WEBVTT - How To Get Rich ft. Ramit Sethi (How To Mondays) 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:09.799 Hey, ba fan, here's another how to throw back. In 0:00:09.800 --> 0:00:12.799 this episode, I got a chance to sit down with 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:17.720 the home dizzle re Meet Sethi. Yeah, this episode is 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:20.079 called how to Get Rich with re Meet Sethi. This 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:22.520 is one of our top episodes of twenty twenty three. 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:24.080 And of course because for Me is like the mom 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:27.200 dot com you already know, I will teach you to 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:29.920 be rich is like a top first of all, to 0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:32.200 one of the number one financial books out there. Also 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:34.960 to has a Netflix special based upon it. Dive in, 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:37.599 dig in and let me know what you think at 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:44.160 the end. Hey, hey, hey, we're back. We're extra well, 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:50.960 not black, but extra brown. Ambition, ambition, ambition, ambition, ambition. 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:55.600 Welcome ba Faan. I'm so excited because we have one 0:00:55.680 --> 0:00:58.600 of the oh geez in the game on Brown and 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:01.240 Vision today. You know, y'all always want to call me 0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:03.920 somebody's auntie, not you third year old. You tried it, 0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:06.800 but I will say for me has been in the 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:08.720 game longer than me. Let me tell you a little something. 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:10.000 F First of all, let me tell you how it 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:12.080 was introduced to remed so y'all knew. I grew up 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:14.440 in the household where my dad talked about money to 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:18.000 my sister's and I'm happy Father's Day just passed. And 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:22.039 he born and raised in Nigeria, super super immigrant house school. 0:01:22.080 --> 0:01:23.840 It was like Nigeria in the house in like America 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:27.120 every place else. And I can distinctly remember my older sister, 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:31.240 Karen going to school college. She went to Rutgers and 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:33.959 coming back like one summer, maybe it was her freshman year, 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:36.600 and her being like, cause, you know, we listened to 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:38.440 my dad, but who's trying to listen to your parents? 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:40.600 And she was like, oh my god, I have this 0:01:40.640 --> 0:01:45.360 book and he knows exactly. She's like, it's a money book. 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:47.319 But it's like he grew up the way we grew 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:49.440 up with like these immigrant parents. And you're like, what 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:51.480 are you talking about? She was like, he's really funny, 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:53.680 and I remember this thing and I have if anybody 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:56.320 knows me, I got the worst memory possible. And she 0:01:56.440 --> 0:01:58.040 showed me and it was I will teach you to 0:01:58.080 --> 0:01:59.920 be rich. And she was like, he's walking me step 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:02.360 by step. I've had to manify money because she had 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:05.240 like messed up all of her finances and she did 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:07.360 cut co nive. Sorry to put your business on blast 0:02:07.360 --> 0:02:09.240 care because she listens. Oh wow, girl, it was a 0:02:09.240 --> 0:02:12.359 long time ago. She did cut co nive child. She 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:15.520 every financial mistake she made, she could think of she made, 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:18.519 and so I remember thinking that was the very first. 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:20.359 I didn't even know because at the time I was 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:22.800 two years younger than her and I was still in 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:25.880 high school. I didn't I never thought about books on money, 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:27.480 and I guess I probably thought about it. Was like 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:29.920 for like, I don't know old people, and she was 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:32.320 so excited about it and showing me like little lines. 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:35.640 If you don't know, meat has quite the personality, so 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:38.280 she was showing me different lines inside the book, and 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:41.200 I was like, really. So that's how I was first 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:45.000 introduced to Remat. Remeat is the host of Netflix's hit 0:02:45.080 --> 0:02:47.480 show How to Get Rich and the author of the 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:50.399 New York Times bestseller I Will Teach You to Be Rich. 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:55.080 Remat is known for his unconventional insights on money, psychology, 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:59.120 and his no nonsense approach to designing and living a 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:03.120 rich life. Okay. He was born in California to an 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:08.160 Indian immigrant to born in California to Indian immigrant parents. 