. We discuss the difference between official inflation figures and the real loss of purchasing power that ordinary people experience. We also talk about ways in which an individual investor or saver can cope with inflation, including the advantages and limitations of precious metals as an inflation hedge. The discussion is opinion only and should not be considered any kind of financial advice.
For more information about the concept of the permanent portfolio mentioned in the discussion, see Harry Browne's book "Fail-Safe Investing". You can also hear more about the Permanent Portfolio concept in this previous episode.
This is a repost of the latest Becoming Who You Are Podcast, where I was interviewed by the lovely host of BWYA, my partner Hannah. In Part 1 we talk about how The Voluntary Life began and about feeling free to be yourself in your friendships.
This is a short spontaneous speech by Jake taken from the Porc Therapy appearance in the previous show (see episode 66). It is about alternatives to political activism for getting more freedom in your life. I hope you enjoy it!
This is a repost of an episode of Porc Therapy hosted by Stephanie Murphy that Hannah and I appeared on.
"My friends Jake from The Voluntary Life and Hannah from Becoming Who You Are join me today for this fun podcast-only show where our discussion centers around living free – now! We begin with a PorcFest 2012 wrap up, then talk about connecting over shared values, immigration issues, the Free State Project, civil disobedience and political activism (and our disagreements with both), Jake’s amazing impassioned speech on living free!, intentional communities, permanent tourism and heading south to find freedom, living on a boat, someone who made his own island out of soda bottles, division of labor/going “off the grid,” and Leonid Rogozov’s famous self-appendectomy."
This episode is a review of "The Virtue of Selfishness" by Ayn Rand. It is a group discussion and the guests include Stephanie Murphy from Porc Therapy and other friends. Here are some of the things we cover in the discussion:
- The book's gutsy title and the controversy surrounding it.
- The pros and cons of Ayn Rand's morality and her own moralising.
- Aspects of the book we found unconvincing, such as her dismissal of voluntaryism and her idea that no conflict of interest is possible between rational people.
- Rand's convincing takedown of ethical lifeboat scenarios.
- The fact that Ayn Rand is ignored in universities.
- The impact that some of Ayn Rand's contradictions (on intellectual property and on non-aggression) have had on the objectivist movement's development, especially it's pro-war stance on foreign policy.
- Her deconstruction of other moral theories that were around during her time.
- Plus, we have a lot of fun talking about her strange views on tapdancing and morality!
This episode is a continuation of the discussion I had with Brett Veinotte about how entrepreneurship is not taught at school and why. It was recorded live for the School Sucks Podcast at Porcfest. We talk about why it is that teachers are usually the last people who you would expect to learn entrepreneurship from and what you can do to learn it yourself. Sorry about the audio quality, it is a little choppy but still listenable.
This episode is part of a discussion that I had with Brett Veinotte from School Sucks Podcast at Porcfest. Brett and I talked about how entrepreneurship is totally alien to compulsory schooling. School prepares you for a life of working for someone else, whereas goals like working for yourself, growing a business and obtaining financial freedom are never discussed. We discuss things that you can do to overcome the conformity that school sets you up for, such as starting a business as young as possible (even whilst at school) and working to become financially independent of your parents as soon as possible.
This episode is an interview that Jake did on the Porc Therapy Podcast, recorded live at Porcfest 2012. In the interview, Jake talks about some of the things you can do to live more freely whatever society or economy you find yourself in, such as investing in friendships and living abroad.
This episode is an interview that Jake did on the Free Talk Live radio show. Jake talks about entrepreneurship as the best way to achieve more freedom in your life and to make the world a better place.
Matt and Molly have been unschooling their two children for a year. In this episode, they talk about their family's experiences during their first year of living as if school didn't exist.
An interview with George, who emigrated from Greece to resettle in the UK. George provides many suggestions that will be relevant for anyone considering emigration, even if you are not in the EU. If you do live in the EU, it is very much worth considering the opportunities of doing what George has done and relocating to a place that might better suit your needs.
