Impoverished Upbringing to Money Monster w/ Listener Nick Gangwer #986

We’re trying something completely new for our episode today: we’re hearing from a listener. Not in the form of a question submitted via voice memo, but we’re actually sitting down and having a ‘real money’ conversation, with Nick Gangwer. We met Nick at a listener hang about a year ago and his personal story and the proactive steps that he had taken to completely change his trajectory in life was incredibly inspirational to us as personal finance creators. And then more recently we realized that his story could be incredibly motivational to the broader HTM community of money nerds as well. So have a listen as we discuss growing up in a trailer park, scholarships to pay for college, saying ‘yes’ to every opportunity, buying a house in undergrad and house hacking, FIRE goals and much more!

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to How to Money. I'm Joel, I'm Matt, and.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Today we're talking impoverished upbringing to Money Monster with listener
Nick Gangwor. Yeah, so we are.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Doing something completely new for our episode today. We're gonna
hear from a listener, but not in the form of
a question that's submitted via a voice memo, but we're
actually sitting down and having a real money conversation with
Like Joel said, Nick Gangwor. We met Nick at a
listener hang about a year ago at a brewery of course,

(00:47):
and we heard a story. He shared it with us.
We learned about the proactive steps that he had taken
to completely change his trajectory in life, and it was
incredibly inspirational to us as personal finance creators. And then
more recently, we realized that his story could be incredibly
motivational to the broader had the money community of all
you money nerds out there. So this is why we

(01:07):
were having him on to share his story with you
the listener out there today. So Nick, thank you so
much for joining us today on the podcast. Man.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
Yeah, absolutely, guys, I appreciate you having me. Matt Joe,
thank you of course.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Nick Glad to have you along for the ride today
Man and Nick actually had the Money was Nick's first podcast.
It was, Yeah, let's first first questions that we obviously
have to ask you. What's your craft beer equivalent?

Speaker 1 (01:29):
My friend?

Speaker 3 (01:30):
Absolutely, I've been thinking about this answer for a while
and I'm gonna say, like it's definitely health.

Speaker 4 (01:34):
Like I spoiled myself with my health.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Health all right, yeah, this mean botox where we're talking.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
Actually, my gym membership surprisingly saw its. I go to
Windy Hill and I've been looking, like my first trip
to Atlanta, it was so hard to find a gym,
Like I went to like four or five different ones,
like I went to ton of Finniss, the Crunch trying
to find all the crossfits stuff like that, and found
Windy Hill.

Speaker 4 (01:55):
And that's a beautiful club.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yeah, it's a club like he can go there and
play squad because because that was before.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
I've lost many times the people my age, and they
will they'll work you. They have a good poker face.
I yeah, I joined there and they have like a
little coffee shop. They actually have a tap room as well,
so you work there maybe right off, I don't know.

Speaker 4 (02:16):
I talk about money.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Business, Okay, so like again truly, like we're going to
dive into Nick's like personal finances, Like do you mind
sharing how much you're paying?

Speaker 4 (02:23):
So it's a two twenty five a month.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
Okay, free beers in the tap room because I might
give them money for.

Speaker 4 (02:30):
Which I was Yeah, like I said, one free one
beer every day.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Well, you can't know because if it's all you can
see right, like they would be losing money. How much
time I would be spender.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Okay, we got to hear too, Nick, how not just
your first money podcast but literally your first podcast episode
was how to money when You're going off to college?

Speaker 1 (02:53):
How did that come about?

Speaker 4 (02:54):
Yeah, it definitely was.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
So. When I was in high school, I applied to
so many different colleges, like probably twenty and thirty everything
that could probably accept me. And when I was very blessed,
I got a call from the University of Alabama. I
probably sent over one hundred application for scholarships. Every single
scholarship that was online or that I could fill out
myself or if you like mail in, I would probably

(03:15):
applied to over two hundred scholarships during like in person
and online. Wow, the University of Alabama called me. I
remember this like frequently. I was on a bus going
to a soccer game and my best friend was sitting
next to me. I get his phone call. It's like
telemarketer almost and I was like, oh, I'm not gonna answer.
He's like, dude, you're not doing anything on a bus
go into a soccer game. I just answer phone. I'm
all right, cool answer phone? Like hey, is this Nick Ingram.

(03:37):
I'm like, yes, this is like this is actually, uh,
this is Coca Cola. We want to call you to
offer you a first generation scholarship. You are one of
the fourteen people that are going to go to Alabama.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
WHOA.

Speaker 3 (03:46):
I just broke down in tears. And my buddy, he's
like my brother for life.

Speaker 4 (03:51):
Nadelle.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
If you're listening, thank you so much for letting me
answer that phone call.

Speaker 4 (03:55):
Yeah, he's like hugged me. He's like he's like, this
is you're going? Like, let's do it.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
That's awesome.

Speaker 3 (04:00):
And it was really cool. So I was going to Alabama.
I got a couple of our scholarships offers. Actually was
going to go to debt free from undergrad and I
was like, wow, I got this big lumps of money.
I have no idea what to do with it. My
mom like didn't even make above twenty k, and like
I roof for my head. I had food, Like I
was very blessed what I had, but I never knew
like people bought cars that car payments like I just

(04:21):
never never had a car that could even work, let
alone like oh, we got to do a finance or
I have the credit card stuff like that. So when
I got this big lumpston, I was like, I need
to be educated before I go. So I packed up
my little baby clips paid for all cash. I staved
for like three or four years to get this car
all cash. And it was like so reggedy, so old,
But if it's everything I had in my in my
closet was there, and I was like looking for a

(04:42):
podcast and I found you guys. I was like, oh
my god. I was like, well, I like beer, I
like money. I said, it's gonna be awesome, cool du
yeah people, and listened to it for my two hour
drive to Bama, and it was amazing.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
Nice. He doesn't listen to anymore, folks. But I'm glad
that you were able to fight this early on. So,
I mean, one of the reasons I think this is
going to be a little bit different. Is like typically
we have authors on and it's folks who have written
something and so we've been able to breathe through, you know,
their expertise and like something that they've been thinking about
and researching for a really long time. But with you,
I mean, we're really bringing you on to for you

(05:18):
to share your story. Yeah, and so we're certainly going
to give you the opportunity to do that. We're gonna
find different ways to kind of pull some different questions
out of you. But you want to share just just
your upbringing. You talked about maybe growing up in poverty.
You said your mom didn't make more than twenty K.
Why it seemed like you were set on getting out
out of Alabama. Can you sort of sharehion.

Speaker 3 (05:38):
My childhood is really just I feel like we overcome
our closed every single day, and every single person's story
is like different and mine. I could easy and went
left and like gone down the wrong road, involved in violence.
Like when I grew up, I was in a mobile
home park in Brower County, Florida, like nine par four,
just rough neighborhood.

