53: It's Our Birthday! Rich Habits Year in Review

0:00Hey, everyone, and welcome back to the Rich Habits Podcast, a top five business podcast on Spotify. Surprise! It's our birthday. We are officially one year old now. We've been doing this podcast for 52 weeks plus, and we are so excited to jump into everything. But before we jump into the birthday activities, we have to give our normal intro. So if you're not aware, my name is Austin Hankwitz, and I'm joined by my co-host, Robert Croak. Robert is a seasoned entrepreneur in his 50s with more than 200 million in company exits under his belt, and I'm an entrepreneur in my late 20s with a background in finance and economics.

0:35Since quitting my full-time job in corporate finance a few years ago, I've built a seven-figure media business and actively advise some of the most well-known fintech companies around the world. As the show name might suggest, 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. Robert, I'm excited to jump into our birthday episode. So what are we going to be talking about?

1:06Austin, it's our birthday and we're officially one years old. I'm so excited for this episode and to have the opportunity to take a walk down memory lane with all of our listeners. As you all know, the Rich Habits podcast started from a DM. Austin sent me on TikTok after I had posted my mega viral video, how to become the first millionaire in your family. So we want to start this walk down memory lane with that first episode published back in late February of 2023, which now has more than 500k downloads and 2 million impressions on Spotify alone. Yeah, that was an awesome video you had published, Robert.

1:45It got over, I think, 30 million views across Instagram and TikTok and inspired us to make that first podcast episode. So why don't we kick this walk down memory lane off with talking a little bit about that episode, Robert? Why was it so important? Give us the sort of takeaways that really stood out to you and what you think really resonated with our listeners. Yeah. You know, as they say in business and we see all the time on Instagram and TikTok and X and everywhere is your one video, one meeting, one phone call away from a totally different life. And that was my video. That was the one. It changed my life in the course of my Instagram and TikTok following literally overnight by hundreds of thousands of followers.

2:28And what that video was, was just an unscripted kind of expose of me just after a couple glasses of wine, walking down the street, telling everybody, here's how to become the first millionaire in your family. And I think that kind of crude, you know, just unedited version of my thoughts is what really made it strike a chord with TikTok listeners and followers and just really catapulted everything that we've been doing and I've been doing over the last few years into the limelight because the video was so wildly successful. And in that video, we talked about kind of three key points. Investing early and often is number one.

3:09This is so important. You and I beat this drum every single day. People need to learn investing early and often is key. Let compounding do its job. It doesn't matter if you have$100 a month to start$50 a month,$1 ,000 a month. The key is just getting started. So investing early and often is so important. A lot of the fake gurus out there say, oh, if you don't have$10 ,000, you're wasting your time. And the key here in the message is don't listen to them because they just want to sell you something and they have no understanding of why that's so important to building wealth. Number two was changing your mindset to include investing, shying away, changing that mindset from a consumer-based mindset to an investor-based mindset.

3:54So I think that was a big takeaway on that video. Everyone really kind of was pulled in by that sentiment of you have to stop thinking like a consumer. And what that means is every time you get money, instead of thinking, how can I spend it? You flip the mindset to how can I invest it? And that is one of the biggest things everyone listening needs to learn. And if you have a friend that's struggling from this or a cousin or whoever, share that video with them because it's so, so important. Once you start thinking like an investor with your money, even if it is only$100 a month, you all of a sudden walk a little taller.

4:31Your shoulders are back a little more because you feel like you're finally in the game and you're taking control of your finances. And that is so critically important. And the third part of that episode that was really important was getting rid of your time sucks. And you all know what that means. I say it in the video. I'm not saying get rid of Netflix. I'm not saying don't do your fantasy football drafts. All I'm saying is dial it back a little bit. Take those extra hours you have every day, every week, every month, and put them into a side hustle or a new skill set. Because then from there, you can create those new cash flow revenue streams that can then go into your investment strategies.

