Are You Collecting Golden Eggs or Building Golden Geese?

How to build enough assets to support the life you actually want.

A recent conversation with my friend Paul got me thinking about something I wish someone had explained to me when I was younger.

We were talking about the old story of the goose that laid the golden eggs.​

You know how it goes.

A farmer discovers that one of his geese is laying golden eggs. Every day, another egg. Every day, more wealth.

But eventually, he gets impatient. He wants all the gold right now. So he kills the goose, expecting to find a fortune inside.

Instead, he destroys the very thing making him wealthy.

The lesson, of course?

Don’t kill the golden goose.

But Paul and I took the idea a little further.

What if you spent less time chasing golden eggs and more time raising golden geese?

What if you fed them, protected them, and eventually had a whole flock?

Then you wouldn’t depend on any single goose for everything you need.

That’s how I think about building assets. And it raises a question I’d like you to consider.

Are you spending your life earning money, or are you also building something that keeps supporting you when you stop working?

The Eight-Figure Business Owner Who Kept Building Assets

My friend Paul Ryan spent his career building an eight-figure business.

He built systems, hired good people, and developed a leadership team capable of running the company without him in the room.

Eventually, he reached a point where he only needed to work about an hour a week.

Think about that.

Most entrepreneurs dream of that kind of freedom. Yet many end up with businesses that consume more time than the jobs they left.

Paul built something different.

But here’s what caught my attention.

Even with that success, he never assumed the eventual sale of his company would be his entire retirement plan.

He understood that having a valuable business today doesn’t guarantee having a buyer tomorrow.

Markets shift. Industries change. Competitors appear. Businesses succeed and fail.

So while he was developing the company, he was also building assets outside it.

Retirement accounts. Stocks. Other investments.

He wasn’t relying on one golden goose.

He was building a flock.

Paul is considering selling his business within the next couple of years.

If that happens, he’ll exchange his ownership for the proceeds of the sale. But the ongoing income he receives from owning the business will also change or disappear.

Then he’ll need to decide what to do with the money and what the next chapter of his life looks like.

Which is exactly why he spent years building other assets rather than betting everything on one business.

A successful business can be a golden goose. You just don’t want your whole future depending on one goose.

A Shout-Out to Paul

If you’re interested in understanding how successful entrepreneurs think—not just about making money, but about leadership, freedom, and building a meaningful life—I highly recommend following Paul’s work.

He hosts The Inner Entrepreneur podcast, where he explores the personal side of entrepreneurship and success.

You can also watch The Inner Entrepreneur on YouTube.

What I appreciate about Paul is that he’s not simply talking about theories.

He’s spent decades building businesses, learning from the experience, and figuring out how to create a business that supports his life rather than consumes it.

Those are lessons worth paying attention to, whether you’re already running a business or simply considering starting one.

The Business That’s Really a Job

My wife has her own business doing work she genuinely loves.

She helps people. She finds the work meaningful. She enjoys working with her clients.

She’s her own boss.

But her income is tied largely to her personal time.

If she isn’t seeing clients, that revenue stops.

If she takes a month off, she gives up a month of client income.

And if she eventually decides she doesn’t want to work anymore, she’ll need other sources of income to support her lifestyle.

She’s self-employed.

And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Having a job you love is a wonderful thing. But being your own boss isn’t necessarily the same as being financially independent.

Fortunately, we’re also building assets outside her business.

We have investments through Vanguard. We have rental property. And we’re working to create more choices about how we spend our time.

Her business provides income and fulfillment today.

Our assets are intended to provide more options tomorrow.

Those aren’t competing goals. They’re different parts of the same financial life.

One earns the eggs.

The other builds the flock.

The Employee Who Was Also Building Golden Geese

My career looked nothing like hers.

I spent 35 years working as a union electrician.

I showed up at the jobsite, did the work, and earned my paycheck.

I didn’t own the company. I wasn’t building a contracting business I could eventually sell.

But throughout those years, I was earning pension benefits, accumulating an annuity, and contributing toward Social Security.

Every year produced two things.

A paycheck for my life today.

