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Joe
Did you know that driving under the influence of marijuana is illegal? Driving high will get you a dui. And if you're wondering if law enforcement can tell you're driving high, well, everyone else can. Friends, I can tell you drove high. Parents, I can tell when you drive high. Relatives, I can tell you drove here high, didn't you? So what makes you think law enforcement can't I can tell if you feel different, you drive different. Drive high, Get a dui. Paid for by NHTSA this episode is brought to you by Navy Federal Credit Union. Navy Federal can help you find and finance the right vehicle with ease. With Navy Federal's car buying service, Powered by True Car, you can find the vehicle that's right for you. As you search through inventory, compare models and you could get an amazing rate when you finance with Navy Federal. Visit navy federal.org truecar to to learn more. Navy Federal Credit Union Our members are the mission. Navy Federal is insured by NCUA Credit and collateral subject to approval. It's Monday. Mom's Basement. You know what that means, Guys, coffee is hot.
OG
So excited.
Doug
So excited. Whoa. So what's happening right now?
Joe
So excited for look at us. We're twinsies. Doug and I have the same mug.
OG
Mine's just plain black.
Doug
Thank God it's only a coffee mug and not our faces.
Joe
Oh, why? You don't think us being twins would be great?
Doug
I don't think the world could handle two of you walking around. Maybe it's two of me. I didn't even think of that. Maybe it's two of me. And the world would be like, finally.
Joe
We must be twins. Because I was thinking the same thing. I was like, world can handle two of you, not two of me. On behalf of the men and women making podcasts, Mom's Basement and the men and women at Navy Federal Credit Union, here's to our troops, people. Kept us safe all weekend. Thank you so much. Let's go stack some Benjamins together now, shall we?
Doug
Thanks, everybody. From the cozy confines of Joe's Mom's Basement, where the coffee's percolating, the ideas are flying, and the hot water heater hums a merry tune, it's time once again for America's favorite money hour, the Stacking Benjamin Show. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug. Yes, the fellow with the front row seat to all the basement shenanigans. And today we're taking aim at those pesky old rip offs that have been buzzing about like mosquitoes on a summer night. We'll help you Suit up, strap in and roll out the big guns to send them packing. But that's not all, no siree. I've got a TikTok minute that'll take you on a rip roaring trip through history. Plus a call from our pal Ste. Stacker Lynn who's curious about the queen bee of costly coverage long term care insurance. And don't you fret, before the curtain falls I'll spit a bit of trivia that'll knock your argyle socks clean off. And now two fellas who never follow the herd unless that herd stampeding towards financial independence. Your basement bred guides to the greenback galaxy. I knew they were bred in basements. It's Joe and oh jj I think.
Joe
It'S so awesome when you ask Chat GPT take this open we wrote and make it old time radio sounding.
Doug
That's why it's creepy.
OG
I don't know that it was old time radio. Like how far old were you trying to go? Like shock jock old.
Joe
Do you think it was shocking who.
OG
Wasn'T like Paul Harvey. That's what you're going to call.
Joe
It's older than that. Way older. Like 1930s, like going to the way old stuff.
Doug
I would have need to done it like this. I'm your other faithful neighbor Doug.
Joe
There you go.
Doug
Yes, the fellow with a front row seat to all the basement shenanigans. Like if I did that and it's a long drive to left center field looks like he won't get under this one then I wow. Then it would have been old timey.
Joe
Spoken like a guy who's been there. Welcome back to the Stacky Benjamin show. If you think that's the only curveball we're throwing you today is their brand new radio open. There's some good stuff coming today because we are talking rip offs and maybe this might not be what you think it's going to be. We're gonna dive into that in just a moment. But let's say hello to the guy across the card table from me. Mr. OG is here today. How are you man?
OG
Yo. Good.
Joe
It's wild in Texas. Because it is. I think the phrase is hotter than.
Doug
Oh oh.
OG
I mean you can't complain about this. This has been the most mild summer in the history of summers in Dallas. We've only had five days over 100.
Joe
We had a couple day run though where when I went out to run with my buddies first thing in the morning, 81 degrees, we were running and like 90% humidity.
OG
Little Cleveland steamer. But yeah.
Doug
I think maybe he used the wrong phrase there.
OG
It's really hot and humid in Cleveland. Is that not the.
Doug
Yeah, you're right.
OG
Yeah. When I ride my bike, even my wife was like. She's like, I don't understand how you do this. I'm not going fast, but 15, 16, 17, 20 miles an hour on a bicycle, there's a little bit of wind, so you. So you get the something. A little bit of breeze regardless. But the other day when I was out, it was, like you said, a million degrees. And I stopped at a stoplight. I could, like, feel the sweat dripping down my back as I was sitting. I was like, oh. Oh, that's so nasty. I need to get going.
Doug
And sexy. Yeah, thanks for.
OG
It wasn't sexy. That wasn't.
Joe
Oh, gee. Always loves it when the. When the streamers on his handlebars really get flying in the wind.
OG
I mean, it sounds really cool. When you get the. The playing card, it's like, sound like a motorcycle.
Joe
We're gonna talk a mild summer.
OG
Don't complain about this heat.
