The 5-Phase Plan to Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck | Anthony O’Neal

Anthony O'Neal, personal finance expert and author of Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck: The Proven Path to Break Free From Debt, Build Real Wealth, and Live Free on Any Income, outlines a five-phase wealth strategy with Lewis Howes covering consumer debt elimination, emergency fund building, index fund and 401(k) investing, HSAs, 529 plans, tithing, and estate planning through trusts and wills.

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

• 0:02Lewis Howes?

  Everywhere I go, airports, events, walking down the street, people stop me and say, Louis, this show got me through one of the hardest seasons of my life. And it's one of the coolest things when people come up to me. So if you see me, please come up and say hi and let me know how this show, The School of Greatness, has impacted you. It lights me up because our mission at Greatness Media is to impact 100 million lives every single week. So if today's conversation hits home for you, do me a favor and push the follow button right now. It means that the next conversation will be delivered to you and will find you exactly when you need it. Again, thank you so much for being here and listening to The School of Greatness. Make sure to follow right now to stay up to date on the latest and greatest.

• 0:46Speaker 01

  Winning with money is not just about making money. People I think know the basics of, I need to pay my bills. I should save a little bit. Outside of that, they really don't know the strategy. And so they're living paycheck to paycheck, not because really they lack information, it's because they don't have the right strategy that's basic and simple for them to understand.

• 1:04Lewis Howes?

  He is a personal finance expert, a top podcaster and bestselling author, who went from homeless to becoming a net worth millionaire. Please welcome Anthony O'Neal.

• 1:14Speaker 01

  Forty-eight percent of individuals who make over $250,000 are living paycheck to paycheck.

• 1:19Lewis Howes?

  Come on, really?

• 1:20Speaker 01

  Most common thing between everyone, someone making $60,000 a year up to a million dollars. It's just the amount of extra debt they brought into their life.

• 1:30Lewis Howes?

  When you have seen yourself stretch and give more to your church or charities, do you find that more money comes to you?

• 1:38Speaker 01

  You know what, Louis, I've never said this on a, on a, on a show before, but you're my brother. I've been on here so many times.

• 1:46Lewis Howes?

  So why do you think so many people are actually living paycheck to paycheck in America right now?

• 1:52Speaker 01

  You know what, Louis, it's a good, good question to start off, man. Again, thanks for having me back on the show. But a lot of people will say, because people are living paycheck to paycheck because they don't know any better. And I actually say that's not the case. I say a lot of people live in paycheck to paycheck for two main reasons. One, the lack of information, and then two, the lack of systems and accountability. You see, wealth, in my opinion, winning with money is not just about making money. It's about, okay, if I give you a million dollars, then I give this guy a million dollars. What's the difference between you two? It's simply the strategy that you put into place with that million dollars. So people are getting a paycheck. People I think know the basics of, okay, I need to pay my bills.

• 2:37Speaker 01

  Okay, I should save a little bit. But outside of that, they really don't know the strategy. And so they're living paycheck to paycheck, not because really they lack information, it's because they don't have the right strategy that's basic and simple for them to understand.

• 2:50Lewis Howes?

  This is something you talk about in your book. You have this kind of five step strategy to getting out of living paycheck to paycheck. And there's a new study that found that 39% of American workers say just living paycheck to paycheck would actually be an improvement to where they are right now in their life. If they were actually living to paycheck to paycheck, it would be an amazing thing for them.

• 3:13Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 3:13Lewis Howes?

  Most people are not even doing that because they're in so much debt and they're trying to borrow, to constantly get out of debt and they're, and they're just trapped and they feel stuck.

• 3:22Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 3:23Lewis Howes?

  So you have this five phases to getting, you know, getting out of this paycheck to paycheck lifestyle. And phase one of the plan you teach is about stabilizing your finances first and casting a clear vision, a clear money vision of where you are going. But for a lot of people, this feels overwhelming.

• 3:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 3:41Lewis Howes?

  Like stabilizing feels overwhelming because they don't know how to do it. Getting clear on a money vision is hard because they can't even think far enough in the future. They don't even have enough money to think about next month. So how does someone start stabilizing their finances and cast a clear money vision for their life?

• 4:00Speaker 01

  Louis, let's go back to the word stabilizing. Because I think a lot of people, when they hear that word, they get a little frustrated, a little overwhelmed, which is so confusing to me a little bit because stabilizing can save your life. One of my good friends came home one day and she's a ER doctor. And Louis, she said something to me and to the whole room that just, it just woke me up. She said, man, every time someone comes into the ER doctor, they want to go from whatever their issue is to fix within a matter of an hour.

• 4:31Lewis Howes?

  To perfect health.

• 4:32Speaker 01

  Perfect health, right? So she was like, no, no, no, if you're coming in here, let's say for an example, she had a unfortunate, this particular person had a gunshot wound. She said, they wanted me to heal them within an hour. No, my first priority is to get you stable, to get your heart beating at a stable rate on its own, to make sure that everything is good. Once I get you stable, then from there, I can assess what needs to be fixed in you and how do we go from there, but it's not going to be done within an hour. So the reason why I wrote phase one is to stabilize your financing. And the clear vision is, we need to get your finances at a point where they're at least stable, to where you're not, you're not creating any more holes, you're not creating any more issues in your life. You know, you're just getting stable. How do you get stable?

• 5:15Speaker 01

  The very first thing I talk about in the book is go ahead and set aside at least one month of your net pay. Right? I used to teach back in the days, you know this Louis, save a thousand dollars, right? Well, we're in 2026. Thousand dollars in today's day and time is not going to keep you stable. Right? It, it, it won't even get you four brand new tires on the car. I want you to have at least one month of your net pay. Here's why. If something in life happens to you today, studies show that we tend to operate off the two sides of our brain, our fast brain or our slow brain, right? And so if you only have a thousand dollars, but you have a $5,000 issue, you're going to operate off of your fast brain. When you operate off of your fast side of your brain, you're going to make the wrong decisions. So if you have at least 30 days in your account and life happens,

• 5:59Speaker 01

  you're going to operate off with a slow side of your brain. So, okay, wait, I can cover this. I can pay my rent. I could pay my mortgage. I can still send my kids to school. I can still get my hair done. When we're in our slow side of our brain and we're in our comfort zone, right? With a little bit of tension, we'll make better calculated decisions. And I believe that that's where I want you to go, is be stable. And then for me to get out of phase one, it's like you said in the very beginning, is, is have a clear vision.

• 6:27Lewis Howes?

  What would you say is the difference between someone who has a clear money vision and someone who doesn't have a clear money vision?

• 6:33Speaker 01

  Oh, it's clear. If I walk up to you and say, hey, where are you going within the next year with your finances? What are you doing this year? Okay, we're, what, we're in this, this month of 2026. If you can't tell me what you're going to do for the rest of this year, you don't have a clear money vision.

• 6:44Lewis Howes?

  What does their life typically look like compared to someone who is clear?

• 6:48Speaker 01

  There's no stability. There's no consistency. We can see you all over the place with your finances. You see, with me, I can tell you right now what I'm doing for the rest of this year with my finances. I, I want to purchase a home. When I purchase a home, I want to remodel the home. If, if anything that comes into that does not align with that, it just doesn't flow into my budget. Even in this new season of me right now with certain things going on around my life, it's like, wait a minute, if it doesn't align with this vision for my money, I just can't do it. And sometimes if I'm saying no to something, I'm saying yes to something else. So if I'm saying no to this thing over here, it's not a permanent no, but I'm now giving myself even more permission to stick to my money vision.

• 7:32Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 7:32Speaker 01

  And I think that's very, very, very important. The reason why a lot of people are still living paycheck to paycheck is because we haven't set the time to sit down and say, you know what? I'm going to pay off my consumer debt this, this month. I'm going to go after this $5,000 credit card for the next six months. Hey, you know what? I just had a baby. I just had twins. Congratulations.

• 7:52Lewis Howes?

  Thank you.

• 7:53Speaker 01

  And I want to have a 529 set up for both of my kids. That's a vision. Here's what I believe. We have a lot of people who are dreaming, but they don't, they don't have vision. And the difference between a vision and a dream is, is it written down and there's action behind it? So we have a lot of dreamers, but we do not have a lot of visionaries. And a lot of people who are struggling with finances are dreamers. Man, one day I'm going to have this, one day I'm going to do this. But when you start getting right with your money, it's because you have a vision with the execution strategy and it's written down.

• 8:28Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. And you have the systems in place where you automate things.

• 8:32Speaker 01

  Yes, sir.

• 8:32Lewis Howes?

  When it's automated, it's, it's automatic and it's more automatically going to happen.

• 8:37Speaker 01

  Come on.

• 8:37Lewis Howes?

  Because you're not thinking about, oh, I need to put this money in here. I need to do this next month or in six months. You're sticking to the clear vision, you're automating it with a system.

• 8:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:46Lewis Howes?

  And years pass and your goals just are accomplished because of the systems. But you got to get the information first. So phase two is actually eliminating all consumer debt. And again, 39% of American workers today

• 9:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:00Lewis Howes?

  say that just living paycheck to paycheck would actually be an improvement in their life right now. And a lot of it is because people are in a lot of consumer debt.

• 9:11Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 9:12Lewis Howes?

  And this whole, I guess, buy now, pay later for like every groceries, for like everything.

• 9:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:18Lewis Howes?

