Pod Insights Money Guy Show 3 Signs Your Friends Are Secretly Broke (By Age) About this episode Your friends might look rich on social media, but what’s really happening behind the scenes? We walk through the visual, behavioral, and mindset signs of being secretly broke (in your 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s) and contrast them with the habits of people who are quietly building real wealth.
Jump start your journey with our FREE financial resources
Reach your goals faster with our products
Take the relationship to the next level: become a client
Subscribe on YouTube for early access and go beyond the podcast
Connect with us on social media for more content
Bring confidence to your wealth building with simplified strategies from The Money Guy. Learn how to apply financial tactics that go beyond common sense and help you reach your money goals faster. Make your assets do the heavy lifting so you can quit worrying and start living a more fulfilled life.
DRINKAG1.com/MONEYGUY
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Speaker 00 This episode is brought to you by Indeed. You're ready to level up your business, but the pressure to find the right person to make that happen is intense. Indeed sponsored jobs can help carry the load. It boosts your job post to help it reach quality talent fast. Cut through the chaos with Indeed sponsored jobs. Get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now? Then this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs.
0:31 Speaker 01 Low energy, unfocused, foggy? You might be dehydrated. Whether it's hot yoga, over 100 degree weather, or too much sun. Gator Light, with a specialized blend of five electrolytes, was scientifically designed to help move fluids into the body faster for rapid rehydration. Shop now at retailers nationwide. Gator Light hydrates faster than water. Is it in you? Symptoms noted are signs of mild to moderate dehydration. Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist.
0:59 Brian Preston? Do you ever scroll through your friends feeds and think, how in the world do they afford all this?
1:04 Speaker 03 Brian, I am so excited to talk about this because looking rich and actually being rich, two very different things.
1:13 Brian Preston? It's easy to feel like you're falling behind when you look at the lifestyles of everyone around you. But today, we're going to expose the truth. The sneaky signs your rich friends might actually be broke.
1:24 Speaker 03 And we'll share the habits of people who are quietly building well so that you can become one of the secretly rich. Let's dive right in.
1:39 Speaker 03 In true Money Guy fashion, Brian, we thought, okay, let's not just talk about what the secretly broke and the secretly rich look like, but let's actually break it down by age. And what better place to start than at the very beginning with folks in their twenties?
1:53 Brian Preston? Yeah, and why not put a little language that kind of ages me? The YOLO crowd of the twenties, you only live once.
2:00 Speaker 03 Yeah, this is the people that want to live their dream life right now. The idea of a 40 or 50 year career sounds daunting and they want to escape that before they even get started. And so they begin thinking, how can I live my dream life right now today? Because ultimately, that's what matters.
2:21 Brian Preston? Yeah, I hate this because instead of understanding the concept of deferred gratification, a lot of times these people are saying, hey, tomorrow's not promised, so I'm going to live exclusively for today. What they don't understand is, is that that sacrifice or that mindset might actually have a bigger cost than you realize.
2:38 Speaker 03 And there are some signs. So what are some of the signs that you can look out for for the secretly broke in their twenties? Well, here's the first visual sign. They love, and I mean, they love to post about their luxury trips and their amazing life that they're living. They cannot wait to get that on their feed, on their reel, so that you can see just how wonderful their life is.
3:01 Brian Preston? Well, it's important to remember, social media is the highlight reel. Nobody ever actually puts the way their life really is. They're always putting out this highlight reel. And I do hate that. I think a lot of people are affording this lifestyle through debt, through credit card and other things. And you'll see it also in the behavioral signs. And when we talk about this, look, I can't believe for young people, this trend breaks my heart, is all of the sports betting. I mean, you can't turn on, I was listening to Pandora this morning, and there it was, all over every one of the ads, because I'm on the free version, is sports betting left and right. And you're like, it is absolutely everywhere these days.
