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We are a community of contrarians that embrace the art of "Financial Sustainability". FS is an alternative to Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) and focuses on a whole life approach to becoming and maintaining your financial and personal independence in a debt enslaved western world. If you are sick of always working, never getting ahead and knowing that there has to be a better way for you and your family, this is where you will get the answers and motiviation to change it all. Read our Philosophy and our Articles to get started.
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I told our Patreon subscribers about this, but it is now far enough along that I thought that it was time to share a personal story of a dream project. Partly because I wanted to invite you, the listeners, along on this journey but also because I want to demonstrate the adventures you can have if you are living an unconstrained life.
Following the COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland and it seems, particularly in Europe, that the only discussion on the table is about ‘green energy’. Look, I get it. We humans are a messy bunch and we’ve decided to burn sequestered fuel (fossil fuels) rather than take advantage of other energy sources. But are the solutions being discussed really the answer?
Today on the program I have a special treat for you. On this episode, I am joined by Anthony Parent, the co-founder of IRS Medic law firm. Anthony is an expert attorney on tax law, specifically with helping US persons who are either thinking about expatriation, expats, or those that find themselves accidentally falling foul of the US tax system. But what came out in this episode is an ‘inside baseball’ view of the IRS, what being an attorney for his clients and dealing with the IRS is like, and just how this affects all of us. I think you’ll find this episode very special.
Often it makes me laugh how the macro economists, government advisors and banking experts pontificate on supply chain disruptions, unemployment rates and other statistical data as they pour over spreadsheets trying to find the reasons why things happen. But the answers are simple for this – yet few people are willing to address the truth. Let’s talk about this.
When people think about ‘farming’ they typically think about growing food or animals for consumption. Whereas that is an important part of human survival, to be completely self-sufficient and sustainable in the 21st century, it takes more than that. In this episode I’m going to delve into different aspects of farming and how you can do this yourself in the quest to regain control and your freedom back.
I realize that it takes time to build up wealth, but you gotta start somewhere. Although I had years of business experience before I bought my first rental property, none of that experience actually yielded real wealth. It wasn’t until I spoke with another business owner I was friends with, and realized he bought his own commercial building that he operated in, that I realized the building was where the money was. Like McDonalds, it wasn’t about the burgers. It was about the real estate. That began my start in rental real estate investing, and it worked out pretty good for me.
Mikkel Thorup of the Expat Money Show interviewed me in detail about my story, financial sustainability, how it works for expats and how to live free and unconstrained. This is one of the best 1 hour summaries of what I teach, my back story and why I've come to these conclusions and how you can take advantages of my wins in life, and (hopefully) avoid the failures.
I was recently talking with a self-proclaimed personal finance coach, about being interviewed on his podcast. He wanted my input on how people who are in debt can deal with it. The interview didn’t happen, because he thought my methods were unusual and wouldn’t work for his audience. But it got me thinking – who is this audience, and why the hell are they in debt in the first place. Then I realized it is 99% of the people in the USA, and it is no wonder they are in that position. Rather than trying to fix the immediate problem, no one wants to address the recidivism of debt. Unless you master the art of restraint as a way of life, you can't win here. Debt will return to you as quickly as you expunge it without the right training.
Myles Wakeham appearance on NTD News (TV) on October 22nd 2021, discussing the impact on Bitcoin due to Walmart trialing the installation of a number of Coinstar machines that will convert coins to BTC in their stores. Check it out.
I’ve been realizing just how statistics don’t tell a complete story of the decline of civil liberties, individual freedoms and life quality. For most people who have some memory of the cold war, or are students of 20th century history, it is well accepted that giving up all power and control to the state, in return to get your physical needs met, is a deal with the devil that has continually failed. Yet we seem to have done this without even realizing it. I call this ‘Communism by proxy’. Let this episode be a warning about our current world and society.
At some point in all of our lives, we are faced with challenges of being asked to do something we don’t agree with. Organizations are notorious to be populated with individuals of differing levels of ethics & morality, and yet the challenge to protest against doing something you believe to be morally wrong is a deeply personal thing. In this episode we will explore how you can mitigate against the risk of having your personal morality challenged with work.
It is somewhat amusing to read through the countless posts on various forums on Facebook on the early retirement movement. I use the term “Movement” intentionally because this has become more of a cult that follows a fictional future event. That is not to say that the intentions are bad – it is that often the endpoint is flawed.
