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About Chad Walker

I’m 44 years old. I’m a CPA and CFO in the insurance industry. I hold an MBA from Mississippi State and a bachelor’s in accounting and management information systems from Shippensburg University. I grew up in Pennsylvania, moved to San Diego in 2009, then LA, then Dallas, then back to PA in 2020.

What I know is that the first winter back nearly broke me. I’d spent a decade in warm places. I’d built a career, saved money, started investing. And there I was, scraping ice off a windshield, wondering if this was really what the next twenty years were supposed to look like.

The answer was no. So I started building something different.

The Numbers

256 to 165. On January 2, 2008, I stepped on a scale at 256 pounds and made a decision. Not a resolution — a decision. Through years of Beachbody programs (Affiliate Link) (P90X, Insanity, 10 Rounds, 21 Day Fix, and many others), I dropped 91 pounds. I went from XL to size small. I work out every single day.

$200K in debt to financial freedom path. In 2012, I was making great money and carrying over $200,000 in debt. I rebuilt from zero with automated savings, disciplined investing, and a conviction-based portfolio anchored in gold and Bitcoin. I first bought Bitcoin at $700 in 2016. I wrote a book about gold investing called Protect Your Money and Prosper.

Can’t-break-100 to 13-handicap. I found Tathata Golf’s martial-arts-based training program, and it transformed my swing. Combined with The Stack System for speed training and Arccos for shot tracking, my game has improved dramatically. Goal: mid-single-digit handicap and a round at the Old Course at St. Andrews.

Beach condo owner. I bought a condo in North Myrtle Beach at Ocean Keyes — walkable to the beach and Main Street, surrounded by world-class golf. It’s a vacation rental and my personal escape from PA winters. Plan: expand to 2-3 more coastal properties.

The Philosophy: Earned Leisure

I smoke a Tabak Especial Toro Dulce after my morning workout. An Avo XO Intermezzo in the evening. I drink my espresso black from a Nespresso machine. I sit with a notebook and no phone for 20 minutes every morning.

I don’t apologize for any of it. I earned it. Not through inheritance or luck, but through years of discipline — the finances, the health, the career, the investments.

Earned leisure is the opposite of guilty pleasure. It’s the belief that when you’ve done the work, the enjoyment isn’t optional — it’s the point.

What I’m Building Here

Freedom Journey Life is where I share everything I’m learning and doing. The golf drills that actually work. The financial strategies that aren’t mainstream. The fitness programs I follow. The coffee I drink, the cigars I smoke, the beach property math I run.

I’m not a guru. I’m not a coach. I’m a guy with a CPA license, a golf handicap headed in the right direction, and a clear vision of what his ideal Saturday looks like — working backward to make it happen every week.

GET THE SATURDAY MORNING BLUEPRINT — FREE

— Chad