MI Rewind: Cash Uncomplicated: Wealth Building Mindset w/ Aaron Nannini

23 Feb 2024 · 49 min

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The Intrinsic Value Podcast: Episode Summary

Podcast Details

  • Title: The Intrinsic Value Podcast
  • Network: The Investor’s Podcast Network
  • Episode Title: MI Rewind: Cash Uncomplicated: Wealth Building Mindset w/ Aaron Nannini
  • Description: Robert Leonards interviews Aaron Nannini about managing money wisely and fostering a wealth-building mindset.

Episode Overview In this episode, Aaron Nannini discusses his journey from struggling with personal finance in his twenties to achieving financial clarity and success. He emphasizes the importance of mindset, behavior, and specific principles that can help individuals achieve financial freedom without sacrificing their lifestyle.

Key Concepts Discussed

  1. Importance of Mindset and Behavior
  2. Mindset shapes behavior; understanding that anyone can achieve financial success is crucial.
  3. Knowledge without action has little value; action is essential for real financial improvement.
  1. Value-Based Spending
  2. Focus on spending money on what you truly value to avoid lifestyle inflation and save for the future.
  3. Helps balance the desire to enjoy life now (YOLO mindset) with longer-term financial goals.
  1. Keeping Up with the Joneses
  2. The dangers of comparing oneself to others, as many people project an image of wealth while struggling with debt.
  3. Recognizing that appearances can be misleading helps prevent unnecessary financial strain.
  1. Lifestyle Creep
  2. A common phenomenon where increased income leads to increased spending.
  3. Strategies to combat this include paying oneself first (saving a portion of income before spending) and maintaining intentional spending habits.
  1. Understanding Debt
  2. Differentiating between "bad debt" (credit cards, car loans) and "good debt" (investments that generate income).
  3. Strategies for managing and leveraging debt effectively.
  1. Credit Cards: Use with Caution
  2. While credit cards can be beneficial for rewards, they can also lead to overspending.
  3. Importance of paying off credit cards monthly and tracking spending.
  1. Silent Killers of Wealth
  2. Mindless spending on small daily expenses can add up significantly over time.
  3. Awareness of these expenses is crucial for maintaining financial health.
  1. Cost of Cars and Myths of Car Loans
  2. Cars depreciate quickly and often represent a hidden cost that negatively impacts wealth.
  3. The cultural norm of financing cars creates a cycle of debt that can be difficult to escape.
  1. Money Management in Relationships
  2. Financial compatibility is crucial in partnerships; differing financial goals can lead to conflict.
  3. Open discussions about financial goals and habits are essential for harmony in relationships.
  1. Lessons Learned and Future Outlook
  2. Aaron emphasizes the importance of a growth mindset and the value of investing in real estate at a young age.
  3. Encourages listeners to educate themselves about personal finance to avoid common pitfalls.

Recommended Resources

  • Books Mentioned:
  • "Cash Uncomplicated" by Aaron Nannini
  • "The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas Stanley and William Danko
  • "I Will Teach You To Be Rich" by Ramit Sethi
  • "Broke Millennial" by Erin Lowry
  • "The Richest Man in Babylon" by George Clason

Final Thoughts Aaron Nannini shares practical advice for listeners seeking to improve their financial situation by understanding their spending habits, managing debt wisely, and fostering a mindset that embraces financial education. The episode serves as a valuable resource for anyone looking to build wealth and create a sustainable financial future.

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Transcript

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0:00You're listening to TIP. On today's show, we're resharing some of the older episodes that are my favorites for a few reasons. One, we get a bunch of new listeners each week, so new listeners may not have heard this episode before. Two, even if you've been listening for a while, you may have missed this episode when it originally came out. Or three, even if you've heard it before, it can be a great episode to learn from again. If you've already heard this episode or you're not interested in hearing it, feel free to just skip it. There's no harm in that. And you can pick up with our new episodes next week.

0:30That's all I had for you for this new intro. Everything going forward is going to be from the original episode. I hope you guys enjoy it. On today's show, I chat with Aaron Anini about ways to wisely manage your money and the importance of having a proper mindset for wealth building. After struggling with money in his 20s and being sick of living paycheck to paycheck, Aaron started educating himself on personal finance. Through years of intense study and practice, he went from barely getting by each month to complete financial clarity and harmony, all in less than five years. He wants to pass that knowledge to everyone and believes that anyone can achieve financial freedom without sacrificing their lifestyle or happiness.

1:10Aaron is now the founder of Cash Uncomplicated, a personal finance website and book that teaches people how to achieve financial success through implementing basic and uncomplicated principles, such as life goals, daily habits, intentional money decisions, and a value-based spending mindset. Now, without further delay, let's get right into this week's episode with Erin Annini. You're listening to Millennial Investing by The Investor's Podcast Network, where your host, Robert Leonard, interviews successful entrepreneurs, business leaders, and investors to help educate and inspire the millennial generation.

1:56Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Millennial Investing Podcast. As always, I'm your host, Robert Leonard. And with me today, I welcome Aaron Nanini. Welcome to the show, Aaron. Thanks, Robert. Thanks for having me. Tell us a bit about yourself and what got you to where you are today. I'm someone throughout my 20s, had no clue about personal finance. I was that classic paycheck to paycheck story where I was just getting my paycheck, spending my money, and then I would wait for the next one to have any money. By the end of the month, I had almost no dollars. And I really went like that for a very long time, like all throughout my 20s.

2:31I continued that pattern into my early 30s. And I just kind of got smart about money. I started to read books. I started to educate myself. And I was just tired of that situation of living paycheck to paycheck. And I heard it was possible not to do that, but I didn't understand how. And my mindset all throughout my 20s was just, it was completely faulty. I was in that sense where I thought you really had to be born into wealth and inherit money, win the lottery to be successful with money. I was just completely off. And so once I started educating myself about that, I realized that wasn't the case.

