February 14, 2024 • 41 mins
In this episode, I interview David Delisle, founder of The Awesome Stuff, is an Amazon bestselling author, entrepreneur, real estate investor, and speaker. His first book, The Golden Quest, is a graphic novel that teaches kids (and adults) how to live a richer life and create the freedom for what is most important to them.
I cover the following topics in this episode:
- Why is The Golden Quest referred to as Rich Dad Poor Dad Meets Calvin and Hobbes?
- Why does The Golden Quest resonate with 5yrs olds to 95 yrs olds?
- What are the 4 Golden Rules?
- How do you filter out the noise?
- What is the Awesome Stuff?
- When is enough, enough?
- How did you get interested in finance and money?
- Why is it important to start investing early?
- What do you say to folks that are afraid to start investing?
- Why isn't financial literacy taught in schools?
- What does financial freedom mean to you?
Link to David Delisle's sites:
https://daviddelisle.com
https://www.theawesomestuff.com
sDisclaimer: The views and opinions shared on this channel are for informational and educational purposes only. Simply Investing Incorporated nor the author and guests shall be liable for any loss of profit or any commercial damages, including but not limited to incidental, special, consequential, or other damages. Investors should confirm any data before making stock buy/sell decisions. Our staff and editor may hold at any given time securities mentioned in this video/course/report/presentation/platform. The final decision to buy or sell any stock is yours; please do your own due diligence. Stock buy or sell decisions are based on many factors including your own risk tolerance. When in doubt please consult a professional advisor. No advice on the buying and selling of specific securities is provided. All trademarks, trade names, or logos mentioned or used are the property of their respective owners. For our full legal disclaimer, please visit our website.
Lastly, we cast a spotlight on the marvels of starting your investment journey early, with the magic of compounding returns taking center stage. We reminisce about youthful days flipping through mutual fund books and how they shaped the financial sagacity of today. Through real-life exemplars like Warren Buffett and the merits of dividend investing, we underline the importance of an early start in investing and the potency of long-term strategies over short-term gains. As we close, David's fervor for financial education and his dedication to charity remind us that ultimately, the wealth we accumulate is as valuable as the good it can do in the world.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In this podcast we talk a lot about dividend
investing and how to make moremoney in dividends essentially,
how to make more money.
Today's special guest is goingto talk to us about our
relationship with money.
When do we have enough and howdo we talk about money and
investing with our kids?
Hi, my name is Kanwal Sarai andwelcome to the Simply Investing
(00:24):
Dividend Podcast.
Our guest today is an Amazonbestselling author, speaker,
investor and entrepreneur.
He wrote an incrediblechildren's book, a graphic novel
called the Golden Quest, whichhas been referred to as the rich
dad, poor dad meets Calvin andHobbes.
(00:44):
David DeLyle.
Welcome to our podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I'm so happy to be here.
This is going to be a fun, funconversation.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
I'm looking forward to it.
Thank you so much for being onour podcast today.
Let's get started with thefirst question.
Why are people referring toyour book, the Golden Quest?
Why do they refer to it as richdad, poor dad meets Calvin and
Hobbes?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
What's funny, I've got two young boys like we just
mentioned and I'm trying tofigure out how do I teach these
guys financial literacy, becauseif they're like most kids and
adults, they didn't want to let.
Nobody wants to talk about thisstuff.
I realized kids are readinggraphic novels.
That's what they want to read,that's what they're consuming.
By taking all these fundamentalprinciples and ideas and
(01:35):
putting them in a graphic novelas an adventure, it just became
something that kids just easilyjust read, get excited about and
learn from.
It's sort of like that idea ofthat financial literacy, but in
a format kids want to learn from.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Yeah, absolutely, and not just kids.
I was fascinated by it.
I kept going, it wasentertaining and it was nice to
read, as opposed to just a largevolume with just text in it,
right.
So the pictures are great, theartwork is fantastic.
I think you mentioned on yourwebsite this book isn't just for
kids.
It's from five-year-olds to95-year-olds.
(02:11):
Why do you think it wouldresonate with such a large age
group here?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
So actually I wrote it for the kids because adults
are so much harder to teach andso the idea is that the kids can
learn it and then teach theirparents.
So that really is what I washoping for.
It's really written for adultsand I find, if you think about a
lot of these core principles,if you can simplify it, there's
(02:42):
truth in that, and if it's verydifficult to explain and you
start going around in circles,usually you're not at the core
idea and the core concept.
So with most of these things,by getting to its essence,
that's actually the lesson, andso that essence applies to kids
as well as adults.
It shouldn't be difficult.
If you can't teach a kid, thenthe concept itself.
(03:04):
You probably haven't simplifiedit yet.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Yeah, I absolutely believe in that 100% I talk
about.
I've been teaching dividendinvesting for over 24 years and
I tell people it's so easy thata nine-year-old could do it, and
I had my kids, when they werenine, go through the dividend
investing course and they'vebeen investing in dividend
stocks ever since then.
Right, and they're much oldernow.
(03:27):
So in your book there are thegolden rules, and again I
resonated with that because wehave the 12 rules of simply
investing that we use to pickour investments.
Can you tell our share with ouraudience Some of the golden
rules, or if not all of themI'll leave that entirely up to
(03:47):
you what they are and what areyou hoping the audience, the
reader, will take away from thebook?
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yeah, so it's.
I mean there's only four rulesso I can touch on them really
quickly without going into depth.
And the reason I only came upwith four is because I've been
investing most of my life Like Iread investment books when I
was 10.
And I've always been a bit of amoney nerd.
But looking back in hindsightI've realized a lot of it is
really habits and mindset, it'snot the details.
(04:18):
So I'm sure even people in yourshow like you can get really
into the weeds of the mechanicsand how to invest in a specific
stock, but at the end of the dayyou know time, habits, how you
feel about money.
Those have a greater impactover time.
So the rules the first rule isonly by the awesome stuff, and
this concept is all rooted inmoney, mindfulness and
(04:40):
understanding.
Really, what's important to youand I find that's the first
rule, because withoutunderstanding why you even want
money, you just endlesslychasing.
And that's what I'm hoping tobreak is this concept of
endlessly chasing.
And then the next two rulesthey get into the basic habits.
So the first one is always savefirst.
Same idea of like pay yourselffirst or set up a habit or
(05:04):
automate your savings, andthat's mostly just because most
of us are terrible at budgeting.
There's the whole thing oflifestyle inflation.
This ensures that the savingportion is a habit.
And then I talk about lettingyour money go to work for you,
and that's just teaching kidsabout investing itself and
understanding compound growth,because I think I'm sure even
(05:26):
people in your audience once wehear some of these compound
growth just stories.
It still blows my mind awaywhen I hear how fast things grow
and how big over time and webriefly touched on that just
right now, before the call rightnow, and that's the thing is we
that compound growth is massive, and so I try to just
(05:48):
illustrate in a way that peopleget behind it, because I think
when you fully understand that,that's when money and investing
becomes exciting, and then thefourth rule is given you'll have
more.
And I really want to again getback to this mindset piece of
scarcity that usually happensand show that the more you give,
(06:08):
rather than feeling scarcity,you actually start feeling more
and more abundance and it doescome back.
And so I want to teach that toyoung kids as well, and it's
really cool because these,especially these mindset pieces,
that might be a bit of astretch for adults to get behind
or believe.
Little kids, five year olds,seven year olds, they embrace it
(06:29):
almost immediately.
So it's been really fun.
And then all those rules wrapup towards just really creating
the freedom to do what you loveand get back to that idea of the
awesome stuff.
And what is it that you trulylove?
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Yeah, that is incredible, and especially if
you can start, the younger youare, the better off you'll be to
understand these concepts,because I was never taught any
of this stuff when I was young,wasn't covered in school either,
and I had to stumble through itin life to through trial and
error, and I think if the kidscan learn this sooner than later
(07:02):
, they're going to be so muchbetter off when it comes to
investing, when it comes tomoney as well and you talked
about getting to the essence ofyou know what is the golden rule
, and there's a lot of noise outthere, and as adults too, we
see so much noise out there.
How do you I don't know if youhave any suggestions for the
(07:23):
grownups out there how to filterout or get rid of the noise and
get to the essence of what itis when it comes to investing
and finances.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Well, again, if it's confusing, it's probably noise,
and that's what I found is.
The idea around compound growthis a great example Because
that's the one where we couldhave the most information
questions.
People can really dive into it.
But, at the end of the day,understanding compound growth
(07:57):
and that concept, which you canjust tell in stories and teach
to a five-year-old, and just seehow things grow and how big and
powerful that is, that's thelesson.
How to invest, I mean that's alittle bit simpler.
I mean, if you want to investand you want to stockpick and do
(08:17):
your own things, there's a lotof information out there and you
can do that.
But the reality is is mostpeople that invest they don't
actually even understand thesemechanics and they don't need to
.