And retirement benefits for my life tomorrow.

Now that I’m retired, those accumulated benefits help support my lifestyle. I don’t have to return to a construction site every morning to earn that income.

Of course, pensions and Social Security aren’t the same as owning stocks or rental property. They have different rules, risks, and guarantees. You can’t necessarily withdraw, sell, or transfer their value like money in a bank account.

But they demonstrate something important.

The work I did yesterday is helping pay for the life I’m living today.

So don’t let anybody tell you that you have to own a business to build financial security.

An employee who steadily accumulates retirement benefits and invests along the way can build substantial resources.

An entrepreneur who spends every dollar the business produces might end up with very little when that business stops producing income.

The title on your business card doesn’t determine your financial future.

What you’re building does.

The Little Red Book That Changed How We Invest

My wife and I aren’t stock-market experts.

I don’t spend my days guessing which company will outperform the market next year.

And frankly, I don’t want to.

Fortunately, my brother-in-law understands investing much better than we do.

He introduced us to a little red book he also gives to younger family members: John C. Bogle’s The Little Book of Common Sense Investing.​

Bogle founded Vanguard, and the underlying lesson of his book is wonderfully simple.

You don’t have to pick the next winning stock.

You don’t have to become a day trader.

You don’t have to spend every waking hour following financial news.

Instead, one approach is to invest in low-cost, broadly diversified index funds that track the market.

Contribute regularly.

Keep your fees low.

Avoid unnecessary trading.

And give your investments time to compound.

That’s the general approach Amy and I use with our Vanguard investments.

We’re not trying to outsmart the market. We’re trying to participate in its long-term growth.

Of course, markets rise and fall, sometimes sharply. Stocks aren’t savings accounts, and nothing guarantees that markets will recover on your preferred schedule.

But broadly diversified stock investments have historically rewarded patient, long-term investors.

What appeals to us is that investing doesn’t have to become another job.

Feed the geese. Give them time to grow. Don’t keep digging them up to see how they’re doing.

How Many Golden Geese Do You Actually Need?

Now let’s make this about you.

Forget the yachts.

Forget the Lamborghinis.

Forget the billionaire lifestyle videos on social media.

What does a good enough life actually look like for you?

Maybe it’s a comfortable home, good food, and time with your family.

A couple of vacations every year.

The freedom to train martial arts, pursue your interests, or spend more time outdoors.

Maybe it’s traveling.

Maybe it’s working three days a week instead of five.

Maybe you love your job and simply want the financial ability to walk away if circumstances change.

Whatever it is, start there.

The goal isn’t to become wealthy according to somebody else’s definition. It’s to know what enough looks like for you.

And that starts with asking some better questions.

Before We Talk Numbers, Something Important

I want to be very clear about something.

I’m not a licensed financial advisor, tax professional, investment advisor, or retirement-planning expert.

I’m a retired union electrician who has spent a lifetime working, learning, making decisions, and trying to build a good life.

My wife and I have benefited from conversations with people who understand finances much better than we do.

And we’ve learned that knowing which questions to ask can be just as important as knowing the answers.

Everything I’m about to share is for educational purposes.

This is not personalized financial, investment, legal, or tax advice.

The calculations are deliberately simple. They’re broad brushstrokes to help you start thinking about your future.

They don’t fully account for:

• Taxes and the rules governing your particular accounts
• Inflation and the future purchasing power of money
• Investment risks and market downturns
• Health care costs and unexpected expenses
• How early you retire or how long you live
• Your family obligations, debts, and financial commitments
• The laws and regulations in your state or country

Your situation is different from mine.

It’s different from Paul’s.

It’s different from somebody offering financial advice on YouTube.

So do your own due diligence. Consult qualified financial, tax, legal, and retirement-planning professionals who understand your circumstances and where you live before making important decisions.

Don’t take a number from this article and start moving your retirement savings around.

That’s not what I’m encouraging you to do.

I’m encouraging you to begin asking better questions so you can find better answers.

Because that’s what personal leadership is about.

Making thoughtful decisions today that create better options tomorrow.

