Build Wealth & Live a Rich Life at Any Age (My son's journey)

No matter how old you are, it's never too early or too late to start building wealth and creating a rich life.

In today's episode, we're going to delve into a topic close to my heart – how to build wealth and live a rich life.

But what makes this episode even more special is our guest – none other than my son, Jeremy.

He has an inspiring story to share about how he's managed to create a fulfilling life, travel the world, and build a successful business - all while prioritizing his experiences over material possessions.

This is a unique and inspiring episode that you do not want to miss. Jeremy's perspective on balancing wealth-building and living life to the fullest is worth listening to and learning from.

Tune in and join us for an insightful discussion on how to build wealth and live a rich life at any age.

IN TODAY’S EPISODE, I DISCUSS: 

• Balancing present needs with future planning
• Lessons in money management
• Investing in experiences that truly matter

RECOMMENDED EPISODES FOR YOU
If you liked this episode, you'll love these ones:

• Create a Money Machine for Financial Freedom
• Make More Money by Getting Paid More for What You Know
• How to Live a Fully Expressed Life with Rachel Luna
• Wealth Habits That Make a Difference

TAKE THE FINANCIAL FREEDOM QUIZ:
Take this free quiz to see where you are on the path to financial freedom and what your next steps are to move you to a new financial destiny at http://www.YourFinancialFreedomQuiz.com 

OTHER RESOURCES:
7-Day Money Plan Workshop: https://www.TheMoneyPlanWorkshop.com
Affluent Entrepreneurs Private Facebook Group https://www.melabraham.com/group/

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Transcript

Mel Abraham [00:00:06]:

This is the Affluent Entrepreneur show for entrepreneurs that want to operate at a high level and achieve financial liberation. I'm your host, Mel Abraham, and I'll be sharing with you what it takes to create success beyond wealth so you can have a richer, more fulfilling lifestyle. In this show, you'll learn how business and money intersect so you can scale your business, scale your money and scale your life while creating a deeper impact and living with complete freedom, because that's what it really means to be an athlete. Entrepreneur. Hey there, Jeremy. So good to finally have you on. This is going to be an interesting show. As I said in the intro, Jeremy's a successful entrepreneur, but he's also my son, so he has been scarred by me for decades and.

Mel Abraham [00:01:04]:

He lived with.

Mel Abraham [00:01:05]:

Me starting at age six or just.

Mel Abraham [00:01:07]:

Before that, and and so he was getting indoctrinated into this whole entrepreneur game. But fact of the matter, Jeremy.

Mel Abraham [00:01:19]:

I.

Mel Abraham [00:01:19]:

Remember this story, and I don't know if you remember it, we were in.

Mel Abraham [00:01:23]:

A mall one day and this is when I knew that and you were still like six years old and you wanted something in a store.

Mel Abraham [00:01:33]:

And I said, no, not today. And you looked at me and said, dad, I'll make you a deal. And I go, oh, man, he's listening too much.

Mel Abraham [00:01:46]:

So for those of you parents out.

Mel Abraham [00:01:49]:

There, I think, and we'll find out.

Mel Abraham [00:01:51]:

Some of what you say, but more of what you do seems to get sink in to our kids. And I thought it would be a.

Mel Abraham [00:01:57]:

Cool idea to have a conversation for.

Mel Abraham [00:02:01]:

Jeremy, and I've not discussed any questions.

Mel Abraham [00:02:04]:

We'Ve not rehearsed any of this.

Mel Abraham [00:02:06]:

I have no idea what he's going to say. He might tell me that it was the worst experience, but it's worked out for him. All right, so, Jeremy, before we get started, do me a favor, let people know what you're doing today. Aside from my son, he's an entrepreneur and he is the daddy to my.

Mel Abraham [00:02:28]:

Granddaughter and soon to be another grandchild.

Jeremy Abraham [00:02:33]:

Yeah. So currently just running a software startup. I founded a company by the name of Spiffy that does checkouts and payments and a lot of sales automation and whatnot for online entrepreneurs.

Jeremy Abraham [00:02:50]:

So that is my job. Now.

Mel Abraham [00:02:55]:

You say it's a startup, but it's.

Mel Abraham [00:02:56]:

Been around for a little while.

Jeremy Abraham [00:02:58]:

Yeah, we're going on seven years. It's profitable bootstrapped, no debt, no VC.

Jeremy Abraham [00:03:07]:

Funding, nothing like that.

Jeremy Abraham [00:03:09]:

So we basically started with $3,000 and have grown it to close to seven figures annual recurring revenue.

Mel Abraham [00:03:17]:

So good. And how you started was another interesting.

Mel Abraham [00:03:24]:

One of the things that we don't.

Mel Abraham [00:03:26]:

Necessarily know the opportunities that come about.

Mel Abraham [00:03:28]:

Because Jeremy went to school.

Mel Abraham [00:03:31]:

Originally he wanted to go to school.

Mel Abraham [00:03:33]:

To go into the film industry, but.

Mel Abraham [00:03:38]:

Then he switched his major to business marketing. But there was a moment there because.

Mel Abraham [00:03:44]:

One of the challenges I had as a dad.

Mel Abraham [00:03:48]:

We had this house, and his room was in the back of the house, not the back. He was in the front of the.

Mel Abraham [00:03:54]:

House, actually, but he was at the other end of the house from where my room was. And he was playing on the computer all the time. And I was trying to figure out.

