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The Background to My £1M Journey
I recently recorded a short YouTube video explaining the background to my journey so far, why I share what I share, and how investing became tied up with a bigger question about freedom.
If you want to watch the original video first, you can do that here: The background to my £1M journey.
It did not start with a master plan
From the outside, a strong portfolio can look clean and deliberate. The truth is usually messier than that.
I had a decent job, a decent life, and the kind of setup that should have felt reassuring. But there was a gap between being comfortable on paper and feeling fulfilled in reality. That gap ended up mattering more than I expected.
Before I became serious about building wealth through stocks, I had already had two experiences that stayed with me. I made some money in Bitcoin early, but not enough to change my life. I also bought Tesla years ago, watched it fall, got nervous, and sold far too early.
Neither decision was a disaster. Both still taught me the same thing: being early is not enough if you cannot hold your nerve.
The emotional cost of selling too soon
One of the hardest parts of investing is not finding interesting ideas. It is living with the emotional discomfort that comes after you buy them.
In the video I talk about putting around £5,000 into Tesla, seeing it drop, then eventually selling around £6,000. At the time that felt sensible. Looking back, it was a classic case of protecting myself from short-term pain at the cost of long-term upside.
That experience, combined with an earlier brush with crypto, left me with a feeling that I had seen opportunities without really backing myself. The money mattered, but the bigger issue was what those decisions said about conviction.
That is part of why themes like what financial independence actually feels like and defining what enough means have become so central to how I think now.
Rocket Lab changed the scale of the journey
The real turning point came later when I started doing deeper research and came across the Rocket Lab story. It was not just a case of hearing a tip and buying a ticker. It was the combination of hearing a compelling thesis, doing my own work, and feeling that I understood enough to take the risk seriously.
I come from an engineering background, so some parts of the company and its culture made intuitive sense to me. That did not make the investment risk-free. It did mean I felt able to judge it with more confidence than I had in the past.
In the video I explain that I built a large position in Rocket Lab and that decision ended up changing my financial trajectory in a very real way. It is still one of the clearest examples in my own life of what can happen when research, timing, conviction, and luck line up together.
If you want the fuller stock case rather than the personal background, I have a separate post on my Rocket Lab investment thesis.
This is bigger than stock picks
The video is not really about trying to prove I was right on one company. It is more about why I started documenting all of this in public.
For me, the portfolio is tied to a broader question: what does freedom actually look like when work no longer has to dominate your life?
That is why a lot of my content sits at the overlap between money, investing, work, identity, and fulfillment. I am interested in the numbers, but I am just as interested in what the numbers are for.
That is also why I increasingly prefer to talk openly about the emotional side of the process. Missing opportunities, selling too soon, feeling isolated, wondering whether you have enough, and trying to work out what you actually want your life to look like all matter just as much as the ticker symbols do.
Why I am sharing this publicly
I want to be very clear about what this is and what it is not.
I am not trying to present myself as a guru. I am not selling a dream. I am not pretending there is a formula that, if copied closely enough, guarantees the same outcome.
I am documenting a real process in real time. That includes the parts that went well, the parts I got wrong, and the parts I am still trying to understand.
That is also why transparency matters to me. Over time I think my website will work best if the evergreen stock theses stay in place while the changing reality of what I own, how I think, and what has shifted gets documented through dated portfolio reviews and more personal reflections.
The real point of the journey
Reaching a number is not the whole story. The harder question is what you do with the freedom that number might create.
I am still figuring that out. That is probably the most honest way to put it.
If this topic resonates, the video is worth watching because it shows the thinking behind the account in a more direct and personal way than a written post can. You can watch it here: The background to my £1M journey.
You can also follow more of the day-to-day thinking on X, where I share portfolio thoughts, reflections, and updates as the journey continues.
Why I’m Deliberately Slowing Down My Contribution Rate
A high contribution rate to your investment portfolio is one of the strongest wealth-building tools available.
It is also possible to treat it like a moral contest and miss the point.
There are seasons where I deliberately slow my contribution rate, not because I have abandoned the goal, but because the goal includes a life I can actually inhabit.
