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Don't Make Your Own Pizza?! | Jared Dillian - E76

March 13, 2024 / 53:02

This episode features Jared Dillian, a former Wall Street trader and author, discussing personal finance and investing topics. Key subjects include the importance of understanding financial decisions, the FIRE movement, and strategies for minimizing financial stress.

Jared shares insights from his career at Lehman Brothers and emphasizes the significance of making informed choices regarding major financial decisions, such as buying a house, a car, and pursuing education. He argues that these decisions can greatly impact one's financial future.

The conversation also touches on the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement, with Jared expressing his disagreement with the notion of retiring early, advocating instead for continuous engagement in work that brings fulfillment.

Additionally, Jared introduces his book, "No Worries," which focuses on living a stress-free financial life. He highlights the importance of minimizing debt and risk as key factors in achieving financial peace.

Listeners can expect practical advice and unique perspectives on personal finance, making this episode valuable for anyone looking to improve their financial literacy.

TL;DR

Jared Dillian discusses personal finance, the FIRE movement, and strategies for minimizing financial stress in this episode.

Video

00:00:01
welcome to the best interest podcast
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where we believe Benjamin Franklin's
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advice that an investment in knowledge
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pays the best interest both in finances
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and in your life every episode teaches
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you personal finance and investing in
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simple terms now here's your host Jesse
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Kramer hello and welcome to episode 76
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of the best interest podcast my name is
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Jesse Kramer today Jared dillian is
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going to to be joining the podcast Jared
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is a former Wall Street traiter at Leman
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Brothers he's the author of four books
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he writes a newsletter for financial
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professionals called The Daily dirt naap
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and I've heard Jared speak before and
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after talking to him for today's episode
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I think Jared he's almost a bit like a a
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sports radio personality in the way that
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he's sharp and witty you know he's got
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that kind of fast brain like you'd
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expect for someone on radio he's
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certainly not afraid of controversy and
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that's the other thing that kind of
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makes him like a a radio personality and
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you'll hear me nicely push back on Jared
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a couple times today asking for
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clarification asking him to explain
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further why he thinks things he thinks
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and personally I think it's fun to hear
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new opinions to hear different takes
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it's fun to talk to those people in
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general I enjoy bringing them on the
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podcast to explain some of their ideas
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to you all listening maybe they'll
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change our minds maybe not but either
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way it's it's just always interesting to
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know what other people think out there
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about personal finance and investing but
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first let's get to our review of the
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week as a reminder these reviews are
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from Apple podcasts I really enjoy
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reading the reviews you guys leave me on
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Apple podcasts you can also leave a
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rating there or you can leave a rating
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on Spotify most likely however you're
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listening here to the podcast you can
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leave some sort of review or rating this
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one comes from long
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b99 who wrote in and said one of the
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best I listened to several retirement
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investing podcasts and this is one of
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the best Jesse does a great job
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explaining things he has on interesting
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guests and he has an excellent and
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informative website I recommend well
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long bch thank you very much I
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appreciate the kind words and as always
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drop me a note Jesse best bestin
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interest. blog and I will get you hooked
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up with some bestest ge now before Jared
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comes on the podcast today I want to
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share with you some of my own thoughts
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the usual monologue and first because
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Jared is talking about maybe some unique
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takes I thought I would start by reading
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you from a very recent post I wrote
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which was called boring money topics
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that I find fun one of the first things
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I thought about when I was writing this
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article was the way that a lot of kids
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find some things in life very boring
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that somehow adults find fun now
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personally I didn't even know how to
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pronounce l miserable the the musical
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until about 2017 and now 7 years later I
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know all the songs uh my wife bought me
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tickets to lay Miz as a birthday present
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this year we're actually going next
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weekend and what a amazing musical uh
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99% of children I think they dislike art
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museums they dislike musicals they
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dislike reading the news but many adults
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we find beauty or Intrigue or interest
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in those same ideas and a similar boring
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to not boring transition occurs in
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personal finance the problem or at least
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the problem as I see it in personal
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finance is that the fun of something of
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it not being boring anymore that fun it
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doesn't usually last we had fun getting
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our personal finances under control we
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got hooked on that fund some of you
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listening might be hooked on that fund
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right now you might be in the process of
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improving and optimizing and you're
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you're feeling that fun and it can last
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for months or even a few years when
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money goes from some sort of scary
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unknown to an exciting area of
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optimization but then after we get it
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all figured out and that's when well as
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BB King famously saying that's when The
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Thrill Is Gone and thus you find
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yourself here listening to podcasts or
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or reading blogs or something like that
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looking for new ideas or just trying to
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keep the fun there I don't think that's
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a reason to despair though because the
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lack of financial fun ultimately is a
