Q&A: Investing in Copper, Approaching a Down Payment, & Finances After Divorce

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0:33Robert Croak: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. 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, which are entirely focused on question and answer.

1:11Robert Croak:You guys ask us questions and we answer them. We answer them as if we were in your shoes going through whatever you are going through. You can ask us questions on Instagram at richhabitspodcast or via email at richhabitspodcast at gmail.com. Robert, it is currently Monday, January 26th. The first month of the year is almost behind us. This episode is going to come out and everyone's going to be just that much closer to February. Man, I'm excited. I feel like this was a good month. Good month in the markets. We shared our 2026 market predictions episode a couple of weeks ago. Copper is already up like 15 % since we called that one out, which is cool.

1:48Robert Croak:The Russell 2000 doing its thing. It's been a good so far?

1:51Austin Hankwitz:Yeah, I really enjoy kind of the first month out of the year because we get to lay the groundwork not only for our own portfolios, but for everyone out there that follows along. And, you know, we scored really high in our predictions in 2025, and I believe we're going to be spot on in 2026. So I'm really, really excited. And of course, I always love the Q &A episodes.

2:13Robert Croak:Absolutely. Well, before we jump to our first question, though, we got to give a shout out to public.com, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On public, you can 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.

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3:21Austin Hankwitz:Paid for by public investing. Full disclosure in the podcast description.

3:26Robert Croak:All right, Robert. Our first question comes from an anonymous listener living in New York City. So this anonymous listener says, hi, I have a question regarding 401k rollovers and I'd like to remain anonymous. First off, I want to say thank you for the show. I've been listening since day one, every episode without fail, and it's been one of the few finance podcasts that's actually helped me think clearly and long term about my money. I'm riding in with a question because I don't think you all have addressed this directly on your Thursday episodes, specifically around 401k rollovers and how to think about them strategically.

3:59Robert Croak:So here's a quick landscape on me. I'm 30. I work as a commercial litigator in New York City. My base salary is$21 ,000 a year, not including my year-end bonus, which is$40 ,000 to$50 ,000. I've got$140 ,000 in my 401k,$30 ,000 in a brokerage slash bridge account,$20 ,000 in an emergency fund, and$170 ,000 in equity across two real estate rental properties. I've also got about$15 ,000 of Bitcoin. I recently left my old firm for a new one, which has me thinking about whether I should roll over my old 401k. The fund lineup at my previous firm performed extremely well, and I've been hesitant to move it without fully understanding the trade-offs.

4:41Robert Croak:I know rollovers are common, but I don't hear a lot of nuanced discussion around it. If it actually makes sense to roll over that old 401k to a new provider, when it may be better to just leave it alone with an old provider, or how to think about fund performance, fees, consolidation, and flexibility in that decision. How should someone in my position think about rolling over an old 401k versus keeping it where it is? Are there situations where staying put is actually the smarter move even after changing jobs? What a good question by our anonymous listener here. Again, thank you so much for being a day one.

5:15Robert Croak:We've got a lot of these day one listeners, Robert. It's insane to think about almost 100 ,000 people have the Rich Habits podcast at the top of their podcast rotation on Spotify. It is. It's unreal. So let's jump to this answer. My perspective on your situation to our anonymous 30-year-old listener out of New York City is I would roll the$140 ,000 401k not to your new firm, but to a traditional IRA. Assuming it's a pre-tax 401k, right, it's not a Roth 401k, just a normal 401k, you can, without any tax consequences, open up a traditional IRA on public.com, roll over that$140 ,000 to it, earn that uncapped 1 % match on that rollover, and then invest the money any which way you want.

6:01Robert Croak:So when we're talking about retirement accounts, we specifically want to make sure we're invested into index funds and ETFs. We're not doing this risky swing trades or options or things like that. So I'm talking VOO, QQQ, VGT, Moat, M-O-A-T, S-C-H-D perhaps. Maybe you want a little bit of AIQ or some international with VXUS. There's a ton of different ways to structure this that meets your risk tolerance. But at the end of the day, having the autonomy to choose because it's in your traditional IRA into what you want to be investing into is the name of the game.

6:36Austin Hankwitz:I think you nailed it. You took the words right out of my mouth. That is exactly how I would do it. And I can't think of anything I would add to this because I think that is the best move in this situation.

