Why Saving Alone Won’t Make You Rich... Do THIS Instead in 2026!

Key Takeaway

Find your talent, not your passion. Your job is to identify something you could potentially become great at - top 10% or 1% - in an industry with 90%+ employment rate. Passion comes from mastery, economic security, and prestige. Don't mistake hobbies for career paths.

Episode Overview

Ed Mylett interviews Scott Galloway about wealth, career advice, young people's challenges, AI's impact, and the importance of diversity in life. They discuss the difference between being rich and wealthy, finding your talents over following passion, and systemic issues affecting younger generations.

Full Transcript

Transcript of Why Saving Alone Won’t Make You Rich... Do THIS Instead in 2026! from The Ed Mylett Show. Auto-generated from episode audio; may contain minor errors.

Hey everyone, welcome to my weekend special. I hope you enjoy the show. Hit that like button and be sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel so you never miss my show, whether it's Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday. Here's our first guest. All right, everybody. Welcome back to the show. So, the gentleman that's on the show today, I've wanted to have him on for a long time. I've been a fan of his work. If you're old enough, you remember like the Dosekis guy, like the most interesting man in the world.

I kind of consider my guest today that guy. guy. guy. Oh god, go on. It's true. Sharks have a week about me. Ed, Ed, Ed, it's I'm I'm telling you the reason is is you can ask him about almost any topic, whether it be money or current issues, the economy, social stuff, emotions, you name it. He's just so well spoken on so many different things. He's a contrarian thinker to some extent. He's also a very intense guy and he speaks his mind. I don't agree with him on every single thing he says, but I find myself nodding and cheering for a lot of the things that he talks about.

been very successful in business, had some exits, had some stuff that hasn't worked out as well, but he's become very, very wealthy man. Young in his life as well, teaches at NYU. He's a professor of marketing there, but this guy is the real deal. And his brand's exploded the last few years. So successful podcast as well. That's probably enough. Let's get into the conversation. So, Professor G. Scott Galloway, welcome to the show. Uh, thanks so much. And let me just say, I'm really enjoying this podcast so far.

So far, it's just working for me. and you're being thanks for your generous comments. comments. comments. It's true though. Uh I mean it and that's why you know I do a lot of intros. They're not always that long or that that uh complimentary. So got a book out right now called The Algebra of Wealth. He's had a bunch of different books that have crushed. But I want to ask you about wealth first because I think you have a really interesting statement about what it is. What is wealth by definition for you?

Like the definition of wealth is what? Having an absence of economic stress so you can focus on your relationships. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Rich is the kind of the people see. Wealth is the things that people don't see. I love this quote from I think it was called The Little Prince. This great little movie when I was a kid and it said the essential is invisible to the eye. Real wealth is invisible to the eye. And it means that you have enough economic security that you can focus on the other things that are really important in life.

And you can achieve different you can achieve wealth different ways. And that is the definition of wealth more specifically or more mathematically for me is passive income that's greater than your burn. So I have a close friend who's the head of M&A for a large bulge bracket investment bank makes between three and $10 million a year. All current income lives in New Jersey. So he's taxed at 52% a year between his ex-wife, his alimony, his home in the Hamptons, his master the universe lifestyle trying to keep up with the Joneses.

I'm pretty sure he spends most or not all of it. And I also know it's incredibly stressful for him because he wonders what happens if the music stops. And M&A has been down the last couple years. So he hasn't made as much money as he was anticipating. And even though he still makes millions, he's built a lifestyle where he hasn't been able to aggregate the kind of wealth where if he were to retire, his passive income would not be greater than his burn. And I'll flip to my father who's 94 who between his pension from the Royal Navy and Social Security and he owns a few um washing machines in trailer parks.

He makes $52,000 a year in passive income and he spends 48. My dad really enjoys not spending money. He is wealthy. He never he he never needs to work again. So having passive income that's greater than your burn. Wealth is what you don't see. And the key, the means is making money. But the ends is having an absence of economic stress which can really damage your relationship with your spouse, with your kids. Uh but having that taken out of your life so you can focus on your relationships.

I think that's the definition of wealth. Perfect answer, by the way. Totally true. 99% of my friends are the former description. They make seven figures and they are not wealthy because their burn is so high. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like a never-ending burn. the amount of money that they would need to accumulate and based on how long life expecties are going now to exceed their burn rate. It's really stressful for so many people that a lot of you follow on social media that a lot of you think are very wealthy people.

Scott is 1,000% right. By the way, today we're going to skip around like social issues. We're going to talk about young men. We're going to talk about emotions. We're going to talk about money because he is so skilled at these things. But that's the absolute definition of wealth. And in my own case, you know, Scott, I'll tell you, I've been fortunate. I've had a couple exits and I've made, you know, a significant amount of money in my life. And as I got into my 50s, I realized it's time to get serious about really being wealthy.

Meaning, by your definition, what is all this stuff going to cost me the next 30 or 40 years if the music stops? And that if the music stops is what most people don't consider. So, he's 100% right about that. I did something smart young, and I want to ask you about this. I did not follow my passions young. Mhm. Um, and you talk about this really eloquently. I chose a career that took advantage of some natural proclivities that I had, some giftedness of mine. And when young people ask me all the time, should I follow my dream?

Should I follow my passion? I always say maybe. But I hedge on that because I don't think you can be successful in life unless you become great at something. And I think to become great at something, you have to have some natural proclivity or talent at least trending in that direction. You talk about that a lot. So what if someone's young listening to this or even they're in their middle ages and they go, "Look, I want to switch careers." What advice would you give them? So we have two types of speakers at NYU where I teach.

The first is really accomplished, impressive people and the second is billionaires. We've just decided that once your wealth has three commas, you have insight into life. And they give they always end their talks or almost always with what I think is some of the worst advice you can give a young person and it's the following. Follow your passion. And the guy telling you to follow your passion made his money or his billions in iron ore smelting. Anyone who tells you to follow their follow your passion is already rich.

This is your job. Your job is to find something you're good at, which isn't easy. That you could potentially after you invest 10,000 hours and endure the bullit and demonstrate the grit and perseverance and overcome obstacles that you become great. Aim to be in the top 10 or 1% of something and say, "Where could I do that?" And this is the key part. in an industry that has a 90 plus% employment rate, which by the way is 90 plus% of industries. And be careful not to mistake your hobbies for your passion.

I'm 6'2. I have a pretty good arm, a decent, you know, decent vision vision or plane of vision. I would have like I'd really like to be quarterback of the Jets. That's what I wanted when I was 16 or 17. I was blessed to go to UCLA where they had real athletes and quickly learned I was never going to be in the 0.1% which you need to be in professional sports. So if you want to be in acting, modeling, fashion, night life, restaurants, you want to be a DJ, I don't want to crush your dreams, but unless you get bright flashing green lights that you are in fact in the top.1% top.1% top.1% which you'll get that validation immediately.

If you're messy, people will tell you that. If you don't, think to yourself, okay, what could I be? Where could I be in the top 10% where making being in the top 10% provides a great living? There are 180,000 actors in the SAG After Union, which by the way is not an easy union to get into. It means you've done real work. It means you're talented. And last year, 83% of those union members didn't qualify for health insurance because they made less than $23,000. than $23,000.

than $23,000. So the romance industries attract too much human capital driving down the returns. So you know I don't and also people think okay I will but I will never be I'm giving up I'll never be passionate about tax law. Well, guess what? If you have the discipline to get into good undergrad, if you have the ability to get into a great law school, if you understand the intersection of law and economics and know how to handle clients and are good with numbers and you can bring that sort of skill, the best tax lawyers fly private and have a larger selection set of mates than they deserve.

And all of those things and the other accutrants of being great in a high-paying industry, camaraderie, relevance, prestige will make you passionate about whatever it is. Passion comes from mastery. It comes from economic security. It comes from prestige, especially in a capitalist society. So your job is to find your talent, not your passion. And trust me on this, as you get older, and Ed, you know this, what do we become passionate about? We become passionate about taking care of our parents when they get older. We become passionate about giving our kids some of the opportunities we didn't have.

We become passionate about taking our friends to Aspen and and not worrying about money. That will, trust me on this, in a capitalist society, whatever affords you that economic security, you will become passionate about. Find your talent. I so agree everybody. I It's what I tell my kids. I was golfing one time with Elway and uh we were reminiscing on like all the cool courses we had played in our life, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Said, "Hey man, what's your favorite course?" And I thought, is he going to say Augusta or Pebble Beach?

And he goes, he goes, "Come on, man. You know this. It's wherever you play the best. That's your favorite." Oh, yeah. That's great. It applies to what you just said. If you get great at something, you'll find yourself become pretty passionate about it. And even if it's not, if you're passionate about fly fishing, get really wealthy so that you can go fly fish whenever the heck you want. This is absolutely cogent advice. Everybody, here's the question I have for you. You said choosing career where there's a lane that's open that's you can solve problems or that there's, you know, going to be gainful employment.

How do you know with AI? I've not heard you asked about this. I'm sure you've answered it. Just in my prep for this, I didn't see your answer about it. What's your overall view if you're giving someone advice about their career? Like I had a guy the other day go, "This doesn't apply to me, man. I'm in the trades." I'm like, well, they're 3D printing houses now, so I don't know that it apply there as well. So, I want to leave my job, find a new career.

Okay, I got it. Check the box. It should be something I'm pretty good at or I could get good at. What about AI in your mind? How's it going to affect the world the next decade? So, look, nobody knows, but I have some thoughts on this. And generally speaking, I don't see why AI wouldn't follow the same curve as every other technology. And that is when automation hit the auto industry, they were like, "That's it. no more jobs in the automobile industry. It's just going to be a bunch of robots and occasionally a person upgrading the software.

