Rich Habits at the New York Stock Exchange

0:00Vrbo helps you swap gift wrap time for quality time. Go to Vrbo now and book a last-minute week-long stay. And save over$390 this holiday season. Book your next vacation rental home on Vrbo. Average savings$396. Select homes only. All right, everyone. So this Friday episode is a little bit different. Instead of your normal rich habits radar, Robert and I are enjoying our holiday season. And it's going to be kind of hard to keep up with all the headlines here. So instead of a normal Friday episode where we're talking about the biggest headlines impacting you and your money, we are actually going to share with you an episode of a podcast that robert and i were guests on the etf central podcast we filmed this actually inside the new york stock exchange alongside the director of exchange traded products below little there's an awesome conversation talking about our show the tools and resources we use to have built it over the many years that we've been doing this and all the other fun things we're working on behind the scenes as it relates to the rich habits podcast we think you guys are going to get a lot of value from this conversation so we appreciate your flexibility on kind of tossing in these one-off episodes when we don't have the time to film a Rich Habits Radar episode.

1:08Yeah, what a great episode with ETF Central and Bilal inviting us to the New York Stock Exchange to film. And it was great because we're announcing our new partnership with ETF Central. You guys definitely go check it out at ETFcentral.com. They have so many incredible tools and guidance as it relates to ETFs, what's out there, what's hot, and what really works. And we're so thankful for this partnership and look forward to many more episodes with them in the future. That's right. Go check out ETFcentral.com. They do a wonderful job of providing analytics, inflows, outflows, holdings, volatility, everything as it relates to ETFs that might already be inside of your own portfolio right now.

1:48And you can discover new ETFs over on their platform as well. We're super excited about this partnership. It's really cool to see our podcast on their website right next to the New York Stock Exchange's logo. So that's really exciting. All right, Robert, let's wrap it up and push them over to that episode. So be sure to stick around here. We're going to jump right in. Welcome to ETF Central, recorded here at the New York Stock Exchange, the home of ETFs. We're diving deep with the people shaping the space, the technologies driving innovation, and the stories behind the tickers. Whether you're an investor, issuer, or industry insider, welcome home.

2:31Welcome to another edition of ETF Central, the podcast where we break down the trends that are reshaping the entire future of the financial landscape. Today's episode, I'm really excited because we're bridging two powerful worlds, ETFs and personal finance. Look, today I'm joined by Austin and Robert, the two voices behind Rich Habits Podcast, a show that's dedicated to helping people build wealth through discipline, mindset, and smart strategies. This episode is going to be really powerful because we're going to talk about the tools that are reshaping the ETF landscape, and more importantly, how you can leverage some of these tools to actually help your personal financial journey.

3:09How are you guys doing? Welcome to the show. Thanks so much for having us. Excited to be here. Come on, tell the truth. For sure. Can't wait. You're one of our favorite guests and our people in Wall Street. So we love it. Every time we have Bilal on the Rich Habits podcast, it's always special guest, Bilal. Hey, I like that. You know, look, I'm a man of the people, so I keep it simple and straightforward. Right. So I want to jump right in, guys. Like you guys are important to me. I'm so excited to have you. But this question is specifically about how you guys have built a very significant following.

3:38Right. So everyone wants eyeballs today. Everyone wants audiences. You guys have built 3 million plus following the action and insight of the Rich Habits podcast. How'd you do it? And what was the significant aha moment that you said you needed to lean into this opportunity? So the Rich Habits podcast, for those of you who have no idea what we're talking about here, it's a three times a week podcast on financial literacy, primarily on Spotify, right? Monday, Thursday, Friday episodes. We started the podcast back in February of 2023. It was just Monday episodes. And as all podcasts go, no one listens to the first 30 episodes, right?

4:15So we're talking to ourselves. themselves. But the real growth, I would say, for the show specifically started to come when Robert and I got a little bit more growth hacky as it relates to trying to get the word out. So instead of, you know, you see clips all the time, and everyone's trying to find a clip and have it go viral on an Instagram or a TikTok. Instead, you know, Robert has over a million followers on TikTok. I've got about seven or 800 ,000. And so every, I think it was Thursday night, we were doing them live streams for like two hours. And what's cool about TikTok live stream is you get discoverability.

