What Would You Do With a $500,000 Inheritance -- And What Would You Leave Behind? SB1860

Summary

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The Stacking Benjamins Show

Episode SB1860: What Would You Do With a $500,000 Inheritance—and What Would You Leave Behind?

Release Date: June 26, 2026
Hosts: Joe Saul-Sehy, Josh ‘OG’ Bannerman, CFP
Panelists: Paula Pant (Afford Anything), Doc G (Earn & Invest), Doug

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Episode Overview

This episode explores the complexities and emotions of receiving—and giving—a major inheritance, specifically using the hypothetical example of a $500,000 windfall. The discussion spans practical first steps, emotional and behavioral implications, the role of financial planning in handling sudden wealth, and the legacy (both financial and non-financial) people aim to leave behind. The panel offers real-life anecdotes, data on inheritances, and practical frameworks, all interwoven with the show’s signature wit and warmth.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Practical First Steps After Receiving a Large Inheritance

Segment Starts: [11:33]

• Hosts and guests debate: Is a $500,000 inheritance a life-changer for most people?

• OG’s Immediate Thoughts:

  • First step: “Make a list of questions.” (13:07)
    • Is it cash, stock, IRA/brokerage, or physical assets? (13:10–13:17)
    • Tax implications dictate first move.
  • “I would be thinking about who not to blab it to.” (14:04)
  • Would tell spouse & accountant, but go slow with wider disclosure.

• Paula Pant:

  • Calls accountant immediately for tax review. (14:55)
  • “I would move it into investments…to the extent I could tax-protect it by maxing out every account.” (15:14)
  • No vacation or impulse buys; plans to invest most or use for real estate.
  • “If you had asked me in my early 20s…there may have been more of a difference.” (16:02)

• Doc G:

  • In accumulation stage, cash is attractive vs. having to liquidate investments. (16:57)
  • Would give some away, perhaps help family, or buy collectibles (“a 1933 Lou Gehrig”). (17:26)
  • “If I was 25 or 30, oh yeah, I would put it right in the stock market.” (17:46)

2. Should You “Have Fun” With Inheritance Money?

Segment: [22:45–24:39]

• Joe Saul-Sehy: Asks if it’s wise to earmark a little for enjoyment to avoid over-spending.
• OG:
  • Advocates for a simple percentage-based plan—e.g., 40% to investing, 20% to fun, 40% to debt/projects.
    • “It keeps it easy for us…You don’t have to sit down every single time and debate.” (24:15)

3. Advice for Friends or Clients Who Receive a Windfall

Segment Starts: [20:15]

• Paula suggests tailored questions:

  • Debt level, retirement funding, interest in real estate/business investment.
  • “If a friend was an entrepreneur, I’d help them think about strategic hires or business investments.” (20:28)

• Doc G:

  • Shared personal history: in youth, inheritance jumpstarted investing and real estate.
  • “If you can use a little for instant gratification, that’s good—if you can be a little generous, even better. The rest should go toward your long-term plan.” (21:35)

4. Giving an Inheritance: Timing and Method

Segment Starts: [25:09]

• Paula:

  • Prefers to give “while alive” to see the impact, but practical concerns (e.g., late-life care costs) may warrant waiting. (26:09)
  • “All else equal, I’d rather give while I’m alive…I can direct where it goes and how.” (26:28)

• Doc G:

  • Favors paying for children’s college over leaving lump sums. “The sooner they’re saving and investing, the more likely they’ll accumulate massive wealth over time” (27:09)

• OG:

  • Strongly favors paying for “experiences” over cash. (27:48)
  • “If you have the option, you should try to pull forward some of those end-of-life grants to influence the next group of people over.” (29:22)

• Should Inheritances Be Equal?

  • Doc G: “Definitely in favor of unequal parenting. My kids have different needs and strengths…You parent to their needs, not to fairness.” (29:58)

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The Emotional & Psychological Impact

Segment Starts: [44:46]

• Paula:

  • Stresses emotional complexity, especially grief when inheritance follows a loss.
  • Discusses responsibility and guilt if mishandled, noting many lack financial literacy.
  • “When I hear the word ‘inheritance,’ the first thing that comes to mind is grief. If someone you loved gives you their legacy, it bestows a responsibility…and guilt if you manage it poorly.” (44:59)
  • Effects vary depending on the receiver’s financial literacy and the size of their pre-existing net worth.

• Doc G:

  • Quotes happiness studies showing that, while more money helps at low income levels, “human connections and community” drive long-term happiness—not money. (46:41)
  • “The highest use of money is to become the best version of yourself and build your purpose…As you get more aligned with purpose, you need less money.” (47:46)

Does Money Create Purpose or Remove It?

• Doc G: “Money is a tool. You can use it to free up time for purposeful things, but the real connection to happiness is tenuous.” (47:46)

• OG:

  • With more money, the drive (perspiration) sometimes fades. True fulfillment comes from non-monetary goals and connections. (51:23)
  • “As you increase your net worth, you realize that nothing more will make it better. Another 10 million stacked on top of 10 doesn’t do anything.” (53:35)

• Paula:

  • Wealth can provide the freedom to dedicate energy to real problems. “If you’re committed to solving a problem, money gives you the resources. You can build things without worrying about a paycheck.” (55:28)

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The Legacy Question: What Do You Want to Leave Behind?

Segment Starts: [56:44]

• Doc G (as hospice physician): Most people want to “leave a piece of themselves behind.”

  • “What we really leave behind is our funny stories, our way of doing things, the problems we solved.” (56:44)
  • Shares that his love of math passed through family, illustrating non-financial legacy.

• Paula Pant:

  • Sees her written and audio content as a legacy, plus the indirect lessons she passes on.
  • “My content…will be remembered, and the example I provide, the ripple effect.” (59:53)

• OG:

  • Wishes to be remembered as someone who left it all on the field.
  • “Lean into your unique ability. Be amazing at the thing you’re amazing at...piece together a unique ability team.” (61:17)

• Doug:

  • Hopes his family finds joy and happiness within, independent of material wealth.

Memorable Quotes:

• “You should parent to your kids’ needs, not to fairness.” – Doc G [29:58]
• “Money is a tool. The highest use of it is becoming your best self.” – Doc G [47:46]
• “When I hear ‘inheritance,’ I think of grief first.” – Paula Pant [44:59]
• “What you do with found money should be dictated by your plan.” – OG [68:10]

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Notable Moments & Quotes

• On Sudden Wealth: “There’s a million things you could do with it. The best thing is to go a little slower.” – OG [18:58]
• Funniest Confession: OG wouldn’t blab about his windfall outside the family. “I’d call my brother…‘Did you check your email today? Sucker. Click!’” [14:08]
• Doug’s Quip: “That’s enough for every American to buy three jet skis, two Taylor Swift tickets, and one slightly used Olive Garden.” [01:31]
• Paula’s Winning Moment in Trivia: “I didn’t have a speech prepared. Well, I’d like to start by thanking the Academy...” [44:08]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Opening banter/Intro: [02:39–05:11]
• Would $500,000 improve anyone’s life? [11:33]
• First steps after an inheritance: [12:05–18:42]
• Advising a friend on a windfall: [20:15]
• Allocating windfalls—percentages and planning: [22:45]
• Should inheritances be equal? [29:37]
• Trivia challenge (skippable): [31:50–44:08]
• Emotions & psychology of inheriting: [44:46]
• Does money create purpose? [47:40]
• Non-financial legacies: [56:44]

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Episode Takeaways

• Slow down: Don’t rush major financial decisions after a windfall. Time gives clarity.
• Plan ahead: Your financial policy should dictate what happens with “found money.”
• Tailor giving: Give according to recipient need and impact, not just equality.
• Legacy isn’t just dollars: The most meaningful inheritance may be wisdom, example, and storytelling.
• Go for balance: Enjoy a little, invest a lot, consider the next generation.

