63: These 3 Mindset Shifts Will Make You a Millionaire

Primary Topic

This episode explores three critical mindset shifts essential for achieving financial freedom and building wealth, as shared by hosts Austin Hankwitz and Robert Croak.

Episode Summary

In this insightful episode of the Rich Habits podcast, hosts Austin Hankwitz and Robert Croak discuss the mental barriers that often hinder financial success. They delve into the significance of overcoming fear of missing out (FOMO), the value of delayed gratification, and the importance of staying calm during market volatility. The episode provides a blend of personal anecdotes and practical advice, emphasizing the psychological aspects of wealth building. The discussion is framed around the hosts' experiences and is aimed at both young investors and seasoned entrepreneurs, making it a compelling listen for anyone interested in personal finance and investment strategies.

Main Takeaways

  1. Overcoming FOMO: Understanding the need to resist impulsive spending and investment decisions based on what others are doing.
  2. The Power of Delayed Gratification: Building wealth by prioritizing long-term financial goals over immediate pleasures.
  3. Staying Calm in Volatile Markets: Developing a disciplined approach to investing that focuses on long-term gains rather than short-term fluctuations.
  4. Systematic Investing: The importance of having a structured investment plan that automates financial decisions to reduce emotional bias.
  5. Financial Planning and Tools: Utilizing tools like Yahoo Finance for effective portfolio management and financial planning.

Episode Chapters

1: Introduction

The hosts introduce the episode's theme and discuss their backgrounds and the podcast's focus on wealth-building mindsets. Austin Hankwitz: "Welcome back to the Rich Habits podcast, where we delve into the habits that can make you wealthy."

2: Overcoming FOMO

Discussion on how FOMO affects financial decisions and strategies to manage it. Robert Croak: "FOMO can significantly derail your financial goals if not managed properly."

3: The Importance of Delayed Gratification

Exploration of how delaying immediate gratification can enhance financial stability and growth. Austin Hankwitz: "Delayed gratification is a key component of substantial wealth accumulation."

4: Maintaining Calm in Market Volatility

Advice on maintaining composure in unstable financial markets and focusing on long-term investment strategies. Robert Croak: "Staying calm during market downturns is crucial for long-term investment success."

Actionable Advice

  1. Set clear financial goals and review them regularly.
  2. Prioritize saving and investing over spending.
  3. Use budgeting tools to manage finances effectively.
  4. Educate yourself continuously about financial markets and investment strategies.
  5. Practice mindfulness to maintain emotional balance in decision-making.
  6. Automate savings and investments to avoid emotional trading.
  7. Engage in financial planning sessions to align actions with long-term objectives.

About This Episode

In this episode of the Rich Habits Podcast, Robert Croak and Austin Hankwitz talk about the three most important mindset shifts everyone must make to become a millionaire.

People

Austin Hankwitz, Robert Croak

Companies

None

Books

None

Guest Name(s):

None

Content Warnings:

None

Transcript

Austin Hankwitz
Hey, everyone, and welcome back to the Rich Habits podcast, a top ten business podcast on Spotify. My name is Austin Hankowitz, and I'm joined by my co host, Robert Croke. Robert is a seasoned entrepreneur in his fifties with lifetime revenues of more than $300 million. And I'm an entrepreneur in my late twenties with a background in finance and economics. Since quitting my full time job in corporate finance a few years ago, I've built a seven figure media business, and I actively advise some of the most well known fintech companies around the world, as the show name might every episode, we talk about rich habits as they relate to business, finance and mindset.

However, we try and bring you two unique perspectives, one from an industry veteran, which is Robert, and the other myself, someone who's still in the process of building wealth and figuring it all out. So, Robert, what are we going to be talking about in today's episode? In this episode of the Rich Habits podcast, we're going to break down the three most important mindset hurdles you need to understand and be able to overcome on your journey to building wealth. Both Austin and myself struggle with these mindset hurdles early on, and we can imagine some of you listening right now might be struggling as well. So the month of May is mental health awareness month.

Robert Croke
So we want to lean into this as we believe it is one of the biggest and most important topics in modern society and to becoming wealthy. I completely agree, Robert. Mindset as it relates to building wealth is not only the most important part, but if you don't do it correctly, it can even move you backwards. You can go net negative because you have the wrong mindset going into this. And we're going to be talking about three specific hurdles that I struggled with.

