122: How to Build Wealth Without Obsessing Over Money

Summary

Rich Habits Podcast Episode 122: How to Build Wealth Without Obsessing Over Money
Release Date: June 16, 2025
Hosts: Austin Hankwitz and Robert Croak

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Introduction

In Episode 122 of the Rich Habits Podcast, hosts Austin Hankwitz and Robert Croak delve into practical strategies for building wealth without the stress of constantly obsessing over money. Tailored for listeners eager to gain financial control through sustainable habits, this episode offers five actionable insights that blend business acumen, financial literacy, and mindful living.

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1. Living Below Your Means

Timestamp: [02:13]

Austin Hankwitz kicks off the discussion by emphasizing the foundational principle of living below your means. He explains that financial stability begins with ensuring your monthly expenditures are less than your income. For instance, if the median household income is $78,000 annually (~$6,500 monthly), all expenses—including debt repayments and leisure—should comfortably fit within that budget.

Notable Quote:
"If you're making $100,000 a year and you're spending $120,000 a year, your biggest problem is the person in the mirror." – Austin Hankwitz [02:13]

Robert Croak reinforces this by highlighting the importance of allocating 15% of monthly take-home pay towards investments. He cautions against lifestyle inflation, where increased earnings lead to proportional increases in spending, ultimately hindering long-term wealth accumulation.

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2. Investing Early and Diversifying

Timestamp: [04:11]

The hosts stress the significance of starting to invest early to harness the power of compound interest. Robert Croak advises investing in broad-market index funds like the S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100, which represent the largest and most profitable companies in the U.S. This approach ensures exposure to equity in growing businesses, fostering long-term wealth.

Notable Quote:
"Invest early and diversify to let compound interest work its magic." – Robert Croak [04:11]

Austin Hankwitz adds that once listeners reach a milestone, such as a hundred thousand dollars invested, it's time to diversify into other asset classes like cryptocurrency, precious metals, or cash-flowing businesses. He cautions against overcomplicating investments with fleeting trends, advocating for a balanced and strategic diversification.

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3. Automating Your Finances

Timestamp: [07:25]

Automation emerges as a favored strategy for both hosts. Austin Hankwitz outlines how automating monthly expenses and investments can eliminate the stress of manual tracking and emotional decision-making. Utilizing platforms like Public.com, listeners can set up automated investment plans that contribute regularly without constant oversight.

Notable Quote:
"Automating your investing removes emotion from the equation and ensures consistency." – Austin Hankwitz [07:25]

Robert Croak echoes this sentiment, emphasizing that automation ensures money is actively working for you rather than sitting idle. He also shares a pro tip about automating bill payments to save money and reduce financial stress.

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4. Limiting Financial Noise

Timestamp: [09:58]

In an era overwhelmed by constant financial news and market fluctuations, Robert Croak and Austin Hankwitz advise listeners to limit financial noise. They caution against impulsive reactions to market headlines, which often lead to suboptimal investment decisions like panic selling during downturns.

Notable Quote:
"Avoid obsessively chasing trends and checking headline news; it's a recipe for disaster." – Robert Croak [09:58]

Austin Hankwitz illustrates this by sharing his habit of reviewing investments on a quarterly or semi-annual basis rather than daily, thereby maintaining a long-term perspective and reducing stress.

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5. Cultivating Contentment and Defining Enough

Timestamp: [12:53]

The final strategy revolves around cultivating contentment and practicing gratitude. Robert Croak highlights the importance of defining what "enough" means personally, steering clear of societal pressures to match peers' lifestyles. This mindset shift fosters financial contentment and prevents the pitfalls of constant comparison and lifestyle inflation.

Notable Quote:
"Wealth grows faster when you're not constantly chasing more." – Robert Croak [14:02]

Austin Hankwitz shares a personal anecdote about maintaining contentment despite minor setbacks, reinforcing that true wealth encompasses relationships and personal fulfillment, not just financial metrics.