Speaker 4 (05:57):
I grew up in the mobile home parks.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
Just my closest members for me were like selling, trapping,
just doing things that people that I moved to, like
in Alabama would never even do, like we didn't even
see like that kind of stuff. My mom got me
out of that situation. We basically like fled the actually
DHR program. So I was actually gonna be taken away
from my mom and just like cause again I was

(06:21):
just almost a liability, like how you guys talked about
like assets and liabily. I was literally a liability to
my mom because she was just working two jobs like
put foot on the table, loved me so much, and
I was just I couldn't do anything before it because
I was like in elementary school. I was in the
first grade, second grade. I could like bring how many
bills to help pay for it. And so when we
went back to Alabama, still in the same situation, but

(06:43):
she was grinding, like working, and that's when I was
like old enough to like to work. So I got
my first job when I was twelve years old. I
was a dishwasher for an Italian restaurant. It was honestly amazing.
I got bring up some mixer capital, some cash, and
I helped my mom like the bills like the first
bill is hour paying was like the water bill or
like the power bill, and if things would ever go sour,
like I knew how to turn on the water back
on the road, I knew how to take somebody's cable

(07:03):
so we could have some TV or stuff like that.
And it's like the skills that you don't want to
teach a kid, but also the stuff that you need
to survive. I mean we grew up and like we
had to survive. And then now it's like like at
the time where high school where I was like I
need to focus, So I took a bunch of AP classes.

Speaker 4 (07:19):
I applied to do enrollment.

Speaker 3 (07:21):
I look at college, so I took college courses for
free because of my I guess my free reduced lunch.
I could even click the lowest button because it was
like does your mom make thirty five K? And I
was like, well it doesn't, like because it's go only
lower than that, it doesn't. It wasn't even there wasn't
even something lower on the paper to fill out.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
And so so what were you what was your experience
with money then? Was it non existent? Was it shameful?
Was it there's just never enough? Like and I haven't
even seen examples of there being enough Like how did
you know that you wanted to get good with money
or that you felt.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
Because you had this drive?

Speaker 2 (07:55):
It seems like two start working at twelve, applying for scholarships,
going to college, first person in your family. Where did
that come from? How did that transition happen?

Speaker 3 (08:03):
I think it came from just my experiences as a child,
like growing up, because I grew up, I mean I
was basically a full grown adult. I like tend I
had to be all right, Like I had to cook,
I had to clean, I had to go to work,
I had to like look at the bills or help
my mom do her taxes. I mean, I just had
to because if I didn't, like, who's going to be
the man of the house, Like who was gonna like provide,
who's going to try to teach and educate and even
grow Like our family at the end day it was

(08:24):
just me and my mom, And I feel like at
that time point it was on my shoulders that if
I did have a family or like a snific other
a partner, I want to provide for them, Like I
don't want that situation to be and just is like
the same thing everybody says, like I want my kids
to grow up better than me, Like that's our like
the American dream writer, like somebody's I have to come before

(08:44):
you to have like not struggles or not have to
figure out what they're gonna do or where they're gonna eat,
or are the lights of me on? Or if the
power's turned off, cool, it's turn on the stove because
it's gas. Now we're hot, like now we don't have
to be cold. It's just stuff like that where it's
like my family's not gonna act like that. My family's
not gonna to ever go through that, And that was
my mission. I was almost like a drive where it's
like I can't stop now or have to like be

(09:06):
better than my peers so I can be the best.
And that's like how like when I went to high school,
I just played sports and took ap classes, took do enrollment,
and got enough scholarships because I had to apply for everything,
got accepted a bunch of colleges, and then from there
I decided to like pick my head up and do
the best I could do, like while I was there,
Like when I went to college, the word I didn't
even know was no, like I said yes to everything.

Speaker 4 (09:27):
Every single thing in college I could do. Like I
joined just from like.

Speaker 1 (09:31):
A club standpoint or from a job standpoint.

Speaker 4 (09:33):
Everything, Yeah, everything, all the above, all the above.

Speaker 3 (09:36):
So when I first went to Bama, I joined a couple, uh,
just like clubs, Like there was a key clubs, there's
a student government body, social association. I actually joined the
rugby team at Alabama and I was played rugby for
three years and it was like an amazing experience.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
I actually jained a football team too.

Speaker 4 (09:55):
Yeah, pretty good football team. Yeah, it doesn't it doesn't
hurt to have a good fun. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
I did a side hustle of forts.

Speaker 4 (10:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (10:02):
So every single year I took a different internships because
my thing was like if I can be well rounded
like a Swiss army knife, then anybody could hire me.
So I had a bunch of internships. I was with
the strength and conditioning coaches. So when coach Cochran was
there for all the mental football, I was a strength
intern and I was there like at five thirty am
with the walk ons, just like wiping down benches, helping
them move weights, doing drills, stretching out players and it's

(10:25):
like just learning knowledge, like just like being a bug
on the wall and like when he said to move,
I said, how fast? You know, because you're like on
the ground. You're a total poll person. So it's like
you just got to be there and help as much
as you can. And then from there I went to
the athletic marketing department learn about sales fan experiences like
when that TV hits like go, or when the football
team like when fifteen minutes like calmtdown. We have a

(10:46):
script and that script is down to like team minus
like milliseconds of like what's on the scoreboard, who's going
to be on the radio, who's gonna be this? Like
your script's here, it's like I mean down to the millisecond.
So like learning that, it's like you have to be
like detailed oriented, you have to have a mission and
like every single second counts. And that's how I kind
of took my personal I was like, wow, every single
second counts, like when I'm in school as well.

Speaker 4 (11:04):
So that's why all these opportunities came.

Speaker 3 (11:06):
I was like said yes to everything and just try
to like soak up as much knowledge as I could.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
It's crazy, like so for you, it does not sound
like you had mentors. It does not sound like you
had somebody in your life early on that you were
necessarily looking up to, as opposed to you just saying
I know what is going on around me, and I
just don't want this to be my future. Like it
sounds like that that was a lot of your just
the motivation, the motivational drive behind what kind of spurred
you on.

Speaker 3 (11:29):
Yeah, absolutely, I think that was a major part of
part of it. And then actually when high school came around,
like I was bringing back up, I was more like
a liability. My mom couldn't really afford me, and I
saw her her struggle, and we had some family friends
liked would pitch in, and I hated like asking for
money or even like being a burden, like staying over
our friend's house for more than a week because I

(11:49):
had to go to school, or like because like the
power was out, or like she had to go on
a long trips and I couldn't be there. So I
had a family friend and really good friends, and actually
like there my brothers, dur my family. I include them
as like my mom and dad, like like my foster family.
I started living with them, and you know, one week
became a month, then one beginning of year, and now

(12:11):
it's been I want to say, almost ten years.

Speaker 4 (12:14):
I live with his family.

Speaker 3 (12:14):
Even when I go to Christmas break, i'd go back
and stay with them for Thanksgiving, and they're they're my
blood as much as my mom, and I love my
mom and death and like we have a really good relationship,
like we're gonna kill it, like we're gonna be in
the top percent soon. So it's like I still have
all my love for my mom, and everybody helped me out,
and then that family is like another branch that was
supporting me, and that's like, I'm very beneficial. I'm very
blessed because some people don't have that. Like I was
basic unformally adopted and just they saved my life.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
And kay, did you learn a lot in that relationship.

Speaker 3 (12:41):
I did, because it's funny because I grew up as
a single family or like a single family kid. So
it's like I was the only child, just me and
my mom through everything, And I said, differ table is
just me and her just talking about.

Speaker 4 (12:52):
Like okay, you know, it's just me and make it out.

Speaker 3 (12:55):
And then when I go there, I have a little
sister and the older brothers and a big fan family
and cousins and uncles and goofy uncles and it's like
cool because wow, like this is so cool. Like I
was usually playing video games with two controllers. I'd play
both of them right, And then now it's like we
fight over Katon and like who's gonna like trade this?
And it's like the funniest experience is I get the best.

Speaker 4 (13:14):
Of all for us.

Speaker 3 (13:15):
I'm like, oh my god, this is amazing. Like generally,
I guess like love for a family I'm definitely grown
to have.

