What's REALLY Holding You Back from Financial Freedom

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1:45This is the Ed Myron Show. Welcome back to the show, everybody. So I'm really excited about this week's show because it's going to be a little bit different. Usually what we do on the show is you guys submit a topic or I come up with a topic that could be in any number of different ideas. It could be about personal development, self-confidence, peak performance, spirituality, mental programming, you name it. We go through all kinds of different stuff, health and wellness, family, achievement, success, bliss, you name it. And then I usually say, and here's eight keys or nine strategies or 10 of this or that.

2:17And this week, I don't know that there's an easy answer to what I want to cover, but what I want to do is begin to get you to think this week because I have growing concerns about, frankly, the future for so many of us, especially when it comes to the topic of money, which is one of the most popular topics that I cover on the show because I don't cover it very often. And what I want this to be this week is you're listening or you're on your ride or you're riding on the treadmill or you're watching this on YouTube, wherever it might be, that you really give some thought as to the future of your own life and what it's going to look like 10 and 20 and 30 years down the road.

2:51And I don't say that in the normal way I talk about on the show where we talk about our dreams and our vision. I want you to have an audit of your life today because I have some concerns. All of the data that I look at doesn't bode well for millions and millions of people, especially in the United States when it comes to retirement, when it comes to money, when it comes to creating experiences for their family, stress, et cetera. And so I want to give you some stats first, just to sort of set the stage. And when I give you these stats about everybody else. I want you to think about your life. I don't care if you're 22 years old listening to this or 72 years old.

3:24And believe it or not, our audience is so diverse. We have people from every walk of life all over the world, all different demographics listen to the show or watch the show. And so you got to see you in these stats and they matter. And I want you to wake up and listen very closely today as I cover these things, because somebody needs to bring this to your attention. And I got to get you thinking about it. And I'll try to give you a couple ideas, is, but more today is illuminating the truth and defining it. You know, there's so many distractions to the truth in the world today with, you know, all the world issues going on.

3:56And we're in an election season at the time that I am recording this. And so there's all these things that will get us to look around and look outside of ourselves for answers to some of these problems. And none of these problems are going to solve themselves. No government person is going to solve them for you. No actor, no reality TV star, no influencer on social media is going to solve these problems. These are real issues. And I worry sometimes that we're so distracted that we don't look at our own lives. And it concerns me. And I don't want you to wake up 10 years from now, if you're 22, go, my gosh, I'm 32 years old.

4:27I've still got student debt and I'm not in the job or the career that I want. Or if you're 52 years old and you wake up in 10 years and now you're 62 years old and you're a few years from retirement and you're millions of dollars short and you look back at your life and go, I wish somebody would have alerted me and made me think because you're more resourceful than you believe you are. And if you really get focused on fixing something, I think you can fix it. You've got a powerful God that has your back as well. And so that combined, we can fix things, but we got to know what the problems are first.

4:59So let me just give you some statistics. First of all, I think these are going to blow your mind. Over the last 15 years in the United States, incomes have increased 25%. But the cost of a home has gone up 138%. Think about that. Incomes up 25, cost of a house 138. And I worry about for my children right now, they're ever having the prospects of buying a home. Especially some of you that live in California or states where homes are expensive. The idea of saving$200 ,000,$300 ,000 so you can put a deposit, a down payment down on a$700 ,000 or$800 ,000 house, which is what a lot of homes cost there, after taxes saving$200 ,000 or$300 ,000, after your 401Ks funded, is almost impossible.

5:41And even if you live in the Midwest and your home is$300 ,000,$400 ,000,$500 ,000, you have to accumulate$150 ,000 for a down payment on a home after taxes, after what everything costs nowadays to go to the grocery store. And that's just the deposit, the down payment on a house. And so think about that for a minute, how crazy that is, because, you know, there's two political parties in the United States, and one will give you their information on one and one will give you the information on the other. You know, one will tell you that the rich don't pay their fair share. Well, statistically, here's the facts.

6:14The facts are that the bottom 50 percent of taxpayers in the United States pay 2 percent of the taxes. The bottom 50 percent, the bottom half, pay 2 percent of the taxes. The top 1 percent pay 46 percent of the taxes. So the truth of the matter is that's not a real truth. By the way, that's just income tax. That doesn't count the property taxes and sales taxes that affluent people tell. The other party, though, doesn't address the other problem, which is what I started with. People aren't making enough money. So these companies are keeping so much of their money that the big corporations are keeping so much wages haven't gone up.