Why this can be rational
If every year becomes an exercise in compression, you can hit numbers while hollowing out the present. That can create a strange outcome: progress on paper, resentment in practice.
I care about financial independence because I want a freer life, not because I want to win an austerity competition. That is the same philosophy behind caring more about enough than more.
What I am not saying
This is not an argument for uncontrolled lifestyle inflation. Spending can drift quickly from intentional to automatic.
The distinction matters:
- intentional spending that improves life
- unconscious spending that only raises the baseline
I am willing to do the first carefully. I still push back on the second, for the reasons in Why I Stopped Buying Things to Look Successful.
How I think about the balance
I ask whether a lower contribution rate in a given period funds something real: health, relationships, recovery, capability, or a memory that will still matter.
If yes, it can be aligned. If it is just leakage, it is not.
This is part of a broader maturity I wish I had earlier, especially around milestones like those in Three Things I Wish I’d Understood at £50k Net Worth.
Where I have landed
Maximal contributions to my investment accounts can be strategic. Permanent maximal deprivation usually is not.
I still care about building wealth and keeping the portfolio moving in the right direction. I just refuse to pretend that the only virtuous number is the highest possible contribution rate every month of my life.
I write more about these trade-offs on X and keep practical references on Wealth Resources.
Related reading
The Conversations Money Still Stops Me From Having
We talk about money constantly in abstract form: markets, rates, houses, careers.
We talk much less honestly about how money shapes private conversations, friendships, family dynamics, and the things left unsaid.
Even now, money still stops me from having some conversations as openly as I would like.
Where the silence shows up
It can show up around lifestyle differences. Around ambition. Around what feels expensive. Around the fact that financial progress can create distance as well as security.
People are not only comparing incomes. They are protecting dignity, avoiding envy, and managing identity.
That social friction is one reason financial independence is more complicated than a spreadsheet suggests.
Why this matters
If your plan for wealth ignores relationships, it is incomplete. Money decisions happen inside families, friendships, and cultural expectations.
This is also why status pressure is so sticky. Spending is sometimes communication. That is part of the pattern I unpacked in Why I Stopped Buying Things to Look Successful.
What I am trying to do better
- be honest without a superiority complex
- stay curious about other people's constraints
- avoid turning personal strategy into moral judgement
- accept that not every relationship can hold full financial transparency
None of that is tidy. It is still better than pretending money is only technical.
The deeper point
Some of the hardest parts of the journey are not market drawdowns. They are identity and belonging. I explore that more in The Part of Financial Independence No One Talks About.
Money can buy options. It cannot automatically create ease in every human conversation.
I continue these reflections on X.
Related reading
What I’ve Changed My Mind About in the Last Year
Changing your mind is not a branding failure. In investing and money, it is often a survival skill.
Over the last three years, several of my beliefs have shifted in ways that now feel obvious, but did not at the time.
1. From more at all costs to clearer enough
Old belief: acceleration is always good.
New belief: direction matters more than pure speed.
I still care about progress. I just care more about whether the progress is aligned. That is the core of Why I Now Care More About Enough Than More.
2. From volatility as danger to volatility as path
Old belief: smooth is safe and choppy is bad.
New belief: for long-term capital, volatility is often the fee, not the failure.
I unpack that more in I Used to Think Volatility Was the Enemy.
3. From confidence as strength to confidence as a risk input
Old belief: strong conviction means strong process.
New belief: strong conviction can also mean strong bias.
Being wrong while feeling smart left a mark. That is why I wrote about the investment I was most confident about and the process rule that followed.
What caused the shifts
Lived experience. Market cycles. Watching behaviour under stress. Getting far enough into the journey to notice that internal state matters as much as external metrics.
Also, writing in public forces clearer thinking. So does maintaining a real portfolio rather than a theoretical one.
What has not changed
I still believe long-term ownership, thoughtful risk, and personal responsibility matter. I still think tools and systems help. I still think honesty beats performance.
The details evolved. The direction did not reverse so much as mature.
I share ongoing mindset shifts on X. For tools that support the process, see Tools & Reviews.