  I get it if you're in a bind and you have to do that in an emergency.

• 9:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:22Lewis Howes?

  If you're not stable.

• 9:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:24Lewis Howes?

  But that shouldn't be a regular monthly, yearly thing. That should be a once in a, once a year, maybe at the beginning of your, your season of earning money. Not, oh, I'm five years in my career and I've blown all my money.

• 9:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:40Lewis Howes?

  And now I got to use this buy now, pay later method. Like for me, that doesn't make sense.

• 9:44Speaker 01

  No, let's go deeper, Louis. Forty-eight percent of individuals who make over $250,000 are living paycheck to paycheck.

• 9:50Lewis Howes?

  Come on, come on, no way. Really?

• 9:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:55Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 9:56Speaker 01

  I think it was, and don't quote me on this one, it's not in the book, but I was just reading a study just the other day. Nearly 30% of millionaires are living paycheck to paycheck.

• 10:07Lewis Howes?

  That's crazy to me.

• 10:08Speaker 01

  And to me, what, what I'm seeing here is when I really do all this research and I, and I'm studying, okay, what's happening? The most common thing between everyone, someone making $60,000 a year up to a million dollars. It's just the, the amount of extra debt they brought into their life. Now, listen, I, I, I believe that 95% of the people in America today cannot handle consumer debt. Let's, let's be real.

• 10:34Lewis Howes?

  What does that mean, they can't handle it?

• 10:35Speaker 01

  I think that there's 5% of people who can take that, leverage that debt to build wealth.

• 10:41Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, to buy assets.

• 10:42Speaker 01

  To buy assets.

• 10:43Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 10:43Speaker 01

  Right? Anthony O'Neal, I do well financially. I still don't borrow consumer debt. I, I, I won't borrow money. I, I won't do things. I do have an American Express now that I pay off every single Monday. But I do believe that the majority of American people cannot borrow money and use it to seriously buy assets. And those assets are paying off the consumer debt. And so what we're seeing here is that people, we are borrowing money. There's two types of people in this year. And, and I have to be honest, there are certain people who unfortunately, last year, we had over 300,000 people lose their jobs. So I do believe those, there are certain people out there who are borrowing money because they need to survive. I have sympathy for them.

• 11:29Speaker 01

  But let's also be honest, there's a lot of people who are buying things that they do not need.

• 11:34Lewis Howes?

  Why do you think so many people overspend and overconsume when they don't have the money?

• 11:38Speaker 01

  I just think because it's like, man, we we are impatient people. And I'm gonna put it on myself, when I was that guy here in LA, you know, I'm sitting here borrowing money, man, I was driving a nineteen eighty seven Nissan Maxima that could not go in reverse. And I borrowed money to put two twelves in the back of the of the trunk with a thousand watt amp. I didn't need that, Louis.

• 12:03Lewis Howes?

  Sounded cool, though.

• 12:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly.

• 12:05Lewis Howes?

  It sounded cool.

• 12:06Speaker 01

  It sounded cool. Everyone was doing it. I remember, uh, man, I went viral, it was a few years ago, I was living in Nashville. And, uh, man, I I had the money, right? I went up there and bought me a three thousand dollar Gucci backpack during COVID. And I I and I got the backpack, came home, I was like, why did you buy this backpack? You ain't going nowhere.

• 12:29Lewis Howes?

  Hanging up in your home?

• 12:30Speaker 01

  Right. It's like, you're not, you you're not traveling, airports are shut down. And I'm like, why did I buy it? And I had to be honest with myself. I bought it because everyone else had one. Everyone had a Gucci bag or a Louis Vuitton bag. And so my philosophy now is, man, if I can't afford to pay for it twice and pay for it cash, I just won't buy it. And if it's over five hundred dollars, I think about it for forty eight hours. Period. And at the end of the forty eight hours, if I have not committed to, I'm going to get that for me. Not for so Louis can see me in it, not so I can post it on social media. I mean, did you know Louis and and tell me to be quiet, when this is your show, I I just love to talk. But did you know that fifty eight percent

• 13:13Speaker 01

  of vacations are purchased on the quality of the Instagram pictures that people can post online? So they'll swipe their credit card to go to a destination that they really don't want to go to. They just want to go there because it looks good on the ground.

• 13:30Lewis Howes?

  To get the photo.

• 13:31Speaker 01

  Just to get the photo, just to get the TikTok reels. So we're financing a lifestyle, but we're not disciplined to change our finances around so our life can be different. And so for me, man, I I I want people to get out of consumer debt. Because I really do believe that if we really are honest with ourselves, we're getting up Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, sometimes even Sunday. The majority of people are working two jobs to get their paycheck on Friday, to pay back this particular bank, to pay back that particular company. Check this out, come back home Monday and the families get the leftovers of their paycheck. And then it goes back to the thirty nine percent.

• 14:12Speaker 01

  By the end of that week, they're broke and they're trying to figure out, how do we get to the next Friday for payday? And for me, you gotta get sick and tired of where you currently are.

• 14:21Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 14:22Speaker 01

  Because that is frustrating to get up every single day to go pay back someone else. And let's just be honest, if you're really, I don't want to name the banks on your on your show, but there are several banks that are named after families. So you're you're borrowing money from this particular family. You're paying them back interest so that their great, great grandchildren can go to school debt free and build wealth. While your children at home are struggling trying to figure out, Mom, Dad, I need some new school shoes. Mom, Dad, I want to go and be a part of this soccer camp. But you pay somebody else's family to do it, and we haven't done anything for our family.

• 14:54Lewis Howes?

  What do you think the psychological wound is that causes so many people to overspend then? When they don't have the money? Is it just, oh, I want to feel like I fit in or belong or I look good or, you know? Why overspend when we don't have the money psychologically?

• 15:09Speaker 01

  Man, I was talking to a guy and I asked him that same question, and he's a little bit older than me. And he grew up more so specifically in an African American space. He grew up right around when slavery, not slavery, when racism was a little bit more live out there. And he said, Anthony, the reason why I finance things and the reason why I'll go out there and spend my check is because I've earned it. Because like, back then, I couldn't do certain things. Now, I want to go buy a suit. I want to go, you know, step out here and have a good time because I've earned it. And I said, I agree that you've earned it, but at what cost to you have you earned it?

• 15:45Lewis Howes?

  What's the price you have to pay?

• 15:46Speaker 01

  Exactly. You know, so you're not, you're not leaving your kids any eh eh any income. You're not leaving your kids any any wealth. There was a a study and I I forgot the numbers, but it it it says this particular number leaves their children's bills and benefits. And the benefits, as far as insurance benefits, are only enough to take care of partial of the bills, not all of it. But we'll leave we'll leave behind a Mercedes Benz, a Chanel purse, a Louis Vuitton purse, a Gucci backpack, some shoes. But none of that is transferable. None of that is going to really help set the next generation up to end. And that is why that book is so important to me because

• 16:30Speaker 01

  if we can really get control of our consumer debt, if we can stop financing someone else's lifestyle, and I firmly do believe that before you even get another credit card, you need to be consumer debt free for at least twenty four months. Build the habit of using your your cash, build the discipline. So that when you get back into it, yes, if you have an Amex card, okay, now you're paying it off every month, you're not paying any interest. It's your money, and now you're getting the rewards of the points and stuff like that, which is absolutely amazing. But I still would not go for points just so I can have a credit card, just so I could buy things that I can't afford to buy.

• 17:10Lewis Howes?

  You're pretty deep in the the spiritual faith world as well.

• 17:13Speaker 01

  Yes, sir.

• 17:15Lewis Howes?

  From your experience in the communities that you're in.

• 17:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:18Lewis Howes?

  Do people who have a faith-based practice, are they more prone to getting out of consumer debt earlier and investing in their future by by saving and spending less? Or do you also see people in faith and spiritual communities getting in extreme consumer debt, living paycheck to paycheck as well, whether they're financially less off or financially more off?

• 17:44Speaker 01

  You know, man, I think in the faith world, they're still human beings. So with me being a a strong Christian, um, I can say this respectfully. No, they're not trying to get out of consumer debt quickly.

• 17:55Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 17:56Speaker 01

  They're still human beings. I mean, not they, we are still human beings. Right? So we still have our personal desires. What I do see more prevalent within the Christian world is we are strong in the faith and giving. And so

• 18:10Lewis Howes?

  Tithing and giving.

• 18:11Speaker 01

  Yes, tithing and giving and generosity. So I do believe that the spiritual element that what I believe in is that because we are generous, because we are tithing, and because we do operate off of faith, there is a level of blessing that comes with that. But then too, also, I can say this as well, I do feel as if sometimes within the Christian world, we go a little bit too far into that and we get away from the practical. So we'll give our church, you know, our our light money. I totally disagree with that. No, give your tithing offerings, but go pay your light bill. Right? Give your tithing offerings, but go pay your rent, go pay your mortgage. But do not

• 18:48Lewis Howes?

  Don't do it at the expense of putting yourself more into the hole.

• 18:50Speaker 01

  Right. And there are certain, um, organizations and and and leaders within, um, all organizations of the spiritual realm that will say, hey, trust God, give them your last. And I will sit there on the front row and be like, yeah, I'm not giving you my last. I'll give you what I can give you and even stretch it a little bit. But my first ministry, my responsibility is to make sure that my home is good.

• 19:15Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, put your mask on first.

