188: Q4 Stock Market Check-In w/ NEOS Funds

24:24So that is another product that most people don't always think of, whether it's Bitcoin or gold, as being income-producing products. But when you pair them with an option portfolio that can harvest that volatility and think about what that option market is doing, you can potentially have a monthly distribution from these products that traditionally you would not have had. So we really think about it, again, trying to meet the investor where they are. They like their Bitcoin. They like that gold position they have in their portfolio. But that gold position traditionally never paid them anything unless they sold some of it.

24:59So how do we meet them where they are and build a product where they can potentially earn income on a monthly basis from that same underlying holding? So that's where we really look at things as we look forward and try to bring out different products that might make sense for everyone's portfolio. Let's take a minute and talk to everyone listening what it takes and how they can build out an actual diversified portfolio. Because we've talked about gold exposure, MLPs, U.S. equities. How do you think about the average person out there that's watching today or maybe already owns some NEOs funds? How do they combine these pieces?

25:35Because I want everyone to understand what does a well-built income-focused portfolio look like using these building blocks? Yeah, Robert. So I think the first and foremost, any investor needs to look at their risk profile, right? What are you comfortable investing in? What it means for you? And I think that's really important because it's not going to a party and standing around a table and somebody talking about their best investment in their portfolio and you should bull up on it as well. It's exactly what I mentioned, diversification and meeting yourself at where your risk tolerance is. And so as you think about diversification, what does diversification mean?

26:10It really means that you don't want two or three or your entire portfolio of investments all moving in the same direction at once. Why would you not want that is because when things go down, they're all going to go down. So your entire portfolio is correlated to one another. And if you're going to see the stock market down 10 % and all your investments have a high degree of correlation, not diversified, you're going to be down 10 % as well. Is that the risk level that you're looking to take? When you talk to a lot of financial advisors and other industry practitioners, everyone talks about building diversification to meet your estate planning goals or your risks and objectives.

26:44And so ways to do that is invest across different asset classes as one example. So you could have your equity exposure, say the S &P 500, the NASDAQ, or Russell 2000, for instance, but you also add in, right, the total opposite end of the spectrum tends to be fixed income. Fixed income is risk adverse, so like to interest rates, not equity markets. Yes, at certain times, can they have closer correlation, but you're generally looking to invest in things that wouldn't have equity exposure to offset that. But as Troy was just talking about, there's also alternatives, right? There's other ways to think about asset classes, energy infrastructure, right?

27:18Things that are going to be linked to oil, to natural gas, to maybe exploration. If you're thinking like an ExxonMobil, there's a lot of ways to introduce different asset classes. And so if you have a part of your portfolio to understand really diversification, understand what is moving that overall investment. Is it going to be equity markets? Is it going to be interest rates? Is it going to be commodities? Like we've just talked gold. Obviously, real estate's a unique one. People think about real estate, but that is susceptible to interest rates. So you kind of understand what a few of these underlying price movements are that are going to affect the underlying investment for you.

27:52And then build out that diversification, meaning pick and choose a few of them across differentiated areas, asset classes. And so those risk exposures aren't all moving together at the same time to where you unexpectedly realize your entire portfolio is down when one thing happens. Let's linger on this for a minute and speak to the broader audience. Say there's someone out there that only owns one of NEO's funds today, maybe none, and they want to nibble and get started. Where do they go first and what should they add first? Like what are the natural next steps for someone who is interested in these income-focused ETFs and wants to make them part of their portfolio?

28:29I think it's hard to answer that because every investor has a different risk profile, as Garrett was saying. Every investor is looking for a different outcome, is looking for different exposure in the market. Where we see, obviously, a lot of people going to first is our larger funds, our SPYI, that is the S &P 500 with high income from the option portfolio, or a QQQI, which is our NASDAQ 100, where you're getting that growth of the NASDAQ 100, but having that monthly distribution on top of that. So that's where we see people going, but it doesn't mean it's right for every individual. But if they're looking for that NASDAQ exposure or that S &P or they're starting somewhere in there, you know, we also have hedge products.