Austin Hankwitz
I definitely had a lot of time over the last couple of years to reflect upon this, and so I'm eager to share my thoughts. But Robert, why don't you kick us off with the first hurdle that a lot of people struggle with early on when they're trying to build wealth? Yes, this is a very important one to start, and that is FOMO. We've all heard it, fear of missing out. And I think it's just very, very critical, especially in your younger years, because so many people get caught up in all of it with their friends.

Robert Croke
It really is troubling when you can't decipher between should I or shouldn't I when you're trying to build wealth, but you're not quite there yet. So I think FOMO is very important for everyone to understand you know, how do you define FOMO? I look at it, it's like that last minute trip with friends where they hit you up on a Thursday and say, yo, we're going to Vegas this weekend to party it up, or we're going to this lake to party it up, or Nashville or wherever they're going to go, and you can't afford it, but you go ahead and swipe the credit card anyway. You go hit up all the restaurants and the bars, and you're spending all this money, and it goes for any age group. We've all been in that situation where this distant friend that we barely talk to anymore invites us to their wedding, and boom, two $3,000 later, we go to this wedding, even though they're not really a close friend anymore.

We barely stay in touch, or we didn't have the real conversation and say, hey, I would love to join you on your amazing day, but I just really can't afford it. There's a term out right now that's really cool that I think is trending, called loud budgeting. We've all heard it before, and I think this really comes into play when it comes to FOMO, because you need to be able to have these honest conversations, not only with yourself and your partner, but also your friends. Hey, Billy. Hey, Mary.

I would love to join you on your special day, but it's just not in my budget right now. I appreciate it, and I'll see you when you get back. So these are things that are very, very important when it comes to FOMO, and for people to understand that it's a natural reaction because you don't want to be left out, but it's important for you to be able to decipher the difference so you're not continually kicking the can down the road when it comes to your financial journey. You know, Robert, I turned 28 years old in a couple days. And as I think about my life, when I was 222-324-2526 I had a lot of fomo.

Austin Hankwitz
You know, I was the guy in the beginning who got the job. I felt great about it, and I definitely overspent a little bit. Then I realized, wait a second. I'm never gonna become financially free if I still go hang out with my buddies every weekend, or we go on the trip that I can't afford, or I go out to dinner this night or go get drinks. It just wasn't in my budget.

And so when I began to take a step back after, you know, I did that for the first six months to a year post college, I took that step back, and I was like, listen, guys, this is not part of my plan. You guys go have fun. But it's a sense of maturity, right? It's a sense of overcoming the mindset hurdle of man. All my friends are doing this.

They want me to come do this, too. I really want to go, but I am mature enough to understand that it's not in my cards, right. I need to make sure that I'm sticking to a plan that I agree upon and a plan that I am working toward and trending higher within. Excited about that. Now, that's one side of FOMO, Robert, and I think a lot of people could relate to that.

But the other side of FOMO that I also fell victim to, and I'm sure people have here as well, which is the investment side of Fomo. People invest into, like, the craziest penny stocks that they see on Twitter or the craziest crypto coin that they just found because their buddy on, you know, whatever website told them to buy it, or they see it's up 200% overnight and they go all in on it, and then they lose money because they bought the top, right. So FOMO, Robert, is not just sort of feeling like you're missing out with experience, but you can also have FOMO with investing, and it takes patience and just the realization that you can't make every trade right. You can't make every investment perfect. You can't time the market, and only after, only after you realize that you cannot perfectly time the market, because you're not.

You're not expected to, by the way, no one expects you to make all the perfect trades along the way. I certainly have. And I've lost so much money, as is Robert and everyone else listening, who right now probably has, too. But no one expects you to do that. And only until you realize that that is not your identity, you are a long term investor.

That. That fear of missing out on the next crypto coin, the next stock idea, the next ipo, the next this, the next that, with your money. Only after you realize that that is a pipe dream will you begin to overcome this feeling of FOMO. And for me, it took years, Robert, it took me years to realize that I'm not this perfect trader investor. I'm instead a long term dollar cost average type of guy.

