May 6, 2025 • 29 mins
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Feeling overwhelmed by investing? You don't have to! Join Brad Nelson, founder of Debt-Free Dad, and special guest Frank Buchholz, a retired senior vice president and financial advisor with over 40 years of experience. Frank simplifies the complexity of investing, debunks common misconceptions, and shares practical strategies that anyone can use to start growing their wealth. Discover the importance of early investing, learn about different investment options, and get tips on avoiding common investment mistakes. Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine your investment approach, this episode is packed with valuable insights to help you achieve financial independence.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brad Nelson (00:00):
So investing can feel so overwhelming, especially
if you're just getting started.
But what if I told you thatbuilding wealth doesn't have to
be that complicated?
Now, today, I'm joined by FrankBuchholz, a retired senior vice
president and financial advisorwith over 40 years of
experience helping peopleachieve financial independence.
(00:20):
Now Frank has a gift for makinginvesting simple and accessible
, and he's here to sharepractical strategies that anyone
, no matter their income, canuse to start growing their
wealth.
Now again, if you've ever feltlike investing is out of reach,
this episode is going to be foryou.
Let's dive in.
Anouncer (00:41):
You're listening to the Debt-Free Dad Podcast with
Brad Nelson.
Brad and his co-hostsexperience the anxiety of living
paycheck to paycheck beforelearning the fundamentals of
financial success.
They are now on a mission toempower regular people to pay
off their debt for good andenjoy happier, less stressful
lives.
Keep listening forinspirational interviews, tips,
(01:03):
tricks and practical advice togain financial freedom.
Brad Nelson (01:07):
Hey guys, welcome to today's show.
I am Brad Nelson, founder ofDebt Free Dad.
I paid off about $45,000 ofdebt.
I've been debt free now formore than 11 years.
I've also helped thousands ofother people save and pay off
tens of millions of dollars withthe work that we do here at
Debt Free Dad.
Now, after listening to thisepisode, if you're ready to take
things to the next level,you're ready to break free from
(01:29):
living paycheck to paycheck, youwant to reduce financial stress
, you want to build your savingsand finally pay off that debt
for good.
But maybe you're like many ofus.
You're not really quite surewhere to get started.
Now we've created someincredible free resources here
at Debt-Free Dad to help you getthere, and I'll be sharing some
details about how you can getthose later on in today's
episode.
So hey, frank, how are you?
(01:50):
And welcome to the Debt-FreeDad podcast here today.
Good, good.
Thank you for having me on.
I appreciate it very much.
Yeah, absolutely so.
What brought you to theinvestment industry?
Now, I mentioned in theintroduction, like you have a
lot of experience we're talkingseveral decades, like 40 years.
What got you into this to beginwith and helping people with
(02:10):
investing?
Frank Buchholz (02:12):
I always found the investment world to be a
very fascinating area, if youwill, and even in college, my
major was businessadministration, with a finance
minor, and I did take severalinvestment classes with a
gentleman by the name of Dr NeilPepper.
And I did take severalinvestment classes with a
gentleman by the name of Dr NeilPepper an easy name to remember
, of course and he wasinspirational because he was
brilliant, number one, numbertwo, because he could actually
(02:32):
figure things out and presentthings in such a way that made
sense to me.
So after graduating fromcollege, I did have a couple of
jobs before I got into theinvestment world.
It's hard to come out ofcollege as a 20-year-old and hop
into the investment arenabecause it's kind of challenging
, to put it mildly.
So I started in 1982 when I was30 years old, and so here I am
four years later and, candidly,you learn a lot over time.
(02:54):
So it's been a very good career.
I did meet a lot of veryinteresting people.
Brad Nelson (02:58):
Yeah, you mentioned the person that you were
learning from was able topresent things in a more simple
way and you mentioned that wordsimple.
When you know helping peopleunderstand and teach people
about investing, can you sharewith me, as a new person to
investing, someone who's justgetting started, what are some
of the maybe biggermisconceptions or things?
Maybe they don't completelyunderstand?
(03:19):
Maybe from outside influencesor social influence, but what do
you feel people aren't graspingwhen they first get started
about investing?
Frank Buchholz (03:27):
I think the biggest problem I found with
most people is they don't have aclue, when it comes to
investing, about whatinvestments are all about.
They're very challenging.
It's not that they're not smart.
They've never studied it,understood it, and so in my book
I try to make it more of anon-college textbook where I
have actual life experienceswith clients so they can
actually see what people didthat made sense and also
(03:49):
illustrate in such a way the twothings they don't want to be
doing.
So it makes sense from thatstandpoint.
So, yeah, the bottom line isthe fact that it is very, it's
very complicated, but you needsomebody to kind of guide them.
It might go with the book, ofcourse, is to present things in
such a way that made sense.
But my clients over the yearscomplimented me on the
standpoint that I could presentsomething that's complicated and
(04:09):
boil it down where they canunderstand it easily, and I was
also made sure I neverintimidated clients by using all
these fancy jargons.
You know standard duplicationand SEC and yield to maturity
and blah, blah, blah.
You know all that nonsense.
Brad Nelson (04:35):
So you got to boil it down, make it simple.
So that's kind of where I wasat with it.
Number one why is that soimportant?
But number two what's keepingschools from actually teaching
this stuff at such a young age?
Because, as you know, the valueof investing, especially long
term, is getting started earlyand too many people get started
late, or because they just don'tunderstand how important this
is to start teaching kids thisstuff, and maybe at least your
(04:58):
opinion on why aren't theyteaching people this stuff?
Frank Buchholz (05:01):
Well, that's a good question, because even in
my case, I didn't worry aboutmoney until I got into college
and I was taking finance classes.
So if I take a finance classes,guess what?
So, interesting enough, inCalifornia they finally got put
in a money class, if you will,in the high schools here it's
coming up the next year or twoor what have you, but that was
actually going to be a ballotproposition, but they finally
(05:22):
approved it through thelegislature, thank God.
So at least a little morepeople could be more aware of
this.
And the bottom line is the factthat currently, half of people
in America retire with no moneysaved for retirement, which to
me, is a crying shame.
Crying shame If they're goingto live off Social Security,
good luck.
So you know there is a cryingneed out there.
So you know there is a cryingneed out there.
And my goal, of course, was toprovide a roadmap for people to
(05:46):
understand easily the value ofstarting early and also what to
invest in so they can retirewithout any debt, without any
money worries, because when youget older, you're going to have
issues, no matter what.
You have issues with health orwhatever.
Well, if you compound that withmoney worries, it will make
things worse.
So in my case, thank you verymuch, scott.
(06:09):
I'm telling you, I retirewithout any money worries,
that's my goal for every personin America.
Brad Nelson (06:12):
Yeah, you mentioned debt.
Let's talk about that realquick.
You mentioned the word debt andwhen people are starting to
first think about investing andyour 40 years of experience,
what is your philosophy intalking to people?
If they have credit card debtor student loans or auto loans
or things like that, how doesthat fit in to their overall
strategy in investing, and doyou recommend let's take care of
this stuff first so you havemore money to invest, or what
(06:34):
are your thoughts there?
Frank Buchholz (06:36):
Yeah.
So bottom line of course is, inmy case I only borrowed money
to either buy a house or buy acar, and of course I was
borrowing money from myemployers, so I was pretty darn
careful to make sure I paid themback, if you will, but my
credit card debt.