And in the short term, there's usually some job destruction when there's a real technical breakthrough. As there was, we lost some jobs on the shop floor in in Detroit. But over the medium and long term, that type of innovation usually creates more jobs because while there were fewer people on the factory floor, we didn't anticipate heated seats or car stereoss or GPS, which ended up creating more jobs. And now there's more jobs in the auto industry globally than there was pre-automation. was pre-automation. was pre-automation. So I actually think AI will create more jobs over the medium in the long term.

And what I tell people is I mean there's certain industries if you're in customer service that's probably not a great place to double down right now. If you're I'm not sure I'd want to be a radiologist or an epidemiologist right now. But what I tell people is generally speaking nobody really knows. But what I'm more confident saying is that AI is not going to take your job. Somebody who understands AI is going to take your job. So let's let's lay off the woman who really understands AI said no employer ever.

Your job is to understand the intersection between AI and your business. Now AI could potentially come for our jobs. Ed there there's now AI where that can come up. I can say to AI uh here is I can upload every script from every PropG and pivot or raging moderates episode and say in this voice look at current events with a focus on these three topics create a script then I can go to another AI and have a reasonable fact of my voice read it you want to get really good at it and you want to figure out how it's going to impact your industry and what I' what I've so far is it's pretty anodine it can't replace it's like all chip no salsa is the way I would describe But if you get what it does is it starts me thinking and along the journey through AI I realize wow it's not very good but I can get 90% of the way there in Korean.

It's impossible for me to speak Korean using this AI tool I found. So and that's going to make me you know and I'm getting eight or 10 or 12,000 downloads in Korean now where it reads my podcast and my voice in Korean. So this is your job. Trying to predict the future around which jobs will come and go around AI. I think that's really hard. What I can tell you is the ROI on spending 15 20 minutes a day playing with AI. You want to you want to understand AI, you want to prepare for an AI future, go on chat GPT, go on cloud and see the difference.

Go on midjourney, start playing with images and get really good at it because I'm pretty sure it's going to impact every industry. I don't know which ones it's going to disrupt or not disrupt. If I had to guess, it would be healthcare because to me that's that's the place that's had the greatest level of inflation relative to underlying innovation, which is kind of what I call a disruptability index. And I think AI will be the fist of stone coming for that giant chin called US healthcare.

But what I would say to anybody is the way you try to prep yourself or immunize yourself against the AI future is to become quite frankly really good at it and understand all right I am in customer service. I I run guest relations for the Beverly Hills Hotel. I'm going to use AI. I'm going to feed in all the customer data I know so I can anticipate people's needs and then I'm going to start educating the people around me. And then the person at corporate at Doorchester, which owns this hotel, is going to go, that woman who understands AI, let's put her in a position around strategy or what have you.

But trying to figure out what industry you should go into based on technological innovation, that's a difficult one. If you'd gone into autonomous driving 10 years ago, which was the next big thing, those companies are struggling because tomorrow doesn't seem to be today as quickly as they'd hoped. You know, it's it's tough to chase technology. Do can you get a job at an AI company? Then take it. But but bottom line is learn about it, understand it. That's how you that's the Kevlar for an AI future.

I was I was with my son yesterday. He was driving to the airport and they had one of those uh driverless Teslas next to me and I said those Uber. My son kind of agreed with me. He goes, "I don't know, Dad. I think that's further away than you might think. There's a few of these right now, but it's coming. It's just a matter of when it's coming." And then I got on the airplane. I was prepping for this because I was excited about it. And I started to actually think about something I want to talk to you about, which was my son.

Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. And my son's 22 years old. I have a daughter who's a junior in college. And I just left California. I moved to Florida. And people ask me often, why'd you make that move? And I said, quite frankly, taxes was a major move. Me, too. Me, too. Me, too. The other thing is, I'd like to be around my children someday. And I can't find a scenario under which I think they could possibly buy a home before they're 35 or 40 years old anymore, if ever.

There a decent home there's $800,000 to a million bucks. That means after taxes my kids would have to have saved liquid cash of $2 $300,000. When the heck is that going to happen? And I started to think about the world that my kids are in today. And I wonder about your thoughts about that. I I worry that the dream in many cases is much more difficult in the current tax climate. I do look at two things. I don't think you need to tax people more because the top 1% pay about 50% of all the income tax in our country.

Bottom half pays almost nothing. nothing. nothing. So this the billionaire is going to pay their fair share to me like a completely hor political line. Having said that, one of the reasons the bottom half pay so little is they make so little. So growth has not kept up with the with inflation in terms of home prices, consumer goods, etc. So there's this challenge with wages I feel like in the United States and I worry about wages particularly for young people. What's your view on all of that I just threw at you for a 22 to 25 year old where you see the world going in such a direction where there is this disparity in wealth and to me it's a wage gap not a tax gap.

Well, first off, you're you're doing what I call you're you're you're a great host because you're setting me up for success because you know this is something I think a lot about. So, let's start let's start with the problem. The whole reason we do all of this, the whole shooting match is we want to have a household and we want to raise good kids that are loving, secure, good citizens. That's the whole shooting match. We want to set our kids up for success. We right now in America, despite our prosperity, unprecedented prosperity, China's not threatening us.

No one's lining up for Chinese or Russian vaccines. We have the strongest economic growth, the lowest inflation. AI has created. There's been more wealth created in the seven milei radius of San Francisco International Airport in the last two years than the entire auto industry is worth right now. America is killing it on most dimensions. Now, at the same time, we're raising a generation of the most anxious, most depressed, most addicted, most obese young people in history, in the history of the US. For the first time in the US, a 30-year-old man or woman isn't as wealthy as his or her parents.

That has never happened before. That is a breakdown in the social compact. The average 70-year-old is 72% wealthier than they were 40 years ago. The average person under the age of 40 is 24% less wealthy. 40 years ago, 60% of 30 to 34 year olds had at least one child. Now it's 27%. People are opting out of America. They've lost confidence. And the strongest reflection of having confidence or a lack thereof is having or not having children. Now, why has this happened? The incumbents and people my age will claim that it's network effects or globalization.

They'll blame it on something else. That's bull. This has been a concerted decision by people my age to transfer wealth and opportunity and prosperity from young people to my generation. What is the best means of force savings and a kind of a path to economic security and saving money and forming a household? It's buying your first home. When I was when I got out of business school, the average salary was a h 100red grand. The average house in San Francisco cost 280 grand. 200 2.8 times.

Now the average salary out of the hospital of business is 200 grand, which is amazing. The average home in San Francisco costs 2.1 million. So it's gone from 2.8 times to 10 times. Education is up sevenfold. So how do you get ahead? If you're smart, a good stud, a good student, you go to higher education. How do you start to save money and think about mating and propagating? You buy a house. Those two things have been sequestered to the ch to the children of rich people or the freakishly remarkable.

When I applied to UCLA just down the street from where I am now, it had a 76% admissions rate. Now it's 9%. And the virus that infects our economy is the following. We have adopted an LVMH rejectionist strategy. And that is if I'm an incumbent and I already own a house, I already own stocks, I already have a college degree, the best strategy for me to increase my wealth is to artificially constrain the supply of all of those things. So if I'm an alumni and I hear that UCLA's admissions rate has dropped to 9%.

I like that. I applaud. Isn't it great? And you hear people brag, I would never get into the university I went to now. Well, guess what that means? your daughter's not getting in. Once you own a home, you become very concerned with local traffic. One of the worst things to happen to America is new housing permits that basically been put in the ad hands of existing homeowners that like the fact that we don't want new home permits. We need another one and a half to three million home permits a year.

So, you have seen housing prices do the following. Pre- pandemic, average price of a house was 290. Post pandemic, it's 420. And with the unprecedented acceleration in interest rates, the average mortgage has gone from $1,100 to $2,300. Meaning that whereas it used to be twothirds of Americans could afford a house, now it's one-third. And especially all of these factors really hit hard, young men. The we all knew that guy in high school who was just never going to go to college. The education system is incredibly biased against young men.

Who do we want in school? Who do we what what behaviors do we incentivize? Sit still. Be organized. Be a pleaser. Raise your hand. You just described a girl. But we used to have on-ramps into the middle class for that guy who was never going to go to college. But we did away with wood shop. We did away with metal shop. We did away with auto shop. And a lot of the industries that supported that middle and upper middle class lifestyle have been outsourced. And in addition, even worse, parents shame their kids if they decide not to go to college.

Have you been at those cocktail parties where, hush, hush, oh, so and so dropped out of Ruters, they came home. Well, guess what? Twothirds of American children don't end up with a traditional college degree. And that's okay. There's actually been a surge in demand amongst the trade jobs. So, what do we have? We have a group of young people who can't afford a home, can't afford the upward lubricant of mobility in our society, unless they're the freakishly remarkable or the child of a rich kid. You're 77 times more likely to get into an elite university if you come from a top 1% income earning household.

Because my generation has weaponized housing, weaponized the stock market. Coven 7 trillion dollars into the economy, 85% of it wasn't needed. It was saved. Why? Because you never miss an opportunity to make my generation cheaper. So what happened to that $5 trillion that wasn't needed for food, wasn't needed for rent. It went into the market, housing, stocks. So what happened? Stocks went on a tear. Housing prices went insane, which is awesome for you and me, Ed, because we already own stocks and houses. But what about the kid who's trying to get in into the market?

The reason why I am at the Beverly Hills Hotel right now and I have economic security is in 2008 we bailed out the banks but we didn't bail out the economy and Apple fell to eight bucks a share. Netflix fell to 12 bucks a share. Amazon to nine bucks a share. I was coming into my prime income earning years. So I put all of my money in those three stocks and they're up between 30 and 60x. Where does a young person find value when you bail out the baby boomer owner of a restaurant?

All you're doing is robbing opportunity from the 26-year-old recent graduate of a culinary academy that wants her chance at disruption, wants to swoop in and buy a cheap home when we have churn. There are exogenous events. We need turnover. The key to capitalism is you let get real and you let assets fall. But we what we've decided is a million people dying from a virus would be tragic. But what would be a disaster is if we let my generation get less wealthy. So here's an idea.