Robert Croke
The key for everyone in this FOMO part relative to investing, is to understand, have a thesis, stick to the plan, and don't look in the rearview mirror, because you're never going to time it. Perfectly. It's all about incremental gains over a long period of time. That is the best way to keep your mind at ease because of the fact that not even us, me or Austin can time things perfectly. That's why you have to look at it from a long term perspective.

Austin Hankwitz
So we want people to understand that are listening right now, that FOMo can stretch to all different types of your life, not just with your relationships or trips or friends or whatever, but also with investing, also with real estate, also with everything in between. So understanding and getting over the FOMO hurdle is incredibly important indeed. So that brings us to number two, delayed gratification. And this one is equally as important because it comes into play at all ages. You see your friends buying the new BMW and the Mercedes or the new jet ski, you get caught up in the emotion of it.

Robert Croke
Well, guess what? Most of them are broke. And you don't want to be that person. And that's why delayed gratification is so, so important in your wealth building journey. You just have to do the math and you have to understand and not forget why you're on this journey and what your goals are.

Because if you can implement delayed gratification along the way, you will be so much further along. We always talk about having compound interests come into play. Well, guess what? People that don't utilize delayed gratification, their lifestyle. Creeps and creeps and creeps and creeps.

And then one day they wake up in their 40 or 50, and they have very little to show for it because they have filled their adult years in buying depreciating assets. So that's why delayed gratification is so, so incredibly important. And, Robert, let's be clear. We're not telling people not to have nice things. We're not telling you that you shouldn't be able to go buy a new car or shouldn't be able to go buy a jet ski or go on that vacation.

Austin Hankwitz
What we're saying is that you should do it methodically. You should not make these purchases out of emotion, but instead because they are fitting inside of your long term financial goals and your long term financial journey. If you can afford to go buy a jet ski without paying a 17% interest rate on that monthly payment, have fun this summer. Go buy the jet ski. The only way you can get a jet ski is to go up to a 17% interest rate to do it.

That is not delayed gratification. That's fear missing out. And that's going to hold you back on your financial journey, right? Children do things that feel good. Adults devise a plan and they stick to it.

And as it relates to devising that plan, Robert said it best. Do the math to remind yourself, right? This is something I have to do a lot, Robert, is I have to remind myself, Austin, why did I not just go spend $10,000 on a cool, crazy vacation? Why not just go spend $10,000 buying something I've always had my eye on? Well, oh yeah, that's because my plan is to retire a millionaire.

My plan is to earn passive income through dividend stocks and real estate. And so even once a month, once a quarter, I go back and I look at, okay, how much have I actually accomplished toward this plan? What is this plan now shaping to become in the future for me? And by sitting down once a month, once every three months, and seeing that progress, Robert, I'm able to inch closer and closer from a mindset perspective of realizing, remembering, and feeling good about the actions I've taken. This comes into play almost every weekend.

Robert Croke
Every single weekend during the summer. We all have somewhere we could be. There's always a festival, there's always a wedding. There's always friends that are going to the lake house inviting you. And if you don't put some sort of plan in play, you will fall victim to that.

And every single weekend, you'll be going and spending all of that money and all of that time away from your long term dreams. That's why it's so important to have a plan and be able to say no when the time comes. Now, Robert, speaking of delayed gratification, I want to introduce a really cool company that I've been a user of now since college. To our listeners, this episode of the Rich Habits podcast is brought to you by Yahoo Finance. Robert, did you know that Yahoo.

Austin Hankwitz
Finance's website, Yahoo Finance.com just went through a redesign and it looks incredible. So here's why. I've been a user of Yahoo. Finance.com literally since college. Their portfolio management tool, Yahoo Finance, makes it incredibly simple to securely log in to your existing brokerage accounts, allowing them to instantly pull your transaction data.

Now, they present this data to you in such an intuitive way. I'm looking at my total investment portfolio right now, and it's broken out by brokerage account and ask class. For example, I can easily see that 17% of my stock investments are in the technology sector and 12% are in consumer cyclicals. Now, if I want, I can even click into that information to see what those holdings are as well as what recent news might be impacting their prices. Yahoo.