We pay the credit cards offevery month.
So, having said that, a lot ofpeople young people these days
in particular have a tendency tolive for today and they kind of
(06:59):
, yeah, tomorrow's a throw usway off, I'm not going to worry
about it.
But but nobody's ever reallyexplained to them in great
detail about the concept ofsaving and investing today, and
I try to drive that point homein my book over and over and
over again the sooner you start,the better off you're going to
be.
So, as an example, I did somework.
I have a website I came across.
If you invest 10 a day over thenext 36 years and have the same
(07:22):
returns you did over the last 36years in the stock market,
which is 10%, you'd have$1,264,000.
And your investment would beabout $110,000.
So you would only get 10 timesyour money back, but you'd also,
of course, have a return of 10%per year.
So it's a concept like thatthat drives the points home.
$10 a day is $300 a month,obviously, but still $10 a day.
(07:48):
They can forego something,whether it's two cups of coffee
at Starbucks or what have you.
So it's important to start now,not later.
Brad Nelson (07:57):
Yeah, I love that you bring that up.
I could go so many differentdirections with this, frank.
I'm on social media, I'm onTikTok and I talk about this
stuff, and one of the TikToks Irecently just did actually just
a few days ago that blew up hasnearly almost, I think, 750,000
views now.
And I asked the question ifthings are so bad and people are
living paycheck to paycheckbecause you brought up Starbucks
(08:18):
, why is it that the Starbucksline is wrapped around the
building?
Or why are they able to sellout concert venues and sporting
events, and why are shoppingcenters packed with people still
if people are struggling somuch?
But I think people sometimeshave this misconception If I
need to invest, I have to investa ton of money to have any sort
of money at the end of the day,but you're mentioning all it
(08:39):
takes is just $10 a day,something like as minimum as
$300 a month to get started, andin 35 years you could have over
a million bucks.
Frank Buchholz (08:47):
That's pretty awesome, pretty powerful stuff.
And, of course, what they cando literally, if they can buy
what they call the ticker symbol, is SPY, which of course is an
exchange traded fund, a bushelbasket full of stocks, and it
mirrors the returns on the 7.4is 500.
And you can buy fractionalshares on that through a
discount broker firm like ourMerrill Edgeworld or Charles
(09:09):
Schwab or what have you.
Yeah, no charge to invest, nocharge to reinvest the dividends
, which it's very important todo.
That, of course, obviously, butyou can do it in an economical
way and you start off very, verysmall and it's perfect for the
first time investor.
Brad Nelson (09:27):
Yeah, it's so good.
And what would you say toindividuals right now?
I mean, you've been doing thisfor 40 years.
You've gone and you've seensome historical events that
affect investing, affect themarket Things like 9-11, a
housing crisis back in08-09-2010.
I mean, you've seen some thingsand now we have a presidential
change.
Things are changing rapidly,but people tend to have this
fear that the world is kind ofcrumbling around us and a lot of
(09:51):
people maybe fall into morelike doom spending and they're
like what's the point that Ican't ever buy a house because
things are so expensive.
What would you say toindividuals who are especially
young people and someone as youhave seen a lot, what advice
would you give to them to helpthem kind of maybe reevaluate
that type of a mindset right now?
Frank Buchholz (10:11):
Yeah, the first thing you do would make sense
would be to actually ascertainhow much money you're actually
taking home for your paycheckNot what your gross earnings are
, but what you're taking homeand then, of course, then you
can kind of put it on a monthlyscale what are your expenses?
And the irony, of course, isthat once people start adding up
their expenses, they can then,of course, realize that a lot of
expenses are not necessarilyimportant or necessary for the
(10:34):
lifestyle they can forego thewhatever.
So if they could take just alittle bit extra off the top and
start investing, that that willpay dividends down the road in
a very much way.
So in my case, we retire withno worries, and if I want to do
whatever, I can do that rightnow.
So to retire with no moneyworries to me is a real blessing
(10:57):
, and it also helps you in termsof just being able to help
other people as well.
So I think that that's theultimate goal for me.
As far as the clients go, forsure.
Brad Nelson (11:07):
If I'm ready to start thinking about investing,
what are some of the firstthings that I need to look at or
evaluate and maybe decide whatI'm going to invest in?
How much am I going to put in?
You mentioned brokerageaccounts and things like that.
Schwab, that can be a lot forsome people.
So how do you break this downwhere it's simple for an average
person to start walking throughthis?
Frank Buchholz (11:29):
Sure, sure.
So, of course, the first thingI would do, of course, is read
my book, the Specialist's GoldenPlaybook, which I think would
be very helpful, and obviouslythat may be a biased opinion,
but I think that there's a lotof good information in here
which can be very helpful forclients.
And then, of course, they needto take the initiative.
They need to say to themselvesokay, I need to get started on
(11:52):
this and make things happen, ifyou will.
So that of course, meanscontacting some firm, whether
it's online or in person or whathave you.
They need to take theinitiative to get started, and
if they can kind of get thingsset up where it's an autopilot,
meaning that it's it's anautomatic deduction for a
paycheck to go to investmentaccount or what have you, that
makes all the sense in the world.
(12:12):
Plus, if they have access to a401k retirement account in
America, that is something theyshould contribute, and that
would be the first thing I wouldlook at.
As far as doing anything.
What they want to do is try tomax that out as much as possible
.
Currently, a person cancontribute $23,500 a year to a
401k, which is substantial, andof course, a lot of people can't
(12:34):
do that, particularly startingout.
But that would be the veryfirst thing I would look at.
Then, of course, on thepersonal side, then of course
you could look at something elseas far as growing the money
from there.
But looking at the 401k, when wemanaged 401ks at Merrill Lynch
when I was there, I wasastounded by the number of
people that had their moneyinvested in a money market
account.
And when I left Merrill Lynchthe money market accounts were
(12:56):
paying 0.1.
And you shoot yourself in thefoot because those money in a
401k are long-term monies.
Those monies should be 100%invested in the stock market.
Now that's kind of people say,oh my God, it's too risky, blah,
blah, blah.
Well, it's riskier to havemoney invested at 0.1% because
you don't have to keep up withinflation.
You're never going to grow yourmoney.
So you contribute $100,000 tothat 401k and you're going to
(13:19):
wind up with $140,000 when youretire because you're not going
to get the interest off that.
You need growth, and growth, ofcourse, is achieved by
investing in the stock market.
Brad Nelson (13:27):
Yeah, Now, obviously, when you start
investing, you can use, say,someone like a financial advisor
.
What's a good way to qualifysomeone to help you?
Because, again, people aregoing into this maybe with very
little education and what I see,at least for some people, is
that they'll tend to put moneyinto things just because they
were told to do it, notnecessarily because they
understand it and they know howit's going to work for them,
(13:50):
their financial goals and theirfuture.
What are some things that anindividual like make sure you do
this and don't do this wheneither hiring somebody or
figuring out what you're goingto do.
Frank Buchholz (14:00):
Yeah, I think the bottom line, of course, is
that I would highly recommendusing a financial advisor and
interview more than one of them.
The financial advisor.
If that person is good, theywill give you information,
educate you and hold your handthrough the good times and the
bad.
So they also kind of act as apsychologist, if you will,
(14:21):
because a lot of times peoplewould want to run for the door
and we would encourage them notto do so.
