How Inflation, Scarcity, and Vanity Destroy Your Wealth ｜ ASK ME ANYTHING
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Summary
In this episode, we discuss the current state of the economy, the stock market, and the economy as a whole. We also talk about why people are holding onto their money and why it s a good thing.
Transcript
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This is the most important question you can ask yourself around this subject.
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And what you ought to be doing every day is proving why you should believe in yourself.
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And when you start stacking wins on things that are seemingly unrelated,
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then when you get to that question where it becomes a big investment
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or something you're excited about or you're willing to take a risk,
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you can answer yourself, yes, I believe in myself.
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Looking forward to a conversation about all things money-related today.
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Did I talk with you about the number one most pressing issues
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that our guys in the Iron Council and Order of Man are dealing with?
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If you had to guess, what do you think it would be?
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Maybe not the parenting, but definitely relationship with spouse.
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And this is probably close to about 600, if I had to guess, 600 respondents between various
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And their number one issue right now is finances.
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And then if we drill even deeper, it's making enough money.
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That is the, that is the number one response for these guys.
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And, you know, we got Trump out there saying how good the economy is and people don't understand.
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And, you know, anytime a president or just a politician in general tries to tell us how
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we're feeling about things, it's not a good look.
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And, and I understand, I understand there's some explanation that needs to go into certain
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things because yes, we don't always understand how things work, but when you start explaining,
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rationalizing, telling people they don't feel a certain way, you're not on, you're not on
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So the president right now is making the, uh, the, um, uh, affordability slash inflation
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And he does have some valid points, but it doesn't mean that consumers aren't feeling
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Like the markets, even if everyone says like, it's not that bad, it's, it's odd.
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Well, it's, it is weird because if you look at our unemployment rate and I don't know what
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it is today, but it seems like it was hovering right around 4%, maybe slightly lower.
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That's basically zero in the history of our nation, uh, uh, under 4% inflate, uh, employment
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rate, unemployment rate, excuse me, is amazing.
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Uh, and then you talk about people holding onto their money.
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Because you look at the stock market and the stock market's reaching new highs and it's
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If you look at the stock market, what's really happening is there's just a bunch of incestuous
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relationships taking place where, you know, an AI company will invest into an energy company
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and then that energy company or tech company or microchip company will then reinvest into
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So they're just, it's, that's why I call it incestuous.
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They're just, they're just passing money between each other, but that's not trickling down,
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I mean, you just set the tone, here's the topic.
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And then we have some questions that aren't necessarily connected directly to the topic.
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If, if, if somebody gets a question answered, we'll hit them all, but maybe there'll be a financial
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Well, and this is going to be a stretch, but we'll, we'll do Matt Matusia solid here.
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Uh, not wealth related, he says, but it's time-based and I'll keep it short.
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Kip, how are you getting, uh, how was getting your physical baseline with your team exercise,
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And then Ryan, how do you, how do you, how do you, or would you have done it if you participated?
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So I mentioned, I think last week that we're doing some baseline physical within my battle
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And Ryan, how would you do if you did your baseline right now regarding our, our physical
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Well, first off, Johnny Loretty stud, um, you know, he, in the iron council and our exclusive
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brotherhood, we have kind of this baseline physical test, right.
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Uh, he actually sent me kind of V to a draft version that he's working on full disclosure,
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Um, I didn't, I didn't hit bronze in every category.
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In fact, I, I think I got silver in one, which I actually was surprised probably.
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I think it's the result of throwing hay bales as a kid.
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So what, for whatever reason I can, I can do deadlifts fairly well.
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I thought for sure, like my, my knees kind of bummed, I'm not going to be able to go heavy.
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Um, I went for a, a five rep max ended up pushing out 15 and I was like, well, geez,
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So that's probably where I'd be proud of myself all in all though I have work to do.
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And, and that was the intent of this baseline is we're wrapping up 2025.
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What areas do I need to improve on, uh, to, to be healthier?
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And, and the key things I would say is probably my squat still needs some work.
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My pull-ups should be higher, um, than they were.
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I only got like 12 pull-ups in, in a single, uh, dead hang session.
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Uh, and then my bench was, was lower than I'd like it to be.
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Yeah, it's actually, we're actually probably pretty similar.
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My greatest strength, I think in the baseline physical aptitude is my bench press.
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Um, I've always been strong upper body, chest, shoulder, anything shoulder related, anything
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I don't actually do straight bar deadlifts anymore because why I just, I don't understand
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Yes, but I don't feel the need to do it with a straight bar because it just, it's not a
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I realized that it's actually really applicable to probably everyday life.
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If you have to pick up boxes or other things, it's going to be out in front of you, but I'm,
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Um, but I, but I can hit the baseline physical aptitude with a straight bar as well.
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Uh, anything cardio related is a struggle for me.
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The one I followed was a little bit different, but yeah.
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Cause he changed it for 2026, but I think it was under eight minutes.
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I hit it, but I'm ashamed to admit that was a struggle for me.
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Um, the other one that's, that's harder than you would think is the, uh, the balancing one.
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And then when it comes to one foot balance, they can't pull it off.
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Cause you basically extend your hands, close your eyes and balance on one foot.
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But, and I did both, but I think my, I can't remember if it was my left or right, but one
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of those sides was significantly harder than the other.
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So when I say shoulders, lats, things like that, it's push related, not pull related.
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So I could, I could do better in the pull-up department.
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Well, the way that it relates is sometimes if you're so strapped for money and finances
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and you're trying to build your career, it's very difficult for you to put forth effort
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And so if you are able to lock in your money, lock in your career, lock in your finances,
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continue to have good investments, that's going to free you up the time to focus on other things
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in your life that are important, like your physical fitness.
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So let's make sure we lock your finances in so we can also lock your fitness in.
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What practical tips can you give somebody to overcome the scarcity mindset?
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Oh man, that's tough because sometimes it is about scarcity.
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You know, when your boat, let's, let's say, so I am working on the canoe again, Kip.
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And let's say that my son and I, my oldest son and I, Brecken, are out on the lake and
00:10:02.820
we're in the canoe for the first time and we notice some water, the boat taking on some
00:10:09.260
We could spend a bunch of time trying to scoop water out, but if the hole remains, it's going
00:10:15.820
So the first thing that you would need to do is how do we plug the hole to the degree
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And then, and only then do we start scooping water out of the dang thing.
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And sometimes when it comes to your finances, we get in such a difficult spot that all we
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can do is plug the boat, plug the boat and start scooping water out of the boat.
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So in certain instances, you do have to be in scarcity mindset.
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Hey, babe, beans and rice, as Dave Ramsey would say for the next 30 days.
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Hey, we're trying to lock this in or we're trying to invest in this thing.
00:10:55.260
But one thing I learned when I was doing financial planning that I think was really helpful is
00:11:00.600
that you need to build the habits of abundance.
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And so as you're paying off debt, let's say you've got a couple of car loans, you've got
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a student loan, and maybe you've got a medical or personal loan outstanding.
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A lot of the times you think, well, I'm just going to put all my money towards that and pay
00:11:18.680
And that's fine, but it doesn't build the abundance mentality.
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And so the abundance mentality would say, if I'm going to put, let's say, $300 extra
00:11:26.900
towards paying down this debt every month, maybe I take 10% of that, somewhere around
00:11:31.860
30 bucks, and put that into my emergency fund or some sort of investment vehicle.
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So you're not going to put it all in there, but I want people to learn the habits of investing,
00:11:44.880
saving, building the discipline towards abundance as opposed to scarcity, which is paying off the
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The only other thing that I would suggest on this is a lot of what you're going to invest
00:12:04.300
So I went to a fundraising gala a couple of weeks ago, and we were in Austin Tech, just outside
00:12:18.800
It was Matt Boudreau with Apogee, and they put an event called Legends for Leaders and
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raising money for scholarships for their youth.
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And I would have gone because Matt asked me to do.
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And the investing side of it is you're networking with other people who are interested in the same
00:12:40.340
things, these are successful, financially successful individuals, and you're rubbing shoulders with
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I can't say, hey, I spent X amount of dollars in donations towards the gala.
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I spent this much on plane tickets, this much on hotels, this much on our travel expenditures
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But you have to have faith that it's going to pay off.
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And doing the right things might be a conversation for later.
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But what I do want to say is that anytime you can put yourself around people that have
00:13:26.840
an abundance mentality, that's how you get over it.
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You cannot operate at the same level of thinking that you always have without, excuse me, you cannot
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operate with a new level of thinking by surrounding yourself with the same inputs that you always have.
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Because you're always going to think the same way.
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So if you want to have new ideas, new thoughts, new beliefs, new patterns, new ideas, then you need to put yourself around new information and new people.
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And that will always, I believe, if you do the right thing, pay huge dividends.
00:13:58.740
Let me ask you this, Ryan, because when I think about, when I read this question, I immediately go, well, what's the drawback of scarcity, right?
00:14:10.800
Like, what are the pitfalls of this way of thinking?
00:14:14.020
One that comes to mind for me is when you are working with people, whether it's partner, client, even employees, that scarcity mentality and the lack of abundance with those that you network with and work with, that shows up eventually.
00:14:35.100
And it shows up in the space of you don't care.
00:14:42.960
I always, like, I find this fascinating from an employee perspective.
00:14:47.400
The biggest issue with an employee when they're seeking to get, like, comp increases or raises or promotions, the biggest issue is not that the raise doesn't happen.
00:14:58.320
It's that it feels as though you're taking advantage of me.
00:15:04.420
I've had this conversation with so many employees where it's like, Kip, it didn't bother me that I didn't get the raise.
00:15:12.680
Like, the $5,000 or the $10,000 really isn't that big of a deal.
00:15:21.340
It's the fact that I had to, like, convince them I was valuable enough for it.
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That's where the damage is, I think, at least in a business relationship with a scarcity mentality because it's a sense of, like,
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feeling like someone's not being abundant with you.
00:15:38.760
And is there other areas that you would add to that, Ryan, around the drawbacks of scarcity thinking?
00:15:45.080
Now, assuming, right, like, if we're in survival mode, obviously, we need to be scarce, right?
00:15:54.640
Well, before I get to that, I agree with what you said.
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I agree that people believe they're being taken advantage of, but welcome to life.
00:16:01.740
I mean, even your romantic relationships are like that.
00:16:08.080
I mean, I wouldn't say transactional, but I understand what you're saying when you use that word.
00:16:14.760
We are measuring our value relative to the value others are offering us.
00:16:20.540
So, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
00:16:23.300
There's other things you need to consider, like compatibility, alignment, et cetera.
00:16:26.760
But a lot of these things, even romantic relationships, sure, transactional is not the right word, but we are evaluating that.
00:16:35.020
And I think it's important we be honest about that.
00:16:37.180
Well, the drawbacks of being scarce is you just, you leave life mediocre.
00:16:51.240
The Order of Man merchandise store has done historically fairly well, but over the past couple years really hasn't done that well.
00:17:00.000
And I approached somebody, I can't talk about who it is right now because we're still talking about it.
00:17:04.780
But I approached somebody to be our store manager.
00:17:07.520
Now, this person's potential proposed salary will be between 35% and 40% of the revenue the store currently does.
00:17:18.660
So, that's not a good business model if you guys are curious about why I'm laughing.
00:17:25.180
So, I could be scarce and say, no, I don't want to do that.
00:17:29.200
Or I could be abundant and say, no, historically it's done pretty well.
00:17:36.780
And will investing in somebody who's qualified to do it help build a store?
00:17:50.460
This is the most important question you can ask yourself around this subject.
00:18:02.660
Or put it another way, how much do I believe in myself?
00:18:05.820
And what you ought to be doing every day is proving why you should believe in yourself.
00:18:15.600
Potentially even unrelated to the question at hand.
00:18:18.060
So, if it comes to the store management thing, do I get out of bed when I say I'm going to?
00:18:26.660
Do I put down the sugar cookie when I want to eat it?
00:18:30.440
Do I have that difficult conversation I've committed to having but I know it'll be hard to have?
00:18:40.060
And when you start stacking wins on things that are seemingly unrelated, then when you get to that question where it becomes a big investment or something you're excited about or something you're optimistic and hopeful about it or you're willing to take a risk, you can answer yourself, yes, I believe in myself.
00:19:01.300
But when you get out of bed late and you fall prey to your vices and your temptations and you're a coward when it comes to difficult conversations and you ask yourself, do I believe in myself?
