0:02 Who [music] are you? And where are you going?
0:09 >> [music]
0:10 >> What do you want?
0:18 >> Hello and welcome to people making money. I'm your host Kevin Bemmel and this is the final episode of our money in motion mini series that I've been doing with my two colleagues, uh John Rubino and John Clark Jr. aka JC. And we've been talking for the last really eight weeks uh about investing and wealth building. We started out with an introduction and then we did a series of of seven episodes. If this is the first time you're joining us, I invite you to take
0:54 a look at those previous episodes. A tremendous amount of good information there and and while each episode I think can can stand on its own, you will get a lot more out of it by seeing all the episodes so you can binge watch it now, right? Um I and um you know, that it it'll be like me the first time I found out that Downton Abbey was not really downtown Abbey.
1:20 >> [laughter]
1:20 >> I thought it was a blood blood dealer or something. Then I was on a plane one day and wait a minute. This is all lords and ladies and people in evening
1:35 >> [laughter]
1:39 >> What can I say?
1:41 >> [laughter]
1:42 >> That's funny.
1:43 >> But in any event, um you can you can watch the entire mini series um at my at my um YouTube channel, The Way to Wow Shows. You can also see it on Spotify and Apple Podcast. So, the three major platforms for for this kind of information dissemination. And like I said, this is going to be our our last episode of the mini series. We're going to tie it all together and give you a sense of okay, so you've you've you've talked about all this stuff, but where do I go from here? So
2:18 this is this is this is more like commencement, which is this is really it's not the ending, it's the beginning, you know, after this we're going to you know, kick you on your tushy and send you out there and say start start investing, start getting involved, start doing the things that we've been talking about. So but before we get into the actual topic, want to have my co-hosts introduce themselves just briefly especially for those of you who are watching for the first time. So I think John, you always make JC go
2:53 first, so I think I'm going to make you go first.
2:56 >> All right, I'm going first again. Well, it's been a great journey the last couple weeks. It's been a blast talking about the many things that we talk about and I am excited to take it all and bring it to the forefront today. I'm John Rubino. I own and operate JD Investments. We are a real estate investment company that partners with folks that are out there just crushing it, making doing well, developing cool deals in multi-family and then industrial, student housing, senior assisted living and we bring in much needed capital on the equity side. So we've got a family
3:32 of 200 plus investors in the business. We've raised over 45 million dollars across 33 deals and started educating, coaching and and sharing some of the knowledge and and learning from to learning from folks too cuz we're always learning. So jack of all trades, but my day job is to help people make money and great returns on their money. So what are you and my friend John?
3:56 >> Hey, hey, all right. Thank you so much. Another John here. So what I'm blessed to be a husband of one wife for 37 years and have four grown adult children, two of which work in our businesses with me. And and then we have five grandchildren now. We had our most recent one a couple weeks ago. And so we're enjoying those elements of life and just love giving back to others and I'm excited to maybe walk with some of you folks that are watching this journey, whether you elect to work with any of the three of us or all three of us at various times. We hope that we can be a part of your
4:31 journey as well as we love the opportunity to serve and help people do well, accomplish, and achieve. As Kevin said in episode seven, achievement. And I do like to hope that there's fun involved. So, thank you so much.
4:48 >> This is Ron and Martin. They want THEIR WALL BACK.
4:52 >> [laughter]
4:53 >> I KNEW IT. I was waiting for it.
4:58 >> You know, I've never had a shirt scream at me quite as loudly as that one, but
5:04 >> Goldie Hawn's going to pop out behind him over here.
5:06 >> Yeah, yeah. It's like, you know, that's what she made her bikinis out of, I think.
5:11 >> [laughter]
5:14 >> You buy a whole bunch of them at auction and sew them together into a shirt and love it. And and if you did, your wife of 37 years should slap you silly.
5:22 >> Yeah, exactly. Oh, man.
5:29 >> So, so John, you you you've done a great job kind of anchoring the beginning of our discussions. So, you know, we we we don't want to we don't want to monkey with success at this point. So, get us started on this this sort of pulling all of all of the concepts together by way of then helping people, you know, launch onto their the next step in their investing careers.