3:37 Speaker 03 Yeah, and the stats are remarkable. 69% of Gen Z report participating in some form of gambling. And 25% of Gen Z gamblers said that when they do it, when they actually put their money at risk, when they actually go at the odds, they consider that to be investing. They don't even recognize the difference in those two things.
3:59 Brian Preston? I wish that they knew this, this hundred dollars at a time, because a lot of times the bonuses and other things are a hundred dollars here, 200 dollars there. Do you realize those same type of sacrifices or deferred gratification, if they were invested for the future, would lead to tremendous results and have a lot better long-term odds?
4:16 Speaker 03 Yeah, and what ends up happening is they love the thrill of it. They see it as a harmless game. They think, okay, well, a hundred dollars here or there is not really going to matter. And that actually leads into the mindset sign. The mindset sign is folks that are secretly broke have this belief, you know what, I'm never going to be able to retire. Financial independence isn't even a real thing that's actually attainable, so why even bother?
4:40 Brian Preston? Well, and I get it. I mean, if you're thinking about some, because retirement for most people is at a minimum, 20, 30, 40 years in the future. You're only in your twenties once, so they're thinking that's why the YOLO mindset really does seep in. I'm just here to say, the longer you wait, the more this is going to cost. And you need to have that awareness is because more than likely, you're going to live to a ripe old age, so you need to act accordingly.
5:05 Speaker 03 But fortunately, Brian, we get to sit in this spot where not only do we get to see the signs of those that are secretly broke, we actually get to interact on a daily basis with those folks who actually do have resources, who actually are doing things right. So if those are the signs of the secretly broke folks in their twenties, what lessons can we learn from those that are actually wealthy, that are actually rich in their twenties? And I think the first one is that sort of mindset shift. They actually believe that financial independence is indeed possible, especially for folks who figured out early on.
5:39 Brian Preston? And look, I want you to lean in on this because I stand by this. If you're watching this content in your twenties, anyone and everyone can be financially independent. I mean, this is the part that changed my life when I had the high school economics teacher that said, if you could just save a hundred dollars a month, you'd be a millionaire. You too have that opportunity. I mean, that's, that's the amazing thing is that a little bit really does go a long way because you might not be wealthy with your money, but you're wealthy with your time, which is one of the most valuable resources when it comes to compounding interest and building your great big beautiful tomorrow.
6:16 Speaker 03 And we talk conceptually all the time about how a little bit can go a long way. You know, we even have these koozies that say, you know, this one dollar koozie costs me eighty-eight dollars. But a lot of people don't realize, we don't have to think about in sort of one dollar sums. Think about this, if you were a twenty-five-year-old, do you recognize that just saving a hundred and sixty bucks a month, that's what, forty dollars a week from now until retirement? If you can have an annualized 10% rate of return, will get you to a million dollars. I think about so many folks I know in their twenties, so many people that gamble, or so many people that play the lottery that blow a hundred and sixty dollars a month on those types of things. If they could just redirect that, it is not difficult to build wealth.
7:01 Speaker 03 It's not complicated to build wealth, but you have to have the discipline to actually do it.
7:05 Brian Preston? Well, and also, because we're talking about twenty-somethings. I love that this is the season of your life where you can bedazzle. You can, you don't have to give up the dream that you want to travel, you want to create memories. This is the season, I even think about for myself, I could sleep on a couch, no problem.
7:23 Speaker 03 And sleep like a baby.
7:24 Brian Preston? And it would be no, I was just more excited about the destination of what I was getting to do than I was needing the plush, you know, en suite or my own bed, my own pillow. I didn't require any of that and that's why I want you to embrace in your twenties, you can put up with a lot more. So you can actually bedazzle your basic life. So you build those bossy memories and it just doesn't have to break the bank.
