Q&A: $950K Net Worth Working in Government, Career Burnout, & Ditching a Pension

19 Mar 2026 ยท 50 min ยท 23 chapters

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Rich Habits Podcast Episode Summary

Podcast Title

Rich Habits Podcast Host: Robert Croak and Austin Hankwitz Publication Schedule: Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays Podcast Theme: Financial literacy and development of wealth-building habits.

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Episode Title

Q&A: $950K Net Worth Working in Government, Career Burnout, & Ditching a Pension

Episode Overview In this episode, Robert and Austin respond to listener questions, focusing on personal finance and career transitions. The discussion includes career burnout, evaluating the purchase of a business, and financial strategies related to retirement accounts.

Key Themes & Questions Addressed

  1. Career Transition and Burnout
  2. An anonymous listener expresses a desire to leave a stable government job due to burnout and explores the option of buying a small business.
  3. Key Points:
  4. The listener's financial stability: $130K salary, $850K across retirement accounts, and a low mortgage debt.
  5. Recommendations include joining the Rich Habits Network for support and guidance, understanding the "buy box" for business purchases, and ensuring due diligence in financial evaluations.
  1. Investment Strategies
  2. A question from Daniel about managing Solana cryptocurrency to offset capital losses and reinvest in a TFSA (Tax-Free Savings Account).
  3. Key Points:
  4. Emphasis on building a strong investment base before diversification, and recommendations to focus on index funds such as VOO and FXAIX.
  1. Choosing Between Job Offers
  2. Jacob faces a dilemma between accepting a new job at a higher salary and repaying student loans.
  3. Key Points:
  4. Importance of considering all aspects of compensation, including job stability and potential for future raises.
  5. Recommendations to use savings to pay off debts while transitioning to a role that aligns more closely with personal interests.
  1. Evaluating Pension vs. IRA
  2. David queries whether to roll over a pension to an IRA for greater control over investments.
  3. Key Points:
  4. Analyzing the financial implications of both options, including potential growth and benefits for heirs.
  5. The importance of using historical market returns to project future growth and making informed decisions about long-term investments.
  1. Future of Work in Finance Amidst AI Advancements
  2. Ian, an 18-year-old student, expresses concern about the impact of AI on business careers.
  3. Key Points:
  4. Discussion of potential job displacement in finance and legal sectors due to AI.
  5. Recommendations for AI-proof majors, including nursing, electrical engineering, and biomedical engineering.

Key Takeaways

  • Business Ownership: For those considering entrepreneurship, assess personal financial situations realistically and seek professional guidance.
  • Invest Wisely: Prioritize building a solid investment base before diversifying into riskier assets.
  • Evaluate Job Changes Thoroughly: Consider total compensation and benefits when switching jobs, especially in the context of debts and financial responsibilities.
  • Pension vs. IRA Decision: Weigh the control and potential growth of an IRA against the stability of pension benefits, keeping in mind the implications for heirs.
  • AI in the Workforce: Students should be proactive in choosing degrees that will retain value in a changing job market influenced by AI technologies.

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Conclusion The episode emphasizes the importance of financial literacy and strategic decision-making in career and investment choices. Listeners are encouraged to engage with resources like the Rich Habits Network and Wall Street Favorites for further learning and investment guidance.

Call to Action Listeners are invited to join the Rich Habits Network and utilize tools like public.com for smart investing. The episode wraps up with a reminder to continue asking questions and seeking knowledge for financial empowerment.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

Tap a time to open that second in VO

The Evolution of Listener Questions

1:30 to 2:26

Explore how listener questions have evolved from basic to in-depth.

โ€œWe've got some really good ones, actually, some, like, really in-depth questions here that we think you guys are really going to enjoy.โ€

Introducing WallStreetFavorites.com

2:26 to 2:45

Find out how WallStreetFavorites.com can help you understand Wall Street insights.

โ€œAnd whatever you don't get free access to, you can do a seven-day free trial.โ€

Anonymous Listener's Career Crossroads

3:57 to 6:04

A listener seeks advice about transitioning from a stable job to business ownership.

โ€œSo our first question comes from an anonymous listener.โ€

Advice on Buying a Small Business

6:04 to 8:02

Considerations and advice for purchasing a small business at 46 years old.

โ€œRobert, what a cool situation our anonymous listener is in.โ€

Evaluating Risks and Working with Professionals

8:02 to 10:24

Understanding the risks and benefits of hiring professionals in business acquisition.

โ€œBecause a lot of businesses either have shady books or their books lack, and you want to truly understand what the value of the business is, and AI can be your friend there doing a lot of the research for you.โ€

Identifying Your Unfair Advantage

10:24 to 12:22

Explore how to leverage personal advantages when acquiring a business.

โ€œbusiness you want to buy, ask yourself, what is my unfair advantage when I own this business?โ€

Daniel's Investment Query

12:22 to 13:17

A listener discusses capital losses and the strategy to invest in a TFSA.

โ€œAnd it reminds me of a scene from Billions when Bobby Axelrod's wife, do you remember that scene where he's telling her, it goes, you have no market advantage.โ€

Investment Strategy for TFSA

14:06 to 15:36

Learn how to optimize investment in tax-free accounts.

โ€œThis way, any future growth will be tax-free and there doesn't seem to really be a downside.โ€

Comparing FXAIX and VOO

15:37 to 16:48

Understand the differences between two popular investment funds.

โ€œAt the age right now, at 44, I would rather see the base built than just flipping around Solana into the TFSA.โ€

Expense Ratios Explained

16:49 to 19:13

Explore how expense ratios impact your investment returns.

โ€œRobert, this is such a good question because a lot of people, I'm sure are in a similar situation investing on Fidelity or Schwab or all the other difference.โ€
Show all 23 chapters

Core-Satellite Portfolio Strategy

19:14 to 20:21

Learn about the core-satellite investment approach.

โ€œYou're just rocking and rolling with the S &P.โ€

Career Decision: New Job Offer

20:22 to 21:46

Gain insights on weighing job offers against financial obligations.

โ€œAnd I hope the$150 to$300 difference there for the million dollar investment really puts in perspective how negligible it is in the grand scheme of things.โ€

Balancing Job Security and Salary

21:47 to 24:12

Discover how to assess job offers while considering security.

โ€œHowever, my current job paid a majority of my student loans.โ€

Considerations in Job Transitions

24:13 to 27:26

Examine what factors to assess when switching jobs.

โ€œI've got 70-something thousand dollars here, saved and invested at just 26, working at 51 ,000.โ€

Evaluating Job Offers and Lifestyle Inflation

28:00 to 29:30

Learn how to weigh job offers by considering total costs and benefits.

