Unlock the door to financial freedom with our latest episode, where Cathy and I dissect the pervasive myths surrounding the paycheck to paycheck lifestyle in my just released book, "Breaking the Paycheck to Paycheck Cycle." You'll embark on a journey to reshape how you view and handle your money, no matter your income bracket. We tackle the inherited financial beliefs that shape our spending and saving habits, advocating for the creation of new money traditions to sidestep the pitfalls of generational poverty. With my insights, you'll see how a simple budget can act as a personal scoreboard, giving you a clear line of sight to your financial goals and the means to reach them.
Embark with us as we demystify the world of savings and investments, revealing how purposeful saving can be a game-changer in your financial playbook. Cathy and I break down the rule of 72 and other investing essentials, turning what can often be an intimidating topic into an approachable strategy for wealth accumulation. You'll learn the power of consistent saving habits and how investing is a crucial step not just for a comfortable retirement but financial empowerment. Our conversation is packed with tangible advice, tools, and quizzes that will equip you to take control of your financial future.
Finally, we place the spotlight on the often-overlooked aspect of financial literacy—asset protection. Learn why setting up legal structures and having an estate plan isn't just for the wealthy, but a necessary defense for anyone looking to safeguard their hard-earned assets. We redefine retirement as financial independence, where living off your investments is a reality, not just a distant dream. So, if you're ready to take a leap towards securing your financial independence, let us guide you with expert advice and the opportunity for a personal financial consultation. Tune in and transform the way you think about and manage your money.
Don't forget to subscribe, like and share it with a friend or two!
Unlock the door to financial freedom with our latest episode, where Cathy and I dissect the pervasive myths surrounding the paycheck to paycheck lifestyle in my just released book, "Breaking the Paycheck to Paycheck Cycle." You'll embark on a journey to reshape how you view and handle your money, no matter your income bracket. We tackle the inherited financial beliefs that shape our spending and saving habits, advocating for the creation of new money traditions to sidestep the pitfalls of generational poverty. With my insights, you'll see how a simple budget can act as a personal scoreboard, giving you a clear line of sight to your financial goals and the means to reach them.
Embark with us as we demystify the world of savings and investments, revealing how purposeful saving can be a game-changer in your financial playbook. Cathy and I break down the rule of 72 and other investing essentials, turning what can often be an intimidating topic into an approachable strategy for wealth accumulation. You'll learn the power of consistent saving habits and how investing is a crucial step not just for a comfortable retirement but financial empowerment. Our conversation is packed with tangible advice, tools, and quizzes that will equip you to take control of your financial future.
Finally, we place the spotlight on the often-overlooked aspect of financial literacy—asset protection. Learn why setting up legal structures and having an estate plan isn't just for the wealthy, but a necessary defense for anyone looking to safeguard their hard-earned assets. We redefine retirement as financial independence, where living off your investments is a reality, not just a distant dream. So, if you're ready to take a leap towards securing your financial independence, let us guide you with expert advice and the opportunity for a personal financial consultation. Tune in and transform the way you think about and manage your money.
Don't forget to subscribe, like and share it with a friend or two!
Hello everybody, welcome back to Money Conversations with KJ. Today's a special episode. We're going to be doing a book review of my new book that just came out Breaking the Paycheck to Paycheck Cycle Unlock the Secrets to Financial Freedom and Empower your Future. All right, and Building Wealth through Financial Literacy. Well, kathy and I have been working on this book for a couple of months. We finally got it out. It is live on Amazon If you guys want to get out there and get yourself a copy. It's the holiday season. It's a great stuff, nistalker, isn't it?
Speaker 1:Yes it is, and a great way to start the new year, right? We always want to start resolutions every year and I think that this book is a great start. Right, we want to start. Usually, people want to join the gym, lose weight, that kind of thing, but maybe the year could also be a time to hey, let's reset our finances for 2024. If you're struggling and you just need to learn how to get a little tighter with your money, this is a great book to get you going. I'm sure there's a lot of things in here that people may know, may not know. It's really for everybody. It's not just if you are exactly living paycheck to paycheck. Maybe you need to teach your kids. It's a great book to teach for kids. If you got kids, you know I always say teach the kids young. Right, you can teach them as young as seven to ten. Maybe they're teenagers.
Speaker 3:So it'll stick longer and stick longer.
Speaker 1:So definitely a great book. So we're going to go break down the book just chapter by chapter. We'll spend just a couple of minutes on each chapter. So you guys get a gist of what this book is about and hopefully get yourself out there pick up a copy. They all run sale on Amazoncom for $9.95 through the holiday season. January 1st I'll go back up to its normal price of $14.95. So take advantage of the sale. Right, Right, All right. Well, let's get started. I'll do chapter one. Okay, Let me get to it.
Speaker 3:And speaking of people with resolutions, this is something that should not fall off.