And of course, there was oneperson in particular back in
1989 that ran for the door andunfortunately, you know, when
you run for the door you'respending the worst possible time
and of course, did you get backin?
No.
So you've got to be kind of,you've got to have somebody to
really guide you, and that's whyan advisor can be very, very
important for you.
When you're starting off withjust a small sum of money let's
(14:43):
say it's even, you know, acouple hundred dollars or $5,000
or whatever you're probablygoing to need to do it on your
own to a degree, because theadvisors typically will have a
minimums of, say, $100,000 or250 or whatever.
So just starting on your ownand just putting your money into
a ticker symbol SPY is a greatway to get started in the stock
(15:04):
market and you actually seewhat's going on with that
particular portfolio and it's500 stocks in one into one
investment, so you're welldiversified.
Great track record pays adividend.
You reinvest, the dividends,get a compounding effect.
So you can start with a verysmall nominal amount of money
and set up a monopilot, if youcan.
Brad Nelson (15:22):
Yeah, yeah, Can you share maybe some common
mistakes or missteps that newpeople will make when investing,
things that we shoulddefinitely avoid if we're just
getting started?
Frank Buchholz (15:33):
I think probably one of the biggest missteps is
that they don't have adiscipline to carry on.
I think that a lot of times afinancial advisor is put in kind
of a precarious positionbecause what happens is that the
market all of a sudden goessouth like it's been going this
month in general, and then, ofcourse, the client goes, oh my
south, like it's been going thismonth in general, yeah.
And then of course the clientgoes, oh my God, that investment
(15:53):
advisor is worthless.
Blah, blah, blah, and they pullthe money.
Oh yeah, I'm not going to dothat again.
Well, you have to understandit's a long-term process and
you're going to have bumps alongthe way.
It's like being on an airplanethe airplane is going to have
air turbulence.
It's like being on an airplanethe airplane is going to have
air turbulence.
You can't get off the plane,guys.
You've got to ride to thedestination and of course, the
destination in the stock marketis a 5-10-year window at minimum
(16:15):
.
So you want to make sure thatyou have the ability to stick
with it and ride it out.
So that's a tantamount point.
That's one of the biggestmistakes people make as far as
I'm concerned Running for thedoor on the most possible time
Maybe they should be buying moreat that point.
Brad Nelson (16:30):
Yeah, and Frank, you hit it right there.
I want to talk about that realquick because it's interesting
to me and I don't get.
I'm not an investment advisor.
We don't give investment adviceor anything like that here at
Debt Free Dad, but it'sinteresting when you talk to
people outside of my businessand talk about investing.
People always want to buy in tothe market when it's doing
great because their confidenceis high.
(16:52):
You know the economy is great,but the reality is is like you
want to have the same mindset ofinvesting obviously depending
on your age and where you're at,but you want to have the same
type of mindset in a way of likewhy would you go to a
department store and buy thatshirt at the highest price
they're ever going to sell it?
Wouldn't you want to wait tillit's on sale and then make the
purchase Right the highest?
price they're ever going to sellit.
Wouldn't you want to wait untilit's on sale and then make the
purchase right?
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat mentality?
(17:12):
Why is it that people, asinvestors, people, look at that
market that way?
I've always found that veryfascinating to me.
Yeah, of course.
Frank Buchholz (17:18):
Well, people look at the track record.
Right, well, xyz Corporation isdoing really, really well.
I'm going to buy that stock,right?
Well, you know, on February 1stand you're holding it now.
You're not doing so well, inparticular, tesla.
If you buy January 1st, you'rereally not doing well.
They always look at the trackrecord oh, the stock's doing
really well, blah, blah, blah.
But again, it's a differentmindset in terms of looking at
stock versus that favorite shirtdressed in the local department
(17:40):
store.
They tend to look at things andgo well, you know, they look at
it the wrong way, so theyshould look for things on sale.
So to me, right now is areasonable time to invest.
Is it perfect?
No, but again, you're notbuying the market for today and
today only.
You're buying the market todayand looking for the results 10
years from now.
(18:00):
So, because it's come down alittle, it's certainly a better
buying opportunity than it was.
Are we going to have more bumpsin the market?
Absolutely no question.
I don't care what year it is,what time frame it is.
You know new politicalleadership and everything going
on we're going to have morebumps in the market.
But again, my biggest investorwas one who always said, when
(18:22):
the market was down, he calledme up and said get those
amateurs out of the way, frank,I'm coming in.
He would always come in and buymore.
Always get the amateurs out.
Never forget that, never forgetthat.
So that's kind of the way youhave to look at it.
Brad Nelson (18:33):
So, yeah, again, seize the opportunity yeah, and
so I guess my next question foryou, and because I think the
next challenge that goes alongwith this, is what do you
recommend to people to deal with?
Uh, like social influence, likethe news media and people who
sensationalize everything.
Oh, the market's down andeverything is, you know, panic
(18:54):
and the world is crumbling.
What do you advise people?
Obviously, having an advisorand having a small group of
people around you would be great, right, but what do you advise
people?
To ignore all of that noise,because it can be easy to kind
of get sucked in to whateveryone's talking about and,
like you said, make that kneejerk reaction.
Get out of the market becauseyou're afraid and you lose out
on those long-term gains becauseyou don't stay consistent.
Frank Buchholz (19:16):
Absolutely so.
In my case, I watch twodifferent newscasts every night.
One is far left and one's farright, so I kind of get mixed,
if you will, in terms of thenews.
Yeah, I watch as a fit aboutwhatever, but I won't go there,
um, and of course, I do read thewall street journal religiously
.
To me, the walter journal, tome, is probably one of the
finest publications you canpossibly read.
(19:37):
I read it online and it givesme information I need to know
about and to read about and toknow what's going on.
Um, so I find that to be very,very helpful.
But I'm not necessarily a bigfan of investment newsletters or
you know, oh, this guy'srecommending this and that.
Look at what I did, and thisand that.
And the next thing, I don't buyit.
I think that a typical personshould if they have enough money
(19:58):
, they should have aprofessionally managed portfolio
with an outside money manager,or they're starting out just buy
an exchange-traded fund, getdiversification that way.
But I'm not one of these guysthat is quick to you know.
Oh, look at this great idea.
No, no, no, I'm looking forproven track record ideas.
So if you look at a companylike 3M, for example, great
track record increased dividendsover the years.
(20:19):
That's a proven track record.
This new initial publicoffering from XYZ Industries?
Not a proven track record.
I probably wouldn't go therebecause you know it's unproven.
Not a proven track record likefive wouldn't go there because
you know it's unproven.
So I'm looking for thingsproven and this book's basically
for the starting out investor.
It's not from some professionalguy who's been doing for 50
years no right.
Brad Nelson (20:40):
So that's where I'm at with the book.
What about people like that,like fad, like you know the
latest craze, or like I'll pickon bitcoin or something like
that, but people get excitedabout this.
Or you hear from a coworkerlike they're investing in this
and it's doing great.
What's your recommendation oradvice or any sort of suggestion
from an outside source likethat?
Frank Buchholz (20:59):
Yeah, good point .
Of course, I'm not really a fanof Bitcoin.
I have studied and read aboutit and it's kind of like an
artificial currency, if you will, so I'm not really a big fan.