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good thing it's a sign that your
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finances are in a great place but
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despite my finances being in a in a very
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comfortable place I still still find
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lots of fun Financial things to think
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and learn about there are a few
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traditionally boring topics that I still
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find very exciting I I write about them
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sometimes I talk about them sometimes
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and here I'm going to share some of them
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with you and maybe it'll tickle some
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Intrigue in your brain as well the first
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one getting to know your taxes I'm not
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sure it can get more boring than taxes
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at least for the lay person but I
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actually like taxes and over the past
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two years especially I've realized that
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the tax code is somewhere between a
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puzzle and a game and I personally I
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love puzzles and games the rules of the
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game are very well defined although
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there are a ton of rules certainly I I
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do not know all the rules at this point
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but I've learned a lot over the last
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couple years and the more rules I learn
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about taxes the better my strategies in
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that game become the various pieces if
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you will in in the tax code they
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interact in different and sometimes
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surprising ways and there are always
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multiple ways to solve a tax problem
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sometimes a solution will decrease this
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year's taxes sometimes a solution will
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decrease future taxes sometimes we trade
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off lots of effort and paperwork just to
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save a few bucks and we have to ask
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ourselves is that a worthwhile trade I
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mean this is all kind of game theory
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game strategies do we want improvements
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now do we want improvements for the long
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run and there are many ways to skin a
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cat if you will there are many ways to
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solve these different tax problems now
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if you're a young w you to worker like
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me there's not too much to know our tax
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scenarios are fairly simple I will say
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for me the best interest is an LLC so
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that adds a little bit of a hiccup in
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there which is why I do actually use a
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tax preparer I use an enrolled agent to
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help me file my taxes but for most young
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W2 employees it's not too complicated
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but if you're a retiree and you're
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earning social security income you're
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making Ira withdrawals you're realizing
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capital gains hopefully long-term maybe
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some short-term capital gains or you're
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doing tax loss harvesting you're earning
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interest and dividends well you've got a
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very interesting tax puzzle lying before
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you and the interactions on your simple
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1040 tax return can be quite complex and
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can involve thousands of tax dollars per
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year if you're a business owner or you
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own say rental real estate you own
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multiple real estate properties that
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that tax puzzle intensifies and that's
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why a good CPA accountant is worth their
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weight in gold now to be clear tax
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planning in this way or tax optimization
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is not about cheating the tax system
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when accountants tell me they're
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aggressive I take that as a euphemism
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for I bend the tax code Until It Breaks
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now that's bad and it's usually just
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straight up illegal and I recommend you
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avoid that I don't think you should be
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looking to work with an aggressive
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accountant and I think that idea of an
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aggressive accountant isn't a good one
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and so you if you're an honest
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accountant listening to this my
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recommendation is you find find a
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different word than aggressive but
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working with a tax professional who one
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knows the rules of the tax code inside
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and out and then two enjoys optimally
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solving the puzzle that you bring to
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them well odds are that person can solve
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your puzzle much better than you can
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alone and so at the very least a pro tip
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I have for all you guys listening is
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starting this year review your 1040
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federal tax return or whatever your
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country's equivalent tax return is try
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to go through it line by line and if you
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don't understand what a particular line
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item means look it up or teach yourself
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and over time you'll understand a little
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bit more about this interesting puzzle
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game called taxes the second boring
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topic is to wait for a decade or to now
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many of you know by now that the best
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interest is a big proponent of long-term
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investing which as you might have
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noticed includes the words long term
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we're not talking weeks or months we
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measure in decades we beat a slow tempo
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drum of basic tenants like Buy and Hold
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and diversify and don't look for needles
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just buy the whole Hy stack now those
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tips are boring so to spice things up
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I'd like to remind myself and you of
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Market history one of my favorite
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cautionary tales is that returns are
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never promised and we have suffered
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Decades of zero returns I'm going to
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link an article in the show notes about
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that idea that concept the very real
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historical concept of Decades of zero
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returns and there's a chart in that
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article that is worth looking at that
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shows four unique periods one to start
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the 1900s it was kind of like 1900 to
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1921 a second period which is right
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around the Great Depression uh a third