7:48 Speaker 03 And I think the last lesson we can learn from the secretly rich is really kind of about the scorecard. Because what the world will tell you is that, okay, if you're in your twenties, you should drive the fancy car and have the nice clothes and already own the house and all these things. But realistically, at this season and stage of life, the real win is mastering the behaviors. Am I living on less than I make? Am I creating margin? Am I putting my money to work? If you can answer that in the affirmative in your twenties, you are already well on your way to being an actually rich individual.
8:21 Brian Preston? Just do something. That's all I ask of you. I think, like I said, we've said it multiple times, a little goes a long way. So just do something in your twenties.
8:30 Speaker 03 All right, Brian, the twenties was the YOLO crowd. Now let's step forward a decade. Let's talk about those in the thirties and we're going to call these folks the I Want It Now Club.
8:41 Brian Preston? Well, I mean, look, let's face it, life is kind of cruel in this aspect. When you get in your thirties, you got a lot of things coming at you. You're probably growing a family. You're having some career, you know, obligations, but you're short on time, you're short on money. How do we get it all in? I even made a comment a few weeks ago on one of our Making a Millionaires is that a lot of us are trying to put 10 biscuits in a five can. And that's, that's a problem. And I think your thirties represent this. So we got to figure out, how do we help you get what you need, but not try to do so much at the, really at the detriment of your future self?
9:15 Speaker 03 So let's talk about what are the signs? What are the things that we can notice and recognize of those that are secretly broke? And the first is, You see these kinds of people buying luxury and name brand items. They care that you know what it is that they are spending their dollars on.
9:33 Brian Preston? Well, everything is affordable. If you can have, you know, a hundred dollars here, $200 there. If you just need your amortization. I was shocked, you know, we did a stat a while back on like the number of Rolexes and then the average income for people who buy. It's not the rich, the rich. It's the typical American just trying to impress people who truly don't care. So be careful. Those visuals, buying the luxury name brands, all those things. It might feel good in the moment, but in the long term, it's probably as you're donating it to the Salvation Army or something in the future, it's not going to do what you think it will do.
10:05 Speaker 03 Well, that's the thing. When you buy that luxury, that name brand thing, you're likely spending a lot more for that good than is absolutely necessary. What folks at this age and stage often do is, okay, well, you know what? If I can't pay for that thing that's super, super expensive right now, I'll just pay for it over time. I'll just buy it now and I'll pay for it later. We actually see this in the statistics. Forty-eight percent of millennials, forty-eight percent of the folks who fall into this age range, say that they use buy now, pay later. This is higher than any other generation. They've recognized, okay, I don't want to do credit cards. I'm not going to rub that. I'm not going to do that, but I'm just going to afford things a hundred bucks at a time for as long as I can.
10:43 Brian Preston? Well, and that leads to the next signs of the secretly broken. This one breaks my heart is the behavioral side. Look, I've already bragged for my twenty-somethings. It's almost, if you just get any inclination of curiosity about money, you will be successful because you're just, you're a billionaire of time. Well, thirty-somethings, you guys also have a huge wealth multiplier. I'd encourage you, go to moneyguy.com/resources, see what every dollar has the potential to become. But the problem is, your generation unfortunately has gotten caught up in because of social media, it's the, it's the meme coin, it's the mean stocks, it's the, it's the NFTs, it's the, all the crypto coins, all these things that are trying to tell you, we can cut the corner off of building wealth if you'll
11:27 Brian Preston? just do these, these things right here. I hate, here's what I hate from a behavioral It also is working against your most valuable resource. If you go down the rabbit hole and waste the time and the resources, you don't get that back and that breaks my heart.
11:43 Speaker 03 A lot of folks are looking for the next big thing, the next hot thing, the next thing. Well, if you're constantly looking for the next thing, you forget about the same old boring thing that's worked for generations and generations and generations. And what happens is, is at this stage in this decade, you have this mindset where you begin to get too comfortable with things you should not be comfortable with. You're comfortable with buy now, pay later. You're comfortable with chasing the hot dot. And oftentimes, folks that are actually secretly broke become way too comfortable with debt. Okay, so what that I can't afford the car today, I can just finance it. So what that I have this huge mortgage, so long as I can afford the monthly payment. What happens is it stacks and it stacks and it stacks.