If they've got a financialadvisor and they're investing
their money and they're in thehabit of you know, this
percentage of everything thatcomes in is invested.
That's going to actually setthem up for financial success
(08:40):
and all these other things.
I mean I love interest ratesand macroeconomic economics and
watching trends and all thesethings because I'm a money nerd,
but you don't actually needthat stuff and that's what
scares people away frominvesting.
They feel like they need toknow all of these things, and
they simply don't, and so that'swhat I try to teach people is
that habit of investing is moreimportant than the how.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Yeah, I like what you said there.
If it's complicated or if it'sconfusing, it's probably just
noise and you need to get, sothat's incredible.
Now you touched on something alittle earlier when we were
going through the golden rulesand you said focus on the
awesome stuff.
So what is the awesome stuff?
Who are you talking about?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yeah, so this is, I mean, this is the essence of,
you know, the movement I'mtrying to create and the big
mindset shift.
Because what I found is andthis happens at all ages all
we've been taught typically ismore.
So it doesn't matter what weachieve, we're always looking to
the next thing, and I see thisall the time where people are
(09:44):
like, if I only had, you know,$100,000.
And then they have that andthey're like, well, if I only
had a million dollars, I onlyhad a house.
And then it's well, if I onlyhad a house that had two cars,
you know there's no end.
And if there's no end, thenwe're constantly.
Not only are we constantlychasing, we're constantly in
(10:05):
this mindset of lack and nothaving what we really want, so
we're pursuing happiness that wecan never achieve.
So this idea of the awesomestuff is trying to break that
endless chase and get right downto the fundamentals of what
really makes you happy.
And this again is the noise,because we're being told what we
(10:25):
should like, what would make ushappy, especially for Gen Z
with social media.
It's all in their faces.
But if we really get down to,like you asked, what is the
awesome stuff?
And this is again where it getsjust pure and simple.
What is that thing where youcan feel in your body, you get
excited.
So people tell me you know whatI really want to.
You know, buy this new watch, Iwant to get this new you know
(10:49):
purse, or this car or this house, and I don't really care if
that's what they want, but Icould tell by the way they just
told me that's what they want.
It's not their awesome stuff,because that same person, when
they start talking about arecent trip they did with their
family, or one of their favoritememories or you know the
favorite item in their house,they start lighting up and we
(11:11):
know those people where they'relike they want to show you a
collection or they want to showyou something.
They just you can feel it.
They lean in their energychanges and they're so
passionate.
The passion, passion, right,yeah, and so the awesome stuff
is just starting to become moreaware of what actually gives you
that passion.
So then, when you're looking atthings, rather than thinking of
what you want or what you thinkyou want, or chasing something,
(11:33):
you compare it to that passion,that feeling, and then you can
ask yourself is this somethingthat's going to make me feel the
same way?
And if the answer is no, thenthat's probably not your awesome
stuff and it's probablysomething that's not going to
get you further towardshappiness and what really makes
you happy.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
So that's really interesting.
It sounds like it's going to bedifferent from one person to
the next.
Right Something that I mightthink is awesome or unpassionate
about, you may not be, so itsounds like it's going to be
unique to the individual ofwhat's going to make them happy.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
And that's I mean just the fact that you notice
that and that seems novel.
That's part of the problem,like we're all so different and
we all think we want the samethings.
We all want the yacht, we allwant the mansion, we all want
three houses, we all want totravel, we all wish we had a
million, 10 million, 100 millionwould be even better.
That's not true.
We're all individuals anddifferent and if we can
(12:28):
understand what truly makes ushappy as an individual, we'll
get rid of all these negativefeelings that we have towards
money, like the shame and theenvy and the jealousy and the
comparison.
I mean all of that really isthe media and external factors
and has nothing to do with whatactually makes us happy.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah, and social media doesn't make this easy,
because now you see everybodyelse flying around in private
jets and with the expensive carsin the big homes and you get
that sense of like, well, Idon't have enough, you know, to
have all that stuff too.
So I really like that focusthat you're talking about is the
focus and key in on what is theawesome stuff for you.
(13:11):
And we talked about cutting outthe noise when it comes to
investing education.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Maybe we need to do the same thing when it comes to
what do I really want in my lifeand just sort of cut out the
noise that's out there For sure,Like, even if we took a simple
scenario, like if you thinkabout your closet full of
clothes, like most of us haveour favorite sweater or shirt or
things that we wear all thetime, and if we think more is
(13:38):
better.
So a big walking closet with,you know, 300 pairs of shoes or
a thousand shirts, and just andwe just take it to the extreme
we can't even find our favoriteshirt and all the rest of the
stuff in there we don't like asmuch anyway, and it's just a
noise.
And that's a good example ofwhat's happening.
When we chase more, we forgetabout the things that we really
(13:58):
love.
I mean, if you have, you know,your two or three favorite
shirts, that's probably going tobe bringing more joy than a
hundred shirts that aren't yourfavorite, and you can't even
find your favorite.
And now and this takes us downthat path of well, now you need
a bigger house to store moreclothes and now you need to have
all the clothes, and then youcan't find what you want.
Now you're trying to figure outwhat to decide what you're
(14:20):
going to wear in the morning,and it just we take this more to
the extreme with just somethinglike clothing and we can see
how ridiculous it becomes.
And yet we're thinking well, ifwe had 10 watches and 20 purses
and 50 shoes, it's got to bebetter and it just it isn't
better.
It's all distracting for thethings you really love.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
And this is so important because, knowing the
reason why You're investing, whyare you trying to make so much
money?
Because I'll get a lot ofemails all the time.
Right, people want to know Okay, what's the quickest way?
I can double my money in sixmonths in the stock market.
How do I triple my money nextweek in the stock market?
(15:05):
And you know, and I'll getemails about what do you think
about this stock or this stockversus this one?
Which one's gonna grow faster?
And I think you're right,because we get caught up in just
wanting more, more, moredividends, more income, more
capital gains, but for what?
So that is so key is tounderstand the what for yourself
(15:26):
, and I think it's you kind ofhave to reverse engineer it.
So, what are the things thatare important to me?
Okay, how much do they cost?
Okay, how much do I need?
Well then, how much should Iinvest?
And I think you can live a moreSerene or peaceful life that
way, as opposed to being on thisnever-ending treadmill, mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Well, you'll start to notice things too, because it
just makes you notice theinconsistencies.
So an example would be if whatI want is more time with my kids
and To achieve that I'm workingharder, I'm spending more time
at work, I'm buying moreexpensive things and creating a
lifestyle that has to beMaintained by working harder and
(16:07):
harder and harder, and it'screating more, that's actually
not creating more time with myfamily.
If that's what my awesome stuffis and we see that all the time
where people will say, well,all I want is X, and then you
look at their actual actions andwhat they're pursuing and what
they're buying and where they'respending their money and
(16:28):
they're not.
It's not in line with what theywant.
And this is really importantbecause you can start seeing,
for a lot of people, a Lot ofthe things that might be your
awesome stuff, like if it'shanging out with your friends.
That doesn't actually doesn'tnecessarily require money.
It can, and you know what yourfriends could be.
We charter a private jet and wefly somewhere, but it could also
(16:52):
be we just, you know, get abunch of friends over.
They all, you know, come to myhouse and we cook a dinner
together or, you know, play aboard game, and it doesn't have
to cost anything.
So understanding what youreally want is interesting,
because then you can startseeing, well, how much noise is
in there.
Take and go back to the privatejet.
If it is the private, if it'sthe friends, not the private jet
(17:14):
, well, now you have to get tothe place and now you're
traveling, you're doing allthese other things.
You're not even spending time,they're so busy trying to get to
do whatever you're doing andyou're missing the core.
So it's just understanding thatcore and It'll.
It'll shift the way you look atthings.
And it doesn't mean thatprivate jets bad, because I'm
not saying that, it's just what.
(17:35):
What is the reason you wantthat?
And, for some, once you reallysit on what that reason is, you
might realize that's actuallynot what you want.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Yeah, and it sounds like, David, you've done.
You practice what you preach,because before we hit the record
button, we were chatting andyou said you're semi retired and
right, and you have been for anumber of years and you're one
of your key Focuses was spendingtime with your kids and being
able to do that.
So then, why write this?
(18:04):
We talked about why.
I understand why you wrote thebook, but that's a lot of work,
right?
Why not just sit back on thebeach somewhere and just relax?
So what was your motivation?
What gets you passionate aboutthis topic, what we're talking
about today?
What gets you Talking aboutthis?
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Yeah, well, thanks so much for that question, because
that's a great question.
And you're right, I mean, thisbook wasn't motivated by money.
There's a way better ways toearn a living than writing a
book and, and, if anything,pushing this, the book, and
writing the book and doingeverything around it has been
something that's cost money, notearn money.