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period which starts in the 60s and goes
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to the 80s and then a fourth period that
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was from the.com Bubble to the great
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financial crisis these four periods
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which the shortest one was about 14
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years long the longest one was about 20
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years long when there was essentially no
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return from the S&P 500 if you adjusted
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the S&P 500 for inflation and even if
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you reinvested all your dividends you
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could draw a straight line from an early
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Peak to a later Valley that was
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somewhere between 15 and 20 years long
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with zero return and now as I realized
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in hindsight there's a small problem
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with that idea now all everything I just
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said is factually correct the the the
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chart if you decide to go look at the
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chart is completely factually correct
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but it presents data differently than
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most people think inflation adjusting
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the data is usually a good idea in my
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opinion but when you do that a chart
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that is inflation adjusted it does not
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measure dollars and cents instead it
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measures purchasing power most of us
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though we measure our accounts in
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dollars and cents we understand the
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reality of inflation that it's
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constantly gnawing at our purchasing
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power but we don't inflation adjust our
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conception of the world right if $1
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grows to $2
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we see exactly that we don't say oh but
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inflation was 14% so really it's like I
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only have a186 no we think we have2 doll
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so to fix that problem I reconstructed
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that original plot to show nominal
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dollars I'll link this article that I'm
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reading from right now the boring money
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topics article so that you can see this
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adjusted chart as well and the adjusted
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chart looks a little bit different it
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looks a little bit more optimistic but
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it's still very eye opening to realize
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that you can have four or five or six
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year periods where your stock investment
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essentially will not grow it will not
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grow even if measured in nominal dollars
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imagine someone had started investing
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they put a million dollars in the stock
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market sometime in the early 90s they
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would have seen their account grow quite
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a bit between then and now however that
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person could have drawn a straight line
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from about
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1997 to about 2009
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with zero growth and that includes if
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they reinvest all their dividends that
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can be really depressing if you're
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sitting there in 2009 you look at your
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account value it's 1.6 million and then
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you look back in time and you say oh how
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is at 1.6 million in 12 years ago that's
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not great that's not what any of us hope
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will happen to our stock portfolios but
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it's a very real possibility now if that
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person in 2009 with 1.6 million had
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stayed the course and they held their
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portfolio till today 1.6 million it
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hasn't quite 10x in these past what 12
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years but they are significantly better
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off today they're probably somewhere
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like 12 to 14 million dollar today if
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they'd stayed the course but again the
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boring idea about investing for decades
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and Decades of time that idea is boring
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but to me the exciting part is the
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realization that it's not going to be a
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smooth ride right it's going to be a bit
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of a roller coaster and one of the
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downsides of that is that it's a
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realistic possibility to think that you
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might go through a three or five or even
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a 10-year period where ostensibly your
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stock portfolio won't grow one little
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bit now to me that's exciting in the
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same way that base jumping is exciting
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it's a far stretch from the lazy
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shorthand that we often hear which is
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you know the S&P returns 10% per year
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too many Financial influencers used that
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idea I've been guilty of that shorthand
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and I I do understand its usage if we're
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using it as a shorthand to for example
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calculate 30 years of compounding 10% a
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year for 30 years gets you to X but I
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despise that shorthand when I hear it
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used to explain expected stock market
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returns to a new investor new investors
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need to know that Stock Investing is not
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a smooth ride it's not always up and to
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the right it involves years if not
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Decades of what can feel like wasted
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time five years is a long time 10 years
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according to my math is even longer now
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are you excited to stay the course that
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long through both the thick and the thin
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of course the analysis that I'm talking
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about today assumes a lump some
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investment and of course dollar cost
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averaging Smooths out that ride
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immensely in fact dollar cost averaging
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actually takes advantage of the bad
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times and the volatility I'm a huge fan
00:13:49
of dollar cost averaging and I invest
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monthly or even more frequently than
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monthly in my 401k my Roth IRA those
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kind of things the third boring top IC
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is to know your flow that is cash flow
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cash flow is like a cinder block of
00:14:04
personal finance it's boring it's basic
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it's plain every other synonym thereof
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but like cinder blocks it is also
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foundational you cannot build strong
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personal finances without healthy cash
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flow and you won't know if you have