29:09If they're a little bit more conservative, maybe an SPYH or QQQH might make more sense, a little less income, but gives you a measure of downside protection with a long put spread on top of it. So it's different for everybody. And, you know, it depends on where you are in your, you know, investing lifecycle. Are you early on? You're trying to grow that portfolio. Are you later in that cycle and trying to build up a portfolio for retirement so it's different for everybody? But we try to offer through our 19 products and growing enough products where someone could look at it and say, that makes sense for my portfolio and go from there.

29:41One thing I'd love to add in really quick is just like the financial education, right? I think overall, the ability to get education on financial well-being investments is higher than it's ever been. And so either if you have an advisor, obviously go talk to your advisor. However, you don't write the internet and going to either a neosfunds.com website to learn about us, right? Yes, what you guys are persevering and pushing through the market of right strong financial education, rich habits, exactly. to where like you're learning about something, but then you want to start to dig deep, definitely focus into your research.

30:16I think that's something we always talk about. So forgetting a Neos product, just in general, it's really good to make sure that you're fully understanding, you're listening to experts, you're doing your own research and feeling comfortable that you're making an investment decision, knowing how that's going to react in your portfolio. And so I think what's been great to see in the market over the many, many years is the ability for more and more education and financial wellbeing and thoughtfulness to be out there so that people could have a better sense of how to go out and educate themselves on what it is that might fit for their portfolio.

30:46And what I see a lot of too in the Rich Habits Network, so many people reach out to me and say they love the NEOS funds for diversification into gold and Bitcoin and some of the other things. So you're right. I think that it's very specific, personal finance is personal, but I like so many of the tools because I feel like you guys are just covering all the basis for people to explore these NEOs funds and be able to get diversification and income through these products. 100%. And, you know, speaking of the Rich Habits Network, something we talk about a lot in there, Garrett kind of took the words right out of my mouth, which is just like, do your own research and know what you own.

31:21Understand what you have in your portfolio. You know, we talked about diversification and a term, you know, that's kind of fun right now to say is worseification. A lot of people, you know, they might have 9, 10, 12 different positions in their portfolio, but they're all semiconductor stocks. And so they say, oh, I've got a dozen different names in my portfolio. Of course, I'm diversified. Well, if it's all the exact same sector and that sector is getting smoked right now, maybe you're not as diversified as you thought. And I thought that's what's so interesting and fun about NIOs Fund specifically is, you know, you guys are across the gamut.

31:52You've got the S &P, the NASDAQ, but you also have IYRI with real estate or IAUI with gold or BTCI with Bitcoin or MLPI with energy and infrastructure. It's like you could be invested in so many different sort of segments and sectors of the market while still also optimizing for that tax efficient income that you all are so famous for doing. So again, congratulations. And we're so grateful to have you back here on the show and can't wait to have you back soon. Yeah, we appreciate the time to come on and just join and answer questions. Definitely. You guys, our audience loves you. We talk about it all the time and we're so happy to be working with you guys and having you guys on frequently.

32:28And one last reminder, while we still have you all and everyone else is hanging out with us. If you own Neos Funds, check your inbox, check your brokerage app, get your proxy vote in, go vote your shares. It takes a couple minutes. Your vote counts 100%. Your vote counts. We promise it does. You can go to neosfunds.com slash vote. Or I bet Troy and Garrett have the phone number memorized by this point. What's the phone number they need to call 866-206-8173 again 866-206-8173 again gentlemen thank you so much congratulations and we're looking forward to having you all back thanks thanks see you guys soon what a fun conversation with troy and garrett i always appreciate it when they join our show because one i feel like they've just we we robert you ever get that feeling where you're like oh i started listening to a music artists before they were popular.

33:20I think Ireland has said that about Noah Kahn in the past. She's like, yeah, I used to knew Noah Kahn years before he got all popular. And now everyone loves him. I feel like that about NEOS funds. I feel like we were talking about NEOS funds and the importance of having tax-sufficient income in your portfolio and the fact that these ETFs exist. I mean, I remember when NEOS funds was just for ETFs. I mean, I remember when QQQI came out. It was crazy. And now they're part of Goldman Sachs and everyone knows them and they're growing and now they're international and they're introducing new things.