Plus, even in yesterday's WallStreet Journal, we talked about
the perils, not so much ofinvesting in Bitcoin, but the
perils of who do you buy it toand how is it being stored and
how do you access it, and so onand so forth, because that area
(21:21):
has really opened up to a lot offraud, if you will, not
necessarily Bitcoin itselfyourself, but the people behind
it, if you will.
So be very forewarned.
And, of course, I still thinkthat Bitcoin could be a disaster
in the making.
People could potentially lose alot of money on it.
Brad Nelson (21:35):
Yeah, In the beginning, when we first started
talking, Frank, you mentionedhelping people get towards
financial freedom, so to speak,or financial independence In
your mind.
What does financialindependence or financial
freedom mean to you?
Frank Buchholz (21:47):
It means.
You know, I'll give you aperfect example and this may
sound elitist, but people laughwhen they hear this but my goal
was to never buy a Rolls Royce.
That's just not me.
I don't want to flaunt it, butmy goal was to be able to buy it
.
If I wanted it, I can do that,okay.
So that sounds elitist, but yetit kind of drives the point
(22:08):
home.
I'm not Mr Flash, if you will.
We live nicely, but I'm not MrFlash.
But I want to have freedom tomake the choice myself versus
having it made for me.
That, to me, is ultimatefreedom.
And of course, in my case,right now, with my wife, we
don't have money worries inretirement and a lot of people
who retire they have healthissues.
So if you have health issuesand you have money worries, a
(22:30):
lot of people who retire theyhave health issues.
So if you have health issuesand you have money worries, it
compounds.
They both feed on each other.
So the goal, of course, in mybook was to have people retire
with a comfort level wherebythey're not worried about where
the next dollar's coming from.
Brad Nelson (22:40):
Yeah yeah.
It's so good, and can you speakto that a little bit?
You mentioned, you know, rollsRoyce, or elitist.
I think.
With this day and age, withsocial media and people seeing
what wealthy looks like,sometimes it can look very
misleading.
It's a big mansion, it's allthese fancy cars, it's going on,
all these crazy vacations allthe time, and what is the
reality for most people who areable to retire and be
(23:03):
financially independent?
Are they living that lavishlifestyle when they get there?
Or how did they get there?
Did they get there by spendingtheir way there?
Frank Buchholz (23:11):
Well, the irony, of course, is that when I left
Merrill Lynch, I was managingabout a billion dollars worth of
assets and we had some veryaffluent clients in Orange
County and some household namesalmost in Orange County, and the
irony was that I don't thinkany of them was living this
hyper lifestyle.
You will with the.
You know the 20 million dollarmansion on newport coast or the
(23:35):
bulls voices, the driveways orwhatever.
I don't recall any of themdoing that.
So, even though they were verywealthy and I had some clients
in the nine figures in terms ofnet worth, in terms of their
investment accounts, even youwould never know when you met
them.
So they were down to earth, notostentatious, not flamboyant,
not rustic, not elitist.
(23:55):
They were.
We could have a conversationand there was no, none of this,
you know.
Nobody had their nose in theair like an arrogant son of a
gun.
So that's the client base Iworked with and, of course, this
is Orange County, which, ofcourse, can have some people
that you know, hoity-toity ifyou will.
So I think that, for mepersonally, I never saw that and
that's probably how I kind ofshaped the way I think as well.
(24:16):
I mean, we're not where theyare, but we're very comfortable.
Brad Nelson (24:21):
Yeah, my last question for you, frank, before
you tell us a little bit moreabout where people can learn
about your book and moreinformation about you, is if I'm
just starting out, what's onepiece of advice that you could
give me?
Say, I'm living paycheck topaycheck.
I've got some debt.
Money is a little bit stressful.
In your opinion, what is thebest first step that someone
like that could take?
Frank Buchholz (24:38):
Well, I mentioned earlier, I think the
bottom line is to figure out howmuch money you're taking home
and where your money is going,then figure out where you can
cut back and take that money andinvest it.
And, of course, also set up anautopilot whereby the money's
coming out of an account everymonth bank account go into maybe
a savings bank account.
Then you move that to aninvestment firm if you will, so
it's on autopilot, so you're noteven really seeing it.
And or start with a 401k.
(24:59):
Do that for sure.
That's the first thing you wantto do.
Invest it there.
When we were charted out, we hada house payment, two Honda
payments and a rug payment.
So I'll never forget we had arug payment with Beneficial
Finance.
I look back and go oh my God,so I know what it's like to be
in debt.
So I also know what it's liketo be the other direction.
(25:20):
So I'm very thankful I'm on theother side of the coin right
now.
But I do want everybody in thiscountry to be where I'm at,
where they can live, where theywant to live and how they want
to live.
Brad Nelson (25:28):
Yeah, that's awesome, Frank.
Where can people learn moreabout you and what you have to
offer?
Frank Buchholz (25:33):
So thank you.
We do have a website calledinvestorsgoldenplaybookcom.
Now talk about the book andtalk about yours truly.
They can even email me and Ican give them some guidance in
terms of what I recommend.
I will not have specificrecommendations in terms of
buying an individual stock orwhat have you, but I can give
some ideas in terms of how theyshould manage their asset
allocation mix, how much to gointo stocks and bonds and so on,
(25:55):
depending on their age.
So I think it'd be very helpful.
It's a good way to start andalso they can pick up the book
on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
What have you?
A lot of different websites bynow.
Brad Nelson (26:05):
Awesome, so it was so awesome to have you on and
just share some insight.
I love that you've been doingthis for 40 years and again in
this day and age, we've gotobviously a lot of younger folks
and people coming up and it'sjust a different world right now
.
People are scared, people arewondering what they should do,
and it's just awesome to havesomeone here with some real
experience and some history.
Frank Buchholz (26:22):
Yeah, yeah, thank you, I appreciate it.
Thank you for having me on, Iappreciate it.
Thank you so much.
Brad Nelson (26:26):
Now if you're ready to break free from living
paycheck to paycheck, you wantto reduce financial stress, you
want to build savings andfinally pay off debt for good.
But again, maybe you're notsure where to get started.
Don't worry, we've got youcovered.
Simplify my Money is sent tofollow strategies to manage your
(26:47):
money effectively, stress freemoney decisions that will help
you simplify your financial lifewith proven tips that actually
work, and you're going to gainthe tools and the confidence to
tackle your financial goals headon.
You can sign up for simplify mymoney by clicking the link at
the top of the show.
And today we are kicking it offwith Claudia, and Claudia says
(27:37):
no spending this week.
All bills paid and my budgetfor the month is completely done
.
Claudia and awesome wins thispast week Congratulations.
Completely done, claudia.
Awesome wins this past weekCongratulations.
Carla says I adjusted my monthlybudget to make better use of my
sinking funds and starting tosave up for those future
expenses.
Carla, awesome, awesome job,awesome win, jody.
(27:58):
Jody says my paycheck sat in myaccount for a solid 24 hours
before I did anything with it.
This is what less stress lookslike.
She says I was able to sit down, review my budget and tell my
money where to go, rather thanit all be gone within hours to
just random stuff.
(28:19):
Jody, taking control so proudof you and it is such an awesome
, awesome feeling.
So great job.
Hey, as always, guys,congratulations to all of you
guys who are taking a stand foryour financial life.
We get that getting out of debtisn't easy, but with our help
and hopefully with yourconsistency and discipline, we
promise you guys, this will besome of the best work that you
(28:39):
guys do in your entire life.