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healthy cash flow unless you measure it
00:14:23
that is the financial fundamental that
00:14:25
most people Overlook and speaking of
00:14:28
base jumping the four boring topic that
00:14:30
I like to think about is buying
00:14:31
protection because the exciting part
00:14:34
about extreme sports is the jump itself
00:14:37
but it's someone's job to consider the
00:14:38
boring questions like is that parachute
00:14:40
packed correctly or can that bungee
00:14:43
Cable support a 300 pound man or maybe
00:14:45
something like if he doesn't make it and
00:14:47
he lands inside the pit of burning tires
00:14:50
what's our rescue plan okay that's kind
00:14:52
of funny but on a more serious note what
00:14:55
about the modern miracles of say CPR and
00:14:58
aad automated external def fibulator
00:15:00
Christian Erikson if you don't know him
00:15:02
he's a Danish soccer player he's
00:15:04
currently on the roster for Manchester
00:15:05
United and on June 12th 2021 Christian
00:15:09
Ericson at the age of 29 he had a
00:15:11
cardiac arrest during a national team
00:15:13
game when Denmark was playing Finland
00:15:16
Now 50 years ago he would be dead
00:15:19
straight up dead but because the
00:15:21
training staff is both CPR trained and
00:15:24
well equipped with that automated
00:15:26
external defibrillator AED Eric heart
00:15:29
was shocked back to life it took one
00:15:31
shock on the field you can watch the
00:15:33
Youtube videos it's the kind of thing
00:15:35
where if it bothers you to watch someone
00:15:37
ostensibly die on camera it's a little
00:15:39
traumatic video but the fact that he
00:15:42
lived means at least for me it's very
00:15:44
interesting to see it's kind of like a
00:15:46
terrible but thankfully it ends well
00:15:48
silver lined you could say human story
00:15:50
to see people's reactions to see the
00:15:53
fans reactions to hear the stadium go
00:15:55
silent but to see this training staff
00:15:57
who had asked the write questions
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beforehand and they were well prepared
00:16:01
and well trained and they react in
00:16:03
seconds they're sprinting on the field
00:16:05
they're checking him they're doing CPR
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they use the AED and they save his life
00:16:10
now in a more American sense a similar
00:16:13
Cardiac Arrest happens to Demar Hamlin
00:16:15
in a Buffalo Bills football game in
00:16:17
January of 2023 and again in that case
00:16:20
an AED was used to shock his heart back
00:16:23
to life dear Hamlin is alive and well
00:16:26
and still playing football now those
00:16:28
might be one in 10,000 events right low
00:16:31
low probability and those are easy odds
00:16:34
to ignore but asking yourself well what
00:16:37
happens if that question can lead to
00:16:40
some life-saving answers a little
00:16:42
preparation goes a long way now the
00:16:44
personal finance World skewes less life
00:16:47
and death than Cardiac Arrest but some
00:16:49
of the financial Q&A will point you
00:16:51
towards things like a well-funded
00:16:53
emergency fund life insurance now term
00:16:56
life insurance only guys uh home and
00:16:58
auto insurance disability insurance
00:17:00
umbrella Insurance a lot of insurance is
00:17:03
here right protection is a lot about
00:17:05
margin of safety it's about insurance
00:17:07
but if you're unsure what kind of
00:17:08
insurance you do or don't need ask
00:17:11
yourself this fundamental question
00:17:14
question is if something bad happened on
00:17:17
some particular axis do I have the
00:17:20
assets needed to pay for it now here are
00:17:22
some examples if I died would my family
00:17:25
have the assets and cash flow to
00:17:27
continue our desire lifestyle if your
00:17:30
answer is no you probably need life
00:17:32
insurance if I got disabled and couldn't
00:17:34
work do I have the assets needed for my
00:17:37
family to continue our lifestyle if not
00:17:40
you need disability insurance if my
00:17:42
house burned to the ground or got swept
00:17:43
away in a hurricane something like that
00:17:46
well you can finish that question you
00:17:48
might need homeowners insurance if I got
00:17:50
sued when the mailman trips on my
00:17:52
sidewalk da da da da da you might need
00:17:55
umbrella Insurance you can ask yourself
00:17:56
those kind of questions if you don't
00:17:58
have the assets to cover your potential
00:18:01
liability you need insurance all right
00:18:04
now if everything in your finances feels
00:18:06
boring as we said that is a good thing
00:18:09
like Marv and home alone too you've
00:18:12
reached the top Harry I've reach the
00:18:20
top there are plenty of nuance topics in
00:18:23
personal finance to nose dive into or
00:18:25
you can just go live your life you can
00:18:27
go check out a musical or a museum and
00:18:31
as they say in Lay Miz another story
00:18:34
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interest. blog but enough of these
00:19:42
boring topics let's get to some exciting
00:19:45
conversation with Jared dillian Jared is
00:19:47
a writer an author a DJ and a speaker
00:19:51
he's former Wall Street Trader at Leman
00:19:54
brothers and has been working in
00:19:56
financial adjacent fields ever since his
00:19:58
new newsletters include the daily dirt
00:20:00
naap a daily Market newsletter for
00:20:02
investment professionals and another
00:20:04
newsletter called we're going to get
00:20:06
those bastards which is about everything
00:20:09
that is depraved especially Finance
00:20:11
culture music and sex I haven't read
00:20:14
that one but sounds intriguing Jared's
00:20:16
books include Street freak which we will
00:20:18
mention today all the evil of this world
00:20:21
those bastards and recently released a
00:20:24
book called No Worries which again we
00:20:27
will dive into a little bit today so
00:20:29
without further Ado here is Jared
00:20:36
dillian Jared thanks for sitting down on
00:20:39
the best interest podcast maybe you know
00:20:42
I I think the average Wall Street
00:20:44
Professional might have heard of you
00:20:46
they they know about the daily dirt naap
00:20:48
but a lot of the diyers might not have
00:20:50
so so give us a real quick rundown of
00:20:52
your career kind of where you got to
00:20:54
where you are what the daily dirt naap
00:20:57
is what you find yourself filling your
00:20:58
days with as far as work goes now yeah I
00:21:01
went to the Coast Guard Academy for
00:21:02
college and served in the Coast Guard
00:21:05
for nine years while I was in the Coast
00:21:08
Guard I got super interested in trading
00:21:10
I wanted to be a Trader on Wall Street
00:21:12
uh on my second tour in San Francisco I
00:21:16
went to USF the University of San
00:21:18
Francisco got my MBA I also got a
00:21:21
part-time job on the floor the peos
00:21:23
options exchange so I was a local on the
00:21:27
floor for a little while and then I
00:21:29
turned that into a job at Liam Brothers
00:21:32
started working at Liam Brothers in
00:21:34
2001 uh I did index Arbitrage for three
00:21:37
years and then I ran the ETF desk for
00:21:40
four years ETF trading at the bankruptcy
00:21:44
I decided to leave you know Barclays
00:21:46
took over the leing broker dealer
00:21:49
operation but I decided to leave and
00:21:51
start my newsletter the daily dirt naap
00:21:53
so I've literally been doing that for
00:21:54
the last 16 years I've written a bunch
00:21:57
of books along the way Street freak was
00:21:59
published in 2011 all the evil of this
00:22:02
world was published in 2016 those
00:22:04
bastards was published last year and no
00:22:07
worries how to live a stressfree
00:22:08
financial life was published in January
00:22:11
I had a very long gig at Bloomberg
00:22:14
opinion I was an oped columnist for
00:22:17
Bloomberg for like five and a half years
00:22:19
also did that at Forbes also had a radio
00:22:21
show for a couple of years so yeah I've
00:22:24
done a lot of stuff cool very cool now
00:22:28
we're definitely going to talk about no
00:22:29
worries in a little bit and I think some
00:22:31
of the actual specific finance and
00:22:33
investing topics that I want to dig into
00:22:35
are very much in the vein of no worries
00:22:37
some cool stuff that you've talked about
00:22:38
recently on your podcast but going back
00:22:40
to Leman Brothers I mean you were there
00:22:42
at the bankruptcy right you were there
00:22:43
during the great financial crisis which
00:22:45
of your books maybe are just what can
00:22:47
you point people to if they're
00:22:49
interested in hearing some of your
00:22:50
stories from the inside of what it was
00:22:52
like to be there in the trading desk or
00:22:53
be there during the bankruptcy for sure
00:22:56
you would want to you would want to read
00:22:57
Street for you know you can still get it
00:22:59
off Amazon you can pick up Ed copies or
00:23:02
you can get it on Kindle but that's
00:23:05
that's the story of my time at Leeman
00:23:07
brothers from 2001 to 2008 and all kinds
00:23:11
of incredible stories which you wouldn't
00:23:14
believe that book is actually pretty old
00:23:16
now I mean that book is like 13 years
00:23:18
old yeah and it's held up pretty well
00:23:20
over time I mean it's a it's a classic
00:23:22
can can you give us any any spoilers or
00:23:24
just like does any one story stick out
00:23:27
from whether it's in the book or not
00:23:28
just any one story about how crazy that
00:23:31
time was I can tell you a story which
00:23:34
really I think speaks to leman's culture
00:23:38
there was an options Trader he traded
00:23:41
options ON Semiconductor companies and
00:23:44
he had a little bit of a temper I mean
00:23:45
we all did you know we all like broke
00:23:47
phones and stuff like that he gets mad
00:23:50
and he takes his phone and he slams it
00:23:52
on the desk and it bounces up and hits
00:23:55
his computer screen and breaks his
00:23:58
screen right so now not only is he
00:24:00
losing money his screen is broken he
00:24:03
can't do anything about it and he just
00:24:05
kind of he he just kind of hangs his
00:24:07
head and within 30 seconds these two it
00:24:12
guys come over you know wearing like
00:24:14
burgundy shirts and they have like
00:24:17
drills and they come up and they go and
00:24:19
they take out his screen and put in a
00:24:22
new one like a pit crew like it was like
00:24:25
NASCAR they put it and he was up and
00:24:27
running in a it and that's really what
00:24:30
was so different about Lan from other
00:24:33
firms like there was no bureaucracy like
00:24:36
at a big Bank like JP Morgan you'd have
00:24:38
to put fill out some form some requests
00:24:41
and it would have to get approved by
00:24:42
like six different people and maybe
00:24:44
three months later you would have a new
00:24:46
screen he had one in like 30 seconds
00:24:50
that was Liam Brothers and also it was
00:24:53
kind of an endorsement of his behavior
00:24:55
like look like you're a Trader you're
00:24:57
going to get mad you're going to have
00:24:59
emotions breaking something every once
00:25:01
in a while is not that big of a deal
00:25:04
it's it's such an interesting comparison
00:25:06
