B (1:19)

10% into, like, the company. 401k. And then I do. I try to max out my Roth every year, so that's another like $600. So I would say like maybe 20% invested.

A (1:33)

Way to go.

B (1:33)

Thank you.

A (1:34)

Where'd you learn about finance? Like, was this from parents school? How'd you get into it?

B (1:39)

That was kind of the first goal of me being like, if I want financial freedom, like, I gotta make sure I'm taken care of whenever I'm late in life. So I just kind of figured steps out of, like, what I should do and then just start.

A (1:51)

Reverse engineer it.

B (1:52)

Yeah, exactly.

A (1:53)

Do you think debt gets in the way of financial freedom?

B (1:56)

Yeah, maybe. If not, like, I know student loans sometimes can have lower percentages for. In terms of, like, the interest rate. I think it takes more of a toll, like, mentally on you because you know that, like, how am I going to save for the future if I have all this debt?

A (2:12)

Yeah.

B (2:13)

Yeah.

A (2:13)

How old are you?

B (2:14)

I'm 26.

A (2:16)

Sharp guy. At 26, what would you tell people out there? The key to building wealth is do

B (2:21)

what you're comfortable with at the moment. Don't invest too much. Don't think you have to invest too much, but do whatever you're comfortable with. And eventually that percentage can grow into more as you make more money and can afford to invest more. Excuse me.

A (2:34)

Build a habit.

B (2:35)

Exactly.

A (2:35)

Keep it up over time as you make more.

B (2:37)

Right.

A (2:37)

Don't go spend it all.

D (2:39)

Correct.

A (2:39)

Well, thanks for talking with us.

B (2:40)

Yeah, no problem. Thank you.

A (2:41)

Tell us your first name.

D (2:43)

I'm Jake.

A (2:44)

Jake. What do you do here in Charlotte?

D (2:45)

I work at bank of America. I'm in the trade allocation side on international markets.

A (2:51)

That sounds above my head. How'd you figure this stuff out?

D (2:54)

I still am figuring out. That's the. That's the beauty of it. It's learning on the job. Learning? Yeah. Big, big learning curve.

A (3:00)

And don't tell that to your boss. He's like, oh, crap. No, Jake said he knew what he was doing.

D (3:05)

No, I do. Yeah. I try to at least know what I am doing.

A (3:08)

You ever, like, fat finger something and accidentally sell the wrong thing at the wrong time?

D (3:14)

Oh, yeah. Yeah. You know, I got like, the numbers are next to another number, then you make the amount, like, quadruple what it's supposed to be.

A (3:21)

Wow. It is that easy.

D (3:23)

It's easy.

A (3:23)

Glad I'm not in that job. Okay. How much debt do you have?

D (3:26)

Current debt is just student loans. I've got about maybe 14,000 left on those, but I'm paying well above the minimum on those each month. So I'm trying to, like, be aggressive with those, but also so prioritize retirement, emergency fund, things like that. So it's kind of.

A (3:42)

You're doing a lot at once?

D (3:44)

Yeah, kind of trying to keep tabs on everything and just make sure it's

A (3:47)

like, whack a mole.

D (3:48)

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. But not too much debt.

A (3:50)

How much do you have in savings right now? Like your liquid savings emergency fund?

E (3:54)

All that?

D (3:54)

Liquid savings? Probably like four. 4,000. But obviously I want to get that up to like a couple months worth of expenses. I know you're supposed to have, like, you know, six to nine months of expenses, so.

A (4:05)

Six to nine? They keep extending it out. I thought it was three to six.

D (4:09)

Oh, well, I want to be, you know, just have that set.

A (4:12)

Is it because you're worried your job will be replaced by AI?

D (4:15)

No, I think I make too many mistakes to have it be replaced by AI.

A (4:18)

Wow. You don't think AI will make less mistakes than you?

B (4:22)

No, no.

F (4:22)

They.

A (4:22)

You're saying it's a benefit, that you screw it up. Like, wow, he's so human, so authentic.