Related reading
The Part of Financial Independence No One Talks About
Most financial independence content focuses on the escape.
Escape from the job. Escape from payday dependency. Escape from the feeling that your time is not yours.
That part is real. It is also incomplete.
The part that gets less airtime
As money pressure reduces, identity questions get louder.
If you are no longer organising life around survival or status, what exactly are you organising it around? What kind of work is worth doing? Which ambitions were real, and which were just defensive?
That is the part people under-discuss. Not because it is rare, but because it is harder to package.
Why this can feel lonely
When your priorities diverge from people around you, even good progress can create distance. Some conversations get harder. Some goals stop translating cleanly. Some old status games look absurd, which is liberating and isolating at the same time.
I write about the social edge of this in The Conversations Money Still Stops Me From Having.
Freedom is not automatic meaning
This is why what financial independence feels like has been more nuanced than the highlight-reel version. Relief arrives. Purpose does not automatically arrive with it.
The same is true of the unexpected upside. The freedom I value most is psychological room, which I wrote about in The Freedom I Didn’t Expect to Value Most. Room is powerful. It still needs direction.
What helps
- defining enough in practical terms
- building a life identity that is not only net worth
- staying honest about trade-offs
- treating money as infrastructure, not personality
That is also why I care about public process, writing, and a real Investment Portfolio. They keep the journey grounded in practice rather than fantasy.
Final thought
Financial independence can reduce pressure without automatically solving meaning. That is not a reason to avoid the path. It is a reason to walk it with open eyes.
If more people said this out loud, fewer people would feel broken for finding freedom more complicated than advertised.
I continue this conversation on X. For practical money references, see Wealth Resources.
Related reading
Why I Now Care More About “Enough” Than “More”
For a long time, I assumed the goal was more.
More income. More progress. More visible signs that things were working. Even when I would have described myself as thoughtful about money, I still carried a basic assumption that more was the answer.
More felt ambitious. More felt safe. More felt like the kind of goal nobody could really argue with.
The problem is that “more” has no natural finishing point. If you are not careful, it becomes a moving target that keeps pulling your standards further away just as your life improves.
Why “more” stopped feeling useful
I think one of the biggest shifts in my thinking has been realising that wanting more and knowing what is enough are not the same thing.
Wanting more can keep you in motion, but it can also keep you restless. You can make progress and still feel strangely behind. You can earn more, invest more, and build more, while still feeling as if the real sense of arrival is happening somewhere later.
At some point I started asking a different question. Not “how do I get more?” but “what would enough actually look like for me?”
That question changed things because it forced me to define success more precisely. Vague ambition can feel motivating, but clarity is much more calming.
What “enough” means to me
For me, enough is not early retirement fantasy or some dramatic life of excess. It is something quieter and more practical than that.
Enough means having a level of financial security where I do not feel constantly exposed. It means having options. It means not needing every decision to be driven by immediate financial pressure. It means my life becoming more stable, more deliberate, and more mine.
That is part of why progress towards financial independence has felt more meaningful to me than chasing surface level upgrades. The real reward is not status. It is space.
Once you define enough that way, a lot of other decisions start to look different.
How it changes day-to-day decisions
When I was more focused on “more,” it was easier to justify almost anything that looked like progress. Bigger numbers, better signals, more external proof that I was moving in the right direction.
Now I find myself asking different questions:
- Does this improve my freedom?
- Does this reduce pressure?
- Does this make life better in a real way, or just more impressive on the surface?
That shift overlaps a lot with what I wrote in Why I Stopped Buying Things to Look Successful. Once you stop treating appearance as proof of progress, you become much more interested in what actually improves your life.
It also affects how I think about investing. My Investment Portfolio matters to me not because it is a scoreboard, but because it is part of building long term optionality.
The risk of never defining it
I think there is a real risk in never defining enough for yourself.
If you never do, you can end up permanently chasing a future version of life that never quite arrives. Every increase becomes the new baseline. Every improvement quickly becomes normal. You keep moving, but the feeling of relief stays out of reach.
