#62: Understanding the Cost of Your Life

The way my life is structured largely comes from decisions made decades ago. Flexibility today comes from taking an interest in cash flow as a concept in my 20s and taking time to build it slowly.

Life today is fairly simple. Kids, friends and family circles, passion projects. I do travel quite a bit but even that is intentional as I've developed my own travel hacking art form, my own ability to move around the world comfortably without spending the kind of money people assume travel requires.

At the end of February 2026 I took a look at my expenses to stay grounded. Not travel or anything unusual, just my own rhythm of life including kids, food, bills, and some social time.

That total came out to roughly $6,000.

My house is paid off but If I had a mortgage it would probably be around $3,000, bringing the total closer to $9,000. The key?

Those expenses are covered by cash flow built years ago.

That foundation was largely in place by 2014 at age 38. Starting age 21 for a seventeen-year period, I used paychecks from career to slowly buy income-producing assets, primarily small apartments. Nothing dramatic about the process, just consistency over time.

I broke it all down in Newsletter #33 - Breaking the Millionaire Myth.

What amazes me today is that the basic cash flow built back then still largely supports my life now. I’m 50 years old today, which means the financial foundation created by my late 30s has quietly been supporting my life for more than two decades.

Your Job is Not the Problem

We have this one life. Do something you love and leverage the pay.

Some of the most meaningful experiences of my life came corporate leadership, law enforcement, and military service. That is why I never encourage people to see financial freedom as a way to run away from career, rather, as a means to build your life book.

I worked with Diplomats in Somalia, the National Police Service in Coastal Kenya, and led my task force of Soldiers, Marines and Airmen in Uganda, Rwanda and Djibouti. Africa is unforgettable.

In the context of this newsletter, what mattered was how I intentionally used the income. The paychecks were capital to gradually acquire assets over time. Those assets eventually produced cash flow that supports my life today. Simple, in my mind.

Looking back, career was never the obstacle. It was opportunity.

The Number That Changed My Thinking

One of the most useful things I did during that period of my life was sit down and calculate what it actually cost to live.

Around 2014 the number was roughly $6,400 per month.

Mortgage, insurance, and housing expenses were about $2,400. Bills, food, gas, and normal life expenses were roughly $2,000. Kids, activities, some travel or social added another $2,000.

That number became the anchor point. Instead of chasing some abstract idea of wealth, I focused on the very practical objective of building enough income to cover that monthly number. Once I understood the cost of my life, the direction became much clearer. I consciously knew why I was going to work. Most are unconscious.

The Habit That Made It Possible

At some point I realized if I spent my entire life earning money and immediately spending it, I would always be working to support someone else’s assets. Credit card interest becomes someone else’s passive income. Car payments become someone else’s return. Look at the world that way and it becomes clear if you never buy assets you become someone else's.

So I tried to slowly reverse that.

In my early 20s, I created a 'Freedom Plan' reading library books. Basic idea was develop the habit of buying assets over time instead of buying things that required me to keep working.

That meant starting with a reason why (family and lifestyle), avoiding unnecessary spending, paying future version of self first, storing money until I had enough to buy something that produced income (books helped me figure out what to buy).

When those assets produced income, I folded that income back into the same cycle and continued. Over time that habit compounded and it's still a habit I follow today.

I broke it down in Newsletter #24 - You’re Playing the Game.

Nothing about it was extraordinary. Just a long stretch of buying assets instead of things that depreciate.

Why I’m Telling You This Today

There is a strong narrative today, especially on social media, that freedom comes once you reach an extreme level of wealth. My experience has been different.

I'm not a billionaire but live like one. My life design allows me to move around the world, cover expenses, spend time intentionally on things that matter, and build my life book.

It gives me something valuable: mental and physical space.

Space to focus on meaningful relationships, to invest in my spirituality, to pursue the kind of personal peace that is difficult to prioritize when life is driven entirely by societal noise. I beat the rat race and I know it.

Sometimes people assume that lifestyle came from later ventures like starting a private equity firm. No.The foundation was built much earlier through the decisions in my 20s and 30s working regular jobs and directing those paychecks toward assets and cash flow.

The Takeaway and Practical Action Step

Start understanding the cost of your life. Once you know that number build financial structure to support it. Two resources to help:

TLO Podcast Ep 126 – The Financial Blueprint: Designing Finances to Support Your Chosen Lifestyle I work with the 2025 TLO Mastermind on financial blueprints in real time.

TLO Podcast Ep 17 – Breaking the Money Rat Race, I walk through the freedom plan I developed years ago to free myself.

You don't need millions, but you do need a plan. Hope this reflection helped you.

Always here. Always Trying Life On.

Maurice