October 16, 2025 • 10 mins
Are you capable of becoming one?
This isn’t motivation dressed up in comfort. It’s truth wrapped in experience. Because while everyone wants wealth, few can achieve it and take the toll.
If you’ve ever wondered whether you have what it takes mentally, physically, and emotionally to chase financial freedom at all costs, this episode will make you stop, think, and question the price you’re willing to pay.
“Success took my health, and I didn’t realize it until it was too late.”
— Green Moon
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome back to
(00:00):
The Wealth Effect.
On the last episode, we talked about
why you can become a millionaire.
The next point only seems fitting to
be if you are capable of becoming one.
This is different because now we're
talking about the mental, physical,
and overall toll
it takes on you.
Now, there are millions of
ways to become a millionaire.
It can be easy for some
(00:21):
and harder for others.
And this episode will be based on my
personal experience, as I think it gives a
pretty broad view, especially coming from
a low-income background and an audience
view of the toll it took on
me to become a millionaire.
When I first started my journey in the
pursuit of wealth, I thought I would
really only take a minimal toll on my
(00:43):
time, mind, and social life, to be honest.
But I was
completely wrong.
Like, really wrong.
I started my journey right after high
school, after turning 18, because I was
able to get access
to a debit card.
So it made me feel free that now I could
buy things online and have access to
investment accounts
(01:04):
now that I was 18.
Though I didn't do
much at the start.
I was just going to college, only taking
12 credit hours of my first semester.
So everything was
really easy and relaxed.
And I really loved what I was learning
in my classes as I was majoring in
accounting.
But at that point, I was only
taking basic business classes.
(01:25):
I didn't struggle
in class.
I eventually got invited to a program for
the top students at my school on my second
year, where I started to take more classes
and eventually started taking 23 credit
hours a semester.
This sounds already heavy for most
people, because school isn't for everyone.
And I get it.
School wasn't for me in
elementary or in high school.
I almost flunked
(01:46):
four separate years.
But something about college I found so
interesting, because the topics were about
things that I really wanted to learn and
were actually useful in the real world.
So that made me not struggle as much as
others would, because I really knew that
one day this information was going
to help me achieve my financial goal.
(02:07):
I didn't just
get good grades.
I learned, and I learned, and took
everything to build my own logic in my
head that made more
financial sense about things.
And this brings me to my
first piece of my success.
Academic success.
This took a heavy toll on my time, as
I was eventually taking classes from
(02:28):
8am to 8pm.
This was made heavier without me
realizing, until I was 25, that I couldn't
really read, which made sense after
looking back that I never really read
textbooks, just listened to lectures,
and paid attention in class.
I have dyslexia, and
never knew about it.
It made me use more of my brain power
(02:48):
just to simply read and write things.
But I was still able to
graduate cum laude with honors.
The second piece of my success
dealt with luck and initiative.
And this is hard to measure, But by sheer
luck, while playing video games on my old
laptop, I heard someone
joke about Bitcoin.
And this word
changed my future.
(03:08):
But not only because of the word, but
because I decided to
research more about it.
I started spending every free
moment learning about it.
Hearing podcasts, reading online,
everything I needed to learn.
Because it was something that caught
my attention ever since I found...
I'm not very fond
of the government.
(03:28):
And this represented something that
was more anti-government in terms of
money-wise.
And the last
piece is risk.
I literally dumped every single
dollar I had into crypto.
It was something I enjoyed because it
embodied values that I
wanted to be part of.
I didn't even see a real return on my
(03:50):
investment until almost three to four
years later after my
initial investment.
And during that middle time, was full of
anxiety and fear, but also excitement as I
kept learning
more about it.
These pieces created a lifestyle that I
still can't believe I was able to sustain
for almost
four years.
I was spending almost 12 hours
(04:12):
a day at school, in classes.
And then the rest of my time
was mostly spent on crypto.
And most people would say they
would do this for four years.
But I guarantee that
many of you would not.
Because my results
weren't guaranteed.
I probably had a better chance of complete
failure than a glimpse of success.
(04:34):
You wouldn't do it because it took a toll
on me that I wasn't able to see until
years later, once I had finally slowed
down and started getting
more medical advice.