Mel Abraham [00:04:05]:

How do I get him off the computer? And I couldn't figure out how to get him off the computer. So what did I do? I think I got you dreamweaver and.

Mel Abraham [00:04:11]:

I got you a domain.

Jeremy Abraham [00:04:13]:

Yeah.

Jeremy Abraham [00:04:13]:

You still haven't got me off the computer, by the way.

Mel Abraham [00:04:15]:

No, I haven't. I made it even worse from there.

Jeremy Abraham [00:04:22]:

I think it was 14.

Mel Abraham [00:04:23]:

Yeah, I think you were 1314 years old.

Mel Abraham [00:04:28]:

Then.

Mel Abraham [00:04:29]:

Within two weeks, you came back to.

Mel Abraham [00:04:33]:

Me and said, look, I made myself a website. And so that was really the beginning.

Mel Abraham [00:04:40]:

Because then I said, wait, if you can do that, can you do that for me? And you said, yes, but you started.

Mel Abraham [00:04:49]:

Down this path of looking for opportunities, because it was shortly after that you.

Mel Abraham [00:04:54]:

Created a you started to do coding, self taught.

Mel Abraham [00:05:00]:

You saw opportunities and you found things.

Mel Abraham [00:05:03]:

Because you did another business.

Mel Abraham [00:05:08]:

I won't call it a business. It was something that you did.

Mel Abraham [00:05:10]:

It was for the dogs.

Jeremy Abraham [00:05:12]:

Yeah.

Mel Abraham [00:05:13]:

What was that again?

Jeremy Abraham [00:05:15]:

There was two. So before I did that one, I did Game Monster.

Jeremy Abraham [00:05:18]:

Oh, that's right.

Jeremy Abraham [00:05:20]:

Which was obviously when I went to.

Jeremy Abraham [00:05:23]:

High school, there was a lot of.

Jeremy Abraham [00:05:25]:

Flash games and whatnot, and a lot.

Jeremy Abraham [00:05:27]:

Of them were blocked by the school.

Jeremy Abraham [00:05:30]:

So you couldn't actually get to the website.

Jeremy Abraham [00:05:32]:

So I launched a website that couldn't.

Jeremy Abraham [00:05:35]:

Be blocked by the school.

Jeremy Abraham [00:05:37]:

And I guess it might have been.

Jeremy Abraham [00:05:43]:

Questionable legality, but I downloaded all these Flash games from these other websites and then hosted them on my own website and started making some ad money on this website doing games. So that was kind of like my.

Jeremy Abraham [00:05:57]:

First thing that I've built from scratch.

Jeremy Abraham [00:06:01]:

And it was a little bit more dynamic. And then started my Puppy Planner, which.

Jeremy Abraham [00:06:07]:

Was that was when I got Lexi.

Mel Abraham [00:06:11]:

That was when you got Lexi.

Jeremy Abraham [00:06:13]:

And so I got Lexi and and was overwhelmed with, you know, what do I do with all these shots? And you got to time things out and do different things. So I kind of built a tool to do that.

Mel Abraham [00:06:25]:

We're going through that with Buddha.

Jeremy Abraham [00:06:27]:

Yeah. So I built a tool to do that.

Jeremy Abraham [00:06:30]:

Didn't really go anywhere, but.

Mel Abraham [00:06:36]:

Why I.

Mel Abraham [00:06:36]:

Brought it up is the fact that.

Mel Abraham [00:06:39]:

You were kind of living life and you would just see opportunities in your everyday life.

Jeremy Abraham [00:06:47]:

Yeah.

Mel Abraham [00:06:49]:

And what do you think it was.

Mel Abraham [00:06:52]:

That got you to start? Because that's actually the optic, I think.

Mel Abraham [00:06:55]:

That you look at life through.

Jeremy Abraham [00:06:58]:

Yeah.

Jeremy Abraham [00:07:00]:

I believe that your strength is also your greatest weakness, and your greatest weakness is your greatest strength. And I would say that my weakness.

Jeremy Abraham [00:07:07]:

Is that if I'm not interested, I.

Jeremy Abraham [00:07:11]:

Can'T do something, but my strength is.

Jeremy Abraham [00:07:13]:

If I am interested, I can't stop doing that something.

Jeremy Abraham [00:07:18]:

So I found challenges, and I think I really enjoyed the challenge, and it helps that I was able to apply it to kind of real world examples, focusing on issues that I was having and just trying to build something.

Jeremy Abraham [00:07:35]:

Yeah, not necessarily like not necessarily trying.

Jeremy Abraham [00:07:40]:

To make it a business. From the outset, there wasn't a focus on making money, necessarily with Game Monster or with my Puppy Planner. It was definitely more, can I do it?

Mel Abraham [00:07:55]:

You're driven by the puzzle.

Jeremy Abraham [00:07:57]:

Yeah.

Mel Abraham [00:08:00]:

So cool. But there was a moment, there was.

Mel Abraham [00:08:03]:

A time where that switch flipped because I know that I think you were around eleven when I started to give you I started to pay you for stuff, I put you on a commission and everything, and we did something.

Mel Abraham [00:08:20]:

So at that point we could start having conversations. In fact, we still have the original bank accounts with both our names on it still today.

Mel Abraham [00:08:29]:

That was when you were eleven.

