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7th November 2025

Hey Rebels! How are you doing?

It’s been a while since I wrote an update for you all! I used to write these Donegan updates all the time, and then… life happened. So I have a lot to share! Travel, teaching, experiments, spreadsheets, emotions, and the occasional “what were we thinking?!” detour.

Today I’m back with a theme that’s been running through everything lately: values. Knowing them. Using them. Making decisions with them. And discovering, sometimes the hard way, what happens when they clash.

As you read through our story see if you can see how we have failed to live by our values or managed to live up to them.

My Values

Many corporate companies proudly display their values on a poster on the wall. Do you work at a company like that? Now let me ask you… do you think the company lives by those values or is it just pretend?! When it comes down to it, do people in the company operate according to those values?

Over the last few years, Katie and I have been focusing more deliberately than ever on using our values to make decisions. For us they’re our decision‑making operating system.

As you read through this update, to be able to see if I’m living by my values, I need to tell you what they are! Katie’s values are slightly different but it’s Alan writing this so I’m looking from my perspective and my values. I’ll let Katie speak for herself!

Alan’s Top 8 “Towards” Values (in order):

  1. Health, Strength & Vitality
  2. Love & Deep Connection
  3. Creativity & Building at Speed
  4. Contribution & Impact
  5. Learning & Growth
  6. Fun & Adventure
  7. Environment & Lifestyle Design
  8. Wealth & Flow

You’ll see these pop up throughout this update. If you’ve never discovered, examined and written out yours in a prioritised list, maybe this is your nudge.

Website Update & Thank you

Firstly, a massive thank you to Rebel Ninjas Steve and Judith for their incredible work behind the scenes helping us to take our website from “cute home project” to “people actually read this!”. In July 2025 alone we had 185,296 unique visitors and 1,202,606 page views. That’s bonkers. We could never have reached so many people without Steve and the whole Ninja crew (there are countless others who’ve also been instrumental in helping along the way). Why am I mentioning Steve now?

Screenshot of website analytics showing visitor statistics, engagement metrics, and traffic sources for the Donegan Update.

After a couple of years of volunteering his time, Steve’s now moving on to new adventures. He is helping set up a charity and we’re excited to hear what comes next for him. Thank you Steve!

In the mean time, Katie and I are cooking up new plans for the site. If you’d like to help us take it further, send us a message. We’d love to hear from you.

Values in action: Creativity & Building at Speed; Contribution & Impact.

For me the website is a creative outlet and a way to share value with others. I get to share the things I learn and build something that has lasting value to others.

Venice life: sunsets, sandy feet, and… a fancy gym?! 🏖️💪

We moved to Venice beach at the beginning of September after 3 months in Brazil. We chose Venice Beach based on two of our values: Environment & Lifestyle Design and Health, Strength & Vitality. Every day starts with long walks by the beach, fresh ocean air, and space to think.

We have a little Airbnb by the beach with our own kitchen and we have been cooking in and working on health. We are loving it so far… although full disclosure: we’ve also been tempted (and occasionally defeated) by chocolate. So, it hasn’t been totally about health in every micro decision.

And yes, we joined a gym. A proper one. Not the “wipe down the dumbbells with your T-shirt” kind we used to make work before we became Financially Independent (FI). This time, we picked a space that inspires us to show up and train hard.

It has a cold plunge (yes I scream a little bit every time I get in) which is great for longevity and health. It has a sauna, standing bikes on the roof and yoga classes!

Why the splurge? Because Health, Strength & Vitality is our #1 value. We’re past the Sequence of Returns Risk period, our portfolio has grown, and our strategy has evolved, so we’re investing in what genuinely matters to us. As we were working towards being FI, we’d have hunted down the cheapest option, loved it, convinced ourselves the dust was character and made it work. Now? We’re designing a lifestyle that helps us thrive.

What got you here won’t get you there and we are working to adapt our frugal strategies to enjoy the wealth we have been building. This is something the FI community really struggles with… 40 years of frugality, saving and then switching to spending can be tough!

You need different strategies for different phases of your life. Different things are important to you at different phases of life.

We’re also absolutely loving eating in again. Our little Airbnb kitchen is getting a workout after lots of meals out in Brazil.

Values in action: Health, Strength & Vitality (minus the chocolate); Environment & Lifestyle Design; Wealth & Flow (spending intentionally, not mindlessly).

