Money

The Bledsoe Show

00:00.00

mikebledsoe

Welcome going to Monday morning with Mike and max Today we're gonna be talking about money. We. We're big fans of it I imagine you're a big fan of it too and sometimes you probably get really mad at it or maybe mad at yourself about it and ah, it's a very. Very touchy subject for a lot of people and if you can master money then your life is going to get a lot easier because money solves a lot of problems. Not all of them but a lot of them. So. 1 thing I really want to discuss by the end of this show that I want people to get a handle on is a a definition that I received from one of my teachers. She defines financial freedom as having enough passive income to handle all of your living expenses and that that passive income means. Maybe you have real estate that's income producing. That's that's rental properties that money is coming in and it's profit getting dividends from your stocks or and there's ways to do this with crypto as well where you can you can pull off profits so having. I'm sure we can talk about some other asset classes that are income producing. But I personally have many friends who have already accomplished this and and I am on my way to doing the same thing for myself. So max. You're what's ah, what do you What's your relationship to money like these days.

01:39.42

Max Shank

First off am am I getting paid for this.

01:44.80

mikebledsoe

I'm sure you'll get paid at some point down the road. Yeah yeah.

01:46.74

Max Shank

Seems like a bad business decision for me to just give it away for free like this. Ah I think that money is energy and it makes trading easier and all of the emotional.

01:51.21

mikebledsoe

Um.

02:06.42

Max Shank

Baggage We attach to it is something that needs to be worked through that the real key is to understand that it makes trading easier you know and to focus on delivering value because we can talk about.

02:17.84

mikebledsoe

Oh.

02:25.47

Max Shank

Ah, money on a micro and a macro and it's best to focus on micro first which is like yourself essentially and there are only 2 ways to improve your financial situation and that's to increase your income and reduce your spending. And in order to do that. You have to be very honest about what the difference is between a luxury and a necessity and I think it's wise to really focus on delivering value on being able to scale. The value that you deliver and also being comfortable with less. You know live a very spartan lifestyle as long as you can because um, it's really not fair. Once you get ahead of the game in in money. It's like once you have a million dollars saved up you can invest it at a you can invest it slowly and 5% is still going to give you 50 grand a year and that's more than enough to live well on you can eat well, you can never have to worry about a roof over your head. You're never going to um, have to drain that nest egg and it's going to provide for you just by having it there. So I yeah very safe. Potentially.

03:49.63

mikebledsoe

And that 5%'s a very safe investment that's that's a very low aggressive. Not lowress. It's ah, whatever the safe? Yeah, not aggressive safe. Yeah.

04:02.47

Max Shank

Yeah, yeah, um, and you know we can talk about specific stocks that have different dividends like usually a Verizon or something will have a higher dividend which is what they pay out and you can reinvest the dividends or you can take it out as cash. But anyway.

04:08.36

mikebledsoe

Oh.

04:20.61

Max Shank

The the key point is realizing that money is energy getting rid of the emotional baggage focus on delivering value and scaling that value you deliver living a Spartan lifestyle and accumulating a fat chunk so that you can. Invest into securities or real estate or reinvest into your own business as well because that is that is the best investment is being confident that you can always make more.

04:48.95

mikebledsoe

Yeah I think I want to hit on a point you were making and and you know living a spartan lifestyle and and only living with the necessities. It's it's a really big challenge for a lot of people and I just went through a financial course this past year and one of the things that. Was noticed because everyone in the the course together are are all entrepreneurs and when we did a survey of the room of how many the entrepreneurs that were there to learn grew up with no money or with very little money. It was almost all of us. It was was we were the majority and the teacher she one of the things that she noted was that a lot of times what happens when we grow up poor and then we make money is we buy ourselves all the things that we.

05:28.45

Max Shank

Right.

05:46.95

mikebledsoe

Couldn't have when we were a kid or when we were younger and so there a lot of people end up adopting this attitude of you know I'll just get it and I need to treat myself or whatever to make up for you know what I didn't have and and another pitfall is amongst people who.

05:58.94

Max Shank

And.

06:06.70

mikebledsoe

And this was me for a while is I'm so good at making money like so confident that I could just go make more money that the the feeling the necessity to save and invest wisely just didn't seem that important. Whereas you've got a lot of people who are making 50 to $100000 a year on a fixed salary and they're trying to max out their ira but to an entrepreneur who can make a hundred grand in a month if they really fucking put the screws to it that ah. That seems kind of ridiculous like why would I scrounge and take that money and invest it in something that's going to earn such a slow rate of return when I could just go make it real quick and so ah, for for there. There's pit for.

06:43.79

Max Shank

The.

06:59.89

mikebledsoe

And that's not the majority of the people that were my class by the way I was I was one of the few people that were like oh yeah, if I want more money I just go make it and yeah, yeah, yeah, so yeah, definitely. Ah.

07:01.97

Max Shank

Yeah what's like the Richard Branson style it's good to understand the different personality types because what you say. Is like the opposite of my approach.

07:18.26

mikebledsoe

Yeah, this is a good conversation for max and I to have because we are very different in in how we've approached money in the past I bet we were probably closer to each other at this point but we'll see that but the thing I want to touch on that I learned in the class. Um, is the you don't have to be Spartan You don't have to only go to the necessities but you need you need to be real ah with your numbers and looking at and being present with the amount of money you're spending on this and that and then actually making the choice. So.

07:51.60

Max Shank

Oh.

07:56.30

mikebledsoe

I Wouldn't say that I live an extremely Spartan lifestyle but I do a lot more saving these days in in intelligent investing and I like to split my purchases up into first before I just going what do I need and what do I You know? what's an option is I go What's meaningful.

08:14.30

Max Shank

The.

08:15.59

mikebledsoe

What is a meaningful purchase does this? Yeah I don't need it but does it really bring enough meaning to my life because I'm not going to wait until I'm retired to have all the stuff that you know to enjoy my money I'm going to enjoy my money along the way. So one of the things I Really ah appreciated about her course was.

08:28.69

Max Shank

Great.