Speaker 1:Oh, 100%, 100%. If you in fact are living paycheck to paycheck, pick this book up, read through it. There's going to be chapters in here that you know everybody's different, that you may need to read once or twice, type of thing. But as we go through here and just kind of overview the chapter, something may resonate with you and take a mental note and get out there and pick it up. So chapter one is a money mindset, the cornerstone of financial literacy. The number one problem in today's generation and economy is lack of financial literacy. Alan Greenspan such a great quote. It really is the truth. You know, the only reason that people live paycheck to paycheck has nothing to do with how with research already shows has nothing to do with how much money you make. Some people think that people live paycheck to paycheck because they don't make enough money to pay their bills.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:Not the truth. Nope, not at all. There are people out there that make six figures, multiple six figures, and still live paycheck to paycheck. They just live a higher lifestyle Doesn't mean that they're not living paycheck to paycheck. So, guys, this is not just for people who don't make money. This is definitely for people who just never got taught the game. You know, if you're one who's listed in my podcast, you know I ask everybody. First question how old were you when mom and dad sat you down and taught you about money? 99% of the people tell me never, including myself and you too, right?
Speaker 3:Me too.
Speaker 1:Right, it's. And so we need to break that chain. Guys, if you have kids, break that chain. Learn the financial literacy, teach it to your kids. They'll thank you for it later in life, for sure.
Speaker 1:All right, so chapter one shifting your money mindset. Our relationship with money is often a result of an ingrained beliefs and past experiences. To change our financial future, we must first shift our mindset by understanding that money is a tool, not the end goal. We can take control of our finances and design the life we desire. You know, as you learn financial literacy, it's I call it the rules of the game, and we're all going to play the game at our own level, meaning what you aspire to be financially.
Speaker 1:Not everybody aspires to be a millionaire or multimillionaire, right. Some people are happy to live a simple life. Be comfortable, be comfortable and, just, you know, do what makes you happy. Other people, hey, they want millions, billions of these days, right. And again, there's no right or wrong answer. I say learn the rules of the game, play the game at your pace and design the lifestyle that you want, right?
Speaker 1:So I think that mindset will tie back into a lot of these chapters as we go through, because I like to say I teach in my course and you can go check that out on the website moneymasterinstitutecom. I have some courses in there that are available for you guys, but I like to teach that I'm trying to get people to think and act different with their time and their money. That will take them to a better financial place. You know what I mean and I also, and the people I you know I get feedback on my program and I and I know in the program you'll hear me say it a lot and I'll say it once. Maybe I'll say it a couple of times here today, but a term I like to use which is simple, not easy, right? So a lot of these concepts that you're going to learn in this book we're going to review are they're fairly simple. They're not difficult by any means, but they're not easy because we have to change or have us just like the mindset right.
Speaker 1:In this first chapter it's going to talk about the growth mindset versus the fixed mindset and when it's time to make a change in our lives. That's not simple, you know it's. It's actually a hard thing to do, but if you want to take yourself out of living paycheck to paycheck and get better with your money. You're definitely going to have to have a growth mindset to be able to do that. It's it's the foundation. It's it's like in a house the foundation is the strongest part of the house. Without a strong foundation, you're basically building a house or cars, you know, a 30, 40 mile an hour, a wink of bloat right over right.
Speaker 1:You know the strong foundation you can hold up pretty good. So that's chapter one, guys, money mindset, and again it will tie back into most of the other chapters in here. But let's go on to chapter two.
Speaker 3:So chapter two is about goals and knowing where you're going. A goal is a dream with a headline, and that's by Napoleon Hill. So chapter two imagine going on a journey without a destination. Sounds futile, right? Setting clear financial goals gives purpose to your finances, whether it's buying a home, traveling the world or securing retirement. Pinpoint. Why to fuel your financial journey?
Speaker 1:Love the word fuel. Yeah, listen, we got to fuel our journey and first of all, we got to know where we're going. You know, I once heard not that long ago, I mean a couple of years ago probably and Oprah. Oprah went for a get an interview and her opinion was people struggle with money because they don't know where they're going. And she always felt like she knew where she was going and where she wanted to go from a very young age.
Speaker 1:Clearly, that worked for her right and I think, if you speak with, most people that are super successful or successful are going to tell you that I had a plan, I had a goal, I knew where I was going and so I worked and strive for where I was going. And so most people don't have those types of financial goals right, and that's why you?
Speaker 1:struggle because you get paid and then you go out and spend your money on things that you probably shouldn't. You spend your money more on wants than needs, right, and I have that lesson in one of my trainings also, which is a strong, powerful lesson. But setting goals is vital. We must know where we're going or we're never going to get there Right. And then next thing you know, you look up and you're 50 something and I don't have anything. I've worked hard, I'm a good person. Why don't I have money? Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:You didn't know where you were going. You didn't set good, clear financial goals. It's vitally important. All right, let's move on. Let's go to chapter 3, which is traditions changing your money beliefs and traditions. If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die. Warren Buffett, I Can't even tell you how many times I've said that same, how many times of your. I mean, I've said it a lot. I think it's so true. We really need to learn that. It's so profound when he and I don't even not sure when he said that long time ago, but it's so true. And what does that mean? When he says if you don't learn how to make money while you sleep, you'll work till you die. It means we have to make money, make money, we have to invest and we're gonna get into that chapter here in a little bit. But meanwhile, traditions and beliefs this chapter here, guys, really, I'm just gonna read you the first paragraph.
