An early retiree traded his electronic spreadsheet for an indicator of activity

Brandon has been retired for three years and writes about his experience on the blog "The Mad Fientist".Courtesy of the Crazy Fientist

There is nothing wrong with tracking your expenses and saving up to the dollar. In fact, many personal finance experts rely on detailed spreadsheets to build wealth.

That's exactly what Brandon, aka the "Mad Fientist", did since he was saving 70% of his after-tax income while he was living in rural Vermont, and then again. Edinburgh, Scotland.

At age 34, Brandon considered himself financially independent. He left his software developer job to spend more time traveling with his friends and family and spending time on his hobbies.

Brandon recently reflected on this "third year of freedom" during an episode of his podcast, Mad Fientist. After interviewing a financial expert and a productivity expert this year, Brandon said one of the most important changes he made was following his habits instead of his slightest movements.

"I finally started to relax a little more with money," he said. "But we're trying to deprogram 30 years of programming because I've always been frugal, it's something I do not know where it came from, but even as I grow up, my family would make fun of it. from me just to be so focused on money and to be so frugal. "

Brandon said that he was always updating his financial spreadsheet at least once a month, but a recent conversation with Ramit Sethi, financial expert and bestselling author, prompted him to step back.

"I plan to update my spreadsheet, maybe every quarter, every two weeks, or even a day with a bit of luck, but at least the last few months have somehow made things easier, a- he said. make decisions simply based on the lowest cost, which I think is not healthy. "

But Brandon did not completely abandon the spreadsheets: he turned away from the management of funds to follow the habits, he said. The idea came from James Clear, productivity expert and best-selling author, who says that the activities you do on a daily basis become habits, which ultimately become your identity.

"So, in my spreadsheet, I have columns that say," Drive, "" Force, "and" Creativity, "Brandon said. "And in the reading column, I simply list all the books that I have completed during the year, and in the strength column, indicate how many days in the month that I went to the gym and in the column of creation, I just list all the things that I created and then published in the world ".

Brandon said keeping a current list of all the activities that he helps to achieve his goals is both "motivating" and a way to make the most of his days. He also writes the "highlights of the year" to determine what makes him happy and to which he wants to devote even more time.

"Although it may not be as fun as updating my financial spreadsheet," he said, "it's really rewarding to do it and try to divert my attention money rather than money, rather than doing things and creating and new identity and post-FI life ".

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