July 17, 2025 • 24 mins
Ready to ditch the get-rich-quick hype and actually build real wealth?
Welcome to “Mastering Wealth: Invest, Own, and Thrive”—the podcast that cuts through the noise and hands you the blueprint for lasting financial freedom. If you’re tired of empty promises and want to know how the wealthy really do it, you’re in the right place.
We break down the secrets of wealth creation, from the power of dollar-cost averaging into index funds to the game-changing potential of blockchain and cryptocurrencies like Ethereum. Discover how to leverage your skills for higher income, master tax optimization strategies used by the rich, and—most importantly—shift your mindset from being just an earner to becoming an owner.
This isn’t just another personal finance podcast. We’re serving up actionable investment strategies, relatable money management tips, and a fresh take on financial literacy that’s designed for real people who want to thrive—not just survive. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned investor, you’ll find practical advice, a dash of controversy, and plenty of inspiration to help you invest smarter, own more, and live free.
Don’t just listen—start your journey to financial independence today!
Hit play, subscribe, and share this episode with someone who’s ready to level up their money game. Because wealth isn’t just for the lucky—it’s for those who learn, invest, and own their future.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/life-hacks-diy-more-transform-your-everyday-with-simple-tricks-and-diy-magic--5995484/support.
Welcome to “Mastering Wealth: Invest, Own, and Thrive”—the podcast that cuts through the noise and hands you the blueprint for lasting financial freedom. If you’re tired of empty promises and want to know how the wealthy really do it, you’re in the right place.
We break down the secrets of wealth creation, from the power of dollar-cost averaging into index funds to the game-changing potential of blockchain and cryptocurrencies like Ethereum. Discover how to leverage your skills for higher income, master tax optimization strategies used by the rich, and—most importantly—shift your mindset from being just an earner to becoming an owner.
This isn’t just another personal finance podcast. We’re serving up actionable investment strategies, relatable money management tips, and a fresh take on financial literacy that’s designed for real people who want to thrive—not just survive. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned investor, you’ll find practical advice, a dash of controversy, and plenty of inspiration to help you invest smarter, own more, and live free.
Don’t just listen—start your journey to financial independence today!
Hit play, subscribe, and share this episode with someone who’s ready to level up their money game. Because wealth isn’t just for the lucky—it’s for those who learn, invest, and own their future.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/life-hacks-diy-more-transform-your-everyday-with-simple-tricks-and-diy-magic--5995484/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to the Jeep Dive. This is your shortcut
to getting really well informed without drowning in all the details.
Today we're tackling a topic that's well, it's clearly huge
for so many of you. Get this. A massive fifty
three percent of people are actually making New Year's resolutions
about money, finance, investing.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Fifty three percent.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
That's that's huge, more than half all chasing you know,
financial freedom, security, that dream.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
It really shows how much this stuff matters to people.
It's universal. So we've sifted through like countless hours of
our best expert chats, pulled out those moments that really
hit home, the ones people replayed shared the most, you know,
the real nuggets exactly.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
And our mission here is to give you that concentrated wisdom,
life changing advice. Really, we're having to break down saving spending,
smart investing strategy, tax crypto, even buying a house, and
maybe most importantly, building that strong money mindset, right because.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
We hear it again and again the most expensive thing
is the information, and you don't.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Have so true.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
So our goal is to give you those foundational truths,
the kind that could put you in say, the top
five percent of investors let's dive in.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Okay, so let's talk about wealth building. Many folks feel
stuck right in that paycheck to paycheck cycle. It's exhausting.
And if that's you, well you're kind of the perfect
customer for the whole economic system.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Harsh, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Banks love the loans, Companies love the spending, governments love
the taxes. You're basically funding everyone else first. Breaking free
means making yourself wealthy first.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
That really hits home. I remember those years, just hand
in mouth, every dollar vanished. It felt like a trap.
So how do you even begin to plug the leaks?
What's the first emergency step?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Stop the bleeding? Got to stop it. If you're in
what I call the financial danger zone meaning less than
two grands save for emergencies, and you've got credit card debt,
you need drastic changes now, drastic like no more eating out,
no vacations, cut the non essentials like Netflix.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I ad the usual suspects, but.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Wait, it's not just the fifteen dollars for Netflix. It's
the time two hours a day. Maybe average person watches
that much TV h reclaiming the time exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
If you're in debt, you cannot afford to waste that time,
use it, learn something, work more, make extra cash.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
That reframes cutting costs completely. It's about redeploying your time.
Remember being eighteen, sharing a tiny place, immigrant kid. Rent
was low, still couldn't afford it, call center money just gone. Yeah,
and honestly a lotless social pressure. Young guys got to
spend money to, you know, socialize. Look like you're doing okay.
Couldn't bring anyone home, couldn't afford dinner out. What do
(02:36):
you say to that pressure?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
You gotta choose. Pick your heart right.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Is life going to be hard now while you focus
intensely on this or is it going to be hard forever,
always stressed about money?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, you decide what's number one right now?
Speaker 3 (02:48):
If it's fixing your finances, sacrifices are necessary.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
It's tough, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
When I was building my business, I sacrifice social life,
immediate fun totally. But that intense inward focus it creates
it's this weird paradox. The more you focus inward, the
more you actually become a magnet for opportunities relationships later.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
That is so true. I found that myself chasing things
externally harder focusing inward. Things started coming to me exactly.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
And look, it's not about greed, it's temporary.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Think of life in like five year seasons.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Think it's okay.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Yeah, you prioritize certain things for a season, sacrifice others.
That focus lets you build something so later you can
enjoy everything more holistically without the constant worry. It's hard,
especially with social media showing perfect lives making you feel behind.
Oh yeah, the comparison trap, which is exactly why you
need that minority mindset.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Don't do what everyone else is doing.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
When I made my first million twenties, I was driving
a five hundred dollars car, no bumper. Seriously, yeah, my
wife's sad in it. My employees had nicer cars. You
got to be confident enough to play the long games.