12:24 Speaker 03 And before you know it, the liability side of your net worth statement is way larger than the asset side of your net worth statement.
12:32 Brian Preston? Well, yeah, it never creates the margin or the money to actually start working for you. This is the part that breaks your heart. So that's why, let's flip the script and say, okay, this is the signs of those that are secretly broke. What are the actual millionaire next door, the people that are actually doing the right things? What can they share with us?
12:49 Speaker 03 Well, the first thing is they recognize, those that are secretly rich in their 30s, that being rich and having resources is way better than looking rich and trying to seem like you have resources.
13:01 Brian Preston? Well, you have to spend time, look, don't let some marketer in this consumption society we live in tell you what you're supposed to do to be happy and successful. Actually spend some time understanding what your why is. What are the things that truly do bring you happiness? Maybe it is a cup of coffee, maybe it is just a road trip with the family, or maybe it's just grilling out in the backyard. It doesn't have to be driving an exotic car or going on exotic vacations. I'm just telling you, don't skip the step of trying to figure out what the thing is for you, not what the marketer tells you.
13:32 Speaker 03 The secretly rich in their 30s also recognize that debt is a tool and the key to debt is having a purpose for it and a plan for it. It's not to finance the lifestyle you want to live, but it's to buy the automobile so you can get to your job. It's to create shelter for your family. It's to improve your education. There are reasons that debt should be used, but when you get it, when you have it, when it shows up on your balance sheet, the secretly rich recognize, I need to have a plan, understand how I'm going to knock out this debt systematically over time.
14:05 Brian Preston? Well, and then this next one, and nobody likes to hear this because success sometimes can be very boring. And the fact is that true wealth building might be slow and steady. Look, we share the stats all the time. We work with a lot of millionaire clients. They typically come to us, they cross into millionaire status in their 40s after they've been saving and investing for 20 plus years. I get it, you're in your 30s, we won it yesterday, but I'm telling you that is you're stealing against your future self. If you waste another day, another dollar that could actually be building in the background to build your army of dollar bills.
14:40 Speaker 03 And so what can you do? You need to find ways that you can stay motivated. Are you doing an annual net worth statement? Are you actually putting pen to paper on what you own minus what you owe? And are you tracking it? Do you surround yourself with other sound financial decision makers? Are the friends and the people you hang out with also making good financial decisions? Do you listen to YouTube channels or podcasts that tell you how to make good financial decisions? Not the ones that tell you why you should be out there driving the super nice luxury car right now today. If you can do that, it will allow you to stay on track so that as you get into your 40s, as you move into this next decade, you don't fall into the trap that
15:23 Speaker 03 a lot of those that are secretly broke in this, in this decade fall into. And that's the folks who say, you know what? I'm just gonna do what they do. I see the person who must be wealthy, must be successful, must be rich. I'm just gonna emulate them because boy, does it look like they know what they're doing.
15:40 Brian Preston? Well, we live in a unique community, Beau, where I ride around and I see the bigger and bigger houses. And I realize there must be a lot of people out here. That are moving the goalposts.
15:49 Speaker 03 That's right.
15:50 Brian Preston? If you do what you think the wealthy do, believe me, like I said, this is a marketer's dream. It's not necessarily what we see when we do our wealth survey of our clients, of our financial mutants out in the audience. Just, I'm telling you, doing what they do in Keeping Up With The Jones is a bridge to nowhere.