Speaker 1:Every individual carries a unique set of financial beliefs deeply rooted in their upbringing, culture and personal experiences.
Speaker 1:These beliefs, whether positive or negative, subly dictate the choices we make, the habits we form and the paths we take to our financial journeys. The challenge, however, lies in Deciphering which of these beliefs serve our current realities and Aspirations and which ones hinder our progress. Traditions we all have all kinds of traditions in our families, right, it depends on what culture you came from, the way you celebrate birthdays and in the holidays and all and all the different areas that we celebrate. We do it differently. That's our traditions, right, mm-hmm. And then we also have traditions with money or not. Again, when I asked that question, how will your mom and dad set you down, tell you about money and when? 99% of the people telling me they never did? That means you're learning subconsciously this is what I've learned through the podcast interviewing so many people that People remember when they were five to seven years old that, hey, if mom and dad were Spenders, you likely, as an adult or a spender because you think that's the norm.
Speaker 3:If they were savers?
Speaker 1:Then okay, they were savers, but maybe they didn't actually sit you down and tell you or show you how exactly they were saving. It's such a broad term, saving.
Speaker 1:Yeah right that we have to really narrow that down, and there's a chapter in there and we'll get in that in a few minutes. But so your traditions you need to be ready to change. Times have changed. What our parents and grandparents know and learned about money may not necessarily work today, mm-hmm right, these are always changing and evolving, and if you haven't had any, then it's time to jump on board, create maybe your own new traditions For your family. I like to call it breaking the chain of poverty. Mm-hmm right, poverty is a chain that if your parents didn't teach you, it's likely their parents didn't teach them, and if you don't teach your kids, this generation generational poverty will just keep going. So someone has to break the chain in your family and get educated get educated and again, this is financial literacy.
Speaker 1:I'm not here to give you guys financial advice of what to do with your money. I'm here to open your eyes to the things that are available for you to do with your money. Yes, so be careful on your traditions and your beliefs out there. They could be guiding you down the wrong path, as I just stated in that first paragraph. So Really really important to do. All right, let's, let's move on to four.
Speaker 3:Chapter four the art of finances handling and budgeting your money. A Budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went. John Maxwell.
Speaker 1:Love John Maxwell. The guy has a ton of you've been around years ton of great Teachings out there. You can't go wrong at all. Listening is John Maxwell for sure. All right, go ahead.
Speaker 3:So chapter four, budgeting, isn't about restricting yourself. It's about understanding and controlling where your money goes. By creating a realistic budget, you'll gain a clear picture of your financial health, making it easier to make informed decisions and Prioritize your goals.
Speaker 1:See how it ties back into goals, mm-hmm. So budgeting I when I teach people about budgeting, you know so many people love to watch sports, all different kinds football, basketball, hockey, whatever your sport of choice is is great. But there's one thing in common that all sports have a Scoreboard, and I want you to think of your budgeting in your life as your personal scoreboard Picture an. Imagine you're watching your favorite sport and you didn't know what the score was. I'll take football, for example. You didn't know who was winning the game.
Speaker 1:You didn't know what quarter you were in. You didn't know who had the ball at that time. You didn't know is it first down? Fourth down, is it a kickoff? Is it a field? You didn't know any, though.
Speaker 1:Imagine if you couldn't see the scoreboard to know all those statistics. It'd be hard to follow the game and not make it exciting. And not make it exciting Exactly. So, guys, budgeting is your own personal scoreboard. Don't you want to know the score of the game you're playing? Because I Say, the minute you start making money which is typically, we'll just use round numbers the age of 18, right, you go, get your job, and a lot of people say, oh, I got my first job at 15 or whatever, whenever it is, whenever it is, you start making money, you are in the game, you're in the game, mm-hmm. So let's, let's keep score, and and that's what budgeting is all about so we break down budgeting in this chapter, which can be very enlightening. This is one of those chapters where you definitely probably want to read it a few times. It could be Once every six months, once a year, until you really get tight with the budget.
Speaker 1:Now, are there tools out there today that can help us with budgeting? Of course, right, there's all kinds of apps. I'll give you an example mint comm. Right, they have a free version. That's absolutely fantastic. They have a paid version that gets even tighter, mm-hmm, right with your finances. So Leverage these tools. They weren't around when I was 20 or 30, whatever right. They've only been around about the last 10 years. So Leverage those tools that have we have available to us. About budgeting no, that's because you know, back in the day, budgeting was writing things down and it could be tedious, and today, with the apps and and In Technology, it's just done automatically. You're just basically like I'm in comm you're looking at Just almost a spreadsheet of where you spend all your money, and then you could look back and reflect and say, wow, I spent too much money at Starbucks. Let's just say, for example, you know what I mean. Holy crap, no wonder I'm a little short. This month I spent $347 on coffees right.
