Set For Life

Most people imagine financial security as something that happens after four or five decades in the workforce: you put in your 40 hours a week, save a little, and hope that someday the numbers in your retirement account are big enough that you can stop working. In Set for Life, Scott Trench turns this idea upside down. He argues that ordinary people in their 20s and 30s—especially single, middle-income earners with modest savings—can reach financial independence in a fraction of the usual time.

Instead of treating retirement as a destination at age 65, Trench defines “set for life” as reaching a point where your assets reliably produce more income than your living expenses. At that moment, you no longer need a traditional job to survive. You can still choose to work, but your decisions are no longer driven by the fear of running out of money. The essence of the book is a three-step path to that point: slash costs, boost income, and invest aggressively in assets that generate cash flow.

His approach is intentionally bold. It’s aimed at people willing to live far below their means, make unconventional housing choices, and use their working years strategically rather than passively following the standard career script. Yet even if you’re older, married, or already on a more traditional track, the principles—measuring your finances precisely, prioritizing big wins over small sacrifices, and channeling savings into productive assets—can still dramatically improve your financial position and flexibility.

The Three Numbers That Drive Your Freedom

Before jumping into tactics, Trench insists that you build a clear dashboard of your financial life. He focuses on three numbers: net worth, spending, and income. These metrics show where you are today and how quickly you’re moving toward freedom.

Net worth is your assets minus your liabilities. Trench takes a strict view of what counts as an asset. In his framework, only things that produce income or reliably increase in value belong in the asset column: rental properties, businesses, investments, and similar holdings. Items like your personal residence, cars, and retirement accounts that are hard to access or don’t directly put cash in your pocket should be mentally separated from the core wealth you intend to live off. This mindset pushes you to focus on assets that can feed you, not just look good on paper.

Next is spending. Because financial independence ultimately means your passive income exceeds your cost of living, you must know what that cost really is. Trench recommends tracking every dollar that leaves your accounts using software that automatically categorizes your transactions. He distinguishes between fixed expenses—like rent, insurance, and loan payments—and variable expenses such as groceries, entertainment, and shopping. By reviewing these categories regularly, you can see not only what you’re spending, but what level of lifestyle you’re designing for yourself.

The third metric is income: how much money flows into your life and from where. Trench separates income into two buckets—active and passive. Active income includes salaries, hourly wages, and side gigs where you trade time for money. Passive income ...