 I'd love to welcome everybody live here on the independent investor channel to the Subscribers to the channel. Thank you really appreciate your continued support patronage on the channel always looking to look after you and that's the That is the continual message that we put through on the channel. It's not always as bad as what you'd think Okay, you know turn into a CNBC You'd you'd get enough doom and gloom to save you an entire lifetime and you watch enough of that stuff and I think people start to Believe it or they want to believe it or they start succumbing to What is going to be happen in 2023 when I've been there yet? I have no idea what's gonna happen But I'm gonna go through a financial breakdown tonight. You guys are gonna like this. This is typically what I do at the year's end You can consider it what you will but it'll speak to my perspective on putting into context the damage that's been done or the perceived damage here now mind you 2022 has been a horrendous year for stocks for the most part assets did not appreciate With with any type of regularity, you know, we'd get a spurt in the market or go through a few You know updates in the market only to be Drug-back and and give back everything that was the story of 2022 now If there's people out there that are like, you know, Ryan you got to come and you got to hang out with my team We're up year-over-year triple digits. Well, I'd love to see your long-term track record of performance and I've been doing YouTube for about six years now seven years. Whatever it is I guess we started our account in 2014 I guess so be pretty cool in 2024 to celebrate 10 years on YouTube I think it's been fun to share a story I started on YouTube just less than a decade ago. I couldn't believe it when I saw the statistics, but you know started with significantly less than a hundred thousand I think I started doing YouTube when I was around forty seven thousand dollars of total net worth We just did the Calcs tonight 421,964 dollars in net worth Without a stick of appreciation this year. We just haven't got any help from the market. It's been a battle all year I think a lot of people they want to roll over. I don't I don't think the stock market is your friend I think it's a wonderful wealth building tool But yours like this you've got to fight and that's what it requires It doesn't require taking the complacent road and and and trying to use social media in a capacity that it is not capable of giving you in other words You're not going to find an easy road in the skin people would ask me, you know, how Difficult or how hard is it to achieve wealth and life? And even though I have not amassed a fortune that maybe society would dub as successful. Okay I do I do because I know what I've gone through to build this up I know what I've deployed in the This 10 year span Which have helped accelerate this wealth? Okay, and I'm gonna give you all 20 categories And you might say God 20 categories Ryan. I mean you're talking about the S&P 500 a lot That is one of my categories. That is one of my 20 categories and I have five Subcategories that do help augment the total financial picture and portfolio. So there's 25 total You guys are going to enjoy this. It's going to be my own personal breakdown You guys will be able to take nuggets out of this and take and deploy in your own Application with no problem. Okay. This is not financial planning. Okay. I'm telling you what I do All right, there's no secret that the S&P 500 exists So I'm not going to come on to YouTube and pretend that somehow only the elite need to be made privy to this information I just don't believe that As a matter of fact, it's the contrary to I'm an advocate of The retail investor that I feel that all the time misses the very simple Perspective and it is very unique that I have and I share very unique. We're going to go through the 11 layers of wealth that I teach upon One through 11 and I assign a certain value to each of these 20 categories I'll separate the five categories for you guys and explain how those help Augment some of you guys have a good majority of these maybe they're contained in One account in a number of different facets. Okay? I choose to break up my investments and I have a lot of different buckets or accounts That's just the way I roll. There's no right or wrong way to do that It's just the sheer reality now is that signing up for a brokerage account costs you how much money? I'll wait Zero right you can obtain a brokerage account now free of charge All you have to do is go through the due diligence to set up the account Sometimes you can do it in less than 10 minutes I can probably do it in less than five because I know the information that they asked for and it seemingly helps me immensely separate and put strategic avenues to work now as the market attacks each and every one of these avenues it's a little bit different in The dividend aspect as opposed to the micro cap growth and small cap growth, which has just gotten crushed in 2022 right we'll look for those to outperform back out of 2023 But as the market attacks my portfolio per se in a year like 2022 where it's very very difficult to find pockets of Appreciation obviously there's been a lot in the portfolio that we've just been looking to maintain Especially on the passive side through dollar cost averaging We're looking to augment some of those losses in the portfolio just by nature of holding true on our program Maybe doing a little strategic buying, but I tell you what it becomes very very Difficult to continue to strategically buy the market only to watch it continue to Be subject to the downturn. Does that mean you're a bad investor? I'm talking rhetorically to myself Does that mean you're bad or ill-timed or anything? No all of those? Investments don't need to give you some sort of assurances that you're doing the right thing in the short term Okay, we are building up the opportunity to give ourselves those decisions or Opportunities to realize growth down the line So it doesn't matter what's gonna happen in 23 and it sure as hell doesn't matter What happens day-to-day in the market you tune on turn on CNBC? I really wish that they would Give a little bit more fundamental and I think some of the commentators do I think I really think they do understand that Reporting minute by minute day by day week by week month by month on the stock market Sometimes gets a little bit repetitive and the title of this video is obnoxiously predictable And an expected reaction because you know, it's amazing to me How everybody is just cheerleading for fang when it's fang time and it's fang time and we wake up And we have fang for breakfast and we got to invest in fang fang and I got to start a youtube channel I gotta talk about fang fang and I bring everybody in on this just absolutely phenomenal secret That I've found out here called fang and I have to share the world actually I have to poison the world with my short term inject to stock market investing because I think I found the holy grail Of investing right through fang fang fang and I've got to build up a youtube channel to share everybody on fang fang fang Because what's good for me is absolutely good for everybody and I can come on with a lot of charisma and sell people on fang fang fang What about arc ETFs you want to find a funny video go back and watch my arc ETFs where I compare it to The vanguard ETFs incredible video. It's awesome. It's one of my best ones It's one of my most watched videos and it's one of my most hated videos because I walked into the lions den Because kathy would People actually I don't know they wanted to like be her or or meet her or they were everybody's mentor And what kathy says is what kathy does and what kathy says about a stock is going to automatically generate 3x you know 3x returns over time or 3 figure returns into the future We've wiped out every single bit of the gains in arc ETFs over the last five years. That's a fundamental fact Do I think our arc ETFs are a bad product? No, I don't it's just indicative of The obnoxiously predictable aspect of the stock market here in understanding that there is usually one very very common thread That will transcend the decades for you in investing really well and that is perspective perspective to understand that yeah, okay Markets are shitty. They're shitty. What do you want to do? You want to whine about it? you want to succumb to the whims of Retail investors that don't have half of the knowledge you guys have for tune it into me every single friday You'll have perspective you tune into me. You you'll listen to how I break down