The Mad Fientist emerged from his laboratory in early 2012 with two goals:

1) Research and develop strategies to reach financial independence sooner

2) Talk to other people who already retired early to find out how they did it

To achieve the first goal, he analyzed the tax code, created a lot of spreadsheets, and ran experiments.  These efforts lead to the discovery of many innovative tax-avoidance methods that helped him retire years earlier.

For the second goal, he launched the Financial Independence Podcast and has since interviewed dozens of early retirees to find out their financial secrets.

In 2016, at the age of 34, the Mad Fientist was able to walk away from his career as a computer programmer for good.  He now spends his time creating free financial and travel-hacking software, writing, and making weird noises on synthesizers.

Now, he’s conclusively reached an audience with over 300,000+ pageviews per month amassed on his website, and 2.5 million podcast downloads.
‍

‍
Isn’t it better to be rich than to look rich?

— The Mad FIentist

‍