Is the American Dream Dead? (With Freddie Smith)

Millennials and Gen Z are not broke because of laziness but a broken system. Here is what is actually going on and what you can do about it. 👉 Join Andrew's FREE Masterclass The Portfolio Pyramid: https://event.webinarjam.com/q05p7/register/o37wxuz?webinar_id=22 What You'll Learn in This Episode Why the American Dream playbook is broken and what replaces it Why luxuries got cheaper while necessities got unaffordable Why two EMTs could build a life in 1996 and cannot today The three-tier middle class divide and why your neighbor pays $55K less than you Whether buying a home in 2026 still makes sense and the two questions to ask first What is actually happening with Social Security and what to do about it The one lever that matters most when the system is working against you Start Here Join the community built to help you master your money, stay accountable, and reach financial freedom. 👉 Try Master Money Academy FREE for 7 days today!https://mastermoney.co/join/ 👉 Join Andrew’s FREE Investing for Beginners Masterclass https://event.webinarjam.com/q05p7/register/0o8z9io?webinar_id=21 👉 Join The Master Money Newsletter where you will become smarter with your money in 5 minutes or less per week Here! https://expert-hustler-605.ck.page/6aa7bb9a79 Partner Deals Indeed → Get a $75 sponsored job credit ⁠http://Indeed.com/personalfinance⁠ Policygenius → Free life insurance quote ⁠http://policygenius.com⁠ Chime → Get more rewarding fee-free banking at ⁠https://www.chime.com/PFP⁠ Monarch Money → Up to 60% off | MEMORIAL DAY WAREHOUSE CLEAROUT ⁠http://www.monarch.com/PFP⁠ Shopify → Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at ⁠http://shopify.com/pfp⁠ Wayfair → Get 80% OFF on April 25th through the 27th ⁠http://wayfair.com⁠ DeleteMe → 20% off with code PFP ⁠https://joindeleteme.com/PFP20/ Tool/s Mentioned Trulia - https://www.trulia.com Zillow - https://www.zillow.com Uber - https://www.uber.com Watch Next How Companies Are Quietly Robbing You! With Lindsay Owens https://youtu.be/WhfXVmC2DC0 12 Financial Rules of Thumb That Let You Spend More on What You Love https://youtu.be/36HG6VHnA08 How to RETIRE BY 30! (With Cody Berman) https://youtu.be/ffKv6M69SRI How to Manage Your Money (and Still Enjoy Life) https://youtu.be/BWocw8B-xnY The Housing Market Is Rigged (Here's How to Beat It) With David Sidoni https://youtu.be/ccXY6vTNJu0 Connect with Freddie Smith TikTok → https://www.tiktok.com/@fmsmith319 Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/fmsmith319/ Linktree → https://linktr.ee/Freddiemsmith Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2MyR1MAPyqDf6OwCrNwR4b YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVcu9rrANHgA6WY_tH1vtpA8V6uX1BI3C Connect with Andrew Instagram → https://instagram.com/mastermoneyco Website → https://mastermoney.co TikTok → https://tiktok.com/@mastermoneyco X → https://x.com/mastermoneyco LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-giancola-45027b340 YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@mastermoneyco/ Question for you: . Do you think the American Dream is still achievable for your generation, or has the system changed too much? Drop your honest take in the comments below. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Andrew Giancola?

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• 1:29Andrew Giancola?

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• 2:14Andrew Giancola?

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• 2:28Speaker 01

  I think for the typical worker these days, it's definitely dead. I think it needs to be redefined. If you look at the boomer generation, they were able to achieve parts of the American dream in their twenties, where now even the first time home buyer is forty. So it doesn't mean that you can't achieve it. It just seems to be like a two decade sacrifice for most people to achieve some of those pillars. But why have we created a system that makes an EMT have to go and do that essential job all day and then drive Uber on the weekends just to pay the bills? And those are 911 operators, ambulance drivers, school teachers. The people that if they all stopped working, the world would shut down. They're the ones being left behind that I'm trying to fight for because they're making forty to sixty K.

• 3:13Speaker 01

  And they're going to be forced to have to work a second job. So right now, I think we're going through this phase where we're just losing quality of life.

• 3:23Andrew Giancola?

  On this episode of the Personal Finance Podcast, is the American dream dead? We're going to ask Freddie Smith.

• 3:37Andrew Giancola?

  What's up, everybody? And welcome to the Personal Finance Podcast. I'm your host, Andrew, founder of mastermoney.co. And today on the Personal Finance Podcast, we're going to be talking to Freddie Smith about is the American dream dead? If you guys have any questions, make sure you join the Master Money Newsletter by going to mastermoney.co/newsletter. And don't forget to follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or whatever podcast player you love listening to this podcast on. And if you want to help out the show, consider leaving a five star rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. What if the system was never designed for us to win? Today's guest is Freddie Smith, and this conversation is going to challenge

• 4:21Andrew Giancola?

  everything you think about hard work, opportunity, and whether the American dream is still alive. We are getting into a generational wealth divide and why millennials and Gen Z are not just struggling because of avocado toast. Freddie breaks down the price inversion between luxuries and necessities. My wage has stopped keeping pace with the cost of living and what a livable wage actually is in 2026 and why the middle class is fracturing into three very distinctive categories. We're going to get into housing and is buying a home still a viable investment? What does it actually cost to afford a house? And if you cannot buy, is renting okay long term? And then we tackle retirement because the traditional playbook may not work anymore.

• 5:06Andrew Giancola?

  We dive deeper into social security and what is happening with social security? And how we need to think about our money moving forward? And what you can do right now, even though the system is stacked against you? This one is going to hit. So without further ado, let's welcome Freddie to the personal finance podcast.

• 5:24Andrew Giancola?

  So Freddie, welcome to the personal finance podcast.

• 5:28Speaker 01

  Thank you so much for having me, man. I'm excited to be here. We found out we're pretty much neighbors Tampa and Orlando. So I love it.

• 5:33Andrew Giancola?

  Exactly. We're, we're going to do something soon here in the future in person. We have to, because I think that is, uh, that is way too close to not do something in, in person for sure. So I'm really excited to have you here because you have some really engaging stuff that you've been talking about over the course of the last couple of years. And I think it's one of those areas that most people feel the weight of this. Most people feel the struggle, uh, that they are going through, you know, throughout their everyday life, just in the way that the economy is operating. But in addition, just the way that they are trying to think through and manage their finances. And that's a big, big topic that I would love to dive deeper on this today. But the first question I have for you is, is the American dream dead?