money You'll get it the 421 964 whatever it is Four four and a quarter right once we get back up to that half a million dollar mark will be at step 10 And looking to push the portfolio over that step 11 to to the seven figures and and we'll be there There's no doubt in my mind. I'm a young man. I'm 45 years old There's no doubt in my mind and so for you guys that tune in to me and are in your early 20s You guys are being given An awful incredible gift Now I give it away every friday and I find it funny and I scoff at the fact I love the 35 people who are in here right now But the irony and the whole thing is that I just don't think a lot of people want this information I don't think they want it. They would say that they want it But they are unwilling to take one single second to viota Of their time to come on and listen to a guy like myself who's got the goods No doubt about it. Okay. I will turn out presentations later on in life when this project gets big But for right now we do an informal live stream with no socks with a nikey shirt and a nikey shorts And i'm comfortable. I'm chilling under the lights on a friday evening with a 95% drink guys Happy holidays to all of you guys really appreciate your continued support of the channel I really do grab yourself a cocktail. Have some fun man. We're going to get into the numbers tonight Have a little fun makes some jokes. Maybe even a little bit of dry humor that dry humor is actually making me thirsty Be back with you in just a moment We got a live stream to do. Sorry. He says happy holidays. Eric, great to see you my friend. Fantastic. See, I'm an unpolished fella on youtube. Okay, so if you expect the whole Jump editing and jumping around and me karate chopping you with all the right like hand gestures and shit I won't do that. Okay. I won't do that I'm like your youtuber next door Okay It's a fantastic beverage just fantastic. I mean really fantastic It's something to be thankful for actually Which is something that you guys could do outside of these 25 items that we're gonna talk about here I don't know if it was at 521,000. I'd have the same mentality I'd be having a cocktail with you guys right now, but it's not we had a bad year this year in 2022 It was a bad year. I had to fight and that's the thing is and that's the great separator for people man That is the great separator of people those people who do not succumb to the whims The question is how good can you do in bad markets? Okay, not how you good can do in good markets I have no doubt about it. You give me a hundred investors I'll I'll make you the the most incredible investor in positive markets You give me a hundred investors And you give me half of those investors that I can see and provide perspective to To whether the storm in poor down trending markets to apply Still offensive strategies when nobody else is talking about maybe hell I don't know buying this market for five years down the line. I don't know man. Maybe that's a good idea I don't know. Oh, and all we need to focus on is 2023 I guess because we can't see beyond the brow of our nose, right and understand that maybe I don't know making a few investments Right now might be good for your financial security. I don't know $421,000 for a high school fellow with some college education There's got to be people who watch me and they're like who in the freak is this fruitcake Really a youtube channel. He just said he's got a half a million dollars in the bank in a down trending market Yeah, I think I would have been at 650 had the market been somewhat conducive this year But we're gonna live to fight another day. I don't know if it's gonna happen in the first half of 2023 But I look at latter half of 2023 is maybe being a catalyst here I don't know. I'm in the pocket and I've been investing a long long time guys to tell you What are you gonna do? You're gonna liquidate your entire portfolio You will miss out on that jump and those jumps they happen. Boom. Just like they did at the end of the market today Boom boom moderating around and kicking around and you know Rocking around the Christmas tree have a happy holiday just all day, right? And then all of a sudden 1500 to the upside That's how it happens now. I could have just I don't know got mad and just said woe is me And oh my goodness the Grinch is coming for me not Santa Claus And the Grinch is going to kick my ass at the end of this year Kick me in the ass one one more time because it's been a horrible year, right? I could just feel sorry for myself I just I just don't do that man Uh, just saw somebody here. I accept your invite, brother If you're proper, you can come on the live stream tonight, man. I dropped Uh an invite up for vip's up here. Mokie Yeah, man I've got three weeks straight of having a guest on the channel, man And I think your time is due so if you got all dressed up with your suit and tie And you're ready to go man. Look at me Huh, I put on my Friday's best I'm ready to go man But the invite's at the top there, man If you are proper and you're in the studio, man, you can kick on this evening I'd love to have you on but if you do that and you do kick into the studio Let me rip through these statistics here from my my my group here because I'm super stoked to go through a year like this and to buffer the downturns as part of the defensive strategy and I'm not going to tell you that Going into stock market investing is always just going to be roses. It's not going to happen that way. All right But here's the 20 rapid fire. I'm going to throw it at you now. Okay if we lose power It's because I'm in a polar vortex here in new york city. All right, and we'll have to just make it up tomorrow All right, but here it is. Here's the 20 the smp 500. It's at a level 7 right now Which means it's over 50 000 next strategic Wealth threshold to 75 000 Excuse me a hundred thousand. All right, so we'll work on that Level eight this year at sixty five thousand four hundred thirty one dollars. That's just in the smp 500 That's it two index funds v o o and one index fund in my tsp. That's smp five hundred sixty five thousand four hundred thirty one dollars small caps Interesting little avenue little avenue little area to play thirteen thousand six hundred and sixty two dollars mid caps level two 1100 dollars not too bad. I just figured I'd throw a little v a little v o in there. That's what I've got In the mid caps international 7 735 dollars just in mid caps. It's a level four So we'll look to get that up to the 10 000 which is a level five. All right Uh Next one dividend growth ETFs. This will go from a five to six in 2023. That's the strategic goal 23128 dollars. That's just dividend growth ETFs. That's your fch g's of the world That's your vig's of the world Okay for you home gamers that are taking notes and they're like ryan is just pulling this off the top of his head man He's just looking into the camera. He doesn't have any notes. I don't I have this stuff upstairs It's all good. But that's what they're comprised of dividend growth ETFs technology This is the triple q's. This is the nasdaq as well as the alt investments in tqqq, which I think is a screaming buy right here At 18 dollars in change. All right technology in and of itself with the nasdaq. It's 11157 thousand 11157 dollars. Excuse me 95 proof is getting to me. All right 11,000 so it's over that 10,000 so what a level five there another another level five is the total market index Which is vti? Okay That is comprised in one ETF in the amount of 10,292 dollars Do you think i've got any appreciation out of that value? Hell, no not not a bit. I'm down on those positions But we're setting ourselves up for basic positions Going forward. All right That's the total market the sectors This is an aspect that I teach on on the channel that I don't think that I don't I don't hear anywhere I don't hear anywhere across the youtube landscape talking about the sectors and they can really be a strategic fit down there Um in your portfolio to kind of give you some real estate, right? Give you some some vanguard's opportunity, right? So The sectors I talk about that through m1 finance. I see you there mokey man get settled in I'm going to bring you on here in like two three minutes here man. Awesome I've got mokey finance in the house tonight man. I'm super stoked fantastic. This is like see it's in 2022 With a bang man. It's been pretty horrendous stock market But it's been very very cool from a community perspective man. It's so good. All right. So the sectors 28,097 Almost 30 grand just in the sectors my friends and that's comprised of just the v. Oh Or the vanguard