Your financial Satnav is broken
Ditch the earn-more, spend-more trap
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The newsletter is a day later this week, because I was running the Lisbon marathon yesterday.
It didn't go as planned but I finished it and that makes me happy!
But picture this: You check your bank balance after another bonus lands.
Six figures sitting there. Impressive numbers.
So why does that knot in your stomach get tighter?
Your money GPS is broken
Here's the thing: You've got a broken financial SatNav.
Think about it. Your car's SatNav needs two things to work: where you are and where you're going. Without both? You're just driving in circles.
Same with your money.
Lost without a destination
Ask most high earners where they're heading financially, and you'll get a shrug. "More money, I suppose?"
So they do what everyone else does. Earn more. Spend more. Nice car upgrade. Bigger mortgage. Fancier holidays.
Before they know it, they're 45, exhausted, and completely dependent on next month's paycheck.
You don't even know your starting point
Quick test:
What's your actual take-home after tax?
How much do you spend each month?
What have you already built up?
Blank stares, right?
Without your coordinates, any advice you get is useless. "Save 10% of your income." "Get on the property ladder." "You need a medium-risk fund."
Might work for someone. Won't work for you.
My €1 million wake-up call
Before 2020, I'd done everything "right". Good job. Decent house. Some savings. Even had shares through work.
But I was lost. Just earning and spending on repeat, hoping something would change.
Then I found a simple calculation that flipped everything.
If you can live on 4% of your investments, you never need to work again.
Three minutes with a calculator. That's all it took to see my finish line for the first time.
The 3-step path that changed everything
Suddenly I had coordinates. Starting point: here. Destination: freedom.
The gap? Massive. But now I could see it.
The path became obvious:
Keep more of what I earn
Avoid debt like the plague
Chuck everything into simple index funds
No more chasing crypto moonshots. No more property schemes. Just a simple system that actually works.
From clueless to confident
Within months, I could see milestones appearing:
Emergency fund: sorted
First €500k: mapped
Business launch fund: building
First €1,000,000: visible
Financial freedom: inevitable
Not hoping. Knowing.
Monday's workshop was brilliant
Monday's session with 23 people was brilliant. We fixed their broken SatNavs together.
We covered exactly how to:
✅ Calculate your freedom number (most people guess way too high)
✅ Find where you actually are (the good, bad, and ugly)
✅ Plot your quickest route to independence
Pick your next workshop
I'm planning the next workshop, but want to know what would help you most.
Hit reply with your number:
Investing 101 - Breaking down all the asset classes (stocks, ETFs, pension, crypto, gold)
Escape velocity - The step-by-step plan to leave corporate without going broke
Money conversations that don't end in divorce - How to get your partner on board
Kids who get money - Teaching them what school won't
Why your brain hates wealth - The psychology that keeps you poor (and how to rewire it)
That is it for this week. I am off to fly home to celebrate my birthday :)
Sjoerd
P.S. - Which part of the satnav do you need help with? The starting point? The destination or the journey?
Sjoerd Bak
Become a Millionaire Ltd
www.bamillionaire.com