Speaker 1 (13:20):
That's super cool.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
I want to dial in on the scholarship thing for
a second. Yeah, so you obviously worked your butt off
in high school, and I wonder, well, I'm curious, was
that something that you knew you needed to do, like
you just had to do it because there was no
other way to get out of where you were. And
then secondly, when it came to scholarships, like the Coke
scholarship that you mentioned was huge, Like that was like
just as massive payouts. Absolutely not all, not all scholarships

(13:44):
provide that much money, But you applied for a bunch
of other scholarships and received other scholarships.

Speaker 1 (13:50):
Yeah too, How impactful was that?

Speaker 4 (13:52):
Absolutely? I guess I going too high school.

Speaker 3 (13:54):
First, we had this one speaker come in and it
was fantastic because no one really goes back to your
high school and preaches like just that kind of world
to you because I'm just I was involved in like,
oh high school practice, like girls in the lockerway, Like
it's kind of that stuff. It's like not really like Okay,
what's gonna do your senior year? What's gonna do? Like
what's your ATEC score? Or like what's what do you
can do to apply for scholarships? Like we had like

(14:16):
a council like members or like that would come up
and like, oh, you should probably apply for college because
you're you're senior year, or you can go into the workforce,
Like almost eighty percent of my high school went into
the workforce. Like I was the only guy in my
grade to go to BAMA. A bunch of my friends
with like other schools, just like a very very low
population of us even like went to college.

Speaker 1 (14:35):
So was it like a guidance counselor at the school
that kind of helped guide you through that process?

Speaker 3 (14:39):
Then and again, it's like when you're at like a
small school and you have like two hundred students and
you have one guidance counselor how how can they afford
to do that? Like just spread soil thin already and
they it's it's my high school was twelfth through seventh grade.
I can imagine how much like she had to deal
with and then have like how to provide for a
kid's future as well as so much stress on her.
So like there's no like bad blood like that, just

(14:59):
you's got as in the system, you know. So like
for me, it was like I had to set a diary.
So this guy when he came in, he's like you
need to write down everything you do. You go to
Kawana's Club and like flip pancakes and like give it
to the society. You go to the Free Breeze of
the Rice of the Church and like you donate and
you help. You spend your time like document everything and
go to animals the animal shelter, right and you walk
some dogs or you just help clean the pans. Like

(15:20):
those people are giving their time for free and not
getting paid, and they're like providing a service for all
like the dogs and the animals that need homes. And
so you go there and help them out, Like that's amazing.
But then he was like, I'll write that down because
that makes you different. And we had no idea. We're
just doing it because like we enjoyed going to the
church and helping. We enjoyed going and help walking dogs,
and we enjoyed going to Kawanas Club and hanging with
the senior citizens and like putting quotes and like playing

(15:42):
chess getting beaten chess. And he's like, no, like that
sets you different, like no one else would do that.
I was like why not. It was like you just
have a good heart. And me and my group the friends,
I would always do that, like yeah, we should. And
when it came to scolsire time we sent that piece
of paper like I think I emailed you my high
school resume, it was really it was like long and
I just wrote every thing down and like we're the
ones that I got these scholarship is just these collegies,

(16:04):
like everybody's making like three six on act scores or
like everybody has like four point oh GP in high school.
Everybody's like involved in extracurricular activities. But what's going to
set you apart? Like so you writing a two page
essay then sitting in that they're not going to read,
or you having like these like amazing volunteer hours. That's
like we're like, wow, like you had this, this and
this and this, but also you did this too, like
for the community, for people that you enjoyed to being around,

(16:26):
for the people that were suffering, you help them out.

Speaker 4 (16:28):
That's where I wanted my college. I can teach anybody.

Speaker 3 (16:30):
I can teach anybody like math or or any of
those like subjects for college, but your personality, you're like ethics,
you're like your individual soul that's unteachable, like you're born
with that.

Speaker 4 (16:41):
Yeah, and I think that's.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
What made like me and my friends different to be
able to get applied for the scholarships and actually like
get approved too.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
Sure. Yeah, so you were doing a lot of that
out of the goodness of your heart, but then you
realize that by documenting that that was going to obviously
set you apart when it came to school. But now
the ability to kind of transform some of those pursuits
and the things that you were doing into generating generating income,
that's what we're going to actually talk about next. So
we'll get to that and more, right after the break.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
All right, we're back, still talking with a friend of
the show, Nick Yang. Were been listening since those early
college days, Nick, and man, so fun to have you along.
Interestingly enough, one podcast episode that you listened to had
a really big impact while you were in school about
house hacking. And most people would say buying a house

(17:36):
while I'm in college impossible. But even given all the
things that we've heard so far, the difficulties that you've experienced,
you still managed to buy a house while you were
in college. Yeah, Yeah, I did.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
Yeah, Okay, don't remember what number episode it was, but
I remember you saying the best intro to real estate
is house hacking. And so I brought up on myself.
When I was an undergrad, I worked as a bartender.
I worked as an event menu like I guess like

(18:07):
consulting where people came to me, I like build their
menus for like their bars. So I'd build like drink
menus or they have like Christmas menus. I'd help them
like just craft their cocktails.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
Like the drink program. Yeah, the drink drink which maybe
we'll get to this towards the end of the episode Entrepreneurship.
It kind of leads to almost what you're doing now,
but yeah, please continue.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
And so I just saved up a lot of money
because I was like, I really want to go to
grad school. My family friend he got his MBA and
he was like, you know, once you leave school, are
you really gonna go back and do it? Are you
really going back and do it? I was like, I've
had a lot of people are like, oh wait, dune school.
Just stay in school, get it done. When I was
at BAMA, I had a four point o GPA graduate
the red cap, and that was my first mission. I

(18:45):
was in undergrad. When I freshman year, I told my mom,
I was like, I want I want to get that
red cap because I toured and I saw people red caps,
So what does that mean?

Speaker 4 (18:52):
Oh, it's a four point o GPA all four years.
I was like, my mom, gonna do that. And when
I got it, I broke down. I was like, oh
my god, yeah, I got it.

Speaker 3 (18:59):
So I save a lot of money. And actually, through
the University of Alabama, if you have a four point
o GPA, you can go straight to get your MBA
without taking the gre N And so I was like,
oh my gosh, this is brilliant. And when I applied
with my scholarship money and then with my GPA, I
actually got a scholarship for the first year from my
MBA program. And I had all this money I saved

(19:21):
up for working because that was my plan to pay
for because I just don't really trust if I was
going to get one, you know, just like I got
to control the controllables, right, and so I can control
how I saved my money for this next chapter of
my life. And when that happened, I was like, well, great,
I had this lumps of money. What can I do.

Speaker 4 (19:35):
I was like, let's let's get a house. Let's house tackle.
How do I even do that? What do I even do?

Speaker 3 (19:39):
I just listen to podcasts, learned and didn't really get
into stuck into like the data analytics or like the
analysis paralysis. Like I know, like people preached that, like
don't get stuck into it, don't get sucking to just
like practice and practice and practice. So for like thirty days,
I did a deal O day, did the numbers. I
looked around just driving for dollars, kicking tires with a
couple of my professors that they were like really big
into the real estate world, and they like showed me

(20:01):
a little bit, and so I could go on my
own and I just walk the streets. I mean I
lived in that town for four years going to college.
I know what streets. Yeah, Like I know the market.
That's like my home market.