16:06 Speaker 03 And the hard part is, and what makes it so dangerous in the 40s is for a lot of folks, this is when you begin to catch traction. This is when your income begins to increase. So you can start actually making these decisions. You can buy the more expensive car. You can buy the more expensive house, but just because you can, does not mean that you should. So what are some of the signs of the secretly broke in their 40s? Well, the visual one to start with, is they think, man, you know what? I'm too good for cash. If I have cash laying around, either one of two things is happening. Either that cash is not investing, being invested for me, and it's sitting out of, or, man, instead of having that cash, I could go buy that nicer car. I could go on that nicer trip. I could buy those nicer
16:51 Speaker 03 clothes. I don't need cash because I haven't had an emergency thus far. I'm probably not going to have one. That is a flawed thought process.
16:59 Brian Preston? Well, I mean, this one cuts both ways because I see a lot of financial mutants who actually are really good with money, but they just don't respect what cash can do for them as a tool, even in emergencies or other things, versus the people who are bad with money. They also are way too lean on their cash because they're relying only on their cash flow, their income, thinking that's going to be enough. Well, we all know life has a strange sense of humor and will surprise you on a random Tuesday at 2:00 in the afternoon, when you get called into the office and they tell you they're downsizing or doing some big change. You need to have cash to make sure you make it whether you're successful or whether you're aspiring. Cash is going to be a valuable tool for you.
17:38 Speaker 03 There's also a behavioral sign that you can notice for folks in their 40s that might be secretly broke. And it's these folks that are constantly, all the time, searching for complexity. "Oh, I just saw this thing about how I can go be a short-term rental investor, and if I do that, I can use all these losses, or I can go do the private equity, or I can go do, fill in the blank." And they want the more complex, and the more difficult, and the more hard-to-understand thing, because they believe that that's what wealthy people do, when in fact, that's often not the case.
18:10 Brian Preston? Yeah, there's a whole marketing thing that happens, trying to convince people who are starting to catch some traction with their assets, is that when you have money, this is what you're supposed to do. And I've looked, I've picked on the dumb doctor deals, everybody hates that name, but there's a market out there.
18:26 Speaker 03 There's a reason.
18:27 Brian Preston? I mean, because these things are complex for the sake of being complex. I mean, we could be talking about whole life strategies, we could be talking about, you know, the rental properties, as you said, we could be talking about the private placements, all these things. Just, look, and I'm not saying, there's always an ounce of truth.
18:43 Speaker 03 Sure.
18:44 Brian Preston? Some of these things are definitely financial tools that even successful people use, but you just have to cut through what the brochure says from what the reality is. And a lot of people don't recognize that what got you here to success, like index investing, and just being disciplined, understanding deferred gratification, doesn't change overnight just because you're in your 40s and your income's a little bit bigger. Don't fall trade to the marketers. Don't fall prey to the marketers.
19:10 Speaker 03 Don't fall prey or trade to the marketers, either one.
19:44 Speaker 04 Low energy, unfocused, foggy? You might be dehydrated. Gatorade Zero powders have been scientifically designed to help improve hydration balance in the body. With a clinically proven electrolyte blend and no artificial colors or flavors. Great tasting hydration, no matter where you're going. Shop now online or at retailers nationwide. Gatorade, hydrates better than water. Is it in you? Symptoms noted are signs of mild to moderate dehydration. Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist.
20:13 Speaker 03 There's also a mindset sign that you ought to be aware of that we see for a lot of folks in their 40s. And it's this idea that they end up valuing income and the shovel over actually net worth. And oftentimes you'll hear this communicated this way, man, oh, well, if I just made a little bit more money, if I could just get my income up, or if I could just go invest in the rental property, if I could just create more cash flow, if this happens, then I could convert that to net worth, not recognizing that those two are not the same. If you're unable to convert lower incomes to net worth, there's a high likelihood that you're also going to be unable to convert higher incomes to net worth as well.
20:52 Brian Preston? Well, I mean, we've seen this in the stats. When they, when they go out there and they survey people and say, hey, how much money do you need to make to actually be successful? Millennials reported right, right under 181,000. Gen Xers were right over 212,000.
21:05 Speaker 03 Those are huge income numbers.