So many people go into debt, buying stuff, vacations, trying.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
To look rich. It keeps them poor. They're scared to
look broke.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
I was definitely scared to like brook Yeah. It's a
powerful emotion, and you're right. When life feels miserable, you
make those impulse buys for a quick hit my giant
TV in my tiny room. Totally.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
That that's the core of it.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Emotional decisions, logic, goes out the window when emotions are driving.
But if you're listening and you're there, you have to understand.
To get the life you want, changes need to happen
today or you stay stuck. The key isn't just knowing
the advice. It's conquering the mindset, discipline, stop the emotional spending,
stop falling for get rich quick stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Right. Those schemes just feed on that desperation for a quick.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Fix and keep you in debt, making others rich.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Okay, so let's say someone started plugging those leaks, maybe
paid off some debt, built that emergency cushion. What's the
next big step? Because investing it still sounds so exclusive
for many, like you need to be rich already or
over forty, or think buying a house is the only way.
It's amazing how many smart people have never really talked
about investing properly.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Perplexity barrier.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
That's huge information we don't know costs people years of
potential growth.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah, but what if?
Speaker 3 (05:06):
What if there was a way to start that was
like almost too simple.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Cuts through the noise.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Okay, I'm listening.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
The simplest, simplest way, the one I tell my own
family A target date fund, target date fund.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Okay, break that down. Never heard of it? What is it?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
It's basically a single fund. You pick it based on
when you think you'll retire.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
So say you aim for twenty sixty five retirement, you'd
look for Vanguard twenty sixty five, Fidelity twenty sixty five,
Schwab twenty sixty five, something like that.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Gotcha, And the genius is it's automatic, totally.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Think of it like a pre made investment pie chart.
It's already diversified, owns hundreds of stocks, maybe some bonds.
You don't pick anything individually, no stock picking stress, none,
and it gets smarter as you age. It automatically shifts
to be more conservative over time. A seventy five year
old shouldn't invest like a twenty five year old.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Right, This does that for you.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
So all you do is put money in, just set up.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
An automatic transfer, simple as that.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
And where do you find these? You mentioned Vanguard Fidelity, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Low cost brokerage firms, Vanguard, Schwap, Fidelity are the big ones.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Low cost is key, right, low cost And this leads
to that other big mindset shift, doesn't it? The whole
boring is best idea?
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Absolutely It feels wrong, but it's.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Crucial because all these apps now they make investing seem
like a game, quick click trade trade.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Exactly, gamification.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
It encourages terrible habits. True investing should feel like, well,
like watching paint drive.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, I've heard that it.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Needs to be boring. Automatic.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
I actually took all the investing apps off my phone
years ago. Those constant updates, the urge to fiddle not
helpful me too.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Desktop only check maybe.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Quarterly perfect every three to six months is fine.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Check on a desktop. Don't mess with it.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
It's like Thanksgiving dinner, right, Okay, you put the turkey
in the oven. You don't keep opening the door, poking it,
changing the temp.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
You let it cook, right, you'll just mess it up.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Same here, your money cook for decades.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
I had a client once seriously ask if they should
base their portfolio in a downturn. That turkey analogy stuck.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
That's brilliant. Okay, so you open the account, put some
money in. Step two is absolutely critical. Automatic transfers every month.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Non negotiable. This is where the magic starts.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Compounding and how much what's a good starting point?
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Aim for five percent to ten percent of your take
home pay that's a solid guideline.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
And you think most people can find.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
That honestly, Yeah, if someone says they can't, I say,
show me your spending.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
I bet we can find five percent almost always.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
And once it's set up, it's effortless easier than brushing
your teeth.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Because it just happens exactly, set it and forget it.
The fund pulls from your checking you won't even notice
how much builds up until you log in months later.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
So that combo automatic consistent investing plus compounding over years,
that's the real path.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
That's how sustainable wealth is built.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
And please hear this, you don't need to be rich
to start investing.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Is how you get rich. One of the main ways.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
I literally had this conversation with a friend recently, gave
him the whole spiel saw a few months later, asked
how it was going. Yeah, he said, all I needed
the money had some bills, credit card. Yeah, so I
took it out, treated it like a checking account.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Ah. Classic. That shows two things.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
One, the mindset wasn't there yet investment account, wealth building,
not bill paying. Two, his overall money system was probably broken.
So the ideal setup, the automated system, money hits your checking.
Then automatically some goes to savings, goals, vacation, car phone, whatever,
and some goes to investments untouchable, mentally walled off totally.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
That grows.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Then you have your guilt free spending money and your
bills get paid automatically. Takes a bit to set up,
maybe a couple weeks. Then never think about it again.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
It sounds almost suspiciously simple for the doubters. How do
we prove this long term boring approach actually works, especially
with all the hype around quick wins.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Well, history is pretty clear.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
The US stock market over one hundred plus years, average
returns are like ten to eleven percent, call it seven
eight percent after inflation. Okay, numbers, Yeah, they feel abstract,
So do this. Go online, find a compound interest calculator.
Money Chimp is a free one, easy to use.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Play with it all right, pulling the one up. Let's
try a scenario. Start at sixteen, maybe with five thousand
dollars okay possible, Okay, invest five thousand dollars a year,
so about four hundred dollars a month. Use your seven
percent return. Let's say you do that for fourteen years
till on thirty what's the number? Whoa one hundred thirty
three thousand, five hundred and thirty seven dollars just from
being consistent right now?
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Context is one hundred and thirty three K A lot
at thirty debatable, but that's assuming never got a raise,
never invested more, and stopped at thirty. Unrealistic?
Speaker 1 (09:41):
True?
Speaker 2 (09:41):
By keep going?
Speaker 3 (09:42):
What if you kept it up till forty that's twenty
four years?
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Okay, twenty four years, three hundred and thirty six thousand dollars. Yeah,
getting much better still, just four hundred dollars a month.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
See, and most people earn more in their thirties forties.