5:55 >> Yeah, I'll pre-cursor it with always you're not alone. You got people on your team and we're here to help and we're going to, you you sure that folks that are interested can walk through this journey in a way that uh you know, they they feel good about it. They're confident about it. And that's what we're trying to do. Um we talked a lot about how the money comes in and how we make income and how we grow through either our jobs or our businesses. Um what we do really well that that pays us money and income. But money comes in from different variety of sources. We talked a little bit about folks that may have money coming in from inheritance or
6:32 you know, they just won the lotto. Who knows? But most folks are making money in the income world. They're earning income. So making the money, protecting that money coming in, going into building assets through that money to then transition into wealth. And wealth then is grown through investment. It's grown through um capitalizing on opportunity through investment. Um we've we're going to talk about today too about how things have changed and how having a a good plan moving forward built on foundations is going to be key as always. And so when
7:07 we when we have those disciplines, we have those systems in place, we have those habits, it's just going to lead to uh optimism. It's going to lead to positive results. So um today really is to take everything we've learned uh and focus on transitioning at the start from income into that wealth. And then how best we leave that legacy. You know, you could have all the money in the world, you know, and uh and be happy with that. But what are you leaving behind? And and I think that's what happens as you get uh and you grow and you become uh wealthier and you do real
7:43 well, but you start hitting your purpose in life. You start figuring out what's the things that I want to do and and what are the things I'm excited about and and a lot of that has to do is what am I leaving behind for the next generation. So that's got to be part of that equation uh at least amongst these gentlemen that I am around. Uh we all have that mindset. And so that's part of what we're we're here is growing that legacy. But to make sure that we have uh a good plan, a sound plan, a structured plan, and a plan that's going to always peel off and yield some great opportunity and success.
8:19 >> So, I'm going to I'm going to challenge you on this because you're, you know, like me, a veteran. And I I believe it was von Moltke who said this or this is kind of a riff on what he said, but he said plans are useless, but planning is essential. And I I I think that this is this is a particularly important because part of what's undergirding this mini-series is that during the ultra-low interest rate period that we had up until around COVID,
8:56 people got very used to how things were and and it what it it didn't seem like it was so hard to make everything come together. But that was an unusual time. And so, while we want to have a plan, one of the key parts of that plan, I think, needs to be the adaptability of that plan as the economy moves forward, as we move forward in our lives, as our objectives, our purpose, our mission evolves. And
9:31 And so, I think we need to understand a plan in the context of more of planning, if you will, than of oh, I've got this plan. Now, I'm going to go execute it and, you know, each day I get up and I look and I say, okay, here I am. Okay, I do this. I do this. That that is not a recipe, I think, for success given the level of of volatility and change that that we're seeing in the economy and in in the world these days. So, gentlemen, I you know, your thoughts.
10:05 >> Yeah.
10:05 >> I have some thoughts about that, too. Yeah. So, I guess I I I hear what you're saying and I I do agree. I also think there's some other roots to why planning is more important than the plans. And I think it comes from the idea of a lot of things that we pointed out. What is my reference point? Where do I go? What are my steps? What should I be doing? What do I need to be aware of? How do I engage? Should I put a chart together? Should I take one of the charts that someone else made together? And that doesn't mean it's a recipe in the sense of step one through 10 and now I'm going to get equals this guaranteed result.
10:40 It's more the idea of learning to learn and forcing me to develop habits and putting in structure and and crafting a strategy and hiring the team of advisors or like John likes to call the board of directors around you one at a time or all at once, however you find them. Building that and and involving friends that you mentioned, Kevin. If we you know, we tie in all these things together, I think it's the idea of people you've known for a long time, people of a various set of skills, admitting to yourself you don't know everything, but you still want to be the CEO and make the decisions cuz
11:15 this is our money, our family, our goals, or just even if it's an individual. And whether it's leaving a legacy after you're gone or making an impact while you're here or both. And achievement, as you mentioned in the last last episode, an accomplishment, uh and having the freedom. I think a lot of people are seeking after freedom and independence, uh so they can do more of what they want and less of what someone else tells them to do. Uh and some of that could be charitable, some of it could be selfish, and some of it could just be uh other other occupational work that maybe they want to do for free or or for a fee. There's all a variety of things, but the
11:50 the idea of planning says to me that I have to think. I have to stop. I have to look to others. I need to develop and craft something and I'm learning. I'm always learning, as John had said on our last episode. We just We We don't stop learning. It's an an evolution of learning. And uh that I think that's the idea that I get from that planning. And so, where do we start? My recommendation is you start with that. Start developing a plan not because the plan is the answer, but the planning of that plan you learn a lot of answers in there and you also build a habit and a rhythm and a ritual of
12:28 gaining education, gaining awareness, involving others, writing things down, solidifying who I am, where am I headed. Doesn't mean it has to last for 30 years, it might last for 5 minutes or 5 months, but at least it gets you a direction and it gets you started down the road of where you want to head to.