5:12So those were the three takeaways of the video that put me on the map and got Austin and I together through a DM on TikTok to make the Rich Habits community and podcast a reality. Yeah, Robert and I are both really, really grateful that you all liked that podcast episode so much, so much that you kept coming back every week. I mean, Robert shared that episode had over half a million downloads. It's been, you know, shared across Spotify now over 2 million times, which is unbelievable to us to even think about. And it spawned the Rich Habits podcast, right? Because of that and the awesome feedback we got, we kept with it.

5:48And now we've got well over 70 episodes of this podcast live and out onto the ethos and on Spotify, on YouTube, everywhere that you listen to podcasts. We're really, really grateful and excited for that. Now, Robert, we started this episode off with reminiscing on our first ever podcast episode and what inspired us to make that episode, which has now turned into the most watched and shared episode of the podcast so far. But now it only makes sense to talk about the episode that catapulted us to the number one slot on the Spotify business chart back in late September of 2023. So, Robert, what episode was that and what did we talk about on that episode?

6:26Why did people love it so much? Give us the breakdown. Well, first, I want to touch on the fact that you just gave me goosebumps. But yes, that was episode 29, The Three Simple Steps to Wealth. That episode had three main points, and it starts out with opening the Roth IRA and investing consistently in it. So many people skip this important step. They want to jump right into buying some meme coin or they want to jump right into buying individual stocks. Well, I will fall on the sword, and I did a TikTok recently about it, that I think having the Roth IRA set up is one of the most important things you can do in your financial journey.

7:06End of story, full stop. It's just so incredibly important. And I looked up a stat today too, and I wanna read this stat. And I believe it was that only 18 % of US adults currently have a Roth IRA setup, which is crazy to me because I think it is the best tool out there to build on your financial journey. And I believe that everyone, the day they turn 18, should have a Roth IRA opened up. Number two in that video and episode is I talk about buying real estate the right way. And what does that mean? So we broke down all the different ways to get mortgages that you should house hack to begin. And I still believe that stands true today.

7:52House hacking, I think, is the number one most important thing anyone can do in the beginning of their real estate journey. So how do we break that down? The simplest form is go find the best mortgage for you. In my opinion right now is the Fannie Mae 5 % down mortgage. It's a tremendous product, easier to qualify for. You can buy up to$1.5 million and up to four doors. Now, not saying you have to spend a million dollars on your first property. It all depends on the area you're in. It could be a$300 ,000 duplex, but that you're going to house hack in the beginning because again, I don't believe anyone should buy a primary home as their first investment in real estate because you're tying up too much cash, too much credit, and it's just not a great investment to start.

8:39Number three, and probably Austin and I's favorite, is to diversify your portfolio to fit your needs and risk tolerance. Austin, I'd love to hear your take on this one because you're very, very good at this end of the spectrum. Yeah, I think a lot of people, because of our podcast and of course other information online, but we talk about this a lot, Robert, which is really having that self-reflection of your own needs as an investor. For me, for example, I love passive income. I love getting my dividend distributions every single month. I love doing my covered calls. I love making money passively using my investment portfolio.

9:15So I have been able to diversify my portfolio to fit that need and the risk tolerance that comes with that. Other people may really, really want to diversify toward much safer things like T-bills or high yield savings accounts. That's cool. Or on the other side of the aisle, people might want to diversify toward Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies and other sort of stocks that have high beta and have a lot of volatility that come with them. That's what's so important about having that self-reflection with yourself is you understand what your risk tolerance is. You're honest with yourself about what your needs are as an investor, and you can diversify your portfolio to fit those needs and fit that risk tolerance.

9:51So I agree that is a very important part of your wealth building journey is to have that portfolio that's not just all about what people on the internet tell you, right? The index funds and real estate, but to also have things like passive income focused vehicles like the SPYI or QQQI ETFs, or maybe even cryptocurrency or other high beta stocks that come with volatility, but also potentially more upside. Yeah, I think it's so important for everyone to understand that investing and building wealth is not a one size fits all journey. Everyone can think the best laid plans are going to get them where they want to go.

