This site started as a way for me to think more clearly about money.
Not in the abstract. Not as theory. And not as a set of rules handed down by someone else. It is a place to reason through real decisions, real timelines, and real tradeoffs.
Over time, it has become a space where I work through questions that do not always fit neatly into conventional personal finance advice.
How I Think About Money
Most financial advice does a good job at the extremes.
Emergency funds are straightforward.
Long-term retirement investing is well covered.
The messy part lives in between, when timing matters, uncertainty matters, and the cost of being wrong is not theoretical.
I am interested in:
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managing risk rather than chasing returns
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designing systems that hold up under stress
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understanding tradeoffs instead of pretending they do not exist
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making decisions that are usable, not just optimal on paper
A strategy that looks great in hindsight but falls apart emotionally or behaviorally is not a good strategy.
Retirement Planning and Everything Around It
Like many people, I think a lot about retirement, but not as a single finish line.
I am more interested in:
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flexibility over rigid timelines
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drawdowns and recovery paths, not just averages
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what money is for at different stages of life
That means thinking about retirement accounts, taxable investing, cash buffers, and goal based planning as parts of a system, not isolated buckets.
Some of what I write here overlaps with traditional retirement planning. Some of it challenges assumptions I used to accept without questioning.
Why Poker Influenced My Thinking
Before I ever thought deeply about investing, I spent a lot of time thinking about risk.
Poker is not about certainty. It is about:
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probability
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downside control
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managing variance
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making the best decision with incomplete information
You can make the right decision and still lose.
You can make the wrong decision and still win temporarily.
That mindset carries over directly to investing and financial planning.
I do not look for guarantees.
I look for decisions that make sense given what is knowable, and systems that keep me from sabotaging myself when outcomes get uncomfortable.
Systems Over Predictions
A recurring theme on this site is the idea that systems matter more than forecasts.
I am skeptical of:
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market predictions
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precise return targets
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strategies that rely on perfect timing
I am much more interested in:
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clear rules
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mechanical rebalancing
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decision frameworks that reduce emotional interference
If something only works when markets cooperate, it does not really work.
What You Will Find Here
On this site, I write about:
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investing and asset allocation
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risk management and drawdowns
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retirement planning and timeline risk
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decision making under uncertainty
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systems I use to manage money with less anxiety
Sometimes that takes the form of essays.
Sometimes spreadsheets.
Sometimes walking through mistakes or assumptions that did not hold up.
This is not financial advice, and it is not meant to be prescriptive for everyone. It is a record of how I think, shared in case it helps others think more clearly too.
Why I Share This Publicly
Writing forces clarity.
Putting ideas into words, especially where others can read them, is a way to test whether they actually make sense.
If something here resonates, great.
If it challenges how you think, that is fine too.
The goal is not agreement. It is better questions.
A Note on the Paid Guide
Some ideas here eventually became more formal, including a guide and spreadsheet system for managing money with real deadlines.
That exists because I needed something concrete, not because I wanted to sell something.
Everything I publish publicly stands on its own. The paid material is simply the implementation layer for people who want it.
Final Thought
Money decisions rarely fail because of ignorance.
They fail because of timing, pressure, and emotion.
I am interested in reducing those failure modes for myself first, and for anyone else who finds this useful.
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