• 19:16Speaker 01

  Got to.

• 19:17Lewis Howes?

  Oxygen mask.

• 19:18Speaker 01

  Got to.

• 19:18Lewis Howes?

  Don't starve of oxygen.

• 19:20Speaker 01

  No.

• 19:20Lewis Howes?

  You know, and then say, someone help me.

• 19:22Speaker 01

  Facts.

• 19:23Lewis Howes?

  You know what I mean? You gotta take care of yourself.

• 19:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, no, I'm taking care of myself, I'm taking care of home, but I'm also gonna take care of my church, man. You know, and I I, one of my goals is is to be within the top one percent of the givers within my local church. I love what my church and what my pastor is doing, and I'm very strong on that in my church. I do believe that generosity and tithing is a secret, is a secret investment that a lot of people do not invest in. So I teach give, and as in one of my phases, I teach the whole invest. But I really do believe that number one investment you can make is in tithing offerings.

• 19:53Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 19:54Speaker 01

  For sure.

• 19:55Lewis Howes?

  When you have seen yourself stretch and give more to your church or charities or causes you believe in, do you find that more money comes to you?

• 20:06Speaker 01

  You know what, Louis, I've never said this on a on a on a show before, but you, my brother, I've been on here so many times. I had to be very unique with how I Maneuvered the first three years of starting my business. I had to be very unique. Hopefully I can say, hopefully I'm saying that correctly. Hopefully you're picking up what I'm saying. And I told God, I said, God, I'm still going to give you my tithe and beyond. I gave him 12%. Spiritually speaking, should I give him 10% for the Bible? But I gave him 12%. I said, because, because God, I need you to figure out a way to get me through these next three years.

• 20:41Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 20:42Speaker 01

  And Louis, I gave 12% tithe and offerings. I was even within my organization, every, every time someone gave us money on our YouTube channel, like as a super chat or something like that, we gave all that money to single mothers. So Anthony O'Neal nor my company profited that money. So I think within my first year of business, man, we probably gave away a little over a hundred thousand dollars. Second year, we gave away a little over a quarter million. Louis, I've never gone down a year. I've always gone up. And I do believe that is because God knows that, hey, in this area of life, I can trust you. You're going to be a good steward of your finances. And it's not even just spiritually. It's like, man, I give to my, my fraternity.

• 21:26Speaker 01

  I give to other nonprofits. I've given to other churches. I've given to people just because I just felt need. Like I had a friend went through something with his particular family. Gave that particular friend $10,000. Hey, here you go. I know, what's this for? No, no, no. I just want to be a blessing. Because I firmly do believe that while God asks for 10% back, the other 90% of the money he has allowed me to keep is still not mine. He just calls me to steward it well. So if I want to make 20 million dollars a year, I need to show God, yo, if you give me 20 million, I'm not going to be selfish. I'm going to be a blessing to others. I'm going to be a blessing to my church and to my community.

• 22:08Speaker 01

  If, if Louis is doing something that's a great cause, man, I'm going to sow into Louis' great cause that's impacting the world. Because I want to make sure that I'm not a selfish God with my money and that God can trust me a little more.

• 22:19Lewis Howes?

  Why do you think God allows bad people to have a lot of money? Some bad people?

• 22:24Speaker 01

  I mean, I, I believe that God gives us a choice. You know, he, he gives us free will. Um, I do believe that just because God allows you to have a lot of money, doesn't mean internally you are prosperous.

• 22:38Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, you're not rich.

• 22:39Speaker 01

  You're not rich, right? And so I would rather have $5 million and be rich internally than have $20 million and be miserable and just literally going through, you know what internally, right? And so I, I used to always ask myself that, well, God, but why does he out there doing A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and he making way more money than me? He said, yeah, but you're sleeping at peace. You know, you're, you, you, you can walk down the street and not have to have 10 people watching your back.

• 23:07Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 23:08Speaker 01

  You know?

• 23:10Speaker 01

  He was like, just because you see someone living well within quote unquote, your version of well in my permissive will. Anthony, you're living perfect within my perfect will for your life. And so I'm really, I'm always just saying, okay, what? Stop looking at other people's platforms and what they have. Just focus on where God has you.

• 23:29Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 23:30Speaker 01

  And I, and, and I have to be okay with that. And trust me, I, I'm human. I wake up every single day. I get on Instagram every single day like, God, I could do, I could do that. Much better, right? And then God convicts me. It was like, it's not about better. It's not about more. It's about who are you called to? Who are you helping? Focus on that.

• 23:51Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 23:51Speaker 01

  And Louis, man, I mean, when I really sit back and think about it,

• 23:56Speaker 01

  there is nothing that I want right now

• 24:01Speaker 01

  that I don't have. I bought my estate home. I got real estate. I have an amazing portfolio. I'm driving my dream car. I'm on the Louis How Show. You know what I'm saying? Like I have an amazing company with an amazing staff and team. There's nothing that I want. Like for my birthday this year, man, I'm, I'm, I'm going to Greece on a private yacht. So it's like, yeah, I'm not, I may not make as much money as them, but I'm living the life that I want. Man, my dad told me this years ago, Louis. And I try not to get emotional when I say it because as I'm getting older, I'm, I've noticed that, man, things in my life change. And now I get even more what my dad said. We were playing golf on a Tuesday afternoon at one o'clock in the afternoon.

• 24:47Speaker 01

  My dad's in his sixties and he, he stops. I just, we just hit off the tee box and in the middle of us going to our balls, he stops. I said, Dad, you all right? And he says, son,

• 25:00Speaker 01

  I'm wealthy.

• 25:02Speaker 01

  I looked at my dad. I said, Dad, I know how much money you make, man. You, you, you ain't wealthy.

• 25:07Speaker 01

  You know, you, you, you got a good retirement check from the army. Thank you for your service. But I started thinking in my head, I said, why you say that pops? It was like, it's one o'clock in the afternoon. I'm playing golf with my son. And I don't have to go to work tomorrow.

• 25:23Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 25:24Speaker 01

  I don't have to clock in and I don't have to be worried about how I'm going to pay my bills. Like I could do what I want to do, when I want to do it with whomever I want. When I leave you? He was like, boy, go out and see a movie so I can, you know, have a conversation with your mama tonight. Like it just felt good. And, and I was like, huh? He said, so yeah, I may not have as much money as you, but I'm wealthy.

• 25:49Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 25:50Speaker 01

  And that stood out to me that wealth is not just about money, but it's also about freedom. And I think a lot of people get it confused that you need to make a million dollars to have freedom. No, no, no, no, no. You can have freedom off of $50,000. You just got to know the right strategy and the right system to put into place. And from 50,000 to 60,000 to whatever that is, you can have freedom. And that's, that's where I'm at, is I have freedom.

• 26:20Lewis Howes?

  There's actually a lot of wealthy people who aren't free.

• 26:22Speaker 01

  Facts.

• 26:23Lewis Howes?

  They have all the money in the world, but they are struggling. Now, there are also wealthy people who are free.

• 26:29Speaker 01

  Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

• 26:30Lewis Howes?

  You know what I mean? That's, that can, they do what they want to do. They say what they want to say. They're around the people they want to do. So I'm not saying having money makes you trapped, but there are a lot of people that are, have a lot of money and they have a lot more stress or responsibilities that they don't know how to navigate emotionally or mentally. And therefore it just causes more problems for them. I'm not saying everyone, but I'm saying there are people. And if you don't understand how to navigate money and how much expense things cost having money. Like when you have money, things cost more.

• 27:07Speaker 01

  Yes, sir.

• 27:07Lewis Howes?

  Even if you don't buy a lot more stuff, there's just fees and expenses and taxes and, you know, you don't in your head because you know the pain of paying taxes on the money, the hard earned money you make and just seeing multiple six figures, seven figures gone.

• 27:24Speaker 01

  Gone.

• 27:25Lewis Howes?

  And you're like, I just spent six months of my life to give this much money to the government or to the state or to whoever.

• 27:32Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 27:33Lewis Howes?

  And you have to navigate that in your mind.

• 27:36Speaker 01

  Have to.

• 27:36Lewis Howes?

  I spent how much sleepless nights, how much effort, how much work building something where almost half of it goes to a government that I don't know where the money's going to? And if they're putting, if they're stewarding it, there's a hundred percent chance that they're not stewarding it a hundred percent well.

• 27:51Speaker 01

  Facts.

• 27:52Lewis Howes?

  And so you have to live with that.

• 27:54Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 27:54Lewis Howes?

  And you get to live, it's a blessing to live with that. But if you don't know how to navigate that, first few years for me, I was angry.

• 28:02Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 28:02Lewis Howes?

  And I started making more money and I was like, man, half of my year is, just goes towards paying the government.

• 28:08Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 28:08Lewis Howes?

  And then paying for this fee and then paying for this tax and then just housing the money somewhere costs money. You're just like, what?

• 28:15Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 28:16Lewis Howes?

  Where's all my money going?

• 28:17Speaker 01

  There's a cost of everything.

• 28:18Lewis Howes?

  Everything, man. It's like, where did all the money go?

• 28:19Speaker 01

  Right, right.

• 28:21Lewis Howes?

  And so it, it's learning how to navigate the levels of money that come to you and listen, it's hard when I was broke on my sister's couch. That was hard.

• 28:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 28:31Lewis Howes?

  It was hard having no money and not being able to mentally, emotionally, spiritually pay for things and navigating that.