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For More:

• Listen to the full conversation for humor and chemistry only an actual “half-finished basement” can provide.
• Find panelists at Afford Anything and Earn & Invest.

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Transcript

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[Doc G]

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[OG]

Side effects may include euphoria, increased ability to meet your goals, and aggression from people wondering, quote what the hell your secret is. Stacking Benjamins may be habit forming, especially

[Joe Sal Sehai]

if you stick around for the entire episode. Wink, wink. Please check with your doctor to see if Stacking Benjamins is right for you.

[Doug]

Live from the basement of the YouTube headquarters, it's the Stacking Benjamin Show. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug, and experts estimate that Americans will pass along trillions of dollars over the next few years. That's enough money for every American to buy three jet skis, two Taylor Swift tickets, and one slightly used Olive Garden on today's show. Whether you're giving money, receiving money, or just dreaming. Does an inheritance ruin lives? We'll ask our guests. But that's not all. Halfway through this riveting discussion, we'll pause briefly to see who will win this week's installment of our year long trivia competition. Can defending champ Jesse Kramer continue to close the gap on og? Let's find out. And now a guy who's trying to help you close the gap on financial security. It's Joe Sal Sehi.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Hey, the Stackers. I am Joe Sal Sehigh here in Mom's basement. Doug, I got a question for you man. A slightly used Olive Garden.

[Doug]

Yeah, some of those are pretty tired right now and those are the ones you could snatch up with that inheritance.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Olive Garden and Texarkana always Seems to be pretty robust. And I often wonder why, because when

[Doug]

it's the four star restaurant in town, it's going to be a hot ticket.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

We got some quality barbecue and some quality burgers here.

[Doug]

Yeah, okay, I'm sure you do, Joe, but do they offer unlimited breadsticks?

[Joe Sal Sehai]

No, they don't. But a guy who will, if you stop by his half the basement, Mr. OG will give you free breadsticks, won't you? Yeah.

[OG]

We don't do a lot of carb loading in our house, so you can have all the steak you want, but

[Joe Sal Sehai]

you're training for this big event in a few weeks. You're not carb loading around that.

[OG]

I mean, I am, but for our guests, we would.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

What that means, Doug, I have breadsticks, but you can't have breadsticks.

[OG]

I have a sleeve of Oreos that I just ate. You can have a piece of chicken.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

It's fantastic. Paula Pants here from Afford Anything. Would you love to go over to Og's house and have some chicken?

[Paula Pant]

I am a fan of chicken. Yes. You know, protein's gotta be balanced with some carbs and some fats. Like, I'm all about the balanced plate, the balanced meal. Yeah, balanced meat.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

You can afford a lot of different meals. Just don't focus on one meal. I'm trying to, like, redo the. Afford anything.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah, you can. You can eat anything and eat everything

[Joe Sal Sehai]

and eat everything in moderation. And the guy who we like, we've had too much moderation around him. From the Earn and invest podcast. Mr. Doc G is here.

[Doc G]

So my wife and I used to go to Olive Garden and they'd say, do you want a super salad? And she'd say, yes, I do want a super salad. And it took her a while to realize it was soup or salad, but.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

And she's like, this is just a. This is just an okay salad. Not a super salad.

[Doc G]

The super salad. Yes.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

I thought your wife had the dad joke down, but she really thought that it was a great.

[Doc G]

She really thought it was a super salad.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

She really did. Because my latest dad joke, Jordan, has been. You know, when they ask if you've got reservations, I always say yes, but I decided to come anyway, and they never get it.

[Doug]

But Paula like that.

[Doc G]

So it's okay.

[OG]

That's a good one.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

But Doug's just giving me the eye roll, so maybe not. Well, something that we have. No, I roll around. Is this big wealth transfer that's happening in America. In fact, this is how big it is. Come on, guys. How big is It.

[Paula Pant]

How big is it?

[Joe Sal Sehai]

It's so big that Paula Pant had an episode at afford anything about this very topic recently. Right?

[Doug]

Sure.

[Paula Pant]

Yes, absolutely.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

We might have talked about the wealth transfer.

[Paula Pant]

We answered a listener question. Listener was getting some inheritance.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Yes, exactly. And I thought, you know what? There is a huge wealth transfer going on, so we can't come up with our own things to talk about, Paula. So we gotta figure out what afford anything's talking about and talk about that even more. But very seriously, you get an amount of money today, we called it half a million dollars. What does that mean for your life? Does it change your life substantially? What would you do with that money? And then on the other side, if you're giving the inheritance, what, do you put strings on it? Do you. Do you determine how you're going to give that money? We're going to dive into all things inheritance and purpose and motivation. And what that does, does it have the intended effect on today's show? Before we get to all of that, you know, here's the deal, guys. One of the sneaky parts of getting older is that the scoreboard doesn't always tell the whole story. Why do they have me reading this, Doug? I'm young and spry like, I have no idea. Getting older. What is that all about?

[OG]

Says the guy with a busted ankle.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

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[Paula Pant]

a broken clock is right twice a day?

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Maybe, maybe Paul is going to get one or maybe Og springs ahead. We're going to find all that the midway break anyway. Right now we're going to hear from our sponsor and then we're going to talk about inheritances and really maybe some of the unintended consequences. You know, there's some things in life that we spend a lot of time thinking about. Our investments, our insurance coverage, quality of food we eat. Then there's things we barely think about at all, like the air inside our home. So it's just kind of funny when you consider we're breathing it all day long. A lot of us notice the symptoms. Dust, allergies, odors, poor sleep. We never stop to think that the air itself might be big part of the problem. That's why Cheryl and I were Interested in Air Doctor. Air Doctor uses a powerful three stage filtration system that captures extremely small particles, about 100 times smaller than what many ordinary air purifiers can remove. Helps capture dust, pollen, mold spores, pet dander. Call that Cooper dander here. Wildfire smoke, bacteria, viruses, odor, smoke, ozone and VOCs. What we really like is it's designed to be super easy. It's whisper quiet. It is an auto Mode that adjusts 24, 7 based on air quality and even reminds you when it's time to change the filter. No guesswork required. Air Doctor isn't just liked by the Two of us so we can continue to live with this cat Cooper, who consistently sheds it is loved by tons of people. Was named Newsweek's readers choice award winner for best air purifier. And 98% of customers, well, they feel like I do. They say their homes air feels cleaner, safer and healthier. So head to airdoctorpro.com use promo code stacking and you'll get $250 off select Air Doctor air purifiers, including the 3500, the 4000 and the 5500 bottles. We're so confident that you'll love Air Doctor that every purchase is backed by a 30 day money back guarantee. That is an exclusive offer just for you Stackers. It's exclusive to podcast only available now at airdoctorpro.com that's a I R-O C T-O-R-P-R-O DO using promo code stacking. Okay, team, let's do a quick show of hands. Who thinks a $500,000 inheritance would improve almost anybody's life? Paul, a hand in the air.

[Paula Pant]

Define improve.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Oh, well, that's interesting, Doc G, I think you sprung your hand. It came up so fast. You think it would improve? Yeah, OG half a million bucks improve almost anybody's life. You are on mute, my friend.

[OG]

I got it. Chill, bruh. It takes a second to friggin click it.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

I saw your mouth move and nothing come out.

[OG]

You know, story of my life. I. I do think half a million dollars would be. You know, I need some more context, but all right, it'd be pretty fun. Be a fun Tuesday afternoon at the casino, that's for sure.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Well, let's stick with you then. Oh, gee. So it's 9am tomorrow, you're open your email and a relative you barely thought about.