Thanks for joining us ontoday's show and we will see you
guys on the next episode showand we will see you guys on the
next episode.
Anouncer (28:54):
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For resources, show notes andlinks mentioned in today's show
visit debtfreedadcom.
Catch you next week.
So investing can feel so overwhelming, especially
if you're just getting started.
But what if I told you thatbuilding wealth doesn't have to
be that complicated?
Now, today, I'm joined by FrankBuchholz, a retired senior vice
president and financial advisorwith over 40 years of
experience helping peopleachieve financial independence.
(00:20):
Now Frank has a gift for makinginvesting simple and accessible
, and he's here to sharepractical strategies that anyone
, no matter their income, canuse to start growing their
wealth.
Now again, if you've ever feltlike investing is out of reach,
this episode is going to be foryou.
Let's dive in.
Anouncer (00:41):
You're listening to the Debt-Free Dad Podcast with
Brad Nelson.
Brad and his co-hostsexperience the anxiety of living
paycheck to paycheck beforelearning the fundamentals of
financial success.
They are now on a mission toempower regular people to pay
off their debt for good andenjoy happier, less stressful
lives.
Keep listening forinspirational interviews, tips,
(01:03):
tricks and practical advice togain financial freedom.
Brad Nelson (01:07):
Hey guys, welcome to today's show.
I am Brad Nelson, founder ofDebt Free Dad.
I paid off about $45,000 ofdebt.
I've been debt free now formore than 11 years.
I've also helped thousands ofother people save and pay off
tens of millions of dollars withthe work that we do here at
Debt Free Dad.
Now, after listening to thisepisode, if you're ready to take
things to the next level,you're ready to break free from
(01:29):
living paycheck to paycheck, youwant to reduce financial stress
, you want to build your savingsand finally pay off that debt
for good.
But maybe you're like many ofus.
You're not really quite surewhere to get started.
Now we've created someincredible free resources here
at Debt-Free Dad to help you getthere, and I'll be sharing some
details about how you can getthose later on in today's
episode.
So hey, frank, how are you?
(01:50):
And welcome to the Debt-FreeDad podcast here today.
Good, good.
Thank you for having me on.
I appreciate it very much.
Yeah, absolutely so.
What brought you to theinvestment industry?
Now, I mentioned in theintroduction, like you have a
lot of experience we're talkingseveral decades, like 40 years.
What got you into this to beginwith and helping people with
(02:10):
investing?
Frank Buchholz (02:12):
I always found the investment world to be a
very fascinating area, if youwill, and even in college, my
major was businessadministration, with a finance
minor, and I did take severalinvestment classes with a
gentleman by the name of Dr NeilPepper.
And I did take severalinvestment classes with a
gentleman by the name of Dr NeilPepper an easy name to remember
, of course and he wasinspirational because he was
brilliant, number one, numbertwo, because he could actually
(02:32):
figure things out and presentthings in such a way that made
sense to me.
So after graduating fromcollege, I did have a couple of
jobs before I got into theinvestment world.
It's hard to come out ofcollege as a 20-year-old and hop
into the investment arenabecause it's kind of challenging
, to put it mildly.
So I started in 1982 when I was30 years old, and so here I am
four years later and, candidly,you learn a lot over time.
(02:54):
So it's been a very good career.
I did meet a lot of veryinteresting people.
Brad Nelson (02:58):
Yeah, you mentioned the person that you were
learning from was able topresent things in a more simple
way and you mentioned that wordsimple.
When you know helping peopleunderstand and teach people
about investing, can you sharewith me, as a new person to
investing, someone who's justgetting started, what are some
of the maybe biggermisconceptions or things?
Maybe they don't completelyunderstand?
(03:19):
Maybe from outside influencesor social influence, but what do
you feel people aren't graspingwhen they first get started
about investing?
Frank Buchholz (03:27):
I think the biggest problem I found with
most people is they don't have aclue, when it comes to
investing, about whatinvestments are all about.
They're very challenging.
It's not that they're not smart.
They've never studied it,understood it, and so in my book
I try to make it more of anon-college textbook where I
have actual life experienceswith clients so they can
actually see what people didthat made sense and also
(03:49):
illustrate in such a way the twothings they don't want to be
doing.
So it makes sense from thatstandpoint.
So, yeah, the bottom line isthe fact that it is very, it's
very complicated, but you needsomebody to kind of guide them.
It might go with the book, ofcourse, is to present things in
such a way that made sense.
But my clients over the yearscomplimented me on the
standpoint that I could presentsomething that's complicated and
(04:09):
boil it down where they canunderstand it easily, and I was
also made sure I neverintimidated clients by using all
these fancy jargons.
You know standard duplicationand SEC and yield to maturity
and blah, blah, blah.
You know all that nonsense.
Brad Nelson (04:35):
So you got to boil it down, make it simple.
So that's kind of where I wasat with it.
Number one why is that soimportant?
But number two what's keepingschools from actually teaching
this stuff at such a young age?
Because, as you know, the valueof investing, especially long
term, is getting started earlyand too many people get started
late, or because they just don'tunderstand how important this
is to start teaching kids thisstuff, and maybe at least your
(04:58):
opinion on why aren't theyteaching people this stuff?
Frank Buchholz (05:01):
Well, that's a good question, because even in
my case, I didn't worry aboutmoney until I got into college
and I was taking finance classes.
So if I take a finance classes,guess what?
So, interesting enough, inCalifornia they finally got put
in a money class, if you will,in the high schools here it's
coming up the next year or twoor what have you, but that was
actually going to be a ballotproposition, but they finally
(05:22):
approved it through thelegislature, thank God.
So at least a little morepeople could be more aware of
this.
And the bottom line is the factthat currently, half of people
in America retire with no moneysaved for retirement, which to
me, is a crying shame.
Crying shame If they're goingto live off Social Security,
good luck.
So you know there is a cryingneed out there.
So you know there is a cryingneed out there.
And my goal, of course, was toprovide a roadmap for people to
(05:46):
understand easily the value ofstarting early and also what to
invest in so they can retirewithout any debt, without any
money worries, because when youget older, you're going to have
issues, no matter what.
You have issues with health orwhatever.
Well, if you compound that withmoney worries, it will make
things worse.
So in my case, thank you verymuch, scott.
(06:09):
I'm telling you, I retirewithout any money worries,
that's my goal for every personin America.
Brad Nelson (06:12):
Yeah, you mentioned debt.
Let's talk about that realquick.
You mentioned the word debt andwhen people are starting to
first think about investing andyour 40 years of experience,
what is your philosophy intalking to people?
If they have credit card debtor student loans or auto loans
or things like that, how doesthat fit in to their overall
strategy in investing, and doyou recommend let's take care of
this stuff first so you havemore money to invest, or what
(06:34):
are your thoughts there?
Frank Buchholz (06:36):
Yeah.
So bottom line of course is, inmy case I only borrowed money
to either buy a house or buy acar, and of course I was
borrowing money from myemployers, so I was pretty darn
careful to make sure I paid themback, if you will, but my
credit card debt.
We pay the credit cards offevery month.
So, having said that, a lot ofpeople young people these days
in particular have a tendency tolive for today and they kind of
(06:59):
, yeah, tomorrow's a throw usway off, I'm not going to worry
about it.