33:47It's just like, I'm just really grateful that Troy and Garrett join us on the show and share their wisdom and all the above. Yeah, I agree. Totally. I remember vividly because we've been working with them and following their journey for years now. And now to think Goldman Sachs, billions and billions of dollars of assets under management. It's such a cool thing to be there along the ride with a company and guys as good as Troy and Garrett, building these cool products that all of our people, followers, and listeners get to really enjoy and invest in. So it's very, very cool. Before we jump into our Q &A section of this episode, we've got a fun one for you.

34:25Introducing the Afternoon Slump segment presented by Ultra. Robert, it is currently 3.58 PM right now, Eastern time, as we film this podcast episode. And something our audience doesn't know about our podcast is that our Monday episodes and our Friday episodes are both filmed during what people refer to as the afternoon slump, that 2 to 5 p.m. time frame where you're feeling groggy, you're tired, you're looking for a way to lock back in. Maybe it's to chug coffee or get outside or whatever. So you got to figure it out. It's a three-hour slump, the afternoon slump. Robert, you always bring the energy whenever you're filming these podcast episodes with me.

35:06What are some things that you do? What advice can you give people right now listening who are trying to get over their own afternoon slump as they listen to this episode to lock back in and get and finish the workday strong? Yeah, for me, it's usually a walk because I got to get the body moving because we're sitting here for hours and hours writing and filming. Also, some cold water, a really cold beverage helps me a lot. And you always catch me when we're filming because I'll do some pushups before I jump back into the workload. Yeah, no, I'm right there with you. I've got my cold, ice cold water right here in my massive water bottle.

35:40Back when I was working in the office, what I would do is I'd pop in some AirPods, turn on my favorite EDM music that would also get me going. But now that I'm an entrepreneur, again, I've got that cold beverage keeping me rocking and rolling. Gets me feeling myself again. But something I used to do, Robert, and I haven't done a little bit, maybe I should jump back into it. And if you're in the Rich Habits Network, you'll remember me talking about this over a year ago, and that is the Ultra Pouches. They are nicotine-free, caffeine-free pouches that contain L-theanine, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and alpha-GPC for enhanced mental processing.

36:18That's not alpha-GPT, like a chat GPT, but alpha-GPC. My friend Austin Reif, who's the co-founder of Morning Brew, he actually put me on them, like I said, last year, and I used to use nicotine. I used to use pouches like the ones you buy at a gas station, but stop doing that. I think, Robert, it was November of last year. Haven't used nicotine since. I don't use nicotine anymore. Ultra pouches were what I flipped into there and it was an awesome experience. Ultra very well could help you listening right now. Get over that afternoon slump. If you've been wanting to try nootropic pouches, I highly recommend Ultra.

36:54I'm not just saying that because they're sponsoring this segment. I'm saying that as someone who's purchased 30 of their cans and was subscribed to their monthly delivery subscription for like seven or eight months. Like I used Ultra Pouches all the time. I've got a couple of cans still around the house. Ultra Pouches got me going. I was locked in on the next level. So definitely go check out Ultra if you are interested. They make me really excited. When I saw Robert, they wanted to sponsor the show. I was like, Ultra? This Ultra? They You've used them for a long time. You really like it. I need to get on it because I have the slump issues myself someday.

37:32So I'm definitely going to try it. And for all of you listening, new customers get 15 % off with the code RICH15. That is RICH15 for 15 % off. Go to TakeAltra.com to get some of these pouches and stay locked in. Couldn't have said it better myself, Robert. Let's now jump to the Q &A section of this episode with the first question coming from Kelly L. Kelly L. on Instagram says, hello, I hope my two questions reach you both. I have two credit cards. One is the American Express Gold card, and we use it for everything. We pay it off at the end of the month, of course. And the other card we have is the Marriott Boundless card that we use specifically for hotels.