The Hoffman Process decision: booked… then unbooked

What is the Hoffman Process? The Hoffman Process is an intense week-long emotional bootcamp designed to help you break old patterns and reconnect with yourself. It’s deep inner work.

Katie did the process in March 2025, had an incredible experience and said I should go too. I booked flights, a hotel and organised everything. Then came the homework, including an instruction to find at least 50 patterns that you have out of a giant long list.

I worked for hours on the homework answering the questions, working through the patterns that they describe that hold you back and by the end I didn’t have the 50 minimum they required. The computer rejected my homework.

I called and asked for advice. What do I do if I haven’t ticked enough patterns to pass the homework? I said I didn’t want to just invent patterns I don’t have, and the response was “Fill them in or consider not coming.”

After speaking to three people, an enrolment coach, the enrolment director and a trainer and having all three ignore my concerns and try to manipulate me I was left in a bit of a mess. I wanted to do the course, I love to learn but I am not going to make things up to work on and I fundamentally disagreed with a lot of what they said on the calls.

To help me make a decision as what to do I mapped out the Hoffman Process against my values using AI to help. The experience did not align with 7 of my 8 values.

That’s a lot of red flags. So I opted out. They did give me a refund for my deposit, I got the flight money back but the hotel was non-refundable. I am still feeling quite peeved at their approach and the way they treated me.

If you’re curious what Hoffman is, here’s the official page describing the week‑long retreat and approach so you can decide for yourself: What is the Hoffman Process?

I have serious doubts about the ethics of their work and approach after dealing with them.

Values in action: The reason to go was learning and growth but after my interactions I felt like these were not the people to learn from. I didn’t trust them any more. The main value that was driving me to go vanished which made it a much easier decision to make.

Brazil: when values clash, everything feels hard

Back in 2022 we spent three weeks in Rio and we loved it so much that we booked three months there this year. Big mistake. Huge.

When we arrived our Airbnb was dirty, the kitchen had mouldy pans and dead cockroaches and there was a daily soundtrack of construction and street noise. That alone was rough, but the deeper challenge was a culture clash.

We repeatedly felt out of step with values that (to us) seemed to prioritise image and appearance over authenticity and substance. Being called vane is not an insult in Brazil. After a month, I wanted to leave.

Cycling down the beach in Rio, I got hit by a stranger and people walked at me in the street. I have only once felt more out of place than I did in Rio.

If you want a flavour of what we felt (written by someone who lived there for years), read Mark Manson’s An Open Letter to Brazil. It’s provocative and nails some of the tensions we bumped into.

Values breached: Environment & Lifestyle Design; Love & Deep Connection; Health (emotional as much as physical). Sometimes the best values‑based decision is to leave.

This has really started me to question cultures in different countries. Every single country has a set of values that are culturally trained into us… what is important, what isn’t. Having travelled to so many different countries I am really starting to be able to see and feel a country’s values and how they impact the people, the economy, the lifestyle, pretty much everything!

Bogleheads Conference: Been There, Done That, Writing About It

We’ve just come back from the Bogleheads Conference, and wow – what an experience! Jackie Cummings Koski’s talk was absolutely brilliant, and the whole event was packed with insights and community energy.

Alan Donegan at Bogleheads University 101 Basics Track sign during Bogleheads 2025 conference

We’re already written about what we learned so I won’t repeat myself here! Check out our first two articles:

If you want to explore the conference itself, here’s the official page:

And if you’re curious about Jackie’s work, dive into her podcast:

NinjaCon Bogotá & a huge Colombia celebration

In November, we’re heading to Bogotá for the first‑ever NinjaCon: fifteen Ninjas coming together to ask one question – how do we help more people and have more fun doing it? It’ll be strategy jams, experiments, and Colombian coffee.

Separate shout‑out to Rebel Business School Colombia: Dani and the team have built something truly special – delivering free, practical entrepreneurship across Colombia since 2020. If you want a sense of their mission and impact (and to practice your Spanish!) visit their site here.

We’ll be celebrating 5 years of Rebel Business School Colombia and the incredible work they’re doing to transform entrepreneurship education in South America. Proud doesn’t begin to cover it.

Important note: We’re in Bogotá anyway for Rebel Business School’s anniversary, so we thought, “Why not invite Ninjas to join us?” This doesn’t mean you need to be there in person. We’ll have an open virtual call for Ninjas worldwide so everyone can contribute ideas and be part of the conversation and collaborate regardless of geography.