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Listener Q&A Highlights

Bridget’s Portfolio Allocation

Timestamp: [20:03]

Bridget, a 64-year-old planning to retire within the next year, inquires about her 60% bonds and 40% stocks allocation recommended by her wealth manager. Both hosts support moving towards a 15% bonds and 85% stocks ratio, emphasizing that being too conservative can hinder potential returns, especially with a 20-year investment horizon.

Notable Quote:
"60% bonds is way too risk-off and you're just going to leave too much money on the table." – Robert Croak [20:51]

Alex’s Consulting Business Advice

Timestamp: [22:54]

Alex seeks guidance on starting a media consulting business. Austin Hankwitz advises on managing cash flow, efficient invoicing, and tax optimization. Robert Croak adds the importance of solid contracts and maximizing write-offs to enhance profitability and reduce tax liabilities.

Notable Quote:
"Make sure you have good contracts because there's nothing worse than doing the work and not getting paid." – Robert Croak [25:18]

Susie’s Gold in Modern Portfolios

Timestamp: [28:06]

Susie questions the relevance of gold in modern investment portfolios amidst alternatives like Bitcoin. Both hosts affirm that gold still plays a crucial role in diversification. They recommend investment vehicles like ETFs GLD and SLV for those hesitant to hold physical gold and highlight new options like NEOS Investments' IAUI ETF for income generation.

Notable Quote:
"A well-balanced portfolio definitely includes gold and bitcoin." – Austin Hankwitz [29:27]

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Conclusion

Episode 122 of the Rich Habits Podcast provides a comprehensive roadmap for building sustainable wealth without the anxiety of constant financial monitoring. By living below your means, investing early and diversifying, automating finances, limiting financial noise, and cultivating contentment, listeners can achieve financial freedom gracefully.

Robert Croak and Austin Hankwitz conclude by encouraging listeners to share the podcast, join the Rich Habits Network, and apply these strategies to secure a prosperous and contented financial future.

Notable Closing Quote:
"Having the right mindset is how you build real, generational wealth over a long period of time." – Austin Hankwitz [31:38]

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For more insights and to join a community committed to financial growth, subscribe to the Rich Habits Podcast on Spotify and engage with hosts Austin and Robert on their social platforms.

Transcript

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[Austin Hankwitz]

Hey everyone and welcome back to the Rich Habits podcast, a top five business podcast on Spotify brought to you by public.com my name is Austin Hankwitz and I'm joined about my co host Robert Croak. Robert is a seasoned entrepreneur in his late 50s with lifetime revenues of over 300 million and I'm an entrepreneur in my late 20s with a background in finance and economics. Since quitting my full time job in corporate finance a few years ago, I've built a seven figure media business and actively advise some of the most well known finn tech companies around the world. As the show name might suggest, every episode we talk about Rich Habits as they relate to business, finance and mindset. However, we try and bring you two unique perspectives. One from an industry veteran, which is Robert, and the other myself, someone who's still in the process of building wealth and figuring it all out. So Robert, what are we going to be talking about in today's episode?

[Robert Croak]

In this episode of the Rich Habits Podcast, we're going to share five five quick but impactful strategies that will help each and every one of you continue to build wealth without obsessing over money along the way. We want everyone, of course, to reach and achieve their financial goals, enabling a graceful retirement, but we also want to ensure you're enjoying yourself along the way.

[Austin Hankwitz]

I'm right there with you. I think a lot of people believe that if you're a millionaire, you know some sort of secret strategy or you obsess over something money related or you're maybe Even considered a money obsession. Excessive expert. Right. But that's not always the case. This episode is going to help every one of you listening understand that retiring wealthy and becoming rich doesn't always happen because you're a money genius. These goals can be achieved by implementing very simple strategies throughout your life that can help you stay on course and be consistent, but most importantly, not having to obsess over money to actually achieve that goal. So let's dig into the first quick but simple strategy to retire wealthy without obsessing over money. And that is living below your means. We made this strategy the first call out because without implementing this on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, none of the other strategies will work. So hear me out. If you're making $100,000 a year and you're spending $120,000 a year, your biggest problem is the person in the mirror. It's not the economy, it's not the unemployment rate, it's not the president, it's not your salary, it's not your boss. It is you. Living below your means is exactly that. Every month you're spending less than you make. So for example, the median household income in America right now on an annualized basis is $78,000 or about $6,500 a month. That means your living expenses, your debt repayment, vacation budget, your tuition, every single thing that you are paying for has to be within that $6,500 a month spending limit. People get themselves in trouble when they borrow too much. They have the kitchen remodeled, they get the car payment, they have the student loans and the lifestyle inflation takes hold of their finances and they find themselves now spending 7,000, 8,000, $9,000 a month. And they try and make up the difference with credit cards. That is a recipe for disaster.

