Q&A: Investing in Copper, Approaching a Down Payment, & Finances After Divorce

Summary

Rich Habits Podcast

Episode: Q&A: Investing in Copper, Approaching a Down Payment, & Finances After Divorce
Date: January 29, 2026
Hosts: Austin Hankwitz & Robert Croak

---

Episode Overview

This Q&A episode focuses on real-life financial scenarios from listeners: the pros and cons of 401(k) rollovers, steps for launching a new kitchen appliance, post-divorce investing and home buying, diversifying into small business as a young, successful electrician, and strategies for taking profits on trending commodities like copper and silver. Austin and Robert provide actionable, scenario-based advice rooted in their own financial journeys, mistakes, and successes, with a candid style aimed at demystifying what it takes to build “rich habits.”

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. 401(k) Rollovers — When to Move or Stay Put?

[02:27–05:38] Listener: Anonymous (30, NYC Commercial Litigator)

• Austin recommends rolling the old 401(k) into a traditional IRA (assuming pre-tax), for more investment autonomy and typically lower fees:
  • “Having the autonomy to choose because it’s in your traditional IRA into what you want to be investing into is the name of the game.” – Austin [05:35]
  • Keep retirement investments focused on diversified index funds and ETFs for long-term growth (VOO, QQQ, SCHD, VXUS, etc.).
• Robert agrees: “That is exactly how I would do it…I think that is the best move in this situation.” [05:38]
• Both stress reviewing fund performance, fees, consolidation, and flexibility before making a decision.

---

2. Bringing a New Appliance Idea to Market

[05:49–12:42] Listener: John D.

• Stepwise advice from Robert:
  1. Protect the idea first: Maintain thorough records, consider trademarks, secure social handles, and determine appropriate patents (design or utility). Never share drawings without NDAs in place.
  2. Manufacturing: Set up a manufacturer’s agreement (use ChatGPT or a contract lawyer); don’t share concepts until protections are signed.
  3. Go-to-market: Start small with limited production (avoid big inventory risk), prove product-market fit, grow sales locally or online before ramping up.
  • “I don’t want you to spend a million dollars, raise capital…and find out nobody wants your product.” – Robert [07:37]
• Austin urges finding community: “Find people…doing [this] in real time and documenting the journey—it’s really invaluable.” [09:13]
  • Example: Charlotte Tren, CEO of Char Charms and Wall Candy, documents every step—“She’s now selling these products in the tune of tens of millions of dollars.” [09:56]
  • Documentation breeds opportunity: Random content can connect you to investors, retailers, or viral attention.
    • “No idea is too crazy, and no piece of content is too crazy either." – Austin [12:42]
• Robert underlines the “start small, share the process” mantra: “He sold the idea sight unseen for $16 million without ever putting any money into production or ads…” [11:29]

---

3. Finances After Divorce: Prioritizing Down Payment, Investing, and Cash Flow

[12:49–18:40] Listener: Jeremy (37, DC, 2 kids)

• Jeremy’s scenario: Post-divorce, renting, estimating $1,000/month to save/invest, wants to save $120k for a house down payment in 3–5 years.
• Robert recommends renting for a few years: “I like the idea of you renting for now…have a little bit of breathing room…not rushing into a new house is critical here.” [14:55]
• Austin deep dives:
  • Suggests keeping Roth IRA maxed annually, but reducing TSP (Thrift Savings Plan) contributions to just the employer match. The difference (up to $20k/year) goes to down payment savings, accelerating the goal.
  • “Just do this little tweak…and you can find yourself $120,000–$140,000 richer in the next 4 or 5 years.” [17:09]
  • On using mutual funds for the down payment: No need if you make these tweaks. Keep investment allocations strong unless the funds are underperforming major indices.
• Robert adds tactical legal advice: “Make sure you sell the home before the divorce is finalized—cap gains exclusion can save you a lot in taxes.” [18:40]
• Both stress the importance of adapting priorities post-divorce, staying invested, and taking a long-term view.

---

4. Small Business: When and How to Diversify as a High-Earning Young Electrician

[21:12–30:22] Listener: Ng (25, Traveling Electrician, $250k+ net worth)

• Ng considers launching/buying a small business for wider income streams.
• Austin’s advice: Stay focused and let compounding work; wait till net worth doubles to ~$500–600k before shifting attention from the core job.
  • “I just think it’s a little premature…keep doing what clearly works for you until [net worth] is close to that $400k–$600k.” [24:26]
• Robert offers an alternative:
  • Supports testing business ideas, if sticking to your core competency (trades/electrical).
  • Don’t overextend: “Put a cap on maybe 10–15% of your capital…don’t use all the capital you’ve done so well to put away.” [25:05]
• Business ideas for tradespeople:
  • Buy into related small trades (drywall, roofing).
  • Build a digital/mentorship business to teach others how to follow Ng’s path—mirroring success stories like “Nurse Sam” with subscription content for trades.
  • “I would literally create something that says, ‘Here’s my exact playbook that took me to $150k…a quarter million dollar net worth at 25.’” – Austin [29:09]
• “Everyone listening…has a unique experience…people will pay you to learn from it. That’s what you do.” – Austin [30:22]