4:46So you don't have to be following anybody on TikTok and you just kind of scroll your for you page and people that are live will pop up on your feed. Right. And so I would say a lot of our success in the beginning of discoverability was like leaning into the we kind of got a little bit of an authority. We're both got the little blue check marks right on this platform. Let's lean into that a little bit. Let's make sure people know that we're talking about everything in this live stream, but we have a podcast. Right. So it's like if you enjoyed this conversation for the last two hours, you're going to love our podcast.

5:13Right. Absolutely. Easy sell. Remind them every 5, 10, 15 minutes. But I'd say 2023 specifically, so kind of how the timeline of the show came about was in 23, started the show rocking and rolling, Monday episodes, had a blast. Then we started getting feedback like, hey guys, I got a question about the strategy or here's my specific situation. What do you think about it? And so we introduced our Thursday episodes, which were these Q &A. And so every Q &A episode lasts, let's call it between 30 and 45 minutes. We take questions from our audience via Instagram DMs or email as well. And it's just an episode dedicated to them.

5:47So balancing the let's all learn together with these Monday episodes with, hey, we're learning together. This has been fun, but we know you guys got questions. We know you guys are kind of walking through your own personal finances, personal, which something like to say a lot. And so we got to not only get the discoverability aspect with those Monday episodes, but also kind of cater to and nurture that audience and that community with those Thursday episodes. And now we just rolled out August, at the beginning of August of this year here, the Friday episodes are Rich Habits Radar, which you were on as well, which is really exciting.

6:19And these Rich Habits Radar episodes are, we like to say, the biggest headlines and happenings impacting you and your money. So we're having a blast with the show, but I'd say the real growth came after the first like 30 episodes. So staying consistent with it's really important because you become inside of people's daily and weekly habits. Every time you go to the gym, oh, I'm turning to the rich habits. Coming back from my commute from work on Thursdays, rich habits. Whatever I'm cooking on a Tuesday night, rich habits. And so being able to get in that consistency, get in that flow, have them come back, but then also lean into our existing audiences and use that for growth, I think is what really allowed the show to have a meteoric rise from brand new show in 2023, February 23.

7:01to number one on Spotify's business chart, right? You can think about all the podcasts are over there. By October of 2023. You know, what I think you did for people is you built trust fairly quickly. And that's the biggest issue for most people who are trying to build audiences, right? This authenticity is what people connect to you guys on. I know that's what I connected with you on. So with that being the premise of you guys providing financial education and real insight, like maybe unpack like what the views are, like because you're formulating an opinion, right? about markets and people are looking to you for thought leadership.

7:34And I think this is so important right now, given where we are, where at the end of the year, the stocks have done obviously very well. But at the same time, people are still concerned, right? I mean, you look at what's going on from a political perspective. How do you sort of set your strategic vision to say, hey, here's what's going on in the markets where that trust continues to expand? I would say probably the number one thing we do within our ecosystem, and he says it all the time and I love it, is he says, if you're surprised by anything in the markets, we're not doing a good enough job.

8:06And I think the big takeaway for us is consistency, but it is also taking the really hard, scary topics and breaking them down. So the everyday person that maybe is just getting started investing, maybe just got their first million dollars or somewhere along the way is learning because even people with $50 million net worth, they have blind spots as well. So I think for us, it's consistency and breaking it all down to prepare people better for what's happening. Because, you know, we have decades of experience in reading between the lines, the tea leaves, and not reacting to all these headlines.

8:41Because we are faced in a financial world right now where everything has become clickbait manipulation. So our job is to break that down for everyone and just tell them to ooza a little bit, relax, and we'll walk them through what is really going on in the markets so they don't fall victim to those headlines. Do you guys typically funnel it down to maybe five core topics? Like how do you guys sort of frame out what should be the topic of the day? Yeah, it's a really good question. I think to answer your first question, you don't have to be an expert in the markets to be an investor. I think we kind of know that.

9:18There are experts that are incredible investors, but 95 % of people aren't experts. They just are, you know, buy VOO and chill or whatever it might be for your strategy. But I think when it comes to like tactically speaking, helping people understand how to build wealth over a long period of time, it's like a couple of core principles, right? So like when in doubt, zoom out, have that long-term mentality. Own what you know. so don't go buy some penny stock because your barber told you it was a cool idea or some cryptocurrency because you're you know the person at the grocery store right so like amazon and google and things are you a customer of the company awesome maybe you should consider owning the stock and then also having this mentality that if i can live on less than i make and i invest the margin building wealth is inevitable right absolutely and if you one are doing that so we talk about it you know call it the honest budget so having a clear understanding of what you are spending and what's coming in, what's going out.