That is one reason the idea of lifestyle creep matters so much. It is not just that spending rises. It is that your expectations rise with it, and that can quietly undermine the very freedom you were trying to build.
Writers like Mr. Money Mustache and Monevator have both been useful reminders that more income does not automatically create more peace. Often it is the structure of your life and spending that determines whether progress actually feels meaningful.
Enough is not giving up
One thing I want to be clear about is that defining enough does not mean losing ambition.
It just means ambition becomes more intentional. You are no longer growing for the sake of endless comparison. You are growing in service of a clearer life.
That distinction matters to me. I still want progress. I still care about building wealth. I still want to improve my position over time. But I want those things to serve something real, not just feed an abstract appetite for more.
Where I’ve landed, for now
So far, I think caring about enough has made me calmer. It has made decision-making cleaner. It has made it easier to notice when something is genuinely useful versus when it is just another version of chasing validation.
I do not think I have this perfectly figured out. The pull of more is strong, especially when ambition, comparison, and money all get mixed together. But I do think defining enough is one of the healthiest financial decisions I have made.
For me, enough is not a ceiling. It is a reference point. It is the thing that stops progress turning into permanent dissatisfaction.
If you want more of the live version of this thinking, you can follow me on X. If you are trying to think more clearly about money, I keep a few useful references on my Wealth Resources page.
Related reading
What Financial Independence Actually Feels Like (So Far)
Financial independence is often described in spreadsheets.
People talk about net worth milestones, savings rates, withdrawal percentages, and the age they want to stop working. All of that matters. The numbers matter. But I think the emotional side of financial independence gets talked about far less, even though that is the part you actually live day to day.
So far, financial independence has not felt like one dramatic moment. It has felt more like a slow change in how much tension I carry.
It feels quieter than I expected
The biggest surprise for me is that progress towards financial independence does not feel exciting most of the time. It feels quieter than that. It feels like less background noise.
You stop panicking quite so quickly. You stop feeling like every setback is a crisis. You start making decisions with a little more space between the event and your reaction.
That space matters more than I expected. It is easy to think financial freedom will feel like winning. In reality, at least so far, it often feels more like having a little more room to breathe.
It feels practical, not glamorous
One thing I have learned is that financial independence rarely looks impressive from the outside. A lot of it is repetitive, slightly boring behaviour done consistently over time.
It is not usually a dramatic lifestyle. It is choosing resilience over appearance. It is building cash reserves, continuing to invest, and trying not to let short term emotion dictate long term decisions. That is part of why I wrote Why I Stopped Buying Things to Look Successful. The journey has made me value security far more than signalling.
That shift has probably been one of the most meaningful parts of it. You start to care less about looking like you have made it, and more about whether your life is actually becoming more stable, more flexible, and more your own.
It feels good, but not in a perfect way
There are real positives. More optionality. Less desperation. A growing sense that your time does not have to be sold in quite the same way forever. Even before full financial independence, that change in mindset can be deeply valuable.
But there are also things I did not expect.
Progress can feel strangely anticlimactic. You imagine that hitting a certain number will change everything, but most of the time you still wake up as yourself, with the same habits, worries, and unanswered questions. Financial progress solves some problems, but it does not magically give you an identity or a sense of purpose.
It can also create distance between you and other people. Money is still a difficult subject for many people to talk about honestly. The further you go down this path, the more you realise that financial independence is not just a maths problem. It is also a social and psychological one.
What it feels like day to day
Day to day, I would describe it like this:
- less fear around unexpected costs
- more patience when markets are volatile
- more confidence in saying no to things that do not matter
- more awareness that freedom is built gradually, not claimed all at once
That last point matters. I think people sometimes imagine financial independence as a finish line. I am starting to think it feels more like a spectrum. Every step towards it changes your life a little before you ever fully arrive.
You can see some of that thinking in how I approach my Investment Portfolio. For me, investing is not just about chasing returns. It is about building a life with more room, more choice, and less financial fragility.