38:15My sons play on a travel team, so we book hotel rooms many weekends throughout the year. My questions are, though, we shop at Costco one or two times a month, spending anywhere between$600 and$1 ,000 every single month. Costco doesn't accept American Express, so I have to use my debit card and I don't earn anything. Is there a credit card you'd suggest just for Costco? My second question is this Marriott Boundless card that we use for hotels. I just realized we're getting rocked in interest. Last year alone, we were charged$1 ,800 in interest. I'm not sure it's worth having. Any suggestions on a credit card for hotels?

38:53Robert, while you do a little bit of a deep dive on your hotel credit card recommendation, I'll talk about this Costco one. I shop at Costco. I love shopping at Costco. Ireland and I go to Costco probably once a month. It's fun. I just use the Costco credit card. The Costco credit card gives you 5 % cash back on gas at Costco, and then 4 % cash back on all eligible gas and electric vehicle charging, 3 % cash back on restaurants, 2 % cash back on all purchases from Costco, and one cash back on everything else. So I just use that one. It's actually funny, Robert, I went to the bank recently, because I had like a couple of checks that I had to cash out.

39:34And I accidentally brought my$15.61 voucher that Costco had mailed me for all of my cash back that I was given for Costco. So no annual fee. If you have that paid Costco membership, I think it's awesome. I use it as my actual membership card. So whenever I go there, I just kind of scan my Costco credit card. But Robert, what's your take first and foremost on the$1 ,800 of interest they've paid? And do you have any suggested credit cards for hotels? Yeah, I don't see how they're getting this$1 ,800 number, especially because above in their question, they said that they pay it off every single month.

40:11So I don't know where that could come from. So I'd have to have them fact check that first. But as far as other options from this Marriott card, for me, I think another good option would be the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire card. That's a card that I use. And I think this is really good for people that frequently travel. There's a lot of different things you can get on that card that I really, really like. But the thing is I don't get is this$1 ,800. So I would look into that because I don't know anything about the Marriott boundless card, but I don't see a world where it costs$1 ,800 in interest if you're paying it off every month.

40:48Yeah, there's no way. I mean, interest is that it's interest on debt. And if you don't pay your debt off, you do pay interest. And it sounds like you all were carrying some high interest credit card debt there for a little bit. So please, Kelly L, pay off your high interest credit card debt. I understand maybe this is a great time, Robert, to talk about this conversation. I hear it a lot. I've had a lot. I've had some deep conversations with parents about this. I want to hear from you, Robert. Travel sports. Travel sports are expensive. When I say expensive, I mean, could be in the ballpark of, no pun intended, ballpark of tens of thousands of dollars a year that you're paying to have your kid enroll in these tournaments, have the best gear.

41:25You're paying for the travel. You're paying for the hotels, you're paying for the gas, you're paying for the, you know, everything else, you know, I want your kids to have fun and do the sports. And I think being a team player is important for, you know, a child's development and like all that stuff. But the last thing I want you to do is, and we talk about this sort of concept a lot, whenever a plane is kind of going Mayday, you know, they always say, put your oxygen mask on before you help your neighbors. And I'm worried that our friend Kelly L here might be putting too much money into her children's travel team sports, so much so that they're paying high interest credit card debt, right?

42:04They're going into debt for it, where instead they maybe should be investing some of this money toward their own retirement, maybe saving some money for, you know, a college education for these kids. It's a very tricky conversation to have because I know how emotional some parents can get because every parent thinks that their their child might be the next big NFL or MLB or NHL player. But I don't know, Robert, what's your take? Yeah, I don't like it at all because I feel like it puts people in a position where they're living beyond their means, because I'm not saying travel sports are a scam.

42:36Absolutely. But many of these national clubs and these larger clubs, they use high sales tactics. They use fear of missing out FOMO on the parents because they're trying to build this illusion of fake elite status for their kids to get those kids to believe they're going to have this absolute path to college scholarship and maybe pro sports. And it really bugs me thinking about me coming up in baseball and basketball into college sports when I played and all of that because, you know, we had one bat. We had one mitt. We had our own helmet. Maybe we had one uniform. And I see these kids and I see this content now.