08:35.46

mikebledsoe

It wasn't this like Dave Ramsey approach where where it's kind of like you know, super hard rules and like if you know you gotta do it like this or it won't work. It's more like you know here's some things that you can apply in your life and you can live life now but just realize that every. Every dollar that you spend now takes away from your future financial freedom and and and if I go is this worth my future financial freedom then? yes I'll purchase it hey if I go is this worth my future financial freedom because every time I spend. Now is money I don't get to invest in crypto stocks real estate. These are every every penny is something I can't invest in the future that that'll give me a future return so holding that frame has been a game changer for me for somebody who. Who tends to be ah you know, ah very risk tolerant and aggressive that is extremely helpful.

09:43.13

Max Shank

Well and that's the personality type I'm talking about too oftentimes like the Richard Branson type there's a survivorship bias because there's a lot of people who try his same strategy of. You know triple mortgaging his house so he can buy an aircraft engine. Ah and it goes horribly wrong and you don't hear about that guy. You only hear about the winners and you know when you're talking about saving now. You know you're listing things that have the potential to.

10:06.84

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

10:17.69

Max Shank

Lot of things that have the potential to have compound returns and that is something that is really difficult for people to understand in their mind because when you spend a dollar on something now that's not that's not going to be a dollar. In 20 years if you're willing to be patient because the compound effect is really hard to understand in the present moment what it could potentially be 20 years from now and that's why um you know you gotta find something that suits your personality type and. What you're saying sounds like you are more. You're not spartan but you're more conscious and aware of the spending and more conscious and aware of the income. So. It's an appropriate energy balance. Rather than just this like freewheeling reckless abandon like I'll just make more I'll just make more I'll just bla but da da da da da and you know I I see that from my perspective which is like you know the further ahead you can get quicker the more. That what you put away will compound and especially when you're young I assume like most of the people listening to this are going to be somewhere around like 30 year old fellas maybe 20 to 40 right? something like that. Um you know, live as simply as possible when you can because.

11:44.37

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

11:53.33

Max Shank

Part of the the keeping up with the joneses thing is such a killer on so many levels. It's this extra ego baggage that doesn't serve you and you don't see the balance sheet of those people who are trying to get into those comparison Competitions. You know why? Why are we. Trying to keep up with the joneses. The joneses are Broke. You know you want to be like ah you want to be a secret millionaire as quick as possible and have the ability to move and act and create from a place of. Safety and abundance and when you have that when you have that separate investment that Accrues income and has a compound return I mean frankly, it feels like cheating you know you you get yourself. Ah, property like a home and you invest the rest into your own business into securities and I mean if you want to do something else. There are all kinds of other options. But it's basically it's not fair like money is ah about as fair.

13:07.20

mikebledsoe

Oh.

13:11.56

Max Shank

As nature itself. It's not fair I mean we could get into like fractional reserve banking and stuff later and go like whoa what the hell is that. But um, it's not It's not fair that a lion can tear a Gazelle to Shreds and it's not fair that if you have. 5 or $ 10000000 as long as you're not a complete fool. You'll never have to worry about money again even a million and so getting ahead as quick as possible living as spartan as possible to begin with is really good advice being able to defer that gratification for later. Same thing with creating a business for yourself. You know most of the big income I've had is through exponentially scalable things like online courses and videos and books that I've written and if you can build something one time. It may take you six months or a year in some cases sometimes 2 years projects I've been working on but I can build it once and then sell it 10000 times. Most people just aren't willing to do that and it's it's hard to it's hard to see into the future. Ah.

14:20.31

mikebledsoe

Oh.

14:27.82

mikebledsoe

Well, you're an early adopter of the digital information product and so it's you know this is definitely when those things were being early to the game. It's easier to have a big payout your marketing didn't have to be as.

14:27.88

Max Shank

For most people that way.

14:45.10

mikebledsoe

As good as it does Now there's a lot more. It's a lot more competition in the online marketplace and a lot more noise whether it be direct competition or just like I said that and that noise that's out there. Um, yeah, and.

14:56.57

Max Shank

Ah.

15:01.30

mikebledsoe

1 of the things that you mentioned you you threw outt the number of a million dollars will give you this much. Ah income. You know say at 5% a million dollars that give you $50000 a year of income and so I I think.

15:08.21

Max Shank

At 5% yeah

15:20.77

mikebledsoe

That was one of the things that I didn't sit down early enough in my life and just realize that that's all I need is like oh if I want to have by the way. Ah, ah, most people need to make more money than they need to make and what I mean by that is due to the debt that they're holding. They actually have to make a lot more money in order to pay all all that interest and all that that past purchasing and so for the average person a hundred hundred and fifty thousand dollars is is if your debt free is a lot of money. You know my number is. Two hundred fifty thousand dollars I want to I'm a little bit I'm a little bougie at times so I look at that. Yeah I have to have you know 5% you know $5000000 and in income producing assets. That's that's just knowing that number. Just knowing that that exists and I have a frame on that and like I can. That's my target my motivation after having that realization to make money went way up and before it was again. It was about how much do I need to make it through the next month or 2 or the next year but when I started thinking more long term it became a lot easier to do that and having an actual number that was not arbitrary because one of the one of the things that I one of the mistakes that I made early on in my entrepreneurial career is that. I had bought into this like ah it's like a silicon valley thing I bought into this like okay you build this business and one day you can sell it and and like I put all my eggs in that basket and I never. I only paid myself what I needed to pay myself and I kept kept all my money in the business and then one day the business has a hard year and which means that I personally have a hard year and I didn't have anything saved up. So. My ability to make decisions in the business were was hindered because I was personally in ah in a poor position and so that happened me 1 time and I said never again. Um, and then it it um the the same teacher I learned from recently. She pointed out that the that so many entrepreneurs try to build wealth in their business. She said stop thinking about your business as a wealth creating tool. It's an income producing tool. Your business is about creating as much.

18:09.35

mikebledsoe

Profitable income is possible so that you can then go invest it in things that are asset producing ah or sorry ah income producing assets that are outside of your business and having a true having a true diversification. Yeah, and so like a lot of times.

18:20.62

Max Shank

Well, it's diversification basically is what she's saying. Yeah.

18:28.63

mikebledsoe

The argument in entrepreneurial community A lot of times is ah you know oh I'm gonna invest my money in something. What's the thing I trust the most oh my own product. The thing that I get to control and so that's that's how I used to think that's how I watch other people think.

