The money curriculum
The Money / Freedom Flywheel
This is the engine room. The flywheel is the mechanism that turns Money-plane wins into four-plane freedom. Without it, money just piles up and the other three planes stay rented.
Earn → buy income assets → income buys back time → time deepens Place, People, Ideas → repeat. Every turn of the wheel makes the next turn easier. That's the whole game.
The path, in order
Six steps. No shortcuts.
Know your number
Not a guru's number — yours. What does your actual life cost per month? Most people have never added it up. You can't buy back time until you know the price of it.
Kill bad debt
High-interest debt is a flywheel spinning backwards — every payment buys someone else's freedom. Clear it before you build. This step is boring and non-negotiable.
Build the first income engine
Forget "passive income" fantasies. Aim for the first $500 a month you didn't trade hours for. Five hundred a month changes how a person thinks — it proves the flywheel is real. Then scale it.
Shelter it
In Canada, the tax shelters are flywheel grease. A TFSA shields your growth from tax entirely; an RRSP defers it while you're earning. Plain version: hold your income assets inside the shelters first, unsheltered second. (General education, not tax advice — your situation is your own.)
Protect the downside
Flywheels break. Keep cash reserves, don't bet the engine on one asset, and never risk money that would change your life if it vanished. Survival first — returns second.
Practice the life
Don't wait for "someday" to live on the other three planes. Take the Tuesday off now. Visit the people now. The flywheel funds the life — but you have to actually live it while it spins.
One income engine, explained
The wheel, in plain language
One engine I use myself: the wheel strategy. It's built from two simple options ideas.
Cash-secured puts: you get paid a premium today for agreeing to buy a stock you wouldn't mind owning, at a price below today's. If the price never drops there, you keep the premium. If it does, you buy the stock at your chosen discount.
Covered calls: once you own the stock, you get paid again for agreeing to sell it at a higher price. Premium now, either way.
Round and round — that's why it's called a wheel. It generates monthly cash flow instead of hoping for price appreciation. It's not magic: you can still lose money, options can get complicated fast, and it takes capital and study to run properly.
This is education, not a recommendation. Understand the machine before you touch it. Paper-trade it. Read the boring documents. The flywheel rewards the patient and bills the impatient.
Honest limits
- This page teaches concepts, not picks. You'll never find "buy this" here — that's the prime rule.
- Conal is not a licensed advisor. Nothing here is personalized advice for your situation.
- Every engine on this page can lose money. If someone tells you otherwise, they're selling something.
- Canadian tax notes are general education. Talk to an accountant about your own return.