 I'd love to welcome everybody to the Unipendent Investor Channel Livestream, you know, when I started this project six years ago, it was really never, never about me. And I think over the last four years being here in Virginia Beach and building this project into what I have envisioned it to be all along, I think it's a testament to my perseverance. I've often said that if you give anybody out there the same opportunity that I've had, I think most people would probably fail and fall by the wayside in really what it takes to continue to drive through on a message. And really the secret sauce to what makes me tick is believing that there are people out there that benefit from the message. It's just that simple. And I really do everything I can possibly do to fight the power of YouTube. I mean, I come out with 60 minutes on the Independent Investor Channel every single week. I give away the goods if you listen. And you truly are intent in understanding my philosophy about wealth building. It can scale. It's that simple. My presumption about people is a little bit more critical in that I sometimes question people's wherewithal to financial savvy. I question people's motivation and how high of a priority they put this on their list. And I think we were all there. I think for young people, it's the toughest. I sat across from a couple of aspiring young people this week, and it just remotivated me. It just made me understand that there are so many people out there just like I was. And I would imagine a lot of people in this community were also in this position when you're young and naive and trying to figure stuff out. It's easier for me at 43 to reflect, I guess, a little bit on my life. I spend the majority of my time thinking forward, not backwards. But in reflection of a life that I've been able to put together from scratch, a lot of what I value in my triangle of attributes that I revolve around. I openly share with the group here. I just think it's super important to keep you on track. It's super important to keep you grounded. It's super important to keep you focused on what is important in life. I took a little medicine tonight before the live stream, i.e. Pearl Jam. That's my jam. That's what I rip when I'm kind of feeling, my daughter said, why don't you put on some music, dad? I can tell you're kind of fired up. And I said, no. And then I thought about it and threw some on. And it got me back into that mental mindset. And I'm not immune to it. And the cool thing about me is I don't really come on and profess that I've got all the answers. Matter of fact, I hope it is transparent in that you can sense my vulnerability with regard to me being a human being and challenging the idea that there is a perfect investor out there or challenging that the requirements for you are such that you need to be a perfect investor. And so this project has always been to strike at the disconnect between what I think people understand about financial markets and what I look to share with a grander audience. And I believe that this was a calling of mine. I really do. I'm humbled at the opportunity to offer this product through the Independent Investor Channel. I believe we're making a difference. I've always suggested that my goal on the channel was to empower one investor at a time. And what that really means to me is that people can take away one thing or another, small or large, take it and incorporate it in their lives. And that's very, very powerful. And I always try to beat this drum of really kind of marginalizing what it is that I try to do so as not to misconstrue the very fact that people and what they bring to the table and what they offer for themselves and for their families is really the special aspect of what I look to put in focus on my channel. I'm not really one of those fellows that believe that me as a singular entity has all this infinite wisdom to share with you guys. I think I believe wholeheartedly in the power of community. We're going to talk a little bit about that and some of the closing down for you guys that are just now making your way into the livestream. Thank you so much for being part of this community. You can leave this livestream and you can take a piece of it with you. You can put it right here and you can put it right here because in this life it seems like, especially during times of market volatility, it seems like, and I hope I'm wrong on this, that the positive voices are far and few between. And let me tell you the truth of the matter is we have a lot to be thankful for. We really do. Where there would be a picture of doom and gloom, where there would be a thumbnail of me with my hands on fire and my hair on fire and you must just come in here and think that I'm going to tell you to go out and sell your whole portfolio. I do that to strike at the irony between what you should do and what the propaganda would have you believe that you should do. And that's the very disconnect that I look to share. And if you receive the message, you will be emboldened by the message. You will. You'll look at financial markets as something to be participated in over the long term, not to be judged over the short term. And I think in reflection for me and you guys that have been with me this whole time, especially going back to New York six years ago on the channel, I think we've made some real marked progress in the community. I'm proud to say I look back in reflection and I'm one of those guys that puts my head down and I kick up a lot of dust behind me. I don't spend a lot of time in reflection. I really don't until moments like this where this will be the last live stream from Virginia and this body of work, this portfolio of work that I've grown with and evolved with over the last four years, you have been a part of. It's yours. Take it. If you've benefited at all from the message. If I've got under your skin a little bit, okay. All right, if I've taught you a little bit, if I've completely offended you, if I've made you think, perhaps maybe if I've made you take a look in the mirror, which I refer to all the time during my message, the importance of self-reflection, I understand that YouTube is a place in a forum where people come and they hear testimonials from people like myself who may have a little bit more experience than the average bear, yada, yada, yada. And you're supposed to take and you're supposed to deploy those. The ironic part about financial markets is such that would require that the successful mind adheres to certain principles of wealth building and incorporates their own personal style with how they grow wealth for themselves and their families. Guys, I cannot do it for you. I cannot give you my heart. I can't do