 And welcome everybody back to the independent investor channel here on a Friday evening for another 60 minutes of Financial tutelage financial motivation Everybody needs a little bit every now and then This is a topic that I enjoy. I love I've done for most of my life I appreciate all of the support on the channel for the last five years for you guys that don't know me My name is Ryan. This is the independent investor We've been doing YouTube for about six six seven going on seven years now anyway and The cool part about the way I approach Investing the way I approach my my grander life to be honest with you. This is just a segment of that I know people will come on to YouTube and they'll Sell you that they have all the answers in investing I Think what sets me apart is I've been doing this such a long time I've been through so many ebbs and flows in the stock market that I can actually share Not all the glitz and glamour about the stock market, but rather a more holistic picture about what to expect and and and I know sometimes people want to hear the glitz and glamour they want to hear the You know the roots of what they can do to succeed in investing By putting in as little of work as possible. I think that can exist with a lot of luck and very little effort but Not in scale. I Think there are tried and true fundamentals to be adhered to and I've gone through my ebs and flows absolutely in my investment thesis. I'll You know go through different motivations of of application and You know when I come on to the channel and I talk about you know, what it is for somebody that is just getting started or Is interested in investing I'm very very careful to understand what it is that that person needs to hear and not what they want to hear I've said that many many times in the channel. It's super important. It's a responsibility that I take very seriously Because I do contend that most people out there at least deserve a shot at investing. There's a few criteria or eligibility Aspects that I would expect you to bring to the table if this was in fact Something that you were interested in By nature of where you are in life. Okay, and here are those things You need to be making money Okay Even somebody who has been bestowed upon money through an inheritance or have has been gifted money Cannot have the same appreciation that I would expect from somebody who is working For a living and I don't care if you earn a salary I don't care if you're you know one of our heroes out there like our health care Professionals shot out to Rebecca's questifier. She's in the group here So I got to give her a quick shot out before she gets called into the ER To carry on with her much needed and most appreciated profession But our heroes out there, right? you got to have some form of income and I Totally understand man. I do the independent investor channel from one of the most powerful cities in the world New York City You know it is it is a machine here And I know there's a lot of people who struggle abroad There's a lot of countries out there where people do struggle to put food on the table This is an investing channel and For those people out there that that are struggling and are looking for a better life There is absolutely fundamental value to my channel probably more so To those patrons of the message as opposed to those people who have number one been bestowed upon money or inherited money Don't appreciate the value of money and are looking for an easy ticket to Compound their wealth. I'm here to tell you that there is no easy ticket. There is not I've been engaged in financial planning engaged in financial markets for the better part of my life since I was about 15 years old starting to study the paper and You know, I was born in the country So we get the Sunday paper once a week and the Sunday paper was the one that had the stock tickers in it And I would pull that finance section out and I would you know go down and try to figure out how many stock ticker symbols I could I could identify with IBM Intel, you know, a few companies that I knew did exist And you know, I could go through there and pick those stock ticker symbols out but to read the articles and try to figure out what's going on in the world from really a Kind of a sheltered perspective a life out in the country very simple much more simple some of those attributes I still take to this day In my day-to-day application. I have to pinch myself every now and then because I'm I'm very lucky in what I do YouTube is not what I do for a profession. It is what I do for a passion And that is pretty cool. It's reason enough to subscribe to the channel to be honest with you I don't expect anything from you a subscriber ship will cost you nothing It hopefully you can extrapolate All of the value that is meant to be had on this channel And that is aiming to empower one investor at a time. What does that mean? Is it possible to get through to the masses after 60 minutes on a YouTube delivery? a Social media message where somebody like myself is talking To someone out there who does not know me Who I'm presuming needs me I could just sit here and tell you that this Financial devotion and love for this craft came through Divine intervention when I was about 15 16 years old I Will take take the high road and just say that I love this topic Even though the divine intervention is absolutely the truth about how that that ended up happening and How I kind of felt like maybe I was Destined for something a little bit more normal now. This is something that eats entrepreneurs up You know we strive daily to get ahead Life is not short Life is long If you truly do appreciate those small things in life you you relish the moments and It's really quite interesting a perspective to bring to the table I often say that I don't have really a lot of patience in Life, it was a virtue that I wasn't really blessed with and I think the instead of patience. It's a desire to get ahead and That desire has brought me to where I am now You know leaving multiple professions behind for the one that I have had for close to 20 years If I was going to sit here and tell you that I had the secret sauce to investing that you could just deploy next week and Everybody could