Values in action: Contribution & Impact; Creativity & Building at Speed; Love & Deep Connection (community).

Katie Donegan presenting in Spanish at the first Rebel Business School Mexico event with Dani Angel, Co-founder of Rebel Business School Colombia, speaking to a seated audience.
Rebel Business School Colombia team with Alan Donegan and Simon Paine standing in front of a vibrant mural with arms outstretched.

Rebel Finance School 2025: what a year! 🚀

This year over 30,000 people from 54 countries joined RFS. We rewrote swathes of the course, added bonus sessions, and experimented like mad. Highlights:

  • Drawdown with John Buston – so many “lightbulb moments”.
  • Volatility Training – our first stab at experiential learning using a game app to simulate the chaos.
  • Katie’s new Financial Forecasting spreadsheet – cleaner, clearer, better decisions.

If you missed it you can sign up for free here: Rebel Finance School.

Values in action: Contribution & Impact; Learning & Growth; Creativity & Building at Speed.

Coming soon: a self‑paced RFS (email a week)

We’re turning RFS into a self‑learning course: sign up, get 2 emails a week, work through at your own pace. The aim is to make it easier to share with friends and family and increase the chance they’ll finish. What would make this most useful for you? Drop thoughts in the comments below. We are working on this at the moment with gamification and new sections in the course notes.

We know how to keep busy in “retirement”!

Values in action: Contribution & Impact; Creativity & Building at Speed.

Money Makeover Show: 7 episodes filmed 🎬

We’ve now filmed 7 episodes of the Money Hero Makeover TV project.

It’s been an incredible learning experience, deep dives into real finances, tough conversations, and those magic moments where someone sees a new future.

Computer screen showing video editing software with a Money Makeover Show episode in progress.

Producer Ben is editing the first episode right now, and we’re getting close to releasing the first ones for you. I never would have believed this would have been such a big project.

We have invested in a 4k portable film studio, lights, cameras, tripods, microphones and I have loved learning how to set it all up and make it work. I am both excited and nervous to see what you think of it!

If you missed the original announcement, it’s here: Money Hero Makeover – The TV Show Is Happening

Values in action: Contribution & Impact; Creativity & Building at Speed; Love & Deep Connection (with the people we help).

The Aussie Firebug episode 🎙️

I had a blast chatting with Matt (Aussie Firebug) about building businesses without debt, financial independence, and the weird, wonderful road that led us here. If you fancy a listen, here’s the episode page: Alan Donegan – Building Businesses Without Debt & The Rebel Way to Financial Independence (Episode 98).

Values in action: Contribution & Impact; Fun & Adventure; Learning & Growth.

Book update 📘

In case you missed it: Katie and I have been writing a book for the past two years – a project that started as a simple idea and turned into the biggest creative challenge of our lives. The book is called The Rebel Guide to Financial Freedom, and it’s all about helping you take control of your money, escape debt, and design a life you love – without the boring jargon or shame tactics.

We’ve shared some a behind-the-scenes update before.

Now, the latest: We just got the next version back from our brilliant editor Jordan. Now the ball is firmly in our court. Katie and I are going to start at the beginning of the book for the 5th thorough run-through. Turns out that writing a book is a MASSIVE project.

This pass is about clarity, making sure every idea genuinely helps, that the stories land, and that the maths and mindset pieces are simple, true, and kind.

After this, it goes for spelling and grammar, then design. We’re planning a little book retreat over Christmas for one last focused push. I had no idea how big a project a book is, especially if you want it to be genuinely helpful and epic quality. It’s the biggest thing we’ve ever committed to. Yes, even bigger than RFS. We’ll keep you posted as we progress. There is still a lot to do. Thank you to all the pre-readers that have already commented and helped us to really improve the book!

Values in action: Creativity & Building at Speed (or maybe not that speedy since we’re 2 years in at this point!), Contribution & Impact, Learning & Growth.

Future plans (rough sketch)

  • Nov–Jan: Bogotá (NinjaCon & Rebel Business School Colombia celebrations)
  • Jan: Disney for our friend Char’s 40th 🎂
  • Feb: Richmond and a possible extraordinary event with Brad from ChooseFI
  • Apr–May: Vancouver & our first cruise to Alaska! 🚢
  • May–Aug: Rebel Finance School 2026 it’ll be online as usual but we don’t know where we will be logging in from to run it this time
  • Aug–Oct: Australia (including TribeFI with Rob)
  • Then: New Zealand, a FI event with Bronwyn and hanging out with Ruth the Happy Saver

It is going to be a fun year. What are you planning for next year? What are your adventures, goals, ideas for the future?