Finance, their tools, their platform, the redesign, I could not be more excited about it. Yeah, I've used it for years and this new redesign is just incredible and it's just a great resource for every listener that should be taking it seriously. If you're trying to level up your portfolio management in 2024. I use Yahoo. Finance when I'm researching new stock ideas and their website just really offers key financial data across all the income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements.

Robert Croke
And we don't have to get too nerdy about it. But if you're into trading options, they have a simple breakdown of every stock's option chain. So what's my favorite stock research tool? Their holders tab. Please everyone, take a note on this.

I think it's so, so important to be able to kind of bookmark those important ones that you like. I can see what investment firms and hedge funds own and how much of what stocks, allowing me to follow the big whales when needed. Be sure to check out Yahoo Finance.com. Not only is their new website awesome, but their portfolio management tool is top notch. Everyone should connect their brokerage accounts to this tool and unlock the insights you need to stay on top of the markets.

All of this is free, but you can also sign up for their bronze account for only $8 a month. And I think it's the best deal out there. Again, that's Yahoo Finance.com dot. Robert, I couldn't agree more. I've been the user of Yahoo Finance again since college here and it's been my number one bookmark.

Austin Hankwitz
And the reason being is they show you what's trending, what's being talked about. They've got a great news section, they've got all the information, video, I mean, they have their own like video YouTube channel that's built into the website. It's so useful. So again, if you've not checked out Yahoo Finance.com comma, they just did this awesome redesign. We're super proud to have them as a sponsor of the Rich Habits podcast and you should absolutely go check them out.

We'll have Yahoo Finance.com linked in the description below or just type in Yahoo Finance.com on your search bar. Now, Robert, walk us through the third important mindset hurdle people need to overcome as it relates to building wealth throughout their lives. Yes, this one is a toughie because I have to deal with it on a daily basis many, many times over because so many people struggled with this and that is staying calm when the markets are not. I'm going to say it twice. Learning how to stay calm when the markets are not.

Robert Croke
You all have to get ready for this one because Q two and Q three are likely going to be rocky. And no knee jerk reactions because you have to remember, when in doubt, zoom out. We talk about this each and every day on every episode, on every live. When there is a correction, you have to learn to zoom out because so many people, soon as they see bad news, they sell, then it goes right back up. Soon as they see a retraction in the market, they sell, then the market goes back up.

Now, we're not saying the markets are always going to go up and to the right. There's always going to be pullbacks. There's always going to be corrections, and it usually is short lived. And so I think this is so, so critical for everyone listening. You all know who you are to relax, stop having these knee jerk reactions immediately to news cycles.

You're going to hear it from us long before it's too late in our lives, in our private communities, on the podcast. If we think we're going to go into a recession or a long term drug down, we're going to be talking about that. These short term corrections should not be affecting your day to day life. If you did this in a way without the knee jerk reactions and without the emotion, it's just so important to. Understand the difference in a really easy way.

Austin Hankwitz
Robert, that our listeners can continue to stay calm when the markets are not is to have a systematic, rules based approach to investing. This is what I do. It's very simple. I know exactly how much I want to invest every single month. I know it down to the dollar.

If you're listening right now, figure out that amount for you. Is it 15% of your take home pay? Is it 2020? 5%? You know, what is that number to you?

Figure out that number and then just let it go. Auto invest, it's just automatic. Make it a system. Because when it's systemized and when you have no control over, when it comes out, what it does, you just close your eyes and you just let it go. You don't have to worry about.

Oh, man. Wait. Wait a second. The market's red. Do I buy?

Do I sell? Oh, the market's green. What do I do? It's going up. It's going in circles.

I just don't know anymore. It doesn't matter. Auto invest, as your best friend, have that system in place. Understand what that rule is, and stick to the rule. Yeah.

Robert Croke
Just as a quick reference that I pulled up just so we can all think about it for a moment. I've been talking about Nvidia stock for a long time. And if you look at right around May of 2021, so three years ago today, Nvidia stock was around $135. It's at dollar 872 right now and still going up. So that's why we always tell everyone, please, please zoom out.

Because when you look at these short term stocks and these short corrections and the information that's in front of you day to day, you're losing track of what's important. And that is having a long term thesis for your investments. Just keep that in mind that Nvidia alone has done more than four x in three years. And so many of you probably sold it when it was down 70% during COVID whereas you should have been adding to your positions if you believed in AI and that company. It was Jeff Bezos that had this quote.

