P.S: I also teach artists and entrepreneurs how to build, scale and earn a living from the internet, through their work, here.

I used to think investing was a slog meant for people with the patience to pore over company brochures, comb balance sheets, and pretend they were Warren Buffett at a kitchen table. I tried to play that game. I stayed up late reading reports I didn’t understand, underlining words like “operating margins” as if they meant more wealth. It felt like homework assigned by a cruel teacher, one that you can’t fake your way through. Boredom blended with shame, and instead of building wealth, I stumbled into every common mistake. I listened to the so-called wisdom about hot stocks and “can’t lose” funds, but each decision pulled me further away from freedom.

What I felt most was dread. Every time money came up in conversation, my chest tightened. I avoided bank statements, delayed decisions, and joked about how “I wasn’t good with numbers.” In truth, I was terrified- terrified of getting it wrong, of being exposed as the amateur I was. I knew the stakes were high- my peace and freedom were at stake, but the whole world of investing looked like a locked room with no window in.

What changed was exhaustion. I realized I couldn’t live forever in avoidance. I didn’t need another stack of prospectuses or a course in financial jargon- my time was of the essence. I needed a way to make the path simple enough to follow and strong enough to trust. That discovery opened doors I thought were shut for good. It turned wealth creation from drudgery into something easy, playful and fun.

And here’s the best thing. Once I learned how to strip investing down to its essentials, everything else- my energy, my focus, even my peace of mind- began to recover. The strategy I’m about to share with you, dear reader, is how I stopped losing to complexity and started building a portfolio that works for me, not against me.

I. The Principle of Simplicity in Money

The first truth of investing is almost offensive in how plain it is: your best results will come from…

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Adrian stared at his phone in panic, heart pounding. The line went dead - again. His mutual fund manager had stopped answering. Two months ago, they were sending graphs with smiling emojis. Now the portfolio was bleeding and the house Adrian bought at the peak was under threat. He had trusted the system. He had done everything right.

He had told his wife not to worry. They had kids. A mortgage. A second car loan. “This is how wealth is built,” he had said. But now the fund was down 60%, and with no answers and mortgage payments piling, Adrian found himself searching YouTube comments for clarity and scrolling Reddit threads for hope. “Hold.” “Sell.” “Double down.” Every hour, a new opinion.

He started following hashtags. Sold during a dip when X was screaming ‘crash,’ bought back at a peak when influencers said “the bottom is in.” Loss after loss. Confusion turned to shame. They began to depend on their parents for dinner. His wife cried in the bathroom. He started whispering when answering bank calls.

Adrian wasn’t greedy. He wasn’t stupid. He just didn’t know what he didn’t know. He thought investing meant trusting so called experts, reacting quickly, and staying plugged into “the conversation.”

What he didn’t realize is that most people lose money in the market because they follow advice designed for click bait, not for wealth. Because they trust excitement and drama over evidence.

Today's entry is for you if you've ever wanted to invest your money and grow your wealth. Or if you've been burned before and want to know what you did wrong, before making another fiscal decision. Below, we'll talk about what causes people to lose money in the market - and how to stop making those same mistakes. These are the rules of the game that you don't break. Ever.

P.S: I want us to get the mental hurdles plaguing most people out of the way before we can get into the Stoic investment strategies for the utmost returns and hedge against risk, on our way to building wealth.

Next we’ll look at the considerations and tools necessary to build wealth according to your wealth building stage before we get into Stocks, Bonds and Portfolio strategies.

Previously,

I. The Stock Market Puzzle

The stock market is…

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P.S: Most of you loved this previous entry on How To Deal With Toxic People.

Adrian had just dropped $3,200 on a new leather couch. It was Italian. Hand-stitched. The salesperson said it would “transform his space.” But now it sat in his apartment like a trophy he didn’t want to look at. He hadn’t had anyone over in months. And half the time he sat on the floor because he didn’t want to wrinkle the cushions.