18:41.68

Max Shank

Right.

18:47.58

mikebledsoe

And that that's a that's a high high risk game that you're gonna have you're gonna hit a pitfall at some point it's not. It's not an if it's a win.

18:57.25

Max Shank

Well I think it's important to understand that concentration versus diversification. So concentration can give you the absolute highest return but you have to guess right.

19:14.77

mikebledsoe

Ah, oh.

19:15.80

Max Shank

And if you guess wrong then it is catastrophically bad diversification. You will not make the most plain and simple the the more you diversify the more stable it is the less chance you're going to have to outperform the market. Because otherwise you should just buy the whole market and like what 4% every year or something like that depending on which timeline so it's very understandable that the people who make the most are the ones who just constantly reinvest into 1 thing.

19:52.10

mikebledsoe

Right.

19:53.53

Max Shank

You know they they pick the right 1 whether they operate it themselves or not Elon Musk is a good example. boom reinvest everything into his own companies and then there are some companies out there where you know they they bet big on alibaba let's say. And that becomes a hundred times bigger than the rest of their portfolio. I mean there's a company that invested in alibaba maybe like 5 % of their portfolio or something and then twenty years later alibaba was like 95% of their portfolio because it grew so much more.

20:28.33

mikebledsoe

Who.

20:32.80

Max Shank

And everything else and that was just one that was just one bet so thinking of life as a series of bets basically and you can put all your money on double zero on the roulette wheel and you will make the most.

20:33.78

mikebledsoe

Well, that.

20:49.19

Max Shank

But you also can lose absolutely everything So it's important to understand what the point of diversification versus concentration is.

20:58.80

mikebledsoe

Yeah there's um, there's ah, there's a really cool concept by the guy who wrote anti-fragile and black swan his name's Nasimm. He's ah a turkish fellow that lives in New York really great economist and. Ah, really successful investor and he has this method which is the barbell method. So which is you know invest a large portion of your money into stuff that is extremely safe. You know, gold you know? ah. Just stuff. That's that's incredibly stable. It's not going anywhere and then on the other side go into startups go into the startup world. Go go buy those shitcoins. Whatever it is that you think might hit because the truth is with a startup.

21:48.80

Max Shank

Ah, so.

21:56.69

mikebledsoe

Or with some of these cryptocurrencies. You could see a hundred X Return This is this is a possibility This is a real possibility and so um and and he says you know just spread it out that way but he's.

22:09.73

Max Shank

Yeah, there are all kinds of ways to get that.

22:15.35

mikebledsoe

He start you know state he says he he likes to stay out of the middle because that's where the that's where the majority is the majority is in the middle and the majority I mean if we if you want to get like mainstream results do that. But it's as.

22:18.18

Max Shank

Yeah.

22:29.76

Max Shank

Threat.

22:33.67

mikebledsoe

Who wants mainstream results mainstream is fat sick almost dead and and broke. You know it's like why would you like it's it's the it's the last place I want to be and so I really like his approach to that because it does. Scratch the safety itch and it also may if if you're like myself it scratches that you know let's throw some dice down here and see if we can make a million dollars

23:02.15

Max Shank

You know that's ah, a good strategy and you also have to know yourself and know what's going to allow you to sleep at night and focus on what you're best at too like if you want to be.

23:15.56

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

23:19.39

Max Shank

Actively investing your own portfolio and researching companies great if you want to focus on what you're best at and just create more income from your books or videos or courses or you know wood pellets or whatever you're.

23:33.40

mikebledsoe

You know.

23:38.28

Max Shank

Your business is ah you can also just buy the SAndPFive hundred and then there's no, there's like no management fee. Basically so you minimize, um your spend you also do minimize your returns but you also minimize your risk and.

23:42.39

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

23:57.46

Max Shank

It's a lot easier to sleep at night doing that than you know researching startups and things like that just to give like the other side of that coin because I think the strategy you outlined has a lot of merit to it. But I think knowing your personality type.

24:03.15

mikebledsoe

Right? well.

24:15.88

Max Shank

And recognizing how much you want your involvement to be how active into those investments you want to be same as if you want to buy real estate. Do you want to hire a property manager and eat up most of your return or do you want to manage it yourself I mean these are things that. You got to consider from your personality and Lifestyle standpoint.

24:35.52

mikebledsoe

Yeah, nasim talks about that in his book is basically that investors. Yeah, if they stayed within their logic would majority of time make a lot of money but people are so emotional. You know they can't sleep at night they can't they go to bed that night worrying about their money and if you're having that experience and investing if you're investing and you're worried about it and you can't sleep and it's the you know last thing you think about when you go to sleep and the first thing you think about when you wake up, you're in over your head and you're. You're likely going to just make poor decisions and so ah, which actually brings me to one of my rules which is I only invest in the things that I understand there's so many especially and with cryptocurrency right now. I invest in crypto I actually just sold off 90% of my my ah portfolio for crypto the other day and um and and it's because for good and I'm watching the market continue to go down right now.

25:44.33

Max Shank

For good reason right.

25:50.95

mikebledsoe

Because what I'm doing is I'm I'm just going to hold cash by the way in the voyager app by the way if anyone wants access to be able to ah look at Voyager just hit me up I've got good connections there but in in the Voyager app. If I store my us dollars as Usdc which is a which is a token tethered to the us dollar I get a 9% api on that annual. So it's ah you can't get 9 % guaranteed anywhere but you can there so there are.

26:23.69

Max Shank

Weird.

26:26.54

mikebledsoe

Yeah, there, there's I won't I don't quite understand entirely how they're able to do that. Ah, but I I do have a feeling there's aspects of it that that I that I do get but I like to invest in things that I understand like I understand bitcoin at its. At its base I understand ethereum I understand ummatic I understand these some of these currencies I understand their purpose I I get what's going on I've I've been tracking them and then there's other ones that people like like shib came out and everyone's like you got to get shit I'm like why. Or doge coin you got to get doge oh because Elon Musk I'm like whoa whoa whoa I don't understand this I'm not going to touch it and of course these things skyrocket and then they plummet and you know some people make a bunch of money. Yeah, and it's like and.