Values in action: Fun & Adventure; Contribution & Impact; Love & Deep Connection.

Values-based decision making

  • Gym in Venice: Would Old‑Us have picked the cheapest option? 100%. Today, Health #1 + stage of life = choose the environment that energises us.
  • Hoffman: Booked, then walked away when the process and pre‑work demanded things that didn’t fit. My values made the decision clear.
  • Brazil: Hardest call was admitting a culture fit issue and wanting to leave early. Finding the Mark Manson article that so clearly and eloquently explained what we felt in Brazil was eye-opening for us. It has highlighted that we need to focus more on finding environments that support our values and we are culturally aligned with.
  • RFS & the TV show: Both are expressions of Contribution & Impact + Creativity – build, deliver, learn, repeat.
Quote text ‘Values aren’t a poster. They’re an operating system.’ over a vibrant Venice Beach sunset with palm trees and ocean.


Over to You

  • What are your top 5 values right now?
  • How do they show up in your decisions – big or small?
  • Have you ever felt a clash between your values and a situation in your environment, work, friends or family? What did you do?

Drop your thoughts in the comments. And if you want to go deeper, we’re thinking about creating a Values Worksheet to help you define yours – would that be useful? Let us know!

42 Comments

  1. Julie November 8, 2025 at 8:42 am - Reply

    Alan, thank you for being so open.
    Your Hoffman Process experience resonates with me.
    I am hoping to train as a coach, I found a company who were charging £4000 and I was ready to book, honestly. Then I attended their intro call and it was full of old-fashioned sales tactics. Time limited, limited spaces, avoiding direct questions etc. Had they told me what the course entailed and the benefits of it, had they lived the values the were supposedly promoting, they would have had my money. I am back to square one finding my way forward, yet I couldn’t divert from my own values and know I’ve made the right decision for me.
    I believe this is one of the best things to come from being financially secure (I am no where near independent!), I can make better decisions, I have a choice. If something doesn’t align with my values, I can now pause long enough to look at other options. Something not always afforded when your finances don’t support.

    • Eli November 10, 2025 at 7:36 am - Reply

      I don’t know what type of coach you were looking at becoming, but maybe have a look at PREKURE. I’m 6 weeks into it & finding it resonating with so much of what I already know and value. It’s health coaching, with options to focus on mental or metabolic health, and a lot of the foundational coaching knowledge would be applicable to any type of coaching. Realbalance.com would be another good one that’s more about life coaching as such.

  2. Sam Gray November 8, 2025 at 9:07 am - Reply

    Thank you for this email. It was great to read how your year has been and what is coming up. I will definitely re do my values. Lots of things to read from this email. Excited for the weekly emails too.

  3. Melanie November 8, 2025 at 10:36 am - Reply

    Brilliant thought provoking read.
    I’m off to write my list

  4. Mark November 8, 2025 at 12:15 pm - Reply

    Howdy!!! New to RFS but not new to FIRE world – I’m around your age so have lived many similar experiences to getting to where I am today (cycling over buying car, cutting own hair for decades, binging MMM & ERE many years ago lol).

    Anyway – I digressed – Did you ever spend time in Costa Rica? I went there for a holiday before Covid time & found it to be sublime. Staying next to us on the W Coast were a Dutch family who had chosen to move there for a whole year before their child started school. I was v jealous!

    • Alan Donegan November 8, 2025 at 2:45 pm - Reply

      Mark, Thanks for the lovely message. We met in Costa Rica in 2005. I travelled all the way to San Jose to meet a girl that lived 37 miles from my house in the UK near Uxbridge! it is a magical place and we love Manuel Antonio. it was stunning. So glad you messaged and it is lovely to hear from you. Alan

  5. kz November 8, 2025 at 12:36 pm - Reply

    Love what you are both doing-thanks for the inspiration! I am off this weekend to update my lifebook and design my next life chapter. see you down the road

    • Alan Donegan November 8, 2025 at 2:42 pm - Reply

      KZ that is amazing. I love that you are doing that. Let us know what the next chapter has in store for you! Sending happiness. Alan

