Monkey Business Radio

Financial Literacy 101 - Part 2

• American Gutter Monkeys, LLC • Season 1 • Episode 6

Share episode

Send us a text

Albert Einstein called compound interest the most powerful force in the universe, and in this episode, we dive even deeper into why financial literacy is the key to building real wealth. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to strengthen your financial foundation, the principles we cover will help you take control of your money and your future.

Hosts Chris Collins and Dennis "Bobby Downspout" Siggins break down the financial waterfall system, how to build financial confidence, and why surrounding yourself with the right people can shape your success. Understanding money doesn’t just help you save and invest—it empowers you to take risks, start a business, and build something lasting.

🔑 Key Takeaways in This Episode:
✔ The Financial Waterfall – A simple system to manage your income, savings, and investments like a pro.
✔ Confidence Through Financial Literacy – Why understanding money helps you make big moves, whether it’s buying real estate or starting a business.
✔ Your Inner Circle Matters – How the five people closest to you impact your financial and business success.
✔ Lessons From Real Experience – Dennis shares personal insights from his early days investing in real estate and running businesses.

At American Gutter Monkeys, we believe in helping entrepreneurs build real wealth through smart financial decisions and business ownership. Thinking about starting your own business? Learn how we can help: 👉 franchise.americanguttermonkeys.com

Chris:

Before we dive in, we want to remind you that this podcast is for informational purposes only. We're here to share insights and ideas to help you think about your financial future, but this is not investment advice. Always consult with a financial professional before making any decisions regarding your money. Every once in a while, someone comes along and shocks the establishment with a new innovation in a tired industry. From the movie Moneyball. Here's how Boston Red Sox owner John Henry put it.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

Really what it's threatening is their livelihoods, their jobs. It's threatening the way they do things and every time that happens whether it's the government, a way of doing business, or whatever the people who are holding the reins they have their hands on the switch. They go batshit crazy. Hello.

Chris:

I'm Chris Collins, your host. In this podcast. We dive into stories of innovation, resilience and what it takes to shake up an industry. Joining me is my co-host and resident small business expert, dennis Siggins, or, as he's known on the Cape and Islands, bobby Downspout. Dennis, along with his college roommate, andy Brennan, founded the Cape Cod Gutter Monkeys and transformed the humble task of gutter cleaning into a thriving, multi-million dollar business that redefined the game. Together, we'll uncover the strategies, lessons and inspirations behind building and growing a successful business. So, whether you're here for business insights, inspiration or just a great story, you're in the right place. Grab a cup of coffee, sit back, relax and welcome to Monkey Business Radio.

Chris:

Hello everyone, welcome back to Monkey Business Radio and we're on part two of financial literacy. Last week we covered financial literacy 101. And we're going to kind of double back a little bit, review some of the stuff we did last week. As always, I'm here with Dennis Siggins, cape Cod Gutter Monkeys. How are you doing, chris? Doing well, doing well, dennis. We're going to do a little review, I guess, of last week just to fill in those who haven't seen the podcast. If you haven't, you can double back later.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

Last week we started with this great recession that occurred in the 70s. Gas prices tripled over 10 years. Hyperinflation. Americans were held hostage in Iran. We impeached a president.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

It was a tough decade but, as you pointed out to me earlier this week, Chris, no matter how bad the economy gets, there's opportunities there, and one of the opportunities that existed that my parents were aware of was that CDs were outperforming the stock and mutual fund market by a large margin. The stock market was only producing well under 10% for that decade. It was averaging around 5% to 5.5% per year, while CDs were producing anywhere from 12% to 18%. Great opportunity because CDs are available to everybody right at their own bank.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

My mom and dad had all of us kids I'm one of six kids we were putting our newspaper money, our lawn cutting money, our snow shoveling driveway money. We were loading up on CDs all through the 70s Just one of the many opportunities that were available. I recall many of my neighbors, my friend's parents, starting small businesses back then, working their full-time jobs Monday to Friday, but starting small businesses on nights and weekends. My parents, who were not wealthy at all, began buying and flipping houses in the 70s in New England Wonderful opportunities that occurred during one of the most economically devastating decades in the last hundred years.

Chris:

Financial literacy here really adds to your ability to seize opportunities that you wouldn't otherwise see. Most people can throw their hands up in the air and say, well, nothing I can do about this. This is the worst. Other people see opportunity there, but it takes this knowledge, it takes this financial literacy.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

And we were blessed to have good parents.