10:13It's kind of like your own business, if you think about it as a human. So how much revenue am I making? What are my expenses? What's that bottom line profit there? And then what do I do with that bottom line profit? Am I, well, when do I even have it? And if no, then we talk about side hustles and entrepreneurship and stuff, which I think is also really important. But once you do have it, it's not just investing it, but it's investing it correctly. Because we see all the time people have 401ks. And I love a good 401k if you're investing, rock and roll. but nine times out of ten when we talk to people about their 401ks they don't know what it's invested into they're like yeah i'm just doing the match and it's my company's doing it i'm rocking and rolling i'm having a good time and then they forget wow why am i so heavy in bonds right now i'm not performing when the markets are going or wait a second why am i invested in emerging markets shouldn't i be invested in the essence so like it's not that it's again coming back to this idea of like finding the margin and then investing it correctly which just again comes back to the idea of knowing what you're invested into and having that long-term mentality behind it.

11:11That's a fundamental conversation, right? So, so it's funny because you explain literally fundamental investing, but to piggyback that, I think the sauce for us is getting the fear out of the way because we don't have anything to sell anyone. You know, if we work for XYZ firm, we're going to sell what we're told to sell. We tell people, here's what we would do if we were in your situation with your financial situation and your risk tolerance. And it just, I think it lowers the barrier to fear, to allow people to feel empowered by saying, you know what, I believe that I can do this and get them off the sidelines.

11:50We see it every single day where people have 20 ,000, 50 ,000, 2 million,$5 million. They're not even in a high yield savings account because they don't know what to do, or they got burned by a broker 20 years ago and haven't invested since. So I think that is what gets me out of bed every day and energizes me is helping people get across that finish line and start really getting it put together so they can build wealth for themselves. Robert, that is so important. So I used to spend a lot of time teaching financial education and I worked on, you know, I worked for an investment firm, so I didn't have anything to sell anyone.

12:24Right. So I had to make sure that there was a clear line of division. And I just wanted to provide education because I want to see people do better. and our industry, sometimes it can feel gated to somebody who's not in the business, right? As you know, so what's one or two things, either of you that you've learned from your audience over these last two years. Before I answer that, I don't, I want to double click on what you said, because our first conversation sort of started with like the Austin, the authenticity about the show, which really helped with that. And it's funny, Robert and I have a 30 year age gap.

12:57You're probably watching it at home and you're like, wait a second, you guys have a podcast. it's like that doesn't make any sense so what's so fun about it is back to what robert was talking about like nothing to sell people right robert's had a very successful career as an entrepreneur i had a successful career as an entrepreneur for several years before i started the show so you know if we work with companies with the show it's because we think it's going to benefit the audience more than it's going to benefit us because again like we don't like we have i've got my own business with christian blackwell co-founder of wits ventures robert he's again a very successful entrepreneur.

13:30And so at the end of the day, we only work with the best of breed companies that are going to really kind of move us in the right direction there. That's a great point. And so what did you learn about your audience over the last two years? Either one of you, by the way. Yeah, I would say something we've learned about our audience in the last couple of years is I underestimated how hungry they were for the more advanced strategies. I in 2024 and in 2025, and now as we head into 2026, than there ever was in history. And when I say sophisticated, I truly do mean like, yeah, the retail investor, but the retail investor that listens to the earnings call, the retail investor that wants to have not just the S &P, but the diversification and the precious metals.

14:13And maybe they want a little bit of, you know, a small cap ETF from emerging markets, right? I think that really took me by surprise, because when I was growing up and when I was in college and all this stuff, like when I started getting in investing, it was the Dave Ramsey's of the world. Yeah, go get you some, you know, Roth IRA stuff, get you some S &P, some mutual funds, you're going to be just fine. Let's talk about the daily habits. Because I agree, 80 % of it is the rich habits that allow you to find the margin in your budget and invest. But I was really surprised and I've learned that from our audience now of these more sophisticated investors, this is where we're headed.

14:48And I think it's really important to not just stop at that elementary 101, but to go a little bit further and help them, which is, again, this Friday episode that we introduced. Like, let's talk about open AI, this Microsoft, that this earnings caller, you know, something else, the nature. They are hungry for that. And I love that because it just goes to show that over time, you know, you get introduced to a topic. Then you realize how much of an impact that topic can have on you as a human investing. I want to learn everything I possibly can about this. And we're just grateful that our show is a part of people's, you know, resource tab on their phone.