Myles was invited to be a guest on the legendary Ben Stein's show, "The World According to Ben Stein", with Ben, Judah Friedman and Gary Collins. Check it out on Rumble (link provided in the description).
Having spent a career as a software engineer, I encountered a world of problems in hundreds of different industries. I knew nothing about the industries at all, but what I did know was that a method to gather their needs, analyze them, design something to solve their needs and build to that design worked. We call that a “methodology”. When I looked outside of the engineering space, I found a few implementations of methodologies – in particular, business methodologies used in large organizations. I guess I naturally use methodologies without thinking, but it provides a way to codify something repeatable. In this episode I’m going to offer you a methodology that I use, that has helped me become and continue to be unconstrained.
In this episode, I’m going to address a question I have received numerous times in the past week “Is Australia a totalitarian state?” It is one of those episodes that I would have preferred not to record, but it is... well... complicated. But as I am an Australian, I guess I can tell you both how it feels to lose your freedoms, but also what lead up to this mess. I hope that people take this information for what it is - I’m sure I’ll upset some people, and maybe I’ll help educate others. But I’ll let you be the judge.
What if you decided to take the plunge, quit your job, be unconstrained, buy property in a far away land, and in the process of doing this, you get diagnosed with cancer? Well on today’s show I’m talking to my friend Ernie Baca, a US expat who lives in San Miguel de Allende, in which exactly this happened. Ernie will tell us how the US medical system failed him, how he took on the battle with cancer in Mexico, and how he won that battle. This is a detailed accounting of the whole ordeal, it will get emotional at times but it is a testimonial to a guy who is a real hero and shows that taking back control of your life is your best path to truly being unconstrained.
In this episode, I continue the "Unconstrained Bill of Rights" series to healthcare. Why those that don't have it, are seriously constrained and those that think they have coverage, may be right in line for the worst wake up call of their lives.
We have all been told and encouraged to buy insurance. Insurance for health, your assets like housing, real estate, your car, etc. In many cases, insurance is mandated. “If bad things happen, you better have insurance.” But it has created a society of irresponsible and ill-prepared citizens who don’t have any idea about personal responsibility and are ill equipped to manage their lives. In this episode I’m going to deep dive the concept of insurance and the promises & lies we are told about it.
My wife & I completed the long process of obtaining permanent residency VISAs in Mexico last week, so I decided (after receiving a large number of requests on the details) to cover the entire process for anyone that may wish to do the same. NOTE: Most of the information out there on other podcasts or YouTube channels is either wrong, incomplete and doesn't take into consideration the details of the work required INSIDE your home country (ie. USA) before you come to Mexico. This episode is a complete process from start to finish, so I'm hoping it can be used as a reference material for the future.
The announcement came on ‘Earth day’ in April, that the Biden administration will make good on their campaign promise of increasing taxes on rich people. I’ve done complete podcast episodes on his proposed fiscal policy when President Biden was running for office, and it is bittersweet that I write this article within 1 week of releasing a podcast episode entitled ‘Don’t be rich’. Well it seems that the day has come and soon we will know the full details of the capital gains tax hike. Let’s talk about what this means for the unconstrained and those seeking financial sustainability.
Myles sits down in studio with the famous Lynette Zang, Chief Market Analyst at ITM Trading, to talk about being a contrarian, why doing the opposite of everyone else gives the best results, gold, bitcoin, etc.
Myles is interviewed on Luke Menkes' "New Town, Big Dreams" podcast in Canada this week. You can hear/download the interview here. This 1 hour interview covered topics unexpected, COVID, Myles' journey, the lessons learned and the fails along the way. Enjoy!
In late 2020, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Derek Phifer, located in Spain, and having a talk about life, the universe & everything. Derek's story about moving from the USA to Spain to find opportunities is great, and the perfect compliment to my own tales of traversing the globe in search of opportunities.
If you are looking for a quick overview to beUnconstrained and why we do what we do, this is a great one. This interview was done on February 16th 2021, with Myles Wakeham on the Work-Life YouTube channel and is a must see. Myles questions why people work in the first place, how most of society is following a path that will end badly and what you can do about it.
While politicians have had a field day talking up a good game on the campaign trail, now that things should be back to business again, how about we start to empower people to take control of their bodies and their health again? In this article I deep dive why the elephant in the room of high medical costs in the USA isn’t healthy for anyone.