Chris:

Our parents were from the Depression era.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

Yeah, they were, they'd seen worse.

Chris:

They had that ability to kind of take stock of the situation and see opportunity where other people would miss.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

So, getting back to the four rules of financial literacy, the rule of 72. We talked about it last week. We're just going to do a quick review. The rule of 72, basically, is the mathematical formula that says, if you take the number 72 and divide it by the investment's projected annual return, the result is the number of years it will take for your money to double. For example, if you expect an 8% return on your money, 8 divided into 72 is 9. It's going to take nine years for your money to double.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

Over the entire history of the stock market history of the stock market as we know it today, the last 120 years the stock market has never produced less than 10.2%. Over any 25-year period in its history, the stock market is most likely to average at least 11% per year. Over the past 10 years, it's averaged 13.9%. Over the last 30 years, it's averaged 10.7%. Over the last 50 years, the stock market has averaged 10.9%. This is not a guarantee. We're not telling you that go out and invest any amount. We're just letting you know that this is part of the financial literacy platform that we all want to be a part of. We want to have knowledge of what is going on in the stock market, in the banking industry, in your local and regional economic environment. And this is a part of the puzzle and as long as we can invest our money comfortably over a 25-year period and gain 11% interest per year, our money's going to double every six and a half to seven years. It's not rocket science, it's not magic, it's just old school investing. But at the same time, the rule of 72 can work against you. Let's say, for example, you carry a balance on your credit card and that the interest rate you pay on your credit card is 18%. So if you divide 18 into 72, you get four years. That means the credit card company is doubling their money every four years at your expense. So you can be on either side of that fence and you can choose which side of the fence that you're on as we move forward.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

The Rule of 64 is somewhat of an extension of the Rule of 72. The Rule of 64 is kind of my own invention or my own interpretation of the Rule of 72. Basically, the Rule of 64 goes like this it's a general guideline that everything you do in your 20s will be magnified 64 times over in your retirement years, and that's because it's about a 42-year difference from 20 to potential retirement at 62. It means that your money, if your platform or your portfolio, doubles every seven years, it's going to flip six times. So money that's invested at the age of 18 will, every seven years, double to 20, then 40, then 80, then 160, 320. And at 60 years old, that $10,000 investment at age 18, 60 years old, that $10,000 investment at age 18, if it doubles every seven years, will be $640,000. A $10,000 investment at age 18 has a high likelihood of growing to $640,000.

Chris:

That's 64 times over. There's my rule of 64. And it's important to take this to heart, because what happens is, in these tough times we have these big crashes, your impulse is to pull your money out of the markets to do something different, and so that's kind of the financial danger. I think it was John Bogle. This guy who created Vanguard said you know, time is your friend, impulse is your enemy.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

So to not worry about the 1970 crash or that crash that's going to come around the corner. You know to kind of ride these out and don't change your investment philosophies. But also, chris, as we all know, at this stage of our lives we change our short, medium, long range goals. If you're in your 20s, remember. We're not day traders here. We're just investing for long term wealth building reasons. We're just investing for long-term wealth building reasons. As we approach our retirement years, we start to move some of our index funds and mutual funds into much more conservative funds that maybe don't have the same upside potential but have a lot of downside protection in case of a crash. But I agree with what you say. Don't panic. You and I we've been through the 08 crash. There was one in 01. Remember we had Y2K, followed by 911. Challenger disaster.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

One after the next, they're constant, they're ongoing. Albert Einstein very famously quoted the most powerful force in the universe is compound interest over time, and there's a lot to be said for that. But getting back to sort of wrapping up on the rule of 64, basically everything we do in our 20s is magnified 64 times over in our retirement years. So every $10,000 or every $10 you get into the bank in your 20s is going to be magnified 64 times over. But there's another side to that fence. The rule of 64 can also work against you. A single $10 pack of cigarettes in your 20s is $640 that you don't have in your retirement years. A $10 per day cigarette habit equals $70 a week or $3,650 a year. Over 42 years this becomes more than $2.7 million that will not be available in your retirement years.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

This is knowledge that we should all have so we can make educated decisions in our teens and 20s, because those decisions are going to dictate a lot of where we land financially down the road. And it's a simple matter of economics and the rule of 72. So being financially prepared is just knowing this stuff. Be aware of these two rules the rule of 72 and the rule of 64, and how it applies to you. Some people go to where the puck is. I want to go to where the puck is going to be when I get there. Keep your eye on the future and make good decisions in your younger years.