But but nobody's ever reallyexplained to them in great
detail about the concept ofsaving and investing today, and
I try to drive that point homein my book over and over and
over again the sooner you start,the better off you're going to
be.
So, as an example, I did somework.
I have a website I came across.
If you invest 10 a day over thenext 36 years and have the same
(07:22):
returns you did over the last 36years in the stock market,
which is 10%, you'd have$1,264,000.
And your investment would beabout $110,000.
So you would only get 10 timesyour money back, but you'd also,
of course, have a return of 10%per year.
So it's a concept like thatthat drives the points home.
$10 a day is $300 a month,obviously, but still $10 a day.
(07:48):
They can forego something,whether it's two cups of coffee
at Starbucks or what have you.
So it's important to start now,not later.
Brad Nelson (07:57):
Yeah, I love that you bring that up.
I could go so many differentdirections with this, frank.
I'm on social media, I'm onTikTok and I talk about this
stuff, and one of the TikToks Irecently just did actually just
a few days ago that blew up hasnearly almost, I think, 750,000
views now.
And I asked the question ifthings are so bad and people are
living paycheck to paycheckbecause you brought up Starbucks
(08:18):
, why is it that the Starbucksline is wrapped around the
building?
Or why are they able to sellout concert venues and sporting
events, and why are shoppingcenters packed with people still
if people are struggling somuch?
But I think people sometimeshave this misconception If I
need to invest, I have to investa ton of money to have any sort
of money at the end of the day,but you're mentioning all it
(08:39):
takes is just $10 a day,something like as minimum as
$300 a month to get started, andin 35 years you could have over
a million bucks.
Frank Buchholz (08:47):
That's pretty awesome, pretty powerful stuff.
And, of course, what they cando literally, if they can buy
what they call the ticker symbol, is SPY, which of course is an
exchange traded fund, a bushelbasket full of stocks, and it
mirrors the returns on the 7.4is 500.
And you can buy fractionalshares on that through a
discount broker firm like ourMerrill Edgeworld or Charles
(09:09):
Schwab or what have you.
Yeah, no charge to invest, nocharge to reinvest the dividends
, which it's very important todo.
That, of course, obviously, butyou can do it in an economical
way and you start off very, verysmall and it's perfect for the
first time investor.
Brad Nelson (09:27):
Yeah, it's so good.
And what would you say toindividuals right now?
I mean, you've been doing thisfor 40 years.
You've gone and you've seensome historical events that
affect investing, affect themarket Things like 9-11, a
housing crisis back in08-09-2010.
I mean, you've seen some thingsand now we have a presidential
change.
Things are changing rapidly,but people tend to have this
fear that the world is kind ofcrumbling around us and a lot of
(09:51):
people maybe fall into morelike doom spending and they're
like what's the point that Ican't ever buy a house because
things are so expensive.
What would you say toindividuals who are especially
young people and someone as youhave seen a lot, what advice
would you give to them to helpthem kind of maybe reevaluate
that type of a mindset right now?
Frank Buchholz (10:11):
Yeah, the first thing you do would make sense
would be to actually ascertainhow much money you're actually
taking home for your paycheckNot what your gross earnings are
, but what you're taking homeand then, of course, then you
can kind of put it on a monthlyscale what are your expenses?
And the irony, of course, isthat once people start adding up
their expenses, they can then,of course, realize that a lot of
expenses are not necessarilyimportant or necessary for the
(10:34):
lifestyle they can forego thewhatever.
So if they could take just alittle bit extra off the top and
start investing, that that willpay dividends down the road in
a very much way.
So in my case, we retire withno worries, and if I want to do
whatever, I can do that rightnow.
So to retire with no moneyworries to me is a real blessing
(10:57):
, and it also helps you in termsof just being able to help
other people as well.
So I think that that's theultimate goal for me.
As far as the clients go, forsure.
Brad Nelson (11:07):
If I'm ready to start thinking about investing,
what are some of the firstthings that I need to look at or
evaluate and maybe decide whatI'm going to invest in?
How much am I going to put in?
You mentioned brokerageaccounts and things like that.
Schwab, that can be a lot forsome people.
So how do you break this downwhere it's simple for an average
person to start walking throughthis?
Frank Buchholz (11:29):
Sure, sure.
So, of course, the first thingI would do, of course, is read
my book, the Specialist's GoldenPlaybook, which I think would
be very helpful, and obviouslythat may be a biased opinion,
but I think that there's a lotof good information in here
which can be very helpful forclients.
And then, of course, they needto take the initiative.
They need to say to themselvesokay, I need to get started on
(11:52):
this and make things happen, ifyou will.
So that of course, meanscontacting some firm, whether
it's online or in person or whathave you.
They need to take theinitiative to get started, and
if they can kind of get thingsset up where it's an autopilot,
meaning that it's it's anautomatic deduction for a
paycheck to go to investmentaccount or what have you, that
makes all the sense in the world.
(12:12):
Plus, if they have access to a401k retirement account in
America, that is something theyshould contribute, and that
would be the first thing I wouldlook at.
As far as doing anything.
What they want to do is try tomax that out as much as possible
.
Currently, a person cancontribute $23,500 a year to a
401k, which is substantial, andof course, a lot of people can't
(12:34):
do that, particularly startingout.
But that would be the veryfirst thing I would look at.
Then, of course, on thepersonal side, then of course
you could look at something elseas far as growing the money
from there.
But looking at the 401k, when wemanaged 401ks at Merrill Lynch
when I was there, I wasastounded by the number of
people that had their moneyinvested in a money market
account.
And when I left Merrill Lynchthe money market accounts were
(12:56):
paying 0.1.
And you shoot yourself in thefoot because those money in a
401k are long-term monies.
Those monies should be 100%invested in the stock market.
Now that's kind of people say,oh my God, it's too risky, blah,
blah, blah.
Well, it's riskier to havemoney invested at 0.1% because
you don't have to keep up withinflation.
You're never going to grow yourmoney.
So you contribute $100,000 tothat 401k and you're going to
(13:19):
wind up with $140,000 when youretire because you're not going
to get the interest off that.
You need growth, and growth, ofcourse, is achieved by
investing in the stock market.
Brad Nelson (13:27):
Yeah, Now, obviously, when you start
investing, you can use, say,someone like a financial advisor
.
What's a good way to qualifysomeone to help you?
Because, again, people aregoing into this maybe with very
little education and what I see,at least for some people, is
that they'll tend to put moneyinto things just because they
were told to do it, notnecessarily because they
understand it and they know howit's going to work for them,
(13:50):
their financial goals and theirfuture.
What are some things that anindividual like make sure you do
this and don't do this wheneither hiring somebody or
figuring out what you're goingto do.
Frank Buchholz (14:00):
Yeah, I think the bottom line, of course, is
that I would highly recommendusing a financial advisor and
interview more than one of them.
The financial advisor.
If that person is good, theywill give you information,
educate you and hold your handthrough the good times and the
bad.
So they also kind of act as apsychologist, if you will,
(14:21):
because a lot of times peoplewould want to run for the door
and we would encourage them notto do so.
And of course, there was oneperson in particular back in
1989 that ran for the door andunfortunately, you know, when
you run for the door you'respending the worst possible time
and of course, did you get backin?
No.
So you've got to be kind of,you've got to have somebody to
really guide you, and that's whyan advisor can be very, very
important for you.