(18:43):
But for me, I just notice howimportant it is to just get some
of these ideas out there thatpeople aren't thinking about,
because right now it's justgetting More and more of an
influence from that social mediatowards consumerism.
And so I Love, like when I hearfor me, the awesome stuff is
(19:04):
hearing a young kid reach outand say, oh, I always wanted,
you know, I was bugging myparents for a brand new TV, I
really want a new TV, and thenrealize the only reason I wanted
a TV is because all my friendshave one and I actually don't
even want a TV and I mean I lovethat.
This isn't about doing withoutor saving, like we've typically
you know, traditionally taughtthis is no, it's, it's not
(19:27):
something I want.
So then it removes all thatjealousy in comparison and
everything else and you could behappy for people who have the
TV Without the jealousy becauseit's just not your thing.
But you recognize, for somepeople that is their thing and
so, yeah, this is definitelyjust something I'm I'm
passionate about.
And then quickly back to thesemi retired.
So that's a good point, whereit really I like I reached a
(19:50):
point where I was spending moreand more on the homes we were
living in and we're spendingmore and more on travel and
there was no end.
So really, I Think with mostpeople, it's what we choose.
It's important whether or notwe need to keep earning more and
growing.
I mean, if I, if I, aspired tohaving more, I would have to
(20:13):
work more, and Instead I lovethe freedom of being a, travel
when I want, spend time with mykids, pursue a passion like this
and that's my awesome stuff.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
That's great.
That is fantastic.
I mean, I think what you'reteaching, what you're hoping to
get through to kids, adults,everyone alike, is it's a way to
change the world, make theworld a better place, like if
everyone kind of understood this.
About what is your awesomestuff?
Where are you starting from?
(20:46):
I think that would make I maybeI'm an idealist I think it
would make the world a betterplace.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
I'd love that.
So, like, just simply, what I'dlove to see is, if I think of a
typical scenario, say, like Italk about this a lot because
it's just so simple a childwanting an ice cream and you've
probably had that as well You'reat a fair, your kids are
wanting an ice cream and havingit.
You know a camp, gym or bakingand as parents, if we don't want
to get them an ice cream, wemight say something like it's
too expensive, we can't affordit which isn't true.
(21:15):
It really is.
We choose not to get it forwhatever reason.
So I'd love to see, instead oflike talking about making the
world a better place, instead oftelling the kid we can't afford
it or it's too expensive, If wejust said is that your awesome
stuff?
And that same child justpausing, taking a moment and
just thinking to themselves isthis my awesome stuff, Is this
(21:39):
what I want?
And if that happened and that'show we taught our kids about
money and financial literacyyeah, it would.
The idealist in me as well getspretty excited.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Yeah, that is incredible.
That's awesome.
Let's talk a little bit aboutyour background, David.
How did you get interested intalking about money, finances,
investing?
How did that all come about?
Do you have a background inaccounting or economics or
finance?
How did you start it's?
Speaker 2 (22:09):
funny.
I mean a lot of it's just sortof self-interest Like I was when
I was 10, I was reading financebooks and back then we didn't
have access to ETFs andinformation like we do now.
I remember buying every year.
They put out an annual book onmutual funds and advisors and
(22:32):
you could read about who theteam was, how it had performed,
how it had changed, whatpercentile they're in, and it
would come out annually allthese top fund books and I would
read them and this is somethingthat I'd read when I was grade
six, grade seven.
I just love that stuff.
And then later as an adult, sortof as a side thing, just
(22:52):
because I had so many friends inthe field that kept encouraging
me, I did go in and pursuefinancial advice and career as
well, but really more as a hobbyand a passion.
And I started investing in realestate when I was in my 20s and
I've just loved all this stuff.
But again, when I wanted totalk about the same stuff to my
(23:14):
kids, I realized how I was.
Like I love this stuff, butreally if I'd simply just
invested, like you talk aboutdividend investing if you picked
a good blue chip dividend stockand you just invested in it in
your 20s and then in your 40s,you're still doing the same
(23:36):
thing.
That would have so much more ofan impact than looking for the
best, hottest fund, trying to,like you said, try to double
your money in six months.
What's the hot stock in and out?
In and out?
No.
Imagine if you'd invested inMicrosoft for the last 20 years
and that's it.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Yeah, absolutely.
I just want to add to whatyou're saying.
Right, like chasing the latestIPO, the latest Bitcoin or
whatever the hottest topic ofthe day, you might get lucky,
but the chances of thathappening are extremely low and
(24:17):
for the majority of folks, youend up losing a lot of money.
So the key is to stayconsistent.
Now you talked about startingearly.
What if somebody boughtMicrosoft years ago, decades ago
, and just sat on it?
Why is it so important forfolks to start investing early?
Why not wait till you're inyour 40s and 50s?
(24:38):
And when you do have a lot ofmoney?
Why?
Speaker 2 (24:40):
should you start earlier?
So it's that compounding effect.
And so I like to think because,especially if we're on a show
like this with the audience,they're all investors, and so
you think of one of our betterall-time investors like a Warren
Buffett, and if you think ofyour money doubling every seven
to 10 years, which, at a 10%, 8%, 10% return, that's what you're
(25:05):
going to see.
So someone like a WarrenBuffett, who we consider one of
the best investors of our time,all those decisions he's made
his entire life, he's going todouble his net worth over the
next seven years.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Wow.
I never thought of it that way.
That's incredible.
That's incredible.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
So all the decisions he's made over the next seven
years will be worth twice asmuch if he just left it in the
stock market and didn't touch it.
So the vast thing is it growsexponentially.
So if you think of $10 or $100or $1,000 doubling over seven or
10 years, it doesn't feel thatbig.
(25:45):
But someone like Warren Buffetthe's just been investing for so
long.
That's how his fortune'sgrowing.
I mean, his actual returnsaren't that high, but his net
worth is incredible and if youimagine as rich as he is, all
(26:05):
things equal, moving forward,that net worth will probably
double again in the next sevento 10 years.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
That is a fantastic example, a great example for
folks who are just starting outto invest, and even for folks
who are in their 30s or 40s, whomight be just waiting at the
sidelines because they're stillwaiting for the next great
market opportunity, right?
And they're like well, I'm notgoing to invest just yet.
I don't know what's going tohappen with the stock market.
(26:32):
Inflation's too high, interestrates are too high, so I'm just
going to wait.
What would you say to thosefolks who are scared or fearful
of investing today and they justwant to wait?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Yeah, I mean, that's the thing is, there's so much
fear in it.
And if you're chasing like, ifyou're just to make one purchase
today and that's it for therest of your life, I don't know
if it's the timing's right orthe stock's right, but if you're
going for the averages instead,so you're investing over time,
so now you don't have to worryabout timing the market.
(27:06):
And if, instead of picking oneindividual stock, you spread it
out, so now you're not wearingon one company those averages.
That's the thing is.
Don't try to beat the stockmarket.
That's a really difficult thingto do.
If you're just trying to gainthe average, that's something
that most of us can achieve.
And then back to why wait?
(27:26):
Traditionally, we're gettinglike 8, 10% returns If we're
looking at a 10% return.
So this is not yououtperforming, this is just you
sort of going for the average ofthat market.
And I start today.
And I started investing 10,000every month or 100,000 a year,
whatever month, it doesn'tmatter, it's all relative.
(27:47):
And I did that for the nextseven years.
And then I stopped and neverinvested another cent.
And then you started in sevenyears investing the same amount.
How many years would it takefor you to catch up to me when
I've stopped.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
That's a great question.
I'm just going to take a wildguess because I have no idea.
I don't know 14, 18 years?
Just to catch up to where youare, I don't know, yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
If you're earning 10% , within those seven years, your
money's already earning morethan you're contributing.
Wow, you would never catch up.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Never.
That is incredible, wow, okay.
So for anyone listening on thesidelines because that's an
important thing to know is don't, don't wait.
And I'm gonna reiterate whatyou just said, david there's no
perfect time to know when toinvest, right, I don't know
what's gonna happen in the stockmarket next week, next month or
(28:49):
next year, but if we look atthe averages and, like you said,
we're not even as dividendinvestors, we don't try, we're
not trying to beat the market,just get the averages, and our
focus is, of course, thedividend income, and that's what
we want to do is, if we canincrease our dividend income as
safely as possible withouttaking too much risk, then I
guess the message is to getstarted.
(29:11):
Doesn't matter what age you'reat, like, just start, get
started.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Well, if you think about that, I think it would be
safe to say if the marketcontinues the way it has over
seven to ten years and you startinvesting, that Contribution
will be repeating itself throughyour investment.
So, all of a sudden, that thatwhole machine is starting.
(29:35):
Whether you stop or not, that'shappening and it's going to
start growing.
And if you think that's, and ifthat happened in seven to ten
years, that means in the nextseven to ten years that's gonna
double again.
Hmm, and then over the nextseven to ten years, then that's
gonna double again.
So now, now you're not at twice, now You're up four times and
(29:56):
eight times and sixteen times.