Joe
This heat is a scam, though. I want. I want my mild summer back. We're going to dive into scams here in just a moment. So grab a piece of paper, maybe a pen, sit back, relax. We're going to tell some tragic tales in the next few minutes. So learn from other people's mistakes. But before we do that, we have a couple sponsors to help us keep on keeping on so you don't have to pay a dime for any of this. Goodness. We're going to hear from them. And then we're talking financial scams on today's show. Hey, folks, let me ask you a serious question. Did you know that driving high is considered driving under the influence? That's right. Driving under the influence of marijuana is against the law in every state. That means even the states where marijuana is legal, that means driving high could get you a dui. And if you think law enforcement officers can't tell when you're driving high, well, my friend, you're wrong. If you're high, they can tell. Your friends can tell. Your coworkers can tell. Even your parents can tell. Everyone can tell. So what makes you think that law enforcement officers don't know when you're driving high? You'd be wrong. They can tell, too. Driving under the influence of marijuana can slow your response time and change how you perceive time and speed. So even if you think you're fine to drive when you're high, you're not. Because the bottom line is, if you feel different, you drive different. And driving high is driving under the influence. So remember, drive high, get a DUI paid for by nhtsa. Before the Internet ruled all of our lives, AOL brought America Online with email and Instant messenger. By 2000, AOL was so powerful and it set its sights on media giant Time Warner. Deal was supposed to bring us into the future, but instead it became one of the messiest corporate disasters on record. But what went wrong? Was it culture clashes, the dot com crash, or something deeper? Business wars gives you a front row seat to the biggest moments of business and how they shape our world. Because when your flight perks disappear, your favorite restaurant chain goes bankrupt, or new tech reshapes everything overnight, there's always a deeper story behind the headlines. Follow Business wars in the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcast. You can binge all episodes of Business wars, the AOL Time Warner disaster, early and ad free right now on Wondery Plus.
OG
Hello, darlings. And now it's time for your favorite part of the show, our Stacking Benjamin's Headlines.
Joe
Today's going to be a long and windy road headline, so stick with us because this is not going to end up where we begin by a mile. First deadline from the ap, and this one is written by Michael Hill. The headline is, he earned a small town's trust. He owed $95 million in what authorities say was pocket change. A Ponzi scheme, apparently. Pocket change to him. For decades, Miles Burt Marshall was the man you went to see in a stretch of upstate New York if you had some money to invest but wanted to keep it local. Working from an office in the charming village of Hamilton, down the road from Colgate University, Marshall prepared taxes and sold insurance. He also took money for what was sometimes called OG the 8% fund, which guaranteed that much in annual interest.
OG
Literally called it that.
Joe
People called it the 8% fund because it guaranteed that much in annual interest no matter what happened with the financial markets.
OG
Never heard this story before.
Joe
This is the first signal Stackers.
Doug
I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed with the scammers that they can't mask it better.
OG
If you keep on, you're just not broke, Doug. Don't fix it. You don't have to get creative. Just do what? There was a story completely. I'm just going to completely sidebar this for a second. There was a story I saw in the news last night where some older woman was at a bitcoin machine at a gas station, like just feeding money in. Employees at the gas station were like, what are you doing, ma' Am and she's like, I can't talk to you. Like I'm in trouble. And so they called the police and they're like, we know what's going on here. Like, can you send. Like, they're not gonna. She's not listening to us. Can you send a police out with it? She had fed like $17,000 in hundreds into this machine to get bitcoin on the phone, you know, the whole skin. And the cops like, well, let me talk to the banker, you know. Cause she's like, I'm on the phone with my bank, you know. And he's like, okay, well, let me talk to the bank. Like, I'm a police officer. You can. Finally, the cop got her like extricated from that, you know, anyways, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? Like that stuff goes on. We all know people who have been scammed by that. But this is a. Another bite at the same apple.
Joe
And it's funny, guys, because OG you tell that story and people go, okay, that's a.
OG
That would never happen to me.
Joe
Yeah, older person who's very confused. But listen to how this set up. I mean, the Name is the 8% fund. And we might have stackers going, how could you be that dumb? You know, something called an 8% fund. But listen to the rest of this because it gets more believable by the second. His clients spread the word to family and friends, have a retirement nest egg. Let Bert handle it. He'll invest it in local rental properties and your money will grow faster than in a bank. Marshall was friendly and folksy. He gave away gift bags with maple syrup, pickles and local honey in jars labeled with cute sayings like don't be a SAP for proper insurance coverage. Called Miles B. Marshall. He would tell you about all the other people that invest. Churches invest, fire companies invest, doctors invest, said one client, Christine Corgan. So you'd think, well, they're smart people. They wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't okay to do. Why are you going to be the suspicious one? And this is where OG they get you because that. Oh, shucks, nice, harmless older guy, works downtown. How could everybody in town be caught up in this thing, the 8% fund, if it wasn't real?
OG
It's compelling. That's why I said, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. If you try to scam people out of money, why do you have to get creative and do it? You know, it's super frustrating and I hope they threw the book at this guy.
Joe
Well, when he finally got caught, he owed almost a thousand people in organizations about $95 million.
OG
That's the impressive part. Like, I was the only thing you spe. Like, I feel like people have that, you know, if I won the Powerball, I would, you know, like I could very quickly burn through, I don't know, 5 million. Like I could, you know, I got a couple things in my mind that I could write some checks for. But how do you spend 90 and not show it off? Like, that's the other piece of it too, right. Is like he probably kept up this appearance of. It's not like all of a sudden he showed up in a $2 million Bugatti one day to the office. This was Brewster's million. Stuff like this was a straight spend.
Joe
Well, further down the piece it says a reliable local businessman is the header. Marshall and his wife lived in a brick Victorian blocks from his office. So he's in this beautiful old Victorian style house. Aside from insurance and tax prep, he rented more than 100 properties. He had more than 100 doors that he rented out. So it was easy to say, hey, I'm gonna, you know, I'm good at real estate, so I'm just going to put this into real estate for you. And he ran a self storage business and a print shop. His parents had run an insurance and realty business in the area. And his name was one of those locally respected names that everybody knew in town. It's, it's that guy in the big beautiful house.
Doug
Marshall Mathers. That was his name. Marshall Mathers. Is that right?
OG
So this guy didn't necessarily consume $95 million.
Joe
He, he finally filed for bankruptcy and the money's gone.
OG
Wow. So he did consume.
Doug
So he must have.
Joe
Yeah.
OG
That's impressive. Yep.
Joe
The money went somewhere.
OG
Didn't get himself a non extradition passport out of all that money. He couldn't, couldn't go on the black market and find himself like a way to get to wherever. I don't even know where those places are. Some island somewhere, Russia.