I knew my whole life I
couldn't really sleep.
But it really started to become a problem
in college when I wanted to sleep less.
(04:54):
I wanted to sleep less because I was
wasting time sleeping when I could be
learning about crypto or listening
to random lectures online.
This led me to staying at my computer
so long that I would just pass out from
exhaustion on my chair, then wake
up and be ready to go to school.
Or there was times where I would go
(05:15):
without sleep for days at a time because I
was too into
the information.
And that definitely
impacted my health.
This led me to developing
and worsening my insomnia.
I kind of knew I had it,
but it was never diagnosed.
Until I was around 26, that I finally
started to recognize it as a problem.
And with the doctor's help, I was finally
(05:37):
able to experience a good night's sleep.
But I still suffer from the
problems even to this day.
Like, I can't even fall asleep on my own
without medication because when I don't
take it, I can stay up for two
or three more days at a time.
While mostly functional, it's just I'm
(05:57):
unable to sleep because
of my mind is running.
And this connects to the next toll of how
it caused my anxiety to become insane.
I was always
an anxious kid.
But after all the planning and the lack
of sleep and responsibility, it got to a
point where it got worse
than it should have been.
(06:19):
In college, I used to repair phones and my
friends would ask and laugh why I shake so
much because of the tiny screws you
can tell my hands were missing it.
And to me, I told
them it was normal.
But then it got so bad that
I couldn't stand still.
When I would do anything
with my hands, I would shake.
(06:39):
And when it was really bad, I needed to
grab a cup with two hands just to keep
myself steady and
not shake so much.
This felt weird because how could I
have anxiety if I'm such a calm person?
But that was really
calm on the outside.
I realized that in my head, I was
always having multiple thoughts, running
(07:00):
calculations at the same time, to
the point I didn't realize I was
raising my voice when talking to others
because I couldn't hear myself because of
how loud my
thoughts were.
Then after seeing a doctor and taking some
medications, I remembered the moment I
took my first
medication.
The world
(07:20):
got so quiet.
I could hear everything clearly
and even see a bit more clear.
For a moment, I wasn't even able
to hold the thought in my head.
I had to think out loud, which felt unreal
that I just had a singular
thought in my head.
And my brain started to feel less
overwhelmed, less crowded because I never
(07:42):
realized how overworked
my brain was.
And looking back, I realized that I
think I was having panic attacks and just
ignoring them because, like for most
things, I tend to ignore the negative side
effects and just pretend
like it's normal.
And not until a couple of years ago when
I had a panic attack in my dreams that I
(08:05):
started to really feel that I've had it
before and never realized what it was just
because I kept
ignoring it.
And there's way more things that impacted
me, but those are the main ones that I
wanted to share.
Success took my health and
I didn't even realize it.
It really took some functions
that are normal and broke them.
It kept me
(08:25):
from sleeping.
It kept me from
being still.
And it kept my mind flooded with
thoughts, ideas, and numbers.
And during these years in college,
most people take those years to create
memories, friendships, learn about life,
and to develop themselves personally while
I was here risking my health and my future
(08:46):
on an idea, on an investment that was
never guaranteed
to even pay off.
So what does this mean for
you from my perspective?
A few questions that I
think would answer that.
Would you go back to school for four
years and get near perfect grades?
Would you spend every moment
researching an investment?
(09:07):
Would you cancel all your life plans,
including traveling and
going out with friends?
Would you risk your health to a point
where you might never be the same again?
Would you risk all your
money now and in the future?
Would you risk all this for a chance,
not even guaranteed, to make a few
thousand dollars in
five or more years?
(09:29):
Would you risk everything to have the
possibility for you to lose everything and
be worse off than
when you started?
If you're 20, if you are 20, would you
dedicate the next few years to learning so
much just for a possibility to
use the skills that you learned?
If you say no or have doubts about any of
(09:50):
them, then the way I made my money is not
the way you will.
And that's fine.
There's nothing
wrong with it.
You can still learn from my experiences
and topics that I talk about.