products. Okay Aggressive growth 35,664. This is your amazons Googles meta. Okay. CRM salesforce dot com. Okay, these are your large Kind of aggressive growth companies value stocks value stocks in 2023 will move from a seven to an eight 97,692 dollars just in in value Value companies your physers your johnson and johnson your proctor and gamble Okay, so when I can declare a 421 and I don't come on and I don't I don't have like shit in my pants after 2022 I'm freaking fine. I sleep easy guys Okay, and I'm trying to teach you guys to not fear the markets Okay, the market is not your friend. That is a tool to accelerate your wealth into the future But but don't get complacent on the market because it'll hit you with the right hook and you'll be down Okay, but I'm trying to teach you how to build in Defense into the portfolio. All right 97,692 that turns over into the six figures in 2023 that'll go from a level seven to a level eight Growth stocks from a five to a six at 24,830 dollars. Okay, that's the growth Stocks micro caps. I've got crushed on this year. We're at a $5,000 bill 4786 and micro caps I look for that to actually materialize in the back half of 2023 because they've been absolutely annihilated in 2022 Moki's going to speak about it because he's a value investor passive investor and he does quite well with it So it's going to be great to hear his perspectives. How about college funds? Should I just throw in the towel and just give up on the kids education? Should I do that? But I can liquidate $18,504 Or should I bitch and complain about the five dollar loaf of bread at the store? I'm paying a dollar per egg here in new york city a dollar. Can you believe that? But I can just liquidate the kids college funds man So I can feel better about myself here in 2022. No, no, it doesn't work that way UTMA is $1350. Those are gifts to my kids when they get to the vesting age cash 1846 the business and the assets thus far six years in the chair We've built up some assets and I did not assign a value to this in my total Net worth. I assigned a value of zero for the sake of this activity. However, I did disclose the investment Income under the business cornerstone capital solutions at $24,490 and $10,426 in cash It's been a nice year for us on the business side of the house Crypto, which has been crushed this year $989 a very small portion of the portfolio and finally bonds To roll out the 20 aspects of the portfolio, which as of late have been on fire Bonds. Yeah, I said it. Can you believe that? $2,768 the other five categories that I want to tell you guys about Credit availability super important insurances life dental and auto the last couple weeks I would have spent $5,000 out of pocket to have a stupid root canal down on my tooth Okay, either that comes out of the insurance. Thank you freaking very much. I've earned it Right or it comes out of my bottom line that I just declared to you guys You make the choice. Okay. These are all things that can kind of affect your bottom line employment Your debt if you have debt working against your portfolio value, then you can't have it both ways Okay, you have to account for that stuff and finally your actual assets that you have All right, and that is it. We have that and a partridge and a pear tree Merry Christmas monkey. How are you? Ryan, thanks so much for uh Long and come on man. You're uh, you're an og in this space and it's so cool to be on Been doing it a while It's funny too, man because you go back and you watch some of your early content and you're like It's a learning evolution and you get to do it in front of people You know so they can they can watch you evolve and man I always am like I wish I would have said that or man I wish I would have said that but I get into my groove and I'm all amped up You know, I got I got it. I got it going and it's like man You just want to help people you want to say the right thing and more importantly You don't want to say the wrong thing where people are going to hear you and say man Did he say that did he mean that and they go do something and they get themselves in trouble That's the last thing that I want to see happen But you've been doing this gig a while and it's been a while since I talked to you man How are things going give us an update for the for the channel folks? Yeah, I mean it's been uh, I started in 2019 october. So just hit my three-year mark Uh march of 21. I took it full time Maybe prematurely not realizing What was going to happen in 2022 and now I've uh scaled it back quite a bit I went back to the workforce. So but I mean it's been a fun side project all along I think uh taking it full time to premature and I wasn't willing to uh talk about the stuff that would get me views I was willing to only talk about what I am doing and what I believe is Is the path that most people could benefit from so never really got the growth that a lot of other channels around me did at that time, but that's neither here nor there. I'm uh Happy with everything god's giving me and uh just pushing forward now I I think the disparity between a channel like yours and a channel like mine because I'm with you I've I've I've gone through ebbs and flows on the channel where I've tried to You know hit those pockets of what people are looking for and all that As of late and I would say really extending beyond 2022 back into 2021 I've given all that up. I do what I want when I want how I want. I'm pretty vocal about it. Um You mentioned side hustle, right? So Now it's spiraled a little bit to where I don't do a whole lot and I make what it is that I Would have always aspired to make on a side hustle, you know, but I just enjoy this project so much I give you credit man for trying to branch out and and do this and take that leap of faith I've been pretty honest. I uh, I couldn't see myself doing that I I love my job. I'm a different person at my job than I am You know in my niche here. I mean, this is a release for me. This is fun. My job is very serious, right? So I can't go and you know I'm having a good time right and and that's the way I want it man And I also don't want it to be like, okay You know mokey finances got you know 500 000 subscribers. Therefore, he must have all the answers I don't think any of that's true And I think you know myself with a smaller channel on youtube I think I feel like I do have stuff to bring to the table. I've I've known you for a long long time You're a good guy and and I think that goes a long way I'm just I'm not so sure how far it goes on youtube Because there's certain pedigree that you got to have on youtube like charisma and you know Things people are getting people's attention. I'm just not good at that and I won't I won't succumb to that. I'm not going to try to I'm not capable of being something that I'm not and I'm just not going to do it and I never I never have Like I said, there have been times on the channel where I thought, okay, we're catching some pretty good momentum This is pretty exciting stuff And in retrospect those things come and they go and it's really hard to continue that momentum Continually, would you agree with that? Absolutely. I mean 2021 I had the biggest push on my channel had a few fidelity videos get almost 100,000 views And started, you know, seeing the big patients coming in and I really had that momentum that you're talking about But then I lost the passion for those videos because the videos It would do really well is what I would name fidelity funds but Making a list of top 5 funds every single month while yes, it made me thousands of dollars in youtube It's really for the sake of helping people. It does nothing and uh, I stepped away from that So my income dropped like 80 percent on youtube, but I'm fine with that again I'm like you man. I want to talk about what I want to talk about I don't care if I don't make another penny off youtube I'm still going to be here Sharing at least my journey of my side of it because I like to think of myself as just the average guy, right? And um, I What I miss from youtube is uh, when I first started watching youtube I saw guys like you guys like uh, jmack and seeing regular folks that have to relate to you I was like, man, this is what I was looking for I didn't want to look at those guys with millions of dollars from youtube income I can't relate to that. I'll never have that sort of income Um, and it just uh, it was cool to see guys like you and uh, now I'm trying to be one of those guys too Where it's like, hey, I'm just an everyday guy Didn't make my wealth on youtube or on the internet or it's some kind of shady business and uh, this