---

5. Profits and Positioning: When to Take Money Off the Table in SLV/COPX

[31:48–34:56] Listener: Lee Z. on Instagram

• Robert’s profit-taking rule of thumb: “When I take a position…if it’s up 50%, I take 25% profits. If it gets up 50% again, I take another quarter off, and so on.” [31:48]
• Silver:
  • “For silver…yes, be taking tons of profits. Especially if you got in at 20, 30, 40, 50 bucks.” – Austin [32:28]
  • Reallocate into underperforming but promising positions (e.g., Amazon, Russell 2000).
• Copper:
  • Austin is bullish: “I’m actively buying copper right now. I think copper is going to be an incredible commodity to own between now and the end of the decade.” [33:33]
• General advice: Each day you hold an asset, you’re investing at that day’s price—“If there’s ever a price where you’d say, ‘Maybe I wouldn’t put $12,000 in at this price,’ maybe it’s time to take profits.” – Austin [34:23]
• Robert’s casino analogy: “The number one thing you hear on a casino floor…‘I was up!’…People get greedy. So take profits along the way.” [34:56]

---

6. You’ll Never Sell the Peak—Why Taking Profits Is Always a Win

[35:15–39:00]

• Austin and Robert discuss letting winners run too long, selling early, and why perfect timing is impossible.
  • Robert: “I thought I could get cute and try to time the market…and I don’t do it anymore. Just buy and dollar cost average and hold unless your conviction changes.” [35:43]
  • On Bitcoin: “I have sold Bitcoin at $700, at $1,700, at $6,000, at $21,000. So that was also not a mistake because I still made a ton of money from an ROI perspective.” [37:11]
• Takeaway: Don’t look in the rearview mirror—“You in that moment…were making the best decision with your money as you could with the information you had.” – Austin [37:17]
• “When you hear the fake gurus telling you they know when the bottom…the top is, don’t listen…” – Robert [38:19]

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Austin: “Having the autonomy to choose because it’s in your traditional IRA into what you want to be investing into is the name of the game.” [05:35]
• Robert: “No idea is too crazy…document the journey…because no idea is too crazy.” [11:29]
• Austin: “I just think it’s a little premature…keep doing what has got you to where you are.” [24:26]
• Robert: “Put a cap on like maybe 10 or 15% of it if you were going to start something on your own. I would not use any more of it…” [25:05]
• Austin: “Every day you have your $12,942 of SLV or COPX invested, you’re actively saying, ‘Would I buy $12,000 worth of this at this price?’” [34:13]
• Robert: “The number one thing you hear on a casino floor…‘I was up!’…because people get greedy.” [34:56]
• Robert: “When you hear the fake gurus telling you they know when the bottom is…the top is, don’t listen to that either because they don’t.” [38:19]

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:27] 401(k) Rollover Decisions
• [05:49] Kitchen Appliance Idea: Protecting, Manufacturing, Launching
• [12:49] Investing, Renting, & Saving After Divorce
• [21:12] Should a 25-year-old Electrician Buy or Build a Business?
• [31:48] Profit-Taking: SLV (Silver), COPX (Copper) Strategies
• [35:15] “You’ll Never Sell the Peak” – Mindset & Mistakes

---

Conclusion

Austin and Robert, sharing both their expertise and humility from lived experience, walk listeners through nuanced real-world financial decisions. Their approach is candid, supportive, and practical—focusing on habits, protecting downside, and seizing the upside. The “Rich Habits” community is encouraged to connect, learn, document, and stay long-term oriented—proof that “no idea is too crazy” and every day is an opportunity to build wealth with discipline and intention.

Transcript

[A]

Hey everyone and welcome back to the Rich Habits Podcast Question and Answer edition, brought to you by public.com these are our Thursday episodes which are entirely focused on question and answer. You guys ask us questions and we answer them. We answer them as if we were in your shoes going through whatever you are going through. You can ask us questions on Instagram at Rich Habits Podcast or via email at rich habits podcastmail.com Robert it is currently Monday, January 26th. The first month, month of the year is almost behind us. This episode's gonna come out and everyone's. We're gonna be just that much closer to February. Man, I'm excited. I, I feel like this was a good month. Good month in the markets. We, we shared our 2026 Market Predictions episode a couple weeks ago. Copper is already up like 15 since we called that one out, which is cool. The Russell 2000 doing its thing. It's been a good month so far.

[B]

Yeah, I really enjoy kind of the first month out of the year because we get to lay the groundwork not only for our own portfolios, but for everyone out there that follow. We scored really high in our predictions in 2025 and I believe we're going to be spot on in 2026. So I'm really, really excited. And of course I always love the Q and A episodes.

[A]

Absolutely. Well, before we jump to our first question though, we got to give a shout out to public.com the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, cryptocurrency and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into index using AI.

[B]

And it all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500 all within just a few clicks.

[A]

You can think about generated assets like ETFs, but with infinite possibilities. They're completely customizable and they're based on your thesis, not someone else's. So go to public.com rich habits and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com rich habits. Go transfer your portfolio over and get that uncapped 1% bonus paid for by Public Investing.

[B]

Full disclosure in the podcast description.