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:10.919 He attended Stanford. Oh he's a smarties, that's why I 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:14.720 forgot about that on scholarship, where he studied technology, psychology, 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:19.760 and persuasion, earning undergraduate and graduate degrees. Remi began his 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:21.720 company I Will Teach You to Be Rich from his 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:25.240 college dorm room in two thousand and four. His goal 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:27.720 was to reframe the way we think about money, so 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:30.160 in two thousand and nine he published his book, his 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:32.440 first book, I Will Teach You to Be Rich, which 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:36.440 quickly became in New York Times bestseller and cemented his 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:40.200 reputation as a leading voice in personal finance. Remi also 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:43.560 hosts a popular podcast call I Will Teach You to 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:46.720 Be Rich, which features real couples sharing real stories with 0:03:46.920 --> 0:03:50.880 real numbers from behind closed doors. His influence in the 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:54.360 personal finance space has continued to expand with his recent 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:57.800 release of Netflix How to Get Rich, which became an 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:00.680 instant top ten Netflix show. When I tell you how 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:02.360 hard that is, I don't think I understand because I'll 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:05.400 be doing my Googles and my numbers, and that is 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:07.560 really hard to do to get to be in the 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:10.360 top ten. Because Netflix at any moment has like one 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:14.360 hundreds of thousands of shows. So the show features remeets trademark, 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:17.599 practical and actionable advice and follows him as he helps 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:20.560 real people transform their finances and take control of their 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:26.599 financial futures. Remeat's financial philosophy is centered around several key principles, 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:30.279 including the importance of automating your finances love that, using 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:34.359 money psychology to prioritize your money dials super love that, 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:38.560 and focusing on thirty thousand dollars questions instead of three 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:41.720 dollar ones. The shade is real about them three dollars. 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:43.520 I feel so bad for the late guy. I'm not 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:44.960 gonna say his name because we're not go to shade him, 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:49.000 but that poor Latte guy. I mean it was at 0:04:49.080 --> 0:04:52.040 the time, it seemed like a good idea. Anyway, we 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:57.080 welcome for me to the stew so, welcome to the 0:04:57.200 --> 0:04:57.920 still for me. 0:04:58.120 --> 0:04:59.880 Thank you so much for cos thanks for having me. 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:00.800 It's great to be here. 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:02.760 Yeah, I'm so excited. I don't think I've ever met 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:05.360 you in person, like just like via social media? 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:06.320 Is that right? Yeah? 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:08.440 I don't think we've ever I don't think I'm looking 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:12.080 at you him like no con no, not even fin 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:14.240 con No. I don't think we've we were ever at 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:15.840 a or if I was at a fincnn back that 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:17.400 I didn't. I mean, I knew of you, but I 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:18.039 didn't know you. 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:20.760 So oh man, well it's a pleasure to see you 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:21.280 in person. 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:23.840 No, this is awesome. So well, one, I want to 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:26.280 take it back to two thousand and nine, right, what 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:31.560 made you like write this book, like this funny, helpful 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:33.760 book when no one was writing books to young people 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:36.640 about money? Like how what was the impetus to all 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:39.200 of that? Hey, ba fan, We're going to take a 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:41.560 quick break and we'll be right back. 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:45.880 Honestly, one of the biggest reasons I wrote it was 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:49.280 I had I was getting the same ten questions every 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:52.320 day of my life. I was like, I don't want 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:56.280 to answer a question about a roth Ira anymore. Here, 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:58.880 here's the book. It's going to answer your question, and 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:01.320 it's going to actually show you the thirty other questions 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:04.279 you really should be asking. So that was one reason 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:09.120 I had started my blog in college. And I started 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:11.960 it not because I had some grand master plan. It 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:15.239 was that I was taken some of my scholarship money 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:17.800 put in the stock market, lost half of it, realized 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:19.880 I wasn't as smart as I thought. And as I 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:25.480 learned about money, and I was studying human behavior, persuasion psychology. 