Mel Abraham [00:08:31]:

You're now 32, so it's been a few years.

Mel Abraham [00:08:34]:

Yes, but it was then when we.

Mel Abraham [00:08:38]:

Started to actually talk a bit about money and everything. At what point do you think that.

Mel Abraham [00:08:43]:

And it wasn't about money for money's sake.

Mel Abraham [00:08:48]:

You were looking at money a little.

Mel Abraham [00:08:50]:

Differently, I think, but at what point.

Mel Abraham [00:08:52]:

Did that kind of start to come into your focus?

Jeremy Abraham [00:08:57]:

I think it was as soon as.

Jeremy Abraham [00:08:59]:

I started to make relative to like, my peers make good money, which was probably 15, when I actually was like, okay, I'll ask for money for these.

Jeremy Abraham [00:09:12]:

Websites, and making solid money, just getting.

Jeremy Abraham [00:09:18]:

Into high school and not having a.

Jeremy Abraham [00:09:20]:

Job, it was really cool. It also led to the decision of.

Jeremy Abraham [00:09:27]:

I can just go and blow all.

Jeremy Abraham [00:09:29]:

This money, or I can blow part.

Jeremy Abraham [00:09:33]:

Of it and save some of it and stuff like that.

Jeremy Abraham [00:09:36]:

And I think that's where I don't know that we had tension or anything.

Jeremy Abraham [00:09:42]:

Like that about saving or anything like that. I felt like I needed to save, and I think that's mainly because of you harping on it and the time value of money and compounding, and the difference between starting at 15 and starting.

Jeremy Abraham [00:10:00]:

At 25 is incredible. And so I would probably say, regardless.

Jeremy Abraham [00:10:10]:

Of your age, whether you're 15 or.

Jeremy Abraham [00:10:11]:

You'Re 55, that kind of tension of.

Jeremy Abraham [00:10:16]:

Learning to save is always there.

Jeremy Abraham [00:10:20]:

And that's what I was feeling.

Jeremy Abraham [00:10:23]:

I have all this money, but I can't spend it. And it wasn't that I couldn't, it.

Jeremy Abraham [00:10:28]:

Was that I shouldn't.

Mel Abraham [00:10:30]:

Yeah, it was a healthy angst.

Jeremy Abraham [00:10:33]:

Yeah.

Jeremy Abraham [00:10:34]:

But then once the habit was in place, and I think it was more.

Jeremy Abraham [00:10:39]:

Probably into my 20s, where it got easy, where I could start to not really think about money because my wants.

Jeremy Abraham [00:10:50]:

In life were a lot less than the money that I was making, and it was almost on autopilot.

Mel Abraham [00:10:58]:

Yeah, well, and I think that that's.

Mel Abraham [00:11:02]:

A really important thing for people to.

Mel Abraham [00:11:04]:

Hear, is that when we start to create a life that allows us what I call margin, to be able to.

Mel Abraham [00:11:15]:

Then create savings, that allows us to.

Mel Abraham [00:11:18]:

Then use that from an investment standpoint to grow, which gives us even more freedom.

Jeremy Abraham [00:11:25]:

Yeah.

Mel Abraham [00:11:29]:

Because I remember you were doing websites. You were doing all kinds of things.

Jeremy Abraham [00:11:37]:

I was probably making a dollar an hour on a website.

Mel Abraham [00:11:40]:

Yeah, but still, compared to your peers, like you said, they're doing fast food. I remember one time, your then girlfriend.

Mel Abraham [00:11:51]:

You had said to me, she got.

Mel Abraham [00:11:55]:

A raise, and I think it was a $2 raise or something.

Mel Abraham [00:11:57]:

And I said, did you do the math on it?

Mel Abraham [00:12:01]:

We said, 2000 hours, that's about $4,000 for the year.

Mel Abraham [00:12:05]:

If we divide that, it's 100 and.

Mel Abraham [00:12:08]:

$5200 less than $200 a month.

Mel Abraham [00:12:12]:

If you take the taxes out, it's.

Mel Abraham [00:12:14]:

Probably $150 a month. If she gets paid twice a month, it's price.

Mel Abraham [00:12:19]:

$70 every check.

Mel Abraham [00:12:24]:

That kind of hits you where you.

Mel Abraham [00:12:26]:

Go, if I wanted to make $4,000, I can just go sell another job. Yeah.

Mel Abraham [00:12:34]:

When do you think it was for you, where you started to look at things and say, because we can talk about your college experience, and when you sent me that text, too, if you want.

Jeremy Abraham [00:12:44]:

I don't care to talk about it. But you can talk about it.

Mel Abraham [00:12:49]:

But I mean, there was a point.

Mel Abraham [00:12:50]:

In there where you decided, I'm going to always control my own destiny.

Mel Abraham [00:12:55]:

When do you think that was?

Mel Abraham [00:12:56]:

What was that, that catalyst for you?

Jeremy Abraham [00:13:00]:

I never really felt that in control, I don't think. Probably until after college.

Jeremy Abraham [00:13:11]:

So it was more of yeah, I don't know. I thought I had it figured out.

Jeremy Abraham [00:13:18]:

And I was just going to build.

Jeremy Abraham [00:13:20]:

Websites and call it a day.

Jeremy Abraham [00:13:23]:

What do I need this film degree for? But, yeah, I would say late 20s.