It grows fast, but in the first, you know, one to three years,
even the first seven years, Imight not feel like much.
Yeah, so that time, that time'simportant.
Go back to the Warren Buffettstory.
If he started seven years later, his net worth would be half of
what it is now.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Yeah, that is powerful, but it that way.
That's, the numbers arestaggering and that is extremely
powerful message.
Yeah, I'm gonna switch gears alittle bit here.
Why and I don't know if youhave the answer.
I'm gonna ask you anyway,because I don't have the answer
why do they?
Why isn't this taught inschools and I'm talking about
(30:40):
elementary and high schools whyis this basic understanding of
money, our relationship withmoney, financial literacy and
investing why don't they coverthis stuff in in schools?
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Yeah.
So when I first started thisjourney, I was thinking exactly
the same thing and thought, likewe just need to teach financial
literacy.
But what I've realized intalking about it more is that
Money is such a tricky subjectbecause we have so much emotion
tied up into it, so our ownpersonal views start clouding
(31:15):
how we teach money, so itbecomes something that would be
very difficult to just roll out,because not everyone has the
same relationship with money.
And that's why when I'm talkingabout it even when I talked
about like the awesome stuffwith no judgment around it so
often people are like well,that's a stupid thing to buy, or
you don't save enough, so youmust be bad, or you wasted money
(31:38):
on this, like we, we start Justadding too much emotion and
feeling and shame and secrecyaround money.
And so the more we just talkabout it and just talk about in
a way where it's easy to talklike there there is no, this is
what you have to do, or if youdon't do this, you're bad.
(31:59):
It would make a big difference.
And back to you know somethinglike the compound growth.
I get a lot of pushback oncompound growth because there
are people that believeinvestments themselves are bad,
because if you invest, you'rejust gonna lose your money and
it's it's dangerous and it'sreckless.
And, again, if we take thatemotion out and just think of,
(32:21):
like, what you're actually doing, and if you're not chasing the
next big thing, you're lookingat like the entire US or North
American economy as a whole,that's a whole different way to
think about investing.
Then some people where they'relike, well, no, I know someone
who bought this stock and itwent to zero and they lost
everything and I'll never investagain.
And so, yeah, we really need tojust have conversations with
(32:46):
the teachers as well, where wetake away some of the the myths
around this and and make itsomething that's accessible,
where people aren't scared andand it doesn't feel like it's
risky.
And same with the timelines.
Like you said, I don't.
If you invest today, I don'tknow if you'll have more money
in a year, over a 10 or 20 yearperiod, though it gets a little
(33:08):
bit easier for me to predict andthe chance is.
So that's what we got to starttalking about as well.
Like most times, anytimesomeone talks about like invest
in, you know, bitcoin or the newthing, we rarely pair it with a
timeline.
Hmm, and that's reallyimportant.
And so people are thinking,well, okay, like I want to
invest in this, it's a goodinvestment.
I don't know if it's a goodinvestment until I know the time
(33:29):
frame that we're talking.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Yeah, no, that is so, so important and that is a
great way to.
I've asked a lot of people thatquestion why don't they teach
us in schools?
And you've had a great day.
That's a great answer.
I think that is a great answerand that might be the the reason
why because there's so muchemotion involved in there and,
believe it or not, I'm gonnajust throw that in there are 12
(33:52):
rules of simply investing.
The last rule, number 12, iskeep your emotions out of
investing.
That's, that's number 12.
That's the last rule and thatis so key, like emotions are.
It's it's hard to get away from,because this is your
hard-earned cash, right.
Whether you're putting it intoan RSP or a TFSA or 401k or
(34:15):
you've got an employer matchingprogram, it's still your money.
You've worked hard for it.
And that's where a lot of thefear comes out of, and it's like
you said.
People will say like well, Iknow a cousin who bought a stock
and it went down to zero andthey lost ten thousand dollars
and that just creates so muchfear around it paralyzes people,
and then they don't want toinvest at all?
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Yeah, and I think keeping your money in this check
savings account is not gonnahelp either, because inflation
is gonna get away at it well,and if we could at least like
what I'm trying to do is if wecould at least show these
Illustrations so that people cansee what we're talking about
and what this would actuallylook like and start realizing
that all this, like this networkthat we see around, or there's
(34:59):
people with all this, this money, like you, can't Save your way
to that amount of wealth, youjust can't like savings don't
grow.
And so, like I mentioned thatwhole idea of like if I started
saving for seven years andstopped, if it's invested well,
that savings continues growingat the same pace whether I stop
(35:21):
or not.
But if it was just purelysaving, it wouldn't, it would
stop and that would be it and Iwould have seven years worth of
savings and it would never grow.
And I don't think people whodon't understand investing fully
recognize what they're missingout on the.
(35:41):
The loss that they're thinkingof is to just that savings
amount.
But that opportunity cost is somuch bigger Especially for
talking to young kids andthey've got, you know, a 40 year
time horizon it's, it's massive.
And I think that's the thing is, we just don't understand what
that opportunity cost is andit's Massive, yeah and we're?
(36:03):
you take a war on Buffett.
If we just think of what he'searned in his life, hmm, there's
no way he would have the likehe.
Just he could not be abillionaire, he couldn't be
worth a hundred million, hmm.
And so that opportunity cost isbigger than people Really take
into account, and that's why allthey're thinking about is the
loss of their savings.
But that opportunity cost needsto be taken into consideration.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Yeah, absolutely, and I'm gonna throw in their
inflation.
Because I had a youngindividual a couple years ago
and he said well, I'm notputting in the stock market
because it's like gambling, andI've got 20,000 saved up, I'll
just keep it in the savingsaccount.
But think about that in 10years.
Sure, the 20,000 is still gonnabe there, but it's not gonna be
(36:46):
worth 20,000 dollars.
You factor in 10 years worth ofinflation and Now you've
actually lost money.
Right, it might be worth Idon't know 17, 16,000 maybe I
don't know.
But yeah, you're right, it's,it's.
You're missing out on thecompound growth and inflation is
gonna eat away at it as well.
So what does David?
(37:09):
What does financial freedommean to you?
Speaker 2 (37:14):
So for me and this is and I talk about it a bit in
the book so that first lesson ofawesome stuff like what lights
you up, what gets you reallyexcited, once you really start
sticking with that idea and whatreally brings you joy, you'll
start realizing a lot of it.
A lot of times it's experiencesand it's freedom to do the
things you love, freedom tospend the time with the people
(37:36):
you love, choose a job you love,and so financial freedom to me
is just choice and that's all itis is being able to choose what
you want to do without moneybeing a massive factor in that
decision.
Ideally it wouldn't be a factorat all, and as soon as money
stops being a factor in yourdecisions of how you live your
life, to me that's truefinancial freedom.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Yeah, that's a great answer.
That's great.
Now, one of the golden rulesyou mentioned earlier in this
episode here was you have togive to get more, and I noticed
in the book and even on yourwebsite it says you're giving
away 20% of the proceeds tocharity.
(38:19):
So why would you do that andwhich charity is it?
Speaker 2 (38:26):
So the charity is give directly, and they do like
micro loans for people indeveloping countries, and it's
one of those things where thisis actually one of the harder
lessons for me to get behind,because, being a money nerd,
I've always viewed money alittle bit differently but also
really understood the value ofit.
(38:47):
So giving it away feels verycounterintuitive.
But what I've found and there'sresearch behind it, there's so
many ways that giving makes youricher.
I mean, the simplest is justhow you feel and creating that
energy, and we all know peoplethat we want to help, help
(39:08):
because they're so kind andgiving.
They just give off this energy.
We see them help in thecommunity, we know they've
helped others and we want tohelp them.
So there's just that energyitself and you can feel that,
let alone how you feelpersonally as you give.
And the reality is is a lot ofthese things.
Money does have a bit of anenergy to it, and so there is a
(39:31):
bit of that flow, and so I'venoticed that the more I give,
the more that comes back.
It's really as simple as that.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
Yeah, no, that is great, and it's something for
our audience to think about aswell, because we have a number
of people in the audience whoare dividend investors, who have
been investing for a long time.
And then what do you do withall of that dividend income?
Right, of course, you're goingto use it to cover your living
expenses you might besemi-retired, you might be
(40:03):
retired, you might still beworking but then to consider
helping others and I thinkthat's what you're doing, david.
You're setting the example.
You talk about it in the bookas one of the golden rules, and
then you're actually doing ityourself, which is fantastic.
To be able to help others.
That is incredible, david.
Where can people find out moreinformation about you if they
(40:26):
want to get in touch with you?
How do they buy the book?
Give us some of thatinformation.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Yeah, so information on the book and that community
is all under the awesome stuff.
So the awesome stuffcom.
Instagram is the awesome stuff,tiktok is the awesome stuff and
it's because that movement I'mtrying to create in terms of
speaking, public speaking.