โ€œBut did you check the job offer company, the new company that's going to give you more?โ€

David's Financial Situation and Pension Inquiry

30:50 to 33:10

Explore David's net worth and his options regarding his pension rollover.

โ€œwith them for a very long time and they just create the best tools out there to help the everyday retail investor figure out what to do with their money and what to invest in.โ€

Pension vs. IRA: Analyzing Growth Potential

33:10 to 36:50

Understand the pros and cons of keeping a pension versus rolling over to an IRA.

โ€œI'm guaranteed to make$3 ,500 a month when I retire at$57 ,000.โ€

Generational Wealth and Benefits of IRAs

36:50 to 40:00

Learn about the advantages of IRAs in terms of inheritance and control over investments.

โ€œJust let it grow low cost index funds and you will be 57 with a million or a million two, depending on what the market does.โ€

The Impact of AI on Business Careers

40:00 to 42:01

Discuss the implications of AI on future job prospects in finance and business.

โ€œI just get, oh, I need to go buy a boat.โ€

The Future of Finance Degrees in the Age of AI

42:01 to 45:58

Discover the impact of AI on finance careers and what degrees to avoid.

โ€œAnd it's going to be the people at the top.โ€

AI-Proof Careers: What Majors to Consider

45:58 to 47:52

Learn which fields of study are likely to remain relevant in the future.

โ€œin four years, 10 years, 15 years down the road?โ€

Healthcare Jobs Resilience Amid AI

47:52 to 48:16

Nursing and dentistry are identified as resilient careers in the face of AI disruption.

โ€œI don't know about you, but I'd be very surprised if in the next 10 to 20 years, we're going to have humanoid dentists that are poking around in my teeth.โ€

Pro Tips for Future-Proofing Your Career

48:16 to 49:25

Explore additional fields and strategies for staying ahead in a changing job market.

โ€œimportant it is to humans and just how hard it will be for AI.โ€
Hear the part that matters, and keep it.Open this episode in VO. Double tap your headphones to save a moment as you listen.
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:00Robert Croak:This episode is brought to you by Indeed. Stop waiting around for the perfect candidate. Instead, use Indeed Sponsored Jobs to find the right people with the right skills fast. It's a simple way to make sure your listing is the first candidate C. According to Indeed data, Sponsored Jobs have four times more applicants than non-sponsored jobs. So go build your dream team today with Indeed. Get a$75 sponsored job credit at Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Spring starts at The Home Depot, and we are bringing the heat to your backyard this season. Fire up the flavor with our wide variety of grills for under$300, like the Next Grill 4-Burner Gas Grill that's perfect for hosting your spring cookout.

0:41Robert Croak:Then set the scene and turn your outdoor space into the go-to spot the patio sets for every budget. Bring it this season with grills that deliver flavor and patios that set the vibe from The Home Depot. Start your spring with low prices guaranteed at The Home Depot. Exclusions apply. See Home Depot.com slash price match for details. Hey everyone, and welcome back to the Rich Habits Podcast question and answer edition brought to you by public.com. These are our Thursday episodes where every Thursday we answer your questions, five, six, seven of them that you ask us on Instagram in the DMs. That's rich habits podcast or via email at rich habits podcast at gmail.com.

1:20Robert Croak:We've got, I think, like, I don't know, maybe four or five email questions, one or two Instagram DMs. We're all over the place today, but we're really excited. And these episodes are our favorite. We've got some really good ones, actually, some, like, really in-depth questions here that we think you guys are really going to enjoy.

1:37Austin Hankwitz:Yeah, it's come a long way if you think about these episodes from where we started when people would ask the most basic questions about, what do I do about starting a Roth IRA or how should I handle getting into crypto? So now we have these full laid out, really, really intense questions. And I think it's just great for the audience in general because it just shows people are growing in their knowledge and still relying and trusting us with their questions for their future. So that's what I love about it.

2:05Robert Croak:Absolutely. And as a quick reminder, we started WallStreetFavorites.com, which is the easiest way to understand what Wall Street thinks about your own portfolio. Upgrades, downgrades, price targets, what institutional hedge funds are buying and selling your stocks in your portfolio. So go to WallStreetFavorites.com, get free access to all of this information. And whatever you don't get free access to, you can do a seven-day free trial. Literally, it's completely for free for seven days for a premium subscription. There's a link in the show notes below, wallstreetfavorites.com. This is our platform.

2:41Robert Croak:We created this as a way to say thank you to you all for supporting the show. So before we jump into it, Robert, we got to give a shout out to our friends over at public.com, the investing platform for those who take investing very seriously. Because on public, you can now build a multi-asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, cryptocurrency, and now generated assets, which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index using AI.

3:07Austin Hankwitz:And it all starts with your prompt from renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20 % year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S &P 500, all with just a few clicks.

3:28Robert Croak:Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities. They're completely customizable based on your thesis, not someone else's. So if you're interested, please go to public.com slash rich habits, earn an uncapped 1 % bonus when you transfer your portfolio over to public and go try those generated assets. They're so much fun. That's public.com slash rich habits to get that uncapped 1 % bonus when you transfer your portfolio.

3:53Austin Hankwitz:Paid for by public investing, full disclosure in the podcast description.

3:57Robert Croak:So our first question comes from an anonymous listener. This is via email. Our anonymous listener says, Hi, Robert Nostin. Please keep me anonymous. I'm so glad I stumbled upon your podcast earlier this year. I'm absolutely hooked. And I've been binge listening daily to catch up on older episodes. I'd love your perspective on what feels like the next phase of my life. I'm a 46 year old woman working in corporate America, currently in supply chain. I've had a successful career so far, but I can't imagine doing this for the next 20 plus years. I feel the burnout and I really desire autonomy over my life.

4:33Robert Croak:I feel like I may need a big change. Financially, I'm in a very stable position. I make$130 ,000 a year, not including my bonus. I have$850 ,000 invested across my 401k, my rollover IRA, my Roth IRA, and my savings. And my only debt is my mortgage of$218 ,000 at a 2 % interest rate. I have$366 ,000 in equity in my home. Now over the past year, I've been exploring the idea of buying an existing small business around a million dollar purchase price. I'd likely pursue an SBA loan and bring in an investor to cover the 10 % equity requirement. As I've researched the process, I've begun to realize just how complex it can be, evaluating the deals, negotiating the purchase price, the financing, all the due diligence involved.

5:20Robert Croak:I've even considered working with a firm that specializes in helping first-time buyers acquire a small business, though that obviously comes with an additional cost. So my general questions here for you guys is at my age here of 46 and my financial stage of hundreds of thousands in retirement, does it make sense to pursue buying a small business? Is it a reasonable path or is it unnecessary risk? And if it is a viable path, would you recommend working with a professional to help source and evaluate the deals or try and learn the process and pursue opportunities independently? Or am I completely crazy and just stay in my W-2 job and maybe go have a side hustle or something like that?