12:47 >> Mhm.
12:47 >> Yeah, I mean, look, Kevin, you you bring up a good point. You you know, you have to have a good plan, but there's things outside your control like you mentioned that there the environment changes, you know, we got used to cheap money for a long time and and everybody thought that was the normal, but it wasn't. So when we had those major shifts in interest rates, in cost of living, with inflation, with changes into the in the in economy, people were just like, "Wait a minute. This is not normal. Normal is 2% 3% interest rates. Now it's not." So you know, you you you got to go back to the foundations. You got to go back to,
13:23 "Hey, money is king." If you got it, great and you're going to do well in any in any cycle of the real estate
13:29 >> Right.
13:31 >> Uh patience is a virtue, right? And if you have patience and you stick to your plan, you're going to do well if if you stick to your plan. Um you know, everybody is running away from uh commercial office right now, right? Nobody wants to touch commercial office. There's opportunity there. Why not? You know, you might be the only person that's going in the opposite direction of traffic, but there's opportunity. You may see something. You may work with someone that's doing really well in that asset class right now. Um so you know, having the capital and having a position where you can uh execute when the timing is right, which
14:08 timing is always right to to jump in, it's just where you jump in and what's the best opportunity for you based on your goals, based on your uh your strategy, and what your your kind of overall kind of take on things are based on what you want to what you want to do.
14:24 >> Mhm. Yeah. And I think the virtue of a plan, if you will, to to to use it according to in line with how you've talked about John is we do need to have that launch point. Because it's from there then that we will know what adjustments need to be made. So, we we can't be making adjustments if we don't know where we're trying to get. It's the classic example of the you know, the jet liner, you know, flying from Los Angeles to Hawaii. The
15:01 the plane is actually never almost never pointed at Hawaii. It's but they we know that Hawaii is the is is where we want to get. And and we're going to be making adjustments along the way as you know, air currents and such you know, buffet the plane or whatever. And I and I think that that investing and in and in many ways life is very much like that. What it what is the end [clears throat] vision, right? When I when I talk to people, um you can kind of see it through the the the fog of my you know, virtual background. When I talk about the three
15:36 pillars of attainment holistically what I suggest people do is start out by saying, you know, where do I want to be kind of at the whatever the sort of end goal is, where where I've got satisfaction in my life. What does that look like? And then chunk back from there. Right? So, for some people, there is no limit to the wealth that they want to acquire. I was I was on Instagram earlier today and it was you know, they had the list of the
16:12 whatever 10 or 15 wealthiest people in the world today versus you know, 20 years ago. Different list. I I I think for for the people on that list, there is no limit to how much wealth they want to build. That's just who they are. But I think for most of us, that's not who we are. We we have a sense of the life we want to live, and from that we can quantify what are what I call a condition of satisfaction. I I get those from my my friend Jeffrey Hayzlett. You know, where where do will will I
16:48 feel satisfaction uh from my life? And it's it's it's monetary, it's relationships, it's identity, it's all these things coming together. Once I know that, and once I know where my beginning point is, then I can develop a plan and then see where is that plan either taking me closer to or farther away from that that those conditions of satisfaction that I'm I'm you know, ultimately aiming for. And of course, those conditions those conditions of satisfaction will probably evolve over
17:24 time, and that's fine. Um and that's all part of living life. But I think in investments is is very much a part of that, um and it needs to be integrated into it.
17:39 >> Yep. And and I think one of the things we need to do is um you know, in in our world where you sit, John sit, and I sit, there are opportunities that are happening, you know, right before our eyes, right? So, like, what are some of the things we're seeing right now that are presenting great opportunities for investment, for growth, for wealth building, for, you know, moving us in that direction, right? Of independence, whether it however that looks for us. So, um do you gentlemen want to share some of the things you're working on or some of the things you're seeing? Maybe John from an
18:14 investment standpoint, from you know, financial standpoint, that uh you see clients are are really you know taking advantage of some great conditions in the market right now even though it's a little bit of a challenge given what's going on in the world and and in the economy but there's still opportunity.