6:48Robert Croak:All right, Robert, this next one is right up your alley. It's coming from our friend John D via email. John says, hi, Austin and Robert. I have a new idea for a kitchen appliance. What comes next in terms of one, manufacturing, two, protecting the idea, and three, other important steps I should consider when bringing it to market? Thanks. Robert, give us the one, two, three.

7:11Austin Hankwitz:Yeah, I love this question, John. And I would just say, let's start out first, not with manufacturing, but let's start out with protecting the idea first. So what you want to do is make sure you do a lot of research, make sure you keep notes. I would make a folder on your laptop, however you do things. It could be paper, print everything out so you have a track record of all that you're doing along the way in the project. And I would get all of that protection figured out. Whether it's trademarking the name, once you figure out the name, you want to make sure you get your social media handles.

7:42Austin Hankwitz:You might want to start thinking about what kind of patent do you need? Is it a design patent or is it a manufacturing patent that's going to be utility? You've got to figure all these things out first because once you have the idea and the concept figured out and you can protect it, then you can go to manufacturing second. How do you do that? Well, you're going to make sure you have a manufacturer's agreement. You could have a chat GPT help you with this or get a lawyer involved that does this kind of contract work. get a manufacturer's agreement in place, and do not share the idea or any drawings with any factory, I don't care how nice they seem, without having something in place where they signed, just like an NDA, before you share the concept or any drawings.

8:26Austin Hankwitz:That's number two. So let's assume you get through the protecting the idea. You're up and running. You go to manufacturing. They like it. You've got an idea. You've got a budget. And you know now what to do. One thing I will tell you, and most people make this mistake when they're doing a product and they're manufacturing something new, they buy too many. Don't do that. You want to get a small order. It might even be a sample order. I don't know what the product is, so it's hard for me to tell. And you want to get to market as inexpensively as you can so you can check product market fit. Very, very important.

8:59Austin Hankwitz:I don't want you to spend a million dollars, raise capital from everyone, and find out nobody wants your product. That's that. So then third, the third part of your question is what to do to bring it to market. I would start out small. Don't try to go to every retailer. Don't go spend all of your money going to shows and product shows and all that. It's very expensive. It will exhaust your capital. I would start small, get it out there. If you can market with some digital ads, go to some local shows maybe, or some local retailers. if it's a type that's going to be a retail type product, which I assume it is since it's an appliance, and go that route first so you can get your feet wet, get some sales moving, and get up and running.

9:40Austin Hankwitz:Then you can go more for mass market and start going on TikTok shop if it's a good fit or going to the major retailers. But just start small, protect yourself, and that should be all you need to get this thing moving.

9:52Robert Croak:I think it's a great place to start for sure. The only advice I would share is to find other people that are doing this right now themselves and documenting the process. A good example of this is Charlotte Tricartan, who is the CEO of Char Charms and Wall Candy. These are two products that she came up with literally just off the dome. She made some schematics, some blueprints, some whatever the name of it is, you know, drawings and things, found a manufacturer in China to bring these ideas to life. And she is now selling these products in the tune of tens of millions of dollars, which is crazy to think about.

10:32Robert Croak:She was just on Shark Tank, if that shows you anything, in Target and I'm sure Walmart and like other like really Dick's Sporting Goods, Academy Sports, like tons of really cool things there. So I also know that she has a email newsletter where she like weekly updates on like starting a new brand from scratch. I think Wall Candy was like a new one that came out like six months ago. She decided to start and she's just documenting the journey there. Really interesting stuff. So like find people like her, if it's on X, if it's on TikTok, if it's on Instagram, spend like 30, 45 minutes and maybe an hour just typing in, you know, different hashtags or different searches or, you know, different things like this.

11:07Robert Croak:Maybe find and see the types of people that comment on her stuff. Maybe they're building their own thing, right? Like use some time intentionally here to find other people and learn from people who are doing it in real time. It's one thing to listen to a podcast and have like a one, two, three example and advice on like how to think about it. But maybe, you know, someone did something that had to, we just had a government shutdown. That was pretty timely, right? This was in heck by the time this episode comes out, maybe we have another one because I know that's around the corner. But maybe that, you know, they had to navigate that or some stuff with tariffs or maybe there was something to do with, you know, the shortages that we're seeing with some of these rare earth metals and manufacturing.