Speaker 1:Right and you think, like, who spends three, forty seven a month? Go go to Starbucks every day and see how much what it adds up to. You get a coffee, you get a little Danish, whatever you know, and you're spending 10, 12, 15 bucks at Starbucks every day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah $347 a month and you're like I'm short, a couple hundred a month. Start brewing coffee at home, right? So budgeting in it is vital. Let's go to chapter five. Let's see, here we go, chapter five, rule of 72, my favorite. The benefits of understanding the rule of 72. Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it earns it. He who doesn't pays it Albert Einstein. Well, albert Einstein called compound interest eighth one, or the world. The rule of 72 is a simple way to understand how your investments will double over time. By grasping this, you can make Smarter investment choices and watch your money grow. Guys, when we're out there, we're either paying interest or earning interest. Right, if you're gonna be investing, you're investing and you're looking for an ROI return on my investment and typically it's gauge by the Interest that you're gonna get back. How fast, if I put a thousand dollars out there, am I gonna get that thousand back?
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm in understanding the rule of 72 compound interest Will allow you to make the right decisions. Now we have other side of the coin. We pay interest right. Where do we pay high interest?
Speaker 1:credit cards credit cards, car loans. Right now, mortgage loans are high this year. Hopefully they're going down next year. Understanding how compound interest works allows you to make decisions in your favor. Should I do this now or should I do this later? Is this a good investment? Is this a bad investment? Not good for me? Right, and people ask me. They're like what's with the number 72? It's real simple formula. You divide the money by the interest, it tells you how long by 72 and it talks you how long to double. So, example if you're earning 10% on your money, right, you put your money in a vehicle and it says this thing earns 10%, how fast will it take you to double at 10%?
Speaker 1:7.2 years exactly, so you can know that if you put a thousand dollars in this investment, it's gonna take 7.2 years to double to 2,000. Now that sounds like a long time. Mm-hmm but let me ask you at your local bank what is your banker paying you on your average savings account?
Speaker 3:Oh, oh, less than a quarter of a percent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, point two five. Maybe some some Savings accounts online will give you one percent. So let's use the example of one percent and they think they're doing your big favors, like, hey, we're giving you a one percent because most of the brick and mortar guys are giving you a quarter percent, right at one percent, it's taken, it's your double. Your money will double in there. How long? 72 years, is that a lifetime? So is earning 1% any good? No.
Speaker 1:No, right. So we need to learn how to make. I always say double digit returns on our money. Now, some people out there say that's hard or rare Not if you know what you're doing, not if you know where to go find it. There are people out there that make a lot more than that, Okay. So understanding the rule of 72, vital and decision making when you're investing or you're getting ready to borrow some money. Really understand what that means when they're giving you the interest on either one of those sides of the fence there.
Speaker 3:And that's something that very young people should learn to understand.
Speaker 1:It's real simple math. At the end of the day, even if you have, to play when they're investing in their retirement account. Exactly Right, you can do that Great, let's go on.
Speaker 3:Chapter six Chapter six debt and credit controlling your debt and credit. Too many people spend money they haven't earned to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like. Wow, will Rogers.
Speaker 1:That's. That's so true, that statement so true you know people buy Jones's. Yeah, you know, you buy better shoes, purrs, cars, houses, I mean just everything because you're trying to impress people, to show that, hey, I'm doing really good. And if you are in fact doing very well financially and you can afford those things, Great, all the power to you. Just don't do those things that don't allow you to have those things when it's really easy and you can.
Speaker 3:Right, Usually using those credit cards especially those credit cards. All right. Chapter six Credit can be a powerful tool when used responsibly, but without control it can lead to financial ruin. Learn to maintain a good credit score, the dangers of excessive debt and strategies to pay down what you owe.
Speaker 1:I want to get into Dave Ramsey Massive following he has. He's a 100% about. You know, the first line in there is powerful tool, Watch with your control, to your credit cards. And he says don't use credit cards Credit. He doesn't believe in credit. He says he doesn't have any, doesn't need it. And he obviously doesn't need it in today's world because the guy's worth tens of millions of dollars. And then you don't. But for the people that are young and getting established credit is vital. You've got to go buy a vehicle. They're going to check your credit. The higher credit score, the lower the interest. And we just talk about interest a minute ago, right? So having a good credit score is going to give you the best interest available. Having a bad credit score is the opposite. They're going to charge you the most interest that they can. So it's important what's basically?
Speaker 3:means it is harder to get out of debt.
Speaker 1:It is harder to get out of debt is number one, as everybody knows. The credit pay your bills on time. But there are five factors of what causes your credit to go up or down, and that's within the chapter that'll teach you all those things. And paying your bills is the highest, at 35%. But there are other vital things that will also determine your score. And, guys, your credit score goes up, up and down on every two weeks. Basically, the credit bureaus will change it depending on how you're spending your money, and we spend money every day. So you're either getting in more debt or getting in less debt. Your score is going to move. So monitor that very important to do that.
Speaker 1:I definitely believe in credit leveraging. The older you get, the less you're going to need it, because you should be putting yourself in a better position. I want you to think of debt is cancer. Debt is bad. Now, when I say that, I mean bad debt because there is good debt. I think when we're young, we need to learn how to be responsible and leverage debt to our benefit.