Speaker 4 (20:09):
Now.

Speaker 3 (20:10):
I saw this house and I knew they were on sale.
He was for sale by owner for a year. I
looked up on Zillow, redfin drove by. I was like,
what's wrong with this house? Like what's going on? Like
no one's no one's speaking this up like this a
great deal. I figured out that the bottom level of
the house was never listed, was never appraised, It was
never a square footed and never calculated, and they had

(20:32):
a whole entire section of downstairs. I was like, so
they thought it was a three bed, three bath.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
Little mathematical anomaly there.

Speaker 3 (20:38):
And technically it was a five bedroom, four bath man.
And I was like, oh my god, this is crazy,
Like I could live here, like I don't have a
car payment, I don't have the house payment because I
can get four of my buddies go in there, and yeah, so.

Speaker 1 (20:51):
What bedroom did you take? Did you take the lower levels?
Was it finished out a little more sketchly?

Speaker 3 (20:58):
It was.

Speaker 1 (20:59):
It was boozy.

Speaker 3 (20:59):
For my I was like, yeah, four walls that aren't
like sagging, this is amazing.

Speaker 1 (21:03):
I thought maybe it wasn't listed because it had been
added and renovated in a very haphazard kind of way,
and maybe you know, you got the entrepreneurial sort of mindset.
I'll take the crappy kind of spot list the other
rooms upstairs for a lot more. But it sounds like
that's kind of what you did, regardless of the state that.

Speaker 4 (21:20):
It is detached from the house.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
All the four units and the three bathrooms are up
top beautiful, and I was like, cool, I'll open the
door and walk inside to cook my food every single day.

Speaker 4 (21:30):
I don't care. So I did take the one.

Speaker 3 (21:31):
I was like outside, but it was I mean, it
was perfect, like it's it's cash cow. My my roommates
like didn't mind because again, like bringing it back to
when I went to Bama, my twish in the dorms
was like eight thousand dollars a semester.

Speaker 4 (21:45):
It was on Godly And.

Speaker 2 (21:46):
So you're turning something that's an expense into income.

Speaker 1 (21:49):
Yeah, and you used.

Speaker 2 (21:50):
What additional scholarship money money from bartending all these side
hustles to basically save up that little nest egg, Like
you worked your butt off to get that down payment,
and when we're house hacking, I'm curious how much did
you put down? You still own this house too.

Speaker 4 (22:03):
Right, I do, Yeah, I do.

Speaker 3 (22:04):
So my biggest trouble was actually getting approved from the loan.
I found the deal. I had the money for the
down payment, I had the agent already worked with them,
already did the underwriting. I knew it was being a
good deal, and so I went to my foster dad
and I was say, hey, like, this is it, Like
this is this is a unicorn, like we have to
do this, and he's like, why don't we know, Like

(22:26):
he's never done anything like a house before, like real
estate or investing, and I was like listen, I was like,
I'll manage it. I'll be the private manager, I'll get
the leases, I'll learn, like, I'll do everything. All you
need to do is just sign this piece of paper
and you will. Let's do like fifty fitty like on
cash and catch return. And so when he signed the dollar,
he made five hundred dollars each month until now, and
he hasn't seen he hasn't done anything I repainted the

(22:48):
whole house. I built a deck, I redid the flooring,
I did the carpeting. I like literally built the house
for like entire year while I was in college. And
it's it's beautiful.

Speaker 4 (22:58):
That's awesome.

Speaker 3 (22:58):
Yeah, and so it's doing really well. I paid as
a five percent so I used a five percent conventional
loan or a first home. Yeah, and as a five
percent down payment. It was two hundred and twenty asking
I got it down to two ten. And when I
got it the first day, I praised for like two thirty,
so I already had equity in the business or in

(23:19):
the property mortgages a thousand and when I got it,
my whole ordeal was like when I struggled to even
get a place my sophomore year of college, Like the
rent was seven hundred dollars for a small small shoe
box and tescalussa. I was like, there's no way people
can afford that. So when I got this house, I
actually like the low market rents because it's kids in

(23:40):
my fraternity, like my brothers, and I'm like, listen, I
was like, I'm trying to help out. I'm not trying
to make any money from this I'm trying to like
want to give some place to live, but also it's affordable.
So it's like two hundred dollars below market rate every
single bedroom, like I could easily be like it. Also
I pay for utilities too, and that's like incredible. Yeah,
because again, like I'm trying to go.

Speaker 1 (23:57):
There taking those hot long hot showers.

Speaker 3 (24:00):
Like it's like some people could be like, oh, you're done,
you could get an extra thousand dollars a month, is
like what I didn't do that for that reason, Like
it's an asset, Like that's that the house is worth
right now, it's worth about like two ninety or three
or two ninety five, So then like equity is there.
But I'm trying to make it a path like for
other people in fraternity, other people in Tuscalusa, to like
have that stress off their shoulders, right, Like Okay, I

(24:21):
got to worry about school out, worry about surviving, like
like finding myself like all this day and age, Like
what's one ding I can take away from? Well, I
can take away that this added like expense and still
make a beautiful income properly.

Speaker 4 (24:34):
Yeah, Like it's it's amazing.

Speaker 1 (24:35):
Well, I mean that's a lot of times capitalism gets
gets criticized if you take the improper mindset, it's like, well,
you're taking advantage. It's like, oh, they could be they
could be paying much, you know, a whole lot less.
But I mean that's what's so beautiful about the open market. Like, yeah,
it's like market this is this is a situation with
the free market where you can say, all right, this
is I'm willing to list it for this much and
make this much money, and then you got guys that

(24:56):
are like, oh, I would gladly pay that, and so
they're winning. You're winning even being landlord.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
You can still I mean how much. Yeah, you've made
eighty plus grand just owning this home while they help
pay the mortgage.

Speaker 4 (25:08):
Yeah. Absolutely, yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:09):
And it's like like you were saying, I could put
the remps and hundred bucks of room, but I'm listed
to twenty twenty eight nice, and I don't have this
sting of fingers. I would rather be one hundred dollars less,
adore and make somebody's day and they can sign for
years and now I don't have to worry about finding tenants,
screening tenants, like doing all this like ready apps or

(25:30):
like finding a propery manager where I can do everything.
They're connected to me. I know them, I see them
if I go down to Tusco's and visit like their
family almost And that's that's really.

Speaker 1 (25:38):
Cool minimizing that vacancy too.

Speaker 4 (25:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (25:40):
Absolutely, So you saved up the money to put down
on that house while you were in school while and
you know you didn't gloss over this, but you got
the red cat that four point zero aw four years.
Like what do you say to folks who are saying, well,
like you know, the kids, they need to be focused
on their studies. Makes that way they can get the
very top GPA so that they can pursue some of

(26:03):
the different extra cur curriculars, you know, the kind of
things that might flesh out a college career. And a
lot of times what they'll do is they continue to
borrow money as opposed to earning money. But you were
doing both, Like, what do you think about that? Obviously,
I know what you think. That's a great question. It's possible.
You know, what you were saying is that it's possible
to do both. But yeah, I would love to hear

(26:25):
you talk about that.

Speaker 3 (26:26):
I think that's a great question because it's something that
I definitely to struggle with in college because I wore
so many hats where I was like, well, who would
have to be today?

Speaker 4 (26:33):
Right?