• 6:07Speaker 01

  I think it's nuanced. I, I would say the old school American dream, how a lot of us millennials thought of the American dream of buying a house in your twenties, married with two kids, a white picket fence, tire swing, and a golden retriever in the suburbs. I, I think for the typical worker these days, um, it's, it's, it's definitely dead. I think it needs to be redefined, but I think you can still achieve the American dream. It's just kind of an unreasonable timeframe now. And I think that's the big difference. If you look at the boomer generation, they were able to achieve parts of the American dream in their twenties, where now even the first time home buyer is 40. So it doesn't mean that you can't achieve it.

• 6:47Speaker 01

  It just seems to be like a two decade sacrifice for most people to achieve some of those pillars. So I think that's where the frustrating part lies.

• 6:56Andrew Giancola?

  And I think it's been a big shift for a lot of folks, even for me. When I bought my first home, it was 2014 and I remember buying that house as a, you know, the house now is probably worth, you know, right around $400,000. I bought it for $169,000. I mean, it dramatically shifted just over that timeframe from 2014 to 2020 and everything in between. As we saw this, this big overall shift. And I want to talk about the baby boomers a little bit here as we kind of go through this today, because I think a lot of baby boomers out there and a lot of folks maybe listening, their parents don't understand what's kind of going on right now. And they're like, why aren't you just, you know, working harder or doing some of this stuff? So what privileges did some of the baby boomer generation have that maybe millennials and Gen Z's simply just don't have today?

• 7:33Speaker 01

  I mean, the, the most apparent thing is that the cost of living and wages in the 60s, 70s, 80s, even in the 90s were closer together. So everything made sense that if you truly did put in 40, 50 hours a week of work, you could grab a house, you could have a little bit of a savings, drive a used car, get some Christmas presents, play a little T-ball. You weren't rich. They were paycheck to paycheck as well, but they had a family, a house they owned, some savings, a pension, a lot of them did. So I just think for the typical worker, you had access to the American dream much sooner and the cost of living and wages were closer together. Where now, again, American dream is still accessible.

• 8:14Speaker 01

  If you're making $200,000, you're going to be living a great life in America right now at 2,300. But for the 40K, 50K, 60K person in their twenties, it's going to be a harder road than it was for the boomers just because cost of living is like this and wages are like this.

• 8:30Andrew Giancola?

  Yep.

• 8:30Speaker 01

  So it's going to take a much longer sacrifice to try to obtain some of that. And, and I think that's what's going to start changing our culture. Because we're no longer going to be like, oh, let's buy a house at 28. It's going to be like, hey, let's get married later. Let's have kids later. Let's get a house later. And I think there's going to be a lot more exploration and exploring opportunities and ideas for our generation, because I think the old way is just kind of, you know, not as accessible.

• 8:54Andrew Giancola?

  There's a lot of outdated advice that a lot of folks have gotten from their parents. And there's a lot of shifts in the way that we need to operate with our money and our finances, and the way we need to think about money. And what I've seen across the board, and I know you have a lot of followers and listeners who have kind of talked about this to you as well, where they say, hey, some of these older generations just do not believe the economy is harder today. Why do you think that is? Why do you think that a lot of like the baby boomer generation just doesn't understand what is happening today?

• 9:24Speaker 01

  I think just because they never truly had to go through that in their life. They went through hard times where things were tight. But even when I've spent, and so has many of the people who follow my stuff, I mean, countless hours trying to show the information, and they always seem to just come with the solution that will work for the individual, but not for the group. So it's like, oh, I can't afford 2,000 rent. And they're like, we'll find one for 1,500. And it's like, okay, fair enough, but there's six in the whole city that's 1,500. So what about the 300 people looking for the apartment? Like, that's the disconnect for some reason. It seems like the boomers are really, it's hard for them to kind of believe a reality

• 10:07Speaker 01

  that wasn't in their lived experience. Like, because apartments were never 2,000 for them, it's almost like, well, that can't be true. And you're like, but look at Trulia. And they're like, no, no, we'll find one for 1,200. And I'm like, that's one. There's 300 of us looking for an apartment right now. So it's just this fun banter back and forth. I like to try to keep it light because some people really go after the boomers, and I do with facts. I never attack them personally, but they do have a stereotypical kind of energy about them that we just want to shake them a little because they're in charge of a lot of these companies that are responsible for wages, they're responsible in politics. Like, 60 out of 100 senators are boomers, 40% of the House are boomers, 5 out of 9 of the Supreme Court justices are boomers, and we've never had a Gen X president.

• 10:52Speaker 01

  Like, the past 30 years has essentially been minus the Joe Biden four years, which he's close to a boomer, even though he's not a generation. The last 30, 40 years has been run by boomers. And so we need them on our side to understand this. And so that's kind of the work we're trying to do is like, how do we bridge this gap of two different realities?

• 11:11Andrew Giancola?

  And I agree with you. I think the biggest thing is kind of coming together and educating them with facts. Because overall, if you start to kind of lead with tension or lead in a way that kind of creates conflict, it's just nothing's ever going to get done. And I think that's what I love about what you're doing and some of the stuff that you guys are working on right now. And really, you have a book coming out that I think that book is going to be very powerful just to educate people on exactly what's going to happen in terms of how we kind of think about that. And it's going to be a really, really important thing overall. So when we think about this, overall, we have this big issue right now where there's been a big difference between, you know, other generations and how affordable things are and the millennial generation and what we're having to deal with right now. Why is everything so unaffordable right now? Is there, is this a temporary problem or is this a structural one?

• 11:54Speaker 01

  At first, I was hoping it was just a temporary problem. I was a little not naive to it, but just new to it three years ago when I started seeing the housing prices. And I said, well, this has to be temporary. Like prices go up and down. This is probably going to come down. And when you started to like, look at the facts of it, you're like, oh, it's really not going to. Like, I truly don't believe that the cost of living is going to come down in a meaningful way. And I think that's where we need to start. And it's not depressing. It's just the truth so we can work around it. Will healthcare, housing, daycare and college significantly come down? Thirty, forty, fifty percent? No. And if it did, we have a disaster on our hands if we have that big of a crash.

• 12:33Andrew Giancola?

  Yep.

• 12:33Speaker 01

  So if the cost of living isn't going to come down that much and wages aren't going to go up, well, then what are we left with? So I'm starting to think outside the box of like, I think the system itself needs to change with AI coming. And I think we need to focus more on alleviating the tax burden on everyday Americans is where we should focus our energy. Cause I think it's more likely to change the tax code in this country and fix that to help middle-class people keep more of their money to get ahead. Then it will be to force corporations to double people's pay or to make apartments $800 overnight. Like, I see the structure changing.

• 13:12Speaker 01

  Being a better option, but also letting people know you can't hold your breath waiting for the United States government to change the taxes for you to get ahead in life. So it's got to be a balance of trying to take personal accountability of what you can do to make more money and pay off debt. But also, we need to start pitching the politicians and looking for people who truly understand why the system is broken and how we can get money back into the middle-class folks' hands, because it's going to start creating a little bit, not depression, but just like a loss of hopelessness. Like, if you're 17 years away from buying a house, it's like, sacrifice is cool, delayed gratification is cool, but 17 years? It's a little much.