10:28And that's what we try to provide each and every day through our content and the Rich Habits podcast is giving people the blueprint. If all things, if everything goes well and you follow along, you take notes and you take action and you really do these things, it's inevitable you're going to be wealthy. That doesn't mean there's not going to be bumps along the way. Trust me, I've had situations come about that have caused me to lose millions of dollars over the years or have a really bad period in my financial journey where I'm going backwards instead of forwards. This happens all the time. That's why we always talk about diversifying in your portfolios and why it is so important.

11:09Make the plan, execute the plan, stick with the plan, and always be ready that things can come up to change the plan. But that's okay because you're on the right road. So speaking of building and diversifying your portfolios, our friends at Public recently launched their own podcast called The Rundown. A new rich habit that you can work into your daily routine is listening to The Rundown, Publix's new financial podcast. Robert, I actually am a big fan of the podcast. My close friend Zaid Admani is the host of the podcast. He is a hilarious finance content creator. He's got a lot of personality, but very smart guy.

11:47You know, this podcast is only five minutes long, right? Five minutes, that's it. And you'll walk away caught up on which stocks are making the biggest moves for the day and the economic stories that matter most for your portfolio. So check out The Rundown wherever you listen to your podcast. And we'll also be sure to share a link in the description below. I listen to the podcast. I think it's great. So go check out The Rundown. And to be clear, when you hear us talk about another podcast or another newsletter or someone else that provides great information, it's not from a lack of us doing our own research.

12:19Trust me, we learn from other people. There are a lot of smart people out there, experts in their own right in what they do. And what I think we're best at is aggregating all of the best strategies and information for all of you to put it into bite-sized chunks so you can act upon it. So that's why I wanted to touch on that just for a second, that we have so many podcasts and so many newsletters that we enjoy as well. Not that we want you to go anywhere, but just to touch on that, because it is important to know that we're always aggregating the best information we can find. 100%. And the rundown is definitely one of them.

12:55Now, we can't take a walk down memory lane without bragging on some of our favorite ideas and concepts from 2023. The first thing that comes to mind for me, Robert, which is something you've talked about a lot was artificial intelligence. Oh my gosh, 2023 was the year of AI and it seems like 2024 is still shaping up to run with that momentum. I know Nvidia was something we talked about, I think it was on even episode 12 or 15, way back in June. And we talked about NVIDIA, AIQ, and some of these other artificial intelligence focused investment ideas. And NVIDIA alone is up 170 % as a stock since we published that episode.

13:32Robert, what do you think about when we talk about AI and reflecting upon some of that? What gets you excited? I mean, it's just incredible because I remember back in like September, October of 2022, too. I did a video talking about NVIDIA, AMD, and I think Palantir and all these people are like, oh, it's a flash in the pan. AI is not going to go anywhere, protect our jobs and all of that. And it's just amazing looking back at all the episodes where we've talked about the NVIDIAs and the AMDs and some of these other AIs. AIQ has done really well. And then also some of the cryptos we've talked about in that market.

14:08Fetch AI has been one of my biggest call outs this year. AGI X ocean protocol. So I think 2023 was the year of Nvidia and AI, but I think AI still has a long way to go in the next two to three years. So I'm super bullish on it and always looking for the next big moment in AI, not only for myself and you and I, but also our listeners. So it was a great year for us. Nvidia was up 170 % since that call out and some of the others were up even more. So very, very excited about that sector and even moving forward into 2024 and 2025. Yeah. Thinking about, you know, something else we talked about, you mentioned cryptocurrency, Robert.