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:28.560 I started developing my own point of view on money, 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:30.680 and so when I tried to teach my college friends 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:34.000 about personal finance, they all were like, yeah, that sounds cool, 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:36.560 and then they would never show up. And this was free, 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:39.920 free classes that I was giving away, and I did 0:06:39.920 --> 0:06:42.080 that for a year and a half. Nobody came. It 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:45.920 was very demoralizing when you have something that you feel 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:50.240 the world needs to hear but nobody is listening. And 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:52.880 I realized this was a very pivotal moment. I could 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:56.040 just give up. But I was a little arrogant, you know, 0:06:57.000 --> 0:06:59.240 I was a twenty year old kid. I go, they 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:02.839 need to hear. Maybe I'm not sharing it in the 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:06.400 right way. Maybe college kids don't want to come to 0:07:06.680 --> 0:07:09.840 events about money, even if they're free. And I later 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:11.800 learned that's true. People don't like going to events about 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:14.520 money makes them feel bad about themselves. So I started 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:17.960 a blog. Spent five years plus on the blog every 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:20.080 day writing, treating it like a lab, and by the 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:24.040 time it came time to even think about doing a book, 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:27.920 I had talked to hundreds of thousands of people and 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:33.680 really refined this system for saving money automatically. For investing, 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:37.080 even knowing how to calculate how much to save for 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:39.880 a wedding or buying a house or a car, and 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:42.600 those things I was ready to share with the world. 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:45.480 That's awesome. So did they Were you approached about the 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:47.600 book or did is there something you pitched? 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:51.840 I was approached at the time, around two thousand and six, 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:55.520 there were some publishers who started reaching out. One of 0:07:55.520 --> 0:07:59.560 the things, I think I have a skill that just 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:01.800 I don't know where it came from. But I'm very patient. 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:05.560 I'm not in a rush for anything, so I knew, 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:08.000 you know, if you come knocking on my door, you're 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:11.320 probably not the kind of person that I want to 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:14.600 publish my book. I was very patient, and I had 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:17.960 built some relationships with people in the publishing industry. I 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:21.520 had interned for Seth Godin, and so I made friends 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:24.240 with his agent. And I called a lot of people 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:26.160 and asked like should I write a book? Should I not? 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:28.480 And a lot of the advice, the same advice I 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:30.560 give people now who are thinking about writing a book, 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:34.000 is I say, slow down, write a book when you're 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:37.679 absolutely ready, when you feel like you have to write 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:40.640 a book, be clear about why it's not so you 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:43.000 can see your book in a bookstore. That is a 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:47.600 that's a sort of very surface level goal. I had 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:50.080 something that I knew the world needed to hear. I 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:53.080 had refined it over years. I didn't care about money 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:56.360 from a book. In fact, I took a pretty small deal. 0:08:57.040 --> 0:08:58.880 My publishing deal for I Will Teach You to Be 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:02.840 Rich first edition was quite modest. I chose a publisher 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:06.360 that paid less, but I chose them because, just like me, 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:09.960 they are known to invest for the long term. So 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:12.120 eighty percent of their sales come from the backlist. That's 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:15.760 exactly what I wanted. And and so that is how 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:17.920 I decided to sell my book in two thousand and seven, 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:20.000 and I started writing it for the next two years. 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:22.400 No, I love that because I honestly your book was 0:09:22.400 --> 0:09:27.400 one of my You Tim Ferris, I remember telling my Casame. 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:29.720 I was like, m, I mean, the money's cool, but 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:32.760 I make plenty of money externally, you know, so, and 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:35.959 I also knew enough to know that. I mean, very 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:39.600 few people get quote unquote rich off of books, you know, 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:41.880 just because people don't know that even if you get 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:45.680 like I got a good size, you know, like my 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:48.120 DEEA was a pretty decent size, but it was over 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:50.560 two years. I'm like, I make more than that, you know, 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:53.560 in a few months. So it wasn't the money. It 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:55.679 was because I'd been approach prior, but it was also 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:58.040 I just was like I didn't I wasn't really sure 0:09:58.040 --> 0:09:59.920 about what I wanted to say, and I didn't want 0:09:59.920 --> 0:10:02.160 to just be talking to be talking, and so finally 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:04.960 I was ready to do my book. So one thing 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:06.520 that you know, I don't know if you're I'm sure 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:07.760 you know you're known for this, is that you like 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:09.600 to shake the table right for. 