November 3, 2025 • 6 mins
LISTEN and SUBSCRIBE on:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/watchdog-on-wall-street-with-chris-markowski/id570687608
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PtgPvJvqc2gkpGIkNMR5i
WATCH and SUBSCRIBE on:
https://www.youtube.com/@WatchdogOnWallstreet/featured
At Markowski Investments, we take pride in helping real people build real wealth — not just the already-rich behind velvet ropes. But there’s one group we can’t help: folks who refuse to help themselves. In this candid segment, we break down the harsh reality of “fake wealth” culture — Instagram lifestyles funded by crushing credit card debt — and why no investment strategy can beat a 27% APR hole you keep digging.
If you're serious about financial independence, it starts with discipline, sacrifice, and ditching the need to impress the Joneses. Tough love? Absolutely. But wealth doesn't come from looking rich — it comes from doing the hard things no one else wants to do.
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/watchdog-on-wall-street-with-chris-markowski/id570687608
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PtgPvJvqc2gkpGIkNMR5i
WATCH and SUBSCRIBE on:
https://www.youtube.com/@WatchdogOnWallstreet/featured
At Markowski Investments, we take pride in helping real people build real wealth — not just the already-rich behind velvet ropes. But there’s one group we can’t help: folks who refuse to help themselves. In this candid segment, we break down the harsh reality of “fake wealth” culture — Instagram lifestyles funded by crushing credit card debt — and why no investment strategy can beat a 27% APR hole you keep digging.
If you're serious about financial independence, it starts with discipline, sacrifice, and ditching the need to impress the Joneses. Tough love? Absolutely. But wealth doesn't come from looking rich — it comes from doing the hard things no one else wants to do.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst and trader Chris Markowski.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
People we cannot help. I've got to take pride at
Markowski Investments and we've always held true this and we
always will. We don't just deal with people. Oh you know,
I put a velvet rope outside. You've got to have
ten million dollars to work with the Markowski family. Now
do we run a family office style firm, Absolutely, without
(00:38):
a doubt, counting legal everything. But we wouldn't show anyone
the door. We help everyone out. We've discussed this here
on the program. One of the things, quite frankly, we
really like to do is build wealth, not just maintain it. However,
people we cannot help. People. We cannot help with the
(01:00):
people that will not help themselves. Somebody contacts us and
this has happened I countless times obviously in our thirty
plus years. Like to start saving money for their kids college,
(01:20):
want to start building wealth, putting money away, saving for retirement,
whatever it may be. And we obviously have to take
a look at that individual's entire picture, financial picture, what
they're doing. All of a sudden, All of a sudden,
we start seeing credit card bills, credit card balances in
(01:44):
the tens of thousands of dollars. Now, what often happens,
and this is more often than not, we see is
these people have the facade and they know who they are. Okay,
you might be one of them. Okay, so this might
be a bit of a wake up call for you.
You've got the facade of wealth. Hey, you might have
(02:05):
a great you might have a great Instagram account. You
might go out to many, many nice restaurants and take
pictures of your food, or take pictures of your vacation.
And you might have a very nice car and a
nice looking house. Might be a member of the club,
might on a boat, and you also are the proud
(02:26):
owner of these things that you can't afford because you
are deeply in debt. It will help people like this
in terms of, hey, giving them to be honestly, give
them a kicking ass in the sense that you have
to change your ways. I'm gonna be honest, guys, we're
pretty damn good at what we do. But let me
(02:48):
tell you something. We are not going to show you
a higher rate of return than what you're paying on
these high interest credit cards. For crying out loud, Are
you kidding me? Eight percent a year? You need to
take care of that first, first and foremost. That's the
(03:09):
most important thing, because you're going backwards. Compounding is awesome.
Compounding is the royal road to riches as long as
you have it working for you. If you have it
working against you, ah, farewell and ado. So many of
these conversations. What I have again try to explain to people, Hey,
(03:32):
you're gonna have to change. You're gonna have to change
your ways. You're gonna have to change the way that
you're doing things. You're gonna have to get rid of
this debt, you know, make suggestions. You're gonna have to
cut some of the stuff out, might not be able
to be a member of the golf club, sell a boat,
cut down on all of these expenses. Deal with this
first and foremost and upfront. And I'm telling you I
(03:56):
never kept track, but I would. I would bet over
ninety percent of the time people choose not to listen
and continue to do the same thing over and over again,
and expect some sort of different result, which is again
that's a definition of stupidity. Quite frankly, we've always had
(04:19):
the situation you'll keeping up with the Joneses, and I know,
probably worse today societal pressures, with social media and all
this other nonsense. People would rather they'd rather be in debt,
add all sorts of struggles in their lives than you know,
(04:39):
worried about the way other people think about them and
their Instagram account. I mean people, it's a reality. We
made fun of it here on the program. I couldn't
believe it. You now have you now have retail outlet
that's high end retail out Let's take.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
In Klarna, buy now, pay later. You can't afford the
Louis Vuitton bag, the Gucci shoes, don't freaking buy them.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Years ago we probably played several occasions on my radio
shows Steve Martin Saturday, a live skit about a self
help book about buying things, buying things that well, not
buying things that you can't afford. And again I highly
recommend you can go on YouTube and watch it. Listen. Okay,
(05:32):
I get I'm not Marry Poppins, No spoonful of sugar
to make the medicine go down and the advice that
I try to bring you here, but I mean, at
some point in time, you're going to have to start
changing things because it's let me tell you something, what
the damage it's going to do to your family, damily,
it's going to do to your relationships in life, being
in that type of that when you don't need to be.
