Morning Musings: How do you win in a debt based economy?

Wealth, debt, and the quest for financial freedom.

At 7:30 a.m., my partner and I strolled toward a cozy café near the park. On our way, we paused to examine the glossy images adorning the eight-foot wall surrounding a construction site for a new high-rise. From the rooftop of our apartment building earlier, we’d already noticed the skeletal framework emerging from the ground. Now, the images displayed sleek, digital illustrations of luxury suites before us, promising a high-class lifestyle for the modest starting price of $225,000 USD.

Odd, isn’t it? A price tag on something that doesn’t yet exist—a concept confined to cyberspace and some architectural blueprints. Yet, even this intangible promise finds buyers.

Breakfast was a pleasant discovery. The café offered a refreshing change from our routine patronage to the colonial expansion of Starbucks. If we must enrich someone, why not millionaires over billionaires? My drink—a surprising mint-infused coffee—soothed my sore throat. This flu had laid me low for four days, but thanks to my girlfriend’s creative brews (onion tea, of all things!), I felt like I was finally turning the corner.

On our way back, we again passed the construction site. I couldn’t help but reflect on the chain of wealth and labor behind such a project. Investors will undoubtedly rake in millions, while contractors and workers bring the vision to life. Once completed, “small fish” will open thirty year long mortgages to purchase units as investments, renting them out to smaller fish like me. It’s a vast, interconnected system fueled by debt—an ethereal concept that somehow manifests these towering structures.

The math of it is mind-boggling: the more wealth someone accumulates, the easier it becomes to amass even more. It’s not inherently malicious; it’s simply how the system is structured. Yet, it’s a system that thrives on extracting the energy, time, and lives of those at the bottom. As someone striving for success, I harbor no resentment toward those who have reached the top through legitimate means. Still, I often wonder—once they’ve secured such comfort, power, and security—what is it that the wealthy continue to desire?

Living within this framework feels like swimming upstream in a flood, the cost of living rising faster than my ability to save. It’s clear that playing by the conventional rules isn’t the path to a truly free and uncompromising life. To break free, I need to rewrite the script and play the game differently.

Questions on my mind

This morning, as I walked home past those luxury illustrations, questions churned in my mind:

• How can I save in a way that preserves or even grows my wealth?

• What kinds of assets should I target once I’ve built a modest foundation?

• How can I turn a snowball into an avalanche, creating multi-generational wealth for my future children?

The answers aren’t obvious, but asking the right questions feels like the first step. Maybe the secret isn’t about catching up to the big fish—it’s about finding my own current in this strange, bizarre river of opportunity and exploitation.

Got any ideas?