  6. Sharon November 8, 2025 at 1:17 pm - Reply

    Great read – thank you for taking the time to share 😊 I think a values worksheet would be really helpful – I have lived in and visited a couple of places where I really was not happy and I couldn’t figure out why – I’m now wondering if it’s the values clash that you mention – bit of an aha moment! Looking forward to all the content (online, book and TV)! Happy travels xx

    • Alan Donegan November 8, 2025 at 2:39 pm - Reply

      Sharon, that is really interesting about the places you lived and felt unhappy. I felt un at ease, separate for some time and I had to keep going, journaling and thinking about it all to start to see the differences. I had to work not to judge it but just understand other people have very different values to me and that is cool, but I should find places that have more similar values! Thanks for the comment about the worksheet. I will have a go at that and I have a few ideas! Sending happiness and thank you for commenting. Alan

  7. Mark Petherbridge November 8, 2025 at 1:42 pm - Reply

    Wow 🤩 you certainly live full and rewarding lives. A great update Alan, thanks for everything 🙌

    • Alan Donegan November 8, 2025 at 2:34 pm - Reply

      What a lovely message. Thank you Mark. I want to live a full and happy life, create memories and leave a positive impact on the planet. You are fab. Thank you. Alan

  8. Helen Huang November 8, 2025 at 1:56 pm - Reply

    You two are such good people and successful at living your best lives! Thank you for all of your work and impact on the general public! After reading this recap post, I would love to get a values worksheet to help me clarify & identify my values, conscious & unconscious. Hope to see something like that & to read your book in the near future!

    • Alan Donegan November 8, 2025 at 2:34 pm - Reply

      Helen, it is lovely to hear from you. Thank you for commenting. I will work on the values worksheet and create it and get back to you. I have an idea to try and program AI to work with people to discover them too. I will do some testing and work and get back to you on it. Thanks for writing. You are awesome

  9. Bev November 8, 2025 at 2:23 pm - Reply

    Brilliant article. Very thought provoking. I really need to think about my values. Everything feels a bit wishy washy these days. I’m reading Mel Robbins ‘The Let Them Theory’ atm. That’s helping. I’ll definitely do the course again next year.

    • Alan Donegan November 8, 2025 at 2:31 pm - Reply

      Bev, thanks for commenting and the internal work of values, identity and more is really the cornerstone of all of this. Thank you for commenting and let us know how we can support you more? Did you ever find the extraordinary life course we did in 2022? It is still up until we do a new version… Alan

      • Bev November 8, 2025 at 2:59 pm - Reply

        Alan – thank you for taking the time to reply. I shall go and look for the life course now :-)

  10. Patricia Wright November 8, 2025 at 7:40 pm - Reply

    Thanks for the email and all the interesting information. I did the 2025 Rebel Finance course and have made some very scary but satisfying adjustments to our finances which are in the process of being further simplified. Leaving more time to enjoy life. Something about the process also drives an understanding of my values. Your prompt to write these down will add clarity and structure to this. Thank you

    • Alan Donegan November 15, 2025 at 4:42 pm - Reply

      Patricia, what a great post. Thanks so much for sharing what you are doing. I LOVE IT. And yes writing it down brings more and more clarity as you go. Sending happiness. Alan

  11. Kelley November 8, 2025 at 8:37 pm - Reply

    Really looking forward to the values worksheet with AI! Everything you and the Rebel team put out helps me so much. I’m at a point where I really need to figure out my values and start making some big positive changes in my life. Thanks for all that you, Katie, and the team do!

  12. Katie November 8, 2025 at 9:13 pm - Reply

    Hi Alan, I’m glad I found this newsletter tonight. I sit here concerned (2 weeks in) that I’ve made the wrong job choice, and I worry for my daughter who has left her uni course as the thought of doing that line of work now fills her with dread. I now realise if we don’t see something through to the end because it isnt right for us, we shouldn’t feel ashamed. The values worksheet would be valuable to help work through this. Many thanks, I’m a Rebel convert.

