July 30, 2025 • 32 mins
Let's talk about the willingness to transition your career finding your professional calling.
Donny Mangos is a renaissance man. A business graduate, he started out building and designing business systems, moving into IT consulting for banks and insurance companies, and transitioned to real estate. He has written 2 books “Replace Your Salary with Real Estate” and “Get Wealthed Up”, in support of his work in financial consulting and real estate investing.
Check him out at GetWealthedUp.com
Follow Marci Talks Money (and Life) wherever you get your podcasts to get the episodes as they post.
Visit MoneyMarci.com for other financial literacy resources.
Donny Mangos is a renaissance man. A business graduate, he started out building and designing business systems, moving into IT consulting for banks and insurance companies, and transitioned to real estate. He has written 2 books “Replace Your Salary with Real Estate” and “Get Wealthed Up”, in support of his work in financial consulting and real estate investing.
Check him out at GetWealthedUp.com
Follow Marci Talks Money (and Life) wherever you get your podcasts to get the episodes as they post.
Visit MoneyMarci.com for other financial literacy resources.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Powered by Riverside at them.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Welcome to Marcy talks money in life. I am money, Marcy,
and I love that I get to meet so many
people who have had interesting journeys in their relationships with money.
Donnie Mangos is a renaissance man. A business graduate, he
started out building and designing business systems, moved into it
consulting for banks and insurance companies, and transition to real estate.
(00:27):
He's now written two books, Replace Your Salary with Real
Estate and Get Wealthed Up, in support of his work
in financial consulting and real estate investing. Welcome don I'm
so happy to have you here.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Hey Marcy, great to be here. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
So I like to start with how you got here?
So what financial lessons did you learn growing up or
not learn that set you on this interesting path?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Love it absolutely so. I am a son of an immigrant.
So my parents came from Europe, they with really nothing
in the pockets. They owed money in fact, and they
just had to go through the lifestyle of assimilating in Canada,
finding jobs, figuring out ways to build a family. So
that mentality really struck through, because that's what I witnessed
growing up was just hard work, saving, and that's how
(01:14):
you build I follow.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
That for a number of years.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
That was that was basically my true north. That's how
I had to That's how I figured out to make
money and provide for my family and do the things
that I want to do in my life. So that
was my first experience into learning how to afford life,
how to make it, how to make it work for you.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
But a lot's changed since then. For me.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
I think a lot's changed for the world, never mind
just me. It's that system doesn't really work so much
the way that it does. It really hasn't changed. The
numbers have changed around it, and so it's not it's
not as possible to be my dad and my mom
today in this in this climate, in this environment and
go ahead and make a family, and go ahead and
pay for life and thrive. So I've had to evolve.
I've had to evolve and understand what, okay, what's going on?
(01:54):
How do we how do we make this work? You know, here,
I am twenty five thirty, I got how old am
I whatever? A number of years, a few decades, and
I'm like, you know what, I finally I think have
the most part figured it out, Like figured out. And
so now my kids and the lessons I teach them
are different, that what they see is very different. And
I hope we'll get into that in our discussion today.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Okay, now you went to where did you go to
school to get your business degree?
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (02:21):
So at the time, it was called raison, So I
was a transfer. I went to a University of Western
Ontario in London and then made a shift over back
to Toronto where it was just it was easier to afford.
It is really what came down to, and we I
went to school in Ryerson, got a business degree, and
from that I was recruited out of there somehow, some
way as a business grad to work in it with
(02:43):
a bunch of computer science wizards, of which I was
not one of, but I was grouped in. I must
have stuck in on something. I don't know how that happened.
And it was a great paying job. So I was
wooed by the money and then I worked in it.
That's kind of how it happened until I realized very
quickly a couple of years in, I really don't like this.
(03:04):
I really don't like the high cubicle walls. I'm by
myself all day. I really it just you're really treating
time for paycheck, and that's not who I wanted to be.
So the business degree part of it, like being business
focused and watching my dad work and working in his
restaurant when I was in fifth and sixth grade onwards.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
It it didn't fit. It was going against the grain
for me.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
And so I just needed to like chase passions and
chase entrepreneurship more than chasing an hourly wage.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
And that's when I.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Shifted my focus into real estate. I just wanted to
chase what I was happy about, what I enjoyed, because
when you do what you love, you never work a
day in your life. You we've all heard that expression.
And I just said, I'm gonna do this. I don't
know how it's gonna work out, but I think it
will because if I like it enough, if I love
it enough, i'll care about it more, I will perform better,
(03:55):
I will transfer my love for it to others, and
it'll all sort of work in harmony. And it did, Marcia,
it very much did. So I understood how to run
a business from education. I understood how to do it,
do it phill as a soul, and I went that direction,
and then that that changed everything for me. I didn't
look for a career change beyond that. This was my
this is my forever thing. You know, when you meet
(04:16):
somebody and you say, you know, you remember Joe, Joe Joe,
Who's who's Joe Joe, Joe the Plumber? Oh yeah, I
know Joe the Plumber. Like it kind of works that way.
I was gonna be Donnie the realtor. I recognized people
were going to say, who's whose father is at Who's
who's you know, who's that guy's that girl's father? Well,
that's uh, Donnie the realtor. That's who I figured I
was becoming. And it worked because it gave me everything
(04:37):
good in life, until I started realizing that I was
no longer as infatuated with it as I was. You know,
I pivoted in the business to go towards more the
investment side of real estate, health building side of real estate,
and for better or worse, it pushed me into another
direction where wealth became the focus, not necessarily real estate,
(04:57):
and that evolved into who I am now, which is
Donnie the well strategist guy.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
So then you've written these books and you talk about
a money mansion. Now, I tried to look it up.
I think I found a movie and a video game.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Okay, you found more than I did, then, Martie, because
I thought I was making it up, quite honestly.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Well, I think they were something totally different than what
you meant. And I love when people come up with phrases.
So tell me about a money mansion.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
So it's a book that's called wealthed Up, Get Wealthed
Up by me Donnie Mangos, And what I talk about
a strategy in this book which I believe is foundational
to a proper wealth plan for everyone. This is what
we should all aspire to. I'm trying to relate it
back to what I know, what I've been used to explaining,
which is real estate. And the strategy of the concept
(05:45):
that I talk about and Get Wealthed Up is called
a money mansion and has nothing to do with real estate,
but I speak about it as if it does because
it has similar characteristics.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Cash Flow is an important thing for me.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
How do you afford life on a day to day
appreciation growth like real estate offers, this money mansion kind
of offers the same thing. So I have to package
something conceptually in my own my own mind, to say,
how can I concisely deliver a message so I can
make it accessible to people they can actually absorb it.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
And through that long strategy.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
That I that I've been working on is now called
a money mansion, just so I can concisely say.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Have you have you got one? Do you want to do?
You want to start yours building money?
Speaker 2 (06:25):
So what is what is the money mansion itself? Other
than how you're terming it fair?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
So it's a strategy first and foremost, and the strategy
is based on you have to create a linear set
of steps that you work towards. You acquire products along
the way to ultimately achieve certain outcomes.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
So here we go.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
So you know how you earn money, Marcia. You've got
a job and you earn money perfect before you even
see what you earn, though, you got to do. Step
one is paying come taxes before it even makes its
way over to you. You're you're losing part of that right,
that's painful, that actually really hurts me.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
But that happens.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Then you have this, so you have a smaller number
left from that You've got to pay for life, So
you probably own your home. You've got cars, insurance, kids, dogs,
whatever you name it, vacations, it's all in there. And
then you're left with this little amount of money and
we call that savings, and from savings we're meant to
do this thing called invest that's kind of how we
like that. That is the strategy ball down, all right.
