Mike (Michael) Petry

The older I get, the more I think that building wealth is only half the financial journey. The other half is understanding what you want that wealth to make possible. You can spend decades increasing your salary, growing your portfolio and reaching bigger financial milestones. Then one day you realize that you've become very good at accumulating money without ever deciding what enough actually looks like. For me, that's where the psychology of money becomes interesting. I've been exploring these questions through Modern Financial Philosophy, looking beyond the numbers at the behaviour and decisions that shape our financial lives. I write more about these ideas on my NobodyToldMike Substack. Join me here: nobodytoldmike.substack.com

In 2018 I earned about 80,000 euros a year. On my 40th birthday I was only about a fifth of the way to one million. Nobody took my money, and I can tell you exactly where it went. New video on lifestyle inflation, with a made up example, not advice. youtu.be/gzhlz_DHq50

Your Financial Plan Should Survive Being Wrong nobodytoldmike.substack.com/…

Markets have a way of testing our emotions. A falling portfolio, alarming headlines and uncertainty can make even experienced investors question their decisions. That's why we created What NTM Told Us. In our video The Crash Everyone Gets Wrong, we look at market volatility and investor behaviour. Understanding what happens is one thing. Understanding how you react is another. Watch here: youtube.com/watch?v=29uKfnET…

Germany's September inflation reading was 3.3%, with energy prices up 14.9% year on year. Those numbers aren't just economic statistics when you're paying the bills. I've always thought financial planning should start with real life, not just investment returns. A growing portfolio means less when your monthly expenses leave you with no room to breathe.

The latest crypto security scare is a reminder that owning an asset and controlling its custody are two different things. Exchange risk, operational risk and market risk don't disappear because the asset is on a blockchain. When investing, understanding what you own is important. Understanding where you hold it matters too.

Thursday was a reminder that an index can look diversified while a small group of huge companies dominates the story. More than 400 S&P 500 stocks rose while technology stocks struggled. I think investors should understand what is actually driving the index they own, rather than assuming that buying an index automatically means they're exposed equally to the whole market.

Having worked around finance transformations, I've seen that buying technology is the easy part. The hard part is turning the investment into productivity, cash flow and returns. AI may change how businesses operate, but the spending still has to make economic sense. A brilliant technology doesn't automatically make every investment a good one.

One thing I've learned from working around finance for years is that knowing how money works and knowing what you want it to do for your life are two very different things. That's what I write about in the Modern Financial Philosophy Letter. Money psychology, investing, financial freedom and the decisions that shape our lives. If that's your kind of conversation, you can join here: mikepetryjournal.com/

I've been building something around one question: What is money actually for? 1) "NobodyToldMike" explores the psychology behind money 2) "WhatNTMToldUs" explains the mechanics of investing and finance. 3) MikePetryJournal.com is where I think more deeply about what money means in our lives. 4) And NobodyToldMike. com gives you free tools to put those ideas into practice. Different formats, one question.

You don't need to be the smartest investor in the room. You need a plan you can stick with when the market falls, when everyone else seems to be making easy money, and when doing nothing feels like the wrong decision. The hardest part of investing isn't always knowing what to do. Sometimes it's not getting in your own way.

One of the strangest things about money is how quickly we get used to having more The raise feels great, then the upgrades begin, and eventually the new lifestyle feels normal A year later you're earning more but don't feel much further ahead Sometimes the problem isn't how much you earn It's how quickly you get used to having more.

The older I get the more I think about what money is actually for Not the bigger house or the nicer car... I dont need and wish that anymore, but the freedom to decide how I spend my time and with whom I spend it with You know, you can always make more money But you can't make more time.

A question I've been thinking about: > If your investments grew enough tomorrow that you no longer needed to work for money, what would actually change in your life? > Would you stop working, work less, spend more time with family or simply feel less pressure? I'm curious how different the answers are, because financial freedom probably means something different to each of us.

Pay Off Debt Or Invest, The Answer Isn't Obvious Most advice says paying off debt is always the smart move. For my apartment loan the answer depends on the rate. At 1.3 percent my investments only need to grow a little over 1 percent to catch up, and after 2028 they need around 3. Not advice. Reply: Full video: youtube.com/watch?v=ZhgewZop…

Imagine waking up tomorrow and not needing your next paycheck to pay your bills. You might still work and you might keep doing exactly what you do today. The difference is that you have a choice now. That's the part of financial freedom I find most interesting, not the luxury you can afford, but the decisions you no longer have to make out of financial necessity.