This episode is a recording of a talk given by Chris Guillebeau about his new book The 100 Dollar Startup. The talk took place in Shoreditch, London on 25th May 2012 and Chris kindly gave permission for me to record it for this podcast.
In the talk, Chris shares some of the stories of the many "solopreneurs" and small business owners that he interviewed for the book, all of whom are using creative self-employment to give themselves more freedom in life.
This episode discusses ideas from the book "The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age"by James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg.
"In The Sovereign Individual, Davidson and Rees-Mogg explore the greatest economic and political transition in centuries -- the shift from an industrial to an information-based society. This transition, which they have termed "the fourth stage of human society," will liberate individuals as never before, irrevocably altering the power of government."
How will you finance your startup? This episode presents some thoughts on the issue of financing for entrepreneurs based on my own experience, including:
- Why bootstrapping your business with revenue finance is the best way to fund your own startup, if you can do it
- The benefit of having some personal savings and no major financial commitments, if you want to start a business
- The role that loans can play in funding your venture and how taking out loans for business is a far better use of debt than taking out loans for consumption items
- Why selling equity in your company (taking investment from VC or others) is ultimately a very expensive way to fund your venture
- Why Business Development Grants are never "free money" and have serious drawbacks
- The importance of looking long and hard at whether you really need the money to get going. You probably don't need nearly as much as you think
Every entrepreneur will ultimately exit from their business, in one way or another. Unless you plan to just wind it down, one day you'll probably want to sell your company. In this podcast, Jake talks about his experience of selling a business and answers some key questions about the process, including:
* Why sell your business?
* How do you find a buyer?
* When is the right time to sell?
* How do you value your business?
* What happens in the negotiation process?
* How long does it take?
* What happens after the sale?
An interview with Laurette Lynn, author, speaker and host of the Unplugged Mom internet talk show. Laurette's work emphasizes the need for families to unplug from mainstream assumptions in learning and living, disconnect from the artificial process of life and discover the freedom and joy in learning and living more authentically.
In the interview she talks about freedom from school for kids and families. Laurette explains the choice that she made not to send her kids to school "because they don't need it". She shares her thoughts on how you can raise your kids free from school too.
This episode is about negotiation for entrepreneurs. Some basic practical tips are provided about negotiating, such as:
- The benefits of writing everything down (even though it seems obvious)
- Why it's better to be explicit about how you want do business, such as with a simple set of standard terms
- Negotiating about all the terms and avoiding the pitfall of focussing narrowly on price
Some of the deeper principles underlying negotiation are also explained, such as:
- The concept of your Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA) and how it determines the dynamic of the negotiation
- The value of appealing to objective standards and avoiding a "contest of wills"
- Why win-win negotiations are the only way to get any lasting agreement that will work
- Why it makes sense to adopt the premise that you'll never be able to rely on enforcing legal contracts
The excellent book on negotiation recommended in the podcast is "Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In" by Fischer and Ury.
This episode is an interview with Mike, one of the moderators and main contributors to the Permanent Portfolio discussion forum. Mike, or "Medium Tex" as he is known on the board, is an independent investor and co-author of an upcoming book on the permanent portfolio approach to investment. In the interview Mike explains a simple way of understanding all the different economic conditions we might face and how to be financially prepared for any of them as a private investor.
You can get more information about the concept of the permanent portfolio in Harry Browne's book "Fail-Safe Investing", on the permanent portfolio forum.
An interview with Jeffrey Tucker about his book "It's a Jetsons World: Private Miracles and Public Crimes" (available online for free). "It's a Jetsons World" is about how we are surrounded by miracles created in the private sector, particularly in the digital universe, and yet we don't appreciate them enough. Meanwhile, the public sector is systematically wrecking the physical world in sneaky and petty ways that really do matter.
Jeffrey discusses these themes further in the interview, such as the global communication revolution that we are living through and it's amazing impact on all our lives. He also talks about the destructive role that the State is having during this time of great progress. "We are very fortunate to be living in a social, cultural and economic transition that makes the industrial revolution look like nothing by comparison. The amazing irony is that it is happening exactly at the same time when Leviathan, at least in the developed world, is on the march as never before". Jeffrey Tucker (from the interview)
He discusses some of the ideas from the book in more detail, such as the negative impact of Intellectual Property law and the moral hazard that it creates, as IP corrupts the outlook of entrepreneurs. The interview is full of Jeffrey's brilliantly optimistic and positive outlook.