succeed on I'd be lying to you. I'd be lying to you if I said that my profession Didn't single-handedly have the biggest impact on my financial Statue as we speak now I've never been a wealthy man My wealth and income has Never been has a result of a white-collar salary. It's always been more of the blue-collar hard-working Type of application now in my advanced profession. It's mostly mental Which is Somewhat more taxing than physical be honest with you. I've done both both, you know physical and And the mental side seems to draw on me That's why I augment the physical with you know early morning workout routine to help balance out the rigor of my Specific application of my day-to-day life and you know how I keep that that good balance out there but for those patrons out there that are Hungry and looking for those answers They're looking for a break away from the norm Looking for a break from the societal pressures of Doing a B and C and if you're not Adhering to those societal norms of a B and C Then you're an outcast Right And taking those chances you're taking risk on the other side to break away from those societal norms is somehow dangerous Who do you think you are All people are special there's no doubt in my mind about that a lot of really really good people will fail to get ahead in life however, I Bring to you and pose this idea that what society views as success is a far cry from my definition of success and in the great Idea that Plato and Aristotle had about the universe of forms and Talking about what is absolute in the universe. I Think society has a very jaded idea about what true success really is. I Think we do a very very poor job of measuring success Against a Measure like family. I think we do a very very poor job Albeit common place to suggest that health and well-being is of the utmost importance when we've got McDonald's on every single corner of this country and it still seems to be myself included one of those quick alternatives on the list when Engaged in travel for you guys that don't know I was in Europe last month We frequented McDonald's quite quite a bit It was nice not having to pay a euro to use the restroom When we would go get our quick meal so we could carry on about our business and You know get a quick bite to eat so we won't you know, we weren't hungry on our travels, but You know, what is success is your ability to negotiate through this life in some form of You know health and quality of life Where do you measure that in the grand scheme of things? Um Where is your spiritual health and all of this are all rich people happy I Watched the Johnny Depp and Amber heard hearing on Netflix Disappointing wasn't entertaining at all. It was sick actually Do I think that Johnny Depp was innocent? No, no, no, I'm a very insightful person Do I think that they were both trying to generate churn? Of course I think that was obvious within the first five minutes that it was all kind of a dog and pony show Do I think that what one person said about the other was was actually said in nature? I do Do I think that the truth will ever come out? No, I don't I was able to glean is something Unfortunately, one of my very favorite actors that I've grown up with And that is Johnny Depp, but to see him in the court and explain some of the scenarios and have Really even not even his accounts, but others accounts of you know, just being around him and being so out of control And and to see the the blind followers ship from people who who think they know Johnny Depp Because they've watched as Edward scissorhands a hundred times I found that to be also Suggestive of a society that Really escapes from thinking most of the time Was it a step back for women's rights Yeah This came out after the fact where women were like good grief I did she probably didn't represent herself or the movement as well as as as she could but Quite frankly, there was so much smoke screen there You didn't know where to put the truth line in You know looking at whether or not she was a victim or or or or or or something else I was disappointed. I watched it Felt like I was less of a person After watching it and somebody that I hold in such high regard, you know, I mean, I'm I'm I'm a nobody, you know I don't do social media for the blitz and glamor I certainly don't do it for for the effing fame. I don't I don't really even know what that means We as people we we definitely want to put people on a pedestal and had it been somebody else other than Johnny Depp It would have been a different outcome did the fact that it was Johnny Depp change things and change people's perspective and The monster of energy that is social media that pushes an agenda out there to influence the way people Think about the way an outcome should happen. No matter what each of the individuals say I think this is where we are as a society. Honestly when we start to Examine what we believe success to be Now on the independent investor channel, I can take you as far as your financial niche goes and I can square you away okay there's a few schools of thought on the channel about What Different strategies I engage in and Where the predominant focus on each of those strategies are At present, I will tell you that the current focus now is on the speculative growth segment of Where where I'm at right now not only in my life, but my investing thesis about where I look at a current stock market that is hinging upon Some interesting time I've monitored a small cap market that has received no favor Irrespective of some very marked progress in the micro cap space I am not a believer that the micro cap space is just full of garbage I'm more of a proponent the more I study the space to understand that There is some real innovation coming out of the small cap space The micro cap space There are some really really good people that are running these companies. There are real dollars that are going into the R&D necessary to bring these solutions to a stage where they could potentially be Earth changing in what they're trying to bring to bear whether it be a service or a product or a solution so I just think that's where the The the soft spot is in the market Do I think we need to be pouring into technology? People have been pouring into