or ju position between those kind of
00:25:08
stories or that kind of atmosphere that
00:25:11
you were living in and it is very real
00:25:13
in Wall Street versus the kind of topics
00:25:16
or the importance or the stress that
00:25:18
people should feel in their everyday
00:25:20
finances so let's dive into some of
00:25:22
those topics I mean I really liked one
00:25:23
of your your most recent podcast
00:25:25
episodes the three biggest financial
00:25:27
decisions you will ever make what are
00:25:30
those decisions Jared and and why do you
00:25:31
place so much importance on them first
00:25:34
of all I I would just preface this that
00:25:36
I would say these are the three most
00:25:39
important financial decisions that an
00:25:42
average person will make someone of
00:25:43
average means okay if you have more
00:25:45
money then you're going to have more
00:25:47
complex financial decisions but for the
00:25:48
average person it's buying a house
00:25:51
buying a car and going to college those
00:25:54
three things are really if you get them
00:25:57
right
00:25:59
will set you on a good path and if you
00:26:00
get them wrong you will be paying for it
00:26:02
for the rest of your life and honestly
00:26:04
the biggest one is the house and this is
00:26:06
this is one that this is a mistake that
00:26:08
people make all the time buying a house
00:26:10
for a lot of people is an emotional
00:26:12
decision you know typically what happens
00:26:14
is they get pre-approved for this giant
00:26:17
loan which is based on 42% of their
00:26:21
income and they look for houses on that
00:26:24
basis and they find a house that is too
00:26:26
big for them and they fall in love with
00:26:28
it
00:26:28
and they're like yeah we know the dog
00:26:30
can play in the yard and the kids room
00:26:32
is here and the TV goes over here and
00:26:34
they just fall in love with this house
00:26:36
then they end up overpaying for it and
00:26:39
they have just like all of their free
00:26:42
cash flow going out the window to pay
00:26:45
for this house which crowds out their
00:26:48
ability to number one save for
00:26:51
retirement but number two even really to
00:26:54
just spend disposable income and enjoy
00:26:56
themselves you know everything goes to
00:26:58
the house so what I talk about in the
00:27:01
book is that decision of whether to buy
00:27:04
a house that's one decision if you get
00:27:07
that decision right then you don't have
00:27:10
to worry about small decisions and the
00:27:12
small decisions are like whether you
00:27:14
should buy coffee in the morning if you
00:27:16
get the big decisions right you don't
00:27:18
have to worry about the small decisions
00:27:20
yeah too many people in this Arena place
00:27:22
too much emphasis on the small decisions
00:27:25
whether it's the small decisions just in
00:27:26
terms of dollars and cents you know the
00:27:27
morning coffee or the small decisions in
00:27:29
terms of just time spent I think it was
00:27:32
you but even if it wasn't I I'm sure you
00:27:33
would agree with this statement on some
00:27:35
level the idea that you're sitting in
00:27:37
the grocery aisle and you're wondering
00:27:39
you know do I buy the the store brand
00:27:40
peanut butter or do I splurge for the
00:27:42
GIF like it doesn't matter and why
00:27:44
you're spending more than one second on
00:27:46
it and you know it's it's a $1 decision
00:27:48
and meanwhile you've got a mortgage that
00:27:50
is is 50% too large and you're stressing
00:27:52
about what peanut butter to
00:27:54
buy people just get jammed up on stuff
00:27:58
that does not matter at all like
00:28:02
actually it's funny because I sent out a
00:28:04
newsletter yesterday which talked about
00:28:07
the whole coffee decision and I had a
00:28:10
guy who I know from Wall Street and he's
00:28:12
been amazingly successful I mean we're
00:28:15
talking like nine figures here he's done
00:28:17
really really well and he's like I
00:28:20
disagree with you man like he says when
00:28:22
I lived in New York like I always took
00:28:24
the subway and I brought coffee to work
00:28:27
and and like I what else did he say I
00:28:31
never bought a bottled water and he's
00:28:33
like and that's why I have money and I'm
00:28:35
like you dummy like that's not why you
00:28:37
have money you have money because like
00:28:41
you did all these amazing trades and you
00:28:43
created funds and it was because your
00:28:45
work it's not because you took the
00:28:47
subway it's not because you saved like $
00:28:50
five like it's in it's insane totally
00:28:53
totally and and the other ones on your
00:28:55
list of the car in college a quick
00:28:56
little anecdote literally yesterday as
00:28:59
we record recording on March 1st
00:29:01
yesterday on February 29th my wife and I
00:29:03
bought a new car and you know the new
00:29:05
versus used debate there's some stuff
00:29:06
that I've put out there before that I
00:29:08
think some listeners have heard to that
00:29:09
actually the the the used car market is
00:29:12
pretty efficiently priced and buying a
00:29:14
used car isn't really that much of a of
00:29:16
a deal compared to a new car but we
00:29:18
bought a Hyundai which is very much kind
00:29:20
of an economy car and we did buy new but
00:29:23
my wife's car was 18 years old she was
00:29:25
still driving a 2006 Chevy right so we
00:29:29
squeezed every mile we could out of that
00:29:31
thing she named the car it was Sheila it
00:29:34
was really bad sad to say goodbye to
00:29:36
Sheila but then yeah but then we bought
00:29:38
a new car we did a lot of research we
00:29:40
bought Consumer Reports gives Hyundai's
00:29:42
really good grades we put a lot of time
00:29:44
and effort into it because we know we're
00:29:45
buying this depreciating asset yeah and
00:29:48
we wanted to make it a smart decision or
00:29:50
as smart as we could yeah that's the
00:29:51
right way to do it now kind of Switching
00:29:53
gears because those are some tips that
00:29:55
we said apply to we'll call it you know
00:29:57
the broad center of the bell curve apply
00:30:01
to average people but some people are
00:30:03
richer than average and and you put out
00:30:05
a podcast recently and the title of it
00:30:07
was does it bother you that some people
00:30:09
are richer than others such an
00:30:11
interesting topic it's something I kind
00:30:13
of think about it work because we have
00:30:15
some very wealthy clients we also have
00:30:17
some clients who are just starting out
00:30:18
and and building their long-term wealth
00:30:21
and so I see this so what was the
00:30:22
impetus behind this topic and and what
00:30:24
is your opinion on it Jared I don't
00:30:26
remember the I don't remember why I
00:30:29
talked about this but I don't experience
00:30:32
fomo like if other people are getting
00:30:34
rich on something I'm like good for them
00:30:36
it's their path I'm on my path like it's
00:30:39
like all the Bitcoin stuff from a couple
00:30:41
years ago when people were getting rich
00:30:43
off crypto I'm like great like I'm on my
00:30:46
path I'm going to do my thing and I
00:30:49
don't really care what other people are
00:30:50
doing but a lot of people do a lot of
00:30:52
people are super interested in how much
00:30:54
money somebody else is making and I mean
00:30:57
really like the word we haven't said yet
00:30:59
is Envy like there's a lot of Envy out
00:31:01
there and even Charlie Monger talked
00:31:03
about this like somebody said to Charlie
00:31:05
Monger like do you think the world is
00:31:07
driven by greed and he said no it's
00:31:09
driven by Envy and like it took me a
00:31:12
long time to understand that because I
00:31:14
fortunately was born without that reflex
00:31:17
like I don't experience Envy I mean
00:31:20
don't get me wrong there's some people
00:31:22
who are richer than me who I think are
00:31:24
dumber than me and you know I kind of
00:31:27
wish like had as much money as they had
00:31:29
but like I said like I'm on my path Envy
00:31:31
is the worst out of the seven deadly
00:31:34
sins because you don't get to have any
00:31:37
fun at it you get to have fun at lust
00:31:40
you get to have fun at sloth right but
00:31:42
you don't get to have fun at Envy like
00:31:44
Envy is just miserable you know not to
00:31:46
get political but Envy is what drives
00:31:48
really terrible social movements and
00:31:51
people get hurt you know in some
00:31:53
countries very high tax rates and
00:31:56
communism and all that stuff so you know
00:31:58
I just encourage people to just focus on
00:32:00
what they're doing and ignore what
00:32:03
everybody else is doing I I was hoping
00:32:04
you would bring up I I I think I've
00:32:06
heard Charlie Monger say that same exact
00:32:07
thing about Envy right it's the only one
00:32:09
of the seven deadly sits you don't get
00:32:10
to have any fun with and it is true
00:32:13
right all it does is drain you I was
00:32:15
having a conversation with a client the
00:32:17
other day it was a terrific conversation
00:32:19
just on that topic of yes there will
00:32:23
always be people in the world and this
00:32:24
might even be a buffet quote but there
00:32:26
will always be people in the world who
00:32:27
are richer than you and also dumber than
00:32:30
you and and it's right it's another
00:32:32
version of like you know the Jones is
00:32:34
down the street maybe or like it's
00:32:36
frustrating maybe some of it's luck
00:32:38
maybe it's that some people are born on
00:32:40
third base and others aren't the world
00:32:42
throws you situations that you have no
00:32:44
control over and that brings me back one
00:32:46
of my favorite quotes is the Annie Duke
00:32:48
quote I don't know if you know Annie
00:32:49
Duke Jared poker player right Annie says
00:32:51
there are two things in your life that
00:32:53
control the the outcome of your life
00:32:56
it's the quality of the decisions that
00:32:58
you make and luck all you can control is
00:33:01
the quality of your decisions luck is
00:33:02
out of your hands going back to the
00:33:04
original question does it bother you
00:33:05
that some people are richer than others
00:33:07
maybe at one point in my life when I
00:33:09
didn't have as much perspective on the
00:33:10
world but at this point when you talk
00:33:12
about the path that you're on Jared and
00:33:14
you're on your path and they're on their
00:33:16
path and I'm on my path and all I can
00:33:18
control is the quality of my own
00:33:20
decisions yep you've been asked about
00:33:21
this next topic a lot it is such an
00:33:23
interesting topic though I know for a
00:33:25
fact that a good number of my listeners
00:33:28
are on the fire path they are they are
00:33:32
diyers wow they are seeking Financial
00:33:35
Independence you know Mr Money Mustache
00:33:37
was an inspiration to them at some point
00:33:38
in life and and maybe we do need to
00:33:40
separate Financial independence from
00:33:43
retiring early right the FI versus the
00:33:47
re but let's dive into a little bit on
00:33:49
your position on the fire movement at
00:33:51
least the way that that it's been
00:33:52
presented to you and if you've thought
00:33:54
about it before Jared I mean do you
00:33:56
think about financial Independence