D (4:26)

Well, yeah. Other people mess things up and I have to fix it and so oh, you're the fixer. Yeah, everyone kind of makes mistakes.

A (4:32)

Okay, well, it's great talking with you, man.

D (4:34)

Yeah, thank you, George. Appreciate it.

A (4:36)

I'm guessing you work at one of these big banks out here, right?

E (4:38)

I work at one of the big banks, yeah.

A (4:41)

I can guess which one.

E (4:43)

I just told you.

A (4:44)

Dang it. You don't need to tell them that. I was going to look like a genius. Okay, well, what do you do at this bank?

E (4:50)

I'm in risk management.

A (4:51)

Okay. How long you been in the banking industry?

E (4:54)

30 years.

A (4:55)

Wow. I'm going to be honest, I didn't think you were 30 years old.

E (4:59)

Oh, come on, man. Come on, you're pushing it now.

A (5:02)

I'm just saying you look great. You look great. Okay. How much debt do you have? I've got no debt whatsoever.

E (5:10)

Whatsoever.

A (5:10)

No consumer debt. You have a mortgage.

E (5:12)

No mortgage, no credit cards, no car.

A (5:15)

So your house is paid off.

E (5:17)

House is paid off. And we're actually building another house and that'll be paid off as well.

A (5:21)

You're doing it in cash?

E (5:23)

Cash.

A (5:24)

You say it like it's normal, like I'm, I'm the debt free guy. And I'm just as shocked as you.

E (5:29)

I've been following Dave Ramsey for 20 years now, man.

A (5:33)

And you believed it. You fell for it. What a sucker this guy was like, I guess I'll do that debt free thing now. A lot of your co workers think that's crazy, right?

E (5:42)

They do, they do. And I get an opportunity to talk to some of the younger folks. I try to get them thinking along these lines. And many of them have never thought about not having a mortgage and that sort of thing.

A (5:53)

So as a guy in finance, what attracts you to this debt free life? When everyone else says you're an idiot to pay off low interest debt, you should be leveraging, it's okay to take on a car payment.

E (6:04)

You gotta live having freedom and peace of mind, man. It's simple to me, to be honest with you. You take these individual tactical steps for the long run. You don't worry about what other people think. And it's that simple for me.

A (6:17)

You seem peaceful. Well, what advice would you give to the younger guys out there who are watching this going, this guy? Yeah, it was easy for him. He's a successful guy in finance. That's not possible for me.

E (6:29)

Wasn't always a successful guy in finance. Right.

G (6:32)

So.

E (6:33)

And in my family, we struggled to pay bills month to month. And I knew I wanted something different. I believe in the word of God, so I went There and said, all right, I'm not going to believe what anybody tells me. I'm going to figure it out myself. And this is where I landed.

A (6:47)

That's fantastic.

E (6:48)

Slow and steady. It's slow and steady. Anybody pushing you to move quickly, you need to take a step and slow down a little.

A (6:54)

Can I hit you with the proverb? It's my favorite. 1311. You know it. Wealth gain hastily will dwindle. Whoever gathers little by little will increase it.

E (7:03)

You got it, my man.

A (7:04)

That's like the opposite of get rich quick.

E (7:06)

It is.

A (7:07)

So what do you think about all these young guys getting into, you know, day trading and crypto and all this?

E (7:11)

Ah, it's foolishness. There might be some, some riches short term, but long term it's tough.

A (7:17)

You're not keeping it?

E (7:18)

Absolutely not.

A (7:19)

Because you're probably going to double down and get a little too greedy. Most people do. How long did it take to pay off your debt?

E (7:25)

About four years.

A (7:27)

To be completely consumer debt free.

E (7:29)

I've been consumer debt free for about 10 years and got rid of the house five years ago.

A (7:34)

Wow, that's impressive man. This guy's living it. I got no words, no notes. It's great talking with you.

E (7:39)

Likewise.

A (7:40)

Well, let's talk about debt. How much debt do you have? That was a reaction. Is it a lot? What's a lot to you? You couldn't shock me, I'll say that.