• 13:51Andrew Giancola?

  Absolutely. And I think overall, this is one where, you know, we're looking deeper, and I think it's a very interesting, you know, observation from you to kind of think through the tax structure and the way that we're looking at this. Is there anything that you think people should know about that in terms of, you know, pitching their senators or pitching people in their area of like, some of the things that may be coming up down the line that we can do to kind of help with that situation? Or are there things that you feel as though people should kind of know about going forward so that we can try to make a change or try to make a difference? Like you said, I think it's balancing the things you can control, which is, you know, you're investing, making sure that you have, you know, increasing your income over time. That's one of the most powerful levers that you can pull, obviously, in addition to making sure your debt is paid down. But are there things maybe that are currently outside of our control that we can kind of

• 14:35Andrew Giancola?

  work towards together as a unit to try to help push forward within legislation?

• 14:39Speaker 01

  I think there's some talking points where if I was running for politics, I could have like, three bullet points that would sound good, like a lot of politicians do. But as you extrapolate that out, it's really a full system change. Like, if you'd have talked to me a year ago, I would have had different, like, here's a couple of things. Like, banning stock buybacks would be a win for the people. I think that's a little ridiculous that they still allow that to happen. That should be going to wages, and it would just feel good to mend this divide between the rich and the poor. Things like stock buybacks, getting rid of super PACs where these rich folks are able to basically buy elections. I was team, bring back pensions for a minute, but the way that work is going to evolve, I don't think people are going to stick to a company long enough for pensions to work as much anymore.

• 15:22Speaker 01

  And then basically just figuring out a way again, how can you incentivize people to pay people more money? And if we can't do that, then there's going to be the only thing to do is then to cut the taxes for the working class people. So I think that's where we're at. But the whole thing that I try to educate people on is painting a picture of, for instance, that we bring in 5.2 trillion in tax dollars, but we spend 7 trillion. So I show here's the deficit going on the America, the US AMEX card, you know, the debt, the 40 trillion, here's our deficit. So when the politicians are saying we're cutting our deficit, they're not reducing our debt, they're just spending less on the credit card. And I try to like break down numbers to show people here's how

• 16:05Speaker 01

  that works. So if a politician's implementing, let's do a 1% wealth tax, we can clap, it's kind of a little virtue signal, I'd vote for it, but you're going to generate 100 billion dollars, we spend 7 trillion. Why are we focused on a 1% wealth tax when that will truly do nothing? It'll just be a political win. So that's what I try to be different about is look at the politicians, both sides of the aisle and say, even raising the federal income tax on the highest earners,

• 16:35Speaker 01

  if you run the math, it's not going to help. All you're going to do is punish like heart surgeons and small business owners. You're not going to touch the 200 million plus people that people are trying to siphon some of that wealth from. So I just try to break it down in every single angle, talking about stock buybacks to talking about, you know, everything that created the wealth divide, inflation, borrowing money, how it's, you know, hurting our purchasing power. And with all of that to put a button on it, I'm just right now all in on throwing the tax book out completely and and reef and figuring out a new way to do it. Because I think that's truly the only way to help the the working class in the middle, in the middle class at this point.

• 17:13Andrew Giancola?

  Absolutely. There definitely has to be some sort of restructuring, the way to think about that. And then we even look at like healthcare and some of those areas too. I think it's just really, really important that we kind of dive deeper into that. So that's wonderful for sure.

• 17:24Speaker 01

  And it's, it's practical too, because when you think about AI coming, I want to celebrate it. I'm a tech guy. I want to celebrate, like, I want a drone to deliver me a burrito. I'd be down for that. Like, let's see the technology. But if you look at the past 50 years, the GDP per capita has gone up, the productivity has gone up, and the wages have not. What do you think is going to happen in 10 years when AI? I mean, the productivity is going to be astronomical and the history has shown us they're not going to share those gains with us.

• 17:53Andrew Giancola?

  Right.

• 17:54Speaker 01

  So if we can change the tax incentive to line up perfectly where you can, you know, we can get, it'd be kind of too long to go into like what my idea is, but even like a gross revenue tax of some sort, but something that can siphon a little at the point of sale so that you can get rid of some of the loopholes and things can be more transparent as we're starting to grow so much wealth in this country. Like, we're going to make so much money and it would just be awesome if 20% of it would actually trickle down to the middle class.

• 18:24Andrew Giancola?

  Right. And that's the, that's the big thing. And you know, for the longest time, I was the, the person who was like, hey, money's not political. Money's not political, but it's becoming increasingly more political as time goes on, especially since COVID. And I think some of the stuff that we have seen over the course of the last couple of years, we are really, it really is impactful in terms of, you know, some of the changes that need to be made and some of the things that we need to have done. So it's going to be very interesting overall for sure.

• 18:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 18:47Andrew Giancola?

  One of the things I love that you talk about is you talk about what a livable wage is. What do you think a livable wage is in 2026?

• 18:55Speaker 01

  I would, I would say average. I get a lot of comments that are, you know, it's people, because you live in different parts of America. It's much different, but I would say on average, taking the averages across the board, I would say about 30 bucks an hour.

• 19:10Andrew Giancola?

  And how far off are most people from, from actually earning that? Like, what do most people actually earn right now in, in addition to kind of thinking through, well, is this way off? How do we fix this problem?

• 19:20Speaker 01

  Yeah. Well, I, I mean, if you look at some of the, again, if you're looking at the average, if you're looking at the median, if you're looking at the average person in general, but I would say the heartbeat of America, what I call the, the typical worker, the essential worker, they're making anywhere from 40 to 60K. Like, if you drive around Tampa, you drive around Orlando and you look at Ace Hardware, you look at Publix, you look at Starbucks, gas stations, school buses, ambulance drivers, like, like America, like the people building the road, like, like the most essential typical workers are making 40 to 60 grand. And that was enough money 30 years ago to have the American dream.

• 20:00Speaker 01

  Now, unless you're 57 and you're making 60K, but you bought a house in 2002 or 2015, or you know what I mean, where you got in and your kids are grown, you're not burdened with daycare or college or housing, 60K is okay. If you're a 27-year-old with student loan debt and you're making 60K in like a place like Tampa or even Orlando, it's gonna be tough. You're gonna need a second job to move your, to move ahead. But why have we created a system that makes an EMT have to go and do that essential job all day and then drive Uber on the weekends just to pay the bills, not to get a pool, not to go on vacation, just to pay the bills? And that's the most frustrating part. And, and one little statistic I think is interesting for people to look into.