21:07 Brian Preston? Those are much larger than we know median numbers are in the United States. And I'm here to tell you, you don't require multiple six figures to have success. You just require a little bit of discipline and actually living on less than you make. And this is back to make sure you're spending some time realizing what gives you value so that you can actually spend lavishly on those things, but not get caught up in spending money on something that's pretty purposeless and just doesn't give you that much happiness.
21:34 Speaker 03 So what are the lessons that we can learn from those in their 40s that are secretly rich? And in the 40s, these really do become the people that are actually the millionaires next door. Well, the first is that wealth is much more about what you keep, not what you make. And we see this all the time, Brown. We've seen people with very modest incomes, even some people with low incomes, that are able to build very healthy portfolios and have substantial amount of wealth, even though they never made more than six figures. But it's because they capitalized on the ingredients of wealth curation that they Could control. It's not just about how big is your shovel, how high is your income? It's how well do you turn your shovel, how well do you turn your income into actual wealth?
22:17 Brian Preston? This is why I would encourage everyone, please, please, please do a net worth statement every year. I mean, I know that even if it's negative in the beginning, that's A okay because there is something just really valuable about you going through the exercise of comparing and contrasting what you have versus what you owe, because it wakes up parts of your brain saying, hey, I can do this differently. And it also, it gives you that dashboard so you can make much better decisions about what you're doing with your life. Instead of just daydreaming, you're actually slowly creating a plan in the background.
22:49 Speaker 03 Another lesson that we can learn from these folks, from the secretly rich in the 40s is that cash represents not a waste of time, or not something sitting idle, but it's actually a twofold thing. It provides security and also opportunity. Brian, you and I talk about this all the time. We often think about how, you know, cash in your emergency fund is the thing that keeps your life out of the ditch. It protects you from the unknown unknowns, but there is a secondary benefit that cash has that a lot of people in their 40s actually end up recognizing.
23:17 Brian Preston? Yeah, this is the part, I mean, I think it serves multiple facets. It keeps you from those desperate decisions of the emergency, but I have found it also creates incredible opportunities for wealth building. If you have a resource like cash, when everybody else is panicking and looking for, hey, I don't have cash, the market's getting its teeth kicked in, what do I do? You get to have a stable mind, you get to have a resource that has become much more valuable. Cash is a sleeper, wealth builder, and people just don't recognize that opportunity.
23:48 Speaker 03 And then the last lesson that I think we can take away from those in the 40s that are secretly rich is to the extent that they control it, they try to just keep it simple. Things like buy and hold work. Things like always be buying work. Things like living on less than you make, making sure you cover your bases, taking care of your risks, those things are not incredibly complicated. They are relatively simple. And what you find is even though you try to keep things simple, and even though you try to make it As easy as it can be, complexity will naturally find you. Well, if complexity will naturally find you, there is absolutely no reason for you to go seek it out. Don't worry, it's coming.
24:29 Speaker 03 So to the extent that you can't control it, keep it simple and you'll be amazed at how the dollars actually stack up.
24:35 Brian Preston? Yeah, think like a brilliant engineer where you're trying to always just engineer this thing down to keep it as simple as possible because it's going to be easier to maintain. As Bo just shared, you do this right, the complexity will naturally happen by your estate getting bigger, your tax return getting more complicated, the investment structure needing a little bit more attention. You don't have to find it, you just need to do what you're good at, build up the assets in the background and watch the money grow.
25:01 Speaker 03 All right, now let's talk about the secretly broke in their 50s. And this is the group that we're going to call the it's rigged club. And frankly, this, this group of individuals is jaded. They, they have become exhausted with watching their money disappear. And then because of that, because it has been difficult for them to build into mass wealth, they are now convinced that they're a victim and the system is rigged against them. And it's not possible for them to have been more successful than they have been thus far in life. And that's a pretty sad place to be.
