About

About Mike Holden

Writer. Property Investor. Early Retirement Mentor.

I’m Mike — once a serial job-hopper with zero direction, now someone who retired early through a mix of smart money systems, steady investing, and a lot of lessons learned the long way round.

If you’re here because you want more time, more freedom, and an early exit from the grind… you’re in the right place.

How It Started (Clueless but Trying)

Back in 1993, I left university with a degree in Applied Zoology and no plan. We were in a recession, so I took whatever work I could get — warehouses, labs, food factories… and yes, the occasional unlimited prawn ring.

I wasn’t building a career. I was drifting.

That changed when a manager gave me a piece of advice that genuinely rerouted my life:

“If you want to get anywhere in life, join your local library and use it.”

So I did. I read everything I could on mindset, productivity, goal setting — and one book, The Greatest Salesman in the World, hit me like a bolt.
I realised I needed to get into sales.

Breaking Into Sales (Against the Odds)

The problem? To get a sales job, you needed sales experience.
Classic catch-22.

Eventually I found a company willing to give someone with food industry experience a shot. That job became the start of a 25-year career in sales — where I learned the real foundations of success:

  • how to communicate
  • how to manage your mindset
  • how people make decisions
  • how money actually works in the real world

Sales opened the door. Books kept me growing. But something still niggled at me — the desire to build something bigger.

Finding My Path to Early Retirement

Fast-forward a couple of decades.

After years of saving with intention, investing in property, building side businesses, and creating simple habits that compound quietly in the background… I hit a turning point at 52:

I didn’t need to work anymore.

No windfalls. No lottery. No family money.
Just systems, persistence, and a willingness to learn what most people never get taught.

I wrote about that journey in How Do I Retire Early? — not as theory, but as lived experience.

What I Do Now

These days, I focus on helping regular people build an early-retirement plan grounded in reality, not hype.

I spend my time:

  • writing practical guides on property, money, and financial independence
  • mentoring people who want their first rental or their first step toward freedom
  • simplifying the stuff that feels complicated, because most of it isn’t
  • continuing to grow, learn and teach — because this journey doesn’t stop at retirement

Apart from writing this blog, I also create content across YouTube, X and LinkedIn — all focused on helping you build your own “Start Today, Retire Early” roadmap.

Why This Site Exists

Because I know what it’s like to feel stuck.
To drift.
To think early retirement is for other people.

It isn’t.

This site is here to give you what I wish I had at the beginning:
clear steps, practical tools, honest stories, and zero nonsense.

Whether you’re saving your first deposit… building your first rental… or planning the number that lets you walk away from the 9–5…

you’ll find everything you need here to create an early retirement plan that actually works.

👇 Next Steps

Let’s get you started. No fluff, no fear — just your Smart Start.