that. What I can do is every 60 minutes on YouTube, come in, share where it is a little bit about where I come from, how I am able to derive a deeper devotion to not only this craft, but a holistic approach to life and raising a family and working very, very hard, trying to teach young people as difficult as it is. I think a lot of people come into my message and they don't relate. That's my fault. I take complete and utter responsibility for that. I think that's unfortunate. I think if there was that magic thing that I could say here or there, if there was something that maybe I could do, maybe a funny hat that I could wear or something that I could put on my face that could really get people's attention, the ironic part about that is that's not me. That is not me. I've always wanted to come on and just be myself. And for those that have been with me, they know I do not script my videos. I don't. I don't jump at it. I don't take convenient pauses out of it for your convenience. If you want to sit through the message, you will benefit from it. There's no doubt about it. What do I mean by benefit? Benefit means bottom line, real hard dollars of benefit and appreciation to your portfolio and whatever capacity you're willing to dive into this opportunity on. I try to leave no stone unturned. I don't. Perhaps my deliberation is a little bit rough. My delivery is a little rough. Sometimes people have a hard time following me. No problem. But for those people that do understand and they do relate with the message, it'd be better for it. And you'll also be prepared to go out there and advocate for the message as well, because wealth building is not something that is a pill that you take. It's not even really a set of complex rules or philosophies that you have to memorize. It's not like that at all. It's a series of different disciplines and definition of terms for yourself in the investing arena. And some may relate with you. Others may not. But the idea is to put all of these into a basket and put them on the table and then make the best decision for yourself to go ahead and step into financial markets as prepared as you possibly can. And though I alluded to the younger investors that are out there and they're the toughest to get to, it's really because they're as ill-prepared in their life to enter into financial markets and deal with we were off 5% this week. We are approaching that 20% recessionary phase again. Are we going to enter into that phase? I don't know. It seems like the momentum is probably going to push us into that. And I think when we get a little bit of momentum to the upside, you've got a few pundits coming in and saying, well, we avoided the recession. And now that we're going back to recession, it's almost inevitable. It's as if we wanna talk ourselves into a recession, to be honest with you. Me personally, when the government was looking to provide some support and supplement to the country in way of stimulus checks, I was against it. I knew that we were gonna pay for it. And by God, we're paying for it now, fellas. My brothers and sisters in the community make no mistake about it. We are paying for that. And it is the price of those decisions. And I'm not gonna sit here and say that the decisions of our lawmakers are always perfect. I'm not gonna do that. But is it going to distract me from investing? Nope. Is a $5 price tag per gallon of gas is gonna deter me from investing? Is the thoughts of marginal earnings this year in the S&P 500, we're still calling for 7% earnings in the S&P 500 in 2022. We will not enter into recession if companies will continue to provide numbers that are estimated to come through on earning season. It will not happen. I understand that the jobs number was looking a little bit bleak. I understand that negative returns of the last two quarters is an indicator that we may step into a recessionary period. I believe that if we do enter into a recessionary period, it's going to be short-lived, followed by a kind of a moderation of financial markets here. 2022 has just been a real drag. It really has. And it's forced me to go back over the course of reviewing my portfolio over my time here in Virginia specifically. And when I stepped into this opportunity, I went back and looked at my very first, I didn't even have my studio set up yet. When we arrived here, the portfolio was $250,000 when I got here four years ago. We've doubled that. We moved up into the 10th out of the 11 milestones to a million dollars. We went from 250 to the 500. Now we've come back off of that mark and you've been really punished for being an investor. Well, a lot like you guys have over the last six, eight months or so of being in financial markets, it's been horrendous. It really has. But I consider this horrendous downturn to be an observation in the acute. That's just that simple. And I have to be steadfast. I'm a representative of thousands of retail investors out there. And I look at myself as a leader in the space. And if I started coming on and I started professing that now is the time to start throwing in your towel, I would be wrong. And I would be misleading people in what it is that works in financial markets. Guys, this stuff works. The statistics back me up. I've done extensive research over the course of my life to validate that staying in the market, no matter what, in the capacity that you promised to yourself that you would, when you started to become a wealth builder, will make all the difference. And as bad as it seems right now, I go back four short years and I look at the portfolio doubling from 250 to 500. I have no idea how I got there outside of the fact that I adhered to a program. I stuck to it. And I wasn't persuaded by the talking heads. The name independent means something to me. And I would suggest that you guys get your own personal badass. Define for it is what it is that you do to make yourself tick. What it is that makes this makes sense to you. What is it that you can really convince yourself of to incorporate those tried and true fundamentals to say, man, Ryan talks about funding the markets in down times, the further down it goes, the more noisy people are gonna get about you panicking out of the market or inevitable recession is right around the corner. And I talk about all the time doing the very opposite in financial markets, then what those talking heads would have, you believe the right thing to do. And at the end of the day, the right thing to do is what it is that you know in your heart is that tried and true way of sticking with financial markets over the longterm and not buying into those short-term injects, guys. Really appreciate you guys making your way into this. This is gonna be an