Financial Advisors React to Viral Money Advice

Summary

Money Guy Show – Episode Summary

Episode Title: Financial Advisors React to Viral Money Advice
Hosts: Brian Preston & Bo Hanson
Date: June 1, 2026

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Overview

In this engaging episode, Brian and Bo react to a series of popular viral videos giving out money advice online. The goal: to separate fact from fiction, debunk myths, and provide concrete financial wisdom for building real wealth. The hosts keep the discussion lively, breaking down common financial misconceptions and celebrating advice that actually works, all while maintaining their trademark down-to-earth, relatable style.

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Key Discussions & Insights

1. Young People Shouldn’t Invest?

[00:39 - 02:54]

• Viral claim: “If you are below the age of 25 … why are you putting money in a retirement fund?” The speaker mocks compounding, suggests self-employment is always superior, and questions the wisdom of trusting others to invest.
• Brian’s rebuttal: “Little thing called compounding growth.” [00:51] He emphasizes the power of early investing, highlighting the exponential growth of small contributions over decades.
• Bo explains: “When you invest, you actually take ownership in corporations… I’m becoming an owner of Apple, of Google, of Nvidia…” [01:54] Investing isn’t deferring control but participating in the economy.
• Key insight: Starting early makes building wealth much easier—$95/month at 20 is roughly equivalent to $1,000/month at 40 due to compounding.

Memorable Quotes:

“You can do it light and you can do it right if you start early… it is 10 times harder to do it if you wait.” – Brian [02:24]

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2. The Power of Consistent Saving

[03:19 - 04:35]

• Viral advice: Save $20 a day, “$20 a day will keep broke away.” [04:10]
• Hosts’ reaction: Brian and Bo praise the advice, noting saving matters more than how much you make.
• Key insight: Wealth accumulation is accessible to all income levels through disciplined saving.

Memorable Quotes:

“It doesn’t matter how much money you make… it matters what you do with it.” – Bo [04:14]
“You have to live on less than you make. That creates the margin…” – Brian [04:35]

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3. Is the Roth IRA a Scam?

[05:06 - 07:42]

• Viral claim: Roth IRAs were a government scheme to boost tax income; “You’re going to do better in a traditional 401k.”
• Brian’s rebuttal: He refutes the historical inaccuracies, clarifies the Roth IRA’s bipartisan origins, and highlights its benefits for savers.
• Bo’s perspective: Roth makes sense for those expecting increased future earnings; tax strategy isn’t "apples to apples" and must be personalized.

Memorable Quotes:

“Roth 100% makes sense” if you’re in a low tax bracket now with higher income potential later – Bo [06:56]

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4. 401(k)s vs. Real Estate “Hacks”

[09:03 - 12:36]

• Viral claim: 401(k)s are “the single greatest scam” and it’s smart to cash them out (paying penalties/taxes) to invest in real estate for more control and presumably higher returns.
• Bo’s response: The system is built for retirement; discipline is a feature, not a flaw. Retirement money is meant for later in life.
• Brian adds: Roth 401(k)s offer tax-free growth and are widely available. While the viral speaker may have succeeded due to market timing, he likely "got lucky", and most aren't so fortunate.
• Key warning: Leveraged real estate is risky; recessions expose weaknesses, and trying to shortcut stable vehicles like 401(k)s can be financially dangerous.

Memorable Quotes:

“Did he really make a smart decision or did he just get lucky?” – Brian [11:00]
“We love 401ks, we love index funds. So then you can get into levered debt down the road when you actually can afford it.” – Brian [12:10]

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5. Stock Market Timing & Building Wealth

[12:36 - 14:40]

• Viral analysis: Cites JP Morgan data that high S&P 500 P/E ratios predict poor 10-year returns; suggests market timing matters.
• Brian’s philosophy: “Always be buying.” Intra-year volatility is normal; trying to predict highs/lows is futile.
• Bo sums up: “It’s more about your time in the market, not timing the market.” [14:15]
• Key insight: Steady, disciplined investing harnesses the average 10% long-term returns of the market.