I wanted to single out two schools of thought when it comes to money. Those that pursue being rich, and those that pursue being financially sustainable. Both share the same goal of being financially free, but often the road to get there is very different. In this article I want to discuss these two strategies, and let you decide what path is best for you.
I’m sure, by now, you are over 2020. Between COVID, Climate Change and now the weirdest presidential election I’ve ever seen in my live, I think most of us just want to brush aside 2020 and move on to better days. We cry out for stability and that we can start to see things clearly, but so many obstacles stand in our way. In this article I’m going to give you some basic ideas on how to find stability for your investments in this highly chaotic world we find ourselves in, so that you can see things a bit clearer than everyone else.
I recently responded to a posting that someone made who had an unexpected work related injury, found themselves without work and relying on workers compensation insurance payments to survive. I realized that this unexpected disruption to income is not dissimilar to those who have lost income or a job due to COVID19. I want to do a quick debrief with you in this article, and look for what we did right and what we could all do better in case of an adverse event.
The Internet giveth and the Internet taketh away. If you have been enjoying big salaries at your middle class or tech job, might be time to consider cashing in your chips. The remote worker revolution might not be your friend after all. Consider this a warning.
In this week's episode of This week in freedom, Myles covers the waning US dollar, the surprising number of people that own crypto-currency, world resources and consumption, the state of the US medical system, Uphold, the Lightning network, California exodus and how he made $2,800 in 1 hour. Check it out! * Available only to Patreon supporters *
The growing levels of riots, looting, violence on the streets, etc. have never been more intense today than at any time over the past 30 years that I’ve lived in the USA. My first experiences of it started in about 1992 during the Los Angeles Riots in which an onlooker video taped the beating of Rodney King, causing the city to turn to violence. But that was nothing compared to the constant barrage of violence since then all over the USA. I want to talk about what I think is really driving this, and why this isn’t going to stop any time soon.
To quote a prominent psychologist, Dr. Bruce Lipton: "Yes, we’ve been programmed. The vast majority of programs are negative and dis-empowering. So yes, the vast majority of people on this planet are having that negative experience as well. So the next most important thing now is to recognize, “Well, if I’m not getting what I want is because the universe is not giving it to me?” and the answer is almost inevitably “No”, it’s because of your own program that’s invisible, operating 95% of the day, is keeping it away from you!"
Yes, it’s a blatant quote of Barbara Streisand, but the reality is that in a world where the rich get richer, the big get bigger and the small are trampled, how does someone who is trying to just get by, not create any ripples and be financially sustainable survive?
There are two types of people who try to make money - investors & speculators. Investors are looking at fundamentals, long term positioning, etc. Speculators are looking to make quick bucks on fast trading. How does Bitcoin fit into this?
Looking at the equity markets, it seems that we have reached the new age of the Nasdaq dominating the markets. Whereas regular, traditional stocks are seeing a decline in value as they are reacting more normally to the recessionary economy, the tech stocks are offsetting that with stellar earnings. What will the markets look like in 5 years time?
There are a bunch of reasons why FIRE isn’t going to work in 2020, whether you are looking to start the journey, or if you are on or through it. This article gives you the details of why it won't work, and what you can do to pivot and make regaining control of your future something that is within your grasp today.
If you are one of the 78% of people living pay check to pay check, you’ve been lied to. By your parents, your government, your friends, your teachers and your banks. I’m going to give you some tough love and some hope if you want to change things, because it CAN be changed.
The guy trying to swindle you on the side of the road in Las Vegas with his ball & cup trick is your government. While they are trying to tell you that up is down, right is left, etc. you should realize that the statistics that we have been hypnotized to focus on - particularly employment numbers, are relevant only to a bygone age and do nothing to help you live a rich & meaningful life today. This is the time you should break free of employment and become unconstrained.
I was watching TV this morning and on Bloomberg they were showing the price of a barrel of Brent Oil at $32. About 3 months prior I had a chat with a friend of mine when oil was basically $10 a barrel, saying that this can’t last and the world has to keep the lights on, so oil will go back up. We tripled our money on the bleeding obvious. But why is it that others didn’t see this, yet lost their jobs, lost money in the stock market, etc?