[A]

All right, Robert, our first question comes from an anonymous listener living in New York City. So this anonymous listener says Hi, I have a question regarding 401k rollo and I'd like to remain anonymous. First off, I want to say thank you for the show. I've been listening since day one, every episode without fail, and it's been one of the few finance podcasts that's actually helped me think clearly and long term about my money. I'm writing in with a question because I don't think you all have addressed this directly on your Thursday episodes, specifically around 400 1K rollovers and how to think about them strategically. So here's a quick landscape on me. I'm 30. I work as a commercial litigator in New York City. My base salary is 21,000 a year, not including my year end bonus which is 40 to 50,000. I've got $140,000 in my 401k, 30,000 in a brokerage slash bridge account, 20k in a emergency fund, and $170,000 in equity across two real estate rental properties. I've also got about 15 grand of Bitcoin. I recently left my old firm for a new one, which has me thinking about whether I should roll over my old 401k. The fund lineup at my previous firm performed extremely well and I've been hesitant to move it without fully understanding the trade offs. I know rollovers are common, but I don't hear a lot of nuanced discussion around it. If it actually makes sense to rollover that old 401k to a new provider when it may be better to just leave it alone with an old provider, or how to think about fund performance, fees, consolidation and flexibility in that decision. How should someone in my position think about rolling over an old 401k versus keeping it where it is? Are there situations, situations where staying put is actually the smarter move even after changing jobs? What a good question by our anonymous listener here. Again, thank you so much for being a Day one. We've got a lot of these Day one listeners, Robert. It's insane to think about almost a hundred thousand people have the Rich Habits podcast at the top of their podcast rotation on Spotify. It is. It's unreal. So let's jump to this answer. My perspective on your situation to our anonymous 30 year old listener out of New York City is I would roll the $140,000 401k not to your new to a traditional IRA, assuming it's a pre tax 401k. Right? It's not a Roth 401k, just a normal 401k. You can without Any tax consequences. Open up a traditional IRA on public.com, roll over that $140,000 to it, earn that uncapped 1%, match on that rollover, and then invest the money any which way you want. So when we're talking about retirement accounts, we specifically want to make sure we're invested into index funds and ETFs. We're not doing these risky swing trades or, or things like that. So talking voo, qqq, vgt, mote, M O A T, schd, perhaps maybe you want a little bit of AIQ or some international. With VX us There's a ton of different ways to structure this that meets your risk tolerance. But at the end of the day, having the autonomy to choose because it's in your traditional IRA into what you want to be investing into is the name of the game.

[B]

I think you nailed it. You took the words right out of my mouth. That is exactly how I would do it. And I can't think of anything I would add to this because I think that is the best move in this situation.

[A]

All right, Robert, this next one is right up your alley. It's coming from our friend John D. Via email. John says, hi, Austin and Robert, I have a new idea for a kitchen appliance. What comes next in terms of one, manufacturing, two, protecting the idea, and three other important steps I should consider when bringing it to market. Thanks, Robert. Give us the 1, 2, 3.

[B]

Yeah, I love this question, John. And I would just say let's start out first, not with manufacturing, but let's start out with protecting the idea first. So what you want to do is make sure you do a lot of research, make sure you keep notes. I would make a folder on your laptop. However you do things, it could be paper. Print everything out so you have a track record of all that you're doing along the way in the project. And I would get all of that protection figured out. Whether it's trademarking the name. Once you figure out the name, you want to make sure you get your social media handles. You might want to start thinking about what kind of patent you need. Is it a design patent or is it a manufacturing patent? That's going to be utility. You got to figure all these things out first because once you have the idea and the concept figured out and you can protect it, then you can go to manufacturing second. How do you do that? Well, you're going to make sure you have a manufacturer's agreement. You could have ChatGPT help you with this or get a lawyer involved that does this kind of contract work. Get a manufacturer's agreement in place and do not share the idea or any drawings with any factory. I don't care how nice they seem without having something in place where they signed. Just like an NDA before you share the concept or any drawings. That's number two. So let's assume you get through the protecting the idea. You're up and running. You go to manufacturing, they like it, you've got an idea, you've got a budget and you know now what to do. One thing I will tell you, and most people make this mistake when they're doing a product and they're manufacturing something new. They buy too many. Don't do that. You want to get a small order, it might even be a sample order. I don't know what the product is, so it's hard for me to tell. And you want to get to market as inexpensively as you can so you can check product, market fit. Very, very important. I don't want you to spend a million dollars, raise capital from everyone and find out nobody wants your product. That's that. So then third, the third part of your question is what to do to bring it to market. I would start out small. Don't try to go to every retailer. Don't go spend all of your money going to shows and product shows and all that. It's very expensive, it will exhaust your capital. I would start small, get it out there. If you can market with some digital ads, go to some local shows maybe or some local retailers. If it's a type, that's going to be a retail type product, which I assume it is since it's an appliance and go that route first. So you can get your feet wet, get some sales moving and get up and running. Then you can go more for mass market and start going on TikTok shop if it's a good fit or going to the major retailers. But just start small, protect yourself and that should be all you need to get this thing moving.