18:32 >> For sure. Definitely is of of opportunity for sure and obviously anything that we would talk about is is general information because we we prefer that if there's going to be individual decisions first of all it's the individual making those decisions and we're more than happy to give specific advice but uh and that would be on a one-on-one you know individual call basis but I can say some of the obvious is you know there's a there's in the United States at least there is and I think this is global now a a surge towards and a need for energy new energy sources more energy to fuel the fact
19:07 that one of the hottest things going is you know data centers and AI related type of uh investment and they are and that's constantly growing in the amount of power each token takes to achieve each function that you want these AI tools to do and and so I do think that energy and then specifically energy in the form of coming up with alternative energies and just a massive sources of energies and ways to have renewable energies to fuel
19:42 the technology AI data center movement. Uh I think that's one area that I see as very uh popular hot and expensive but if you go in pooled with others can become possible uh and so that's a good one and then the only other thing I think was worth mentioning as a whole we talked about this on one of our episodes a little bit we touched on it when uh you know Kevin brought up the whole F1 thing down in Florida as a as a new thing that they're doing and I I thought to myself I started thinking more and more about
20:17 that as we talked on that episode and I realized yeah I see a lot of what I call layering. It's not single solo investing. Sure, you can do that, but I think that it's more effective now to have crossover. Uh for instance, one of the brands that my wife and I like for luggage cuz we travel a lot is this Béis brand. And they crossed over the first one they did was with Chipotle and I'm like, how does a Mexican food place have anything to do with a piece of luggage? Like that just doesn't even make any sense. And
20:53 and yet they did it.
20:54 >> into it so you can have more Chipotle.
20:56 >> I guess you pack your food in your luggage. I don't know. And so they they crossed over, they shared brands, they shared their logos, they shared their coloring, and they crafted personally made bags just for the people who love Chipotle. And now their most recent one they just came out with the Poppi. You guys ever heard of that Poppi soda? That took forever to get a grab hold. It's this kind of healthier soda thing thing. And now they're making everything in Poppi Poppi brands and Poppi colors. And I'm just like, you know, this is a small example of what I'm saying of companies coming together, layering of different investment opportunities that
21:31 might even seem disrelated. I don't know how soda and the luggage matches either. But they both helped each others brands and helped build their brands by actually and they're not owned by the same people and they actually decided to work together. And then you looked at when we were looking at the F1, it was like, well, one of the principles that I believe is is necessary in almost any business adventure, whether you're a doctor, a dentist, or any kind of self-employment, but especially those that are like practices built on like an an insurance agency or these other ones I named where they're built on one or two people maybe
22:07 at the top, you need an asset called real estate. And almost all good investments ultimately, eventually, somehow or someway involve themselves in real estate. And when I say involve, I mean hopefully they get to the point of stop renting and start owning. Uh and that's another way of layering where an investment would have like we took the with the F1 it had entertainment. It had dining, it has uh you know, engagement and and live and live entertainment and and interactive entertainment and then you have structures of buildings and you have
22:42 viewings of opportunities and you have stores coming together to sell goods and merch and you have all these things blended into one single whole investment with lots of layers. And as I looked across what's happening across country lines and all the things that I see going on I'm like actually, I see a lot of layering. Many pieces coming together to form a large investment opportunity, which gives it stability, it allows it to navigate through maybe volatility of a particular piece of it and not maybe hinder the other piece if there's a upside or a downside. So I see a lot of
23:19 good in that as well as looking at people who are bringing things together in multiple ways. Uh so anyway, those are a couple ideas that I see.
23:27 >> Yeah. Those are great John. I mean I'll compliment a few. I I think there's um there's definitely emerging investments that are coming in that are different, you know, maybe first time. There are investments that have been going on for since our country's been around. You know, everybody needs a place to live. It's just you know, it's different from maybe the traditional sense of buying the dream home to now maybe renting the dream home. Um and when you get into looking at real estate like you said, uh everything needs a home, a business needs a home,
24:03 um you know, a professional athletic team needs a home. Um things need a home. And so, you know, if if if you're the land owner of uh of the Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, you're you're making money from rent, right? You're making money from a tenant that's always going to be paying you rent. So um you know, what I'm seeing now is again long and steady wins the race because people are trying to get into investments that are less risk-averse. Um that presents opportunity for more fixed rate interest, right? Lower
24:38 interest given the fact that we're in a higher interest environment. The play in the adjustable rate mortgages and the interest-only type mortgages John that you deal with. So I'm seeing more folks getting into established assets that are cash flowing that may have the potential for appreciation on the back end. So multi-family class B assets which are in established neighborhoods like suburbs. Maybe it needs a little value add. That's always been the great model for success. Or new construction, brand new in a in a great market. And again, the same type of
25:13 variables, jobs, entertainment, amenities, good schools, large population growth. You have to be a micro-investor when times are a little more volatile like they are now. So now you maybe you are more of a market-based investor because certain markets are doing better than other markets. And so there's opportunity there. To identify that. Yeah, data centers are huge right now. Um it gets a lot of negative press unfortunately. But um but there's opportunity inside of data center pending on what you're getting in. Like how you're going to attract the power for the data center.