impassioned last look at the Virginia opportunity here. As we look to close the chapter down on this opportunity over the last four years, reflect upon those four years. And more importantly, earmark where we're gonna go in the next four years and beyond. Guys, be with back with you in just a moment. And cheers to the community. There's no doubt about it. Cheers to the community. If you've got a coffee or a beverage, there's been an amazing growth and evolution of the community over the last four years here on the I2. I think we've emboldened the subscriber base here. I've said many, many times how I value relationships. I don't necessarily value what it is that YouTube tells me that I need to value, right? Perhaps maybe I would like to have a say about that. All right. You guys wanna know what I value. Join my Viper Group. We talk about it all the time. And I think that's where the totality of your focus, if not the entirety of your focus needs to be the majority of the time. Cheers to you guys. Really appreciate you coming in for this 60-minute live stream. Always trying to strike out and educate and clarify what is perceived to be a very confusing space. And I think over my years of evolution, I can say with certainty that I, nor anybody out there has it figured out. That's the truth. Those people who are the most dangerous are those that will come on and profess that they have it figured out. Even more dangerously, those that have incurred maybe a little bit of success in financial markets and they wanna bottle up that success and then sell it to the masses. That success is done, okay? Your success is going to be, by nature of the decision you make to engage. And then it will define itself going forward, okay? So focusing in on the successes of others is not something that we look to do. We try to clarify and say, what is it that the investing opportunity can mean for that 22-year-old person out there that's just starting out looking to cut teeth, get started on a career path, make those investments in themselves. Where do I go? Do I invest in mutual funds? Should I look at ETF index funds? Should I buy single stock? Should I buy Tesla? These are all the valid questions that I get from the younger community out there and teach his own. I think exploring options, I just gave you five of them, which are all very, very good and can fit in a lot of different applications out there. The key is finding what fits in your application. That's the key. And I'm not one of those YouTube personalities that are gonna come on and say, rah, rah, you gotta do it this way and that way. No, it doesn't work that way. I think you need to spend the majority of your time educating yourself up and really clarifying for yourself what opportunities are out there, what accounts are available to you as a young person based on your income to get to some of the fundamentals that I've looked to your mark over the last six years of the channel and especially have fine-tuned and focused on over the last four years here in Virginia and sharing with you guys. I think in reflection over the last four years, I think I've coined some real successes and I'm gonna earmark them for you now. I've always tried to earmark the importance of spending habits. I've always suggested that people cannot use investing as an excuse to be irresponsible. Make sense? Let me frame it in another way. If you're a mess in other capacities of your life and you expect to get in investing and make it work for you, it's probably not gonna work. It could, it's certainly not gonna make up for other deficiencies and it's only gonna make it tougher. When you rely on those other elements of your life to support your overall health and wellbeing, your spiritual wellbeing and outlook and perspective on lives, but just to make sure that your spending habits help set you up and give you the best chance of defining for yourself, what is it that you really need in this life? I talk to people all the time and I just shake my head at what they think they need. And I hate to dig into my roots all the time. I think if I was part of the audience, that would be the part that I share and I would enjoy the most hearing from me about my background and opting not to buy a house in this crazy market, living on the ocean for many, many years, living rent-free. I mean, I lived on the place that I worked just because I didn't have the money. I had friends that would, were making good money on the fishing boats and they would rent departments and we would go over there and hang out but I didn't have that kind of money. I was homeless. And you wonder where the appreciation comes from sometimes in my insistence to continue to roll out this product because that's what makes me need that. That's where the appreciation comes from. That's what I like to share with people in understanding that when I was in that place, I wasn't unhappy. It was some of the most happy times I've ever had in my life. Now, as you gain financial independence, it provides you independence. It comes with a greater sense of responsibility to manage the portfolio, et cetera, et cetera. And that's fine. That's great. It's renderings of a well-laid plan that I talk about all the time. But I think the takeaway for anybody that's catching the message and especially for the people who catch the I2 for the first time, getting your spending under control and not thinking that the inflow always has to be an outflow right away is absolutely key in this application. And it's a key contributor to how quickly you can grow that net worth over time. I think we've done a good job of emboldening that very topic. The next is teaching about tolerance. People are learning a tough lesson right now with regard to the volatility that's being doled out in the stock market right now. There's no doubt about it. I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. I'm not gonna exacerbate it. Obviously, the thumbnail is clickbait, I guess. I just thought it looked really cool, to be honest with you, I'm much more simple. Okay, I don't sit back and say, how can I bait people into my channel by thinking that they need to sell their entire portfolio? I really don't think that way. I just try to make the coolest looking thumbnail that I possibly can every single Friday and that's what I go with, honestly. And I also look to kind of challenge what I feel like is kind of a commonplace message or a theme. And I look to challenge that theme in that what are we supposed to do right now when the market rolls off and we're entering into an opportunity? We're at a 20% discount now. Would you have me to believe that now is the time to sell when in all actuality in my mind that I impart to you is the very