[A]

I think it's a great place to start for sure. The only advice I would share is to find other people that are doing this right now themselves and documenting the process. A good example of this is Charlotte Tren, who is the CEO of Char Charms and Wall Candy. These are two products that she came up with. Literally just off the dome. She made some schematics, some blueprints, some whatever the the name of it is, you know, drawings and things. Found a manufacturer in China to bring these ideas to life and she is now selling these products in the tune of tens of millions of dollars, which is crazy to think about. She was just on Shark Tank, if that shows you anything in Target and I'm sure Walmart and like other like really Dick Sporting Goods Academy, Sports, like tons of really cool things there. So I also know that she has a email newsletter where she like weekly updates on like starting a new brand from scratch. I think Wall Candy was like a new one that came out like six months ago. She decided to start and she's just documenting the journey there. Really interesting stuff. So, like, find people like her. If it's on X, if it's on TikTok, if it's on Instagram, spe 30, 45 minutes and maybe an hour just typing in, you know, different hashtags or different searches or, you know, different things like this. Maybe find and see the types of people that comment on her stuff. Maybe they're building their own thing, right? Like use some time intentionally here to find other people and learn from people who are doing it in real time. It's one thing to listen to a podcast and have like 1, 2, 3 example and advice on like, how to think about it, but maybe, you know, someone did something that had to. We just had a government shutdown that was pretty timely, right? This was heck, by the time this episode comes out, maybe I have another one because I know that's around the corner. But maybe that, you know, they had to navigate that or some stuff with tariffs or maybe there was something to do with, you know, the shortages that we're seeing with some of these rare earth metals and, and manufacturing. You mentioned a kitchen appliance. Maybe it's got copper in it, right? Like, being able to learn from people who are doing stuff in real time and documenting the journey is like really invaluable. Which in that instance, John, I would also encourage you to do the same if you don't already have an account on Instagram or X or whatever. Like, you know, be obscure so you don't really have to tell everyone exactly what you're doing if you want to protect your idea. But I'm the biggest believer in just like document the process, document the journey, because you have no idea on that 19th video who's going to watch it and be like, whoa, I want to invest in that. And then they are putting you on QVC or something, or maybe they want to launch you on their TikTok shop or whatever is going on, right? There's a lot of cool things that can happen from just documenting the Journey.

[B]

I want to click back on that and that is such a good reminder. I had a friend back in the day and I'm not going to name his name or the product, but he had an idea for a product. I told him how to get started. So he went to a local welding shop and had five samples made. They were pretty crude, they were good enough, they worked and served the function. He went to his first ever show. No social media, no marketing. He had an eight foot table, a banner and five samples. He wasn't in any retail. There was no TikTok shop. This was long before that. He sold the idea sight unseen for $16 million without ever putting any money into production or ads or any of that stuff. So just always remember, document the journey like Austin said and go and start small and get out there because no idea is too crazy. Thank you for reminding me of that story because I was blown away. He called me after the show, he's like, dude, I sold it. I sold. I'm like, what do you mean you sold? He goes, some huge company just bought me out and gave me royalties. I'm like, no way. And it was just crazy. So just. That's why I love this business of developing products. Char Charms is a great example of that. She is crushing it. So just always remember, no idea is too crazy.

[A]

No idea is too crazy and no piece of content is too crazy either.

[B]

Right?

[A]

I think a lot of people, it doesn't matter if they're like building a business, a service based business or a passion or a side hustle. What? Like people are just scared to post about it on the Internet. I promise you, the only people that are going to judge you for posting on the Internet are these random people you haven't talked to since high school or those losers from your hometown that have always been jealous of you. Like just go post stuff on the Internet, talk about things you're passionate about, your side hustle, your small business, your new kitchen appliance, John. And like document the journey because you literally, quite literally have nothing to lose. It's only upside by posting stuff like this on the Internet. So our next question comes from Jeremy. Jeremy says hi, Austin Robert. My name is Jeremy and I've been listening to your podcast for over a year. You guys are absolute rock stars and you've changed how I invest for the better. I'm forever grateful. Jeremy, we are grateful that you listened to the show. Thank you. My friend Jeremy says, my wife and I are both 37, living in the Washington D.C. area with two young kids we are separated, so I've not included her finances. Here I have a base built, but I'll need a place to live soon and I'm wondering what to do with what I have left over after a pending divorce. My monthly income after taxes, insurance and retirement is 6,500. Doll. I have 5,000 in a checking account, 10,000 in a high yield savings for emergencies. I have 160,000 in a Roth tsp, 56,000 in a Roth IRA, 3,000 in Bitcoin and two mutual fund accounts or just taxable brokerage accounts with a combined worth of 125,000. I max out my retirement contributions every year. The divorce requires selling our house and the portion of equity I will receive from the sale is estimated to be 55,000. I won't be able to buy another house, so I plan on renting, which will cost me 2,500amonth. Add that to a $3,000 a month in childcare and other reasonable expenses and I'll have about $1,000 a month left over to save and invest. My question is, what should I do with my equity and leftover monthly income if I want to save for $120,000 down payment on another house in the next three to five years, should I use any of my mutual funds to buy a house? Thank you for everything you do, Jeremy. Robert, I'll let you kick this one off.

[B]

Yeah, sorry to hear about that, Jeremy. I too went through a divorce a few years back and it is not pleasurable, especially and then the wallet when there's real estate and everything else involved. But I think you're looking at it the right way. You've got to deal with it, you've got to move on. You get this equity, you get this money. I like the idea of you renting for now, for the next, let's call it one, two, three years, you know, because that way you can set yourself back up, have a little bit of breathing room and put this money aside, keep it invested and earmarked for that new house. But not rushing into the new house I think is critical here because at the end of the day you want to make sure that you can get a house that's within your budget because, you know, being single and moving forward, single family, household, you don't want to go in over your head or buy right away where maybe you're a little bit hurt or frustrated because I don't know what your current house is like. But just being careful and looking forward to it tactically, I think is a smart Move. And everything you spelled out makes sense to me.