While I'm in the club doing rails of cocaine and partying with champagne. The only way the young person participates is they get to lend me their credit card so I can run up all this debt on their back so I can stay rich. We have literally lost the script. My generation has been stealing from a younger generation and people want to claim they're entitled bull. They're entitled to be enraged. We are not making the same types of forward-leaning investments. Old people keep voting themselves more money.

40% of all government spending is now on people over the age of 65. It's going to go over 50% in the next 20 years. Meaning we can't make forwardleaning investments in education, in R&D, in technology and infrastructure. the things that show an actual return on investment and create jobs for young people. This needs to stop. We need a forward-leaning. There used to be 12 people supporting every senior. Now there's three people. We don't have the money. We are robbing more and more prosperity and opportunity from young people.

And I'll return to where I started. What's the point if we have depressed kids? What is the actual point of any of this if our young if our kids aren't doing as well as us? And you know what it feels like. You and I are blessed. A disproportionate amount of opportunity was sequestered to white heterosexual males through the 50s, 60s,7s, and 80s. We took advantage of it, and now young kids don't have nearly nearly the amount of opportunity uh we had. I'll wrap up my my word salad here just about tax policy.

You're absolutely right. The thing that gets in the way of a progressive tax structure is when they need start this populist Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren of the billionaires walk over people. Here's the bottom line. The top the people who get most screwed in our tax code are what I affectionately refer to as the workh horses. Mom's a baller at a law firm making a million and a half bucks a year. Dad is a chiropractor with four people working for him. He makes 500 grand a year, 1.9 million in income.

If they're living in a in an urban center in a blue state where you usually need to be to have that kind of job, they're paying 52% in taxes, they're paying way too much. But something happens on the way to being a billionaire. Once you make the jump to light speeded and become an owner instead of an earner, which happened to me about 10 years ago, I make all of my money buying and selling investments, starting and selling companies. My tax rate has plummeted to somewhere between 17 and 19% because of capital gains, because of 1202.

So, while the 1% pay too much in taxes, the.1% pay too little. The 25 wealthiest Americans in America pay between an average tax rate of 6 to 8%. Corporations are paying their lowest tax rate since 1939. So the workh horses lower their taxes. The super rich and corporations I actually think we need to raise their taxes. Well, another conversation other day. I would argue they paid income on that money already, but that's a whole other conversation. conversation. conversation. Is it double taxation? Yeah, I Yeah, I think I feel pretty strongly about that.

I've been a fan all my life for lower taxes, but there's now no evidence that that money is being returned into the economy to benefit working people every day. like I thought it would. I thought if you tax the rich guys less, quite frankly, they would dump that into increasing wages. And they don't. Companies don't do that. And so I'm I'm torn on it. And that's why I asked you the question. I'm really open to the answer. And this thing you said about boys and girls, I just think genderneutral we build conformists in our education system.

I'm really I feel very strongly about that. We build robots that conform and follow instructions and contrarians and weird people change the world. I want more contrarian weird people. All right, welcome back to Max Out everybody. I'm Ed Mlet and before we get started, I just want to remind you of something my friend and that is this. You were born to do something great with your life. I just had that on my heart today before we get going. I just feel like maybe there's an awful lot of you during this time right now that wonder whether that's true and maybe you need to be reminded of it.

Maybe you're not even sure how you're going to do it again. And I'm here to help you with all of that. But I just want to begin by telling you, you're special. You were born to do something awesome with your life in big ways and in small ways. And that's the whole purpose of this show is for me to help you max out your life. And so, you're stuck with me this week. If you've listened to the show or watched the show for a long time, you know, kind of, if you're old school, it used to be that every other week I would do a lesson, teach on something like spirituality, fitness, life strategy, influence, relationships, whatever it might be.

Then the next week I have a guest on that's an expert that's maxed out a particular area of their life. Well, recently, the last eight months to a year, I've mainly done interviews with experts in different fields. But I had an experience myself yesterday that I've just felt compelled to share with all my brothers and sisters out there that I think might make a difference in your life, might change your life like it changed mine. And so, I'm so glad you decided to join me again this week.

But I didn't want to start without telling you from my heart, I love you. I believe in you. And greatness is coming your way. I know that. And I do this show not just to inspire you and to motivate you. But as many of you know, to give you the tactics and the strategies and the tools to make that a reality in your life. And so today, I'm going to give you another one. And I want you to write this down if you can if you're YouTube or you're not driving your car right now.

And that is this. Today's theme is very simple. Diversity is the pathway to richness. And I mean diversity in two forms. The people in your life and the experiences of your life. And without that diversity, I'm so concerned in our culture today that I see us become more and more tribal, less and less diverse both in our friendships and our relation. We don't talk to each other. We talk at each other and more and more we hang around people just like us, don't we? And they kind of reinforce our beliefs and our way of living and we just kind of go in this circle.

It feels good. It's like eating cake, you know? It feels really good, but it doesn't grow us. And then the second thing is the lack of diverse experiences that we're giving oursel access to. And so I looked up diversity by the way in the dictionary and basically it means variety. We've all heard the saying that variety is the spice of life. And I know during this time with COVID and the global pandemic and high unemployment and political polarization and all the things that are happening, most people say, "Hey, life ain't so spicy right now." And I want to bring some spice back to your life.

And you can do it for free on no budget. That spice, that variety comes through diversity. So, the experience that I had this week that I wanted to share with you, and I can only talk about it for a few minutes because every time I get going, I can't finish sentences, but I dropped my son off at college yesterday and um can't do it. Sorry. I just my boy left me yesterday. It hit me much harder than I thought it would and it's hitting me even harder again today.

And I think one of the reasons is is that I liked our kind of lack of variety, our lack of diversity. I had him under my roof every single day. But what I keep reminding myself of is how amazing these next four years can be for my son. Why? Because he's about to have the most diverse experience of his lifetime, isn't he? He's already meeting people that he didn't grow up around. People from different backgrounds, different countries, different economics situations, different religions. He's going to be introduced to different ways of thinking.

He's going to have decisions and choices to make, good and bad, isn't he, during these years. But any of you that went to college or have sent a child off to college, it's four of the best years of most people's lives. Why? It's the most diverse years of their life. So if that's true for Max, I got to be excited for him, don't I? As emotional as I am for myself, but it's also true for you. It's true for me. There's a direct correlation and connection between the amount of diversity in our life, variety, and how happy we are, how much we're growing, by the way, how wealthy you'll get, too.

And so when I dropped Max off, I, you know, I want to tell you first about making decisions. I said, Max, you're going to have a lot of decisions you're going to have to make in your life when you're here for the first time. And when I say diversity and variety and chase diversity, right, I don't mean things that you are you are knowingly aware of could be harmful to you. So when you're offered a drug or a particular drink or some situation or decision you got to make, Max, there's only two things you need to remember.

So this is the next thing I'd have you all write down. I said, "Max, you need to remember who you are as a man, your identity, and number two, what you stand for." And if every decision comes your way, you just remind yourself, who am I? And what do I stand for? And is this choice, this decision consistent with that, then you'll make the right decision. And I know that for a fact. By the way, for you in your life, who are you and what do you stand for?

And have you been living that way recently? Cuz I think you love all people. I think you want to chase experiences. I think you want memories and moments in your life and you want to be happier. All of that is in this place that most of us avoid as we get older, which is new things, diverse things, different people, different ways of thinking. You're taught in the world right now, aren't you, man? These people are different. They're your enemy. Everybody in the world, both the left political party and the right political party will tell you your life's messed up because of these people.

It's not your fault. It's their fault. Both parties do it. Right? It's interesting. So many people say, "You don't know what it's like to be me." But they seem to be an expert on what it's like to be you. Maybe those of you that think you're an expert on what it's like to be somebody else or you've got an opinion about somebody's life, ask yourself if you've walked in their shoes, ask yourself if you've had their experiences. experiences. experiences. And if you haven't, why don't you start to get to know people like that?

And maybe your opinion could evolve or change. Or at least you'd have an experience, wouldn't you, that's unique and different than the one you're having with the same three, four, five people you talk to that go to the same three, four, five places. And so you can have diversity right now on no budget. And I'm going to talk about those things with you today. And I'm excited for my son uh that he's going to have this diverse and amazing variety in his life going forward. Different golf courses, different places he'll go, different things he's going to have to learn, tools and skills that he didn't have to learn when his mom was caring for him.

By the way, a lot of you say to me, you know, you talk about your family, but not all the time, not as often as some people might. That's because, just to be candid with you, they deserve their privacy. They want their privacy. And you'd be surprised when you're a public person um some of the scary things that happen when you expose your family quite too much. But I felt compelled to share that experience with you because it was life-changing for him and it's life-changing for me.

And the lesson there is it can be life-changing for you as well. So diversity in all forms. Remember I said diversity in people in your life. And I want you to really evaluate that evaluate that evaluate that the last 90 days or so. How many diverse conversations you have with people that grew up completely differently than you? Different background, different race, different religion. Right? Different experience. experience. experience. In your business, how many people that are around you are very different than you, right? They look different.

They talk different. They come from somewhere different. They bring different experiences, perspectives, thoughts, opinions, opinions, opinions, nuances to the table that are beautiful. See, as a country, we are better together. We're not all the same. People say, "We're all the same." No, we're not all the same. And that's what makes it so beautiful. We're not all the same, but together we're stronger. Some people ask me if I'm going to run for office. I don't know, but I doubt it. But one of the only reasons I would is I would do it to bring people together.

I'm so tired of these political parties, the media, everybody, social media putting us against each other. And the other, well, we're we're not the same. We're beautiful combined. beautiful combined. beautiful combined. Our combined experience, our combined skills, our combined thoughts, our combined lives, our combined souls are better together, are better. I'm not saying everybody's good. I don't believe that. I don't believe everybody should be in your circle, but one of the things that's confusing to a lot of people, they say, "Well, wait a minute. I listen to you.