[Robert Croak]

I definitely see this more than I don't. It is a daily occurrence when I'm talking to people from the Rich Habits network or in my DMs or any of that. And I just think it's so important for people to understand is if you want to be on track for financial freedom in retirement, not only do you need to live below your means on a monthly basis, but you need to carve out that 15% of your monthly take home pay for investing. So in this example of what Austin alluded to and illustrated, that would be $975 a month that you would set aside for saving and investing. And too many people have problems with this because of lifestyle creep. And it really comes down to if you're having trouble living below Your means you have to audit and do that honest budget we talk about. Create those sinking funds or, or even pause your investing long enough to pay off the high interest debt. Because remember, we always say you can't out invest high interest debt. And so many people live beyond their means for years and decades and that's why they fall so far behind in building for retirement.

[Austin Hankwitz]

So the easiest way to build wealth throughout your life without obsessing over money is to simply live below your means.

[Robert Croak]

Yeah, 100%. So let's get to number two and I think this one is very important as well. And we talk about this all the time. Time and that is investing early and diversifying. You hear us talking about investing early all the time and letting compound interest work its magic. So that means start now. If you're someone who's in their 20s, 30s or 40s, you're still early. So let's get you rocking and rolling as soon as possible and get you up and running so you don't kick the can down the road forever and hope that there's going to be some magical windfall to save you in retirement. So what does it mean to invest early and often? In our opinion, it means buying the s&P 500 and the NASDAQ 100. The S&P 500 in case you're new around here, simply means you're investing in the 500 largest, most profitable companies in the United states. And the NASDAQ 100 are the 100 largest companies listed on the NASDAQ exchange. So what we're getting at here is to learn how important it is to have equity in growing profitable businesses for the long term. Wealth building in your portfolios.

[Austin Hankwitz]

Well it's not just that, but right. Also the diversification that comes along the way. We love seeing people getting that first hundred thousand dollars invested. On average it takes about seven years to get your first hundred thousand dollars saved and invested in the markets in these index funds and ETFs. But once you accomplish that, it's now time to start diversifying into other asset classes. Think real cryptocurrency, precious metals, or maybe even cash flowing businesses. The thing here to remember though is to not over complicate your investing. Don't have to obsess over the new trade, the next big thing, what someone just said on cnbc and gotta find the big My gosh, I heard this company is gonna go 20x into the future. Penny stock, whatever. Don't over complicate it. Get your money in the index funds and ETFs we talk about, then diversify with solid asset classes and you are off to the races for long term wealth building.

[Robert Croak]

And whatever you do, please, please do not go all in on one stock, one crypto, one business. I hear so many of the fake gurus every single week talking about the new, latest and greatest shiny ball syndrome thing that they're investing in. You should too. And guess what? We are here to help you build rich habits. And those habits keep you wealthy over time. Because sometimes it's easy to make money, but it's not easy to keep it and build off of it. So please make sure you really, really consider and take notice of being diversified because it's so important. Because that way you can withstand any market condition because you have diversification across multiple sectors, making it so much easier for you to build and keep your wealth.