[A]

All right, Jeremy, I'm going to go a little bit deeper. I think that you are in a really cool situation in the sense that you mentioned you're maxing out your retirement contributions every year, which tells me you are maxing out your Roth tsp at 24,500 in 2026 and your Roth IRA at 7,500 in 2026, which means $32,000 a year is coming out of your paycheck after taxes that is being invested. I love the situation because we have some flexibility. You mentioned that you want to have $1,000 of a down payment saved in the next three to five years. So let's say, for example, we keep maxing out the Roth IRA at $7,500 every single year and we are now pulling back on those Roth TSP contributions only up to the match during this season of your life while you're trying to build up for this down payment. If I'm doing my math right, your salary is around 120 to $140,000 pre tax. I think maybe, I hope, I hope I'm doing this math right. So let's just assume it's 130,000 if you are contributing, let's say up to your 3% match, right? So let's say you, you bring down this 24,500 contribution per year all the way down. Let's just call it to $4,000 a year, right? So call it, you know, 3ish, 4ish percent of your salary now you are going to get the match, which is great. That's free money. We talk about that all the time. But now you've unlocked this other $20,000 a year that you are now able to go in this down payment. So now we've got 20,000 on top of the 12,000 that we were just doing because you've got about $1,000 a month now that you can play with. Just that alone in five years is going to be 160,000, right? $32,000 a year times four years is 128. So you can absolutely just do this little tweak and find yourself 120 to $140,000 richer in the next four or five years, which is right in that three to five year time range you gave yourself. So to answer your question of do I use any of my mutual mutual fund money to buy a house? You don't have to. I probably don't even think I would. I would rather keep that money Invested. Assuming that you mentioned mutual funds, I'm not too positive. If you're in good mutual funds or just benchmark them on the S P and the Nasdaq's performance over the last, let's call it three to five years and then you can see if you're in good ones or bad ones. If you're in bad ones, just sell the mutual funds because they're probably high fees anyway. Put them in the S P, put them in the Nasdaq, put them in the Dow Jones things we talk about. Let it trend up into the right. Right. But just by making these two tweaks of pulling back on that Roth TSP and then also keeping that thousand a month, you are going to be at that 120-150k range faster than you think.

[B]

And the only thing I want to click back and add to that, and that is a really good breakdown, is make sure you sell the home before the divorce is finalized. Because if you do that, you can still utilize the tax benefits of your capital gains exclusions. So keep that in mind as well. I would not get divorced, sign the dotted line, then sell the house. So hopefully you have good lawyers that are guiding you because if you sell prior to the divorce being finalized, you get all those tax gains as well. And that's something very important in figuring this all out.

[A]

That was a great call out, Robert. I had no idea about that. So that's, that's good to say, Robert. Before we answer our next question, Generated Assets, you heard of it before? It's a really cool thing going on right [e-mail] generated assets does a really good job of allowing you to choose your own strategy. You know, Robert, we've actually created our own generated asset strategies that we've published inside the Rich Habits Network. And some of these have really outperformed the s and P500, historically speaking. A couple call outs of ones that we've built, and this is just free sauce we're giving you here, was to invest in companies that have reduced their long term debt by at least 25% in the last 24 months without issuing new shares. That strategy has outperformed the S&P 500 by about, about double in the last 10 years. Another one, companies that have reduced their outstanding share count BY at least 5% annualized for the last five years in a row that has outperformed the S and P by over double. Let's find another one here just for fun, how about this one? Companies with a cash return on invested capital C R O I C of over 20% for five consecutive years. Right. Literally, like, you just come up with stuff that you think is going to be cool. They make it, they help you invest in it. It is. It's awesome. So one, check out Generated Assets on Public. It is an incredible tool that anyone can just start using with a public account. And two, if you want to know our generated asset strategies, join the Rich Habits Network.

[B]

Yeah, I was going to touch on that because we love Public. You guys have heard us talk about it for years. They've been a great partner to work with, sponsoring the Rich Habits podcast and being involved with us along the way. But Generated Assets, I think takes the cake for them even because it is the coolest tool out there.

[A]

There.

[B]

And everyone listening, please go to public.com and at least play around. If you don't want to open an account right now, go in the website, play with Generated assets, put in some cool prompts and see what it does because it really shows you that AI is your friend and it is just so incredibly powerful. I just love it.

[A]