technology for the last couple of weeks and they've been kicked in the head In understanding that FOMO buying a specific segment to the market never pays off never I'm gonna go through some fundamentals of investing. I have not done this for a while This is for anybody and I've got about a thousand live streams online I think there's just a bunch of awesome videos a bunch of catalog You can watch one live stream and kind of understand what my perspective and philosophy is about stock market investing Within a 60-minute time frame. I do apologize because I cannot convey that in 10 minutes. I just can't do it I'm not capable nor do I want to talk so fast that I'm jamming so much information out there The people get a sense that I'm you know trying to rush the message through and step on to another project I honestly think that 60 minutes will give you an idea About looking at this as a piece of your life It can absolutely be controlled It is something that if done right. I contend that everybody should do I Believe that if done correctly it can be a very very powerful tool in avoiding regret later on in life. I Believe that there are too many people that are entering into retirement With a false sense of belief that the government will be there to take care of them and They are quick to find out that the government is not there in the capacity that they believed that they would be and They struggle in retirement and that is a very very sad fact my friends We just went over 1 trillion dollars of total debt in this country with regard to the household debt There is a little bit of silver lining in that that debt the statistics would suggest is being managed in a lot more of a responsible manner and Reflective of the incomes that people are making Higher than average that debt is a little bit more understandable Albeit alarming that we seem to Find significant value in spending and keeping debt on the books right But you're in for a special treat if you're new to the channel stick around If this isn't for you You're free to go It's it's no problem But I'm gonna run through my philosophies And I'm going to speak as if I'm sitting in the shoes of somebody who is interested in investing and wants to understand my Philosophies about investing that has been drawn up for going on about 30 years of investing in the stock market Stick around it's gonna be a lot of fun tonight So if you scour through YouTube, it's gonna be super confusing at people colleagues, they're like man alive I just talked to you for 15 minutes. I understand the heck of a lot more about investing I try to go on to YouTube and I just get lost. It's a Treasure trove of crappy information out there crappy. I'm sure a certain percentage of my information If taken with the improper lens could be deemed crappy as well. Why is that? It's because people really need to Understand how to interpret information and and more importantly know how it is going to be deployed and The capability and attributes that an individual a receiver, right? Can put those things into rigor? To to to to get an anticipated result. Okay, in other words, I Feel like YouTube a lot of the time is very very one-way. Okay, we tune in Or where we're excited we shut it off. We go on about our day. What value comes out of that? truly I don't get it That's another thing these cartoons that were on during the Johnny Depp trial I was like who who are these people who are flocking to these Channels and just brushing their teeth in the morning just enthralled in this Really garbage and from it's worthless information worthless. All right So Ryan come on man. What are you what are you gonna provide that's actually a value? Well some of the common questions that we get in investing not only who what where why when and how To invest I'm gonna go over But I may give you the best investment to invest in and I'm gonna give you a little bit of thesis as to why that is Okay, for you guys that have followed me for a long long time I'm shifting assets in some capacity from single stock offerings to passive ETFs I Am absolutely of the mindset that I want a certain percentage of my portfolio In dividend growth investing and talk about that a little bit as a strategy a Percentage in speculative growth Right, that's a little bit more of the advanced category that really takes a lot of my focus But the best investment that you can make for yourself if you were not to own anything else You just own Vanguard's S&P 500. You can own SPY. You can own IVV. So V. Oh, Oh IVV SPY those are the three flagship products I think I apologize if I missed one but you're splitting hairs across each of those offerings because each one of them are going to give you Exposure to the large capital The large capitalization companies in the US stock market times 500 Okay, I've under the largest companies and you might think all right and that sounds interesting You've got my attention is Tesla in the list. Yes, Tesla's in the list calm down but Tesla might be a bad example for a company that may not be around in 20 years because I believe it to be but if you go back 20 years from 2023 just 20 short years ago in 2003 and look at the companies in the S&P 500 you will be absolutely Astonished to look at some of the companies that were part of the S&P then and are no longer part of the S&P now Okay, I think man, that sounds really scary Ryan. Tell me more If you go back 30 years in the S&P 500 You're gonna find companies in there that you've never even heard of before Why because they also have gone that way of the dodo and they are no longer part of the S&P 500 Why do I set this baseline for you? Isn't not safe to suggest that the S&P 500 speaking to you now in 2023 is going to look different 10 years from down the line Let's say the status quo holds and we are looking at an S&P now that in 2033 is exactly the same as what it is now We've lost nothing. Okay, the S&P always gives you exposure to those Standard and poor companies that represent the large capitalization stock market and is being monitored on a daily basis Okay stocks fall out of favor. They fall out of at the S&P and In addition get added in to the S&P So it is a dynamic where you've got your you know your Johnson and Johnson's and