Chris:

All right, sounds good. So that's kind of a review of last week. I think we're going to introduce a couple of new concepts here. I think the first one you wanted to kick off with is 80-20 rule.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

The 80-20 rule. This is the Pareto principle. Again, getting back to our old friend Albert Einstein, he's also quoted as saying he who understands compound interest earns it. He who doesn't pays it. And remember the 80-20 rule. The rule we're about to talk about has very little to do with annual income and everything to do with process and execution, the 80-20 rule, which is also known as the Pareto principle. It applies to wealth and business and finance and it basically claims that 80% of the stuff is owned by 20% of the people. Dr Joseph Duran. He's an American engineer, a business consultant, who's widely recognized for his work in creating the Pareto Principle, the 80-20 rule. 80% of the problems are caused by 20% of the people, 80% of the land is owned by 20% of the people and he applied his rule of economics to money, to business, to sports, health and many, many other areas.

Chris:

Very interesting guy. He was actually instrumental in introducing quality management practices to Japan after World War II. No kidding, yeah, yeah, he was part of that TQM sort of wave that came through. When I worked for big airplane manufacturers in California, tqm was the rule of the day. But yeah, wow, interesting guy, very interesting. And the 80-20 rule came Phil Fred Pareto. Yeah, yeah, he was a European. Yep, he came to the conclusion 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the people. Yeah, that's where it comes from.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

And a 2016 study featured on Statistacom showed that the wealthiest 20% of Americans own 88% of American wealth. Incredible, let me say that again the wealthiest 20% of Americans own 88.3% of American wealth 88.3% of American wealth, while the remaining 80% of Americans own just 11.7% of the wealth. And one really shocking statistic shocking to me that this study also revealed the bottom 50% of Americans own just 1.2% of the wealth.

Chris:

It's incredible.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

And the bottom 30% of Americans have a combined net worth of negative 1.3. And again, I'm going to say this a lot today the 80-20 rule has little to do with annual income and everything to do with process and execution. The choices we make in our teens and 20s will have a very strong influence in determining which of these categories we belong to the wealthiest 20% or the remaining 80% or the bottom 50%. I mean, it's all about decisions that we make and remember for today's discussions. We're talking about the wealthiest 20%. That's just one in five people. We're not talking about Mark Cuban, we're not talking about billionaires, elon Musk. No, we're talking about the wealthiest 20% one in five people.

Chris:

Yeah, the guy sitting next to you on the freeway in the car next to you. Yeah, we're talking about the guyiest 20%. One in five people. Yeah, the guy sitting next to you on the freeway in the car next to you.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

Yeah, we're talking about the guy in the Dunkin' Donuts having a coffee and a donut. This is the wealthiest 20% that we're talking about today. Do remember that wealth. We're talking about the top 20%. And when we say poor, we're not talking about people who earn less money. We're talking about poor being the people who don't have a financial process in place, so their money tends to not stay with them. They tend to go through their money quicker.

Chris:

By following these principles and being financially literate, you can choose which category you can be in. Now there's always outside things that can happen to you in your life and things like that. We're not ignoring those, but what we're saying is it's a choice, a choice because of your financial literacy. What are the things you're going to do to try to achieve being in that upper 50%?

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

Chris, I want to talk about income, many different types of income. Earned income Earned income is money received as pay for the work we perform, such as wages, salaries, bonuses, commissions income. It's the hardest to come by because we got to go out there every day and earn it and when you do, it's taxed at the highest rate of all the incomes and that's a variable within itself. Within that earned income, we're going to talk about disposable or discretionary income. Discretionary income is the amount of money left over after all your household necessities are paid.

Chris:

Which makes necessities is the important. How do you define that? So yes, so how do you define necessities?

