Today, I’m returning to Rude basics, as many new subscribers may not know or understand what we’re all about.

No one loves flapping his gums about geopolitics or the markets more than I do, but above all, I love the freedom to do what I want when I want.

I used to write about that freedom much more in my early days as editor of this venerable newsletter. With your permission, I’d like to revisit it and its related topics more often.

You may or may not know, the Rude’s Four Pillars of Financial Freedom are:

1. A second passport
2. An online business
3. A bit of crypto
4. Getting in great shape

Most of the time, the above plan or similar plans encourage running away from governments and their associated tyranny.

What if I told you that you could stay in one place and accomplish the same objective of being free?

In this edition of the Rude, I will detail how owning my business has allowed me to stay in one country with minimal interference from overarching bureaucrats.

The Home Office

One of my good friends from childhood had a father with a perpetual scowl on his face.

He was the most miserable man I’ve ever known.

To be sure, he was always kind to me.

But he never smiled for any reason.

I realized that my friend’s dad didn’t drive to work.

He’d walk a few blocks to the bus stop and then commute into New York City for his big corporate day job.

During the 80s, if you took the bus to work in New Jersey, you were poor.

He wasn’t. He owned a car. Nevertheless, he commuted by bus, day in and day out, for decades.

I never understood why my friend’s dad was so miserable.

…Until I started commuting from New Jersey to New York City for my job at Lehman Brothers.

First, my mother would drive me to the train station. Then, I would switch to the PATH train. Next, I would navigate from under 1 World Trade Center to Number 3 World Financial Center.

Finally, I’d reverse the process at night.

Make no mistake: commuting day in and day out sucked.

After about three months of that commute, I resolved to find a better way.

When I moved to London a few years later, I cut my commute to 25 minutes on one train.

Once I quit banking, I started to work - at least sometimes - from home as a financial trainer.

This was in 2007, long before the term “digital nomad” was invented.

Besides my enormous mistake of returning to work for a big bank in Hong Kong for three years in 2015, I’ve been working from home, at least partially, for 17 years.

As far as I’m concerned, reducing or eliminating commuting is the only reason you need to open a home business.

And erasing the additional commuting costs is enormously beneficial.

I’m not just talking about the cost of train tickets and the time it takes to get from home to work and back again.

No stupid Starbucks coffee bills every month.

Pam makes a pot of fresh Lavazza coffee every morning. It's much better than SBUX’s burnt offering and way cheaper as well!

No ad hoc drinks after work that cost a ton in a city center.

No overpaying for lunch at Chipotle every day.

Oh, you’ll miss walking the city streets and browsing through Barnes and Noble?

Think about how much time you’ll have to enjoy it after working from home.

More Time to Do What You Want

I’ve known friends in banking who barely have a passing acquaintance with their children.

But besides the first year and a bit of Micah’s life in Hong Kong, I haven’t missed anything.

It’s great not noticing how fast he’s growing up.

As I see him every day, he looks the same to me.

Pam and I know each other. Like, really know each other.

Sure, I’ll enjoy my upcoming business trip to Dubai. I’ll be away for a few days.

(Pam can’t come along because Micah has school, and one of us must be here. But if he were off, I’d have taken them both.)

But all in all, I love being with them both every day.

And it’s not just family.

You can see friends whenever they can get away from their office jobs.

Haven’t been reading enough?

Want to learn that skill you’ve been stalling on?

Do you want to drink a cappuccino at a lovely cafe every day?

You can do all that while building your home business.

Paying Taxes Differently

I don’t mean to insult most Americans, but if you’re using PAYE, you’re doing it wrong.

PAYE stands for “pay as you earn.” As in paying taxes as you earn your money.

Unless you’re an investment banker, corporate lawyer, or neurosurgeon - jobs with incomes so far outrunning expenses that taxes don’t matter - you want to own your own business.

PAYE allows the government to take your money too early and earn interest on it.

PAYE disallows you the privilege of getting paid your gross amount, saving for upcoming expenses like taxes, and then paying them when they’re due.

PAYE infantilizes the population by letting the nanny state privileged access to their funds.

And then the populace celebrates - celebrates! - getting a “refund” from the government.

I’m positively embarrassed for those celebrants.

When you own your business, you pay taxes differently.

You work with your accountant - and yes, hire someone to do this for you - to set aside the right amount of money to pay the government when it’s due… and not one microsecond before.

In the meantime, your accountant works with you to maximize your income while reducing your taxes through any legal means.

You’d be shocked to learn that the tax you pay as an entrepreneur is nowhere near what you’d pay on the equivalent income as an employee.

Even Warren Buffett doesn’t seem to understand that.

How you make your money (income versus business revenue) matters more than how much money you make.

Wrap Up

With all the negativity flying around, I wanted to remind you that now is the best time to open your own business.

You’ve undoubtedly got something unique to offer, even if you’re unaware of it yourself.

You must find out what that particular skill is and get it out into the world.

You’ll be richly rewarded for doing so.

Everyone gets paid in two ways: time and money.

Owning a home business allows you to maximize both.