is what I'm doing So far, I mean, I have a loyal base of followers You know, there's always like a thousand people. I'll follow you every time no matter what you talk about But then there's the people that come in and out but really focus on those loyal people and spreading my message to them Well, I think It's not over You know, like we look back and I I've been doing this five years I have a different perspective perspective on time. I guess And I just love doing this project. I love it now more than I ever did at the beginning I explained when I started out on youtube I want I wanted to look for a reason to excuse excuse to quit a thousand times over I kid you not man. I like it was really hard to get motivated And I I felt like I needed to manufacture that motivation like what's wrong with me, man, you know, like you know, I I would go through blocks of of topics and Things like that. I don't I don't experience any of that anymore It's so stress-free To know that I can come on and rap on my live stream very little planning goes into my live stream I like it like that. I just think we live in such a scripted world I get tired of that crap. Nobody speaks from the heart anymore You know, it's like I go to work and it's like did you read my email? And I was like you could have just walked 50 feet and talked to me, you know, like It's it's a lost art anymore. It's like we want to Grab our conversations in in text message your email and it's like come on guys, man I we're losing a little bit of that and I think for me, man The the side hustle aspect is fine, but don't sell yourself short, man I was always explained this on youtube you have a good channel and it's hard enough to get Established on youtube and established for me is like 10,000 subscribers. That's like that's a pretty good milestone, man That's like it's awesome accomplishment But You know, if you're going to do this and you see yourself doing it into the future You have limitless upside potential With very little overhead to do the project. I mean, what would you rather do man ebay craigslist? I mean, you know, I mean this is this is cool, man And a lot of people would disagree I just had somebody reach out one of my advertisers was like You got to get on tiktok ryan and I've always told them I was like, I can't I just don't I don't like the credibility I don't like it Um, I started it this week and just kind of testing the waters a little bit But for me, it's kind of like It's kind of like evolving in my craft a little bit in social media. I get to learn a new idea I'm I'm Dabbling a little bit with the shorts on youtube that's kind of cool because When I do things my way, I'll come on and speak about highly on for 60 minutes Or I'll do a live stream for 60 minutes. Most people don't want to devote 60 minutes at their time I totally get that so maybe if we can, you know Get people excited about the message through maybe just a you know, three or four minute video clip Maybe we can bring some of those more into the into the community But you know, that's the whole idea if if if we're going to slowly grow this project into the future You know if I end up sharing my opportunity to grow and share my story into the future And people don't resonate with me now. Maybe they'll resonate with me down down the line I've changed so much in five years, man. I just declared before I started this project I had less than 50 grand 50 grand approaching approaching 500,000 And that for me, it's not about the money man It's about it's about the will to do And the fact that maybe I don't know I can kind of look at this and give myself a little bit of credit For actually doing it's real You know what I'm saying for sure. I mean, I think we all know the process to do it or how to do it It's kind of like me trying to get on a diet. I know what I got to eat It's a matter of doing it and a lot of people Just not willing to do do the hard work. They're looking for the short cut. So it's really impressive. I have a similar story yours Before I started this whole financial dirty. I was in debt up to my eyeballs and Gosh brand new cars motorcycle living the living somebody else's life With the neighbors of what's in the driveway and When I got laid off I had a really good job with the state. I was a fridge inspector Making bank but really had nothing had a negative net worth in in 2017 and to finally rid myself of outside Visions for my life and to sit down with my wife at the table With all her student loan debt with all our consumer debt and to say, hey, this is the plan This is how we're going to execute and actually do it as a team do it together Make our relationship 50 times better and made life way more enjoyable and now get free obviously I went from 2018 negative 12,000 I just redid my net worth last month 373,000 right so in four years It's granted really good income. So it wasn't A little bit of a tailwind pushing me but to make that difference in four years to change my life And I haven't sacrificed anything. I'm still doing the same stuff, but I'm doing it on my terms I just bought a brand new truck But I bought it in cash when I could actually afford to instead of Financing at a word of the case may be so life's way different for us. We're much more at peace with everything We're grateful for everything that we have And no matter what the markets do no matter what real estate does We just keep pushing forward and focusing on our planning and the executing and in the end We know we're going to make it. It's just a matter of time whether it's five years 10 years 20 years You know, we're staring down knocking down that door of millionaire status And you'll get there no doubt about it. I you guys are you guys are way younger than me And that's what I try to Convey to people is the quicker you can get that mental mindset man It's super important. Look what you just shared with the group and how quickly you turn that around and Extremely short amount of time And that's crazy, but it's not so crazy. You're not surprising me so much because I know it's possible So for you to share that testimonial man, that's pretty awesome and a success story guys are watching us tonight There's two guys me and Ryan here who in a short amount of time We've changed life around and and if we can do it there's nothing About us. It's different than you guys are watching or commenting here in the chat so Just know there's people like us to do it and it's up to you is Nobody else can control your destiny, but you so if you want to roll up your sleeves and do the hard work Do this? Well, let me ask you this man. What do you think is the top? Give me the top contributor to that You mentioned employment and I don't want to presume that was the contributor that I try to talk to people all the time about how important that is I mentioned the insurance piece And I just think we went through a phase of euphoria in the latter part of 2015 to 2020 Right before the pandemic hit where people were pulling off some big not obnoxious comments and people were listening like Like yo, you just all you got to do at 19 years old is just do this this and boom you're millionaire and it's like Maybe that happened for a lot of people, but but I'm a lot more realistic than that. I think it's it's not easy It's actually hard. So when people ask me like, you know How is it? Is it something I can do? Yeah. Yeah, it's something that you can do but For me personally and I'm the only one that I can speak for Um Is that for me? It's it's a mental application. It's something that I've wanted to do And it's not about the money. That's what people really don't understand. Yes The money is the reflection of a well-laid plan But if I'm right in this deal mokey, right, I've got to be able to Reflect upon the plan and say here were the aspects of the plan that worked and here were the aspects of the plan That maybe maybe I could have done without you know, or maybe there was Phases along the plan where I just got banged lucky Or maybe I took an advancement that helped accelerate, you know myself to that plan, but What do you think is the contributor to that quick turnaround for you, man? For me, it's all it's been about eliminating debt and having our income. So Um, I've had actually I this is the least in the last two years We made the least amount of money in the last 10, right? So we're we're just interested under that 12 threshold We made $86,000 last year right on man. Yeah, when I was when I was at the peak of my career in 2015 I was just me alone The wife another 100,000, but we had nothing to show for it, right? We had absolutely nothing So