25:49 How you're going to work with local uh jurisdictional uh politicians and political control in data center, right? So it's exciting, but we're going to need it. And we're going to need more of it so there's a high demand. Um and then businesses. I love I haven't invested in businesses as much as I have in real estate. But I'm starting to understand more that cool businesses are coming online because of technology, because of the capability of what businesses can do now. And businesses that are integrating AI, integrating uh the ability to stand out over competition, it's going to
26:26 reduce the the risk of the venture capital type investment, seed capital type investment than it traditionally was because businesses are now coming in with that to start. Whereas businesses that didn't have it to start are now having to integrate it during the life cycle of being, you know, post seed capital or, you know, post growth stage capital. Now they've been enduring businesses and now they're bringing that into the current systems. So there's a learning experience to try to understand that change. Whereas new businesses are already applying that and already implement implementing that into their business plan. So it's exciting too to
27:01 get into VC or angel investing as well. So those are some of the things I see that are are emerging and show some really cool opportunity right now. Kevin, anything from
27:13 >> Yeah, yeah, so I've got I think several things that I I I I'd like to highlight. One is I think that um uh without getting into politics, which I don't do on this show, I think there are definite channels of capital flow outflowing from some areas and inflowing to others. And I and I I I you know, look, I'm going to pick on my home state. You know, it it's interesting John to to when I hear you talk about um multi-family development and and building housing and such. Um there's not a single client I have um
27:50 that that that I say to them you should be investing in multi-family housing in California. It is not It is not a vi- a viable investment uh in in California because of the regulatory climate here. That's just the bottom line. And so I I think that one of the investment opportunities right now at least is seeing where is capital flowing and and how can I take advantage of that as part of my investing strategy. So you know, for me as as someone who's based in California,
28:27 um part of my investments investing strategy for myself and on behalf of my clients is looking outside the state. I I I I think I have to do that in order to be a proper steward. Whereas, if you if we'd been talking 30 years ago, California was really still the Golden State in that regard. So, I I and I think we need to be we we need to set the politics of it aside and be realistic. You know, what what is going to be happening as as we as the you know as as the investing um
29:05 uh atmosphere uh evolves in various regions and states in the country. So, that that's one thing that I see. Um another thing that I see is that Yeah. Another thing that I see and this is this is dovetailing on on something you were talking about a minute ago, John, is investing in businesses. So, um you know, younger people are are are really taking, I think, an undeservedly bad rap uh you know, over the last, I don't know, 10 years. I mean, I was listening to a podcaster earlier today and he was
29:40 ragging on the millennials and and and and then he says, "And I'm a millennial." It's like, "Have you no pride of generation at all?" You know, I kind of wanted to I but but but you know what? I meet and talk to a lot of young people, very creative, hard working, they they they they they have ideas that they they want to develop. I think that going forward, we're probably going to see uh a almost a renaissance of entrepreneurship
30:17 possibly because of some of the things like artificial intelligence that are going to impact the workplace and and the fact that younger people have grown up in the kind of technological environment to which, you know, I as as someone who's older, I've had to adapt. It's you know, this is your point, John, too is they're native to this. And I think we we make a big mistake when we overlook that potential there and and when we sort of discounted as as a source of investment opportunities. That's not to say that it isn't risky.
30:53 Of course it is. It's always risky to get involved in angel capital or or seed capital, but I think it's something that um especially experienced investors should take another look at a a renewed look at if they're not doing so already because there's I just spoke to someone a couple of days ago. He was telling me about a business on which he's working and and how he's crafted different parts, but I'm thinking to myself how could I not have known about this? You know, he's a navy colleague. Um
31:30 I'm just I'm I'm and but a young a younger guy. I'm like you know, how smart and inventive is this guy, you know? Um and you know, his the the thing he lacks, well, one of the things he lacks is capital. Well, you know, my clients have capital. Um and you know, maybe he'll hit a home run in his first time at bat, but but maybe not. But I I think, you know, that's another area that I think we really need to be examining again. There there was there's kind of been a dearth of
32:05 entrepreneurship for a while, but now I think there's a blossoming coming back. And by the way, I don't think it needs to be only in sort of innovative areas. I think if somebody came to me with a really solid plan on how to enhance a plumbing business using AI, I think I'd find that very, very interesting
32:25 >> Yeah.