Speaker 1:If you want to listen to Robert Kiyosaki, he's 100% about getting as much debt as you can, because debt makes money. Well, that's why I say good debt, bad debt. Good debt is leveraging debt to making to make money. So if that debt's making you money, we're okay with that. If that debt bad debt, I like to call consumer debt doesn't make you money, if you're going in debt because you're having too many dinners out or you're buying things that you can't afford and you're going in debt for it, they don't make you money. Shoes and whatever else, yeah, don't do that. That's bad debt. That's an anchor on you that's very hard to crawl out of, because when we live a lifestyle of no debt, you'd be surprised how fast money will stack up right, money stacks up really fast.
Speaker 1:All right, let's move on to chapter seven Saving learning how to save with a purpose. Don't save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving. Warren Buffett, I tell you that guy has so much wisdom. It's crazy, right? Random saving often leads to random spending. Instead, save with intention. By setting clear goals for each dollar, whether it's for an emergency fund, a vacation or a down payment, you'll find motivation and clarity in your savings journey. Save for a purpose. Absolutely Don't save money just to save Nobody should. But just saving money Like I'm not sure I'll save it for a rainy day or I'm going to figure out what I'm going to do with that money later no, absolutely not. You get paid and you should have. I call buckets of where you're going to put dollars right, whether it's your retirement fund, it could be I'm saving for a house, or a new or bigger house, or a car or a vacate, whatever. These are all different buckets.
Speaker 1:Emergency funds should be built up right away. All of these are different buckets. So even if you can only afford to save $10 per check and you have seven buckets to fill you, categorize and rate them. What's the most important, right, $2 and three of the buckets, or two of the buckets and a dollar on the others? Right, you're saving and you're putting. They're all gonna add up. You know, we live in Vegas and they have slot machines and they have penny slot machines, nickel slot machines, quarters and dollars, dimes, dimes and guys. I remember back in the day you could hit a jackpot and the cash would actually fall out. Right, you would hear the chinging, the noise of the coins falling into the bin there and you would think nickels, that's just a nickel. But wait until you add up 5,000 nickels, that's a chunk of money. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. So think of savings that way. When you're saving that, oh I don't have enough to save. Absolutely Saving is to me, in my opinion, about a habit. Just make it a habit, and there's so many things that we could do today that put savings on automation, Meaning the minute you put your check in your bank account, automation kicks in and it's automatically gonna put it in these different accounts for you. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Right Again, leveraging technology, which is really, really important. Save with a purpose, get your emergency fund done first and then, whatever your goals are after that. We're all different. No wrong, no right answer. But again, what is it?
Speaker 3:Simple, not easy.
Speaker 1:Exactly Simple. Not easy. It takes a lot of self-discipline to do this, but once you do it it takes around. You know, you hear the term it takes 27 days to form a habit. I believe when it comes to money it takes a little longer Because we need to see the fruits of our labor. So I think it takes about 90 days of saving consistently to create the habit that now you know you're doing it. I don't believe 27 days is enough, especially if people who get paid every two weeks, like you, do it two times. That's not enough. Right.
Speaker 1:You're not creating the habit. You're doing it eight days later, right, eight, nine, 10 times. You're like okay, it's my habit now every time I get paid. If you get paid weekly, the habit may come faster, that type of thing. So just about creating the habit and get yourself savings and save for purpose, investing down payments, all those different things that I was talking about. So you'll really enjoy that chapter. And real quick note here, guys, I want you to understand that at the end of each chapter I've installed a five question quiz and the quizzes are multiple answer the super-.
Speaker 3:Multiple choice.
Speaker 1:I'm not gonna say they're super simple, but if you've read the chapter you should get most of them. It relates, it relates, you're gonna understand it. And then at the very back of the book, you can check your answers when you're done reading to see what you got. But I put that in there so I wanted to make sure that you guys were understanding and if you got an answer wrong, then go back read it again, do some research and find out what you misunderstood. Right, great way to learn. Yeah.
Speaker 1:All right, let's get into chapter eight.
Speaker 3:Chapter eight is about investing and the value in investing. The best investment you can make is in yourself, Warren Buffett. So chapter eight is about uncovering the basics of investing and how it can grow your wealth. The chapter offers straightforward advice for beginners to navigate the investment world confidently.
Speaker 1:Hi guys, this one is huge because people have fear of investing because they're afraid to lose their money. I get it. Everybody works hard for their money and you're afraid if you're investing. Some people look investing as gambling and they're not gamblers and you can't look at it that way. Investing is putting your money to work. There are 24 hours in a day. Everybody gets the same amount of time. I don't care who you are, how much money you do or don't have. 24 hours is all you get.
Speaker 1:Investing is tied to time, all right, and so you want to leverage time to your advantage when you're investing your money. You want your money to grow. We talked about the rule of 72. The rule of 72 works on time. So when you're trading time for money, you're only 24 hours in a day. You're only working so long. Typically it's an eight hour work day for most people. If you're an entrepreneur, you know you're working longer. Entrepreneurs work longer. They're trading value for money, not time, and so you need to learn to put that money to work.
Speaker 1:I believe I want to have people the takeaway of this book in the financial literacies. The object of the game of money is to learn how to make money. Make money, because when money makes money, it works. 24, seven, three, six, five. You and I don't, or do we want to Right Right, especially as the years start piling on and you hear people want to retire 60, whatever years old. That's not going to happen unless you invest. It's just about mathematically impossible for you not to invest and have a retirement Right.