15:20Awesome. I love that. That is very powerful. And I want to click back on that. So, and you both have said these words already, authenticity and gatekeeping. The number one thing that I think is problematic, especially in our field of finance, is that so many people, as soon as they get a decent level of following, they no longer provide value. They say, da, da, da, do this. Oh, if you want, you know, the rest of this information, click below. And to me, that is something that drives me crazy because there's a way to monetize your ecosystem like we do without gatekeeping the information. So I think the big success for us and what I've learned a lot from our audience is how much they desire to find someone that they can trust to follow along.

16:05I tell people, don't follow 10 people. Find two or three that you really trust that have a proven track record. You can Google me all day long and see my track record. It's proven him as well. And so I think it's important for people to find people they can adhere to and then really learn from along the way. And I think that those are the two big things for us is authenticity and not gatekeeping the information. You know, the fact, if I can kind of funnel down what you both said, this is important. I feel like you guys captured the sale of the win or tailwind behind the back of a lot of people selling trading courses.

16:42Yeah. Right. So the market infrastructure improved with Robinhood, meaning access, democratization, people being able to participate. But what you quickly got into, and this is 2020, 2021, think about the time. A lot of people said, hey, I got these option courses. And everyone was just selling these sort of get rich quick ideas to your point, Robert. And this is so important. And the fact that you guys came in and said, you know what? We don't need anything from you. Let us level set. Let us keep it 100 % with you and let you make the most informed decision possible. So it's kudos to actually both of you to be able to take that venture.

17:16So I just wanted to kind of share that with you. As we transition, because this is an important point, give me a sense and just level set where you guys are on markets and how you're communicating to people right now. Yeah, good question. Obviously, not financial advice. Neither of us are registered advisors. 100%. But, well, you know, I gotta always say that. Where do I think we are in the markets right now? Now, it's pretty obvious that since October of 22, right, when I think it was OpenAI, I think it was Thanksgiving when they came out or something of that nature with ChatGPT, right, this whole AI boom has taken place, like to think of it as like this productivity boom.

17:52Personally, I feel between the deregulation happening behind the scenes with policy, between the looser monetary policy with the Fed cutting interest rates, we're seeing a lot of companies, companies, specifically MAG7, committing to hundreds of billions of dollars cumulatively in capital expenditure spend, right? Just make sure on the same page here, CapEx, capital expenditures are, you know, this is money leaving their bank accounts to go build things, which turns into revenue in other companies' bank accounts, right? So that's good. So I think between, you know, all of the things I had just mentioned and how earnings per share is expected to rise with the 493, call it high, mid to high single digits next year, and then again, call it low double digits for the mag seven.

18:36I remain optimistic about the markets. Yes, downtown Josh Brown, shout out him. And we talked about this on our show, had a wonderful observation, which was that 50 % of consumer spending comes from the top 10 % of earners. We're seeing that right now. And I absolutely agree with that. But I don't think that we are yet at a place where the economy slow. It's pretty obvious that the politicians behind the scenes right now really want to keep things rocking and rolling between these big deals we're doing and all this stuff around just not just the country here, but in the world. So I think there's still juice left in this bull trend run that we're in at the moment.

19:15And I think it's still very early stages for artificial intelligence. Now, let me also mention, there are absolute bubbles happening in sectors of the market, if it's unprofitable, or even pre revenue space exploration, or nuclear energy or, you know, think like these crazy high beta names that we've seen go up, down, left, right, and in circles. Like, yeah, of course, like, you know, do that at your own risk. But I think if you're an everyday investor who's trying to build wealth over the next 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 years, the S &P 500 and the NASDAQ 100 continue to be the backbone of a well-diversified portfolio.

19:47It's my own portfolio as well. And I continue to be bullish on American capitalism. I love it. You want to add anything? Yeah, I broaden it out a lot. And I agree with him 100%. I try to get people to understand a couple things is that when we're looking at these secular growth trends like nuclear is hot right now. AI still has a long way to go. Energy is really important right now because we're so far behind China in our energy infrastructure. I try to get people to look at a longer window. Don't look at what's happening in the next three to six months. Look at it for two to five years because that's where we're really going to see more maturity in these sectors.