Jeremy Abraham [00:13:28]:

Is probably when so that's like a.

Jeremy Abraham [00:13:31]:

Decade into me even starting to make.

Jeremy Abraham [00:13:34]:

Money and think about saving, where I.

Jeremy Abraham [00:13:38]:

Felt more in control. And I would say that it was more a focus on the income than.

Jeremy Abraham [00:13:43]:

It was on the saving.

Jeremy Abraham [00:13:45]:

Like knowing that I could always earn versus, I got lucky this year and I earned some money.

Jeremy Abraham [00:13:50]:

I think that's what led to kind of more confidence in having control.

Mel Abraham [00:13:58]:

But it was before that when you.

Mel Abraham [00:14:00]:

Decided, I'm not going to work for someone else.

Mel Abraham [00:14:03]:

I'm going to take control of it.

Mel Abraham [00:14:04]:

And do it on my own.

Jeremy Abraham [00:14:06]:

Yeah, that's probably more like fear driven. A lot of it's driven out of it's a weird I work so hard because I'm lazy, right?

Jeremy Abraham [00:14:17]:

Like, it's I'm the same way. I don't want a job, so I'll work 90 hours a week.

Jeremy Abraham [00:14:27]:

That doesn't make sense.

Jeremy Abraham [00:14:33]:

Yeah, I think it was once I.

Jeremy Abraham [00:14:36]:

Was making fairly good money, maybe around 18, building websites. I think that was like, yeah, I'm never going to have a job. I don't even know if I need a degree.

Mel Abraham [00:14:47]:

Yeah, we went through that.

Jeremy Abraham [00:14:50]:

Yeah.

Mel Abraham [00:14:53]:

But he did get his degree. Just so there's a whole question about college education and all that stuff. That's for another episode, and we can talk about it another time. But the fact of the matter is.

Mel Abraham [00:15:05]:

That at a young age, jeremy decided that the entrepreneur journey was for him. And I think one of the powerful.

Mel Abraham [00:15:13]:

Things for those that are doing side gigs or entrepreneurial journey or deciding they.

Mel Abraham [00:15:19]:

Want to build something is the fact.

Mel Abraham [00:15:22]:

That you actually have the ability to.

Mel Abraham [00:15:24]:

Impact the top line and the bottom line.

Mel Abraham [00:15:27]:

Too often, if we are on a fixed income, whether it's a salary, getting your 1% or 2% raises, or you're.

Mel Abraham [00:15:35]:

In retirement, the only thing you can.

Mel Abraham [00:15:38]:

Affect is the expense structure, which is the bottom line. And that doesn't allow you to accelerate.

Mel Abraham [00:15:45]:

Financial growth, financial freedom and wealth.

Mel Abraham [00:15:49]:

But as someone that has the ability, like you said, I can just go.

Mel Abraham [00:15:52]:

Sell another website or bring in more.

Mel Abraham [00:15:56]:

Money, do another launch, do something. You start to have the ability to.

Mel Abraham [00:16:02]:

Impact things at both levels, which is where you can accelerate your wealth.

Jeremy Abraham [00:16:08]:

Yeah.

Jeremy Abraham [00:16:09]:

And I'd say you have one more point of control, which is your time.

Jeremy Abraham [00:16:13]:

Yeah.

Jeremy Abraham [00:16:14]:

In a traditional job, you don't control.

Jeremy Abraham [00:16:16]:

How much you make, necessarily, at least.

Jeremy Abraham [00:16:20]:

Directly, and you don't control when or how you work.

Jeremy Abraham [00:16:23]:

And I think that those two pieces are disempowering. Yeah.

Mel Abraham [00:16:31]:

And you've got your business and you're doing your thing, but you've been doing other things, and obviously you've been married now.

Mel Abraham [00:16:39]:

May get this right.

Mel Abraham [00:16:40]:

Five years, right?

Mel Abraham [00:16:41]:

Coming up.

Jeremy Abraham [00:16:43]:

Sure. Yeah, five years.

Mel Abraham [00:16:49]:

And she's got her own business also.

Mel Abraham [00:16:52]:

She's got her own business. Cammy is a successful entrepreneur also in the financial planning space. Obviously, I've watched Jeremy grow. I've also watched her grow because they've known each other since high school.

Jeremy Abraham [00:17:10]:

And.

Mel Abraham [00:17:11]:

She'S doing amazing stuff, too. And now the two of you are.

Mel Abraham [00:17:14]:

This power couple that are building business, two separate businesses. But more importantly, and I think this.

Mel Abraham [00:17:22]:

Is really important, is you're building a life. You've got your first child, you've got a second child on the way. And so that means that the two of you are having conversations regularly about.

Mel Abraham [00:17:34]:

Money and your financial vision, but your life vision.

Jeremy Abraham [00:17:39]:

Yeah.

Mel Abraham [00:17:40]:

Was it always that way? Were you always guys? Because you guys started off young.

Mel Abraham [00:17:45]:

And I know at one point she went away for college and yeah.

Mel Abraham [00:17:49]:

Really didn't separate you at all.

Jeremy Abraham [00:17:51]:

We joke that we've been together for so long that it feels like we were dating different people back then.

Jeremy Abraham [00:17:58]:

And.

Jeremy Abraham [00:17:59]:

Then we just realized, oh, that was you. That's not my ex boyfriend.