Joe
But it isn't the person on the phone who is telling you to go down to the bitcoin machine that gets away with the huge numbers. Like they get it in little dabs and grabs, right. For 15, 000 years. Don't get me wrong, this could be somebody's entire nest egg. So I don't want to make light of the older person, but the place where people get scammed is the dude down the road that everybody respects and knows and you know, even the police department, the fire department, these guys, you know, you talk about the cop, OG in your scenario, the copier's like, oh, it's Marshall. Oh, I invest with Marshall. You keep feeding the machine, you know, the cop's not going to stop you from handing money to Marshall. And what about this? There's this line that you will see these companies use, invest like the 1%. I mean, let's transition here from this guy near Colgate University to maybe what turned out to be a bigger deal for a lot more people. And worldwide, we hear these companies that say, Invest like the 1%. Oh, gee, you want to invest like the 1%, don't you?
OG
Best like the 1%.
Joe
Yes. Our second headline comes to us from CNBC when invest like the 1% fails. How yield Streets real estate bets left customers with massive losses. This is written by Hugh Son. This made waves last week when this hit the street. CNBC really did a nice job on this. How many times OG have we pointed the finger at these, quote, real estate companies that are out there telling you that you can get something that other people can't get? We pointed the finger at now fundrise is still around, but back in the early days of Fundrise, I remember they had the most deceptive advertising that I think I've ever seen, Yield street here, telling people to invest like the 1%. This piece for people that don't know what has happened with Yield street, this piece starts when Justin Klish stumbled upon an ad for Yield street in February 2022. He said it was the company's tagline that stuck in his head. Invest like the 1%. The startup said the ad spoke to his desire to build wealth and diversify away from stocks which were then in free fall. Klush said Yield street says it gives freefall.
OG
The beginning of 2022 was not free fall. Let's not use hyperbole.
Joe
Street says it gives retail investors such as Klish access to the type of deals that were previously only the domain of Wall street firms or the ultra rich. So he invested 400,000. It went directly into two real estate projects. A luxury apartment building in downtown Nashville.
OG
Who can miss there?
Joe
And a three building renovation in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York.
OG
Unmissable each.
Joe
Each one had targeted annual returns of around 20%. Three years later, Clish said he has little hope of ever seeing his money again. Yield street declared the Nashville project a total loss back in May, according to investor letter, wiping out $300,000 of his funds. The Chelsea deal needs to Raise fresh capital to avoid a similar fate. According to another letter, both letters were reviewed by cnbc.
OG
Yeah, I mean, this is. My kids always ask this question, or at least my high school kid is, why do I have to learn all this stuff? I'm not going to be insert thing here, right? I'm not going to be a English teacher. Why do I have to learn this? I'm not going to be a math professor. Why do I have to learn this? I'm not going to be in accounting. Why do I have to learn this? Because one of the fundamental things about investing at least 2 yield Street's credit, at least they give you a target return. Because with the target return, you have to then at least assume what kind of volatility, what kind of ups and downs you're going to get with that. And a great baseline to think about are just two known things that you already know. You already know. What kind of volatility do I get in my savings account?
Joe
None.
OG
Zero, Right. So you have that number locked in your brain. And so what do you get for no volatility in your savings account today? Three and a half percent, right?
Joe
Yeah.
OG
Like you have a benchmark for no volatility. Gets me three and a half. You also have a benchmark for the stock market, whatever index you feel like using, whatever group of stocks you feel like thinking about. We know if you said, hey, OG I think that the stock market average is 10%, I'm not going to disagree with you. If you say it average is 9, I'm not going to disagree with you. You say 11, I can really disagree with you. It's somewhere in there, right? 9 to 11. We all okay with that. But we have also a benchmark for the ups and downs. Well, in 2022, in the article in the stocks and free fall section, the market was down 20%. We know in 2008, the market was down 55%. We know that in the Great Recession it was down 70% or the Great Depression was down 70%. So we have these data points of what is volatility for this level of return. Okay, so if you have these two data points and then somebody goes, this is awesome, it's going to generate like 20%. You should go, okay, well, I have this data point here and this data point here. And now they're giving me this other one here. What does that tell you about the possibility of volatility? Doesn't mean that Yield street did anything wrong. They said, hey, we think it's going to grow by 20 * really fine print. This also means it could be zero, not zero. Like, like it means your money's gonna go to zero. Because why would anybody like, you just have to think about this very realistically and logically. If the bank's gonna give you three and a half to do nothing and the stock market's gonna give you a 10 to enjoy a 30% decline one year and five and then somebody else is gonna give you 20. Like what kind of risk, what kind of volatility do you have to be willing to take? And this is the piece when, when people say invest like the 1%. There's two components of this. One is sometimes the 1%. Understand this and go, okay, I'm willing to take, you know, I'm willing to throw some money at this because if I get 20%, that's good ROI. The other thing that the 1% have, the protections that the 1% have is they have an. What's the correct term? An ass load of money. So if they go, hey, I'm going to take a hundred grand or I'm going to take 300 grand and throw it on this project, they're not destitute. If that project goes to crap, they're like, eh, you know, I mean, don't get me wrong, I've never met anybody that's like, I just pissed away 300 grand and I'm okay with that. Nobody's excited by that. But they don't run into bankruptcy. You know, that's not their last.
Joe
It doesn't ruin their Life to lose $400,000.
OG
For some reason I've been seeing on YouTube, there's a guy who has a YouTube channel where he bets a whole bunch of stuff at casinos. Like he's like, I'm going to bet 5,000 on this hand and he loses or he wins. I read the side story on this guy. Like he has tens of millions of dollars because of this business sale that he had. And so him betting five grand is like you and me betting five bucks. Like to us it looks like five grand. Oh my God, he's so, oh, what a, what a big swinger, you know, but he's just, it's still the proportionate number to you and me putting five bucks on the blackjack table. You know what I mean? It just feels like a different number. And so when you're the 1% and you have 10 million bucks and you put 300 grand in an investment, it goes to crap. That sucks. But your dividends of your stock portfolio kick off 200 grand a year. So, you know, you're kind of even money at the end of the year, you know what I mean? And this is the piece that I think everybody misses is they go, I want to, and I know you're going to talk about private equity and 401ks. I want to do, I want to do this private equity 401k thing. That's how the rich do it. Rich can afford to do it.