3:03And so I got out of the paycheck trap. I started to automate my money. I started to invest and I just noticed my life was getting better overall. And so I would then start to see people who were making similar mistakes as I was back in the day. And I was just kind of chomping at the bit to help them out. But as you know, it's really obnoxious just to help someone with money unsolicited. And so I didn't want to do that. And I kind of went on for another year or so. And then I'd always wanted to write a book. So I thought, you know what, I want to help people. And I also want to write a book. I can kind of parlay these two things and put it into one.

3:36So I started to write and a couple of years later, I had a book and was ready to go. Robert Leonard Over the last decade or so, which I'd argue is still relatively new, behavioral finance and this idea that emotions and psychology play a huge role on our investing and just general money management has become a lot more mainstream. Why is that? Why is behavior and mindset so important when it comes to money? Robert Leonard It's huge. I think they feed off of each other. With mindset, you really have to understand that you can be good with money, that money is not just some pie in the sky concept of people who were born into it or who won the lottery.

4:14And so once you can get your mindset under control and realize an everyday person can do this, that's where you can start to control your behavior. And I think your behavior dictates everything because knowledge without action is just knowledge and it's almost entertainment. So that behavior component is so huge because that's what I also call taking action. So it's that mindset and then having the behavior and being able to do that. So I always look to it, what your why is. And so once you can figure out what your big why is, you can start to dictate your behavior around that and start to improve your financial behavior.

4:47And I think it's become so mainstream or so popular over the last 10 years, just because people are evolving and educating themselves. And then also too, with the opportunity for people to blog and podcasting. There's so many more opportunities for education. And I think when people start to educate themselves, they realize these are all money myths and it's not true anymore. And the everyday person really can do well with money. They can invest just like other people. They can get out of the paycheck to paycheck cycle and they can make their life better. Since the majority of the audience, not all, but the majority is millennials.

5:20I often get asked how to manage the dynamic between living for now, that whole quote unquote YOLO idea versus saving for your future. People generally want to enjoy their time now, but they also want to be secure in their future. What is value-based spending and how can it help with this dilemma? I think value-based spending is the number one thing to help with that because I like that too. I love that saying, and I definitely want to live for the now. And I'll give you an example. I go on a college football trip with buddies every year and I spend a pretty good amount of money. And I highly value that.

5:54So that's something I'm going to continue to do. And so value-based spending is basically determining what you value and spending on that. And what you don't value, you kind of throw away. And when people go look at their life, and I have people write down what they really value, and they find out a lot of times their spending is not congruent with their values. So as an example, if someone values time with friends, time with family, just free time overall, and they realize they're having car payments, $700,$800. They're working a bunch of overtime just to make those car payments. They realize their life actions or their behavior doesn't align with their values or their spending values.

6:30So that's where it changes. So I think you can really do both with value-based spending. I think you can do everything you want to do. And I think too, that you can also invest, you can save and save for the future. Robert Leonard One of my personal favorite books of all time is The Millionaire Next Door. I'll put a link to it in the show notes for anyone that's interested in picking up a copy, but I still vividly remember reading that book. I remember I was sitting around a campfire. I went camping one weekend and I read the whole book and I can still see it because I love that book so much. One of the main concepts in the book was this idea of quote unquote, keeping up with the Joneses.

7:06For someone who hasn't heard of this saying before, explain what it means and tell us what you mean when you named a chapter in your book, don't compare yourself to the Joneses because the Joneses Might Be Broke. Yeah, exactly. And I love that book too. I've read that a few times and I cite that book through mine as well. I would highly recommend it just like you to people. I think that's one of the top personal finance books. So I put that chapter in Keeping Up With the Joneses because money is a really funny thing in that people can fake money. Whereas if I'm a great softball player, there's really no faking that.

7:38I go to the field, people can see immediately that I can hit, I can catch, I can throw, I can run. But if I'm not a good softball player, it's pretty easy to spot that I'm not good. Whereas with money, I can completely fake that I can go finance a really expensive car. I can finance a super expensive house. I can finance a bunch of things and make myself look really, really wealthy. And so to the outsider, they're looking at me at the stoplight, or they're looking at the car parked in front of my house. And they're like, this guy's really made it. Where really, I'm playing by different rules because I'm in a bunch of debt.

8:06I'm not able to pay my bills. I'm daily stressing about money. It's out of control. but on the outside, I'm giving that appearance of being wealthy. And so I think we're playing by different rules when we're trying to keep up with the Joneses. A lot of the stats say that so many people are in massive credit card debt. They've got huge car loans, and they're really struggling with money. Divorce rates are up. And a big part of that is for money issues. And so one of the big reasons I have that chapter is just because it's a different set of rules. And so when you compare yourself to others, you don't know their situation.

8:36You don't know what rules you're even playing by. It's a different game for different people. Robert Leonard I'm not sure that there's a lot of people that get to have the experience that I did, but reading that book is one thing. A lot of times, hearing these concepts and thinking about them is one thing, and then you actually do it. And this happens with all kinds of concepts, but specifically for this one, it makes sense. You're like, okay, well, I don't want to keep up with them because they probably don't have a lot of money. And you get it, but then you actually experience it and you're like, wow, okay, this is real.

9:02And for me, the experience that I had that I don't think necessarily a lot of people get to have is that I worked at a bank and I got to see people that would come in and they would look so wealthy. They'd have designer bag and I'd see that they drove up in a very nice foreign car or the newest phone or whatever. And I can't even tell you the number of times that I was a loan officer slash member service rep at the time. And I can't tell you the number of times that these people came into my office and were asking for overdraft fees to be refunded by me. And I'm like, you just sat down with, at the time, it was a brand new phone.

9:33It was like an iPhone 8 or something. I saw you pull up in a BMW. I know that outfit you're wearing is probably worth$1 ,000. Why are you having a$30 overdraft fee? And so for me, it was like, just really cemented that idea of don't try to keep up with the Joneses. Exactly. And I think if you hadn't worked at the bank and say you were just going in as a customer to the bank and you saw that person get out of their expensive car with their clothes, you'd be like, wow, this person's really made it. You would have been shocked to realize they're going to go talk to someone out removing$30 overdraft fee.