Jeremy Abraham [00:18:07]:

I think we definitely always had a.

Jeremy Abraham [00:18:11]:

More longer term view.

Jeremy Abraham [00:18:13]:

But it's interesting, like, nowadays we don't really know.

Jeremy Abraham [00:18:19]:

We're kind of living shorter term, right?

Jeremy Abraham [00:18:23]:

We don't want to keep.

Jeremy Abraham [00:18:26]:

There'S a balance between sacrificing now for the future and enjoying now. And so that's the balance currently that.

Jeremy Abraham [00:18:37]:

We'Re trying to strike. And it's not this like, hey, we.

Jeremy Abraham [00:18:43]:

Want to live in California and live in this big house and have three kids.

Jeremy Abraham [00:18:48]:

And that's a very strict vision versus focusing on experience.

Jeremy Abraham [00:18:58]:

So we want to travel. We want to try different things. In just a couple of weeks, we're leaving to Portugal for a month, and we're going to work from Portugal with Emily and time offset by like, 8 hours and whatnot. So it's going to be a whole experience. And we're not doing it because it's easy.

Jeremy Abraham [00:19:20]:

We're doing it because of the challenge.

Jeremy Abraham [00:19:23]:

And it's the thing we want to do. And ultimately the idea is maybe we can travel six months out of the year. Her and I don't really like taking vacations because stuff just piles up while you're gone. So instead these kind of, like, month long stays. Number one, airbnb gives you like 30%.

Jeremy Abraham [00:19:43]:

Off, so you're paying way less. And then number two, we essentially have.

Jeremy Abraham [00:19:50]:

One week of time there where we're not working.

Jeremy Abraham [00:19:52]:

Just by looking at the weekends and.

Jeremy Abraham [00:19:55]:

Assume you can take one day off during the week, you've got more time than you can spend in all these.

Jeremy Abraham [00:20:01]:

Different places without taking off any time working.

Jeremy Abraham [00:20:06]:

And so that's kind of where we're focused now.

Mel Abraham [00:20:09]:

But I think that this is really a huge lesson. I hope that people are hearing it's. One of the elements that we talk about, the critical outcomes in Athlete's Blueprint is this idea of living a richer.

Mel Abraham [00:20:20]:

Lifestyle, which is not it may be funded by money, or it may be.

Mel Abraham [00:20:26]:

Funded by the structure of your life.

Mel Abraham [00:20:28]:

But what creates the richness is what.

Mel Abraham [00:20:31]:

You'Re doing is the experiences. And you're sitting back saying, how do we experience life the way we want to?

Mel Abraham [00:20:38]:

Not what society says, because not what.

Mel Abraham [00:20:42]:

Dad and mom say because she's got her own entrepreneurial parents, too. What we want.

Mel Abraham [00:20:51]:

This is the first time I heard.

Mel Abraham [00:20:52]:

That they might try and do it for six months. That means I don't see my grandchildren for six months at a time.

Jeremy Abraham [00:20:56]:

That means you're just traveling with us.

Mel Abraham [00:20:58]:

We might be traveling because we are crashing their party in Portugal for a week or eight days. We're going to show up.

Mel Abraham [00:21:05]:

But I think that this was something that won.

Mel Abraham [00:21:10]:

One of the things that I constantly say is that as a couple, we need to have these conversations is around.

Mel Abraham [00:21:15]:

Money, but money in the context of.

Mel Abraham [00:21:19]:

Life, not in the context of things.

Mel Abraham [00:21:23]:

I think is important. And that's what it sounds like you guys are doing.

Jeremy Abraham [00:21:27]:

Yeah.

Jeremy Abraham [00:21:31]:

We enjoy our things, but we're very simple.

Jeremy Abraham [00:21:34]:

The joke is that we've lived in.

Jeremy Abraham [00:21:37]:

This house for six years now, and we have the smallest house out of.

Jeremy Abraham [00:21:43]:

All of our friends. Yet our income is arguably quite high.

Jeremy Abraham [00:21:50]:

And we don't really value things. We want to do things, experience things. And yeah, I think one of the.

Jeremy Abraham [00:21:58]:

Biggest.

Jeremy Abraham [00:22:00]:

Strengths that we have as a couple is Cami is a financial planner. And I think having a financial planner is incredible because you can have confidence in your plan. And so for us, it's like, okay, we need to save X dollars per year.

Jeremy Abraham [00:22:18]:

And once we save that, we don't save anymore.

Jeremy Abraham [00:22:22]:

We don't go and squander it, but we spend it on experiences or we save it for future experiences. And I think that that's really powerful because we know what our life looks.

Jeremy Abraham [00:22:34]:

Like in 30 years. Like, financially, we're dialed in and we.

Mel Abraham [00:22:41]:

Build you build an asset base to.

Mel Abraham [00:22:43]:

Work from that's going to continually grow.

Mel Abraham [00:22:46]:

This is the money machine that I talk about. It's so important.

Mel Abraham [00:22:52]:

But it didn't happen overnight.

Jeremy Abraham [00:22:54]:

No. And many times it's boring.

Jeremy Abraham [00:22:57]:

They say that.

Jeremy Abraham [00:23:00]:

The easiest way to become a millionaire is to, whatever it is, put $5,000 or $200 away a month for X number of years, and all of a sudden you're a millionaire. You're not going out getting lottery tickets. You're doing the long trodge, the marathon, the slow game, which is why when you automate it, it makes it so much easier. And then when you kind of recalibrate your wants and desires. So your impulse buys or whatever is.