If it's automatic, you just bump up the contribution a bit. Okay,
Go to age fifty. That's thirty four.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Years, seven hundred and thirty six thousand dollars. Wow, small
amounts really add up.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Now, let's get more realistic, show the real power. Go
to age sixty five, forty nine years of investing, and
instead of just five dollars a year, let's say average
annual investment is thirty thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Because your income grows over a career.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Okay, forty nine years thirty K average. Okay, that's a
twelve point three million dollars. That really shows the crazy
exponential curve.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
That's why ninety nine percent of Warren Buffett's wealth came
after his sixtieth.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Birthday, well, ninety nine percent after sixty.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Yeah. The longer you hold, the wilder it gets.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
He was worth maybe three billion dollars at sixty, now
over one hundred billion dollars, even after massive donations. He's brilliant, yes,
But his real secret he's been a good investor for
eighty years. If he'd quit a sixty, we wouldn't know
his name.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Endurance. That's the secret sauce Endurance.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
That reminds me of that story Ronald Reid, the janitor millionaire.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Oh yeah, amazing story.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Mopped floors, save scraps, bought simple stocks and just left
them for seventy years, died with over eight million dollars.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Proves the point perfectly.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Endurance can beat nine nine percent of the genius stock pickers.
You don't need genius, you need patients.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
And patience is well, it's easier than being a genius,
way easier.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
It's mostly in your control.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Professionals work crazy hours trying to beat the market, and
often fail average returns. For twenty years, you'll likely have
more money.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Do it for thirty you'll be wealthy.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
So Buffett read time and consistency are huge. But are
there other big truths maybe hiding in plain sight that
can also change everything, which brings us back to that idea.
The biggest cost is often the information we don't know.
It's scary but also exciting. Means there are hidden doors
everywhere if you know where to look.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
It's about knowing where the value is, where the whales swim.
Like that story the father and the Old Car remind
me gives his son a beat up car, tells him
take it to a dealer an impound lot than an
antique dealer get quotes. Dealer offers one k impound lot
five hundred dollars. Antique dealer goes nuts. This historic one
of ten left one hundred thousand dollars. Wow, and the
(11:59):
lesson if father says, it's not just who you are,
it's finding the people who value you the most.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Ah right. Apply that to business. Find where your skills
are most valued, Go where the whales are same work maybe,
but way bigger.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Potential, and that often connects to leverage understanding leverage is
key leverage, meaning just the difference between.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Input and output.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
High leverage little input, big output, low leverage lots of input,
little output. People struggling financially often.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Have low leverage.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Plays the game is getting more for each step.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
That's a total mind shift. What are the levels of leverage?
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Well, basic level is labor working for someone, working for yourself,
having others work for you.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Each step up gives more leverage.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Then media create once, sell infinitely like a podcast, a
digital course. Then capital using other people's money, and maybe
the highest technology build code once millions use it. Really
successful businesses they stack all these, max them out. Think Amazon, Facebook.
They didn't just move faster, they got more for every
single step.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Yeah, fascinating. Okay, so how do we use this find
our own unfair bet that sweet spot of skills and.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Opportunity whiteboard time, simple exercise. One side list your skills,
all of them. Other side lists ways to make money
with those skills. But focus on two things. How big
is the problem you solve and how valuable is your solution.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
So like, having social media skills is great, but applying
them to a tiny local shop low.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Leverage, probably low profit margins, small skill. You need to
look at industries average revenue profit margins.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
So instead of the local pizza place, aim for biotech
Wall Street, where the big money flows exactly.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Take writing for example, worst leverage maybe local news, maybe
writing fantasy.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Novels, tough slot, Okay, better leverage Google.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Highest paying jobs for writers. Copywriter comes up, okay, even
better medical writers.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Writer.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Yeah. When I was in biotech, we couldn't find enough.
A general copywriter might make thirty five k. Is a
good medical writer. Someone who understands complex science one hundred
and fifty k plus, say, basic skill writing, but hyper
specialized high value application.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Wow, same skill, vastly different pay based on the niche.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Or a financial writer doing investor updates, very lucrative. It's
about where you apply the skill.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
And not just what you do, but how you get paid.
Right crucial.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Don't just take a salary if you can help it.
Structure a deal, get a percentage of the value you create.
Get equity options in a high growth company. I did
marketing for a biotech firm maybe six months, got paid
partly in options company iPod. My return on that equity
nearly ten million dollars ten million.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
From six months work plus options.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Yeah, and look, any kid with decent social media skills
who also knew how to structure a deal could potentially
do something life changing like.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
That, learning how to do deals. I agree, that might
be the single most valuable skill. It felt like such
a secret and unknown, unknown, but it's not gate kept
anymore totally.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
The information is out there now.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Speaking of secrets behind veils. The tax game. That's another one,
isn't it.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Oh, huge tax avoidance legal tax of wa. This is
absolutely a key skill for building wealth. Corporations do it
all the time, apple shifting IP internationally for lower rates,
that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Individuals do it too.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Okay, explain it like I'm ten? How do wealthy individuals
play this game?
Speaker 3 (15:12):
All?
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Right?
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Imagine you own one hundred dollars of Amazon stock. It
doubles worth two hundred dollars.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Now.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Instead of selling it and paying tax on that one
hundred dollars profit, you borrow against the two hundred dollars stock.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Borrow, not sell, right.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
You get cash, but you haven't sold, so no capital
gains tax. The stock hopefully keeps growing. You just pay
interest on the loan, maybe from other income. And then
the basic idea is invest borrow against it tax free
when you need cash.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Let it grow.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
When you die, it goes into a trust for your kids,
often stepping up the basis meaning still minimal tax. Now
it's complex, you need advice that tax.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Would right, the eighteen hundred dollar an hour.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Advisory exactly, because you need to manage the loans market dips.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
All that, but the core principle.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Powerful, and things like state arbitrage. Moving to Florida yep.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Moving to a state with no income tax before selling
massive amounts of stock avoids state capital gains tax very common,
totally legal, and another big one in the US at
least QSB Qualified Small Business Stock QUSB. Yeah, it's Oh,
it's massive incentive for entrepreneurs. If you start a company,
it stays under fifty million dollars in value. You hold
the stock for five plus years. The first ten million
(16:23):
dollars you make selling it or ten times what you
put in, whichever is bigger, is tax.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Free, ten million, tax free more.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
I put two point five million dollars into one QSB deal,
got twenty five million dollars back tax free. It rewards
taking that huge risk of starting a business.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Okay, but hearing this, yeah, the average person must feel
like the system is rigged right. It seems like earners
get taxed way more.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Your gut feeling is spot on.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
That's why the tax code balloon from four hundred pages
to four thousand. A lot of those extra pages help
rich people become super rich. There's a key difference super
earners versus super owners. You playing that earner, high salary, doctor, lawyer, exec.