10:02It's like, what? Exactly. And the bad thing about that is most people will look at them and think that that is success and that's what they want. That's what they strive for. But what they don't realize is that that's the complete opposite of what real financial success is. And if you can afford all those things, fine. But if you're requesting for overdraft fees, then that isn't quite it. And there's a lot of people that try to look rich rather than actually be rich. So if I'm a customer going to the bank and I see that person, I don't know the rules of the game. They're playing a different game.

10:32They're giving that appearance. And then I have no clue that they're going in for that overdraft fee. Whereas you as a banker, I think, as you said, a great advantage to be able to see that and realize, wait a minute, these people are kind of putting a facade here and they're struggling and they're stressing. It's almost, I don't want to say poison, but I can't think of a better word right now. But I'd say it's almost like kind of poisoned how I look at those types of things when I'm out in public. I'll be driving around with my brother or friends and family and they'll be like, oh, that's such a nice car.

10:56And I love cars. So someday I hope to own a supercar. That's just something I'm super passionate about, not for the flashiness, but I see somebody driving a super nice car and somebody thinks they're super wealthy. And I'm like, yeah, they're probably not all that wealthy. 90 % of millionaires drive a Toyota Corolla or something crazy like that. So it's really just changed my mindset altogether. Yeah. I was shocked when I read that book, The Millionaire Next Door, that the most common car is I think the Corolla or the Camry. And I was like, you're kidding me. Because I had always assumed it was going to be Lexus or a Porsche or something like that.

11:28And that just wasn't the case with all the data. Yeah. I'd say that we're not only fighting to keep up with the Joneses, but we're also fighting against ourselves and how we think our life should be like. A lot of this is driven by wanting to keep up with the Joneses or just caring what other people think about us. But I think it's also sometimes ourselves being our own worst enemy by believing that we quote unquote deserve something because we've gotten a raise or a new job or we've just done something good. How do we fight back against lifestyle creep? Robert Leonard That's tough. Because I think you see everyone around you who has all this stuff.

12:05And you're thinking, well, I just got a raise and I got to raise the year before and the year before that. So yeah, I deserve this. And so it is very easy to just let that creep in. And I think another component of lifestyle creep is what people would be shocked about is just not paying attention. So I call it mindless spending, where it's just, you got a little extra money in the bank. So you don't even think about it. Maybe you redo a subscription to a certain magazine, or you get a car that's a little more expensive, and you're just not paying attention. And so I think once you get that intentionality, that's how you really can avoid lifestyle creep.

12:34A huge way for me to avoid lifestyle creep is just to automatically pay myself first. I know that's kind of a personal finance cliche, and you find that a lot of places. But to me, that's just super effective. If you can allot a certain amount of money every month, pay yourself first, then whatever's left over is something you get to keep and you get to enjoy and do whatever you want with it. But that concept, a lot of people are really respectful. They pay their rent on time and their mortgage, they pay their credit bills on time, but then they disrespect themselves by not paying themselves first.

13:02If you're working a job and you're working hard, you've got to show yourself that respect, pay yourself first. I think that really helps eliminate that lifestyle creep. So to give a tangible example, if you get a raise of$100 a month, either save that entire raise or a lot of certain amount, maybe you're saving$75 out of that raise, and then you just keep living your life from there. So every time you get a pay increase, you just keep saving more, and that's going to really help avoid that lifestyle creep. Let's take a quick break and hear from today's sponsors. Even Einstein had blind spots. That's why modern science is built on the idea of peer review.

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16:49How can one avoid or get out of the paycheck to paycheck cycle? Yeah, I think that's such a huge part of it for me too. And that's one of the reasons I wrote the book is the paycheck to paycheck cycle is so devastating. And I agree with you, the sooner you can get out of it, the better. So I think for me, the best way to get out of it is kind of what I mentioned before of automating your finances and then paying yourself first. So if you're in that paycheck to paycheck cycle, it's for a reason. It's because you keep buying things and maybe you're not being intentional with your money. And so if you can invest, let's say 10 % of your money right off the bat, eventually you're going to be out of that paychecks to paycheck cycle because your money's just going to exceed that.

17:28So if you're making, I don't know,$4 ,000 a month after taxes, eventually you are going to save enough where you've got 5 ,000 banks, 6 ,000, 15, 20 ,000. So you get out of it that way. I agree with you wholeheartedly. That's such a hard thing to get out of once you're in. And I really like what you're doing with the younger people and trying to prevent that in the first place. Because if you can prevent it, you never have to get out of it. In your book, three of the middle chapters are about debt, bad debt, credit cards, and good debt. We'll get to credit cards in just a minute, but before we do, I want to talk about bad debt and good debt.

18:01How do you define these two types of debt? So for me, bad debt is any kind of consumer debt. So that would be like credit cards, it would be car payments, anything used to buy something that's not an asset. I kind of go back, one of the other really influential books for me was Rich Dad, Poor Dad, where he talks about assets and liabilities. And even though that book was written a long time ago, I think a lot of it is still really, really relevant. And so anything used to buy liabilities to me is bad debt. Anything to buy an asset is a good debt. So that would be an example of income producing real estate where you're in debt, but you're getting paid on a monthly basis by a tenant.

18:37When I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Robert for the show, Robert Kiyosaki, he was telling me the same thing. He said, I love debt. That's what he told me. He said, I love debt. And I was a little perplexed at first. And he said, I love debt that other people pay for, is what he said, because he said, all my real estate is leveraged. I have millions and millions and tens and hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, but it's all for, like you said, assets that create wealth and cash flow that cover its own debt. So I'm not actually paying the debt myself. Robert Leonard Leonard Exactly.

19:08Maybe you had a similar experience, but when I read that book for the first time, I almost had to read some of those chapters again, because it was so far removed from anything I learned. I didn't really understand bad debt versus good debt. And so when Kiyosaki was talking about that good debt and having other people pay off your assets, something just clicked in me. And I read it again and again, and it made so much more sense. And so I went on to read his other books too. But yeah, that's such a great point. The way I feel about Rich Dad, Poor Dad, the book is a little bit different than I think most people.

