Howdy, I'm John! I'm an investor, an author, and an iOS developer to the stars (or at least startups).

The notion of wealth fascinates me. I blame Duck Tales and the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. I don't aspire to dive into a giant safe full of gold coins, or to own any gold-plated plumbing fixtures. That's not why those TV shows fascinated me. Those shows fascinated me because they were about people who do ridiculous things. I may not want a crazy mansion with fountains in my foyer, but I'd love the freedom it implies.

My personal goal is to have freedom, so I can spend my time as I like. I also enjoy helping other folks get through the complexity of personal finance, into the taking action phase. There are plenty of pitfalls to avoid, but the actual mechanics of saving and investing are pretty easy.

I've experienced several kinds of startup failures while managing to keep my finances doing well. First, I founded a part-time publishing business with a friend. We made information products that didn't sell before that was really popular. Fail.

Later, I joined a medical startup. That one was funded by the founder's previous successes, and later destroyed by the founder's ego. I took a giant pay cut to join this rollercoaster. I learned a lot of good lessons watching a successful product get eclipsed by poor business decisions.

I used what I learned at the medical startup to consult for third startup company, this one with investors and a fancy office. Here I learned how to run my own business (as a consultant), while watching my client struggle with marketing, and eventually pivoting to an entirely different market.

Next, I left the consulting client to work for a famous Unicorn. As you can imagine, I experienced and saw a lot of interesting behavior. I learned how to manage my own personal finances in a variety of environments, and I observed a lot of interesting behaviors related to personal finance in founders and other members of these startup companies.

When I'm not obsessing over personal finances, I enjoy photography and dream about windsurfing.