income is Important, but it's not you don't have to have a six-figure income to do this Um, the reason we're able to do it is once we eliminated debt with that high income All of a sudden we freed up our income That income went to maxing out raw fire rate maxing out 401ks maxing out hsa Opening up a 529 for a kid and dump the 20 grand into it last year because we have now that freed up money to be able to do that and we do it uh as a um delayed gratification piece Instead of spending it now on something we really want We're willing to delay what we really want to be able to shore up these retirements And and shore up our son's education and even his future um Because I don't want him to have to go obviously I I do want him to Struggle and and know what it's like to earn the dollar But I don't want him to have to suffer like I did. I grew up in eastern, you know Came there's a war refugee my my parents suffered even more than me Being adults and picking up the family movement here in america But i'm so grateful for the opportunity this country accepted us and now we're making the most of it And I I still want to understand that but obviously We do this for generational wealth. We want to make sure that we can leave something behind It doesn't even have to be money to be just a legacy of the knowledge that I have That's a pass on around to him that he can pass on to future generations, but really delaying gratification and creating Stuff that you really want pushing that off and and Shoring up everything because now once it's set up this thing is like a rolling machine I don't really pay attention to it that much but year over year as long as we're contributing We end up still contributing 40 50 thousand dollars When everything's finished and I'm pretty comfortable with that with the income now the income's roughly about 120 this year, so it'll be a little bit higher, but yeah, that's really that's really different. I don't have any debt It's really nice to not have a truck payment now have Credit cards or I was funding my vacations on credit card spending and grand Yeah to enjoy myself and now that's in grand is going into retirement account. It's just a different mentality I'll under I wonder what I'd be able to do with 120,000 a year I know you live frugally I I follow your work quite a bit and uh You probably I was very frugal up until the point my son was born Uh, and then when he was born to a whole bunch of us we were living in Chicago At the at the best time we're living at 30 off 30,000 a year and people couldn't believe that right? It's like how do you do that in Chicago? We did it 2018 we lived off 30,000 2019 We did it but then 2020 2021 as she became pregnant. God bless us with the kid. Um Stuff got a little more expensive a diverse formula Gosh everything and now we're living off maybe 50,000 You're still I think uh reasonable for um our area The income we make but um man and if you can do what ryan does guys you you just created a shortcut That's the shortcut the the less you spend the more you have to invest that's the shortcut I just Maybe when I walk through the mall, maybe I should feel more compelled I guess to spend like ever this crazy I I walked in the lids the other day in the mall and I was just like I couldn't believe it man the money people drop And it's like like nothing, you know And uh, it's pretty crazy man. I I don't doubt my fellow Americans and their ability to spend money I guess my question is You know through exercising those habits and they are and unfortunately their habit forming Okay, you start to lose track of A time when maybe you didn't have so much and maybe I don't know you were just as happy or happier So what gives Right, if you can find that kind of happy medium to where you're like, okay, I can acknowledge man This is pretty awesome. Like you talked about the truck. You work hard. It's awesome. Like me I bought my dream truck and it's like dude every time I get in it. It's like freaking fabulous, you know And it's a step up from my I had a 2005 Tacoma and I bought this 2019 Tacoma and it like It's it's got like road as well. This one's a four-wheel drive, man So my wife was complaining about some icy roads. So we've got a polar vortex going through new york right now It's nuts, right? So Thank you. Yeah, you've just given it to us. I appreciate that. Thank you for the given. It's the season to give him but Yeah, um, yeah, I get in it and I'm just like I'm just like a kid in a candy store, man And those little things I acknowledge I didn't need to buy it brand new that would have been something if I didn't have the money I would have looked for it used But the stuff I was seeing used was just as much as the stuff that was new And even coming into the last year or so used vehicles. I could have gotten premium on that vehicle Um, but but I'm with you, you know those things I'm very blessed to and I don't want to come on and profess like I run the ramsey program Like I eat, you know garbanzo beans out of a can I I don't do that I I'm very very happy. I'm very well cared for for the people that know me. I've been in the military It'll be 18 years this time around Taking a monster promotion this summer man. I've I've earned it. I've I've crushed it Man, I work really I work really really hard, but That's where I get off, you know, um, I go to the gym and what does that cost me nothing You know, um, the only thing that I it costs me a lot right now My number one expenditure Is food and we eat well and we don't eat out at restaurants, right? You know, so that's a big expenditure here in new york. I wasn't kidding about the one dollar eggs here Yeah, I mean we're we're paying shoot like 50 cents an egg, but a dollar Come to new york Everything is double here man like insurance and things like I left virginia came up here got my quote and I was like Are you is it legal to do that to people? I'm just curious. I'm a real nice guy, but I just have to ask the question They're like, yeah, it's the new york thing, you know God dang man so But you know, that's one of the things about being a military family is You know the the ability to root yourself in And and and get used to the jobs and get used to the schools for the kids and stuff That's stuff that I don't get to enjoy and I'm 45 years old and I kind of have that on the shelf as a dream of mine To just pick that area that I want to pick and just say man, it's going to be here. Here it is Maybe god willing we can do a couple of locations, which would be nice maybe get the best of of two worlds because I think the world is changing I think single family Real estate is changing For the worst I think that hedge funds are picking up a lot of property I'm seeing HOA's man out in the Shenandoah Valley, which is west of virginia I don't know where you from pokey. Where are you? You're from chicago. All right. Cool. I lived in detroit So little chicago, but uh, been to chicago many times. I like it um But uh, yeah, there's HOA's like these hedge funds are buying huge swaths of property Subdividing it up into 10 acre plots and they're requiring the purchases of those properties to build right away So they can assess those HOA fees now I have no idea the intent of an HOA I I lived in houston For about four years and it worked in the neighborhoods where cutting your grass was important, etc, etc But why do you need to pay somebody? You know 15 20 a month through an HOA fee in the middle of nowhere And this is going on right now because the secret is out That the only way to obtain appreciable assets is to Obtain them through the stock market and through the real estate market. That's it. That's it There's a few other sub markets that you can get involved with but Big companies are going after those and it's going to further separate those that have and those that have not And those that are sitting on real estate right now Um, I would think twice about actually liquidating or selling that property into the future as opposed to just Building a legacy like you're talking about just turning it over to the family at some point down the line Yeah, and I couldn't agree more. I mean, uh, both stock market and real estate are the reason I have this network In such a short amount of time. Um, I bought my first property in 2012 $50,000 Displained the condo just outside of north of chicago That's not very appreciated four or five times over in this market. I just sold it in 2021 Didn't want to sell it. But again, HOA pushed me to not allow me to rent. So I had no choice My hands were tied. But anyways, I'm not complaining. Interesting made a chunk of change. Yeah, the