19:36I think it's a good book. For me, it wasn't quite as good as I think a lot of people love it. And I understand why a lot of people do. But for me personally, I like tactical books. That book was great in terms of theory, and it helps people get in the right mindset. But for me personally, I tend to like books that are almost like tech books where they say, do this and then do this and then do this and then do that. So there's books that I read and I have to go back to so much because I'm like, okay, I remember I covered that, but I don't remember the steps. So I go back and refer back to it and I actually implement what I'm doing.

20:06Whereas that book is a little bit more theory. I think it's a great book. I do love it, but I don't know if a lot of people say what was the most influential book to them. And a lot of people say that book. I wouldn't put it in that category for me, but it is a good book. Yeah. And I think for me, that was a book I needed at that time. I wasn't even ready to do some of the tactical stuff. My mindset was so far off. I wasn't even ready to get close to the tactical. So I think at the time when I read it, I had such a poor background in personal finance and investing in general. That's really what I needed.

20:37If I read it now, maybe it would be a little more obvious. And I think I've transitioned like you to more of the tactical books, but for me, that was just something I needed at the time. Robert Leonard Did you have consumer debt at the time? Robert Leonard At the time, I had a little bit. I was usually pretty good about avoiding that, but I still had a little bit. For the most part, I was able to pay it off. That's one thing I did well in my 20s. But yeah, I did have a little bit. And I got a car loan and I didn't really understand that out of college, I should not be buying a new car. That concept was just like, well, automatically, you've got a good job out of college, you should go get a car, you should get a nicer apartment.

21:08And that's where that lifestyle creep and inflation and kind of moves up. And I think you're coming from that knowledge base of you're looking at buying assets and avoiding those liabilities. And the sooner you can get started with that mindset, the better. I actually made that same mistake when I graduated college. Still to this day, that's my number one money mistake. Thank God it wasn't massive. It was only 10 ,000 bucks, but I bought a foreign car right when I graduated college. Actually, I think I was still in college, but that was my biggest money mistake. And it actually haunted me for a few years after because I kept rolling the negative equity over until I could eventually pay it off.

21:38Thank God for me. it was only 10 ,000 bucks. The negative equity was like, I don't know, two, three grand. So it's not like I didn't go out and finance a$50 ,000 Porsche that I'm rolling over 18 grand in negative equity, but still nonetheless, it was a good way to learn that money mistake early on. Robert Leonard Yeah. And I think that the good thing about making money mistakes is that when you get a little older, you've got the mindset, right? And so you're not going to make those mistakes. So out of college, yeah, I definitely made some mistakes too. But fortunately, they weren't huge mistakes like in hundreds of thousands.

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22:05And so I learned those lessons and I can move on and not make those mistakes again when the stakes are a little higher. Dave Ramsey, who is one of the nation's leading personal finance authorities, very publicly and strongly talks against credit cards, which I actually agree with if and only if you're paying interest on them. He says he doesn't care if you're paying interest or not. Credit cards are just bad news, period. Other personal finance experts agree with him because studies show that we spend upwards of 50 % or more by just using credit cards than we would if we used cash. Where do you fall in this debate?

22:42Do we use credit cards or should we avoid them? I'm with you on this debate. I think if anyone is using credit cards and they're falling into debt, then they should stop using them where they're having to make those monthly payments. However, if you're someone who every month is able to pay it off and that's fine, I would say go ahead and use the credit card. I've heard that argument too, that stats say that when you use a credit card, you're likely to spend 50 % more or another amount. And I can see that as being true. And I've got a couple of ways to combat that. The first is with value-based spending, of really only buying what you truly value.

23:13I think that's going to cut down on some of that 50 % extra. And then another thing that I talk about is writing down what you purchase. So I think there's a lot of power in paying cash because it's something tangible. It's something real that you're pulling out of your wallet, giving it to someone else. And that kind of hurts. It also hurts too, if you use a credit card and then write down what you just purchased. So I think writing down has a similar effect of paying cash because it's that form of accountability. There's something real about putting things on paper with a pen. And I know it's kind of old fashioned.

23:42And for the most part, I'm using computers and digitally my phone, but that's one thing I still do write down by hand just because it's so powerful. So I think those two things are ways to combat paying extra on a credit card, but there are benefits to a credit card. I get a lot of airline miles from those. I choose to use a credit card for convenience and for those reasons. I agree that writing things down typically cements it more in your mind. But what I've found works for me is I use a software called Mint. And every week on Thursday morning, I'll wake up and I go through. It forces myself to categorize each of my transactions into different budgets that I've set for myself.

24:18And one, I'm going through every single transaction. So I'm seeing every single one. And one, the more transactions I have to go through, the more time it takes me. And I'm like, man, stop spending so much money, so you don't have to categorize so many dang transactions. And then two, I'm also seeing, oh, I spent money on this. I didn't want to. I don't really care about that. Why did I waste my money there? But then I can also look at it from a category level and say, hey, you went way over this budget this month. You need to focus on that a little bit better next month. So for me, it's because I'm a millennial.

24:44I do like to write things down probably more than most millennials, but even just going into the software and being conscious about it and actually doing this every single week on Thursdays, it works really well for me. Yeah, I agree. It's great too, because it's a form of accountability. And so I think when Dave Ramsey talks about using cash, he's really saying, be accountable. And that's kind of one broad stroke approach to use cash. And that's that form of accountability. I think it could be confusing for people because I know that Ramsey works with a lot of people who are in debt and they're trying to get out of debt.

25:10So he's trying to simplify it as much as possible. So if people like five or 10 different options of instead of paying cash, I think it would be tough for people. But just that one piece of advice, pay cash. It's easy to do for people, and then they can move on and get out of debt. So I see why he says that. But like you, I don't completely agree if you're able to pay it off and you've got some accountability measures embedded into your life, like a mentor writing it down. Robert Leonard I think he just paints a big brushstroke. And for a while, when I got into the personal finance space, as a content creator, I was very against Dave Ramsey because I didn't understand where he was coming from.