6:03Robert Croak:Thank you all so much. I really appreciate it. Robert, what a cool situation our anonymous listener is in. They're making$130 ,000 before the bonus,$850 ,000 in retirement,$366 ,000 of equity in their home,$218 ,000 of mortgage debt at a measly 2 % interest rate. What an incredible situation.

6:23Austin Hankwitz:Yeah, I love this situation. And we could do a whole episode just on this one question, but I'm going to keep it short and sweet. You're crushing it, 46 years old. You could go out and do the business, buy the business, get up and running, and not put any more money currently into your retirement accounts and into your investment accounts and still become a multimillionaire at retirement. But I'm going to lay a little bit of groundwork. Yes, I think you should do it. If you have this yearning to go out and own a business and do your own thing, just make sure you buy wisely. And I think the best way to do that for you, if you want to learn from professionals, is join the Rich Habits Network because there's a ton of people in there that own small businesses.

7:07Austin Hankwitz:We have lawyers and CPAs and real estate people and people like myself in Austin in the community to help you learn out how to properly acquire a business. So that's first and foremost what I do. Number two, I would make sure that you understand your buy box. You mentioned a million dollar business. I would make sure if that's what you want, you stick to that because too many people, when they make their first business purchase or build their first business, they don't have any guardrails and they end up going backwards financially for sometimes years because they didn't have a plan. They go, hey, I just want to buy a business.

7:40Austin Hankwitz:And then you let it creep up to a million, five or two million dollars. You need more money out of pocket. And all of a sudden you're going in and dipping into your retirement funds and not allowing yourself to let that portion of your wealth keep growing. So those are a couple things I would look for. And then number three, probably the most important thing when acquiring a business is make sure you understand the numbers and do hire an attorney or your CPA to help you with that. Because a lot of businesses either have shady books or their books lack, and you want to truly understand what the value of the business is, and AI can be your friend there doing a lot of the research for you.

8:20Robert Croak:That's a great perspective. I think I'll answer these one by one. So does pursuing small business acquisitions seem like a reasonable path, or is it unnecessary risk. At your stage, I do not believe it's unnecessary risk. To what Robert said, you have$850 ,000 invested. The rule of 72 tells us your money will double every seven years or so in the stock market, assuming you aggressively invest it. You will have millions upon millions upon millions of dollars in retirement at 66 years old. So over the next 20 years, right? You could stop investing. You could just go all in on this business and live off of whatever the business makes and literally not add another dime to your retirement accounts and you're going to be just fine.

9:02Robert Croak:So no, this is not unnecessarily risky in that sense. Now, when it comes to the path forward by working with professional team, let me just make it clear. Yes, inside the Rich Habits Network, we've got people that are small business owners, but currently if I'm wrong, Robert, no one inside the Rich Habits Network is going to do due diligence for you, hold your hand, source a deal. That's not what we do. So do not join the network with that expectation. Now, if you can find a business professional who does the sourcing, they look at the buy box, they figure out the deal, they do the due diligence, they've got a whole thing for you here.

9:38Robert Croak:I would rather pace, it's kind of like having a realtor and like hiring a realtor to like go buy a home or sell your home. It's like having someone that's done this, that's high octane. This is not their first rodeo. They've got 30 under the belt just in the last six months, right they do this stuff all the time for a fee they can help you save tens of thousands hundreds of thousands of dollars of a mistake by going out and and making the wrong moves when purchasing a business so i would encourage you if you have a trusted professional that does this and you know someone that can help you figure this out i would encourage you to work with someone like that especially since it's your first time i don't really have a perspective to share on like the fees they might charge it might be a transaction fee actually like a percent of the total business purchased.

10:19Robert Croak:I think that's probably how they would price it. I'd be surprised if it was just like a flat fee. The only thing that I would really want to encourage you to do is as you think about what business you want to buy, ask yourself, what is my unfair advantage when I own this business? What does that mean? Do I have a unique experience, a unique perspective, something that gives me an unfair advantage by owning this business against my competitors? For example, maybe your dad grew up in a world where he had a mechanic shop and you spent all your weekends in that mechanic shop and under your dad, you hated it.

10:55Robert Croak:You didn't want to do it, but he taught you all these things about owning a mechanic shop. That's your unfair advantage, right? You're going into perhaps buying a mechanic shop with this advantage of all this experience that maybe your father might've taught you, right? This is just an anecdote example, but maybe you've got experience as it relates to something you did when you were in college, or maybe you, I have no idea what your unfair advantages. But figure out what your unfair advantage is when it comes to owning this business and try and buy a business around that advantage. Because I think a mistake people make is they say, hey, I see these TikTok videos about owning a laundromat.

11:30Robert Croak:I see these TikTok videos about owning a ATM route or a vending machine business or you know, whatever the other sexy ice creator business things where they at a beach, right? Like I see all these cool videos about the passive income and the business around that's so fun. I can go do that maybe but like what if you suck at it, you hate it and you have no interest in it. So like what is to Robert's point the buy box and as part of that buy box, what is your unfair advantage where you're going to just thrive when you own and buy this business. Again, I can't tell you what that is, but I'd really encourage you our anonymous listener to reflect upon your career, perhaps working in supply chain, that seems like an unfair advantage to me and perhaps own a business around some of the techniques or strategies or things that you learned throughout your career that are going to translate into more profits now to the business because of your unfair advantage.

12:22Austin Hankwitz:I love that takeaway. And it reminds me of a scene from Billions when Bobby Axelrod's wife, do you remember that scene where he's telling her, it goes, you have no market advantage. You have no expertise. You have no this, no that. And you expect just because of my name, you're going to get all this money and succeed. I love that. But also you brought up a really good point with supply chain right now, as more and more people are going it alone and building small businesses and brands. I think our anonymous listener could go out and do a supply chain consulting business based around technology and AI to help smaller businesses like under 5 million a year in sales really figure out their supply chain and how to do it the most profitably.

13:03Austin Hankwitz:So that's another just off the cuff idea using the unfair advantage and expertise that you spoke of.

13:09Robert Croak:Maybe, or they hate supply chain and that's why they're making this whole flip out of it and they don't want to do anything related to it. But there's some sort of advantage here that you have, our anonymous listener, and maybe it comes from your supply chain work. Maybe it comes from a previous job or previous experience. But the most important thing here is to make sure that you are not just a Joe Schmo acquiring a laundromat or a Joe Schmo acquiring a frozen yogurt, right? Like you are someone who has a plan and you're going into this very, very intentionally. So our next question comes from Daniel M.