43:15They're showing up with bat bags and gloves and sliding gloves and five pair of cleats and all that. And I just think it's one of those really bad situations where parents feel pressured to keep up with the Joneses. And it's who can spend the most on this stuff to try and elevate their kid to the next level of sports. So I don't think it's good for any family financially unless they're already very wealthy because it just costs so much relative to what you gain for the child in the sports. And I definitely don't want to see parents putting this on credit cards or carrying debt that they can't afford to keep these kids in these programs.

43:54I feel like we might have just accidentally triggered a lot of parents listening to this episode because a lot of parents do the travel sports stuff and they are, you know, they're doing it. So I just, again, if you can afford it, please do the travel sports. Let the kid do what they got to do if you can afford it. But if you're finding yourself swiping the credit card, taking on high interest debt, you know, doing these bad financial habits, maybe there's a different alternative. Maybe there's a happy medium where it might not be as intense travel sports. Maybe it's something a little bit different locally or, you know, who knows there.

44:26But that's the whole takeaway here is if you can afford it, rock and roll, spend your money however you want. Personal finance is personal. But if you can't afford it, always make sure that you are not finding yourself in a bad financial situation to try and make this stuff work and keep up with the Joneses, with the brand new bats and the bags and this tournament. Where are you staying at? Oh, I'm staying at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel when I'm going to this. Where are you guys staying at? You know, all that stuff, Robert. Well, I'm not hating on anyone. Let's get this straight. I just know that in the history of sports, usually it's the people that show up with all the best gear that have the least talent.

45:03And all I'm saying is stay within your budget, stay within your means. And if Billy or Amy or Sally have really good talent, guess what? It's going to cost you a lot less because they're going to get the free ride. They're going to get the scholarships and you're not going to have to live beyond your means to try and prove something with this fate elite staff. You know, and something else, Robert, I'm just kind of looking, I'm sorry that we're just derailing this conversation. Private equity, interestingly enough, is getting involved. They are buying up some of these travel sport leagues and tournaments and brands.

45:37I'm just kind of looking at some of these things here and it's saying that private equity investments just in year to date, 2026 in travel sports, amateur sports is over$2 billion versus only half a billion all of last year. So private equity is getting involved when private equity gets involved. Things get expensive and people get emotional and I don't know. We'll see what happens there. Let's move on. We have another question coming from Alex W. you. Alex says, Hi, Robert and Austin. I'm 37 years old and work as a budget analyst for my company earning$125 ,000 a year. And my wife is a nurse making$85 ,000 a year.

46:13We have$235 ,000 in a taxable brokerage account,$14 ,000 in a savings account,$173 in Roth IRAs, maxing them out each year. $600 a month goes to our 529 accounts. And I have a defined benefit pension plan with my job. I also have$107 ,000 and a 457B that's a Roth, and I contribute$750 a month to that account. First off, holy smokes, y 'all are just doing it right. $37 ,000, you're making great money, you've got all this money invested, you have all this money that's actively being put to work on a monthly basis. Incredible situation. Alex W. says we have 14 years remaining on our 15-year mortgage.

46:53It's$120 ,000, and the interest rate is 6%. So my question is, should we prioritize paying off this mortgage, increase contributions to our 457B, or maybe do something else? Love the show. Thank you so much for all your advice. Robert, 6%, it's on that cusp where, you know, adjusted for inflation, the stock market does about 7.5 % or 8 % a year. 6 % is kind of close. The 30-year yield is at 5.5 % right now. What's your take? Yeah, I think they're in a really great spot. And the first thing that jumps out at me is the$14 ,000 in cash. That feels really light to me relative to them making a$210 ,000 household income.