Jeremy Abraham [00:23:36]:

Not cars or Gucci bags or whatever.

Jeremy Abraham [00:23:40]:

Shoes, your impulse buying.

Jeremy Abraham [00:23:44]:

I don't know, whatever investments.

Jeremy Abraham [00:23:48]:

It makes it so much easier because.

Jeremy Abraham [00:23:51]:

You don't want the crazy stuff, the expensive stuff.

Mel Abraham [00:23:56]:

Has this been a shift for you guys? Or is this something that has kind.

Mel Abraham [00:23:59]:

Of always been there?

Jeremy Abraham [00:24:01]:

No, it's been a shift. We actually started with let's save as much as possible, and let's make as much as possible.

Jeremy Abraham [00:24:09]:

Which meant to meant like, buy as.

Jeremy Abraham [00:24:12]:

Little as possible, do as little as possible, have as little as possible, and just accumulate dollars. I think that served us, especially being young. Right? We didn't have a great income, so really dialing back, one, developed the muscle, the discipline, but two, it allowed us to save more money earlier on.

Jeremy Abraham [00:24:38]:

And the biggest impact on your future wealth is time.

Mel Abraham [00:24:45]:

Yes.

Jeremy Abraham [00:24:46]:

So I think that served us.

Jeremy Abraham [00:24:48]:

But at the same time, looking at.

Jeremy Abraham [00:24:51]:

Our life, I was at some point in the last three, four years where.

Jeremy Abraham [00:24:56]:

We was just like, we're accumulating cool, but we're not really doing anything.

Jeremy Abraham [00:25:05]:

We're not enjoying life. And so it was, how do we balance the both?

Jeremy Abraham [00:25:09]:

Right? And that came down to a plan.

Jeremy Abraham [00:25:13]:

And once we knew the plan, like, okay, here's the lifestyle in 30 years, inflation adjusted, all that stuff, then we knew our number on an annual basis.

Jeremy Abraham [00:25:25]:

And all the surplus beyond that.

Jeremy Abraham [00:25:28]:

Yeah, we can decide to save and say, you know what, let's Short shorten our working years and retire at 50 or 45 or whatever. But a better use of the time is, a better use of the money is to enjoy life now and go on experiences and maybe focus less on growing the businesses as fast as possible and more on building sustainable businesses where you can take time out, not just dollars.

Mel Abraham [00:25:53]:

So this is beautiful because I think.

Mel Abraham [00:25:56]:

That what you're getting at.

Mel Abraham [00:25:58]:

This is something it took me a while to get.

Mel Abraham [00:26:02]:

And I remember when I had my bike accident and Richard came and took.

Mel Abraham [00:26:06]:

Me to lunch and he looked at.

Mel Abraham [00:26:07]:

Me and he said, how much is enough? See, I didn't know what my finish.

Mel Abraham [00:26:11]:

Line was, but you guys kind of do and you're watching it and you're tracking it.

Mel Abraham [00:26:18]:

And you're stress testing it.

Mel Abraham [00:26:19]:

And you're doing the things, I mean.

Mel Abraham [00:26:21]:

Everyone out there, we really need to.

Mel Abraham [00:26:25]:

Understand what our lifestyle, what we want our lifestyle to look like. It'll change and it can change. I mean, every time you have a child it's going to change. And now you're on number two.

Mel Abraham [00:26:33]:

But you input it into the plan.

Mel Abraham [00:26:36]:

You stress test it in the plan and you continue to build.

Mel Abraham [00:26:39]:

But at the same time, what I'm.

Mel Abraham [00:26:43]:

Hearing you, if I'm understanding it, is the way you're living. And some of this is the first time I'm hearing, hearing you say this.

Mel Abraham [00:26:48]:

Which is kind of cool and I.

Mel Abraham [00:26:52]:

Love the way you guys are doing.

Mel Abraham [00:26:53]:

It in the sense that we took care of our present, of our current needs. We took care of knowing that we're building our future based on a plan. And there's this piece in the middle that may be left over and that's to enrich our current life or to set up some other enrichments later in life. Yeah, and that's kind of the way you're doing it.

Jeremy Abraham [00:27:23]:

Well, in your younger years, at least in my opinion, you have more of an ability to enjoy life. So if you worked until you were.

Jeremy Abraham [00:27:32]:

60 or 70 and then you had.

Jeremy Abraham [00:27:35]:

All this money and you knew you.

Jeremy Abraham [00:27:36]:

Were set up and now you're going to go try and enjoy life, well.

Jeremy Abraham [00:27:41]:

That'S number one, risky because you might not make it that far.

Jeremy Abraham [00:27:47]:

Right?

Jeremy Abraham [00:27:47]:

And number two, I think we need to do a better job of balancing versus having phases.

Mel Abraham [00:27:57]:

Yeah, look, you're not going to get.

Mel Abraham [00:27:59]:

An argument for me. I totally agree.

Mel Abraham [00:28:01]:

I think we need to be living the journey during that time. Which kind of leads me to this question.

Mel Abraham [00:28:11]:

How much do you think for both of you? And I know you can't speak for Cammy necessarily, and maybe we bring her on one time and her and I'll.

Jeremy Abraham [00:28:22]:

Have a conversation too.