time that we need to be accumulating more shares right now? It's the complete opposite of what I feel like the narrative would have you believe right now. It is super important, super important. But risk tolerance to the markets allows you to adhere to a long-term plan. It allows you to take downturns and stride. It allows you to deal with volatility in stride, okay? And it allows you to keep your eyes on the horizon, continuing to build wealth toward your financial future and that's just the key. The next is wealth building. I think all too often the stock market gets misconstrued as something that gets participated in and you win at. I think we need to completely retool our focus in how we look at using the very products, whether it be equities or bonds, whether it be commodities, whatever it is in way of product that we participate in to build over time, build over time. And if you look at it as a lifelong mission that never ends, never ends. I've got Becky in the group here. I see a Becky who is entering into retirement as a lot of people are striving to do, but it shouldn't really end for you. As a matter of fact, it should really be fine-tuned later on in life. It should be something that has been part of you. I don't think it's something that needs to go away. I certainly don't. If it rolls off and errors through generational wealth to the next generation, so be it, you guys will have your own opinions about whether or not that's something that you wanna see happen. I think there's some merit to having people work for their own. I started with nothing. Everything that I disclose for me a week over week is a product of my own doing. And it's the best way. I sometimes wonder how amazing it would be to just be bestowed upon a bunch of wealth or win the lottery or whatever it is, come into a large sum of money the easy way. And I always think to myself, I don't know if those people can really appreciate it, the way that somebody who has built it up over time. And that's why I try to share that wealth, building message with people. So they really understand, it really is a long-term activity to continue to build. Tax protection is something that doesn't get talked about all the time. I talk about this through the Roth IRA. If you attach the self-directed caveat to that account, it's very, very important for people to understand that a liberated dollar is one that can grow without expense, we'll talk about that in a second. But if you're growing wealth only to be subject to tax down the line, you really need to sit back and say, whoa, Ryan just mentioned something interesting. Maybe I don't hear a lot of on YouTube. It is of paramount importance. And it's something that you need to seek out, educate yourself up on and make decisions to really avoid that tax. And that's why I make it easy for you guys and just suggest that the Roth IRA is something that any young person can look at, get up to that maximum contribution cap. And there's just a little old me, it's just I too. It's just me. And then you've got Robin Hood who doesn't offer that as a product and there's 20, 30 million users, stocks going in the tank, right? But it just speaks to how crazy people adhere to group think and they just jump on the bandwagon without just taking a moment to think. Ryan mentioned tax protection. He's sincere about it. Maybe I should look at this for myself and you do, you'll benefit for it. There's no doubt in my mind. And it's something that we've continued to foot stomp on the message through the course of the message dating back to the inception of the channel. There's no doubt. All right, fee reduction we've mentioned as a key element to self-directed investing. I've often stated that if I was just gonna come on and talk about the three stocks per week or and I used to do that stuff and I don't do it anymore. For you guys that are paying attention to what I'm trying to do, I am looking to fight and not adhere. I'm looking to fight and not adhere. If I came out with the three stocks or here's the best stocks to buy out of energy that doesn't do anybody any good. And I cannot with good faith come out with that type of material anymore knowing that if it doesn't affect the end user in the most positive of way, then I'm not gonna do it. If I'm going to benefit from the independent investor channel, it's gonna be through helping people that is it. It's going to be through helping people. And that very rendering, I don't get to quantify. I don't. The patrons of the message get to define that level of success for me if it is there to be defined. It's that simple. And it's much harder to garner that level of success. And it's much more difficult. If I came on and just sold out and I made daily uploads and I pumped out what people want to hear and not what they need to hear, certainly. I have no doubt that I can blow this thing out of the water. No doubt. But I keep it throttled back. I keep perspective on this thing. And as slow as it takes, I may exit this world someday. Never having seen the potential of this project, I'm okay with that. I am as long as with each and every word, with each and every live stream, with each and every project, we push out that with the intent of really reaching people and letting them know the importance of these tried and true fundamentals that I push out and fee reduction is one of those things. If I just had another financial YouTube channel, I wouldn't do this because I don't think the message is really that special. My message of independent investing and the adherence to fee reduction within your program, now that's unique. And if you understand how unique it is, it can save you hundreds of thousands of dollars up the long term. I've taught on this through the course of the channel. If you're making your way to the channel for the first time, don't leave. I'll say congratulations. If you do leave, it's on you. You're missing out, okay? You're not gonna hear this stuff from anybody else other than me. I'm the only one that delivers the message in the way that I deliver it. That's why I feel like there's somewhat of an obligation that I have from week to week to come and share my insights about financial markets with you guys. A couple of cliche, right? Adherences to financial wealth building, I'm gonna share with you now. Dollar cost averaging, it's something that you should be doing. I look at the market down here 20%. I look at the monthly fundings that are gonna flow into the market this particular month and coming months. It's not something that I stop. It's not something that I get scared of. It's not something that I pull back because I have shortchanged myself for the food that needs to go on the table and work that