"We shouldn't be afraid to read things that are utterly contrary to what think we believe, because it's only going to strengthen us. If we are fearless intellectuals, which we should all be- to the point where we are utterly fearless, then we shouldn't be afraid of any writer, any genre or any political point of view. It just makes us better thinkers."
Jeffrey Tucker (from the interview)
Show Notes:
The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World was Created
A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World
The Ultimate Resource 2
Steve Jobs: "we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas"
A podcast about freeing your mind to get things done. A big challenge with time management and productivity that I experienced was how to overcome that feeling of being overwhelmed. How do you free your mind from the nagging thoughts of all the things that you need to do, so that you can get on with actually doing stuff?
In this podcast I discuss my journey through trying many approaches to time management and the value that I found in David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) approach. Unlike traditional personal productivity systems, GTD helps you harnesses the creativity and intuitive power of your unconscious to work with you, rather than interrupt you. I outline what I think are the most helpful concepts in the GTD approach and how it might help you.
This episode is about the amazing value that comes from tracking your business. Whereas 'business plans' are really just 'business guesses' and can often be a waste of time, tracking the reality of your business is always incredibly useful. The data that you have about each aspect of your business (your sales opportunities, your contacts, your cash-flow and many other aspects) is the most valuable asset that you have.
An interview with Carisa Brewster, author of the Cup of Curiosity blog. Carisa describes herself as a writer, mom and nappy chick with way too many interests. In this interview she talks about the experience of breaking free from religion and choosing to parent and unschool her children free from any religion. Her blog covers many diverse topics from books, natural hair, living in Oregon, interracial issues, breastfeeding/parenting and pop culture. She is also a (self-confessed) huge Star Wars and Star Trek geek, but only a moderate comic book geek.
This episode is about investing inside the Euro zone as an independent individual investor. It is an interview with Marc de Mesel, who runs a blog on investing in Europe in dutch and also an investing blog in english. Marc talks about his experience applying the Permanent Portfolio strategy in a European context. He also provides his thoughts on speculating in gold and other precious metals. The episode is provided as food for thought to encourage critical thinking and independent decision-making in regard to investment: it is opinion only and should not be considered any kind of financial advice.
For more information about the concept of the permanent portfolio see Harry Browne's book "Fail-Safe Investing". You can also hear more about the Permanent Portfolio concept in this previous episode. The book that Marc mentions in the episode is "Tomorrow's Gold" by Mark Farber.
Part 2 of the interview with Paul Rosenberg about his novel "A Lodging of Wayfaring Men". Paul shares his thoughts on many of the other themes covered in the novel: sexuality, relationships, the unconscious mind and religion. He explains his view on intellectual property and why he chose to release the novel using the creative commons license. He also gives an insight into his upcoming books.
This Part 1 of an interview with Paul Rosenberg, author of "A Lodging of Wayfaring Men".
Instantly named Freedom Book of The Month and a major influence in the Cyber-underground, A Lodging of Wayfaring Men is the story of freedom-seekers who create an alternative society on the Internet - a virtual society, with no possibility of oversight or control. It grows so fast that governments and "leaders" are terrified, and fight to co-opt this cyber-society before it undermines the power of the governing elite.
In this interview Paul talks about his intellectual development, his influences and the background to writing the book. He discusses the parallels between the novel and recent developments in crypto-currency, such as Bitcoin. He shares his thoughts on the current state of the internet, prospects for liberty and the potential for developing communities of people with shared values.
This episode is about the freedom in adult life that is gained by achieving financial independence from parents. Jake talks about some of the findings of the book "The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas Stanley. Dr Stanley surveyed people in America who had become millionaires within one generation and collected data on many aspects of their lives. One finding that he identified was that adult-children who continue to receive economic subsidies from their parents tend to be much less successful in developing wealth within their own lives. Those who don't receive "economic out-patient care" end up wealthier and also have better relationships with their parents.
