Financial Independence is Personal Independence: How to Become More Sovereign

Probably one of the smartest guys on the planet, Balaji S. Srinivasan did a talk on the Network State in February of 2021: Balaji S. Srinivasan: The Network State

The key lesson for me coming out of this is the importance of becoming financially independent. 

How to become Financial Independent? 

Move away from expensive geographies (goodbye San Francisco & New York City). Cut personal consumption & live like a grad student. Basically digital nomadism and geo-arbitrage. His example: Instead of making $120k & spending $100K to live there, get a remote job and make $120k but live on $40k. Save and invest the rest. Save enough money to last you for a few years and start a company or just continue to invest. This buys you freedom to do whatever you want. Reducing consumption and having less physical stuff gives you more mobility. Mobility is leverage against the state. 

These are an extension and a more tactical recommendation from the classic book “The Sovereign Individual.” A Must read by the way. 

WHY is this important? 

As a well travelled observer, I’ve noticed some things over the last half decade in the western world that have definitely been exacerbated by the encroaching growth of the State and large technology platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google, Amazon. Even more so during the 2020 Pandemic.

1. Freedom of Speech is diminishing fast as we have seen people on both sides of the political fence be deplatformed or just shut off for no explanation.

2. Cancel Culture Reigns supreme in western World where people are “cancelled” or fired because the unthinking mob deems what they do to be wrong (or thinking differently)

3. Rising Tribalism and Nationalism leading to closed borders. How many countries shut their borders to others in 2020. Pretty much most countries & you learned how useless your passport really is in these situations. 

This is why it’s more important than ever for those independent minded people to build resiliency and build geographical as well as financial diversification. Do not be too dependent on one income, or one job or one company. It’s never a good idea to have all your eggs in one basket. You never know when the cancel mob will come for you, sometimes even based on just one tweet taken out of context or you liking someone's tweet. Yes, it’s becoming that stupid in America, Canada & Western Europe. Insane when we have so many major problems in healthcare, climate and inequality to solve.  

For the sane & rational ones among us, we just need to survive through this mess as the world is transitioning fully to the future Information Age. We are moving from a world of farmers staying in one place back to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle of old that is now enabled by technology. This is “Digital Nomadism” where one can pick up stakes and go where both the weather and the culture is better or more receptive. One example is the exodus of many talented techies to Miami most recently in 2021 and this is a quality over quantity conversation. 

This will be an age where Countries and States will fight for talented people to stay relevant. This transition will happen but it will take a while (like a decade or two). For those who don’t believe this is happening, just take a look at what Singapore, Estonia, Portugal, Georgia, Taiwan, Dubai in Emirates, Finland or North Macedonia are doing. They are all small countries focussing on creating business, capital and immigration friendly policies combined with attractive lifestyles, environments and good infrastructure. They are clearly software centric and forward thinking countries that act as signals for what the future will look like. This is the exact opposite of the old & large lumbering countries and State entities that dominated the 20th Century. 

As the famous Schumacher book states “Small is Beautiful.”

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