Procter and gambles that have Multi-decade statured in the S&P 500 and that will remain intact However, what makes the S&P 500 a very powerful tool is to inject in the stock market in either 2003 1993 2023 or 2033 you are buying a product at the time that represents the current S&P 500 as well as the future S&P 500 Want you to really think about that think about how much time you have in engaging in active investing think about how much Knowledge or wherewithal you might be turning it into me and thinking that I'm going to show you the promised land I'm not going to do that Neither is anybody else on YouTube or the grander financial institution. They won't do it either. Okay? So get that out of your head if you think that there's somehow a savior out there that is going to show you the promised land and that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that you think is so Prevalent in stock market investing. It's not as a matter of fact, it's all elusive and very very few people get there and That's why they think that there is a better way to outpace the S&P 500 So when you talk about outpacing the market, it's usually the 10% benchmark of the S&P 9% 8% on a down year, you know, the S&P is going to go through years of negative Last year was a down 20% but on an average right over the long term the S&P Will turn back an average of about 9 to 10 to 11 to 12 percent or so you can win with that over the long term and Not to belingar the point that you are rest assured to have that S&P exposure For as long as you own the equity in your life and as long as you have gifted it to your children that S&P can continue to grow and Guarantee that you have that exposure to the S&P in definitely going forward very very powerful Conversely for people who insist on engaging in the single stock game, which requires a significant amount of research a significant amount of Instinct if that's even a criteria to succeed as it reflects to the grander S&P 500 that I just explained to you is the very best Investment you can make bar none without making any other investment in your portfolio because I think where people fall short myself included in this philosophy is when we start to engage in single stock activity We buy 10 right and we have an awesome year Right eight out of the ten succeed. This is very realistic. Okay What's probably more realistic is the six or seven are those of those stocks are going to succeed And you also have the S&P 500 index that turns back Let's say ten percent. Okay Let's say out of your basket of ten stocks You get an aggregate return of ten percent, but unfortunately three of those stocks actually turn back two percent Right on an ad aggregate those bad apples. They might not be bad companies, but just going through Hard times bad times mismanagement misallocation and it may just be your It may be not in line with what you originally invested in the company and are not in line with your values as a shareholder in the company Look at what's going on with Disney right now. Okay? I can stand behind all of the initiatives that Disney is looking to roll out But I saw an interview from the individual that's playing the Snow White in a year and I was appalled I actually was more encouraged to boycott the project It furthermore not encouraged at all anymore to visit the theme parks based on the direction that they're going And the stock sentiment proves that now Disney was a darling 15 years ago It was an absolute stop top stock out of five to own It was on my list within the last six or seven years of top stocks to own for the rest of your life now Mind you, I own Disney. I own a huge position in Disney Am I disappointed in the direction that the company has gone? I am I am because at the end of the day I can be for the initiatives that Disney is standing for But I don't think they're making decisions that are in the best interest of share owners and growing share owner value It seems like they've taken a political stand and that's something that I just can't get behind as a share owner I can get behind it from an initiative perspective and say yes, indeed I agree with that initiative, but when I'm down 38% in a company that's supposed to be a blue chip darling and you might think well, that's just bad timing Ryan That's just your bad luck Naria of this conversation none of it was going on when I entered into my first position in Disney These are some of the things that you have to understand about single stock investing when you enter into single stock You might pick six seven eight nine that that work But it only takes one to really draw that performance down and it draws it down in a big way year over year And as you start to compound those years Disney can't get out of its own way I've been down in Disney for years and years You know and I look at an S&P that started the year this year up 20% It's given a little bit of that back, but you know goes back to my philosophy. I think a lot of people Invest to outpace the S&P 500 I Think by nature of trying to out think investing a lot of people underperform the S&P 500 when all the while All we have to be doing as investors is matching the S&P returns Matching the S&P returns by investing in the S&P 500 You're not only getting that appreciation, but you're getting that defensive mechanism to avoid those significant downturns Which can be very very detrimental over your portfolio over the long term very very important to understand that perspective It's something that I've made very very good money with swing trading guys I'm not going to sit here and tell you that you read the intelligent investor and you understand that There's only one way of investing and that's passive investing only to understand that Warren Buffett knew Benjamin Graham and by Benjamin Graham's admission admitted to the bulk of his wealth that he was able to gain in stock market investing came from very of very few speculative investments that he kind of got lucky on had some really good conviction on and was able to take those positions and Capitalize on them. Okay So just something to keep in mind for you guys that are out there and kind of want to understand how to invest this is so Overwhelming well, it becomes less overwhelming when I've