Black Mirror IRL

I want to talk to you about a crazy experiment.

Years ago, an Italian blogger-now-YTer started sharing all his “financial life” in the open, to everyone. I virtually met him because of this experiment, and then I physically met him and now we are friends.

I call it a crazy experiment because he was sharing every single detail of his financial life to the “rappen”, the Swiss equivalent of the penny/cent (he lives in Switzerland). This is something that the majority of us won’t do even with our life partner; he would have been too precise even in respect to the General Accepted Accounting Principles. All of this happening in a World where many multi-billion firms play around “adjusted made-up EBITDA“.

By now, you are probably wondering if I forgot to provide a link to this experiment. The reason I am writing about it is because he stopped it (maybe?).

Black Mirror

While following his journey, I started thinking—what would it be like in a world where we’re all forced to conform to the same rules? With the European Central Bank floating the idea of a “digital EUR,” this doesn’t seem as far out as it once did. Some would say we’re already 87% of the way there with how much of our lives are conducted electronically.

But that’s only part of the story. A significant chunk of the economy I’m familiar with doesn’t operate like that. It’s not just a digital world; it’s two worlds in parallel—one transparent, one opaque. And if the idea behind the digital EUR is to drag the opaque transactions into the open, well, I’ve got bad news for the folks in Frankfurt.

Anyway, I was thinking about me or you being totally transparent about our finances. There might be (recreational) instances where the two systems interact, and no one is willing to make that part public.

There are also what I would call “therapy shaming” transactions: things that are 100% legal but that you would not be necessarily happy to disclose openly. Maybe you’ve been to therapy. Maybe you belong to a religious group—or maybe you don’t. Hell, maybe you don’t fit into the societal boxes around you at all. These are the things that make us uncomfortable because, well, people judge.

And if we keep going down that path, it only gets more trivial. Buying a picture for your wall, splurging on a set of expensive golf clubs, getting some cosmetic surgery. It’s a long list of stuff you don’t want judged by others—stuff that, in a world that’s overly transparent, becomes fuel for unwanted opinions.

Even though we’d like to think judgment doesn’t happen, there will always be someone ready to throw stones. And I’ll admit it—I’m one of them. I met that “experiment” guy because I couldn’t help but offer my unsolicited opinion. I’m the type who thinks it’s a good use of five minutes to tell someone how to live their life. And, unfortunately, I’m not the only one.

Party pooper

The truth is, what my friend was doing was genuinely valuable. Even with the people closest to you, you might share a few financial decisions here and there, but you never really dive into every little detail.

We all find ourselves asking the same kinds of questions. Can I afford that car? How much should I be earning to buy it? Is it about salary or net worth? And when it comes to vacations—what’s a reasonable budget?

There are two ways to approach these types of questions. First, you want to establish a baseline. It’s useful to know what decisions others in similar financial positions have made—not because you have to follow them, but to get a sense of where you stand relative to them. Second, you might want to see how people you consider smart—whether financially or otherwise—approach the same challenges.

But here’s the problem: there’s no “institutional” way to get this kind of knowledge. Everything around you, everyone, is just busy pumping their own bags. With a debt-to-GDP ratio soaring and the constant fear of a foreign investor strike, even the Italian government is out there hawking their memecoin, Italian govies, like some D-list influencer peddling skincare.

That’s the investment side of things. On the spending side, well, do I really need to go over decades of marketing and consumerism?

Saving and investing? Those are complicated subjects. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer.

This is why we need references—not to copy blindly, but to make informed, critical assessments.

Bonus Levels

My friend is an expat and an entrepreneur.

Ever found yourself wondering how much it’s going to cost to live in XYZ? Imagine, instead of sifting through those generic websites with “averages” that don’t tell you much, you could actually find someone relatable and see the trade-offs they’re making. Numbers alone never tell the whole story. You need the context, the reasons behind the choices, so you can adjust them to your own preferences.

I didn’t write about him years ago because I’m 100% crazy (okay, maybe just 80%). At the time, I had just left Switzerland and I had a pretty solid idea of what life there looked like with a wife. His content was valuable because it gave me insight into the types of decisions someone made under circumstances I could relate to. If he’d been in a different country, I’m not sure I would have followed his journey as closely. Sometimes, it’s just serendipity.

And then, he became a solo-preneur. Now, I have zero interest in walking that path myself, but I can’t deny the intrigue of understanding the ins and outs of it. It’s just a reference point for me—but honestly, it’s better than having none at all. Unless someone wants to point me to an MBA program that provides the same kind of practical, real-world knowledge.

A World for Free

He decided to pull the plug on his experiment because… all that personal information ended up being weaponized against him. Not a shock to me, honestly. I didn’t expect it to unfold exactly how it did, but I always thought it was a tragedy in the making.

Here’s the point, and why I’m writing about it now: he was offering a valuable service FOR FREE, and nobody seemed to get it. (Okay, not nobody, but let me finish.)

The “System” didn’t care about any of this. It won’t give you a break for doing something that benefits the public. Think about it like this: when society decides it’s a good idea to let people easily sue doctors for malpractice, what happens? Doctors become more cautious, more fearful, and ultimately, their work gets worse—not better. It’s the same story here. You become more transparent, and the System’s response is to dig even deeper, looking for something to use against you.

So, he decided to put the experiment behind a paywall. On a basic level, that makes sense. It’s a valuable service—so you pay for it.

And then, the second wave of outrage came. In the most ridiculous forms. Things like, “He’s moved to the dark side, abandoning the purity of his original mission” or “He’s definitely hiding something.” Honestly, I can’t decide which of these reactions is crazier.

Funny enough, I never asked him in the past why he decided to do it. At that point I was probably afraid of being too much intrusive. Or more likely, a lack of courage, since now we meet face to face and not behind a screen.

His reasons aside, it is again another instance where I am amazed by people reaction (and I shouldn’t: fool me once – fool me twice, you know). The expectation that someone should work for free, i.e. do not monetise the content they produce…I honestly don’t know…

And again, I shouldn’t. I receive I do not know how many messages of lads asking for career and/or investment advice. I am out there to interact with other people. But what I write about is also my job. Maybe I want to spend an hour listening to your concerns about moving to Germany, maybe I don’t. Why some have a hard time understanding that…

hey, the water is wet

I sort of get the disappointment. I have been on the other side too. Greed&Fear was a weekly newsletter published by this Chris Wood dude, a guy working for a bank in HK. It was the most informative market newsletter I read in my life by a far amount; I was getting it through a friend who works for an asset manager and as the time passed, it got harder and harder to receive it…yes again another fucking European legislation where they decided you have to pay for research…

This probably hurt more because I couldn’t start giving 10k in ‘in business fees’ to an asset manager to get that research – I honestly do not even remember how the actual rule works. But yes, this stuff costs because it has value. Unfortunately I cannot say the reverse works, there’s plenty of stuff out there with a price tag that is not worth even for free.

The fact that something that you find valuable would disappear behind a paywall should be your base case. It is an arbitrage, at a certain point markets ‘heal’.

To close on a positive note, there’s also a crowd out there that understand well the concept of value (well, it is their action talking): I am truly amazed by the amount of donations we receive for the podcast. People that are happy to contribute even if they could surf for free.

I really love you.

What I am reading now:

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