20:22But also I try to get people to understand, don't try to chase the trend. We see it all the time where someone, you know, a company goes out and pays 20 influencers to talk about a crypto or a stock. And then all of a sudden they're telling everybody to buy it. Everyone's like, did you see this? Did you see this? We're like, slow down, slow down. Let's back up a little bit. Look at it more long term. So I think we have a long way to go in AI, like Austin alluded to. Nuclear is a really good category, I think, right now. For me, some of these energy companies like Constellation and Vistra Energy, I think, have a long room to grow, a lot of room to grow.

20:55So for me, I think there's a lot of bubbly things happening in the market, but I don't think the totality of the market is a bubble. I like it. I respect it. So, well, one, I agree with you, but I also think that this is a perfect opportunity to shift the portfolio into thematics that might be a little more attractive, not only from a valuation perspective, but from a diversification opportunity. What areas do you guys like right now? Just thematics. I know you mentioned energy. I didn't hear either of you say anything in the digital asset space, which for me, and the reason I like that space, and I'll tell you just this is just my initial thought, is it's about speed, efficiency, cost and accounting.

21:35So that is going to be a very transformative technology. So that's that on my end. But also, like obviously you mentioned AI. What other thematics do you like? Anything in the precious metals? What else? Yeah, I would say at the moment, what's interesting to me is health care. I think healthcare as a sector is pretty beaten down. Obviously, we had some craziness with UnitedHealth Group, but I think that kind of had ripple effects that caused a lot of still quality healthcare companies to, you know, trade at record low PEs. Cybersecurity is something I've always talked about. I think, you know, the Palo Alto networks of the world, the cloud flares of the world.

22:14We saw CrowdStrike have their outage. I think it was, you know, last year, but they've since rebounded. So I think cybersecurity as AI continues to have its heyday and will continue to take over the world, never more important to have cybersecurity against that or alongside of that. So I'd say cybersecurity and healthcare are pretty interesting to me as we think away from that real estate. We're seeing a lot of interest rates starting to become to tick from the 30 years now, I'd say, in the mid-sixes, something of that nature. It was as high as eight just 18 months ago. Now, is that going to cause new builds?

22:47We'll see. And if that's the case, a little call out of waste management, the correlation there between new builds, right? And then obviously trash and garbage management. So it's interesting. I think healthcare and cybersecurity and real estate are interesting to me. Precious metals on the flip side, we've sort of seen a crazy run up when it comes to those. I, unfortunately, was late to the game. Robert was very early. He's been in this stuff, specifically precious metals for decades at this point. So to Robert's point, I'm not chasing that one. I'm looking for what is opportunistic to me right now.

23:22Love it. So I would say for me, yes, precious metals. I mean, right now, silver is in dire need. There's going to be shortages. I think there's a world where we continue to see silver rise even more than gold. But then we also have to see what happens in the Bitcoin crypto space to see if people start migrating more away from Bitcoin and back into gold as a safe haven. So we'll see. But I think nuclear is still a really strong sector of growth. I really like URA, NUKZ. Some of those ETFs I think are really important for people to have in their portfolios. So I would say those two, but also I wouldn't shy away from AI.

24:01I still think there's a lot of room to grow. If you look at AIQ, VUG, some of these ETFs that are very AI and tech specific, they're doing really, really well with outsized gains this year. So I think there's a lot of ways to go right now in the market, but those are some of the important ones, from my opinion. No, you bring up a good point about the adjacent opportunity to AI. There's the AI infrastructure component, right? So you don't just have to chase the chips and the names on that side. You can also get the infrastructure, so great point. So when your audience reaches out to you for guidance on, hey, how do I get exposure to said thematic or area?

24:39What are some of the tools and resources you guys point to? because I'm sure a lot of people are coming to you and you are giving this authentic response. What tools are you using? So some of the favorite tools that I like to use right now are Investopedia. Shout out Caleb Silver. He's also a friend of the show. They're crushing it over there at Investopedia. I think it's been 20 years now of stuff they've been doing. I really enjoy seeking Alpha. I really enjoy using KoiFin. We're also just hanging out at the Google Finance Lab over here in New York before this. so yesterday we're over with google and they've got some really cool stuff google finance it's a completely revamped product i can't wait to really begin to dig into it um yeah it's very cool fastgraphs.com shout out to i i wish this was sponsored i've been using them for years geez louise it's a really cool platform fast graphs i use them all the time it's funny i learned this way before i started you know entrepreneurship or any of this stuff is just like be resourceful.