11:44Robert Croak:You mentioned a kitchen appliance. Maybe it's got copper in it, right? Like being able to learn from people who are doing stuff in real time and documenting the journey is like really invaluable, which in that instance, John, I would also encourage you to do the same. If you don't already have an account on Instagram or X or whatever, like, you know, be obscure so you don't really have to tell everyone exactly what you're doing if you want to protect your idea. but I'm the biggest believer in just like document the process, document the journey, because you have no idea on that 19th video, who's going to watch it and be like, whoa, I want to invest in that.

12:18Robert Croak:And then they are putting you on QVC or something, or maybe they want to launch you on their TikTok shop or whatever's going on, right? There's a lot of cool things that can happen from just documenting the journey.

12:27Austin Hankwitz:I want to click back on that. And that is such a good reminder. I had a friend back in the day and I'm not going to name his name or the product, but he had an idea for a product. I told him how to get started. So he went to a local welding shop and had five samples made. They were pretty crude. They were good enough. They worked and served the function. He went to his first ever show, no social media, no marketing. He had an eight foot table, a banner and five samples. He wasn't in any retail. There was no a TikTok shop. This was long before that. He sold the idea sight unseen for$16 million without ever putting any money into production or ads or any of that stuff.

13:09Austin Hankwitz:So just always remember, document the journey like Austin said, and go and start small and get out there because no idea is too crazy. Thank you for reminding me of that story because I was blown away. He called me after the show. He's like, dude, I sold it. I sold him. I'm like, what do you mean you sold? He goes, some huge company just bought me out and gave me royalties. I'm like, no way. And it was just crazy. So just that's why I love this business of developing products. Char Charms is a great example of that. She is crushing it. So just always remember, no idea is too crazy.

13:40Robert Croak:No idea is too crazy. And no piece of content is too crazy either. Right. I think a lot of people, it doesn't matter if they're like building a business, a service-based business or a passion or a side hustle, whatever, like people are just scared to post about it on the internet. I promise you the only people that are gonna judge you for posting on the internet are these random people you haven't talked to since high school or those losers from your hometown that have always been jealous of you. Like just go post stuff on the internet, talk about things you're passionate about, your side hustle, your small business, your new kitchen appliance, John, and like document the journey because you literally, quite literally have nothing to lose.

14:18Robert Croak:It's only upside by posting stuff like this on the internet. So our next question comes from Jeremy J. Jeremy says, Hi Austin and Robert. My name is Jeremy and I've been listening to your podcast for over a year. You guys are absolute rock stars and you've changed how I invest for the better. I'm forever grateful. Jeremy, we are grateful that you listened to the show. Thank you, my friend. Jeremy says, My wife and I are both 37, living in the Washington DC area with two young kids. We are separated, so I've not included her finances here. I have a base built, but I'll need a place to live soon.

14:47Robert Croak:And I'm wondering what to do with what I have left over after a pending divorce. My monthly income after taxes, insurance, and retirement is$6 ,500. I have$5 ,000 in a checking account,$10 ,000 in a high yield savings for emergencies. I have$160 ,000 in a Roth TSP, $56 ,000 in a Roth IRA,$3 ,000 in Bitcoin, and two mutual fund accounts or just taxable brokerage accounts with a combined worth of$125 ,000. I max out my retirement contributions every year. The divorce requires selling our house and the portion of equity I will receive from the sale is estimated to be$55 ,000. I won't be able to buy another house, so I plan on renting, which will cost me$2 ,500 a month.

15:29Robert Croak:Add that to a$3 ,000 a month in childcare and other reasonable expenses, and I'll have about$1 ,000 a month left over to save and invest. My question is, what should I do with my equity and leftover monthly income if I want to save for$120 ,000 down payment on another house in the next three to five years? Should I use any of my mutual funds to buy a house? Thank you for everything you do, Jeremy. Robert, I'll let you kick this one off.

15:53Austin Hankwitz:Yeah, sorry to hear about that, Jeremy. I too went through a divorce a few years back and it is not pleasurable, especially for the heart and then the wallet when there's real estate and everything else involved. But I think you're looking at it the right way. You've got to deal with it. You've got to move on. You get this equity. You get this money. I like the idea of you renting for now, for the next, let's call it one, two, three years, you know, because that way you can set yourself back up, have a little bit of breathing room and put this money aside, keep it invested and earmarked for that new house, but not rushing into the new house, I think is critical here because at the end of the day, you want to make sure that you can get a house that's within your budget because, you know, being single and moving forward, single family household, you don't want to go in over your head or buy right away where maybe you're a little bit hurt or frustrated because I don't know what your current house is like, but just being careful and looking forward to it tactically, I think is a smart move and everything you spelled out makes sense to me.