Speaker 3 (26:33):
Like am I going to this internship where I have
to be at there at five in the morning to
go to the football program and do that? Or do
I have to go to my bartaining ship doesn't end
till at three am and I'm walking home pitch black dark,
dodging all the goofies. It's like or like okay, cool,
Or I have this like like organic comtest and I
need to study four and it's like I need to

(26:55):
be that person at the right time.

Speaker 4 (26:57):
It's just basically his time management.

Speaker 3 (26:58):
And if you can do that, I mean gosh, Like
I was had an internship, I had a job, I
was on the rugby team, I had to practice, I
had like social outings I really wanted to go to
and I build that relationship. But also at the end
of the day, like I'm there for school, I'm going
to learn, like this is my future, so they take
that priority as well.

Speaker 4 (27:14):
I think.

Speaker 3 (27:16):
What benefited me most is I feel like I use
my undergrad to build myself, like my personality and my
person like who Nick is that was my undergrad because
I said yes to everything. And I mean Alabama's culture
is like so dramatic, where like you can connect with anybody,
you can talk to anybody, you can see the different
cultures that come in there, and you can actually build

(27:37):
who you are and then that foundation can get you anywhere,
like a job can be taught, like anybody can teach
a job as well, like and so it's like building
who you are first, then applying that to a future
you is like my goal.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
Did you miss out on the college experience? Do you
have any regrets for them? Because obviously we've established some
of the financial benefits and the benefits to you at
your individual.

Speaker 1 (28:00):
Growth personal development in the place. Yeah, but do you feel.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
Like, man, I wish I would have taken the pedaled
off the medal a little bit, Like I wish I
would have chilled out just a bit so I could
have enjoyed that college experience.

Speaker 3 (28:10):
Or no, no, I don't think I missed it at all.
So like going back when I first came, I didn't
say no to anything. I founded a club called First Fellows.
It was me and Taylor Robinson. She actually she was
spearheading and she was a president. She thought of everything.
She was like, we should really do this because she
was a first generation in scholarship as well, and she
was like, we need some like an organization that's for
first gen because when we go there, we have no idea,

(28:32):
Like I can't I can't go on LinkedIn and see
a post farm mom, but like, oh, has such a
great time like touring my daughter around or son around
the Lucky Martin with me today in the office.

Speaker 4 (28:42):
We do not have.

Speaker 1 (28:44):
What's that all about?

Speaker 3 (28:45):
My mom doesn't even have a LinkedIn profile, Like she
doesn't know what that is, and like that mind neither.

Speaker 1 (28:49):
But she's much older than your mom and retired.

Speaker 3 (28:52):
But even that experience, like some people listen might be like,
oh that's that's that's weird, it's like but not to us,
like we have no idea like that, that little tiny
thing like as you jobs, connections all about who you know,
We've already like beaten this hours before. It's like who
you know here you get the job, like your experiences
or your connections, your friends, your coworkers. But with us,
like that's a whole world that we're not even a
part of. And so when we first came like my

(29:14):
dorm room almost had more population than my hometown. I mean,
my town's like ten thousand people strong. Like there's more
cow pastors and cemeteries and our people. And I go
here and I'm like, these gigantic buildings, I'm falling over
trying to look at them, and like, all right, cool,
here you are with ten thousand more freshmen go I
can't call it my mom and be like, hey, where's

(29:35):
the dining hall?

Speaker 4 (29:36):
What's this stuff?

Speaker 3 (29:37):
So it's like you got to go in there and
just be ready. So we built this organization to that,
and that was amazing. From there, again, I didn't join
a fraternity. I was like my fresh year I joined
the rugby team, played with them for three years, and
then my sophomore I went to a group of guys
that were hanging around this table at like a local
pub and was talking to them. Great guys, a bunch

(29:58):
like trail mix people like nobody from all cultures, all identities.
We're laughing or goofing. They're like, yeah, you should come
back to the house. Like we're just doing like we're
just gonna watch the watch the game. It was like
some basketball game.

Speaker 4 (30:07):
I was like, oh cool.

Speaker 3 (30:08):
I was like, uh, what apartment? Like the apartment, I
was like, Oh no, we're in this fraternity. I'm like,
oh my god, it's so cool. Like I had no idea,
like you are just regular dudes. And like I grew
up like I thought that was like Blue Mountain State
kind of thing. It's like I don't want to I'm
not I'm not gonna pay for friends and I could
do this, but it's agenda connection. That was like almost
like a like a community, and that's exactly why I
need to like hold a foundation. And people were like

(30:30):
in there struggling with money or they or they had
a lot of money, or they're like a part of
like the LGBTQ community, or they were straight there. It's
like you get involved in so much that you just
come out such a more rounded person. I think that's
college is more about, is like rounding yourself and finding
your identity and developing yourself as well as like finding
yourself because I didn't know exactly what to do until
my junior year when I was in college and I

(30:50):
was like, wow, like I really do love like entrepreneurship.
I love consulting and I would go around and help
businesses start like promoting themselves, like I hope with the
coffee shop to their own like coffee beans and to
go into stores. I hope with the music venue to
make to build their brand ambassador team. I hope with
the dispensary to help like their marketing to try to
get them like started when the Hemp was just getting

(31:12):
on boarded and Tuscalusa, and also our work as a
brand ambassador for anhasser Bush and so building relationships talking
to people, like building brand new celtzas that nobody ever
heard about, like the Buylite Seltzer Winter Pack. We'd be
like trying to promote this drink and be like, hey,
like you should define try this because there are the flavor,
there's a benefit, and it's like just being that entrepreneuri spirit,

(31:32):
I was like, Wow, this is what I want to do.
I want to work for a startup. Yeah, And I
would never know and that unless I took the chances
and developed that.

Speaker 1 (31:38):
Yeah. I mean what I hear you saying, Like you again,
like you said yes to everything that came across your path,
that came across your plate, right, like you took a
bite of everything everything. But I am curious and I
do wonder if if it wasn't for your upbringing, if
you would have that same kind of drive. Do you
think that that's the case, because I think there's a

(31:59):
lot of out there and yeah, you know, they they
they've had parents and they've helped them along, and they're
taking them to the company, you know, and then the
internships and getting them introduced. But you learned that while
you were there in school. But I think a lot
of that, it sounds like to me, at least a
lot of that was fueled by your upbringing, by the
fact that you didn't have that. How critical do you

(32:20):
think or how crucial do you think that kind of
experience is to in your case, having that drive to
want to go out there and to kill something and
to create your own thing.

Speaker 4 (32:29):
I think is exposure.

Speaker 1 (32:32):
So not necessarily going through it, but just even seeing that.

Speaker 3 (32:34):
These options, even seeing it, I mean, like what we
grow our strongest when we're under pressure, Like there, we
experience things that we like all the fairies we have
we find one success story from And I think that
was my whole thing, was I was exposed to everything
almost but also my friends were as well, Like my
city wasn't we didn't have like millionaires in our city
anything like that. So all my friends were struggling around

(32:57):
me as well, and I see what what the struggles were,
and like they did to overcome them, or like what
they didn't do to overcome them, and they're still there
or that are or that are like going the opposite
way from me, and you take that with you when
you do go off to a whole different college or
a whole different experience, or even if you don't go
to college, like you don't even have to go to
college this time of years, or like right now in

(33:17):
our current like final situation you could explore is like
even moving to Atlanta, I had no idea who anybody
was here, Like I didn't know where to live, I
didn't know where to stay or who to talk to.
I just came here and I just again said no,
or I didn't say no at all, Like I just
said yes to every single thing that.

Speaker 4 (33:34):
Came an opportunity.