47:34So I'd probably start by building up that emergency fund before getting too aggressive anywhere else. And then after that, I would probably do a combination of adding some more to the 457B contributions and paying down the mortgage. Because you're right, Austin, that 6 % is right in the middle for me. It's not dangerous. It's not bad. It's just a little bit high. So maybe they could do an extra payment a year or an extra payment every month or something like that to buy down that principal a little bit. That's where I would start because they're doing so well everywhere else. Yeah, with$173 ,000 already in the Roth IRA, they got$100 ,000 in the 457B, a quarter million in this taxable brokerage account.

48:15I would lean toward increasing that 457B versus maybe putting more money in their brokerage account, the bridge account. It's this weird balance, Robert, because you want to have millions of dollars in retirement accounts because nine times out of 10, there's tax advantage and it's all fun and games. But you also want to make sure that you have enough money in an accessible, taxable brokerage account that when you're ready to retire early or maybe take that leap of faith where you don't want to work full-time, you want to go part-time and be financially independent, an awesome episode we just had here on the show, What does it mean to actually be financially free?

48:50You got to have that accessible money. So the$235 ,000 they have right now in that taxable brokerage account, wonderful place to be. Last thing I will say is make sure that$600 a month going to the 529 accounts. It is not coming from money that should instead be going to a retirement account. You can always borrow money for college. You cannot always borrow money for retirement, right? So make sure you're not contributing toward your kid's education at the expense of your own retirement. Doesn't sound like that, but wanted to call it out. I love that take. You say it quite frequently. You can borrow for college, but you can't borrow for retirement.

49:29I hope everyone is taking notes, writes that one down. Because we see so many people in the Rich Habits Network and the DMs, in Instagram, everywhere, where they get to a million or two million dollars. And all of a sudden they think they're so wealthy, they can just start giving the money away to their family members and everybody else. And to me, you need to make sure you can protect yourself, especially moving forward, because we're all going to live longer. There's better medicines, all these GLP ones and peptides and all that. So just make sure you've got your retirement covered first, because you can always borrow, like Austin said, for college.

50:03Now, before we jump to our final question, got to give a shout out to Blossom Social. We're officially entering the fourth quarter of 2026. We heard from Troy and Garrett earlier this episode about some Q4 expectations. And similar to what they said, uncertainty has never felt so high. The Federal Reserve just raised interest rates for the first time in three years. If you told me two months ago that was going to be the case, I'd say you are crazy. So all of this stuff that's taking place right now, it's never been more important, Robert, to have a plan and stick to it. And if you're a long-term investor like us, that plan has never been easier to come up and implement.

50:39It is just simply dollar cost averaging into the S &P 500, the NASDAQ, the Dow Jones, AIQ, SPYI, all the fun ETFs and index funds we talk about and just riding the wave and staying nice, calm, cool and collected. Austin, we have been talking about how important dollar cost averaging is for years now. And when the markets feel shaky, it's hard to see your progress. This is why we recommend being a part of the social platform like Blossom Social. On Blossom, you'll be able to see your entire portfolio in a very clean and simple way, your holdings, your performance, dividends, all of it. And you're also able to follow along other long-term investors on the platform, helping you stay motivated during these uncertain times.

51:24Not to mention, all of the portfolios on Blossom are verified. So if you're seeing someone buy or sell a name, it's because they actually did it in their own brokerage account. I'm on Blossom. Robert's on Blossom. Our portfolios are over there. So if you want to join us, just search Blossom Social in the App Store. Head over to BlossomSocial.com on your phone or desktop. There's also going to be a link to Blossom Social in the show notes below. Our final question is coming from Ken on Instagram. Ken says, Hi, Robert Nossen. I've been loving the podcast and I figured I'd pick your brains on a very Gen Z question.

51:57I'm 26 years old and I'm a live streamer. My streaming platform has made me over$250 ,000 so far this year. Now, I am in a financial space of being unsure what to do with money when I know that this is a short-term career. I have a Roth IRA set up that I've maxed out for the year, and I've been investing about$1 ,000 a month into my Robinhood and Charles Schwab accounts just for these long-term holds you talk about. What is your advice to a young person who may need the cash on hand if this business does fail or eventually dies out? I've been told to start a 401k, but I'm too worried I have most of my money put away that I won't be able to touch into my 60s, being that I'm only 26 years old if I do that.