[Austin Hankwitz]

Well, speaking of building wealth, that brings us to point number three, which is automating your finances. This is a favorite of Robert and I's because we think it's one of the easiest ways to not obs over something. You just automate it away. Well, what does automating look like for us? In our opinion, automating means we're not only automating our monthly expenses like our credit card, auto pay, utilities, auto pay, phone bill, auto pay, but we're also automating our investing via Public.com's investment plans. More and more of these online brokers are now allowing you to build a auto invest plan or some sort of automated strategy to contribute toward on a weekly, bi weekly, monthly basis. And if yours doesn't offer for that, go check out Public.com's investment plans. Doesn't matter who you use. What matters most is that you are automating your investing. And automating your investing does not only allow you to check the box of not obsessing over money, but it also accomplishes three things. One, it takes emotion out of the equation. Chances are if you see a big red day or a green day, you're either going to get fearful or greedy. So by automating your investing process, this takes emotion out of everything. The second thing is you're never going to forget to actually invest on any given month. I can't tell you, Robert, how many times I'm thinking, yeah, I put a couple hundred bucks in that stock a couple months ago. And then I look back, I'm like, oh, I forgot to do that. And so by having an investment plan and automating that strategy, you'll never forget to invest. And the third thing that happens when you automate your investing is if you do it correctly, it begins to feel effortless and like you're just making free money when it feels like it's coming out every single time. Just get it out of my bank account and get it into the markets. I don't even even want to see it. That is a really good feeling.

[Robert Croak]

Yeah, this really brings up something that I talk about all the time, and that is making your money work as hard for you as you work to get it. So many people get their money deposited in their checking account every two weeks or once a month, and then it just sits there. And what happens when money sits around and it's not spoken for is you spend it on frivolous things or things you don't need because it seems like it's available cash because you don't have your investments automated. And another pro tip, and this can happen with a lot of different bills, is if you automate your monthly payment like I do with Verizon, I save money on my bill every single month. It's not a lot, but it's still meaningful to me every single month because I have my bill on autopay, making it much easier. So this is a great section and really speaks to something we talk about all the time, and that is making sure that you're always investing automatically because it prevents emotion and prevents you from trying to time the market. So I think this one is mission critical. And that leads us into number four, which I think is really important and something that isn't talked about enough, and that is limiting financial noise. So what does that mean? It means avoid obsessively chasing trends and checking the headline news, because that is a recipe for disaster. Now, you listen to the Rich Habits podcast, which means you're someone who likes to keep tabs on their investments and what's going on in the markets, and that's okay. But don't go overboard. I see this all the time because the biggest takeaway from this strategy is to not have knee jerk reactions. You guys hear me talk about it, and it's because of so many of you. You see a headline and you don't even flush out if the headline is real. Is it clickbait? What's happening? And you have a knee jerk reaction. So, for example, if you were someone that was terrified about the Trump tariff tantrum and sold everything when stocks were down 20% because CNBC said, sell, sell, sell, we're you. So many of you do this all the time. You wreck your account by trying to Time the market and sell on these crazy headlines. And we just want to make sure that you understand that you cannot build wealth over the long term. And it really limits your financial success if you let this noise get in the way. So keep tabs on why your portfolio might be moving one way or another if it's a trade deal. Lower inflation earning results, but be very calculated and most importantly, be slow to react when it comes to making these trade decisions around what you're doing next with your portfolio. Because right now it's so easy to get emotional. There's a lot of fear in the markets, there's a lot of uncertainty. But I promise you, if you stay steadfast and stick with the plan, you will be much, much wealthier and a lot less stressed if you stick with the plan.

[Austin Hankwitz]

One of my favorite things to do, Robert, is when I'm reviewing my investments, I don't look and try and feel as if my investments are doing good or bad on a daily or even weekly basis. I'm looking quarterly and semi annually, right? So am I on a quarterly or even semi annual basis trending in the right direction with the stock market, preferably outperforming the stock market, Right. So what that could mean for some of you listening is you got a habit of opening up that public account or that blossom or whatever you're looking at to check all your investments and you're like, oh, I'm down today. Oh, I'm up today. Oh, I'm down today. Oh, I'm back up today. Chill out. We don't need any of that stuff, right? Limit the financial noise. If you are someone who likes to check your accounts and be really on top of things, I'm right there with you. I do the same thing, but to Robert's point, be slow to react, measure twice, cut once. Make sure that you are not someone who is consistently trading or getting in and out of deals or taking these headline news and making all these big inferences about it. By limiting your financial noise, you will be able to live a life that's great and not have to obsess over money along the way.