When you're starting off withjust a small sum of money let's
(14:43):
say it's even, you know, acouple hundred dollars or $5,000
or whatever you're probablygoing to need to do it on your
own to a degree, because theadvisors typically will have a
minimums of, say, $100,000 or250 or whatever.
So just starting on your ownand just putting your money into
a ticker symbol SPY is a greatway to get started in the stock
(15:04):
market and you actually seewhat's going on with that
particular portfolio and it's500 stocks in one into one
investment, so you're welldiversified.
Great track record pays adividend.
You reinvest, the dividends,get a compounding effect.
So you can start with a verysmall nominal amount of money
and set up a monopilot, if youcan.
Brad Nelson (15:22):
Yeah, yeah, Can you share maybe some common
mistakes or missteps that newpeople will make when investing,
things that we shoulddefinitely avoid if we're just
getting started?
Frank Buchholz (15:33):
I think probably one of the biggest missteps is
that they don't have adiscipline to carry on.
I think that a lot of times afinancial advisor is put in kind
of a precarious positionbecause what happens is that the
market all of a sudden goessouth like it's been going this
month in general, and then, ofcourse, the client goes, oh my
south, like it's been going thismonth in general, yeah.
And then of course the clientgoes, oh my God, that investment
(15:53):
advisor is worthless.
Blah, blah, blah, and they pullthe money.
Oh yeah, I'm not going to dothat again.
Well, you have to understandit's a long-term process and
you're going to have bumps alongthe way.
It's like being on an airplanethe airplane is going to have
air turbulence.
It's like being on an airplanethe airplane is going to have
air turbulence.
You can't get off the plane,guys.
You've got to ride to thedestination and of course, the
destination in the stock marketis a 5-10-year window at minimum
(16:15):
.
So you want to make sure thatyou have the ability to stick
with it and ride it out.
So that's a tantamount point.
That's one of the biggestmistakes people make as far as
I'm concerned Running for thedoor on the most possible time
Maybe they should be buying moreat that point.
Brad Nelson (16:30):
Yeah, and Frank, you hit it right there.
I want to talk about that realquick because it's interesting
to me and I don't get.
I'm not an investment advisor.
We don't give investment adviceor anything like that here at
Debt Free Dad, but it'sinteresting when you talk to
people outside of my businessand talk about investing.
People always want to buy in tothe market when it's doing
great because their confidenceis high.
(16:52):
You know the economy is great,but the reality is is like you
want to have the same mindset ofinvesting obviously depending
on your age and where you're at,but you want to have the same
type of mindset in a way of likewhy would you go to a
department store and buy thatshirt at the highest price
they're ever going to sell it?
Wouldn't you want to wait tillit's on sale and then make the
purchase Right the highest?
price they're ever going to sellit.
Wouldn't you want to wait untilit's on sale and then make the
purchase right?
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat mentality?
(17:12):
Why is it that people, asinvestors, people, look at that
market that way?
I've always found that veryfascinating to me.
Yeah, of course.
Frank Buchholz (17:18):
Well, people look at the track record.
Right, well, xyz Corporation isdoing really, really well.
I'm going to buy that stock,right?
Well, you know, on February 1stand you're holding it now.
You're not doing so well, inparticular, tesla.
If you buy January 1st, you'rereally not doing well.
They always look at the trackrecord oh, the stock's doing
really well, blah, blah, blah.
But again, it's a differentmindset in terms of looking at
stock versus that favorite shirtdressed in the local department
(17:40):
store.
They tend to look at things andgo well, you know, they look at
it the wrong way, so theyshould look for things on sale.
So to me, right now is areasonable time to invest.
Is it perfect?
No, but again, you're notbuying the market for today and
today only.
You're buying the market todayand looking for the results 10
years from now.
(18:00):
So, because it's come down alittle, it's certainly a better
buying opportunity than it was.
Are we going to have more bumpsin the market?
Absolutely no question.
I don't care what year it is,what time frame it is.
You know new politicalleadership and everything going
on we're going to have morebumps in the market.
But again, my biggest investorwas one who always said, when
(18:22):
the market was down, he calledme up and said get those
amateurs out of the way, frank,I'm coming in.
He would always come in and buymore.
Always get the amateurs out.
Never forget that, never forgetthat.
So that's kind of the way youhave to look at it.
Brad Nelson (18:33):
So, yeah, again, seize the opportunity yeah, and
so I guess my next question foryou, and because I think the
next challenge that goes alongwith this, is what do you
recommend to people to deal with?
Uh, like social influence, likethe news media and people who
sensationalize everything.
Oh, the market's down andeverything is, you know, panic
(18:54):
and the world is crumbling.
What do you advise people?
Obviously, having an advisorand having a small group of
people around you would be great, right, but what do you advise
people?
To ignore all of that noise,because it can be easy to kind
of get sucked in to whateveryone's talking about and,
like you said, make that kneejerk reaction.
Get out of the market becauseyou're afraid and you lose out
on those long-term gains becauseyou don't stay consistent.
Frank Buchholz (19:16):
Absolutely so.
In my case, I watch twodifferent newscasts every night.
One is far left and one's farright, so I kind of get mixed,
if you will, in terms of thenews.
Yeah, I watch as a fit aboutwhatever, but I won't go there,
um, and of course, I do read thewall street journal religiously
.
To me, the walter journal, tome, is probably one of the
finest publications you canpossibly read.
(19:37):
I read it online and it givesme information I need to know
about and to read about and toknow what's going on.
Um, so I find that to be very,very helpful.
But I'm not necessarily a bigfan of investment newsletters or
you know, oh, this guy'srecommending this and that.
Look at what I did, and thisand that.
And the next thing, I don't buyit.
I think that a typical personshould if they have enough money
(19:58):
, they should have aprofessionally managed portfolio
with an outside money manager,or they're starting out just buy
an exchange-traded fund, getdiversification that way.
But I'm not one of these guysthat is quick to you know.
Oh, look at this great idea.
No, no, no, I'm looking forproven track record ideas.
So if you look at a companylike 3M, for example, great
track record increased dividendsover the years.
(20:19):
That's a proven track record.
This new initial publicoffering from XYZ Industries?
Not a proven track record.
I probably wouldn't go therebecause you know it's unproven.
Not a proven track record likefive wouldn't go there because
you know it's unproven.
So I'm looking for thingsproven and this book's basically
for the starting out investor.
It's not from some professionalguy who's been doing for 50
years no right.
Brad Nelson (20:40):
So that's where I'm at with the book.
What about people like that,like fad, like you know the
latest craze, or like I'll pickon bitcoin or something like
that, but people get excitedabout this.
Or you hear from a coworkerlike they're investing in this
and it's doing great.
What's your recommendation oradvice or any sort of suggestion
from an outside source likethat?
Frank Buchholz (20:59):
Yeah, good point .
Of course, I'm not really a fanof Bitcoin.
I have studied and read aboutit and it's kind of like an
artificial currency, if you will, so I'm not really a big fan.
Plus, even in yesterday's WallStreet Journal, we talked about
the perils, not so much ofinvesting in Bitcoin, but the
perils of who do you buy it toand how is it being stored and
how do you access it, and so onand so forth, because that area
(21:21):
has really opened up to a lot offraud, if you will, not
necessarily Bitcoin itselfyourself, but the people behind
it, if you will.
So be very forewarned.
And, of course, I still thinkthat Bitcoin could be a disaster
in the making.