[OG]

So there's uncle from Nigeria.

[Doug]

Yes.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Let's say this prince left you half a million bucks. But the reason I say that is because, Paul, you and I have talked about this a lot. About there's so much emotion around money. I just want to remove that emotion. All right, so this relative, you don't really know them, so there's not much emotion around it. What's the first thing you do before noon when you find out that you were just given half a million bucks?

[OG]

All right, a few qualifying questions. Do I know that this is legitimate?

[Joe Sal Sehai]

It is legitimate and it's yours.

[OG]

And I have no doubts about the legitimacy. Like this is.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

No doubts at all. This is your cash.

[OG]

Okay. The first thing that I do before noon I mean, boy, I have so many questions. I guess maybe make a list of questions that I have. That's probably what I would do. I would make a list of questions. How's. Is that good enough answer? Or do you want to know the questions I'd ask?

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Well, I'd love to know what are a couple of those questions? What do you mean?

[OG]

I'd ask, in what form is this inheritance? Is this a Range Rover and a suitcase of cash?

[Joe Sal Sehai]

All cash.

[OG]

Like literal cash? Is this a brokerage account? Is this a bank account somewhere that I got? Is it going to be as a check, someone wiring me the money?

[Joe Sal Sehai]

How does that change everything?

[OG]

Well, I mean, is it an IRA that's going to change the tax type of stuff? If it's invested presently, that if that has some tax implications or could or maybe affects my asset allocation personally. If all of a sudden somebody goes, here's half a million dollars of SpaceX stock, be like, well, I already have half a million, what do I need? No, I'm just kidding. Let's just say it's a cash and I have to sign for the check when it comes in the mail from ups.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

You're just thinking tactical things. All the tactical things, all the tactical pieces.

[OG]

Yeah. I mean, I'm kind of laying it out there. I'd have a lot of questions. I'd be thinking about taxes.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

All right.

[OG]

And I would be thinking about who not to blab it to.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Oh, that's interesting. Not tell people or who to blab

[OG]

it to and be like, call my brother or something. Be like, hey, did you check your email today? Like, nothing in mind. Like, sucker click.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Would you tell Mrs. OG?

[OG]

Well, yeah, of course.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Call your accountant.

[OG]

There's a, there's a funny lyric in a rap song that starts that line. No, I don't think accountants can help with this.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Book a vacation, pay off debt.

[OG]

I wouldn't book a vacation. I might think about paying off debt.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

All right, Paula, half a million bucks. First thing you do.

[Paula Pant]

I also had the same first question of is this currently invested?

[Joe Sal Sehai]

It's all cash.

[Paula Pant]

It's all cash.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

All cash, not invested. Let's make it real easy.

[Paula Pant]

Wow. I would contact my accountant to see what the tax implications are and I would put it into investments. I would move it into to the extent that I could tax protect it by maxing out every contribution that I can make to various tax advantaged accounts. I would do that immediately.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

You wouldn't book a vacation?

[Paula Pant]

No. No.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

You wouldn't pay off debt?

[Paula Pant]

I don't currently have any debt, you

[Joe Sal Sehai]

wouldn't sit on it.

[OG]

Scoreboard for a long time, A long period of time.

[Paula Pant]

I mean, if by sit on it you mean put it into like VTS X, that's my version of sitting on it.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Okay.

[Paula Pant]

I would not necessarily put the whole thing into VTS X specifically, but I would think about what portion of it do I want to put into index funds? What portion of it do I want to use to maybe pay cash for a rental property or split it into a two down payments for two rental properties, perhaps.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Is there a difference between what you would do with it and what you should do with it? Because for me, there kind of is. Like, there's what I probably should do, but there's also going to be a little bit of fun involved that maybe I shouldn't do well.

[Paula Pant]

So I think if you had asked me the same question when I was in my early 20s and 500,000 would have been like a very significant, like pretty life changing amount of money at that time. There may have been more of a difference.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

That's kind of interesting though, because it seems like there'd be more of a difference now. When you have more flexibility, then you might feel more compelled to buckle down. You know what I mean?

[Paula Pant]

Yeah. No, I mean, back then it's like such an unimaginable sum of money. Yeah.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

But then it's more life changing. So then you would put it all in investments. If you're at a point now where you've got flexibility, then you're like, I'm going to Aruba.

[Paula Pant]

Well, I think the difference is I don't really dream of going to Aruba. And if I wanted to do that, I would just do it.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

You just do it anyway.

[Paula Pant]

I would just do it now. Yeah.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

All right, Jordan, how about you, man? Half a million bucks shows up.

[Doc G]

Obviously, it depends when you get this. At this point in my life, I'm actually in pretty much the accumulation stage. So my biggest problem actually is access to cash because it costs me money. Right. Every time I want to. Like, let's say I wanted to spend $500,000, I would have to liquidate $500,000 of equities and pay all the taxes and move things around. It'd be a big pain. So if someone just gave me $500,000, I'd probably hopefully give away some percentage of it. And I was thinking a 1933 Lou Gehrig.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

There you go.

[Doc G]

Grade 8. Grade 8 would be good or. Well, my son was talking about buying a property and I was thinking maybe I could mortgage him but I don't have really the cash around so maybe that could do that. I can think of lots of things I wouldn't, I wouldn't invest it and I wouldn't save it. Like at this point in my life that makes no sense. But if I was 25 or 30, oh yeah, I would put it right in the stock market.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Would you tell anybody?

[Doc G]

I don't know if it would make any difference. I tend not to like especially you know, if you're a content producer talks about personal finance, you might talk a little bit more openly about your money than normally. But if I was a not a content producer and just your average show making, getting a $500,000, I probably wouldn't.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Would you call advisors or accountants?

[Doc G]

Again it depends on what stage in life you are. I think at this point no, because I'd be spending it so I don't think there's anything they could give me advice on. And assuming again, it was straightforward and I didn't have to worry about tax issues because it was a Roth IRA or it was a traditional ira. But if it was just inheriting plain old cash. Yeah, no, I probably wouldn't call an advisor. Not at this stage.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Paul, I didn't ask you. Would you tell anybody?

[Paula Pant]

I would tell an accountant. I would call an accountant immediately just to go over all the details and make sure I fully understand the tax implications.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

But wouldn't mention it to anybody else.

[Paula Pant]

No.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

It's interesting. I would love to see what you are thinking. Stackers that are hanging out with us. Looks like we got a number of stackers hanging out with us but we've got nothing in the, in the chat right now. And I said that could be our platform that is messing up. Let us know stackers if you're hanging out with us. What actually you would do.