14:50One of the first episodes we had, I think it was in the first 10 episodes was how to build an investment portfolio from scratch. And, you know, I think our third point as part of that episode was including some diversification, something we just talked about into cryptocurrency, mainly Bitcoin and Ethereum. If you look back to see when that episode was published, Bitcoin is up 102 % since mentioning that. And then Ethereum is up another 71%. So if you did build an investment portfolio from scratch on that day, well, congratulations. You're probably somewhere in the green on your cryptocurrency allocation inside of that.

15:23Yeah, you're definitely beating that target date fund that your work's got you in in the 401k. So that is why we talk about diversity. You know, the average target date fund, I think in 2023 made like 5.8 % return while QQQ alone was up over 40%. So just amazing stuff. Yeah, I mean, even just thinking about now as our final call out and idea for 2023, just this long one year sort of reflecting upon the last year up until last February, Robert, was index funds. I mean, as boring as they are, we kept beating the drum on how important it is for people to have the S &P 500, the NASDAQ 100, even some of these larger call it ETFs that are focused on big tech like VGT or even VTI or Moat or some of these other names, right?

16:10These index funds crushed it in 23 and to start the year of 24. So as we always say, it's very, very, very important to have index funds as the base layer of your investment portfolio. We want the majority of your invested capital to be in these diversified index funds before you jump into the other ideas. But it also goes to show that these index funds are not boring, especially when we have years like 23. And what has been awesome now for 24 is seeing new all-time highs and the S &P and these other indices. Yeah, everyone's always, you know, you look at our DMs on the public lives and everyone's always in such a hurry thinking they're going to find the next meme coin or they want a Forex trade or they want a day trade and all that.

16:54And guess what? You just don't get rich doing that. Yes, you might get lucky and hit a flyer and get 100x return. But for anyone that wants to jump into our comments and say, oh, this is old school mentality talking about QQQ or VOO. Well, guess what? If I'm old school thinking and QQQ made me 42 % last year, I'm good with that. So for me, again, to reiterate what Austin said, having that base in these index funds first, we always talk about get that first 100K, get it making you money. That's why we talk about the base and then everything else fills in to diversify your portfolio. Robert, we are officially a one-year-old podcast now with more than 70 episodes published on Spotify.

17:37We are super grateful that everyone listened to our first episode, Becoming the First Millionaire in Your Family. They also propelled us to number one by listening to our episode number 29, The Three Simple Steps to Wealth, and of course, What's an Episode of Walking Down Memory Lane Without Bragging on Yourself and Some Ideas You Had Back in the Day. So everyone, we are so, so grateful for your continued support, especially as we now head into, gosh, Robert, I can't believe we published over 70 episodes of this podcast. I mean, I can't wait for the next 700. Man, I can't either. So let's go into our sponsor.

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19:43And as you all know, SPYI is the largest dividend-focused investment I have in my personal portfolio alongside QQQI, their newest ETF that aims to track the total performance of the NASDAQ 100. I'm excited about the passive income I make from these specific ETFs, as is Robert. Every single month, we get paid cash directly to our brokerage accounts that we take out, and we either, well, we can reinvest it or use it to put gas in our car, groceries in our refrigerator, or pay our mortgages. Whatever we want to do with it, it is awesome. So go check out SPYI and QQQI, respectively. Do your research.

20:20There's a ton of stuff online to go do that. Now, our question and answer segment is going to be kicked off by Lynn. Lynn says she's currently a first year in college and she's received a job offer to work part-time during school and full-time this summer with a solid wage. Lynn says she currently has$5 ,500 in student loans at a 5.5 % interest rate. And so her question is, should I start paying off my student loans as soon as I start working or should I save up to pay next year's tuition without needing a loan? Any advice you have is greatly appreciated. So Lynn, I think it's probably best for us to kick this answer off by talking just a little bit about what the Joe Biden administration has done as it relates to student loan forgiveness recently.