13:45Robert Croak:Daniel says, hello, Austin and Robert. My name is Daniel. I've got 50 Solana in my Coinbase wallet, and I've got the opportunity to sell them right now and harvest some capital losses. I was thinking of selling them, waiting 31 days, then putting the money into a Questrade TFSA where I can invest into a Solana ETF. This way, any future growth will be tax-free and there doesn't seem to really be a downside. I've got the room available in my TFSA contribution and my total portfolio consists of this and about $31 ,000 in an RRSP carried over from an old job I used to have. I'm 44, I'm self-employed, and I'm just starting out my investment journey.

14:25Robert Croak:Thanks for the great podcast. Daniel, what a cool situation to be in. So you're over here saying, listen, I've got$5 ,000 of Solana. I want to go put it into the American equivalent Roth IRA because you're in Canada. So you want to sell your Solana for a capital loss, realize those losses, use those losses to perhaps offset capital gains elsewhere in your taxable portfolio, and then use the money, the $5 ,000, deposit it into this TFSA, invest it into a Solana ETF, and then just let it ride. You've got$31 ,000 invested already. In my humble opinion, I would rather see you build your base. We talk about building our base all the time here on the show, which just essentially means getting$100 ,000 invested across all your different accounts into the index funds and ETFs that go up into the right over a long period of time.

15:17Robert Croak:VOO, QQQ, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, right? Things like that. So while you could take this$5 ,000, put it into this retirement account and have 16 % of your portfolio all in Solana, which roughly aligns with the 5 % to 15 % range we give people, I'd rather you use that money to build your base first. But Robert, what's your perspective?

15:36Austin Hankwitz:Yeah, I agree totally. At the age right now, at 44, I would rather see the base built than just flipping around Solana into the TFSA. But if you're going to go ahead and do that, Daniel, and you don't want to listen, I would say I would rather see you flip the Solana into Bitcoin because I think longer term, you're going to see more stability and more upside for the long haul. but I agree with Austin 100%. I would take that money. I would get it into building your base because we want to get you above that$100 ,000 saved and invested for retirement and your future. So I agree 100 % with Austin.

16:15Austin Hankwitz:But if you're not going to listen, I'd rather see you do the Bitcoin.

16:18Robert Croak:So our next question comes from William N. William says, I started investing in Fidelity. Normally I would invest to an ETF like VOO, but I see that Fidelity has index funds that track the S &P 500 just like VOO does. And there's one index fund called FXAIX. So my question is, why would I invest into VOO when FXAIX has an expense ratio, half of the expense ratio of VOO? Thank you for the podcast and educating us in finance. Robert, this is such a good question because a lot of people, I'm sure are in a similar situation investing on Fidelity or Schwab or all the other difference. Maybe you can explain it to William here.

17:02Austin Hankwitz:Yeah, I think it's a great question because if you're looking at FXAIX, which is a mutual fund, low-cost mutual fund, versus VOO, which is an ETF, yes, it has a lower expense ratio. There's really no big advantage one to the other. FXAIX might be great if you want to just set it and forget it and leave it go, whereas VOO has more liquidity and is a little more for active people that are adding and subtracting and moving their money around. But I think either way works because you're still investing into the S &P 500. And we want to make sure everyone is capitalizing off of the growth of the top 500 companies in the United States.

17:42Austin Hankwitz:So that's how I would look at it. FXAIX, I think, is 0.15 basis points and VOO is 0.03 basis points, both very low, both very affordable and great products.

17:56Robert Croak:What a hundred percent. So FX AIX to your point, Robert is half the price, right? Quote unquote from the expense ratio as VOO. And if you are on Fidelity and you're using Fidelity, you can invest into FX AIX in your Roth, in your taxable, in your traditional, like you can take advantage of that. That's just like a perk they give you for being on their platform is investing in the S &P essentially at no cost. Now, what does it actually cost? Like, let's talk about the numbers here because that's really important. You mentioned the expense ratio for FXAIX is 0.015 % and VOO is 0.03%. So very, very small.

18:38Robert Croak:What does that actually mean in real numbers? If you have a million dollars cash and you invested a million dollars into VOO, your annual expense ratio to just track the S &P paid to Vanguard via VOO is 300 bucks a year. So essentially, if you're putting it now into FXAIX, that means your annual fee for a million dollars is 150 bucks. So we're talking about$150 difference between VOO and FXAIX for a million dollars invested. So if you have$100 ,000 invested, that's$30 versus$15. I don't know how much money you have, William, invested here, but that'll help put in perspective what you're actually paying on how much money.

19:20Robert Croak:But yeah, just go buy FXAAX. You're just rocking and rolling with the S &P. Build your base. We like to always encourage people to follow the core satellite portfolio strategy, which essentially means 65 % to 85 % of one's total investable assets are in these index funds and ETFs we love. This is the core section of that portfolio. You can think about it as like a core, right? The core of the earth. And then you've got the satellites that are kind of orbiting around the earth. That's the satellite part of the core satellite portfolio. That means anywhere between 15 and 35 % of a portfolio can be diversified into other asset classes, including blue chip single stocks, fine artwork, real estate, precious metals, cryptocurrency, pre IPO companies like that's that's where that kind of fits in, right?

20:06Robert Croak:But like, let's call it 80 % of someone's net worth is in the index funds and ETFs that go up into the right over a long period of time. The other 20 % or so is diversified into non-correlating assets that are hopefully going to outperform the S &P over a long period of time as well. So, William, great situation to be in here. And I hope the$150 to$300 difference there for the million dollar investment really puts in perspective how negligible it is in the grand scheme of things.

20:34Austin Hankwitz:And I think one more little thing I want to add is when you think about VOO and why we mentioned VOO all the time for the S &P 500 is because we are buying and investing through different platforms. And it's just kind of the generic version you can get anywhere. So I just really want to make sure it's clear of that. FXAIX is great. VOO is great. VOO you can just get through public or any of the other platforms we're talking about, whereas you might not be able to do that with FXAIX.

21:04Robert Croak:Yes, FX, AIX, to my understanding, is it's only offered on Fidelity. And we know that people here use Public, use Robinhood, use M1 Finance, use Schwab, like people are all over the place. And again, we don't care what platform you use. What we care about is that you go out and invest in the S &P 500. And the easiest way and the cheapest way to do that on any platform is VOO, which is why we encourage people to do that. So our next question comes from Jacob F. Jacob says, hi, Austin and Robert. I have a financial slash career question. My background is this. I'm 26. I make$51 ,000 a year. I don't exactly love my job.

21:40Robert Croak:Therefore, I've been interviewing for other opportunities. I have an offer for$63 ,000 for a job much more aligned with my interests. However, my current job paid a majority of my student loans. And if I leave before September, I would have to pay back$9 ,500 in student loans to my employer. I have$11 ,000 in my 401k,$19 ,000 in my Roth IRA, and$30 ,000 in my bridge account, and about$17 ,000 in a high yield savings. Do I bite the$9 ,500 bullet and take the new job? Or do I stick at my current job and wait until September and hope the market offers me another job then because this opportunity will not last forever.