Speaker 1:Investing is, for a lot of you guys out there who have a 401K at a job, right, that is a form of investing. But understand, the 401K and it's in this chapter is not the end. All that is not your retirement that you're going to finish with. That's one piece of it. That's just one piece of it. And the reality is most people in this country do not even have six figures in a 401K. So it's not. It's a myth, right, some people do a lot, don't. So we got to be careful of what we believe. When we get back to the traditions and beliefs that 401K is oh yeah, no, I'll retire, I have a 401K. Well, it's not likely. It's not likely for most.
Speaker 1:Some people do, but most don't. So investing I like the call is the fuel, yes, for growing money.
Speaker 3:That's a good way to put it.
Speaker 1:It's your fuel. We need to put gas in our car to keep going or we're not going anywhere. You need to put fuel. Your money is your fuel to growing to the roadmap to the road to creating that roadmap.
Speaker 1:So, oh, such a big I think it is the longest chapter in here because it really digs in. And guys, remember, this book is not about financial advice. I'm not giving financial advice in this book. I'm teaching the rules of the game financial literacy. That's what it's about just teaching you the rules of the game. So it's gonna talk a lot in here about all the not even all, but a lot of the different vehicles that are available and For us to go out there and invest our money. This is when you want to actually get a financial advisor. Once you learn all the rules of this game and let's say you have some assets and some cash and you need to go talk to an expert, then you need to talk to a financial advisor, and there was a chapter in here We'll get to in a minute. We need to learn how to Find the right financial advisor for you, because Many different financial advisors will they have their own type of client that they're looking for and so, depending where you're at, the right financial for you you must interview them right.
Speaker 1:So let's move into chapter 9. Okay, I Should have already had a tank. Here we go. Oh, chapter 9 tax smart savings how to save money through taxes. In this world, nothing can be said to be certain Except death and taxes. Benjamin Franklin, we've all heard this term, mm-hmm, our whole lives we hear it. There's nothing certain but death and taxes. And so we all have to pay taxes, because we're all putting into the system so we can drive on the roads, the lights, the power can be on all these different things. I mean we pair power bills, you know, to keep our power at home.
Speaker 1:But guess what? Those street lights out there, they'll stop lights. These are all tax money. This is all tax money, and so there are definitely strategies. There are definitely strategies to save money Through taxes, and the first one is understand this Foremost. I don't hear it a lot out there, but it's the truth. Nobody pays more in taxes than the W2 earner. Mm-hmm period. If you are a W2 earner, you will pay the highest tax rate out there. If you are 1099 earner, you're an entrepreneur. The tax codes written for you and your favor. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:So there's a lot of people out there that can do both. You can be a 1099, you can have a J O B and then you can have sometimes people call it a side hustle Type of thing where you're earning money trading value for money. Then there are strategies to set yourself up correctly. We'll talk about that in the next chapter. But Understanding the tax code and getting yourself the right accountant and or tax attorney depending on what you're doing, how much money you make and Working out the strategies of paying the least amount of tax and your favor the more you keep, then the more that you're gonna reach your goals monetarily. But understand your W2 earner you are paying the most tax. All right, let's go to 10 all right.
Speaker 3:Chapter 10 guarding your treasures. Asset protection essentials Protecting your assets correctly. The most important thing is to foresee the dangers that have not yet come and to guard against them, john Rockefeller. So in chapter 10, as you accumulate wealth, it becomes essential to protect what you've worked so hard for. Dive into the world of insurance, estate planning and asset protection strategies To ensure that your wealth is shielded from unforeseen events.
Speaker 1:Guys, there is I. When I bring this subject up to people, when I people come to me To learn more about financial literacy and I talk asset protection and they look at me like I just spoke a different language and they don't know what I said right. And because, unless you're really proactive, you most people haven't even heard of the term asset protection.
Speaker 3:Which I think is why it's one of the most downloaded episodes in your podcast.
Speaker 1:It is, you're right, it is the most downloaded episode. I did an episode with One of my strategic partners, mr Lonnie Weissman. He holds a company here in Vegas called executive asset solutions.
Speaker 1:He set up all of our corporations we have four of them and understanding this will Save you guys potentially your whole nest egg, everything that you own, because we live in such a litigious society that people want to sue us for all the silliest of small things, and when someone draws a lawsuit on you, the first thing that the attorney is going to look at is what assets this is person half Are they protected? What do I have to deal with here? You know what I mean, and so this particular chapter is going to get into all the ways that we protect ourselves. Most people only commonly know asset protection as insurance, which is a form of asset protection right.
Speaker 1:We have insurance for when we drive a car. We have to have insurance.
Speaker 1:Some people we have life insurance. Right, that's protecting our assets, so. But there are many other ways to put ourselves in the right position. Set up the right corporations for our assets. To one we talked about saving on taxes. Huge way to do that Putting yourself in the right position financially with asset protection to save. That is vital and huge. I you know, sometimes I think what's my favorite chapter in this book, what's the favorite thing I teach? And and I go back and forth, and they're all just so important and tie in together.
Speaker 3:Really, they do tie together.