(07:19):
So you take a small number and you go and
you have to try and put it towards an asset
that you think will go up in value, will increase
in value. So if you're lucky and it does, the
number grows. But you're trying to build this really small
number into a really big number. It's a very difficult task.
Even if the rate of return is fifteen twenty percent,
you're still starting with a small number. The volume is
(07:40):
so tiny it's it's hard to achieve that. And the
kicker is that small number that you go that you
put towards an asset to try and increase its value
as it grows from what you started with to what
it's going to be. Whatever grows by that becomes taxable again,
and you go through the same process all over again
of paying income tax on what you just made though
the government didn't participate in your decision, took no risk
(08:02):
if you if you failed in it, they're going to
They're going to share in the wins every time you
make an investment. Okay, So that bothers me and I
don't think many people are aware that this is what
we're all doing. We're introducing the government as a partner
every time we choose to invest. And Marcy, I'm not
sure if you've talked about this before on your podcast,
but so inflation, inflation is the price that we look
(08:24):
at it as the price of things increasing. It's it's
really it's really not that. It's really the value of
all of our current dollars decreasing. So inflation anyway is
going to move the number up so that whatever that
asset was that I bought with that small amount, I
put it towards that asset. And if inflation is a
big reason why that number goes up, there's no actual
increase in value, just an increase in the price of
(08:46):
whatever I bought because of inflation. But that's taxable too,
Like the government doesn't care that inflation is the reason
why it went up. The government monetary policy says, I'm
going to increase the price of things fantastic. Well, that
increase in price is taxable, so we live in that.
We live in that in that world. So I look
at this and say, why do I have to do this?
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Why can't I just change? I don't want to.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
I don't want to put my money towards this scenario.
What else can I do? Given the fact that I
understand what's happening out there, how do I figure this out?
I said, okay, let's start with the end, and said,
what what do I really really want? What I really
want is I want to avoid paying taxes on my
asset increase is what I first and foremost that's important
to me. I want to stop paying excessive taxation. I
want all my money to go up in value. I
(09:27):
don't want to hope that it's going to go up
in an asset like which is a lot of us
are doing. When you put money into the bitcoin, into
the SMP. Whatever you're hoping, I mean, it's likely it's
going to increase, but we don't actually know. It's a
hope strategy. I don't want to hope anymore. I want
actess to my money whenever I want it. I don't
have to sell all my assets whenever I'm in a pinch,
I don't want to have to do that. I started
(09:48):
looking at things like this, saying, what do I want
from my outcome. I want it to be creditor.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Approof, not that I do anything wrong.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
I just don't want like we live in a world
where people can just introduce lawsuits whatever they want, tie
up your money. I don't want to money to be
tied up it for any reason along those lines. And
I want, like, I'm a family man. I've got two
daughters who I adore, wife. I want to make sure
that whatever I do, they can see the benefits of that.
At some point, something happens to me I said, this
is this is what I want.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
I want.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
I want this bundle. I want to create this outcome.
And I realize that you can actually create this bundle.
You can do this, and you can make it somebody
else's obligation to deliver all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
I can.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
I can make it someone else's obligation, and not just anybody,
not not the loan shark down the road, but actual
major financial institutions in Canada and the US. We're very
fortunate that these people they're willing to do this and
it ultimately turns out to be an insurance solution. So
you're doing this through insurance. With insurance contracts, you don't
have to reinvent anything.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
You don't have to.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Go and hire lawyers or a legal team to to
find these partners and attract all these documents. Know it's
through through their contracts you can you can design them
and manipulate them such that you achieve the goals that
you want to give us, that bundle, that outcome that
we're looking for, and give them what they want as well.
So the money mansion is that it's understanding where you're
at right now, understanding what you want y'all come to
(11:08):
look like, and then creating the steps to get you
to that predetermined, almost all guaranteed outcome.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
So waiter, you tell me you're an insurance guide too,
or you just use insurance as a tool.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
It's insurance as a tool to me. It's primarily like,
for my first thing is an asset class. I know
that it gives insurance and I need that, of course,
but I'm never sold insurance policy like that to sell
insurance and I'm not interested. I'm more interested in how
do I create the outcome that I want financially from
while I'm alive, more than taking care of my dependence.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
So you're a business graduate who worked in it, became
a real estate agent, and now is an author. Yes,
And I believe you said you're a podcaster now too, Yes,
which is podcasting about the wealth building. I assume.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Yeah, it's called Wealth Up.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Okay, So that's not just your book, that's also your podcast,
your brand. That's when you talk about real estate. You're
still using real estate, not just insurance at this point, right.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
So yes, But the last few years Marcy Toronto has
been very so my micro market, the Toronto has been
very lucrative for a.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Couple of decades.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
So you know, like the rising tide raises all boats
and everybody was making money hand over fist.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
But then when the tide.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Goes down, there's a lot of people that are hurting,
and I foresaw the end of the party and I
just didn't feel good. Like real estate is a liquid
right now, so some of the properties that we own
their liquid. You have to sell or refinance, and both
of them are difficult, and when you want access to money,
there's just limited options in that space. I do think
real estate's an amazing investment. I absolutely do long term,
(12:44):
but you have to be able to ride out those
market cycles. And the market cycles are what made me
really question whether I want to start with real estate
or I want to start with money mansion and then
go back into real estate. The sequence to me is important.
One provides excellent liquid which I realized I highly value,
and then I can use some of that equidity to
acquire more real estate. So real estate, I think it's
(13:06):
a great asset. You know, it's appreciating on the whole.
And if you're in a jurisdiction where it makes sense
to be a real estate property owner as a landlord, fantastic.
If you are not, you may want to rethink real
estate in your portfolio, at least locally. So I just
needed ways to continue to see a path forward growth, security, quidity,
(13:28):
and real estate wasn't doing that, and that's what made
me really question, like, where are we going with this?
How am I going to figure out the next twenty
years of my life so that I can have an
amazing twenty years and beyond rather than just getting by
waiting on liquidity and cycles.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Oh that makes sense, Dannie, So I guess I'm trying
to put you in a box, which probably doesn't make
sense because there is nothing about you that belongs in
the box, thank you, But to try and understand from myself,
health and for listeners, are you a coach? Are you
an investment advisor? Where exactly would you fit in? When
(14:09):
someone is saying, Okay, I want to get my financial
house in order, I want to look at doing the
things that I'm building.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Right, there's a few different levels to that. So one
Donnie who wrote the book Get Wealthed Up, I talk
about a singular strategy in that, so I just kind
of describe to you how that like why someone would
be interested in that. And I help facilitate, I help design,
I help understand what's important, really curate what the outcome will.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Be based on who you are.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Because I as much as I wish for it to
be as simple as plug it into AI, spit it out,
get an outcome and then just create that, it isn't that.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
It really isn't.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
So we have to we have to understand if there's
a process to application, not everyone qualifies.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
So just got to make sure we're doing that.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
So on the one side, very simply when people call
me and say, hey, I like to build a money mansion,
I help them build a money mansion. In that case,
I am the insurance advisor who helps acquire that. Okay,
So I facilitate that. The other side is that's.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
One part of it.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
If you're going to go bigger picture, I've got assets
across the board.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
I've been going to different countries.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
I've got like you have this mega this mega millionaire
and who are they what are they looking for? Well,
I fit into a different role with a team that
I work with. I'm an insurance guy, so I can
speak to that part of their portfolio. I can speak
to real estate side of the portfolio. But we have
this whole consultancy. It's not a financial advisor that really
only sells you products offered by their brokerage or who
(15:32):
they who they represent. This is a step back and
do everything in our office. Do you need to trust
who's building it for you? What's your long term strategy?