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6. Arbitrage Sports Betting as Wealth Strategy

[14:40 - 17:20]

• Viral claim: Arbitrage sports betting offers daily compounding and yields “5% ROI on average” per trade, and sometimes much more.
• Brian’s reality check: Limits instantly imposed by betting companies make this strategy non-scalable. "They don’t let you keep doing this." [15:44]
• Key advice: Sophisticated gambling is not a sustainable or reliable path to wealth; disciplined investing is.

Memorable Quotes:

“If this is what you’re doing to build wealth, you’ve lost the plot.” – Brian [16:54]

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7. Are We Just Buying for Status?

[17:20 - 18:41]

• Viral reflection: “Do you actually want [a luxury item], or do you just want other people to see you have it?” [17:20]
• Brian and Bo expand: “Looking rich over being wealthy…” [17:29] Status purchases “are napalm for your finances.”
• Key message: True wealth is what sits on your net-worth statement, not what’s on display; chasing status leads to wasted financial potential.

Memorable Quotes:

“Wealth is silent. It’s what sits on your net worth statement.” – Brian [18:08]
“Car purchases are napalm for your finances.” – Brian [18:08]

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Episode Highlights & Notable Quotes

• “$20 a day will keep broke away.” – Savings Advocate [04:10]
• “Little thing called compounding growth.” – Brian [00:51]
• “If this is what you’re doing to build wealth, you’ve lost the plot.” – Brian [16:54]
• “It’s more about your time in the market, not timing the market.” – Bo [14:15]
• “Wealth is silent. It’s what sits on your net worth statement.” – Brian [18:08]

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Recommended Action Steps

• Start Early: Use retirement accounts like Roth IRA/401(k); the magic is in compounding.
• Save Systematically: Even small daily savings lead to big long-term results.
• Diversify & Use Tax Advantaged Accounts: Real estate and stocks are both valuable but use them in the right order.
• Avoid “Get Rich Quick” Schemes: Be wary of anyone selling systems that seem too good to be true.
• Live Below Your Means: Don’t let status purchases sabotage your long-term wealth.

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Key Timestamps

• 00:39: Debunking anti-investing advice for the young
• 03:19: Celebrating simple savings wisdom (“$20 a day will keep broke away”)
• 05:06: Deconstructing Roth IRA myths
• 09:03: Real estate vs. 401(k)s and why shortcuts are risky
• 12:36: Market timing, PE ratios, and why “always be buying” wins
• 14:40: Arbitrage betting—why it’s not a wealth strategy
• 17:20: The dangers of buying for status over substance

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Tone and Style

Throughout, Brian and Bo combine practical advice, clear explanations, and a no-nonsense approach—debunking myths in a way that’s both entertaining and actionable. Their discussion encourages listeners to be strategic, skeptical of shortcuts, and always focused on building real, lasting wealth.

Transcript

[Bo Money Got]

So good, so good, so good.

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[Brian]

The team's put together some viral videos. Let's check out what they've got going.

[Bo Money Got]

And Brent, I am so excited because they didn't tell us if these are viral in a good way or viral in a bad way. So let's dive right in.

[Financial Skeptic]

One of the stupidest things I've ever seen people do in my life is save money when they are young. If you are below the age of 25 and you are a smart, competent guy, why are you putting money in a retirement fund?

[Brian]

Little thing called compounding growth.

[Financial Skeptic]

You can always make more money yourself than by betting on other dudes. Is it even appropriate for you as a grown man to be investing in other men? What your dream is to be in the Bahamas sipping on fruit margaritas with your girlfriends while a bunch of old men do the hard work for you of making money? Like, what are we doing here? It's a combination of so many stupid things. First of all, you're not intelligent enough to make your own investing decisions, so you'll put things in the vo, the spx, to let other people make the decision for you. Second of all, you don't trust yourself to have the competence to make more money on your own than, what is it, 10% a year? Like, really? And finally, the one culture that everyone always gives me is, oh, no, but you don't understand. It's tax advantaged. And I'll be able to pull all this money out and not pay my 40% tax when I'm 65. Are we serious right now? When I'm 65, like, what is. What can I even buy with that money? Like, extra applesauce.

