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 achiev...
Dec 16, 2015•21 min•Ep. 230
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: Pr...
Dec 12, 2015•34 min•Ep. 229
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 Da...
Nov 30, 2015•12 min•Ep. 228
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 develo...
Nov 16, 2015•19 min•Ep. 227
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: Be Your Own CFO: managing your own money as you would manage the finance of a business. Be Investment-Oriented, Not Consumption-Oriented Be A Passive Investor. Show Notes: How to Be the CFO of Your Own Life by Luke Landes Ho...
Nov 05, 2015•12 min•Ep. 226
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...
Oct 26, 2015•10 min•Ep. 225
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 Ancie...
Oct 19, 2015•9 min•Ep. 224
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 ho...
Oct 05, 2015•32 min•Ep. 223
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
Sep 28, 2015•19 min•Ep. 222
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...
Sep 24, 2015•32 min•Ep. 22
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 Joh...
Sep 16, 2015•10 min•Ep. 220
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 makin...
Sep 04, 2015•24 min•Ep. 219
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 t...
Aug 26, 2015•23 min•Ep. 218
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...
Aug 19, 2015•25 min•Ep. 217
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, ...
Aug 03, 2015•10 min•Ep. 216
“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 h...
Jul 28, 2015•20 min•Ep. 215
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...
Jul 21, 2015•28 min•Ep. 214
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 acc...
Jul 13, 2015•29 min•Ep. 213
In the last episode I suggested two key challenges to resolve if you want to think for yourself: How do you tell truth from falsehood? 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 address...
Jul 06, 2015•29 min•Ep. 212
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...
Jun 30, 2015•10 min•Ep. 211
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...
Jun 21, 2015•31 min•Ep. 210
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...
Jun 14, 2015•42 min•Ep. 209
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 qu...
Jun 09, 2015•13 min•Ep. 208
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:...
Jun 02, 2015•15 min•Ep. 207
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 matt...
May 24, 2015•17 min•Ep. 206
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...
May 17, 2015•19 min•Ep. 205
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...
May 10, 2015•25 min•Ep. 204
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...
May 03, 2015•35 min•Ep. 203
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' Theo...
Apr 26, 2015•21 min•Ep. 202
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 ma...
Apr 07, 2015•23 min•Ep. 201