• 28:37Speaker 01

  That's it.

• 28:38Lewis Howes?

  It was hard paying my first rent.

• 28:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 28:40Lewis Howes?

  $400 a month. I was like, where am I going to get the money to pay for this rent month after month? That was hard.

• 28:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 28:45Lewis Howes?

  There's different levels, right? And learning how to navigate it. That's why I wanted to talk about what does it mean to be a good steward of money? And how do we know we've graduated spiritually, emotionally, psychologically with the amount of money we have that we're ready for next levels of wealth?

• 29:02Speaker 01

  If I was to sit down with someone and someone asked me, am I a good steward with money? My answers will be based around this. Can you tell me where you are financially?

• 29:14Speaker 01

  That lets me know you're a good steward. Because if you don't know where you are financially, then you can never get better. So do you know I suck with money in this area? Or do you know I actually do pretty good with money in this area? So I know my strengths when it comes to money and I know my weaknesses when it comes to money. But I also, Louis, can tell you the last time I spent a dollar and fifty cents. Because I'm tracking every single thing that I spend. Now, that's just me because I'm in the money space. I don't know if someone needs to track every single dollar the way that I do. But it's like for me, I can tell you if I spent fifty five cents. Because that's just how I am, because I'm very anal about getting to my goal.

• 29:57Speaker 01

  And I know every dollar, every penny, that it can get me closer or it can take me away. So for me, how you know you're getting really good with finances is number one. Do you have a solid, clear vision that is aligned with a good budget? Then from there is what is the system and strategy that you're following? I've never met a millionaire who said, I woke up the next day and I made a million dollars. And then I just, I have no system and strategy. I just, I just, I just make money. Every person, and when I say this, every net worth millionaire, when I say net worth, I'm talking about someone who may make eighty thousand dollars a year, but they have a portfolio of a million dollars. They follow some strategy to get there. Whether that's the 401K strategy combined with the IRA strategy,

• 30:42Speaker 01

  combined with a couple of index fund strategy, combined with, you know, real estate strategy. No matter what it is, everyone follows a strategy. And then you know you need to upgrade is when they start, when you can look at your income and feel like, hey, you know what? This is too much for me to manage. So for example, when it comes to me, man, I, I, I still, you've graduated. I haven't graduated yet. I still get upset.

• 31:09Lewis Howes?

  I get upset for a couple of days. Then I'm like, okay.

• 31:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 31:13Lewis Howes?

  It's not, but it used to be months.

• 31:14Speaker 01

  Months.

• 31:15Lewis Howes?

  I'd hold on to like, I can't believe I just, all the money I had saved in my bank, gone.

• 31:20Speaker 01

  Gone.

• 31:20Lewis Howes?

  Down to zero. It's like, how is that even possible?

• 31:23Speaker 01

  But you know what I did, you know what I started doing about five years ago? It was, I hired a CPA firm that in the first three months of the year, they go through a tax strategy. So now I'm only upset like you for a week. Because I know what's coming, right? And I think that's also good stewardship. Because we also know that the tax laws are not written for the average person. It's written for, you know, the person who are making, the entrepreneur, the small business owner. So it's like now, that's also a level of good stewardship. Do you have a tax strategist who can sit down with you and help you come up with a game plan? On how to pay the IRS less legally, ethically, morally, and for me spiritually? To where I'm not doing anything wrong.

• 32:05Speaker 01

  I'm doing it all for those correctly to where my tax bill may go from forty eight percent down to maybe, maybe thirty two, twenty eight percent, but legally, ethically, morally, and spiritually. And so I love that because now, when I have my tax strategy meetings, are you hiring anybody? Are you buying any real estate? Are you buying any new equipment? How much do you project to make this year? They ask me so many different questions. And then we sit down and say, okay, this is the strategy on how to move forward for the rest of twenty twenty six. That's good stewardship. Because if I can keep some of that money from the IRS and maybe donate that to other single mothers. We're starting a brand new schooling Ghana, and across Ghana. So we was able to save some of that money and use that money to go towards the school.

• 32:50Lewis Howes?

  I've been to Accra.

• 32:51Speaker 01

  Oh, you have?

• 32:52Lewis Howes?

  I built a school in Ghana as well. Yeah, it's cool there. It's cool. It's a different world, man.

• 32:56Speaker 01

  It is. It is.

• 32:57Lewis Howes?

  I mean, I stood out for sure. A great, great place. Loved it. Good energy there.

• 33:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 33:04Lewis Howes?

  And so phase three, we're talking about, in the book, you talk about building a savings cushion of at least three to six months of take home pay, which is something you've already mentioned before. And a lot of people think that that is impossible on the amount of income that they currently make. I'm like, how am I going to get three to six months? But what is the mindset shift that someone has to take or make before that can, that can follow? Or the habit they have to change before that can follow?

• 33:29Speaker 01

  No, it's not difficult at all. When people tell me it's difficult to set aside three to six months of your income, let me see your lifestyle. How much car do you have?

• 33:37Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. You don't need two cars.

• 33:41Speaker 01

  And you don't.

• 33:41Lewis Howes?

  Ride a bike for a year.

• 33:42Speaker 01

  You don't need the fifty thousand dollar car that you purchased.

• 33:44Lewis Howes?

  Right, no. Get a used car. When I moved to LA, I had, I kid you not, man, and I was a millionaire when I moved to LA. When I moved to LA, I bought a five thousand dollar used car.

• 33:54Speaker 01

  Facts.

• 33:55Lewis Howes?

  And I rode it for five years.

• 33:57Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 33:57Lewis Howes?

  I did not need, I didn't have radio. Now, this is probably too extreme. I didn't have radio. I didn't have Bluetooth.

• 34:03Speaker 01

  Too extreme.

• 34:04Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, but I was comfortable in it. It got me from A to B.

• 34:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 34:07Lewis Howes?

  It was reliable. It just didn't need, it wasn't new and it was okay. And I was fine with it. It was a nineteen, it was nineteen ninety seven Cadillac Eldorado Berets, two door.

• 34:17Speaker 01

  Two door.

• 34:17Lewis Howes?

  And it was cool, man. I was like, all right, this is nice. Like, it felt like grandpa car, you know, the bucket seats. And I was like, all right, cool. No radio, no, the ECD stopped working after six months. So I'm like, windows down.

• 34:30Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 34:30Lewis Howes?

  You know, I'm rolling windows down, all these things, but the engine worked.

• 34:34Speaker 01

  It works.

• 34:34Lewis Howes?

  It got me around and I didn't need to be in something so nice or brand new for those first five years. I was more, I cared more about investing my money, saving my money, reinvesting in my business to help my money work for me.

• 34:50Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 34:51Lewis Howes?

  And so now I have a new car and it's fine, but it's, it was more for a tax write off.

• 34:56Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 34:56Lewis Howes?

  It was like, okay, what can I do to buy a car to benefit my business as a tax write off? But five years, I didn't need anything fancy. And I paid it off right away, five grand, and I rode it for five years, thousand bucks a year.

• 35:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 35:10Lewis Howes?

  Except for gas.

• 35:11Speaker 01

  But how much money did you save yourself? That's the question.

• 35:13Lewis Howes?

  How much money did I save? Oh, yeah, I don't know. If I would have bought a new car for fifty to a hundred grand, I saved a lot of money.

• 35:20Lewis Howes?

  And the insurance was cheaper and all these different things. So save a lot of money.

• 35:24Speaker 01

  I believe that the greatest enemy to our financial success is our excuses. That if we keep saying, I can't, I can't, I can't. What you're saying you can't to, you're, you're doing it somewhere else that is not valuable. And so I'm the same way as you, man. My friends, they used to crack jokes on me because, you know, they'll come over to my house. Man, this is not a house that A O should be living in. I'm like, well, what's the house I should be living in? Like, I literally just moved into probably the house, quote unquote, they say I should have been living in just a few weeks ago. But the average house, I was living in a normal family home. And I'm like, man, I have goals. I have dreams. I don't want to be fifty years old and I still have to be on YouTube teaching.

• 36:08Speaker 01

  I don't want to do that. I want to be in a position to where my money is creating more time for me to do the things that I love to do with the people I love to do. So when I do get married, when I do settle down and have kids, my money is paying all of my bills, not my time. And so if I don't come up with the right system in place and live way below my means. Right? And I think this is where a lot of people can get confused. People think they'll stop living paycheck to paycheck to make more money.

• 36:39Speaker 01

  You will stop living paycheck to paycheck and make more money when you have margin.

• 36:43Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 36:44Speaker 01

  Margin is your number one wealth building tool. Margin is your number one tool of getting out of paycheck to paycheck. If your income is up here, your expenses need to be down here in between. That's your margin. And that's what you play with to pay off your consumer debt. That's what you play with to invest more, to put money into real estate, to invest into your kid's future, to buy businesses, to buy stocks, whatever you want to do. But if you have no margin, you'll never get out of the trap.

• 37:09Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. My friend, I hope you're enjoying this episode. And the School of Greatness drops new conversations every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday around money, mindset, healing, manifestation, and relationships. And if you're not yet following the show, then you're missing all of them. Please tap the follow button right now and you'll get notified the moment every new episode drops because the next one might be exactly what you need. Now, let's get back to the conversation. When I was, my first, when I was living in Columbus, Ohio, and I had my first apartment, when I was on my sister's couch for a year and a half, living rent free. Then I paid two fifty a month for a room in my brother's house.