[Robert Croak]

The best performing accounts are of two types of people, dead people and people that forgot their password. And this is really a great illustration because the less you do many times in your financial journey, once you've got your plan and your strategy, the better off you are. Many, many times. And that really leads us into point number five today, and that is cultivating contentment, practice, gratitude and define what is enough. I want to say that Again, practice gratitude and define what is enough. There's a lot of us out there who are always looking for the next big thing. But remember this, wealth grows faster when you're not constantly chasing more. That is a mind blowing statement and I definitely need to get that into my daily musings more often. There's no truer statement because we live in a comparison based world with non stop highlights of people's lives every time we're on Instagram and TikTok. And I feel like this is the crux of people living beyond their means and letting lifestyle creep get in the way and ruin their chances for financial freedom. So I think it's so important to keep it in perspective because you all feel like you have to live this life that your peers feel you should have instead of living what is authentic to you and important to you. Because not everybody wants a private jet and a big yacht. Some people just want a cool farm and a nice garden or a painting room or something like that in their house so they can live authentic to themselves. So I think it's very important and I really love this section of this podcast because too many people get caught up in what people think they should be living like and not what they really want to live like.

[Austin Hankwitz]

Couldn't agree more. And I think something that really helped me be content with my life, right? I don't have a flashy mansion, I drive a Toyota. I don't live elaborate lifestyle despite having a very successful business. And what helped me feel so content with what I have is that realizing that my identity is not money. My identity is are my friends, the time I get to spend with my family and how I make people feel. Money only solves money problems. And the more you make, the faster you're going to learn this rule. Money is not going to solve your relationship with your spouse. More money will not make you more fit or healthy. You have to actually go do those things and put in the work and money can't do that for you. So by understanding that money only solves money problems, you will realize that. Wow. I maybe, you know, I should be content with what I have, but I've always said this to myself, right? And this is more of a Gary Vee mantra from back in like 2016 or 17. If my loved ones didn't die today in a horrible car accident. No matter how bad my day felt in the moment, I had a pretty good day. I remember this the first time I implemented this strategy I was in a car wash and I paid for the $20 car wash in college money. I mean, I'm over here making $9 an 20 bucks. I'm working hard for it. So I pay for the 20 car wash in college. And it was one of those car washes where two lanes, like, get together and the guy in front of me, like, took my wash, if that makes sense. And so I didn't get the $20 car wash that I paid for. I got the rinky dink $6 wash. And I was like, oh my gosh, I can be so mad about this. And like, oh my gosh, this is a day ruining thing. I can't believe I just bought this guy's car wash. Then I was like, well, you know what? My parents didn't die today, and I got a pretty good relationship with my sister. I had a pretty good day. If this guy taking my car wash was the worst thing that happened to me today, I had a pretty good day. And like, just being able to take that mindset and implement it everywhere else in your life, especially as it relates to how much money you have, what is enough to you and your family, the experiences you want to have as a human being, it makes all of this so much easier. We hope that these five quick but intuitive strategies help you understand how to build wealth over a long period of time without obsessing over money.

[Robert Croak]

Yeah, I really love it and I enjoyed the point about the car wash because we can't always control what happens to us throughout the day, but we can control how we react. Someone actually said to me this morning at Home Depot, they're like, you look like the busiest guy on earth. You're in here all the time for all your real estate, but you always seem happy and you're so nice to all of us. That's why we enjoy waiting on you and helping you. And I'm like, well, what options do I have? Because at the end of the day, too many people harbor anger, harbor stress and frustration with their day, like the car wash story. But you have a choice to not let that affect your day or not let it affect your entire day in maybe just a few minutes. So I love that mindset and I love that story about the car wash to help everyone keep things in perspective throughout their day.

[Austin Hankwitz]

And that's why we call this the rich habits podcast. Business, finance and mindset. Having mindset and having the right mindset is how you build real wealth, generational wealth, over a long period of time. Now, before we jump into our episodes Q and A section, which, by the way, if you want to Ask us a question. You can DM us on Instagram at Rich Habits Podcast or you can email us at Rich Habits podcast gmail.com let's take a moment to hear from this episode sponsor public.com if you're looking for an online brokerage platform that was actually built during this century, Cough Cough Vanguard. What are you doing? Give public.com a try because on Public you can invest invest in almost anything. Stocks, bonds, crypto options and more. And if you're like us and you keep an emergency fund, you can take advantage of their 4.1% APY that's offered by their High Yield Cash account and.