[Brian]

So he's legit. That's legit. Well, okay, because he poo pooed all over compound growth.

[Bo Money Got]

Language. First, just language. We don't need that. Secondly, when you invest, you actually take ownership in corporations. I'm not betting on some guy or some person when I go buy the S&P 500. I'm becoming an owner of Apple, of Google, of Nvidia, of Tesla, of Home Depot, of fill in the blank. That's what investing is. It's not betting on someone else to manage the money. It's literally participating in the economy in which we operate.

[Brian]

Look, if you want to be a millionaire by the time you're. You're at that retirement age, around $95 a month will get it done. If you want to be a millionaire and you wait until you're 40 years of age, you're going to have to save. It's like $1,000, 10 times as much. It is 10 times harder to do it. You can do it light and you can do it right if you start early because of that magical thing of compounding growth. The other thing that he didn't even cover, it's free money. These things are tax advantage. So I think there was a lot there. I imagine he's. He's going to probably try to sell you on something or.

[Bo Money Got]

Well, I didn't know what the alternative was. He never. All he did was poo poo on investing. Well, investing simply a place to park money that you've already earned so that that money can start working for you. I don't understand why he was so upset about that.

[Brian]

I didn't get. There wasn't a lot there. And then all of a sudden like he was. It was a normal video and then he started dropping the F bombs. It just seemed very disconnected. It's almost like he wanted the explicit lyrics label on it so he could get a little few more views.

[Arbitrage Sports Betting Expert]

What's the best finance advice you've ever gotten?

[Savings Advocate]

Save $20 a day. 20 a daytime. 365, 7300 a year times two years, 14,006. Three years, 20 years, 10 years. 73,000 capitan. 78 grand, say 20 a day. And you always keep broke away. The reason why people don't have money is not how much money you get paid, it's how much money you save. I know people who work McDonald's minimum wage and they make more money than people make. $40 an hour because they understand where they at. So they save trying to get high. And then the people who make more money, they spend more money and they get more habits, you know what I mean? Yeah. A good luck in life, you know what I mean? But you gotta save money. Without saving money, you got nothing to invest.

[Brian]

Give that man a podcast.

[Bo Money Got]

Preach, man.

[Brian]

All right.

[Bo Money Got]

What he said, he said $20 a day will keep broke away. Is that what he said?

[Brian]

I like that.

[Bo Money Got]

I like that a lot. And he's exactly right. That's what. It doesn't matter how much money you make. It doesn't matter where your income is it doesn't matter how successful you are, it matters what you do with it. So Whether you make $100,000 a year or whether you make $100 a year, if you can defer some of that into the future, you can set your future self up for success.

[Brian]

You have to live on less than you make. That's the reality. You live on less than you make. That creates the margin that actually allows you to start saving, investing, and eventually your army of dollars works harder than you can. That's what he's saying. Just do something. I love that the numbers that have $20 a day lines up quite nicely with what you can do in a Roth ira. So if you haven't even started an investment account, load yourself up today. If you need more, go to moneyguy.com resources. We'll hit you up with some free stuff. Is a Roth IRA still worth it in 2026? Yeah.

[Roth IRA Critic]

Listen, I don't like Roth IRAs. George Bush created the Roth IRA. You know why he did it? Because he needed money. And there was a ton of money locked into 401ks. There was lots and lots of money back then. The economy was going down and he needed to unlock this money that hadn't been taxed. Well, how does he do it? Hey, convert your money into a Roth IRA and pay the taxes now and so you won't have to pay it later. I'm earning money on that. Why would I, why would I give it up to the government so that I don't have to pay taxes later? I really don't like the Roth IRA and I know everybody pushes back and. But if you do an apples to apples comparison of the true cost, you're going to do better in a traditional 401k.