• 37:49Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 37:50Lewis Howes?

  For about six to seven months. Then I finally moved out and I, and I think it was paying, I can't remember, it was four hundred or four ninety five, but it was in the four hundred range for an apartment. And after the business that I had, a business partner at that time, we did over a million dollars in sales, maybe a year and a half after this, right?

• 38:09Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 38:10Lewis Howes?

  And I was still living in this apartment. It was under five hundred dollars a month. At that time, I had no car, so I was walking around everywhere.

• 38:18Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 38:19Lewis Howes?

  I had no TV and I was just focused. And I was just stacking and saving and investing the money. And this is what you talk about in phase four is in investing with confidence. So your money starts working harder than you do. And a lot of people feel like investing is for people that are rich or that are wealthy or that they are, you know, on a different level of financial success. And people who already have it figured out, are they know money better than me? What does someone who is just getting started actually need to know to invest without feeling fear?

• 38:52Speaker 01

  Man, the very first thing is that you can invest with five dollars into a fractional share. Do not focus on the amount. Focus on starting the habit.

• 39:02Lewis Howes?

  Let's go.

• 39:03Speaker 01

  That's it.

• 39:04Lewis Howes?

  Consistency, man. The system, the habit.

• 39:06Speaker 01

  The system and the habit. That's what I tell everybody. Oh, I don't have a whole lot of money to invest. That's not the problem. The problem is you haven't even created the habit. You, you, you, you haven't even just started. Just put five dollars into a brokerage account. And then when you pay it again, put five dollars into a brokerage account. And I promise you, by this time next year, you will be putting more than five dollars.

• 39:29Lewis Howes?

  Oh, yeah. He'd be like, oh, that make me money.

• 39:31Speaker 01

  You know what I'm saying? And so that's what I tell everyone. It's like, man, investing is not for the rich. The investing is for people who have access. And for me, man, I think there's, there's, in my book, I talk about, man, you gotta invest.

• 39:47Speaker 01

  Anywhere between fifteen to twenty-five percent of your income every single night. The first ten percent is if you are in a Christian faith community. I think that is the best investment we can ever make. Ten percent into the local church. A lot of people say, well, wow, I want to give to the church so the pastor can go buy a car, so the pastor can go buy a house and da da da. I don't care about none of that. I believe that my word of God says, hey, give, right? I'm just gonna give. Now, I know for a fact that it's going to the wrong place and I'm leaving the church.

• 40:18Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, go somewhere else.

• 40:19Speaker 01

  Go somewhere else. But until then, I'm gonna do, that's my very first investment. Because now what I'm saying, God, is I trust you more than I trust myself. Then after that, I'm putting fifteen percent into an investment portfolio that me and a financial advisor or me or in twenty twenty-six, an app or AI has come up with where that's four one Ks, mutual funds, index funds, ETFs, brokerage accounts, whatever you want to do, five twenty-nines. Boom, I'm investing into that. And let's say, let's say you don't have twenty-five percent. Okay, cool, I need you to start whatever you do have. Not whatever, with whatever you do have. Five dollars, ten dollars, buy fractional shares, get into the habit.

• 40:58Lewis Howes?

  And automate it. Make it come out of your account every month.

• 41:01Speaker 01

  Yes. And what I'm telling people right now, we're living in this AI boom and tech boom. You need to be looking into companies and ETFs and index funds that have a lot of AI and tech companies inside of it. Because what I'm seeing right now, these companies, I know we all went after the, say for an example, Nvidia. But what companies are helping Nvidia make their chips? Start looking at the companies everyone's not talking about. Because those are the companies that are secretly just blowing up behind closed doors, right? And so that's what I'm telling people, just buy a five dollar fractional share of that company that creates the power plant for the chip.

• 41:41Speaker 01

  Or invest five dollars into this ETF that creates memory for AI.

• 41:47Lewis Howes?

  Because you can even do a fund of AI stocks. You don't have to think about individual ones as well.

• 41:53Speaker 01

  For sure. Yeah, so, I mean, and I think that's the main thing too. And then also within that, I'm very big, Louis, on we gotta start investing into our children's future. Have to. Whether you're just doing one percent of the income, five percent of the income a month, we gotta start investing into our children's future so we can change the future and the change to future generations.

• 42:18Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. Well, phase five is something you talk about, playing the long game, which is paying off your home, updating your estate plan and creating generational wealth.

• 42:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 42:28Lewis Howes?

  And hopefully paying, you know, supporting your children, leaving your children with something as well.

• 42:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 42:33Lewis Howes?

  And I'm of the mind of like, you know, now that I have kids, I don't know if I want to give them everything because then are they going to be resourceful? Are they going to be creative and imaginative? And, you know, are they going to develop their own talents to be able to steward things in life?

• 42:47Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 42:48Lewis Howes?

  But it's figuring out, you know, what will I give them? I don't know, you know, so we'll see. I'm still kind of figuring this out.

• 42:54Speaker 01

  Well, whatever you don't give them, give it to me and I.

• 42:59Lewis Howes?

  I'm gonna give them something for sure, but I don't know, it's like.

• 43:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 43:01Lewis Howes?

  And it's also like, and I think in this process, what I'm learning as I'm developing with my wife are our trust and our estate plan currently, because we just got married a year, a little over a year ago.

• 43:13Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 43:13Lewis Howes?

  So we have been building this together and educating myself. And I think that phase five is really like educating yourself on these things as well.

• 43:21Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 43:22Lewis Howes?

  And I'm asking these questions with my, you know, my tax attorneys, with my financial team and things like that.

• 43:30Lewis Howes?

  And asking them like, what do other wealthy families do that you've seen that have done well? By investing in their kids or where you've seen hasn't really done well after one generation, two generations? So it's thinking long term and kind of creating caveats. You know, if they're like getting into drugs and going to jail, maybe you don't get access to certain things.

• 43:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 43:53Lewis Howes?

  Or you get a certain amount to like support you on a, you know, a down payment for a home, but you're not getting the whole pot. You know, it's like, and it's creating these different layers

• 44:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 44:03Lewis Howes?

  of kind of passing down to your children. So I'm still learning about all this right now.

• 44:07Speaker 01

  No, and I think, I think all of us are still learning. One of the things that I talk about in the book that I've learned from five of the wealthiest families that are in my life. One of them is a billionaire, the other ones are worth at least a half, a half a billion dollars or more. All five of them do one thing that is, that is totally in common. Every Christmas, after Christmas, they all leave. All of them leave. I think two of them go up to Denver, Colorado. And they have a family board meeting.

• 44:41Speaker 01

  And when I was talking to each one of them, I was like, man, why is this so important? And to come back with you, my children will not get everything because prayerfully I leave before my, my wife leaves. So my wife will get the bulk of everything and then my children will get the rest. But then within my estate, with my wife, whenever we get married, wife will be first, children will be next, my church will get a bulk as well of the money. And then my business will get a bulk of the money because I still want my business to still operate and move forward and bless people. And so one of the things that I've learned within this meeting is they're very strategic on making sure that their family is

• 45:26Speaker 01

  up to date on everything that's happening in the family. So they don't just go up there and just talk about what's in the, what's in the.

• 45:33Lewis Howes?

  The trust.

• 45:34Speaker 01

  The trust.

• 45:34Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah. You get so much money we have, yeah.

• 45:36Speaker 01

  They don't do that. I was shocked. Every family member has to sign the NDA. And they go up there and they talk about, hey, we're struggling in our marriage and this is what we're struggling in. And now all the family is helping them get through that family struggle.

• 45:54Speaker 01

  The, if they have kids, the kids are talking about, they're asking questions. So the family comes together and they talk about the family business. Because the last name is what's carrying everybody. And so they're like, hey, we want to make sure that when we leave and they get our businesses, they get, you know, these millions and millions of dollars that we're going to be passing down to them. That not only do we know that we talked to them about finances, but we talked to them about their spiritual walk. We talked to them about their family, husband and wife issues. We've, we've asked any health questions. So they ask, hey, how was your checkup this year? How are you doing from a medical perspective? Well, I just found out I had colon cancer. Okay, so what are we doing about that as a family?

• 46:37Speaker 01

  Well, if something was to happen to me, this is what we're gonna do, we're gonna have this date. So everyone in the family is fully abreast of everything that's going on, even down to the ten year old. The ten year old knows what's going on with the family. And I asked them, I said, well, ten year old don't know nothing. But that's the problem.

• 46:54Lewis Howes?

  They need to be learning. I felt like as the youngest of four, no one ever told me anything.

• 46:59Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 46:59Lewis Howes?

  You know, it was like, maybe, maybe they did, but that was my interpretation. But I would, I'll hear stuff over the last ten years and I'd be like, that really happened at this time? Like, no one ever told me this. They always kept me like secret because I was too young.

• 47:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 47:13Lewis Howes?

  And maybe you don't tell people ever, all the like, oh, you know, this happened with your dad or your mom or whatever. But you gotta inform people, hey, we're going through something as a family.

• 47:21Speaker 01

  Have to.

• 47:22Lewis Howes?

  You know, maybe don't give the exact details.

• 47:24Speaker 01

  Have to. And it will help the child though too.