16:53Robert Croak:All right, Jeremy, I'm going to go a little bit deeper. I think that you are in a really cool situation in the sense that you mentioned you're maxing out your retirement contributions every year, which tells me you are maxing out your Roth TSP at$24 ,500 in 2026 and your Roth IRA at$7 ,500 in 2026, which means$32 ,000 a year is coming out of your paycheck after taxes that is being invested. I love the situation because we have some flexibility. You mentioned that you want to have$120 ,000 of a down payment saved in the next three to five years. So let's say, for example, we keep maxing out the Roth IRA at$7 ,500 every single year, and we are now pulling back on those Roth TSP contributions only up to the match during this season of your life while you're trying to build up for this down payment.

17:50Robert Croak:If I'm doing my math right, your salary is around$120 ,000 to$140 ,000 pre-tax, I think. Maybe. I hope I'm doing this math right. So let's just assume it's$130 ,000. If you are contributing, let's say, up to your 3 % match, right? So let's say you bring down this$24 ,500 contribution per year, all the way down, let's just call it to$4 ,000 a year, right? So call it, you know, three-ish, four-ish percent of your salary. Now you are going to get the match, which is great. That's free money. We talk about that all the time. But now you've unlocked this other$20 ,000 a year that you are now able to go help aid in this down payment.

18:29Robert Croak:So now we've got 20 ,000 on top of the 12 ,000 that we were just doing because you've got about$1 ,000 a month now that you can play with. Just that alone in five years is gonna be 160 ,000, right? $32 ,000 a year times four years is 128. So you can absolutely just do this little tweak and find yourself 120 to$140 ,000 richer in the next four or five years, which is right in that three to five year time range you gave yourself. So to answer your question of do I use any of my mutual fund money to buy a house, you don't have to. I probably don't even think I would. I would rather keep that money invested.

19:06Robert Croak:Assuming that you mentioned mutual funds, I'm not too positive if you're in good mutual funds or just benchmark them on the S &P and the NASDAQ's performance over the last, let's call it three to five years. And then you can see if you're in good ones or bad ones. If you're in bad ones, just sell the mutual funds because they're probably high fees anyway. Put them in the S &P, put them in the NASDAQ, put them in the Dow Jones, things we talk about, let it trend up into the right. But just by making these two tweaks of pulling back on that Roth TSP and then also keeping that thousand a month, you are going to be at that 120 to 150K range faster than you think.

19:38Austin Hankwitz:And the only thing I want to click back and add to that, and that is a really good breakdown, is make sure you sell the home before the divorce is finalized. Because if you do that, you can still utilize the tax benefits of your capital gains exclusions. So keep that in mind. as well. I would not get divorced, sign the dotted line, then sell the house. So hopefully you have good lawyers that are guiding you because if you sell prior to the divorce being finalized, you get all those tax gains as well. And that's something very important in figuring this all out.

20:08Robert Croak:That was a great call out, Robert. I had no idea about that. So that's good to say. Robert, before we answer our next question, generated assets, you heard of it before? It's a really cool thing going on right now at public.com. Generated assets does a really good job of allowing you to choose your own strategy. You know, Robert, we've actually created our own generated asset strategies that we've published inside the Rich Habits Network. And some of these have really outperformed the S &P 500, historically speaking. A couple call outs of ones that we've built, and this is just free sauce we're giving you here, was to invest in companies that have reduced their long-term debt by at least 25 % in the last 24 months without issuing new shares.

20:49Robert Croak:That strategy has outperformed the S &P 500 by about double in the last 10 years. Another one, companies that have reduced their outstanding share count by at least 5 % annualized for the last five years in a row, that has outperformed the S &P by over double. Let's find another one here just for fun. How about this one? Companies with a cash return on invested capital, CROIC, of over 20 % for five consecutive years. Right. Literally, like you just come up with stuff that you think is going to be cool. They make it. They help you invest in it. It is. It's awesome. So one, check out Generated Assets on Public.