You're doing it for your own ego. Why why was
(05:59):
it umber rule number nine on the Markowski Investments financial independence.
You have greater wealth than your neighbors and they don't
have a clue bringing this up. Today I'm seeing starting
to see, you know, repossessions in cars, issues with credit
(06:21):
card debt, all of these things. Okay, people putting themselves
in a situation that quite frankly, they shouldn't have watchdog
on Wall Street dot com
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst and trader Chris Markowski.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
People we cannot help. I've got to take pride at
Markowski Investments and we've always held true this and we
always will. We don't just deal with people. Oh you know,
I put a velvet rope outside. You've got to have
ten million dollars to work with the Markowski family. Now
do we run a family office style firm, Absolutely, without
(00:38):
a doubt, counting legal everything. But we wouldn't show anyone
the door. We help everyone out. We've discussed this here
on the program. One of the things, quite frankly, we
really like to do is build wealth, not just maintain it. However,
people we cannot help. People. We cannot help with the
(01:00):
people that will not help themselves. Somebody contacts us and
this has happened I countless times obviously in our thirty
plus years. Like to start saving money for their kids college,
(01:20):
want to start building wealth, putting money away, saving for retirement,
whatever it may be. And we obviously have to take
a look at that individual's entire picture, financial picture, what
they're doing. All of a sudden, All of a sudden,
we start seeing credit card bills, credit card balances in
(01:44):
the tens of thousands of dollars. Now, what often happens,
and this is more often than not, we see is
these people have the facade and they know who they are. Okay,
you might be one of them. Okay, so this might
be a bit of a wake up call for you.
You've got the facade of wealth. Hey, you might have
(02:05):
a great you might have a great Instagram account. You
might go out to many, many nice restaurants and take
pictures of your food, or take pictures of your vacation.
And you might have a very nice car and a
nice looking house. Might be a member of the club,
might on a boat, and you also are the proud
(02:26):
owner of these things that you can't afford because you
are deeply in debt. It will help people like this
in terms of, hey, giving them to be honestly, give
them a kicking ass in the sense that you have
to change your ways. I'm gonna be honest, guys, we're
pretty damn good at what we do. But let me
(02:48):
tell you something. We are not going to show you
a higher rate of return than what you're paying on
these high interest credit cards. For crying out loud, Are
you kidding me? Eight percent a year? You need to
take care of that first, first and foremost. That's the
(03:09):
most important thing, because you're going backwards. Compounding is awesome.
Compounding is the royal road to riches as long as
you have it working for you. If you have it
working against you, ah, farewell and ado. So many of
these conversations. What I have again try to explain to people, Hey,
(03:32):
you're gonna have to change. You're gonna have to change
your ways. You're gonna have to change the way that
you're doing things. You're gonna have to get rid of
this debt, you know, make suggestions. You're gonna have to
cut some of the stuff out, might not be able
to be a member of the golf club, sell a boat,
cut down on all of these expenses. Deal with this
first and foremost and upfront. And I'm telling you I
(03:56):
never kept track, but I would. I would bet over
ninety percent of the time people choose not to listen
and continue to do the same thing over and over again,
and expect some sort of different result, which is again
that's a definition of stupidity. Quite frankly, we've always had
(04:19):
the situation you'll keeping up with the Joneses, and I know,
probably worse today societal pressures, with social media and all
this other nonsense. People would rather they'd rather be in debt,
add all sorts of struggles in their lives than you know,
(04:39):
worried about the way other people think about them and
their Instagram account. I mean people, it's a reality. We
made fun of it here on the program. I couldn't
believe it. You now have you now have retail outlet
that's high end retail out Let's take.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
In Klarna, buy now, pay later. You can't afford the
Louis Vuitton bag, the Gucci shoes, don't freaking buy them.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Years ago we probably played several occasions on my radio
shows Steve Martin Saturday, a live skit about a self
help book about buying things, buying things that well, not
buying things that you can't afford. And again I highly
recommend you can go on YouTube and watch it. Listen. Okay,
(05:32):
I get I'm not Marry Poppins, No spoonful of sugar
to make the medicine go down and the advice that
I try to bring you here, but I mean, at
some point in time, you're going to have to start
changing things because it's let me tell you something, what
the damage it's going to do to your family, damily,
it's going to do to your relationships in life, being
in that type of that when you don't need to be.
You're doing it for your own ego. Why why was
(05:59):
it umber rule number nine on the Markowski Investments financial independence.
You have greater wealth than your neighbors and they don't
have a clue bringing this up. Today I'm seeing starting
to see, you know, repossessions in cars, issues with credit
(06:21):
card debt, all of these things. Okay, people putting themselves
in a situation that quite frankly, they shouldn't have watchdog
on Wall Street dot com
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!