• 47:27Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 47:27Speaker 01

  Because if my family would have told me they, they were struggling, if my parents would have told me, hey, we're struggling right now. I would not have been as disappointed back then. Because they made me feel like we weren't struggling, they just didn't want me to do this and go do that and go do this. But if my family would have been honest, say, hey, you know, I just want to be honest with you, man, I mean, being an adult, which you will be one day, you're gonna live and have to pay bills and you're gonna live and have to do this. And son, right now, me and your dad, me and your mom, we just can't do it. And seventy-eight percent of the people in America do not have a trust and or will. The number one way to pay for your funerals right now is not through an insurance policy, it's through GoFundMe.

• 48:13Speaker 01

  And it bothers me because when we really look at the people who are raising GoFundMe accounts, I guarantee you, not all, but a lot of them, a lot of them, we can find some type of name brand item. A lot of them, we can find something that they should not have purchased. So we choose feeling good over protecting the ones who we love. We choose making sure that we look good and we smell good and we have the right hair, the right haircut, the right car, make sure our pull-up game is good rather than having a hard conversation and getting an insurance policy and getting a trust and getting a will, getting your health

• 48:54Speaker 01

  policy put together, getting your power of attorney put together. Man, I'm forty-two and, and I, I woke up at three o'clock in the morning when I was like thirty-six. And I had this strong conviction that you're teaching all this stuff, but you're not practicing what you're preaching. I said, what are you, what, huh? I'm debt free, I'm good. So no, no, no. If you died today, your family will argue over what Anthony wanted with this stuff. They wouldn't know what you wanted with the business, with your homes, with your portfolio. So you're gonna come home, you're gonna be in heaven, you're gonna be looking down and your family's gonna be arguing because you are selfish.

• 49:37Speaker 01

  And I try not to get emotional because it really hit me. I think a lot of people are just selfish and we don't care because when we're gone, that's their problem. But one of the greatest ways we can say we love our families is by while we're living, planning for our death.

• 49:53Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. And when we're gone, making it more comfortable for them than more stressful for them.

• 49:59Speaker 01

  The only thing I want my family to cry over is just me being gone.

• 50:05Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, not I get this and you get that and huh, you didn't show up, whatever it is. Yeah.

• 50:10Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's the only thing. And man, that was probably the hardest thing. One of the hardest things I've ever done in my life because here's why. And this, this is something we gotta get out of and it just bothers me. When I told my family I was doing my will and my trust, you know, the very first question they asked me? What's wrong?

• 50:27Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Are you sick?

• 50:29Speaker 01

  So we automatically attach the negative to the right thing to do.

• 50:35Lewis Howes?

  I think that's normal for a lot of people though. They think that way because they're not thinking about, you know, phase five. They're not thinking about, they're thinking of survival mode. They're thinking check paycheck to paycheck still. And they're not thinking, creating financial freedom and peace for themselves and a sense of clarity for others now and later.

• 50:57Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 50:57Lewis Howes?

  And it's, I bought, I bought life insurance for myself in my twenties.

• 51:02Speaker 01

  Yes, sir.

• 51:02Lewis Howes?

  Because one, I wanted to lock in a rate that was guarantee for life.

• 51:06Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 51:07Lewis Howes?

  Um, and two, I was thinking about my future wife and my future kids.

• 51:11Speaker 01

  Yes, sir.

• 51:11Lewis Howes?

  And I didn't know when I was getting married, you know, I got fifteen, eighteen years after I got my first insurance policy. I got married and have kids.

• 51:20Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 51:21Lewis Howes?

  But when I bought the life insurance, I was like, this is not for me.

• 51:28Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 51:28Lewis Howes?

  I'm spending money every month and every year.

• 51:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 51:31Lewis Howes?

  Not for my benefit.

• 51:32Speaker 01

  Facts.

• 51:33Lewis Howes?

  For a future person that I don't know.

• 51:35Speaker 01

  Facts.

• 51:36Lewis Howes?

  And future kids that are not existing.

• 51:38Speaker 01

  Facts.

• 51:39Lewis Howes?

  For them to benefit. And I've been doing that for over a decade and a half, almost two decades. I've been, maybe it was almost two decades. I've been paying a payment monthly.

• 51:49Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 51:50Lewis Howes?

  For people that I didn't know.

• 51:52Speaker 01

  Louis, I say the same thing, man. I have a 529 account right now. 529 account for the people who don't know is a college savings account.

• 52:00Lewis Howes?

  For kids that are not born.

• 52:02Speaker 01

  That are not born. Right? And, and, and, and maybe, maybe I have, maybe I have not, you know, but I haven't even met their mother yet. But for me, it was if I want to change the narrative, I went to school. I graduated with student loan debt. I, my parents couldn't give me a check. If I want to change the narrative in the O'Neal family, it starts with me.

• 52:26Lewis Howes?

  Let's go.

• 52:26Speaker 01

  And it doesn't start with me when I have kids. It starts with me today with the current mindset. So I sat down, I, what's the strategy? And then when I talked to my financial advisor, she was like, well, hey, here's the strategy. If you want to start planning for your kids, you can open up a 529 in the state of Maryland. You can write off up to, I think it's what 1,500 or $2,000.

• 52:45Lewis Howes?

  Before they're born?

• 52:46Speaker 01

  Before they're born.

• 52:47Lewis Howes?

  Shut up. I didn't know that.

• 52:48Speaker 01

  But the 529 is going to my trust. So that way, if something happened to me now, the money goes to my trust, right?

• 52:54Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 52:54Speaker 01

  But because now it's like, do I want to pay the IRS that money or do I want to pay my future kids that money?

• 53:01Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 53:01Speaker 01

  And then now just think about it, man. Just think about it.

• 53:06Speaker 01

  When they turn 18 and they go to school, I get to look at my kids in the face and say, you know what? Here's a check for a hundred fifty, $200,000 that I only put maybe 20, $25,000 into it.

• 53:24Speaker 01

  I was thinking about you.

• 53:25Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 53:26Speaker 01

  Before I even met your mama.

• 53:27Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 53:28Speaker 01

  Before you was even in your mother's womb.

• 53:30Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 53:31Speaker 01

  Now what happens, Louis? My kids are gonna be like, what? Dad, how do I do that now at 18, at 20? So now we've changed the whole dynamic in the O'Neal family to where we went to having to take out student loans and thinking after the fact to where now the generation behind me is now thinking way ahead of the fact. So now they can tell their kids the same thing. Yo, I started thinking about you at 18 years old. Now you got a half a million dollars for college because I thought about you 15 years before I even had you.

• 54:04Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 54:04Speaker 01

  And so I think when we can start changing that narrative, which I love what you said by getting it. I wish somebody at 22 would have told me to get an insurance policy. My own parents didn't even tell me to get an insurance policy on me. But watch this, they had insurance policy on me though.

• 54:17Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 54:20Speaker 01

  They was like, well, we gotta get one on this boy. We don't know. But no one sat down with me and gave me the proven path on how to win with money.

• 54:30Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 54:31Speaker 01

  On any income.

• 54:32Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 54:33Speaker 01

  And I think, man, you can get an insurance policy on any income.

• 54:38Lewis Howes?

  Yep.

• 54:39Speaker 01

  At any season of your life, you just gotta know how to do it.

• 54:42Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 54:46Lewis Howes?

  What does financial freedom actually feel like? Not the number, but the feeling of financial freedom.

• 54:53Speaker 01

  Man, it's, it's joyful.

• 54:56Speaker 01

  Man, it is, um, it brings tears to my eyes. Financial freedom feels like you can say yes when you want to say yes and say no when you want to say no. Uh, financial freedom makes me smile real hard knowing that when I find my wife, I can give her the ring of her dreams and, and a wedding within my budget of her dreams and not be stressed about it. Freedom feels good when you walk to your mailbox. And any envelope that's in there, you know, it's not a bill collector.

• 55:41Speaker 01

  Freedom makes you sleep better at night.

• 55:47Speaker 01

  But also, man,

• 55:50Speaker 01

  freedom puts you in a position to take advantage of opportunities.

• 55:58Speaker 01

  That if you didn't have freedom, you could not take advantage of.

• 56:02Speaker 01

  And for me, freedom is the goal. Being rich is not the goal.

• 56:10Speaker 01

  Being wealthy is not the goal. Being free is the goal.

• 56:14Lewis Howes?

  Mm-hmm.

• 56:15Speaker 01

  And everyone says, Anthony, one of my friends said, man, Anthony, you can make double amount of income. I say, yeah, but I won't have freedom. Because if I chase more money, that requires more of my time. And if I give more of my time, then it means I don't have freedom to do the things that I want to do. Like I'm an HBCU professor right now. I'm not making any money doing that.

• 56:39Speaker 01

  But I have the freedom to drive up to Richmond, Virginia once a week, every single Wednesday, to talk to 18 year olds and 19 year olds about what we talked about today. I'm using my freedom to be a blessing to this younger generation. So when they graduate college, they have the basic information of what they need to do with their jobs and with the income from their jobs. That's, that makes me feel so good. I, I enjoy teaching at HBCU more than I actually enjoy teaching on YouTube. Because I had the freedom to do it and it's my choice and I'm not going there to get a check. I don't have to go there to pay bills.

• 57:24Speaker 01

  And when I walk in there, man, and see those kids' eyes light up, when I talk about, hey, man, this is, this is what compound interest is. You'll be surprised, Louis, of how many young people do not even know what compound interest is.