But know that even if you listen to every
episode, take notes, nothing would lead
you to the same path I did until you
decide to take more action on a plan that
(10:11):
you need to figure out on your
own on what works for you.
So, do you have the courage to risk
so much just to be ready and for an
opportunity that
might never come?
Until next time.
Welcome back to
(00:00):
The Wealth Effect.
On the last episode, we talked about
why you can become a millionaire.
The next point only seems fitting to
be if you are capable of becoming one.
This is different because now we're
talking about the mental, physical,
and overall toll
it takes on you.
Now, there are millions of
ways to become a millionaire.
It can be easy for some
(00:21):
and harder for others.
And this episode will be based on my
personal experience, as I think it gives a
pretty broad view, especially coming from
a low-income background and an audience
view of the toll it took on
me to become a millionaire.
When I first started my journey in the
pursuit of wealth, I thought I would
really only take a minimal toll on my
(00:43):
time, mind, and social life, to be honest.
But I was
completely wrong.
Like, really wrong.
I started my journey right after high
school, after turning 18, because I was
able to get access
to a debit card.
So it made me feel free that now I could
buy things online and have access to
investment accounts
(01:04):
now that I was 18.
Though I didn't do
much at the start.
I was just going to college, only taking
12 credit hours of my first semester.
So everything was
really easy and relaxed.
And I really loved what I was learning
in my classes as I was majoring in
accounting.
But at that point, I was only
taking basic business classes.
(01:25):
I didn't struggle
in class.
I eventually got invited to a program for
the top students at my school on my second
year, where I started to take more classes
and eventually started taking 23 credit
hours a semester.
This sounds already heavy for most
people, because school isn't for everyone.
And I get it.
School wasn't for me in
elementary or in high school.
I almost flunked
(01:46):
four separate years.
But something about college I found so
interesting, because the topics were about
things that I really wanted to learn and
were actually useful in the real world.
So that made me not struggle as much as
others would, because I really knew that
one day this information was going
to help me achieve my financial goal.
(02:07):
I didn't just
get good grades.
I learned, and I learned, and took
everything to build my own logic in my
head that made more
financial sense about things.
And this brings me to my
first piece of my success.
Academic success.
This took a heavy toll on my time, as
I was eventually taking classes from
(02:28):
8am to 8pm.
This was made heavier without me
realizing, until I was 25, that I couldn't
really read, which made sense after
looking back that I never really read
textbooks, just listened to lectures,
and paid attention in class.
I have dyslexia, and
never knew about it.
It made me use more of my brain power
(02:48):
just to simply read and write things.
But I was still able to
graduate cum laude with honors.
The second piece of my success
dealt with luck and initiative.
And this is hard to measure, But by sheer
luck, while playing video games on my old
laptop, I heard someone
joke about Bitcoin.
And this word
changed my future.
(03:08):
But not only because of the word, but
because I decided to
research more about it.
I started spending every free
moment learning about it.
Hearing podcasts, reading online,
everything I needed to learn.
Because it was something that caught
my attention ever since I found...
I'm not very fond
of the government.
(03:28):
And this represented something that
was more anti-government in terms of
money-wise.
And the last
piece is risk.
I literally dumped every single
dollar I had into crypto.
It was something I enjoyed because it
embodied values that I
wanted to be part of.
I didn't even see a real return on my
(03:50):
investment until almost three to four
years later after my
initial investment.
And during that middle time, was full of
anxiety and fear, but also excitement as I
kept learning
more about it.
These pieces created a lifestyle that I
still can't believe I was able to sustain
for almost
four years.
I was spending almost 12 hours
(04:12):
a day at school, in classes.
And then the rest of my time
was mostly spent on crypto.
And most people would say they
would do this for four years.
But I guarantee that
many of you would not.
Because my results
weren't guaranteed.
I probably had a better chance of complete
failure than a glimpse of success.
(04:34):
You wouldn't do it because it took a toll
on me that I wasn't able to see until
years later, once I had finally slowed
down and started getting
more medical advice.
I knew my whole life I
couldn't really sleep.
But it really started to become a problem
in college when I wanted to sleep less.