32:26 >> I'm sure a long way away before, you know, you call a plumber and a robot shows up at your door and I'm a C- I'm C3PO. I know thousands of ways to talk to pipes or you know, that's that's what I
32:40 >> The three greatest qualities of an American entrepreneur and business owner is creativity, innovation, and critical thinking. I mean, that's something that we'll never lose in our blood as capitalists, as people who come from a generation of work and and, you know, you you you you earn what you work for and you and you make you make success. I think that it's it's a little more accessible because of technology, um but that also comes with a downside because now your brain is is trying to kind of process 20,000 things a day instead of 5,000 things a day because of
33:16 technology. So, you have to really be able to put on that filter. What I will say, so take a step back and you brought up some great points. Successful investors today do it as a team. You could do it by yourself and and you you know, look, I I I'd say go ahead if you want and and but have the board of directors, have the right people around you. But when when you're with a team, you could do a lot more. John brought this up on the last episode, you know, when you come in with a team, you can bring in more capital. Uh two minds are better than one, you know, 10 minds are better than two, right? So, you've got people that bring
33:51 different skill sets, they bring capital, they bring time, they bring opportunity, they bring different things to look at. So,
34:01 >> Connections, they bring connections, yeah.
34:03 >> Yeah, you're hearing but you also bring different perspectives and different life experiences.
34:07 >> No, no, you're you're adding to that, you know, please. The ingredients are are, you know, they don't end. You're hearing terms like mastermind, you're hearing terms like investor clubs, you're hearing terms like, you know, networking groups, right? Like where people can come together and do things inside of investing, business ownership, opportunity where everybody's bringing in something to a value, okay? Now, this is pretty interesting and I just learned about this a month and a half ago, but it's been on the books since 2018.
34:42 The Securities and Exchange Commission will allow you to set up investor clubs where folks could come in together and invest and it allows them the opportunity to invest as a as a group and it actually allows you to kind of not have to do a lot of the regulatory things that you would have to do if you did it inside of a more organized or more less organized opportunity, right? So if you have 10 people and you stand up this investor club, you get equal rights, you get equal voting, you get capital you can bring in and now you can invest on opportunities in business and
35:19 real estate and and energy like John brought out. So that's exciting because these things are available and Kevin, I'll say this last thing I'll say, you brought it up. The the power is in knowledge of knowing what's out there and then a lot of people are either fearful to not explore or they don't stay they they come up with barriers. I don't have enough money. I don't know the right people. I don't have relationships and connections. Get rid of that. Go out there and explore because if you're out there and wanting to get involved in investing and you want to get involved in building your wealth, there are
35:54 things out there that can help you and it and it could just be calling up your best friend and asking some questions. Hey, have you heard about this before? Oh yeah, I'm in three of those. Woo, wait a minute. I'm your best friend. Why don't you tell me a little more about that, right? So I get and knowledge is power and and identifying those things, they're out there. Yeah.
36:14 >> So I I I think I think actually the the biggest barrier is not maybe being afraid to invest to investigate something. I think it's just not John, JC, you brought this up last episode. People who didn't grow up in a family where these were the kind of things they talked about, it's just it's just they don't even know that they don't know it in some way. And and I so I think that and and and that I think is is this is one of the things of course that were were this is one of the reasons why we did this mini series.
36:47 >> Exactly. Yeah.
36:49 >> You you sparked another thought that that I wanted to share because we're we're we'll go really long with this you know if we're not careful. There's there's a democratization of investing that's been going on now for I think at least 10 years maybe longer. So investments that heretofore were only available to people with enormous net worths. You know, when I'm talking you know eight, nine, 10 figure net worths. Now are available to people of of much more modest means. So
37:27 you know, private private equity, private lending, even in some cases hedge funds, fractional interests in art. All kinds of things that you know, before you know, there was no way I was going to ever own a you know, a Kandinsky, my favorite artist. His work is just it's just way too expensive for me. But you know, not that I have but I you know, potentially could buy a fractional interest in a Kandinsky. And and how how cool is that, right? I mean, so
38:04 I think you know um the the recipe John that you gave is is just sort of get out there, talk to people. I I I think I think where the fear comes in is I think we all have a a fear of looking, you know, stupid or or uneducated or whatever it is. You know what? I somehow we have to get over that. Um and and and realize that what we stand to gain by being curious is is far
38:39 more than anything we'd stand to lose by someone you know, thinking oh my what a rube this guy is. You know, I I will say I will often times say I don't know anything about this. Share your knowledge with me. If if you acknowledge up front you don't know anything about it, most people are going to be like, "Oh, wow, let me tell you."