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:12.760 Me, Like, I'm a little teddy bear, what are you 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:17.720 talking about? I'm known as the greatest Indian teddy bear online? 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:18.840 What are you talking about? Yo? 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:20.960 What me loves to shake the table? And what I 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:23.120 love is that you you're like, you're not going to 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:25.440 back down from from like you like I said what 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:26.920 I said, and this is why. 0:10:26.800 --> 0:10:28.960 So why would wait hold on? Why would why would 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:32.360 I back down? When I'm right what we're talking about? 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:34.240 See look at the teddy Bear coming out with it 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:36.200 with the rage to blaye behind his back. And so 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:38.240 I would love to talk about some of the things 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:41.000 that people push back the like the most with you 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:43.520 on as they're listening and like you know, and then 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:46.440 how you know? Like why is this your So there's 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:48.200 something for me? For example, I've been doing a lot 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:50.040 of research on the racial wealth gap and like how 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:51.920 do we get here? And so for those who don't 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:54.000 know the racial wealth gap, typically when they think the 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:57.120 racial wealth gap, they're thinking the gap between white families 0:10:57.120 --> 0:10:59.400 and black families is right now is like for every 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:02.839 dollar white family has, a black family has, well, for 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:04.800 every ten dollars white family has, a black family has 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:07.360 one dollar, and figuring out like how do we get here? 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:11.959 And one of the components that they cite as being 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:14.360 part of the reason why there is a racial wealth 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:17.920 gap is a lack of home ownership in the black community, 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:20.160 you know, and also too, not just lack of home ownership, 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:22.200 but also that homes are devalued, Like just go look 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:25.640 at Brooklyn. You know when it was like black people 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:27.680 teaming there. You know, homes are worth nothing. Like I 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:29.240 live in Newark. I mean that's why I don't like 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:31.880 to pick up my phone because every second someone is 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:34.079 calling me to buy my home, which lets you know 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:36.920 that gentrification is well on its way. But you know, 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:40.640 Newark is still largely black, but when that changes, the 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:44.040 value of these homes will totally change. So anyway, I 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:47.400 know you have this thing about like you don't need 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:50.160 home ownership to grow wealth. So I'm just curious about, like, 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:52.520 you know, just because as my studies, I'm doing research 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:55.280 about like home ownership being cited as one of the 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:58.559 reasons why there isn't wealth in black and brown communities. 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:01.320 Like what is your theory on, like, you know, well 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:04.679 you don't need home ownership. Is that because home ownership 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:07.240 maybe that was the Well you tell me, Like, why 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:08.880 is it that you push back on home ownership? 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:11.839 First of all, I'm so glad that we get to 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:16.040 talk about personal finance and race, personal finance and politics 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:19.319 because money is political, and that is one of the 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:22.360 biggest things that I get pushed pushed back on, which 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:26.680 is I literally have you know some dude wearing Oakley's 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:32.080 telling me stick to finance. I go, are you? Are 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:36.600 you actually? Do you actually lack this level of intellect 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:40.200 that you don't realize money is as political as it gets. 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:44.720 The reason housing is expensive is political, The reason healthcare 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:48.480 is expensive is political. The reason you drive a big 0:12:48.480 --> 0:12:51.760 ass truck is political. It's not just that you like 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:55.000 the truck and it's got a hemi engine. No, it's political. 0:12:55.800 --> 0:13:01.120 So when it comes to home ownership, I have a 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:05.559 very strong point of view on home ownership, and it's multifaceted, 0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:07.760 like home ownership is in this country. You know a 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:14.480 lot of people. They obsess over their marble island. Okay, 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:18.079 they obsess over what color their cabinets are. What they 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:21.120 really should ask questions about is is why am I 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:26.440 not allowed to build an adu or a granny unit 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:29.400 in my backyard? Why is that not legally allowed? Why 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:32.640 am I not allowed to build multiple stories if I 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:37.640 want to? Why am I required to have a gigantic 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:40.920 front yard that nobody uses and I actually have to 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:44.040 spend time and money to mow it? And by the way, 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:48.840 what role did race play in all of these rules? 