25:36 Brian Preston? Well, I mean, we were, we were doing a live stream recently, Bo, and we had the median net worth for the country. And I did the back of the napkin math on it for a 20 year old who just starts saving, investing. It was like investing 30 bucks a month. So the typical American just doesn't do what they're supposed to from a behavioral standpoint. They don't, even though we can tell them that, hey, when you're 20 years old, if you can save right around a hundred dollars a month, you're going to have a million dollars. The majority of Americans just don't do it. So you can fast forward through your twenties, through your thirties, through your forties. You can imagine if you haven't been doing, you've been procrastinating. You get to your 50s, when a young person asks you about the system, you're probably pretty cynical because you've procrastinated right into the point where it's going to be
26:18 Brian Preston? hard to get yourself out of what's being created. So you start telling everybody, hey, it is rigged. The system doesn't work. The reality is, is that there was a lot of opportunity over the last three to four decades that just got kind of ignored.
26:32 Speaker 03 And so what are some of the signs? What are some of the things you can notice for folks who might be falling into this? It's rigged category? Well, the first is they have way too big of a house, or said differently, their house represents way too much of their net worth. It's amazing. They, they might have a nice home and their home might even be getting close to being debt free, but that's all they really have to show in their wealth building. And perhaps they've even made decisions to invest in that house, to upgrade the kitchen, to do the backyard, to add the swimming pool. And they've done those things and made those decisions at the cost of actually building up for their future financial independence.
27:10 Brian Preston? I think the house is like just another symptom of lifestyle. I think about that commercial from years ago where the gentleman's riding around on his riding lawnmower, has the brand new SUV in the driveway, big beautiful house. And he's like, I'm in debt up to my high balls. This is the visual that you see for people who've kind of, like I said, lived in the moment and now they're at the point where, hey, it's not good what the future's going to look like if you haven't started doing the behavioral things. And that's why let's talk about the behavioral signs is that they don't want to talk about it anymore. If you, because if you're, you can imagine if you get into your, be in your 50s, you didn't understand deferred gratification and living on less than you want. You probably don't want to talk about it because talking about means that you're actually
27:53 Brian Preston? going to have to face the fact that you've got some tough decisions ahead of you.
27:56 Speaker 03 And then there's also the mindset sign. And this is one that's pretty sad. They begin to think, you know what? The stock market, this whole investing thing, this portfolio thing, it's really all a scam. And oftentimes they'll have a story to tell with, hey, you know, I had bought this stock and it did awesome and then 2008. Or man, I went and bought this stock because I thought it was going to do great and then 2022, or whatever the thing may be. And they begin to think, you know what? The only people that make money in the stock market are the rich people, or the insiders, or the company owners, or those kinds of people. It's not for the everyday person. And unfortunately, that could not be farther from the truth.
28:39 Brian Preston? Well, these are also mindset wise, they're thinking about your employer forces you to save in these retirement plans. You know what y'all do? They tell young people, go take out a loan from your 401k so you can buy that first house or other things. And that, that stuff breaks my heart because I just know that it is essentially poisoning the future for those behind them. Cause money is a tool and it can be a resource that can actually work harder than your back, your brain and your hands. But you just have to give it its best opportunity. And that's why I like to pivot and talk about what can we actually learn from not those that are doing things wrong, but who actually have turned money into a tool to help them live their best life.
29:14 Speaker 03 Well, and we've seen it time and time and time and time again, that a lot of times when we get to interact, to talk with folks at this stage, they are a living, breathing example of the fact that the system is not rigged against you. Whether it be the doctor or the school teacher, or the construction person, or the fill in the blank in the profession, the same sort of behaviors for people from all different walks of life, all different backgrounds, all different incomes, who employ the same behaviors are able to reach financial independence. So the system isn't rigged against you, just perhaps you weren't taught the right things, or you haven't been following the right advice. But it is possible to build wealth and it is available to everyone.