way. Always funding the market. It's a big reason why I've doubled the portfolios from 250 up to that $500,000 mark over the last four years. It's because I adhere to those fundamentals. And again, I openly admit to you guys, I have no idea how the hell I did it. I work on a blue collar salary. I fund the markets aggressively. I do not spend like an idiot. I'm frugal with my budget and I'm a very, very happy man. So it keeps my focus on those areas where I would impress upon you. If you have the ability to focus on those things, it's really gonna help buffer the volatility and all the noise that you have coming through the airwaves right now that would have everybody suggesting that Home Depot is gonna close their doors and Procter & Gamble is gonna stop selling laundry detergent to people and people are gonna stop buying Tylenol. I beg to differ. And I choose to look at financial markets in a little different way. And this is why I do this project to share with you kind folks my insight on that. Even in reinvestment. It's a strategy that I approach and is something worth mentioning here with the network on the eye too with regard to some of the other channel creators that I've come to really enjoy working with. Some on a business level, others on an acquaintance level really appreciate you guys, I really do. But the dividend reinvestment, really philosophy, I gotta give some credit to Joe Carlson. Joe was one of those channels that I supported from the very, very get go. Newie was gonna be a big channel, just fabulous. It's got a radio voice and it's fabulous. Very knowledgeable, very knowledgeable guy. But him and some other channels really were foot stomping this dividend growth and really captured it for me as a standalone strategy. And it is the very strategy that's working as a defensive mechanism right now in the portfolio, rendering dividends through this downturn, really standing up to the volatility. And I think it's something that is a tried and true focus in the portfolio. And it's one that you can enjoy making dollars on for the rest of your life. And I enjoy that specific strategy and I share that through the channel with the dividend reinvestment piece just speaks to the renderings of a well-laid dividend portfolio for the long term. And I look to be a dividend portfolio for the rest of my life. I'll probably give that portfolio to my kids someday. I'll air it to them. They'll take it over, it's no problem. It'll be probably sizeably a lot bigger by then. I've already mentioned the financial milestones and I tell you as bad as 2022 even the majority of 2021 is bad for me. The portfolio has rolled off. I've been involved in really the trade of a lifetime which is highly on which nobody's really talking about it basing here in the mid 250 range. Here really holding in with this market volatility. Now next week could bring a whole range of new developments. I don't presume to forecast or know where the stock market is going from week to week but not a lot of people are talking about it. But I think it is worth noting that in four short years the portfolio has doubled from 250 to $500,000 over the course of this project and say, well, wow, I'd like to do that too, Ryan. Well, look at how much time I spend. I monitor markets every day. I come on and do a weekly live stream every single week and I do it free of charge. I don't make money for this project and it speaks to my devotion. It speaks to my commitment to my project. It speaks to the commitment on the very patrons that could come in here and do not comment and could hear something that I share with them on the power of portfolio building. Let's say that's not impressive, Ryan. The market's been bananas over four years. Great, no problem. I don't look to compare my stuff to you nor should you have me. That's the whole takeaway. But if you do sit back and objectively look and say, damn, this guy's went from a quarter to a half a million dollars. He's one step away from that very milestone of a million dollars built from zero, zero. My Roth IRA started with $1,500. This is a story I share on the channel all the time. I sold my first Mustang. I put $1,500 in for my new spouse and me at the time. I started military service 17 years ago and the rest is history. It's a small contributor to the larger whole as we've grown the portfolio over the years. I don't know how we got there, but we did adhering to the tried and true fundamentals. And a big thing that I'll just mention here at the end, something that I typically fight. It's ironic that I come onto a hype platform like YouTube all too often. It's really fraught with misinformation. And I think YouTube probably causes a significant amount of damage for people who are trying to come on, seek out good information. I know there's a lot of good out there too. Don't get me wrong guys, I really don't. But to have your hype filter up and on notice all the time, don't believe everything that you, if you don't like something that I say or you feel like my message is going to run you down a path that you don't wanna go down, no problem, okay? Do not buy into hype, don't. You have to be the best advocate for yourself when you are an empowered investor. I say this all the time, you walk around because you know fee reduction makes a difference. You know making your own independent and investment decisions makes all the difference. You know that completely avoiding financial planners is the way to a successful and financial future, right? I don't wear a suit and tie guys for a reason. I don't wear socks, I'm barefoot. I've done this, I've showed people on the channel just to prove a point. You do not have to have a suit and tie. I don't have to have a suit and tie to make sure that your portfolio will grow. I don't, the renderings in that portfolio will be based on the products that you put in and your ability to eliminate fees within that and tax protect within that account. That's investing in a nutshell guys and very few people pursue that end in the way that I just outlined for you. Very, very important to avoid the hype. Very, very important guys. Let's get to some questions here. Great to see you Rick. You're one of the cool people that I've met over the years and here as of late, cheers to you my friend. Better days ahead. There's no doubt about it. This last two years has really just been a war for me. Yeah, I'd be lying if I didn't say that this has just been, it's not easy. It's not easy at all. Just appreciate your community support. I appreciate all the information. I appreciate you bringing together like-minded people to maybe carve out a little bit of a better life here. I'm not looking to retire with tens of millions of dollars. If this