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:53.040 Why is it that in America single family homes are 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:58.000 the American dream? Why is that? And most people have 0:13:58.000 --> 0:13:59.720 no idea? They never thought about this. They'd rather think 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:02.480 about the color their cabinets. So when you read books 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:06.760 like The Color of Law, you realize that home ownership redlining, 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:12.000 that home ownership has been a wedge to drive wealth 0:14:12.800 --> 0:14:17.760 for primarily white Americans in this country. Historically, it's not 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:22.120 an accident. It was intentionally done so, and so freeways 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:25.360 were created in poor communities and that has lasting effects. 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:29.120 Okay for a lot of people, probably not listening to 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:33.760 this podcast, maybe listening to Joe Rogan, that would be shocking, 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:37.720 and many of them simply deny it. Well, if you 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:40.560 try harder, then you can make more money. I'm sick 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:43.360 of that shit. We've all heard it. And if you 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:45.880 actually understand history, if you've read a single history book, 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:48.320 you know that that's not how it works. There's not 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:53.160 bootstraps when they're running a freeway through your and intentionally 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:57.720 dividing your neighborhood as they did for decades. Now, let's 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:01.000 talk about home ownership as an investment, because that's a 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:06.440 it's a related but different concept. In America, we're obsessed 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:11.120 with home ownership. We believe that if you rent, you're 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:16.600 a loser. We be We even have phrases, borderline religious phrases. 0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:23.000 You're throwing money away on rent, you're paying your landlord's mortgage. 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:26.920 I call them religious because they lack any actual data. 0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:29.040 They're just words we repeat over and over and over 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:32.040 until people actually start to believe them. Well, it turns 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:35.840 out that home ownership is certainly one way that you 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:39.760 can build wealth, and historically in our country it has 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:43.000 been a very powerful way to build wealth. That's not 0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:49.200 simply because homes themselves are great investments. It's that when 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:53.080 people in this country buy homes, they become Nimbi's not 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:56.680 in my backyard. They prevent more housing from being built, 0:15:56.840 --> 0:16:00.280 therefore artificially boosting the price and value of their house house, 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:04.320 and so they basically, like a diamond dealer, they limit 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:06.320 how many diamonds flood on the market, they limit how 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:08.320 many houses, and so they buy a house for two 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:10.840 hundred thousand dollars and the value goes up. If the 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:13.320 market were actually free and we could build as much 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:17.320 housing ass necessary, their house would look much more like Tokyo, 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:20.840 where prices do not go way up and instead housing 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:25.640 is like any other commodity you buy, it depreciates, in 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:28.640 my opinion, as the way it should. So the thing 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:31.400 that people find controversial is that I say you should 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:33.440 run the numbers on the biggest purchase of your life. 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:37.640 And sometimes renting can be a superior financial decision to 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:42.680 owning a house, which in my case it absolutely is no. 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:45.480 And that makes sense because I mean, so I'm because 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:47.440 people are like, I know, they're like, Tiffany, you bought homes. 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:50.720 I'm like, yes, but the caveat y'all. Remember that I 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:53.560 purchased a home I'm living in now. It was it 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:56.080 was a foreclosure, had been foreclosure for like, I don't know, 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:58.360 like a year, and so I bought it directly from 0:16:58.360 --> 0:16:59.880 the bank. It was at the time worth like three 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:04.040 hundred thousand. I bought it for one eighty cash, so 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:06.040 I didn't have to worry about like, you know, like 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:09.040 renovating or whatever and so and then I put one 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:12.760 eighty into it, so that brought my investment to three sixties. 