G (7:51)

Oh my good. Way too much. I mean I live in my parents basement type of broke. I'm gonna be honest, I don't look at the number. I don't know.

A (7:59)

You have no clue how much debt you're in.

G (8:00)

I know it was walking.

A (8:01)

Is it 10,000? Is it 100,000?

G (8:03)

Probably towards 100.

A (8:05)

If you had to break down the debts like what's like here's the biggest debt and then I have this like break it down.

G (8:09)

College. That's all at college.

A (8:11)

Oh, it's all student loans from the liberal arts school or elsewhere.

G (8:15)

I mean I'd say it's much more affordable but it was wofford and that's about 50 to 60 grand a year.

A (8:21)

Wow. And I was for what degree?

G (8:24)

When I first went there I was pre med and I thought that it would make sense with the scholarship and then I switched and now I teach special ed, self contained adapted curriculum and it really did not make sense anymore.

A (8:37)

Wow, okay. And how are we doing today?

G (8:40)

I don't buy a lot, I just, I mean I'm in my parents basement most of my money if not all of it goes to my pets. German shepherd. That's a lot to care for with the hips. And then with my kids. We're not given crayons or papers or anything.

C (8:55)

No.

A (8:56)

Okay.

G (8:56)

Everything goes.

A (8:57)

You're talking about the students, not your children.

G (8:59)

Oh, no kids.

A (8:59)

No kids and single.

G (9:01)

I'm 27. I have a partner, but he doesn't contribute.

A (9:04)

He doesn't contribute. Well, you're living with your parents.

G (9:06)

He also lives there.

A (9:08)

He lives with you at your parents house? I think we hitched to the same wagon. That's not going anywhere.

G (9:14)

The goal was to move out and I didn't feel financially secure and I don't want to depend on anybody. So I told him I wasn't ready and he's just stayed until I guess I'm ready.

A (9:25)

Well, he believes you and he said I don't want to depend on. Okay. All right, let's go to you. We need a mental breather. How are you doing? Financial check in. Do you have any debt?

F (9:36)

Yes, I have a lot of debt. I have a master's in teaching which doubled my debt from 25 to now 50k in debt.

A (9:42)

Okay.

F (9:42)

And then I also accrued more credit card debt and now I'm in a credit relief program and my credit score went down.

A (9:50)

Yeah, because they tell you to stop paying, pay us instead, and then let it tank till your credit score gets shot. And then hopefully maybe we'll settle.

F (9:58)

Yeah, and that's exactly what happened. I have been settling and it has been steadily going up. But that's also why I was like, okay, this is safe to live with my partner while we then might eventually save her.

A (10:08)

So how much do you have left in the credit card debt?

F (10:11)

I think it went from 20 to like 10.

A (10:13)

Okay.

F (10:14)

Yeah. Progress, progress.

A (10:15)

Yeah, we got 15 student loans. Any other debt? Car payment?

F (10:19)

Nope, no car payment. Same car.

G (10:22)

Yeah.

A (10:22)

I think we need like a girls night this weekend. We're gonna pull our credit reports, we're gonna make a budget. Would that be fun for you?

G (10:28)

No. I got no money from teach.

A (10:31)

Where's it all going if you're living with your parents?

G (10:34)

It all goes to my students.

A (10:36)

What do you mean? Like you're paying for the students? Crayons and stuff, Supplies.

G (10:41)

My students have physical, behavioral, emotional, cognitive needs, so they're all delayed. I teach K to 5. We have protective things in the classroom that comes out of my paycheck.

A (10:52)

That is insane.

G (10:53)

All the crayons that come out of my paycheck, all the paper that comes out of my paycheck.

A (10:57)

Can we do, like a GoFundMe and cover your supplies. This feels insane that in America today, you're having to cover.

G (11:03)

I have an Amazon wish list. It just doesn't cover it a lot, and my students do stay my number one priority, so.

A (11:09)

Well, send me the wish list, and I'll help you cover some of these supplies. How's that sound?