just given you one product that I specifically invest in that I enjoy investing in it carries a very very low Expense ratio over the fund which falls in line with one of my goals as well as being diversified As well as coupled with the right account can give all of the specific goals that a new investor should seek out And and if I'm telling you that those goals can be made just by making those decisions Well, then over time you'll understand the importance of that and and I think for starting investors You're as ill prepared to make those educated decisions Because you don't know anything about investing It's so critical to get it right at the beginning and then have the wherewithal to stay steadfast over your program over the long term The best account to invest in as a young investor is a Roth IRA. All right Most people are going to make Well under the eligibility cap to contribute to a Roth IRA I would challenge the idea that Most everybody out there contributes to a Roth as a matter of fact, I would presume that that most people Let's just say for the fairness sake of discussion. Most people have a Roth IRA. Okay But I'm going to come over the top and I'm going to suggest that I don't think most people have the means to max fund That Roth IRA at sixty five hundred dollars a year. I hope I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong I don't think that I am I think that people are probably doing a hundred a hundred and fifty dollars per month What they can afford in that? But the important part here is for the non-investors to understand or those interested in Investing that the Roth IRA is by far the very best account that you can use What broker do I go to Ryan it doesn't matter I Think of the brokerage as a conduit to the market fidelity TD Ameritrade vanguard Ally JP Morgan Chase Meryl any of the large institutions are going to offer a Roth IRA account through their brokerage services Okay, they're going to establish that umbrella for you. The umbrella is the Roth IRA. Okay, and Then you'll fund the Roth IRA with the capital against your cap for the year And that's when you're able to enter into equity such as a VOO like I have in my Roth Okay, actually I have VIG my wife has VOO I have a TSP that holds an index fund that is similar to VOO that tracks the S&P 500 Okay, but I just upped my positions in both VOO and VIG as I thought that the sell-off was a little bit too Exacerbated over the last couple of weeks. Could I be wrong? Yes. Yes, I could But this week the markets were down pretty much every day except for today But this morning I actually bought on the dip in the morning because I anticipated a rolling reversal in the market Which week was I got that? Kind of a fall a little bit limp in the afternoon But that was fine. I was able to buy the markets when it dipped in the morning upon the open So I was happy about that But Roth IRA live it love it learn it know it Open yourself up one. It's free of charge to do that Make sure it's of a self-directed nature and you'll be part of the independent Investor Nation. It's awesome stuff What are the pillars of investing pillars of investing are? Those things that you can accomplish if you do The aforementioned that I have already mentioned in this live stream. Okay, so if 36 minutes is enough to change somebody's life These are some of the things that you're going to get out of let's say a VOO IVV SPY Diversification to spread your money across a lot of different equities Companies will come companies will go It's very very rare to have a company that is long-standing over the decades that is so solid has such a wonderful mote Has such wonderful brand recognition or provide such a high-level service or technology That it can stand the test of time companies do come and go And if you own that company that goes it can be detrimental to the portfolio. So we want to spread that out Through diversification across multiple assets and the SMP 500 allows you to do that times 500 Okay, so very very easy Pillars of investing risk tolerance is a cool thing. I could talk about it all day. I won't bore you with it however On a scale of 1 to 10 there are conservative investors There are moderate investors and there are aggressive investors. Okay, moderate is that five Okay, conservative is from one to five From five to ten is moderate to aggressive and then to aggressive. Okay Most people come to me and they tell me they're ten. Okay, they are not You really need to probably be fair to yourself and if you really are interested in investing you've read a few books you understand What I've just talked about with the SMP 500 and you're like man, I'm I get it I can I'm kind of talking the same language as this guy. I totally understand award yourself for five or six. That's fine You know, it can always change over time and indeed it will if given the chance All right, but risk tolerance is something that you really need to kind of understand because you don't want to put in place a Super conservative portfolio. You'll be chomping at the bit and you'll be like damn. I'm missing out I I can do more Or going completely Aggressive on the thing and and now you're not sleeping at night The only thing you think you're thinking about is the portfolio and The losses and this stock market's down and and and damn that Ryan guys. He's such an asshole right Try to pick something to where you can live your life and keep this thing at check. I Highly recommend trying to get this dial them So you rule your money and your money doesn't rule you What an awesome concept yes Capiche You're investing time horizon very very simple, you know, if you're 19 probably drop a 40 year investment time horizon at 59 My time horizon has me drawn into at 59 and a half I've got well over a half a million dollars of assets. So, you know, one doubling cycle puts me at seven figures I'm giving it all to my kids. Anyway, it doesn't matter. I just want the security from the money. That's my goal Which is another one of those things that you should probably ask yourself. Why are you investing? Why is it? Because I'm super motivated because I am I've got motivation coming out my ears people can watch me and they'll be like, okay, this guy's okay Yeah, I get