25:47First thing I learned about was his snowball method and how he recommends paying down the smallest balance first. And to me, my background's in accounting, finance, my MBA's in finance and accounting. I like the numbers. And so to me, mathematically, it just didn't make sense. Why wouldn't you pay off something with the highest interest rate first? And so for me, that kind of hurt Dave's credibility with me. And so I kind of had a tinted lens when I was reading his content. And for a while, it took a while for me to understand where he was coming from. And then I actually had a listener of the show reach out to me and say, kind of explain it to me.

26:15And it was great because it really changed my mindset where I understand Dave is coming from, he's going to help probably 80 % to 85 % of people that just need what he's helping. They're not trying to really optimize everything. They're just trying to do most of the things right. Whereas I think a lot of people that listen to this show are more advanced and they want to do all those little optimizing things that they can do to make things right for them. They're not going to go into credit card debt for the most part. They're going to actually use credit cards as a tool to get points and rewards and those types of things.

26:46So I think Dave's audience and our audience that we're talking to today is very different. And so we can give different types of advice to them. I 100 % agree with that. Because like you said, Dave Ramsey's approach is kind of a broad stroke. It's for people who, and I don't want to just generalize it all, but in general, don't have that great financial background. And they got themselves in debt, and they're good people, and they're wanting to get out of it. And this is kind of the easiest method with his baby steps. And I think that's why he goes that way. And I know earlier, we talked about the behavioral component of finance or personal finance.

27:16And that's a huge part too, because with the debt snowball, you're able to get those quick and easy wins. And I think that's very appealing for people. Whereas you and I know that debt avalanche is more optimized, but if you've got yourself into that kind of debt and you don't have that background that a lot of your listeners have, it is hard to try to pay off a debt that's$15 ,000 at a high interest rate. You're not getting those wins and you're not getting the positive feedback. That's why I think he's successful and why a lot people do well with his program. Well, that positive feedback concept that you just mentioned is exactly what I discounted when I first started studying him because I didn't realize, again, I'm such a numbers guy.

27:50I typically didn't think about psychology and emotions when it comes to money. I'm pretty hardcore with numbers. So I didn't really think about how valuable the psychology piece of it is for Dave's snowball approach. And I think he's actually right. I think he hits a nail on the head when he says to pay down to small balances because you pay that off and it might not be financially the right choice if you want to optimize. But psychologically, I mean, it looks and feels great when you pay off that small balance. Robert Leonard Leonard Yeah. You feel like you're winning, right? And there's another method too that I really don't hear a lot of people talk about.

28:18It seems like it's either black or white of debt snowball or debt avalanche. I kind of like a hybrid approach too, where maybe your first few debts, you use the debt snowball to get yourself those wins, pay off the small balances, just get that out of the way. And then as you get into your last three or four debts that you're paying off, that's where you really look to optimize because you've already had the wins. Psychologically, you know you can do it. You've had those victories. So now it's time to optimize. So I think there's nothing wrong with doing a hybrid approach. I never liked just kind of a black and white approach.

28:45I like to really think about it. So that's a method I really encourage people to look at too. Robert Leonard I like that strategy too. And I really don't have a lot of debt personally, but I have some student loans and surprisingly, I do have a car loan. That's by choice just because the interest rates are so low. But when I think about paying back debt, one of the ways I think about it, and I often struggle putting this into words, but it makes sense to me logically, but I'll try to explain it in words, is I try to pay down the debt that's going to increase my cashflow the most with paying back the least amount of money.

29:14So of my student loans, there's maybe five or six of them all with different balances and different terms. And the car loan has a different term than the mortgage and my student loans. So sometimes maybe the interest rate isn't the highest and it's maybe not the lowest balance, but sometimes on a per dollar basis that you pay off, you're actually getting more cashflow back once that is paid off. So I tend to try to focus on the loans that I have the balance, the smallest that I can pay off that will increase my monthly cashflow the most. Right. You've got a super advanced knowledge of personal finance.

29:46And so I look back to what the average American has, and it's not that knowledge base. And so I think everyone can get there. And that's one of the reasons I wrote my book too, is I was writing it for someone who was making the same mistakes that I was and kind of had that mindset. And so I want people to get from that to where you are now, where you understand all that. You can optimize, you can make decisions, you can really think about things. You're really thinking about it and you're getting optimized rates on your investments and on your debt payoff. Robert Leonard Yeah. One of the other debt payoff type strategies that I like, and I've talked about it on the show, have you heard of the term house hacking in real estate?

30:21Robert Leonard Yeah, for sure. I actually do it myself. Robert Leonard Yeah. So do I. One of the things, I have no idea if I was the one that coined this name or not. And there's certainly not a lot of people that use it, but I call it student loan hacking, where I have money that I could pay off a significant portion of my student loans or probably all of them. But instead, what I've done is I've bought rentals with that money. And those rentals cashflow pay for my student loans plus some. And then once those student loans are paid off, I'll have an asset that continues to pay forever. So I call that student loan hacking, where rather than taking that money and paying it off, I'm building an asset that'll pay for that stuff.

30:55Robert Leonard Absolutely. Yeah. And I think that's a super optimized strategy. And I don't know if I've heard someone doing that specifically, but it's just brilliant because you really are getting a lot more money off that and you're having people basically pay your student loans for you. So my total student loan payments are about 400 a month or so. We'll round up a little. And I bought a rental for 15 ,000 and it cash flows just about 400 a month. The 15 ,000 was the down payment and it cash flows just about 400 a month. And so if I have$50 ,000 in student loan debt, payments 400 a month, and I can only put 15 ,000 down, now I just paid off my student loans,$50 ,000 worth for 15 ,000, and I get to keep the asset.

31:32It makes so much sense to me. There's risk. So I'm not saying it's risk-free because there's definitely risk. Tenants could not pay. It could be a bad property. There's so many different things. And then you have to pay the mortgage for the rental and your student loan. So there's definitely risk there. But if you do it right, it can be a great strategy. Robert Leonard For sure. And I think if you've educated yourself and you've got that knowledge base and you know how to minimize that risk, it is such a great strategy because you can screen your tenants and there's technology to do that. You can run their credit score.