• 20:43Speaker 01

  If you look at an EMT, I did this comparison from 1996. Two EMTs in 1996 could fall in love and their income together was greater than the median household income. So this essential job with two of them falling in love were more than the median, was enough to purchase an average house, raise a family, healthcare was affordable, and they could do that. Like, how beautiful. That's the America I'm talking about. Today, EMTs together make about, if they got married, make about 90K, which is the median household income. But adjusted for inflation, that income has gone up 0% in 30 years for EMTs.

• 21:22Speaker 01

  So they've had a 0% wage increase in 30 years, where housing's up 50%, cars are up 60%, healthcare's up 200%, college is up 100, 200%, depending on when you look at it. So those are the kind of things that I point to of like, well, he would say, oh, the system's not broken, just work harder. It's like, I mean, this is just 30 years. We don't even have to talk about the boomers. This is 30 years, and, and those are 911 operators, ambulance drivers, school teachers. The people that if they all stopped working, the world would shut down. They're the ones being left behind that I'm trying to fight for because they're making 40 to 60K. And they're gonna be forced to have to work a second job. And so unless you can alleviate all their tax burden, or they can somehow start making,

• 22:06Speaker 01

  you know, 30 to 50% more, that, that's what we're trying to solve right now.

• 22:10Andrew Giancola?

  And I think about this a lot for a lot of listeners right now. When you see essential workers like this and you see this where the essential work that we need to have happen, the folks who are working jobs that need to happen, like you said, EMTs and teachers and, and folks in that, that area who cannot afford to buy a house, that's where you know the, the alarm bells need to start going off. And that's where I think there's a big difference maker there. I just think about myself growing up, like my mom was a teacher for 30 plus years. My dad, uh, worked at a, like a, uh, he owned a small grocery store and like, we were able to afford and, and buy a house during that timeframe. And then as time has gone on, the same exact jobs probably would not be able to buy a house in today's day and age. And I think this is the, the biggest problem that, uh, Freddie and I are trying to talk about right here is, is most people need to realize that the alarm bells need to be going off.

• 22:54Andrew Giancola?

  People need to understand what is happening here because if this gets progressively worse, we are in a world of trouble. And I think that is a, a big overall arching, you know, emphasis of, of what kind of is happening there. Now, we're looking at the middle class here. We see, you know, a lot of these middle class jobs, there, there's a lot of pressure coming from all different directions. Throw on top, you know, the price of, of gas right now and all these other things. That's even, you know, throwing more fuel on the fire. But you talk about the middle class and I love this. I love when you kind of break this down. You talk about the middle class being divided right now and you have a kind of like three different divisions that you talk through. Can you explain why the middle class is divided?

• 23:28Speaker 01

  Two things. Um, the middle class is divided based on just when you were born. So again, somebody who worked at a grocery store, owned a small grocery store in the eighties, could have purchased a house, raised a family, upgraded to a second house. That house is now worth $800,000. They got a few hundred thousand in their 401K. They're worth $1.3 million and they worked at a grocery store, which is incredible. That's the American dream.

• 23:52Andrew Giancola?

  Yep.

• 23:53Speaker 01

  Wouldn't you come to a country that you could work at a local grocery store and end up with $1.6 million in an $800,000 house with four beds, two bathrooms and a pool? That's the American dream. Where now it seems like you have to become an extraordinary human being with extraordinary skills. Like you have to make like two, $300,000 to now purchase the home next to the middle class boomer who worked at the grocery store. So the grocery store boomer is now living next to a, like a lawyer. Which it has nothing to do with the the human value of it. It's just the the skill set of going to a job that takes two weeks of training compared to someone who has to spend 12 years of training, you know, to do that. Yep. So it just depends on when you were born.

• 24:34Speaker 01

  But the big three is what I define as as the biggest separator is if you have, if you're a millennial or Gen Z, or you're most likely dealing with high housing costs, whether it's rent or a mortgage, then you're dealing with your student loans and you're dealing with daycare. So you could have three neighbors living right next to each other. One has a house paid off. So property taxes, homeowners insurance, let's just say a six, 700 bucks, no college, no daycare. So their big three is 700 bucks a month. The Gen X are living next door, could have bought a little later, maybe even how you you talked about buying in 2014, around like 220, I think, was around the median household income. You got yours for a little cheaper, you were saying. But now your house has probably doubled and so did many other people.

• 25:18Speaker 01

  So but you have a low interest rate, you bought it, your loan is small compared to the millennial who's buying the 450 house today, right next door. So you can have three people living right next door with totally different payments, 600, 1500 and 3200, same exact house. And then you add in college and daycare, this millennial couple needs $75,000 just for the big three, where the boomer couple in the same neighborhood, right next door, needs 20,000 to live. Exactly. So that's the middle class being divided to me is that when we grew up as millennials, there was kind of like this socioeconomic feel where you would go to your friend's house and when the dad was a plumber, the whole neighborhood was like a plumber, a firefighter, a nurse, a doctor, and then you had, or not a doctor, but a nurse, but then you had like

• 26:03Speaker 01

  the richer neighborhoods and people like now the whole middle class, because the middle class no longer really exists. It's like upper middle class, like you have to be upper middle class to be middle class.

• 26:13Andrew Giancola?

  And I think that's the big area, which I love when you break these down because I think that's the big area for most people is a lot of folks right now are struggling with these high, these high housing costs. And a lot of times they're looking at either, you know, they're paying rent right now and they're, they have no control over that in terms of what is happening and when their rent increases and those types of things. But addition to one big one, and this is almost the silent one that you, that I love that you emphasize is daycare. So like daycare is one of those things where it can, if you have one or two kids in daycare, it can cost you thousands of dollars every single month. I mean, it'll cost more than your mortgage or your rent will, uh, if you have multiple kids in daycare. And I think that is one where you start to add in some of these other things. In addition to, we have tons of listeners who have student loans who are going through this process of trying to figure out what to do with those student loans. The rules change every single year and they're just trying to figure out, hey, how do I get these

• 26:58Andrew Giancola?

  things paid off? That's the big thing I want to do. And they're getting hit in all directions. And it is one of the, the biggest struggles that we see across the board. So I, I love that you break those down because I think, you know, between these, these different areas. In addition, if somebody makes a mistake or they, you know, they buy a brand new car, for example, now they have a car payment and then all this stuff just starts to really unravel very, very quickly. It's no wonder that a lot of folks in the millennial generation cannot build wealth. And I think that's the big, the big key here that I think a lot of us need to kind of look at and break down. And when it comes to wages, you know, they have not kept up with the pace, uh, and the cost of living over the course, uh, you know, of the last couple of years. When does that gap become impossible to close? Is there a point in time where you think that does become impossible? Or is there a way that we can

• 27:41Andrew Giancola?

  kind of come back from this? And is it the age of AI and the infrastructure that we're building out right now?