Makes great money, but it's mostly income. They pay high
tax rates, maybe forty five to fifty percent. Super owner
(17:09):
owns assets, makes money buying and selling businesses.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Stocks, real estate. Their tax rate plummets, often much lower.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
So the goal is earn enough money to invest so
you can become a super owner, shift from earning to owning.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
So for the average listener, what's the main takeaway from
all this complex tax stuff?
Speaker 3 (17:24):
The simple version? Buy stock like index funds, borrow against
it if you need cash. Leader in life, try never
to sell it. Let it grow mostly untaxed until it
passes on. Understanding this stuff, it really is like pulling
back a curtain.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
You see.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
The game isn't the same for everyone, and it's why
good tax advice is worth its weight and goal. Find
your Yoda, start positioning yourself to be an owner, not
just an earner.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Critical point. Okay, let's switch gear slightly specific strategies. How
do you personally allocate your capital? Where's your money?
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Simple cash for emergencies my house, index funds, and then
shares in companies where I'm on the board.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
That's basically it clean easy.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Mine's almost identical now. Actually, after reading your stuff, I
pretty muchtop picking stocks. It's index funds mostly, right, plus
direct investments in startups I'm involved with. And yeah, I
have a significant long held position and ethereum that's done
well over time.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
And that ethereum holding that comes from deep conviction right
seeing the developer activity the potential exactly.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Felt like an informed bet on the ecosystem's growth.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
And my preference for index funds like yours. It's not
because I think beating the market is impossible. Some people can.
But the thing I want to maximize. It's endurance in
jaredous guy, Yeah, if I can get just average market returns,
but do it for an above average length of time,
that puts me way ahead top tier.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Eventually.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
My parents zero finance background, minimal interest, but the dollar
cost average into index funds for forty years, never sold.
Their results probably top three percent of pros just from consistency.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Okay, let's define those quickly dollar cost averaging index fund
for anyone new.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Sure dollar cost averaging is just investing the same amount
of money every single month, automatically rain or shine mark
it down. Your fixed amount buys more shares, mark it
up buys fewer, smooths out the ride takes emotion out.
If you have four oh one K, you're probably already
doing it.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Got it. And an index fund.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
It's just one fund that holds hundreds, maybe thousands of
different stocks, owns a tiny piece of everything, like owning
a slice of the whole economy, or as I sometimes say,
a slice of capitalism itself.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
So if I were your kid and said, Dad, prove
this boring index fund thing is better than picking the
next hot crypto or tech stock, what's the core argument?
Speaker 3 (19:40):
I'd say, Okay, how well you do in the next
year or even five years. It means almost nothing for
your lifetime wealth zero. What matters isn't the best return
you can possibly get. It's the good return you can
sustain for the longest possible time. It's all about endurance
compounding formula returns to the power of time. Time does
(20:02):
the heavy lifting.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Well, nice that endurance point. It applies elsewhere too. Right
like housing, we're told buying a house is always a
great investment, either good or bad financial move.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Okay, controversial take Perhaps if you're buying only as a
financial investment, I'd say, be very very careful. I see
buying a primary home as a lifestyle decision.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Mainly lifestyle, not investment.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Primarily, So many people get underwater buying when they should rent,
especially if they need to move for work or school.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Mobility is valuable. I own a house.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
If I lost money on it, wouldn't love it, but
I wouldn't care deeply.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
That's not his main purpose. It's stability for my family.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
But people do make money on houses. Seems like everyone
who bought twenty years ago is rich.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Now, that's the recent anomaly.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Historically, US UK housing prices adjusted for inflation flat like
pancake flat. Robert Schiller, Nobel Winner, showed this one hundred
and fifty years of data, mostly flat prices. It's just
the last few decades that skewed everyone's perception.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
So someone putting an offer on a house today, thinking
it's a guaranteed win financially, they.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Should think really hard, especially if moving might be on
the card soon, and ditch the idea you can't live
well renting, especially in cities now luxury apartments, amazing amenities,
great locations, you can rent and live incredibly well.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
So the framing is, don't borrow hundreds of thousands for
an asset that historically has been a pretty mediocre investment
pretty much.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Does that sound like a smart bet frame that way?
Probably not purely financially point taking.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Okay, what about the new frontier blockchain? Crypto still feels
like sci fi to a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Think of blockchain simply, it's like a public database in
the sky, a shared source of truth. Every computer on
the network verifies transactions, no need for a central bank
or government middleman.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
It's about trust through code, trustless trust exactly.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
And what's revolutionary, unlike the Internet or broadband before it
is that blockchain rewards participants for keeping the network running.
That creates scarcity, like bitcoin miners getting paid in bitcoin
or ethereum verifiers and bitcoin.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Is finite, right, only twenty.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
One million built in scarcity digital gold.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Some call it and crucially, Unlike say, investing in cutting
edge AI, where you usually need to be rich already,
blockchain assets are fractional.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
You can buy ten dollars of bitcoin accessible totally. It's
the only globally homogenous asset.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
A bitcoin is a bitcoin, whether you're in Nigeria or
New York, instantly transferable, no banks needed. It levels the
playing field for the fastest growing tech ever.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Powerful idea. What are the real world uses making waves? Now?
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Gaming is exploding Web three gaming.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Web three think next gen Internet powered by blockchain, where
users have more ownership. So in game items, FIFA cards,
RuneScape swords, whatever, blockchain lets.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
You truly own them. You can tread them outside.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
The game like real assets.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Exactly creates whole new economies for developers, real value for players,
And if you own the underlying token like ethereum, you
participate in the growth of that whole ecosystem.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
So how does someone actually dip their toe in practical
steps for crypto?