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22:22Robert Croak:Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Robert, I'll let you kick this one off.

22:25Austin Hankwitz:This is a tricky one. And I feel like you and I are going to be on opposite sides of the fence. My first thought is, Jacob, stick it out to September. You seem like a smart guy. You're going to find another opportunity so you don't have to pay back the 9 ,500. But then the math of it is if you take the new job and all of a sudden you're making $12 ,000 more a year just in year one without any future bonuses or raises, it's going to pay off over the long term. But the number one thing I want to say here, because I've gone down this road with employees in the past, is think about it from this perspective.

22:59Austin Hankwitz:What if I leave now, get the new job because it has a brighter future with more earnings, and then I don't make it at the company and I lose the job in two, three, four months? Then you gave up$9 ,500 of money you've already received and you don't have the new higher paying job. So I just want to make sure you consider both sides of the math equation because long-term, absolutely. If you feel great about the new job, that's the move because within a year, you're going to make that money back at 9 ,500, but there is the risk that you go there. You don't like the environment, they fire you or whatever.

23:33Austin Hankwitz:So make sure you consider both, but either way, you're going to be fine because you're in a great financial situation.

23:39Robert Croak:Jacob, what a situation to be in. And I appreciate Robert laying that out. So we're talking about a$12 ,000 per year increase in compensation here from 51 to 63 pre-tax. That's 24%, 23 % of an increase, which is material when you're making$51 ,000. I mean, I remember making$62 ,000 out of college. You get an extra thousand a month, that is changing your life. It really is. And at 51, I mean, this is a life-changing, it's really going to impact you, especially at 26 years old. You've done a great job, by the way. I've got 70-something thousand dollars here, saved and invested at just 26, working at 51 ,000.

24:19Robert Croak:That's incredible. Good for you. Jacob, I would take the new job. I would use the$17 ,500 in my high-yield savings to pay back the$9 ,500 of student loans. And then over the next 12 to 18 months, after taxes and all the stuff that gets taken out, you will make back that$9 ,500 to replenish your emergency fund with. And now in perpetuity, assuming you get a two or 3 % raise here and there, maybe a little bit of a bonus, but you keep the job. Everything was great. You will make tens of thousands of dollars more. Like you will make so much more money by 30, by taking this new job, then by staying at your existing job until 30.

24:57Robert Croak:But, oh, I got to, you know, they paid off my student loans. Like there's so much more upside by taking this new job, in my opinion. The part that is tricky, I don't know what the new company is related to the old job. So think about it like this. I have someone close to me that works at a very established company that makes like 60 or 65 ,000 a year. They could go get a job making maybe 80 or 85 ,000 a year, but nine times out of 10, when they look for that job, it's a startup that's hiring for that. Or it's, you know, it's some sort of like, not that established company that's hiring for it, which means and they've had this happen to them in the past where they would go work at a startup making 80 90 100 120 ,000 a year.

25:41Robert Croak:But after 9 12 18 months, the startup fails, or they can't get funding, or the business doesn't grow how they thought and they get laid off, right. And so right now, they're in a situation where it's like, yeah, I make a little bit less, but it's super locked in. And I know this company is going to be here for a long time. That could be you right now at this$51 ,000, right? It's a little bit less, but maybe it's an established company and you see that they're going to be there for a while, especially now with all the layoffs that are happening with AI. That could be important to consider here.

26:09Robert Croak:Where now with this$63 ,000 offer that does align more with your interests, is it at a company that you believe is going to be around in five years or 10 years from now, right? Or is it a startup that just raised their Series A funding and they're trying to hire people so they could grow, but the real, like who knows? So that's another thing I would, I would really weigh. But if it's like apples to apples comparison between well-established company A and well-established company B and well-established company A is paying your student loans. If you leave, you got to pay back the 9 ,500 bucks to go make literally so much more money at well-established company B.

26:43Robert Croak:I would pay back the money you owe. You've got the cash. You don't have to go into debt for it. It's in your high yield savings account. I would then start this new job. I would live on the exact same budget I've been living on as if I was making 51. So this extra thousand dollars a month, now you're making pre-tax, let's call it 800 bucks a month post-tax, who knows? That all goes back into replenishing the high yield savings. And once it's back to that 17 ,000, you are going to be in a situation where you are saving and investing almost a thousand dollars a month more now at 26 or 27 years old, depending on, I guess, where you are and where your birthday lies on the calendar when you take this job, you're going to be in a great situation.

27:21Robert Croak:Super, super excited for you. I would take the new job. And then also, Robert, what else should Jacob think about as it relates to like moving jobs? You know, there's a lot that goes into that. It's not just your compensation, but also like 401k match is important. There's also benefits to consider. There's also the commute to consider, the work environment. There's a lot. So maybe, Robert, you should talk about that.

27:46Austin Hankwitz:Yeah, we talked about this earlier when we saw this question, and that is you have to consider everything when you're changing roles in changing companies, because the new company right now might have free parking. And you just pull up and you go into your office and you go to your job and it's great. But did you check the job offer company, the new company that's going to give you more? Do they have free parking? It may sound like nothing, but if you think about it, what if this new parking costs you$50 a week? You have to take that into consideration. Then you have to look at, like Austin alluded to, 401k.

28:18Austin Hankwitz:Does the current company give you a 4 % match and the next company does not? So make sure, just like when buying a home, you understand the total numbers of the decision. Think about gas prices. They're at all-time highs right now. What if your current job is a three-minute drive and the new job is an 18-minute drive with traffic? All of these things have to be in a consideration for your quality of life, but also other external spending that you have to do to get this additional$12 ,000 a year. So just make sure you consider everything about it to make sure it's the right decision.

28:54Robert Croak:And just to reiterate, Jacob, all of this falls apart if you inflate your lifestyle to match your new earnings. You eventually can do some of that, but only after you get the$17 ,000 back in your high yield savings and you are, you know, taking a couple hundred bucks more now a month and investing it. Like, you should inflate your lifestyle as you make more money. Like, I get that. That's cool. But you're not in a situation to do that right now, especially if you have to go pay back$9 ,500 and your emergency fund is depleted. So pay back your emergency fund, weigh all the options here. We've tried to help you think through all the different scenarios, and we're wishing you the best.

29:29Robert Croak:Congrats on the new job offer. That's actually really, really exciting, especially as we hear all the looming, scary headlines of jobs kind of going away because of AI. Now, before we jump to our next question, speaking of AI, did you know that public uses AI to create generated assets, which are essentially strategies that align with your specific investing theses and interests? You can say, I want to invest in companies that are building data centers in 2026, right? What's the infrastructure behind that? And it will find you all the companies of all the value stack of the components, the wiring, the networking, the switches, and it'll find all those companies for you.