• 27:47Speaker 01

  I, I think right now we're just, we're going through a, um, what would you want to call it? I'd say like a decline in living standards. I think people like, human beings are very good at adapting. And sometimes that we can be taken advantage of. And that's what I kind of think we're feeling right now where people are just like, yeah, you know, $20 an hour isn't that much anymore, but just live with two roommates. And it's, it's just like, okay, you know, I have some cool roommates. That's fine. And it's, it's like, well, what about like Thanksgiving and our apartment's 900 square feet? How are we going to have people over? Like my parents used to have people over and the dog in the backyard and the kids playing. And it's like, well, Just, just, just don't, you know, just give up like people are starting to just lose. So right now, I think we're going through this phase where we're just losing quality of life.

• 28:30Speaker 01

  And I think the next step before there would ever be like a revolution is I think people are going to start to migrate. That would be some of the advice I'd have for certain individuals. If you can't live in a city, think about going somewhere for two, three years. Like I was even looking at places where my cousin lives in Pennsylvania. There's like a three bedroom house. That's not bad for $1,200 to rent. And I'm like, imagine getting like-minded people and say, let's just go to PA for two years. Live in this place with all three of us so that when we're roommates and making the sacrifice, living in the snow. We're pack, we're getting rid of our debt. We're packing our savings account to then go back to Tampa or go back to wherever with money.

• 29:12Speaker 01

  To get our, our job and to get, and to get going. But I think people are going to have to make those sacrifices in their, in their quality of life. And, and I think that's where we're, we're going to be. Is that, was that what you were asking me about? Where do you see it as when people can't afford stuff? Is that where we were going with that?

• 29:25Andrew Giancola?

  Exactly. And I think that's kind of where I, I think people just have to make sacrifices that right now, unless something changes, they have to make sacrifices that, you know, most people are not willing to make in order to kind of achieve parts of this American dream that we are trying to all get to. I think that's the big thing that a lot of people think through.

• 29:41Speaker 01

  They are, but, but okay. So yeah, here's where I was going with that is that the, the frustrating part, however, is that you shouldn't have to do it.

• 29:47Andrew Giancola?

  Right.

• 29:48Speaker 01

  I, I think that's my other argument with, you know, somebody like, I keep using Tampa because you're right here, but if you grew up generationally in Tampa and you've got your parents, your grandparents, your best friends, your girlfriend, your husband, your whatever. I, I kind of don't even like the advice that I gave, but I like to try to come up with some solutions, but people know that. What a shitty thing to think, leave everyone you've known. And go to Ohio and live in a town where you know no one. So you can rent for 900 bucks.

• 30:20Andrew Giancola?

  Right.

• 30:21Speaker 01

  Like, why is that the advice? Like, I try to push back. I'm like, but they went to college. They have a degree. They're, they're making 62,000. They're not a bum. Why should that person have to go move away from their friends and family? So again, like, that's what makes me think like, what the hell happened? And that's why I'm pointing out all the holes that led to this. But yeah, I, I think, I think we're gonna deal with the, the, the lower quality of life for a little while. And if AI doesn't come in and mass produce things that are super cheap or something, then I think you're gonna get people who are perturbed. And we don't want to get there. Like, no one wants to deal with a revolution or civil unrest. But I, I don't think the people in charge, I, I think that they think they can just continue to get away with it.

• 31:04Speaker 01

  But eventually, people are gonna snap when they have nothing left, left to lose. Right now, people are making just enough to feed their kids and pay their bills. So they can't jeopardize striking or doing anything like that. But once people are below their means, where they can't survive, you're gonna see people go to the streets. And it's like, how sad to have to get there when all you have to do is make some policy tweaks and put people first instead of the shareholders and, and, and just make things better. Because again, as I went through all these numbers, I'm not one of the people that say that billionaires shouldn't exist or that I hate capitalism. Billionaires can exist. I like capitalism. But when you run the numbers, over 50 years, the top 1% kept 20% too much money.

• 31:48Speaker 01

  That is the only difference of why we don't have a thriving middle class today. They just kept 20% too much. And so why can't we tweak that? And try to make a change moving forward rather than wealth confiscation? And again, I go back to my tax thing. That's what I think is the most realistic. But yeah, that's where we're at. I, I think people are gonna do fine for a while. But as soon as people can't afford anything and they're already working two jobs, then you're gonna see some civil unrest and that's just gonna be unfortunate.

• 32:17Andrew Giancola?

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• 33:02Andrew Giancola?

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• 35:57Andrew Giancola?

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• 36:43Andrew Giancola?

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• 37:28Andrew Giancola?

  you know, build up a little bit of wealth, they have some, some cash savings on hand. They're thinking through, hey, I want to do some stuff to combat against maybe some of this stuff that is happening. I want to make sure that I'm growing my income, I'm growing my money over time. And they're starting to think about buying a house. I know you have some, some background in real estate and I think this is, you know, a topic that I know you talk about a lot. Is buying a house in 2026, is that a good investment?

• 37:50Speaker 01

  Again, depends on your trajectory of, of life. I would say the, the simplest answer to if someone should buy is if you can answer these two questions. Number one, can you comfortably afford the monthly payment? That you actually did the math on, not just what Zillow or a pre-qual shows you. Like what does it really cost? Did you factor in security? Did you factor in pest control? Did you factor in the maintenance? Did you factor in X, Y, and Z? Okay, 3,000 a month, you can afford that comfortably, not qualify, afford. Yes, and are you willing to keep this house for seven to 10 years? I think those are the two most important questions in 2026 because with the closing costs, with the cost of living,

• 38:35Speaker 01

  if you move to Nashville and you're like, I'm going to buy a house and you don't even know if you like Nashville and you try to turn around and sell that in three years, you're probably going to lose money. So I always tell people, can you afford it? And are you going to keep the house for at least seven to 10 years to give it time to appreciate? Doesn't mean you have to live in it. You could rent it out and upgrade if you make more money. But just don't buy a house and have to dump it in three years because you're going to lose your ass in 2026. So that would be my advice. When it comes to, is it a good investment? It just depends on the question. Because is it a good investment? Meaning will the money you put into your house today outperform the stock market in 30 years? Probably not. Is it a good investment because it'll be a forced savings account?

• 39:17Speaker 01

  You're going to build equity and just feel like you're making progress and building memories? Yes, if you look at the investment that way. But I've ran the numbers because you know how people always say, oh, you got to rent. Like some of the gurus are like rent, you're throwing money away on, on a house. If you really run the numbers, they're not wrong. If you are a disciplined investor and you will not waver for 30 years. The person who buys a house today versus the person who invests, the person who invests will have more. But how do you know for 30 years that you're always going to be renting? Lower than you should, that you're actually going to put every penny into it. Cause the first thing to go, if things get tough is your investment.