27:14.72

Max Shank

The foma will get you.

27:21.55

mikebledsoe

And I've learned to be completely. Okay with it whereas I have some friends who you know they're trying to make that dollar right now they're deep in the Nfts they're trading fucking dragons and and you know magic bears and dragonflies I don't fucking know what these people are are I get.

27:37.40

Max Shank

Third.

27:40.15

mikebledsoe

I Get what's happening I mean look the wealthy have been storing their the wealthy have been storing their money as art for a long time as a tax haven I get it and it's a very intelligent move and I do think that a lot of things that only the wealthy have done the rest of us get to take advantage of and.

27:50.45

Max Shank

Her.

28:00.13

mikebledsoe

And this decentralized blockchain world. But most of you have no idea what the fuck you're doing and so even if even when I do understand the fundamentals of something if I see too many new people flooding into it I get out and I stay out until I let the dust settle. Could I potentially miss out on making a shitload of money. Absolutely I could get in there but you know what? and this is the point you were getting at too which is I would rather spend my time producing value in the world that makes the most sense to me I know how to teach coaches how to build a coaching doesn't. So I know how to help coaches be better coaches and that's the that is the value I bring to the world that people are going to exchange with me for money. No matter if the dollar goes away if we moved totally to cryptocurrencies if we end up on the yen. Whatever the fuck it is it doesn't matter what the currency is. I'm gonna be fine because I can always create value in which people are gonna then whatever it is. We're trading at the time they're gonna give it to me and so I think I want to say first off your best investment is in yourself so invest in traits in yourself that allow you to make the most money sales being the. The most valuable skill on the planet. So if you can learn how to sell if you know how to market you know how to sell it doesn't matter what the market does. You're going to be fine and so in so a. Invest in yourself be invest in things that you understand or another way of putting. Ah, another example of this um was learning from this guy. He primarily makes money trading stocks and he was talking to a bunch of us entrepreneurs who you know I'm not. Um, not really that much of a stock guy but ah 1 of the things he said that just made a lot of sense. Super simple concept is if you use the service own the company if you do you use Amazon go buy some Amazon stock. do you watch you know do you have a Netflix subscription. Buy some Netflix like you stop using it because you don't like it. Maybe you should sell your stock like you don't have to study the market so deeply and try to run crunched numbers and sounds like look if you like like if everyone who bought an Apple Computer invested and Apple stock when they bought their Apple computer because they love it so much. There'd be a lot more wealthy people out there right now. Ah so that was a because that that's a form of understanding if you if you like a product use a product you understand enough about that company.

30:48.82

mikebledsoe

Doesn't mean that it's a surefire way and it's a completely safe thing. But I think it's a great way to if if someone's like I don't know what to invest and I don't know how to get started I don't know what do you buy.

31:02.47

Max Shank

Oh I mean I really I really like what you said before which is invest in yourself and invest in things that you understand I think um, buying a stock just because you use. The product is too small of a sample size. I think it can be a good starting point though. Like oh like I use that because I think the word price is really important to explore like how do we get at the price like there is a time where you could have owned Coca-cola for 5 20 years actually and had a zero percent return so there you can have a great company at a horrible price and you can also have a horrible company at a great price and actually either of those would probably be a mistake. Um.

31:42.19

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

32:00.36

Max Shank

And investing is very paradoxical because you're trying to balance risk and reward and whenever there is more risk There is typically more reward but the price of something is just what people are willing to pay. Um.

32:13.74

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah.

32:20.19

Max Shank

And that is determined by how valuable it is to a person and you know a lot of the a lot of the cryptocurrencies are Tulip Mania all over again for sure I won't say that about all of them. But if and like an Nft just because someone. Values a digital magic dragon at a thousand dollars today doesn't mean anyone will ever pay a dollar for it later in the future and so I think it's a good starting point to say what do I use but it. Doesn't necessarily make it a good investment. In fact, um, you know a good product can be ah, a bad investment from a stock standpoint and that's I mean that's why markets are that's why markets are not ah rational. That's why markets are irrational.

33:08.72

mikebledsoe

It can be.

33:17.56

Max Shank

Because people are irrational and and if you go to college. They'll tell you that markets are are rational markets are like in balance Basically but that's how could that be the case if it's people who buy the stuff. We're not rational.

33:32.45

mikebledsoe

Well in Academia we got to make sure we can measure everything there's ah, there's a there's a really good book by the way I agree the just because you use the product doesn't mean it's a good investment but it's a good place to start looking now.

33:35.60

Max Shank

At all.

33:47.81

Max Shank

Absolutely good place to start looking.

33:52.19

mikebledsoe

There's ah, there's a book that talks about tulip mania amongst many other things the the money the the history of our our current monetary system. 1 is you know the the. You alluded to it a little bit earlier fractional reserve banking that basically the modern way of banking or the modern um version of money has described really well in the book. Extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds. So. I think it was in this book I could be wrong because I don't think you were recalling it quite the same way I was and we both read the book but ah from what I from what I gather it the current monetary system is about three hundred and fifty years old and. Came out of Europe which is basically banknotes people coming up with banknotes and coming with bills. You know, getting away from coinage where there's an actual silver or a gold coin getting away from the coinage and getting into the bank bank notes that represent a certain amount of gold held by the bank. And so instead of having to lug around all this gold now I could just have this banknote and this banknote is certified by this bank and we can trust them yada yada yada and so ah, the it started off as a very trustworthy system I think it was France who did this first. Which was the king goes to one of the banks and says I'll make you the only bank that can issue notes in all of the kingdom of France and and I forget what the deal was and of course a banker. Who is in the business of increasing wealth. They they hear this and go oh I'm about to get an immediate monopoly fuck it. Let's go and ah in the book it it outlines the ah the progression over time. The king putting pressure I think maybe the king died and then his son came up or something like that but pressure was applied to the bankers to basically print off some banknotes that aren't backed by gold you know, basically fake money and. So they started diluting the money supply and the banker in in the book basically says hey that's a bad idea like talks about how the banker tried to resist it because he's like you know that.