Sometimes that means doing the harder thing now so life can become easier later.

Hard today. Easier tomorrow.

With that understood, let’s look at a simple way to begin estimating what your future lifestyle might require.

The Multiply-by-25 Guideline

There’s a commonly used retirement-planning guideline called the 4% rule.

In simplified terms, it suggests that someone with a diversified retirement portfolio might begin by withdrawing approximately 4% of its value in the first year of retirement, then adjust that initial dollar amount for inflation in subsequent years.

It’s based on historical retirement scenarios, generally involving a retirement lasting around thirty years.

It’s not a guarantee.

But it gives us a useful starting point for understanding how much invested capital might be needed to support a certain amount of annual spending.

And because 4% is one twenty-fifth of 100%, we can reverse the calculation.

Take the annual spending your investments need to cover and multiply it by 25.

Suppose you want a lifestyle costing $5,000 a month.

That’s $60,000 annually.

If your investment portfolio needed to cover all of that spending:

$60,000 × 25 = $1,500,000

A $1.5 million portfolio would support an initial withdrawal of $60,000 at 4%.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking.

“Chuck, where the hell am I supposed to get $1.5 million?”

Fair question.

But we’re not finished with the math.

You Might Need Fewer Geese Than You Think

What if your investments don’t have to pay for everything?

Suppose your desired lifestyle still costs $5,000 a month.

But you’re expecting $2,500 monthly from Social Security and a pension.

Now your investment portfolio only needs to cover the remaining $2,500.

That’s $30,000 annually.

$30,000 × 25 = $750,000

The same lifestyle that initially appeared to require $1.5 million in investments now has a rough portfolio target of $750,000.

Why?

Because another source of income is covering half your spending.

That’s a substantial difference.

The same principle can apply to income from rental property or other assets. But count what you actually have available after expenses, not just the revenue coming in.

A rental property’s mortgage, insurance, taxes, vacancies, repairs, and maintenance all matter.

And income that fluctuates shouldn’t automatically be treated like a guaranteed pension payment.

The idea is to estimate what income you can reasonably expect, then figure out what remains.

The 4% Rule Is a Starting Point, Not a Promise

Before you treat multiply-by-25 as your exact retirement target, remember its limitations.

The age you retire matters.

How long you live matters.

What you’re invested in matters.

Inflation, taxes, health care, and market conditions all matter.

And a major market downturn early in retirement can make a significant difference in how long your money lasts.

Someone retiring at forty might need their investments to last much longer than someone retiring at sixty-five.

That’s why this is a starting point for better questions, not a formula that guarantees you’ll never run out of money.

Your Golden Goose Blueprint

Here’s a simple exercise to start figuring out what you’re actually building toward.

Step 1: Decide What Good Enough Looks Like

Write down the kind of life you want.

Consider:

• Housing, food, utilities, and transportation
• Health care and insurance
• Family and relationships
• Hobbies, education, training, and activities
• Travel and experiences
• A cushion for unexpected expenses

Estimate the monthly cost in today’s dollars.

Don’t worry about getting everything perfect. You’re creating a starting estimate that can be refined later.

Step 2: Turn It Into an Annual Number

Multiply your monthly spending by twelve.

For example:

• $4,000 a month = $48,000 annually
• $5,000 a month = $60,000 annually
• $6,000 a month = $72,000 annually

Now you have a number to work with.

Step 3: Identify Other Income Sources

What income might continue when you’re no longer working full-time?

Pension benefits.

Social Security.

Rental-property income after expenses.

Other reasonably dependable income streams.

Maybe you own a company that operates without your daily involvement.

Separate relatively dependable income from uncertain projections.

Don’t count a hoped-for business sale as money you’ve already received.

Step 4: Find Your Annual Gap

Subtract the annual income you reasonably expect from the annual spending required for your lifestyle.

That remaining amount is what your investments may need to cover.

Step 5: Estimate Your Portfolio Target

Using the simple 4% guideline, multiply that annual gap by 25.

That’s your initial estimate.

Not a personalized financial plan. Not a guarantee. A starting number to investigate with qualified professionals.