6:48The stat that I gave you in the beginning matters. It's a fact. Wages have only got up 25 % over 15 years, but housing prices are up 138. So it's harder and harder and harder for a family to build a great life. And this is now with almost every family having two incomes and sometimes three or four incomes. So one party who tells you the rich don't pay their fair share, that's not true. The rich pay most of the taxes. But the other party who tells you everything's great, they're not telling you the truth either because the fact of the matter is people aren't making enough money to build a great life.

7:20And that's the middle class. Never mind working people on minimum wage or poor people in our country. It's not fair. So there's not a solution in the middle, and I'm not looking at one party or the other to fix it. They're both wrong. People ask me all the time, why don't you speak out on politics more on the show? Because I'm not really a member of either place. I have my own beliefs, and some of them fit in one party and some of them fit in another. But the fact of the matter is they're both wrong, and we're not being served by it. One party that's kind of the party of you figure more the affluent.

7:48Well, wages aren't going up. people aren't making more money. In the 50s and 60s, you could have a single income and a family, and they could own a home and have a decent life and take a couple vacations and retire. That's gone. Now both mom and dad work. Sometimes mom works two jobs, dad works two jobs. Their wages are going up 25. Houses are going up 138. And what happens to people like my kids' age? So both are wrong. And so I'm not waiting around for anybody politically to save me. The solution clearly is not raising more taxes because as taxes go up, the same people pay most of the taxes already, and then they don't pay higher wages.

8:26But the other problem is also true. When we've reduced taxes, these same wealthy people haven't given it back in wage growth. So it's kind of a really interesting dichotomy, right? I'm going to say this to you again. It's really true that the wealthy pay most of the taxes, but it is also true that when you cut their taxes, they don't increase wages for the people that they pay at the rate they used to. Certainly big companies don't. So this will give you an idea, give you a flavor. If you had a million dollars in 1985 with inflation that's out of control, people will tell you, well, inflation's gotten in control the last couple years.

9:02Inflation's crazy. Go to a grocery store, your entire order. It's crazy how much more food is right now. And wait till gas prices go back up. So in 1985, if you had a million dollars, to this day in 2024, the same price, the same value of that million dollars, you would need $3.1 million to provide the same level of wealth that a million did in 1985. Now, let me ask you a question. How many of you currently have$3.5 million saved right now? And by the way, what will you need 20 and 30 years from now? This idea that, you know, you're a millionaire. That was a big deal in 1985. Being a millionaire today is not in any way a super extensive lifestyle like it once was.

9:47That's a term, you know, I have a friend of mine go, hey, so-and-so is a six-figure earner. And as if that's an impressive thing or that they're wealthy. Well, six figures was a lot of money in 1985. It's not a lot of money in 2024. Not with what things cost. And if you're not at six figures, where are you? I mean, you're really falling behind. And that may be of no fault of your own. It blows my mind that a school teacher in our country can't make six figures. It blows my mind that first responders don't start off in many cases at six figures. It blows my mind what companies pay people for the positions they're in now.

10:22It also blows my mind that the solution is just to tax the people that pay all the taxes anyways. And so a couple more stats, okay? The average American right now has a$48 ,000 car and their average salary is$45 ,000. Think that through. The average person, their salary a year is less than how much their car costs them to buy. The average person who makes$100 ,000 a year also owns two cars and their family, and those cars are valued at$127 ,000. So it turns out, actually, the person who thinks they're doing well, they're doing worse than the person who knows they're not doing well. You make$100 ,000 a year, both your cars are worth$127 ,000.

11:02you paid for them. So most people spend more money on their car or cars than they do what they actually make in a year. This is scary stuff. Okay. They also carry, the average person also carries about$70 ,000 of student or consumer debt combined right now to this day,$70 ,000. A couple more stats and then I'll stop painting the sign of what I'm so worried about. This is now the first time in our country where the average American has a net negative savings rate. That means in the history of our country, it's the first time the average person owes more money on consumer debt than they have in savings.

11:39They owe more money on credit cards. They owe more money on student loans than they actually have saved. And most people, most of their savings is through four savings at their job through a 401k. And that money's not been taxed yet. And most people don't even understand that. And so that is not, you say, oh, I got$70 ,000 in my 401k. No, you don't. You have$70 ,000 before the taxes in your 401k. And then you got to ask yourself a question. When you retire 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 40 years from now, are taxes likely to be higher or lower at that time? So then let's just say they were 40 % then.