Austin Hankwitz
Right after the.com bubble burst, Amazon stock was down 80, 90%. And he goes over and he looks, he's like, wait, our stock's down 90%, but everyone's still here. We're all still showing up for work. We're selling more goods than we ever have. Our profits are through the roof, but our stock's down 90%.

Right. The stock price does not equal the productivity of the company. So when you see stock prices go up or down or left and right or in circles on a daily basis, how does it matter? You wait for the next three months, and then when you hear in that earnings call, when the CEO or CFO says, yeah, things are going great, like Microsoft, Amy Hood, their CFO was talking about, their azure growth is up 31% year over year. Unbelievable, right?

And so that's the type of stuff we're trying to encourage you to stick out to, right? You are owning equity in a company. And so I'm going to own the stock in perpetuity as an investor, not a knee jerk reaction trader. I love it. This episode is just incredible.

Robert Croke
I really enjoy digging into the mindset side of building wealth because so many people don't realize how important it is to get their mindset right and understand how to do this correctly. And like you said, systematically, I just love it. That being said, robert, let's jump into this week's episode question and answer segment. Our first question comes from Nick A. Nick says, hey, guys, I love the podcast.

Austin Hankwitz
I've been listening for over a year now. Something I've never heard y'all talk about, though, is overtime. I can make an extra $2,000 a month if I work overtime at my job, should I consider doing this, or should I go find a side hustle instead? Short answer, Nick. Go get the overtime.

The thing that people forget about with side hustles is there's a lot of upfront work to. I might make a little bit of money after time. Right? For me, for example, I had to go when I was doing the cleaning the car headlight side hustle in college. I would have to go buy the car headlights.

I'd have to go advertise. I'd have to go knock on doors. I have to go, you know, do these things to tell people that I'm doing the side hustle. A lot of upfront work, and I'm not getting paid for until someone actually pays me to do that job. Nick, you have a very clear path to you work and you get paid a lot of money.

So, Nick, if I were you, I would work the extra hours. I'd make the other $2,000. And I know in that same message, you talked about using this money to pay off your student loans faster. I would do that. I'd put all the money into paying off those high interest student loans.

I'd get it behind you, and I'd start building wealth when you're ready. Okay, I'm going to put a different wrinkle in this. Nick, love the question. I think the overtime is fantastic. But if you have a side hustle in mind that you think you could prevail at and do really well with, here's another way to look at it.

Robert Croke
If you started that side hustle and you memorialized it with an LLC, and you set it all up as a company, then what you could do that you can't do with your w two income or your overtime income is you could utilize write offs against your ordinary income from your w two employment. So that is one other way to look at this. I love the simplicity of just adding the overtime and getting the cash right away. But at some point, if you do have a side hustle in mind that you think you can really do well with, I would look at that and memorialize it into a real company once you start making money, because then you can write off against that ordinary income and save yourself some money on taxes. That's just my opinion of another way to look at it.

Austin Hankwitz
I think that's a great perspective, Robert. I actually didn't even think about that, which is cool, because that's why we co host the podcast together. Now, Robert, before we jump into the second question. I just want to take a moment to talk about market volatility, because I don't think this market volatility, like the volatility we're seeing today, is going to go anywhere. But investors can still diversify a portion of their overall portfolios with historically risk reducing assets like contemporary art, and you won't find a better opportunity than with this episode's sponsor, Masterworks.

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Robert Croke
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Go to Masterworks art richhabits. As with any investment, past performance is not indicative of future returns. Investing involves risk, important regulation, a disclosures@Masterworks.com. CD be sure to check out the link in the description below. Masterworks has been a platform Robert and I have been investors through, I want to say, for about two and a half years now.

Austin Hankwitz
I've got some awesome Basquiat paintings in my Masterworks portfolio. I'm super excited about the 30, 40, 50% returns they've seen over that same time period, completely uncorrelated to the stock market. So all the volatility that we've been talking about and sort of that emotion that comes with with market volatility, masterworks could definitely help you keep calm and carry on. So with that being said, our next question comes from Jessica G. Jessica says, what are some platforms to invest in gold?