[Robert Croak]

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[Austin Hankwitz]

First question comes from Bridget on Instagram. Bridget says, hi there. I listened to your podcast today for the first time and it's definitely not going to be my last time. Let's go Bridget. Welcome to the Rich Habits listenership community. You're joined by over a hundred thousand other weekly listeners that we are super grateful to have have. Bridget says, I'm 64 and I'm planning to retire within the next year. My assets are in Wealth Management by Fidelity and 401K Investments. They're 60% bonds and 40% stocks. Is this an appropriate ratio for my age and my retirement expectations? My wealth manager thinks that I should move 15% into bonds and 85% into stocks. I do not feel comfortable with 85% in stocks, so that's why I'm asking for a second opinion. Robert, you want to kick this one enough?

[Robert Croak]

Yes, I want to say congrats, Bridget. I agree. I love the ratio of 15 to 85%. And keep in mind that 85% isn't going to be in some random stocks. I hope it's going to be in the tried and true stuff and in the funds that we talk about like the S&P 500, the NASDAQ 100. Maybe he's going to sprinkle in some individual stocks as well, but that's going to be bundled in that 85% and I love it way better than you have in 60% in bonds. I Just feel that is way too risk off and you're just going to leave too much money on the table. So in my opinion, I don't know who this person is, but I give them kudos of moving that around and giving you a better allocation overall. That's my take.

[Austin Hankwitz]

Yeah, I'm right there with you. I think that you know someone that's entering 65. We've all heard of the Trinity Study. The Trinity Study is a research paper that was published by Trinity University that essentially outlines the 4% rule. The 4% rule is this. Assuming you have 40% of your portfolio invested in bonds and 60% of your portfolio invested in stocks, you can withdraw 4% of your total portfolio balance every single year for 30 years and theoretically never run out of money. So that's the 4% rule. That's a 60, 40 split, stocks to bonds. Right? 60% stocks, 40% bonds. You have 60% bonds, runs 40% stock. So even more conservative, I agree with Robert and your financial advisor. If you don't feel comfortable with 85, that's fine. Maybe you make it 60, 40 like how it kind of says supposed to be anyway, but you flip the 6040 so it's 60 stocks, 40% bonds. But I agree, you're 64. You've got 20 more good years ahead of you of investing. There's no reason in my humble opinion, to be so risk off right now. But I agree you should have some bonds, but not so much.

[Robert Croak]

I couldn't agree more. You have the, the total ability to change it to whatever you want. But I definitely agree with Austin 100%. You gotta lower down the ratio of bonds to stocks.

[Austin Hankwitz]

So our next question comes from Alex on Instagram as well. Alex says, hey, Austin and Robert, I've been listening for one and a half years now and I love the show. My fiance and I are starting a consulting business based on the expertise that she has in her field. She's going to be meeting with the client while I will be utilizing the customer relationship management software to create a good system to track documents, billing and more. What are some some pitfalls and things to keep in mind when starting a consulting business of this nature? So I have a consulting business. It's a media consulting business and a couple pitfalls. I'll give you three. The first one is tracking your cash flow. So for example, I've got clients that Pay on a net 30, which means after I deliver the services, they pay me 30 days after I deliver the services notice 30 days after I deliver the services, not 30 days after the contract is signed. Those are two different things. Again, cash flow, you got to understand, again, some clients are net 30, others are net 45. Others are net 60. If you do not track your cash flow, when specific amounts of money are supposed to hit your bank account, when other specific amounts of money are supposed to leave your bank account from expenses or payroll or whatever, you will find yourself in a cash flow crunch. And that is no fun. And that forces people to make the mistake of going into credit card debt or taking out business loans and things that aren't necessary. Especially for a consulting business business, you don't have any overhead. So one is cash flow. Two, invoicing. Make sure that you automate the invoicing process and automate the reminder process on getting these invoices paid. If that is with Intuit, QuickBooks, if that is on Stripe, if that is just sending an email and making sure you've got calendar reminders to make sure, hey, just let you know this invoice is due in 10 days. Like, invoicing, I feel like is a very hard part of the business because sometimes we forget, right? You send an invoice and then you're like, oh, they're supposed to pay me in 30 days and it's been 35 days, but I haven't talked to them a month. Like, where's my money? Like, just the whole invoicing process, make sure that that's optimized. And then three taxes. Make sure that you are incorporated correctly. Make sure that you have both yourself and your fiance on payroll via gusto. Or maybe you're taking owner's distributions or you're doing something in a way to optimize for taxes and taking advantage of all the write offs that are afforded to you as a business owner. I'll let Robert talk more about those write offs, but those are my quick three pitfalls to make sure that you're taking into account as you start this consulting business.

