January 2026 Wrap-Up: Retiring Early, Business Dirtbags, Soul of Minimalist Freedom, and Race Toward Real Growth
In January 2026, I dove into FIRE math, Yvon Chouinard’s radical business ethics, and Emerson’s self-reliant wisdom to sharpen the path toward a healthier, freer, and more sustainable minimalist life.
January was bit quieter. I spend most of the month at home with my family and was a little less productive—at least in the sense of writing for The Rich Minimalist.
Nevertheless, I started work on a new service:
The Financial Freedom Mentor
I will covers this new app in more detail at the end of this post, or on the financialFreedomMentor.app website.
Apart from that, in January I published some more about FIRE math, Yvon Chouinard and Patagonia’s radical business ethics, Emerson’s self-reliant wisdom to sharpen the path toward a healthier, freer, and more sustainable minimalist life, and a podcast about how signing up for competitions can be a catalyst for personal growth (the Race Toward Real Growth).
Last but not least, the reminder that subscribers to The Rich Minimalist get my book Solar Serenity: Designing Your Off-Grid Tiny Home (Amazon best-seller) for free.
If you haven’t received the book yet, or if you have any other feedback, send me a message:
Happy reading,
Manfred
On to the summaries of this month’s posts:
The FIRE Movement: A Minimalist Guide to Financial Independence, Retire Early
A deep dive into the 4% rule, the 25x FIRE number, and how intentional, minimalist spending can drastically accelerate your freedom date—without sacrificing what truly matters.
Ralph Waldo Emerson: Self-Reliance, Nature, and the Soul of Minimalist Freedom
An exploration of Emerson’s ideas on self-reliance, nonconformity, nature, and the Over-Soul, translated into concrete “Rich Minimalist” practices like auditing imitation, embracing solitude, and living debt-light.
Yvon Chouinard: The Reluctant Billionaire Who Turned Patagonia into a Minimalist Blueprint for Real Sustainability
A portrait of Patagonia’s founder as a “dirtbag” climber who built a global company around simplicity, durability, and real sustainability—and then gave it away so Earth could be the only shareholder, offering powerful lessons for values-aligned, minimalist living.
January Podcast
Race Toward Real Growth
In this episode, I share how signing up for a Spartan Race, turning off-grid chores into “wild workouts,” and training with minimalist tools like bodyweight and a single kettlebell strengthened my body, mindset, and resilience while living the rich minimalist lifestyle. I also present the Spartan Race Preparation Program.
My New “Financial Freedom Mentor” App
I developed an app for myself to calculate, monitor and manage the key metrics on my journey to financial freedom. I found it super useful. It increased transparency, and improved my decision making and disciplined.
I decided to improve this app and publish it for general use: The Financial Freedom Mentor app. It will be available probably in March. It integrates the core principles of the Rich Minimalist philosophy with the practical math of FIRE.
It helps you:
Track your Savings Rate and Passive Income growth in real-time.
Visualize your FIRE Number and the progress toward it.
Reduce debt.
Get your questions answered by a Money Mentor.
Build your financial knowledge via money micro lessons.
In the meantime, you can already start calculating your financial freedom date. It’s entirely free. Click the button below to access it:
Thank you for being part of The Rich Minimalist community! My goal is to share practical insights into minimalist living, health, and freedom.
Revisit these favorites, and let me know any feedback. Please share with friends:
Stay healthy, stay free,
Manfred