it. He's fired up He thinks that a lot of people should invest and I wholeheartedly believe that I do But you have to understand why for yourself I can't do that for you. Why are you investing? Is it because your mom and dad did not invest? And it's something that you want to do to build a legacy for your family both now and in future generations I don't know. You can have mine. Mine is really simple for financial security I just want the security later on in life. I want to be able to pack up and go on a vacation I Declared to you guys when I got back from Europe the coolest things that I did while I was over there were free or free Now mind you the tolls to get to the locations and the driving and the fuel to get to those locations and You know the resorts and the hotels and all that stuff did carry with it a charge But the coolest things that we did were sitting on a beach staring at crystal clean water Cost us nothing Yeah Yep So you're investing time horizon understand and you can work some statistics off of a 10 year 20 year 30 and even 40 year time horizon To understand what your total overall earnings potential over your money are I can help you with those things? If you know what I mean go to any one of my videos pull up the investing the investing Academy Pull up the compounding calculator with fees go ahead and plug those numbers in there if you've never done it It's quite liberating to understand the power of money over time as it reflects to Investment fees over time the most important aspect of investing is tax protection. You'll get that with the raw fire ray wealth preservation is an aspect of the channel that I focus on In way of reducing fees for investors the S&P 500 the VOO is a buy-and-hold forever You should never justify selling the S&P 500 No matter what no matter what no matter how tempting it is no matter how much looking at that $9,653 of profit, that's profit. That's free money That's like a fourth of my yearly income sitting there It has to be sacred to you It has to be sacred to you and you have to remain steadfast over the long term It's something that I champion on the channel as suggesting it is the easiest most difficult thing that you will ever do in your lifetime I have failed many many times at this very philosophy. I charge you with what you should do I'm not necessarily for what I do, but that is absolutely what you should do as a 18 19-year-old who's looking to start and establish a position in the large cap S&P 500 US markets buy and hold it forever Buy and hold it forever Give yourself a decision point when you're 59 and a half to look at it and say wow, you know Ryan was right I'm sitting on 1.7 million or I'm sitting on 2.83 million. Okay That nine thousand three hundred seemed like a lot at the time but Ryan said don't touch it That's why right give yourself one decision point when you actually need the money because I'm here to tell you and the secret in Investing is to understand that over the course of your life. You don't need that money. You don't you don't need to justify Crushing your financial portfolio and the progress that you've made by justifying removing 9,563 dollars only to buy a half a car Right right The damaging effects of your portfolio are very very real the easiest most difficult thing that you will ever do Some of the strategies that I use to actually succeed in investing all go through them rapid fires if I'm firing at you eliminate debt Lots of schools of thought lots of videos. I've put online about different schools of thought About eliminating debt. I'd like to see the debt somewhat under control before you engage in a wealth building strategy for yourself It's really going to be counter-intuitive if you're carrying a big debt load As well as trying to invest at the same time I say that tongue-in-cheek because people can do it you can do it at the same time You certainly can but prove to yourself that you can actually not only eliminate debt Because that those debt payments once they are dissolved can transition over to either savings contributions or Go toward a program that we are talking about for an investment to start working on your positive net worth over time Okay, so super important to eliminate debt dollar cost average invest what you can when you can my contributions are Well over $3,000 a month You know, I can't earmark any time over Accumulating this $500,000 of wealth Any any one time where I got lucky and I got a windfall of you know, 25 30 40 50 thousand dollars It's been an absolute grind. It's been an absolute mentally anguishing Process in so far as always kind of thinking that I'm behind a little bit But in retrospect, I look back three years I look back five years and I'm like damn look at the progress that's been made over such a short amount of time But in the end in the short term in the now when I look at it, I'm like damn I might maybe I should be here. I should be here. I should be here I should be here and that'll just kind of Agonize you a little bit by focusing on that. I do. I'm not perfect. I'm human being I Often deliberate on where I should be and if I was in a better position I could do x y and z that's that's just not how it's panned out and and I'm certainly not going to regret looking at my investing My investing habits and suggest somehow that my life would have been better off without investing That's absurd. That's absurd investing is the key contributor to putting me where I am now even in the face of some marked hurdles and Misfortune that I've had along the way, right? I've already mentioned the importance of employment and work You got to work One of those key attributes that I feel like I'm really really good at is organization I feel like a lot of people Have the potential to suffer from lack of organization Truly understanding what accounts are degrading their income What type of cost savings initiatives over the accounts and for you guys that have a light bulb going above your head right now And you're like damn, I'm really never thought about that It's been 15 years since I've looked at the insurance It's been a long time since I've looked at maybe a new credit card with better benefits Maybe it's been a while since I've looked at my streaming services