Couldn't agree more. So our next question comes from Ng via email. Ng says, hi, Robert and Austin. Please keep me anonymous by using using n g with a smiley face. Ng smiley face. I like that. Ng says, I'm 25 years old. I'm a traveling electrician and I make between 70 and 150,000 a year depending on where I work. I have 25,000 in an emergency fund, 25,000 in a high yield savings, which is kind of redundant, but we'll keep going. 128,000 in a 401k, 14,000 in a 401, a 30,000 in a Roth IRA, 45,000 in a brokerage account. I own a duplex where I live on one side and rent the other side. I have a truck loan of 40,000, mortgage of 125, both of which about 5% interest rates, and they're my only forms of debt. I've listened to your podcast since episode eight and I've really stepped up my finances because of it. That is awesome to hear, Ng. Thank you so much. Ng says, my question is I'm heavily considering working towards either developing or buying some kind of small business to get my foot in the door to other streams of income. Do you have any thoughts on if this would be a good next step? If so, what would be some businesses that you guys would consider if you are new to the game in today's day and age? Ooh. So let's answer the question. And then regardless of our answers, call out some businesses that we think are, are cool. So my answer to you ng is you have done exceptionally well at 25 years old. You're making, call it 120, 150,000 a year depending on where you work. You're just caking it right now. 25,000 in emergency fund and 25k in a high yield savings. I don't know why I need both when one or the other the 25 and the high yield savings should just go get invested in a bridge account. But regardless, right, You've got literally hundreds of thousands of dollars. You are very, very rich at such a young age, which is really, really inspiring for a lot of people just to see how cool it is to go be a traveling electrician. Something that's probably like, oh, what is that? I don't know, I want to go to college instead or why would I want to be an electrician? We got NG over here proving how much money you can make, how much you can build by just going and following a career like this. So I commend you. MG would encourage you to go, you know, develop or buy a small business. I don't think so. I don't think right now. I think you've done a really good job at your age of building your wealth and I think you're about 2xing your net worth before you should seriously consider diversifying into a small business. Right? So let's just do a little bit of math. You said you've got 50,000 in cash between your 25 account and your other 25. Got 128 and a 401k, 14 here, 30 here, another 45. So you've got about a quarter million dollar net worth. 267 is what it says. I would rather like to see you at that 400, 500, $600,000 net worth range where your money truly is going to be working for you and compounding in perpetuity toward retirement. Before you take your eye off the prize, right, I want you to stay focused on what has got you to where you've you've been, right. In just such a short period of time. Like stay focused on doing what work clearly works for you. Keep doing this until it's close to that again, 4 or 5, 600,000 and then you can say okay, cool, like I could go focus on something for 18 months. If it's investing in a business, if it's buying one, if it's starting one, whatever, I can go do that for 18 months. It could be a complete waste of time, but my 600,000 is still going to be trending in the right direction for me and it's going to make more money for me over time versus only having that 267, which is where you are right now. I just think it's a little premature. So at the end of the day, I think it's a good idea to think about that next step. If it's buying a business, if it's starting one, if it's, you know, different streams of income, I'm all about that. But I would do it in about, I'd say three or four years from now. Call it 28, 29. When your net worth is closer to 4, 5, 600,000.

[B]

That is a great takeaway. I'm going to give a little bit slightly different take. Love where you're at. You're absolutely crushing it. And I think it's okay if you were to start a business, but I wouldn't start a business that's anything different than what you're already doing. You're an electrician. You are in the catbird seat because that is one trade that is going up, up, up in pay. And it is not going to go away because of AI and robotics. So I would stay in the electrical field, figure out how you can monetize it more, whether it's starting your own shop. Maybe you bring on four or five other electricians that you know that are in the field, that travel with you and go out on your own. But the thing I would do to follow what Austin said is I would not use all the capital you've done so well to put away. I would put a cap on like maybe 10 or 15% of it. If you were going to start something on your own. And I would not use any more of it because I see so many people get that first, 100, 200, $300,000, then they go blow it all on a business, it doesn't work, then they're starting over. You're so far ahead of the game game. So if you're gonna go start the business anyway, just please use this as a reminder. Do not use all the capital. Maybe use 10 or 15%, cap it at that. Try it, get it up and running. But the electrical field is a great field. You already know that field and you're crushing it. So I would not get distracted right now trying to do something else because you love cars or deer hunting or fishing. I would stick to the plan because by 35, you're gonna have so much money. Money. Then you can diversify further and start looking at other businesses and maybe opening something or building something of your own.

[A]

I think that's a great breakdown. Now let's answer their question of what are some businesses you guys would consider if you are new to the game in today's day and age?

[B]

Yeah, this is a tough one because be careful who you listen to. There are a lot of influencers out there and a lot of people out there telling you to go buy laundromats because they're so profitable and so easy. Telling you to do all these businesses that are not passive, that are not easy and our time sucks and money sucks because I'm so over hearing people talk about it. If I were you, I would look and stay in the trades. I think that is going to become the most profitable sector of small business. Maybe there's a world if you want to go buy something, you go look for something near that you're working with all the time. Maybe it's a drywall contractor, maybe it's a small roofing company that's local where. Where you see an opportunity where this guy isn't running it. Well, I would stay somewhere in the trades and in the services because you already understand that sector of business and you understand how it works on a job site. That's what I would do. Unless you wanted to go a completely different route where maybe what you do is create your own YouTube channel and you're going to teach people how to do electrical hacks when doing renovations on homes or something. Or you wanted to do a services based business through the Internet maybe. But other than that, I would stick in the trades because there are so many mom and pop shops out there that are for sale that you can buy for pennies on the dollar and get owner financing and absolutely crush it. Especially if you already understand the construction trades.