31:59You can call the previous landlords. There's a lot of ways to get great tenants. And I think a lot of people, especially when it comes to real estate, maybe they've had one property that they messed on. They're like, oh, never again, never again. Really, when you do it right, you can really minimize your risk. And yeah, you're probably going to have something now and then, especially the more properties you get, but you can definitely minimize that. And I think your strategy any day of the week is going to be just putting your nose down and trying to pay off that debt. Especially, I mean, they're federal loans and they're pretty low rate.

32:25I just don't see how that makes sense to quickly pay them off when they're so low and my rentals earning 35 % cash on cash return when my student loan rates 4%. It just doesn't make a lot of sense. And you mentioned tenant risk, which a lot of people poo-poo single family rentals because they're not necessarily super scalable and tons of different reasons. But for me, my business partner, I've kind of found a little niche in nice single family houses where we just get amazing tenants because in apartments, you tend to get a little bit lower quality tenant because it's an apartment. It's generally not a family and that type of stuff.

32:57Whereas if you go to a nice single family house in a nice area, good school district, we're getting amazing tenants. We have very, very few issues. They always pay rent on time. They're a family. They stay for a long time. It's awesome. And it's super low risk and we're able to get some really good returns. I'm the same as you. I like single family myself. I've been really reluctant to move up into multifamily or anything like that for exactly those reasons, because I kind of have a sweet spot of just getting a nice B-class property with good schools around, a neighborhood that where you could feel safe walking around at night, just kind of feels right.

33:28And so for me, that's my sweet spot. And it sounds like you've got a pretty similar sweet spot as well. And I found too that with that sweet spot, I'm getting less repairs from tenants, I'm getting less vacancies. And so I can kind of run my numbers a little better and increase my cashflow with that. Let's take a quick break and hear from today's sponsors. Hey, it's Sean O'Malley, just popping in with a quick message. If you like this podcast, well, I've got great news for you. We've got a handful of other shows for you to explore, from learning about Bitcoin to embracing a richer, wiser, happier lifestyle.

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37:00That's theinvestorspodcast.com slash tip-finance. All right, back to the show. You talk about this concept of silent killers in regard to personal finance. Tell us a bit about this concept. That really goes back to mindless spending. There's so many people, and one of the silent killers they talk about is spending money while at work. And I see it all the time where people will be at work and maybe it's not a necessity or just because they forgot, but they're going to the vending machine or the food truck two to three times during the day. And they don't realize they're spending 10, 11,$12 on that when if they brought their stuff from home, they'd be spending about$2.

37:41If you're making$20 an hour and you're spending 10 to$15 per day at the food truck or the vending machine or somewhere else, you've immediately cut your wage, your after-tax wages. So you're not making$20 an hour anymore. You're making more like$16,$17 an hour. So you're creating a self-inflicted pay cut, probably without knowing that. And so if you just took a little extra time and were more intentional, I think that you can find snacks from home or drinks from home that are just as good as going down to the vending machine. I've heard the argument too that, well, that's how I get my break. And that's what I want to do to relax and get away from the desk.

38:14And I think you can still do that. You can still walk down to the machine and just not buy it. you can go take a break, you can get away from your desk. You don't have to go buy things to take a break. Thankfully for me, when we think about value-based spending, one of the things I don't value is food. And it's funny because a lot of my friends and family do. I personally don't. I like eating a nice, healthy meal and generally try not to eat crappy food, but I don't really care what it is. It could be cheap, nice, healthy, whatever. It's just not something I value where I value other things. So for me, work, I actually just retired from the corporate world two weeks ago.

38:46So I don't have to worry about this now, but almost my whole corporate career, I never bought meals really, very, very infrequently. And I always brought food, but I'd always see my peers and my colleagues, a lot of them were buying food. And I'm just like, man, that's a lot of money every week. I'd run the numbers and be like, man, if I did that, my sub every day is 10, 12 bucks a day. Chipotle is 12 bucks a day, five days a week, you're at 60 bucks times four weeks, you're at 250 bucks a month. I'm like, so for me, it's just like, it wasn't something I valued. I just thankfully never fell in that trap, but I know you call it a silent killer.

39:16I know firsthand that it is for a lot of people. Yeah. And I had experienced that because I'm the same as you. I've always just brought my food in. That's been fine. But I witnessed someone who was doing this firsthand. And what he was doing is every day, he would almost literally complain about having no money four or five times a week. And I would watch him. And every day I talked to him, he'd have a coffee in his hands and he'd have a pastry from the coffee shop. I'm just kind of doing the math in my head. I'm like, I think that's six or seven bucks he's talking about. He's complaining about his money situation.

39:42And then a couple of months later, he comes up in a new car that's completely financed. And I was thinking, and I didn't say it to him, I was like, weren't you just complaining about money? And so that kind of inspired me to write that portion of the chapter. Robert Leonard I've spent a bit of time talking about cars, and we have today, and the impact they have on someone's wealth. I actually had a great in-depth conversation with Jeremy Schneider back on episode 78 about this. But as always, is I'd love to hear other guests' opinions on the same topic. It gives both myself and the audience a potentially different viewpoint or speaks to us in a different way that makes it actually click.

40:18Sometimes you hear something doesn't quite click from somebody, and then you hear the same thing from somebody else, and it clicks. So I like to talk about the same concept from different people's viewpoint. What is the shocking cost of cars? And what are the myths of car loans? So the shocking cost to cars is a car is just not what you bought it for. I think people completely forget about depreciation of the vehicle. So if you buy a car for, let's say, $20 ,000, right after you drive it off the lot, you're losing it since like 5 % to 10 % of the value. In that first year alone, you're losing about 20 % of the value.

40:50So you're losing money on that. And that car is not an asset. It's a liability. It's something that's going to get you from point A to point B. And a car to me, if you really value a car and you want that leather interior, you want the speed, you want everything that comes with a nice car, go ahead and get it. But just realize what you're paying for. Whereas I think a lot of people buy a car and they're not really paying attention to that fact. So it's kind of mindless. That's one of the hidden costs. And also too, we've got insurance. I ran the numbers on a really popular SUV from 2017, 2018.

