Cooking the Books podcast: How a near-death experience led to financial independence

Staying off the "hedonic treadmill" can help build up financial independence and reserves ahead of a resignation or big career change.

Each week BusinessDesk and the NZ Herald’s Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it’s how life priorities can change after a brush with death. Hosted by Frances Cook.

There are moments that really make you reassess what you want out of life, and losing both of your parents and then having a near death experience yourself, well, that's right up there.

Combine that with a heaping dose of work burnout, and you've got the recipe for some big change.

All of this snowballed up for today's Cooking the Books guest, but he had an ace up his sleeve.

He'd been working towards financial independence for years, so when life piled up on him he was able to decide it was time to hit pause.

And he did.

At 52, he quit his job, and has no plans to get a new one any time soon.

He's now got the mental space to decide what comes next, and if he wants to do something totally different with his life.

For the latest podcast I talked to Stephen Judd.

For the interview, listen to the podcast here.

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• Listen to the full interview on the Cooking the Books podcast. You can subscribe on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, or