They can find me atdaviddelilecom and I'll have
information there if they'd likeme to come and speak at their
school or their community or theconference.
(40:52):
And for me, just sharing thismessage it gets me so excited.
So, definitely, if anyone wantsto reach out, I'm happy to talk
to them.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
Okay, that is incredible.
I'll put all of the links downbelow in the description for our
podcast, David.
I enjoyed reading the book.
I encourage everyone to go outand get it, Whether you have
kids or not.
Like I said, this is for youngand old.
You will learn a lot from it.
It is rich dad, poor dad meetsCalvin and Pobs.
(41:21):
I absolutely agree with that,so it's a great book.
Thank you so much, David, fortaking the time out today to
talk to us and talk to ouraudience.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
Thanks so much.
This is a lot of fun and, likeI said, I love talking about
this stuff, especially withpeople who are already into
investing, because it just thosehabits and the mindset pieces
are the.
Those are the things we oftenoverlook, and it's so important.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
Yeah, that is awesome .
Thanks for being here, david,thank you Bye.
Yeah, a lot of fun.
In this podcast we talk a lot about dividend
investing and how to make moremoney in dividends essentially,
how to make more money.
Today's special guest is goingto talk to us about our
relationship with money.
When do we have enough and howdo we talk about money and
investing with our kids?
Hi, my name is Kanwal Sarai andwelcome to the Simply Investing
(00:24):
Dividend Podcast.
Our guest today is an Amazonbestselling author, speaker,
investor and entrepreneur.
He wrote an incrediblechildren's book, a graphic novel
called the Golden Quest, whichhas been referred to as the rich
dad, poor dad meets Calvin andHobbes.
(00:44):
David DeLyle.
Welcome to our podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I'm so happy to be here.
This is going to be a fun, funconversation.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
I'm looking forward to it.
Thank you so much for being onour podcast today.
Let's get started with thefirst question.
Why are people referring toyour book, the Golden Quest?
Why do they refer to it as richdad, poor dad meets Calvin and
Hobbes?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
What's funny, I've got two young boys like we just
mentioned and I'm trying tofigure out how do I teach these
guys financial literacy, becauseif they're like most kids and
adults, they didn't want to let.
Nobody wants to talk about thisstuff.
I realized kids are readinggraphic novels.
That's what they want to read,that's what they're consuming.
By taking all these fundamentalprinciples and ideas and
(01:35):
putting them in a graphic novelas an adventure, it just became
something that kids just easilyjust read, get excited about and
learn from.
It's sort of like that idea ofthat financial literacy, but in
a format kids want to learn from.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Yeah, absolutely, and not just kids.
I was fascinated by it.
I kept going, it wasentertaining and it was nice to
read, as opposed to just a largevolume with just text in it,
right.
So the pictures are great, theartwork is fantastic.
I think you mentioned on yourwebsite this book isn't just for
kids.
It's from five-year-olds to95-year-olds.
(02:11):
Why do you think it wouldresonate with such a large age
group here?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
So actually I wrote it for the kids because adults
are so much harder to teach andso the idea is that the kids can
learn it and then teach theirparents.
So that really is what I washoping for.
It's really written for adultsand I find, if you think about a
lot of these core principles,if you can simplify it, there's
(02:42):
truth in that, and if it's verydifficult to explain and you
start going around in circles,usually you're not at the core
idea and the core concept.
So with most of these things,by getting to its essence,
that's actually the lesson, andso that essence applies to kids
as well as adults.
It shouldn't be difficult.
If you can't teach a kid, thenthe concept itself.
(03:04):
You probably haven't simplifiedit yet.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Yeah, I absolutely believe in that 100% I talk
about.
I've been teaching dividendinvesting for over 24 years and
I tell people it's so easy thata nine-year-old could do it, and
I had my kids, when they werenine, go through the dividend
investing course and they'vebeen investing in dividend
stocks ever since then.
Right, and they're much oldernow.
(03:27):
So in your book there are thegolden rules, and again I
resonated with that because wehave the 12 rules of simply
investing that we use to pickour investments.
Can you tell our share with ouraudience Some of the golden
rules, or if not all of themI'll leave that entirely up to
(03:47):
you what they are and what areyou hoping the audience, the
reader, will take away from thebook?
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yeah, so it's.
I mean there's only four rulesso I can touch on them really
quickly without going into depth.
And the reason I only came upwith four is because I've been
investing most of my life Like Iread investment books when I
was 10.
And I've always been a bit of amoney nerd.
But looking back in hindsightI've realized a lot of it is
really habits and mindset, it'snot the details.
(04:18):
So I'm sure even people in yourshow like you can get really
into the weeds of the mechanicsand how to invest in a specific
stock, but at the end of the dayyou know time, habits, how you
feel about money.
Those have a greater impactover time.
So the rules the first rule isonly by the awesome stuff, and
this concept is all rooted inmoney, mindfulness and
(04:40):
understanding.
Really, what's important to youand I find that's the first
rule, because withoutunderstanding why you even want
money, you just endlesslychasing.
And that's what I'm hoping tobreak is this concept of
endlessly chasing.
And then the next two rulesthey get into the basic habits.
So the first one is always savefirst.
Same idea of like pay yourselffirst or set up a habit or
(05:04):
automate your savings, andthat's mostly just because most
of us are terrible at budgeting.
There's the whole thing oflifestyle inflation.
This ensures that the savingportion is a habit.
And then I talk about lettingyour money go to work for you,
and that's just teaching kidsabout investing itself and
understanding compound growth,because I think I'm sure even
(05:26):
people in your audience once wehear some of these compound
growth just stories.
It still blows my mind awaywhen I hear how fast things grow
and how big over time and webriefly touched on that just
right now, before the call rightnow, and that's the thing is we
that compound growth is massive, and so I try to just
(05:48):
illustrate in a way that peopleget behind it, because I think
when you fully understand that,that's when money and investing
becomes exciting, and then thefourth rule is given you'll have
more.
And I really want to again getback to this mindset piece of
scarcity that usually happensand show that the more you give,
(06:08):
rather than feeling scarcity,you actually start feeling more
and more abundance and it doescome back.
And so I want to teach that toyoung kids as well, and it's
really cool because these,especially these mindset pieces,
that might be a bit of astretch for adults to get behind
or believe.
Little kids, five year olds,seven year olds, they embrace it
(06:29):
almost immediately.
So it's been really fun.
And then all those rules wrapup towards just really creating
the freedom to do what you loveand get back to that idea of the
awesome stuff.
And what is it that you trulylove?
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Yeah, that is incredible, and especially if
you can start, the younger youare, the better off you'll be to
understand these concepts,because I was never taught any
of this stuff when I was young,wasn't covered in school either,
and I had to stumble through itin life to through trial and
error, and I think if the kidscan learn this sooner than later
(07:02):
, they're going to be so muchbetter off when it comes to
investing, when it comes tomoney as well and you talked
about getting to the essence ofyou know what is the golden rule
, and there's a lot of noise outthere, and as adults too, we
see so much noise out there.
How do you I don't know if youhave any suggestions for the
(07:23):
grownups out there how to filterout or get rid of the noise and
get to the essence of what itis when it comes to investing
and finances.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Well, again, if it's confusing, it's probably noise,
and that's what I found is.
The idea around compound growthis a great example Because
that's the one where we couldhave the most information
questions.
People can really dive into it.
But, at the end of the day,understanding compound growth
(07:57):
and that concept, which you canjust tell in stories and teach
to a five-year-old, and just seehow things grow and how big and
powerful that is, that's thelesson.
How to invest, I mean that's alittle bit simpler.
I mean, if you want to investand you want to stockpick and do
(08:17):
your own things, there's a lotof information out there and you
can do that.
But the reality is is mostpeople that invest they don't
actually even understand thesemechanics and they don't need to
.
If they've got a financialadvisor and they're investing
their money and they're in thehabit of you know, this
percentage of everything thatcomes in is invested.
That's going to actually setthem up for financial success
(08:40):
and all these other things.
I mean I love interest ratesand macroeconomic economics and
watching trends and all thesethings because I'm a money nerd,
but you don't actually needthat stuff and that's what
scares people away frominvesting.
They feel like they need toknow all of these things, and
they simply don't, and so that'swhat I try to teach people is
that habit of investing is moreimportant than the how.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Yeah, I like what you said there.
If it's complicated or if it'sconfusing, it's probably just
noise and you need to get, sothat's incredible.
Now you touched on something alittle earlier when we were
going through the golden rulesand you said focus on the
awesome stuff.
So what is the awesome stuff?
Who are you talking about?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yeah, so this is, I mean, this is the essence of,
you know, the movement I'mtrying to create and the big
mindset shift.
Because what I found is andthis happens at all ages all
we've been taught typically ismore.
So it doesn't matter what weachieve, we're always looking to
the next thing, and I see thisall the time where people are
(09:44):
like, if I only had, you know,$100,000.