12:14That's$70 ,000 you've got is now$45 ,000, right? This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on this podcast today. Smart Choice. Progressive loves to help people make smart choices. That's why they offer a tool called Auto Quote Explorer that allows you to compare your Progressive car insurance quote with rates from other companies. So you save time on the research and can enjoy savings when you choose the best rate for you. Give it a try after this episode at Progressive.com. Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates. Not available in all states or situations.

12:58Prices vary based on how you buy.

13:03When it comes to what your family eats and drinks, you know your choices matter. You're the expert because you know what fits your life. And getting it right starts with good information. That's why America's beverage companies are sharing more information about our ingredients at good to know facts org no spin no judgments just the facts straight from the experts for more than 140 beverage ingredients visit good to know facts org so this is scary stuff and we don't ever stop and think about it because we just kind of go on with our lives I'm voting for so-and-so I'm voting for the other one and all these things that are worthy of our attention end up distracting us from our own life.

13:48And I want to say this to you again. No one's coming to save you. Nobody's coming to save you. I don't know about you, but I don't come from a family that has any money. So I didn't inherit any money. I've inherited a little bit of debt, right? I'm not going to inherit money. No one's going to come with a magic pot of gold and pay off all my bills. That wasn't going to happen for me. I don't come from that type of a family, and my guess is 99.9 % of you don't either. and all you've done is try to win in your life. You played the game the way you were supposed to play it. And I'm telling you that this is the reality now and it's not getting better.

14:24The trends are getting worse. So I don't know what you feel, but I feel like what if I could change my life? And then there's this other thing coming and that is there's a revolution happening in the economy with AI. And if you start to study what's happening with artificial intelligence, we've always had AI by the way, but now what it's able to do and what they're programming it do is going to eliminate many careers. And if it doesn't eliminate them, it's going to make their wages suppressed because these robots will be able to do things on an automated basis that a human being can do. And so you won't need, supply and demand will tell you that either it's going to eliminate millions of jobs or it's going to further suppress and reduce what people get paid to do them.

15:04This is a real thing. And I know some of you say, well, I'm in the trades, that doesn't affect me. Yes, it does. They're building robots right now that can flip and do drywall. They can they're starting to learn how to 3D print a house. These are real things. These are there's a prospect over the next 10 to 20 years that millions of jobs could be eroded. And the stats I just gave you. This is the current economy before things get suppressed. And that hopes that there's no major event that happens. No major terrorist event around the world, at least in the United States. They're happening around the world.

15:38or that there's one big world type war. I didn't mean you to tune in today to get to the negative. What I did is to say, okay, wake up. What are you going to do? And I want you to ask yourself, you know what? I'm never going to retire at my pace. Not the way I'd like to live my life. And what's more crazy to me is you go to a mall on the weekend, they're packed. People are still spending money like they have it. People still spend money to buy things to impress people who don't care. That's what blows my mind. We're a consumerist economy, right, Where we've got to buy things to impress people, this watch, this purse, these shoes.

16:10I could tell you the wealthiest people I know, the mega wealthy people I know, don't buy things to impress people. It's the ones sort of on the cusp that think they need those things. When you're actually really wealthy, I can tell you because I've been through every stage. I've been poor, I've been middle class, and I've been wealthy. And I've been in between. I could tell you when I was poor, I was just paycheck to paycheck. When I was middle or upper middle, I kind of wanted to buy things to impress people to look wealthier than I was and feel wealthier. But when I actually got wealthy, you actually almost, when you really get there, want to almost, I don't want to call it hide it, but you don't want to brag it or show it.

16:48And so, like, my main car most of the time is a truck, most of the time. Favorite car I've ever owned. I've owned every car in the world. People think I'm crazy. I've owned Rolls Royces, Lamborghinis, Ferraris. You know, I've owned lots of different cars. I've owned Jets. I'm blessed, right? My favorite car I've ever owned is my Ford Raptor. I love that car. And that's a great car. It's an expensive car, right? But it's my favorite of all of my cars, not the fanciest of ones. Because when you actually get wealthy, I don't think you want the attention of necessarily always being wealthy. The question becomes for you today, after I've laid all of this out as a friend, is are you listening a little more closely now?

17:20A little bit more awake? By the way, I'm an optimist. I believe there's solutions to everything. But I can tell you this, at any given time, somebody's winning and people are losing. And if you want to be one of the people winning, you've got to start to think and realize these are issues. What I just laid out for you here, most people don't care about. They're not paying any attention to. They'll get around to making their life great. They'll get around to making their dreams come true. They'll get around to starting their business. And then there's this other thing that worries me, if I can be candid, that I think social media, because what did you just conclude?