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Just open an account major exchanges, Coinbase, Krakencrypto, dot Com, Gemini,
even PayPal or Revolute offer basic access.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Now start small, get.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
Comfortable with owning something that moves in price, then maybe
later look into self custody like a Ledger device, right,
a little.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
USB stick thing. I use one for my ethereum, got
my ceed phrase dashed safely perfect.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
That Ledger holds your private key. It's your digital mailbox.
Only you have the key, meaning no government freeze, no
bank run can touch it. You physically control your digital
wealth and that magic Internet money secured by a phrase
you memorize, crosses borders with you, no questions asked, Unlike
gold bars.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
It really comes back to that transformation, doesn't it, From
just earning money to truly owning assets, understanding the systems.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
That's the core shift.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
The real key to wealth isn't just getting more dollars,
it's changing your role from earner to owner, understanding leverage,
applying skills, strategically playing tax games smartly. These unlocked doors
most people don't even know exist.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
So as we wrap this up, the thought to leave
you with is now that maybe some of these curtains
have been pulled back. What hidden rooms of opportunity are
you ready to explore? What steps will you take to
move from just earning to truly owning
Welcome back to the Jeep Dive. This is your shortcut
to getting really well informed without drowning in all the details.
Today we're tackling a topic that's well, it's clearly huge
for so many of you. Get this. A massive fifty
three percent of people are actually making New Year's resolutions
about money, finance, investing.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Fifty three percent.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
That's that's huge, more than half all chasing you know,
financial freedom, security, that dream.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
It really shows how much this stuff matters to people.
It's universal. So we've sifted through like countless hours of
our best expert chats, pulled out those moments that really
hit home, the ones people replayed shared the most, you know,
the real nuggets exactly.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
And our mission here is to give you that concentrated wisdom,
life changing advice. Really, we're having to break down saving spending,
smart investing strategy, tax crypto, even buying a house, and
maybe most importantly, building that strong money mindset, right because.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
We hear it again and again the most expensive thing
is the information, and you don't.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Have so true.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
So our goal is to give you those foundational truths,
the kind that could put you in say, the top
five percent of investors let's dive in.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Okay, so let's talk about wealth building. Many folks feel
stuck right in that paycheck to paycheck cycle. It's exhausting.
And if that's you, well you're kind of the perfect
customer for the whole economic system.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Harsh, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Banks love the loans, Companies love the spending, governments love
the taxes. You're basically funding everyone else first. Breaking free
means making yourself wealthy first.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
That really hits home. I remember those years, just hand
in mouth, every dollar vanished. It felt like a trap.
So how do you even begin to plug the leaks?
What's the first emergency step?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Stop the bleeding? Got to stop it. If you're in
what I call the financial danger zone meaning less than
two grands save for emergencies, and you've got credit card debt,
you need drastic changes now, drastic like no more eating out,
no vacations, cut the non essentials like Netflix.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I ad the usual suspects, but.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Wait, it's not just the fifteen dollars for Netflix. It's
the time two hours a day. Maybe average person watches
that much TV h reclaiming the time exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
If you're in debt, you cannot afford to waste that time,
use it, learn something, work more, make extra cash.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
That reframes cutting costs completely. It's about redeploying your time.
Remember being eighteen, sharing a tiny place, immigrant kid. Rent
was low, still couldn't afford it, call center money just gone. Yeah,
and honestly a lotless social pressure. Young guys got to
spend money to, you know, socialize. Look like you're doing okay.
Couldn't bring anyone home, couldn't afford dinner out. What do
(02:36):
you say to that pressure?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
You gotta choose. Pick your heart right.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Is life going to be hard now while you focus
intensely on this or is it going to be hard forever,
always stressed about money?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, you decide what's number one right now?
Speaker 3 (02:48):
If it's fixing your finances, sacrifices are necessary.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
It's tough, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
When I was building my business, I sacrifice social life,
immediate fun totally. But that intense inward focus it creates
it's this weird paradox. The more you focus inward, the
more you actually become a magnet for opportunities relationships later.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
That is so true. I found that myself chasing things
externally harder focusing inward. Things started coming to me exactly.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
And look, it's not about greed, it's temporary.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Think of life in like five year seasons.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Think it's okay.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Yeah, you prioritize certain things for a season, sacrifice others.
That focus lets you build something so later you can
enjoy everything more holistically without the constant worry. It's hard,
especially with social media showing perfect lives making you feel behind.
Oh yeah, the comparison trap, which is exactly why you
need that minority mindset.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Don't do what everyone else is doing.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
When I made my first million twenties, I was driving
a five hundred dollars car, no bumper. Seriously, yeah, my
wife's sad in it. My employees had nicer cars. You
got to be confident enough to play the long games.
So many people go into debt, buying stuff, vacations, trying.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
To look rich. It keeps them poor. They're scared to
look broke.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
I was definitely scared to like brook Yeah. It's a
powerful emotion, and you're right. When life feels miserable, you
make those impulse buys for a quick hit my giant
TV in my tiny room. Totally.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
That that's the core of it.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Emotional decisions, logic, goes out the window when emotions are driving.
But if you're listening and you're there, you have to understand.
To get the life you want, changes need to happen
today or you stay stuck. The key isn't just knowing
the advice. It's conquering the mindset, discipline, stop the emotional spending,
stop falling for get rich quick stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Right. Those schemes just feed on that desperation for a quick.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Fix and keep you in debt, making others rich.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Okay, so let's say someone started plugging those leaks, maybe
paid off some debt, built that emergency cushion. What's the
next big step? Because investing it still sounds so exclusive
for many, like you need to be rich already or
over forty, or think buying a house is the only way.
It's amazing how many smart people have never really talked
about investing properly.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Perplexity barrier.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
That's huge information we don't know costs people years of
potential growth.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah, but what if?
