What I Learned in 2025 and What I Expect in 2026

It is good to be back sharing my thoughts more. I have mostly stayed off social media since the world got loud a few years ago. It felt like there was enough noise and nobody needed one more opinion. But I have heard from many of you that my perspective still carries weight. That means a lot to me.

The digital world and the real world

I spent 2025 realizing that the digital world and the real world are moving in opposite directions. Online, we are told we have never been more divided. In the real world, at the gym or the coffee shop, I find we have more in common than ever. Reading the news gives me anxiety, but getting out among people gives me peace.

We are entering a massive transition. In 2025, AI came into our lives. In 2026, it will come for our jobs. That sounds scary, but I see it as a tool to finally win our time back. We can remember our humanity while the machines handle the mundane.

Money without knowledge

Our system is currently obsessed with redistributing wealth. We saw this in New York and California this year. History shows us that rarely works. We do not have an income problem, we have a spending problem. I used to resent wealthy people when I was growing up in a middle-class home. I thought they were keeping me down. The reality is that wealthy people own companies and companies create jobs.

If you redistribute money without redistributing knowledge, the money just flows back to the people who know how to manage it. AI is the great equalizer here. It has made it easier than ever to redistribute knowledge.

Sam Altman recently said the biggest misconception of his youth was thinking you get rich from a high salary. It is the opposite. You must own something. You must build something you have real ownership in. Otherwise, you are just on a hamster wheel. At 40, I realize that more than ever.

My goal now is to teach people how the system actually works. I want to show you how you are being leveraged. Many CEOs make a dollar and give back a penny to the team and call it generosity. Real generosity is helping a team get to a place where they do not need a salary. It is about empowerment, not co-dependency.

What I changed this year

I focused on my health this year after years of putting myself last. I can feel the difference in my body. I ended 2025 feeling better than I did when it started. I spent the holidays with high energy, shopping and meeting friends for lunch. I studied my health the way I used to study money. It took constant effort and discipline.

I spent time with Ray Dalio’s Principles and Andrew Ross Sorkin’s 1929 lately. Those books help frame exactly where we are in the cycle. We are seeing people buy gold, silver, and Bitcoin to protect against inflation while houses and cars remain unaffordable. We are watching sports and social media become businesses that harvest our eyeballs rather than provide entertainment.

What I expect in 2026

My prediction for 2026 is simple. It will be defined by less screen time and more human time. We will use technology to buy back our lives.

Why I think screen time peaks

The numbers are hard to ignore. DataReportal's Digital 2025 report puts the average internet user at more than six and a half hours online every day. That's more time than most people spend with their families.

As AI handles more of the reading, sorting and replying, I expect more people to take that time back. Fewer hours on screens doesn't mean less technology. It means letting the tools do more of the work so we can be somewhere else.

What I'm focused on in 2026

• Writing longer pieces here, and less on social media.
• Helping founders through Outperform Ventures.
• Teaching how money and leverage work, through articles and free tools.
• Spending more time offline, like my trip to Miraval.

Money and knowledge

Ray Dalio's Principles argues that debt and productivity move in long cycles, and that most people only live through one or two of them. Andrew Ross Sorkin's 1929 tells the story of the crash that ended one of those cycles. Reading them together made me think hard about where we are now.

Both books point to the same thing. People who understand how money works tend to keep it, and people who don't tend to lose it, no matter how much they start with. That's why I care more about teaching than about telling people what to buy. Tools like the valuation tool and what you'd take home are a small part of that.

I am looking to spend more time with people who want to move past the chase for money and into the phases of time and legacy. If you are working on a meaningful project or just trying to navigate these changes, I would love to hear from you.