G (11:13)

Appreciate it. Appreciate it.

A (11:15)

Oh, my goodness. Okay, well, back to our line of questioning. What's your game plan for retirement? At this point, deafening silence. Okay. All right. We got a lot of work to do, guys. We can do this. I feel good about this. Well, do you know the total of all of your debt payments currently? Because you're saying the paycheck's disappearing. Is it 1000 bucks a month you're paying in debt payments? Just a minimum to keep up.

G (11:39)

I think it's more than I'm worth, for sure.

A (11:41)

Know how much you're worth?

G (11:43)

I'd put it around what the county pays me.

A (11:48)

Your salary is probably what you're worth. As far as net worth.

G (11:50)

No, I'm talking in general. And that. Probably what, 3,500 maybe.

A (11:55)

Okay. But your payments on debt is probably higher. 1,500. I mean.

G (12:00)

I mean, end of the two grand.

A (12:02)

2,500.

G (12:02)

What? 3, 500.

A (12:04)

Like an auctioneer? 2500. We got 2600.

G (12:06)

Again, no money, whatever it is. But I'm paid whatever I'm paid at the beginning of the month. By the end of it, I've typically got between 10 and $50 left.

A (12:14)

So what's your plan to get out of this treadmill?

G (12:17)

Forever sink. Forever sink. Yeah.

A (12:20)

What does that mean?

G (12:21)

I don't have any plans. Out. I love what I do.

A (12:23)

If you're like, you're going down with the Titanic, what does that mean?

G (12:26)

Teaching is not something you do when you want to make money. I know I'm not going to make money. I don't do it for that.

A (12:31)

But I've met a lot of teachers that have become millionaires.

G (12:34)

Just takes some years. Take some years.

A (12:37)

Yeah. But you don't think it's possible for you?

G (12:40)

No, I don't. Not in special education. I don't think so.

A (12:44)

We do need great teachers who care, like you guys, so I appreciate that. And as a little gift to you, I'm going to gift you one year of our premium budgeting app. This is called Every Dollar. Okay, so here's how this works. You're gonna download the app, you'll enter the code. It'll give you one year. You can connect your bank accounts. It'll give you a clear picture of where your money's at, where it's going. And it will give you personalized recommendations on how to save more, create more margins so that you can pay off the debt, put more in savings and get out of this cycle. How does it sound?

G (13:15)

So excited. Mama's gonna be thrilled.

A (13:18)

You should be proud. We're getting her out of your basement one day.

G (13:22)

I want to get out the plane is December.

A (13:24)

Two year plan. Two year plan. All right, 2028. You're getting out of there. You're going to be completely debt free. What do you think?

G (13:29)

I hope so. I'd like that.

A (13:32)

Well, I hope this is a good start. And send me that wish list. I'll get some supplies for your kids. You guys are great. Thanks for chatting with us.

F (13:38)

Thank you. Appreciate it. This is awesome.

A (13:40)

I'm standing here surrounded by a lot of banks that don't have your best interests at heart. They want to get you into debt, not help you get out. And that's why I love Fairwinds Credit Union, a sponsor of today's episode. They wanna see you win financially. They wanna see you become debt free and help you stay that way. And they help you do that with their smart bundle they created just for fans of this channel. It comes with a fee, free checking account, a competitive high yield savings account to help your money grow for you. And the Ramsey debt is normal Beweird debit card, which I proudly don. So go check it all out@fairwinds.org Ramsey and I gotta be honest, all these people so far have been very forthcoming with their personal information. And if you're going, man, that's a lot to share. Well, take the plank out of your own ey. You've got a lot of personal info floating around the Internet unchecked. Here's what's happening. These data brokers will grab it and they'll sell it to the spammers and scammers, which ends up adding risk and fraud to your life. So the way I protect myself is with Deleteme, another sponsor of today's video. They comb through hundreds of these data broker sites to remove my info and keep it gone. Go check it out for yourself and get 20% off their annual plans@joindeleteme.com George. All right, back to the streets. What are your financial goals?