[A]

That's pretty cool. I like that. I'm going to go with a lot of that and take it one step further if I were you. Nick, I think you have proven yourself as a traveling electrician because I think traveling electrician, the first thing I think about are traveling nurses. Right. These are also people who are making a ton of money by doing incredible work. They were very in demand during the pandemic. And I would encourage you to start mentoring people that are fresh out of high school or fresh out of electrician school or trade school or whatever's going on here. Like you can build a business around this. I just, I get. I love this. You can go make 100 grand a year doing this so easily. I would literally create something that says, I'm NG. I just graduated high school. Or I was 21 or 20. However old you were when you wanted to become a traveling electrician. I went from a 21 year old who had no idea what they want to do with their life. Here's my exact playbook that took me to 150,000 depending on where I work. I've got a quarter million dollars net worth and I'm 25 years old. Like that is awesome. And people will pay you for that. And a great example is I just went to school.com, which is where we host the Rich Habits Network. And I typed in traveling nurse. I see a community right here called Camp Nursing School. Nurse Sam, whoever she is, is charging $19 a month to have a NCLEX thing. And they're doing like probably teaching people how to be better nurses or like going that career path. 2500 people are paying this woman $19 a month to learn about her experience as a nurse. Ng you are you. The world is your oyster, my friend. You should go make $100,000 in 2027. 6. Teaching people exactly how to get out of their dead end job that they hate because they're in the marketing department and they just got laid off because of AI's took, you know, take their job and now they're going to go be traveling electricians. Show them how to go do that. Making 150,000 a year and everything you've learned like that, that's what you do in 2026 and 2027. Full stop.

[B]

I want to run through a wall right now. This episode is so good. My goodness. That was amazing. Thank you for that, dude.

[A]

I'm pumped, man. Like, and it's not just NBA G, it's someone else. Like, every single person listening to this podcast has a unique experience to them. If that means that they are really good at baking, or maybe they're super good at public speaking, or maybe they're incredible at being a traveling electrician or insert whatever that thing is here. There are people on the Internet. You can go find them on Reddit, on X, in Facebook groups. They're all over the place that want to get your advice, your perspective and they will pay you if it's 19amonth here, right? To learn about nursing and how to be the best nurse possible, how to negotiate a higher salary, how to do the 12 hour versus 8 hour shifts. Where do I want to be? Do I want to work nights? Do I Want to work day. Like there's a lot there, right? And that's why this has worked so well for this person. And it's the same thing for everyone listening right now. Specifically, Ng being a traveling electrician. I mean, it's, it's awesome. So our next question comes from Lee Z on Instagram. Lee says, hi, Austin and Robert. SLV and company are trending up in my portfolio. However. However, my bot, which I guess is maybe a trading bot, has been telling me to take profits and reallocate. I'm wondering what are you guys doing with your money as it relates to SLV in copx and when is a good time to take profits in your opinion, Robert?

[B]

I have a pretty straightforward rule. When I take a position in something and it's up 50%, I take 25% in profits. When it gets up 50% again, I take 25% again, again. And I keep doing that process. That's how I do it. Would I take profits in SLV and COPX right now? Depends on when you got in. If you got in a week ago and it's up 15%, I probably wouldn't take profits yet. Because you bought high, there's still room to run. If you bought a while ago and you're up 80, 90, 100% on these positions, I would definitely take profits. Because you want to make sure you're always taking profits along the way. That's my opinion. Opinion. That's how I do it. Would love to hear your thoughts, Austin.

[A]

I think that's a great perspective. I am a firm believer that nothing goes straight up forever. And if you look at the price of silver over the last five years, it's like normal and then boom, straight line up. Copper, it's a similar thing, but not too crazy. But you asked for silver and copper specifically, so we're going to talk about both. For silver, in my opinion, I would, yes, be taking tons of profits. Especially if you got in at 20, 30, 40, 50 bucks. It just hit like what, 105, 110, 120. I don't know. It's all over the place right now. Go take some profits and reallocate to undervalued positions in your portfolio. I'm a big believer that Amazon is going to Crush it in 26 and 27. Maybe you believe that too. Maybe you want to take some profits off of silver and go buy more Amazon stock. I'm a big believer that the Russell 2000 is going to do well. Maybe you want to take some profits of Your silver and put it in the Russell 2000, right? Like just reallocating money out of. Wow, that worked really well. Good for me to, to maybe I should be a little bit more prudent to ensure that this money gets reallocated and I'm doing and buying things that it might be, you know, not so hot and parabolic at the moment. You mentioned copper. I'm actively buying copper. I'm not actively buying silver, but I am actively buying copper right now. I think copper is going to be a incredible commodity to own between now and the end of the decade, let's call it till 2030. I wish I had the same mindset three, four years ago with silver because that turned out to be incredible. Shout out Robert. But I'm definitely buying copper right now. I think it's going to be awesome. And the other just piece of advice I can give you here, and this goes for anything, not just silver. Every day that you have your $12,942 of SLV or COPX or insert other thing here that you're investing in, right? Every day you have your 12,000 something dollars invested into that, you are actively saying would I buy $12,000 worth of silver at this price? Yes or no. Every day it's invested you are telling that answer is going to be yes, yes, I will buy it today at that price. Because that's essentially what you're doing, right? You're essentially saying I would buy whatever amount of money you have invested in that asset. It's a stock, it's an etf, it's whatever at this price. Yes or no. And you're saying yes to it every single day. If there's ever a price where you'd say would I buy $12,000 of insert whatever it is here at this price. Like maybe not. Maybe I would actually. I don't know about that. I think that might be a little crazy. That's maybe a good, a good sign to say, wow, maybe it's time to take some profits, right? But that's like another way to think about, about it. Would I be actively buying at these prices? Because every day you stay invested into something you are actively buying at those prices.