A podcast for entrepreneurs about getting your business to profitability and making it more and more profitable once you get there. The title of this podcast comes from the saying "turnover is vanity and profit is sanity". Some of the topics covered in the episode include:
- The unjustly-bad reputation that profit has in our culture and it's origins
- The other motives (unrelated to profit) that entrepreneurs have and the problems that they cause for their business
- Profit as the truly rational measure of how healthy your business is
- Two approaches cutting expenses to increase profit
- The value of measuring profitability at the project or product level
- The necessity of measuring all aspects of operations to find out where you make a profit and where you don't
In this podcast, Jake talks about the most important responsibility you will ever have as an entrepreneur: selling. He talks about how to overcome the barriers to selling that most entrepreneurs face: the cultural prejudice against sales, ignorance about what selling really is and the psychological barrier to selling (the fear of rejection).
Stages of Selling To Learn More About:
- Prospecting
- Contacting
- Qualifying
- Presentation
- Handling Objections
- Closing
- Referrals
Checklist for New Entrepreneurs:
- Have you started selling yet?
- Are you setting aside specific time within each day or week devoted only to selling?
- Are you measuring everything that you can measure about your selling activity?
Show Notes:
- Glengarry Glen Ross (great movie, but also an example of how negative the representation of selling is in our culture)
- How to Master the Art of Selling by Tom Hopkins (a recommended book).
An interview with psychologist and filmmaker Daniel Mackler about the subject of psychological freedom. Daniel shares his thoughts on what psychological freedom means: the healing from past psychological traumas. He identifies the root of trauma in unhealthy parenting and talks about his own journey towards more psychological freedom.
Part 2 in a series of episodes on freedom from politics with special guest Stephanie Murphy, host of the Porc Therapy podcast.
Show Notes:
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world" by Gandhi Penn Gillette on politics School Sucks Podcast on Ron Paul George Carlin on Not Voting
Doug Stanhope on Democracy "If Voting Changed Anything They'd Make it Illegal" by Emma Goldman
Part 1 in a series of episodes on freedom from politics. Special guest is Stephanie Murphy, host of the Porc Therapy podcast, co-host of Free Talk Live and Prometheus Unchained, all of which are on the Liberty Radio Network.
Show Notes:
Hans Herman Hoppe on Marxist and Austrian Class Analysis
Harry Browne's book How I Found Freedom In An Unfree World
Stephanie's book Ron Paul: A Life of Ideas
This episode is an interview with Michael Fogler about his book "Un-Jobbing: The Adult Liberation Handbook". Michael talks about his life experience, having reached the age of 58 without ever having had a single, full-time job. He talks about how his personal experience in "failures" a traditional career-job route led him to discover unjobbing as an alternative approach. He talks about how he came up with the name "unjobbing" and the influences on his ideas, such as Grace Llwellyn's book "A Teenage Liberation Handbook".
Michael provides some tips on achieving personal liberation, including the issue of minimising expenses, saving and ensuring that you "act your wage". He talks about the importance of having other people around you who share your values, especially as the unjobbing approach is not considered "normal" by mainstream culture.
Vickie is the author of the Demand Euphoria Blog and Parent-Free By Choice Blog. In this interview we discuss the concept of "Parent-Free By Choice", which is the choice of some adults to voluntarily separate from one or both parents. Vicky talks about why this choice, although quite widespread, is viewed as a taboo subject. Vickie shares her thoughts on whether or not adults who choose to cease contact with their parents are "running away" from issues that they should stay and face up to:
"There is this whole stigma about "running away from your problems". It starts with kids and bullying in school where everyone says running away from a bully doesn't do anything, you have to stick in there and face it. That carries over into our family relationships: this idea that "no matter what they do to you they are still your family" and you are supposed to toughen up, figure it out, forgive or whatever. I think that is unfortunate because it allows people to keep treating each other badly. I think running away from somebody who is treating you badly is actually a good thing because you deserve better and you shouldn't put up with it. I think removing yourself from a toxic situation is good for you."