Speaker 3 (33:35):
Like I went out one time I saw hiring for
a bartender and I was like, wow, bartending.

Speaker 1 (33:40):
Experience and I've done that before and I already had a.

Speaker 3 (33:42):
Full time job, and I was like, cool, I'll just
just apply. Well, see what happens. He's like, hey man,
I was like, I need someone right now.

Speaker 1 (33:47):
I my my buddy just quit, like literally slapped a
sapron on Clis's go.

Speaker 3 (33:50):
Yeah, let's go. And I was like, all right, let's
let's go. And so our bartad that night, they're like,
oh this is amazing. I'm met a bunch of friends.
They actually introduced me to the industry. I know a
lot of cells rep and in turns to my like
kind of like going to my future job. That connection
helped me so much, Like I got my job now
from doing that, from being like, oh cool, there's a
sign of says hiring, let's do it.

Speaker 4 (34:12):
I mean I'm here right now, ready to go. Yeah,
And so.

Speaker 3 (34:14):
Yeah, I guess just exposure to stuff that is not
there and taking advantage of stuff that is there is
what made me, like, I guess, get out my shoes
and be able to tackle all those things that were
those different hats that I was trying to do and
try and be like I'm not missing out the call experience,
but I'm gaining real life experience that no professor could
teach me.

Speaker 1 (34:33):
So when we met you, you had two jobs. I
remember one of them was for like one of.

Speaker 3 (34:37):
The races companies like Spartan Race or matter which I
worked for a Spartan Races Smart Spartan Race.

Speaker 1 (34:43):
And in addition to the beverage industry, is it just
that you've got the drive? Like I'm trying to connect
the dots for folks out there who are just like,
am I just a slacker? Is it for you? Is
it just that you've got this pins up energy, that
you've got this drive, or is it something outside of
you that you're trying to pursue, Like is it like,
do you have your eyes set on some kind of goal,
some kind of financial goal or a lifestyle goal or

(35:04):
is it more internal that you're just like this is
just who I am? Or is it maybe a little
bit of both.

Speaker 4 (35:08):
No, I think that's the perfect question.

Speaker 3 (35:10):
I think it ties into again like the podcast where
y'all talk about like building your goals and making sub goals,
And so I built a five year plan. By by
twenty thirty, I or by I'm thirty, I want to
be a millionaire. I want to retire, right, And that's
that's my goal is to retire and.

Speaker 1 (35:24):
To retire by thirty.

Speaker 3 (35:25):
To retire by thirty is my goal. And every time
I every time I talk to people are like, oh,
that's crazy.

Speaker 4 (35:30):
I doesn't have it.

Speaker 3 (35:31):
But also like when Bill gets like, oh, yeah, I'm
going to vent this, you were like, that's that's wild.
I joined this like masterclassing on It's like an app.
You can drive a master class if you tried that,
YE don't know.

Speaker 2 (35:41):
I think I I did Aaron Franklin's masterclass on smoking
or I spoil one of those videos, but I'm not.

Speaker 1 (35:49):
I can't smoke meat something.

Speaker 3 (35:51):
So yeah. It's the CEO of Walt Disney. He has
his master class on there and he was like good
friends with Steve Jobs, and he he came to him
and he was like, Hey, I'm going to show you something.
I want you to be all in and he was like, oh,
what are you gonna show me?

Speaker 4 (36:06):
What it has to be?

Speaker 3 (36:07):
Off the books, He's like, I think I have something
that you can put all your ABC shows on. And
he shows them this little like the the iPod with
the screen. He's like, this is what people are gonna
be using. And he's like that's crazy. He's like, this
is insane. He's like he's liked, this is the first one,
like you're the only one that's seen this. And now,
I mean we're attached to our phones. I have a
screen on it, and it started right there. And so

(36:28):
it's like, people think you're crazy for saying something, but
it's like that man was crazy. I bet he thought
the same thing, Like there's no way someone's gonna watch
something on that tiny low screen where I can put
shows or movies or televisions or sports or and like that,
Now boom, it's everywhere. I mean, everybody has one. And
if you don't have, when you're trying to get one, right,
and it's like it's I guess having that exposure to

(36:50):
being that drive and trying to get to someplace that
you're not. And so that's why I wrote these goals
and onto these goals, like my five year plans to
be there. I'm like, okay, now my first goal is
to do rent up properties to help me with that goal. Right,
So my baseline, if I can make like eight thousand
dollars a month, I living like a king, right, Like
I don't need anything crazy, Like I live below my

(37:12):
means right now. I live below on my means. When
I was eight years old and still in college and
so having that like the growth of income when people
what's it called when you say on the show, it's
like inflation of your income.

Speaker 1 (37:24):
Oh, compounding returns. No, lifestyle creepy, lifestyle creepy, thank you, yeah,
lifestyle creep I just feel like, for me, that's not
even award of my definition or award of my dictionary, because.

Speaker 3 (37:36):
I've tried so hard to keep that that ceiling already
below that that I've never really hit that. Like even
when I was tunny earlier, when I moved to Atlanta,
I toured so many different apartments. I crashed on boyceecouts
for whole week. I made all these appointments and they're
like two thousand dollars twenty one hundred, twenty four hundred.
I was like, oh my god, I don't know if
I can live in Atlanta. I don't know if I
can go to work anymore. And when this one popped
up on Facebook, I saw the price. I didn't even

(37:57):
tour it. I was like sold, I was, I don't
care where. I was like, this is a price, it's
in my budget, Like I'm leaving below my means and
I live in the shoe box.

Speaker 4 (38:03):
But it's my shoebox.

Speaker 1 (38:04):
Yeah it's beautiful.

Speaker 3 (38:05):
Yeah, I love it, And so I think, yeah, actually,
I just think going for exposure again of being the
uncertainty of where you're in, going towards having that drive,
but also staying below your means can really push you
in a situation where you can succeed.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
It's beautiful.

Speaker 2 (38:22):
We got a few more questions We've got to get
to with you, Nick and uncover a little more about
your future and where those goals are headed and how
you're going to get there in the coming what five years.
We'll talk about that a little more right after this.

Speaker 1 (38:42):
All right, we're back from the break talking with Nick.
And Nick right before the break, you're talking about living
below your means and specifically when it came to housing,
and what that gives you is it gives you options
to be able to do other things, to pursue other goals.
And I'm curious because you said early, even earlier, that
you want to be able to retire by the time
you're thirty. So my question do you actually want to

(39:03):
retire when you're thirty years old or do you just
want to financially have the ability to retire? Because I'll
share and we've talked about this on the show, but
my view personally of work has changed. When I first
learned about Fire, I was just like, dude, I'm doing this,
you know, like I'm there crunching the can I retire
yet calculator? You know. Reading the Mister Money Mustache post,
that was like, everyone's a lot of folks who out

(39:24):
is like in our generation, that was like their gateway
drug to the fire community. The shockingly simple math behind
early retirement. It was millions, it was the name of
that post. But I'm curious, Yeah, do you want the
ability to retire when you hit thirty or you literally
want to retire and want to do something like completely
off the books, So maybe we're not even earning money.
I'm curious.

Speaker 3 (39:45):
No, I think I'm a hustler. I think I like
that saying earlier, I have the drive. I don't think
I'm ever gonna stop work.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
Okay, good, because I'm like, I don't know how you're
planning to go from like full throttle pedal to the metals.
I'm just not going to work anymore for the rest
of money.