The challenge nobody really mentions
One subtle challenge is that once money becomes less chaotic, you are left with bigger questions. What do you actually want your days to look like? What matters when survival is not dominating every decision? What kind of work would you choose if you had more choice?
That is the part of financial independence I think gets underplayed. It is not only about escaping pressure. It is also about becoming responsible for your own direction.
That can feel empowering, but it can also feel uncomfortable. Sometimes the structure you want to leave behind is also the structure that has been organising your life.
So what does it actually feel like?
So far, it feels calmer, slower, and more real than I expected.
It feels less like a victory lap and more like gradually removing sources of pressure. It feels less like luxury and more like relief. It feels less like having everything figured out and more like having a better foundation to figure things out from.
That might sound less dramatic than the usual version of financial freedom, but to me it is far more appealing. I am not really chasing a flashy end point. I am chasing a life that feels steadier and more intentional.
If you are on a similar path, I would suggest paying attention not just to the numbers, but to what is changing in your head and in your daily life. That is where a lot of the real value shows up first.
If you want more of the real-time version of this journey, you can follow me on X. If you want more practical reading, Wealth Resources includes a few of the UK sources I rate, including Monevator and MoneySavingExpert.
Related reading
Why I Stopped Buying Things to Look Successful
For a long time, I thought a better-looking life was the same thing as a better life.
I never said that out loud. But if I’m honest, a lot of my early spending decisions had very little to do with building wealth and everything to do with looking like I was. I told myself I was making “smart choices” or “rewarding hard work,” when in reality I was often just buying approval dressed up as ambition.
The Purchase That Changed My Thinking
One example still makes me wince. I once spent a significant amount on something mainly because it looked like the kind of thing successful people owned. It photographed well. It sent the right signals.
The problem was that nobody was really paying attention, not in any meaningful way. The purchase gave me a short burst of satisfaction, then quietly became just another thing I owned. It had not made me freer, safer, or more resilient. It had simply made me look the part.
The Realisation
The shift happened gradually. I started noticing what actually reduced stress in my life versus what simply impressed people for a few seconds. Having a cash buffer mattered more than having something flashy. Systems that saved me time and mental energy mattered more than possessions that photographed well.
That was the moment financial security started to feel more valuable to me than looking rich. Not in a preachy way, but in a very practical sense: security compounds. Status doesn’t.
How I Spend Differently Now
These days, before buying something, I ask a simple question: does this improve my freedom, my time, or my resilience? If the honest answer is no, I’m far less interested than I used to be.
That mindset shows up in a few consistent ways:
- I prioritise cash flow and investing over visible upgrades.
- I choose fewer, more useful purchases over frequent status-driven ones.
- I actively resist lifestyle inflation as my income grows.
- I ask whether a purchase buys me optionality, not just admiration.
There’s something quietly liberating about accepting that most people are too busy managing their own lives to notice or care what car you drive or what’s sitting on your desk.
Being Rich vs Looking Rich
The core lesson for me is simple: being rich and looking rich are not the same thing. One is visible. The other is useful.
Looking rich is a performance. Being secure is a position. And only one of those actually protects you when things go wrong.
The Takeaway
If you’re in that phase where spending feels tied to proving something, you’re not alone. Most people go through it.
The sooner you shift from spending for status to spending for freedom, the sooner your money starts working for your future instead of your image. That single change in mindset, more than any specific investment, is what actually moves the needle toward long-term financial security.
If you’re on a similar journey, you can follow along on X or explore my Investment Portfolio to see how these principles show up in practice.
Related reading
AbCellera (ABCL) 2025 Investment Thesis: AI Powered Biotech Research
AbCellera Biologics (NASDAQ: ABCL) offers a captivating opportunity for investors intrigued by the intersection of biotechnology and artificial intelligence. While the company’s share price has ridden a bumpy road since its IPO, AbCellera’s innovative platform, robust pipeline, and strategic partnerships suggest that this “AI-native” drug discovery company may be approaching an inflection point. For those eager to invest in the next frontier of medicine, here’s why ABCL deserves a closer look in 2025.