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

Needs versus wants, when it comes down to One of the things my parents taught me as a young guy, as a young kid, 10, 11, 12 years old was we had two bank accounts. All of us kids I'm one of six kids we all cut lawns and we all shoveled driveways and we all did yard cleanups and painting of fences and just odd jobs. And then we all had regular jobs too. I had a job at a local farm when I was 11, 12, 13 years old. I had a job at a restaurant. I mean, we're always working and our parents taught us we have two bank accounts. It's the small bank and the big bank and half the money goes to the big bank, half the money to the small bank account and the small bank. We could use that for anything we wanted and the big bank was for college and by 1973, 74, at the latest now it is earlier than that 72, 73, cds were outperforming Wall Street. So our big bank account got pushed into CDs every year around Christmas time and my mom set it up on one year CDs or one year terms that came due like around the December 28th. So we would work all year long and build up that small bank account and maybe back then maybe I made $3,500 that year, maybe back then, maybe I made $3,500 that year Christmas week I'd get out of the bank and we would pull out $3,000, maybe keep $500 in the bank and push $3,000 into the next CD, into the next year, and we'd lock it down at 12% 14%. Eventually CDs reached 18% by like 1980. It was crazy, but it was the beginning of what I call the financial waterfall and this has sustained me for my whole life.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

So the financial waterfall looks like this we all get a paycheck most of us and you receive your weekly paycheck, either maybe by direct deposit, or you deposit the weekly paycheck into your checking account and you keep a certain amount. I like to keep three months of earnings in my checking account at all times, or you can go with three months of expenses, whatever your waterfall is. When the checking account grows beyond that three months, then you make a deposit into your savings account months, then you make a deposit into your savings account and I recommend every three months, every quarterly, you visit this, and so in a perfect world, you have three months of earnings in your checking account and three months of earnings in your savings account. The checking account manages your household funds and the savings account is your safety net funds and the savings account is your safety net. Additionally, you have a retirement.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

Maybe you have an IRA, a SEP, a 401k, whatever form of retirement you have. When that savings account grows to be more than three months so maybe every, let's say, every six months you visit your financial planner and you have an extra one or two or $3,000 in there, above and beyond the three months that you require you deposit that additional money into some form of passive income, let's call it into your IRA. And that's how the waterfall works. Your checking account is used for your household expenses and you keep enough in there for an emergency, maybe if your washing machine breaks or your car has a breakdown. So you have enough money in the checking account that you can accommodate an emergency and the savings account becomes the safety net in case something terrible happens and you need that extra layer of protection. And then everything else just waterfalls down into your retirement account or your investment portfolio.

Chris:

Yeah, and the interesting thing to point out here too, is where wants ends up on this list, right? So you have your essentials, your savings and your debt, then your investments, then your wants. At the end of that then you have maybe some surplus Again you can put towards a savings account or something along that line.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

Sure, and that's where the discipline comes in. What is necessary If you are parents of 2.4 children and you're going back to school shopping, it's up to you, the parent, to budget that. We are going to budget X amount for back-to-school shopping. Now, is that $200 per child? I don't know. Is it $300 per child? I don't know. But whatever that dollar amount is, stick to it. Choose a manageable dollar amount for, let's say, in this case, back-to-school shopping, and you stick to that amount. That will help keep you on budget.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

Another thing, too, about, let's say, 401ks and such. Chris, a lot of companies have a matching 401k up to, let's say, 3%, 6%, 9%. Some companies are more generous in that area than others. If you work for a company that offers a matching 401k, I strongly recommend you take 100% advantage of this. Yes, it's free money. It's free money, yeah. So let's say you earn $50,000 a year and they have a 6% matching. Well, 6% of $50,000 is $3,000. If you invest $3,000 of your pay, the company matching program will kick in another three grand. It means your investment just doubled in one day. It's guaranteed to double. There's nothing else out there like it. So I strongly recommend taking 100% advantage of everything that your company has, that is like that.

Chris:

There's other things too. Health savings account Great thing to get into, especially with kids Comes off your income before it gets to taxes, so you're not paying taxes on that amount. There's a lot of other things. Maximize all your deductions too. Just look at your W-4 form. People make big mistakes on W-4 forms. They pay way too much tax, way too early. Government holds onto it. You might get it back, but you might not if you don't fill out your taxes correctly either. So check your W-4 as well.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

And just continuing on good financial habits, Chris credit cards Don't let them run over into the next month. Pay that credit card off every month. Don't use your credit card as your safety net. The credit card is a financial tool. Use it as such, Take advantages of the.