owner's voted in 2018 not to allow renters anymore Whatever long story short made a big chunk of change there and then I rolled it into this property Where we're at right now in a much little bit much nicer neighborhood than where we were better school Little more isolated further away from greatness of the city, which the older I get further away Very close to Wisconsin line now the straight line if you push it further north But yeah, real estate has created a huge shortcut for me But again, I my dad on the other side real estate has heard him a lot He bought in 2005 Half a million dollar house that was worth Not even a quarter of a million to three years later. So there's both sides of that story But uh, there sure is I buy real estate the one property at a time I don't over leverage myself. I I still I listen to the Ramsey way even though I know it's not right I still do the 15 year mortgage No more than the thing of being no more than 25 I take home. Oh, I like those. I don't I don't get in trouble I don't get in trouble when the hot water heater goes out. I don't get in trouble I just had to call a plumber 600 bucks. I don't have any hot water in the shower So, you know, that's those are the things if you follow the set principles, you don't over extend yourself real estate is great But on the flip side everybody that was buying in 2021 is probably going to be in a world of hurt and a couple of years when What they realized, um, what they're sitting on is not what they thought they had It's um made me nervous. It's made me gun shy I've been the closest I've been is to having an offer on a house down in, uh, Virginia And we made a lot of concessions and we were in at 365,000 and you have to understand too our first two houses. We paid 140,000 for in Detroit and in Houston Yeah, we owned them both at the same time I'm sold them both and since then we have not owned real estate. I've watched it appreciate and I just won't do it. I don't have the luxury right if I were going to go settle in Virginia Beach Which is where I probably want to end up Um, then I could I could maybe just say, okay, let's just bite the bullet and go go at it, right? Because we can wait those times out, but I can't do that. See I could I need to uproot every three four years Whatever the market's doing now. I can rent. Yes But I need 360 450 500 000 you're talking about a rental note of 300 $3,000 just to cover I don't want to carry that kind of overhead man. No way That's the stuff I would yeah, I can hold stock down. No problem. I can hold stock. That's not stressful at all But real estate, that's a whole lot different when that note's coming around every 30 days and it's like You know, you're you're you know up against the grid getting into our rears on that stuff. No way I just won't do it. I can't do it. I got to be more solvent But real estate is one of those things. It's a passion of mine as well and it's shelved until You know, mill mill and a half is mill and a half is my goal to kind of look at starting to get involved in multi-family real estate And and start to strategically pick and build my portfolio There's something that I'll chronicle. We're just not there yet, you know, yeah, you know, you're so fast and I agree I was in your shoes. I wouldn't be touching it, man. I wouldn't be touching it. No way Um, just I'm in new york I'm in new york Definitely would not be touching you trust me man. I can drive over here to statin island. I'm in statin island I drive one minute to work One minute If I was over in new jersey It's $12,000 12 to 14 thousand in taxes in just in taxes a year. Okay It's it's it's crazy. The price point is around 500 to 650 thousand You're talking about 120 dollars just in tolls per month to drive over And do what I'm doing free. No way man. I'll sit where I'm at and run my empire my small empire I'm happy. I'm happy. I don't need to stretch like that man. You know, I just I agree with you man. Yeah, that would be you'd be putting yourself Open yourself up to risk. You really shouldn't be taken and and it's it's why why so you can Potentially see an appreciation or see the bubble burst and then you'll be a second guess and everything So everything's uh, I like to use the terms. There's no risk in the past When we look at stuff into now and say hey, I whatever it would have appreciated Whatever it did. Well, yeah, because now we see what it's afraid But there's there's no risk in the past But if you started, you know four years, you can say I wanted to buy a house and you did buy that house Sure. Yeah, you got that appreciation But if somebody just bought a house you might not see that Yeah, no exactly exactly Let's talk about stocks and the stock market. So I don't know how much time you got We got all the time in the world man. I'll go over time for you, man It's all good. We can go over 15 minutes man, but stock market Sure, you got it share with people what I'm doing Um, I started watching channels like yours and I mentioned jmak that money a lot of the og's of YouTube I got really motivated dividends and different growth investing. I think like everybody's back today And then I progressed from there once I had a little sweet stock filed to index funds Really my background came from Leaning on academia and learning from people like Paul Merriman, John Vogel J.L. Collins another one that comes to mind He said that instead of trying to sell you a product and investment or an investment strategy We're really looking out for your best interest And I think Jack Bogo is a great example of that He could have had what the Johnson family with fidelity has a multi-billion dollar Bank account instead he chose to live frugally and He was he was still worth a few hundred million dollars, but he chose to Reinvest everything back into the actual investors at vanguard, which which is really I think In these times very rare for human beings to exist like that who says I don't need all this money I rather help the average retail like you talked about trying to help the average retail investor I think John bogel was it was somebody who was ideal at that and I based off all my investing off them So I read all 10 of his books and I got really hooked into being a bogel head and basically investing in index funds In February of 2021 I created my strategy that I dubbed now the multi-grade It's simply three index funds that cover the entire globe From large caps small caps value International you get it all with three funds. The simplicity of it is really what What I liked about it. It's a total u.s. Market fund 60 percent of my portfolio 20 percent is us small cap value You got the tickers you got the tickers brother if you go with vanguard vti Or vtsax If you go with fidelity, it's fskx And then 20 u.s. Small cap value I use a vbr at vanguard if you use fidelity fisvx Any u.s. Small cap value fund as long as the index fund and then 20 percent total international That's vx us or vti ax for the mutual fund or fti hx for fidelity people It's such a simple portfolio. You own three funds super easy to rebalance once a year I rebalance it if it gets out of whack by more than five percent And it owns 13,650 stocks Yeah, I own it slightly different weight Than to what the overall markets weighted because I am Waiting way more on value than I am on growth and I'm way way more to small caps than I am As the market and the reason for that is I mentioned the gentleman Paul Merriman I don't know how many people are familiar with him, but I actually had him on my channel Very good guy. He works in the financial education space He's a billionaire or he's approaching it and He opened my eyes to a small cap value. I think we all know about small caps and and there is definitely a premium There's papers published by Eugene Fama Kenneth french university of chicago professors They're near near to work where I studied that that have published papers on the small cap premium because Investors take more risk to invest in small caps highly on your your example of small cap, right? You took on way more risk than somebody that put their money in apple, right? So this should in the long term Made a premium for that risk and that's where small caps outperform large caps by about two percent over 20 or 30 year period and what's interesting with value is value is They're out of favor We saw the resurgence of oil well from 2015 to 2020 oil was negative and all of a sudden It came back into favor. So people that can tilt value that can tilt a small cap Generally should have a premium and it were about three to four percent over Standard s and p or total world portfolio that's just