Where should you set up your business? Like it was
a whole consultancy side of things, of which I'm one
part of. So financial planners if you need that, if
you needed an investment advisor, we have those guys on
our team as well. I fit into a role nicely
(15:53):
on that team as an insurance and seche fund asset manager.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Okay, but you're not the guy who sells them your insurance.
You help them talk to the insurance agents and figure
out what are the right insurance investments for them.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
On the insurance side. I'm part of that team, so
I would have the discussions. I lead the team a
legacy insurance. I lead the team for the insurance advisors,
and I'm one of them as well, so could be
any of us.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
It's fascinating because I have never I mean, I deal
with an insurance guy, or I deal with a stockbroker,
or I deal with you know, as a CPA. I
kind of create my own team as I go for me,
or I work with If a client comes in and
they've got X, y Z, I work with whoever their
people are. If they're looking for new people, I can
(16:37):
make some suggestions of various places they might look. But
I am not connected to a team in the way
that you are, so so that's an interesting.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Some people just want that one thing. So if they're
looking for you know, file my taxes for me. Okay,
maybe like that's that's something very simple and you don't
really want to involve other partners in this. But to
use that example, it's the things you do leading up
to file my taxes that could really alter what that
file my taxes stuff looks like, right, the planning and
(17:08):
advance and all of that that really affects it. Handing
your receipts and asking your CPA. You're asking your accountant
to save me a few bucks.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
I don't know how that works, Like, what are you
what are you hoping to do?
Speaker 3 (17:17):
You're too far in to really plan for strategic deductions
or strategy. That all happens on our side. When we
get to that level where it's really looking at you
as a whole holistically, how do we figure this out?
Speaker 1 (17:29):
That's what we do.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
So some people want that. Some people want just help
me figure out my entire life, give it all to me.
That's amazing. Not everybody wants that. Some people just want
you know what, I'm okay, I manage my tfs in
my no fee accounts, that with my brokerage, no problem.
I want to do this. I figured out my will,
I know what I'm going to do. I just need
I've heard of this concept and I want to put
(17:51):
this into action, so can you help me get that?
So there's there's Ultimately it's the client aside, it's what
they what they want, So I operate on two different levels.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Absolutely. Did you ever expect you would end up doing
what you're doing?
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Absolutely not. You know what, I never thought about that?
Absolutely not. No.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Well, I went for a business degree, So I mean,
did you have some idea, Okay, I'm going to study
business because I'm going to Was it a general business
degree or were you under Okay?
Speaker 3 (18:20):
It was it was a business degree with what the
major was in business information systems. Now, keep in mind,
the internet's kind of new, like that's where I'm dating
myself here.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
This is where we were.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
So it was tech kind of but not really. Just
how to how to understand how to use software was
kind of what it came down to. And a minor
in economics, and I just I'm a I'm a I'm
a student always. I just want to learn more and
more and more and more. So I'm not sure that
my degree did very much beyond get me that first job.
Quite honestly, I think the School of Life has contributed
(18:51):
far more than the degree that I earned, and I
think that's probably a statement I could make even more.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
It's relevant today to a lot of these kids.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
It's a school of life's important, and the pace of
what's happening out here is really quick that I don't
know if everybody is getting the benefit out of post
secondary education higher learning. I'm not sure that it's still
as relevant for these guys as it was for us
when the pace of life was a bit slower.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Anyways, I digress.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
No, I didn't imagine how I was going to be here.
In fact, I remember coming out of university and I applaud.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
I don't even know how.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
I applied to work at a company that basically sold
insurance and mutual.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Funds, and I had the job.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
I had gone through the licensing requirements to be a dealer,
no problem, And at the very last moment, I'm like,
what am I doing here?
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Get me out of here. I want no part of this.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
I just realized that right now, Marti's speaking with you,
that actually happened, and then I abandoned it, and here
I am kind of doing it twenty five.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Years later, but you're doing it differently. And I agree
with you that the pace of life has changed. I've
got a few years on you. And when I started
practicing accounting, computers were just starting to go into the office.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Imagine that there was no email.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
We had couriers that either you had a guy that
worked for you, or you had courier services that would
if you needed something to the other side of town immediately,
either someone from your office went, or you would call
one of these guys that would pick it up and
take it there. We process tax returns by hand, and
then there was a place where we filled out forms
and sent it out and they'd bring it back the
(20:21):
next day, and if we had corrections, we would send
it back out right. It's a totally different world. It
moves so much faster, and the changes on computers and
the changes on access and the changes on information that's
available is incredible. We used to be able to get
the cch books, the reference books, and you knew they
were were as accurate as they were depending on how
(20:44):
current they were. And now I can turn around on
the Internet and I can get information. Now I have
to worry whether it's accurate information as to who touched
it and where it came from. Unless I'm using a
compiled source that I know, this is from the irs,
or this is from you know, one of the agencies
that puts out real information. And it's scary to see
(21:05):
what my kids are going through as young adults and
the world changing. And you go to college to learn
more about how to learn, maybe to learn more about
specific subject areas, but the world is changing so fast
it's you don't necessarily come out and do well. This
is what I expected, this is where I'm going to go,
this is have a life plan. My husband and I
(21:27):
both went to college for our degrees our careers. I'm
an accountant and I went for accounting. He's a computer programmer.
He went for computer programming. But that's not necessarily what happens.
And you have to be willing to be aware of that.
And we have to give our kids grace that their
experience is going to be so different than than what ours.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
What agreed you know on that point? I so Gary,
you know Gary v is Gary? Okay, So he's pretty mega.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
He showed up. There was a conference in Toronto. He
was a keynote. He rolls in and.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
You know, he's a hyper you know, he's Gary, and
he's flipping out he doesn't have much of.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
A speech prepared, because why would he kind of thing.
And it's like, hey, everybody, where do you want to go?
Do you want to go? Q and A? This is
a Q and A. Let's go. Let's go.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
It does Q and A with with the audience. It
gets two rolls lined up behind a mic and says,
all right, any questions go for him. So here comes
this dad, this guy. This guy walks up to the
mic and he's uh, he's got his phone camera out
and he's recording his interaction with Gary Vee and he goes, Gary,
so I'm recording for my daughter. She's going to Columbia
University in the fall. You have any words of wisdom
(22:32):
you want to share. I'd love to play this for
her when I when I see her later on. He goes, dude,
are you serious? Yeah, yeah, I'm serious. I'm gonna do this. Okay,
what is she? What is she studying there? Marketing? He goes, Okay,
I'm gonna be honest. So yeah, of course, don't do it.
Don't waste your money, don't waste your time, spend your
money on lunches with executives. Go on YouTube, watch what's happening.
(22:54):
The things you're gonna learn were written by dinosaurs who
wrote how to market back.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
When there was catalogs.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
And he just went off right, and just for about
five minutes he was spewing this off and like, I
feel you, Gary, I get what you're saying. You know,
it's to go to university, go to college to learn,
learn how to learn right. Critical thinking is an important content,
even more today than it was when we were younger.
For sure, misinformation versus what's actual that matters. But to
(23:20):
go there for a job unless you're going to be
a lawyer or a doctor where you require licensing like that,
I'm having a hard time understanding the true benefit when
you realize how much debt is involved here? What is
the ROI could you have been better off on a
different path, I just want to I'm not saying you
you would be. I'm saying it's worth considering if you
are entering that path. And we as parents, are absolutely right
(23:41):
need to be mindful of you know, it's not as
predetermined as it was for us that this is what
you do first, then you do this, then you do that,
then you have a family and et cetera, et cetera.
That isn't linear anymore, right, and it has to do
with the advancement of technology and software and all that.
