Photo © Agustín Montoya – www.agustinmontoya.com

MY STORY

Not long ago I decided to place a bold trade and move along, leaving corporate. It was not easy and many people did not understand, as the trade implied breaking a potential career, a future, the financial security of my family (I have three kids) and the reputation I had in the company I worked for during 10 years.

I traded all of that for the pleasure of enjoying the no-pressure, a simple life, my marriage and kids, for rediscovering myself, and also for helping others.

With time, I wanted to understand what having that time could mean for my life. Just living differently for some time. That was the plan.

During this time, besides enjoying a myriad of things that I unconsciously traded for a long time, I devoted myself to the study and understanding of money, something I always felt attracted to, since being a kid and compiling the 100 pesetas-coins my father used to give me back home from his trips, one by one, asking myself “how could I make this money grow” when piling up the coins over and over again and exchanging them for bills with my father time after. That question was down there, for a long time, and did not pop up until it had to, when it had to.

At the moment I left my corporate life I had a good pool of savings, one gut feeling stronger than ever, and I was totally decided to test myself and see If I could make that money work for me, instead of giving my money to others.

And I did that. And, actually, it did not go wrong at all, in fact it went pretty well. Originally, it meant risk on the paper and also it meant “craziness” in the eyes of many, however, I felt it as the moment of truth and opportunity, so I jumped off the cliff.

Indeed in the risk/reward poker play, the latter won, just because I was open to lose. There are so many things you win when you are just open to lose…!!!

So, back to what I did…

During all this time I understood how money is created, who creates it, why things are more expensive due to inflationary (official and hidden) erosion, why income inequality is bigger than ever, why housing ownership has decreased twelve years in a row in the US, why education is way more expensive without improving results, why people pay more or less taxes, I understood a lot of things…  and I started to tell people about it.

All of the research and time I spent always led me to the very same conclusion, the financial system is carefully designed, regulated and controlled to extract wealth from individuals at the bottom and bring it to the top.

It is very simple to understand, you just need to ask yourself the right questions, and look for the responses. And all of us, up or down in that specific layer, regardless of our origin, socio-economic birth, status, income levels, degrees or beliefs, are still part of that bottom. People building the rules are way higher in that same pyramid, and way richer than Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates. They do not appear in the Forbes list, we don’t even know who they are, they do not have a Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter account.

The second conclusion I got to is that money erodes, rapidly, much faster than we think. Even if it is not visible, you can still notice when you pay attention. Call it rent, groceries, tuition, textbooks, health insurance premiums, all of that can perfectly be a measure to realize how fast your money erodes over time. 

And curiously, the smaller the item you pay attention to, the bigger the erosion is in proportion. We hardly pay attention to the smaller scales, but small proportions are massively present in our lives, in everything we eat, we buy and enjoy every single day. And we pay for that, big time.

There are many ways in which the erosion of money can take place or be fueled, but the most powerful way by all means is the creation of money, monetary policy. The more money is created, the faster your money erodes, and info is at our reach, it is very easy to check how much money has been artificially created all over the world in the last ten years.

It is not that easy to understand the astronomic proportions of the creation and its consequences, though, as it will not be that easy to stop creating it. The economy designed in the last decade is addicted to the excessive and easy money creation, or credit expansion, better said. Only 3% of that huge money creation that took place is paper money you can touch and see. The rest, that 97% is pure credit, artificially created. And all of that, the full 100% is only backed by your trust, there is nothing else behind it. That trust you have on the fact that this money is worth something is what makes it valuable. Without that, money is just a piece of paper that loses value over time, either in a form of paper money, or as a number in a fancy bank’s computer.

 

The third conclusion I got to is that most of the financial institutions, most likely, will not do with your money the same they would do if that money was theirs. It is simple, when looking at the main alternatives of investment that any of us has.

Average returns are poor and the lockdowns you need to respect are too stringent in many ways. You are not free to invest wisely, to really understand what you are doing, as the process, brokers and financial institutions allegedly take care of your choice. Most people invest their money on 401k, pension funds, retirements funds, stocks, without understanding the real price you pay for that.

And the price is simple to understand, your money is locked and you are given choices of investment that in reality are very spread in time, having too many changing variables out of your control playing around and exercising the biggest influence over it. Variables you are asked to respect never stay unchanged over time, that is the real drawback, the trap.

My last conclusion is that, intentionally or unintentionally, people tend to hear the advice and guidance of mainstream media, digital, printed or TV, in all its many forms; and media does not help to make wise decisions, more the opposite.

All the directives of mainstream media to invest in big companies, ETFs and trendy stocks are usually outdated and already squeezed when they get to us. The big bucks are already made, and we get the pennies, but with all the risk as a nice and flashy good-looking wrapping paper that shouts “this is a great deal, so BUY”.

So what is the result?

Today, I am making money to work for me, and it is giving me way better life than a “full-life” job.

When I was working full time, as a General Manager position at a division level for a big company, in a subsidiary on the Top 12 worldwide (at that time), I used to have a significant level of responsibility, difficulties to enjoy my personal life, and also pressure. And even with all of that, I still liked my job, mostly because the influence I could make on people, and because the job could be mentally challenging and people/team-oriented quite steadily.

But I was done with unnecessary complication, waste of time, lack of leadership and examples, and corporate BS; I was upset by witnessing how corporate greed runs over people over and over again, all of that as an exchange for great work and dedication. Most people don’t stand up and talk against that, and that is the only reason why it is the rule.

Talent is abundant in corporations like the one I worked for, but unfortunately courage is really scarce and expensive.

So after standing up and speaking up after a long time, I departed. And I did with a huge backpack full of gratitude and loving words from many, many people. And with a good CV I don’t use anymore! J

And still, with a feeling of gratitude to the company for the experience I lived. A company that forgot that return of shareholders and generation of cash to acquire innovation does not cover all.

I still miss the good people who surrounded me, my team and all the talented and privileged people I had the immense luck of sharing work and time with; all the challenges and achievements, the turnaround we made to make the business shine, and the feeling of fighting for good within a politic machine that supposedly wanted to reinvent itself without the real courage implied to do so.

Now my life is quite different, I left a job I liked, but I am way more free, creative, balanced and my “salary” to call it such, gives me my life back, keeping my family safe. I can spend time with my kids, quality time, walk them to school, I can teach them to think for themselves, to question and to look for truth.

I can have time and enjoy my wife, I can read, I can play the piano, I can help people around me, and do consulting jobs for small businesses, even for free if I feel it is the right thing to do. I can swim in the morning, and I also can educate myself, because I have time, and the more I do it, the more I get, and the more I get, the more I can give.

So what do I do in EudaimonHUB?

Simple. I try to help people to take simple steps to walk towards financial independence, as a way to pursue realization, to become more free and aware of what is really happening. I try to spread what I discovered, and the reasons behind doing what I do.

That is what I provide as a “service”, so to speak…