36:32.97

mikebledsoe

I see what you want I see why you think it's a good idea, but this is why it's a bad idea. It's only gonna lead to a collapse and sure and and the thing is is. It's kind of it's kind of like one of those things that once it gets out. You know, opening up a can of worms you can't get them back in so the or what. There's a better analogy for that I forget what Pandora's box and basically the moment you get off of a representation. Ah an actual representation of value then it get you get into like really dangerous waters and getting back to that is going to be impossible with that banknote.

36:53.79

Max Shank

Pandora's box

37:11.37

mikebledsoe

So it's kind of like people think if they can get the Us dollar to be ah, go back to the Gold Standard Yeah, never gonna fucking happen. It just be how you just have to create a whole new currency. So.

37:15.53

Max Shank

Back to buy gold again. Yeah good luck impossible. Well I mean maybe if the price of gold went up by like a hundred fold or something like that I don't I don't know exactly what the numbers are I mean if.

37:28.60

mikebledsoe

Ah, yeah I don't know what it is either.

37:33.96

Max Shank

I Think for the average person this like banking and macro stuff. You should just avoid it until you're rich already like just from ah a functional standpoint like don't don't concern yourself ah with the economics of.

37:41.96

mikebledsoe

We mean avoid it.

37:53.85

Max Shank

Banking and fractional reserve and fiat currencies and things like that just if you don't have a lot of dough right now just focus all your attention on increasing your income and amassing some wealth first because you can go down this rabbit hole where you will become. Um. And I think rightfully so like paranoid about the ah fragility of our our financial interactions our socioeconomic situation here like ah getting off the gold Standard Huge mistake.

38:17.32

mikebledsoe

I.

38:31.38

Max Shank

Um, I Understand why you would want to be able to print unlimited dollars. Nobody really understands what the cost and benefit of doing this will be and I think if you're just trying to deliver value and create wealth for yourself. Um, it's best to just accept these macro truths and not invest too much of your precious and limited attention into them because you're you're not going to be Happy. You're you're going to have a bunker full of gold and only properties and you're gonna be like ah.

39:01.30

mikebledsoe

Well yeah, have you.

39:08.26

Max Shank

You won't use Banks you'll just stuff cash under the mattress. Ah.

39:10.44

mikebledsoe

Ah, well well you know I don't know if that's necessarily completely true like if you have no money saved and you haven't invested anything I agree but for for somebody who's is like okay I have a little extra money I want to invest it in something this Ah this is my argument for crypto and and.

39:18.17

Max Shank

The.

39:29.76

mikebledsoe

Say Bitcoin is because Bitcoin is ah is is powered by electricity and it has an actual cost which means it has an actual value and it and it can fluctuate depending on the.. How much energy costs and how much how many transactions are happening and and all that which makes it a little more fluid than say gold. But ah, way easier to trade.

39:56.34

Max Shank

Way easier to trade than gold I mean trading gold like if you think about trading gold like it's really hard like first off like if you want to buy gold like I don't have a fucking gold tester in my pocket like if someone sells me gold. I'm going to have a hard time knowing if there's lead in there or not and vice versa and vice versa. You know so um, bitcoin is certainly easier to trade. It's just hard to figure out what the price should be because you can't know if something's a good investment or not.

40:18.10

mikebledsoe

Well, even if we well but that does happen. Yeah.

40:35.87

Max Shank

Ah, without understanding the price and a potential future price.

40:36.37

mikebledsoe

Yeah, the the problem the problem with a lot of the crypto conversation right now is that it's all based on the Us dollar so at the Us dollar like if you log into any trading platform. It's how many bitcoins is worth how many dollars you know? and.

40:53.92

Max Shank

Right.

40:56.50

mikebledsoe

It's ah instead of it just being its own thing. But I I think that they're I think in the next five or ten years in the next I guaranteed I'll put money on it 10 years ah I don't that's a terrible thing to say not guaranteed.

41:01.86

Max Shank

How could it be its own thing.

41:12.75

Max Shank

I Think ah I think I might have a bet on my hands here.

41:14.21

mikebledsoe

Ah, but out prediction. Oh we should you want how big a bet you want to make right? We'll see I'll tell you what it is and then we'll go 10 years ah well if I'm wrong, you might be right? and.

41:22.96

Max Shank

Too big for you to cover it. What. Um, yeah I.

41:31.86

mikebledsoe

So in 10 years ah I think that that that problem is solved so 10 years the the how does how do we value it. There will be there will be some

41:45.65

Max Shank

Is it going to be a flat chart that says 1 bitcoin equals 1 bitcoin.

41:49.96

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah I mean what's it for the dollar now right? So the it I mean it's the dollar is fairly arbitrary and the pricing and all that. But I think with.

41:57.17

Max Shank

Yes.

42:03.60

Max Shank

Well, the dollar the dollar is backed up by a really big stick a a huge stick wielded by Uncle Sam and it's ah and it's attached to oil which currently makes the world go around.

42:07.41

mikebledsoe

But right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's always yeah to energy itself. Yeah, so um, but I think that I think that I think that being able to say this currently is worth this much.

42:22.79

Max Shank

Yeah anyway I.

42:32.87

mikebledsoe

Compared to this currency I think that's gonna be figured out I don't I have no fucking idea how to get figured out I I imagine it's gonna require some a lot of computing power but at the same time. Um, living in Austin Texas is is pretty great if you're in the crypto. Currency conversation because so much of tech is moved here so much of crypto entrepreneurs are here and so and I know so I know some of these people they're fucking smart they're they're they're blowing me away I just.

43:03.78

Max Shank

Yeah.

43:08.71

mikebledsoe

Um, just like yeah um, I'm doing the best I can to keep up and I'm gonna you know make some trades based on what I'm hearing but sorry for that I don't fucking know and I mentioned that because I just see people ah coming up with some really amazing solutions that that. There's all these problems that crop up when there's a lot of transactions happening and then someone creates a new ah coin a new currency that that solves that specific Problem. It's moving in incredibly fast breakneck Speeds I can't keep up and I'm somebody who. Really loves keeping up with these types of things. It's it's It's very interesting to me and so I think I think a lot of that will be solved all right I Think let's let's get out of this out of this crypto we gotta get out.