So it's changed, it's changing. We need to be mindful
of that, respectful of our of our kids.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
It's crazy. So the the people that you're dealing with,
I assume from the things that you said, they come
into because they have money. They're not coming in because
they have debt to get sorted out. You're you're dealing
with higher wealth or people that have wealth to begin with.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Most times, yes, so.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
You have some experience in people that you're helping them
turn it around and build that well.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Yeah, so sometimes it's a matter of this needs to
happen before we can do this. So remember I was
talking about how it's a partnerships. You're creating a win
win with with a partner under contract that a partner
will be an insurance company. Essentially they need to they
need to win too. And if you're not qualified for
well medically, it's ultimately to life insurance product. So you
use your you use your body, what your your life
(24:49):
as part of this. But you also got to make
sure that they have to make sure that they feel
confident that you can hold up your end of the
bargain financially. So if you can't demonstrate that you've got
a little excess capital to contribute towards the fuelling this contract,
they may not be interested in.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Partnering with you or with us, okay.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
So it's oftentimes it's say, here's what we're going to do. Okay,
we need to change a few things around. Now, this
becomes more of the holistic side, but a really scaled
down version of it, saying we need to prepare to
do this. So there's like everything in life, you know,
you've got to run away if you want that. Here
are the things we need to do to get to
the point where we can take off. So let's start
putting a plan in place for that. And sometimes it
works and sometimes it doesn't. You can only guide as
(25:28):
a leader. You can't execute for them on that side
of things. You know, if it's curving some spending, or
if it's changing if it's delaying a trip until after
you've funded this thing, which allows you to have access
to capital again later on, there's things we can do
to have that discussion, but ultimately it's not your decision
on whether or not you're going to qualify. It's someone
else's decision if they're going to allow you to qualify.
(25:48):
So we can attempt and we can have discussion with
somebody who ultimately is that partner. There is a person
that you can speak with to try and communicate who
you are and why. Sometimes the answers know and that's okay,
it's not a no, it's not right now. So we
just got to get to the right now part and
plan for that.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Okay, how are you teaching your daughters about money? I
don't know. Are they teens?
Speaker 3 (26:10):
Maybe? Well I've got one teenager and one tween. Okay,
so well, one my teenager is actually on my payroll.
So for some antal properties, I make her go through
a lot of the expenses, create them, send up the
documents for collection on utilities, things like that. So she's
starting to see how other there's actually cost associated with
doing it. This way, she sees the revenues and expenses
(26:31):
and the reports and understands it because she's she's involved
with that. Now I have her listen through my podcasts
so that she can correct anything. For example, really has
an exercise to get her to listen to it. They
have their own money mansions, and I've been talking to
them about it many times and made them read my book.
They're they're really starting to see how what's happening out there,
it's not necessarily the way that they need to conduct
(26:52):
their life as well. My oldest she's closest to understanding
for sure. One of my one of my favorite stories
is she has a money mansion set up. Rather than
put her money into a savings account, which is what
she was doing, earning literally three four cents a month,
she contributes towards her money mansion. The money mansion is
it's three years in. It's damn near like above water.
(27:13):
Which is how this works. Is the first two three years,
sometimes four years, you're not in dollar for dollar. The
value of your asset is not dollar for dollar. Will
you contributed, But then it's skyrockets and it only ever goes,
it's only ever in the green. So she's close to that,
and I teach her about not spending her money. Her
money goes towards building assets, and she borrows money to
(27:34):
spend and pays that back because the gain of what
she if she leaves her money alone, the gain is
massive over her lifetime. She has so many years to compound,
and she can just you know, she can control the
payment structure on what she borrows to do this. So
this summer, she wanted to get into a volleyball camp.
It cost fifteen hundred bucks. She wanted to do it perfect.
I could have paid for it for her. That would
(27:54):
do nobody any good. And she could have paid for
it out of savings or like birthday money and things
like this atributed towards that. No, she did what we
talk about, which is user money mansion, that liquidity facility
in her money mansion. She's going to borrow money from that,
let her money grow, and she's going to pay back
in equal installments over twelve months, one hundred and twenty
nine dollars a month. And she's three months back into
(28:15):
paying that.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
So she understands.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
So she borrowed it from her own assets.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Exactly right, just like you were the line of credit
on your property. Okay, So I'm showing her, I'm teaching
her lessons in compounding, teaching her lessons in taxation, teaching
her lessons in opportunity cost right, these are all part
of the part of the plan.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
So that's that side of things. Marty.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
But what I really what I'm which is I'm excited
about that, as you can tell. But what I'm really
excited about is I promote this above all else in life.
I'm talking about revenues now, just bringing in finding ways
to bring in money into your life.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
How do you do that?
Speaker 3 (28:48):
You create value, That's it. The more value you can create,
the more competition you're going to see in your life.
It's just it's a magic formula. The bigger the problem
that you can solve, the higher the value someone's going
to regard that, and the more you're going to the
more you're going to naturally attract. So go out there,
find problems, find solutions to those problems, and tell people
(29:09):
about it. That's how you create value, and then you
won't have to worry about your revenue. Problem is solved
at that point, and it's a never ending saga. It's
a never ending like chase. You know, you'll continue to
find more and more problems, and some won't be exactly
what you imagine they would be, and some, you know,
maybe they don't believe that it's going to be as
big a problem as you do. You just keep going
(29:29):
out there and the market's going to let you know
in life you will get paid directly in proportion to
the amount of value you create.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
So they're starting to see that that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Do you talk about money at dinner and other parts
of it or is it really just the work part?
Speaker 3 (29:42):
I do know all the time, just about smart ways, taxes.
They know my take, So I mean, I think it's exciting.
I hope they do a little. One doesn't really love
talking about money.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
But she's still she's still.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
But I've got friends and like people that are in
my network and just in my neighborhood who want their
kids to be immersed in this as well. How do
they set up the money man? How do they figure
this stuff out as well? Because if they do this now,
they won't have the issues that we have right now.
They will never have to go with the ups and
downs of the market. They never have to worry about
waiting for money, They never have to worry about what
(30:14):
happens if everything is. If they can do this right now,
the benefit of time that they have is so great
that they will be like their life is planned out
for them at ten. If we can do this for
them now.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
That's awesome because I love talking with people about how
they're talking about money with their kids, how are they
raising their kids, how are they talking about money with
their spouse, so that you're having the conversations and you
don't have the surprises that come when you don't have
those conversations.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Yes, thank you, I love it.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
I love it as well, and I think I think
we need to do more of that because TikTok and
financial literacy that's on there, it's not it's just bling.
It's about you know, splurge, splurge, and everyone's trying to
keep up. That's not literacy. Spending is not literacy.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Right, And they're also keeping up with people who are
alive because we're not all of a sudden earning you know,
ten thousand dollars a month on TikTok for working an
hour a month, right, you know, if that was if
that was happening, I can't imagine how the economy would
respond to that.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
No, that's not creating value right like that, I mean
back to that, it's not really creating the value. So
they're not really doing they're not bringing in that much.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
I'm sorry, Right, have you got anything you'd like to
share before we wrap up, Donnie.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
I think I'm a big believer proponent of financial literacy. Please, everybody,
just don't even listen to what I'm saying. Research everything
on your own. I think it's important that you get
a solid understanding of how the tax system works, how
inflation is working against us, things like this. Just be
aware so you can make better decisions. The person who
needs my help the most is often in their sixties,
(31:48):
and they realize I don't have enough, I can't I
don't know how I'm going to pay for the rest
of my life. And I hate being in that conversation
for them because I can't help them. They've gone too
far for us to really build an asset. If you're
in your thirties and your forties, or if you're in
your twenties and teens, whatever, you guys have the best
opportunity to really put lessons into action and have a
(32:13):
ridiculous effect overall in your life. You can avoid the
problem of the person who I'm talking about in their
late sixties who's struggling. You can do things today with
minimal effort to really change the rest of your life.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Thank you, Donnie. I appreciate you saying that I will
be sharing Donnie's links in the show notes, so if
you want to find him, you'll know how to do that. Donnie,
I have been thrilled to have you here and that
was a lot of good information and a great conversation,
So everyone, thank you for listening. This has been money
Marcy on Marcie talks money and life and you got this.