[OG]

All right, I have another comment on this actually Joe, because Jordan actually brought up something I thought was kind of interesting. He said, you know, hopefully I give some of this money away. I think the important thing is and maybe this is like too solution based but no matter what, you have to go a little bit slower with it. The only time that this is something similar that's happened to me I was just thinking about this and well, what if this happened? You know the lottery thing. But this kind of happened when we sold a rental property. I wasn't expecting to make any money on it and did and it was like, oh, we have all this lump sum of money now. That wasn't part of the equation. And I just remember sitting down and talking to the kids about it, like, here's how much money it is. And it was in the context of like learning because in their mind, you know, being however old they were at the time, 14 or 12 or something like that, it was like I could say 10,000, 100,000 or 100 million. And it was all an insane amount of money that was unspendable. So I wanted them to appreciate like it's, you know, just because it's a couple hundred thousand dollars doesn't mean it's like this never ending stream. But we did end up giving them some and helping them start from an investing standpoint and that sort of thing. So the answer to my part of the question is I probably would just put it in a money market fund and just think about what to do next. That's literally maybe the 90 second answer because there's a million things you could do with it.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Sure. Well, and I'm glad you said that because that was where I was going next. OG and Paula, for you, if it's a close friend that gets half a million dollars, let's say they tell you what do you tell them the thing? Go slow.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah, I mean, I would ask the same questions that you've just asked, like, do you have any debt? How well funded are your retirement accounts? Do you have any aspirations of owning rental property? Because not everybody wants to do that. I personally love it, but it's not for everyone if they are an entrepreneur. So that I guess that was the one thing that I didn't mention. So one of the things that I would be thinking about is do I want to take some of this money and put it into growing, afford anything. And so if that friend was an entrepreneur, then I'd probably go over their business expenses with them and say, right, how's your business doing? Do you need the funding to make one or two strategic hires who might be able to grow your business and you just, you need to front load that capital to make those hires so that six months or 12 months down the road, the value that those new hires produce can then turn into business revenue. Like that would be the other question.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Well, and that's interesting, Jordan, because you said you're in the decumulation phase, mean you're trying to spend some of the money that you've saved. If somebody's in a different phase of life than you, how would you advise them?

[Doc G]

Well, I could tell you actually what I did. So this has happened to me. I mean, I've actually gotten two Inheritances throughout my life, both in the five figure sum, not in the six figure sum. My first inheritance when my grandfather died, I was 19 and that all went right into the stock market and was the beginning or the base of my wealth. That's where I kind of started accumulating money. And then the second time when my grandmother died, I was just finishing residency, the lump sum I got from her went right into a down payment on our first house, the one I still live in today. I think as Paula was saying, it really depends on your life situation. I mean there's so many different variables about how that money could serve you best, depending on your age, depending on your financial situation, depending on how much debt you have. Just like anyone giving advice, you'd really have to kind of look at the details of where they're at to try to get the best benefit out of any lump sum of money. I think if you can use a little bit for instant gratification, that's good. Not everything but just a little bit. And if you can use a little bit in being generous, you've kind of assured two different kinds of happiness. And the rest, hopefully you use it for a good long term plan.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

I was wondering about that when Doc G said maybe have some fun with it. OG you know, a lot of the time I saw people when I was an advisor and they would go overboard on spending all the money. Is it a good idea to maybe cordon off and use a little bit of the money for fun so that you don't feel compelled to blow through it?

[OG]

Well, there's two emotions that happen, you know, when you spend money, especially kind of found money, you feel like the excitement of doing it and then the buyer's remorse of doing it, like the two competing things. And when you don't have a clear plan on what, what money should go for, you always wonder if you should be doing something different with it. And this doesn't have to be a lump sum, that's an inheritance. It could be something as simple as got an unexpected bonus from work and it's 10K. And I, you know, the stag management's people tell me I should probably invest some, but kind of also want to redo some part of the bathroom. And we also kind of haven't gone on vacation in a while. And so no matter what one of those things you do with some of the money, you're be in the back of your mind thinking I should be doing this other thing, I should be doing this debt pay down, I should be investing it for later. The best way to handle that is to establish in advance what you're going to do with excess money. It's just part of your family dynamic and part of your family kind of open communication, whether family is you or you and your spouse or you're especially kids, whatever. So what we do in our house very simply is generally speaking, 40% of extra money will go to investing. 20% of it goes to just some unaccounted for fun, you know, you just blow it and with no remorse. And then 40% goes to debt pay down or something, you know, some other medium term project that might be going on, something like, you know, college funding or something like that, some stuff that's going on. So it keeps it easy for us to not have to like every single day sit down and go like, or every single time this happens to go, oh, there's a little extra money. Now what do we do with this? You know, and it works for $1,000 checks, it works for $10,000 checks and works for $500,000 checks.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

That's super. Build the fencing ahead of time.

[OG]

Now in reality, is somebody going to likely spend $100,000 on a vacation? If you've never done that before, you probably won't. But honestly, if you were going to do it, that would be the time to do it. To kind of Jordan's point. It's like if you were never going to do it, but you always wanted to take the family to, you know, the two week safari or something, I mean, you easily could spend 50 or 80 grand National Geographic trip.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Yeah. You just got home from Disney. Isn't 100,000 bucks like three days at Disney?

[OG]

Yeah, I mean, well, it's four, but

[Joe Sal Sehai]

yeah, I mean, roughly, let's turn this around a little bit. Let's say that you're the one giving the inheritance. So instead of receiving it, what would you do if you were giving it? So let me give you an either or, Paula. Leave $500,000 when you die or leave the equivalent of $500,000, $25,000 a year to specific people, specific things throughout your lifetime. In other words, $25,000 per year for what, 12 years. Okay, what am I talking about? 20 years for some number of years for a guy that can't do math live on YouTube.

[Paula Pant]

So my clarifying question, in that scenario, what percentage of my overall net worth would $500,000 represent?

[Joe Sal Sehai]

I don't know. So let's do this. Let's just say you've already earmarked $500,000 and you have the ability to do it either way. Would you rather give it when you die or would you rather give $25,000 a year while you're alive?

[Paula Pant]

So the reason that I ask is because all else being equal, I would rather do it when I'm alive. However, I don't want to subject myself to the risk of not having adequate money for dementia care that I might need, critical end of life care that I might need when I'm in my 90s.

[OG]

New ankle.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah, exactly.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

It's hitting close to home.

[Paula Pant]

The risk of giving it away when I'm alive. I mean, I would prefer to do that so I could direct where it goes and how it goes.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

But you're worried about a King Lear scenario.

[Paula Pant]

Joe never misses an opportunity to reference King Lear. So if you look, listen to enough episodes, take a shot every time he mentions King Lear.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

If you're playing the bingo card.

[Paula Pant]

I had to.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Right there, Paula. I had to.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah, so that's the caveat there.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

All right, Jordan. Pay for college or leave an inheritance?

[Doc G]

Pay for both, hopefully.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Well, you got to choose one or the other.

[Doc G]

Pay for college.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

How come?

[Doc G]

I'm a big fan of compounding. The sooner they're saving and investing, the less debt they have when they start, the more likelihood that they're going to accumulate massive wealth over time. And so why wait until they, you know, hopefully if I live to a nice old age, they won't even get that inheritance until they're in their 60s, and by then they're going to already be established. Why not start them off on the right foot now so that they can accumulate wealth much faster?

[Joe Sal Sehai]

But what about the King Lear scenario where they hold college? No, I'm kidding. Yeah, maybe not. Oh, gee, I saved this one specifically for you. You can either leave money or you can pay for experiences.

[OG]

1,000% paying for experiences.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Don't worry about.

[OG]

But again, hopefully both.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Yeah, but does that change depending on who you're talking to?

[OG]

It does, but I, you know, again, if you have done an adequate job of your personal financial planning, it's very hard to appreciate compounding in advance. Like human brain just has a hard time understanding how that works and believing it. Even if you've witnessed it in the past. I know everyone on this call for sure and probably 95% of people listening, unless they just recently got started in their. In their career, has 10 times their investment portfolio from one point to another point. Either it's today 10 times bigger than it was at the beginning or, you know, it was you started out Jordan, with a little deposit from Grandpa, that's probably 10 times. And it's probably 10 times again, maybe even, who knows? But, but if I told you, well, you know, you're probably 10 times again, you go, nah, it's not going to happen. Why not? You've already done it. In fact, you've probably done it twice. So it's hard to. For like Paula was saying, it's hard to look into the future crystal ball and say, I mean, I know the math says I'm going to have 20 million bucks, but I better wait until I get the 20 million before I spend like, I have 20 million. Which is true. You should have some certainty around that before you, you know, start putting everything on, you know, lines of credit, because someday I'm gonna have 20 million bucks. But there does come a point in time where you should be able to, you know, be far enough down the line that you go, hey, I'm good, you know, I, I can't, I can't break this plan. In which case, you know, you have the option at that point in time to kind of pull forward some of those end of life, you know, grants and say, what, Is there something that we can do today that, you know, that we can influence the next group of people over?