I just received the $1,200 stimulus check from the US government. This is the most stupid pandering effort I’ve ever seen. But guess what... That check paid for exactly what my monthly health insurance premium was, so basically... poof! It’s gone. Meanwhile most of the western world offer health care for free, so how is this actually helping?
In this video interview, Myles Wakeham sits down with the legendary Andreas M. Antonopoulos, the guy who literally wrote the book on Bitcoin, to talk about how the banksters have taken our freedom from us an what we can all do about it.
I get a lot of flack for not showing undying love for the US stock market. The truth is that I see it more of a casino than a true market. In this article I’m going break down my reasons for my disdain at equities and why they don’t represent at all the health of the economy.
All this shall pass. Eventually this virus will become either part of our subconcious lives or a cure or vaccine will be unleashed onto the world. The 12 months or so of time will pass quickly before we are out of the woods, but what will day to day life really look like in Q3,Q4 of 2020 and beyond?
Myles is a guest on today's Q&A show of "Rethinking the Dollar" and covers how to survive and thrive in the current and coming depression by using financial sustainability & SMART Income.
The economic and COVID19 pandemic that has hit the USA has affected small businesses greater than most, as they have fewer means to combat shutdowns. Layoffs and furloughs have turned over 16 million to unemployment. Meanwhile the SMB owners thought they were going to get some govt assistance. Think again.
Business as we know it is disrupted, but not in a good way. The human natural need for socialization is being threatened as we are told to shelter in place, and the biggest immediate impact is our ability to transact. Electronic forms of transactions are strong and remain, but human to human interaction is minimized. Who is most at risk here, and how do you reduce the risk factor?
When things look pretty bad, everything is burning up around you and you are looking at the smoldering ashes of something that once was valued and pristine, chin up. It isn’t that bad. And maybe it is needed - in a good way...
The last few weeks have been living hell if you are vested in the DJIA. For those of us who chose to distance ourselves from stocks & counter party risk, we’re doing fine. But those that didn’t, came face to face with the fact that on a planet with finite resources, betting on infinite growth doesn’t end well.
If you are awake for 16 hours a day, and at least 8 of those hours, 5 days a week, are devoted to serving your boss, then you have given up a minimum of 35% of your life to your employer. More than likely it is closer to 50%. How can you look yourself in the mirror with pride doing that? Or be present for your kids or your spouse? Who's really more important here?
According to a 2016 study by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College on the Mortality Effects of Retirement, it is clear that “There may be an increase in mortality risks when people stop work.” This mirrors my own experience with Retirement and underscores the importance of removing the word Retirement from our vocabulary.
When I was 32, I retired. It didn’t end well. This is my retirement story. Take from it what you can. Life isn't experienced in some cubicle somewhere, but the majority of people I talk to who are embracing FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) don't really understand what life looks like on the other side of the retirement line and why they might want to rethink their goals.
I have had my surgery in Mexico. For anyone that wants an honest accounting of the process and costs, I have laid it all out in detail here. I cover the emotional doubts, fear of surgery in a foreign land, financial truth and the outcome. You be the judge of whether this is right for you. For me, it was. Spoiler Alert: It cost me less than 1/10th of the US Price.
It can be a frightening thing - choosing to go to a foreign country to get major surgery. The vast majority of us find that a bridge too far to cross. I took the leap of faith, and I have begun the journey. This article (and hopefully the one that will follow it after my surgery is completed) will give a totally fact based account of the experience so you can see if something like this makes sense for you.
Given the choice of going to school or surfing, if you live near the ocean it is a pretty easy one to make. But has anyone ever told you that surfing is really the best education you can have?
We should all take the best care of our teeth. But in the USA, costs are outrageous. Insurance doesn't cover most dental procedures and patients are often presented with $10K+ bills for basic dental work. If they realized there was a better option right on their doorstep, this could all be avoided. Welcome to medical tourism, and the border town of Los Algodones, Mexico.
In previous articles, I have stated that the concept of FI (Financial Independence) is flawed. Although the pursuit of it is admirable, the fact is that few FI followers have been able to do this through bear markets. Consequently putting yourself on that path has some dangers. I prefer to concept of "financial sustainability" and this article gives you tangible steps to take to achieve that.
There is a lot of interest in the FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) movement, but I am skeptical of whether those that achieve FI during a bull market have what it takes to make it through a bear market...