43:54.42

Max Shank

We got to get out of the macro stuff. This is what I was saying is like it's It's not practical.

44:00.72

mikebledsoe

Yeah, we gotta get out of it. So um, let's move into this is what I get for So I get for bringing up the the modern day money I So you say you say that you see money as. Energy. Can you say more.

44:18.37

Max Shank

Yes, it's a representation of energy. It's kind of like a claim check on other people's time. Um, you know some people say ah money is the root of all Evil I completely disagree I think greed is a source of some.

44:23.86

mikebledsoe

Okay.

44:37.89

Max Shank

Unsavory behavior but money is not inherently good or evil Um, it's a claim check on other people's time and it's stored up energy The fact that you can use money to bring real physical objects into your. Life is incredible. The fact that you can trade money for food is incredible. The fact that you can trade money for a house is unbelievably cool and if it weren't for a currency like that it would make trade so difficult so it makes. Trading so easy. Otherwise you have you know if you're a baker and you want a cow you have to hope that the farmer wants some bread and a lot of it.

45:24.38

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, I Really like the exchange for time conversation. That's and so I was hearing that recently from somebody else they they go. You know it's just an it's you're gonna buy your time Back. You're just gonna buy back. Ah, by buying food at the grocery Store. You didn't have to go grow that food. You didn't have. There's so much time was was purchased and so yeah, forget who I was here Ac is just a storage of time and the more you have the more time you have like oh it's very very interesting.

45:58.44

Max Shank

Yeah, well, what's interesting is you can trade your time for money you can trade money for other people's time which can save you time but you can never get time back.

46:01.50

mikebledsoe

Um.

46:13.30

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

46:16.37

Max Shank

Time time is your most precious resource by far and unless you learn how to leverage your time. Ah, you're you're gonna be stuck trading hours for dollars pretty much and that's what I mean when I say you want to find a way to scale your effort.

46:34.59

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah.

46:35.50

Max Shank

Basically so leverage your effort into something that is scalable exponential.

46:40.29

mikebledsoe

Yeah, this makes me think about the predictable stages of entrepreneurship that I've witnessed which is which is people get to people want to get to the point where they they have all this accrued money and and able to to.

46:45.66

Max Shank

The.

46:59.44

mikebledsoe

People say buy their time back. You don't get a bat but like you're able to purchase like you can spend your time the way you want to the more money you have and the predictable stages of entrepreneurship. The first stage being I hate my corporate gig I'll do my own thing and so many people. When they start doing their own thing and they're making enough money to get by. They feel like and I hear a lot of people say this is that's financial freedom but it only lasts for so long because. They're so excited about not doing this corporate gig in which they had built up their mind as something that they hate that they overlook the the burnout you know I think there's some type of saying that says you know as an entrepreneur you know you quit your 40 hour work week that you hate so you can take on it. 80 hour work week that you love or something like that. You know it's like it's really really ridiculous and I've watched a lot of people go into business for themselves who end up wanting to go back because I go wow I just get because I know so many people that they have their corporate gig. At five o'clock when they knock off and go home. Do you know how much they think about work. They don't they go to the gym. They go to the bar. They don't think about that shit at all as an entrepreneur after five o'clock maybe still, you're working even if you're not working. You're thinking about work. You're always problem solving this shit. Shit is real. So um, it people will over. They're so excited and I see that excitement can last about 9 to 18 months of excitement when somebody has given themselves a job. You know they have a. Self-employed. They wake up one day and they realize oh man I just gave myself a job. This is actually not any different. It's more responsibility same thing that I was doing before um and and they can either go back to their job or they can become an owner and I bring this up. Based off what you're saying is because when you turn into an owner. That's when you start actually leveraging your your time your attention money. That's when you it's when you start when you zoom out of the business. You're able to work on it. You're no longer working in it and you're you're hiring delegating systemizing. This is all the things. These are the things and the responsibilities that have to be taken on in order to have that lifestyle that people dream of when they go I want to be my own boss I want to be an entrepreneur I want to I want to run my own business I don't want to have a boss it really requires.

49:45.58

mikebledsoe

Becoming an owner and I know there's not many people I've Met. Um I'm trying to recall one now and I can't bring one to mind of someone who went straight from I Hate my corporateri gig to I'm an owner I think the only people that really do that may have been working in financial services and then. They they moved over into investing right away. But if you become a business owner then the level up from that is investor where you are at at each level you are looking at this thing from ah a higher landscape and. Are doing less of the work and more of the directing of where that energy goes if we think about money as energy I'm going to direct the energy to go this way. It needs to go that way instead of it being something that I'm I'm having to crank in order to generate.

50:40.21

Max Shank

It's like you have investing in ditch digging on opposite ends of the spectrum investing you potentially don't have to make very many choices at all I mean it's the easiest work there is and as long as you ah bet correctly.

50:43.62

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

50:57.71

Max Shank

You know you can have like ah basically no no work hours. You just have to make good choices once you become an investor and so it's like I really relate to it's funny. You said 9 to eighteen months it sounds kind of like the 2 year itch

51:04.85

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

51:16.13

Max Shank

For excitement and relationships too ah is kind of similar right? So you have this fantasy idea of what it will be like to be a business owner. Yeah, right? yeah.

51:16.30

mikebledsoe

Oh yeah.

51:24.17

mikebledsoe

You're on drugs you're on drugs you got 9 to 18 months to be to be in this drug and do state. You know we talked about drugs last week. So you you get what I'm saying.

51:34.43

Max Shank

Love and other drugs. Ah, and you know people don't consider what will intrinsically make them feel fulfilled right? figuring out what they want to give rather than just what they want to get and if you can figure out what you. Most want to give to people and then optimize that that's probably the best way to go to go about it because I see it as like ah maybe 2 opposite ends of the spectrum on the 1 hand you're like okay well um, I'll be a banker. Because banking has the biggest potential for me to get very rich and I don't necessarily love banking but I want to be rich so I'll be a banker and then on the other end of the spectrum you think about um who you would really like to serve like what would make you feel alive and just be intrinsically enjoyable. You pick your role you think about oh man I really like um massage or I like painting flowers or whatever and then you find a way to scale that passion. See what I'm saying so you can either start with a passion and then figure out a way to scale it or you can just pick something that is the fastest method for getting wealthy because I think a lot of people who want to own their own business. They really just.