Speaker 2 (39:57):
For some reason, with all the football talk we had earlier,
all I can think of is is Rudy from the movie,
you know, like the Notre Dame Walk On, And I'm like, Nick,
you remind me of him, Like that motor that he
had to succeed, like despite his obstacles, right, the fact
that he was like shorter than everybody else, he wasn't
as big, like you can't play on the Notre Dame
football team, man, And then he does like you just
have that kind of motor. So when you say you
want to retire at thirty, I'm like, what does that

(40:18):
look like for you?

Speaker 4 (40:19):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (40:19):
I think retiring for me is finally being able to
do my entrepreneurship goals. For me, retiring at thirty is
a momentum. It's a testament. It's showing people behind me,
showing people in front of me, showing people in my situation.
It's like, oh my god, this guy's crazy. But every
single thing he's talking about he's actually doing. I hate
talking and speaking and preaching before without like, you know,

(40:42):
actions speak louder than words, and I'd like to have
my words out there because I rethink it everything every
time I talk to somebody. But also it validates it, right, Cool,
I told this person I'm going to do this, more motivation,
more accountability to actually make this achieve and like through
those goals, like at sub goals like okay, cool, I
want to do three rentum properties, Well, how do I
the first one of property? Okay, cool, I need to
have termsent down payment? How do you twin percent down pament?

(41:04):
Like breaking down these goals to where it's like when
you eat an elephant, what one by at the time? Right,
And That's what I'm trying to do with these major goals,
Like I do have these major goals to retire when
I'm thirty, but I'm actually managing them very very well.

Speaker 4 (41:17):
And when I do do.

Speaker 3 (41:17):
That, for example, I have the spreadsheet and every single
tab has a crazy idea has a crazy idea on it.
For example, it's like launchy MAT's townhomes development, it's a
storage unit's complex. It's like developing a startup company. It's
opening up with dispensary, it's doing like different jobs. And
every single time I click on this TABI my exospreadsheet
has a list of action items.

Speaker 4 (41:36):
What am I doing? How am I moving?

Speaker 3 (41:38):
And so I probably have twenty different projects, entrepreneurships, side hustles,
things that I'm doing and they're all growing, but they're
growing one percent each. So people are like, oh, you're
so divided, You're you're you're not spending much time, Like
how do you get so effort? I'm like, okay, well,
if I'm free, if I have time, I click one
that I want to work on, and I see my
progression and that's like slowly like biding the elephant one
by the time until one goes to fruition, and like

(41:59):
all these are just like I know, Like I love
a note. I love a know so much because once
it's going to know, it's closer to the next. Yes,
and that's how I succeed.

Speaker 2 (42:06):
I'm curious because you went to college, you got an MBA,
but clearly there's a lot of self education in your
journey as well, right, so it wasn't just go to college,
get a degree, get a job. Like there's so much
like self effort that had to go into figuring the
things out because again, you weren't born with someone whispering

(42:27):
these things into your ears telling you, hey, this is
how you play the game. This is how you buy
real estate and build an empire so you can retire
at thirty. You have really had to kind of diy
all of that. What does that look like? Is that
just kind of a continuous improvement way of thinking on
your part, Like I'm always digging in trying to learn
the thing that I don't know when I hear the
idea so that I can figure it out, Like how

(42:49):
is your brain working on that stuff?

Speaker 4 (42:50):
I just think I'd love to be a sponge.

Speaker 3 (42:52):
Honestly, I love learning sans so nerdy, but I love
it just like just to be able to Like I mean,
knowledge is power, and that's been said since Like I
don't know night and day right, and but when people
have this knowledge sometimes don't share it. And so how
are you going to find this knowledge out? Like this
tech technology is it's it's it's like invaluable or like
you can't even measure it. How this tech technology is

(43:12):
passed down? Like okay, cool, Well you bought five rental houses,
Well how do you do that?

Speaker 4 (43:16):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (43:16):
Actually I knew the guy that was selling them off market,
and then he actually knew the bank, and then he
actually knew that you can get a loan for a
zero percent down payment, and then now I have two
hundred doors. Well that makes it sound different, like you
can't really trust people doing that. You have no idea,
like some posts like a hire our LinkedIn or like
a post for Lucky Martin, or like P and C
or these big banks.

Speaker 2 (43:37):
Well I started third base. You're like, oh cool, exactly
how do I do that?

Speaker 3 (43:40):
So and like my generation, we compare ourselves every single day,
every single day with this this screen, it's attached to
this people's hips or even just like all my friends
are like, oh I want to be at this position,
I want to be at this or I want to
have this table and do this where then show off this.

Speaker 4 (43:54):
It's just it's so chaotic, it's so toxic.

Speaker 3 (43:57):
And just to separate thatself, Like I didn't have TV
and I grew up, we had no cable, we had
no we had little money ors to even like put
those thing on, and I didn't really care. I don't
have CABLEE now I don't even have TV. I don't
have YouTube, TV, nothing like that. I have Masterclass, which
is like basically educational software where you can have teachings
on cooking, planting, educational businesses, how to do real estate,

(44:19):
how to win at poker. Like it's really educational classes
in every single aspect you can do. And that's why
that's my YouTube. That's my education is right there. It's
like I love those videos. I took one on was
one of even want of like sex appeal. It was
really cool tone like everything everything. I was like, Oh,
I want to be educated, Like everything is so cool to.

Speaker 4 (44:38):
Just learn about.

Speaker 3 (44:39):
I'm like, oh, I had no idea this, or like
even planting where it's like you see like the mall
because I have to like feed your plants with these
like notch and phosphate and like I've.

Speaker 1 (44:47):
Wait, now I know this. Yeah, but it's like if
everything don't die, yeah, exactly, Like.

Speaker 4 (44:52):
It's just cool to have that knowledge. You never know
when you're gonna need it in a situation. Yeah, And
I guess that's why. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (44:58):
So you you've laid out some of the different financial
goals that you've had, and you mentioned the master class
on sex appeals, so maybe it made me think it
think this direction, But like, what are some other goals,
Like do you have really you watched that a long
time ago. Down check out was the first time. Now,
I guess I'm curious what are some of the other
goals you might have in life, Like whether it's relational
or social or physic Like you mentioned that fitness club

(45:22):
that's like one of your you know, that's like your
your craft beer equivalent where you're spending a lot of money.
Obviously you're spending money on masterclass as well. You highly
value personal development. What are some of the do you
have other goals and other sort of arenas of life
and are you pursuing those as much as you are
with your finances or do you wish that you were
pursuing those as ardently or do you Yeah, I'm curious

(45:45):
if you look ahead and you're like, you know what,
I'm gonna shift gears and at some point it's gonna
it's gonna look a little bit different. No.

Speaker 4 (45:50):
Absolutely, And that's a great question as well.

Speaker 3 (45:51):
I think for me, like having all these like hats
like you're referring back to, is like you know, your
financial hat, or your your social hat, your social cues
or like your fun money spends that you guys have
in your in your buckets. It's kind of like my
like my social spend or like last weekend, I was
at a wine tasting for work, and so I was
there for three hours and I got invited last minute,

(46:12):
say Hey, there's a new bar that opened up. We'd
love to come, like with' the DJ there, Like we're
gonna go have a couple drinks, Like would you want
to come and just like hang out with us, like
I chis said, no, I was at a tasting for
four hours in the blazing sun.

Speaker 1 (46:24):
It's like probably exactly.

