AAR40 - From Navigating Debt to Long-Term Wealth with Stephen Morris

0:00Stephen Morris:And people think like day trading is sexy and swing trading and all that stuff. It's not. It's so stressful, man. Like it is nothing but a bucket of stress. And I don't want to be stressed out about my investments. I just want to chill. So that's the biggest lesson I've learned that has moved the needle for me is just relax. It's okay. We've done our research. We know what we're talking about. Andrew is not stupid and, you know, we're going to be okay. This show is sponsored by Liquid IV. As we finally transition out of the indoor hibernation and start spending more time outside, staying hydrated is huge.

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4:13Evan Raidt:welcome back my name is evan ray we are here as always to help you make sustainable financial changes without breaking any sweat and today i'd like to welcome a new face at least to to this podcast to this series not to me but to you guys for this series steven morris i want to welcome he's a new host of the or new co-host of the investing for beginners podcast the main show and i'm excited to welcome over here and kind of hear some of his personal finance background and get some of his takes and angles and introduce him and his values

4:40Stephen Morris:how are you doing today steven i'm fantastic how are you i am doing even more fantastic but i'm

4:46Evan Raidt:going to start off with the question that i i know you already know what's coming now you're already aware of this question but i'm gonna ask you want me to ask it for you go ahead and ask

4:53Stephen Morris:it for me go ahead and introduce it for me so steven yes sir uh what is oh crap no you don't

5:02Evan Raidt:even know you think you know but you don't know you don't have you hang on it's coming it's like

5:07Stephen Morris:right on the tip of my tongue it is uh steven just run me real quick through when you had like your first real financial awakening it's so weird to do with you like talking to yourself but um but no it's a very interesting question and i always loved when you do it to random people but kind asking me it kind of sucks um because mine is kind of sad um my financial awakening came when i was like seven eight years old um and just my parents were in the um and i don't think i'm talking bad about my parents i have amazing parents um but during that time they weren't the most uh frugal if you want to say and just massive amounts of credit card debt um just living way outside of their means um and i got to experience firsthand what that felt like um and from a little kid like that was pretty pretty not good so i didn't even have my first credit card until i was 32 yeah and that was a government credit credit card but it still went on my credit report but it was a government credit travel card so i didn't even have a choice in the matter like i had to have it and so um that was my yeah a company credit card or a government travel card it was my very first credit card so um i've avoided debt like the plague most in my life um and i still do quite a bit to this day but um that taught me pretty early on like don't be stupid because stupid hurts really really bad yeah that definitely makes sense

7:00Evan Raidt:obviously it's a lot earlier than than a lot of people for better or for worse are introduced to those kinds of concepts and frankly that kind of financial trauma and what that what that feels like but how do you think that first off the obvious question how do you think that impacted your long-term financial view but i'm also specifically interested in how do you think you viewed that financial trauma at the time versus how you view it looking back on it now with a completely different lens so um my parents like they did a very good job like i didn't have like food scarcity fear or anything like that um they they did a very good job making sure i was taking

7:41Stephen Morris:care of uh needs not necessarily wants um so i i guess i never even really looked at it as trauma i just looked at it as just a valuable lesson that i i got to observe that i didn't you know have to make the mistake to see it um i guess now like knowing like childhood trauma stuff like that all the research that's been done sure i guess it affected me quite a bit but um as far as like investing and things like that whenever i got into the military and one of my favorite stories to tell is i re-enlisted in the army in like 2008 ish and i got a huge uh bonus and it was like 20 grand or 40 i don't remember exactly but it was like 20 grand ish and um i was deployed at the time so it was tax-free so that 20 grand or whatever it was hit my bank account lump sum holy and And that same year or around that time, Tesla IPO.