21:03According to the White House, a borrower can qualify for the forgiveness if they've enrolled into the administration's saving on a valuable education, acronym SAVE, repayment plan, and I quote, have been making at least 10 years of payments and have originally taken out$12 ,000 or less for college. So for example, a borrower enrolled in the SAFE program who took out$14 ,000 or less in federal loans to earn an associate's degree in biology, for example, would receive full debt relief if they have been making payments for at least 12 years because every additional$1 ,000 borrowed above the$12 ,000 is another year of payments that person has to make before they get the forgiveness.

21:42So that's the reality right now. And so by the way, if that applies to you, go get your free money, I guess. But I just want to preface that with the fact that you don't want to be one of the people that has to depend on this type of forgiveness in the future to build wealth and live your life. What I mean by that is if you have$12 ,000,$10 ,000,$6 ,000,$4 ,000 of student loans hanging around and you've been paying on them for over a decade, I would just really want to encourage you to figure that out differently, right? We've talked about this all the time on the podcast is like, don't keep around this high interest, even medium interest debt.

22:17If you could just get after it, pay it off and use that money every month instead to invest. Imagine what that$300,$400,$500 a month payment for the last 10 years, someone's been paying to pay off their$10 ,000 in student loan debt would be if they had just invested it into the S &P. I mean, oh my gosh. But to answer your question, Lynn, very specifically, I would personally not pay down your existing$5 ,500 yet. If you can save up to take a dent out of next year's tuition so you have to borrow less, I would consider doing that first. And it's okay to have student loan debt when you graduate. I don't want you to feel like it's a very, very bad thing.

22:54But what's not okay is keeping it around like a pet and paying on it for the next 10, 12, 15 years. No, I love this answer from Austin. And it really, in my opinion, makes great sense. Since this is new student loan debt and it's at a decent interest rate, I look at it this way, from my opinion, I would take every dollar I'm making right now with that side job and I would chunk it into an investment account. Maybe it's in your Roth IRA. And I just think that would be a really great strategy to look at. Yeah, I think all in all, the most important thing to remember here is not to go into a crazy amount of debt for a degree that is useless to you.

23:33You want to know exactly how much you're borrowing, which it obviously seems like you know. You want to know exactly what you're going to make out of college, which it seems like you probably know considering the questions you're asking right now. And you want to know exactly how long it's going to take you making that money out of college to pay off those student loans. As long as you can follow that protocol and pay them off within one, two, five, six years or so, you'll be just fine. Thanks, Lynn, for the question. Our next question comes from Kendra. Kendra says, I'm new to investing, and I've never invested into individual stocks before.

24:03It's mostly just been S &P 500 ETFs and different bonds. Is it better to invest into technology ETFs rather than direct stocks like NVIDIA, Apple, or Amazon, or the other way around? I want to learn how to analyze individual stocks and manage these, but I don't know if I'm doing it the right way. Yeah, Kendra, we talk about this every single day to the thousands, millions, whatever it is of people that follow us along through social media. And we always talk about the importance of building your base. And what does that mean? You hear earlier in this episode, we talk about the Roth IRA, and that's where I think you should start.

24:40Get the Roth IRA set up in a brokerage account, get a basket of these tech ETFs that you can set yourself up and take the risk out of it from you managing it and you trying to understand it and let the pros do it. And what does that look like? You could look at QQQ, you could look at VOO, you could look at VTI, you could look at AIQ and really balance yourself out to start. Then once you get a handle on things, you get that base built, then maybe a couple of years down the road, you can start picking some individual stocks after you've followed the Rich Habits podcast a little bit longer, read up some more books so you understand how all of this works.

25:18But to start out easy and in the best way, I would go for that Roth IRA and the basket of funds. Yeah, that's a great start. And I think, Kendra, as you would, seems like you're looking to be more curious into picking specific individual stocks, a couple of things to do and consider. The first thing you want to do is familiarize yourself with the Form 10K. You can go to sec.gov or even go to Google. Just type in NVIDIA 10-K. It'll likely be the first site that pops up from Google, but that is the 200 or so page report that NVIDIA files with the Securities and Exchange Commission that breaks down their entire business.