for crying out loud, right? How many of those do you have? How many of them do you need? You know? Nobody's perfect in this discipline But trying to always look at the organization piece and it's amazing how I'm always Constantly trying to fine-tune the program. It's annoying. I tell insurance companies all the time man If you could just come with a flat rate, I'd be with you indefinitely for the rest of my life now with that I have been with Geico for a long long time. They have earned my business for the last six or seven years But I have shopped them and I tell them that I shop them and they just continue to win my business over So if you guys are paying exuberant fees for certain things try to understand I'm not asking you to do a budget. I hate that word. I hate it Okay, but at least have an idea about what type of deterioration over your monthly Paycheck is happening and how to potentially even eliminate or or reduce right those types of expenditures It's only going to add to your health going forward to contribute to a plan. All right Reduce your spending. It's easy to talk about in the United States. I just went to American Dream I did overspend on Tuesday night for you guys that aren't friends with me on Facebook get me up You see I took all of the popular songs from Guns and Roses Tuesday night I got to see slash for the first time in my life. It was epic I recorded it those recordings are done by me So hit me up if you're interested in seeing that if you're a G&R fan You you will want to see some of this stuff. I mean it was just insane He ripped a 10-minute solo and then ripped right into sweet child of mine At the end of one of his songs. I can't remember which one it was He jumped into voodoo child by Jimi Hendrix it was really just an epic show man and and really cool stuff, but You know, I talked about the exuberant spending I just think when you get in into such a discipline like my myself. I got the tickets are free, okay? but I we parked at American Dream, which is a mall that is so obnoxious and It just kind of feeds into that whole idea that Americans are Making their paycheck and spending their paycheck Statistics would show that people are focusing in on their groceries right now and reeling in spending What it suggests to me is that people don't have any savings whatsoever to buffer the ebbs and flows in the market Mm-hmm. Yeah, so control your spending think twice about especially those larger expenditures in your life You'd be happy you did all right Build and preserve cash It's one element that a lot of people won't talk about I do The cash position should be something that you feel comfortable with should allow you to sleep easy It is deteriorating over time with the inflect impacts of inflation. I don't care I don't care. It is Achieving a specific end and for that I believe that it is always important to have some emergency cash liquid and ready to go At a number that you determine is appropriate for you I have determined that I want a lot of my Exposure in stock different stock forms equities things of that nature So my number right now with my income. I'll just tell you is around 25,000 That's where I feel comfortable. That's what I have For a lot of you guys, it may be five for a lot of you guys. It may be 50. It doesn't matter I'm not your father. How can I tell you what it is that is right or wrong because there is no right or wrong It's what you feel comfortable as a single individual if you're representing yourself And or in discussions with a spouse and you guys come to an agreement on what you feel comfortable with as a couple Okay. All right I can't read my own writing, but I'm sure it's riveting Don't get emotional about stock market investing in the age of social media There is always a narrative out there. There is always a narrative We were gonna have a recession two months ago We were off the recession Just recently now we're back on the recession now and back on the recession and we're gonna have a recession And we're not gonna have a recession. There's always something to talk about Okay, the rhetoric will always be there in your face one thing will be tried and true is that your Exposure to the stock market Really shouldn't change In reaction to the rhetoric especially on social media, okay Irrespective of any rhetoric you you you you come across even as persuasive as it might be Okay, that S&P position should be sacred to you In Safara's look you invest what you can when you can At a rate that you are comfortable with and to an amount that you're comfortable with To the stress test that you're willing to lose it all and still be okay Okay, now I use that example not to scare you not to say Jesus Ryan I can lose it all. I don't want to invest if that's the key. Okay That is not the point the point is not to over lever yourself to the markets and make sure that you're investing what you're comfortable with in Safara's your ability to stay true on that program over the long term if you only need to invest 25% of what you have to stay long term so be it I think you need to toughen up a little bit, but look we're looking for success here We're looking for an acknowledgement to the importance of dollars put to work But put to work in the most advantageous way To avoid that regret down the line when you enter into retirement. Does that make sense good? Just nod your head if you're still with me. All right fantastic What are the different approaches to investing? Some of the different strategies and along a spectrum that I talk about on the channel passive investing It's the easiest form of investing. You do own Tesla. You do own Apple. You do own Microsoft and Google However, you do not have to look at the cash flow state statements of Google and determine that it's a good investment because of the cash flow projections and and and current performance that is unnecessary you own it as part of the index and Your sole performance factor is your year-end percentage rate of return. That is it. That's it My friend sometimes you're gonna get 2% Last year returned negative 20% We will probably be on track for a positive year this year what that positive is I have no idea I don't forecast. I'm not a magician nor is anybody else Okay, if