And then they have that andthey're like, well, if I only
had a million dollars, I onlyhad a house.
And then it's well, if I onlyhad a house that had two cars,
you know there's no end.
And if there's no end, thenwe're constantly.
Not only are we constantlychasing, we're constantly in
(10:05):
this mindset of lack and nothaving what we really want, so
we're pursuing happiness that wecan never achieve.
So this idea of the awesomestuff is trying to break that
endless chase and get right downto the fundamentals of what
really makes you happy.
And this again is the noise,because we're being told what we
(10:25):
should like, what would make ushappy, especially for Gen Z
with social media.
It's all in their faces.
But if we really get down to,like you asked, what is the
awesome stuff?
And this is again where it getsjust pure and simple.
What is that thing where youcan feel in your body, you get
excited.
So people tell me you know whatI really want to.
You know, buy this new watch, Iwant to get this new you know
(10:49):
purse, or this car or this house, and I don't really care if
that's what they want, but Icould tell by the way they just
told me that's what they want.
It's not their awesome stuff,because that same person, when
they start talking about arecent trip they did with their
family, or one of their favoritememories or you know the
favorite item in their house,they start lighting up and we
(11:11):
know those people where they'relike they want to show you a
collection or they want to showyou something.
They just you can feel it.
They lean in their energychanges and they're so
passionate.
The passion, passion, right,yeah, and so the awesome stuff
is just starting to become moreaware of what actually gives you
that passion.
So then, when you're looking atthings, rather than thinking of
what you want or what you thinkyou want, or chasing something,
(11:33):
you compare it to that passion,that feeling, and then you can
ask yourself is this somethingthat's going to make me feel the
same way?
And if the answer is no, thenthat's probably not your awesome
stuff and it's probablysomething that's not going to
get you further towardshappiness and what really makes
you happy.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
So that's really interesting.
It sounds like it's going to bedifferent from one person to
the next.
Right Something that I mightthink is awesome or unpassionate
about, you may not be, so itsounds like it's going to be
unique to the individual ofwhat's going to make them happy.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
And that's I mean just the fact that you notice
that and that seems novel.
That's part of the problem,like we're all so different and
we all think we want the samethings.
We all want the yacht, we allwant the mansion, we all want
three houses, we all want totravel, we all wish we had a
million, 10 million, 100 millionwould be even better.
That's not true.
We're all individuals anddifferent and if we can
(12:28):
understand what truly makes ushappy as an individual, we'll
get rid of all these negativefeelings that we have towards
money, like the shame and theenvy and the jealousy and the
comparison.
I mean all of that really isthe media and external factors
and has nothing to do with whatactually makes us happy.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah, and social media doesn't make this easy,
because now you see everybodyelse flying around in private
jets and with the expensive carsin the big homes and you get
that sense of like, well, Idon't have enough, you know, to
have all that stuff too.
So I really like that focusthat you're talking about is the
focus and key in on what is theawesome stuff for you.
(13:11):
And we talked about cutting outthe noise when it comes to
investing education.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Maybe we need to do the same thing when it comes to
what do I really want in my lifeand just sort of cut out the
noise that's out there For sure,Like, even if we took a simple
scenario, like if you thinkabout your closet full of
clothes, like most of us haveour favorite sweater or shirt or
things that we wear all thetime, and if we think more is
(13:38):
better.
So a big walking closet with,you know, 300 pairs of shoes or
a thousand shirts, and just andwe just take it to the extreme
we can't even find our favoriteshirt and all the rest of the
stuff in there we don't like asmuch anyway, and it's just a
noise.
And that's a good example ofwhat's happening.
When we chase more, we forgetabout the things that we really
(13:58):
love.
I mean, if you have, you know,your two or three favorite
shirts, that's probably going tobe bringing more joy than a
hundred shirts that aren't yourfavorite, and you can't even
find your favorite.
And now and this takes us downthat path of well, now you need
a bigger house to store moreclothes and now you need to have
all the clothes, and then youcan't find what you want.
Now you're trying to figure outwhat to decide what you're
(14:20):
going to wear in the morning,and it just we take this more to
the extreme with just somethinglike clothing and we can see
how ridiculous it becomes.
And yet we're thinking well, ifwe had 10 watches and 20 purses
and 50 shoes, it's got to bebetter and it just it isn't
better.
It's all distracting for thethings you really love.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
And this is so important because, knowing the
reason why You're investing, whyare you trying to make so much
money?
Because I'll get a lot ofemails all the time.
Right, people want to know Okay, what's the quickest way?
I can double my money in sixmonths in the stock market.
How do I triple my money nextweek in the stock market?
(15:05):
And you know, and I'll getemails about what do you think
about this stock or this stockversus this one?
Which one's gonna grow faster?
And I think you're right,because we get caught up in just
wanting more, more, moredividends, more income, more
capital gains, but for what?
So that is so key is tounderstand the what for yourself
(15:26):
, and I think it's you kind ofhave to reverse engineer it.
So, what are the things thatare important to me?
Okay, how much do they cost?
Okay, how much do I need?
Well then, how much should Iinvest?
And I think you can live a moreSerene or peaceful life that
way, as opposed to being on thisnever-ending treadmill, mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Well, you'll start to notice things too, because it
just makes you notice theinconsistencies.
So an example would be if whatI want is more time with my kids
and To achieve that I'm workingharder, I'm spending more time
at work, I'm buying moreexpensive things and creating a
lifestyle that has to beMaintained by working harder and
(16:07):
harder and harder, and it'screating more, that's actually
not creating more time with myfamily.
If that's what my awesome stuffis and we see that all the time
where people will say, well,all I want is X, and then you
look at their actual actions andwhat they're pursuing and what
they're buying and where they'respending their money and
(16:28):
they're not.
It's not in line with what theywant.
And this is really importantbecause you can start seeing,
for a lot of people, a Lot ofthe things that might be your
awesome stuff, like if it'shanging out with your friends.
That doesn't actually doesn'tnecessarily require money.
It can, and you know what yourfriends could be.
We charter a private jet and wefly somewhere, but it could also
(16:52):
be we just, you know, get abunch of friends over.
They all, you know, come to myhouse and we cook a dinner
together or, you know, play aboard game, and it doesn't have
to cost anything.
So understanding what youreally want is interesting,
because then you can startseeing, well, how much noise is
in there.
Take and go back to the privatejet.
If it is the private, if it'sthe friends, not the private jet
(17:14):
, well, now you have to get tothe place and now you're
traveling, you're doing allthese other things.
You're not even spending time,they're so busy trying to get to
do whatever you're doing andyou're missing the core.
So it's just understanding thatcore and It'll.
It'll shift the way you look atthings.
And it doesn't mean thatprivate jets bad, because I'm
not saying that, it's just what.
(17:35):
What is the reason you wantthat?
And, for some, once you reallysit on what that reason is, you
might realize that's actuallynot what you want.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Yeah, and it sounds like, David, you've done.
You practice what you preach,because before we hit the record
button, we were chatting andyou said you're semi retired and
right, and you have been for anumber of years and you're one
of your key Focuses was spendingtime with your kids and being
able to do that.
So then, why write this?
(18:04):
We talked about why.
I understand why you wrote thebook, but that's a lot of work,
right?
Why not just sit back on thebeach somewhere and just relax?
So what was your motivation?
What gets you passionate aboutthis topic, what we're talking
about today?
What gets you Talking aboutthis?
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Yeah, well, thanks so much for that question, because
that's a great question.
And you're right, I mean, thisbook wasn't motivated by money.
There's a way better ways toearn a living than writing a
book and, and, if anything,pushing this, the book, and
writing the book and doingeverything around it has been
something that's cost money, notearn money.
(18:43):
But for me, I just notice howimportant it is to just get some
of these ideas out there thatpeople aren't thinking about,
because right now it's justgetting More and more of an
influence from that social mediatowards consumerism.
And so I Love, like when I hearfor me, the awesome stuff is
(19:04):
hearing a young kid reach outand say, oh, I always wanted,
you know, I was bugging myparents for a brand new TV, I
really want a new TV, and thenrealize the only reason I wanted
a TV is because all my friendshave one and I actually don't
even want a TV and I mean I lovethat.
This isn't about doing withoutor saving, like we've typically
you know, traditionally taughtthis is no, it's, it's not
(19:27):
something I want.
So then it removes all thatjealousy in comparison and
everything else and you could behappy for people who have the
TV Without the jealousy becauseit's just not your thing.
But you recognize, for somepeople that is their thing and
so, yeah, this is definitelyjust something I'm I'm
passionate about.
And then quickly back to thesemi retired.
So that's a good point, whereit really I like I reached a
(19:50):
point where I was spending moreand more on the homes we were
living in and we're spendingmore and more on travel and
there was no end.
So really, I Think with mostpeople, it's what we choose.