Here are Vickie's thoughts on the question of whether people owe their parents anything:
"I have often thought about this concept of your parents giving you the "gift of life", but I always think about that word gift and think about how...if it is truly a gift then you don't owe them for it. If they gave you a gift then they shouldn't be charging you for it every day of your life. A lot of parents call it a gift and then make you feel guilty for everything they do for you."
Vickie's blog, Parent-Free by Choice, offers a supportive environment for people to anonymously share their own stories about their choices. As Vickie explains;
"No matter what happened to them in childhood or how their relationship [with their parents] is now, if they feel like it's not a positive relationship then that is all that matters and they should have the freedom to get out of it."
An interview with Dale Stephens, founder of the Uncollege movement. Uncollege represents a revolutionary approach to education: applying the principles of unschooling to higher education. In the interview Dale talks about opportunities to hack your education and go for self-directed learning. He challenges the notion that going to college is the only path to success and identifies the declining value proposition of traditional college education, as well as the potential of an alternative, self-directed approach.
This episode explores the topic of psychological barriers to personal and political freedom. It is a discussion of the ideas in Eric Fromm's book "The Fear of Freedom" (also published under the title "Escape from Freedom").
An interview with Judd Weiss, entrepreneur and author of the Hustlebear.com blog. Judd has been an entrepreneur since he was 14. He became a millionaire by the age of 24 and has launched successful businesses in diverse industries including selling watches online, commercial real estate brokerage and parking. Judd talks about some of the principles behind successful entrepreneurship. Topics include:
- How accepting that you start out both ignorant and incompetent can help you succeed
- Why success normally comes just after the point when most people quit
- Why you don't have to be interested in the product you are selling
- What a young startup entrepreneur can use to differentiate themselves from much older and better connected competitors
- The impact that pursuing entrepreneurial success can have on your personal relationships
Financial Freedom is an achievable goal. But what exactly is it and how does making financial freedom your goal differ from more traditional financial goals? A common approach to personal finance goes something like this:
MAINSTREAM ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT PERSONAL FINANCE
- the goal of personal finance strategies is material wealth and comfort;
- the method is getting a secure job;
- the measure of how well you are doing is your salary;
- debt should be used, with caution, to obtain consumption items (mortgage for a house, loans for a new car etc.);
- provision for the future should be made through a pension.
A approach aimed at financial freedom is completely different in every way:
ASSUMPTIONS WITH FINANCIAL FREEDOM AS YOUR AIM
- the goal of personal finance strategies is financial freedom (the level of wealth is optional);
- the method is entrepreneurship;
- the measure of how well you are doing is how long before you have to work again, where passive income - expenses > 0
- debt should not be used for consumption items, but might optionally be used with caution to further entrepreneurship and value generation;
- provision for the future is made through creating passive income streams.
Thoughts on how to adopt financial freedom as your goal are provided in the podcast. The views expressed are only my opinion about this subject and I am not any kind of financial advisor.
You can still have a lot of freedom if you are working for somebody else. Here are some suggestions of what you can do to transform your job and liberate yourself. The youtube documentary about a Brazilian company that is mentioned in the episode is called "The Caring Capitalist".
This episode is a discussion with startup entrepreneurs including the founders of choreplan.com and knowitapp.com. We talk about the ideas in two great books on entrepreneurship: The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki and Reworkby Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson.
A podcast for those considering starting a business. The episode starts with a look at the value of entrepreneurship as a path to obtaining freedom in your own life and some background to my own experience with entrepreneurship. Two key questions are addressed: how do you choose which project to pursue as a new entrepreneurial venture? Also, how do you overcome the fear of getting started?
Part 3 in a series on about the potential for voluntary, free market solutions to urban planning problems. In this episode we discuss the potential for more voluntary kinds of urban communities, urbanisation in the developing world and the future of cities. The discussion is based around ideas presented in the book The Voluntary City: Choice, Community, and Civil Society edited by David T Beito, Peter Gordon and Alexander Tabarrok. Special guests in this episode are Peter Gordon (co-editor of The Voluntary City) and Adam, Stephen and Emily, who are the authors of the blog Market Urbanism.