Speaker 3 (05:06):
What if there was a way to start that was
like almost too simple.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Cuts through the noise.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Okay, I'm listening.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
The simplest, simplest way, the one I tell my own
family A target date fund, target date fund.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Okay, break that down. Never heard of it? What is it?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
It's basically a single fund. You pick it based on
when you think you'll retire.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
So say you aim for twenty sixty five retirement, you'd
look for Vanguard twenty sixty five, Fidelity twenty sixty five,
Schwab twenty sixty five, something like that.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Gotcha, And the genius is it's automatic, totally.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Think of it like a pre made investment pie chart.
It's already diversified, owns hundreds of stocks, maybe some bonds.
You don't pick anything individually, no stock picking stress, none,
and it gets smarter as you age. It automatically shifts
to be more conservative over time. A seventy five year
old shouldn't invest like a twenty five year old.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Right, This does that for you.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
So all you do is put money in, just set up.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
An automatic transfer, simple as that.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
And where do you find these? You mentioned Vanguard Fidelity, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Low cost brokerage firms, Vanguard, Schwap, Fidelity are the big ones.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Low cost is key, right, low cost And this leads
to that other big mindset shift, doesn't it? The whole
boring is best idea?
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Absolutely It feels wrong, but it's.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Crucial because all these apps now they make investing seem
like a game, quick click trade trade.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Exactly, gamification.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
It encourages terrible habits. True investing should feel like, well,
like watching paint drive.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, I've heard that it.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Needs to be boring. Automatic.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
I actually took all the investing apps off my phone
years ago. Those constant updates, the urge to fiddle not
helpful me too.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Desktop only check maybe.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Quarterly perfect every three to six months is fine.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Check on a desktop. Don't mess with it.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
It's like Thanksgiving dinner, right, Okay, you put the turkey
in the oven. You don't keep opening the door, poking it,
changing the temp.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
You let it cook, right, you'll just mess it up.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Same here, your money cook for decades.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
I had a client once seriously ask if they should
base their portfolio in a downturn. That turkey analogy stuck.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
That's brilliant. Okay, so you open the account, put some
money in. Step two is absolutely critical. Automatic transfers every month.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Non negotiable. This is where the magic starts.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Compounding and how much what's a good starting point?
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Aim for five percent to ten percent of your take
home pay that's a solid guideline.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
And you think most people can find.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
That honestly, Yeah, if someone says they can't, I say,
show me your spending.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
I bet we can find five percent almost always.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
And once it's set up, it's effortless easier than brushing
your teeth.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Because it just happens exactly, set it and forget it.
The fund pulls from your checking you won't even notice
how much builds up until you log in months later.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
So that combo automatic consistent investing plus compounding over years,
that's the real path.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
That's how sustainable wealth is built.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
And please hear this, you don't need to be rich
to start investing.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Is how you get rich. One of the main ways.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
I literally had this conversation with a friend recently, gave
him the whole spiel saw a few months later, asked
how it was going. Yeah, he said, all I needed
the money had some bills, credit card. Yeah, so I
took it out, treated it like a checking account.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Ah. Classic. That shows two things.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
One, the mindset wasn't there yet investment account, wealth building,
not bill paying. Two, his overall money system was probably broken.
So the ideal setup, the automated system, money hits your checking.
Then automatically some goes to savings, goals, vacation, car phone, whatever,
and some goes to investments untouchable, mentally walled off totally.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
That grows.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Then you have your guilt free spending money and your
bills get paid automatically. Takes a bit to set up,
maybe a couple weeks. Then never think about it again.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
It sounds almost suspiciously simple for the doubters. How do
we prove this long term boring approach actually works, especially
with all the hype around quick wins.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Well, history is pretty clear.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
The US stock market over one hundred plus years, average
returns are like ten to eleven percent, call it seven
eight percent after inflation. Okay, numbers, Yeah, they feel abstract,
So do this. Go online, find a compound interest calculator.
Money Chimp is a free one, easy to use.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Play with it all right, pulling the one up. Let's
try a scenario. Start at sixteen, maybe with five thousand
dollars okay possible, Okay, invest five thousand dollars a year,
so about four hundred dollars a month. Use your seven
percent return. Let's say you do that for fourteen years
till on thirty what's the number? Whoa one hundred thirty
three thousand, five hundred and thirty seven dollars just from
being consistent right now?
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Context is one hundred and thirty three K A lot
at thirty debatable, but that's assuming never got a raise,
never invested more, and stopped at thirty. Unrealistic?
Speaker 1 (09:41):
True?
Speaker 2 (09:41):
By keep going?
Speaker 3 (09:42):
What if you kept it up till forty that's twenty
four years?
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Okay, twenty four years, three hundred and thirty six thousand dollars. Yeah,
getting much better still, just four hundred dollars a month.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
See, and most people earn more in their thirties forties.
If it's automatic, you just bump up the contribution a bit. Okay,
Go to age fifty. That's thirty four.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Years, seven hundred and thirty six thousand dollars. Wow, small
amounts really add up.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Now, let's get more realistic, show the real power. Go
to age sixty five, forty nine years of investing, and
instead of just five dollars a year, let's say average
annual investment is thirty thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Because your income grows over a career.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Okay, forty nine years thirty K average. Okay, that's a
twelve point three million dollars. That really shows the crazy
exponential curve.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
That's why ninety nine percent of Warren Buffett's wealth came
after his sixtieth.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Birthday, well, ninety nine percent after sixty.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Yeah. The longer you hold, the wilder it gets.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
He was worth maybe three billion dollars at sixty, now
over one hundred billion dollars, even after massive donations. He's brilliant, yes,
But his real secret he's been a good investor for
eighty years. If he'd quit a sixty, we wouldn't know
his name.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Endurance. That's the secret sauce Endurance.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
That reminds me of that story Ronald Reid, the janitor millionaire.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Oh yeah, amazing story.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Mopped floors, save scraps, bought simple stocks and just left
them for seventy years, died with over eight million dollars.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Proves the point perfectly.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Endurance can beat nine nine percent of the genius stock pickers.
You don't need genius, you need patients.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
And patience is well, it's easier than being a genius,
way easier.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
It's mostly in your control.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Professionals work crazy hours trying to beat the market, and
often fail average returns. For twenty years, you'll likely have
more money.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Do it for thirty you'll be wealthy.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
So Buffett read time and consistency are huge. But are
there other big truths maybe hiding in plain sight that
can also change everything, which brings us back to that idea.