52:38My biggest concern is that I have$110 ,000 in student loan debt and my payments are above 10 % interest. I am in an entrepreneurial state and I'm already looking for new business ventures, but I'm just trying to be smart with my current setup before I start spending. And I feel like my CPA or other old people don't understand that the streaming business is trending today, but could be over tomorrow. Robert, you want to kick this one off? Yeah, this is a good one. And I really like the question and the totality and the thoroughness of the question. First and foremost, I like what you're doing with$1 ,000 and having your Roth IRA set up.

53:16And I think you said fully funded, which is great. And then the additional$1 ,000 in the Robinhood accounts. But I just, I'm a little bit curious here,$250 ,000 this year. And let's take away some taxes and look at all that. I don't know your expenses, but it seems like you could be putting away more than$1 ,000 a month at 26 years old. So I don't know where the rest of the money is going. And then as it relates to the student loan, I would look at it this way. I would get my base built as much as humanly possible. In your situation, I'd love to see you have$200 ,000,$250 ,000 between the Roth and the traditional brokerage account making you money while you sleep before you tackle this$110 ,000 of student loans.

54:01Even though they're high interest at this rate, I'm sure there's a way you can go into the forbearance, or renegotiate a way to get this interest rate down. If you can't, then that changes the game. But my fear is if you attack the loans first at this 10%, which is considered high interest, you're going to put yourself in a position where it might be years where you can keep investing. So I don't know. If you can get the rate down to 6%, then I would say build more of your base first before you tackle these solely. If you can't, then I think you've got to just buckle up and go after the student loans first and foremost.

54:39Yeah, what a weird situation. Yep. One, congrats on making so much money as a streamer. That's amazing. Make sure that you're setting money aside for taxes. You're getting paid directly from the streaming platform. The streaming platform is not setting aside money for taxes for you. So when you file taxes next year and you owe$65 ,000 to the IRS, make sure you have that$65 ,000 in a savings account. Do your quarterlies. right? Do a quarterly tax estimate, you know, give the IRS 20, 30 ,000 and say, here you go, right? Because the last thing you want to do is owe IRS money. You never want to owe them money.

55:11So the next piece of, you know, this I want to dig into is, yeah, that 10 % interest, it's high interest, right? I mean, I would argue that that's high interest. So here's the thing. If you can go back and refinance your student loans, do that. If you can get them down to 5, 6, 7%, that changes this entire equation because you can keep around a five and a half, six and a half percent student loan much longer than you can keep around a 10 % student loan. And the reason I say that is because year to date, the S &P 500 is up 10 and a half percent, but inflation right now is running at about three and a half percent.

55:47And so that means a real return of 7 % right now is the S &P 500. And so what I'm trying to get at is 7 % over here for money is invested, 10 % interest you're being charge to pay off your student loans, can't out invest high interest debt, right? You got to figure that out. So if you can't refinance these student loans at a five and a half, six and a half percent interest rate, then yeah, it's one of those things where listen, beef up that emergency fund, max out that Roth IRA, continue to max out that Roth IRA, continue to keep that emergency fund beefed up, but everything else pay off those student loans.

56:19I mean, if you made a quarter million dollars this year, you might even have 110 ,000 sitting aside somewhere that you haven't yet used or maybe that's why you're asking us these questions because you've got this big windfall of cash and it's just sitting and you don't know what to do with it. If you can refinance them, that's great. Let's refinance it to five or six and a half percent. Let's go put$100 ,000, $200 ,000 in the S &P or the NASDAQ or the Dow Jones in a taxable brokerage account on public.com slash rich habits. And now you've got this great base built that's going to continue to double and triple and quadruple for you throughout your lifetime.