C (14:51)

I'm 18. I think my, like, I'm going to go to college. Like, I don't want to be in student loan debt, like, at all. So that's my Main thing.

A (15:00)

So avoiding student loan debt is your next goal? I think that's a great goal for an 18 year old. Are you going to go to local college?

C (15:05)

Yes. A local college.

A (15:06)

That's amazing. Which means you'll be able to go debt free, right?

C (15:09)

Yes.

A (15:09)

That's fantastic. Okay, what do you want to study?

C (15:11)

Finance. Finance or economics?

A (15:13)

Hey, what do you want to do in that world?

C (15:16)

I'm super interested in day trading. I've been day trading since September. I'm not profitable yet, but I've been working pretty hard.

A (15:22)

Wow. Tell us about this. Cause I've seen a lot of young people get intrigued and sucked into this world of day trading.

C (15:29)

It's not get rich quick and it's so like marketed that way. It's just the way that these influencers make it look that like.

A (15:37)

Is that how you got into it?

C (15:38)

Well, yeah, actually, you know, they just like, I don't know.

A (15:41)

Where'd you hear about it from? Like, do you remember, was it a video? Was it another guy who was doing this? He was like, hey, find my course and I'll teach you.

C (15:48)

Yeah. So it was my best friend. We were on our way to Sacred Heart for a college visit and he showed me his phone. He was like, hey, I just started this like two weeks ago. And neither of us knew what we were doing. But you know, we've both been working hard since September.

A (16:00)

And what does working hard look like when it comes to day trading? Because like, it's like me working hard at the roulette table.

C (16:06)

Yeah. Well, it's just like practicing videos. A lot of just risk management. Not over trading, over leveraging, revenge trading. Stuff like that can just like really hurt you and like you will not become profitable.

A (16:19)

Do you think there's a tie between day trading and other sort of addictive behaviors like sports betting, gambling?

C (16:27)

Yeah. Yeah, there definitely is. That's why, you know, not a lot of people make it.

A (16:30)

I mean 97% of day traders lose money if they persist over time.

C (16:35)

Yeah.

A (16:35)

What makes you think you're going to be the 3%?

C (16:37)

Self belief. I just, I believe in myself.

A (16:40)

You ever thought about like investing maybe?

C (16:43)

I don't know, I've never, I've never heard of it. Like I've never, I've never been taught.

A (16:46)

So you know how prop firms work in funded accounts but you've never heard investors investing? Taught? No, not been following the wrong content, my man.

C (16:54)

Do you work at Burger King? After school.

A (16:58)

Okay, so these prop firms are. How much was it to take the eval?

C (17:02)

It's usually like 50 to 80 bucks.

A (17:05)

Okay, but I'm wondering, even with your part time job, if you just put that away into a Roth ira, for example, and let compound growth through the heavy lifting for the next 40 years, I mean, you'd be a millionaire from that alone.

C (17:18)

I've actually not really heard of a Roth ira, dude.

A (17:22)

I'll show you the ways, my friend. But here's the thing. I can't help you if all of your time, attention, and money's gonna go to day trading. You know what I mean? And I imagine day traders are like, I'd rather make the money now than wait for compound growth to do the work. It takes time to build wealth. And you know, fast wealth usually leads to getting broke even faster. I don't know if you've seen that. All you hear is the wins on social media, right?

C (17:44)

Yeah.

A (17:44)

Okay, so here's the deal. I'm gonna use my investment calculator and show you just how little money it would take if you consistently invest to become a multimillionaire. You ready for it?

C (17:53)

Yeah, I'm ready.

A (17:53)

So you're 18 years old?

C (17:54)

Yes, I'm 18.

A (17:55)

All right. What are you making right now with your burger king job?

C (17:58)

16 an hour.

A (18:00)

16 an hour. If you got serious, how much of that could you put away into an investment every month?

C (18:05)

75%. I don't really have anything to.

A (18:08)

Is that 200 bucks?