[Brian]

Can I tell you why this is BS and bogus is the Roth IRAs, when they came on the scene, remember the funding limits are around $2,000. Roth conversions also had an income cap on them. It wasn't until 2010 that they, that they lifted the cap off of where high income and wealthy people could start doing Roth conversions no matter how much money they made. So I disagree and actually I know in my book Millionaire Mission, I give the history of the Roth IRA and it was a truly bipartisan support bill to try to encourage people and you know, the Senator Roth who kind of pushed things forward. The quotes on this, on the why was directly to impact and benefit the saver so that they have money in the future. So I, I'm not as cynical as it, you know, George H.W. bush, you know, decided, or George W. Bush decided he needed a little few extra jingle in the treasury and this is why we got Roth.

[Bo Money Got]

Well, and also he's completely wrong. His apples to apples was absolutely inaccurate. If your tax rates are going to be lower in the future than they are today, then yeah, you should save in pre tax. But if you're in a low tax bracket environment today and it's likely your income is going to increase and be higher in the future, Roth 100% makes sense. There is a tax arbitrage that exists whether you have a higher tax rate now, lower tax rate now, higher tax rate in the future, lower tax rate in the future. They are not apples to apples. There absolutely is a better choice than the other, depending on your unique circumstances. He's just absolutely wrong on that. Traditional does not always win out.

[Brian]

Is he blowing. What's going on there, bro?

[Bo Money Got]

He, he's kissing up. He.

[Brian]

Okay.

[Bo Money Got]

I think he was trying, I think, I think he's trying to get the thing to go up. I think he was blowing on it to, to, to try to make it go.

[Brian]

I thought, you know, I'll be honest with you. When I, I remember the first time I ever went fishing with my granddad, he told me if I held my mouth a certain way that I catch more fish. Now I realized as a grown man that he was just. This was. That didn't work.

[Bo Money Got]

That's not the way.

[Brian]

Don't you see? He's like, he's up here. I feel like that somebody told him, hey, if you want to just, you know, really amp up the buy low, sell high, you know, hold your mouth just like this, right by the monitor,

[Bo Money Got]

well, it's like, I don't know, Ron. You know, whenever you play golf and you hit that shot and you kind of like start trying to like move it with, and it's ineffective. I think a lot of people, when it comes investing, they are under the impression that they have more control than they actually do. At the end of the day, we don't get to control what the market does. We don't get to control when the stock goes up, when the stock goes down. What we do get to control is how we participate in it and how far out on the risk spectrum we want to be and how much we can save into it. As for like day to day, month to month, quarter to quarter fluctuations, that's out of your control. And if you think you can control it, or better yet, you can read it, oh, you might be in for a rude awakening.

[Nordstrom Rack Announcer]

Babe, why did you cash out your 401k?

[Real Estate Investor]

So in 2019, I cashed out over a hundred thousand dollars out of my 401k.

[Bo Money Got]

He's got a thigh tattoo.

[Real Estate Investor]

To invest in real estate. And that's because 401ks are the single greatest scam that anybody can invest in now for 99 of people. If you have no discipline financially and you don't want to invest your own money, for sure, get your employer match, that's fine. But what 401ks are designed for is the US government literally said most people don't have enough discipline to actively invest money on their own. So we're going to create a program that forces people to get into equities, aka the stock market. And so the 401k is designed for you to not pay tax right now and then draw on it later at

[Brian]

what about Roth 401k?

[Real Estate Investor]

Less tax. But the issue is I'm going to be really, really rich at 65 years old and I'm going to be in a higher tax bracket.

[Bo Money Got]

Not necessarily.

[Real Estate Investor]

So you are literally having no benefit to having a 401k because you have zero control with that capital that's inside the vehicle of the 401k. I'm not your financial advisor, I'm not giving financial advice. If you want to ride that 401k, do it. I'm just saying that if you want to understand how to actively invest your money in real estate and businesses and stuff like that, it's much better to pay the 10% pre penalty to go ahead and get out of the 401k to where you can control it and actually grow it and do something with it.