pretty much large cap growth and large cap blend company the data supports it a lot of academic papers have been published and I tend to do more evidence-based investing I like to look back a hundred years and say what's worked for the last hundred years versus what's worked in the last 10 Sometimes the last 10 growth beats value we've seen in the last 10 Yes, you zoom back out you'll see many many decades where value outperforms growth and uh, it's absolutely Yeah, the evidence is there and uh, I I'm not smart enough to have my own original ideas my own thoughts That's why I went into academia and listened to this to the academics and that's kind of how I structured it And that's what I run with that's what I teach people And honestly guys, it's the most or not the most you could probably just put it all in bti and be super passive But it's one of the easiest portfolios to manage And it's very easy to find in 401k plans It does not have to be specific to one as long as it matches those categories So you can implement it in your tsb if you're 401ks for 3d's Wherever you have your money you can implement a strategy that involves the whole world, but tilts to small values I love it I think it's great you're catching me over the last 18 months I've been in a little bit of a transition in my Investing thesis that let me give you just a little bit of premise and I I really want my audience to understand this as well Let's just say that for the sake of discussion highly on right now is probably my most Aggressive position. Okay. It's a big position in the portfolio People need to understand the context around why I'm kind of doing that. All right My career sets me up on a pension Okay, now it doesn't give me an excuse to be frivolous with my money. Okay However, I came off of a 2020 where I did 120 000 of swing trading activity. Okay It was the best year I've ever had Channeling quality stocks fizer johnson and johnson proctoring. I mean it was crazy It was it was fantastic and there was a comment at the beginning of the stream the easy money is over I agree. Um, I couldn't duplicate that here in 2022 everything you touch turns to mush. It's really bad But you're catching me at an interesting impasse at 45 years old making this move on highly on and having it just this week in another all-time low again the really the Time frame has shifted so far to the right And with the volatility, you know, the geopolitical influences all that stuff They're going to crush a single stock. This is why to your point Regular people Need to resonate with this idea of just investing passively in the world markets. I like the way you do it Chris as well with strongman personal finance. He also does it as well He's into bt I like it because his message is very very simple You should really start there as a passive baseline. Okay On the independent investor channel I guess I could come on and just say hey buy voo by the smp 500, which I've done a lot of that I've probably said it a thousand times through the course of my thousand videos that I put through For me and the story that I share and what's good for me Doesn't necessarily have to be good for the next person And the verdict is still out as to whether or not this thing is going to materialize or not My conviction is stronger now than it ever was in the beginning. Okay as the story has unfolded but My due diligence is crazy like I cover this company the way that it needs to be covered with the understanding that even with that due diligence You can fail And for a lot of people if they listen to what i'm saying and they understand that it's not just about tripping and falling into a stock And becoming a millionaire overnight It is hard work It is absolutely hard work and I will go so far as to say my last highly unvideo almost told people look There's very few that are going to be able to follow me on this journey very few So make sure that you're tough if you Have the situation the life Stuff settled out You're not a complete disaster because highly on is not going to solve all your world's problems Most people if they're going to introduce themselves into investing 101 need to establish that baseline Something i've been doing since I was 15 years old Right, so I don't want to say that I'm more eligible somebody could just as easy go out next week and buy 100 or a thousand shares of the company was zero research I get that Okay, if the company materializes right they'll come on and they'll be like I told you i'm a great investor, right? I did all my research, which is you know, it could be true. It could not be true, but For me with the 20 aspects of the portfolio. I'm really a dynamic applicator right now and It just makes sense to me where i'm looking at coming off of a decade of smp 500 outperformance The question is are we going to continue that for the next decade? Now I just disclosed a 65 thousand dollar position just in the smp 500 Some people might say that that's peanuts ryan other people might say man. I'd love to have 60 I'd love that 10 000 and the smp 500 right it doesn't matter you understand my perspective about I don't have my entire $420,000 in the smp 500 Because I don't believe in that I don't I believe in the 65 000 now being worth something when I give it to my children And they carry on that into the decades But to put all my eggs into that basket and give up the ability to do You know some aggressive investing some micro cap investing some small cap investing international Etc etc down the line and even hold some cash on the side This doesn't really fit. Like I said you're in bonds, which is worth out this year It's worked out this year. I'm I'm a how old are you? 33 33 so at 33 you don't even need to be you should feel like you're cussing by saying the word bond And bonds bonds is a is a fickle thing because here's a funny thing and my spiel on bonds is really simple For a lot of people they'll look at bonds and say, okay, I want to invest in bonds to preserve capital Okay That is okay, but that needs to be okay at like later on in life. Okay at me 45 I'm probably a little premature, but um, I've got some surplus capital and it's 2768 it's a it's a small start So the idea is to build that up when I reach my retirement data 59 But for a lot of people right now cmbc is talking about the 64 40 portfolio as if it's like normal That is garbage because for a 20 year old that is planned failure to be introducing a 40 portfolio of bonds because your financial goal at 20 years old is not capital preservation It's capital appreciation and it should be that all the way up until your 50s you know So you you have to question what your financial goals are and be honest with you and if you're honest with yourself And you're getting the right coaching from a financial planner and they're telling you hey, you know, you're 20 years old You probably need to put some risk on the table They are right in that application because bonds is not conducive to anybody who is looking for Capital appreciation over time and you look at what bonds have been bonds were succumbed to the worst year ever in 2022 They they were down 30 percent my friend 30 percent it was like they were trading like penny stocks there for the middle part of the year It was crazy how much value they lost And since they've been so so crushed that they're coming back now on a little bit of a rubber band rally, but Yeah, bonds have its own place in the investing world And it only fits a certain application. We just have to make sure that that application is right Yeah, absolutely. I think I look at them as either somebody who Cannot take the risk of 100 percent equity portfolio, which there is people that Can't stomach 50 percent as they have half a million this year go to 250 to go around now They probably need bonds and then yeah, somebody who is approaching retirement age. You need fixed income Apple bonds serve really the biggest purpose is serve and they'll print those coupons for you every month To get you into retirement If I Here's the thing man if I make my I'm going to live to about 120 so If if I make my 120 years old Um, I will probably exit this earth having owned stock all the way to the end You're gonna go all the way all the way I just the just you got some big uh, kohonis there man It's just it's just what what i'm doing here. You mentioned legacy wealth You mentioned generational wealth, you know I mean my my my family man. I didn't come from money that they were they would have done it all the way But they didn't because they didn't have the means to do it I do and i'm going to I make the decision right now That decision