29:55 Brian Preston? Well, and you're probably watching this content. I don't know if you're in your 50s, but you very well, you're probably not in your twenties, which is the peak opportunity. You might be in your 30s, you might be in your 40s. I'm just telling, I'm here to tell you, waiting is not going to make anything better. You have today to be the positive influence on your life. So I would actually, we have, if you go to learn.moneyguy.com, we actually have a great know your number course. And why is this important? It's because this is going to let you know, are you ahead of the curve? Are you behind the curve? Are right where you're supposed to be? Don't let another day, another year pass you by where you've missed out on another year. A compounding growth could be the solution to get you out of this.
30:37 Speaker 03 And that, that is the exact mindset shift we want you to have. No matter where you are, whether you're in your 50s, or whether you're in your 30s, or whether in your 20s, or whether in your 60s. It's not too late to begin improving your financial life. Yes, if you are later on in the journey, perhaps it's going to look a little bit different. Perhaps social security is going to make up more of your lifestyle than you thought. Perhaps you have to work a little bit longer. Perhaps you're going to have to live in a different house than you thought you were going to live in. But if you want to take this seriously, you can make, no matter where you are, meaningful decisions today that can have positive impacts for your future self. But you gotta take it seriously today. You gotta begin to making those decisions right now.
31:18 Brian Preston? Now, look, I know from a fact, because we do surveys of our millionaire clients. We do surveys of our financial mutants. You guys just watched this show and you don't resemble any of these woeful stories of all the things you should and should not do. You actually represent somebody who took a little bit today and started building your great big beautiful tomorrow. But now you're at the point, you're like, guys, this whole bowling point that you guys are talking about, where my money is getting close to seven figures. I don't know what I don't know anymore. And I've only done this once. I sure do wish somebody would help me figure out, how does asset allocation work? How does estate planning work? How does retirement planning with Monte Carlo analysis? And how does IRMA, you know, from Medicare come into social security?
32:03 Brian Preston? And all the tax planning that goes in this? You're going to realize very quickly, yes, success is creating the complexity. You need to know what's next. And that's the good news. We're going to leave the porch light on for you. We can give you all the free advice in the world, help you keep it as simple as possible. But the abundance cycle will come through when you're going to recognize yourself and say, you know what? I like what Brian and Bo share with me on, you know, almost a daily basis there on the Money Guy Show. I wonder what they could do with my personal financial situation? Because we do know everybody's financial situation is personal. That's the personal finance of this whole thing. We want to be there for you and we want to help you out.
32:45 Brian Preston? So go to moneyguy.com slash become a client and we will hook you up today.
32:49 Speaker 03 Your friends may be secretly broke, but that does not mean you have to be. There is a better way to do money and we want you to do money better.
33:01 Brian Preston? I'm your host, Brian. Mr. Bo, Money Guy team, out.
33:08 Speaker 03 The Money Guy Show is hosted by Brian Preston and Bo Hanson. Brian and Bo are partners with Abound Wealth Management. Abound Wealth Management is a registered investment advisory firm regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission in accordance and compliance with the securities laws and regulations. Abound Wealth Management does not render or offer to render personalized investment or tax advice through The Money Guy Show. The information provided is for informational purposes only, may not be suitable for all investors, and does not constitute financial, tax, investment, or legal advice. All investments involve a degree of risk, including the risk of loss.
33:40 Speaker 05 Now at Kroger, your points add up to more ways to save every trip. Use them your way to take dollars off groceries at checkout, or save at the pump. You can even save up to $35 on your next fill-up. Same points, more choices. And with low prices on fresh, quality food, plus digital and personalized offers tailored to how you shop, your dollar goes further. Redeem your points online or in the app. Kroger: Fresh for Everyone. Restrictions apply. See site or store for details.
Previous Tax Updates You Can’t Afford to Miss Next How to Adapt When Your Income is Cut In Half | Making a Millionaire Page updated November 1, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated