The 5-Phase Plan to Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck | Anthony O’Neal

27:51No, no, no, no, no. You can have freedom off of$50 ,000. You just got to know the right strategy and the right system to put into place. And from$50 ,000 to$60 ,000 to whatever that is, you can have freedom. And that's where I'm at, is I have freedom.

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30:27Lewis Howes:As a loyal listener of this show, you're always challenging yourself to grow, to be better, to keep learning, and Southern New Hampshire University can help. Southern New Hampshire University offers over 200 career-focused degree programs online. Plus, Southern New New Hampshire University has some of the lowest online tuition rates in the U.S., so balancing school, work, and life actually feels achievable and affordable, too. Find your degree at snhu.edu slash greatness. That's snhu.edu slash greatness. There's actually a lot of wealthy people who aren't free. Facts. They have all the money in the world, but they are struggling.

31:04Lewis Howes:Now, there are also wealthy people who are free. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. You know what I mean? Yes, sir. that can they do what they want to do they say what they want to say they're around the people they want to do so i'm not saying having money makes you trapped but there are a lot of people that are have a lot of money and they have a lot more stress or responsibilities that they don't know how to navigate emotionally or mentally and therefore it just causes more problems for them i'm not saying everyone but i'm saying there are people and if you don't understand how to navigate money and how much expense things cost having money like when you have money things cost more yes sir even if you don't buy a lot more stuff there's just fees and expenses and taxes and you know you don't put your hand in your head because you know the pain of paying taxes on the money the harder money you make and just seeing multiple six figures seven figures gone Gone.

32:02Lewis Howes:And you're like, I just spent six months of my life to give this much money to the government or to the state or to whoever. And you have to navigate that in your mind. You have to. I spent how much sleepless nights, how much effort, how much work building something where almost half of it goes to a government that I don't know where the money's going to. And if they're putting, if they're stewarding it, there's a hundred percent chance that they're not stewarding it 100 % well. Facts. And so you have to live with that. Yep. And you get to live. It's a blessing to live with that. But if you don't know how to navigate that, first few years for me, I was angry.

32:40Lewis Howes:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I started making more money. And I was like, man, half of my year just goes towards paying the government. Yes. And then paying for this fee and then paying for this tax and then just housing the money somewhere costs money. You're just like, what? Yes. Where's all my money going? There's a cost to everything. Everything, man. it's like where'd all the money go right right no and so it's learning how to navigate the levels of money that come to you and listen it's hard when i was broke on my sister's couch that was hard yeah it was hard having no money and not being able to mentally emotionally spiritually pay for things and navigating that that's it it was hard paying my first rent yeah 400 a month i was like where am i going to get the money to pay for this rent month after month that was hard Yeah.

33:23Lewis Howes:There's different levels. Yes. Right. And learning how to navigate it. That's why I wanted to talk about what does it mean to be a good steward of money? And how do we know we've graduated spiritually, emotionally, psychologically with the amount of money we have that we're ready for next levels of wealth? If I was to sit down with someone and someone asked me, am I a good steward with money? My answers will be based around this. Can you tell me where you are financially? that lets me know you're a good steward because if you don't know where you are financially then you can never get better so do you know i suck with money in this area or do you know i actually do pretty good with money in this area so i know my strengths when it comes to money and i know my my weaknesses when it comes to money but i'll also lewis can tell you the last time i I spent a dollar and 50 cents because I'm tracking every single thing that I spent.

34:21Now that's just me because I'm in the money space. I don't know if somebody needs to track every single dollar the way that I do, but it's like, for me, I can tell you if I spent 55 cents, because that's just how, how I am. Cause I'm very anal about getting to my goal and, and I know every dollar, every penny that it can get me closer. It can take me away. So for me, how you know you're getting really good with finances is number one, Do you have a solid, clear vision that is aligned with a good budget? Then from there is what is the system and strategy that you're following? I've never met a millionaire who said, I woke up the next day and I made a million dollars.

34:58And then I just, I have no system and strategy. I just, I just, I just make money. Every person. And when I say this, every net worth millionaire, when I say net worth, I'm talking about someone who may make$80 ,000 a year, but they have a portfolio of a million dollars. They follow some strategy to get there, whether that's the 401k strategy combined with the IRA strategy, combined with a couple of index fund strategy, combined with, you know, real estate strategy. No matter what it is, everyone follows a strategy. And then, you know, you need to upgrade is when they start when you can look at your income and feel like, hey, you know what?

35:34This is too much for me to manage. So, for example, when it comes to me and I still you've graduated. I haven't graduated yet. I still get upset.

35:46Lewis Howes:I get upset for a couple of days, but then I'm like, okay. But it used to be months. I'd hold on to like, I can't believe I just, all the money I had saved on my bank, gone, down to zero. It's like, how is that even possible? But you know what I did? You know what I started doing about five years ago? It was, I hired a CPA firm that in the first three months of the year, they go through a tax strategy. So now I'm only upset like you for a week because I know what's coming. Right. And I think that's also good stewardship because we also know that the tax laws are not written for the average person is written for, you know, the person who are making the entrepreneur, the small business owner.

36:26So it was like now that's also a level of good stewardship. Do you have a tax strategist who can sit down with you and help you come up with a game plan on how to pay the IRS less legally, ethically, morally, and for me spiritually to where I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm doing it all for those correctly to where my tax bill may go from 48 % down to maybe, maybe 32, 28%, but legally, ethically, morally, and spiritually. And so I love that because now when I have my tax strategy meetings, are you hiring anybody? Are you buying any real estate? Are you buying any new equipment? How much do you project to make this year?

37:04They asked me so many different questions. And then we sit down and say, okay, this is the strategy on how to move forward for the rest of 2026. That's good stewardship. Because if I can keep some of that money from the IRS and maybe donate that to other single mothers, we're starting a brand new school in Ghana, in Accra, Ghana. So we was able to save some of that money and use that money to go towards school. I've been to Accra.

37:29Lewis Howes:Oh, you have? I built a school in Ghana as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's cool there. It's cool. It's a different world, man. It is. It is. I mean, I stood out for sure. Great place. I loved it. Good energy there. Yeah. And so phase three, we're talking about in the book, you talk about building a savings cushion of at least three to six months of take-home pay, which is something you've already mentioned before. Yep. And a lot of people think that that is impossible on the amount of income that they currently make. I'm like, how am I going to get three to six months? But what is the mindset shift that someone has to take or make before that can follow?

38:05Lewis Howes:Or the habit they have to change before that can follow? No, it's not difficult at all. When people tell me it's difficult to set aside three to six months of your income, let me see your lifestyle. How much car do you have? Yeah. You don't need two cars. Right. Get rid of one of them. And you don't need - Ride a bike for a year. You don't need the$50 ,000 car that you purchase. Right, no. Get a used car. Get a used car. When I moved to LA, I had, I kid you not, man. And I was a millionaire when I moved to LA. When I moved to LA, I bought a$5 ,000 used car. Facts. And I rode it for five years.

38:34Wow.

38:35Lewis Howes:I did not need, I didn't have radio. Now, this was probably too extreme. I didn't have radio. I didn't have Bluetooth. Too extreme. Yeah. But I was comfortable in it. It got me from A to B. Yeah. It was reliable. It just didn't need, it wasn't new. And it was okay. And I was fine with it. it was a 19 it was 1997 cadillac el dorado burrito two door two door and it was cool man i was like all right this is nice like it felt like grandpa car you know the the bucket seats and i was like all right cool no radio no no the acd stopped working after six months so i'm like windows down yes you know i'm rolling windows down all these things but the engine worked it works it got me around and i didn't need to be in something so nice or brand new for those first five years i was more, I cared more about investing my money, saving my money, reinvesting in my business to help my money work for me.

39:28Lewis Howes:Yes. And so now I have a new car and it's fine, but it was more for a tax write-off. Yes. It was like, okay, what can I do to buy a car to benefit my business as a tax write-off? But five years, I didn't need anything fancy. No. And I paid it off right away, five grand, and I wrote it for five years, a thousand bucks a year. Yeah. Except for gas. But how much money did you save yourself? That's the question. How much money did I save? Oh yeah. I don't know. If I would have bought a new car for 50 to a hundred grand, I saved a lot of money and the insurance was cheaper and all these different things.

40:00Lewis Howes:So save a lot of money. I believe that the greatest enemy to our financial success is our excuses. That if we keep saying, I can't, I can't, I can't, what you're saying you can't to you're, you're doing it somewhere else that is not valuable. And so I'm the same way as you, man. my friends they used to crack jokes on me because you know they'll come over to my house man this is not a house that a o should be living in i'm like well what's the house i should be living in like i literally just moved into probably the house quote unquote they say i should have been living in just a few weeks ago but the average house i was living in a normal family home and i'm like man i have goals i have dreams i don't want to be 50 years old and i still have to be on YouTube teaching.

40:46I don't want to do that. I want to be in a position to where my money is creating more time for me to do the things that I love to do with the people I love to do. So when I do get married, when I do settle down and have kids, my money is paying over bills, not my time. And so if I don't come up with the right system in place and live way below my means, right? And I think this is where a lot of people get confused. People think they'll stop living paycheck to paycheck to make more money. You will stop living paycheck to paycheck and make more money when you have margin. Margin is your number one wealth building tool.

41:25Margin is your number one tool of getting out of paycheck to paycheck. If your income is up here, your expenses need to be down here in between. That's your margin. And that's what you play with to pay off your consumer debt. That's what you play with to invest more, to put money into real estate, to invest into your kid's future, to buy businesses, to buy stocks, whatever you want to do. But if you have no margin, you'll never get out of the trap. Yeah.

41:47Lewis Howes:My friend, I hope you're enjoying this episode. And the School of Greatness drops new conversations every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday around money, mindset, healing, manifestation, and relationships. And if you're not yet following the show, then you're missing all of them. Please tap the follow button right now, and you'll get notified the moment every new episode drops because the next one might be exactly what you need. Now, let's get back to the conversation. In business, there's no room for guesswork. Every shipment matters. Every deadline counts. When you're trying to keep operations running smoothly, the last thing you need is uncertainty.

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43:06Lewis Howes:Plus, Southern New Hampshire University has some of the lowest online tuition rates in the U.S., so balancing school, work, and life actually feels achievable and affordable, too. Find your degree at snhu.edu slash greatness. That's snhu.edu slash greatness. When I was living in Columbus, Ohio, and I had my first apartment, I was on my sister's couch for a year and a half living rent-free. Then I paid$250 a month for a room in my brother's house for about six to seven months. Then I finally moved out and I think it was paying, I can't remember if it was$400 or$495, but it was in the$400 range for an apartment.

43:46Lewis Howes:And after the business that I had, a business partner at that time, we did over a million dollars in sales, maybe a year and a half after this, right? And I was still living in this apartment. It was under$500 a month. At that time I had no car. So I was walking around everywhere. I had no TV and I was just focused and I was just stacking and saving and investing the money. And this is what you talk about in phase four is an investing with confidence. So your money starts working harder than you do. And a lot of people feel like investing is for people that are rich or that are wealthy or that they are, you know, at a different level of financial success and people who already have it figured out?

44:31Lewis Howes:Are they no money better than me? What does someone who is just getting started actually need to know to invest without feeling fear? Man, the very first thing is that you can invest with$5 into a fractional share. Do not focus on the amount. Focus on starting the habit. Let's go. That's it. Consistency, man. The system, the habit. The system and the habit. That's what told everybody, oh, I don't have a whole lot of money to invest. That's not the problem. The problem is you haven't even created the habit. You, you, you, you haven't even just started, just put$5 into a brokerage account. And then when you pay it again, put$5 into a brokerage account.

45:12And I promise you by this time next year, you will be putting more than$5. Oh yeah. He'd be like, Oh, that'd make me money. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And so that's what I told everyone. It's like, man, investing is not for the rich. The investing is for people who have access. and for me man i think there's there's in my book i talk about man you gotta invest anywhere between 15 to 25 percent of your income every single line the first 10 percent is if you are a in a christian faith community i think that is the best investment we can ever make 10 into the local church a lot of people say well why do i want to give to the church so the pastor can go buy a car so the pastor can go buy a house and that i don't care about none of that I believe that my word of God says, Hey, give, right.

45:59I'm just going to give. Now, if I know for a fact that it's going to the wrong place and I'm leaving the church. Yeah. Go somewhere else and go somewhere else. But until then I'm going to do, that's my very first investment. Because now what I'm saying, God, is I trust you more than I trust myself. Then after that, I'm putting 15 % into an investment portfolio that me and a financial advisor or me or in 2026, an app or AI has come up with where that's 401ks, mutual funds, index funds, ETFs, brokerage accounts, whatever you want to do, 529s, boom, I'm investing into that. And let's say you don't have 25%.

46:35Okay, cool. I need you to start wherever you do have. Not wherever, but with whatever you do have,$5,$10, buy fractional shares, get into the habit. And automate it. And automate it. Make it come out of your account every month. Yes. And what I'm telling people right now, we're living in this AI bone and tech bone. You need to be looking into companies and ETFs and index funds that have a lot of AI and tech companies inside of it. Because what I'm seeing right now, these companies, I know we all went after the, say, for example, NVIDIA. But what companies are helping NVIDIA make their chips? Start looking at the companies everyone's not talking about.

47:14because those are the companies that are secretly just blowing up behind closed doors right and so that's what i'm telling people just buy a five dollar fractional share of that company that creates the power plant for the chip or invest five dollars into this etf that creates um memory

47:32Lewis Howes:for ai because you can even do an a fund of ai stocks you don't have to think about individual ones as well. For sure. Yeah. And so, I mean, and I think that's the main thing too. And then also within that, I'm very big, Louis, on we got to start investing into our children's future. Have to. Whether he's just doing 1 % of the income, 5 % of the income a month, we got to start investing into our children's future so we can change the future and to change the future generations. Yeah. Well, phase five is something you talk about playing the long game which is paying off your home updating your estate plan yeah and creating generational wealth yeah and hopefully paying you know supporting your children leaving your children with something as well yeah and i'm of the mind of like uh you know now that i have kids i don't know if i want to give them everything because then are they going to be resourceful are they going to be creative and imaginative and you know are they going to develop their own talents to be able to steward things in life okay but it's figuring out you know what will i give them i don't know you know so we'll see i'm still kind of figuring this out well whatever you don't give them give it to me and i'll be giving something for sure but i don't know if it's like yeah and it's also like and i think in this process what i'm learning as i'm developing with my wife our our trust and our estate plan currently because we just got married a year a little over a year ago So we have been building this together and educating myself.

49:04Lewis Howes:And I think that phase five is really like educating yourself on these things as well. And I'm asking these questions with my tax attorneys, with my financial team and things like that. And asking them like, what do other wealthy families do that you've seen that have done well by investing in their kids? Or where you've seen hasn't really done well after one generation, two generations. So it's thinking long-term and kind of creating caveats. You know, if they're like getting into drugs and going to jail, maybe you don't get access to certain things. Or you get a certain amount to like support you on a, you know, a down payment for a home, but you're not getting the whole pot.

49:46Lewis Howes:You know, it's like, and it's creating these different layers of kind of passing down to your children. So I'm still learning about all this right now. No, and I think all of us are still learning. One of the things that I talk about in the book that I've learned from five of the wealthiest families that are in my life. One of them is a billionaire. The other ones are worth at least a half a billion dollars or more. All five of them do one thing that is that is totally in common. Every Christmas after Christmas, they all leave. All of them leave. I think two of them go up to Denver, Colorado, and they have a family board meeting.

50:28and when I was talking to each one of them I was like mate why is it so important and to come back with you my children will not get everything because prayerfully I leave before my my wife leaves so my wife would get the bulk of everything and then my children will get the rest but then within my estate with my wife and whenever we get married um wife will be first children will be next, my church would get a bulk as well of the money. And then my business would get a bulk of the money because I still want my business to still operate and move forward and bless people. And so one of the things that I've learned within this meeting is they're very strategic on making sure that their family is up to date on everything that's happening in the family.

51:16So they don't just go up there and just talk about what's in the, what's in the, the trust, the trust. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So much money we have. Yeah. They don't do that. I was shocked. Every family member has to sign an NDA and they go up there and they talk about, hey, we're struggling in our marriage and this is what we're struggling in. And now all the family is helping them get through that family struggle. The if they have kids, the kids are talking about they're asking questions. So the family comes together and they talk about the family business because the last name is what's carrying everybody.

51:53And so they're like, hey, we want to make sure that when we leave and they get our businesses, they get, you know, these millions and millions of dollars that we're going to be passing down to them. That not only do we know that we talk to them about finances, but we talk to them about their spiritual walk. We talk to them about their family, husband and wife issues. We've we've asked any health questions. So they ask, hey, how was your checkup this year? How are you doing from a medical perspective? Well, I just found I had colon cancer. okay so what are we doing about that as a family well if something was to happen to me this is what we're going to do we're going to have this date so everyone in the family is fully abreast of everything that's going on even down to the 10 year old the 10 year old knows what's going on with the family and i asked him i said well 10 year old don't know nothing but that's

52:40Lewis Howes:a problem they need to be learning i feel like as the youngest of four no one ever told me anything exactly you know it's like maybe maybe they did but that was my interpretation you know but i i would i'll hear stuff over the last 10 years i'd be like that really happened at this time like no one ever told me this they always kept me like secret because i was too young yeah and maybe you don't tell people ever all the like oh you know this happened with your dad and your mom or whatever but you got to inform people hey we're going through something as a family have to you know maybe don't give the exact details too um and it will help the child though too yeah because if If my family would have told me they were struggling, if my parents would have told me, hey, we're struggling right now, I would not have been as disappointed back then because they made me feel like we weren't struggling.

53:28They just didn't want me to do this and go do that and go do this. But if my family would have been honest, hey, you know, I just want to be honest with you, man. I mean, being an adult, which you will be one day, you're going to live and have to pay bills and you're going to live and have to do this. and son right now me and your dad me and your mom we just can't do it um and 78 percent of the people in america do not have a trust and or will the number one way to pay for funerals right now is not through an insurance policy it's through gofundme and it bothers me because when we really look at the people who are raising gofundme accounts i guarantee you not all but a lot of And we, a lot of them, we can find some type of name brand item.

54:12A lot of them, we could find something that they should not have purchased. So we choose feeling good over protecting the ones who we love. We choose making sure that we look good and we smell good. And we have the right hair, the right haircut, the right car. Make sure our pull-up game is good rather than having a hard conversation and getting insurance policy and getting a trust and getting a will, getting your health policy put together, getting your power of attorney put together. Man, I'm 42 and I woke up at three o 'clock in the morning when I was like 36. And I had this strong conviction that you're teaching all this stuff, but you're not practicing what you're preaching.

54:58I said, what are you, what, what, huh? I'm debt free. I'm good. I said, no, no, no. if you died today your family will argue over what Anthony wanted with his stuff they wouldn't know what you want to do with the business with your homes with your portfolio so you're going to come home you're going to be in heaven you're going to be looking down and your family's going to be arguing because you were selfish and I try not to get emotional because it really hit me I think a lot of people are just selfish and we don't care because when we're going that's their problem But one of the greatest ways we can say we love our families is by why we're living, planning for our death.

55:40Lewis Howes:Yeah. And when we're gone, making it more comfortable for them than more stressful for them. The only thing I want my family to cry over is just me being gone. Yeah. Not, I get this and you get that and you didn't show up, whatever it is. Yeah. Yeah. That's the only thing. And man, that was probably the hardest thing, one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. Because here's why. And this is something we gotta get out of. And it just bothers me. When I told my family I was doing my will and my trust, you know what the very first question they asked me? What's wrong? Are you sick? So we automatically attach the negative to the right thing to do.

56:21Lewis Howes:I think that's normal for a lot of people though. They think that way because they're not thinking about, you know, phase five. They're not thinking about, they're thinking of survival mode. They're thinking paycheck to paycheck still. And they're not thinking creating financial freedom and peace for themselves and a sense of clarity for others now and later. And it's, I bought, I bought life insurance for myself in my twenties. Yes, sir. Because one, I wanted to lock in a rate that was guaranteed for life. Yeah. And two, I was thinking about my future wife and my future kids. Yes, sir. And I didn't know when I was getting married.

57:01Lewis Howes:You know, I got 15, 18 years after I got my first insurance policy. Wow. I got married and have kids. Wow. But when I bought the life insurance, I was like, this is not for me. Yes. I'm spending money every month and every year. Yeah. Not for my benefit. Facts. For a future person that I don't know. Facts. and future kids that are not existing. Facts. For them to benefit. And I've been doing that for over a decade and a half, almost two decades. Maybe it was almost two decades. I've been paying a payment monthly for people that I didn't know. Louis, I say the same thing, man. I have a 529 account right now.

57:43529 account for people who don't know is a college savings account. For kids that are not born. That are not born. That's crazy. Right. And maybe I have, maybe I have not, but I haven't even met their mother yet. But for me, it was, if I want to change the narrative, I went to school, I graduated with student loan debt. My parents couldn't give me a check. If I want to change the narrative in the O 'Neill family, it starts with me. And it doesn't start with me when I have kids. It starts with me today with the current mindset. So I sat down, I was the strategy. And then when I talked to my financial advisor, she was like, well, Hey, here's the strategy.

58:25If you want to start planning for your kids, you can open up a 529 in the state of Maryland. You can write off up to, I think it's what 1500 to$2 ,000 before they're born before they're shut out. I didn't know that, but the 529 is going to my trust. So that way, if something happened to me now, the money goes to my trust. Right. But because now it's like, do I want to pay the IRS that money or do I want to pay my future kids that money? And then now just think about it, man. Just think about it. When they turn 18 and they go to school, I get to look at my kids in the face and say, you know what?

58:59Here's a check for$150 ,000,$200 ,000 that I only put maybe$20 ,000,$25 ,000 into it. I was thinking about you. Wow. Before I even met your mama. Yes. Before you was even in your mother's womb. now what happens Louis my kids gonna be like what dad how do I do that now at 18 at 20 so now we've changed the whole dynamic in the O 'Neill family to where we went to having to take out student loans and thinking after the fact to where now the generation behind me is now thinking way ahead of the fact so now they can tell their kids the same thing yo I started thinking about you at 18 years old. Now you got a half a million dollars for college because I thought about you 15 years before I even had you.

59:51And so I think when we can start changing that narrative, which I love what you said by getting it. I wish somebody at 22 would have told me to get an insurance policy. My own parents didn't even tell me to get an insurance policy on me. But watch this, they had insurance policy on me though.

1:00:05Lewis Howes:Yeah. I was like, well, we got to get one of this boy. But no one sat down with me and gave me the proven path on how to win with money on any income. And I think, man, you can get an insurance policy on any income at any season of your life. You just got to know how to do it. Exactly.

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1:02:06Lewis Howes:What does financial freedom actually feel like? Not the number, but the feeling of financial freedom. Man, it's joyful. Man, it brings tears to my eyes. Financial freedom feels like you can say yes when you want to say yes and say no when you want to say no. financial freedom makes me smile real hard knowing that when i find my wife i can give her the ring of her dreams and and a wedding within my budget of her dreams and not be stressed about it freedom feels good when you walk to your mailbox and any envelope that's in there, you know, it's not a bill collector.

1:03:03Freedom makes you sleep better at night. But also, man,

1:03:11freedom puts you in a position to take advantage of opportunities that if you didn't have freedom, you could not take advantage of. and for me freedom is the goal being rich is not the goal being wealthy is not the goal being free is the goal and everyone says Anthony one of my friends said man Anthony you can make double the amount of income I said yeah but I won't have freedom because if I chase more money that requires more of my time And if I give more of my time, that means I don't have freedom to do the things that I want to do. Like I'm an HBCU professor right now. I'm not making any money doing that.

1:03:59But I had the freedom to drive up to Richmond, Virginia once a week, every single Wednesday to talk to 18 year olds and 19 year olds about what we talked about today. I'm using my freedom to be a blessing to this younger generation. so when they graduate college, they have the basic information on what they need to do with their jobs and with the income from their jobs. That makes me feel so good. I enjoy teaching at HBCU more than I actually enjoy teaching on YouTube because I had the freedom to do it. And it's my choice. And I'm not going there to get a check. I don't have to go there to pay bills.

1:04:44when I walk in there man and see those kids eyes light up when I talk about hey man this is this is what compound interest is you'll be surprised Louis of how many young people do not even know what compound interest is they have this mindset that nothing is free in this world and nothing is but you're trying to tell me Anthony if I put five dollars in this count they're going to give me 25 cents may not be 25 cents you can get something but the longer I keep it in there you mean the more money I will make. And when I show them that, Hey, eventually, if you keep it over there for a long period of time, you'll see that the majority of your income in your account wasn't even your money.

1:05:22Crazy, right? They're like, what? That's, that's what freedom brings me like that. I get so excited knowing that in the beginning of the semester, because my class is called consumer economics, that is not a sexy subject, but by the end of the semester, man, my students are like, Professor NoU is my favorite class. Like my students to this day, when they graduate, they still email me. They still ask me questions about this. And that's what freedom puts you in a position to do. And I want people to think about this. What could freedom put you in a position to do for your own family, for your own community, for your own kids, for your own spouse, for yourself?

1:06:06Lewis Howes:Yeah. Like freedom, and I'll say this, I'll be quiet. You know, I'm a preacher, man. You got something to shut up. Last time I was on your show, I weighed 196 pounds.

1:06:19I think it was right about a year after I left your show. I woke up in the middle of the night, went to the ER, thought I was having a stroke. Wow. Really? I didn't know that. To only find out I had gas. Oh my gosh. So I paid$5 ,000. Wow. To find out that I had gas. Wow. and my doctor she said hey anthony you need to change your your your health routine and i had freedom which is where i was able to hire certain things certain help and changing today i weigh right about 160 pounds and i haven't had any heartburns my blood levels are so so much better still got still got some work to do that's what freedom is to me wow that's cool

1:07:13Lewis Howes:well speaking of things that a lot of people struggle feeling free around which is when they get married merging their money and their assets some people some people get a lot of stress around that or they feel like it's hard because they've built their own assets their own financial life and now they're merging it with a spouse. I think in the previous episode, we were talking about this at the end that we would talk about this. And I know you're not married yet, but what is the value when two people get married of merging their money, their assets into one unit rather than staying separate? What have you seen or heard from wealthy people that works?

1:07:59Lewis Howes:And what have you seen that has been destructive from those who have maybe been married and gotten divorced because of money constraints or the sense of money constraints? What have you noticed or observed? Yeah, man, I think it's very important to combine. You can't be married and have two separate visions for your money. It needs to be one combined vision, one combined strategy, and we both are working that strategy to get to that vision. Right. And so I do believe that you should have one main family account that all income and assets are coming into. Then from there, you have an account that pays all of your bills.

1:08:43And from there, you'll have a savings account. But I do believe that Anthony and my wife should have our own spending account that we don't have to be accountable to each other about what we're spending in that. I look forward to getting married and having a husband and wife conversation every single month. I'm gonna be smart with it. I'm gonna make sure that I buy her a nice little dress every single month. And we're gonna go to her favorite restaurant or one of her favorite restaurants every single month. And we're gonna have a conversation. Hey, what worked this month? What didn't work this month?

1:09:13What do we need to be prepared for next month? I know we wanna go on vacation in July. I know we wanna do Christmas and I know birthday and anniversaries and stuff is coming up. But hey, maybe you wanna do something with your girls or maybe there's something you wanna do with the kids. What do we need to prepare for next month? how do we work the vision because here's the truth man take away people like yourself and i who who have done financially well within our businesses let's talk about the average everyday person the average everyday person cannot afford to he pay this bill she pays that bill and they keep their money separate no the quickest way to get out of get out of living paycheck to paycheck and the quickest way to building wealth is to bring y 'all income together live off of one of y 'all salary.

1:10:00Invest the rest. And then invest the rest. But if you're living off of yours and you're living off of yours, you can't do that together. So if you are the average middle class individual, hey, man, no. Come together and then come up with a strategy. Hey, I know we make a combined household income of $88 ,000, but we're going to live off of my$50 ,000. So whatever apartment or whatever house we can get with this$50 ,000, that's what we're going to do. Bay with your income, man, we're going to tie for sure. But when we're going to invest heavily and we're going to even use some of your income for vacation for the family.

1:10:35But for the bulk of your income, man, I we cannot be 80, 90 years old, still working because we didn't invest wisely. So we're going to start investing your income into a mutual fund, into index funds. Sit down with a financial advisor and invest your income, not just invested for our retirement, but invested for our kids, too. Yes. But if you have two separate visions, you'll never get to an end goal quickly. And for me, even at this stage of my life, when I do get married, yeah, we're going to have some documentation documenting like, hey, this is going to work. But just in case it doesn't, what I came in with and what you came in with, we can we can go out that way.

1:11:15Yeah. But when we end this thing, no, it's all one pot. Yeah. Let's get to the end goal. Let's put our kids in position to win. How do we bless our church even better? How do we build a dynasty and a legacy together? Man, I get excited about getting married and not doing this on my own. I don't want to keep all my money and all my success to myself because the truth of the fact, as a Christian man, God gave me everything not to be good for the world, but to be a husband and to be a father to my and a priest at home. I can't do that if I'm coming here saying, oh, all this is mine. No, baby. I did all this for you.

1:11:51I did all this for us. Now, we're going to hold each other accountable. Make sure you're good with your money.

1:12:00You know, but I mean, no, let's do this thing together.

1:12:04Lewis Howes:And we're going to meet every month about the funds. That's good. What are the biggest money lies that people have been taught that are quietly keeping them broke? Oh, man, it's your credit score is the number one thing that you need. That's bogus. That's bogus. I don't even know what my credit score is. Lewis, it bothers me. Oh, man, you know, cash ain't king. Credit is king. No, it's not. I think that credit and cash are equally important because here's the truth. I live that world. Anyone who knows me, you know, if you don't know, God bless you. My name is Anthony O 'Neill. But I live that world, man, and I didn't have an active score.

1:12:41And my car insurance for my three cars was right around thirteen hundred dollars a month. Three cars, three cars. dang man 13 you only drive one fat time i got rid of one i'm down to now i got my dream car and my daily car okay um and so i thought you made your three cars like back in the day or something i did i had two more cars i'm human right now it's different if you got the the funds it's definitely got the funds but even still though with the funds i was like like you said i only can drive one exactly so that means one of them be sitting all week that's a waste of money so i went down to two and um and even with those two i went down to 11 30 a month well i did my i did my own thing i said you know let me go car shopping when car shopping my first quote came back at 5 10 mom i was like wait what's the difference so i called my rep at the at a particular company i was with she's like oh your credit score when you first signed up with us you had a non-credit score because you had no open trade lines now that you have a house and you know um actually just real estate on my credit report now she was like your score is in a high sevens and even a low eights so now you qualify for a cheaper rate well i said okay so there is a science to this credit game okay so because i had a decent score i saved six hundred dollars seven hundred dollars a month it's pretty good right but how many people do we know have an 800 credit score but don't have 800 in their savings account so i believe that one of the biggest lies that we tell people is that man do not worry about cash just make sure you have a real good credit score and that lie is such false because okay i said that's true if i had this 800 credit score and i go borrow 25 000 but i don't have the money to pay it back now i'm screwed yeah i'm screwed so i think that's one of the biggest lies i do believe that it is important but man i i'm like you lewis i just know my score is good because i don't borrow any money like that so it's like for me it's it's like all my cards pay for them cash um um anything i'm paying for it cash except for real estate yeah i want to get to the point where i could pay cash for real estate but i am kind of like uh you know why right like uh keep that cash yeah you know i'm like uh like i made my primary house i may pay it off just so I, the family is good, right?

1:15:24Because I am in the content creation space and with AI, we don't know what's going to happen next five to 10 years. So I would love to make sure that the mortgage is paid off, but even still, I'm like, I'm going to still be making money. So I don't know really what's the rush, right? So yeah.

1:15:39Lewis Howes:What's the difference between looking wealthy and actually being wealthy? You know, that depends on where you are. See that question kind of gets me a little bit you know you have the book the millionaire next door talking about you know he was a millionaire and he lived in a very modest house and drove like a ford um uh truck right but let's look at the kind of vacations he was going on but he was flying first class with his family he he was probably spending 30 40 000 i have a friend who's in the nfl right now i won't say his name uh drives a yukon drives a yukon but every year he'll spend a hundred thousand dollars on a family vacation because he believes in experiences.

1:16:21So I really can't say what is the difference between someone looking wealthy and being wealthy because what I may say, oh, he's trying to flaunt. Here's my philosophy. If you are living below your means and you decide to spend your cash that kind of way, I don't care. People will look at me. I have an expensive car. Cool, great, but I didn't have an expensive house. it did feel weird pulling up to my average house with that expensive car but i paid for cash i i'm consumer debt free i live way below my means right but it's like if i work hard if i pay off all my consumer debt if i got a fully funded uh investment portfolio fully funded emergency fund however i decide to spend my money it should be okay yeah like i would never spend $100 ,000 on a vacation, but I will spend$100 ,000 on a car.

1:17:15So there's nothing wrong with that.

1:17:17Lewis Howes:What would you say then are normal money habits that are destroying people's finances? Yeah, man. We got to get off of money habits. Got to get off DoorDash, Uber Eats. That's a habit that's just destroying us right now. They say on average, people are spending anywhere between$4 ,200 to$6 ,000 a year. How much do they spend in a year? $4 ,200 to$6 ,000 a year. On like? on just DoorDash. Really? So you're going to order McDonald's that typically would cost you about six to 10 bucks if you go pick it up. You're spending$21 for a double cheeseburger value meal because, you know, DoorDash up the meals.

1:17:52Then the tips. Then the tips. Then the convenience fee. Wow. Right? And then if you're going during busy hours, that convenience fee is even higher, right? So that is one habit that we got to stop. We have to stop doing. Here's another habit that we got to stop doing. people don't talk about this stop paying premiums um high-end health insurance premiums get off of ppo get into the high deductible ones and get a high deductible account that's attached to an hsa health savings account if you're below 40 and you're healthy and you're just going in once or twice a year to get your your average yearly exams and maybe a urgent care here and there man go get you a high deductible plan that keeps your high deductible cost at three thousand five thousand dollars before any expenses put that money inside of a savings account most jobs will give you a hsa account and match either the first 500 to a thousand dollars put that money inside that account now when you go to go to the hospital when you go to walgreens cvs walmart target anywhere now you can see how you can pay tax-free dollars for that talent all that you were needing So now we're getting we have to get we have to get smart.

1:19:01But because the world has taught us, if I go to the hospital, I only want to pay twenty five hours out of pocket. But how often are you going to the hospital? Right. So I think that's another habit that we got to get out of is saying because that's comfortable. No, man. Sit down with yourself. Ask yourself, can I afford that? Like, can I afford to go down to a high deductible plan?

1:19:24Lewis Howes:stop living paycheck to paycheck the proven path to break free from debt build real wealth and live free yes sir on any income make sure you guys get a copy get a few copies for some friends that might be struggling financially if you're looking to really stabilize your finances create that vision for yourself that money vision eliminate the debt start investing and saving and start feeling the freedom that you want to feel i'm excited about you uh this book for you man so I want everyone to get this book and make sure to support our guy, Anthony O 'Neill. Is there any final money lesson that you've learned in the last couple of years that you feel like would be helpful for anyone listening or watching right now?

1:20:07Man, I put so many inside of the book. But I think one of the lessons that I've learned when it comes to money is money is a game. and you're either the player or the piece and i think that the majority of people are the piece and they are being picked up and played around they're being played and i think for me when i really learned that that i had to transition myself from the player to not a player from the piece to the player man i learned it like there are so many ways you can build credit without borrowing any money. But we're just not taught that. And we talk about that inside the book.

1:20:53There's so many different ways you can invest without making$60 ,000,$70 ,000 a year. We talk about that inside the book. Money is a game. More so of a game, money is just a strategy. And there's a strategy for everybody on any income level. The strategy change as your income changes. You go from$50 ,000, you're on this strategy. you're at 70 000 you're on this strategy you're on 100 000 on this strategy to watch this from 100 000 to about a half a million that same strategy right and so um that's one of the biggest thing that i really learned and i just i spent time i had this book done before my last book but i wanted to make sure that this book literally were there's no fluff and errors not a lot of stories it's here's the strategy for the place and the season of where you're in and if you follow that strategy you'll be consumer debt free within 12 to 18 months and within the next three years your whole financial situation will be changed around anthonyoneal.com anthonyoneal on

1:21:56Lewis Howes:youtube instagram everyone on social media again make sure you guys get the book stop living paycheck to paycheck um a couple final questions for you yeah i've asked you this question before a few different times it's called the three truths okay i'm going to ask you in a different way okay If you could only leave behind the world with three money truths, three lessons that you know to be true about money that you would leave behind, but we didn't have access to any other money content that you had ever. What would those three money truths be for you? Number one, give back 10 % as far as to be generous and activate the spiritual realm for you.

1:22:39Number two, make sure that you budget and write down every single dollar. Spend every single dollar on paper first. And then number three, invest. Position your money to make more money over a period of time because your money will work harder than you will. Invest these 15 to 20 percent.

1:23:03Lewis Howes:That's it. Final question. Anthony, what's your definition of greatness? Man, you know, it's changed, man. I think my definition of greatness is what have you accomplished that no one else can see that only you and God can see. And that means only me and God can say that I'm great. Wow. Wow. Lewis can't, the world can't, only me and God can say I'm great. And that's my definition of greatness is what have you done behind closed doors that contributes to who you exude outside for everyone? That's my definition. My man. My man. Appreciate you, sir. My friend, I hope you're enjoying this episode right now because we are on a mission to impact 100 million lives every single week.

1:23:57Lewis Howes:And every follow here on this podcast helps us reach more people. Make sure to hit the follow at the top of this show's page right now. It's the single biggest thing that you can do to support the show and the impact of us reaching you every single time we have new episodes. I appreciate you and I can't wait to see you in the next episode. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's episode with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me personally, as well as ad-free listening, then make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel exclusively on Apple Podcasts.

1:24:41Lewis Howes:Share this with a friend on social media and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts as well. Let me know what you enjoyed about this episode in that review. I really love hearing feedback from you and it helps us figure out how we can support and serve you moving forward. And I want to remind you, if no one has told you lately, that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now, it's time to go out there and do something great.

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