About
Frugalism is about living with purpose - putting your money, time, and energy behind the life you actually want, not the one you’re sold.
Being frugalist is not being cheap. It’s being intentional.
It’s consciously choosing how you live, where you invest your energy, and what you allow into your life. It’s building freedom from the essential, not from excess.
That philosophy is why Frugalist exists: built to help people, not to entertain them.
Meet the creator
Why I built this
I decided to build Frugalist.Club because of what I saw my own work turn into. I’m 36, and I’ve spent more than a decade building mathematical and machine learning models for banks, power utilities, and U.S. startups. Too much of that skill went into products whose only job is to entertain people or sell to them.
Frugalist is my attempt at something different: putting the same mathematics and data to work helping people make better decisions with their money, and with the life that money is for.
What I build
Frugalist.Club is subscription software (SaaS) for personal financial planning.
I build subscription software for the hardest financial questions most people face. You get the mathematics without hiring an advisor or buying complicated software.
The problems it answers
Basic calculators assume constant returns. In reality, markets have volatility, crashes (-30%), and spectacular years (+40%). A plan that "works" with 7% annual can fail catastrophically in reality.
You need $1M to retire in US/Europe with $40K/year. But that same capital gives you $120K/year purchasing power in Portugal, Mexico or Thailand. You're working 10-15 extra years because you assume you have to retire in the most expensive country.
You hate your job but need the salary. Traditional FIRE tells you "endure 15 more years". But what if you only need to endure 3-5 years to have enough capital that grows on its own until retirement? Many work decades extra for not knowing this number.
You have a card at 24%, auto loan at 8%, and student loan at 5%. You pay minimums on everything and the balance never goes down. Or worse: you aggressively pay the debt "that feels most urgent" but mathematically it's the worst strategy. You could be losing $10K+ in unnecessary interest.
They tell you "renting is throwing money away" but no one tells you buying can be worse. $300K house with 30-year mortgage = you pay $550K total (almost double). Plus maintenance ($15K/year), taxes, insurance. Meanwhile, renting + investing the difference could leave you with $200K more in 30 years.
You have 5 ideas: retire at 50 vs 55, contribute $500 vs $700/month, invest aggressive vs conservative. You run one simulation, then another, and in the end you don't remember which was better. You waste hours repeating the same simulations to compare. It's chaos.
You know you're overspending but don't know where. Manually reviewing bank statements takes hours. Categorizing in Excel is tedious. Apps like Mint require connecting your bank (security risk). In the end you never do it and keep wasting $300-500/month on things you don't even remember.
Without a membership you can run unlimited simulations but not save them. When you close the browser, everything is lost. Iterating a good plan requires testing 10-20 scenarios (contributions, rates, timelines). Without saving, you forget what worked and have to start from scratch each time. Your best ideas get lost.
Your most important financial decisions are not made alone. You need to align with your partner, consult with advisor, or simply have a printed document to review without screen. Screenshots or numbers copied into Excel are tedious and easy to get wrong.
You want to learn but reading "The Intelligent Investor" (600 pages) or 40-page academic papers full of jargon takes hours. You buy the book, read 50 pages, abandon it. YouTube has summaries but they're superficial or have an agenda (selling courses). You don't have time to separate gold from garbage.
They tell you "save 6 months of expenses" but that generic advice is not for you. Stable employee without kids needs less. Freelancer with 3 kids needs more. Without emergency fund, a layoff or medical emergency can wreck your retirement plan (you sell stocks at -30%, lose years of progress).
What Frugalist is
- • Financial planning software you run in the browser
- • A subscription, once the beta ends
- • Tools for running your own numbers
- • In the same category as Mint, YNAB, Personal Capital
What Frugalist is not
- • Not a financial advisory service
- • Not investment management
- • Not selling courses or info products
- • Not a marketplace or brokerage
Disclaimer: Frugalist provides software tools only. You make every financial decision. It is a technology product, not a financial advisor.
What Does It Mean to Be Frugalist?
Intentionality
You don’t spend on impulse. You don’t blindly follow trends. You design your own path.
You don’t accumulate things: you accumulate freedom, experiences, and purpose.