Good question, Jessica. Robert, explain. One, what gold is from an investment perspective. Two, why the price of gold has been increasing so much over the last six to nine months. And three, if you have any specific platforms or ways that you've invested into gold in the past.

Robert Croke
So we always talk about diversifying into other asset classes besides the stock market or crypto. And I think precious metals is just one of the most known asset classes for diversification. And so I think that's why gold should be held by everyone as a portion of their portfolios. It's a good store of value. People, you know, like it.

It's shiny and it's fun. And it's a good parlor trick to say that you own it. There are a lot of great ways you can invest in precious metals. It can be physical, it can be through an ETF like GLD, but you can also use platforms to buy physical gold. I like JM Bullion, I like Monix, they're very good.

And then also AP M E x. I had to look up because I've only noted as the letters, but american precious metals exchange is another one that I use. These are all really good. And I just believe that everyone should have a hedge in cryptocurrency, in gold, as we diversify our portfolios. And that's why I do hold a portion of my portfolios in precious metals like gold.

And to answer your question, I think the big reason gold is hitting these all time highs is just because inflation, with inflation accelerating, I just feel that people are moving more and more of their money into these hedges, investments like gold. And I think that's one of the big reasons we're seeing these new all time highs recently. So, good time to be a gold owner. And you know, I always feel it's good to own a portion of it in your portfolios. I agree.

Austin Hankwitz
Right. I think, you know, let's call it one to three, one to 5%. You know, in someone's portfolio should definitely be in gold or gold and silver, things like that. But I wouldn't want people, you know, I don't invest in commodities, Robert, in a serious way. Like I don't have wheat futures, I don't have oil futures.

Like I'm just, you know, their commodities are very speculative and so gold's the same thing. Gold is a very speculative asset. And it goes up in price because people buy it. It doesn't go up in price because it pays a dividend. It doesn't go up in price because the CEO of gold announced earnings or things like that.

Right? It's a commodity, it's metal. And so as you think about diversifying your portfolio, I totally agree. One, three, maybe 5% of someone's portfolio should be in gold. I think it's a cool thing to own.

And historically it's, you know, it's underperformed the s and P. It's not something that is going to outperform but to your point, during times of high inflation and, you know, economic turmoil, gold tends to rise. So from that perspective, I think that's a great idea. But I don't want people to get the idea that investing in gold is the same as investing in the s and P 500 or the same as investing even into bitcoin. Right, because again, gold's not going to pay you a dividend.

Gold doesn't have profits to share. Gold doesn't do share buybacks. Gold doesn't, you know, do these things because it's a commodity. It's a shiny metal. And that shiny metal goes up in value when things happen that are unfavorable to the economy.

And so that's what we've seen recently. But to answer your question, Jessica, I agree. Gld is a cool etf to own. If you're looking to just add it to your portfolio and your brokerage account, you don't want to actually own physical gold. Robert called out GLD as an ETF and I totally agree on that one.

Now, Robert, our last question comes from Stetson S. Stetson says, hey guys, I recently found the podcast and I absolutely love it. I'm 26 years old, engaged, and I own a single family home. We bought it one year ago for $375,000 and now it's worth $420,000. We have a 7% interest rate and our monthly mortgage payment is $3,000.

We're doing every side hustle in the book to try and earn extra money to cover this payment, but it's becoming increasingly harder. Do you have any other ideas on how to offset this payment every month? Oh, Stetson, seems to me like you probably shouldn't have bought the house. My guy, $3,000 a month is really expensive, especially, you know, you're 26, you're engaged, not really married yet, you probably haven't combined finances, maybe you have, I don't know. But man, like my pay, like I'm 28 later this week and my monthly payment on my mortgage is like $2,400 at a 6.6% interest rate.

And that was borrowing like 300, 2330 thousand dollars to do so. So definitely in the same boat as you there. If I were you, Stetson, it doesn't sound like this house has been a blessing in your life. It sounds like this house is a curse. It sounds like this house is inhibiting you and your wife, soon to be wife, from building wealth.

You know, a lot of people make the mistake in thinking that, oh my gosh, renting is throwing money away. Renting is the worst thing. Renting is this. Renting is that. Don't get me wrong, I don't think people should rent their whole lives and rent into retirement.