Joe
And that's what kills me. Is that so? We've got the small town guy who's telling his neighbors, hey, the 8% fund, this is easy. Well, how is, how is this guy going to rip me off? And then I have Yield street, which is worldwide. It is a, it's, it's, you know, democratizing thing so anybody can invest in it. How can this be bad that I get to invest like the 1%? But they're, they're, they put it right out in the open. An 8% fund, are you kidding me? Like, we laughed about that at the top of this segment. There is no such thing as an 8% fund. Like, that's ridiculous. Invest like the 1%. If you're not the 1%, why do you want to invest like the 1%? Who can absorb all of these issues that these venture capital investments get into? And yet on a bigger scale, OG already buried the lead. We just approved doing this in our 401k because you know why?
OG
OG because we want to be cool.
Joe
Yeah, because. Because we can't get a high enough rate of return, apparently with the regular old investments that are there. So now I need to put what they're talking about doing, they're not talking about doing. It's, it's coming to you, it's coming to your 401k. What we're talking about on one hand, talking about Yield street and people losing tons of money. And we're talking about putting this inside of your 401k. Yield street is exactly the type of investment that has just been approved to go in your 401k black, what is.
OG
It blackrock or whatever wants to put in there. I mean, look, I see the argument from BlackRock, right? When you read their press release. Like, this is great. This is how rich people make money, you know, like, you know, but, but this is also how we make our fees because it's really hidden and we can't, we can't tell.
Joe
I'll link to a piece, by the way. Oh, gee, on that note to pause for just a second from Kiplinger. I'm not going to roll into it too much. But what's funny is, at the bottom, the guy that they're, that they're talking to who's saying, hey, this could be a great thing. This could be fantastic. At the end, he goes, but I think your fees might go up too. Inside your.
OG
Really, you won't know that because it's so hidden. I mean, here's the thing. All of this stems from the same disease, in my opinion, which is people don't have the confidence in their own plan. The reality is, when you don't have a well thought out retirement plan, you start throwing stuff against the wall because you don't have the confidence that you're on track. And if you're 40 years old or you're 50 years old or you're 60 years old and you're looking at this stuff going, oh, maybe I need to kick it up a notch. I need to be like emerald and add a little bam. That's a function of not having a good retirement plan in place where you have the confidence that you're on track because you're just throwing stuff against the wall going, maybe I need to try to shoot the lights out here. I need to hit a grand slam on this pitch because you see the number, you haven't done the plan, and you go, I think I need to hit a. A home run or I need a, you know, whatever analogy you want to use here. It's like, that is from the same problem. The problem being you have no confidence in your plan. And if you don't, that's what you have to work on. It's not. Let's try to get, like this esoteric investment to fix the problem. By the way, that already exists. It's called bitcoin. I mean, why do you have to go private equity? Bitcoin's the best performing asset class. I use air quotes because I'm not convinced it's an asset, but, you know, it's just a NASA class. And so why don't you just put all your money there? Oh, that'd be crazy. Okay, so put all your money in a residential apartment, luxury property in Nashville. Isn't crazy like, well, it's just different crazy, man. It's all crazy.
Doug
Pick your crazy.
OG
You know, I just remember one time I was talking to somebody about investing in. When we were investing in that real estate property in Michigan, I said, you know, I think it's really undervalued and all justification on my side. And the guy that I was talking with goes, let me ask you a question. What do you think is going to be better in the long run? One single building in one single small town in the middle of Michigan or the 500 most capitalized well run companies in the entire history of the world run by on average the smartest people in the room. The collection of all those or you and the one building in Bay City, Michigan. Now that's not saying I didn't hit a home run there because we did, honestly. But is it because I was some magical investor or because I got good luck with timing?
Joe
Well, and you can see when you juxtapose those two against each other, OG you can see the nature of the bet that you took.
OG
Yes, that's the thing. And it's the long, you know, and it's no different than anything else. And people are like, well, no, I think the yes, you might be right. Right now I can't prove that it's no different than a single stock investing. I can't prove to you that your single stock isn't going to do better than the market tomorrow. I don't have any idea. But on average the collection of all of them is going to do better than one random one that you pick if you look at it over time. So get your plan right, period. And then once you have your plan now, you can figure out what investments go in your plan. And I'm guessing you don't get to private equity in my 401k probably.
Doug
Joe, it seems to me like there's three things we're trying to do here by talking about this. One is talking about ways to recognize scams or at least things that are overly risky. Whether it's something's guaranteed like the 8% or the high proposed return with the super fine print that says, oh, there's also high risk here. So what to look for, what to recognize. The second thing is why would you want to invest that way if it's not right for you? Why would you want to invest like the 1% if it's not right for you and where you are in your journey? And the third thing is the value of creating a plan that protects you from yourself.
Joe
100%. I mean, you think about an investment policy statement. The average investor in a 401k earns just over 4%. Just over.
OG
I find that number to be high, but I believe you.
Joe
But using the given investments we already have, the investments inside your 401k, by the way, are not the problem. And that's what we're pointing at. We're going I can't do it with those. Yeah, well, you got those and they're doing double what you are earning if you're screwing up these. Why does the. Why does adding the apartment building in Nashville help you? I don't. I don't understand. I feel like it's a continuation of the fandueling of America. Right?
OG
Wow.
Doug
Tm, I like it.
OG
Yeah, that's great.
Joe
We need FanDuel in our 401k is what it really feels like to me.