Purpose
It’s not about avoiding expenses, but about directing every dollar toward what actually matters to you.
You don’t seek to deprive yourself of everything, but to put your resources where they create the most meaning and wellbeing in your life.
You end up with more of what you value because you let go of the superfluous and protect the essential.
Freedom
You don’t save just to save.
You save to build a cushion that allows you to choose jobs you love instead of ones you have to accept.
You save to have time to do what really matters instead of being trapped in the consumption wheel.
The goal is to work because you want to, not because you have to.
Frugalism is not a restriction. It’s a liberation.
Frugalism: Beyond Finances
Frugalism applies to everything: money, time, energy, relationships, health, and learning. It’s a complete life design system.
Finance
You invest intelligently based on data, not emotions. You avoid debts that chain you down and live below your means to build a margin that gives you real options.
Time
You eliminate everything that doesn’t add value, automate the repetitive, and focus solely on activities that truly move the needle toward your goals.
Energy
You learn to say no to everything that drains you without remorse, and say yes only to what propels you toward where you want to be.
Relationships
You prioritize quality over quantity. You prefer few deep and authentic connections over superficial networks that only exist in appearance.
Consumption
You buy fewer things, but when you buy, you choose better quality and products designed to last, not to be replaced in six months.
Health
You invest in prevention instead of spending on treatments. You build simple and sustainable habits instead of chasing miraculous solutions that never work.
Learning
You cultivate curiosity as a daily habit and intentionally surround yourself with people who improve every day, because your environment determines your growth.
The mission
Frugalist.Club exists to help you live a purposeful life through frugalism.
I believe financial freedom is a means, not an end.
Having money without direction is an empty victory.
That is why I offer tools backed by research and a philosophy that:
- •Goes beyond finances
- •Promotes living with intention and meaning
- •Brings purpose to all areas of your life: time, energy, relationships, health, learning
- •Relies on systems and habits that work even when motivation disappears
The values
1. Data Over Popular Opinion
No trends, no gurus. Every calculation and simulation here is backed by financial theory, verifiable historical data, and methods proven over decades. Informed decisions, not popular opinions.
2. Practical Frugalism
Extremes do not last. You fully enjoy what you truly love: memorable trips, meaningful experiences, quality products worth having. You cut back without hesitation on everything that does not bring you real value. The path to financial freedom should be enjoyable too, because life happens now, not just when you reach the goal.
3. Systems Over Motivation
Motivation is volatile. Consistency built on solid systems beats momentary inspiration. That is why I design tools and habits that work even when you do not feel like it, when you are tired, or when life gets complicated. The stoic principles apply: control what is in your hands, accept with serenity what you cannot change, and keep a long-term view without losing sight of the present.
Why Frugalist exists
I believe everyone deserves solid, understandable financial tools, without economic barriers or unnecessary complexity.
Everything here is built on proven financial theory, verifiable historical data, and rigorous analysis, and it is open to anyone regardless of their knowledge or ability to pay.
Frugalist also exists because I see two equally destructive extremes. On one hand, uncontrolled consumerism that traps people in endless debt. On the other, total sacrifice where people work without limits until they get sick, consuming medication to keep up the pace, destroying their health to accumulate money. Money without life makes no sense. A bank balance that was never enjoyed is worthless.
That’s why frugalism seeks balance. Enough financial security to live well, without sacrificing your health and time along the way. It’s about designing a purposeful life, where finances are a means to live better today and tomorrow, not an eternal sacrifice for an uncertain future.
What I believe
Financial freedom is not magic or luck. It’s the result of applying consistent discipline and understanding the basic mathematics behind money. It’s not about secret formulas or complex strategies, but fundamental principles applied with consistency.
Life after achieving financial independence requires the same intention and clarity as the path to get there. Retiring early without a clear purpose is trading one prison for another. That’s why frugalism goes beyond numbers and addresses the complete design of a life worth living.
Frugalism is not a temporary savings plan or a financial fad. It’s a complete life philosophy that applies to how you use your time, energy, health, and relationships. Attending only to money while wasting everything else makes no sense.