It's important whether or notwe need to keep earning more and
growing.
I mean, if I, if I, aspired tohaving more, I would have to
(20:13):
work more, and Instead I lovethe freedom of being a, travel
when I want, spend time with mykids, pursue a passion like this
and that's my awesome stuff.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
That's great.
That is fantastic.
I mean, I think what you'reteaching, what you're hoping to
get through to kids, adults,everyone alike, is it's a way to
change the world, make theworld a better place, like if
everyone kind of understood this.
About what is your awesomestuff?
Where are you starting from?
(20:46):
I think that would make I maybeI'm an idealist I think it
would make the world a betterplace.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
I'd love that.
So, like, just simply, what I'dlove to see is, if I think of a
typical scenario, say, like Italk about this a lot because
it's just so simple a childwanting an ice cream and you've
probably had that as well You'reat a fair, your kids are
wanting an ice cream and havingit.
You know a camp, gym or bakingand as parents, if we don't want
to get them an ice cream, wemight say something like it's
too expensive, we can't affordit which isn't true.
(21:15):
It really is.
We choose not to get it forwhatever reason.
So I'd love to see, instead oflike talking about making the
world a better place, instead oftelling the kid we can't afford
it or it's too expensive, If wejust said is that your awesome
stuff?
And that same child justpausing, taking a moment and
just thinking to themselves isthis my awesome stuff, Is this
(21:39):
what I want?
And if that happened and that'show we taught our kids about
money and financial literacyyeah, it would.
The idealist in me as well getspretty excited.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Yeah, that is incredible.
That's awesome.
Let's talk a little bit aboutyour background, David.
How did you get interested intalking about money, finances,
investing?
How did that all come about?
Do you have a background inaccounting or economics or
finance?
How did you start it's?
Speaker 2 (22:09):
funny.
I mean a lot of it's just sortof self-interest Like I was when
I was 10, I was reading financebooks and back then we didn't
have access to ETFs andinformation like we do now.
I remember buying every year.
They put out an annual book onmutual funds and advisors and
(22:32):
you could read about who theteam was, how it had performed,
how it had changed, whatpercentile they're in, and it
would come out annually allthese top fund books and I would
read them and this is somethingthat I'd read when I was grade
six, grade seven.
I just love that stuff.
And then later as an adult, sortof as a side thing, just
(22:52):
because I had so many friends inthe field that kept encouraging
me, I did go in and pursuefinancial advice and career as
well, but really more as a hobbyand a passion.
And I started investing in realestate when I was in my 20s and
I've just loved all this stuff.
But again, when I wanted totalk about the same stuff to my
(23:14):
kids, I realized how I was.
Like I love this stuff, butreally if I'd simply just
invested, like you talk aboutdividend investing if you picked
a good blue chip dividend stockand you just invested in it in
your 20s and then in your 40s,you're still doing the same
(23:36):
thing.
That would have so much more ofan impact than looking for the
best, hottest fund, trying to,like you said, try to double
your money in six months.
What's the hot stock in and out?
In and out?
No.
Imagine if you'd invested inMicrosoft for the last 20 years
and that's it.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Yeah, absolutely.
I just want to add to whatyou're saying.
Right, like chasing the latestIPO, the latest Bitcoin or
whatever the hottest topic ofthe day, you might get lucky,
but the chances of thathappening are extremely low and
(24:17):
for the majority of folks, youend up losing a lot of money.
So the key is to stayconsistent.
Now you talked about startingearly.
What if somebody boughtMicrosoft years ago, decades ago
, and just sat on it?
Why is it so important forfolks to start investing early?
Why not wait till you're inyour 40s and 50s?
(24:38):
And when you do have a lot ofmoney?
Why?
Speaker 2 (24:40):
should you start earlier?
So it's that compounding effect.
And so I like to think because,especially if we're on a show
like this with the audience,they're all investors, and so
you think of one of our betterall-time investors like a Warren
Buffett, and if you think ofyour money doubling every seven
to 10 years, which, at a 10%, 8%, 10% return, that's what you're
(25:05):
going to see.
So someone like a WarrenBuffett, who we consider one of
the best investors of our time,all those decisions he's made
his entire life, he's going todouble his net worth over the
next seven years.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Wow.
I never thought of it that way.
That's incredible.
That's incredible.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
So all the decisions he's made over the next seven
years will be worth twice asmuch if he just left it in the
stock market and didn't touch it.
So the vast thing is it growsexponentially.
So if you think of $10 or $100or $1,000 doubling over seven or
10 years, it doesn't feel thatbig.
(25:45):
But someone like Warren Buffetthe's just been investing for so
long.
That's how his fortune'sgrowing.
I mean, his actual returnsaren't that high, but his net
worth is incredible and if youimagine as rich as he is, all
(26:05):
things equal, moving forward,that net worth will probably
double again in the next sevento 10 years.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
That is a fantastic example, a great example for
folks who are just starting outto invest, and even for folks
who are in their 30s or 40s, whomight be just waiting at the
sidelines because they're stillwaiting for the next great
market opportunity, right?
And they're like well, I'm notgoing to invest just yet.
I don't know what's going tohappen with the stock market.
(26:32):
Inflation's too high, interestrates are too high, so I'm just
going to wait.
What would you say to thosefolks who are scared or fearful
of investing today and they justwant to wait?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Yeah, I mean, that's the thing is, there's so much
fear in it.
And if you're chasing like, ifyou're just to make one purchase
today and that's it for therest of your life, I don't know
if it's the timing's right orthe stock's right, but if you're
going for the averages instead,so you're investing over time,
so now you don't have to worryabout timing the market.
(27:06):
And if, instead of picking oneindividual stock, you spread it
out, so now you're not wearingon one company those averages.
That's the thing is.
Don't try to beat the stockmarket.
That's a really difficult thingto do.
If you're just trying to gainthe average, that's something
that most of us can achieve.
And then back to why wait?
(27:26):
Traditionally, we're gettinglike 8, 10% returns If we're
looking at a 10% return.
So this is not yououtperforming, this is just you
sort of going for the average ofthat market.
And I start today.
And I started investing 10,000every month or 100,000 a year,
whatever month, it doesn'tmatter, it's all relative.
(27:47):
And I did that for the nextseven years.
And then I stopped and neverinvested another cent.
And then you started in sevenyears investing the same amount.
How many years would it takefor you to catch up to me when
I've stopped.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
That's a great question.
I'm just going to take a wildguess because I have no idea.
I don't know 14, 18 years?
Just to catch up to where youare, I don't know, yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
If you're earning 10% , within those seven years, your
money's already earning morethan you're contributing.
Wow, you would never catch up.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Never.
That is incredible, wow, okay.
So for anyone listening on thesidelines because that's an
important thing to know is don't, don't wait.
And I'm gonna reiterate whatyou just said, david there's no
perfect time to know when toinvest, right, I don't know
what's gonna happen in the stockmarket next week, next month or
(28:49):
next year, but if we look atthe averages and, like you said,
we're not even as dividendinvestors, we don't try, we're
not trying to beat the market,just get the averages, and our
focus is, of course, thedividend income, and that's what
we want to do is, if we canincrease our dividend income as
safely as possible withouttaking too much risk, then I
guess the message is to getstarted.
(29:11):
Doesn't matter what age you'reat, like, just start, get
started.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Well, if you think about that, I think it would be
safe to say if the marketcontinues the way it has over
seven to ten years and you startinvesting, that Contribution
will be repeating itself throughyour investment.
So, all of a sudden, that thatwhole machine is starting.
(29:35):
Whether you stop or not, that'shappening and it's going to
start growing.
And if you think that's, and ifthat happened in seven to ten
years, that means in the nextseven to ten years that's gonna
double again.
Hmm, and then over the nextseven to ten years, then that's
gonna double again.
So now, now you're not at twice, now You're up four times and
(29:56):
eight times and sixteen times.
It grows fast, but in the first, you know, one to three years,
even the first seven years, Imight not feel like much.
Yeah, so that time, that time'simportant.
Go back to the Warren Buffettstory.
If he started seven years later, his net worth would be half of
what it is now.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Yeah, that is powerful, but it that way.
That's, the numbers arestaggering and that is extremely
powerful message.
Yeah, I'm gonna switch gears alittle bit here.
Why and I don't know if youhave the answer.
I'm gonna ask you anyway,because I don't have the answer
why do they?
Why isn't this taught inschools and I'm talking about
(30:40):
elementary and high schools whyis this basic understanding of
money, our relationship withmoney, financial literacy and
investing why don't they coverthis stuff in in schools?
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Yeah.
So when I first started thisjourney, I was thinking exactly
the same thing and thought, likewe just need to teach financial
literacy.
But what I've realized intalking about it more is that
Money is such a tricky subjectbecause we have so much emotion
tied up into it, so our ownpersonal views start clouding
(31:15):
how we teach money, so itbecomes something that would be
very difficult to just roll out,because not everyone has the
same relationship with money.