00:33:58
differently than the retiring early
00:34:01
aspect of it first of all I I wrote a
00:34:03
substack about this I don't know if you
00:34:05
saw it did you see it yeah I I did and
00:34:07
we will link it in the show notes for
00:34:08
everybody to read it's a good one and
00:34:10
some people got upset about that number
00:34:12
one I don't want to retire early and
00:34:14
number two I don't want Financial
00:34:16
Independence what Financial Independence
00:34:18
means is getting to a number that you
00:34:23
have in your head about what makes you
00:34:26
independent and then stopping that's
00:34:28
sort of implicit in that like you get to
00:34:30
a number and then you stop right I
00:34:32
disagree with that like I'm going to go
00:34:34
beyond that number and I'm going to keep
00:34:35
going and I'm never going to stop and
00:34:38
with regard to retire early you I I
00:34:41
spoke at Coastal Carolina University a
00:34:43
couple days ago spoke to a class of
00:34:46
business students and I said I don't
00:34:47
want to retire my goal is not to do
00:34:51
nothing and there a lot of people say
00:34:53
like well you get to retire and pursue
00:34:55
your dreams and all that stuff I'm like
00:34:56
great well my dream is to be a DJ right
00:35:00
like I already like I'm a DJ already
00:35:02
like I play parties but wouldn't it be
00:35:04
cool if I just had like 16 hours a day
00:35:07
and I could just do music and nothing
00:35:09
else that would actually be hell like
00:35:12
that would be hell for my hobby to
00:35:15
become my job and like take up my whole
00:35:18
life like that would actually suck I
00:35:20
don't want to retire I don't want a lot
00:35:23
of unstructured free time like I like
00:35:26
working and I think the fire movement is
00:35:28
for people who really dislike their jobs
00:35:31
they don't like working they want to
00:35:33
stop and then what happens is you stop
00:35:36
and then you have $2 million saved up or
00:35:39
something like that and then every time
00:35:41
the stock market goes down 3% you freak
00:35:43
out because you think you're going to
00:35:44
run out of money and you're going to
00:35:46
have to go back to work and you're going
00:35:47
to have like a 10year gap in your resume
00:35:49
and you're not going to be able to get a
00:35:50
job that sounds like hell to me like it
00:35:53
sounds it's it really sounds terrible so
00:35:56
I don't care if the math works out like
00:35:58
I mean the fire people say the math
00:36:00
works out and I think their return
00:36:03
assumptions on the stock market are a
00:36:05
little high I think if you use six or
00:36:08
eight% return assumptions I think it's a
00:36:11
different it's a different calculus than
00:36:13
if you're using 10 or 12% return
00:36:15
assumptions but nonetheless like I don't
00:36:18
want to retire and I'm just going to
00:36:20
keep working because I like working I
00:36:23
like that answer and and we're a big fan
00:36:25
here of different points of view so even
00:36:27
though I mean I know enough of my
00:36:29
listeners well enough that they're going
00:36:30
to respect everything you just said
00:36:31
Jared and I can speak for myself
00:36:33
certainly where my introduction to the
00:36:36
fire of movement call it 2015 or so I'm
00:36:39
a 25-year-old engineer right mechanical
00:36:42
engineer working in Aerospace I'd give
00:36:44
my job a B minus or a C+ it simply
00:36:46
didn't Light My Fire it was paying fine
00:36:49
I didn't mind going into work but I
00:36:50
didn't love it and yeah the idea of
00:36:53
escaping that particular work style was
00:36:57
appealing to me and I didn't know it per
00:36:59
se at the time I didn't realize it but I
00:37:02
just said oh this fire movement seems
00:37:03
interesting the idea of saving money
00:37:05
investing for the long run that I I can
00:37:07
get on board with that and so I started
00:37:09
learning a lot more it wasn't until
00:37:11
actually I started the best interest
00:37:14
where I found this passion project and
00:37:16
then that led me to switching careers to
00:37:18
where now I'm kind of working one-onone
00:37:19
with clients I love what I'm doing now I
00:37:22
love my work dayss so the idea of the
00:37:25
financial side of the financial
00:37:27
Independence Movement meaning diversify
00:37:30
lowcost index funds live a Frugal
00:37:32
lifestyle I'm on boarded with all that
00:37:35
once you find something that you love to
00:37:36
do work-wise I have no need or no desire
00:37:39
to retire early I have no need or desire
00:37:42
to hit my fi number and stop so I I
00:37:44
totally see both sides of the coin you
00:37:47
talked about Mr Money Mustache and I've
00:37:50
never met him the fire movement seems to
00:37:53
me to be an anti-consumption movement
00:37:56
really more than anything else
00:37:58
the idea that you would spend money on
00:38:00
something that brings you enjoyment is
00:38:03
immoral in their framework you know what
00:38:06
I mean Mr Money Mustache wrote this
00:38:08
whole essay about how he made a pizza at
00:38:11
home he's like you know we made the
00:38:13
dough and we had the pepperoni and we
00:38:16
made this tomato sauce and we made the
00:38:18
pizza and it took a couple hours and
00:38:20
he's like hey all the ingredients for
00:38:21
the pizza cost $5 so I saved $15 instead
00:38:26
of buying a pizza for 20 bucks and I'm
00:38:29
like dummy like you spend 3 hours making
00:38:33
the pizza and if you value your time at
00:38:35
$25 an hour then it's an $80 Pizza you
00:38:39
know what I mean and there's a lot of
00:38:40
people out there who like don't
00:38:42
understand this relationship between
00:38:43
time and money and for him it's really
00:38:46
more of you know it was he was like I
00:38:49
don't want this like dangerous car
00:38:51
rumbling down the street to my house and
00:38:53
all this stuff I'm like come on man like
00:38:55
it's Insanity The Reason re dominoes
00:38:58
exists is because of a division of labor
00:39:01
we have this thing called a division of
00:39:02
labor like dominoes is better at making
00:39:06
pizzas than you and they're faster so
00:39:09
you should buy a pizza from dominoes and
00:39:12
that will take you a minute and then
00:39:16
with the three hours that you would have
00:39:17
spent making the pizza do something else
00:39:20
like work like write short stories watch
00:39:22
baseball clean the house like it's a
00:39:25
better use of your time than a pizza I
00:39:28
don't know if you ever heard this before
00:39:30
but it's really more of a philosophical
00:39:32
issue about capitalism but it's called
00:39:34
the allegory of the sandwich right no no
00:39:38
us so the allegory of the sandwich is
00:39:41
okay I don't want to go to the store and
00:39:44
I don't want to trade with anyone else
00:39:46
so I'm going to make a sandwich myself
00:39:48
so how long would it take me to make a
00:39:50
sandwich well I would have to grow wheat
00:39:53
in my backyard and Mill the wheat and
00:39:56
make flour
00:39:57
and I'd have to raise a pig for the ham
00:40:00
and butcher the pig and I would have to
00:40:02
grow lettuce and grow tomatoes and you
00:40:05
know have chickens for eggs for
00:40:07
mayonnaise and all this stuff it would
00:40:09
take me a thousand hours to make a
00:40:11
sandwich and that's really the beauty of
00:40:14
trade right so we have a division of
00:40:17
labor I do what I'm good at which is
00:40:19
like writing newsletters and I earn
00:40:21
money by writing newsletters which I can
00:40:23
use to buy a sandwich you know so I
00:40:25
don't have to spend a, hours making a
00:40:28
sandwich so the the whole thing is just
00:40:31
it's almost anti- capitalist it really
00:40:33
is and I just I totally disagree with it
00:40:37
oh well I I definitely think there are
00:40:38
quarters like I have seen the extremes
00:40:40
there's one website I know of Jared
00:40:42
where they have a spreadsheet that
00:40:44
probably has two or three hundred line
00:40:46
items in it and every line item is a
00:40:48
food and since you were talking about
00:40:50
food there it breaks the foods down into
00:40:53
costs per calorie if you want to really
00:40:55
be frugal here it's rice and beans and
00:40:58
actually some kinds of some brands of
00:41:00
chicken but it's almost missing a bit of
00:41:02
the forest for the trees in in my
00:41:04
opinion and and stepping over dollars to
00:41:06
pick up pennies there's definitely an
00:41:08
aspect of that in the fire movement too
00:41:10
that I don't think is healthy and some
00:41:12
leaders in the fire movement I've seen
00:41:14
are definitely starting to separate
00:41:15
themselves from that line of thinking a
00:41:17
little bit I love the allegory of the
00:41:19
sandwich I love bringing it back to kind
00:41:21
of basic economics and trade is a
00:41:23
wonderful thing currency to promote
00:41:25
trade that's a fantastic thing thank God
00:41:28
we have dollars and nickels and quarters
00:41:29
so that we can trade our bread and ham
00:41:32
with one another I just think it speaks
00:41:34
Jared to some people worry about the
00:41:37
wrong things when it comes to their
00:41:38
financial life here's a quick ad and
00:41:41
then we'll get back to the show serious
00:41:43
question why do podcasters constantly
00:41:46
ask for ratings and reviews yes they do
00:41:49
help highlight our shows to new
00:41:50
listeners they help strangers find us on
00:41:52
Apple podcast and Spotify it's totally
00:41:55
true and a good reason to ask for
00:41:56
ratings and reviews use but I have
00:41:58
something more important at least more
00:42:00
important to me I want to know if you
00:42:02
like this stuff I want to know if you
00:42:04
like my podcast episodes my monologues
00:42:06
my guests the information I share with
00:42:08
you and the stories I tell I want to
00:42:10
improve and make your listening more
00:42:12
enjoyable in the process so yeah I would
00:42:14
love to read your reviews and sure if
00:42:17
you throw a rating in there too that's
00:42:18
great if you like what I'm doing please
00:42:21
share it with me it's such a great
00:42:22
feeling to read your feedback I'd love
00:42:25
to read your review or see rating on
00:42:28
Apple podcast or Spotify thank you let's
00:42:31
talk a little bit about your most recent
00:42:33
book no worries what can readers expect
00:42:35
from the book I mean it's the best damn
00:42:37
personal finance book ever written it's
00:42:39
really really good humbly speaking so
00:42:42
the reviews on Amazon today went from
00:42:45
4.9 to 4.8 they dropped to 4.8 so that
00:42:50
sucks but it's gotten great reviews a
00:42:53
lot of people have said it's really
00:42:54
changed the way they think about money I
00:42:57
I mean it's about living a stressfree
00:42:59
financial life right most of the
00:43:01
personal finance books if you go to
00:43:02
Barnes & Noble and you go to the
00:43:04
Bookshelf it's a lot of schlocky stuff
00:43:07
like 12 ways to become a millionaire and
00:43:09
stuff like that I don't think the goal
00:43:11
should be should be to be a millionaire
00:43:13
like that's the goal shouldn't be to get
00:43:15
to some number I mean the goal should be
00:43:18
to be happy with your financial
00:43:20
situation so it's really a book about
