NFA Finance

I’m not much of a conspiracy theory guy.

I don’t spend my nights trying to figure out who really built the pyramids, what’s hidden at Area 51, or whether somebody is secretly controlling the weather.

But there is one “conspiracy theory” I find pretty damn believable.

The modern world is incredibly good at keeping people comfortable, distracted, indebted, divided, and dependent.

And here’s the crazy part:

I don’t think there necessarily has to be some secret group sitting around a giant table planning it.

The system almost runs itself.

Think about it.

From the minute you wake up, somebody wants your attention.

Your phone lights up.

Notifications.

Emails.

News.

Politics.

TikTok.

Instagram.

YouTube.

Advertisements.

Breaking news that somehow happens every fifteen minutes.

Everybody is fighting for a few seconds of your brain.

Why?

Because attention is the new currency.

If somebody controls your attention, eventually they can influence your decisions.

And decisions control your life.

The Comfortable Trap

We’ve built a world where almost everything can be delivered instantly.

Food.

Entertainment.

Shopping.

Transportation.

Information.

You barely have to leave the couch.

That sounds like progress—and in many ways, it is.

But convenience has a price.

The easier life becomes, the easier it becomes to stop doing hard things.

And hard things are usually where growth happens.

Working out when you don’t feel like it.

Saving money instead of spending it.

Building a business.

Learning a skill.

Fixing your own problems.

Taking responsibility when something goes wrong.

Getting up after getting your ass kicked.

None of that provides instant gratification.

There’s no dopamine button for building something for ten years.

So people naturally drift toward what feels good right now.

And there is an entire economy waiting to sell them exactly that.

Debt Makes a Great Leash

Here’s another interesting one.

We’ve normalized financing damn near everything.

Cars.

Phones.

Furniture.

Vacations.

Clothes.

Houses.

Education.

Sometimes even dinner.

Nobody asks what something costs anymore.

They ask:

“What’s the payment?”

I’ve spent most of my life in the car business. I understand payments better than most people.

Payments can be useful.

Credit can be an incredible tool.

Debt can even create wealth when it is used intelligently.

But there is another side to it.

When every dollar you’re going to make next month is already promised to somebody else, your options disappear.

Suddenly you can’t leave the job you hate.

You can’t take the business risk.

You can’t survive six months without income.

You can’t tell somebody to go fuck themselves when you probably should.

You have bills.

That changes how a person behaves.

Financial independence isn’t just about being rich.

It’s about having options.

Keep Everybody Fighting

Then there’s division.

Left versus right.

Rich versus poor.

Boomers versus millennials.

Men versus women.

Ford versus Chevy.

Okay, maybe that last one is legitimate.

But seriously.

We are constantly handed reasons to fight with each other.

And while everybody is screaming about whatever outrage happened today, very few people are asking the questions that could actually change their own lives.

What am I building?

What do I own?

Where is my money going?

What am I learning?

Am I stronger than I was last year?

Do I control my time?

Could I survive if my paycheck disappeared tomorrow?

Those questions aren’t nearly as entertaining.

But they’re a hell of a lot more important.

Nobody Has to Force You

That’s what makes this whole thing fascinating.

Nobody has to lock you in a cage.

They can give you a comfortable chair.

Nobody has to censor every thought.

They can bury your attention underneath unlimited entertainment.

Nobody has to physically prevent you from becoming financially independent.

They can make consumption feel like success.

Nobody has to tell you that you’re powerless.

They just have to convince you that everything happening in your life is somebody else’s responsibility.

Eventually, you build the cage yourself.

And then you defend it.

The Rebellion Is Actually Pretty Boring

Want to rebel against the system?

It probably doesn’t require moving into the woods wearing a tinfoil hat.

It looks a lot less exciting.

Wake up early.

Train your body.

Read.

Learn valuable skills.

Spend less than you make.

Own things.

Build things.

Create multiple sources of income.

Control your attention.

Turn the television off.

Put the phone down occasionally.

Stop arguing with strangers.

Take care of your family.

Keep your word.

Learn how money works.

Learn how businesses work.

Learn how the world actually works.

And above all:

Think for yourself.

That’s the part nobody can do for you.

Maybe That’s the Real Conspiracy

So do I believe there is some giant secret organization controlling everybody?

Probably not.

I think the truth might actually be more interesting.

We created systems that profit tremendously from predictable human behavior.

Companies profit when we consume.

Platforms profit when we keep scrolling.

Banks profit when we borrow.

Media companies profit when we keep watching.

Politicians benefit when we stay divided.

None of that requires a secret meeting.

It just requires incentives.

And once enough incentives point in the same direction, the result can look a hell of a lot like a conspiracy.

But there is good news.

You can opt out of a surprising amount of it.

You can control what you consume.

You can control what you build.

You can control how you spend your money.

You can control what gets your attention.

You can control whether you get stronger or weaker.

You can control whether today moves you closer to the life you want—or further away from it.

Not everything is within your control.

But a hell of a lot more is than most people realize.

And maybe that is the biggest conspiracy of all.

Not that somebody is secretly controlling your life.

It’s convincing you that you were never in control to begin with.

— Nicholas Francis
Modern Day Dealer