I listen to social media says, "Hey, keep your circle small, only have people there that support your way of thinking." You're not understanding what that means. So, let me clarify it for you. I mean, people that support your dreams, that support you, that support who you are and what you stand for. To go back to my conversation with Max, I don't want anybody in my life who doesn't support who I am and what I stand for, right? But I want them to express it. I want them to challenge me.

I don't want everybody to think politically the same as me. I want to have the same personality as me. If you're a really serious person, wouldn't it be more spicy, more diverse to have some hilarious people around you? If you're a complete right-winger, wouldn't it be just more diverse and interesting at lunch, at dinner with someone who's on the left or vice versa? Man, have some women friends, women. Hey, hey guys, how about have some conversations with some ladies that you're not just dating. Just get to know their experience, what they're thinking about, what they fear, what they worry, what they want, what they chase, what their anxieties are, what their dreams are, what their insecurities are, and vice versa.

That's how we get better. And so your life, right, if you I want to be happier, one of the ways is more diversity. And so if you haven't had a lot of that lately, chase it. There's someone at work that you could reach out to you don't know. Say, I want to get to know you better. Let's have a conversation. Let's have a Zoom. If you can get together, have a cup of coffee, depending on where you live, TELL ME ABOUT YOUR LIFE. I see at the office when we were there, I don't know anything about you.

One of the things that drives my friends crazy is that if they get in an Uber with me or a limo, they know I'm not talking to them. I'm talking to the driver. Anybody who drives me or anything like that because I believe human beings are gifts. And only is that revealed to you when you open them up. And so, I know I interview kind of one of the things I do here is I interview, but I I get to know people. I love people. It drives my friends crazy because they know we get in a car if it's an hour.

Eddie's talking to the driver the whole time. I want to know where are you from? What's your upbringing? Right? Because they're diverse. That's spice. I already know these other three. I can talk to them later. I want to talk to this person. I was driving last week. Example, a guy picked me up. It's from Lebanon. I said, "Hey, man. What's it like there? Take me through it." And I learned a lot. My life's better because I'm not from Lebanon. I've never been to Lebanon. But I had this picture what it was like.

And he's like, "Actually, where I grew up, man, gated community, middle class, Christians, Jews, Muslims, agnostic, all on my street and WE HAD STREET PARTIES AND WE ALL GOT ALONG GREAT." I SAID, "YOU'RE KIDDING ME. That wasn't kind of my image." He goes, "Well, there's places where it's not like that, but where I lived, just like where you would live here." I said, "YOU'RE KIDDING ME. NO WAY." AND WE HAD A GREAT CONVERSATION. He's got three children. One of this guy's from Lebanon. One of his kids immigrated here.

One of his kids is at Harvard. He's kicking butt, man. He's driving Uber to help support tuition. My life was richer because of that experience. Didn't cost me any money. My life got better. So were yours if you chase diversity. By the way, so will your business. So I want to talk to you entrepreneurs for a minute. Diversity is the key. I don't believe, by the way, hiring on skin color one way or the other. I don't go, "Well, your skin's darker, I'm hiring you." Or your skin's lighter, I'm hiring you.

I don't hire on genitalia or gender either. I hire the person that's the best for the job. Like for the presidential race right now, I'm not going to tell you who I'm voting for, but I can tell you this. their gender has nothing to do with who I'm voting for, pro or con. Who's the best person for the job? Having said that, one of the mistakes entrepreneurs make and we make in our lives that I made when I was young is I started to look at my business when I was younger.

Everyone around me, my clients, the people that work with me were all just like me. You looked around my business when I was 25, 26 years old, they're all guys, all former athletes or military or police, all kind of the testosterone masculine crowd. They loved my messages. They loved how I talked. The veins sticking out, getting all fired up, yelling and screaming, and I'd get this reinforcement. So, I thought I was doing it right. One of the mistakes you entrepreneurs make is you keep getting reinforced your way of thinking.

You do it in politics, too, don't you? You watch on TV exactly what you already believe, right? Your phone's programmed now that they what you've clicked on, they're going to feed you more of what you like. And in work, we do it, too. We Why? Why is it that those guys all were like me? You know why? Because we like people that are like us. We just do. It's an unconscious bias. Everybody has it. Black people have it. White people have it. Old people have it.

Young people have it. It's an unconscious bias. We like people like us. It's not horrible to have. It's horrible not to be aware of. And so you have unconscious bias in your friendships, in your politics, and in your hiring and training and work. And so I had all these guys. They love what I talked about. It was great. You're great, Ed. Thank you. And we we were all fired up all the time about how supposedly great our company was. But guess what? That's a limited segment of the world.

So was people just like you. You have a limited slice of life if everyone around you looks like you. My white friends, how many conversations you had in the last 90 days with a really good friend of yours that's Latin or Chinese or black? My black friends, last 10 phone calls you've had, last conversations, how many of them were with a white guy or a white girl? And I hate skin color. I hate judging that. I'm talking about diversity of experience. Unfortunately, we live in a world where this has become, you better pick a tribe.

It's terrible. The truth is most of us are mixed with something. Drives me nuts that we even have to have this conversation. this conversation. this conversation. But the truth is we have become tribal. And the truth is you got to get to know people that are different than you. And so I started to evaluate that. So stay with me on this. And I started to realize I needed to bring more people to the table that could express who I was and what I stood for in their unique way.

I can express it my way. I need people's experiences, backgrounds, memories, nuances, memories, nuances, memories, nuances, personalities, personalities, personalities, ways of thinking that I don't have. And so, let me give you a couple examples of what my business life looks like. I'm I've been named one of the 50 wealthiest men in the world under 50 years old. That's pretty cool. my podcast and my show that you're watching if it's on YouTube. Fastest growing show in the world. Couple different magazines picked me the fastest growing businessman in the history of social media.

That's pretty cool. In just three years, millions of people around the world listen to my content. And my audience is unbelievably what? Diverse. 52% women, 48% men. 48% men. 48% men. 48% of my audience is under 35 years old. 52% of my audience is over. Global and in the United States. I have entrepreneurs and non- entrepreneurs. I have Christians, Muslims, Jews, agnostics. I have people that are, you know, trying to win financially in life and people that want to win spiritually in life. That's diverse. Why is that?

Because obviously I'm that same guy that when I was 25. It's who I've surrounded myself with. So many of you may not know this, but I want you to think about something. I'd love to tell you that all that stuff's grown because I'm so incredible and so wonderful, but that's just not the case. the case. the case. The reason it's grown like it has is because of the diversity and the variety and the spice around me. Not only do I enjoy it, but it's tremendously changed my financial situation.

By the way, I do all the social media stuff for free as you know, but it's grown my brand. So, let me give you an example. this social media, YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, wherever you're listening to me, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, all of that enterprise of mine, my public reputation and brand, the CEO and president of that company, the leader of that company is a woman, a young woman, a young black woman, and one of my dearest friends whom I love named Trevy. So yeah, this entire thing you're consuming for me, turns out it's driven by someone different than me, someone better than me, someone who brings experiences and thoughts.

So it's my message, it's my brand, it's what I stand for. I hire for people who understand who I am and what I stand for, but can help me express it differently. Maybe in your case, get to markets differently. And so everything I do, I haven't I've trusted my entire public reputation and content with Trevby and I wouldn't have anybody else do it. I hope she stays forever. I love her. So that's who leads that part of my organization. The person who creates the content that you see on social media, also a woman, Athena, the person who handles all my personal finances, my bookkeeping, my accounting, my taxes, everything.

A woman, Sue, the person who runs my new financial venture that I have, a woman, she's Greek and Latin. Her name's Nicole. She's awesome. Oh. Uh, the person who runs my entire enterprise for the last two decades, all of my companies, handles all my financial, my money, 25 something different corporations, runs my world, is a woman. She's also my sister for two dec she's been my sister all her life but she's been my CEO for two decades. Erica turns out I have a really diverse team.

Mike my videographer he's been with me forever. He looks like me but I'm also loyal. So I've got a very diverse team. These women these people bring to bear all kind and that's just that's just one example. My financial company has people from many different relian Muslim Christian Mormon. We have Chinese folks, Indian folks, black folks, white folks, Latino folks, old people, young people, all winning. Variety is the spice of life. I'm a better businessman. I am richer financially and richer emotionally and spiritually because of the diversity in my life.

We can learn from everybody. So, my challenge to you is take a look at your hiring. If you're running a company, maybe you need to get people together that are there that are very different. Why don't you encourage people that don't know each other to get on a Zoom or to have lunch this week and just get to know one another, collaborate, connect, get get to understand each other's backgrounds and nuances? I would challenge you to do that. I hope that's a breakthrough for you, by the way, on how to lead your company and in your life.

Maybe reach out to somebody that's different than you this week politically. Maybe for 20 minutes, listen to something that's not exactly what you already believe. By the way, well, hey, no, I am I am all Trump 100%. I don't want to hear anything from these liberal wackos. Or you know what? Trump is a racist crazy person. I'm not interested in talking to anybody who supports anything that guy stands for. Cool. So that's how you're going to live your life. You're not going to learn anything from their perspective.

They're just evil if they disagree with you. Is that what you're saying? Or are you afraid that you your beliefs are so weak that one conversation with them, you may get impacted and change? Which is it? Because if you believe it so strongly, they can't change your mind. Just have a conversation, have the experience, and learn. You know what you might find out? There might be something they believe you ought to consider. Maybe one little part of it. And you know what the worst thing that would happen is?

You go, "You know what? I just I listen to them. I totally disagree with them. I feel stronger about how I feel." Great. That's an experience. But I can guarantee if you had 10, 12, 20, 30 of these, your life would change. How about this? What could you do that's new for the first time? Think about your life. All the things that have been the greatest moments of your life were new in the first time and diverse, weren't they? But maybe the last 90 days because we've been locked in our houses or there's no financial means.