[Robert Croak]

Yeah, and I would just want piggyback that a little bit and say, make sure you have good contracts because there's nothing worse. And it can be consulting, it can be services based. Is when you do the work and then that net 30 comes up and it's time to get paid. And they say, ah, it didn't move the needle enough for us, or you didn't do a good enough job, we don't like it, it didn't work for us, so they try not to pay you. So good contracts. I always say that whoever has the best paperwork in the end always wins. And, and it's very, very true. And then when it comes to write offs, make sure you get with your accountant. Get with a lawyer, if you have a good business lawyer that can help you and just really understand what can you do against the work and against the expenses to get you those write offs. It could be if you're working out of the house that you write off the space in your house. It could be you can use miles on your car because you're going to meetings, you can have meals. As a write off Internet, there's a lot of different things that people leave on the table because it all comes down to. It's not what you make, it's what you keep. And by utilizing all of those write offs, it'll put you in a better situation to make more money and keep it in your pocket and not somebody else's.

[Austin Hankwitz]

And something else I'll mention too, talking about taxes, make those quarterly estimates. If you don't, the IRS is going to penalize you. They'll charge you interest and fees and all the things like that. Make sure that you have a great accountant, a great tax accountant accountant that's going to help you figure all that stuff out and make sure that you are not paying the IRS more money than you should. Now, before we jump to our final question, let's take a moment to hear from this episode sponsor, Blossom. You guys always ask us, what are we investing into right now? And you know, we aren't gatekeepers, but.

[Robert Croak]

We also don't blast our portfolio all over the Internet either. So if you want to see it, you have to follow us on Blossom.

[Austin Hankwitz]

You know, we've been talking about Blossom for years now and we're big fans of their app. It's a free social investing platform where people actually show you what they're investing in.

[Robert Croak]

But just to be clear, Blossom is not a brokerage. It's like a social network for investors. So think about Instagram meets investing and.

[Austin Hankwitz]

What we love is the transparency. You can literally see my portfolio, Robert's portfolio, track changes in real time and learn and discuss strategies with other real investors.

[Robert Croak]

And the best part is the community on Blossom is long term focused, not typical of what you see on other social media platforms which tend to revolve around trading, FOMO and whatever's hype at the moment. This is real long term investors and really, really good strategies.

[Austin Hankwitz]

So if you're curious as to how we're building our wealth or you want to just level up your own investing habits, download Blossom. It's completely Free. It's easy to use and we are both on there. Just search Austin Hankwitz and Robert Croke.

[Robert Croak]

Official hit the link in the show notes and join us on Blossom and let's build rich habits together.

[Austin Hankwitz]

So our final question comes from Susie. Susie says, do you all think, think gold still serves a purpose in a modern portfolio when bitcoin and other alternatives exist today? That's a good question, Susie. And I'll let Robert kick us off.