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Before we go to our trivia challenge, Jordan, we'll give you this one. You have two children. They both have different needs. Let's say that in the future, one has a really big financial need, the other one doesn't have much of a need. Do you leave everything equally or do you do different amounts based on the need?

[Doc G]

Oh, I'm definitely in favor of unequal parenting. And in fact, I've already had this conversation with my kids over the years over and over again. My son would come to me and he'd be like, you know, you're letting my daughter Layla get away with stuff you'd never let me get away with. And I said, of course I am. You have different needs, you're different people. You have different strengths and different weaknesses. And the fact is, my son, I help with some things, and my daughter, I help with others, and they are not going to be equal and they're not going to be the same because they have different needs and different strengths and different weaknesses. And, you know, one of your kids might really be strong financially, but they might need more of your physical help. They might need you there to help take care of their grandkids. They might need something that's non monetary, whereas your other kid might have all that taken care of, but maybe never generates lots of revenue. So I feel like you should parent your kids or at least I try to parent my kids to their needs, not to fairness.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

You don't also follow that up with your son with. Well, and she's my favorite because that would create fireworks.

[Doc G]

Well, I do do that to razz him. But. But yes.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Yeah, of course she's gonna get more. All right, we're gonna get even more philosophical in the second half about does half a million dollars change your life or does it because for the three of you, the things that you do with it, it doesn't seem like it's going to change your life just based on the answers that you gave. It seems like it would just be more of the same. I'm interested to find out giving and receiving about half a million dollars, changing a life. But for now, what I'm interested in is to see who's version of our challenge because we have a year long trivia challenge that happens on the Stacking Benjamin Show. Jesse Kramer is our defending champion. And Doug, he has been roaring the last couple weeks and the score's gotten a little bit tighter. What's our score so far for 2026?

[Doug]

He sure has, Joe. Jesse has made things a little spicy down here in the basement in more ways than one. We still have OG in the lead at 9, but he's been a little stagnant there at 9. Plateaued, one might say. Jesse is screaming into his rearview mirror at seven points and Apollo is, well, she's, you know, she's turning onto the freeway any minute now at three points any second.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

It's like you're waiting for it to arrive. You're like you're watching your Uber and it just, it, it just sits there waiting to turn the corner almost.

[Doug]

I think we need to get some more people to sit in for Paula. Like Paula needs to go on vacation. Pretty sure that's where the three points happen.

[Doc G]

I think we should have OG Play for Jesse and I'll play for O today.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

I think OG has a chance to be ahead of the halfway point before July hits. That's going to be big news. So based on where we're at so far this year, OG is going to answer first. Doc G. Playing for Jesse. You will answer second. Paula gets the what we always call an advantage of going last. I've yet to see the advantage. But Doug, you've got this week's question. What are we contemplating?

[Doug]

Foreign. Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug. You know, I was thinking recently about all the Important inventions in history that you got. The wheel, of course, indoor plumbing, microchips, stretchy waistbands, that little table inside your pizza box. Or the cheese doesn't. You know, the big stuff. Well, June 26th marks the birthday of Ralph Schneider, one of the founders of Diners Club. So he's widely considered the inventor of the first modern credit card. Now, story goes that Schneider and his business partner got the idea after a businessman forgot his wallet while dining at a restaurant in New York. Which got me thinking. I mean, forgetting your wallet in 1950 was a lot different than today. Back then, you'd quickly find yourself washing dishes next to some parolee with eight fingers just to pay off your tab. Today, you just tap your phone. You know, you tap your. Your watch, your belt buckle, whatever other appliance has a payment chip hidden in it. Tried it. It works. So here's today. Here's today's question. According to the Federal Reserve, Americans collectively carry a lot of credit card debt. As of 2025, approximately how much total credit card debt do Americans owe? I'll be back right after OG teaches Joe how to tap to pay with a flip phone.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Oh, that'll be fun. Nothing I'd rather have right now than a flip phone. Get rid of my iPhone. OG how much credit card debt we carry in 2025?

[OG]

I don't know if you guys have seen this. I don't want to say trend, because it's not really a trend, but it was going. It was on all of our feeds while we were at Disney. Like, somebody would take their credit card and put it into, like, a little magic wand thing. And so when you tap to pay, it's like, you're like, you've got a little ding. That got me thinking. Does Doug have one of those in his belt buckle? And he's all just like, here's your pay?

[Doug]

Absolutely. How I do it. That's exactly how I do it.

[OG]

I'll give you your payment. Hold on.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

This is so uncomfortable.

[Doug]

So much fun at the grocery store.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Gotta bring out the magic wand. And then he has to follow it up with. He has to follow it up with. No, really,

[OG]

hold on. I need that thing a little closer to my belt buckle, if you know what I mean.

[Doug]

I'm surprised OG didn't say, you know, this credit card debt. That's from my hometown. It all is originated from my hometown.

[OG]

Well, you had me at belt buckle payment ideas, and I was. That's what was spinning there for a while. So total credit card debt. So to be fair, we are Excluding mortgage debt, we are excluding auto loan debt. This is just purely credit card debt.

[Doug]

Correct.

[OG]

And as of December of 25th or anytime in 2025, not that it matters much. Boy, this is a big number. I want to say that total credit card Debt as of 2025 was approaching $427 billion.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

427 billion with a B Doc, what are you going to do with that?

[Doc G]

I was trying to think this out. Right? So there's 350 million Americans. Right. And so I don't know how many adults. That makes maybe 200 million adults. And so then the question becomes, what's the average credit card debt of each adult? Could it be 5,000, 2,000? And then I have to figure out how to do the math of 200 million times 2 or 3,000.

[OG]

It's a lot of zombies.

[Doc G]

So I'm thinking it's in the. The question is in the hundreds of billions or trillions. I'm going to say I don't want to squeeze OG here because I think I feel like I did that last time to him. How much did OG say? I was thinking about 600 billion.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

427 billion.

[Doc G]

I'm going to go higher than that. I'm going to say it's 600 billion.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

600 billion. So, Paula, we've got a lot of debt and then we got even more debt.

[Paula Pant]

Okay, so yeah, I agree. So about 200 million adults. Man, I can't calculate that many zeros in my head.

[Doc G]

I know. That was my problem too.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

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[OG]

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[Joe Sal Sehai]

Did you know writers who switch and

[OG]

save with Progressive save nearly $200 per year. That's a whole new pair of writing gloves. And more quote today Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates national average 12 month savings of $197 by new customers surveyed

[Doc G]

who saved with Progressive between October 2024 and September 2025.

[Paula Pant]

Potential savings will vary 200 million adults.

[Doc G]

While she's thinking I wanted to take out my calculator. But then I was like they're going to see me looking at my calculator and think I'm cheating. I was trying to get the zeros too. So I did not. Even though I was tempted not to look it up but to take out my cap.

[OG]

We would never accuse you of cheating to make sure of cheating.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Yes, it's. We reserve our cheating accusations for Jesse

[OG]

or the guests that plan Jesse's behalf.

[Paula Pant]

I guess I'll take the upside. 601.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

$601 billion with a B. So we got 427-60060. $1 billion. Who's right? We'll be right back. We'll find out. Oh, gee. You kicked this off by saying 427 billion. Both Doc and Paula went higher than that. Substantially higher than that. What are you thinking?