Doug
Fan dueling of America. Should we just end the show?
OG
I mean, don't give him any ideas, man. Honestly, could you imagine? Dude, what'd you put your 401k in this week? Dude, you wouldn't believe this. I went with Luca over 35 versus the Mavs. I hit it big, man. I totally slayed my 401k investment this week because I had a feeling that he was going to have a triple double.
Joe
Write an investment policy statement.
OG
That's a great idea, actually. We should do that. You know what? Let's just have fun. Yeah, let's do sports betting in our 401k. If we're going to do luxury real estate in Nashville, we might as well do. How many touchdowns is Joe Slacker going to score this year for the Browns?
Joe
Well, and also to your point, OG Now I don't want to sit here and seem like to some of our longtime stackers that I'm a total hypocrite here because while I have been down on things like Yield street and fundrise and I don't get it, I have said that some of these fintech companies that I still don't want in your 401k are really fun ways to invest as, you know, OG I like the art one. You didn't like the art one. I like the art. You know, investing in art I think is a really fun investment choice. I like some of the collectible based investments where you could buy like rare books with a bunch of people. But you know what? I like those because explicitly they tell you right on the packaging how obtuse this is and how risky it is. What I hate about these is, is when they tell you, you know, the fundrise thing back in the day said engineered for superior results. Real estate investing's been around for compared.
OG
To my car, which is also engineered for superior results.
Joe
It's just so invest like the 1%. What are you talking about? What are you appealing to? Robinhood Gold. Yeah, Just drives me crazy. Lots of ways to steal money from people. And when these Private equity things.
OG
Stackers, mark Joe's words, the fan dueling of your 401k, which actually, I think would be a way better way to.
Joe
Do it than it would totally be with fanduel. I know, like, you're like watching.
OG
You're like watching Sunday afternoon, your buddy's like, oh, man. Another interception for Joe Flacco. And you're like, God, dangle. You're like, I didn't know you were such a fan. You're like, dude, I got him in my 401k. It's. I'm getting. I'm getting destroyed. I gotta wear a 2. 2 and go play golf. If I lose my 401k, it's like. Like a. The mashup of all the betting.
Joe
It's fourth and six. And either I'm not gonna care about my retirement or I'm seriously not gonna care about my retirement. You better.
OG
You better kick it, usob.
Joe
No matter what happens. We will link to all these on our show notes page@stacking benjamin.com. coming up in the second half, we have a wonderful letter from stacker Lynn. And I've got a TikTok minute to end. TikTok minutes, guys. Can't wait to share it with you. But first, Doug, you've got today's trivia question.
Doug
Hey there, stackers. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor Doug, and let's place a clean cut right here in the show because we've been talking about ripoffs and bad deals, but the one deal left in America. Our national parks. That's right, Today is the day back in 1916 when our national park system was created. I'm still waiting for our national drive system to be created, but I'm fairly certain we've been in reverse nationally because all people have done online for about a decade is fight about Washington.
OG
I know, I know.
Doug
No politics. My bad. Okay, here's our national parks fueled trivia question. Which national park brings in the most revenue into the old till for Uncle Sam? I'll be right back right after I go see about my tent. Maybe one of these neighbors can help me pop it.
Joe
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OG
Race the rudders. Race the sails. Race the sails.
Joe
Captain, an unidentified ship is approaching.
OG
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Joe
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OG
We'll even give you a $100 credit on your next campaign.
Joe
Get started to today@LinkedIn.com results terms and conditions apply. This summer, try the new Strato Frappuccino.
OG
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Joe
It's the classic blended iced coffee you know and love. Now topped with a creamy layer of handcrafted brown sugar cold foam. Available for a limited time.
OG
Your Straddle Frappuccino is ready at Starbucks.
Doug
Hey there, stackers. I'm professional. Professional tent popper. And apparently guy who didn't know that term had another meaning. Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug. The best part of this trivia question, I get to help make it less awkward. So we're gonna move on. What national park brought in the most revenue of any in the usa? The answer, because it's closest to most of the population centers of the usa. And also because it's amazing. Great Smoky Mountain national park brought in the most revenue at $2.2 billion. The second most money wasn't even a national park. It was Golden Gate Bridge recreation area at 1.5 billion. And then third was the Blue ridge Parkway at 1.4 billion. And here are two guys who are here to help you reach number four on that list. It's Joe and OG.
Joe
If you made a billion dollars, you would be 1%.
OG
Yeah. Just think how stupid the government is investing. Like the 1% and a whole bunch of land dorks.
Doug
Amateurs.
Joe
You're going to lock it up in what?
OG
Hear me out, guys. It's a bunch of hills with trees on. It's a great investment.
Doug
How do we make money on it? You just let people come look at it.
OG
Yeah, exactly. You charge people to look.
Joe
Oh, as if people are going to do that, right? Nice. Time for our TikTok minute. This is the part of the show where we shine the light on the TikTok creator who's either saying something brilliant or air quotes brilliant. Stacker Linda said this to me, guys, and it's from a. I don't know the name of the comedian. So anybody knows the name of the comedian, please write to me and let me know who this is. But this is a comedian who was featured on Tick Tock channel called she Be. No idea what that's all about, but Linda thought that this was smart enough comedy that we should feature it. What do you think, OG we're going to hear some brilliance. Did Linda send us brilliance?
OG
Sure. Feeling it.
Joe
I love how we did that opening. Doug from the old days. Like an old time radio. He opened today.
Doug
Oh, I'm picking up what you're laying down there, Joe.
Joe
This comedian's talking about life in the old days. Remember these days? Oh.
OG
Oh, God.
Joe
Another thing that was crazy about Generation X. I don't even know if you can talk about this anymore, but we did.
OG
This thing is so weird. Okay. It was called critical thinking and it's so crazy.
Doug
So basically what you would do, this.
OG
Is like in the old days, you.
Doug
Would listen to both sides of a.