Mel Abraham [00:28:23]:

Is that, how much do you think that the environment that you grew up in, the environment that you're in impact?

Mel Abraham [00:28:34]:

Maybe it's environment maybe it's indoctrination, I don't know, impacted the way you're kind.

Jeremy Abraham [00:28:38]:

Of approaching life 100%. Yeah.

Jeremy Abraham [00:28:44]:

If I had married anybody other than Cammy, if I had a dad other than you, it's 100% environment. I know it's cliche at this point, but you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

Jeremy Abraham [00:29:00]:

Right.

Jeremy Abraham [00:29:01]:

And so you start to think like those people. You start to value what those people value. And Cami and I don't value material things. You don't really value material things. Honestly, it's probably because of you and Stephanie that we really kind of took.

Jeremy Abraham [00:29:16]:

More of a look at how can.

Jeremy Abraham [00:29:19]:

We experience life earlier, your guys'travel and stuff like that. And then it was actually because of a family that we follow where they're traveling with three kids. And that was actually a big kind of limiting thing and actually a point of tension for Cami. And I was like, I don't know if I want kids because I want.

Jeremy Abraham [00:29:42]:

To experience life and I don't want.

Jeremy Abraham [00:29:44]:

To be tied down.

Jeremy Abraham [00:29:45]:

But that's not a truth. We can absolutely make it work.

Jeremy Abraham [00:29:52]:

And obviously, it's going to be harder.

Jeremy Abraham [00:29:55]:

Right.

Jeremy Abraham [00:29:55]:

If you constantly are chasing the easiest.

Jeremy Abraham [00:29:57]:

Thing, then who knows where you'll end up?

Jeremy Abraham [00:30:01]:

But if you chase the thing you want, regardless of difficulty, then you've got control.

Jeremy Abraham [00:30:06]:

Yeah.

Mel Abraham [00:30:07]:

And I'll tell you, watching you as a dad to Emily, watching her as a mom to Emily god, and watching.

Mel Abraham [00:30:19]:

The two of you together.

Jeremy Abraham [00:30:23]:

It'S so.

Mel Abraham [00:30:24]:

Cool to see you guys are so good with each other, with her at.

Mel Abraham [00:30:30]:

A young age, because, look, the 30s we call the messy middle for a reason.

Jeremy Abraham [00:30:35]:

But you all got it.

Mel Abraham [00:30:36]:

You seem to have at least not.

Mel Abraham [00:30:39]:

That it doesn't get messy, but you.

Mel Abraham [00:30:41]:

Have, like you said, a plan. You have a process, you have a way, you have a communication. And it doesn't need to get messy. And it doesn't need to be messy too often if you do that and watching you from the outside. And we have a vested interest, but.

Mel Abraham [00:31:00]:

It'S cool to see.

Jeremy Abraham [00:31:02]:

Yeah, I think we were very focused.

Jeremy Abraham [00:31:06]:

On building a space for ourselves to be good parents.

Jeremy Abraham [00:31:12]:

And that means not feeling like we.

Jeremy Abraham [00:31:14]:

Have to spend every minute with Emily.

Jeremy Abraham [00:31:17]:

But also the minutes that we do spend, we are 100% focused, because if.

Jeremy Abraham [00:31:24]:

If we tried you know, Cammy and I talk about this quite often.

Jeremy Abraham [00:31:27]:

It's like she goes to daycare, you.

Jeremy Abraham [00:31:29]:

Know, she's not she's not even a year old yet. And and that was that was a.

Jeremy Abraham [00:31:34]:

Hard decision because it was like, you.

Jeremy Abraham [00:31:38]:

Have this negative connotation with daycare, and especially me, because I was in daycare.

Jeremy Abraham [00:31:45]:

But Emily, number one, she loves it.

Jeremy Abraham [00:31:49]:

The kind of interpersonal skills that she's learning, incredible. She wouldn't get that otherwise. And two, it lets us focus 100%.

Jeremy Abraham [00:31:58]:

During the day on work. And when we're done with work, the.

Jeremy Abraham [00:32:03]:

Computers are off, the phones are off. And we were 100% focused on Emily. And I think that the time that Emily is with us, she's experiencing us fully present. And I think that's a lot more important than experiencing more of us less present.

Jeremy Abraham [00:32:19]:

Yeah.

Mel Abraham [00:32:19]:

And just so we're clear, I told.

Mel Abraham [00:32:22]:

You out of daycare after we saw the mess, it was because that one was messy and it was older and it was just too noisy and it.

Mel Abraham [00:32:29]:

Wasn'T conducive to anything but that's the.

Mel Abraham [00:32:32]:

Other side of it is you have.

Mel Abraham [00:32:34]:

The ability to choose what that life looks like. You're going to pull Emily and you're going to go spend a month in Portugal. And before Emily was born, you told.

Mel Abraham [00:32:47]:

Us that you were having a girl and said, hey, by the way, we're taking off to Hawai for a month.

Mel Abraham [00:32:51]:

You did the same thing.

Jeremy Abraham [00:32:55]:

Yeah.

Mel Abraham [00:32:56]:

And I'll tell you, I'm not going to say that we don't look at it.

Mel Abraham [00:33:01]:

I go, we should just take off for a month somewhere.

Jeremy Abraham [00:33:07]:

We run the numbers and it's like.