[OG]

Well, I could picture the chart that I read where this was. So I have now since looked it up and I. I was inaccurate in my memory, but don't. But I can. I feel less strongly than I did five minutes ago. I knew what the chart looked like. I was like, okay, it's this and then it's this. There's a little arrow. And like I was trying to remember what that number was. Well, the reason I didn't remember was because it was expressed in percentages as a parenthetical of the chart, which was largely denominated mortgage debt, so. But I was off on the scale. Let's just put it that way.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Doc sounds like, oh, gee, looked it up. You feeling good?

[Doc G]

I'm thinking 3,000 was too low on credit card debt, so I'm thinking that probably Paul is right, but we'll see.

[OG]

Should have done the math. I never thought about doing the math of it. That would got me closer.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Paul, are you about to get your first win? I mean, in a long time?

[Paula Pant]

I wasn't necessarily feeling confident, but based on what Og said, now I'm feeling a little bit better.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

It might be. Is it the best Friday Paula's had in a long, long time? Doug?

[Doug]

Well, hey there, stackers. I'm Costco, Visa record holder and guy who thought Ralph Schneider was the one who starred in those Deuce Bigelow movies. Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug. Before the break, we were talking about Ralph Schneider, the diner's club card and credit card. So I did a little more research on him. You know, if Schneider had spent less time starring as a hilarious janitor on a 1970s sitcom and more time inventing rewards points, he might have really made something of himself. Rewards points are incredible, aren't they? Banks will give you a free hotel room if you just spend enough money to accidentally finance a bass boat. I mean, like, hypothetically, who would. Who would do that? It's ridiculous. Anyway, we asked our panelists, as of 2025, approximately how much total credit card Debt do Americans owe? And as you know, I'm not going to just hand you the answer, but I will tell you that OG was $773 billion low.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Oh no.

[Doug]

Doc G was $600 billion low. And Paula was just $599 billion away. Because the correct answer is $1.2 trillion. Giving Paula a rare self earned trivia points.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Wow. What the hell's going on?

[Paula Pant]

Incredible. I didn't have a speech prepared. Well, I'd like to start by thanking the academy. I would like to thank neighbor Doug.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

You could honestly say, I've seen your parents. You could say, I'd like to thank all the little people in my life because that's low, Joe. I think they're even shorter than you, Paula.

[Paula Pant]

Well, my mom is shorter than me. Yeah.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Your mom. Yes, my mom is petite family. Very petite family. It's fantastic. Congratulations, Paula.

[Paula Pant]

Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Let's stick with you then as the winner because I want to stop talking about money for a second. I want to talk about emotions, psychology. Paula, somebody inherits $500,000, what does that do to somebody?

[Paula Pant]

Well, it's going to depend on two things. One is how close were they to the person who left them this money? Whenever I hear the word inheritance, the first. Thank you, thank you to the people in chat who are congratulating me. I have to take a moment to say that because this is so rare. Yeah. When I hear the word inheritance, the first thing that comes to mind is grief. Because more often than not, if somebody's received an inheritance, it's because someone they loved and who loved them has just passed. And when someone who you loved, who loves you, gives you a portion of their life's work and, you know, makes that their legacy, it bestows upon you a certain responsibility to steward it well. And then that is a setup for massive guilt down the road if you end up mismanaging it, overspending it, investing it poorly, et cetera, which unfortunately a lot of people do because many parents will pass down money, but they don't pass down financial literacy. So to your question, Joe, how does it change a person to inherit that money? It's going to depend on your relationship with the person who gave it to you. It's going to depend on the amount of financial literacy that you have. It's going to depend on the degree of grief and emotion that clouds your decision making. And it's also going to depend on what net worth you had to start with. Because receiving $500, if you have a net worth of 20 grand or negative 20 grand is very different than receiving 500,000 when you already have a net worth of maybe 3 or 4 million.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

There's a study that was done a long time ago that people still quote Doc, you'll know this better than me. I think that study's been debunked.

[Paula Pant]

Right.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

About only X amount of money can create happiness. You know which one I'm talking about? Only 70,000 or 90,000 under. I don't remember the number.

[Doc G]

Yeah. So there is a lot of argument about it. The newer studies, and Paula probably can help me with this too. The newer studies seem to show, for instance, for people who care about money, there is an increase in happiness in the more money you earn. But it's the rate of rise might not be as higher as it is for like the first whatever 70 or now it might be a hundred thousand dollars. It's changed obviously since the original studies, but I always tell people that, you know, you compare that to the Harvard Adult Health study which seems to show that the connection between money and happiness isn't very large. It's actually human communications and community or human connections and community that seem to be in the largest long term study we've ever done about happiness. Money doesn't seem to play as big of a role as people think.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

You, you, you might have written a book about purpose.

[Doc G]

I might have.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

It might even be in the title. Does money create purpose? Does it remove purpose?

[Doc G]

No. I mean money is a tool. It can be used as a tool to free up your time so that you can do more purposeful things, or it also can be a tool you use to become a better version of yourself and practice that purpose. So, you know, I obviously have lots of thoughts about how important money is and I think there's a continuum. I think I've mentioned it on one of these Friday shows before. The cheapest use of money is to buy things. And we understand the hedonic treadmill and that happiness comes and goes quickly. I think you can go further down the continuum a slightly better uses experiences. This is the DAI with zero ethos, right? Buy all the experiences you can. But actually I don't think that's actually the highest use of money. I think the highest use of money actually is to become the best version of yourself you can. And so to become more intentional and build yourself into the type of person you want to be who exhibits the type of purpose you want to exhibit. But what gets real interesting and maybe even exciting about that is when you start getting Better aligned with what seems purposeful to you. You actually realize that money's probably not necessary most of the time. In my mind, at least per my beliefs. I think the connection between money and happiness is pretty tenuous. We know on the edges, right. If you have zero money, having enough money to have food and shelter and those kind of things certainly can. Can improve your happiness quite a bit. But, you know, if you're really looking for happiness through money, and we have all these studies about lottery winners and how they generally aren't happier and they blow that money quickly. Yeah, we know that it generally doesn't fix things.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Yes, just more money. What's up? More money, more problems. It was Tony Robbins, OG I think, who said that, you know, when you're creating new things, it's either because of inspiration or perspiration. And I think as I'm hearing Doc talk about purpose and about, you know, money and purpose, not really aligning that. What I've seen is, is people get more and more and more money, that the perspiration goes away. I'm not going to really worry about this. So, yeah, I've got this cool idea, but I could do it today, I could do it next week, I could do it five years from now. Next thing you know, five years is gone and you've done nothing for that reason. Do you think that maybe more money doesn't help you reach bigger goals?

[OG]

See, he yelled at me one time for being on mute. I yelled back and now he just is handing arm signals.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

I wasn't gonna say it again. Just gonna tap my ear.

[OG]

I don't know what you're trying to get at here. Are you saying that.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Let me tell you. Let me tell you specifically.

[OG]

I'm kind of confused by the question.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

I'm going to put this much more. So I'll tell you a story there. There's a person I know built a big website, built a huge community, sold at a fairly young age. They've said out loud before in many places that when they built that website, they were young, they were hungry, they needed it to succeed. And because they needed it to succeed, they made sure it was successful. They worked long hours, they built this thing that got big enough where in their early 40s, they were able to sell it for a. Not a little money, not a lot of money, for a ton of money. I've seen this same person now go through five different ideas and really not invest that type of perspiration in any of the ideas because they have plenty of money. They have plenty of stuff. And when the idea starts to get a little bit hard, they, you know, I'm just not gonna do this anymore. Obviously, every idea gets difficult. So my question is, if one of these ideas might bring something wonderful to the universe, it might be their purpose. Is the fact that they have a ton of money keeping them from that purpose?