(04:54):
I wanted to sleep less because I was
wasting time sleeping when I could be
learning about crypto or listening
to random lectures online.
This led me to staying at my computer
so long that I would just pass out from
exhaustion on my chair, then wake
up and be ready to go to school.
Or there was times where I would go
(05:15):
without sleep for days at a time because I
was too into
the information.
And that definitely
impacted my health.
This led me to developing
and worsening my insomnia.
I kind of knew I had it,
but it was never diagnosed.
Until I was around 26, that I finally
started to recognize it as a problem.
And with the doctor's help, I was finally
(05:37):
able to experience a good night's sleep.
But I still suffer from the
problems even to this day.
Like, I can't even fall asleep on my own
without medication because when I don't
take it, I can stay up for two
or three more days at a time.
While mostly functional, it's just I'm
(05:57):
unable to sleep because
of my mind is running.
And this connects to the next toll of how
it caused my anxiety to become insane.
I was always
an anxious kid.
But after all the planning and the lack
of sleep and responsibility, it got to a
point where it got worse
than it should have been.
(06:19):
In college, I used to repair phones and my
friends would ask and laugh why I shake so
much because of the tiny screws you
can tell my hands were missing it.
And to me, I told
them it was normal.
But then it got so bad that
I couldn't stand still.
When I would do anything
with my hands, I would shake.
(06:39):
And when it was really bad, I needed to
grab a cup with two hands just to keep
myself steady and
not shake so much.
This felt weird because how could I
have anxiety if I'm such a calm person?
But that was really
calm on the outside.
I realized that in my head, I was
always having multiple thoughts, running
(07:00):
calculations at the same time, to
the point I didn't realize I was
raising my voice when talking to others
because I couldn't hear myself because of
how loud my
thoughts were.
Then after seeing a doctor and taking some
medications, I remembered the moment I
took my first
medication.
The world
(07:20):
got so quiet.
I could hear everything clearly
and even see a bit more clear.
For a moment, I wasn't even able
to hold the thought in my head.
I had to think out loud, which felt unreal
that I just had a singular
thought in my head.
And my brain started to feel less
overwhelmed, less crowded because I never
(07:42):
realized how overworked
my brain was.
And looking back, I realized that I
think I was having panic attacks and just
ignoring them because, like for most
things, I tend to ignore the negative side
effects and just pretend
like it's normal.
And not until a couple of years ago when
I had a panic attack in my dreams that I
(08:05):
started to really feel that I've had it
before and never realized what it was just
because I kept
ignoring it.
And there's way more things that impacted
me, but those are the main ones that I
wanted to share.
Success took my health and
I didn't even realize it.
It really took some functions
that are normal and broke them.
It kept me
(08:25):
from sleeping.
It kept me from
being still.
And it kept my mind flooded with
thoughts, ideas, and numbers.
And during these years in college,
most people take those years to create
memories, friendships, learn about life,
and to develop themselves personally while
I was here risking my health and my future
(08:46):
on an idea, on an investment that was
never guaranteed
to even pay off.
So what does this mean for
you from my perspective?
A few questions that I
think would answer that.
Would you go back to school for four
years and get near perfect grades?
Would you spend every moment
researching an investment?
(09:07):
Would you cancel all your life plans,
including traveling and
going out with friends?
Would you risk your health to a point
where you might never be the same again?
Would you risk all your
money now and in the future?
Would you risk all this for a chance,
not even guaranteed, to make a few
thousand dollars in
five or more years?
(09:29):
Would you risk everything to have the
possibility for you to lose everything and
be worse off than
when you started?
If you're 20, if you are 20, would you
dedicate the next few years to learning so
much just for a possibility to
use the skills that you learned?
If you say no or have doubts about any of
(09:50):
them, then the way I made my money is not
the way you will.
And that's fine.
There's nothing
wrong with it.
You can still learn from my experiences
and topics that I talk about.
But know that even if you listen to every
episode, take notes, nothing would lead
you to the same path I did until you
decide to take more action on a plan that
(10:11):
you need to figure out on your
own on what works for you.
So, do you have the courage to risk
so much just to be ready and for an
opportunity that
might never come?
Until next time.
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