8:58Stephen Morris:And so imagine if I had taken all that money and just dumped it into Tesla. Right. And so, but I wasn't that smart. Like, and that, like, I, like I was telling my wife, it's like, you know, Katya, like Evan pisses me off. And she, she was like, why? I was like, he's like 24. and he knows all this whatever he is so far ahead of me where I was when I was his age it's not fair it's not cool I wish I was that wise but no it's one good on you I'm so proud of you that you are where you are and I know it's been a ton of work on your end but yeah that wasn't me when I was 27 I promise you that um and so you know i i didn't really start even caring about investing until i got into into the real world because i mean in the military like you don't have bills like like i have my cell phone and internet and i think that was my only bill like or my only two bills um uh you know i i to this day i still drive the jeep i bought brand new when i turned 18 um it's a 2001 jeep wrangler sport um sitting in my driveway now um so i mean just things like that like i i'm very much one that will do without unless i absolutely need it um i can wear a like you've seen my hoodies like i wear them until they fall apart man like i don't care um i find what i like i stick with it and so i'm pretty sure like that whole mentality of i don't need it i'm not gonna buy it comes from all that um definitely early on in my younger years though the the the uh i don't know how to say this the uh uh if i made it i spit and i didn't care about saving anything so yeah i'd say my second financial awakening awakening came about when i was about 37 and i realized like i need i need to do something better than what what i've been doing and uh so then i got into dave ramsey not my thing um while i agree like for a lot of people debt is really bad just because they don't have the discipline for it um and i know you like you you talk and try to guide people through the proper way to use a credit card which is great if if you have the discipline for all that good on you man but i think also you need to have the self-awareness to know am i disciplined because if i if i'm not disciplined at all then i'm just going to dig myself in a hole that i can't get out of then i'm going to have to file bankruptcy then i'm not going to be able to find a place to live for you know and it's just this snowball of of not good and so while i don't entirely agree with dave ramsey like i don't know and again no shade at him and what he does he does great things he saves i mean he's probably saved people's lives with some of the his teachings i it's hard telling but um i'm it's like fear-mongering almost to me and i don't i don't like that um so i do i do have company credit cards now i still don't have a personal credit card um but i do have company credit cards that i use for that stuff and um you know i'm not scared of going into debt if it's like you say smart you know if i'm gonna buy a house um don't really like going in debt to buy a car um but my wife has expensive taste so

12:59Stephen Morris:but i mean this is what's most important yeah and i mean and i think you know in one of your episodes you said something that really stuck with me and that was uh you know what what's the point if you're miserable and so i was like man you know you know i you could be dry i love my jeep so i'm not miserable but if it was you know i've also taken very good care of it and if it was just a rundown beater that i was always having trouble with making my life hard making my life miserable yeah no that wouldn't be worth not going into debt like the the cost of my happiness definitely isn't worth that and i really appreciated that message from you um so yeah i guess i'm still having my financial awakening which i guess is kind of embarrassing to admit seeing how I'm 40 and you're like 22.

13:54Stephen Morris:So.

13:55Evan Raidt:We'll round. We'll round. I don't think there's anything wrong with that whatsoever. Of course, inarguably, it would always be better to start earlier than later. Of course, that always the math is going to work out that way. But I think that if we really looked at the numbers of how many people never have that awakening or have that awakening, you know, all the way in retirement when they're, when they try to retire and realize they can't, or they're retired for two years and have to go back to work that happens to a ton, a ton of people. And so having an awakening 20 years before retirement is still way, way ahead of what happens to a lot of other people.

14:31Evan Raidt:But I want to go back to what I think is the most obvious question based on everything you just said, which is, where do you think the stigma against Jeeps comes from? I've never had one, but I hear horrible things about Jeeps and their upkeep and never being able to stay on the road from practically everybody that I know.

14:50Stephen Morris:You need better friends then. What? Like, my, dude.

14:59Evan Raidt:Can't argue with that.

15:01Stephen Morris:I've had to, I had to put a transmission in my Jeep and that was just because I was young and stupid. Um, I had to put a water pump in my Jeep. That sucked.

15:15Stephen Morris:Other than that. And that's it? Other than just basic maintenance.

15:20Evan Raidt:Mm-hmm.

15:20Stephen Morris:no my jeep's mine man it's traveled the world well it's all data points i guess i got a good data point now so i like positive data points now i will say like the the the uh the newer jeeps so the jeeps around 2005 2006 they switched engines from the inline six which is a gas guzzling machine it's a bulletproof engine but it drinks some gas to a more economic v6 and that engine just sucks um so i mean maybe that's the jeeps you're hearing that suck because i agree those aren't the best but um i don't know my jeep my jeep's bulletproof man well next time somebody

16:04Evan Raidt:complains about i'm gonna ask was it a v6 or an inline six and that'll probably give me my answer and give me more data for my data points and i'll have to keep that in a spreadsheet since you know me but anyways back to the back to financial topics um because of this financial history and the more or less, we'll say, later start that you got in finance and focusing on finance and trying to take greater strides. How do you think that impacts the kinds of financial values and investing values that you want to bring to the Investing for Beginners podcast? So, I mean, you've heard my tick, I guess we could call it.