position materializes into anything that's worth noting, I will certainly benefit for it. I think what's gonna be of interest to everybody in the community is my perspective on the investment itself. And I will not recommend that to the faint of heart. Nor will I recommend that path that I have taken to the masses. I will not. And I'll discuss that philosophy if and when it ever materializes into something that provides me the opportunity for the, and or the rewards for the risk that I've put on the table for this. And I will spend the rest of my life discussing how perhaps maybe the tried and true fundamentals of indexing your money over the long term and something that I did for the first few decades of my investing career only set myself up for the opportunity to enter into a trade like this and hopefully step up into something special. So more to follow on that, it's life and it's the journey that we walk and I'm very excited for the prospects. I think the next two years are gonna be the most fragile for the opportunity, but I'm gonna be there along the ride and I'm gonna continue to do whatever I can do to help prolong that. But we're gonna pack up the studio probably this weekend and we're gonna put it to rest for a while to be re-energized back at my new studio in the new location here. So we will not be contributing to the live stream next Friday. I will be taking it off. I will be intimately involved in the move at that time. So we will be taking next Friday off and well-deserved. I don't take a whole lot of vacations from the live stream. I kind of feel weird when I'm on other venues on a Friday evening because this is my spot. This is my spot. And try to help reach people perhaps maybe reach a point in their life where they look back over their life and say and maybe they remember coming into the independent investor channel and perhaps maybe they got a little spark and motivation build some wealth over their time to help them avoid that regret that I see all too often is prevalent in our elderly community who have not saved who have not saved enough who have not saved in the correct capacity and really you can't go back and do it again your time is now your time to live your best life is now and people may wonder where I get the motivation from it. Think about what I just said. Think about what I just said time is precious. We're all inevitably gonna be there reflecting upon the decisions that we've made in our life. Do you wanna be in that position someday to be reflecting and regretting the very decisions that were made over the course of your life? Sure, as an investor you're gonna go through ups and downs. I'm not gonna sit here and promise that you're not. As a matter of fact, I'm gonna damn well assure that you will but wouldn't you rather be in the fight, right? I don't wanna be in that position and when I reflect back and ask myself what could have been. I don't wanna do that and I don't want that for you guys either. Perhaps maybe you're not quite as philosophical as me about life. For those people that can go through life and just tiptoe through the tulips, I salute you. I'm not one of those people. I'm extremely aggressive for me. I'm extremely aggressive with identifying opportunity. I'm certainly aggressive on defending those people especially retail investors who I feel like all too often get the shaft and are really disadvantaged from the beginning and keeping that focus on where the focus needs to be and the power of the renderings that can come forth from those opportunities. I've just disclosed to you what I've been able to do in the last four years and I gotta tell you, I don't think markets have been that conducive to the independent investor channel. I've had to fight and claw my way through. I remember taking Boeing down into $89. That was crazy. I was opportunistic. It was opportunistic during that timeframe was able to pull my first six figure trading year out of the last four years which a lot of people don't understand that's where a lot of that highly on profit went. Those were not hard earned dollars. That was house money, right? So I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm certainly not gonna come on and profess that I'm the all knowing, all wellbeing. I've done my due diligence on that particular opportunity and every other opportunity that I share with you guys but is it stupid? I don't know, that type of dialogue doesn't exist in investing. I codify it in a very simple way to invest or not to invest. It's just that simple, okay? It doesn't mean I'm smarter than you. It doesn't mean my opinions carry more or less weight than yours. Doesn't mean that. It just means that I chose to make the investment where a lot of people didn't and that's okay. In the short term, you may be right. You may be wrong. In the long term, you may be right. You may be wrong. To take a different approach to stock market investing I find all too often that the approach that people take is just crazy, trying to pick the needle out of the haystack. It's just gambling. I've got to buy the stock when nobody knows about it and I've got to shoot for the moon. It's a lot easier than that. I still believe in Hylian. It's still growing as a company. Gas prices for diesel will eventually have investors take another look. I believe that is what needs to happen is the masses need to catch wind of this opportunity. As time goes along, I enter on more of a plane with this opportunity and my patience is run very, very thin whether or not this opportunity is gonna turn into hundreds and even thousands of orders as opposed to 10. And I hope the snowball effect does take hold. I hope that integration does happen. I typically do not invest on hope. I usually invest on moat and Hylian has none right now. They've got a small moat, but until they can produce product what quantifiable metrics are there to really weigh against this company. I think they've been introduced to very volatile markets since they've come public. I think it's been a very, very difficult road to hoe. I think over the coming years, I think this company needs to catch a break. I think they need to really catch a few momentum plays for a lack of better terms. I think this team that they've put into place really needs to start to fortify. I think the board of directors needs to provide some payback and I think the innovation council needs to provide some renderings. None of which I don't think the aforementioned has provided any bottom line value as of late in the company. I think going forward, those things will absolutely have to produce if this company is going to materialize into something special. I do, and I believe that it will. 100% convinced. It's tough headwind