So what could you do? Could there be a new hobby you could pick up? New music you listen. Maybe you're a country music fan. Listen to something else for a while. I'm listening to Sinatra right now. There's no new music out. So I'm going back all the way to Sinatra just to get some variety, just to get some spice in my life. I'm tired of listening to the same songs over and over again, same conversations. conversations. conversations. Right? The second thing we teach in personal development is, man, you better have habits, rituals, and routines.

I teach this. People take that to an extreme. That's a foundational thing you should have that gives you the anchor so you can go have variety and diversity and keep your life under control. If everything in your life is routine, if you and your spouse watch the same shows together, go to the same restaurants, order the same food, have the same conversations every single day, that's a relationship that's dying, not growing. Why don't you do something new and innovative? Walk somewhere different. Work out together. Try a different restaurant.

Have a different conversation. Watch a different movie. Heck, do something that's just diverse. Don't sleep in your bed tonight. Grab a couple sleeping bags and have a camp out in the living room and a picnic and do something romantic, something diverse. Get creative. It's the spice of life. Your ability to create diverse and variety based experiences will be the juice of your life, your relationships, and your business. But you can't go through the motions. You've got to force diversity. Force yourself into variety. New conversations, new experiences, a new place, you hike, I don't know, something new that's diverse and variety.

We avoid it as adults. And it's kills me. You know, you can learn from everybody. Let me share this with you. You'd say, "Well, everybody, yeah, you may not agree, but you can learn. You can learn. that grows you. You know, many of you know that my first job out of college, I worked at McKinley Home for Boys, which basically was an is an orphanage. My boys were all 8 to 10 years old. My boys grew up in some ways like me, in some ways different.

And so, it changed my life because I got so much diversity in my life. My boys were wards of the court. So, my boys, most of them were either molested by their family, their parents were incarcerated or dead. And so my and by the way, most of my boys were inner city boys and most of my boys were minority of some type. Okay, they changed my life. You say, "Well, they must have learned a great deal from you, Ed. I mean, your mentoring and your way of living." They did.

And I learned a ton from them. So, if I could learn from eight and nineyear-old inner city boys, don't you think you could learn from someone who thinks completely differently than you? Wouldn't that be interesting? By the way, it's one of the great experiences of my life. I still talk about it all the time. Well, what did I learn from those guys? Well, I'll tell you what I learned. I didn't grow up around guys like I grew up middle class. My I say lower middle class.

My mom and dad keep telling me we were middle class, so I'll default to we were middle class. But I didn't grow up around guys like them. But you know what I learned? I learned to be grateful for the most simple things in my life from them. I remember one day I would walk the boys to school every day and little Marcus every day would start skipping. We always walked in a line and he would start skip. I say, "Marcus, get back in line, brother." "Okay, Eddie." and he would do it every day.

So finally one day he skipped again. I said, "Marcus, you need to get back in line, man. I'm not going to tell you three times." And he looks at me with this beautiful little face. Marcus was an African-American little boy. And he goes, "Eddie, goes, "Eddie, goes, "Eddie, okay." I said, "What are you so damn excited about, man?" He goes, "No gunshots on this way to school. EVERY DAY THERE'S NO GUNSHOTS, MR. EDDIE." And I went, "Yeah, that is cool, Marcus. That is pretty awesome." And I thought something that simple he was grateful for.

What a lesson for me. We're always grateful for the biggest things in our lives. The biggest things in our lives. What about the small things that we take for granted every single day that someone from a different background can teach us is is so special. I remember one morning I came in to wake up Jose and uh little Jose woke up and uh I said, "Jose, let's go, brother. It's time to get up, man." And he gets out of bed and he says, "Mr. Eddie and gives me this big hug in the morning.

He's a little 8-year-old at the time. And he goes, "I love you. I love you. Thank you." I said, "For what?" He goes, "For getting me up every morning." I said, "Of course, brother. We got to get to school." And I later found out that his parents never woke him up for school. He'd miss school all the time. He'd sleep in till 10 or 11. No one would get him up. No one would make him breakfast. No one would talk to him about school. No one ask him about his report card.

No one asked him about his grades. He just wanted somebody to care. And I thought these things that I took for granted with my mom growing up were so simple. See, when you begin to get diverse experiences, you begin to get insights into life changing variety in your life. It's also the key to making a comeback. If you're going to change things right now, make a comeback, you need to start to think different and act different and and feel different about yourself. And that comes from all of these experiences.

You know, I told Max, I said, "Max, listen. There's going to be choices for you at college, man, that are going to be very difficult. This is not going to be all sunsets and rainbows, right? I said, "My freshman year of college, man, I had some decisions to make." I said, I said, "Let me tell you about my freshman year. I went away to college, which is already scary, so I know you're a little bit scared." I said, "I went away. I get there and my girlfriend breaks up with me back home.

That one hurt." Then my teammates didn't like me. I'm super introverted and shy. I was from California. Most of those guys weren't. They thought I was arrogant and cocky cuz I was quiet. So, but it wasn't. I was just super introvert. They actually nicknamed me Eddie myself instead of Eddie Milelet because I was alone so often. And so my girlfriend breaks up with me. My teammates don't like me. Two months after that I got there, the coach who recruited me quit and took a scouting job.

So now the reason I went there is gone. And I said, "Max, then the game started and I was overmatched. I wasn't good enough. I hit 220 my freshman year. I sucked. I played every game because the guy behind me was even worse than me." And I said, 'We went 15 and 45 that year. 15 wins, 45 losses. And a bunch of other crap happened that wasn't good that year as well. I said, when it was over, I wanted to quit. And I called my dad, which is his grandfather.

We call him Gump. I said, Gump came up and I said, "Dad, this didn't work out. Look, the guy who recruited me quit. The teammates don't like me. I'm not good enough to play here. here. here. You know, we're terrible. I just want to come home and I'll go to another school back home." And my dad said, 'Well, you could do that. You got a decision to make.' And guess what my dad said to me? He probably doesn't even remember this. He goes, "Is that consistent with who you are as a man?

Is that what you stand for?" Same two questions I asked you earlier. I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "Is that is that who you are? Are you a quitter? When it gets really difficult, you run?" I said, "Dad, that's not what happened. The coach quit." He goes, "Oh, so what you stand for, as long as people around you quit and give up, make mistakes, that gives you permission to do it. That's what you're saying. And when it gets really difficult, you just run. And um you really believe you're not any good.

That's why you hit 220. And you can't help the team get any better. It's fine. You can leave. I just want to make sure that that's who you are and what you stand for." You got me. And I thought about it really hard, Max. I thought that's not who I am. I don't run when it gets tough. And you know what? Maybe I could outwork these guys this summer and get a little bit better. And maybe I won't hit 220 next year. Maybe we could win a few more games.

And the fact that the coach quit, that doesn't give me permission to get weak and quit either. My dad was a diverse thinker. And I stayed. And I, you know what, worked out pretty well. Next year I hit like 360, was defensive player of the year. We won some more games. My coach is a friend of mine to this day. So is my pitching coach. Both Quincy and Stan are both friends of mine and I'm really glad that I made that decision, Max. You're going to be faced with those decisions as well.

My my thinking is maybe some of you listening to this day today are being faced with those decisions, aren't you? And just remember, is it who you are? Is it consistent with who you are and what you stand for? And do you have enough diversity in your life? This is how we're going to make a comeback. I love the depth to what you talk about being in your presence. It's obvious to me as well. You've also had the blessing of some heavyweight mentors. I think it's chapter eight, but it's kind of like the advice from heavyweight mentors, right?

What's give us a little bit of that juice there. Steve Wnjak, the co-founder of Apple, um was on my stage when I used to do an event called the Titan Summit. Richard Branson was there, Shaquille O'Neal, many of the world's, you know, a a players and history makers. He was a great mentor to me. I think he he has such a great heart. Steve Steve Steve Steve. Oh, purest heart. He's such a beautiful man. beautiful man. beautiful man. Showed up like, you know, alone in a taxi, you know, he's giving out guys in the crowd his phone number from the stage.

He's just such a great guy. He's just he was just so humble, you know, and and it was like, "What was your dream?" Oh, I just wanted to do the most amazing coding. I just wanted to do the most amazing coding that other engineers would look at and just go, "This guy is incredible." I didn't care about money and I don't He was just He's just a just a just a Can I say one thing about it? just cuz I so by the way that's a very good impression of him is that he's one of these stories that most people don't really know.

Steve should be one of the five six wealthiest men in the world. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But what he did to give away early on in Apple and even after Apple um you know became a public company is is one of the most amazing stories that most people don't know on the planet is he helped so many other people become wealthy at his own financial expense. He did. You know it moves me uh to mention the words Corora Greenway. M Cora Greenway was one of the greatest mentors of my life.

She was my grade five history teacher. And there's a picture of her in the book when she was 101. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. And when I was growing up, I I marched to a different drummer. I didn't really fit in with the stylish crowd. I trusted my own voice. I lived in my head in many ways. I loved to read. I was minimized, laughed at, put down, disbelieved. Teacher said, "Oh, he's he'll be a drifter. He'll be a vagrant. He won't amount to anything." And one thing I would say to all your many millions of viewers from around the world is, you know, you can listen to the opinions of your critics or you can change the world, but you don't get to do both.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Um, in the book, there was JK Rowling. She actually had she had a pseudonym, Robert Golra. She wrote a book after like the Harry Potter success. She wrote a book under the pseudonym, pseudonym, pseudonym, Robert Galbreth. She sent it out to people in the publishing industry and they said sent back letters that said, you know, you would do well to join a writing group and to and to take writing lessons to JK Rowling. So I I was I was minimized and but this teacher, you know, in grade five, Cora Greenway, she saw something in me that very few people saw in me.