And that's why when I'm talkingabout it even when I talked
about like the awesome stuffwith no judgment around it so
often people are like well,that's a stupid thing to buy, or
you don't save enough, so youmust be bad, or you wasted money
(31:38):
on this, like we, we start Justadding too much emotion and
feeling and shame and secrecyaround money.
And so the more we just talkabout it and just talk about in
a way where it's easy to talklike there there is no, this is
what you have to do, or if youdon't do this, you're bad.
(31:59):
It would make a big difference.
And back to you know somethinglike the compound growth.
I get a lot of pushback oncompound growth because there
are people that believeinvestments themselves are bad,
because if you invest, you'rejust gonna lose your money and
it's it's dangerous and it'sreckless.
And, again, if we take thatemotion out and just think of,
(32:21):
like, what you're actually doing, and if you're not chasing the
next big thing, you're lookingat like the entire US or North
American economy as a whole,that's a whole different way to
think about investing.
Then some people where they'relike, well, no, I know someone
who bought this stock and itwent to zero and they lost
everything and I'll never investagain.
And so, yeah, we really need tojust have conversations with
(32:46):
the teachers as well, where wetake away some of the the myths
around this and and make itsomething that's accessible,
where people aren't scared andand it doesn't feel like it's
risky.
And same with the timelines.
Like you said, I don't.
If you invest today, I don'tknow if you'll have more money
in a year, over a 10 or 20 yearperiod, though it gets a little
(33:08):
bit easier for me to predict andthe chance is.
So that's what we got to starttalking about as well.
Like most times, anytimesomeone talks about like invest
in, you know, bitcoin or the newthing, we rarely pair it with a
timeline.
Hmm, and that's reallyimportant.
And so people are thinking,well, okay, like I want to
invest in this, it's a goodinvestment.
I don't know if it's a goodinvestment until I know the time
(33:29):
frame that we're talking.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Yeah, no, that is so, so important and that is a
great way to.
I've asked a lot of people thatquestion why don't they teach
us in schools?
And you've had a great day.
That's a great answer.
I think that is a great answerand that might be the the reason
why because there's so muchemotion involved in there and,
believe it or not, I'm gonnajust throw that in there are 12
(33:52):
rules of simply investing.
The last rule, number 12, iskeep your emotions out of
investing.
That's, that's number 12.
That's the last rule and thatis so key, like emotions are.
It's it's hard to get away from,because this is your
hard-earned cash, right.
Whether you're putting it intoan RSP or a TFSA or 401k or
(34:15):
you've got an employer matchingprogram, it's still your money.
You've worked hard for it.
And that's where a lot of thefear comes out of, and it's like
you said.
People will say like well, Iknow a cousin who bought a stock
and it went down to zero andthey lost ten thousand dollars
and that just creates so muchfear around it paralyzes people,
and then they don't want toinvest at all?
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Yeah, and I think keeping your money in this check
savings account is not gonnahelp either, because inflation
is gonna get away at it well,and if we could at least like
what I'm trying to do is if wecould at least show these
Illustrations so that people cansee what we're talking about
and what this would actuallylook like and start realizing
that all this, like this networkthat we see around, or there's
(34:59):
people with all this, this money, like you, can't Save your way
to that amount of wealth, youjust can't like savings don't
grow.
And so, like I mentioned thatwhole idea of like if I started
saving for seven years andstopped, if it's invested well,
that savings continues growingat the same pace whether I stop
(35:21):
or not.
But if it was just purelysaving, it wouldn't, it would
stop and that would be it and Iwould have seven years worth of
savings and it would never grow.
And I don't think people whodon't understand investing fully
recognize what they're missingout on the.
(35:41):
The loss that they're thinkingof is to just that savings
amount.
But that opportunity cost is somuch bigger Especially for
talking to young kids andthey've got, you know, a 40 year
time horizon it's, it's massive.
And I think that's the thing is, we just don't understand what
that opportunity cost is andit's Massive, yeah and we're?
(36:03):
you take a war on Buffett.
If we just think of what he'searned in his life, hmm, there's
no way he would have the likehe.
Just he could not be abillionaire, he couldn't be
worth a hundred million, hmm.
And so that opportunity cost isbigger than people Really take
into account, and that's why allthey're thinking about is the
loss of their savings.
But that opportunity cost needsto be taken into consideration.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Yeah, absolutely, and I'm gonna throw in their
inflation.
Because I had a youngindividual a couple years ago
and he said well, I'm notputting in the stock market
because it's like gambling, andI've got 20,000 saved up, I'll
just keep it in the savingsaccount.
But think about that in 10years.
Sure, the 20,000 is still gonnabe there, but it's not gonna be
(36:46):
worth 20,000 dollars.
You factor in 10 years worth ofinflation and Now you've
actually lost money.
Right, it might be worth Idon't know 17, 16,000 maybe I
don't know.
But yeah, you're right, it's,it's.
You're missing out on thecompound growth and inflation is
gonna eat away at it as well.
So what does David?
(37:09):
What does financial freedommean to you?
Speaker 2 (37:14):
So for me and this is and I talk about it a bit in
the book so that first lesson ofawesome stuff like what lights
you up, what gets you reallyexcited, once you really start
sticking with that idea and whatreally brings you joy, you'll
start realizing a lot of it.
A lot of times it's experiencesand it's freedom to do the
things you love, freedom tospend the time with the people
(37:36):
you love, choose a job you love,and so financial freedom to me
is just choice and that's all itis is being able to choose what
you want to do without moneybeing a massive factor in that
decision.
Ideally it wouldn't be a factorat all, and as soon as money
stops being a factor in yourdecisions of how you live your
life, to me that's truefinancial freedom.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Yeah, that's a great answer.
That's great.
Now, one of the golden rulesyou mentioned earlier in this
episode here was you have togive to get more, and I noticed
in the book and even on yourwebsite it says you're giving
away 20% of the proceeds tocharity.
(38:19):
So why would you do that andwhich charity is it?
Speaker 2 (38:26):
So the charity is give directly, and they do like
micro loans for people indeveloping countries, and it's
one of those things where thisis actually one of the harder
lessons for me to get behind,because, being a money nerd,
I've always viewed money alittle bit differently but also
really understood the value ofit.
(38:47):
So giving it away feels verycounterintuitive.
But what I've found and there'sresearch behind it, there's so
many ways that giving makes youricher.
I mean, the simplest is justhow you feel and creating that
energy, and we all know peoplethat we want to help, help
(39:08):
because they're so kind andgiving.
They just give off this energy.
We see them help in thecommunity, we know they've
helped others and we want tohelp them.
So there's just that energyitself and you can feel that,
let alone how you feelpersonally as you give.
And the reality is is a lot ofthese things.
Money does have a bit of anenergy to it, and so there is a
(39:31):
bit of that flow, and so I'venoticed that the more I give,
the more that comes back.
It's really as simple as that.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
Yeah, no, that is great, and it's something for
our audience to think about aswell, because we have a number
of people in the audience whoare dividend investors, who have
been investing for a long time.
And then what do you do withall of that dividend income?
Right, of course, you're goingto use it to cover your living
expenses you might besemi-retired, you might be
(40:03):
retired, you might still beworking but then to consider
helping others and I thinkthat's what you're doing, david.
You're setting the example.
You talk about it in the bookas one of the golden rules, and
then you're actually doing ityourself, which is fantastic.
To be able to help others.
That is incredible, david.
Where can people find out moreinformation about you if they
(40:26):
want to get in touch with you?
How do they buy the book?
Give us some of thatinformation.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Yeah, so information on the book and that community
is all under the awesome stuff.
So the awesome stuffcom.
Instagram is the awesome stuff,tiktok is the awesome stuff and
it's because that movement I'mtrying to create in terms of
speaking, public speaking.
They can find me atdaviddelilecom and I'll have
information there if they'd likeme to come and speak at their
school or their community or theconference.
(40:52):
And for me, just sharing thismessage it gets me so excited.
So, definitely, if anyone wantsto reach out, I'm happy to talk
to them.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
Okay, that is incredible.
I'll put all of the links downbelow in the description for our
podcast, David.
I enjoyed reading the book.
I encourage everyone to go outand get it, Whether you have
kids or not.
Like I said, this is for youngand old.
You will learn a lot from it.
It is rich dad, poor dad meetsCalvin and Pobs.
(41:21):
I absolutely agree with that,so it's a great book.
Thank you so much, David, fortaking the time out today to
talk to us and talk to ouraudience.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
Thanks so much.
This is a lot of fun and, likeI said, I love talking about
this stuff, especially withpeople who are already into
investing, because it just thosehabits and the mindset pieces
are the.
Those are the things we oftenoverlook, and it's so important.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
Yeah, that is awesome .
Thanks for being here, david,thank you Bye.
Yeah, a lot of fun.
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