Most people overcomplicate the idea of financial freedom. They chase the next hot stock, the new altcoin narrative, or the dream of building a business that explodes overnight. And while those things can all play a role in wealth building, the truth is far more boring and far more powerful.

It all comes down to your savings rate. Your savings rate is the percentage of your incoming money that you save or invest and do not spend.

You might wonder why I am mentioning this in a newsletter where we talk about trading crypto and building businesses, which are inherently risk, but I think that’s the point. You can’t take risk unless you have a backup.

I was reminded of this while rereading an old but classic post from Mr. Money Mustache: The Shockingly Simple Math Behind Early Retirement. The whole premise is brutally straightforward: the percentage of your income you save and invest determines how quickly you can buy your freedom. That’s it.

Let’s break it down, and then let’s tie it back into the way I see crypto, business, and freedom playing together today.

The Formula Everyone Misses

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

• If you spend 100% of what you make, you’ll never retire. You’ll work forever

• If you save 50% of what you make and invest it, you can retire in ~16–17 years

• If you somehow save 70–80%, you could retire in under 10 years

It’s shockingly simple math because you don’t need exotic investments or 20% annualized returns to get there. Even modest compounding works when your savings rate is high.

Why? Because the more you save, the less you need. Financial freedom isn’t just about making more. It’s also about needing less.

When your expenses are low, you suddenly don’t need millions to sustain your lifestyle. And every dollar you save has double the effect. It reduces your “cost of living target” and adds to your investment base.

Now, you might be wondering: what does this have to do with crypto?

Well, crypto is an accelerant. It’s leverage. It’s a system that can create wealth faster than the stock market ever could, but it doesn’t replace the underlying math of financial freedom.

If you hit a 10x on a coin but keep spending everything you make, you’re right back at zero. If you hit multiple winners but never lower your cost of living, you’re stuck in the same trap.

I’ve seen it in my own journey. Early on, I thought the key was always “make more”, catch the breakout, find the next alt, ride the cycle perfectly. But the more I study both crypto cycles and wealth itself, the clearer it becomes: if you don’t fix your relationship with savings and lifestyle, you’ll never actually be free.

Crypto can speed up the process, but it can’t replace the process.

The second piece of this puzzle is business.

Crypto won’t always be tradable. There will be long stretches where the market is boring, sideways, or dead. That’s when most people burn out or overtrade themselves into oblivion.

Instead, those “off-season” periods are where you can stack another form of leverage: building something that earns while you sleep.

For me, that’s TikTok Shop. Last month alone, I sold over $3,000 worth of product. To date, I’ve crossed over $10K in revenue. Not life changing money yet, but a very real reminder that financial freedom doesn’t have to come from only one lane.

And here’s the kicker: the same math applies. The money from business is only as powerful as the savings rate attached to it. If I blow through that revenue, it doesn’t matter. If I reinvest it and keep my lifestyle lean, it accelerates the timeline.

Crypto + Business + Savings Rate = Escape Velocity.

Now let’s get real.

When you first hear about the savings rate formula, it sounds almost too obvious. But actually living it is hard because we don’t want to wait 10 or 15 years. We want it now. We see Twitter flexes, YouTube thumbnails, and stories of overnight wealth.

I fell for this too. In my early crypto days, I thought one cycle would be all I needed. I thought I’d time everything perfectly and walk away rich. But here I am, years later, still grinding, still learning, still building.

And you know what? That’s exactly how it’s supposed to be.

Because doing a 1% thing, like becoming financially free in your 20s or 30s, requires enduring what 99% of people won’t. You’ll fail. You’ll take hits. You’ll go through long periods where it feels like nothing is working.

But if you stick with it, and if you play the long game, the math eventually bends in your favor.

So how do we actually use this?

• Keep investing in crypto but think in terms of cycles, not days.

• Build income streams outside of trading, whether that’s a side hustle, TikTok Shop, your job, or your own business.

• Keep your lifestyle simple and your savings rate high, so that your timeline to freedom actually shortens.

Do those three things together, and you’ll be shocked at how much ground you cover in 5–10 years compared to everyone else stuck in the loop of spending, stressing, and starting over.

At the end of the day, this whole game of crypto, entrepreneurship, and saving isn’t about becoming a billionaire. It’s about creating a life with options and for me, freedom.

The ability to work if you want, not because you have to.
The ability to pivot into something fun, even if it doesn’t pay much.
The ability to weather a bear market without panicking.
The ability to buy cars or watches or houses or whatever.

That’s what a high savings rate buys you. That’s what crypto gains can accelerate. That’s what building a business can sustain.

You can make $10 million in crypto this cycle, but after the cycle, you’re going to need to take that money and park it somewhere. The majority of people would blow that cash because it’s more money than they’ve ever felt in their entire life.

I am urging you to realize this before you get wealthy and start implementing some key steps today. If you make $10 million in crypto this cycle, well the majority of it is going to keep you surviving for the rest of your life. You can probably buy a house and a cool car and go on vacation, but you cannot out spend your yearly returns on that investment if you want to remain retired.

The goal is freedom, remaining retired, and not blowing this one big shot we have because we had flexing impulses based on social media.

Just based on my base salary at my 9-5 today I have about a 50% savings rate (maybe slightly less). This doesn’t factor in added benefits like a bonus or my TikTok shop profits or my crypto investments. Having a high savings rate is key to sustainable financial freedom, which I think is what we all want.

I urge you to take a look at what you’re earning, what you’re spending, and how much of your true yearly or monthly income you are putting away for a better life in the future.

Thanks,

Dawson