(32:46):
See yeah,
Powered by Riverside at them.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Welcome to Marcy talks money in life. I am money, Marcy,
and I love that I get to meet so many
people who have had interesting journeys in their relationships with money.
Donnie Mangos is a renaissance man. A business graduate, he
started out building and designing business systems, moved into it
consulting for banks and insurance companies, and transition to real estate.
(00:27):
He's now written two books, Replace Your Salary with Real
Estate and Get Wealthed Up, in support of his work
in financial consulting and real estate investing. Welcome don I'm
so happy to have you here.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Hey Marcy, great to be here. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
So I like to start with how you got here?
So what financial lessons did you learn growing up or
not learn that set you on this interesting path?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Love it absolutely so. I am a son of an immigrant.
So my parents came from Europe, they with really nothing
in the pockets. They owed money in fact, and they
just had to go through the lifestyle of assimilating in Canada,
finding jobs, figuring out ways to build a family. So
that mentality really struck through, because that's what I witnessed
growing up was just hard work, saving, and that's how
(01:14):
you build I follow.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
That for a number of years.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
That was that was basically my true north. That's how
I had to That's how I figured out to make
money and provide for my family and do the things
that I want to do in my life. So that
was my first experience into learning how to afford life,
how to make it, how to make it work for you.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
But a lot's changed since then. For me.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
I think a lot's changed for the world, never mind
just me. It's that system doesn't really work so much
the way that it does. It really hasn't changed. The
numbers have changed around it, and so it's not it's
not as possible to be my dad and my mom
today in this in this climate, in this environment and
go ahead and make a family, and go ahead and
pay for life and thrive. So I've had to evolve.
I've had to evolve and understand what, okay, what's going on?
(01:54):
How do we how do we make this work? You know, here,
I am twenty five thirty, I got how old am
I whatever? A number of years, a few decades, and
I'm like, you know what, I finally I think have
the most part figured it out, Like figured out. And
so now my kids and the lessons I teach them
are different, that what they see is very different. And
I hope we'll get into that in our discussion today.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Okay, now you went to where did you go to
school to get your business degree?
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (02:21):
So at the time, it was called raison, So I
was a transfer. I went to a University of Western
Ontario in London and then made a shift over back
to Toronto where it was just it was easier to afford.
It is really what came down to, and we I
went to school in Ryerson, got a business degree, and
from that I was recruited out of there somehow, some
way as a business grad to work in it with
(02:43):
a bunch of computer science wizards, of which I was
not one of, but I was grouped in. I must
have stuck in on something. I don't know how that happened.
And it was a great paying job. So I was
wooed by the money and then I worked in it.
That's kind of how it happened until I realized very
quickly a couple of years in, I really don't like this.
(03:04):
I really don't like the high cubicle walls. I'm by
myself all day. I really it just you're really treating
time for paycheck, and that's not who I wanted to be.
So the business degree part of it, like being business
focused and watching my dad work and working in his
restaurant when I was in fifth and sixth grade onwards.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
It it didn't fit. It was going against the grain
for me.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
And so I just needed to like chase passions and
chase entrepreneurship more than chasing an hourly wage.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
And that's when I.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Shifted my focus into real estate. I just wanted to
chase what I was happy about, what I enjoyed, because
when you do what you love, you never work a
day in your life. You we've all heard that expression.
And I just said, I'm gonna do this. I don't
know how it's gonna work out, but I think it
will because if I like it enough, if I love
it enough, i'll care about it more, I will perform better,
(03:55):
I will transfer my love for it to others, and
it'll all sort of work in harmony. And it did, Marcia,
it very much did. So I understood how to run
a business from education. I understood how to do it,
do it phill as a soul, and I went that direction,
and then that that changed everything for me. I didn't
look for a career change beyond that. This was my
this is my forever thing. You know, when you meet
(04:16):
somebody and you say, you know, you remember Joe, Joe Joe,
Who's who's Joe Joe, Joe the Plumber? Oh yeah, I
know Joe the Plumber. Like it kind of works that way.
I was gonna be Donnie the realtor. I recognized people
were going to say, who's whose father is at Who's
who's you know, who's that guy's that girl's father? Well,
that's uh, Donnie the realtor. That's who I figured I
was becoming. And it worked because it gave me everything
(04:37):
good in life, until I started realizing that I was
no longer as infatuated with it as I was. You know,
I pivoted in the business to go towards more the
investment side of real estate, health building side of real estate,
and for better or worse, it pushed me into another
direction where wealth became the focus, not necessarily real estate,
(04:57):
and that evolved into who I am now, which is
Donnie the well strategist guy.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
So then you've written these books and you talk about
a money mansion. Now, I tried to look it up.
I think I found a movie and a video game.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Okay, you found more than I did, then, Martie, because
I thought I was making it up, quite honestly.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Well, I think they were something totally different than what
you meant. And I love when people come up with phrases.
So tell me about a money mansion.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
So it's a book that's called wealthed Up, Get Wealthed
Up by me Donnie Mangos, And what I talk about
a strategy in this book which I believe is foundational
to a proper wealth plan for everyone. This is what
we should all aspire to. I'm trying to relate it
back to what I know, what I've been used to explaining,
which is real estate. And the strategy of the concept
(05:45):
that I talk about and Get Wealthed Up is called
a money mansion and has nothing to do with real estate,
but I speak about it as if it does because
it has similar characteristics.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Cash Flow is an important thing for me.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
How do you afford life on a day to day
appreciation growth like real estate offers, this money mansion kind
of offers the same thing. So I have to package
something conceptually in my own my own mind, to say,
how can I concisely deliver a message so I can
make it accessible to people they can actually absorb it.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
And through that long strategy.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
That I that I've been working on is now called
a money mansion, just so I can concisely say.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Have you have you got one? Do you want to do?
You want to start yours building money?
Speaker 2 (06:25):
So what is what is the money mansion itself? Other
than how you're terming it fair?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
So it's a strategy first and foremost, and the strategy
is based on you have to create a linear set
of steps that you work towards. You acquire products along
the way to ultimately achieve certain outcomes.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
So here we go.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
So you know how you earn money, Marcia. You've got
a job and you earn money perfect before you even
see what you earn, though, you got to do. Step
one is paying come taxes before it even makes its
way over to you. You're you're losing part of that right,
that's painful, that actually really hurts me.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
But that happens.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Then you have this, so you have a smaller number
left from that You've got to pay for life, So
you probably own your home. You've got cars, insurance, kids, dogs,
whatever you name it, vacations, it's all in there. And
then you're left with this little amount of money and
we call that savings, and from savings we're meant to
do this thing called invest that's kind of how we
like that. That is the strategy ball down, all right.
(07:19):
So you take a small number and you go and
you have to try and put it towards an asset
that you think will go up in value, will increase
in value. So if you're lucky and it does, the
number grows. But you're trying to build this really small
number into a really big number. It's a very difficult task.