30:07Robert Croak:And it'll put your money into data center companies, or maybe something to do with water. A lot going on right now in the Middle East. We've heard about some sanitation stuff, you know, with the Strait of Hormuz and things of that nature. perhaps you want to invest in sanitation companies in the Middle East. Anything, anything you think about, you can just type it in to generated assets on public.com. And you can say, I want to invest in ABC. It's going to use AI to find those things for you and then make it easy and automatic to invest consistently into those strategies. So go to public.com slash rich habits to earn an uncapped 1 % bonus.

30:39Robert Croak:When you transfer your portfolio to public, highly recommend doing it. Public is awesome. Easiest way to get invested. Go check out public.com slash rich habits.

30:47Austin Hankwitz:Yeah, we've been talking about public for years. We've worked with them for a very long time and they just create the best tools out there to help the everyday retail investor figure out what to do with their money and what to invest in. So make sure you check out public.com.

31:02Robert Croak:So David is our next email. David B. David says, hi, Austin and Robert. I'm a new listener after discovering Austin on the Money Guy show. Let's go, David. David, thanks so much. A little collab crossover there. If you've not yet watched my episode with Brian and Bo from The Money Guys, definitely go do that. I think it's on YouTube. Go check that one out. David says, I have thoroughly enjoyed the podcast thus far and the content that you guys provide. My question's related to a rollover. I'm 31 years old. My wife is 29. We live in California, have an estimated net worth of$950 ,000. Holy smokes.

31:35Robert Croak:Good for y 'all. That's a lot of money to have, that 31 and 29. That's incredible. David says, we have a combined salary of$300 ,000. I've worked in government for nine years and my wife works in sales. I plan to leave the public sector at the end of the year to pursue a career in finance. My retirement accounts have the following. $47 ,000 in an IRA,$82 ,000 in a Roth 401k,$91 ,000 in a Roth 457b, and$162 ,000 in a defined benefit plan, the CalPERS pension plan. My pension plan formula is a retirement formula at 2.7 % at 57 years old. I'll have almost 10 years of service when I leave my current job, so I will collect 27 % of my salary once I turn age 57.

32:20Robert Croak:Calculation on this comes out to$3 ,500 a month subject to inflation. My pension plan provides the option to roll over this$162 ,000 to an IRA. With my retirement being 25 years away, am I better rolling over the$162 ,000 into an IRA that I can control and invest in myself? Or should I just leave the money in the pension plan and collect the guaranteed benefits at 57 of 3 ,500 bucks per month? Thank you for your time. And I love the show. What a, first off, just cool situation to be in. 950 ,000 at 31 in 29. I mean, you, as the money guy show would say, you're definitely a financial mutant. Good for you.

33:00Robert Croak:That's a lot of money in your net worth. Awesome salary. You are crushing it right now. So the crux of the question, right? Hey guys, I've got$162 ,000 in this pension plan. I'm guaranteed to make$3 ,500 a month when I retire at$57 ,000. Do I leave it, let it grow however the pension plan might grow to get that$3 ,500 a month? Or do I roll it over into an IRA, an account that I have autonomy over, invest it how I want, and see what happens, see if that's a better outcome. So Robert and I, we actually sat on this one for a little bit and we really wanted to give you a good answer. So we did the math for you.

33:40Robert Croak:I'm sure you've done this math yourself, but we're kind of just, this is important math. And for people listening, like you got to think about the opportunity cost because that's what this is, Robert. It's an opportunity cost question. Do I keep in the pension plan? And if so, what's the opportunity cost of not rolling it over into that IRA? So if you roll over that$162 ,000 into an IRA and you have autonomy over it. And that$162 ,000 from age 31 to 57, because that's the apples to apples comparison here for that 26 years, if it grows at 7 % of a real annual return after inflation, which we think is super doable over the next 26 years, it'll be worth about$950 ,000.

34:20Robert Croak:An 8 % real return, which is also pretty doable with inflation and what the stock market is, right? 1.2 million. And at a 10 % real return, which is pretty aggressive, but still worth mentioning here, $1.9 million. So at a 7%, 8 % rate, we're talking about a million, a million one that's going to be in this IRA at age 57. Now you're saying, okay, cool. So I've got a million bucks, a million one like that. That's exciting at 57. But what does that mean for me? And how do I compare that to the pension? Because the pension pays monthly, the IRA is just a lump sum of money. Well, Robert, that's where the 4 % rule comes in.

34:59Robert Croak:We talk about the Trinity study all the time. This is a very important study that was done at Trinity University where they tried to figure out, assuming a 60-40 split between equities and fixed income, right? So stock market and bonds, how much money do I need to have invested to withdraw 4 % every single year and not run out of money for like 30 years? So the 4 % withdrawal rate is what you want to be thinking about here for that IRA. What does that translate into and how does that compare to the pension? Your pension is$3 ,500 a month at 57, which is about$42 ,000 a year, which means at a 4 % withdrawal rate, you need about a million dollars to withdraw the 42 ,000.

35:40Robert Croak:You see what I did there? 4 % of a million is that 42 ,000 or so. So if you annualize 7 % to 8 % returns between now and the next 26 years, which over a long period of time, I think you certainly will, you will break even against this pension. So anything above that is now gravy. Now, here's why I believe you should roll it over. There's I'm sure a lot of little specific nuances when it comes to pensions in California and like things that I don't know here. So I'm not going to pretend I do. But when somebody dies, and they have an IRA, their heirs, their beneficiaries get that money. They get the total value of that IRA.

36:19Robert Croak:And if your IRA at 57 is worth$1.1 million, and maybe you don't want to withdraw against it, you just want to let it grow, right? It's going to double and triple in value and quadruple in value over your life here. There could be a world where you tragically pass away in your late 50s, early 60s, much of the pension plan is lost, right? Where if it was in an IRA, all of it would go to your beneficiaries. So in my opinion, I think the best way to approach this is to have the autonomy, roll it over to an IRA, park it into index funds and ETFs, let it grow over time. Don't get fancy, right? Just let it grow low cost index funds and you will be 57 with a million or a million two, depending on what the market does.

37:00Robert Croak:You can do your 4 % rule if you want, or can continue to grow over time. And what's going to happen is when you pass away, you will have this account, this massive nest egg that will be then given to someone else in your family, your beneficiaries, if it's your wife, your children, whatever, where when it comes to a pension, I'm sure there's some percentage of it that would go to a wife, you know, a spouse or a child maybe. But I don't think, I truly could be wrong here, but I don't think it's the full 100%.