OG
Story or a topic or an issue, and then you would make your own. This is crazy. You'd make your own opinion that would.
Joe
Then guide you through life. Isn't that weird how that used to work? You can't really talk about that anymore.
OG
Yeah, I don't.
Joe
So good, Linda. That was so funny. Thank you so much for sending that our way. Maybe some people who needed to do some critical thinking before jumping into the hot, hot thing on our scam episode. Let's move on though, to a much more serious moment. We're going to say hello to Stacker Lynn, who thought, you know what? I better call Saul. CI N O G. Lynn has a great question for us. And if you've got a question for us, by the way, stackybenjamins.com voicemail gets you to be as cool as Lynn is. Question, guys. Hey, I was just listening today with the person who had about $400,000 and was worried about the long term care issue. And at the end you kind of threw out this, a little bit of a gem.
OG
And so if you can get into.
Joe
That with a little bit more detail. So I'm single, my retirement, I'm in my early 60s.
OG
Already retired, but by the time I.
Joe
Get to over 70 and whatnot, I.
OG
Will be having about 10 to 15.
Joe
Thousand dollars per month after taxes in today's dollars.
OG
And so I'm kind of thinking I.
Joe
Don'T need to worry about long term care at all because again, assuming that continues to have a cola, I will be able to afford a pretty nice place for the remainder of my days. And so that's not something that's really on my radar. If I had to, I would be able to go into a principal and pay some lump sums. But so if you guys can go into that more.
OG
Thank you.
Joe
Lynn, thank you so much for the question. And the gem that she's talking about, OG that you threw out was that long term care insurance is for people that have enough to protect but not enough to self insure. And the big question, and I think the thing she calls the gem is you know, when you get to a certain point, maybe, maybe you don't need it. So, and you, you would also mention though that still is your goals. What goals do you have when she mentioned cola? By the way, that's a cost of living adjustment. So when she's talking 10 to 15,000, she apparently has a robust pension and Social Security going on. OG but for her, what do you think? Does she need long term care insurance?
OG
Well, again, I think ultimately this just boils down to risk transfer one way or the other. Think about that matrix of I have it or I don't have it and I need it or I don't need it. And so you can kind of picture where those boxes would go, right? Like I have it and I need it, meaning I have long term care coverage and I need it. Okay, that's a good trade. Generally speaking, I have it and I don't need it, like what does that do to the plan, right? Like if I pay this premium and I just live to be 95 and pass away in my sleep at home, like what does that do? And then what if I have it and I don't need it or I don't have it and I don't need it? Obviously don't have it, don't eat it, you're good. So really the question is, does it make sense based on your plan to transfer some of the huge risk, the backend risk to a third party in exchange for a slightly lower potential net worth at death? I don't know the answer to this. In her case, if you're just looking at it purely from, hey, If I have 10,000amonth and I know, long term, a Cadillac, long term care coverage, whatever. Like assisted care is 7, $8,000 a month in my area. I think I'm good. I just sell my house and go live there. That seems like a fine scenario, right? The alternative side of that is, well, if you're there for 10 years, you've just burned through a million dollars of your own money. Would you exchange 50,000 of that in exchange for not spending a million of your own money so that you can give that million to other things or people or places that you care about? And if you don't care one way or the other, then yeah, use your own money or do some sort of combo plan and say I'll be on the hook for the first three years, but if I need assisted care for years four through 10, you know, then, then I would prefer to have that, you know, that extended risk covered by, you know, a third party. So it's really personal in terms of how you think about that one way or the other. If you have enough money, do I still want to watch that? I'll go to the assistive care facility or would I rather say, well, I'll just transfer some of that risk to, to, you know, to the insurance company?
Joe
I really like OG Where Lynn started with the question though, it wasn't with long term care insurance. It was what is the risk to me And I think so many people, Lynn, don't start there. And the fact that you're like, oh, that was a gem, that maybe I have this risk, maybe I don't. So instead of thinking about is long term care insurance good or bad, it's.
OG
How would this, how much of it do I want to protect against versus.
Joe
Not such a kick ass way to look at it. Because you end up then not buying insurances you don't need and you end up loading up on insurance that you do need. If you do it starting with risk.
OG
Manager, you look at long term care insurance and it seems like this nebulous thing. So just use car insurance as an example. When you buy a brand new car, even if you have payments on it or you don't, you likely have full coverage, right? You have collision and comprehensive so that if a tree falls on it or you smash into something, you're going to be covered for the replacement of that vehicle. It's brand new. But as the car ages, you get to the point where you go, I'm okay. Either a increasing this deductible quite a bit so that if there's a little fender bender, you know, that doesn't bother me as much. The car's 10 years old and, you know, stuff's going to happen. A little paint chip here and there, who cares? Or you start dropping the coverages because you're like, this thing, this thing's not worth paying insurance on a car that is only worth $8,000. You know, if I sell it, why do I want to have a $2,000 deductible? To put it back to $8,000 value. That $8,000 value, if it's crumpled, is now worth 7,000. Like, who cares? You know? And so the same thing is true as you look about any, look at really any sort of risk management, any sort of insurance. It's like, you know, when you're young and you have a bunch of kids and you don't have a lot of assets, you probably should have lots of life insurance. Because if, you know, you got a mortgage and you got college to pay for and all that sort of stuff, when you're 55 and all your kids are out of school, you go, well, house is paid off, got a bunch of money. If I get hit by a bus, my spouse will be okay. Kids are all set. I don't owe anybody any money. I maybe don't need as much. And then you do really well and you go, well, I need insurance again to pay for the estate taxes. So it changes as your life goes on. And this is true for this as well. So starting with the outcomes, I think is the best place to go. Because then it gives you some clarity around do I want to cover this on my own or do I want to have somebody else cover it? Because really that's the ultimate decision.