  13. Sharon Bell November 9, 2025 at 1:50 am - Reply

    Thank you for the updates, it’s inspiring to receive them post course to keep the energy flowing, life and finances are dynamic and challenging and the reminders to review my financial values keeps me steady on the path. Really looking forward to the emails from the upcoming course and of course your book! Love and gratitude to you both ❤️

  14. Mary Lowe November 9, 2025 at 7:32 am - Reply

    Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us so openly. I love values / principles based thinking and this has driven me over my lifetime and career. I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to navigate my work situations to suit even when they have potentially crossed my values (lots of deep thinking went on there) and it is very often situations with people who cross my values deeply that I take hurt from. Sharing your vulnerabilities is fantastic and is part of how RFS creates such a safe space for us all. It’s a rarity these days and a key driver for me as a leader in the organisation I work for. I also love the ethos of RFS being ‘it’s personal’. We invest a lot in our health and I know if we didn’t we could probably bring our retirement down by a year or 2 but we want to stay healthy and when we get there be as fit as we can be. If you fancy a new challenge look up yoga trapeze, a step on from normal yoga and great fun (but hard work!)

  15. Kirsten Ramsour November 9, 2025 at 1:20 pm - Reply

    Love hearing all the updates! Would enjoy hearing what countries you find DO align with your values in the future.

  16. Natalie November 9, 2025 at 1:53 pm - Reply

    Honestly, I love you both, Mr and Mrs Donegan! Every time I read an email from you, it makes me think (I’ve just written down 5 values, but I have to think it over again)! You are a wonderful couple. I’m also grateful that I heard about your course from a friend. It changed my life. A huge thank you for everything you do, and I’m looking forward to joining the 2026 course.

    • Alan Donegan November 9, 2025 at 4:46 pm - Reply

      Natalie your comment made my day! thanks for writing back and sharing that with us. This is how we live and think about our life so it is fun to share it and think about it with other smart and interested humans! you are fabulous! Alan

  17. Ann November 9, 2025 at 8:14 pm - Reply

    Hi Alan & Katie

    great to get your update. I understand that writing a book has lots of steps! I’m so looking forward to it being ready so I can buy it as a meaningful gift for people I’ve promised it to.

    Also love the idea of the short emails. Please find a way to let people know they will learn more by taking the time to do the actual course. I worry that people want everything to be ‘fast and easy’. I also get that speed and nimbleness is important. However often I see speed and things done poorly, and needing rework. The upshot is that it was slower overall than doing it properly the first time. That said, Really looking forward to the email series and will start promoting immediately!

    Finally can’t wait to have you back in NZ next year. It would be lovely to have more dinner catch ups and walks into the hills. Perhaps we could something more adventurous this time and have more people along! And I’ve already asked Bronwyn for a place on the retreat, having missed out this year!

    Best wishes with everything and thanks as always for everything you do!

    Cheers
    Ann

  18. Ann Schofield November 9, 2025 at 8:15 pm - Reply

    Hi Alan & Katie

    great to get your update. I understand that writing a book has lots of steps! I’m so looking forward to it being ready so I can buy it as a meaningful gift for people I’ve promised it to.

    Also love the idea of the short emails. Please find a way to let people know they will learn more by taking the time to do the actual course. I worry that people want everything to be ‘fast and easy’. I also get that speed and nimbleness is important. However often I see speed and things done poorly, and needing rework. The upshot is that it was slower overall than doing it properly the first time. That said, Really looking forward to the email series and will start promoting immediately!

    Finally can’t wait to have you back in NZ next year. It would be lovely to have more dinner catch ups and walks into the hills. Perhaps we could something more adventurous this time and have more people along! And I’ve already asked Bronwyn for a place on the retreat, having missed out this year!

    Best wishes with everything and thanks as always for everything you do!

    Cheers
    Ann

  19. Dr. FIREfly November 10, 2025 at 4:35 am - Reply

    Hi Donegans! Long time lurker, first time poster, two times RFS student :) Love the updates. So many points prompted thoughts (the RFS email course in particular, which sounds like a fantastic idea) but I must admit my brain snagged on “April/May” and “Vancouver”. Will you both be spending a bit of time in Vancouver before or after the cruise? Any chance of holding a meet up so some FIRE friends on the Canadian West Coast can come say hello and welcome?