37:26Austin Hankwitz:That is an incredible breakdown. I'm just going to layer a little bit more on it. I love the fact that you called out the IRA goes directly to the spouse or to the family or whoever is assigned to be the heir if something were to happen, whereas that doesn't happen with the pension. I don't know what percentage of the pension value would go to them, but it's definitely not 100%. But also something else in the math that I really like that you broke down is you were calculating this based on 7 % or 8 % over this 26-year period, whereas traditionally the S &P 500 many, many times is going to be more like 9%, 10%, or 11 % year over year.

38:06Austin Hankwitz:So there is additional funds there. that would outweigh it being a break even between the pension and the Roth and going it alone. But then I think the most important thing for me here is we don't know the long-term funding concerns or issues that could happen with a CalPERS plan, with the government. Things change, they're insolvent, and all of a sudden that money starts to go away or you get way less. So I love it. I agree with Austin 100%. I'd squirrel the money away. I would do the IRA. You have total control and autonomy so you can build it out the way you want, have total control over it, and be able to know you get all of it in the end.

38:50Austin Hankwitz:God forbid if something were to happen.

38:52Robert Croak:Yes, I'm doing a bit of research live here on the pension survivor, what percentage. So there's, I guess, the option to take and offer 100 % of the pension to a spouse if you pass away, but your monthly payments that you're, that you are receiving the 3 ,500 is much less, where if you give them 50 % when you pass away, it's, it's more. So I don't know if you chose the 50 or the a hundred percent with this$3 ,500 example. So I guess you can run some numbers against that as well with the 4 % rule, but regardless, it's like, okay, it goes to your spouse. What about your children? What about your children's children, right?

39:32Robert Croak:Like we're talking about generational wealth here is what we're trying to build. And I think, again, even now knowing this information still, I would still lean toward, very much lean toward rolling that 100 in, I think it was$62 ,000. Yeah,$162 ,000 into an IRA, having it be with an advisor, like whatever is going to just earn 7, 8, 9, 10 % over a long period of time. You don't want to have these knee-jerk reactions, right? It's one thing to say, oh yeah, I got money and a pension, but like I can't touch it. It's another thing to say, I got$162 ,000 here. Technically, I can touch it. I just get, oh, I need to go buy a boat.

40:05Robert Croak:What do we do? Kitchen remodel, right? Whatever, right? Just make sure you don't fall for that. So our last question comes from Ian N on Instagram. Ian says, hi, Austin and Robert. My name's Ian. I'm 18 and I just discovered your show. I love it and I'm learning a ton. I'd recently got a student loan Discover credit card, trying to build some credit, as well as putting money into the stock market like the S &P 500, looking for some of those long-term investments. I'm also working two jobs this summer. I'm attending college in the fall at my state school and I'm majoring in business. However, I'm very worried about the rise of AI in the business field.

40:41Robert Croak:Although I haven't chosen a specific concentration right now, which is broad business, I'm open to anything in the business field. I wanted to get your opinion on AI and the impact on finance and business jobs in the workforce and how it could impact my future, as well as any tips for my major so I can continue to grow wealth through a young age. Robert and I put our heads together before this episode and we looked at, so the state school that I went to, which was the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, go Vols. We looked at their majors and all the different concentrations and stuff. And we came up with what we thought are top three majors that are like AI proof.

41:15Robert Croak:So we'll give you those here at the end. But before we do that, yes, business. Robert, Talk about how AI is just going to continue to disrupt finance, business, all that stuff.

41:27Austin Hankwitz:Yeah, I think it is the most important transition we're making in the next 10 years is right now. Because if people just lay in the weeds and don't get ahead of this and think about what should I be doing different to stay ahead of the curve in AI, it's going to be problematic. And in my opinion, I think finance, I think legal in a lot of these white collar jobs are going to get wrecked over the next two, three, four or five years because all the learning and all of the pass through of learning is going to be negligible and not really have value anymore. And it's going to be the people at the top.

42:06Austin Hankwitz:They're going to be able to maintain their jobs. But most of the people coming out of college in finance and legal and stuff like that, there just isn't going to be a place for them. And I think there's going to be less and less jobs for those people. So I think everyone listening to this podcast, especially if you're younger and you're getting a degree, you should really be looking at, is this degree going to have any value when it's finished in three, four, five years? And if the answer is doubtful or no, then I would pivot right away to a degree that we believe is going to still have tremendous value down the road because AI is here.

42:42Austin Hankwitz:Robotics are here. All of these things are happening. and you just need to get ahead of it. And I think finance is one degree that I would not get moving forward because you can go in and find all the information as if you're getting it from a top level, the best financial people on earth, right in Claude or ChatGPT or any of the AI platforms that are available now. So that's my biggest concern and what I would look at if I were someone like Ian here that's thinking about a finance degree.

43:12Robert Croak:Yeah, so finance, I would not get a finance degree. I agree with you, right? Because finance degrees, you can do essentially three things with. You could work as an investment banker, which I would argue a lot of those analyst and associate roles are now being maybe not augmented, but certainly enhanced with AI. I've seen a lot of Excel. I mean, that's all you're doing is putting data into an Excel spreadsheet and then creating a presentation on PowerPoint or whatever. And I think a lot of that's going to get automated and done with AI, at least enhanced, right? So investment banking, I feel like is something that AI is definitely going to disrupt, especially for those entry level roles.

43:46Robert Croak:Next thing you can do with a finance degree is be a wealth manager, be a financial advisor. I think a lot of the financial advisory roles will definitely be needed, but information is free. Information is abundant. And as you think about the next four, six, 10, 12 years of your life, which is like you're early in your career, you're rocking and rolling. Like I don't think being a wealth manager is going to be that big home run for you. I think a lot of people are going to be able to, if it's with AI and wealth management, robo advisors, like there's going to be a lot of like transformation there.

44:17Robert Croak:So again, wealth manager, I don't think there's really like a crazy cool career with that. I mean, yeah, sure. You can like go work at a Ameriprise or, you know, something like that inherent or buy a book of business, whatever. But I just, it's not that AI proof, if that makes sense. And then the other one is like FP &A, financial planning and analysis you can do, which is what I did out of college. And I would argue that job is going to just be super disrupted. If I was looking for the job that I was hired to do out of college right now, I doubt that anyone would be hiring for it because so much of it could be disrupted by AI.

44:50Robert Croak:So those are like the three main paths for a finance business, right? Major. And I think all of them are super, super disruptible with AI. We just saw Anthropics CEO, actually, this was several months ago, but Anthropics Claude, right? CEO Dario said 50 % of entry-level white-collar jobs within the next one to five years will be completely displaced. Think about that. 50 % between now and 2030, let's call it, they just won't exist because companies will be able to be so much more efficient without human labor and using these AI tools and platforms and things to augment a lot of this white collar work.