Chris:

You do that, then you take advantages of the points. I mean again I fly on Southwest Airlines because we use a card Southwest Airline card we pay everything on that card and we get free flights.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

Yeah, use your credit cards properly. Don't ever carry a balance. This is one of my favorite favorite financial tools Physically, walk into your bank once a week, once every two weeks, whatever is necessary. We've become accustomed to e-banking. Everything's just direct deposited, automatic withdrawal. I got to tell you I still walk into my bank once a week and every once in a while I'll run into a unique situation and you know what. They all know me personally and we can circumvent, we can navigate any situation over there because they know who I am. Yeah, Walk into your bank once a week.

Chris:

Yeah, they also have very good financial help there too.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

Yeah, they do Questions or whatever about what you should be doing.

Chris:

You can go in there and review your finances with them. They usually have a CFP in there that can help you out.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

CFP is a certified financial planner.

Chris:

Yep, they usually have a guy in there that can help you out. Very low cost, if any cost.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

I've always, always used the financial planner from my bank. That's interesting, it's that simple.

Chris:

I never thought of it really until we were preparing for this podcast, but started reading up a little bit about it.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

It's a staple of my life, absolutely. I went in there the other day. We had some things we had to do and Tim and I are on a first name basis. Again, walk into your bank. Get to know those people. Opportunities will present themselves to you simply by knowing these kind of people.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

Don't complicate your investing. Keep it simple. Don't get overly fancy on your technology. Use one financial planner. You don't need three or four, remember.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

Unless you're a real, true stock investor, a day trader, anybody like that, which 99.9% of us are not then you're all investing in the same stuff. We're all investing in the stock market, the Dow, the NASDAQ, the S&P, and we're all investing in American funds. It's just which ones do you invest in and how do you approach it? It's just which ones do you invest in and how do you approach it. Find a good financial planner that shares your strategy and your philosophy. Don't complicate it. I check my progress. I check my platform quarterly. I don't visit it monthly, weekly, daily. Absolutely do not. I just check it quarterly. We make minor adjustments as needed and that's it.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

Focus on your strength. Play in your own sandbox. My strength is my company. That's where I can have the most influence, not just on my company and my coworkers, but also on my financial platform. A lot of my personal wealth, if you will, is wrapped up in the companies that I own and that's where I spend the most amount of time, because I am an expert at that. I'm not an expert on Wall Street, absolutely not an expert on Wall Street. I'm not an expert investor. That's why I use mutual funds and index funds real, simple, basic, conservative processes. And again, chris, what about panic?

Chris:

right. I know personally that I am too emotional about money, too emotional about vesting, so I'm better off not being so daily involved in my financial status at the moment. So for me I do about twice a year Maybe I'll go to a financial guy and we'll review my accounts, and I'm much better off doing that because I know I should not be in there kind of monkeying around Because when the shows hit the fan which it has quite a bit in our lifetime it is yeah, yeah, I'm just too emotional about it. So yeah, for me these rules are very important and I wish I knew a lot of them, actually years and years before. It would have been a big help in some of those panics.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

Well, and that's the beauty of learning things when you're young. Nobody learns skateboarding at the age of 50, right? No, kids learn to skateboard when they're five, before they're they. They learn to do it before they're afraid of getting hurt, right.

Chris:

Yeah, it's coming back to that. It's keep. The earlier you learn these things oh my gosh, so much support. But on the other hand also we always have to make the point you're never too late, never too late. So if you don't know these rules and you're older, you've got a couple of kids, whatever is going on in your life, it's never too late to start implementing these. You don't have as much runway, but at the same time, you'll be far better off than not.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

And your kids and grandkids will too.

Chris:

Yeah, yeah.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

That's right, and they'll pick it up. My final rule one of my favorite rules of life is the 20 minute rule. This is the belief that dedicating 20 minutes each day to a task will eventually result in your becoming proficient at that task. Imagine if you could dedicate 20 minutes a day to playing the guitar. You play a guitar, right? I do play the guitar. I wish I had 20 minutes every day, but I should, I should, and, and I play the guitar you play a guitar.