Step 6: Start Feeding Your Geese

Now comes the work.

Maybe that means contributing more to your employer’s retirement plan.

Maybe it’s investing a fixed amount automatically each month.

Maybe it’s paying off expensive debt so more of your income becomes available for saving and investing.

Maybe it’s building a business that depends less on your personal hours.

Or maybe it’s simply resisting the urge to spend your next raise.

You don’t need to solve everything today.

You need to start making choices that create more options tomorrow.

Robert Kiyosaki’s Cashflow Quadrant

Robert Kiyosaki describes four ways people generate income in his book Cashflow Quadrant:

• Employee: You work for somebody else.
• Self-employed: You work for yourself.
• Business owner: You own a business system that operates through other people.
• Investor: You own investments intended to produce returns.

It’s a helpful framework.

But don’t turn it into a scoreboard.

That’s bullshit.

You can be an employee and build substantial financial security.

You can be self-employed and love your work.

You can create a company that operates without you.

And you can invest badly and lose money.

You can also occupy several quadrants at once.

I was an employee who accumulated retirement benefits and investments.

My wife is self-employed while we build assets together.

Paul built a successful operating business and invested outside it.

The label doesn’t matter nearly as much as understanding where your income comes from, what assets you’re building, and how those pieces support the life you want.

You can earn golden eggs in one quadrant while raising golden geese in another.

Don’t Kill the Goose

The farmer in the story wasn’t poor because he lacked income.

He had an extraordinary asset.

He destroyed it because he couldn’t tell the difference between the asset and what it produced.

How many of us do something similar?

We earn more money and immediately spend more.

We build businesses and extract everything instead of strengthening them.

We make investments and panic whenever the market drops.

We chase more income while sacrificing our health, relationships, and time.

And we rarely stop to ask what all that money is supposed to make possible.

Paul’s experience reminds me not to depend on one asset.

My years in the electrical trade remind me that being an employee can still build substantial financial security.

My wife’s business reminds me that loving your work and becoming financially independent are different things.

And our experience with index investing reminds me that some of the most useful financial habits are surprisingly boring.

Save consistently.

Invest patiently.

Keep costs down.

Give things time.

Let the geese grow.

Because the point isn’t to die with the biggest flock.

The point is to build enough financial security to enjoy the life you actually want while you’re still alive to enjoy it.

⚔ Dojo Drill: Find Your Number

Grab a piece of paper.

Ten minutes. Six questions.

1. What would your good enough lifestyle cost each month?
2. What would that cost annually? Multiply your monthly estimate by twelve.
3. What other annual retirement income could you reasonably expect? Consider pensions, Social Security, and other income sources, accounting for uncertainty.
4. What’s the annual gap? Subtract your estimated other income from your desired annual spending.
5. What’s your rough portfolio target? Multiply the annual gap by 25, using the simplified 4% starting guideline.
6. What’s one thing you could do this month to begin closing that gap?

Maybe your number is bigger than you expected.

Maybe it’s smaller.

Maybe you discover you’re already building more than you realized.

Whatever the answer, you now have a direction.

Before making financial changes, take your preliminary numbers to qualified professionals who understand your particular circumstances.

Ask them to challenge your assumptions.

Ask what you’ve overlooked.

Ask about taxes, inflation, investment risk, and the rules where you live.

The goal isn’t to become your own financial expert in ten minutes. It’s to ask better questions so you can make better decisions.

That’s personal leadership.

Don’t just chase golden eggs.

Build, protect, and nurture enough golden geese to support the life you want.

And above all?

Don’t kill the goose.

📚 From the Leader’s Library

​Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder — Nassim Nicholas Taleb​

Why?

Most people try to build a life that can withstand adversity, but Taleb challenges us to go further: build a life that actually grows stronger through challenges, uncertainty, and change.

Antifragile explores how creating options, reducing unnecessary dependencies, and learning from manageable setbacks can help us thrive rather than merely survive. It’s a powerful reminder that personal leadership isn’t about controlling everything life throws at us—it’s about becoming more capable, adaptable, and prepared for whatever comes next.