[Bo Money Got]

I don't understand. All these people poo poo on this. They're like, oh, you put money to 401k and that money has to sit there until you get to 65. Yeah, that's the point. The 401k money, that's retirement. That's supposed to be for you later in life, but that's what we like saving into Roth IRAs and saving into 401k and saving into after tax brokerage. We're not even against real estate, but it's not an all or nothing and you want to make sure that you're doing it in the right order. At 65, you're going to need that money. So why would you not use this unbelievable tax incentivized vehicle to build assets?

[Brian]

The argument falls apart. If you just did a Roth 401k over 80% of employers offer Roth 401ks. That's where you don't get a deduction now, but you get that compounding growth completely tax free forever. So if you're young, you really want to leverage things. That's what you ought to take advantage of. It's a really good opportunity. The other thing, look, it's better to be lucky than good sometimes. He did this, he bought, he did his transaction. Let's face this, he took a 10% haircut immediately to pay a penalty now plus income taxes, plus the income taxes on it. So he gutted his to put it into real estate. Now he's likely lucky because he got it right before the huge inflation run up of real estate that happened in 21. You know, in that three year period we had the real estate markets make over 50%. But if you think that we don't have reversion to the mean with with real estate. Did he really make a smart decision or did he just get lucky with the timing of this? And anybody who watches this bad advice, you have to understand that levered debt, yes it can make you better returns, but there is tremendous risk if you don't believe that there's a game that when markets go bad and real estate markets go bad and we hit recessions, big pocket banks taking from little pocket wannabe real estate investors is one of the most horrendous things you'll ever see. And it happens usually once a decade. Just don't be on that side of the game. The easiest thing to do, build a good base, deepen your own pockets. We love 401ks, we love index funds. So then you can get into levered debt down the road when you actually can afford it.

[JP Morgan Analyst]

JP Morgan published a chart around the end of 24 and it was a scatter diagram showing over the years the relationship between the S&P 500 at purchase and the return over the next 10 years. It was a negative correlation. Which means the higher the PE ratio you pay, the lower the return you should expect. Makes perfect sense.

[Brian]

Sure.

[JP Morgan Analyst]

And it showed that historically if you bought the S and P when the P E ratio was 23, in every case there were no exceptions. Your annualized return over the next 10 years was between two and minus two. That's all you have to know. One of the most interesting things about the S and P On average it has returned 10% a year for 100 years. But do you know that the annual return is Almost never between 8 and

[Brian]

12 kills it or it dies. You know how you fixed all this Yep, I did. Always be buying.

[Bo Money Got]

That's right.

[Brian]

Because you know, every year in the financial markets, specifically the S and P, I'll use the same example as him. There's about a 14% spread just intra year from the highs and lows. So you could make the argument that, you know, even throughout the year, the price, if you're using things like the forward price to earnings ratio, you're going to have tremendous variances in that. No matter what that number is. I hold my nose and then I'm always buying. Every month for me, it's every week. I have the money just popping. And what happens is, is the yo yo goes up and down. That's the daily prices of the market. Yet we walk higher and higher up that mountaintop of expanding returns, expanding economy, economy, because we're. I believe in the law of accelerating returns. You make money instead of trying to beat the market. Beat be the market. That's where success lies.

[Arbitrage Sports Betting Expert]

Yeah.

[Bo Money Got]

When it comes to investing, it's more about your time in the market, not timing the market, entering at the right and exiting at the right pe. It's about actually being in the game. That's why if you're saving in a 401k, if you're adding to your Roth monthly, if you're participating in after tax brokerage account and you can do it on a systematic, consistent basis, you will recognize those 10% returns over the long term.

[Arbitrage Sports Betting Expert]

I never thought I'd ever have to explain this again, but arbitrage sports betting is a lot more profitable than you think.

[Brian]

All right.