And she took it upon herself to save me in many ways and to build me up versus tear me down. And she said, Robin, there is something special in you and I see it. And I think the job of an everyday hero is to shine a light on people's talents and help them become bigger in your presence. I think that's what the world needs right more right now. Oh, Robin, Oh, Robin, Oh, Robin, I I think that's what the great leaders do. They their ego is so turned down and they're such servants that they they they make people feel bigger in their presence and they leave people better than they found them.

And so, Cora Greenway Greenway Greenway really saved me and inspired me and my my life moved into a all new trajectory after that. And I think that's the power of a mentor. A few years ago, I I started searching for Cora Greenway, and I didn't know this, Ed, but I I learned that when she was a young woman, she actually was a part of the Dutch resistance, and she would go under enemy lines in Nazi territory, and she would save children who were going to Nazi death camps.

death camps. death camps. Wow. Wow. Wow. I mean, just this was my grade five history teacher. history teacher. history teacher. Wow. Wow. Wow. And then the third mentor, I've had so many, but would be my father. And you talked about your father and you talked about your your your sister and my father is 84. He would 54 years he was a family doctor. And he used to say things like this to me when I was growing up. He'd say, "Robin, when you were born, you cried while the world rejoiced." He said, "Live your life in such a way that when you die, the world cries while you rejoice." rejoice." rejoice." Wow.

Wow. Wow. He was a Rotarian. Your father said this to you? My father said it to me. My father was a Rotarian. he would quote Paul Harris, the founder, and he'd say, "The one who serves the best profits the most." And my dad has been just like a terrific philosopher to me. So, those would be three of the big heroes in my life. Obviously, my mom, my mom will say like, "Why didn't you mention me?" But she's magnificent. Of course, I make that same mistake when I talk about my dad.

By the way, I have to share something with you. I think this little exchange right here is going to be the reason that your book is so profound. So, I've had you and I have been blessed to have access to about every brilliant mind or successful whatever on the planet. They either want our advice or we get theirs, which is a pretty cool thing. I have to be careful that I can get through this sentence, too. Yours is your fifth grade teacher. I have these little tiny moments.

I'm emotional, but I have these little tiny moments in my life where people that don't think they were everyday heroes completely changed the complete direction of my life. And I had a fourth grade teacher. I was small. My dad was an alcoholic. I was I had just switched schools. I was just thought I was nothing. I had no self-esteem self-esteem self-esteem and I was struggling in school and it was obvious that the other kids didn't like me. And I had a Mrs. Smith, Susan Smith, who was my fourth grade teacher.

And I remember I used to tell this story even on my show five, six years ago that this this is everyday heroes guys. These are two of us sitting here. We end up a fourth and a fifth grade teacher. Both of our dads and basically one other person, right? And so the someone walked in the back of the room and said, "Mrs. Smith, we need one of your smart." She kind of whispered it, but we go, "We need your smartest student because we're going to take the state exams in the other room, right?" And I watched Mrs.

Smith, she was sitting at her desk. We were doing work and she goes, "That would be little Eddie." I'm getting goosebumps right now. And she points at me and she thought I was the smart one. And I got up and I walked to the back and I went back and took the state test. It was the first person that ever told me I was smart. It was the first person that ever called me out in a room and said that I was special in my life in the fourth grade.

And it stood out to me so much to the point that I talked about it on different shows I've been interviewed in. I sought her out about four years ago. She remembered me. Wow. Wow. Wow. She did that on purpose because she knew I was struggling. There was no test that I needed to take. She knew days before she was going to do that, she asked somebody to come to the back of the room. She asked them to say that so that we could all hear it.

So that she could say my name. So that I could stand up in front of the class and walk out. What a beautiful woman. What a heroic woman. And that difference, if that doesn't happen that day, I'm pretty sure you and I aren't sitting here right now having this conversation. So if you're wondering in small ways whether what you do is heroic, what was your fifth grade teacher's name again? Cora Greenway. Cora Greenway. Cora Greenway. Cora Greenway and Susan Smith have changed uh the course of both of our lives.

So lives. So lives. So is is she still living? She's not teaching anymore, but she's still with us. She did that on purpose. Is that not incredible? incredible? incredible? For a little boy in your class. You know, there there's a model towards the end of the Everyday Hero Manifesto called the eight forms of wealth. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. And I think what we're sharing really speaks to it. Our society has brainwashed us and heartwashed us into believing that the ultimate metric of success is money, position, what I call FFA, fame, fortune, and applause versus the truth, JPF, joy, peace, and freedom.

And I think you know there are eight forms of wealth. Money is only one of them. them. them. Now for all the business builders who follow you and who follow me, is money important? Absolutely. It gives you freedom. philanthropy, magical times, you can help there. It's just it helps tremendously. tremendously. tremendously. You're going to go through your life with it with it or without it. Take with it. it. it. No question. I'd rather stay in a nice hotel room than than in, you know, flea bag.

It just etc. I'd like great food versus having said that there are seven other forms of wealth. And we can go through them and I still haven't answered your question about the tactics for heartset healing. We can talk about the afro tool that's in the book. Let's do both. and and you know my experiences with healers and acupuncture and all that kind of thing. But I think I think it's really central for us to appreciate appreciate appreciate I believe that there are seven other forms of wealth and one of those is family.

I've mentored so many billionaires and they've got the jets and they've got the yachts and they've got massive fortunes and they are heart heartbroken because they have lost the connection especially with their children. With children, you have a little window of opportunity and once it closes, it's really really really hard to open it up again. Another form of of wealth that is incredibly important is and I know it's so essential to you is health. Yeah. I mean the right someone once said to me health is the crown on the well person's head that only the ill person can see.

Right. So it's it's like you have all the money in the world. I I've had clients they they have all the money in the world and they've lost their health in the process. one had an autoimmune disorder and he showed up at my office and he looked very ill and he lost a lot of weight and I said what happened to you and he said well as I built my business I lost my health now I've turned the business over to my executive my leadership team and my wife and I travel the world look for healers to try to get me back to health another form of wealth so good so good so good is selfmastery is selfmastery is selfmastery I mean I think the ultimate mission of life is self-nowledge if you go to the temple of delelfy over over The archway, it's know thyself.

All the great saints, sages, and seers say the ultimate goal of life is to make the journey to understand your gifts and your talents, to build your character, to build intimacy and fluency with your bravery, creativity, and productivity. That's why I love work. You know, it makes me a stronger, better person. So that is a form of wealth. If you have work you are loving, if you are reading books, if you are listening to Ed Miled, if you are going to the courses, if you are doing the healing, that is a form of wealth to cherish and celebrate and honor.

And then the last form of wealth is is I used to call it legacy. I don't believe in legacy anymore like I mentioned, but it it's helpfulness, its usefulness, its impact. And if you get to help one person in one day, I would invite all your millions of listeners from around the world. If you if you get to do one thing in a day or we all can that upgrades someone's life that puts a smile on their face, that has been a very very special day.

Passald the center of the LA Lakers came to one of my events. We had dinner afterwards. I dropped him off the airport. Everyone was looking at him. He signed every single autograph, took every single photograph. As I left him at the gate, I said, "Paul, pal, you know, you you you stopped for everyone." And he said something to me I've never forgotten and it's so valuable. He said, "Robin, it takes so little to make someone happy. Great form of wealth. Such a great such a great conversation we're having." we're having." we're having." Right.

Thank you. I was just sitting here thinking, I'm so blessed to be sitting here talking about this with you. I knew it'd be great, but I'm really blessed. I'm really grateful that we're doing this. And by the way, he's legendary for that in this area in Los Angeles. Just being kind and and uh he was Kobe's favorite guy. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, Kobe's favorite guy. And all the guys I played with, I don't know that I should say that, but you know, from what I do know, and I do know, that was Kobe's dude.

So, we were going to make sure we went back and just so that we've covered it because this has been so good, but you wanted to touch on this health set idea too a little bit. So, I'm going to let you go on that. I want to hear about it. Sure. So that's the trinity of radiant vitality. I talk about epigenetics. I talk about the the psych uh the pharmacy of mastery that gets set up through morning exercise. Talk about supplementation. I talk about sleep. Sleep is not a luxury.

It's a necessity. Uh and the new mechanism that's being discovered where the brain is washed while you sleep. I talk about the importance of m um massage. I call it the two massage protocol. I don't know if you get two massages every week, but that changed my life. I don't. Okay. I should Massage has been an absolute game changer for me. Go to the sleepwash thing too for me. Massage, sleepwash. It's in the book, but I don't recall that part of it. When you're sleeping, if you get proper amounts of sleep, the brain washes itself.

So, that's important. I talk about fasting, which is one of my secret weapons. weapons. weapons. Uh, and that throws the body into autophagy, which is like a cleaning mechanism, uh, that cleans out the cells. And um I also and in terms of tactics because we we were talking about tactics. I believe very much in meditation. I don't I I don't think I've ever done this before, but last night I did a 5 hour meditation. 5 hours. 5 hours. 5 hours. Yeah. I started at 7:00 and Yeah.

I started at 7:00 and I ended at midnight. So is that I think that's 5 hours. And I just opened the room uh the wind the uh the door of my hotel room and I just laid on the bed and I I felt the sensations and I just went into this really deep place. But meditation has been incredibly valuable to me. Journaling, I've worked with spiritual healers for 21 years because when you put a voice to your shadow side, it sees the light. It sees the light a day.

And so to heal a wound, you need to feel a wound. M and then there's a tool in the book called the AFA tool which has been incredibly powerful to move that hidden suppressed shame, anger, fear, guilt, disappointment that we all pick up pick up pick up uh and move it out so that you become much more intimate with your highest and best self. best self. best self. Well, you guys need to get the Everyday Hero Manifesto. You need to get this book. Um I've read it now.