16:46Stephen Morris:And that is one of the things I hate more than anything in this world are bullies. I don't like bullies. And to me, the, the, the wall street is just, to me, it's just a giant bully. They make all these terms, super complex. They make all these data points seem super complex. But when you get down to the nuts and bolts and you understand what a put in the call are then or an option or whatever you're you're looking at is not that complicated and that that's that's what my passion behind this whole thing is that i want here i'll explain it this way part of the reason i got such a late start on like investing in things is that my dad doesn't understand wall street right so he while he did teach me the finer points of budgeting you know balancing your bank account things like that he never taught me about compound interest wall street stuff like that and so um to him the stock market is the same as las vegas and so it wasn't until my adulthood when i started researching learning myself that i realized like that is the furthest thing from the truth but i still feel like that stigma is very very present in a lot of americans minds today that you might as well take your money go buy a powerball ticket or go to vegas and play some craps or whatever and you're just as likely to win and that that's that is so far from the freaking truth and the reason people think that is just because you know wall street you know the people the powers that be make it seem way more complicated than it is and it is my lifelong goal to crush that and get as many americans as i can understand that they can be wealthy they may not be you know uh elon wealthy or gates wealthy or or bezos wealthy but they they can by all stretches of the measure be wealthy and have a good life.

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21:37Evan Raidt:It's available for our value spotlight members. If you want to see the thesis, we're doing a 60 % discount for now, but I'm pulling the deal once the stock hits$45. Check it out at einvestingforbeginners.com slash 60. Speaking of wealth for you personally, if you don't mind me asking, what does wealth look like for you? What does, you know, kind of the realm of, it doesn't have to be specifically for financial freedom, but what does that kind of a life look for you? You don't have to give a number or anything but what does that kind of life and those why's look like for you i wouldn't make

22:11Stephen Morris:an austin powers joke but i'm going to guess that you've never seen it never just never seen austin powers and that's probably going to piss off a lot of people but i can't change the history one million dollars i've only seen that meme yeah i'm sure you have but you got to watch the movies man they're great there's too many if i watched every movie every time somebody said oh you need to watch blank i'd never be able to watch anything else whatever anyway um i just hear excuses now but uh no wealth to me is freedom wealth is not a specific number it is you know steven and katya want to go do this so they go do that or i don't want to work for six months so i don't work for six months or whatever the case may be it's i can come and go as i please that's that's the main reason i i became an entrepreneur is i wrongfully thought that that would give me a total control of my schedule um that was a very very bad misconception on my part a bit off yeah a pit but but i do love what i do and so you know if you love what you do you never work a day in your life so um that that's what wealth is to me it's it's freedom it's security it's it's i can just go do what i want when i want and not have to worry about you know am i going to be able to pay my mortgage this month is my wife going to have to do without does she feel financially secure um i guess that's probably the the most important thing is does she feel financially secure um and is she comfortable and as long as the answer to that is yes then i consider myself

24:09Evan Raidt:willing yeah that's beautiful i think that's one of the aspects that people it's so easy to miss is you say, okay, what does a perfect life look like for you financially? And instantly people think of just jetting off anywhere and buying luxury cars and luxury houses and having multiple houses and always having the newest phone. We just always think of these materialistic things that, while that would be fun and cool and whatever it is, that wouldn't bring nearly as much meaning to your life as just core happiness, quote unquote, plain, basic happiness. and including people around you in that happiness.

24:48Evan Raidt:I think that's the most beautiful version of it.

24:51Stephen Morris:Yeah, absolutely. And to the people that think that owning multiple houses is fun, it's not.

25:02Evan Raidt:So check that off the wise. We don't need that one.

25:05Stephen Morris:It sucks. At least I don't, I guess I'm not wealthy enough to hire somebody, but to manage it for me. but um it's it's not worth it in my opinion um my wife and i are going to be moving to north carolina and then uh you know then we'll just have one place and i'll be happy heck yeah heck

25:30Evan Raidt:yeah so i got one last one last question for you what do you what lately i guess lately could be you know within the last five years or something like that what financial or investing related habit or you know um focus have you changed that's been the biggest needle mover for you if anything comes to mind hmm so that's interesting because andrew and i just recorded the 10