right now in the market, no doubt. I'm actually fairly surprised to see how small caps, micro caps held in today. Where a market rolled off 800 points, it was an exacerbated selling both yesterday. I probably donated 15,000 back to the market over the last two days. So a little shot to the side anyway, it didn't feel good. I'd rather have 15,000 to the upside, that'd be cool. But I've learned to be as neutral as I possibly can and still acknowledge that I'm still a human being, right? As Michael Jordan man, my favorite, Ryan, please know that your message has had a positive on my life as well as my five years when I teach him what I've learned to five year old. Now that's great, man, you know, when I carry that, those renderings forward to the next generation, I think coming from our most impactful influences, mom and dad, I think the adults that are raising this generation, I don't think they need to be succumbed to a stranger like myself if they come on or you guys provide a referral, you know, they need to hear it from those most influential and financial health and wellbeing really needs to be one of those things that you talk about openly, be creative. And I'll let them earn that old, you know, those earnings every week, that allowance and let them pay for a few things, let them understand the value of money and understand that money hard in and hard out is an interesting lesson to learn in that the real deeper question is, how can you look at money and allow your money to work for you? Very, very simple, right? So, yeah, one of those tried and true lessons that I feel like our youth really needs to be provided from our adults, that's great, awesome. Hey, Ryan, finally caught a live stream. Broski, are you too busy for a text message? No, I'm never too busy for a text message, man. I throw that out there on a social media. I'm supposed to have like a few subscribers to the channel and I throw it out there and I full well know that I'll have you. I mean, it's amazing to me, I give away my portfolios for free and maybe people just don't know about the message, maybe they feel bad, maybe they just don't know about the message and, you know, they don't wanna look at a dividend portfolio for free but I throw that out there. I should have a hundred emails and I should have to respond to every one of them but I throw it out there and I know people's lack of devotion, it's defined in the barriers that they create for themselves and I don't think that'll change. We'll continue to chip away at those barriers. We'll continue to help people identify when and where those barriers need to be circumvented for people and we'll continue to fight the battle. It's just that simple. Until I can get up to an amount, I guess 500,000 maybe just doesn't get people's attention, maybe a million will, maybe two million. For me, it really doesn't matter. I draw a distinction between the Ryan that used to have nothing and the Ryan that inevitably may have one, two, three, five million dollars of wealth, maybe more later on in life and I'm still Ryan, it's right in the middle. I would expect each and every one of you guys to take a page out of my playbook. Man, I'm dead set on that. I really am. I think all too often people are pursuing something that they think is going to fulfill them or satisfy them and the answer is maybe right in front of your face right now and getting those piles of paper may do it for you. I don't know what motivates you. I don't know, but I can tell you it's a lot deeper than that for me and I was happy then. I'll be happy down the line and I think people down the line will probably look and say, wow, this guy is this and that and this and that and I like to come on and kind of combat that a little bit and say, no, I think you're giving a little too much credit. I take a chance on highly on it. If it works out, it doesn't mean I'm the greatest investor. No, it just means I was willing to put risk on the table just like Rick was and all the other investors that have ever taken a shot and it's worked out for them and for the investors that take the shot and it doesn't work out for them you never hear from them again, you know? But yeah, I failed to see the correlation between making money in the stock market and being deemed some sort of successful investor. And I think a successful investor is one that can accumulate a lot of different wins over the course of their life and cumulatively can put together something special. That's what I feel. Yeah, that was good. Yeah, that was good. It's a nice vehicle, sure is. Some of the connections that I've made over the last few years, man, I really appreciate it. Ryan Lam comes on weekly and shares that Highland has ruined them financially. I don't know, I should block these comments. I'm not really sure. I don't know what to say, man. I don't know what to say. I don't know if you feel like that's somehow a dig at me or a dig at yourself. I don't know if we're talking about a position of 2,000, 3,000, 20,000, 50,000 shares. I don't know. But you share this with me every single week and I don't mean to give you some tough love, but I don't know what to tell you. I'm invested 12,200 shares in the company. Rick is in the group here and talk to him. He's got 56,000 shares of the company. There's a lot of other people that are down and they're hardly ruined financially. So I'm not really sure what your motive is by dropping that in my live stream, especially my last one. I think it's ill-timed and I think it's distasteful, to be honest with you. I really do. Because you're down in the short term does not mean that it will define who you are in the long term. And if this thing goes to zero or if it goes to 100, it's not gonna define who the hell I am. That's for damn sure. If it goes to zero, it's not gonna ruin me financially. I'm sorry if you feel like it's ruined you. Perhaps maybe it's more about your perspective than the actual materialization of what's transpired over the last couple of years. That's some tough love, okay? I don't mean to run you off, I really don't. But if you've got paper losses on the books and that's the worst thing that you ever deal with in your life, you're lucky, you're lucky. Because I've said this many, many times, investing is a luxury, it is not a right. Your right to participate, to make higher than the average, rates of return in and above what the indexes can perform is a luxury. It's not a right, okay? And it's neither mine nor anybody else's fault for the decisions that you make. It's not. I think Hylian's gonna be fine in a few years. Whether or not it takes two years or four years or five or six or 10, I wanna be on there for the ride to electrification of Class 8 vehicles. That's