Acidiney Dias 
Você pode encontrar a versão original em Português aqui (opens new window).
The year was 2019. After a long day of work, my colleague and I were talking on our way home. At that time, our journey took around 1h30min on days when, of course, traffic was good. Which, by the way, was not the case that day.
On that day, finding a taxi was difficult. We spent more than 30 minutes just to get into a taxi that would take us from the Talatona logistics center to the Camama Roundabout, and then we had to struggle again to catch another taxi. Fortunately, the taxi we finally got, which ran from the Camama Roundabout to Calemba 2, ended up extending to the Shoprite in Viana, which made our day a little easier since we wouldn’t have to get out to find another taxi.
But why am I talking about this? Well, that day we had plenty of time to discuss many topics, and one that stands out in this text was financial freedom. At that time, we (I mean both of us) were beginning to become interested in finance. In my case, because I had a very close experience of almost going bankrupt. Yes, I know, I was 19 years old and working… it’s almost unreal to talk about going financially broke. I won’t dwell too much on this topic now, since I can always write about this near-experience in another article.
Carlos, that day, brought a perspective different from the one I had about financial freedom. For me, I was financially free the moment I no longer depended on my parents to buy whatever I wanted. I can say it was an intense conversation because I could not grasp the principle he was presenting. Financial freedom is being able to live without worrying about working because the money you have can cover your needs. I am paraphrasing, as I don’t remember 100 percent of what he said, but that was the context.
That, in itself, was a reality shock for me, because I thought I was managing my financial goals well and was failing in a basic principle. It had to be wrong, I didn’t want to believe it, until I had no other option but to accept it, since with simple reflection I could confirm what Carlos had shown me.
It may seem a bit dramatic, but it truly was for me. Until that conversation, I had not had even a 10-year vision of the future. I knew what I wanted professionally, but I didn’t know what I wanted financially.
I remember that with my first salary, I bought an eye massager. Undoubtedly, a foolish purchase driven by emotion. But in my mind at that time, it was worth “investing” in that massager since I used my eyes for programming. And if this somehow makes you think it wasn’t a completely strange reason, let me add that I bought it only because I saw it being sold. I had gone to that store to buy earphones. I had no idea eye massagers even existed.
It was a purchase driven entirely by emotion, and I only used that massager two or three times since buying it. It was completely useless for me.
Today, during my shower, I was thinking about another article I’m writing when I noticed that 2025 was literally coming to an end. And with that realization, I also realized, maybe for the first time, that my 25 years were passing away.
Since I managed to get settled relatively quickly in the job market, I almost always had money, not counting that during the first years, I lived at my parents’ house, which allowed me to save some money before moving out.
However, whenever something didn’t go as planned, for example a barbershop we invested in but ended up closing without ever officially opening, I thought: it wasn’t that much money; I can cover the investment, I’m young, I can work more and recover it.
Today, I reflected on how many times I told myself this when I put money into something and didn’t get any return. The amount of money I threw away is incredible.
But it’s not just about money. Many people set goals at the beginning of the year, only to stress out at the end. I’ve never been someone who writes goals. I always believed they limited rather than helped, and in the end, I wouldn’t achieve even half of them. However, in 2024, I wrote down for the first time the goals I had for the year.
Obviously, they were very difficult goals to achieve, not to mention there were 20 of them. They were so unrealistic that I had to keep adjusting them downward throughout the year to see if I could accomplish one or two of the 20 pre-set goals.
One of the goals I had was to move from Angola abroad, a goal that ended up happening, but it negatively affected many of the other goals, since the whole process required a lot of time, physical and mental effort, not to mention adaptation costs in mid-2024.
That year, I had other investments happening in Angola that I gave up on the premise of being young and exploring new horizons to come back stronger.
But today I realize how damaging that mindset is. In finance, it is always said: the best day to start investing is today… the second best day is tomorrow. And even knowing so much about finance, these thoughts of leaving things for tomorrow are a battle I have been fighting for a long time.
I ask myself: if I had really started, would I be closer to my goals than I am today? Could I finally look at the sky and breathe the financial freedom I so desire?
This generation is stressful, the internet is stressful. We are constantly looking at a display window, and that tires us a lot.
And I am no exception to this. As Rockefeller said, there is never too much money.
I have always had a mindset of accumulating wealth. I firmly believe that with money, all other goals can be easily solved. This mindset guides me every day, from the tests I take, to consumption, to what I study. Of course, I would like to just live, but I believe it is hard to simply live when you know there is a correct way to live.
For example, what’s the point of buying the car of my dreams (which isn’t even really my dream), the best watches, and jewelry if it could negatively impact my future? Is it worth overspending today and living miserably when I might be more vulnerable?
I remember telling my friend Cabanga the other day: wow, I wish I hadn’t started studying this. Everything would have been easier. I would just let the state take care of me in the future, as my parents and older friends rely on social security.
This year, I didn’t pre-set goals, nor did I bother. And today I also noticed it’s been a long time since I sat down to study computer science. It seems that, in a way, my focus is shifting. What I thought was most important has now become just a path to what I really need. And it seems I need a new ikigai.
Will I still have time to do what I want tomorrow if I don’t do it today? What do I want to do today?
I cannot delude myself into thinking that I will always have the same energy and disposition. That’s a lie, and I’m already starting to feel it. Before, I would stay up until three or four in the morning playing with my projects with lots of energy. Today, my body shuts down on its own at midnight, and I have to struggle if I want to stay up later.
Just as my palate has slightly changed, I feel my body changing. Before, I couldn’t stand watermelon (today I love it 😻) or stews (there was even a song my sisters used to sing, saying I always sang it whenever lunch was stew).
My body sends me signals. I wonder if my brain still has the same ease and elasticity it had before when I wanted to learn something new.
And above all, should I take more risks today? Perhaps what I long for is close, and I just need to jump a little more. Or maybe I don’t need to jump and can patiently wait for a ladder to reach the goal. Will this ladder arrive? If I jump, could I fall deeper?
Today, in fact, I have fewer opportunities to be free than I did last year. And I don’t mean just financially. When we grow up, we have more responsibilities, our shoulders feel heavier. I wish I could be like those people who spend the day drinking, only to return and reflect on how difficult it must be to carry the weight of alcohol in the body, probably trying to hide sadness.
Truly, the only asset we all share is time, and unfortunately, none of us control it. We can only react to it.
Finally, I remind myself that there are just over three days left for 2025 to end, and next year will be the first and last year that I will be 26 and have the opportunity to do better for myself, as unfortunately, there is no way to go back to the past.
I wrote this article just as a reflection. I hope, in some way, it caught your attention to this fact. Sometimes we need a push to notice what is right in front of us.
Thank you.
Playlist I listened to while writing the article: Brain.fm Radio (opens new window)