Chris:

right, I do play the guitar. I wish I had 20 minutes every day, but I should, I should.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

And I play the guitar too, and I haven't much recently. But to me it started 20 minutes a day. That's how I learned 20 minutes a day, shooting, pool exercising. Eventually, if you exercise your 20 minute, maybe two mile, two and a half mile run will turn into a 25 and a 30 mile run. You get the idea. You start playing your musical instrument 20 minutes a day and maybe down the road. You can't play it 20 minutes every day, but you jam for two hours on Saturday. You grow into it and imagine now what you could accomplish if you simply dedicated 20 minutes a day to your financial future. Right, right, 20 minutes a day, five days a week.

Chris:

Yep, and there's plenty of places to go. There's all sorts of. There's podcasts, there's podcasts like this, there's websites. There's books to read. I think we threw a couple of books out last week. The Wealthy Barber was one that my dad gave me. Yeah, fabulous book, really really great book, things like that. So, yeah, there's a lot of resources out there for you.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

Just spend 20 minutes a day on it. And again, if you need to begin at square one, it's the creation and management of your household budget, and all that takes is a friend, a mom, a dad, a family friend someone to help you create a budget that's designed around your income and your needs. And what this will do is it'll give you the platform to create discretionary or disposable income. If you're a person who lives paycheck to paycheck, you may believe that that paycheck is designed to cover all your expenses every month, but if you find living paycheck to paycheck is very uncomfortable which it probably is ask a friend. You don't need a to help you do this. A family member, a family friend, can help you create and manage a household budget, and this will allow you the platform to create discretionary income, which brings me to the next step establishing the financial waterfall process so you can begin investing your discretionary income, and that's what we just talked about you and a friend. After you create and manage your household budget, you've now created a discretionary amount of income that will start building up your checking account Within three to five months. There's going to be some extra money there that you're going to need to invest in a savings account. It's not that you're earning a lot of money in a savings account. It's not that you're earning a lot of money in a savings or a money market account. But savings and money market accounts are not designed for their investment potential. They're designed as a financial tool and as you start to grow into that, it's going to take a year or two before that financial waterfall really starts to function. And step three of that process yeah, this is when you're going to need to contact or get in contact with, a certified financial planner. He's going to help you open up that window to Wall Street and, as Chris and I said earlier, he or she is available at almost every banking institution across this country. They have a CFP in-house. And there's your starting point to get from your checking and savings account to Wall Street. And again, this is all just 20 minutes a day, five days a week. You're not going to be managing your household budget 20 minutes a day for the next 10 years. Once that becomes a part of your normal routine, you don't have to spend time on that anymore. It's all built in place and you can move on to building your financial portfolio.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

And step four is expanding your financial platform. That's where you might need an accountant to help you, maybe an attorney, and pretty soon you want to diversify. That's when you need the full inner circle your attorney, your financial planner, your bank or your accountant, your business associates. That's why you want to be on a first-name basis with everybody in your inner circle. Because step five is diversification. You need some mutual funds, index funds. Maybe you want some real estate in there. Maybe you're going to want to invest in a business, a business that a friend has, or maybe you want to get investing in stocks individual stocks. I have friends that do that. It takes a while to learn that skill but as that 20-minute rule kicks into place for you, financially you're going to grow from working with a friend to working with a financial planner, to adding an accountant, an attorney, a banker. You will grow into it and, believe me, it's fun, it's interesting and it's well worth the effort. Having a high level of financial literacy is like your brain is on financial steroids.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

I started buying real estate as a young guy. I was very, very young at the time. By the time I was 23, 24 years old. I never felt inadequate in a room with lawyers and bankers. I mean I was a little gun shy the first one or two properties I closed on, but by the time I sold those two and added one or two more and flipped another one. It didn't intimidate me at all, I wasn't scared, I was very confident and as I grew I almost felt like I was an equal to everybody in this room the lawyer, the bank or everybody. I didn't feel like anybody had the upper hand on me and that's because I had financial skills that were equal to everybody in that room.

Chris:

Yeah, you built up your financial muscle. It's kind of interesting because you are a runner, right, I still am to this day, yeah, and you're actually a really good runner.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

Thank you.