AbCellera’s Platform Advantage: Disrupting Drug Discovery With AI
At its core, AbCellera’s business model is built around a powerful AI-molecular discovery engine. Unlike traditional biotech firms that focus on a handful of experimental drugs, AbCellera leverages data-driven insights, automation, and proprietary algorithms to discover, design, and develop antibodies for a diverse range of diseases.
Three key platform strengths stand out:
- AbCellera’s platform can tailor molecular shapes to precise biological targets, making it possible to address highly complex or previously “undruggable” conditions.
- Partnerships with Big Pharma (like Eli Lilly and AbbVie) and government agencies generate milestone payments, royalties, and research revenue, creating a diversified income stream.
- As more drug candidates move through the clinic, the platform’s value compounds, establishing recurring revenue and a broader moat against competitors.
A good analogy here is comparing AbCellera to the “Palantir of biotech”—a company driving a major shift in how problems in medicine are solved by leveraging software and rapid data integration.
Pipeline Progress: Clinical Trials and Internal Programs
For 2025, ABCL’s narrative is pivoting from platform potential to clinical translation. The flagship internal drug candidates—ABCL575 (targeting the OX-40 pathway for immune-mediated diseases) and ABCL635 (addressing hormonal balance and menopausal symptoms)—are both entering clinical trials this year. Early-stage results could validate years of scientific development and unlock tangible value.
Other highlights:
- More than 20 internal discovery programs are progressing, giving AbCellera a robust internal pipeline beyond partnered efforts.
- The company aspires to submit at least two new molecules to clinical trials per year, aiming for a sustainable cadence of product launches.
- Success with these lead candidates could broaden AbCellera’s reach into autoimmune disorders, cancer, and complex metabolic conditions.
Building a GMP manufacturing facility in Vancouver means AbCellera can soon bring its drug candidates from lab bench to human trials even faster, bolstering the “design-to-delivery” promise.
Financials, Valuation, and Investor Considerations
AbCellera’s fiscal profile presents both upside and risk. While revenues dipped in 2024 due to a drop in COVID-related partnership milestones, analysts expect revenue growth to accelerate in 2025, with a forecasted 6.1% annualized growth rate—a healthy improvement from prior years’ declines. The company remains cash-rich, with $650 million on the balance sheet and an additional $200 million in committed government capital.
What investors should weigh:
- Analyst consensus rates ABCL as a Strong Buy, with a 12-month price target of $8 (roughly a 91% gain from recent levels).
- For the bold: Long-term models see bullish scenarios with multi-bagger potential by 2030 and beyond, highlighting the transformative prospects of AI-led drug discovery.
- The biggest risks: biotech is volatile, clinical trial failures or regulatory delays could impact sentiment, and milestone revenues remain lumpy.
Valuation now appears undemanding compared to the promise of its technology, and a single high-profile clinical win could rapidly change its earnings outlook.
Actionable Insights for ABCL Investors
- Keep a close eye on Phase 1 trial results for ABCL575 and ABCL635—early data will be pivotal for sentiment and stock direction.
- Monitor announcements regarding new partnerships or major milestone payments, which will bolster the revenue story.
- Watch for expansion in the internal pipeline, as more clinical trials signal the platform’s scalability.
Before You Go: Key Takeaways
AbCellera’s investment thesis hinges on the convergence of AI, drug discovery, and scalable innovation. Backed by a strong balance sheet, cutting-edge technology, and a maturing clinical pipeline, ABCL offers investors a levered bet on the next generation of biotech breakthroughs. Volatility and execution risks are par for the biotech course, but for those with patience and a long-term mindset, AbCellera’s journey toward redefining how new medicines are found and delivered may prove transformational. In short: ABCL is a stock for believers in the future of biotech—and one with the tools to shape it.
Investors should stay tuned for clinical trial milestones in 2025 and beyond; these could prove defining moments for both the company and its stock trajectory.
Explore More: My Current Investment Portfolio
Interested in exploring more investment ideas and tracking how these insights play out? Check out my personal investment portfolio, it offers a look at the stocks I’m currently following and investing in, including SOFI, Tesla, Rocket Lab, and other high-potential opportunities.