The worst part wasn’t the buyer’s remorse. It was the math. He opened his budgeting app and realized he’d just spent nearly everything he’d saved that year. Every shift he worked. Every freelance gig. Every meal he skipped. Gone—converted into cowhide.

And the high didn’t last. Not even a full hour. The dopamine fizzled before he got the thing through the front door.

That night he stared at the ceiling and had what he later called his “couch crisis.” He wasn’t poor. He wasn’t extravagant. But somehow he felt stupid. Like he was on a hamster wheel he didn’t remember stepping onto. Work. Save. Buy something big. Feel nothing. Repeat. Was this it? Was this the whole game?

He started asking questions no one had ever asked him before. What if money wasn’t just for spending? What if he was looking at it all wrong? What if the problem wasn’t what he could afford—but what it was costing him?

This entry is for anyone who's ever felt that same existential dread—that sinking feeling that you're doing everything “right” with money and still getting nowhere, yet it’s hard to come by. The essay offers us a different way to think. A way that opens up time, freedom, and actual peace of mind. It starts here.

Mistake I.

Most people think of money as a…

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Author’s note,

This marks the first entry of an ongoing series in the Wealth Playbook section for those who want a Stoic approach to becoming truly rich — covering all matters money, as this is something that glares at us yet we can’t neglect in our lives especially in this age where it’s impossible to be happy, at peace and free if you don’t have your finances in order. Yes, I’ll be the guy to talk about the elephant in the room because we live in the real world. I won’t pretend I’m not seeing it, because as you know by now — I’m not all about philosophical theory. This section also forms a crucial part of my campaign to make you an all rounded Stoic. This is not a get-rich-quick scheme; I won’t ask you to hustle harder either. All is I ask of my readers is that you control the money; don’t let it seduce and control you.

A.V

Adrian had always been the "fun guy." The one who’d buy the first round, pay for spontaneous weekend getaways and roadtrips, cover brunch when a friend’s card declined. It wasn’t that he made a ton, he didn’t, but the credit cards made it all possible. Or so he thought.

It started small. A few nights out, a new TV bought during a Black Friday sale, and a birthday trip for his girlfriend that she never stopped posting about, you'd wonder if she ever loved him. But the balances crept up, and the minimum payments started taking greedy bites out of his paycheck. He shrugged it off. He told himself he was building credit.

Then came the car loan. Then the phone upgrade on a payment plan. Then a second credit card to float him when the first one maxed out. Suddenly, he was $22,000 deep.

The stress hit slowly. First, it was the late-night pacing when bills were due. Then came the arguments. His girlfriend started picking up on it—how distracted he was, how stingy he’d gotten with her, how anxious he got every time the waiter brought the check. When she asked about his finances, he laughed it off. There was nothing to laugh about, he was losing his mind.

At work, Adrian started to feel like a prisoner. He couldn’t leave, couldn’t pivot careers, couldn’t say no to extra shifts. Worse, he'd get so anxious at the thought of losing his job that he'd lose sleep. All his life revolved around repayments and avoiding the consequences of a low credit score, lawsuits, repossession. The money didn’t belong to him anymore. It went straight to the banks. And he started snapping at friends, skipping events, avoiding calls -- there's a particular irritation and anger that comes with having little money to go by. Every part of his life narrowed. He was always tired. Always pretending to be happy. Always hoping next month would fix what last month took. He had lost the most precious thing of all, freedom and mobility.

And still, he kept spending—sometimes out of the fear of losing status among his friends and colleagues, sometimes out of "fuck it! You only live once. It can't get worse than this," which he'd regret the next day. The shame was so deep he couldn’t look at his bank app without his gut wrenching.

This guide is for him. For anyone who feels like Adrian. What follows is an exposition on what debt really costs you — financially and psychologically, how to approach ‘harmless’ debt like mortgages, student loans & business loans, and the best step-by-step way to eradicate debt fast and for good. If you want financial freedom, this is the best place to start.

Previously (most of you loved this entry),

I. The Problem With Debt

Somewhere along the way, we were sold a story. That to live well you had to…

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