Jeremy Abraham [00:33:09]:

Well, we should rent out our house and just go experience things.

Mel Abraham [00:33:19]:

We will chase you down wherever you go. Yeah, because we can, which is cool. So here's the thing. I know that we're running on time, but I wanted to have the conversation.

Mel Abraham [00:33:30]:

But when it comes to money, when.

Mel Abraham [00:33:32]:

It comes to wealth, when it comes to some things that you've learned and lived and had to go through with.

Mel Abraham [00:33:39]:

Me as your dad, with your father.

Mel Abraham [00:33:41]:

In law and all that, stuff.

Mel Abraham [00:33:45]:

If you had to give some things.

Mel Abraham [00:33:47]:

To someone that's listening, whether they're in their 20s or their 40s or their.

Mel Abraham [00:33:51]:

50S, what are the things that you would tell them about a financial journey that matters?

Jeremy Abraham [00:33:59]:

I'd say no matter when you're starting, it's hard.

Jeremy Abraham [00:34:03]:

It's like any habit.

Jeremy Abraham [00:34:05]:

It's hard to stick to, but once you've done it long enough, it's ingrained in you.

Jeremy Abraham [00:34:11]:

And you turn out to be like.

Jeremy Abraham [00:34:15]:

My dad who wakes up at 04:00 A.m. To go to the gym without even thinking about it. But yeah, I would say you stick with it.

Jeremy Abraham [00:34:23]:

You do the hard stuff now because at the end of the day, we only have so much time and you.

Jeremy Abraham [00:34:32]:

Got to be able to live once.

Jeremy Abraham [00:34:33]:

You are past being able to work, right.

Jeremy Abraham [00:34:40]:

Regardless of how late you feel. There's stuff that I do now that I just feel like I should have done that ten years ago. But you're always late, right. That's just a feeling. But it's not an excuse to not start. I think starting is key. Sticking with it is key. And spend money on stuff that's actually important to you. Material things.

Jeremy Abraham [00:35:10]:

Maybe it's important to you, but don't spend your future on it.

Mel Abraham [00:35:17]:

So good.

Mel Abraham [00:35:17]:

I mean, if all you did listening or watching this episode took that little.

Mel Abraham [00:35:22]:

Snippet and replayed it in your heart, your soul and your brain regularly, it's enough. To get you by because we live.

Mel Abraham [00:35:32]:

In a comparison society. Everyone's flashing their perfect life on social media.

Mel Abraham [00:35:39]:

We tend to swipe and buy things.

Mel Abraham [00:35:42]:

Because, oh, it looks cool but it wasn't in the plan and we don't need it. But it would be cool to have and that will destroy our futures. It'll also destroy our experiences because when we start to do that on debt.

Mel Abraham [00:35:54]:

Especially during the current economic times, it.

Mel Abraham [00:35:58]:

Starts to erode our relationships because of the stress that it can cause. And you guys are doing it right even having this conversation with you. And we talk money and business a lot, but we've never had this conversation.

Mel Abraham [00:36:13]:

And it shows me that where you guys are, I mean, your maturity from.

Mel Abraham [00:36:20]:

A financial standpoint is beyond the years. You get it. You've got it. You've got it dialed in.

Mel Abraham [00:36:31]:

So I'm looking forward to seeing the next step for you, the next stage for you all.

Mel Abraham [00:36:36]:

It's going to be fun. It's been fun to watch. It's been fun.

Jeremy Abraham [00:36:39]:

Second baby.

Mel Abraham [00:36:40]:

It is. Totally is. And you all are still our babies no matter how old you get anyway. And I appreciate you, Jeremy, for just coming on, being open, being frank, having the conversation. You've watched me grow and do things and us do it together. I forced you to go through our wealth, planning, meetings, all that stuff that we can talk about.

Mel Abraham [00:37:11]:

But all in all, I think that's.

Mel Abraham [00:37:12]:

The key is get in the game, stay in the game. It may be hard once you get the habits in place.

Mel Abraham [00:37:18]:

They're habits for life and they will.

Mel Abraham [00:37:20]:

Give you life and they'll bring value to your life and it's just following principles and the principles will work.

Mel Abraham [00:37:26]:

They may be boring like you said.

Mel Abraham [00:37:29]:

But they're principles for a reason. They're universal and they work long term no matter what's going on.

Mel Abraham [00:37:35]:

That's the key.

Mel Abraham [00:37:36]:

Let's get everyone the principles. Let's get them the plan, let's get them a process, let's get them the.

Mel Abraham [00:37:41]:

Priorities and then get on with living. I appreciate you, buddy.

Mel Abraham [00:37:47]:

Love you tremendously.

Mel Abraham [00:37:51]:

If I can claim you as my greatest success, then I did okay while I was here.

Jeremy Abraham [00:37:58]:

Awesome.

Jeremy Abraham [00:37:58]:

Yeah, thanks for having me. I jump on anytime and hopefully it was helpful.

Mel Abraham [00:38:03]:

Cheers. See you guys later. See you.

Jeremy Abraham [00:38:06]:

See everybody.

Mel Abraham [00:38:07]:

Thank you for listening to the affluent entrepreneurship. With me. Your host, Mel Abraham. If you want to achieve financial liberation to create an affluent lifestyle, join me in the Affluent Entrepreneur Facebook group now by going Melabraham.com group and I'll see you there.