41:19And I calculated that over the course of five years, that car with depreciation fuel cost insurance cost someone$55 ,000 and$55 ,000 invested over a 30-year period. You're in the millions of dollars at that point. So that's one of those shocking costs. I was stunned by it. I knew that cars were expensive, but I didn't know just how expensive. And then going into the myth of car loans, I'm not sure how this whole myth got started. I think it was started by the car companies and with advertisements, but it seems like it was just kind of inherently thought about that when you buy a car, you get a car loan.

41:52Whether you're 18 years old or 20 years old or 60 years old, you get a loan, that's what you do. I think it doesn't occur to a lot of people to pay cash for a car or just pay right out of pocket. And so that's to me the myth of the car loan. When I tell people that I pay cash for my cars, they're like, well, how do you do that? Why do you do that? Because they just think that's what you're supposed to do. And I was having a conversation with someone the other day too. And she was saying, out of college, I just thought I was supposed to have a loan. I didn't really know better, but my next car, I'm actually going pay cash for.

42:19And I just think these myths were really just started by the car company to get you to pay a little bit more. Because I think if someone's got$5 ,000,$6 ,000, yeah, they can pay cash for a car and it's not going to be as nice. But if they're able to buy a car for$25 ,000 and finance it, that's a lot more appealing than buying that$5 ,000 or$6 ,000 car. In your situation, it sounds like you really highly value cars and you know finance, you know what you're doing. And so you're optimizing those payments and optimizing your purchase. Whereas the audience that I'm really trying to target is people who don't understand that piece and just get a car on because they thought that's what they're supposed to do and everyone else does it and that's what you do.

42:57Yeah. I do value cars. That's again, going back to value-based spending. One of the things I value are things with motors. I race dirt bikes. That's probably where I spend the majority of my money. Ever since I was probably, I don't know, 14, I've had a picture of a Lamborghini on my wall, Not because I don't care what that symbol means to other people. For me, it's the performance and the quality of that car that is just amazing. And I'm 26 now, so 12 years I've loved Ferraris, Lamborghinis, that type of car. And one day I want to own one. But I think your point is great in that for people who don't value it, or again, going back to my student loan hacking example, So I got a car loan once.

43:35It was 0.74 % interest. The rate was 1.24 % to everyday people. And because I worked at the bank, I got a 0.5 % discount. So I just said to myself, how can I not finance this money at 0.74 %? And so for me, again, like you said, I tend to optimize things. So I'll take that money that I could have paid cash for the car with, and I'll invest it in something that provides return, that pays for the car itself. Where I think people fall into trouble is that they would, in that strategy, if they had cash to buy the car, rather than buying an asset to pay for the car and then financing it, they would spend the cash on something else that doesn't produce any cashflow and they go on a vacation or whatever, and then finance the car.

44:15So they're hurting themselves in two different ways. Yeah. I think you hit the nail on the head because you are consciously doing that and you actually took the money that you saved and you purchased an income producing asset. Whereas you're exactly right. Other people are taking that money they saved and they're buying something else. That's where you get into that spiral of debt. So I think it's a lot different for you versus myself back when I was in my 20s. I didn't know that stuff like you did. And I wish I did because I think I'd be a lot further ahead right now. Well, even for me, when I was starting, I didn't know any better.

44:43I made those same mistakes. I got car loans for cars that I couldn't afford. I didn't know any better at the time either. So I've definitely been there. I like to think that I'm past that now, but I definitely have been there. You mentioned the car company is bringing it up, but I think that's definitely a piece of it. You see those commercials all the time where 0 % financing or this or that, they always have promotions around financing. So I think that's a big piece. But the other piece, I think, goes back to our conversation about keeping up with the Joneses. And you see the Joneses driving a nice 2018 SUV, whatever it is, a nice car.

45:12And you think to yourself, well, if I finance this, I could drive that same car. Whereas if I pay cash, I'm going to drive a 2010, not going to have all bells and whistles, and it's not going to look very nice. So I'm not keeping up with the Joneses. And then I think it's a cycle from there. Once you finance a car, it's hard to get out. It is. I agree. And I think conversely too, once you get out of that cycle and once you're aware of it, it's fairly easy to stay out of the cycle. As you said, you have to make that choice and figure out where you're going to be in that. They're both self-fulfilling.

45:39They really are. If you're financing it, it's hard to get out of that because you have the loan payment. And then because you have the loan payment, most people can't really save a lot of money on top of that. So then when you get to the end of your loan, maybe your car is a little bit older and you may need a new car soon. And so you haven't had time to save up money to pay cash for the next car. And so then what do you have to do? You have to finance it. And then if you pay cash, you can save up cash every month because you don't have a monthly payment. And then you can pay cash for your next car and your next car and your next car and so on and so forth.

46:04So they really are both self-fulfilling. Exactly. I'm just agreeing with you. That's the cycle. And I think car companies know that, that after five, six years, the car's not as cool anymore. And that's usually the terms of a loan too. So once that loan's paid off, there's that temptation there again, where you see your neighbor driving that nice newer car that's maybe brand new or a year or two old. You're like, well, my payments are done. My car is six or seven years old. I'm getting a new one and I'm going to finance it again. I would say probably most people don't even get to the end of their loan before they get a new car.

46:34Two, three years old. I know for me, when I first started, got my first car loan, I lasted maybe a year, maybe two years. And that's where the negative equity came in because I was like, oh, I need a new car. I'll just go finance it. And then I rolled the negative equity in. And then I think a lot of people probably fall into that trap because cars are one of those things where everything looks great until you have it. And then you have it and the novelty goes away really quick. And cars is one of those things if you're not passionate about them. Yeah, I 100 % agree. It's so easy to do. And I think there's a term for that, it's the hedonic adaptation.

47:02So that's basically your levels of happiness return back to their baseline shortly within a purchase. So your example there of six, seven months after the car, it's no longer that awesome car that you love how fast it goes in the leather seats. It's like just the same old car that's getting you to and from work. And so we have a way of returning to our baseline. And then we want to get new things to get those endorphins going again and get that excitement of a new car. Exactly. And when we get that new car, to get those endorphins, it has to be better than what we're driving. Otherwise, it's not going to do anything for us.