    • Alan Donegan November 12, 2025 at 2:18 pm - Reply

      hey Dr! what a lovely message to get! Hell yes to a meetup in Vancouver. We are planning a few weeks maybe a month in town before the cruise then running Rebel Finance School afterwards but we haven’t worked out where yet. Would you help us organise venue and then we can put out an invite and make it happen. That would be AMAZING. We would love that. Alan

  20. Alison W November 10, 2025 at 10:50 am - Reply

    I appreciate showing us your vulnerability, it does go to show, that even if you have financial freedom, you have still got to work at the ‘life’ bit. Sunloungers and Sangria are only agreeable for a small amount of time, even though that’s most people’s dream. Since starting the course (we are on wk 6) it has honestly changed our lives, we are in our mid 50s and it’s been an absolute breath of fresh air, we do 30 mins every eve instead of doom scrolling. We have had the most open and honest conversations we ever have, especially around Visions & Values, so this article resonates how important those are, they really do come before everything else. Thank you for the invaluable information around investing, but not just that, what it means to be human and how things change along the way. The real wealth is going to be us looking back and not regretting anything, even if it didn’t go according to plan. Keep up the amazing work :-)

    • Alan Donegan December 2, 2025 at 11:27 pm - Reply

      Alison I LOVE that you do a bit of the course nightly instead of doom scrolling. I am working to reduce that too as it is a dangerous default! It makes me so happy you are chatting about vision and values and the future. Isn’t it fun to plan it together and work on it together. I LOVE THIS.

      and I agree entirely about looking back and regretting anything. Knowing we have gone for it, given it all is all that matters. We won’t always win but just showing up and doing it is the victory! Sending you happiness and thank you for writing! Alan

  21. Ruth Bell November 10, 2025 at 12:38 pm - Reply

    Great idea to convert the course to self directed learning. I think that to be effective as a self driven online course, you’ll need to make some quite big changes, and I would suggest you take advice from experts in distance learning.
    My own thoughts are 1. Much shorter sessions, with frequent breaks and pace changes. 2. Comprehensive downloadable written transcript for people who like reading and being able to print off and make physical notes. 3. The whole course needs splitting into smaller modules, to suit where people are in their life phase. Accumulation is quite different from ‘retirement’. 4. More signposting to trusted further sources, books, websites/channels, moneyhelper/pensionwise etc. especially for areas where you have less experience eg DB pensions, planning for later life etc etc 5. Think about how you can increase engagement and social learning, eg could you have an option for people to work through together with some peer support.

    I hope you will continue a live version as well, as I’m sure engagement is much higher with a set weekly timetable. Lots of people find that easier to commit to rather than something they have to get around to watching online….

    • Alan Donegan November 12, 2025 at 2:14 pm - Reply

      Hey Ruth, thank you so much for the comments and ideas and thoughts. The first version will be better notes and then emails that guide people through the already live recorded videos. We are producing an explainer series of videos which will be 15-25 minutes each which will cover some of the topics which we will launch on YouTube soon as well. It is such a big production in general and even if Katie and I worked full time we couldn’t produce everything you mentioned. Then we come back to other ideas, volunteers, earning money to pay for someone to help us build all the back end stuff needed for something like you describe…. We will get a basic version going and then work to improve it each year like we do with the course. I have copied out your ideas into our future ideas list to keep them. THANK YOU. Alan

  22. Martin Hart November 15, 2025 at 7:34 pm - Reply

    Such a thought-provoking post. In a world that seems to be ever more about impression management and less about being genuine it was a breath of fresh air to read. Thank-you for articulating my thoughts and feelings so well.

    • Alan Donegan November 27, 2025 at 1:49 am - Reply

      Martin, thanks for commenting. I really appreciate it. Alan

  23. Faculty of Economics and Management November 16, 2025 at 11:20 am - Reply

    fantastic blog, thanks

  24. Richard Lewis November 25, 2025 at 10:12 am - Reply

    Hi Alan, great update and article. Thank you! I did the RFS course this year on You Tube. It was so helpful and I’m now migrating to tracker funds over banks and shares. I wondered if a drawdown and personal tax course was in your plans, not least after tomorrow’s budget? Appreciate that would be quite UK-specific, but it (drawdown) does seem to be a bit of a minefield and another area where there are people out there happy to take lots of cash off individuals, who could really do it themselves (just as the IFAs do for investing). Best wishes, Richard.

    • Alan Donegan December 2, 2025 at 7:56 pm - Reply

      Richard I am so glad you wrote. Thank you. LOVE that the course helped. YAY. We have been thinking about draw down a lot. We tried to cover the whole thing in one go last year. Did you catch it? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUZFJbkCsuk

      We are planning to do another version where we break it up into different sections to make it more manageable. We will work on that probably next year! Thanks Richard!

  25. Richard Lewis December 4, 2025 at 8:34 am - Reply

    Thanks Alan, already done then! Can’t believe that I missed the bonus sessions, but will get into them next!

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