Joe
Lyn, as a single person, if this is just a pension that's going to die with you, I totally agree that then you're not putting any assets at risk at all. So then this kind of transitions into being your long term care policy. If it's putting assets at risk, then I think you get into what OG is talking about, which is what's the cost versus the benefit? One thing that's the same between people that are single or are married or whatever their status is, they might have groups that they want to protect when they pass away. I had plenty of single clients when I was an advisor who still had all kinds of charitable wishes and things that they wanted to do with their money if they couldn't spend it. So you still need to answer all those questions. I think that. Oh, gee, that you brought up earlier. Great question, Lynn. And I love the fact that you started with, what's the risk? And then what's the payoff going to be if I, you know, depending on the ways that I look to plug that potential leak, stacking benjamins.com voicemail gets you on the show and you could be as cool as Lynn. Thanks a ton for that. All right, before we say goodbye, let's mosey out on the back porch because, Doug, you've got a few things here today, I see stacked up.
Doug
Yeah, a couple of things, Joe. I want to make sure you talk about the HSA Basics webinar that's coming up because time is running out as that approaches us. So let everybody know some details about why they should attend.
Joe
Yeah, let's do it next Wednesday. I'm going to do a webinar for anybody who, you know, they you got no idea what this HSA thing is. This is not going to be for the super nerdy stacker out there who knows the HSA and is looking for all kinds of ways to flex it. That's a good webinar too. We may do that one in the future, but we've got plenty of people in our community that are like, I got this thing hsa. I don't know if it's for me or not. I don't even know really how it works. I don't understand it. We're going to do basics of the HSA. That's at 8:30 Eastern Time. Next Wednesday, September 3rd. So 2025, if you're listening.
Doug
I was going to say, you better. Somebody could be listening to us in the future, man. Could be like 2032 and they're ticked.
Joe
What are you talking about, Joe? Wednesday, September 3, 2025, 8:30pm Eastern. That's 5:30pm Pacific. Stackingbenjamins.com HSA is where you sign up and we'll have the URL there and learn the basics of an HSA because I think this is a really cool thing if used correctly and also could be very misunderstood by people that have it available and really aren't sure how it works. So come join me next Wednesday.
Doug
So speaking of using things correctly, this has been bugging me for a few weeks now and I just have to correct you on this because I've given you a chance and you just keep on saying it wrong every time. You keep saying things like 5:30pm Pacific. It's 5:30pm Specific, Joe.
Joe
Specific, specific time.
Doug
They're very precise about the time. That's think on the east coast, get it right. No on the west coast specific time.
Joe
And ET Is extraterrestrial. Right?
Doug
Go look it up at the library.
Joe
8:30 p. 8:30pm Extraterrestrial. 5:30pm Pacific specific.
Doug
And I also want to talk about a review we got from Dancing Lollipop.
Joe
Best name.
Doug
My brain went right to the Candy Land. The box of Candy Land. The front of the box. Yeah, that's how old I am. Dancing Lollipop says always learn so much from the Stacking Benjamin Show. I listened to several podcast but this one is one of my favorites. I love the humor and the guests and topic are always relevant to building a solid future. Keep up the good work, exclamation point. Thanks Dancing Lollipop.
Joe
I am back home by the way. So Dancing Lollipop. I'd love to also, just as a. As a thank you and please don't leave us a review just because you want a book. But. But I will send you a book as a thank you for those kind words. So. Because I got a bunch of books that authors send us all the time and I can't keep them. So send me. That was you. And I'll give you five different titles and you can choose one that you'll read.
Doug
And we didn't talk about it, but because Lynn called in and we got to hear her voice, she's going to get.
Joe
She gets some swag.
Doug
A certificate for some swag. So don't forget about that. We'd love to hear all your voices, not just your keyboard typing.
Joe
Thanks again for those kind words, Doug. Let's roll into the end of this podcast. Thank you so much everybody for lending us your ears for the last hour. And I think there's a big lesson here. Oh gee. Let's stay away from the scale.
OG
Let's Invest like the 99%.
Joe
Investing like the 99.
OG
Keep it simple.
Joe
Doug, what are our takeaways on this fine day?
Doug
Well, Joe, first, take some advice from Lynn. If you have enough to cover yourself, you're good. Invest in what you need, not what an industry tells you to buy. Second, investing like the 1%. Yeah, who wants that? Let's invest like you have the money you have. What's that? Best in class option. But the big lesson. If it walks like a ripoff and talks like a ripoff, it's probably that exclusive investment tip mom overheard at bridge club now being peddled everywhere. Down here next to the hot water heater. Keep your cash where it belongs, in your pocket and your basement, free of bad ideas. That doesn't sound like any fun. This show is the property of SB Podcasts, LLC, Copyright 2025 and is created by Joe Saul Sehive. Joe gets help from a few of our neighborhood friends. You'll find out about our awesome team at Stacking Benjamin, along with the show notes and how you can find us on YouTube and all the usual social media spots. Come say hello. Oh, yeah. And before I go, not only should you not take advice from these nerds, don't take advice from people you don't know. This show is for entertainment purposes only. Before making any financial decisions, speak with a real financial advisor. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Duggan. We'll see you next time back here at the Stacking Benjamin Show.
Joe
Sam, did you guys watch the movie a few years ago starring Bob Odenkirk? Nobody?
Doug
Yes. On maybe your recommendation or. Or. Oh, geez. Yeah.
Joe
Oh, gee. Did you see it?
OG
No, I haven't. I've seen clips of it from, you know, YouTube or whatever, but.
Doug
This is your movie, man.
OG
No, I know.
Joe
It's. It 100 is his movie.
Doug
It is. You would love it.
Joe
It is so funny. I wanted nothing to do with it. And my friend Mike, who both of you guys know, highly recommended, to the point, he's like, I will watch it again with you. So we sat on his sofa, he fired it up on Amazon prime, and we watched it, and it was so damn good. And then Cheryl and I, a few weeks ago, were at the theater, and we see the previews for Nobody 2, which is out now.
Doug
Yeah.