00:43:22
happiness and the first part of the book
00:43:24
talks about your attitudes towards money
00:43:26
and the first chapter is probably the
00:43:28
most important chapter of the book and
00:43:29
it's called you have to want it and a
00:43:33
lot of people they want to want money
00:43:36
but they don't want money if you know
00:43:38
what I mean dive into that a little bit
00:43:40
more they want to want it but they don't
00:43:43
want it I'm not I I I might need five
00:43:45
seconds to to follow that logic what
00:43:47
what is that what is that I would say
00:43:48
the vast majority of people don't really
00:43:50
have a concept of what it takes to make
00:43:54
money for example you have a job you
00:43:57
work at a university you get paid
00:43:58
$70,000 a year great so you think you
00:44:02
make what you make unless you get like a
00:44:05
cost of living bump or a raise or an
00:44:07
award or something like that but you
00:44:08
pretty much make what you make every
00:44:10
year well there's a lot of other things
00:44:11
you can do to make money first of all
00:44:14
you could totally change careers right
00:44:16
you could say I could make more money
00:44:18
selling real estate so you could leave
00:44:21
your career and blow up your identity
00:44:24
and become somebody totally different
00:44:25
and get a different job and start making
00:44:27
more money it's very hard to do you know
00:44:30
but some people do that you could start
00:44:33
doing passive income you could start
00:44:35
buying out houses and renting them out a
00:44:37
lot of people do that people become
00:44:39
millionaires doing that you could start
00:44:41
a business like even a small business
00:44:44
even like selling chachkies on Etsy or
00:44:47
something like that's that's a business
00:44:49
you can make 10 or 20,000 more a year
00:44:52
doing that there's lots of things that
00:44:54
you can do to make more money but you
00:44:56
have to to want it you have to want it
00:44:59
and it takes work and it takes effort I
00:45:02
I mean look like I'm guilty of it too
00:45:05
there's things I could be doing to make
00:45:08
more money and I choose not to do them
00:45:12
because I'm happy with my present
00:45:14
situation I'm complacent and a lot of
00:45:16
people get complacent but if you're not
00:45:19
complacent and you're hungry there's a
00:45:22
lot of things you can do to make more
00:45:23
money got it you have to want to do that
00:45:26
thing that's going to lead to income
00:45:27
yeah I I can understand that and I can
00:45:29
also understand again having seen both
00:45:31
sides of the coin a little bit in my old
00:45:34
career it was here's your salary and
00:45:37
here's your two to three% cost of living
00:45:38
raise I'm not sure I started this side
00:45:41
project in the pursuit of money per se
00:45:43
but it definitely opened my eyes to
00:45:45
other avenues out there what are some
00:45:47
other ways Jared just some other
00:45:48
stresses some other worries that you see
00:45:50
out there in the whether it's in like
00:45:53
the personal finance content space that
00:45:55
you think aren't merited or just from
00:45:57
average people who you've interacted
00:45:58
with where they're worrying about
00:46:00
something that you just think isn't
00:46:01
worthwhile well the two sources and
00:46:03
there's only two sources of financial
00:46:05
stress the two sources of financial
00:46:06
stress are debt and risk and that's it
00:46:10
so if you have a lot of debt it's going
00:46:12
to cause you stress if you have a lot of
00:46:14
risk in the financial markets it's going
00:46:15
to cause you stress pretty much nothing
00:46:18
else I addressed this in the book but
00:46:19
some people say well if you don't have
00:46:21
enough money then you're experiencing
00:46:23
stress and I actually disagree with that
00:46:25
as long as your basic needs are met
00:46:27
okay if your basic needs are met if you
00:46:30
don't have debt and you don't have risk
00:46:32
you're perfectly happy I know lots of
00:46:34
people who don't have much money they're
00:46:37
debt-free they're not investing and they
00:46:39
have nothing to worry about financially
00:46:41
they're perfectly happy then you have
00:46:43
the richest guy in the world Elon Musk
00:46:46
who almost went bankrupt when he took
00:46:48
out a loan to buy Twitter and pledged
00:46:50
his Tesla stock is collateral and the
00:46:52
stock went down 75% the richest guy in
00:46:56
the world almost went bankrupt he has
00:46:59
Financial stress so it's all about how
00:47:01
you structure your life it's not it's
00:47:04
not a function of how much money you
00:47:05
make at all so the two sources of stress
00:47:08
are debt and risk and if you minimize
00:47:11
your debt and risk you're going to be
00:47:12
okay so I I definitely get on board with
00:47:15
minimizing the debt I mean a lot of
00:47:17
people in the personal finance base have
00:47:18
heard that idea before minimizing risk
00:47:21
though I mean how does one invest for
00:47:23
the future save for retirement those
00:47:25
kind of things I mean minimizing risk
00:47:27
are you saying like take risk all the
00:47:28
way to zero or is there some in between
00:47:31
number if you will that makes more sense
00:47:34
yeah so in the book I talk about
00:47:35
something called the awesome portfolio
00:47:37
Okay and you mentioned lowcost index
00:47:40
funds before and sort of the
00:47:42
conventional wisdom these days is that
00:47:45
how you should invest for retirement is
00:47:48
you should put all your money in the S&P
00:47:50
500 and dollar cost average it and write
00:47:54
out the volatility and you'll have a big
00:47:56
number at the end or maybe a more
00:47:58
conservative version of that is you have
00:48:00
60% in a total stock market index fund
00:48:03
and 40% in the total bond market index
00:48:05
fund and you dollar cost average that
00:48:08
and you have a big number at the end
00:48:09
right so the problem with that is that
00:48:13
when you invest in an index you get the
00:48:15
returns of the index which are good but
00:48:19
you also get the volatility of the index
00:48:22
which is undesirable and the S&P 500 you
00:48:25
know it moves around 155 20% a year
00:48:28
which is a huge amount of volatility so
00:48:30
over the course of a 40 or 50y year
00:48:32
investing career you're going to have 20
00:48:35
or 25 10% Corrections you're going to
00:48:38
have 5 to8 20% bare markets in one time
00:48:43
or more you're going to have a 50% draw
00:48:46
down and Vanguard has marketing around
00:48:49
this they you know in their ads they say
00:48:52
just ride it out just hold on they're
00:48:55
like the Bitcoin guys they're telling
00:48:56
you a hle right like they just hold on
00:48:59
all right let's say you had the ability
00:49:01
to hold on and let's say you don't panic
00:49:04
and sell at the bottom which is what a
00:49:05
lot of people do but let's say you had
00:49:08
the ability to hold on you're going to
00:49:10
be miserable you're going to be
00:49:12
absolutely miserable like writing out
00:49:14
all this volatility in the stock market
00:49:17
and the solution to that is something
00:49:19
called the awesome portfolio which is
00:49:21
20% stocks 20% bonds 20% gold 20% cash
00:49:25
and 20% real estate okay this port this
00:49:29
portfolio returns about 1% less than the
00:49:33
S&P 500 with half the volatility of an
00:49:37
8020 portfolio you're trading away 1% in
00:49:41
terms of gains but you're cutting your
00:49:44
volatility in half and also draw Downs
00:49:47
matter right the Max draw down you
00:49:49
experience in any given year so in 2008
00:49:52
the stock market was down like 38% the
00:49:55
worst draw down for the awesome
00:49:57
portfolio in any year was 12% which was
00:50:01
actually in
00:50:02
2022 that's the worst year you could
00:50:04
possibly have as you're down 12% out of
00:50:07
curiosity if someone wanted to dig into
00:50:09
that I'm sure you share some of the
00:50:10
details in the book but when it comes to
00:50:12
specifically the gold and the real
00:50:14
estate portions of that portfolio some
00:50:16
sort of Diversified index or gold what's
00:50:19
it the GLD ETF maybe and then for the
00:50:21
real estate specifically I could say oh
00:50:23
my house but is that too concentrated or
00:50:26
is there some more Diversified way to
00:50:28
invest estate so the way I leave it up
00:50:31
to people I'm like you can use the
00:50:33
equity in your house as the real estate
00:50:35
portion and you should do that but you
00:50:37
can also buy a reindex right so vnq
00:50:42
which is the Vanguard reindex that
00:50:45
accomplishes the exact same thing and by
00:50:47
the way a lot of people don't know this
00:50:49
but since the year 200000 out of those
00:50:52
asset classes gold has been the number
00:50:54
one performer since the year 20 2000 in
00:50:57
real estate has been number two stocks
00:51:00
have actually been number three since
00:51:02
2000 a lot of people say only 20% stocks
00:51:05
you're only have 20% of your money in
00:51:07
stocks we have a cult of stocks in this
00:51:12
country like and we are the only country
00:51:14
that does this there's no other country
00:51:16
in the world that invests in their stock
00:51:19
market for retirement right nobody else
00:51:22
does this we're the only people that and
00:51:23
it's it's Insanity you know we are a
00:51:26
country of crazy gamblers we love our
00:51:29
businesses Jared we love our businesses
00:51:32
well this this has been awesome this has
00:51:33
been fun and funny and enlightening and
00:51:36
and really cool some cool unique topics
00:51:39
I think we've covered today Jared so
00:51:41
let's go over some of the important
00:51:42
stuff now if folks want to okay they
00:51:45
want to check out the book maybe they
00:51:47
want to check out the daily dirt na they
00:51:49
want to listen to you on the B smart
00:51:50
podcast where can you point our
00:51:52
listeners to to find you and check out
00:51:54
your stuff the book you can get
00:51:57
there's we have a link it's called
00:51:58
buynow worries. so if you go to buy
00:52:01
worries. comom there's a whole bunch of
00:52:02
retailers there you can find me and the
00:52:05
podcast at Jared dillian money.com
00:52:08
that's Jared dillian money.com fantastic
00:52:11
all of that will be in the show notes
00:52:13
and Jared dillian thanks for stopping by
00:52:15
the best interest podcast thank
00:52:18
you thanks for tuning in to this episode
00:52:21
of the best interest podcast if you have
00:52:23
a question for Jesse to answer on a
00:52:24
future episode send him an email email
00:52:26
at Jesse bestter interest. blog again
00:52:30
that's Jesse bestter interest. blog did
00:52:33
you enjoy the show subscribe rate and
00:52:36
review the podcast wherever you listen
00:52:38
this helps others find the show and
00:52:40
invest in knowledge themselves and we
00:52:42
really appreciate it we'll catch you on
00:52:44
the next episode of the best interest
00:52:49
podcast the best interest podcast is a
00:52:52
personal podcast met for education and
00:52:54
entertainment it should not be taken as
00:52:57
Financial advice and is not prescriptive
00:52:59
of your financial situation