47:32And that likely comes with a more expensive car. And there goes that cycle again. Like I've said a couple times throughout the show, the majority of the audience is millennials. Definitely not all of them. I've had some people reach out that say, hey, I'm not a millennial, but I really enjoy your show. So definitely not all, but I'd say the majority are. That being said, not everyone is married yet, but a lot of people are probably thinking about marriage or even just thinking about how they're going to manage money with their boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever their situation is. You talk about how your most important money partner is your significant other.

48:04Why is that? How can we be successful managing money with our partner rather than adding to the statistic that says money is the leading cause of divorce? Yeah, it really is money. Those money fights are just such a huge component. And so when I say that is if you look at what your goals are, and if your goals are to save some money, buy some income producing real estate or some stocks or other type of investment, and then you meet someone who you love and they're great, but their goal is really to consume, you're pretty far off base. So you're like a level 10 and your partner might be at a level one or two.

48:36And it's really hard to go meet in the middle because you're both pretty far away. And so that's why I think it's so critical to identify that early in a relationship. And I'm not saying like on the first date, you say, hey, so what are your money goals? That's not it at all. But once you get serious, I think it's really important to have those conversations because when you do get in a serious relationship or you're married, your finances, whether you like it or not, and as much as you try to keep them separate, they are together. So if your partner is totally incongruent with what you're doing, eat away at you and kind of erupt.

49:05I'm very lucky myself. I've been married seven years now and my wife's kind of on the same page as me. She's never been into debt or anything like that. And so it's just super important to have that partner who's on the right track. It's really going to propel your finances forward. Whereas if you don't have it, it's going to hold you back. You're going to have arguments. You're not going to be on the same page. And I think it's going to be uncomfortable for you. And I know that you had decided that money's the leading cause of divorce. And I think, yeah, it's those money arguments. They're real, they're big, they're emotional, they're impactful, and it can really damage a relationship.

49:34Robert Leonard Back on episode 88, I had Aaron Lowry on the show, and we talked about this concept of managing relationships and the dynamic of money for probably an hour, maybe even longer. And it was a great episode. For me, it really, really was insightful. So for anybody listening that's interested in diving into this concept of how do we manage money with not only our partner, but siblings or parents or just any relationship with people that we have that includes money, I highly recommend you go back and check out episode number 88 with Erin Lowry. Yeah, she's great. I think she has a book out as well, right?

50:07Yeah. So she has a three-part series, Broke Millennials. And the third book most recently was about all the different relationships we have with people with money. Knowing what you know now about personal finance, what would have really jump-started your wealth building if you had known it when you were just starting out? I think of two things I would really point my finger at is my mindset. And I mentioned it earlier in the show, but my mindset was so flawed in just thinking that investing was for rich people that I was telling myself that I could not do it. And so I wasn't out looking for it at all.

50:38That was such a huge part because I was satisfied living the paycheck to paycheck. I didn't know any better. I wasn't trying to improve myself or get better. Once I realized that didn't have to be the case, my finances just improved exponentially as did my life. And then the other big thing I would look back at is I wish I would have bought more real estate when I was younger, especially when the market crashed back in that 08, 09 time period. That was just like a goldmine to buy more properties. I had bought one property at that time to live in, but if I would have bought more, gosh, my finances would have been in a much, much better spot.

51:10Aaron, thanks for joining me on the show today. For those listening that want to connect with you after the show, where's the best place for them to go? The best place is cashuncomplicated.com. There you can find my blog. You can look to buy my book. So those are the best places. And please, I've got a spot where you can email me. Please reach out. I love to answer questions and hear about what your money mindset is and some of your successes and some of your challenges too. So please reach out. Robert Leonard I will put a link to different ways you can contact Aaron below in the show notes, as well as some of his resources.

51:41Aaron, thanks so much for joining me. Aaron Leonard Thanks so much, Robert. Appreciate it. Robert Leonard All right, guys. That's all I had for this week's episode of Millennial Investing. I'll see you again next week.

52:03billionaires and the financial markets. To access our show notes, transcripts or courses, go to theinvestorspodcast.com. This show is for entertainment purposes only. Before making any decision, consult a professional. This show is copyrighted by the Investors Podcast Network. Written permission must be granted before syndication or rebroadcasting.

From the publisher

On today’s rewind episode, Robert Leonards chats with Aaron Nannini about ways to wisely manage your money and the importance of having a proper mindset for wealth-building. After struggling with money in his twenties and being sick of living paycheck-to-paycheck, Aaron started educating himself on personal finance.
Aaron is now the founder of CashUncomplicated.com, a personal finance website that teaches people how to achieve financial success through implementing basic and uncomplicated principles such as life goals, daily habits, intentional money decisions, and a value-based spending mindset.

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN
00:00 - Intro
03:06 - Why behavior and mindset are so important when it comes to money.
04:42 - What value-based spending is and how it can help with balancing the YOLO and future-thinking mindsets.  
06:07 - What “keeping up with the Joneses” means and why you shouldn’t do it.
10:57 - How to fight back against lifestyle creep.
12:53 - How to avoid or get out of the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle.
18:16 - What the difference is between bad debt and good debt.
18:16 - How to get out of bad debt and leverage good debt.
22:37 - If one should use or avoid credit cards and how to appropriately use them.
34:08 - What silent killers are in terms of money.
40:54 - What the shocking cost of cars is and the myths of car loans.
48:25 - How to successfully manage money with one’s partner and avoid divorce. 
And much, much more!

*Disclaimer: Slight timestamp discrepancies may occur due to podcast platform differences.

BOOKS AND RESOURCES

Join the exclusive TIP Mastermind Community to engage in meaningful stock investing discussions with Kyle and the other community members.

Recommended Book: Cash Uncomplicated by Aaron Nannini.

Recommended Book: The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William Danko.

Recommended Book: I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi.

Recommended Book: Broke Millennial by Erin Lowry.

Recommended Book: The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason.

Check out the books mentioned in the podcast here.

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