Speaker 3 (46:26):
And it's like, or I can go and have some
experience with my friends that one I can see them
maybe maybe once a week, like we'll have a fun
time and we'll just again just enjoy the town. And
so like I did that as well, and then you
get home pretty late. But also like I did a
little bit of work. I did a little bit of fun,
I delivered to play and a little bit education. So
like people think that the work was like Monday through Friday. Well,
with my job, I can tically go work Sunday through Sunday,

(46:49):
and so why not just work all seven days a week.
But it's like instead of you're nine to five, we're
spending like five six hours of like continuous work, you
do two hours of work each day. I don't mind,
and wake up on a Saturday and like enjoying the
game or hang out with friends and then like doing
like working for two hours, or bringing my iPads some place,
or like reading the book in the park and then
doing a little emails, so like fixing up some work.

(47:10):
So that way I can take my Monday's, my Tuesdays,
my Wednesdays, and break the day off in half so
where I can meet my my health calls. I can
go to the gym in the morning every day, or
I can go hang out with friends and go to
the park, or I can grab a coffee with friends
I haven't talked to you so long, it's or like
call my family on the weekends and not be stressed
out because work is all I'm thinking about, right, because
it's part of my day life, Like my role is

(47:30):
what I took on, Like I applied that job for
a reason, Like I want to work because I believe
in it, Like I work out because I believe in
my body. I want to make it better. Like I
love my friends and the social life because that's who
I'm with. So why am I defining that to a
day of a week that somebody just claimed it's now called.

Speaker 4 (47:44):
Monday, now called Tuesday.

Speaker 3 (47:46):
Twenty four hours in a day we have all the time,
Like again, back to like time management, what do you value?
And I think I value experiences and I only hear
for so long, so I'm trying to live is exactly
what I want to And yeah.

Speaker 2 (47:57):
All right, last question for you hard the hod of
Money audience. You've been a part of the hod of
Money audience for a long time.

Speaker 4 (48:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:03):
So there's a lot of people out there listening who
have heard your story and they've been listening to the
same show you have, and they want to make progress
with their money, right, They've got goals. It might look
different from yours, but they're not terribly different, right, and
in many ways they probably overlap. What's your advice to
everyone out there? Like what what do you want them
to know as they walk away from listening to this.

Speaker 4 (48:22):
That's a really good question as well.

Speaker 3 (48:24):
I would say, if I had one, it'd be to
get out of your comfort zone and take risk. I
don't know where I saw this from, but it was
I think it was on a mass classic a YouTube
video I was watching. It was just basically like, just
take one risk a month. It might be financially, it
might be nerve wracking, it might like give you the butterflies,

(48:44):
but that's the risk that that you want to take.
That's the leave you want to jump because you got
to trust your gut at any day. Like I was
so nervous. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't
even eat before I signed those documents with the paper
for the house and all the numbers look amazing, everything
was like perfect. Like called it to a buddy as
a hey, like do you is my math wrong? He
is the mathmath thing.

Speaker 4 (49:02):
I don't know. I just want you to make sure.

Speaker 3 (49:03):
And he's like he's like, if you don't sign it,
I'm gonna sign it right, okay. And it could be
like a like shining gold one hundred percent positive and
you still get that like nervous, but that's still a
risk and you just gotta leap. And yeah, just just leap.
You got to take the risk.

Speaker 1 (49:21):
Nice, you gotta go for it.

Speaker 4 (49:23):
You gotta go for it.

Speaker 1 (49:24):
Yeah. I think a lot of times, especially in our
lives today, things are handed to us like there are
these set worn paths and not to get to you know,
philosophical or path less taken poetic perhaps, but it takes
looking beyond those different paths, those well worn paths, and
like considering something completely different, and whether that's a life

(49:44):
very specific life experience that that has gotten you to
that point, or whether that's just saying, you know what,
maybe I will like sign up for masterclass and being
encouraged by whatever their message is to say, you know,
I am gonna try something new, but to be able
to push ourselves in that way. But Nick, we appreciate you, yeah,
taking the time to chat with us, share your story
with not only us but listeners as well. And should

(50:07):
we have Is Nick gonna kind of review the beer?
I think you should? All right, So normally we do
like the big Takeaway, but I feel like, yeah, Joel
kind of sets you up to be able to provide.
He provided the big takeaway on Big Takeaway to take
those risks.

Speaker 2 (50:18):
Oh, I learned a lot in this episode. So the
beer that we had on today was called Electric Jellyfish.
I picked this up when I was in Austin, Texas.
It's from a brewery called Pipehouse. So Nick, I know
you like good beverages. What was your take on this?

Speaker 3 (50:31):
IPA, my friend, Electric Jellyfish, I don't have to give
a smooth eight out of ten. Yeah, yeah, it's actually
really nice it's well crafted, very smooth, and so has
that like electric back back end.

Speaker 4 (50:45):
I guess that's what the name is for. It's actually
really good. I enjoyed it. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (50:48):
Yeah, it's got like that fresh kind of fresher hot
presence where it's got a little bit of that at
the end.

Speaker 4 (50:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (50:53):
Yeah, so hey, I'm here to party. Yeah this is
a New England hazy jewel. You liked it, Yeah, I
liked it too. I was I was gonna say like,
it wasn't as lecture because I thought it was going
to be though. I thought it was going to say
that my tongue, and it didn't. So I just appreciate
the fact that my mouth is intact. Maybe that's the
difference between somebody who only drinks, not you don't only drink,

(51:14):
but thanks over here crafting cocktails, which so you're at
like wine tastings and things like that. What's like, what's
like your drink, your your go to drink drink If
you're at home and you're just like, man, I want
to go home and enjoy drinking.

Speaker 3 (51:27):
Actually stayed away. It's crazy because I've been a bar
to in for years. I've been a bar manager.

Speaker 1 (51:31):
Because you're surrounded by somebody around the day, you go
home and you kind of like basically detox.

Speaker 3 (51:35):
Well, actually, I kind of switched my whole like perceptive
of like the beverage industry. I actually been switching more
to like the hamp beverages that THD drinks and so like,
I have like a little drink. I have a friends
and it's not alcoholics, So I feel like the health
benefits are there. But also I can still wake up
in the morning and have an amazing workout, right, I
can still do work up with friends, and that's been
like my main kick is these like TD beverages that.

Speaker 1 (51:56):
Yeah, right now, that's is nowadays. That's one of y'all's brands.

Speaker 3 (52:00):
Yeah, I work for nowadays and that's that's the brand
I represent, and I love it.

Speaker 1 (52:06):
Do you think a big part of that is because
there's less sugar? Like my wife and I we've been
talking a lot about just the impact of sugar, so
not only in our day to day diets and food
and what we consume, but like, man, there's a whole
lot of sugar when it comes in beer and alcohol.
Does it get converted into sugar as well? Like once
you consume it there's a whole lot of like master
class nutritional science that I don't understand, but that's fascinating.

(52:30):
Maybe you know there's less going on.

Speaker 3 (52:31):
In fact, alcohol is nine color caloriesion proteins, four carbohydroens,
four fats of seven alcohol's nine, so.

Speaker 1 (52:38):
That's pretty weighty. Yeah, we're doing into ourselves and we
need to change our ways, but it's so delicious, it's
so good.

Speaker 2 (52:47):
All right, let's going to do it for this episode. Nick,
thanks again for joining us, and yeah, I appreciate you
sharing your story. Until next time, Best Friends

Speaker 1 (52:54):
Out, Best Friends Out,