• 40:00Speaker 01

  If you're trying to invest like two, three thousand a month or something crazy and something happens. So that's the risk. So to sum this all up in 2026, if you've got the down payment, if you're educated, if it's not going to make you house poor. And if you're still going to be able to reach your investment goals, meaning you're not going to sacrifice your investments just to have a house. If you can do it all and you can afford it and you're going to keep it. It's still tried and true, but to go into it blind or to think it's going to make you rich by getting a primary home. That, that's where you have to really run the numbers, but it would be just an individual nuanced question to each person. Like if I knew their trajectory, what their goals were, I could probably tell them this is probably the route to go.

• 40:39Speaker 01

  But just as a general statement, I still think homeownership works, but it's just much more of a serious decision.

• 40:48Speaker 01

  Uh, now, and you have to be really educated on all the steps.

• 40:52Andrew Giancola?

  And you are speaking my language on that because the number one thing we tell people to do is run total cost of ownership before they even consider buying a house. And it's amazing how many people don't run the numbers on the biggest purchase of their entire life. I think it's one of those things that can absolutely put you, you could become house poor very quickly if you don't run the numbers on, on your housing and understand, you know, total cost of ownership and every cost associated with that house before you buy it. For those out there who are saying to themselves, I'm not even close to being able to afford a house yet. I've run total cost of ownership before. Um, I've looked at this in a number of different ways. Is renting a viable option long-term? Like, do you think that is something that someone can do, you know, throughout their entire life and be A-OK?

• 41:28Speaker 01

  I mean, I guess that's the, that's the question, you know, we, how, how can we predict what the rent prices will be in 30 years? I, I think if, if you were just to look at the past 30 years and you look at it now, it can be a little scary because could the average rent be $5,000 or $6,000 when you're ready to retire? Um, sounds ridiculous, but I think if you asked a boomer in the eighties, when they were paying $200 and, and you said, you know, people are going to be spending two grand, uh, 40 years from now on rent, they'd be like, no way. So could it really be maybe $5,000? Um, that's, that's the, that's the toss-up, you know, but if you're gonna rent, make it count. Like really make sure you're taking your leftover money and investing it or, or investing in yourself to create more income. But it's just sad that housing now

• 42:13Speaker 01

  has to be like a financial decision and an investment decision. Instead of just like shelter, I'm gonna pay for shelter. You now have to think about how much you're gonna spend, what you're gonna sacrifice, what you're investing. But yeah, I, I don't, I, I, that's the one thing we can't really predict is what the rent prices will be. So that's why I think people gravitate toward the house because eventually it's paid off and it'll be a lower burden for retirement. But if you can, I don't think it's the end of the world because rent's cheaper in a lot of places right now.

• 42:42Andrew Giancola?

  A lot of folks say the housing issue has to do with a supply shortage. Do you think that building more housing would help solve some of this problem? Because we have a lot of boomers who are kind of sitting on houses and they're kind of sitting in this spot where they're not willing to sell their house for certain prices. So do you think if we build more housing, we could solve some of the housing problems?

• 42:58Speaker 01

  I think yes and no. I think the real estate market in general is turning very localized. The more research that I'm doing, I think some places there's prices that are declining a little. I think some places are still getting multiple offers. And I don't know, it almost just sounds like a political statement. You know, it just sounds good, like we need to build more housing. And I'm like, but what housing are you building? Like, we know in Tampa and Orlando, like, like, what are you really building?

• 43:24Andrew Giancola?

  Right.

• 43:24Speaker 01

  It's just four walls and a roof. Like, my wife and I bought a new, a new construction. It's crazy. Like, it's just so, it's just, they just put bricks around it and a roof on it. Like, luckily, I know how to do some of the work inside, so I spruced it up myself. But like, they're not really building anything like remarkable anymore. You know, it seems more of like a profit-driven machine. And will they do tiny homes? Will millennials and Gen Z's purchase tiny homes when they can rent something nicer for cheaper? I don't know. What's your, what's your take on that? Do you feel that the housing would, that the supply would help? Again, theory, sure.

• 44:02Andrew Giancola?

  In, in theory, sure, because obviously, supply and demand, you know, regularly, if we look at, there's a very high demand for people who want to buy houses. And if we can find more affordable housing that gets built, obviously, there's going to be more people that are able to buy a house. Like, for, I'll give you an example. So like, I have a friend who has been waiting to buy a house and trying to increase income over time. And there have been some new developments that have been opening up in the Tampa area, for example. So he's actually been able to find, some of these new developments are some of the best prices out there. And a lot of times, they may not be the highest quality in some of these areas. But some of the builders building, and he could buy a five-bedroom house for about $380,000. Well, that, I think, is one of those areas where there are more millennials that could afford something like that in, in some of these different housing situations. But what is the quality of the build? What is the quality of the house?

• 44:46Andrew Giancola?

  How long can you live in that house? Those types of things are still questions that I guess need to be answered. I live in a I built a house as well, and I think it's one where I'm so happy with that decision. I did that in 2020 during the middle of COVID. I'm so happy with that decision, but it was the right time to do it. Nowadays, like since 2020, it's been a big shift and a big difference for a lot of folks. And so as we start to see the expansion of potentially more housing, because a lot of millennials can't afford the the price of houses that are already in existence. I think that could be something where some folks could look, especially if they are developing in new areas. There's a lot of new areas, at least where I am, you know, outside of the city that are starting to expand and and expand rapidly. Where they are, you know, building these amazing communities and infrastructure.

• 45:27Andrew Giancola?

  And I think that's a cool way to do it. But if people are just throwing up housing, just to just to throw it up, hoping people will come. I think that's the the negative way to do it. It's almost like building up these communities that people actually want to live in. So they can live like we're talking about the American dream.

• 45:40Speaker 01

  And maybe make it a little more appetizing too for the new generation. I I don't, you know, not, not so much, I mean, like more communal in some way. Like some of these cookie cutter neighborhoods, which I love. I'm very blessed to have great neighbors. It's so new and clean and awesome. But it's also just very, you know, I call it like an apartment home. Like it's an upgrade from the apartment, but it's just basically like just a house that's 10 feet from the other house. And, you know, would it attract more millennials if they took the time to put in like a communal garden? Or put in, you know, more not not artificial turf for their dogs, but like a dog park and make. Make the living in this particular neighborhood, even if the houses don't have that much gingerbread or it's a little cookie cutter.

• 46:23Speaker 01

  What if the experience in the community was set up to to bring more community? Maybe that would be more attractive if they could invest a little money to do that, to get people to buy. But I think it has to be more unique. And then also the trouble that we're having is that the boomers and all the Gen Xers too, a lot of their wealth is tied up in housing.

• 46:43Andrew Giancola?

  Yes.