C (18:09)

Yeah, yeah, 200 bucks.

A (18:10)

Let's say 200 bucks. Okay. And let's say you have this job forever. That'd be pretty wild. You had the job forever and you never got a raise. What age do you think you'd retire? 62.

C (18:21)

Yeah, sure. Let's go.

A (18:22)

All right, 18 to 62. We're going to start from zero in our investments. You get that?

C (18:27)

Yep.

A (18:27)

We're going to contribute $200 a month. And the annual return, we're going to go with 10%. That's what we've seen in the general stock market. The top 500 companies over the last, you know, 50, 60, 70 years. 10% on average is what you'd see.

C (18:39)

Okay.

A (18:40)

All right, hit. Calculate for me.

C (18:42)

All right, Wait. There we go.

A (18:45)

What's it say?

C (18:48)

Almost 1.9 million.

A (18:50)

That's pretty impressive.

C (18:51)

Yeah, that's insane.

A (18:52)

For a part time Burger King employee who never got a raise to still have 1.9 million in retirement.

C (18:58)

Yeah, that's a lot.

A (18:59)

Pretty shocking.

C (19:00)

I did not know that. I did not know that.

A (19:01)

And now think of the day traders out there, the sports bettors. Where are they? At 40 years from now playing their game, I broke. Probably broke. And so I want to encourage you to. Because I think you're a really sharp guy. You're interested in personal finance. I just want to redirect your attention to the less shiny object that is actually doing the work behind the scenes. This requires no effort, no time. You could auto invest that 200 bucks and go about your day and you'd have 2 million bucks in retirement.

C (19:28)

Yeah. That's amazing. I've never. I did not know that.

A (19:31)

You want to. You want to double it, See where we end up?

C (19:33)

Yeah, sure.

A (19:34)

All right, let's see. If we did 400amonth from 18. You think you could scrap together 400 bucks?

C (19:38)

Yeah, I can get $400.

A (19:40)

All right, let's calculate that. What's that number?

C (19:46)

3.7 million. $3.79 million.

A (19:50)

If you just put $400 away, which is. That's less than most people's car payment.

C (19:54)

Yeah, I know. That's.

A (19:56)

If you avoid student loan payments, which on average are over $400 a month, you avoid the average car payment, which for a new car is 750 bucks a month. You will build without ever being stressed about hoping that you can make it in the day trading world or the betting world.

C (20:12)

Yeah, this is all new. It's brand new.

A (20:14)

Have I convinced you to shut down the account?

C (20:18)

Yes, Yes.

A (20:26)

I have never felt so proud of myself. You're the man.

C (20:30)

I appreciate that.

A (20:32)

I think I believe in you more than you believe in you. I just believe in you to do things that will actually reward you over time instead of cause you to lose money. Cause losing money sucks. So I'm encouraging you. You can do this stuff. I'm also gonna get you a copy of my book, Breaking Free from Broke. I promise you, if you read that, it will be the financial literacy you didn't know you needed. And before we go, I want everybody in the comments section of this video to shout out, my man Carson. I think he just changed his life. I think he just became a future millionaire.

C (20:59)

He just helped me.

A (21:00)

I didn't know I could do it in like three minutes with an investment calculator.

C (21:03)

You did it.

A (21:04)

And I bet a lot of people out there are wondering what it's going to be like for them if they use their number. So go check it out. I'll drop a link to that investment calculator in the description of this video so that you can punch those numbers for yourself and see just how much wealth you can build without any anxiety. I got to say Charlotte did not disappoint. We did run into some finance pros and some sweet quarter zips. But I also helped an 18 year old quit day trading and I helped some teachers get on a budget. So all in all, a solid day's work. And I was impressed to see people trying to build for the future, trying to pay off debts from the past so that they can live their financial dream. So if you enjoyed this video, you're going to love this next one where I guessed how much debt people had in the great city of Nashville, Tennessee. Click here to watch it next or click the link in the description. Thanks for watching. We'll see you guys next time.