has been made for 20 years smoky, right? It's not It's not it's not a hard decision to make I'm happy if I can achieve my financial goal of financial security I'm I'm good. I'm good now. That doesn't mean I won't go by of corvette. It doesn't mean that Because I can separate in my mind What it is that I'm trying to do and if I'm sitting on two three million dollars At that point with how good I am with money And the ability to separate strategic buckets if I get a little bit of a Appreciation over the next five years in this market the question is well, I hit the seven figures Within five or over five I know that one of those is going to come to fruition and i'm accepted of either condition. It's totally fine um You know if I get a little bit of appreciation on some of the more aggressive Applications here. I mean is there some upside to highly on like I said, we're at an all time low So people are quick to say it's a terrible investment. It's terrible on the company side. I'm just not seeing that I'm not seeing that on the movement. I'm not seeing that on the initiative. So We'll see what happens just because it's not happening now. Yeah You know way more about it than me. I'm just a observer of a stock price. I don't know much about the company But yeah, one thing I do want to mention about small caps I didn't mean to and hopefully I was clear in small cap valley I don't mean to lump that there's a premium for all small caps I look at investments through the nine style equity boxes if you're not familiar you can go on morning star And they're basically large cap blend large cap growth large cap value of that same thing for a big cap small cap and when we look at performance is over 50 years over 100 years what we see is the equity box that small cap value returns on average It's on average 14 percent a year If you look at the s&p 500, which is a large cap blend Our growth that's got value it returns 10 9.7 So there's a 4 percent premium there in the small cap value space Not every single company that is small cap value returns that 14 percent. So there's definitely a differentiation there Now on the flip side when we look at small cap growth, which I think Highly on is actually transitioning from small cap growth to small cap value because at some point It's going to become undervalued. It might already be again. I don't know the financials. I don't know the companies that well But if you look at small cap growth historically over the last 50 years or 100 years, it does about 7.5 percent It underperformed the s&p Reason being is I'm sure what happens a lot of the small cap growth companies is There's a period of hype and buzz around them that pushes them whether it's the technology bubble that we just had uh in the 60s of the gogo era of brand new technology trading micro trading all that But there's always a five year push for those small cap growth and then there's a usually a 10 15 year period where they suffer and Performance and I'm sure highly on I don't know what it was straight out But I was a big and stockholder of nicola back in the day. I bought it at 12 or 13 bucks a share and wrote it up to 70 I sold Again in one of my swing trades back when I was doing that But people that were buying at 70 probably won't see that Uh return ever if I don't want to say never but it's very unlikely that they'll see it go positive so there there is some risk in type of category of small caps you invest in but I think if you can Find or determine that a small cap is under value You increase your probability of success investing in that company whether it's highly on now with two bucks Or I don't know what nicola's got but if if the if the fundamental makes sense What the company's doing makes sense There's usually going to be a premium that will pay off but you have to be patient guys I mean this sometimes it takes 20 years and then there's There's been periods where small caps have been out of favor for 16 17 years And then all of a sudden like 2021 they had 76 return when the market had like a 16 percent return So that's right. It takes time But on the flip side, uh, if you get in on the wrong time, uh, you just have to be patient sometimes and make sure You know what you're doing The premiums there Well stated well stated and what a treat Thanks for coming on my brother. I might uh look to wrap it up and take a little take a little downtime, man It's my friday. It's been a busy week for me man catching up on my year-end activities. That's for sure Absolutely, man. Thanks for having me. Happy holidays to you Ryan your family Same to you to everybody watching. Thanks guys. Happy holidays, brother. Thanks for coming on man And we'll catch you in the new year. All right All right, man. Take it easy. All right, brother later Very cool, man. That's three weeks in a row. I want to thank mochi finance as well We could kick over and find his channel. It's a mochi finance Fantastic guy, man real down to earth One one that I've always resonated with very cool I've seen a lot of channels come and go on youtube Really really good people Some of them don't do youtube anymore. It doesn't mean they're not good people It just means that they've chosen to walk away from the project. I don't hold a grudge I would expect that you don't hold a grudge against me However, I think there would be a void left on youtube if it wasn't for for myself Bringing together people, you know, mochi helps with the dialogue tonight because he brings a different perspective to the table If you can pick out some of those themes and and commonalities that'll work for foreign investor That's why we do the message because I don't think people talk about money enough I don't I think it's one of those faux pas topics. I think people shy away from the topic I think it's unfortunate. I really do. I think uh, we need to continue to Share what it is that people are doing in their exposure rates some of the numbers that I threw out This evening those numbers totaled four hundred and twenty one thousand nine hundred sixty four dollars And I contend that for a lot of people getting to that first ten thousand dollars Is the most difficult thing you'll ever do I remember when I got there And it wasn't too long ago And I've invested and I've stayed invested I've done some swing trading and I've I've I've taken some losses Um, but I'll continue to remain in the pocket. I'll continue to make my mistakes. I guess I'll continue to invest the way that I feel like we need to invest to Realize that that goal that we're marching toward and it's super important as we close down 2022, which is Really been an off year. It has But we want to focus on those areas and oh focus on those areas where you can look at and say Gosh, I'm set up in 2023 To actually step into some materialization. I talked about some of my sevens going to eights Which the sevens are the fifty thousand dollars into the hundred thousand dollar category That should happen in a couple of capacities, which is wonderful A lot of the fives go into sixes. I've got a three going to a five So very cool moves as we monitor the progress and the portfolio and we just want to look at this as wealth building because that's what we're doing And to properly wealth build you use the tools that are made available through the stock market Moki mentioned a lot of his that he uses There's no one right way to do this thing There isn't anybody who professes that they have the right way are just not approaching personal finance the right way furthermore If it's going to be right for you, then you have to resonate with the ideas that we're throwing out there and and Take it as an awareness Because you may not know who you know J. L. Collins was before it was mentioned tonight google him That 50 minute speech will change your life with regard to what some of moki was talking about tonight on You know passive investing and the power of you know buying the entire market and and not trying to You know pick those markets right away or pick single stock right away Because you'll set yourself up most likely for disappointment and all we're ever trying to do is identify those things that will work for the masses out there So mary christmas guys will close it down We should be able to catch one more live stream as we close out 2022 here It's been grain hanging with you. Thanks again to moki kickover subscribe to the channel That's three weeks in a row guys having a guest on the channel and I really Appreciate you guys hanging with me and uh enjoying the content tonight guys Thank you so much. Have a great rest of the weekend and we'll catch you next week. Cheers