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:14.720 So it was around worth about I think I said 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:17.000 three hundred. I think worth like three sixty three eighty, 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:20.280 you know. So I bought it really cheap. I didn't 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:23.040 have to worry about a mortgage. Newark, where I live, 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:26.720 has the lowest taxes in Essex County, so my tax 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:28.679 at the time, I want to say, like seventy five hundred. 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:31.320 So I was like, okay, and now I don't you know, 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:34.480 I didn't have a mortgage and now the house because 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:36.439 everything was so crazy is worth, you know, like five 0:17:36.560 --> 0:17:39.320 hundred and five to twenty, especially now just because you 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:42.920 know everyone's trying to gentrify Newark. And then I purchased 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:45.760 another home a few like almost around the same time, 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:49.400 directly from the city a tax ded for ten thousand 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:52.439 dollars and I put one hundred and thirty into it 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:57.240 and I recently just sold it for ninety five and 0:17:57.280 --> 0:17:59.520 so but those are not I tell people that, Like, 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:02.280 I'm obviously that those deals are not available all the time. 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:05.560 But I to your point, I try to be patient 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:06.879 because I have to run the numbers. I did not 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:08.800 run the numbers on my first property. When I was 0:18:08.800 --> 0:18:11.040 twenty five, I bought a condo for two twenty it 0:18:11.080 --> 0:18:13.560 went up to two twenty five, and then I bought 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:16.399 a two thousand and six, and then the market just 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:19.320 crashed and I lost it to foreclosure. And so I 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:22.160 learned from that, Like, oh, up until then, from two 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:25.439 thousand and six to like five years ago, I was 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:27.800 still renting until I found something that that was going 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:30.440 to make sense for me, you know, to purchase. 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:35.480 So it's pretty interesting. I like that you are encouraging 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:38.440 your listeners to run the numbers, and I want to 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:40.840 share some numbers from my own example as well. So 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:43.880 I've lived in San Francisco, New York City, and LA 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:48.040 and high cost of living cities and high cost of 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:50.560 living neighborhoods within those cities. I like to live in 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:53.760 a nice place, and I could go and buy a 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:56.960 house today cash in any of those cities. I choose 0:18:57.040 --> 0:18:59.560 to rent. So when people hear this, it's like somebody 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:01.480 telling them that the sky is green. They're like, wait, 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:03.920 the eye will teach you to be rich. Guy rents 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:08.440 And they're shocked. Why Because again, in our country, deep down, 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:11.879 we believe that owning is for successful people and renting 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:13.600 is for losers. And so when they look at me, 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:15.480 they go, well, this guy has a show on Netflix, 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:17.720 he's got this best selling book. How can he rent? 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:21.119 That's a moment where they start to question some of 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:24.600 the beliefs that have been passed on to us for generations. 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:28.479 You gotta own a house, you gotta build equity. So 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:31.280 let me tell you. When I was living in New York, 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:35.679 I kept an extremely close eye on real estate values. Okay, 0:19:36.280 --> 0:19:38.000 a couple of things I want to share that might 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:42.600 surprise people. First off, my rent dropped four times in 0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:47.240 eleven years. Okay, yes, people in America think rent only 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:51.640 goes up wrong. Just like the price of anything, rent 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:55.360 is governed by supply and demand. But guess what. When 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:57.720 I asked, they go, that's not possible. Rent never goes up. 0:19:57.760 --> 0:19:59.320 I go, Number one, do you keep a close eye 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:01.440 on real estate value in your market? They go, no? 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:03.960 I go Number two, do you actually negotiate? They go, 0:20:04.160 --> 0:20:05.960 what's that? I go, then, how the hell do you 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:09.480 expect rent to drop? If you yourself are not actually negotiating. 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:12.440 Your landlord doesn't just walk in and drop your rent? 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:15.000 Why would they? You got to ask, and you got 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:17.360 to have You got to be lucky in the sense 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:20.040 that there has to be more supply, which there was 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:22.119 in my case. And you know, you need to know 0:20:22.160 --> 0:20:25.800 your numbers. So that's number one. The second is there 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:28.439 is an apartment building right next to us, and it 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:30.240 had this. There was a unit there. It had this, 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:34.560