you look back through the history you can Google this guys. I'm not Just kicking over rocks for you. All right Look back over the historical rates of return for the SMP for the last 20 years 50 years You can do it Indefinitely and you can spot check me on this. It's all over the place But we're looking for an average rate of return of eight on the low end to 10% on the high end With the effects of compounding over your money. You can absolutely win with the effects of compounding on your side second Dividend growth investing I do this through M1 finance with my hundred stock portfolio. There's about $40,000 in that portfolio I own about 98 stocks in there They all pay the dividends the next one is active investing that's owning single stock like Google Microsoft doing your due diligence Understanding that that is a single equity that's worth investing in Just to be mindful of the fact that you could enter into a Disney and end up with a lemon for multiple multiple years And it's something that I discourage against for new investors. Don't even entertain it. I don't care what your neighbor told you I don't care what your friend told you I don't care what that other youtuber that wears a ski mask on his face and looks really really scary and scares you into thinking That you can outpace the S&P 500. You can't you can't you can for a short amount of time But over the long term you will lose you will lose and you'll come back to this philosophy that I discussed to you guys and Finally speculative investing speculative investing accounts for About 10% of my total overall portfolio now Names like highly on names like aduro clean technologies and a couple of others That I'm interested in taking speculative positions in To to try to better my positions to Accelerate my wealth and growth. That's just me That also is something that I would encourage everyone to be very very careful On and make sure that it finds its place. All right guys. We've got less than three minutes here I do want to go through here. I've got some really really cool folks in here real quick every clear boy Got Justin in the house. Great to see you my friend proper 19 very cool Rebecca was first in the house Very very cool stuff always good to be playing with house money. I dig it. It's awesome started building a position at 80 cents to share and add about 10,000 shares when it's biked above three HIP are very cool. Good job Very cool stuff like to hear success stories like that. It's awesome that Jared's in the house I will continue to invest in VOO passively as well as buying more on the depths. That's a cool comment It's kind of a barometer on the stock market Which lets you know look if it's retracted a little bit based on your monitoring That's the time not to crap yourself rather to invest more in it very very simple. All right VUG I own it myself. That's the Vanguard's growth ETF. It's a very good product. I totally agree with you It's a hell of a thumbnail. I love the doors very cool stuff, man Very cool scrolling up got a lot of folks in here man. I do apologize. I didn't really get to I own $6,000 worth of visa. So there's another good one. I appreciate that They make more than the entire country of Australia with their earnings. Mm-hmm. Yeah, they're quite good Got James in the house. All right. Just FYI sometimes we get message from Interpen. We don't know if it's really you or a fake fraud stealing your identity Yeah, no, it's you'll know if it's me man. Just ignore that. I'm a hot commodity I don't know why be honest with you. I'm kind of an unknown little small fry on YouTube, but If you if you ever have a problem with that go to my private Facebook group and hit me up or DM me That's totally fine too hit me up on Twitter. That's fine But don't ever respond to unsolicited, you know or things that may just seem fishy always come back to me and ask because I Typically don't do a lot of that stuff outside of my private group got Bobby's in the house fantastic Very cool stuff never understand the hatred for those who were blessed to not be in the first generation of successful Americans Are most of us not all trying to leave a legacy. Mm-hmm. Very cool. I like the comment man Very cool stuff got less than a minute here folks fantastic got Natalie in the house Sorry for the ninth inning call out Natalie. It's always great to have you man You're so steadfast and just always appreciate your support. I really do It's kind of the lifeblood of the channel to be honest with you and great folks like yourself help me make it happen I really do it's not all the most motivating thing on YouTube man to find the motivation to do this and in all cases, but It's it's a fun project on the list as long as it's being reciprocated received in the manner that I expect it to be received and people are getting benefit out of it I'm certainly not the best. I'm just one of those guys trying to share a story As it relates to myself and hopefully make it relate to those out there that need the help because I think there are some folks out there That do need the help and with that guys that is the fastest 60 minutes on YouTube It was fast and furious tonight. Hopefully we were able to realize our goal to empower one investor at a time if there was somebody out there that Heard some things that I said got I'm interested in investing. I will leave you with this It's not as difficult as you think that it is Do invest Justify this don't don't lose this opportunity. It's it's life-changing if done correctly It can be an atrocious nightmare if done incorrectly So I divert back to rule number one. Just do it correctly And I've looked to suggest the ways of doing it Correctly for those out there that may not have the savvy may not have the wherewithal Maybe, you know hungry for information and also vulnerable to bad information I have looked to streamline the right way to investing By capturing multiple decades of my own investing thesis that can work for all investors out there Looking to build wealth for themselves and their families guys. I appreciate you We will be back next Friday and the independent investor channel fast to 60 minutes on YouTube Thank you so much to you guys have a great great weekend. We will catch you next week