Chris:

So what's interesting because you've talked about this, I've heard you talk about this before and that you were running with some really big name runners in college and as you built up your running, you became more comfortable running with these guys. Yeah, that you could hang with them. You always talk about how you found that you could hang with these guys. Yeah, that you could hang with them. You always talk about how you found that you could hang with these guys, and it's sort of the same thing in finance that your ability to start off. You might feel like you can't hang with these bankers and stuff like that, but after a while you've built up your financial muscle, Sure.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

Because if you've owned eight or 10 properties and maybe you've had one or two that fall through, the amount of experience that you gain is immeasurable. And by the time I was 28, 27, 28,. I really felt like sometimes I was the smartest guy in the room. I'm not so much the smartest guy at everything, but let's face it, if we're here for a closing on this house, this is my world. I want that house or I'm selling that property. So I had a little bit of an edge over everybody else in the room and I wanted it more than he or she or they did. Yeah, having a strong financial platform, having great financial literacy, it's a real empowering thing. It really is. And to wrap up, chris, the personal, the inner circle this is my world. My attorney I have two attorneys. I'm on a personal basis. I mean, each one of my attorneys has had dinner at my house. My financial planner, tim he's a great guy, I know him really well. My banker I'm on a really good first name basis with not only the tellers but the bank, the local manager and then the loan officers. My accountant is a former college teammate of ours. You want to have this circle around you before you need them. You don't want to scratch a lottery ticket and win a million dollars and not have a financial planner or an accountant in your backyard. You know, because things can happen.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

And remember you and me, chris, we're average people. I'm an average guy. You know what I'm an average guy. You know what I'm an average guy. I'm an average of the five people that I relate to closest. That's my average. Everybody in this world is an average. Of the five people that you relate to the most, who are your five? Are they the guys that are in your fantasy football league? Are they Facebook friends? Are they cyber pals? Are your closest five? Your business associates, your inner circle, your local network of business owners? Set yourself up. I always want to be the dumbest guy in my group. If I'm the dumbest guy in my group, they're pulling me up, they're raising my level every time we get together.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

And when you do this, when you start this at a young age, it creates opportunities down the road. The platform for opportunities begins early in life by creating a financial process that will mature as we do sure, as we do and as you. If you start this in your teens and twenties, you know, by the time you're in your thirties, you've got some financial clout behind you it it. It allows you to take advantage of opportunities that other people don't see. It allows you to see opportunities that other people don't see. A mature financial platform will create opportunities throughout your life that you now have the opportunity to take advantage of and other people don't.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

How often do we? This happens to me real often, chris. A lot of people who want to start a business call me. They know me or they know someone who knows me, and I would say nine out of 10, the first time we sit down and we have a meeting and I'm talking people anywhere from 18 to 50, they just don't have the finances to start that business. They have a great idea, they're out ahead of it. Maybe they're in the food service industry and all they need is $50,000 to buy a food truck and really take off with this great idea that they have, but they don't have the 50 grand.

Chris:

Yeah, we see this in American Gutter Monkeys. When we're looking at franchisees, a lot of them are great people, a lot of motivation, they're almost the perfect person, but the finances are just not going to allow them to proceed and it's really too bad, because they wouldn't make great franchisees.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

Yeah, I mean, how many times do you see a good real estate deal come out there and you're able to jump on it Right? How many times does a good opportunity come along and someone sees that they just don't have the financial backing to get onto that? But you know, if that person had even just a small amount of money and he had a good relationship with his banker and with his accountant and his financial planner, they have ideas, they can get you through this. But if you're not on that first name basis with those guys, you're kind of out there on your own. There's nothing like an outstanding team around you all times. It can help you in so many ways.

Dennis (aka Bobby Downspout):

So I'm going to kind of close with this Two things Be financially prepared. Some people go to where the puck is. We want to go to where the puck is going to be when we get there. And the other thing I just sort of want to wrap up with is remember the 80-20 rule has very little to do with annual income. Very little to do with annual income. Very little to do with annual income, but everything to do with process and execution. And on that let's wrap it up. No monkeys were harmed in the making of this podcast, all right.

Chris:

See you next time. Thank you for tuning in to Monkey Business Radio. If you enjoyed today's episode, please make sure to subscribe, like and follow us wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps us reach more aspiring entrepreneurs like you, and if you got a question or topic you'd like us to cover, leave a comment or reach out to us on social media. We'd love to hear your thoughts and keep the conversation going. Don't forget to leave us a five-star review if you found the episode valuable, and make sure to share it with anyone who might benefit from our tips and stories. We'll see you next time. This podcast is produced by American Gutter Monkeys LLC. Build real wealth through business ownership. For details, visit us at AmericanGutterMonkeyscom.