[Arbitrage Sports Betting Expert]

There's a common consensus, there's a bit of a controversy going around that arbitrage sports betting isn't worth it and isn't worth your time because of the small return that you're getting. Let me put this into perspective for you. Arbitrage sports betting, you'll get 5% ROI on average. Every single trade that you take. And you can place multiple. You can take however many trades you want every single day. So your money's compounding every single day.

[Brian]

There's a limit there. You should put an ash right there.

[Arbitrage Sports Betting Expert]

The s and P500. The stock market will give you 5% on average a month. Compare the two. When you can take 5% of however much money you put in. Keep in mind, arbitrage sports betting is not regular sports betting. You're betting on both sides so that no matter the outcome, you take that 5% on average. Keep in mind, there's tons of times where my students, my clients, even me,

[Brian]

oh, he's got a system.

[Arbitrage Sports Betting Expert]

We get 15, 20% arbitrage opportunities, and that's a lot more than 5%. But it's really just the point where, like, you can do this multiple times a day, so your money is compounding every single day instead of per month. Why do I have to explain?

[Real Estate Investor]

I don't.

[Arbitrage Sports Betting Expert]

I don't understand, bro.

[Bo Money Got]

Well, because they won't let you keep doing it. Yeah, they won't let you keep doing it.

[Brian]

That's the big. That's the big asterisk out there. You know, I remember I went through my own phase of maybe I could learn to card count on blackjack and beat the system. Because there is a statistical. You might have the house edge if you know how to play blackjack in the appropriate way. The problem is if you're good at it. The Las Vegas casinos or what other casinos, they put you in this black book and they say, nope, we're not going to let you play in our casinos. It's not illegal. We're just choosing not to let you take money from us because we like taking money from the fish. Yes, you can make good money doing these arbitrage bets. There's all kind of really sophisticated systems that have already calculated where there's arbitrage. You go play both sides of it. But guess what happens? Probably about the third or fourth bet you make. They cap you on what you can bet. They notify you. Hey, we've noticed some unique trends in the way you're betting. So we're going to start lowering your bets to as low as a few pennies, few dimes, maybe a dollar or two. They don't let you keep doing this. So he's trying to sell you a system. Without a doubt, there are going to continue to be inefficiencies between the different gambling houses that let you do these sports betting, which, by the way, I don't even think that's where. If this is what you're doing to build wealth, you've lost the plot. Go ahead and start saving and investing in your Roth ira. Understand what index funds are, but don't let somebody sell you a system that is going to immediately get put into the ground because the. The betting companies are not going to allow you to take advantage of them.

[Social Commentary Speaker]

Do you actually want it, or do you just want other people to see you have it? Like, if the rest of the world was extinct, would you really be walking around with a Louis Vuitton bag? Like, I don't. You would care.

[Brian]

Looking rich over being wealthy feel important

[Social Commentary Speaker]

and Material possessions oftentimes can give people status. I saw a quote once that said it's not about the art, it's about the reaction of the audience. Like people legitimately care more about how other people perceive things than they do about how they perceive it themselves. And the result of this is that our entire society is fake. Everybody is wearing a mask and they do things just to gain social currency.

[Bo Money Got]

If the reason that you're making consumption decisions is to impress others and to put on facade of how successful and how wonderful your life is, I worry that's going to be a path to not being incredibly fulfilled with what your dollars can actually do for you.

[Brian]

Wealth is silent. It's what sits on your net worth statement. And it's exactly what Bo said. Don't try to impress people who really don't care. And that's why even in Millionaire Mission I've detailed that car purchases are napalm for your finances is because a lot of us, that's the first thing we do. It's the clothes we wear, it's the car we drive. And you're literally driving and wearing your seven figure future wealth because you're not actually putting it to work, you're actually just living for the now. And that's, that's a failure recipe.

[Bo Money Got]

If you don't know what to do with your next dollar or where to go, we have a nine step process to help you figure that out. So go to learn.moneyguy.com and check out the financial order of operations so that you too can know exactly what you should be doing with your next dollar.

[Brian]

I'm your host Brian, joined by Mr. Bo Money Got.