52:54.34

mikebledsoe

So.

53:05.12

Max Shank

Ah, want to be rich and not be told what to do.

53:09.19

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the you know as I've gotten older I'm like man maybe I should have done a little more work that I was less passionate about that get me ah more bucks in the pocket but you know that was never my style. Um well I want to talk about.

53:12.43

Max Shank

Um.

53:28.66

mikebledsoe

The reasons why people won't reach third fighttro goals and in fact to same this is the reason why half the stuff that max and I said on on this show up to this point, you never even heard it like you didn't hear it today. You went right through your head and you weren't able to grasp it and that is due to. Not because of an intelligence not an intelligence issue. It's ah it's a relationship to money issue and so how people relate to money and how they relate to wealth forms their beliefs and the beliefs become constraints on. Their ability to to do something in that realm. So if you have beliefs about money. Those beliefs are actually ah, they're serving as a constraint in some way now this constraint at some point likely served you but it's not going to make you wealthy. And this is why most people are not wealthy because the information to become wealthy to be an investor all these things widely available. You can go on Youtube and get a lot of really great advice. It's out there. You can get some poor advice too. But you spend enough time you get to sift through it and figure it out now. People's relationship to money is poor because usually we just get it from our parents we but we get these these beliefs from our parents who pass them down to us whether they did it intentionally or not. It could have been a phrase that they said it could have been how they behaved around money. You know I've I've worked with clients where you know their mom had to hide their spending from their dad and you know as a child they mate they now they have this belief that formed and and now that's impacting your life now at at a subconscious level. Which actually makes it hard for them to even hear certain advice because it flies in the face of some belief that they had built up for decades and now because it's when when you're operating from belief then ah, you're automatically filtering out some information and.

55:22.25

Max Shank

Can.

55:34.90

mikebledsoe

And accepting other information.

55:36.55

Max Shank

Man is so on point I mean I think that's the the only barrier to becoming wealthy is belief and whether or not you believe that you are not deserving of money or whether you believe. Ah. All rich people are evil which is something a lot of people believe that money is a 0 sum game and in order for 1 person to get wealthy. Someone else has to be basically stolen from or victimized and it comes back to that drama triangle right? You got the villain victim and the hero.

56:08.83

mikebledsoe

Yeah. Man The politicians love to make it look like the wealthier gonna are there to fleece you like it's their fault while you're poor.

56:14.20

Max Shank

And ah you want to hang around.

56:23.93

Max Shank

Dude no charity has done more for poor people than Walmart by by any stretch. Um and boy talk about an unpopular topic at dinner parties I'm like the worst and best dinner party guest of all time. Because I have I'm a little ass burgery and I also read a lot so it's just very It's just very fun like so yeah, it's money is not a 0 sum game.

56:44.12

mikebledsoe

Yeah, that is why I s smokerk weed before I grow out in social environments that way I just keep my mouth shut.

56:57.12

Max Shank

Ah, but the the beliefs that become constraints is is so huge like whatever you believe about money is true for you and when you take away the goodness and the evilness of it and just treat it like energy. You can let it flow. You can let it stagnate. You can let it hold power over you? Um, but it really comes down to what you believe about it and. It can be tricky to get out of but it's all the more reason to be selective who you associate with because if you hang around with people who say rich people are evil and they themselves are poor. Most likely you're going to adapt. To that group so it can be very tricky to pull yourself into a better friend group and I think I even mentioned it last week you know if you hang around with people who don't think 10 grand is a lot you start to believe 10 grand is not a lot and you're.

57:48.22

mikebledsoe

Yeah, um.

58:03.75

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

58:06.93

Max Shank

You're like oh I got to step up my game and of course it just goes on and on and on too but seeing it not as ah, a means to an end or seeing it not as an end in and of itself like keeping up with the joneses. But as a means for capturing back some of your time. And using energy to promote the ideas that you really care about like a mission or a meaning or something like that. That's that's powerful I mean the fact that you can get your time back is incredible like you never have to go shopping again. If you're willing to pay like an extra little delivery fee. Someone else can go get your grocery someone else can go pick up your dry I don't have anything that requires dry cleaning. But if you had dry cleaning like ah Mitch Hedberg has it.

58:50.59

mikebledsoe

I got like 1 thing I wear every three years. Yeah I'm with you.

58:59.68

Max Shank

Mitch Hedberg has a great joke about that he goes this shirt is dry clean only which means it's dirty.

59:04.20

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah, brilliant. Ah yeah, you said something. It's not a 0 sum game and an analogy I like to you cause some people that's ah that's a belief that is they don't think the belief they don't think the words. 0 sum game but the belief that because somebody's wealthy means that somebody else has to be poor or it's the poor or the reason that there's somebody who's wealthy I mean we could also you know because being poor and wealthy is really just a comparison for 1 so. There's always going to be poor and there's always go be wealthy. Like the poor in the United States have flat-screen Tv's air conditioning and ah are and have an excess of caloric intake. So these people are by world standards. So if we compare them in the United States they make. Say $30000 a year. They're fucking poor right? from re exactly.

01:00:02.59

Max Shank

The comparison has divorced people from reality if the people who are called poor are dying from overeating that's divorced from reality like we're out of our fucking minds.

01:00:15.00

mikebledsoe

Yeah, and but if you look at the the world population and income if you make $30000 you are in the 1% you are in the 1% of income earners in the world if you make more than $30000 a year.

01:00:33.16

Max Shank

And if I compare myself to the rock I'm a fat brokeke loser I should just go fucking kill myself. It's It's all what you compared to. But there are some realities like what you said about financial freedom before if you don't have to trade your time for food and shelter anymore. Basically.

01:00:34.74

mikebledsoe

And so.

01:00:39.80

mikebledsoe

I.

01:00:53.00

Max Shank

For your expenses that that's super worthwhile.

01:00:54.55

mikebledsoe

Yeah, but the the 0 sum game there. There's an analogy here which is and I think people will grasp this which is people don't have to be unhealthy for you to be healthy right. I look I look at health and wealth the same way I can if everybody were healthy. We'd all be healthier for every unhealthy person walking around the planet they're dragging us down right? And so the if we.