I'm going to read it again. I'm actually picking up things as we're talking now that I didn't even get when I was reading it. So let's talk for a few minutes here. There's all these things we can be doing to get to that everyday hero. First off, it's just embracing that you are one I think is fundamental to the whole philosophy of the book. Then there's some things though that are obstructions or obstacles to doing it right. They can be tools or they can be obstacles.

This may seem like a small thing to everybody, but the more I'm even reflecting last night I wasn't doing a 5-hour meditation. I was with my family, but I have to tell you I was on my phone too much last night. And uh it's sort of one of these things that I've really improved at in my life. But to the point, I'm being transparent that my wife said, "Put your phone down. Your daughter just said something to you." My daughter actually came in, said something to me.

I heard none of it. And walked out of the room. And then there was few minutes went by and she said, "Do you realize what I So there's these things even at where you and I are where we give away this, you know, we've got this advice and we've made these breakthroughs. There's parts of us we can go back to old patterns again." And last night I fell back into one of those patterns. So there are these obstacles to our piece. There's these obstructions almost. They can be tools.

They could be obstructions. You do talk a lot about the phone thing. Yes, Yes, Yes, you do. And you've talked about it in the past. You talk about it here. So what about what do you know about the most blissful and successful people as it relates to these these obstacles, these smartphones or anything else like that? that? that? Well, I mean, you're you're so honest to share what you you share and and I I would say the same thing. I make mistakes. constantly. mistakes. constantly. mistakes.

constantly. That's good to know. You share that. I think I think it was uh Don't you ever do an interview you're like, "Man, I made it sound like I'm a lot better at this than I am." I know. I know. I know. I walk away going. Um I think it was Nelson Mandela said, um, said, um, said, um, "If a if a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying, I guess I'm okay." That's awesome. That's awesome. That's awesome. I thought that was that's awesome. That was Nelson that was Nelson Mandela here, you know.

So there's still there's still hope. It gives us hope. Exactly. There's still hope for us. Um I would say an addiction to distraction is the death of your creative production. Wow. Wow. Wow. When it comes to productivity in the everyday hair manifesto, there is a revolutionary rule called the five great hours rule. So you don't need to work for seven hours a day. I do not subscribe to hustle and grind. I don't work for more than a few hours a day. I take uh I work four hours every week.

I take four months plus off every single year. How I do it is in the book, including the weekly design system. When I work, I I'm away from distraction. There's a difference between real work and fake. That's right. There's a difference between real work and fake work. May let us not confuse busy confuse busy confuse busy with productivity. Let us not confuse movement with impact. So I think that's really important and we can get into the Menllo Park and the type all the total focus structures but you talked about family family family it act it act it act and and and I believe the greatest gift we can give another human being is the gift of our presence presence presence and if you look at the greatest heroes and the greatest leaders they had an ability% ability% ability% to be there and and the very fact you said it means you do practice it and and I can tell everyone watching Right now you have so much presence and I'm not talking about charisma which you have.

I'm talking about you are here in a world where a lot of people are cyber zombies and Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. you know just not present. So I think you can change the world and live a worldass life worldass life worldass life or you can play with your phone all day. You can't do both. And we could get into the science of emotional residue every single time you check a notification, every single time you like something. Let's do both of those for a minute because by the way it I don't I'm I only have four or five you know I think everybody's got four or five significant gifts.

Ironically I consider one of mine my ability to be present. Yes. And so when I almost violate that treaty with myself that agreement with myself it deeply hurts me when I do it cuz I don't do it very often but when I do do it it's pretty obvious I think because the contrast of the two. Can I ask you a question? Yeah please. Sure. Sure. Sure. How how about this? What if you don't What if you build as part of your family culture, no devices at the dinner table?

Yes, great point. What if you have certain rooms like the family room which is really a family room? room? room? Now that's good. Now that's unique. That one I've not heard. So what I do what I I was so bad that what I did start doing is I left my phone in the car the first hour before I came home. So I was at least engaged in presence immediately. But this idea that there are rooms where there are no smartphones is one of the most brilliant things anyone's ever said on the show.

I mean seriously I'm going to do that. One thing I am when I get a great idea I'm very coachable and I'll implement it like a immediate like I tell you that this evening when I get back I'm like this space right here there's no phones in here. Here's another where we gather. Sure. Another idea a zero device day once a week. week. week. Do you do that? I do. I do. I do a number of days. And how do you do it? Your schedule. Yeah.

you you you your your schedule doesn't lie. You can people can say this is important, that's important. You look at someone's schedule that shows their their truest priorities. So when you schedule it, you make what habit researchers call a pre-commitment strategy. strategy. strategy. And by scheduling what I call a blueprint for a beautiful week, you can actually schedule Saturday is my no is my zero device day. You can do it two days a week. I would also what what I do when I mentor you know the the CEOs and the titans of industries and the celebrity billionaires.

billionaires. billionaires. I encourage them every two months to take a complete week off. I say go ghost dark. dark. dark. So do I. If you look at the greatest Winston Churchill, Churchill, Churchill, how did he survive the pressures of World War II? He had checkers and Chartwell. He had a retreat. I think we must leave our usual place and get away from the world. Andrew Wyatt, the great American artist, he had Chad's Ford, a a farm in Pennsylvania, and he had Cushing Maine, a little retreat where he would go to to get away from the noise of the world.

Um, if you look at JD Salinger, one of my favorite books, Catcher on the Ry, after he was 37, checked out from the world, he worked in a little cottage every day in Cornish, New Hampshire. I think we must find time on a daily if not weekly basis to get away from the noise so we can begin to hear the signal again. The signal. I love this. I have to tell you that I think one of the things that surprised me most when I started to coach some of the more successful people myself was the time they take away.

The ones that had the the right amount of bliss. It's where their creativity comes from. It's where they what you're calling here the signal when they're reconnecting with themselves or they're reconnecting with their spiritual lives. And I I just bought an island in Maine. And people go, "Why the heck you buy an island in Maine?" It wasn't that expensive, but the one of the reasons I did it is that's almost like a territory of disconnection for me. And it's one of the reasons I did. There's not great cell reception there even if I wanted it and it's an isolated place and it's where I go to hear the signal.

The way that you phrase it, this emotional residue thing, I'll just touch on that really quickly because I I've not heard this before. this before. this before. I feel like I we all have these friends who aren't on social media or we even have some older friends of ours who aren't even in the in the text game at all. There is a joy and a bliss that reminds you of a prior time in our culture that they have when I'm around them of a couple of my really really great friends.

There's a there's a joy about them. I'm not suggesting that they shouldn't be on social media or shouldn't have a phone. In fact, I'm suggesting you do both of those things. Having said that, there is some emotional deterioration, so to speak, that I agree with you on that happens when you're too engaged in them. So, what were you gonna say about that? That sounded like such an interesting point. Well, I' I'd say a few things. I think we're happiest when we're in flow state. And as you know, so well, that is a term coined by Mihi Chigzent Mihi of University of Chicago.

And it's based on a a neural neurobiological mechanism called transient hypoprontality. The prefrontal cortex. This is the seat of our reasoning. It's also the seat of the monkey mind. It's the seat of our inner critic. It's when we start to slow down or close off the prefrontal cortex, transient, temporary prefrontal hypoprontality. Transient hypoprontality. Transient hypoprontality. Transient hypoprontality. hypoprontality. hypoprontality. Our prefrontal cortex begins to slow down and our brain waves can go from beta to alpha, maybe even down to theta and delta. and delta. and delta.

And when we get away from our phones, when we practice what I call the three S's, still sill stillness, silence, and solitude, solitude, solitude, our brain drops into flow. We not only feel bliss. There's not only a pharmacy of mastery that makes us feel good, but Ed, we begin to inhabit the secret universe known to the saints sers greatest artists of all time. What I'm suggesting to you is if HD Lamar, Albert Einstein, Shakespeare, JD Salinger, the great business builders, not all of them, but many of them had one thing in common.

They spent long periods of time alone alone alone in quiet, often taking nature walks, working on their biggest problem on finding the biggest the solutions to their biggest problems. So, I think you can play with your phone all day or you can change the world. You can't do get to do both. So transient hypoprontality gets you in a flow state. Doesn't happen if you're checking your phone 50 times a day. So those people you talk about they are they are present because they're away from the distractions.

I'd say the second thing emotional residue, it's simply the phenomenon that every time you check your phone, you take some of your focus and you drop it on the notification you just looked at. And that's why at the end of the day, a lot of people can't focus. It's because they have dropped their focus on their phone. They've dropped their focus on the TV in the background. They've dropped their focus on chasing these shiny toys and these trivialities at the end of the quarter, the end of the year, the end of the career, the end of the lifetime amounted to nothing.

And then the third thing to think about is cognitive bandwidth. Every morning you wake up with a full well of cognition. So I think it's really important where you give your attention to. Cognitive bandwidth is almost how I would describe you. You have a tremendous amount of it. I want to ask you about that. We're we're having too much more time. I'm just really fascinated with you. So, all of our friends sort of told us both we should get together and do this today. And now that I'm with you, I'm really I want to do this again.

I'm in the middle of going I want like three or four hours of you and I just talking because I just think it's great for both of us and everyone gets to listen to it. Right. I feel the same way too. I I I I feel there's I feel it's real. You know, it is real. And but this cognitive bandwidth idea, I want to understand you a little bit. Let's just talk about you for a second. You're fascinating to me because you were an attorney. And don't be humble when you answer this question, please.

You have a high IQ. You know, dad's a doctor. There's some good DNA in there for sure. But you have this amazing ability, Robin, for recall of quotes, of information, of facts, and a very diverse set of skills. That's what I love about the book, by the way. I want to say this about the book again, too. It's I don't want to say kitchen sink because that almost makes it seem unorganized. That's not what I mean. But there's a lot in here that is not just what you would think about.

