My Intention: A Life of Value, Not Status

Years ago I dated a woman who asked me frequently – "What is your intention?" Not my intention with her – not if we would get married or have children – but what was my intention with my actions.

The question maddened me because I so rarely thought about the intentions of my actions. I would tease her about this question.

But she was smarter than me in this way and I regret that teasing today. It took me another five or so years to learn that if you don't start with your intention, if you don't "call your shot" as another mentor once told me, you will likely flounder.

Knowing intentions and stating them is valuable. The only way to get the life I want is to know the life I want.

I write to you here after a successful life in the West. I worked at some of the biggest name technology companies, at failed early-stage startups, and in the Fortune 500. I had a high-rise apartment in a major city full of modern furniture and the latest technology.

I recognize how fortunate I was to have that life, but inside I was not happy. I didn't like the status games, the judgment, or the expense of the West. I was especially tired of the political division and anger that I saw every day, and of the grinding economic inequality that I had little power to do anything about.

So in late 2025 I opened my parachute, bought a one-way ticket to Asia, and decided to build the next chapter of my life here. I like the vibe more. People are nicer, the food is healthier, cheaper, and more varied, and the pace of life is slower.

There are far fewer status games here for me to play. I'm fortunate enough to be able to opt out of them because in almost every sense, I've already achieved what that game measures. I could go sit on a beach for the rest of my life.

But for me at least, sitting on the beach gets boring after a few days. In addition, based on what I have seen, those who punch their ticket and check out of life early quickly fall to ruin both mentally and physically.

I have a need to stay healthy and engaged with the world. A need to read, reason, and write. I need a game to play.

After months of careful thinking and reading the excellent advice of Charlie Munger, especially the list linked here, a few key principles stick out:

• Avoiding stupid mistakes is more important than being smart.
• Find out what you are best at. Then pound away at it. Forever.
• What do you have an intense interest in? Do that for your living.
• Self improvement has no end.

With that, here is my intention:

I intend to create a healthy life in Asia. One where I am encouraged to stay healthy, to read, think, and to engage with the world. One where I add tangible value. But also a life where I have plenty of space to be an introvert, to take long walks without being bothered, and to enter social situations with a blank slate.

I like to stay in local hotels, eat at local restaurants, and take overland trains and buses. I want to build a massive investment portfolio over the next few decades while still having the freedom to live modestly and below my means.

Using my real name on this blog would make that impossible. So if you know who I am or eventually figure out my real name, please keep my name to yourself.

My work here should be a flywheel. My reading will drive my investment decisions and my writing will force me to think through them clearly. My investments will encourage the things that I think are good for the world to thrive, and if I am correct they will return value to me.

That value will sustain my life in the near term and be redistributed in the long term.

Finally, I hope for my writing here to be a resource for people like me when I was younger. People who want to make money and create a life they are proud of.