01:01:19.10

Max Shank

True kill the fatties I'm just kidding I'm just kidding.

01:01:29.50

mikebledsoe

No, they just can't do it to themselves but the ah by the way, not a judgment. But if you're fat. You're you're dying faster than us. But that the the more people the more people who are healthy. Yeah.

01:01:41.59

Max Shank

How dare you sounds I don't know if that's racist or sexist I know it's wrong though.

01:01:50.14

mikebledsoe

Ah, probably both. Ah, it's not a 0 sum game. So everybody has the chance to be healthy and in fact, the more people who are healthy the easier it is to be healthy the same thing with being wealthy. Everyone has the opportunity to be wealthy are.

01:01:51.85

Max Shank

A.

01:02:08.34

mikebledsoe

Now compared to each other maybe not but we all have the chance to have a really solid roof over our head be able to travel the way we want to travel all these things and the more people who are able to accomplish having these things the it drives the price down of certain things it it creates more peace around the world. It's gonna be a lot less conflict. There's all these things but there are some people who do play the 0 sum game. They they believe it and they say I've got to make other people lose so I'm not saying that that does not exist in the world. There are people out there that they're called thieves that they have to actually take from somebody else to have for themselves. And so ah, the people who are operating out of a zerosum game are usually immoral in their practice. So if you hear somebody talking about it being a 0 ero-sum game and they're rich. They're probably immoral. In some way and the way they're getting rich is they're ripping some people off, but there's a lot of people who I'd say the majority of the people who are wealthy have created more value for others and have gotten a fair exchange in return.

01:03:16.74

Max Shank

Let me add a little bit on that because I agree and I think it's even more potent than that because I'm sure our listeners have realized by now that you and I are in favor of a little thing called freedom and when there is.

01:03:21.84

mikebledsoe

Oh.

01:03:34.85

Max Shank

Profit and a voluntary exchange that is always a net positive that that's like if if it's really a voluntary exchange where there's Profit. You're always creating a surplus of value if I sell you a sweatshirt for $20 And you buy it for $20 The only way that happens is if it's worth it for you to buy it and worth it for me to sell it so it has to do with something called Win-win Theory which is very Self-explanatory. So Even if you don't buy into the other stuff. Realize that when you are creating a profit you are in an energetic surplus and you are promoting voluntary action I mean look at the things that work the worst it's when people are stolen from and there's no Incentive. You know there's an incentive. For a company if there's no ah, political or policing interference to create a product that people value at a price that is affordable. You know and so you are. As a company. You are essentially a slave to the customer rather than um, under taxation where you are a slave to ah basically ah, a guy with a huge stick that will punish you if you don't pay up so that's why you get a better result when there's voluntary action. So huh. 0 sum game whenever there's a profitable exchange that's Voluntary. You are actually creating wealth on both sides you are creating value on both sides of that transaction. That's huge.

01:05:24.81

mikebledsoe

Beautifully said beautifully said. Um we don't want to go from here I think we I think we should um there was.

01:05:31.27

Max Shank

We could call it there that would be my final thought anyway because I think it ah clearly I have one more at least if you focus on that.

01:05:40.45

mikebledsoe

It sounds like your final thought. Ah.

01:05:51.23

Max Shank

Like you will feel intrinsically good because it sounds corny but it really does feel the best to give if you find yourself if you start out very broke and then you become rich. Um, you do go through a phase where you buy yourself all the toys. Ah. Went through it myself I bought like every toy I ever wanted and then I realized that the thing that felt the best was like taking my friends out for lunch or getting stuff for them or bringing them on experiences like buying stuff is very hollow. But when you are. In a emotional and energetic balance. It's ah it's a profitable exchange like you are offering up so that people truly value and appreciate enough to put their money where their mouth is. You know and you also are filtering out the people who aren't actually that interested like I could give my programs away for free and people would be less likely to do them. But if I work really hard on something and I believe in it and I charge money for it and someone believes in it enough to pay for it. That is what feels good is those mutually beneficial exchanges where both people are investing ah their energy which can be in the form of time or Money. So I Think that's what actually feels the best is to give.

01:07:07.26

mikebledsoe

Um.

01:07:24.83

Max Shank

And if you are doing it at a profit then you are in a mutual energetic Surplus that's based on voluntary action and dude. What's better than that. That's how you promote this this freedom and love so there you go.

01:07:37.31

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, so what I want to leave with is it comes down if you want to be wealthy. It comes down to mindset and skill you need both of these to be present and so the mindset my favorite way to look at that is to look at your beliefs. And the first thing you can do to look at that is sit down and write down about what your mother or what you learned from your mother about money and wealth and wealthy people and what you learned from your father. Ah these are 2 different. Journal entries these what you learn from your mother is gonna be different than what you learned from your father and it's not important what they wanted to teach you or what they try to teach you. It's about what you learned. That's the important thing to remember here. So if you want it. Any any type of money mindset training that you're wanting to do needs to start there if you're starting somewhere else. You're you're not going far enough back I mean if you want to go further back which I've actually done is I I start looking at my dad's childhood. So like how you know what was that like. And how did that form. Ah, the the lessons that got passed down to me so mindset and skill and the other part is the skill and that is simply the the people have tend to have negative emotions associated with money. They don't check their bank account. They don't budget. They don't do certain things consistently because they don't like how it makes them feel and so they just avoid doing it all together. So that's a mindset deal. But once you get past that and you're actually able to be present with your cash flow. Then the skill of managing that cash flow comes in that is setting aside up money for taxes setting aside enough money for investing for a rainy day and then and then allocating how much of that money. Are you going to set aside for meaningful expenses and and and necessities and things like that. So. Having the mindset having this skill they need to both be online and most people can't even look at the skill part until they've handled the mindset. So go do those journal entries about your parents and that's all I got for yall today you good max.

01:10:00.64

Max Shank

Ah, yeah, you're like a financial freud. Ah.

01:10:05.68

mikebledsoe

Ah, we should name the show that one all right brother. Love you see all next week

01:10:09.72

Max Shank

Ah, love you. Thank you guys see ya.