The biggest cost is often the information we don't know.
It's scary but also exciting. Means there are hidden doors
everywhere if you know where to look.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
It's about knowing where the value is, where the whales swim.
Like that story the father and the Old Car remind
me gives his son a beat up car, tells him
take it to a dealer an impound lot than an
antique dealer get quotes. Dealer offers one k impound lot
five hundred dollars. Antique dealer goes nuts. This historic one
of ten left one hundred thousand dollars. Wow, and the
(11:59):
lesson if father says, it's not just who you are,
it's finding the people who value you the most.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Ah right. Apply that to business. Find where your skills
are most valued, Go where the whales are same work maybe,
but way bigger.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Potential, and that often connects to leverage understanding leverage is
key leverage, meaning just the difference between.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Input and output.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
High leverage little input, big output, low leverage lots of input,
little output. People struggling financially often.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Have low leverage.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Plays the game is getting more for each step.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
That's a total mind shift. What are the levels of leverage?
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Well, basic level is labor working for someone, working for yourself,
having others work for you.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Each step up gives more leverage.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Then media create once, sell infinitely like a podcast, a
digital course. Then capital using other people's money, and maybe
the highest technology build code once millions use it. Really
successful businesses they stack all these, max them out. Think Amazon, Facebook.
They didn't just move faster, they got more for every
single step.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Yeah, fascinating. Okay, so how do we use this find
our own unfair bet that sweet spot of skills and.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Opportunity whiteboard time, simple exercise. One side list your skills,
all of them. Other side lists ways to make money
with those skills. But focus on two things. How big
is the problem you solve and how valuable is your solution.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
So like, having social media skills is great, but applying
them to a tiny local shop low.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Leverage, probably low profit margins, small skill. You need to
look at industries average revenue profit margins.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
So instead of the local pizza place, aim for biotech
Wall Street, where the big money flows exactly.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Take writing for example, worst leverage maybe local news, maybe
writing fantasy.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Novels, tough slot, Okay, better leverage Google.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Highest paying jobs for writers. Copywriter comes up, okay, even
better medical writers.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Writer.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Yeah. When I was in biotech, we couldn't find enough.
A general copywriter might make thirty five k. Is a
good medical writer. Someone who understands complex science one hundred
and fifty k plus, say, basic skill writing, but hyper
specialized high value application.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Wow, same skill, vastly different pay based on the niche.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Or a financial writer doing investor updates, very lucrative. It's
about where you apply the skill.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
And not just what you do, but how you get paid.
Right crucial.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Don't just take a salary if you can help it.
Structure a deal, get a percentage of the value you create.
Get equity options in a high growth company. I did
marketing for a biotech firm maybe six months, got paid
partly in options company iPod. My return on that equity
nearly ten million dollars ten million.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
From six months work plus options.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Yeah, and look, any kid with decent social media skills
who also knew how to structure a deal could potentially
do something life changing like.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
That, learning how to do deals. I agree, that might
be the single most valuable skill. It felt like such
a secret and unknown, unknown, but it's not gate kept
anymore totally.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
The information is out there now.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Speaking of secrets behind veils. The tax game. That's another one,
isn't it.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Oh, huge tax avoidance legal tax of wa. This is
absolutely a key skill for building wealth. Corporations do it
all the time, apple shifting IP internationally for lower rates,
that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Individuals do it too.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Okay, explain it like I'm ten? How do wealthy individuals
play this game?
Speaker 3 (15:12):
All?
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Right?
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Imagine you own one hundred dollars of Amazon stock. It
doubles worth two hundred dollars.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Now.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Instead of selling it and paying tax on that one
hundred dollars profit, you borrow against the two hundred dollars stock.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Borrow, not sell, right.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
You get cash, but you haven't sold, so no capital
gains tax. The stock hopefully keeps growing. You just pay
interest on the loan, maybe from other income. And then
the basic idea is invest borrow against it tax free
when you need cash.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Let it grow.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
When you die, it goes into a trust for your kids,
often stepping up the basis meaning still minimal tax. Now
it's complex, you need advice that tax.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Would right, the eighteen hundred dollar an hour.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Advisory exactly, because you need to manage the loans market dips.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
All that, but the core principle.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Powerful, and things like state arbitrage. Moving to Florida yep.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Moving to a state with no income tax before selling
massive amounts of stock avoids state capital gains tax very common,
totally legal, and another big one in the US at
least QSB Qualified Small Business Stock QUSB. Yeah, it's Oh,
it's massive incentive for entrepreneurs. If you start a company,
it stays under fifty million dollars in value. You hold
the stock for five plus years. The first ten million
(16:23):
dollars you make selling it or ten times what you
put in, whichever is bigger, is tax.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Free, ten million, tax free more.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
I put two point five million dollars into one QSB deal,
got twenty five million dollars back tax free. It rewards
taking that huge risk of starting a business.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Okay, but hearing this, yeah, the average person must feel
like the system is rigged right. It seems like earners
get taxed way more.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Your gut feeling is spot on.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
That's why the tax code balloon from four hundred pages
to four thousand. A lot of those extra pages help
rich people become super rich. There's a key difference super
earners versus super owners. You playing that earner, high salary, doctor, lawyer, exec.
Makes great money, but it's mostly income. They pay high
tax rates, maybe forty five to fifty percent. Super owner
(17:09):
owns assets, makes money buying and selling businesses.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Stocks, real estate. Their tax rate plummets, often much lower.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
So the goal is earn enough money to invest so
you can become a super owner, shift from earning to owning.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
So for the average listener, what's the main takeaway from
all this complex tax stuff?
Speaker 3 (17:24):
The simple version? Buy stock like index funds, borrow against
it if you need cash. Leader in life, try never
to sell it. Let it grow mostly untaxed until it
passes on. Understanding this stuff, it really is like pulling
back a curtain.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
You see.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
The game isn't the same for everyone, and it's why
good tax advice is worth its weight and goal. Find
your Yoda, start positioning yourself to be an owner, not
just an earner.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Critical point. Okay, let's switch gear slightly specific strategies. How
do you personally allocate your capital? Where's your money?