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Episode Highlights

  • Meet Jared Dillian
    Jared Dillian, a former Wall Street trader, joins the podcast to share his insights.
    “Jared is almost a bit like a sports radio personality.”
    @ 00m 27s
    March 13, 2024
  • The Fun in Boring Money Topics
    Jesse shares his thoughts on finding excitement in traditionally boring financial topics.
    “The fun of something not being boring doesn’t usually last.”
    @ 03m 31s
    March 13, 2024
  • The Importance of Big Financial Decisions
    Jared discusses the three most important financial decisions: buying a house, a car, and going to college. 'If you get them right, you will be paying for it for the rest of your life.'
    “If you get them right, you will be paying for it for the rest of your life.”
    @ 25m 59s
    March 13, 2024
  • The Dangers of Envy
    Jared shares insights on how envy drives negative behaviors and societal issues, emphasizing the importance of focusing on one's own path. 'Envy is the worst out of the seven deadly sins.'
    “Envy is the worst out of the seven deadly sins.”
    @ 31m 31s
    March 13, 2024
  • Rethinking Financial Independence
    Jared critiques the FIRE movement, stating he doesn't want to retire early and prefers to keep working. 'I don’t want to retire; I like working.'
    “I don’t want to retire; I like working.”
    @ 36m 23s
    March 13, 2024
  • The Cost of Homemade Pizza
    Making pizza at home may seem cheaper, but it can actually cost more when you factor in time.
    “It's an $80 pizza, you know what I mean?”
    @ 38m 39s
    March 13, 2024
  • The Allegory of the Sandwich
    A philosophical take on trade and economics, illustrating the value of specialization.
    “The allegory of the sandwich is about trade.”
    @ 39m 38s
    March 13, 2024
  • Redefining Financial Goals
    Personal finance should focus on happiness rather than just accumulating wealth.
    “The goal should be to be happy with your financial situation.”
    @ 43m 13s
    March 13, 2024
  • Sources of Financial Stress
    Understanding that debt and risk are the primary sources of financial stress can help you manage it better.
    “The two sources of financial stress are debt and risk.”
    @ 46m 05s
    March 13, 2024

Episode Quotes

Key Moments

  • Guest Introduction00:27
  • Boring Money Topics02:39
  • Tax Strategies04:49
  • Insurance Importance17:07
  • Daily Dirt Naap21:51
  • Envy Discussion31:31
  • $80 Pizza38:39
  • Financial Happiness43:13

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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