Never Retire: The Floor Pays the Bills, The Ceiling Builds the Life
Freelance income keeps my baseline secure. Projects like Never Retire and Friki de Bici push the ceiling higher.
Most of us live with two kinds of financial architecture: a floor and a ceiling.
The floor is the baseline—the minimum you need to cover expenses, keep the lights on, and buy peace of mind.
The ceiling is what’s possible when you push beyond that baseline—when you invest in projects, take risks, and stretch into something bigger.
For most of my life, I’ve carried the same pressure: to do well enough to cover the floor, keep a cushion, and carve out a life that wasn’t merely survival, but fun. That pressure hasn’t gone away. If anything, it’s sharper now.
But here’s the difference: I’ve also never been more excited to work.
I felt excitement in the past—whether it was bartending, studying urban planning, or starting freelance work in Los Angeles. I was the guy who showed up early, set up, and dove in.
But here in Spain, at fifty, building Never Retire and Friki de Bici, watching my wife as she grows her ceramics career—this is another level. The pressure is still there, but it’s tied directly to the excitement. It feels less like fuel. Quite often I experience what feels like a caffeine high—this healthy anxiety to create, ride, write, and push my projects forward.
That’s why the floor matters. It’s not just about covering rent and groceries. For me, the freelance writing income that makes up my floor is what buys me the stability to wake up every day excited, knowing the basics are covered—so I can put more energy into the ceiling.
The Ceiling
If the floor is what keeps me stable, the ceiling is what keeps me awake at night—in a good way. It’s the part of my work that doesn’t just sustain life, but expands it.
For me, the ceiling is everything I’m building beyond freelance income: Never Retire, Friki de Bici, YouTube, even the possibility of buying an apartment here in Spain.
These aren’t side projects. They’re the upside—the chance to turn ideas and passions into primary income, measured in euros, not just dollars.
The ceiling is what turns pressure into that caffeine high. Riding my bike through Valencia with a camera, drafting a new post that ties finance to culture, brainstorming with my wife about her ceramics business—none of this feels like “extra work.” It feels like possibility.
Here’s the key: the ceiling only works because the floor is solid. Without a steady freelance baseline, the pressure would turn into panic. With the floor secured, the ceiling is where I can take risks, experiment, and push.
If a Friki video flops or a Never Retire post doesn’t convert, I don’t spiral. The floor holds. That’s what makes the ceiling possible—and sustainable.
But this isn’t just my structure. It’s one anyone can borrow.
Most people treat their income as one undifferentiated pile, which is why pressure feels overwhelming. The floor/ceiling split forces clarity:
What’s my floor? The minimum I need each month to feel safe and steady.
What’s my ceiling? The projects, risks, or investments that make life more than just survival.
Once you know those two numbers, pressure feels different. You stop asking, “Am I doing enough?” and start asking, “Is my floor covered—and am I pushing the ceiling just enough to grow?”
That’s the practical side. The other side is time.
At 25, you don’t think much about dying.
At 40, maybe it crosses your mind, but you still feel like you have forever.
At 50, abroad, the thought is sharper: the decades ahead are precious. I want them to be long ones—hell, I want to live to 100, which is why I pitch people to buy a founding membership to Never Retire—but I also know this window is more constrained and more dependent than any other in my life.
That’s why the floor/ceiling system matters so much now. It’s not just about money—it’s about using pressure as fuel to build the life I want while I still have decades to live it.
Here’s how I actually run the system: what my floor is in euros, how much of my income and time I dedicate to ceiling projects, and the rhythm I use to keep both moving forward without burning out.
Use the button below to grab a founding membership. About €90 or $100 gets you a lifetime subscription—a solid deal, even if I don’t make it all the way to 100.
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