Joe
And. And Cheryl's like, oh, this just looks violent. I'm like, I can't wait to see this. She's like, crazy. This isn't your kind of movie, Joe. I'm like, we got to watch Nobody. So this last week, she and I watched Nobody together, and she did not want to watch it. And by the end, she was like, that was awesome.
Doug
My wife felt the exact same way, and she's not an action movie person and just loved it. And Bob Odenkirk is not the person you would think would be in that role. And he was all in. He trained with in Nobody one, where there's a fight on a bus, and one of the early fights is on a bus with, like, a bunch of Russian mobster guys.
Joe
I love that.
Doug
I think the final guy that he ended up beating was his martial arts trainer for the film.
Joe
Oh, really?
Doug
And Odenkirk did most of the student.
OG
Has become the teacher.
Doug
Yeah. Odenkirk is very believable. And just by looking at him from, like, better Call Saul or whatever else he's been in. You would not think of him as a potential action movie guy. He absolutely is. I was so impressed.
Joe
But I think it's. It's that against type thing that is really cool. Like, I watched the new Naked Gun and I thought that was hilarious. I thought it was every bit as stupid as the original ones, which is why. But.
Doug
Which is great.
Joe
But having Liam Neeson play the part against type is what made it so fun. Just like, you know, Leslie Nielsen doing the original ones. It was so funny because he, you know, here's Leslie Nielsen, who's a serious.
OG
Actor, who's playing that name to one another. Like, Leslie Nielsen, Liam Neeson isn't that funny. Couldn't have picked a better person to like.
Doug
Good point.
OG
Do the reboot.
Joe
It was so good. But, God, Odenkirk. Speaking of that bus scene, Doug, this bus scene, these mobsters, OG are getting ready to get on this bus. And Odenkirk at the beginning of the movie, super mild manner, man. But you're in his head and he's sitting there, and these guys just look like they're going to be trouble, and he just wants to fight. All Odenkirk wants to do is fight. And he's like, please get on the bus. Please.
Doug
Yeah, yeah, please.
OG
Make my day, punk.
Doug
Yeah. This is. Of all the movies we've talked about. It's. Well, I'll say this. It's been a long time since we've talked about a movie, and I thought, this is OG's movie. Like, your boys will love it. I mean, you should watch this soon.
Joe
I can't wait. We are going to see this weekend. This Labor Day weekend. We're going to go see Nobody too.
Doug
I didn't realize it was in theaters. I thought they were doing it on streaming because I just saw a promo for it for a while. You recommended it to me. I watched it pretty quickly thereafter, and then it disappeared. It was off all the streaming services for a long time because I think they filmed that right before COVID He made that, like, when he wrote that script. He did it with the full intent of it being a franchise, like being parts two, three, four, whatever, and it. And it disappeared. And I was really worried, like, oh, man, this thing has all the ingredients it needs to have legs and have more. And I thought, oh, maybe too much time passed or he just couldn't get funding for part two, so. And just the other night, I saw part two coming. I got pretty excited. I didn't realize it was a Theater thing, though. So you tell me. I gotta wait.
Joe
I went to Amazon prime and you can watch it with ads unless you've got the upgraded thing. And so I just rented it on Amazon and I paid a few bucks to. I told Cheryl. I'm like, I don't want to sit through all the ads. Let's just for one or two for one. So for two, I just prefer to go to the theater. I don't, you know, my phone's off. I'm focused on the movie. I will always defer to the theater if I can.
Doug
Yeah, I don't. I mean, I don't. This isn't a movie. I would say, like, visually you have to experience in a theater. I get you have other reasons why you like that.
Joe
Yeah.
Doug
But I mean, it's not Dances with Wolves. I mean, you don't need.
OG
Wow.
Doug
That's the first thing that came to my mind of something that is just so visually stunning that. Yeah, you want to see that on a big screen. It's a recent movie.
Joe
The F1 movie, to be more recent, is a big screen movie. Yeah, that is a big screen movie. You'd like that one too. OG.
OG
Yeah, there's that. There's a couple on Apple TV or tv, whatever the hell they call their things right now. There's a couple there that look pretty good. And I have gotten back into Ted Lasso, so I. Oh, cool. Just kind of working my way through it and it's kind of hit the dull spot in the middle where like everything is the same. Yeah, whatever. I think I'm on season two or. It's funny.
Joe
I think it picks up again, though. I imagine, in fact, it's funny. That is such a feel good show that my sister came and brought my niece when she was, you know, like a. I don't know, eighth grade maybe. And I forgot how dirty that show.
OG
Yeah. I was like, you didn't watch this with an eighth grader, did you? Because it gets.
Joe
We did. We did. Because all I remember. Yeah. All I remembered was just the feel good nature in the show. You can do it.
OG
And good lessons. Try hard believe. The other third of it is very horrible adult themed.
Doug
Yeah, right. I saw a coffee mug that had like the Venn diagram with three circles and it was.
OG
Thanks for explaining a Venn diagram.
Doug
Well, sometimes there's only two circles. This one had three and it just said Roy Kent over the top of it. And then one circle, it was here. Then the other circle, it was there in the bottom. It was everywhere. It was pretty funny. It's like the song they have for Roy Kent. I thought that was hilarious. They're filming the fourth season right now I in Kansas City.
Joe
That's sweet. I'm excited about that.
OG
Who knew?
In this episode, Joe, OG, and Doug explore the world of financial scams and the seductive marketing behind “investing like the 1%.” Through both real-life cautionary tales and larger investment industry trends, they dissect why smart people fall for extraordinary returns, how marketing preys on fear and FOMO, and what individuals can do to avoid getting taken. The episode’s key message: sound investing is about fundamentals and self-awareness, not chasing silver bullets, and the allure of exclusive-sounding opportunities often leads to risky or disastrous outcomes.
Missed the episode? You now know why “investing like the 1%” is so often a trap, and how to keep your money in your pocket—and out of someone else’s scam.