[Robert Croak]

Yeah, this is a fantastic question and I want to give a little backstory. So if we were to look at bitcoin's performance for the last five years, it's right around 945% return, which is incredible, unheard of. And so many people still believe bitcoin is not real and it's not a great investment. But also gold has crushed it and beat many sectors as well. Well, for the last five years at around 95% return. So what do I think? I think the answer is you should have both. I love owning bitcoin, but I love owning precious metals like gold and silver as well because I like to be diversified. You hear us talk about it all the time. But to me, I don't want to have all my eggs in one basket. And that is why I like diversification. So I think you should, in a modern portfolio, own bitcoin, own gold. You can own other alternative investments as well. There's so many things you can do out there, whether it's wine and whiskey, timber, artwork. It could be cryptocurrencies, other cryptocurrencies, real estate. But I think a well balanced portfolio definitely includes gold and bitcoin.

[Austin Hankwitz]

Totally agree with you. Right. So do I think gold still serves a purpose in a modern portfolio? Yes, I do think gold still serves a purpose. We were just talking about investing early and often as well as diversifying our portfolios after we've built that base of $100,000. And part of that diversification is precious metals. So think gold, but also think silver. Also think platinum. Platinum's done pretty well this year, which is pretty interesting. So, yes, gold definitely still serves a purpose in a modern portfolio. And then with bitcoin, you probably want some of that too. We've always said people should have between 5 and 15% of their net worth sitting in bitcoin or cryptocurrency, specifically bitcoin and maybe a couple other altcoins to not get too fancy. But we're not, again to Robert's point, saying, you know, we're putting all of our eggs in one basket. We're not going all in on gold or all in on Bitcoin or anything, but it serves a purpose in a modern portfolio from a diversification perspective. We both believe that and we think it's a wonderful way to diversify your wealth across different asset classes.

[Robert Croak]

And if you don't want to own physical gold or silver because you're fearful of taking possession of it, you don't have anywhere safe to store it. We really like the two ETFs GLD and SLV, so check those out. Those are a really good way to have a hands off approach but still be investing in precious metals.

[Austin Hankwitz]

And additionally, NEOS Investments just came out with IAUI. Again, that's IAUI, that's the NEOs High Income Gold ETF. So as you know, gold is just a shiny rock. It doesn't have earnings, it doesn't pay a dividend or anything of that nature. So if you're someone who does like some income paid to you as an investor, IAUI uses a sophisticated option strategy to both replicate the total returns of gold, but turn some of that price appreciation into some consistent tax efficient monthly income. So definitely go check out IAUI as well from NEOS Funds.

[Robert Croak]

Yeah, great call out Austin. I forgot that NEOS Funds just launched the Gold etf, so I'm super excited to get involved and invest in it myself. But definitely we love gold and silver and precious metals and we think it goes hand in hand in a modern portfolio. Julio and great question Susie.

[Austin Hankwitz]

So you all now know how to build wealth without obsessing over money. That includes living below your means, investing early and often in staying diversified, automating your finances, limiting the financial noise, but most importantly, cultivating contentment. This episode is a lot of fun. I really enjoy digging into sort of the easier strategies and actions and everyday things that our listeners can do to continue to trend in the right direction and how have a fruitful and graceful retirement.

[Robert Croak]

And remember, we love all of you joining us each and every week, but share the podcast with a friend. Maybe you have a friend or a family member that's having some problems. They're not sure where to go in their career. They need a little boost. We're here to provide that boost and we love the five star reviews you guys give us. That helps move us along and get us in a really good place in the ratings. We're top five right now, which is amazing. Thanks to all of you. And also don't forget the Rich Habits Network. We have a free 7 day free trial going on right now so you can go check out the Rich Habits Network, join one of our private lives and really just dig in with zero cost. Check it out for a week. If you don't find a ton of value, you can leave with no cost to you. But we'd love to have you in there and just really follow along with us in all the things we're doing with the markets, private investments, real estate mindset and everything we're doing in the Rich Habits Network.

[Austin Hankwitz]

We are so excited and grateful grateful that a hundred thousand plus of you continue to come back every single week and listen to our show. Thank you to the thousands of you that have left us five star reviews and the 200,000 of you that have subscribed to our show on Spotify. It's completely free. If you're not yet subscribed on Spotify, click that little plus button and you'll get notified when we share new episodes. As always, thank you all so much for tuning in to this week's episode of the Rich Habits Podcast and we'll see you on Thursday.