Speaker 1:They all tie together and you know, sometimes I think, oh guys, if you learn anything, learn asset protection. Protect what you've worked so hard for. You know whether it's the cash in your bank, the house you live in, the cars you own, doesn't matter. You want to protect those things. So accidents happen. Accidents happen, things happen in life. Sometimes it's not even your fault, mm-hmm, just whatever may happen and cross your path and you just want to be protected. You want a living trust. You want to be able, if you die suddenly, that the state doesn't take control and tell you what, what they're gonna make the decisions of what happens to your estate. You know what I mean. It goes into called probate and the last thing you want to do is being probate. Your family goes through. It's a very difficult time for the family which takes a long time.
Speaker 1:It can't take a year or sometimes more. Just depends how many assets you have and In cost the estate up to 40% of whatever the value of that estate may have been. So finally important, this asset protection. I think we all should really dive into deeply if you have any and all kind of assets. Okay, all right, let's go to chapter 11. We're getting close to the end here, guys, of this Unbelievable book, and it just hit Amazon and the sales are popping up really nicely. I really appreciate everybody out there supporting me on this book, because I did it all for you, guys.
Speaker 1:Chapter 11 financial independence. The true retirement, retirement through financial independence. Wealth consists not in having great possessions but in having few wants. He's a Greek philosopher that came up with that saying, and you know I really don't like that word retirement, but everybody uses it. So I had to put it in here because it's what most people strive for, right? They do all the things they do in life because they want to retirement.
Speaker 1:And I don't like retirement because it seems the definition is like it's the end. And it's not the end because there are people I personally have a friend who retired at 55. It's not the end, it was only 55 when he did it. He retired from the working world, right, but his life is going strong and so striving for, in my opinion, financial independence is really the name of the game and the goal. The goal is to be financially independent and understanding what that really means. The chapter will lay that out, but I'll tell you right now. Financial independence means when you have enough money working that it pays for the lifestyle you live. If you live a lifestyle I'll choose round numbers If you live a lifestyle, that's $5,000 a month, right, pays all of whatever your lifestyle is. You have enough money working that the dividends from those investments pay $5,000 a month. That is when you are officially financially independent. I mean your money makes enough money for you not you.
Speaker 1:You're not needing to trade time and or value.
Speaker 1:Your money makes enough money. That is a true retirement. Not I finished working for, you know, job X for 20 years, 30 years, whatever the number is, and then sometimes you'll get a pension. Great, remember, even pensions are not guaranteed. History will show. There are a lot of companies who had pensions. Pensions make companies go broke, so be careful where your pension may come from. Even if you've got a pension from your local county or city, wherever you live, counties go broke. Don't count on it. Counties go broke and what do they do? Sometimes they'll say we can only pay 75% of what we've been paying you. 50% of what we've paid you. We're totally broke right now. It's going to take time to catch up. I can't pay you and if you've solely relied on that money, you're in a world of hurt.
Speaker 1:So the goal of the game is to reach financial independence. From there you can grow to reach financial freedom. That is the pentacle of money. That's when you have enough money, which is typically seven or eight figures. That oh, I see this term in movies. That cracks me up. They call it FU money. We've heard that in certain movies and they're like yeah, when I have FU money, I'll do whatever I want and yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:But financial independence is when your money makes enough money to supply your lifestyle. Financial freedom means you have multiples of that on a monthly basis where it doesn't matter, you're not concerned of whatever costs to do whatever it is that you want to do. So be careful what you wish for, be careful what you strive for. But striving for financial independence and it can happen, that's not an age, because people have tied retirement to an age. Remember I did that. I went out on Las Vegas Boulevard out here in Vegas, asking different financial literacy questions, and one was what age is retirement? And what they didn't understand was that's a trick question because there is no age to retirement. It's not an age. It's a point of where we are financially, which is being financially independent.
Speaker 1:So, don't fall on the trap that being retired is an age, because it's not. Because people like I like to use the example of Mark Zuckerberg became a billionaire when he was in his twenties with Facebook. Could he have just cashed in, stopped and just went off and lived? His life easily, but he was following a passion that he loved to do and he still does today, and he just stacks up money now. So retirement is not an age. It's not an age.
Speaker 3:Well, same thing with Warren Buffett.
Speaker 1:Warren Buffett, you know, reaching 90 years of age goes to work every day. Does he have to?
Speaker 1:No no he isn't have to. You know, he does it because he wants to, because he loves it. He wants to. He's got up and went to work every most of the days of his life. It would be abnormal for him not to go and work and for him it's just the game. He wants to keep playing. That's all and that's what's most billionaires. It's just a game and they want to keep playing. It's a scoreboard. I'll do chapter 12. It's the final chapter in this chapter. Guys, when I put this chapter together in the book because this chapter was not in my trainings, this chapter is called financial literacy through AI navigating the financial wilderness with AI as a compass. Through the fusion of AI and financial literacy, we are not only navigate the financial wilderness, but master it. Our journey is no longer one of mere survival, but of enlightened prosperity. Kevin.