[B]

It always reminds me of the casino story that we share with people. And that is the number one thing you hear on a casino floor on a busy night is I was up because people get greedy. So take the profits along the way, enjoy the ride, reallocate like Austin alluded to and you will continually win in the the markets.

[A]

So Robert, why don't we round off this episode spending a little bit of time talking about how nobody can sell the pico perfect top. Nobody can do it. Maybe there's some instances, I actually would love to hear some instances, Robert, where you have what was in hindsight sold too early. But you still made so much money along the way. Because like at the end of the day no one can perfectly time the market of selling something like green is green is green is green full stop and I will die on that hill.

[B]

Yeah, I think it's a great point. I don't think you and I have ever discuss this publicly. So yeah, let's dig into it. I've made many mistakes where I sold too early. Tesla is one of them. I was actively trading Tesla years and years ago. This was back, I don't even remember. I would, I want to say 2017 and 18 and I was making really good money because there was some volatility. But if I would have just bought in dollar cost average instead of swing trading, I would have made way more money over the last, let's call it 10 years just in Tesla. But I thought I could get cute and try to time the market and time these swings. Swings. I don't do it anymore. I avidly try to get everyone to listen to me and just buy and dollar cost average and hold unless your conviction on the company or the stock changes. And you're really good at that as well, Austin. So for me, I have sold several things early over time. Bitcoin. I think right now, let's say over the last 12 or 13 years, I've probably sold over 200 bitcoin bitcoin@ various prices along the way and I had already taken profits. So think about that. If I were to look in the rearview mirror, even though I always had this strong conviction that bitcoin would one day be 200, $300,000 each. I sold Bitcoin at $700, at $1700, at $6000, at $21,000. So that was also not a mistake because I still made a ton of money from an ROI perspective. But it does affect you when you take profits too soon or too much.

[A]

Well, I mean, yeah, it affects you, but at the end of the day you can't blame yourself for it. I think is the the takeaway here. Right. You can't ever blame yourself. Like you in that moment, Robert Croak in 2017 that sold Bitcoin at $6,857 like that, like you were making the best decision with your money as you could with the information you had in of you. Right. That's what we are doing as investors is we are making the best decisions possible with the information we have. And yes, hindsight is 20 20. I wish I didn't sell Palantir at $38. I bought a boatload of it on IPO around like 10 bucks and more of it around, you know, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, whatever. And I made, you know, 2, 3x of my money. I was like, this is incredible. And then I like, wow, maybe I shouldn't have done that. Right. So it's like there's always those instances. I've got a handful. Robert's got a handful. It's just the biggest takeaway is you can never time the market and you and only you have to make the decision that I'm taking profits and I'm reallocating elsewhere. And you have to come to terms with that decision. And you can't look in the rearview mirror along the way.

[B]

Yeah, that is just an incredible outtake for this episode. Yeah, just don't look in the rearview mirror because as someone that's been investing doing this in the stock market for nearly 40 years, you just can't because you'll drive yourself crazy thinking. And when you hear the fake gurus telling you they know when the bottom is the and the top is, don't listen to that either because they don't. If so, Cathie Wood and you know, Tom Lee and all these people would not be continuously wrong. And they have whole buildings full of really smart people to help people invest. So just do your best and look at the ROI you made on that investment instead of trying to look at it that you left money on the table because you exited too soon.

[A]

100%, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us on this week's episode of the Rich Habits podcast. Question and answer Ed, brought to you by public.com go check out their generated assets. Go get your 1% match uncapped. Go roll over that 401k or whatever portfolio you have. Go get your free bag over there. And don't forget, we've got the Rich Habits newsletter coming out every single Thursday. So if you like some market updates on some headlines, go read and subscribe to the Rich Habits newsletter. And don't forget about those Rich Habits Radar episodes. We have another fun guest joining us, Katie Stockton. She is a regular on CNBC and she's graced us with her presence. Really excited for that. So be sure to come back tomorrow and listen to. She has to say about her biggest market predictions for 2026. And of course check out the Rich Habits Network. You can join us for seven days completely for free, no questions asked. If you leave and you don't like it, join us for that weekly live stream every every Tuesday two hours takes place. It's a lot of fun. Or maybe you want to invest alongside of us into one of these pre IPO companies like SpaceX or Lambda or insert cool company here that we've done Join, check out out trial all the fun stuff with the Rich Habits Network. We think you're really going to like it 100%.

[B]

The Rich Habits Network, especially with the seven day free trial is the best life changing thing someone could do if they're serious about leveling up their finances and their business and their mindset. And so and especially you, you mentioned people getting to invest alongside of us in some crazy really, really incredible companies that are out there right now and some of them getting ready to go ip. So join the Rich Habits Network. Check it out. I promise you won't go wrong.

[A]

Thanks everyone and we'll see you tomorrow.

[C]

Well, the holidays have come and gone once again. But if you've forgotten to get that special someone in your life a gift, well, Mint Mobile is extending their holiday offer of half off unlimited wireless. So here's the idea. You get it now, you call it an early present for next year.

[B]

What do you have to lose?

[C]

Give it a [e-mail] Switch limited time.

[D]

50% off regular price for new customers. Upfront payment required $45 for 3 months, $90 for 6 months or $180 for 1212 month plan taxes and fees. Extra speeds may slow after 50 gigabytes per month when network is busy. See terms.