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  • Extraordinary
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  • Podcast
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  • Rebel Finance School
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    • Chapter 1 Extraordinary
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DONEGANS
  • Home
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  • Start Here
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  • Rebel Finance School
    • FIRE
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    • Retirement calculator
    • Fees
    • RFS Financial Forecasting
    • Deciphering a Fund Fact Sheet
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    • Financial Independence YouTube Series 1
    • Disclaimer
  • Blogs
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    • FAQ
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  • The Extraordinary
    • Introduction
    • Chapter 1 Extraordinary
    • Chapter 2 We are where we are!
    • Chapter 3: If you want different results do different things

Blog

Welcome to the Donegans' blog.  Start reading for help investing, financial independence, life style design and many mini-experiments!
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How do you wake up? Purpose

4/3/2023

 
​How do you wake up each morning?  Do you wake up full of joy and excitement ready to get on with the day, drawn from bed with a passion to make a difference and do things?

Or do you wake up, hit snooze, pull up the covers and dread getting out of bed?  Do you dread Monday mornings?  Do you get the Sunday night blues?

​How you wake up, how you feel in the morning can tell you a lot about your life and the way you are thinking about it.
The Donegans - How do you wake up in the morning?
How do you wake up in the morning? Full of beans and excited to take on the world or do you want to hide under the covers and go back to sleep?
Katie and I have discovered that purpose can be the difference between either being driven, happy and full of energy or dreading the week, wishing away the hours and praying for the weekend.

If you are praying for the weekend, if you are dreading Monday then something in your life or the way you think about your life is broken.  Use how you feel in the mornings as a barometer for your success in life.

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Travel with purpose

11/2/2023

 
Why do you travel?  Are you going to "see" the country?  Taste all the foods?  Experience the sports, beaches or activities?  Are you going to meet the locals and chat to people?  Or are you going to unwind on the beach and it doesn't matter where you actually are as long as there are margaritas, sunshine and pools?

What's your purpose for travelling?
Katie Donegan, Alan Donegan, Travelling with purpose
After 4 years of travelling around the world, Katie and I have started to work out some of the things we love most about travel.  This post shares some of our ideas and comes with a HUGE offer at the end (well we think it's pretty cool, you can judge for yourself!)  

No matter whether you travel or not, want to travel in the future or not I think this article has a message that can help you.  Read Onwards.........

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What is success?

27/1/2023

 
There seems to be a measure in western society that we are all trying to live up to.  An unseen, unagreed to yard stick that we are measured against. 

Do you have a degree?  Do you have a nice car?  Do you own your own home?  Do you have pets?  Do you have kids and are married? These are the questions society (people around us) ask to find out if we are succesful. 
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Alan in a suit? Does this mean he is succesful? Intelligent? Heaven forbid respectable??
They want to know what school (university) you went to, what car you drive, where you live?  Then last one really defines you.  Which neighbourhood, which town and what location tells us everything we need to know about you.  Do you live on the right side of the tracks, do you live in the nice side of town?

Do you measure up to societies description of success or sometimes do you feel like you don't fit in?  Don't measure up? 

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The biggest mistake people make when they find out about FIRE

6/8/2022

 
Have you ever found out about something and got so excited you take it to the Nth degree? Do you get super passionate and go all in?  Katie (my lovely wife) gets super excited about things and then likes to go extreme.  She started CrossFit and fell in love with it and then wanted to do it every single day, whilst still doing all the exercise she was doing before.  This lasted a few weeks and she got so exhausted she had to have several afternoons in bed!
Alan Donegan at the gym.  Pushing towards financial independence
Have you ever taken something a little bit too far?
​Katie and I started a new diet in lock down in 2020 given to us by a coach, we followed it to the letter, gave it our everything and after 12 days we had lost so much weight but I was falling asleep in the afternoons from no energy.  The diet was literally stripping me of my vitality and energy and I was falling to pieces.  katie wanted to press on, I couldn't take it and we argued.  

Sometimes we all have the tendency to take things to the extreme when we find something we are passionate about. What does this all have to do with financial independence? Some people take it to the extreme when they find out about it, alienating the people around them and sacrificing happiness. 

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The Binman who is 50% Financially Independent

4/7/2022

 
How much does it actually cost to get to financial independence? Do you need millions in the bank? When is enough actually enough?  Do you even believe you can do it?

Most of our beliefs about what is possible or not come from society not from an internal belief of possiblity!
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​In 2016, Katie and I travelled to Ecuador to learn about financial independence and investing.  Before we got to Chautauqua (the retreat) with JL Collins, the Mad Fientist and Mr Money Mustache, we stopped at the beach a few days beforehand to relax. Mompiche, a small fishing village in North Western Ecaudor, is stunning! We were staying right on the beach and each night we sat there drinking hot chocolate, watching the waves roll in as the sun set over the bay.
Interestingly, one of the most important lessons we learned on this trip was from a surfer who was staying at the same surf shack as us. But how, exactly, did a surfing binman (garbage man) from Italy end up 50% financially independent?

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Movie Script Update

5/3/2022

 
In 2018 for my Mum's 70th birthday we took her to Venice, Italy.  On a bright, beautiful day in Venice, I was sat on my own next to the grand canal with my note book doing a goal setting process.  As I sat with the sound of the boats going past and an Italian espresso in my hand I wrote about what I wanted life to be like. 

​I had always wanted to write a movie, visit Hollywood, experience the movies and more.  So many of my goals revolved around movies and having new experiences.
Alan Donegan Script
Holding my "finished" script in LA after spending 7 weeks writing
At the time I was working full time on Rebel Business School and growing it, Simon (my business partner) and I were on a mission to change entrepreneurship education and really create impact in the world. 