56:52And then as you continue to make more money, then you can start to make the decision of, do I put more in the stock market? Do I start to pay off these student loans? How do I think about that? Here's what you don't want to do. You don't want to put yourself in a situation where you are forcing your monthly expenses to go up. What does that mean? You're taking on a new car payment. You're taking on a new car lease. You're taking on a new lease for a luxury apartment. You're taking on a mortgage. You're putting yourself in a situation where your fixed costs every single month are now elevated than where you were before, which now means if the streaming stuff does dry up and the quarter million dollars is not another quarter million next year, maybe it's$80 ,000 next year, your monthly burn is now twice as much in 2027 because you went into car debt and have a car lease or because you upgraded to the luxury apartment and you took on the mortgage or whatever it is.

57:42And now not only are you making less money as a streamer in 2027, but you're also spending more money just to survive. And it's a recipe for disaster. If you are in a situation where you don't know if your income is going to be what it is next year, you know, volatile income, all that fun stuff. Well, not fun actually. But if you're in that situation, the best thing you can do is have a beefy emergency fund, keep your monthly burn as low and predictable as you can, and keep as much cash on hand as possible so that if things do switch up on you here, you have that liquidity. Now, the only kind of like caveat to that is once you have that$100 ,000 or$200 ,000 invested, that's enough cash on hand where you can start getting a little bit aggressive about the student loan.

58:26So do that. Think about through that stuff. But congrats on being a streamer. That's very exciting. I'm not a streamer like that making a quarter million. So I respect it. Yeah. The only thing I would add, Austin, is the other way to look at this as well is assuming that they're getting paid as a 1099 contractor. So they're going to receive that schedule C from the platforms, they could think about adding an S selection. So they're combining that schedule C, that 1099 contractor status with an S selection, and that would give them a better tax situation so they could pay less taxes. And then they could also, and you know more about this than me, but they could also set up a SEP IRA as well to help them with some of the tax benefits because they can contribute up to 25 % of their net self employment earnings.

59:13So there are some other things we can add in there too, to help you in this situation, because you want to definitely get ahead of it in case the streaming dries up. Yeah. It just comes down to what they said before is being worried about putting money in a retirement account that they can't touch until they're in their sixties. Everyone, thanks so much for joining us on this week's episode of the Rich Habits Podcast. Major shout out again to NEO's Funds, Garrett and Troy. Shout out to y 'all for joining us. Be sure to come back on Thursday where we have our Q &A episode. And then of course, every Friday, we've got our Rich Habits Radar episodes.

59:44Y 'all have loved those episodes as of late. Lots of headline news, lots of IPO chatter. You know, it's Robert and myself talking about the biggest headlines impacting you and your money. We appreciate it. I mean, it's one of our, I mean, I'm not going to say it's the most popular episode, but y 'all are really starting to come in on that one. Yeah, I definitely love the Friday episodes because I feel like they're just kind of in your face, off the dome, what's moving money, what's moving the markets. And it's in real time because we film these and write and do all the work right before we launch them.

1:00:16So I love the Friday episodes and they're definitely growing a lot. But also don't forget for any of you that are following along on this podcast, you've been doing it for a while. Make sure you check out the seven day free trial for the Rich Habits Network. You can go in, kick the tires, check out the courses, check out the school community, join one of our lives and really see what the Rich Habits Network is all about. We have 1 ,100 members right now, people that think it is the best thing they could be doing with that time to level up their financial needs, their business, their mindset, and really learn more about what moves the markets and how to build wealth.

1:00:5472 people in the month of September so far have joined the Rich Habits Network. Why are you not the 73rd. Robert, let's rewind. 203 people joined us in August, 70 plus people now in September. It's just people are waking up and they're realizing that the Rich Habits Network is something they need to try. Again, I want to just emphasize the word try because we have a seven-day free trial. There's no, I need to subscribe or sign. It's just you're poking around, you're giving it the good old college try, you're joining a live stream, you're seeing if it's right for you. And if it's not, that's totally fine, but you gave it a try.

1:01:31That's all we ask. If you've enjoyed the podcast, if we provided you value, try the Rich Habits Network. Thank you.

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