39:01 >> Yeah, exactly. Exactly. No, I agree and I think there's also hiding in some things that you we've all said on this episode already is there's a couple tips to help people get started down this road and one of those that you said is where is the money flowing? Right? You said that earlier, Kevin. So, where is the money going? And so, one strategy is to say, "Here's where I see the money growing, going, excuse me, and I anticipate that that will cause this thing here to grow." And then you can also involve people and say, "But I don't know a lot about it. And do you know anything about it?" And
39:36 then maybe we together we can learn and and share and help each other with what we do know. And and then with that I think the encouragement of getting with the going with the money, I have comments about going against that, but I would say if you're looking in direction of where is money going, let's use an example, AI technology is where the money is going. There's no doubt about that. That's an undebatable. So, now the question is what I recommend is look at what are going to be some of the net effects. What are the consequences of that? There's going to be negative and positive. So, let's find the ones. What
40:11 are the consequences? Let's identify those cuz sometimes in the negative there's a you there's a solution that you can create. And now you've solved a problem of a negative consequence and that is a business model. Uh and sometimes there's a positive net effect. You know, okay, AI is going to go this way. I was already down the road, let's say halfway on this energy hike, but I was going in this direction. Maybe I go this way and now the two can converge or or what's the net effect of enabling people with more power? We talk about job loss. The way I involve intelligent AI in my businesses is I
40:46 involve it in a way to we call it people-centric and tech-enabled. We enable our people to focus on people and we take the things that took you away from engaging with people and we gave those to the machine. So, I call that repositioning. We have positioned our our employees for better success and our customers then are the beneficiaries of that better success. And so, everyone wins by the way that we're involving, you know, the latest AI. And so, then there's the other advantage point that I've been following for a number of years, which is called the contrarian approach, which is to say
41:21 and John Rubino said this earlier, the herd is headed this way, sometimes in the opposite direction is where there's an opportunity as well. Cuz maybe this is getting becomes diluted, so big, becomes too expensive, too many players. Well, hey, what if I go this way, I can counteract that and I can pick up the There's a silver lining in every gray cloud. And so, you can also look for where is that? I've made some of those moves in my own life and they've almost always paid off as long as you, you know, ponder it, make some wise decisions, look at the tea leaves, if you will, and figure out what's
41:56 happening now and what impact will that have. So, I definitely encourage people, don't just stop short with what is happening now. Look at the impacts of what that could be, whether it's in the opposite direction or in the same direction. Go one step further in your mind and address it. It's similar to John, something you know a lot about and we didn't actually use the word, but we didn't really connotate it in this way and that's opportunity zones. They're typically in real estate, they're just outside of where the hottest thing is happening, right? They're they're the next thought after that, but that can be acted upon now.
42:31 There's immediate benefits and long-term benefits. And then the growth of the long-term benefit in that environment becomes mostly tax-free.
42:40 >> Yep.
42:41 >> And and all the wind came from what was happening right next door. So, again, it's look at what's happening, where's the money flowing and either go in the opposite direction cuz you pick up pick some money where there's less competition or go with it and look at the net effect. What is the consequence or the ongoing impact of what's right next door or right around the corner? Those would be recommendations. Those are some philosophies that we follow as a company as well.
43:07 >> It's awesome, John. I love it. Yeah, really nice way to put
43:10 >> of closing remarks here, gentlemen, cuz we're we're uh we're coming up on time.