17:52What you just concluded is, man, I need another income. I need to control my future. I need to start a business. I need to start another business. I need a secondary income. If I've got a job, maybe I should start to find something part-time that could supplement my income, get me a side hustle that I could supplement my income with, and then maybe that turns into a full-time gig. Maybe I need to start to study and learn a new trade or a new craft that's not going to be replaceable. Maybe I've got to go start to chase my passion again, right? I want to become an entrepreneur, and a lot of you that are listening to this are entrepreneurs.

18:21And here's one of my biggest concerns. I think social media has made entrepreneurship ridiculous. It makes it look easy. It makes it look like everyone's driving Lambos. Everybody's on a yacht. Everybody's taking vacation. It's a cakewalk. It's easy. Everyone's giggling and chuckling. They're at events. They're jumping up and down and singing and praying and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Entrepreneurship isn't like that. So if you want to be an entrepreneur, it's a grind. It's difficult. As hard as you think it is to be an entrepreneur and build a great business a million times harder, it's a grind.

18:50It's mentally taxing. There's early mornings, late nights. People let you down. There's ups and downs. There's no predictable income. The real entrepreneurs that are listening to this right now are like, amen, my let, man, tell them. Right? This stuff's hard. Building a great life is difficult. It's not easy. Right? And you almost got to be like put on armor and go, I'm going to go do something great with my life. And I'm going to have to wake up. I'm going to have to make some changes. I'm going to have to build some new skills. Because here's what I know. The cream always rises to the top. If you get mega skilled at something, you become great at something that solves people's problems, that you're passionate about, okay?

19:29I believe it rises to the top. But average ordinary skills, average ordinary thinking, average ordinary life produces average ordinary results. And I think it's heading in a direction where so many people are going to be in a bad place. You have to be great. You have to get great at it. You have to be the best at it. And I don't know that enough people, at least in my case, I'm going to say it to you today, you got to get great at what you do. Are you the best in the world at what you do? Are you working on your skills? Are you working on your abilities? Do you get up most mornings fired up about your life?

20:00By the way, are most of your days difficult? Because if they are, that's a great sign that you're doing something awesome, right? If most of your days you're like, I don't know how I'm going to fix this. I can tell you that's what entrepreneurship is. And if you're not an entrepreneur, what is your answer to this stuff I just shared with you? And maybe it's that you're going to get so great in your chosen career that you're so awesome that the people in your company or industry can't deny you. And you're going to get promoted and make progress in that career. I got to tell you this. More than ever, it's going to be the great people in every industry that survive and thrive.

20:37And people with average skills, average mindset, average savings habits are going to be in a world of hurt. This AI thing is going to change stuff, right? It's already trending in the wrong direction. So what's the answer for you? I can just tell you. I think that if you're in these stats, these data that I'm referring to, you need to consider either building an entire new skill that solves people's problems, or you need to start a business on the side or you need to leave your career and start a full-time business at some point. That's what I believe. I think you've got to get so great that you're undeniable, so great that the market demands you.

21:14And more and more and more, it's not going to be good enough to be in the average. You go to that mall on the weekend and watch people spending money on those tennis shoes and that purse and that shirt and guys, whatever your pair of pants that you've got to have. You watch those people. Then you go through what they think about, What they're planning on doing on Sunday night to start their week Monday. Most of them are just auto pie. They're going to get in their car. They're going to go to the same place. They're going to do the same thing. They're going to clock in. They're going to clock out.

21:40They're going to go spend money they don't have. They're going to put money into their 401K that they're not going to get for a million years, then get taxed on. And they're just going to hope that someday stuff changes. And if that's you, I want to challenge you today. Say, no, that's not the life I want. I'm going to take control of my life. I'm going to take control of my life by being aware, by being a saver. And I've got to make more money. I got to help more people. And no, not everything in life is about getting wealthy, okay? No, not everything in life is, my gosh, about material things.

22:12I can just tell you, I've had most material things. It's overrated. But I can tell you what's not overrated, being able to protect your family, being able to care for your family. Many of you are going to be in a situation someday or are currently where you're going to have to take care of your children and your parents at the same time. right now you're having a hard time just taking care of yourself, right? That's probably coming. What's not overrated is being able to call shots in your life, being able to give to the charity or the church that you want to, being able to help out a family member in need.