Even if the rate of return is fifteen twenty percent,
you're still starting with a small number. The volume is
(07:40):
so tiny it's it's hard to achieve that. And the
kicker is that small number that you go that you
put towards an asset to try and increase its value
as it grows from what you started with to what
it's going to be. Whatever grows by that becomes taxable again,
and you go through the same process all over again
of paying income tax on what you just made though
the government didn't participate in your decision, took no risk
(08:02):
if you if you failed in it, they're going to
They're going to share in the wins every time you
make an investment. Okay, So that bothers me and I
don't think many people are aware that this is what
we're all doing. We're introducing the government as a partner
every time we choose to invest. And Marcy, I'm not
sure if you've talked about this before on your podcast,
but so inflation, inflation is the price that we look
(08:24):
at it as the price of things increasing. It's it's
really it's really not that. It's really the value of
all of our current dollars decreasing. So inflation anyway is
going to move the number up so that whatever that
asset was that I bought with that small amount, I
put it towards that asset. And if inflation is a
big reason why that number goes up, there's no actual
increase in value, just an increase in the price of
(08:46):
whatever I bought because of inflation. But that's taxable too,
Like the government doesn't care that inflation is the reason
why it went up. The government monetary policy says, I'm
going to increase the price of things fantastic. Well, that
increase in price is taxable, so we live in that.
We live in that in that world. So I look
at this and say, why do I have to do this?
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Why can't I just change? I don't want to.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
I don't want to put my money towards this scenario.
What else can I do? Given the fact that I
understand what's happening out there, how do I figure this out?
I said, okay, let's start with the end, and said,
what what do I really really want? What I really
want is I want to avoid paying taxes on my
asset increase is what I first and foremost that's important
to me. I want to stop paying excessive taxation. I
want all my money to go up in value. I
(09:27):
don't want to hope that it's going to go up
in an asset like which is a lot of us
are doing. When you put money into the bitcoin, into
the SMP. Whatever you're hoping, I mean, it's likely it's
going to increase, but we don't actually know. It's a
hope strategy. I don't want to hope anymore. I want
actess to my money whenever I want it. I don't
have to sell all my assets whenever I'm in a pinch,
I don't want to have to do that. I started
(09:48):
looking at things like this, saying, what do I want
from my outcome. I want it to be creditor.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Approof, not that I do anything wrong.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
I just don't want like we live in a world
where people can just introduce lawsuits whatever they want, tie
up your money. I don't want to money to be
tied up it for any reason along those lines. And
I want, like, I'm a family man. I've got two
daughters who I adore, wife. I want to make sure
that whatever I do, they can see the benefits of that.
At some point, something happens to me I said, this
is this is what I want.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
I want.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
I want this bundle. I want to create this outcome.
And I realize that you can actually create this bundle.
You can do this, and you can make it somebody
else's obligation to deliver all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
I can.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
I can make it someone else's obligation, and not just anybody,
not not the loan shark down the road, but actual
major financial institutions in Canada and the US. We're very
fortunate that these people they're willing to do this and
it ultimately turns out to be an insurance solution. So
you're doing this through insurance. With insurance contracts, you don't
have to reinvent anything.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
You don't have to.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Go and hire lawyers or a legal team to to
find these partners and attract all these documents. Know it's
through through their contracts you can you can design them
and manipulate them such that you achieve the goals that
you want to give us, that bundle, that outcome that
we're looking for, and give them what they want as well.
So the money mansion is that it's understanding where you're
at right now, understanding what you want y'all come to
(11:08):
look like, and then creating the steps to get you
to that predetermined, almost all guaranteed outcome.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
So waiter, you tell me you're an insurance guide too,
or you just use insurance as a tool.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
It's insurance as a tool to me. It's primarily like,
for my first thing is an asset class. I know
that it gives insurance and I need that, of course,
but I'm never sold insurance policy like that to sell
insurance and I'm not interested. I'm more interested in how
do I create the outcome that I want financially from
while I'm alive, more than taking care of my dependence.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
So you're a business graduate who worked in it, became
a real estate agent, and now is an author. Yes,
And I believe you said you're a podcaster now too, Yes,
which is podcasting about the wealth building. I assume.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Yeah, it's called Wealth Up.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Okay, So that's not just your book, that's also your podcast,
your brand. That's when you talk about real estate. You're
still using real estate, not just insurance at this point, right.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
So yes, But the last few years Marcy Toronto has
been very so my micro market, the Toronto has been
very lucrative for a.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Couple of decades.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
So you know, like the rising tide raises all boats
and everybody was making money hand over fist.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
But then when the tide.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Goes down, there's a lot of people that are hurting,
and I foresaw the end of the party and I
just didn't feel good. Like real estate is a liquid
right now, so some of the properties that we own
their liquid. You have to sell or refinance, and both
of them are difficult, and when you want access to money,
there's just limited options in that space. I do think
real estate's an amazing investment. I absolutely do long term,
(12:44):
but you have to be able to ride out those
market cycles. And the market cycles are what made me
really question whether I want to start with real estate
or I want to start with money mansion and then
go back into real estate. The sequence to me is important.
One provides excellent liquid which I realized I highly value,
and then I can use some of that equidity to
acquire more real estate. So real estate, I think it's
(13:06):
a great asset. You know, it's appreciating on the whole.
And if you're in a jurisdiction where it makes sense
to be a real estate property owner as a landlord, fantastic.
If you are not, you may want to rethink real
estate in your portfolio, at least locally. So I just
needed ways to continue to see a path forward growth, security, quidity,
(13:28):
and real estate wasn't doing that, and that's what made
me really question, like, where are we going with this?
How am I going to figure out the next twenty
years of my life so that I can have an
amazing twenty years and beyond rather than just getting by
waiting on liquidity and cycles.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Oh that makes sense, Dannie, So I guess I'm trying
to put you in a box, which probably doesn't make
sense because there is nothing about you that belongs in
the box, thank you, But to try and understand from myself,
health and for listeners, are you a coach? Are you
an investment advisor? Where exactly would you fit in? When
(14:09):
someone is saying, Okay, I want to get my financial
house in order, I want to look at doing the
things that I'm building.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Right, there's a few different levels to that. So one
Donnie who wrote the book Get Wealthed Up, I talk
about a singular strategy in that, so I just kind
of describe to you how that like why someone would
be interested in that. And I help facilitate, I help design,
I help understand what's important, really curate what the outcome will.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Be based on who you are.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Because I as much as I wish for it to
be as simple as plug it into AI, spit it out,
get an outcome and then just create that, it isn't that.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
It really isn't.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
So we have to we have to understand if there's
a process to application, not everyone qualifies.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
So just got to make sure we're doing that.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
So on the one side, very simply when people call
me and say, hey, I like to build a money mansion,
I help them build a money mansion. In that case,
I am the insurance advisor who helps acquire that. Okay,
So I facilitate that. The other side is that's.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
One part of it.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
If you're going to go bigger picture, I've got assets
across the board.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
I've been going to different countries.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
I've got like you have this mega this mega millionaire
and who are they what are they looking for? Well,
I fit into a different role with a team that
I work with. I'm an insurance guy, so I can
speak to that part of their portfolio. I can speak
to real estate side of the portfolio. But we have
this whole consultancy. It's not a financial advisor that really
only sells you products offered by their brokerage or who
(15:32):
they who they represent. This is a step back and
do everything in our office. Do you need to trust
who's building it for you? What's your long term strategy?
Where should you set up your business? Like it was
a whole consultancy side of things, of which I'm one
part of. So financial planners if you need that, if
you needed an investment advisor, we have those guys on
our team as well. I fit into a role nicely
(15:53):
on that team as an insurance and seche fund asset manager.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Okay, but you're not the guy who sells them your insurance.