Part 2 of a series about the potential for voluntary, free market solutions to urban planning problems. In this episode we discuss the potential for voluntary land use planning. The discussion is based around ideas presented in the book The Voluntary City: Choice, Community, and Civil Society edited by David T Beito, Peter Gordon and Alexander Tabarrok. Special guests in this episode are Peter Gordon (co-editor of The Voluntary City) and Adam, Stephen and Emily, who are the authors of the blog Market Urbanism.
This is the first of a series about the potential for voluntary, free market solutions to urban planning problems. This discussion is based around the topics covered in the book The Voluntary City: Choice, Community, and Civil Society edited by David T Beito, Peter Gordon and Alexander Tabarrok. Special guests in this episode are Peter Gordon (co-editor of The Voluntary City) and Adam, Stephen and Emily, who are the authors of the blog Market Urbanism. In the discussion we make reference to Jane Jacobs, author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities and to Robert Moses, the urban planner who's destructive impact is discussed in the book The Power Broker.
A review of Robert Heinlein's libertarian science fiction novel, "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress"
A discussion of Ayn Rand's semi-autobiographical novel We the Living. Published in 1936, We the Living was the first novel to emerge in the West that described life in Russia during the communist revolution of 1917 and was written by someone who experienced it.
Part 3 in a series on unschooling. This episode is about implementing an unschooling approach. Special guests are Brett Veinotte, host of School Sucks Podcast, Stefan Molyneux, host of Freedomain Radio and Debbie Harbeson, unschooling parent and author of "OK Kids, Time for Bedlam"
Part 2 in a series on Unschooling. Special guests are Brett Veinotte, host of School Sucks Podcast and Stefan Molyneux, host of Freedomain Radio.
Part one of a series of podcasts on Unschooling. This episode is a discussion of one of the most influential books about unschooling: Instead of Education by John Holt. Special guests are Brett Veinotte, host of School Sucks Podcast and Stefan Molyneux, host of Freedomain Radio.
"Education... now seems to me perhaps the most authoritarian and dangerous of all the social inventions of mankind. It is the deepest foundation of the modern slave state, in which most people feel themselves to be nothing but producers, consumers, spectators, and 'fans,' driven more and more, in all parts of their lives, by greed, envy, and fear. My concern is not to improve 'education' but to do away with it, to end the ugly and antihuman business of people-shaping and to allow and help people to shape themselves."
John Holt 1976
This episode is a discussion of personal experiences of different stages of unjobbing: barriers to doing it, planning for it, working towards it and achieving an unjobbed life. In the discussion we refer to the book "Un-Jobbing" by Michael Fogler. Other references in the discussion include the book "Vagabonding" by Rolf Potts and Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford commencement speech.
The first of a two part series about "Unjobbing": breaking free of the rat-race to do only things that you love with your life. In this episode we explore the idea of Unjobbing set out in the book "Un-Jobbing : The Adult Liberation Handbook" by Michael Fogler. Other books referred to in the discussion include "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki.
A discussion of Ayn Rand's classic libertarian novel Atlas Shrugged.
This episode is a short discussion and recommendation of Lysander Spooner's great book "No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority". The book is a brilliant critique of the legality of any constitution and the validity of any idea of a social contract.
This episode is a discussion about two different approaches to investment. The first approach comes from Harry Browne's idea of the Permanent Portfolio, which you can find in his book Fail-Safe Investing. The second approach is focussed on investing purely in precious metals as a way to protect your wealth. Both approaches are concerned with investing for financial freedom and protecting your hard earned savings in the context of turbulent economic conditions.
A discussion about Ayn Rand's individualist novel, "The Fountainhead". This is part one of a two part series.
Part two of a discussion about the ideas of personal freedom in Harry Browne's book "How I Found Freedom In An Unfree World".
Part one of a discussion about the ideas of personal freedom in Harry Browne's book "How I Found Freedom In An Unfree World".