[OG]

I don't know that it's our responsibility to judge other people on what they choose to do or not do. Like, dude's rich and doesn't want to do anything. Like, yolo, man. You don't owe me anything.

[Paula Pant]

Like, why.

[OG]

Why would I say. But there might be a trapped idea that, you know, cures cancer in there. You just need to work harder. Okay. You know, I don't. I don't think that that's a. An angle that makes a lot of sense to me. I believe that as you increase your net worth, that when you're on one side of that transaction or a journey, you believe that all I have to do is just a little bit more and then I'll be okay. And then I think when you get on the other side of the journey, you recognize there is no more that will make it any better than it already is. And maybe spinning this a little differently than what you were talking about originally, Joe, but in some of the groups that I belong to and entrepreneur groups and that sort of thing, you know, the conversation around, can you retire? Should you retire? Should you stop doing this? Should you sell? You know, comes up a little bit. And the common refrain or pushback that we give or get is one of two things. It's like, well, is there something money wise that you are trying to do that you can't do right now and that this money would help you do if you sold or if you did whatever, or is there some time thing that you don't have that you need to get because you need to kind of step away from this because you can't go on vacation or you can't. And if you're doing all you want to do with your money largely, and you're doing all you want to do with your time largely, like, what else do you want to do? Like, it's great. You're living the dream. And sometimes the dream is still working 9 to 5, Monday to Friday. I think when you're on, like the front edge of this, you think or believe. As soon as I get to X dollars, then I can finally be done. I can finally. It's the whole fire movement, right? Like, I can finally retire from this Crappy job. And it's like, well, first of all, why would you work a crappy job if you have a choice? And secondly, I think you'll realize when you get to 2 million, 3 million, 5 million, 10 million, like, some number, you'll just be like, okay, another 10 million stacked on top of 10 doesn't do anything. The first 10 I have. And still here, if I didn't like giving money away, or I didn't like spending time with my family, or I didn't like investing in my community, or I didn't like, like, magically having 10 million bucks in the bank isn't going to make you want to do those things. You already hate your family. You're not going to like them more because now they're using your amex card to go to the Four Seasons. Like, that doesn't. Like, that's exactly the opposite of how you'll feel. Be more resentful, you know, you'll hate more spending time with them. I think the myth of, like, having enough, like, enough is a. It's a construct. It's whatever it means to you. So if your buddy sold his company and is, like, eating bon bons and playing Xbox and mowing the grass by himself, and that's his vibe. Get after it, man.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Well, God bless him, you know, I don't know what's going on in his head. And I'm not as judgy as.

[OG]

Sure, I know.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

I know you're not as I made that sound.

[OG]

No, that's. That's why you wanted to put it out there. Do we not also look at other people in our lives who maybe aren't living up to their potential, but aren't rich? And you're like, you know, if you put as much energy into work as you do playing Xbox, you might have better grades, you know? Like, does that ever come out? Yeah, of course it does, Right?

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Well, yeah, because the other side. Sure. The other side of that equation might be, you know, he's had five different things I phrased it as. You know, he didn't push past the tough part because he's got plenty of money. But it could have been. He's also now smart enough to know it's going nowhere.

[OG]

Yes. This is like, I gotta exit stage left and get after the next idea that could be.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Yeah. Save your time, Paula.

[Paula Pant]

Well, I. I think a lot of it is going to depend on is, so these five other ideas that this dude has, is he pursuing them to make money or is he pursuing them to solve a problem? Because if you identify a problem that you are really committed to solving, then that becomes the reason for the engine behind the perspiration.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Okay, so let's say that's the case. Does having more money make him less dedicated to solving the problem? Because it's a problem for a lot of people, but he. He ain't gonna have no more problems.

[Paula Pant]

No, no. I think it makes that person more dedicated towards solving that problem because now they have resources that they can put behind that problem. And they could do that in one of two ways. It might literally are taking some of their net worth and using it to hire people, invest in software, like to build out the infrastructure that helps solve that problem. Or it might simply be that they are living on their net worth. They don't need to draw a salary for themselves. And because they don't need to draw a salary for themselves, they can profit.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

The motive doesn't matter anymore.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah. So now they have the freedom to dedicate 40, 50, 60 hours a week towards solving this problem without necessarily needing to collect a paycheck. Either way, one way or the other, either way you slice it, you are either directly or indirectly applying your resources towards solving that problem.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

That is interesting because you see that some people that have plenty of money are able to solve problems that capitalism struggles with just because there's not enough profit in it for a lot of entrepreneurs to go there. Doc, I want to ask you something that I want to ask the rest of the people on the panel. Because of your unique position as hospice physician, what did you find over the years that most people want to leave behind?

[Doc G]

Basically, it seems like they want to leave a piece of themselves behind. Right? So this idea of I may no longer be here, but a piece of me will still be out in the world. People will still remember me. What I've been and what I've done had consequences that will continue and go on. Money can do that, right? If you leave money, if you give it to foundations, if you give it to family members who then use it to live wonderful, great lives. I think what we often forget is what we really leave behind is our funny stories and our way of doing things and the problems we solved and how the next generation learns from us. You know, I often tell the story when I'm giving a talk from my book, the Purpose Code. This idea of my maternal grandfather, who I never met, loved math, and so he became an accountant, and he passed that down to my mom. Because my mom was good at math, she also became an accountant, and she ended up loving It. And because she loved it, I tried on that identity as a little kid. And I loved math, too. And I was bad. I had a learning disability. I was bad at reading, and I probably would have thought everything was lost, but I was particularly good at math. Like, that all came from my maternal grandfather, the guy I never met. I think we sometimes get too caught up in our monetary legacy, but the truth of the matter is we pass down all sorts of things through our genetics and through our actions. And those things do have consequences. And they do continue on, I think, after you die, after. Long, long after you've left physically this earth, there are pieces of you that go on. And I think that can be really comforting because maybe we have to stop worrying about what we do with that inheritance or how much money we make and start thinking more about being kind of good people who connect with the people around us, because it's in those connections. Right? When you go to a funeral and the people stand up and say something nice about the person, no one says, boy, there was that time they made a million dollars. They say, there was that time that I needed help. And so. And so showed up. And they were so good at this thing and I was struggling with it, and they, like, came in and told me exactly how to do it. Boy, that really saved my life that day. That's what people kind of remember.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

It's interesting you brought that up because the last question that I wanted to ask all three of you today, and I'll start with you, is that's the non financial inheritance that you received, your love of math. What non financial inheritance are you trying to leave?

[Doc G]

I would hope that I will leave my love of words in writing. I would hope that I leave my kindness and openness to help people. I would hope that I left this idea with my kids and the people who knew me. That you can learn a profession and be good at it and yet realize it's not for you and have the courage to do something else. Yeah, and my humor and my connection. I mean, I hope I leave all that, like, just whatever, you know, the things that are deeply important to me, I hope those carry on with my kids and my friends and.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

And your ability to finish second in trivia.

[Doc G]

Yeah, my ability and my ability to own that I finish second or even third in trivia is what I want to leave for the future generations.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Paula.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah, I think directly what I'll leave behind is. I hate the word content, but, like, it is my content. Everything I write, every podcast interview, every podcast episode that I Produce every video that I record. That is what I will leave behind. Like that will be remembered until those people die and then it will be

[Joe Sal Sehai]

forgotten unless they pass it on. Some of those afford anything shows, especially with that awesome guy who helps you answer questions.