People could potentially lose alot of money on it.
Brad Nelson (21:35):
Yeah, In the beginning, when we first started
talking, Frank, you mentionedhelping people get towards
financial freedom, so to speak,or financial independence In
your mind.
What does financialindependence or financial
freedom mean to you?
Frank Buchholz (21:47):
It means.
You know, I'll give you aperfect example and this may
sound elitist, but people laughwhen they hear this but my goal
was to never buy a Rolls Royce.
That's just not me.
I don't want to flaunt it, butmy goal was to be able to buy it
.
If I wanted it, I can do that,okay.
So that sounds elitist, but yetit kind of drives the point
(22:08):
home.
I'm not Mr Flash, if you will.
We live nicely, but I'm not MrFlash.
But I want to have freedom tomake the choice myself versus
having it made for me.
That, to me, is ultimatefreedom.
And of course, in my case,right now, with my wife, we
don't have money worries inretirement and a lot of people
who retire they have healthissues.
So if you have health issuesand you have money worries, a
(22:30):
lot of people who retire theyhave health issues.
So if you have health issuesand you have money worries, it
compounds.
They both feed on each other.
So the goal, of course, in mybook was to have people retire
with a comfort level wherebythey're not worried about where
the next dollar's coming from.
Brad Nelson (22:40):
Yeah yeah.
It's so good, and can you speakto that a little bit?
You mentioned, you know, rollsRoyce, or elitist.
I think.
With this day and age, withsocial media and people seeing
what wealthy looks like,sometimes it can look very
misleading.
It's a big mansion, it's allthese fancy cars, it's going on,
all these crazy vacations allthe time, and what is the
reality for most people who areable to retire and be
(23:03):
financially independent?
Are they living that lavishlifestyle when they get there?
Or how did they get there?
Did they get there by spendingtheir way there?
Frank Buchholz (23:11):
Well, the irony, of course, is that when I left
Merrill Lynch, I was managingabout a billion dollars worth of
assets and we had some veryaffluent clients in Orange
County and some household namesalmost in Orange County, and the
irony was that I don't thinkany of them was living this
hyper lifestyle.
You will with the.
You know the 20 million dollarmansion on newport coast or the
(23:35):
bulls voices, the driveways orwhatever.
I don't recall any of themdoing that.
So, even though they were verywealthy and I had some clients
in the nine figures in terms ofnet worth, in terms of their
investment accounts, even youwould never know when you met
them.
So they were down to earth, notostentatious, not flamboyant,
not rustic, not elitist.
(23:55):
They were.
We could have a conversationand there was no, none of this,
you know.
Nobody had their nose in theair like an arrogant son of a
gun.
So that's the client base Iworked with and, of course, this
is Orange County, which, ofcourse, can have some people
that you know, hoity-toity ifyou will.
So I think that, for mepersonally, I never saw that and
that's probably how I kind ofshaped the way I think as well.
(24:16):
I mean, we're not where theyare, but we're very comfortable.
Brad Nelson (24:21):
Yeah, my last question for you, frank, before
you tell us a little bit moreabout where people can learn
about your book and moreinformation about you, is if I'm
just starting out, what's onepiece of advice that you could
give me?
Say, I'm living paycheck topaycheck.
I've got some debt.
Money is a little bit stressful.
In your opinion, what is thebest first step that someone
like that could take?
Frank Buchholz (24:38):
Well, I mentioned earlier, I think the
bottom line is to figure out howmuch money you're taking home
and where your money is going,then figure out where you can
cut back and take that money andinvest it.
And, of course, also set up anautopilot whereby the money's
coming out of an account everymonth bank account go into maybe
a savings bank account.
Then you move that to aninvestment firm if you will, so
it's on autopilot, so you're noteven really seeing it.
And or start with a 401k.
(24:59):
Do that for sure.
That's the first thing you wantto do.
Invest it there.
When we were charted out, we hada house payment, two Honda
payments and a rug payment.
So I'll never forget we had arug payment with Beneficial
Finance.
I look back and go oh my God,so I know what it's like to be
in debt.
So I also know what it's liketo be the other direction.
(25:20):
So I'm very thankful I'm on theother side of the coin right
now.
But I do want everybody in thiscountry to be where I'm at,
where they can live, where theywant to live and how they want
to live.
Brad Nelson (25:28):
Yeah, that's awesome, Frank.
Where can people learn moreabout you and what you have to
offer?
Frank Buchholz (25:33):
So thank you.
We do have a website calledinvestorsgoldenplaybookcom.
Now talk about the book andtalk about yours truly.
They can even email me and Ican give them some guidance in
terms of what I recommend.
I will not have specificrecommendations in terms of
buying an individual stock orwhat have you, but I can give
some ideas in terms of how theyshould manage their asset
allocation mix, how much to gointo stocks and bonds and so on,
(25:55):
depending on their age.
So I think it'd be very helpful.
It's a good way to start andalso they can pick up the book
on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
What have you?
A lot of different websites bynow.
Brad Nelson (26:05):
Awesome, so it was so awesome to have you on and
just share some insight.
I love that you've been doingthis for 40 years and again in
this day and age, we've gotobviously a lot of younger folks
and people coming up and it'sjust a different world right now
.
People are scared, people arewondering what they should do,
and it's just awesome to havesomeone here with some real
experience and some history.
Frank Buchholz (26:22):
Yeah, yeah, thank you, I appreciate it.
Thank you for having me on, Iappreciate it.
Thank you so much.
Brad Nelson (26:26):
Now if you're ready to break free from living
paycheck to paycheck, you wantto reduce financial stress, you
want to build savings andfinally pay off debt for good.
But again, maybe you're notsure where to get started.
Don't worry, we've got youcovered.
Simplify my Money is sent tofollow strategies to manage your
(26:47):
money effectively, stress freemoney decisions that will help
you simplify your financial lifewith proven tips that actually
work, and you're going to gainthe tools and the confidence to
tackle your financial goals headon.
You can sign up for simplify mymoney by clicking the link at
the top of the show.
And today we are kicking it offwith Claudia, and Claudia says
(27:37):
no spending this week.
All bills paid and my budgetfor the month is completely done
.
Claudia and awesome wins thispast week Congratulations.
Completely done, claudia.
Awesome wins this past weekCongratulations.
Carla says I adjusted my monthlybudget to make better use of my
sinking funds and starting tosave up for those future
expenses.
Carla, awesome, awesome job,awesome win, jody.
(27:58):
Jody says my paycheck sat in myaccount for a solid 24 hours
before I did anything with it.
This is what less stress lookslike.
She says I was able to sit down, review my budget and tell my
money where to go, rather thanit all be gone within hours to
just random stuff.
(28:19):
Jody, taking control so proudof you and it is such an awesome
, awesome feeling.
So great job.
Hey, as always, guys,congratulations to all of you
guys who are taking a stand foryour financial life.
We get that getting out of debtisn't easy, but with our help
and hopefully with yourconsistency and discipline, we
promise you guys, this will besome of the best work that you
(28:39):
guys do in your entire life.
Thanks for joining us ontoday's show and we will see you
guys on the next episode showand we will see you guys on the
next episode.
Anouncer (28:54):
Thanks for listening to the Debt-Free Dad podcast.
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rating and review.
We so appreciate it.
For resources, show notes andlinks mentioned in today's show
visit debtfreedadcom.
Catch you next week.
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