• 46:44Speaker 01

  And the last thing they want to do is allow new developments to come in. And I understand, you know, they don't want their their house to drop 200K. But if you were to flood the market and get the money to flood the market with housing, you're going to be battling the homeowners who are like, I don't want my house to go down 200K. So I think it's going to be this tug and pull where the boomers are going to eventually, in 20 years, 15 years, it's going to be like a crazy two decades. But they're going to eventually get rid of these bigger houses or these older houses. And I think either the millennials will take it over and live in them, or we will accept less money. But right now, I think that's the battle. Because who's going to vote to go, yeah, yeah, let's bring in 1,200 new homes and ruin the housing value?

• 47:28Andrew Giancola?

  The value.

• 47:28Speaker 01

  I think even, I think even Trump mentioned that in a, in a press conference like a month ago, where he was like, you know, people's wealth is in their homes. I don't want to do anything to hurt their value. And I'm like, I mean, I get it. But how are you going to make housing affordable while also keeping the housing currently priced at what it is unless they're tinier homes? Or you start, like you said, building further out where it's a little inconvenient. So it's cheaper at first until they start building around it. But this is the speculation. I mean, I could talk for hours on all the speculation of housing because it's just interesting as hell in all different areas. But um,

• 48:05Speaker 01

  I don't know. I still don't know if, to go back to your original question, I really don't know if supply would make that big of a difference.

• 48:14Speaker 01

  If they would ever actually do it in a meaningful way. I guess that's the thing. Will they build some houses? Sure. Would they flood a market? That's what we'd have to wait and see.

• 48:22Andrew Giancola?

  And I agree with you. I think that's the biggest thing is, is these have to be built in a way that, and that, that it is a community. Like the one that I live in, we have everything from, we have four dog parks. We have three pools. We have all these different like football fields and soccer fields for kids to play. All the community events are like all there. We have all this really cool stuff in this community, like parks all over the place. And so they developed it in a way where like, we even have like a local place where people can go and eat and hang out and there's bars there and all that kind of stuff. And it's really, really cool the way they did this.

• 48:50Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 48:51Andrew Giancola?

  And that's what I think you have to do if you're going to build these a little bit farther out. Make it a place where people want to go. Make it a place where people want to spend time and kind of be together. We just hang out with our neighbors outside all the time. And it's, it's, it's very cool to kind of see that community come together. That's how you can do it the right way. And I think the problem is a lot of, a lot of these builders will just start to slap homes in locations that don't have any amenities or anything extra that people are actually going to want to do. And they're going to regret, they're going to regret that decision, you know, because they're going farther out just for a cheaper price.

• 49:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, and there's no, dude, there was even my, my, um, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law live in a, uh, they live in Winter Garden. I don't know if you're familiar with the Orlando area, but they live in Winter Garden and their community built a school and a grocery store in the community and has all the stuff you just mentioned and everyone drives golf carts around to drop their kids off.

• 49:35Andrew Giancola?

  That's how we are.

• 49:36Speaker 01

  They all have this thing. So it's like, oh, you have, they made all these friends, trick or treating. We go there every year. It's sick. I'm like, this is amazing. But I go, oh, that's so appetizing to move there because you're getting more than just this. Because that was my point. If you're going to spend 400 on a house, how cool if it's in a community. So you're getting lifestyle with that high price. Just to get a box in the woods for 400. It's like, you gotta have community with it to make it worth the millennials who can't afford it, you know?

• 50:06Andrew Giancola?

  Exactly. Exactly. So I think that's the big key and we'll, we'll kind of see what happens here. I know a lot of people are kind of, they're battling back and forth and debating would housing expansion be something that would help and well, it's, it's left to be seen, which I think will be very interesting. The other thing that a lot of people rely on, and a lot of baby boomers right now are relying on this because they've built up almost too much wealth in, in some of the houses for, for some of them out there is social security. And you talk about social security, uh, in some of your videos and kind of the conversation to have. And they have been saying that social security is going to go away for decades and decades now. But what do you think about people and how they think through social security? What do you think is going to happen? Do you have any ideas around that? And can people rely on it? I'm more so in the camp of like, hey, focus on the things you can control. Make sure you try to invest in your retirement

• 50:49Andrew Giancola?

  accounts and, and try to do some of these things. But what do you think about social security going forward? Is that something that's going to be around?

• 50:55Speaker 01

  I think it was a noble idea at the very beginning, just like many programs that we have in America. I think it was, it was led with a big heart. And I think at first people go, this is going to be great because social security started off with just 1% for the employee and 1% for the employer. And it's like, okay, well, we can help people retire with dignity, not a big deal. Then they added in Medicare, also important. But now we're up to 15.3% for payroll. And for anyone who might not know, because it took me years to understand all this, but you know, payroll tax is 15.3%. The FICA that you see on your paycheck is half of the payroll tax. And then your employer is paying the other half. So there's 15.3%. Going towards social security and Medicare.

• 51:38Speaker 01

  Well, we have so many boomers, boomers have 70 million of them alive and well. They're the damn near the biggest generation millennials. There's about 70 million of us too, but they're all about to retire. And social security is not what I thought. Where all the money that's being taken out of your paycheck is going into a fund. Like imagine the boomer fund that the government has at a bank account. And all the boomers who paid into it are just getting their check. It doesn't work that way. It's a pay as you go system. So our FICA is being taken to fund 80% of the boomers and silent generations. Social Security checks. So without us working, they would run out of money. But we're not putting it in for our own. We have to rely on our kids and grandkids to keep working so we can get our social security.

• 52:20Speaker 01

  So that's kind of like the shaky part because it's turned into something else. But here's when we're going to figure out about social security. Because there is a reserve that is that is paying out 20%. So the workers pay 80%. There's a reserve paying 20. The reserve is set to run out in 2034. So in 2034, the boomers and the silent generation will either have to take a 20% pay cut.

• 52:45Speaker 01

  Or they'll have to raise taxes or borrow that money to fund that 20%. So I think that's going to be the first contention where we're going to have a big discussion about social security. But again, with AI, I think it's going to be much simpler in the future. That everything turns into some sort of basic income. Just to clean all this up, like the idea that you've got so many segmentations of welfare and social security and all this stuff. It's like, if they could just simplify all this to a basic income and get rid of all of it. And it's just one check that you can give to people if AI gets that productive. I feel like that might be more of what our generation will get is some sort of universal basic income. More than a social security check.

• 53:30Speaker 01

  I just, I just can't see a world where I just, I just, I can't see it after 30, 40. But I don't think, I think people get nervous because they think, oh, does that mean I'm paying in and not going to get anything? No, but I don't think it's going to be exactly what we've been seeing for 50 years. There's just too many flaws. So I think something will change, but I don't think we won't get money. You know, they're not going to leave us hanging out to dry.

• 53:52Andrew Giancola?

  Right.

• 53:53Speaker 01

  But it's going to change.

• 53:54Andrew Giancola?