[Paula Pant]

Like the example that I provide, like what I teach people through role modeling and the way that that impacts their lives and then the way that they impact the world through, you know, they see the behavior that I role model and that impacts their life and then that has the ripple effect. I think that's the other more indirect legacy.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

You affect one person who affects another person. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[OG]

OG well, I'm not sure that I can say anything that these other two already haven't. I was like, oh man, like I was going to say like my comic book collection and all of a sudden Jordan's like my love of words and writing, you know, my philosophy. I like, oh crap, I thought you

[Joe Sal Sehai]

were gonna say my, my love of reading Jordan's writing.

[Doc G]

Yes.

[OG]

Like I got some stuff I need to like put together. I guess I think just people will say that dude left it all on the field. I think the message that I've always had for my kids is like it's all or nothing. You know, we're either going to be good at math or not do it at all type of thing and lean into your unique ability and be, be amazing at the thing that you're amazing at and that'll be your contribution to society. And if you can manage to piece together a bunch of people who are good at things that are adjacent to the things that you're good at and you've got like a little unique ability team which is what we've got here today. Then you know, collectively we put a good thing out there all together. So that's a little too touchy feely for OG I gotta be honest.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

That's up there. I would say having known you for a long time, the fact that your clients are better off knowing you than if they hadn't just.

[OG]

I hope they say that.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Yeah, I mean you won't go into that very much, but I will. Having worked with you for a long time. Doug, what's your non financial thing? Neil Camino.

[Doug]

That's incredibly financial. Joe. El Caminos are so valuable. I don't know anybody that could really separate the car from its value in a monetary standpoint. So I don't think that's really an appropriate answer. I, you know, this is deeper than I expected going today and put on the spot. I think I'm only considering and thinking about leaving anything non monetary to directly to the, the people that are in my, I'll say, my nuclear family. And what I've hope they've already figured out is where you find joy and where you find happiness is entirely from within. There's nobody or anything that is going to give that to you. So you have to define it for yourself and generate that for yourself. And if you can do that, there's joy and happiness everywhere. And it doesn't matter if you have all the money that mom and I might leave you or all of the money that you might earn. That's irrelevant if you can't find the joy and happiness within yourself. So that's what I, I hope to leave them with that notion.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

What else going on today? Paula wins trivia. And Doug says something incredibly inspirational at the end. Like, this is the weirdest episode. Is it my birthday?

[Doug]

On yourself.

[Paula Pant]

Do you notice Doug has an empty flask behind him? Look at that.

[Doug]

It wasn't empty 10 minutes ago, Paula.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

All right, that's gonna wrap it up for this. Last weekend in June. I can't believe July is right around the corner. OG halfway to winning. Well, to tying the 18 points. But this week Paula gets a little closer. Maybe Paula goes on a big run the second half. She's going to win it all. Let's find out what you guys are all doing this weekend. Oh, gee. Last weekend in June. What do you got on Tap?

[OG]

Is today June 25th ish or something? It is, yes. Oh, okay. I was just double checking.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

It is always fun, by the way, doing this live on YouTube and we're pretending it's a Friday.

[OG]

Yeah. What's going on this weekend? Same thing as every weekend so far this year. I will be pedaling my little bicycle with a basket in the front across. Yeah. With a little bell. Got baseball cards and spokes actually getting ready for. I'm going to Colorado on Monday. So up we go. We're in the final stretch. Two weeks to go. So if you guys don't hear from me after July 11, you know what happened? I, you know, did a Greg Louganis off a mountain somewhere and

[Joe Sal Sehai]

but he had water so it ended up being.

[OG]

Yeah, there's no water where I'm. Yeah, where we're going, we don't need water.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Pull a pant on the Afford Anything show.

[Paula Pant]

What's happening on the afford Anything podcast? Last week we had Dr. Julia Garcia on the show. She is a psychologist who writes about five habits of hope, five mental health habits to give you more hope. Hope about your career, your investments, the economy. Her premise is that hope is a habit, and she helps you build that habit.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

All of these stats around the power of optimism and how important it is to be optimistic. And hope has got to be a big part of that.

[Paula Pant]

Exactly.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Yeah. Wow.

[Paula Pant]

So that's on the Afford Anything podcast.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

That's fantastic. Love it. As I do the Earn and Invest podcast, Our brother podcast. What's going on there, Doc?

[Doc G]

This week I actually have Dr. Jaspal Singh on. This is actually a close friend of mine. I met him. Get this. We were both volunteering in the emergency room as freshmen in college. We are both pre med gunners. And I wanted to chat with him because, you know, sometimes, especially in these circles where we talk about things like financial independence, we can almost sound really anti career. Anti. We have an interesting history, both of us, of being high achievers and this idea of being in the room where it happens, building a career of influence, getting in on some of the bigger conversations and changing the world. I wanted to do a kind of a pro career episode where we talked about kind of some of the joys about going out there and actually taking on the big roles, not for the money, but for the glory and affecting change.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Oh, that's so cool. And that's it. Earn and Invest, where finer podcasts are found. And always just a deep, really interesting conversation as it is on the Afford Anything show. Guys, that's going to do it for today. If you want to hang out with us while we make these shows, we are live on YouTube most Mondays, so come join us on a Monday. We had a lot of fun with our group. They were slow to chat today, as you saw, but came around and it's been fun watching them. A lot of congratulations for Paula.

[Paula Pant]

Thank you.

[Doc G]

Got a lot of love in these chat, in this chat.

[Paula Pant]

Thank you so much. Thank you to everyone for believing in me.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

We knew someday it was gonna all come true.

[Doug]

I'm just laughing at Paula's interpretation of complete surprise and disbelief as they believe in me.

[Paula Pant]

I developed a habit of hope.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

She's already learning from that. Yeah. If you know somebody, by the way, who has an inheritance on the way or is thinking about possibly giving an inheritance, is contemplating this, this would be a great episode because I love how the three of you are able to really give a lot of guidance and walk through the spectrum of emotions and thoughts and some of the tactics without getting really preachy, which I really appreciate. All right.

[OG]

Also, I can just drop my Venmo in There.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

And that, that, that's the perfect ending.

[OG]

I would be a good steward of your money for the foreseeable future.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

Would be fantastic. If you want to give it to your favorite podcasters, I'll. I'll. I'll put my name in the hat too. OG for that one. All right, Doug, you've got it from here. There's a lot of to do's on the list. What should be our top three?

[Doug]

Well, Joe, first, take some advice from Paula. If you come into some money, consider contacting your accountant or tax advisor to figure out how you can protect as much as possible. Second, remember the sage musings of OG what you do with found money should be dictated by your plan and your financial policy statement. But the big lesson, Listen, if you're buying a boat on your credit card, you might as well go ahead and get the fish finder and the GPS controlled trolling motor and that sparkly paint job. You'll probably get a personal thank you note from your bank. I mean, go big or go home. Am I right? Thanks to Doc G for joining us today. You'll find the Earn and Invest podcast earning your hard earned listening time wherever you listen to podcasts. We'll also include links in our show notes@stacking benjamin.com thanks to Paula Pant for hanging out with us today. You can't afford everything, but you can afford to listen to her fabulous podcast Afford Anything wherever you listen to finer podcasts. You know why? Because it's free. That's why. Thanks also to OG for joining us. Looking for good financial planning help? Head to stacking benjamin.com OG for his calendar. This show is the property of SP Podcast LLC, Copyright 2026 and is created by Joe Sal Sehai. You'll find out about our awesome [e-mail] along with the show notes and how you can find us on YouTube and all the usual social media spots. Come say hello and oh yeah, 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, Doug, and we'll see you next time back here at the Stacking Benjamin Show.

[Joe Sal Sehai]

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if

[OG]

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[Joe Sal Sehai]

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[OG]

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[Paula Pant]

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