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Simple cash for emergencies my house, index funds, and then
shares in companies where I'm on the board.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
That's basically it clean easy.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Mine's almost identical now. Actually, after reading your stuff, I
pretty muchtop picking stocks. It's index funds mostly, right, plus
direct investments in startups I'm involved with. And yeah, I
have a significant long held position and ethereum that's done
well over time.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
And that ethereum holding that comes from deep conviction right
seeing the developer activity the potential exactly.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Felt like an informed bet on the ecosystem's growth.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
And my preference for index funds like yours. It's not
because I think beating the market is impossible. Some people can.
But the thing I want to maximize. It's endurance in
jaredous guy, Yeah, if I can get just average market returns,
but do it for an above average length of time,
that puts me way ahead top tier.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Eventually.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
My parents zero finance background, minimal interest, but the dollar
cost average into index funds for forty years, never sold.
Their results probably top three percent of pros just from consistency.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Okay, let's define those quickly dollar cost averaging index fund
for anyone new.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Sure dollar cost averaging is just investing the same amount
of money every single month, automatically rain or shine mark
it down. Your fixed amount buys more shares, mark it
up buys fewer, smooths out the ride takes emotion out.
If you have four oh one K, you're probably already
doing it.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Got it. And an index fund.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
It's just one fund that holds hundreds, maybe thousands of
different stocks, owns a tiny piece of everything, like owning
a slice of the whole economy, or as I sometimes say,
a slice of capitalism itself.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
So if I were your kid and said, Dad, prove
this boring index fund thing is better than picking the
next hot crypto or tech stock, what's the core argument?
Speaker 3 (19:40):
I'd say, Okay, how well you do in the next
year or even five years. It means almost nothing for
your lifetime wealth zero. What matters isn't the best return
you can possibly get. It's the good return you can
sustain for the longest possible time. It's all about endurance
compounding formula returns to the power of time. Time does
(20:02):
the heavy lifting.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Well, nice that endurance point. It applies elsewhere too. Right
like housing, we're told buying a house is always a
great investment, either good or bad financial move.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Okay, controversial take Perhaps if you're buying only as a
financial investment, I'd say, be very very careful. I see
buying a primary home as a lifestyle decision.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Mainly lifestyle, not investment.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Primarily, So many people get underwater buying when they should rent,
especially if they need to move for work or school.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Mobility is valuable. I own a house.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
If I lost money on it, wouldn't love it, but
I wouldn't care deeply.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
That's not his main purpose. It's stability for my family.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
But people do make money on houses. Seems like everyone
who bought twenty years ago is rich.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Now, that's the recent anomaly.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Historically, US UK housing prices adjusted for inflation flat like
pancake flat. Robert Schiller, Nobel Winner, showed this one hundred
and fifty years of data, mostly flat prices. It's just
the last few decades that skewed everyone's perception.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
So someone putting an offer on a house today, thinking
it's a guaranteed win financially, they.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Should think really hard, especially if moving might be on
the card soon, and ditch the idea you can't live
well renting, especially in cities now luxury apartments, amazing amenities,
great locations, you can rent and live incredibly well.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
So the framing is, don't borrow hundreds of thousands for
an asset that historically has been a pretty mediocre investment
pretty much.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Does that sound like a smart bet frame that way?
Probably not purely financially point taking.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Okay, what about the new frontier blockchain? Crypto still feels
like sci fi to a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Think of blockchain simply, it's like a public database in
the sky, a shared source of truth. Every computer on
the network verifies transactions, no need for a central bank
or government middleman.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
It's about trust through code, trustless trust exactly.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
And what's revolutionary, unlike the Internet or broadband before it
is that blockchain rewards participants for keeping the network running.
That creates scarcity, like bitcoin miners getting paid in bitcoin
or ethereum verifiers and bitcoin.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Is finite, right, only twenty.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
One million built in scarcity digital gold.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Some call it and crucially, Unlike say, investing in cutting
edge AI, where you usually need to be rich already,
blockchain assets are fractional.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
You can buy ten dollars of bitcoin accessible totally. It's
the only globally homogenous asset.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
A bitcoin is a bitcoin, whether you're in Nigeria or
New York, instantly transferable, no banks needed. It levels the
playing field for the fastest growing tech ever.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Powerful idea. What are the real world uses making waves? Now?
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Gaming is exploding Web three gaming.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Web three think next gen Internet powered by blockchain, where
users have more ownership. So in game items, FIFA cards,
RuneScape swords, whatever, blockchain lets.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
You truly own them. You can tread them outside.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
The game like real assets.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Exactly creates whole new economies for developers, real value for players,
And if you own the underlying token like ethereum, you
participate in the growth of that whole ecosystem.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
So how does someone actually dip their toe in practical
steps for crypto?
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Just open an account major exchanges, Coinbase, Krakencrypto, dot Com, Gemini,
even PayPal or Revolute offer basic access.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Now start small, get.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
Comfortable with owning something that moves in price, then maybe
later look into self custody like a Ledger device, right,
a little.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
USB stick thing. I use one for my ethereum, got
my ceed phrase dashed safely perfect.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
That Ledger holds your private key. It's your digital mailbox.
Only you have the key, meaning no government freeze, no
bank run can touch it. You physically control your digital
wealth and that magic Internet money secured by a phrase
you memorize, crosses borders with you, no questions asked, Unlike
gold bars.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
It really comes back to that transformation, doesn't it, From
just earning money to truly owning assets, understanding the systems.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
That's the core shift.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
The real key to wealth isn't just getting more dollars,
it's changing your role from earner to owner, understanding leverage,
applying skills, strategically playing tax games smartly. These unlocked doors
most people don't even know exist.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
So as we wrap this up, the thought to leave
you with is now that maybe some of these curtains
have been pulled back. What hidden rooms of opportunity are
you ready to explore? What steps will you take to
move from just earning to truly owning
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