• 57:39Speaker 01

  They, they have this mindset that nothing is free in this world and nothing is. But you're trying to tell me, Anthony, if I put $5 in this account, they're gonna give me 25 cents? May not be 25 cents, you can get something. But the longer I keep it in there, you mean the more money I will make. And when I show them that, hey, eventually if you keep it over there for a long period of time, you'll see that the majority of your income in your account wasn't even your money.

• 58:02Lewis Howes?

  Crazy, right?

• 58:02Speaker 01

  They're like, what? That's, that's what freedom brings me like that. I get so excited knowing that in the beginning of the semester, because my class is called consumer economics, that is not a sexy subject. But by the end of the semester, man, my students are like, Professor, you was my favorite class. Like you, you, like, my students to this day, when they graduate, they still email me. They still ask me questions about this and that's what freedom puts you in position to do. And I want people to think about this. What could freedom put you in a position to do for your own family? For your own community, for your own kids, for your own spouse, for yourself.

• 58:46Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 58:46Speaker 01

  Like, freedom, and I'll say this, I, I'll be quiet. You know, I'm a preacher, man. So you got, you got somebody to shut up. Last time I was on your show, I weighed 196 pounds.

• 58:59Speaker 01

  I think it was right about a year after I left your show. I woke up in the middle of the night, went to the ER, thought I was having a stroke.

• 59:07Lewis Howes?

  Wow. Really? I didn't know that.

• 59:10Speaker 01

  To only find out I had gas.

• 59:12Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 59:13Speaker 01

  So I paid $5,000.

• 59:14Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 59:15Speaker 01

  To find out that, uh, I had gas.

• 59:18Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 59:20Speaker 01

  And my doctor, she said, hey, Anthony, you need to change your, your, your health routine.

• 59:31Speaker 01

  And I had freedom. Where I was able to hire certain things and certain help and change. And today I weigh right about a hundred and sixty pounds. And I haven't had any heartburners. My blood levels are so, so much better. Still got, still got some work to do. That's what freedom is.

• 59:51Lewis Howes?

  Wow, that's cool. Well, speaking of things that a lot of people struggle feeling free around, which is when they get married, merging their money and their assets. Some people, some people get a lot of stress around that or they feel like it's hard because they've built their own assets, their own financial life. And now they're merging it with a spouse.

• 1:00:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:00:15Lewis Howes?

  I think on the previous episode, we were talking about this at the end that we would talk about this. And I know you're not married yet.

• 1:00:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:00:21Lewis Howes?

  But what is the, what is the value when two people get married? Of merging their money, their assets into one unit rather than staying separate? What have you seen or heard from wealthy people that works?

• 1:00:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:00:39Lewis Howes?

  And what have you seen that has been destructive from those who have maybe been married and gotten divorced? Because of money constraints or the, the, the sense of money constraints? What have you noticed or, or observed?

• 1:00:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, man, I think it is very important to combine. You can't be married and have two separate visions for your money. It needs to be one combined vision, one combined strategy. And we both are working that strategy to get to that vision. Right? And so I do believe that you should have one main family account that all income and assets are coming into. Then from there you have an account that pays all of your bills. And from there you'll have a savings account. But I do believe that Anthony and my wife should have our own spending account. That we don't have to be accountable to each other about what we're spending in that.

• 1:01:33Speaker 01

  I look forward to getting married and having a husband and wife conversation every single month. I'm gonna be smart with it. I'm gonna make sure that I buy her a nice little dress every single month. And we're gonna go to her favorite restaurant or one of her favorite restaurants every single month. And we're gonna have a conversation, hey, what worked this month? What didn't work this month? What do we need to be prepared for next month? I know we want to go on vacation in July. I know, I know we want to do Christmas and I know birthday and anniversaries and stuff is coming up. But hey, you know, maybe you want to do something with your girls or maybe there's something you want to do with the kids. What do we need to prepare for next month? How do we work the vision? Because here's the truth, man.

• 1:02:14Speaker 01

  Take away people like yourself and I who, who have done financially well within our businesses. Let's talk about the average everyday person. The average everyday person cannot afford

• 1:02:24Speaker 01

  to he pay this bill, she pays that bill and they keep their money separate. No, the quickest way to get out of, get out of living paycheck to paycheck. And the quickest way to building wealth is to bring y'all income together. Live off of one of y'all salary.

• 1:02:39Lewis Howes?

  Invest the rest.

• 1:02:40Speaker 01

  And then invest the rest. But if you're living off yours and you're living off of yours, you can't do that together. So if you're, if you are a, the, the average middle class individual, hey, man, no, come together. And then come up with a strategy. Hey, I know we make a combined household income of eighty eight thousand, but we're gonna live off of my fifty thousand. So whatever apartment or whatever house we can get with this fifty thousand, that's what we're gonna do. Babe, with your income, man, we're gonna tithe for sure. But man, we're gonna invest heavily and we're gonna even use some of your income for vacation, for the family. But for the bulk of your income, man, I, we cannot be eighty, ninety years old, still working because we didn't invest wisely.

• 1:03:22Speaker 01

  So we're gonna start investing your income into a mutual fund, into index funds. Sit down with a financial advisor and invest your income, not just invest it for our retirement, but invest it for our kids too.

• 1:03:34Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 1:03:34Speaker 01

  But if you have two separate visions, you'll never get to an end goal quickly. And for me, even at this stage of my life, when I do get married, yeah, we're gonna have some documentation, documenting like, hey, this is gonna work. But just in case it doesn't, what I came in with and what you came in with, we can, we can go out that way.

• 1:03:55Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:56Speaker 01

  But when we in this thing, no, it's, it's all one pot.

• 1:03:59Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:59Speaker 01

  Let's get to the end goal. Let's put our kids in position to win. How do we bless our church even better? How do we build a dynasty and a legacy together? Man, I, I get excited about getting married and not doing this on my own. I don't want to keep all my money and all my success to myself because the truth of the fact, as a Christian man, God gave me everything not to be good for the world, but to be a husband and, and to be a father to my, and a priest at home. I can't do that if I'm coming here saying, oh, all this is mine. No, baby, I did all this for you. I did all this for us. Now we gonna be, we gonna hold each other accountable, make sure you good with your money.

• 1:04:40Speaker 01

  You know, but I mean, no, let's, let's do this thing together and we gonna meet every month about the funds.

• 1:04:45Lewis Howes?

  That's good. What are the biggest money lies that people have been taught that are quietly keeping them broke?

• 1:04:51Speaker 01

  Oh, manage your credit score is the number one thing that you need. That's bogus. That's bogus.

• 1:04:56Lewis Howes?

  I don't even know what my credit score is.

• 1:04:59Speaker 01

  Louis, it bothers me. Oh, man, you know, um, cash ain't king, credit is king. No, it's not. I think that credit and cash are equally important. Because here's the truth. I lived that world. Anyone who knows me, you know, if you don't know, God bless you. My name is Anthony O'Neil. But I lived that world, man, and I didn't have an active score. And my car insurance for my three cars was right around thirteen hundred dollars a month.

• 1:05:27Lewis Howes?

  Three cars?

• 1:05:28Speaker 01

  Three cars.

• 1:05:29Lewis Howes?

  Dang, man.

• 1:05:30Speaker 01

  Thirteen.

• 1:05:30Lewis Howes?

  Can only drive one.

• 1:05:31Speaker 01

  Facts. I got rid of one. I'm down to two now. I got my dream car and my daily car.

• 1:05:36Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 1:05:37Speaker 01

  And so.

• 1:05:38Lewis Howes?

  I thought you made your three cars like back in the day or something.

• 1:05:40Speaker 01

  I did. I had too much cars. I'm human, right?

• 1:05:43Lewis Howes?

  Now it's different. If you got the, the funds, it's different.

• 1:05:46Speaker 01

  Definitely got the funds, but even still though, with the funds, I was like, like you said, I only can drive one.

• 1:05:50Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 1:05:51Speaker 01

  So that means one of them will be sitting all week. That's a waste of money. So I, I went down to two. And, um, and even with those two, I went down to eleven thirty a month. Well, I did, I did my own thing. I said, you know, let me go car shopping. Went car shopping. My first quote came back at five ten. Mom, I was like, wait, what's the difference? So I called my rep at the, at, at particular company I was with. She said, oh, your credit score. When you first signed up with us, you had a non-credit score because you had no open trade lines. Now that you have a house and, you know, um, I actually just real estate on my credit report now. She was like, your score is in a high sevens and even a low eights.

• 1:06:36Speaker 01

  So now you qualified for a cheaper rate. I said, okay, so there is a science to this credit game. Okay. So because I had a decent score, I saved six hundred dollars, seven hundred dollars a month.

• 1:06:53Lewis Howes?

  Pretty good.

• 1:06:54Speaker 01

  Right. But how many people do we know have an eight hundred credit score but don't have eight hundred dollars in their, in their savings account? So I believe that one of the biggest lies that we tell people is that, man, do not worry about cash. Just make sure you have a real good credit score. And that lie is such false because, okay, I say that's true. If I had this eight hundred credit score and I go borrow twenty five thousand dollars, but I don't have the money to pay it back, now I'm screwed.

• 1:07:22Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:23Speaker 01

  I'm screwed. So I think that's one of the biggest lies. I do believe that it is important, but man, I, I'm like you, Louis. I just know my score is good because I don't borrow any money like that. So it was like for me, it's, it's like all my cars paid for them cash. Anything I'm paying for it cash. Except for real estate. I want to get to the point to where I could pay cash for real estate, but I am kind of like, uh, you know, why?