Oh, be a hero. There's a ton in here from even all the the um the cognitive stuff, the the neuroplasticity stuff, the stuff on how the mind works is so so good. But having said that, what about you? Have you always been this way or is it because you are practicing in so many of these strategies that you're sharing that you've increased your capacity for recall for um memorization of even information and actually owning it. This isn't just stuff you're quoting. You own this stuff. So, I I want to hear about I want to hear about you and I'm f I'm fascinated about you.

Well, when you have your show, I'll come on. I told you that before, but tell us about you. No humility. I want to know. Well, you know, I I would say don't filter it. I would say on honestly I I would say on honestly I would say I'm a very simple person. I I come from uh a town of about 2,000 people on the east coast of Canada. I I didn't have a silver spoon in my mouth mouth mouth and I don't think I have any real natural gifts at I've been at this field for 26 years.

Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. I live a very minimal minimalist life. I have very few friends. I do very few things. I am not a maximalist. I don't chase every shiny toy that comes my way. We get major opportunities every day. 99% of which I say no to because I'm monomomaniacally focused on the few things I want to build the rest of my life around. life around. life around. And I think if you build your life around just a few things, I think it was Confuc it was Confucious who said, "Person who chases two rabbits catches neither." And Peter Ducker said it really well.

He said, "There's nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all." And so I'm just if there's one t talent I have is I'm really clear on what I want my life to stand for. But I don't think I have any special gifts. But I call them the SOPs of AWC, the standard operating procedures of absolute world class. And I share them in the book. The book is really a love letter to people's highest highest highest mastery and promise. Mhm. And these these rituals like the 5 a.m.

club and the 2020 2020 formula, the two massage protocol, the second wind workout, the weekly design system, you know, how I visualize, how I meditate, how I lean into fear each day, all of those things, they really they really do work. work. work. And so over the years, I used I used to be terrifically be terrifically be terrifically scared of public speaking. like terrifically terrifically terrifically scared of public speaking. You're incredible that but thank you. But we have neuroplasticity. You know, our our human gift is the gift of growth.

Yep. Yep. Yep. I mean, the the whole idea of heroism is ordinary people thrust into difficult circumstances and using the difficulty to triumph over tragedy. That's what makes us human. That's why I wrote the book. There are so many people saying, "Well, I can't have more money. I can't have more love. I can't have more health. I can't change the world." And here's the litany of reasons why. Well, if you if you recite your excuses long enough, you actually hypnotize yourself to believing them to be true.

It's a fact. And then you reinforce it with the way that the world is revealing itself to you, which is so true. Welcome back to the show, everybody. I'm fired up about today, cuz we're going to talk about money and you having more, accumulating more, making more, and why it matters. It's not a topic that's discussed enough in polite society and it should be and my guest today is immensely qualified to discuss this topic. I love her work. She as an influencer you know her as your rich BFF but I know her as Viven 2 and Viven is a multiaceted financial expert.

She's an entrepreneur and she used to be a Wall Street trader. So she's got a background in doing this. But she takes complicated stuff financial and breaks it down simply so that people like you and I can understand it. She's got a crazy good book out called Rich AF, the winning money mindset that will change your life. And I cannot wait to jump into all this stuff with her. So Vivian, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, you are awesome. So, and this topic like almost no one talks about.

I said it in the intro. So, I want to go all over the place. We're going to go from like general concepts to some specific stuff, too. But I decided when we booked you that, no pun intended, but I wanted to max out this time for everybody. And the other reason I love your work, too, I should just say, is whether you're a very young person who's in like your late teens even, early 20s, her content applies to you. And if you're in your 50s and 60s and nearing retirement, it does as well.

So, we're going to go all over the place here today, guys. So, let me ask you this first. Someone's listening to this. They go, "I want to be the first millionaire in my family." Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Let's just start there. I want to be the first millionaire in my family. What would you say to that person who says, "I want that badly." You need to strip. And then they're like, "Oh, I didn't realize this was that kind of guest." Um, no. So, strip is an acronym that I've put together that I find to be really helpful in remembering the steps you need to take.

Um, so first and foremost, S stands for savings. You got to have that emergency fund. Um, and I say that as someone who needed mine. I was 25 and I was making a sandwich, cutting a piece of baguette. The bread knife slipped, hit my finger, and I saw a piece of my hand fall onto the counter, had to go to the ER, and the bill was $16,000. And even after insurance, and I had really good insurance, I still owed $1,300, which was a lot of money for a young person.

And so I always say make sure you have 3 to six months of living expenses set aside in a high yield savings account because that is going to let your emergency fund essentially roughly keep up with inflation so that it's not being eaten away at but you have your little nest egg in case something happens. Then we move on to T which stands for total debt. Uh I am an Aries so I'm very very impatient and I like to do things fast and I like to do things very efficiently.

So, when it comes to total debt, I rank all of my debt from highest to lowest interest rate. You make the minimum payment across everything, but then any additional money you have for debt payown, you're going to put towards the debt with the highest interest rate, and then you'll pay it down in that order. This essentially just lets you pay the least amount in interest and get your debt slashed in the fastest time frame possible. frame possible. frame possible. Next up, our retirement. Uh, I am a little bit further from retirement than I'm sure Ed might be.

But, uh, listen, I think we should all be thinking about it because I want to one day be able to kick back my feet and just chill. And I think many of us want that. And some of the easiest things we can do to take advantage of tax benefits is to contribute to our employer sponsored retirement accounts as well as our individual retirement accounts. So, at work, that's going to be something like a 401k, a 403b, 457, TSP. It's typically got some weirdo name that doesn't make any sense, but leverage that.

Oftentimes, employers will match your contribution. So, you do get some free money. And then with an IRA or a Roth IRA, that is your individual retirement account. But contribute to both of these because it is going to give you tax benefits and help you save and invest for the future. And we move into I investing. The mistake that a lot of people make at step R is that they open these accounts, they put cash in, and they're like, "All righty, I'm set. I'm good. I'm invested." No, you are not.

When it comes to investing, I always compare it to the grocery store. Would you ever have $50 in your pocket, go to the grocery store, do a whole lap around, and then leave, and then go home and open the fridge and be like, "Why don't I have any food?" It's like, well, you didn't you didn't buy anything. That is how investing is, too. You can't just open the account. You can't just put the cash in. You have to buy stuff. And when it comes to buying stuff, I recommend target date retirement funds.

Um, potentially, if you're younger, just uh ETFs that track broader indices. And if you are getting a headache with me saying some of these words, just consider finding a robo advisor. You take a quick quiz about your money goals, what you have, what you earn, how old you are, what type of family environment you want to have, where you want to live, everything about your personality and your money habits. And then they'll spit out a diversified portfolio that you can use. Um, so it takes all the guesswork out of that investing.

investing. investing. And then we move into P, which is plan, because you do not get to have a happily ever after or ride off into the sunset without having a plan and backing into how to get there. And what I encourage people to do is actually calculate their FU number. Um, yep. This is a plan where you envision your perfect year. Where do you live? What does your family look like? Are you working? Um, you know, what kind of clothes do you wear? How many times do you go on vacation?

Uh, do you have pets? What have you? And then you think about what that would cost for one calendar year. And then you take that number and divide it by 0.04. Because that 0.04 04 represents a very conservative 4% investment return. So once you have this bigger number that you'll get after you do that calculation invested earning you 4%, you will be able to essentially throw off enough in gains that you can fund your entire lifestyle while you just chill. I love strip. Um by the way everybody, we're going to dive into some of the things she just said there.

I want to say to some of you, some of this stuff already is a little bit more technical than you're used to. We are going to get above at about 30,000 ft in a minute as well. And some of you are very young listening to this. I just want you to know how cogent that advice was. I started planning for retirement. This is no joke. When I was 21 years old, I started thinking about it. I built an emergency fund. First thing I did, 3 to 6 months set aside.

I started to educate myself about money, which we're going to talk about a little bit later. Just knowing basic things. So, we'll get above this stuff here in a minute. But before we go, I want to challenge you on one of the things in strip and I just want to hear your response. I'm not going to tell you that I have an opinion one way or the other, but the notion of uh retirement plans, 401k, IRA, 401k, IRA, 401k, IRA, that's a very commonly recommended uh piece of advice.

Yet more and more, I know you know this, but more and more there's a contrarian viewpoint about that. that. that. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Which says that you're deferring those taxes probably into a higher tax bracket that the theory is that you know what you're doing by putting money, forget the matching piece for a second, but if there was no matching, but you know, I'm putting money into a 401k, I'm deferring the taxes now while I'm earning them because theoretically when I retire, I'll be in a lower tax bracket.

But the truth of the matter is a lot of people believe taxes are probably going up, not down. So my deferring some of that money to more taxes and then the idea that I'll need less money in retirement than I do when I'm employed for most people that's probably not true. So I'm just wondering that one piece of all of it. I've not seen you've been asked this on any shows and I wanted to ask you. Do you debate that in your own mind as well about the deferral issue where you may be sticking those those uh those eggs aside for a smaller harvest someday because taxes could be higher?

Yeah, definitely. And I think that's why a lot of folks are now, and I say folks, a lot of corporations are also also offering things like a Roth 401k, and more and more employees are are taking advantage because um essentially, you know, Ed knows this, but I hope everybody listening can learn this. Traditional investment accounts typically that are for retirement allow you to have a tax benefit today and you pay taxes in the future. And to Ed's point, um, you know, taxes could potentially be much much higher and we don't know that.

However, the Roth variety is you typically do not get a tax benefit today. You pay taxes, you contribute post tax dollars today, but that money is free and clear yours in the future. Um, it is why I am such a huge fan of the backdoor Roth IRA for folks who earn more than the typical income limit for contributions. I think the Roth variety makes a lot of sense if that is your viewpoint. Ultimately for me, I am encouraging people to just get started. I don't want them to debate traditional versus Roth.

I don't want them to like belabor the decision. Just pick one. At the end of the day, sure. Will one option certainly be better for you than the other? Yes. But not contributing at all or waiting too long is going to be way worse than picking the wrong variety. Heat. Heat. N.