  But it's definitely going to be a shift, and I think most people just need to make sure that as long as you're focusing on what you can control, which is your own retirement, that's going to be the big key. And then social security can be that benefit on top that can help bridge the gap between what else is is left, I think is the big important thing. Because even thinking through this, as you were talking, I was thinking through, well, even the millennial generation, they're having less, you know, children than the baby boomer generation did. That means less workers are coming into the workforce to help pay for social security. It becomes this cycle that becomes one of those things that probably is gonna be more and more a problem.

• 54:24Speaker 01

  It's not sustainable. Yeah, they, I think, I think if I remember correctly, I want to say there were 12, I think it was like in the 50s, maybe there were 12 workers for every one beneficiary. Now I think there's two workers for every one beneficiary. So you know what I mean? So it's like, what? So unless AI or massive immigration is going to create that, you know, that workforce. But again, why social security is under attack, like all of these things just make sense. You already have so many millennials who don't have enough money at the end of the month to take responsibility for their own retirement. And yet they're seeing 7.65% being taken for the future that they don't even know

• 55:06Speaker 01

  what it's going to look like. And it's like, if we could just have that extra 7.65% now to invest ourselves or pay our bills. But then people are saying, well, what happens if everyone's broke in 30 years with no retirement? And it's like, people are struggling now, guys. Like, you gotta, we gotta make decisions to help people now, and we'll get, we'll, we'll, we'll figure it out in the future. But, but yeah, if you have the funds, I would 100% invest more because social security, I don't think is going to cover much, especially if you don't own a home. Can you imagine?

• 55:37Andrew Giancola?

  Absolutely. And I think that's the, that's the big key is most people need to focus on, on their own retirement. I'm gonna ask you one other question before we get into the rapid fire here. So what are some of the top things that maybe millennials that are listening right now, or Gen Z listeners can do right now to get ahead in an economy, despite the system kind of working against them right now? Are there anything that, that you have found across the board, maybe from some of your followers or listeners that have kind of been, been helpful for them?

• 56:04Speaker 01

  At this stage, just to be super blunt, and I, this, this sounds like, like boomer advice. Because it doesn't solve the problem for all Americans. But if there's somebody who's ambitious, who, who's like, I can't be in the rat race. I gotta figure this out. The best thing you can do right now is focus on a skillset that can make you more money. I, I don't think you can save your way to success anymore. Have an emergency fund, invest, but your income, growing your income is going to be, air quotes, easier than trying to downgrade your lifestyle and cut out coffee and go live in a tent somewhere and save that extra 800 bucks. It's like, go make the extra 800. It's going to be simpler than trying to continue to cut because life is just so expensive. But

• 56:47Speaker 01

  that will work for many, but again, it's not practical for all Americans.

• 56:53Andrew Giancola?

  And I think that's the number one lever that you can pull is that income lever. It's the number one thing to focus your time and energy on, and it's the one area that can really just make that dramatic impact. Every single time that you try to cut back, you can only cut back so much, but you can increase your income, you know, exponentially. And I think that's really, really important for most people to note. Awesome. So I'm going to jump into just a couple of other rapid fire questions that we ask a lot of our guests. So the first one is what part of your work or life makes you come alive?

• 57:19Speaker 01

  I would say interacting with others, collaborating, is even doing this, like, is so fun to me. Just chatting it up. Yeah, I would say collaborations, working with a group of people and community and being around others and building something together.

• 57:35Andrew Giancola?

  What is your biggest fear around money?

• 57:38Speaker 01

  Not having enough of it to pursue an idea or opportunity that I know would be good for my soul and my life. And having to pass on that opportunity because I didn't have the funds available that happened a few times in my life.

• 57:53Andrew Giancola?

  I love that one. That's a great one. I think it's one where a lot of, we've seen this where a lot of folks who can't take, I remember this when I was younger too, people who can't take advantage of opportunities, a lot of times it's because they don't have cash on hand to be able to do it. And I think that's a, that's a big one. How do you plan to level up your finances this year?

• 58:08Speaker 01

  The advice I gave a little earlier, 100% focused on continuing to build skillset, continuing to collaborate, continuing to earn more income, to open up more doors for me to expand and chase those opportunities and ideas. So I would say I'm at the level in my life or my stage right now where elevating my income is my most important step.

• 58:31Andrew Giancola?

  What is the best money advice you've ever received?

• 58:35Speaker 01

  For the subset of people who are business owners, salespeople and creatives, I think investing in yourself first, I think for everybody. But investing in yourself is gotta be the greatest money advice. Because again, it goes back to being able to build income or being able to have that network. The opportunity is endless when it comes to investing and becoming the best version of yourself. So I would say that's the greatest starting point for everyone is put it all back into yourself till you can create something.

• 59:05Andrew Giancola?

  The last one is my favorite one, and it is, what does wealth mean to you?

• 59:11Speaker 01

  Kind of a theme here. I kind of like this. I've figured a lot about myself just in these questions. Wealth to me is having the freedom and the financial capability to explore opportunities and ideas that set my soul on fire.

• 59:24Andrew Giancola?

  I love that. That's a fantastic answer. Well, Freddie, thank you so much for coming on the show. Can you tell people more about your book, when it comes out, and more about you, your social channels, everything else that you have going on?

• 59:34Speaker 01

  Yeah. Well, first of all, thank you for having me on. Huge fan of your work. I love fellow creators that are all in the same space. I think we're all doing something very unique and us collaborating, I think, is awesome. And yeah, for the past three years, I've just been kind of figuring out all this stuff and trying to hold politicians accountable. And I've been making videos on TikTok and YouTube and Instagram and Facebook and just building a really great community, trying to give a voice to everybody who's struggling right now. And it ended up landing me a book deal a couple of years ago. I actually got a copy here. It's called Generation Fucked: How Millennials and Gen Z's Were Robbed of the American Dream and How We Can Fix Our Futures. Basically, a preview was the conversation that we just had today.

• 1:00:16Speaker 01

  A lot of that about social security and the Federal Reserve and the wealth divide and the national debt and the boomer generation, the Gen X and millennials and the livable wage. And so everything is broken down in the book of how we basically got led to this point in our American history here of why is the middle class struggling and what we can do about it. And even my tax plan I threw in there because it's what I'm most excited about right now. So just some ideas, just to get people's minds to think and what they can do to move forward in this crazy world that we're in. And that's where I'm at right now. So I'm just continuing to grow my podcasts, my socials, my book. It's kind of all going together and just continuing to meet awesome people like Andrew here, where we can collab and shoot the shit and help people out.

• 1:00:59Andrew Giancola?

  Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Freddie. We will link all those up down below in the show notes as well. We'll link the book and everything else so that people can preorder it. And really excited. Thank you so much for writing it and kind of spreading this message. I think it's a really, really powerful thing. So thank you again for being here, Freddie. We truly appreciate it.

• 1:01:13Speaker 01

  All right. Thank you.

• 1:01:15Speaker 02

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