But renting through a season of your life as you're trying to build your base or pay off high interest debt or, you know, expand your wealth building capabilities is a great idea, especially if you're staring a $3,000 a month payment in the face. Stetson, I know this might sound hard to hear, but I would probably sell the house while you still have equity in the house. I would then take those profits and use that to either pay off any high interest debt. Maybe, you know, put some aside for the wedding, but really put that money to work. Invest it.

The ways we talk about in the index funds. And I was doing some research. Robert Stetson said he lived in Las Vegas and the DM he sent us, Las Vegas, the average rent is $1,500 and the most expensive is $2,200 for that one bedroom apartment. Obviously you could get more than that. It'll probably be more expensive, but I don't know if it's going to be more expensive than $3,000 a month.

So maybe renting is something you all should consider. The numbers look like they're going to be in your favor. Yeah, I always look at it that too many people live in existence of being house broke. And if you're already saying the words that it's a struggle to cover the payment, that's a bad sign, especially at your age. I would say ditch the house, rent something for two or three years.

Robert Croke
Sock away as much money as you can towards your future because then you have compound interest on your side and you can let that money grow. Then maybe look at house hacking when you get back into the market. You guys are still young. Say you're 28, 29 years old. Buy a duplex, buy a quantity, let the tenants pay your mortgage.

That way you can continue on your path to building wealth. Because at the end of the day, if you have too much house and you're not putting away money and you're actually struggling to make the payment, that's a recipe for disaster. And waking up one day and being 40 years old and having nothing to. Show for it, you know, median days on the market right now, too, in Las Vegas, according to Redfin, is down 21 days a year over year, which is good. That means that houses are selling faster.

Austin Hankwitz
Yeah. Median sales price right now for a house in Las Vegas is $425,000 up about. Yeah, man, if I were you, I would totally take advantage of this. Like you are getting an opportunity to get out of a bad situation. I would sell the house for whatever you could get for it.

That is reasonable. Take the profits, pay off high interest debt, invest some, put some aside for a wedding, perhaps, and rent for maybe two to four years. You're only 26 years old. Rent for a little bit. And while you're renting, use that as an opportunity to build your base.

Right. This is a season of your life that you are focused on doing one thing, getting as much money invested in the markets as possible. And imagine this, you're 30 years old. So let's fast forward four or five years. You've been renting, you've been socking away money.

You've been doing everything you can. You took the profits from this sale of the house and you put it in the stock market. You're 30 years old now with $100,000 invested. And now you're in a position where you can go buy a house. That hundred thousand dollars, if you don't touch it until you're 67, is going to be worth $4 million.

Right. That's what we're trying to push you toward. We're trying to get you in a position where building wealth is inevitable for you. And right now, when you're struggling to make your mortgage payment and your doing all the side hustles just to get by, building wealth is a struggle. We want it to be inevitable.

Robert Croke
Yeah. It's just so important for people to understand the goal isn't to own things. The goal is to own your time. At the end of the day, that is the most important thing. I couldn't have said it better myself, Robert.

Austin Hankwitz
Everyone, do not forget this Wednesday, May 8, at 04:00 p.m. Eastern time, we will be talking about direct indexing through a free webinar. All of you are able to come in, reserve your seat and attend again completely for free. It'll be about an hour to an hour and a half and it's going to be a blast. Direct indexing, it's something so important, no one's talking about it.

And you are going to walk away from this, like mind blown, just absolutely mind blown as to how awesome this strategy can be, not only for building wealth. Talking to you, Stetson, but also for making sure that the money you've earned in the markets, more of that stays in your pocket after taxes. Yes. Thank you all, each and every week for joining us on this incredible journey of Austin and I just building, building, building, and sharing it all with each and every one of you to help you reach financial freedom as soon as possible, but also learn the mindset shifts you may need. How to build your business better, how to do marketing.

Robert Croke
We try to cover it all to help all of you achieve financial freedom as soon as possible. And we couldn't be more proud of what we're doing, but also so happy to share it all with you each and every one week. We're incredibly grateful over 60,000 of you come back every single week to listen to the Rich Habits podcast. We promise not to let you down. Thanks everyone, and have a great start to your weekend.

Austin Hankwitz
Thanks everyone, and have a great start to your weekend.