You help them talk to the insurance agents and figure
out what are the right insurance investments for them.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
On the insurance side. I'm part of that team, so
I would have the discussions. I lead the team a
legacy insurance. I lead the team for the insurance advisors,
and I'm one of them as well, so could be
any of us.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
It's fascinating because I have never I mean, I deal
with an insurance guy, or I deal with a stockbroker,
or I deal with you know, as a CPA. I
kind of create my own team as I go for me,
or I work with If a client comes in and
they've got X, y Z, I work with whoever their
people are. If they're looking for new people, I can
(16:37):
make some suggestions of various places they might look. But
I am not connected to a team in the way
that you are, so so that's an interesting.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Some people just want that one thing. So if they're
looking for you know, file my taxes for me. Okay,
maybe like that's that's something very simple and you don't
really want to involve other partners in this. But to
use that example, it's the things you do leading up
to file my taxes that could really alter what that
file my taxes stuff looks like, right, the planning and
(17:08):
advance and all of that that really affects it. Handing
your receipts and asking your CPA. You're asking your accountant
to save me a few bucks.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
I don't know how that works, Like, what are you
what are you hoping to do?
Speaker 3 (17:17):
You're too far in to really plan for strategic deductions
or strategy. That all happens on our side. When we
get to that level where it's really looking at you
as a whole holistically, how do we figure this out?
Speaker 1 (17:29):
That's what we do.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
So some people want that. Some people want just help
me figure out my entire life, give it all to me.
That's amazing. Not everybody wants that. Some people just want
you know what, I'm okay, I manage my tfs in
my no fee accounts, that with my brokerage, no problem.
I want to do this. I figured out my will,
I know what I'm going to do. I just need
I've heard of this concept and I want to put
(17:51):
this into action, so can you help me get that?
So there's there's Ultimately it's the client aside, it's what
they what they want, So I operate on two different levels.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Absolutely. Did you ever expect you would end up doing
what you're doing?
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Absolutely not. You know what, I never thought about that?
Absolutely not. No.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Well, I went for a business degree, So I mean,
did you have some idea, Okay, I'm going to study
business because I'm going to Was it a general business
degree or were you under Okay?
Speaker 3 (18:20):
It was it was a business degree with what the
major was in business information systems. Now, keep in mind,
the internet's kind of new, like that's where I'm dating
myself here.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
This is where we were.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
So it was tech kind of but not really. Just
how to how to understand how to use software was
kind of what it came down to. And a minor
in economics, and I just I'm a I'm a I'm
a student always. I just want to learn more and
more and more and more. So I'm not sure that
my degree did very much beyond get me that first job.
Quite honestly, I think the School of Life has contributed
(18:51):
far more than the degree that I earned, and I
think that's probably a statement I could make even more.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
It's relevant today to a lot of these kids.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
It's a school of life's important, and the pace of
what's happening out here is really quick that I don't
know if everybody is getting the benefit out of post
secondary education higher learning. I'm not sure that it's still
as relevant for these guys as it was for us
when the pace of life was a bit slower.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Anyways, I digress.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
No, I didn't imagine how I was going to be here.
In fact, I remember coming out of university and I applaud.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
I don't even know how.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
I applied to work at a company that basically sold
insurance and mutual.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Funds, and I had the job.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
I had gone through the licensing requirements to be a dealer,
no problem, And at the very last moment, I'm like,
what am I doing here?
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Get me out of here. I want no part of this.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
I just realized that right now, Marti's speaking with you,
that actually happened, and then I abandoned it, and here
I am kind of doing it twenty five.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Years later, but you're doing it differently. And I agree
with you that the pace of life has changed. I've
got a few years on you. And when I started
practicing accounting, computers were just starting to go into the office.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Imagine that there was no email.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
We had couriers that either you had a guy that
worked for you, or you had courier services that would
if you needed something to the other side of town immediately,
either someone from your office went, or you would call
one of these guys that would pick it up and
take it there. We process tax returns by hand, and
then there was a place where we filled out forms
and sent it out and they'd bring it back the
(20:21):
next day, and if we had corrections, we would send
it back out right. It's a totally different world. It
moves so much faster, and the changes on computers and
the changes on access and the changes on information that's
available is incredible. We used to be able to get
the cch books, the reference books, and you knew they
were were as accurate as they were depending on how
(20:44):
current they were. And now I can turn around on
the Internet and I can get information. Now I have
to worry whether it's accurate information as to who touched
it and where it came from. Unless I'm using a
compiled source that I know, this is from the irs,
or this is from you know, one of the agencies
that puts out real information. And it's scary to see
(21:05):
what my kids are going through as young adults and
the world changing. And you go to college to learn
more about how to learn, maybe to learn more about
specific subject areas, but the world is changing so fast
it's you don't necessarily come out and do well. This
is what I expected, this is where I'm going to go,
this is have a life plan. My husband and I
(21:27):
both went to college for our degrees our careers. I'm
an accountant and I went for accounting. He's a computer programmer.
He went for computer programming. But that's not necessarily what happens.
And you have to be willing to be aware of that.
And we have to give our kids grace that their
experience is going to be so different than than what ours.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
What agreed you know on that point? I so Gary,
you know Gary v is Gary? Okay, So he's pretty mega.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
He showed up. There was a conference in Toronto. He
was a keynote. He rolls in and.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
You know, he's a hyper you know, he's Gary, and
he's flipping out he doesn't have much of.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
A speech prepared, because why would he kind of thing.
And it's like, hey, everybody, where do you want to go?
Do you want to go? Q and A? This is
a Q and A. Let's go. Let's go.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
It does Q and A with with the audience. It
gets two rolls lined up behind a mic and says,
all right, any questions go for him. So here comes
this dad, this guy. This guy walks up to the
mic and he's uh, he's got his phone camera out
and he's recording his interaction with Gary Vee and he goes, Gary,
so I'm recording for my daughter. She's going to Columbia
University in the fall. You have any words of wisdom
(22:32):
you want to share. I'd love to play this for
her when I when I see her later on. He goes, dude,
are you serious? Yeah, yeah, I'm serious. I'm gonna do this. Okay,
what is she? What is she studying there? Marketing? He goes, Okay,
I'm gonna be honest. So yeah, of course, don't do it.
Don't waste your money, don't waste your time, spend your
money on lunches with executives. Go on YouTube, watch what's happening.
(22:54):
The things you're gonna learn were written by dinosaurs who
wrote how to market back.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
When there was catalogs.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
And he just went off right, and just for about
five minutes he was spewing this off and like, I
feel you, Gary, I get what you're saying. You know,
it's to go to university, go to college to learn,
learn how to learn right. Critical thinking is an important content,
even more today than it was when we were younger.
For sure, misinformation versus what's actual that matters. But to
(23:20):
go there for a job unless you're going to be
a lawyer or a doctor where you require licensing like that,
I'm having a hard time understanding the true benefit when
you realize how much debt is involved here? What is
the ROI could you have been better off on a
different path, I just want to I'm not saying you
you would be. I'm saying it's worth considering if you
are entering that path. And we as parents, are absolutely right
(23:41):
need to be mindful of you know, it's not as
predetermined as it was for us that this is what
you do first, then you do this, then you do that,
then you have a family and et cetera, et cetera.
That isn't linear anymore, right, and it has to do
with the advancement of technology and software and all that.