• 1:07:53Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:07:53Lewis Howes?

  Keep that cash.

• 1:07:54Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, I'm like, uh, like I may, my primary house, I may pay it off just so I, the family is good, right? Because I am in the, the content creation space and with AI, we don't know what's gonna happen next five to 10 years. So I would love to make sure that the mortgage is paid off. But even still, I'm like, I'm gonna still be making money.

• 1:08:15Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:15Speaker 01

  So I don't know really what's the rush, right? So, yeah.

• 1:08:19Lewis Howes?

  What's the difference between looking wealthy and actually being wealthy?

• 1:08:24Speaker 01

  You know, that depends on where you are. See, that, that question kind of gets me a little bit. You know, you have the book, The Millionaire Next Door, talking about, you know, he was a millionaire and he lived in a very modest house and drove like a Ford, um, uh, truck, right? But let's look at the kind of vacations he was going on. But he was flying first class with his family. He, he was probably spending thirty, forty thousand dollars. I have a friend who's in the NFL right now, won't say his name. Drives a, a Yukon. Drives a Yukon. But every year he'll spend a hundred thousand dollars on a family vacation. Because he believes in experiences. So I, I really can't say what is the difference between someone looking wealthy and being wealthy. Because what I may say, oh, he's trying to flaunt.

• 1:09:09Speaker 01

  I, here's my philosophy. If you are living below your means and you decide to spend your cash that kind of way, I don't care. People will look at me, I have an expensive car. Cool, great, but I didn't have an expensive house. It did feel weird pulling up to my average house with that expensive car. But I paid for it cash. I I'm consumer debt free. I live way below my means, right? But it's like, if I work hard, if I pay off all my consumer debt, if I got a fully funded investment portfolio, fully funding emergency fund, however I decide to spend my money, it should be okay.

• 1:09:49Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:49Speaker 01

  Like, I would never spend a hundred thousand dollars on a vacation. But I will spend a hundred thousand dollars on a car.

• 1:09:54Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:55Speaker 01

  So there's nothing wrong with that.

• 1:09:56Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. What would you say then are normal money habits that are destroying people's finances?

• 1:10:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, man, we gotta get off of money habits. Gotta get off DoorDash, Uber Eats. That's a habit that's just destroying us right now. I say, they say on average, people are spending anywhere between forty two hundred to six thousand dollars a year.

• 1:10:14Lewis Howes?

  So how much do they spend in a year?

• 1:10:15Speaker 01

  Forty two hundred to six thousand dollars a year.

• 1:10:18Lewis Howes?

  On like, uh?

• 1:10:19Speaker 01

  On just DoorDash.

• 1:10:20Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 1:10:20Speaker 01

  So you're gonna order McDonald's that typically would cost you about six, six to ten bucks if you go pick it up. You're spending twenty one dollars for a double cheeseburger value meal. Because you're, because you know, DoorDash up the meals.

• 1:10:32Lewis Howes?

  Then the tips.

• 1:10:33Speaker 01

  Then the tips, then the convenience fee.

• 1:10:35Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 1:10:35Speaker 01

  Right? And then if you're going during busy hours, that convenience fee is even higher, right? Uh, so that, that is one habit that we gotta stop. We have to stop doing. Here's another habit that we gotta stop doing. People don't talk about this. Stop paying premiums, um, uh, high end, uh, health insurance premiums. Get off of PPO, get into the high deductible ones and get a high deductible account that's attached to an HSA health savings account. If you're below forty and you're healthy and you're just going in once or twice a year to get your, your average yearly exams and maybe a urgent care here and there, man, go get you a high deductible plan that keeps your high deductible cost at three thousand, five thousand dollars before any expenses, put that money inside of a savings account.

• 1:11:18Speaker 01

  Most jobs will give you a HSA account and match either the first five hundred to a thousand dollars. Put that money inside that account. Now, when you go to, go to the hospital, when you go to Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, Target, anywhere. Now you can see how you can pay tax-free dollars for that talon all that you were, you were needing. So now we're, we're getting, we have to get, we have to get smart. But because the world has taught us, if I go to the hospital, I only want to pay twenty five dollars out of pocket. But how often are you going to the hospital?

• 1:11:49Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 1:11:50Speaker 01

  So I think that's another habit that we gotta get out of is saying, because that's comfortable. No, man, look, sit down with yourself, ask yourself, um, can I afford that? Like, can I afford to go down to a high deductible plan?

• 1:12:04Lewis Howes?

  Stop living paycheck to paycheck, the proven path to break free from debt, build real wealth and live free.

• 1:12:11Speaker 01

  Yes, sir.

• 1:12:11Lewis Howes?

  On any income. Make sure you guys get a copy, get a few copies for some friends that might be struggling financially. If you're looking to really stabilize your finances, create that vision for yourself, that money vision, eliminate the debt. Start investing and saving and start feeling the freedom that you want to feel. I'm excited about you, uh, this book for you, man. So I want everyone to get this book and make sure to support our guy, Anthony O'Neal. Uh, is there any final money lesson that you've learned in the last couple of years? That you feel like would be helpful for anyone listening or watching right now?

• 1:12:47Speaker 01

  Man, I put so many inside of, uh, the book. But I think one of the lessons that I've learned when it comes to money is, uh, money is a game. And you're either the player or the piece.

• 1:13:04Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 1:13:06Speaker 01

  And I think that the majority of people are the piece and they are being picked up and, and played around with.

• 1:13:12Lewis Howes?

  They're being played.

• 1:13:13Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm. And I think for me, when I really learned that, that I had to transition myself from the player to, not a player, from the piece to the player, man, I learned it. Like, there are so many ways you can build credit without borrowing any money. But we're, we're just not taught that. And we talk about that inside the book. There are so many different ways you can invest without making sixty, seventy thousand dollars a year. We talk about that inside the book. There's, there, money is a game. More so of a game, money is just a strategy. And there's a strategy for everybody on any income level. The strategy change as your income changes.

• 1:13:54Speaker 01

  You go from fifty thousand, you're on this strategy. You're at seventy thousand, you're on this strategy. You're on a hundred thousand, you're on this strategy. To watch this, from a hundred thousand to about a half a million, you're in the same strategy. Right? And so, uh, that's one of the biggest things that I really learned and I just, I spent time. I had this book done before my last book.

• 1:14:13Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 1:14:14Speaker 01

  But I wanted to make sure that this book literally were, there's no fluff in there, there's not a lot of stories. It's here's the strategy for the place and the season of where you're in. And if you follow that strategy, you'll be consumer debt free within twelve to eighteen months. And within the next three years, your whole financial situation will be changed around.

• 1:14:32Lewis Howes?

  Hmm. AnthonyO'Neal.com, Anthony O'Neal on YouTube, Instagram, everyone on social media. Again, make sure you guys get the book, Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck. Um, a couple of final questions for you.

• 1:14:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:14:47Lewis Howes?

  I've asked you this question before a few different times. It's called the three truths. But I'm gonna ask you in a different way.

• 1:14:52Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:14:52Lewis Howes?

  If you could only leave behind the world with three money truths. Three lessons that you know to be true about money that you would leave behind. But we didn't have access to any other money content that you had ever.

• 1:15:06Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:15:07Lewis Howes?

  What would those three money truths be for you?

• 1:15:11Speaker 01

  Number one, give, uh, give back ten percent as far as to be generous. Um, and activate the spiritual realm for you. Number two, um, make sure that you budget and write down every single dollar. Spend every single dollar on paper first. And then number three, um, invest, position your money to make more money over a period of time, because your money will work harder than you will. Invest at least fifteen to twenty percent.

• 1:15:43Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 1:15:43Speaker 01

  That's it.

• 1:15:45Lewis Howes?

  Final question, Anthony, what's your definition of greatness?

• 1:15:49Speaker 01

  Man, you know, it's changed, man. I think my definition of greatness is what have you accomplished that no one else can see? That only you and God can see.

• 1:16:01Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 1:16:03Speaker 01

  And that means only me and God can say that I'm great.

• 1:16:07Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 1:16:08Speaker 01

  Lewis can't, the world can't. Only me and God can say I'm great.

• 1:16:13Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 1:16:13Speaker 01

  And that's my definition of greatness is what have you done behind closed doors? That contributes to who you exude outside for everyone. That's my definition.

• 1:16:26Lewis Howes?

  My man.

• 1:16:27Speaker 01

  My man.

• 1:16:28Lewis Howes?

  Appreciate it, brother.

• 1:16:28Speaker 01

  Appreciate you, sir.

• 1:16:29Lewis Howes?

  My friend, I hope you're enjoying this episode right now because we are on a mission to impact a hundred million lives every single week. And every follow here on this podcast helps us reach more people. Make sure to hit the follow at the top of this show's page right now. It's the single biggest thing that you can do to support the show and the impact of us reaching you every single time we have new episodes. I appreciate you and I can't wait to see you in the next episode. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's episode with all the important links.

• 1:17:09Lewis Howes?

  And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me personally, as well as ad-free listening, then make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Share this with a friend on social media and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts as well. Let me know what you enjoyed about this episode in that review. I really love hearing feedback from you and it helps us figure out how we can support and serve you moving forward. And I want to remind you, if no one has told you lately, that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.