Financial Freedom 1 - 2025 New Year Cohort
Financial Freedom 1 - 2025 New Year Cohort
Fall 2025 Cohort: January 1st - February 28th (Registration closes Jan 10th)
Taking Control of Your Finances to Live the Life You Want
Is your relationship with money the missing piece in your puzzle? Without financial literacy, it’s hard to live the life you want. Learn the basic math, mindsets, and behaviors to build towards financial freedom. We'll explore the emotional triggers and influences on your financial life and discuss the hidden assumptions of consumption and debt in our capitalist system. The goal is owning all of your time, attention, and energy without worrying about money for the rest of your life.
Tier A Pricing: $997 ($60/hr or above wage earners)
Tier B Pricing: $797 ($30-$59/hr wage earners)
Tier C Pricing: $497 ($16-$29/hr wage earners)
Tier D Pricing: $297 ($15/hr or below wage earners)
See our Pricing Policy for more information on tiered pricing.
NEW POLICY: Register and pay for the course and if you finish, I WILL REFUND YOU. I really want people to take control of their financial lives to live the life they want and will be happy to give you your money back. If you do it. The money isn’t overly important to me; the money is simply a commitment device for you to do the work. In order for you to do it, you need skin in the game.
This is a self-paced online course, meaning you can take it wherever you are and according to your own schedule. You will be in an online community where you challenge and support each other as you work through the lessons. You will have me as your coach, reading and responding to all your posts, giving you feedback and encouragement. You have two months to complete 32 lessons, each about 45-60 minutes long. It’s work. And it’s transformative.
Here's a radical idea: there is only one person ultimately responsible for your financial health: you. Yet you probably spend little time thinking about or learning how to manage your finances. There’s no benefit in waiting to fix that. Most people live unconsciously or avoidant about money. As a result, people get victimized by the capitalist system, living in financial fragility and feeling like they never have enough. You can remove that worry and scarcity in your life by taking control of your relationship with money and build the life you want.
Over the course of your lifetime, you will earn, and spend, millions of dollars (do a little math and you’ll realize it’s true). This course will help you get clear about the reality of living in a world where money matters and help you take ownership of your relationship with it. You will dig into the larger picture of money in your life, understanding the largely unconscious and unexamined beliefs you have about it, and consider how they affect you. With moral vision and thrift, you can take control of those beliefs and the direction of your financial future. You'll learn the seven levels of financial maturity, from financial dependence, or living paycheck to paycheck, to saving conventionally, and, lastly, having financial freedom. We'll explore the influence of your family background and the hidden assumptions of consumption and debt in our capitalist system. The course is about reclaiming ownership of your time, attention, and energy, and freeing yourself to do what you want to and were meant to do.
Understand the basics of money.
Write your financial manifesto and fit money into living according to your values and who you want to become.
Change your money mindset, which matters more than strategy or tactics.
Learn how to distinguish between the essentials and the excess in your life and learn how enough is better than more.
Take the emotional scripts out of money decisions. Balance present spending and future spending with clear eyes.
Make a budget, lower your expenses, eliminate debt, increase savings, and live with more financial security.
Feel in control of what’s coming in and what’s going out, lowering stress and self-doubt.
Increase your amount of free time by reducing expenses and the amount of time you spend working.
Heal the split between money and your values, making your life one integrated whole.
Know how much you need to retire
Have a goal for when to retire
Feel more comfortable talking about money to others
The course is work. It’s doing math, it’s emotional work, it’s a serious reexamination of your lifestyle and beliefs. It’s also worth it. People who have finished the course report saving $100-$800 per month more because of the changes they made. In other words, the course pays for itself many times over. But only for those willing to do the work.
Module 1: Understanding money. Talking about money is taboo in our society, which means we aren’t often aware of our relationships with it. We’ll start with our internal assumptions about money, where they came from, and how they dramatically influence our lives. Then we’ll talk about the personal savings rate and how it affects how many years you have to work.
Module 2: Reducing consumption. The personal savings rate only has two components: spending and production. We’ll talk about the profound personal and global implications of taking control of the first: consumption. How do consumption and debt increase stress in your life? How do they affect the world environmentally? How does a culture of more systemically keep people in a cycle of chronic dissatisfaction?
Module 3: Writing your manifesto and making a budget. No matter where you are on the path, working towards financial independence moral vision and willingness to change. You’ll draft your financial manifesto and learn about the behaviors and attitudes that ensure financial security. We’ll discuss “real hourly wage” and the miracle of compound interest, both in debt and in investing. Then you'll make one-year, five-year, and long-term budgets that match your values, aspirations, and priorities.
Ultimately, financial freedom is about desiring and believing in a different future than the consumer capitalist one you were taught. Financial freedom is the ability to do what you want with your time, attention, and energy without having to worry about money. The true meaning of financial independence isn’t being able to buy whatever you want; it’s owning every hour of your time for the rest of your life. Read about SOFF founder Douglas's experience of achieving financial freedom by age 42. Or you can listen to the podcast episode.
You have two months to complete 32 lessons (about 45-60 minutes apiece). You’ll have support and accountability from other students in an online discussion board. You can take this class anywhere in the world. The class community is important, so be prepared to share and contribute on the online discussion board; it’s where a lot of the learning comes from. You will also have me, Douglas, the founder and writer of the curriculum as your coach. I will be reading and responding to every post you make, giving you feedback, additional insight, and encouragement. There are also at least three optional weekend Zoom meetups/office hours to meet your fellow students, share questions, and get connected.
To get a better idea of the course, you can listen to the School of Financial Freedom podcast, which features past students explaining their favorite lesson and what it’s meant to them years after the course. You’ll get a good taste of what you’ll learn in FF1 and the fellow students you’ll meet in class.
Douglas Tsoi, JD, is the founder of the School of Financial Freedom. For twenty years, he worked as a lawyer, schoolteacher, and climate change activist, saving half of his salary and investing the rest. That earned him financial freedom at age 42 to do what he wants with his time, which includes helping people take control of their finances, make a plan, and live the life they truly want. In his spare time, which is considerable, he plays soccer, naps, travels, offers spiritual direction and spiritual-financial coaching, and runs The Appreciation Effect, a website that helps people create joy, connection, and meaning for their loved ones.