45:31Robert Croak:We're seeing that with OpenClaw. We're seeing that with Perplexity Computer. We're seeing that with all the cool things that are going on right now. and it's just 2026, you're 18. You haven't even gone through college yet, right? You got four more years. So Robert and I put our heads together and we thought, okay, what majors, if I was, I literally asked Robert, I said, Robert, if you were going to college, what majors would you be studying right now to be AI proof, right? What would be those specific majors or concentrations that you think are gonna be there in four years, 10 years, 15 years down the road?

46:02Robert Croak:Because who knows what's gonna happen after that. But Robert, I'll let you go with your three and then explain why, and I'll share my three as well, and we'll go from there.

46:09Austin Hankwitz:I just want to say before I answer, this episode is giving me chills because it is so in-depth and so awesome, and these are all questions from our audience, so we just love this. I really do love it. It's very emotional for me because it's so important for people to figure this out. So my three that I told Austin would be nuclear engineering, something because I want to specialize in where I believe energy is going with nuclear and fission and all of that stuff. So nuclear engineering. I think cybersecurity is still going to be really good things that you can be in that field because we're going to need more and more of it.

46:46Austin Hankwitz:And then last for me would be biomedical engineering, like right in the healthcare technology sector, because as we get more and more efficient and medicines become better and better and equipment becomes better, people are going to live longer and we're going to need more and more talent in that field because of how much longer I believe people are going to live in the future.

47:08Robert Croak:There we go. I think all three of those are great. My three AI proof jobs. The first one's nursing. I do not think that humanoid robots, I just don't think we're going to see those in hospitals in the next 10 to 15 years, maybe 20 years from now. Who knows? I genuinely cannot predict that far into the future with how fast things have changed. But I think nurses are definitely going to be needed for the next decade or two. So I think nursing is pretty locked down. Electrical engineering, this kind of complements the nuclear engineering, the data centers, the infrastructure. You know, we've got such an old and dilapidated grid.

47:42Robert Croak:You've heard about the grid here in the United States. I think if we're going to have to upgrade the grid, a lot of electrical engineering is going to take place there. So electrical engineering would be something to study. And then the last one, I'm thinking AI proof, pre-dentistry, go become a dentist, a DDS, right? I don't know about you, but I'd be very surprised if in the next 10 to 20 years, we're going to have humanoid dentists that are poking around in my teeth. Like, I just don't think that's going to be a thing. I truly think that being a dentist, you're pretty good for the next decade or two, just like you are for nursing.

48:12Robert Croak:It's interesting, right? Healthcare. Think about that healthcare side of it and how important it is to humans and just how hard it will be for AI. You know, we think about embodied AI, right? Because right now, if you think about what's going on with Dario's statement of 50 % of all entry level jobs, that's very much a white collar. If you're doing it on the computer, it can get displaced because anything humans are doing on computers right now, open claw just proved this, perplexity just proved this, AI can do it too. Full stop. I don't care what you do on a computer, AI can do your job if you do it on a computer.

48:43Robert Croak:But that's not yet happened with embodied AI. It's getting cute and sexy with the Waymo and the self-driving and like the figure and the Aptronic and the unitry. Like it's cool. It's fun. It's like, I think we're a decade away from having a humanoid robot take care of me bedside if I go to the hospital or, or a humanoid robot poking his fingers in my mouth as a dentist, right? I think we're at least a decade away from that. I could be wrong, but if I was going into college right now and I had to pick a major, those are my three nursing, electrical engineering, because the grid needs upgrading, and dentistry.

49:15Austin Hankwitz:And the only pro tip I would add to this that we didn't really talk about would be maybe there's a world where it makes sense to get ahead of real world assets and tokenization and you could go get like an MBA or degree in cryptology and blockchain. So you understand and you could be one of these advisors for companies that are integrating blockchain and crypto into their ecosystem and into their financial guardrails within their company, if you will. So that's another one as a pro tip that I would throw in.

49:44Robert Croak:Everybody, thank you so much for joining us on this week's episode of the Rich Habits podcast question and answer edition. Do not forget seven day free trial at the Rich Habits Network, seven day free trial for wallstreetfavorites.com. Go see what Wall Street thinks about the stocks in your own portfolio, what hedge funds are buying and selling them, what analysts are upgrading and downgrading them, giving them specific price targets, all that stuff. Wallstreetfavorites.com. A ton of the website's completely free, but if you upgrade to premium, seven-day free trial, no charges to your account for seven days.

50:14Robert Croak:I mean, literally, it's the most no-brainer thing ever. You should go check out Wall Street Favorites. It's awesome. We built it for you guys, and we're super, super grateful.

50:22Austin Hankwitz:I think Wall Street Favorites is the best aggregator cheat code for people to figure out what they should be investing in, what their portfolio looks like. Is it the right balance of what they should own? I really love it. and I think everyone should check it out. And there is that seven day free trial. Thank you guys all for stopping by each and every week. We love all of you. We appreciate the support and we're going to keep bringing you value like this every single week for many, many years to come.

50:51Robert Croak:With that being said, we'll see you guys tomorrow for our Friday episode of the Rich Habits Radar.

51:18We'll see you next time.

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In this week's episode of the Rich Habits Podcast, Robert Croak and Austin Hankwitz answer your questions!

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๐Ÿš€ Join 900+ other podcast listeners inside of the Rich Habits Network and invest alongside Robert and Austin, โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ click here!โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ 

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โšก๏ธ Sign up for the Rich Habits Newsletter and never miss a market-moving headline again, โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ click here!โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ 

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โญ Earn 3.8% on your savings with a High-Yield Cash Account โ€“โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ  โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ click hereโ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ 

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๐Ÿ‘ค Explore everything Austin does โ€“โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ  โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ click here โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ 

๐Ÿ‘ค Explore everything Robert does โ€“โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ  โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ click hereโ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ 

โ“ Ask us questions for our Q&A episodes โ€“ @richhabitspodcast on Instagram

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Disclosure: Paid endorsement. Brokerage services provided by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Investing involves risk. Not investment advice. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at โ โ โ โ โ โ โ public.com/disclosures/gaโ โ โ โ โ โ โ . Past performance does not guarantee future results, and investment values may rise or fall. See terms of match program at โ โ โ โ โ โ โ https://public.com/disclosures/matchprogramโ โ โ โ โ โ โ . Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

*Rate as of 11/6/25. APY is variable and subject to change.

See terms and conditions of Publicโ€™s โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ ACATS & IRAโ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ  Match Program. Matched funds must remain in the account for at least 5 years to avoid an early removal fee. Match rate and other terms of the Match Program are subject to change at any time.

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