So it's changed, it's changing. We need to be mindful
of that, respectful of our of our kids.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
It's crazy. So the the people that you're dealing with,
I assume from the things that you said, they come
into because they have money. They're not coming in because
they have debt to get sorted out. You're you're dealing
with higher wealth or people that have wealth to begin with.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Most times, yes, so.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
You have some experience in people that you're helping them
turn it around and build that well.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Yeah, so sometimes it's a matter of this needs to
happen before we can do this. So remember I was
talking about how it's a partnerships. You're creating a win
win with with a partner under contract that a partner
will be an insurance company. Essentially they need to they
need to win too. And if you're not qualified for
well medically, it's ultimately to life insurance product. So you
use your you use your body, what your your life
(24:49):
as part of this. But you also got to make
sure that they have to make sure that they feel
confident that you can hold up your end of the
bargain financially. So if you can't demonstrate that you've got
a little excess capital to contribute towards the fuelling this contract,
they may not be interested in.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Partnering with you or with us, okay.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
So it's oftentimes it's say, here's what we're going to do. Okay,
we need to change a few things around. Now, this
becomes more of the holistic side, but a really scaled
down version of it, saying we need to prepare to
do this. So there's like everything in life, you know,
you've got to run away if you want that. Here
are the things we need to do to get to
the point where we can take off. So let's start
putting a plan in place for that. And sometimes it
works and sometimes it doesn't. You can only guide as
(25:28):
a leader. You can't execute for them on that side
of things. You know, if it's curving some spending, or
if it's changing if it's delaying a trip until after
you've funded this thing, which allows you to have access
to capital again later on, there's things we can do
to have that discussion, but ultimately it's not your decision
on whether or not you're going to qualify. It's someone
else's decision if they're going to allow you to qualify.
(25:48):
So we can attempt and we can have discussion with
somebody who ultimately is that partner. There is a person
that you can speak with to try and communicate who
you are and why. Sometimes the answers know and that's okay,
it's not a no, it's not right now. So we
just got to get to the right now part and
plan for that.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Okay, how are you teaching your daughters about money? I
don't know. Are they teens?
Speaker 3 (26:10):
Maybe? Well I've got one teenager and one tween. Okay,
so well, one my teenager is actually on my payroll.
So for some antal properties, I make her go through
a lot of the expenses, create them, send up the
documents for collection on utilities, things like that. So she's
starting to see how other there's actually cost associated with
doing it. This way, she sees the revenues and expenses
(26:31):
and the reports and understands it because she's she's involved
with that. Now I have her listen through my podcasts
so that she can correct anything. For example, really has
an exercise to get her to listen to it. They
have their own money mansions, and I've been talking to
them about it many times and made them read my book.
They're they're really starting to see how what's happening out there,
it's not necessarily the way that they need to conduct
(26:52):
their life as well. My oldest she's closest to understanding
for sure. One of my one of my favorite stories
is she has a money mansion set up. Rather than
put her money into a savings account, which is what
she was doing, earning literally three four cents a month,
she contributes towards her money mansion. The money mansion is
it's three years in. It's damn near like above water.
(27:13):
Which is how this works. Is the first two three years,
sometimes four years, you're not in dollar for dollar. The
value of your asset is not dollar for dollar. Will
you contributed, But then it's skyrockets and it only ever goes,
it's only ever in the green. So she's close to that,
and I teach her about not spending her money. Her
money goes towards building assets, and she borrows money to
(27:34):
spend and pays that back because the gain of what
she if she leaves her money alone, the gain is
massive over her lifetime. She has so many years to compound,
and she can just you know, she can control the
payment structure on what she borrows to do this. So
this summer, she wanted to get into a volleyball camp.
It cost fifteen hundred bucks. She wanted to do it perfect.
I could have paid for it for her. That would
(27:54):
do nobody any good. And she could have paid for
it out of savings or like birthday money and things
like this atributed towards that. No, she did what we
talk about, which is user money mansion, that liquidity facility
in her money mansion. She's going to borrow money from that,
let her money grow, and she's going to pay back
in equal installments over twelve months, one hundred and twenty
nine dollars a month. And she's three months back into
(28:15):
paying that.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
So she understands.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
So she borrowed it from her own assets.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Exactly right, just like you were the line of credit
on your property. Okay, So I'm showing her, I'm teaching
her lessons in compounding, teaching her lessons in taxation, teaching
her lessons in opportunity cost right, these are all part
of the part of the plan.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
So that's that side of things. Marty.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
But what I really what I'm which is I'm excited
about that, as you can tell. But what I'm really
excited about is I promote this above all else in life.
I'm talking about revenues now, just bringing in finding ways
to bring in money into your life.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
How do you do that?
Speaker 3 (28:48):
You create value, That's it. The more value you can create,
the more competition you're going to see in your life.
It's just it's a magic formula. The bigger the problem
that you can solve, the higher the value someone's going
to regard that, and the more you're going to the
more you're going to naturally attract. So go out there,
find problems, find solutions to those problems, and tell people
(29:09):
about it. That's how you create value, and then you
won't have to worry about your revenue. Problem is solved
at that point, and it's a never ending saga. It's
a never ending like chase. You know, you'll continue to
find more and more problems, and some won't be exactly
what you imagine they would be, and some, you know,
maybe they don't believe that it's going to be as
big a problem as you do. You just keep going
(29:29):
out there and the market's going to let you know
in life you will get paid directly in proportion to
the amount of value you create.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
So they're starting to see that that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Do you talk about money at dinner and other parts
of it or is it really just the work part?
Speaker 3 (29:42):
I do know all the time, just about smart ways, taxes.
They know my take, So I mean, I think it's exciting.
I hope they do a little. One doesn't really love
talking about money.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
But she's still she's still.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
But I've got friends and like people that are in
my network and just in my neighborhood who want their
kids to be immersed in this as well. How do
they set up the money man? How do they figure
this stuff out as well? Because if they do this now,
they won't have the issues that we have right now.
They will never have to go with the ups and
downs of the market. They never have to worry about
waiting for money, They never have to worry about what
(30:14):
happens if everything is. If they can do this right now,
the benefit of time that they have is so great
that they will be like their life is planned out
for them at ten. If we can do this for
them now.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
That's awesome because I love talking with people about how
they're talking about money with their kids, how are they
raising their kids, how are they talking about money with
their spouse, so that you're having the conversations and you
don't have the surprises that come when you don't have
those conversations.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Yes, thank you, I love it.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
I love it as well, and I think I think
we need to do more of that because TikTok and
financial literacy that's on there, it's not it's just bling.
It's about you know, splurge, splurge, and everyone's trying to
keep up. That's not literacy. Spending is not literacy.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Right, And they're also keeping up with people who are
alive because we're not all of a sudden earning you know,
ten thousand dollars a month on TikTok for working an
hour a month, right, you know, if that was if
that was happening, I can't imagine how the economy would
respond to that.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
No, that's not creating value right like that, I mean
back to that, it's not really creating the value. So
they're not really doing they're not bringing in that much.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
I'm sorry, Right, have you got anything you'd like to
share before we wrap up, Donnie.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
I think I'm a big believer proponent of financial literacy. Please, everybody,
just don't even listen to what I'm saying. Research everything
on your own. I think it's important that you get
a solid understanding of how the tax system works, how
inflation is working against us, things like this. Just be
aware so you can make better decisions. The person who
needs my help the most is often in their sixties,
(31:48):
and they realize I don't have enough, I can't I
don't know how I'm going to pay for the rest
of my life. And I hate being in that conversation
for them because I can't help them. They've gone too
far for us to really build an asset. If you're
in your thirties and your forties, or if you're in
your twenties and teens, whatever, you guys have the best
opportunity to really put lessons into action and have a
(32:13):
ridiculous effect overall in your life. You can avoid the
problem of the person who I'm talking about in their
late sixties who's struggling. You can do things today with
minimal effort to really change the rest of your life.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Thank you, Donnie. I appreciate you saying that I will
be sharing Donnie's links in the show notes, so if
you want to find him, you'll know how to do that. Donnie,
I have been thrilled to have you here and that
was a lot of good information and a great conversation,
So everyone, thank you for listening. This has been money
Marcy on Marcie talks money and life and you got this.
(32:46):
See yeah,
Host
Marci Grossman
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