43:14 >> Um this has been a great mini-series. I know we're talking about doing um maybe some future episodes, which will focus on some specifics, but I think at the end of the day, um we covered a lot and I think what the takeaway is is um you're not alone. Um you've got people that can help you in this journey. Um and there is great opportunity right now. I honestly think, and I'm being a little bit um uh you know, partisan or you know, judgmental as whatever you want to call it. I can't think of the word. A bias. There you go. I'm a little biased, but I think right now is one of the greatest
43:50 opportunities in the history of investment in our country because there's so much money waiting to come in. There are so many opportunities out there. You should be very, very uh biased on what you want to invest in. You should be very selective. Every deal you look at on the investment side needs to have a story. You know, we talked about this in a previous episode. It was hard to get money in the past and the deal Well, it was hard to get deals in the past and the money was easy. It's the opposite now. We've got tons of deals. So, get into those deals. Look at them. Review
44:25 them. See where they fit in your in your kind of spectrum holistically. And what stands out? Can you get that deal at 70% discount? You know, are you sitting in a higher position in the capital stack? Are you getting better returns and less risk, right? What's the story behind those deals? And if you got that story and you got a good deal, the money's going to be there. Believe me, it'll be there. Jump in. Don't be afraid. And we're here to help you and we'd love to help you. Thanks, Kev.
44:54 >> Absolutely. I'll just add one one simple thing to go with that cuz I totally agree. I would say liquidity, discipline, and a strong underwriting of who you're working with or who you're going to invest in. You know, do your due diligence. See if they apply discipline, apply your own discipline, stay the course, and make sure you maintain good liquidity and the people you're investing in do the same so that they can they can deal with the ebbs and flows of what's coming, which is change. We don't know exactly. We don't have to be prophets or prophetess, but we can know one thing. It's going to change, and let's just
45:30 have good discipline structure and strategy as we move forward, and we will be able to weather the storm and then do like Mr. Bimmel says, achieve and accomplish.
45:40 >> Yeah. So, you had
45:41 >> Yeah.
45:42 >> Oh. So, yeah, I I would I would just echo both of your remarks and and say that I know for me investing fundamentally comes back to the people with whom I'm working. If you if you are with the right people, the fact that not every investment is going to work out, it's not going to matter in the long term.
46:09 >> Right.
46:09 >> Not every investment is going to work out. It It That's That's just the nature of the game, and it is it is a game in many many ways. I don't That's just That's just the reality of it. So, you want to make sure that the people with whom you're you're investing, whether it's your co-investors, your advisors, your your informal board of directors, you want to be able to feel like you're really locked arms with with these people, and that together you're going to move forward, and you're going to do your best to make every investment work even
46:46 as you know that that in the end you're going to have to let go of some, and and and that's that's just that's just how how it is. So, uh and and and and I I think, you know, this this is I always sign off this way. Courage at all times. Courage is not the lack of fear. Courage is being afraid and stepping forward smartly despite being afraid. And doing so in a way where the negative repercussions of that fear
47:23 are minimized. That's what courage is. We needed it in the military. We needed Everybody needs it in life today. And so I would just encourage you to be courageous, not foolhardy, courageous as you embark or continue on your investing career. So I I I I want to wrap up by by giving just enormous thank you to to John Rubino and John Clark Jr. It was really John Rubino
47:58 who was the inspiration for for this whole mini-series. We were talking one day of several months ago and John was telling me something and I and I said, "Well, you know, I've I've got this this platform. Let's let's let's give it a Let's give it a shot." And we were going to do it the two of us and then he said, "You know, I got my this friend John Clark. He's a great guy. I think you'd love him." I'm like I'm like I got like a second brother now. It's it's fantastic. And I I I have to say that um I I I hope the series is well it has been well
48:35 received. Um but what I will say is I have been tremendously enriched by speaking with you gentlemen, disagreeing with you, and having the opportunity to learn from you. And and I I I hope that's true for all of you who have watched or listened to this this mini-series. So
48:55 >> Thank you, brother.
48:56 >> You're You're welcome.
48:58 >> So I I thank you all for joining us and for for coming on this journey with us. Um I've got some some ideas on on how hopefully I'm going to rope these guys into some future episodes of people making money. And uh
49:13 >> There you go.
49:14 >> how that works out, stay tuned. But, what I will say is I I I I wish you not only a wonderful rest of the day as I always do, but whether you, you know, come back to us and say and and say, "Hey, will you help me out this or not?" What I wish you is a robust future as as you hopefully apply the the the knowledge that that we have worked very hard to bring to you and that it will make your life better, not just wealthier, but make your life
49:49 better. And with that, I'm going to sign off on this mini-series for the last time, but not for the show, Marie Darling. So much of what I talk about is is because of how you enriched my life in getting to take care of you. If you watch this show regularly, at some point I told you who Marie is, but she she was a light in my life. She, Marie Darling, you are my bell. Courage at