simple. I look at it a lot different than most. And if most people could look at the opportunity in investing and just simplify it in a way that would make sense for the masses, well, then everybody would succeed at investing. The damnable misery of it is we all know that that's not the truth. We all know that very, very few people actually are able to adhere to the principles necessary to make it in investing. That's a fact, Jack, deal with it. That's a fact. You might say, do you wanna be in the failure category or do you wanna be in the successful category? Is part of your money indexed to guarantee that you match the market, not underperform and not overperform but match the market, match it. Are there dollars that are devoted in each and every one of your portfolios that contend that you are? If you're paying attention to the I-2, there's a lot of wealth that I have built up in that $500,000 of wealth that I have that's passively in the index one and it's tax protected and wealth preserved, no fees and it's protected from tax. Large vast majority of my wealth, the mass majority of the dollar cost averaging goes in here. I've been bought highly on since I bought the 10 contracts at $265 at a $3 strike. And I'm in the money on that, I've made money. I haven't sold them, I'm good. But I'm not buying the shares here at $3.50, I'm good. My position's already good. I don't know if Rick's accumulating shares here. If he is, great. If he's not, great, I still love the guy, it's okay. I'm certainly not gonna say, man, you've ruined my life financially. No, no, I'm a big boy, I'm independent, okay? I don't come on here and suggest to be the independent investor, not really. I don't do that, no way. This is me through and through, this is pumping through my blood. This is me, independent investor. I'm 100% convicted on this message. Make the decisions on your own, okay? It's fine. You gonna make decisions based on the recommendations of others? It's not yours, you can't own that, okay? I make no mistake about it. I own that doubling the portfolio over the last four years I own that. I also own my highly on position in every other stock that I own in the portfolio. It is what it is, okay? It doesn't define every decision that I've made in my life, doesn't define that. I met an angel 18 years ago, I married her. That defines you, I had two children, that defines you. How you live your life, how you treat others, that defines you, what you have in here, that's what defines you, okay? No, it doesn't ruin you. Stock market doesn't ruin you unless you allow it to permeate into other aspects of your life that have nothing to do with the stock market. Nothing, nothing, perspective, okay? It's all about how you approach this gig. It's just that simple. It's the tough love, man. It's just that simple. It's why a lot of people come into the message. We've got four minutes left. I'm gonna keep it to the 60 minutes on YouTube. I thought about doing a little bit longer tonight. I will not, I wanna close the chapter on this. I'm ready to go, I am. I'm ready to open up a new chapter for you guys that don't know below the surface of the iceberg. This has been a very, very challenging four years for me and everybody else. We've been through a global pandemic. We're in a global crisis right now. We've been in regime changes. We've been in through government shutdowns together the last four years. And I'm not gonna sit here and profess that the next four years are gonna be any years easier. I'm not gonna tell you that. But we have to be optimistic. We have to be optimistic about the opportunities that are in front of us. If they were that clearly defined, everybody would follow them. I feel like myself, and maybe even a few others, but I know myself, looked at to find those opportunities a little bit more clear for people, little bit more clear so they come in and they're like, man, maybe there is an opportunity for me and I'm here to tell you that there is. You just gotta find it. I can't give you my heart. I can't give you my mind. I can't do that. But what I can do is tell you, man, that you've got it already. You just might not know that you have it. You gotta look. You have to and it's there. Everybody's got it. A lot of people will live their entire life and they'll tell themselves every single day that they don't have it. I'm here to challenge that idea. I don't care where you come from. I don't care what you think you know about yourself. I don't care. Evolve. I'm a completely different person now than I was four years ago and I'm sure as hell a different person than I was 10 and 20 years ago. Why? Because I'm always challenging who it is that I think that I am. Yeah. Does it work? Does it carry over in results? You be the judge. Like I said, I don't get to judge that level of success in the channel and I leave that up to the community subscribers. I've got about a minute left. I do wanna take this last few moments to thank you guys. It's been my distinct honor to provide this product. Again, I know I've got under people skin. I've offended people. That's fine. People have dared to unsubscribe from my message. No problem, okay? You think that that affects me? It doesn't. I'm so far above that it's one of those things where I feel like if we're continuing to provide a consistent message that is genuine in nature, that is well intended to meet the masses, to really empower people and understanding that the opportunities that they have out there to challenge who they are, to seek out those opportunities that are tried and true to work, to come in and share with the community what it is that works. We as individuals can be so much stronger as a community. And that is something that I have grown to adhere to over my entire life in understanding that you as individuals, we as individuals, me as an individual, what we bring to the table fails in comparison to what we can do as a community. Guys, we'll shut down the chapter of the Virginia over the last four years. My sincere thank you to the community, absolutely. The studio will be broken down after this. It's been an incredible ride. There's no doubt about it. I let the dust settle behind me and I look to the future on what we can kick up for dust into the future, growing wealth for you and your family and identifying the opportunities that are indeed prevalent out there in financial markets. Guys, stay strong and we'll catch you in at least a couple of weeks here. Stay tuned, stay with the message, be safe, take care of each other, take care of the families. Enjoy this summer and we will re-engage in our new location in NYC in a couple of weeks. Guys, thank you so much and we will catch you in a couple of weeks.