As I wrote out my goal of going to LA to write a movie I wondered to myself if I would ever get round to doing it.  After my coffee I met up with Katie (my wife) and as we walked around the canals of Venice she asked a question that changed my life forever.

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Annual Review Questions

28/12/2021

 
Published 19/12/2019
Updated: 28/12/2021

It is the last few days of the year!  Can you believe it? At this time of year I get to do one of the most exciting things I do each year!  I get to do my annual review and start to think about what I want the next year to be like!  

Are you thinking about 2022 yet? What you want life to be like in the next decade? What you want to get rid of? What you want more of?
Alan Donegan reviewing his goals from 2019 and thinking about 2020
Alan reviewing his 2019 goals
10 or 12 years ago I started to do annual goal setting and reflection and have slowly developed my list of questions and process over that period.  I have run it with everyone on the Rebel team and shared with friends to great impact but not published it yet!  This is what I want to give to you for Christmas this year.  This is my Christmas present to you...............

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The start of a mini-experiment

12/12/2021

 
Have you ever thought about writing a book?  Thought that you have a story to tell the world and wanted to get it out there?

I have had those thoughts for years and I've even had a few failed attempts to do it.  One of those attempts got me fired! But that's a story for another day.  
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My goal for 2022 is to write a book and I wondered if you would help me with a little mini-experiment to start with?

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10 ways to increase your income

12/9/2021

 
The route to financial independence has three main levers! Decrease your spending, increase your income and then invest the difference!  Sounds simple doesn't it?

Nearly everyone focuses on how you can reduce your expenditure.  This tends to be the low hanging fruit so who blames them for starting there. However, there is a floor to how far you can reduce your expenses! There is also a cost to it. If you reduce your expenses too far it can reduce your happiness or safety!  
Alan & Katie Donegan discussing financial independence, investment and life time earnings.
Alan & Katie discussing earning, growth and investments! There is a 10% chance this photo was staged.
Almost every blog talks about cutting out streaming services, reducing expenditure and not going out to eat.   I have a slightly different take on it.  

​There is almost an air of resignation when I ask people about how much money they make.  It is as if they earn what they earn and that is it.  Well I am here to tell you that there maybe a floor to how much you can reduce expenditure but the is NO ceiling to the amount of money you can make!  You want to pull a lever that is going to supercharge your finances and your path to financial independence?  This is the one!

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Take Control of your Finances!

5/7/2020

 
Where did you learn to manage your money? School? Books? Family?  Did you ever learn?

I don't remember learning anything particularly useful about finance at school.  I did economics at college but that didn't teach me anything I could particularly apply to my personal finances.
Alan Donegan burning £50. Personal finance. FIRE
How good are you at managing your finances? Does it feel like you just burn through money faster than it comes in?
I use supply and demand theory in my business to this day ​but no one taught me about personal finance. I learnt through books, courses that I paid to go on and through trial and error; the good old fashioned way.  I have paid a high price for the skills I have developed and I think it is time I gave it all away for free...…...

I have been doing that with entrepreneurship for the last decade now. Giving away the course I wish I had when I was launching my business.  Katie and I have decided to do this for personal finance next. 

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Quarantined? What can you build?

19/3/2020

 
Are you stuck in the house?  Have you been quarantined? Wondering what to do with al the new time on your hands? Netflix calling to you?

​Katie and I are in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Normally a hot bed of music, food and partying.  Not at the moment though!
Alan Donegan writing a blog post on the deck in New Orleans during lock down
Alan this morning creating this blog post to share with you. Focusing on creation!
We came here for Katie to learn Jazz piano, to go to the bars and listen to jazz and soak up the food and culture.  3 or 4 days after we arrived here, the state shut down all restaurants, bars, clubs, events, gyms etc. and the city went on lock-down. 

We now have many hours on our hands and I am wondering what to do with them!  What am I going to build?  What am I going to learn?  What am I going to create?

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What to do in changing times....

16/3/2020

 
The world seems to be changing faster than ever before and with these changing times comes uncertainty.  This post is inspired by the fact that Rebel Business School (an events business) has had 10 events cancelled this week because of the coronavirus.  
With change happening so quickly and so out of the blue it is difficult to prepare.  What is important is how you react. 

Alan Donegan with empty shelves at Walmart because of panic buying over the corona virus
16/03/2020 Bare shelves at Walmart from panic buying related to the coronavirus. Things are changing so quickly......
I don't see the rate of change slowing down, I can't foresee the next black swan event and I have given up trying to predict what is going to happen next.  What I am working on is how I react and I want to share some thoughts that I think will give you comfort and inspiration in these dark and changing times...…...

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The extraordinary belongs to those who create it

20/1/2020

 
The extraordinary belongs to those who create it.  This is written over and over again throughout my notebooks as a reminder that if you want to have an extraordinary life then you have to create it, build it and make it happen.  No one else is going to create it for you.  You have to create it.
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The last decade has just finished and the question I have started to think about is:  "What are you going to build over the next 10 years?"

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Following your dreams

9/2/2019

 
What are your dreams?  Have they changed over the years?  What have you always dreamed of doing?

Since an early age I have been inspired by the amazing TV shows of the 80s, the movies of the '90s and the last golden decade of the superhero movie. 
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Alan on Batman's bike on a green screen in LA in 2016
I have loved watching these movies and it has left me with a dream of being involved, writing or creating something.  If you've got a dream, shouldn't you pursue it?  Why don't more people follow their dreams?

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DONEGAN

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