Speaker 1:Jay that's me, you know. I put that together because today, if you are under the age of 30, you're a lucky person. You don't know what a dial-up phone is because you never had one. You don't know what a typewriter is because you probably never saw one. These are all things that people over the age of 40 worked with, and technology has made us grow by leaps and bounds, and everything that we do in life, and so AI, my belief, will help us with our finances at the same time. So this book is going to kind of break that down for you. This chapter, I mean, and leverage it. Life is about leveraging everything.
Speaker 1:I leverage time I leverage money, I leverage people. I leverage physical people. Leverage comes from when you see people are leveraging with like a crowbar to pick something up. It's leverage right. It makes it easier. Leveraging just makes things easier. So leveraging is a great thing, and so when we learn how to leverage AI to our advantage, things are infinitely possible and I really believe that AI. This is December of 23,. This recording and ChatGPT came out in March, and now there are just dozens of different types of AI like ChatGPT.
Speaker 1:So in less than a year, what the exponential growth has been phenomenal. So I believe personally me our lives are going to be profoundly different in the next 36 months because of AI.
Speaker 3:Which is going to be scary and exciting at the same time.
Speaker 1:Scary and exciting. Simple, not easy. Let's remember those terms Scary and exciting.
Speaker 1:Simple not easy. Guys really enjoy this book, read this book, share the book. One of the things my podcast Money Conversations with KJ is about is about having conversations about money. It's okay to do it. I know a lot of people have fear of talking about money. We don't have to talk about dollar amounts. That's in our pockets, our banks, whatever. We want to talk about the lessons of money, and that's what the podcast is about teaching the lessons of money. So today I wanted to reveal the book that just came out leverage it. It's on sale for the rest of the month $9.95 on Amazon. You could go to my website and get the link through there at moneymasterinstitutecom whichever way you want to go and or check out some of the other trainings that are on there.
Speaker 1:January we're having another live six week training for the people who want to do live trainings and interact. You know a lot of people don't want to just read, they want to interact, so there is one coming up. If that's something for you, go to the website, sign up for it. I've got it on a ridiculous discount for the holiday season, first of the year. I want to help as many people as possible, so come and join us for the six weeks training. It's a once a week training for 90 minutes. That is a breakdown of some of the lessons that are in this book. So, with that being said, anything you want to add to the audience, dear.
Speaker 3:I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as we did putting it together.
Speaker 1:We did, we did. We had a lot of fun doing it. Um, I'll be brutally honest with you about a lot of this was based on the video trainings that I do have. In the training that I've had I don't know two, three years, I think it's been out.
Speaker 1:Um, you could watch these if you don't like to read and you rather to learn all these lessons via video. Um, that's available on the website, super affordable to go in there and then you could watch it on your own pace, cause some people just learn easier and better through video. Right, listening to somebody versus reading. That's fine. Maybe get the book as a reference, uh, watch the trainings and then again, financial literacy isn't something that you're just going to learn once and think you got it right. Um, it's. It's a lifetime of always learning and and creating new habits with your money. So do both, do all three If you really want to put yourself in the best possible position. By the book, read it. Do the trainings.
Speaker 1:The video trainings get better understanding, and the live trainings are about interacting, because I pair people up as accountability partners. You get to meet somebody and understand their story. They understand your story, and sometimes we just need accountability partners in life to make us do the things we know we should be doing. Is that right? And? And so when? When I say simple, not easy, it makes it a little easier. If you've promised someone X Y Z this week, I'm going to. I'm going to do X, y, z, and they keep you accountable Right, and that's why I do that. So, again, do all three. I just try to make this information on every avenue possible. So, guys, I hope you enjoyed it. I definitely, uh, enjoy putting this together. Thanks for doing it with me, dear You're welcome.
Speaker 1:So guys remember, if you're out there on YouTube, hit the subscribe button, the notification bell. I put out as many videos as I can. Um, if you're out there on the listening to the podcast, uh, please hit the subscribe button and I have podcasts coming out on more regular basis. I'm looking forward to 2024 and putting out a lot more content.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so if you guys are interested in becoming a guest on the podcast, visit the website to sign up.
Speaker 1:Yes, Go to moneymasterinstitutecom. It's at the very bottom of the page. Um, come and be a guest. Let's hear your story, let's help you. It's, uh, basically the people that sign up there. It's like a free consultation. I tell me your story. I'm going to help give you some advice on uh learning about financial literacy and which type of financial advisor you may need to go talk to, depending where you're at. Remember, financial advisors won't even talk to you unless you have typically minimum five figures, right. If you have a couple of thousand bucks, they can't even talk to you.
Speaker 3:So, um, well, and this also will be coming out an audible soon.
Speaker 1:Yes, All right, look for the audible. All right, guys, take care, we'll see you on the next one. Hey everybody, hope you enjoyed that episode.
Speaker 3:I really enjoyed making all these episodes for you.
Speaker 1:Remember, we're just having conversations with people's journey with money and the things they did right with it, the things that did wrong with it, and, uh, how, how did they really come about getting their mindset with money? So, uh, every episode's different. We all have a good takeaway from them. So do me a favor hit them like button, smash the like button and subscribe to my channel, because every episode that I do is going to be different, as all our journeys are different. So, you guys, take care and we'll talk to you next week.