00:19:18.620
You have evidence of why you shouldn't believe in yourself.
00:19:23.040
So I think it's just as dangerous, if not more so, to lie to yourself than it is to other people.
00:19:32.940
Because other people, barring you really manipulating, taking advantage of somebody, injuring somebody, people will get over it because they've been lied to and let down before.
00:19:43.140
But if you lie to yourself, man, you're going to be in a really, really tough circumstance.
00:19:52.400
John Wallace Oliver, what's your thoughts on Ramsey's seven baby steps?
00:20:02.020
Yeah, and I don't know all seven of them in order.
00:20:06.920
Yeah, let's see what I, let's see how many I can get right.
00:20:10.900
I think the second one is probably to hammer off all of your consumer debt except for your house.
00:20:19.720
I think number three is to save and invest three to six months of your income.
00:20:26.200
Uh, number four might be to pay off your house early.
00:20:35.260
Number five might be to continue to invest 15 to 20% of your income.
00:20:39.900
Number six to give to charity, maybe a number seven to keep learning or growing that is something like that.
00:20:53.160
Step one, save $1,000 for, for a start emergency fund to pay off all debt except house.
00:21:00.160
Step three, say three to six months of expenses.
00:21:03.320
Step four, invest 15% of your household income in retirement.
00:21:10.780
Uh, six, pay off your home early and then seven build wealth and give.
00:21:17.300
I mean, it wasn't perfect, but it was pretty damn close.
00:21:27.580
I like steps one through three, I would say are my favorite.
00:21:37.220
I'll keep it up in case we need to reference it.
00:21:42.160
So, you know, it's, it's save a thousand dollars, pay off all your consumer debt, except
00:21:48.260
for your house and build up three to six months of savings.
00:22:04.360
Because that is just a baseline, really prudent, very practical, wise way to deal with your
00:22:13.680
Um, once you start getting past that with the paying off your house, investing in your
00:22:19.900
kids, education, those types of things are a little questionable.
00:22:25.360
Um, and, and also I don't like Dave Ramsey's formulas that he uses.
00:22:34.200
Cause he'll do a, so for example, he'll say, and I don't have the numbers in front of me,
00:22:38.260
but he'll say, if you save $500 a month, every month at 8%, by the time you're 65, you'll
00:22:48.520
It's like, okay, all right, like let's actually do the math around what it used to, what historically
00:22:57.000
Where are you going to get 8% linear for the next 35 to 40 years?
00:23:06.760
So what ends up happening, and I've seen this as a former financial, uh, advisor is I would
00:23:13.600
see people come in with their, their accounts are like, oh, look, look at my financial plan.
00:23:17.340
I'm like, Hey, let's just change this one variable.
00:23:28.040
The other issue that I take is that that's not how Dave Ramsey built his wealth in the
00:23:35.400
And I asked him about this when I had him on the podcast, he built his wealth in real
00:23:39.840
And surprisingly, well, maybe not surprisingly, but refreshingly, he gave me an honest answer
00:23:51.240
I built it in my business and real estate, but I know who my audience is.
00:24:03.920
And it hasn't, hasn't been how I have been building wealth.
00:24:06.840
So a lot of good principles in there, a little, quite a bit wrong on the calculations he uses
00:24:13.120
to determine net worth and those sorts of things.
00:24:15.620
But all in all, I would give it a seven to eight out of 10.
00:24:22.180
Ryan, would you put step three before two, like step three was three to six months of
00:24:27.020
expenses in an emergency fund before paying off all debt?
00:24:31.280
Like it just, I don't know why those seem backwards to me, but.
00:24:34.200
You could, I wouldn't do six, but you could definitely do three.
00:24:41.680
But I, I would, you could definitely make a case for three.
00:24:46.640
But you got to remember though, is that your debt is eating you alive.
00:24:54.460
Like the, the difference of interest between the two, well, 14, 20%, your debt is eating
00:25:01.740
And that's why Dave Ramsey makes that recommendation.
00:25:06.260
You could say, all right, well, I have this credit card at 18%.
00:25:09.060
So I'm going to pay that one down, but the rest, I'm going to build up three months.
00:25:12.200
See, this is where it gets a little bit more specific.
00:25:16.160
But I think as a general rule of thumb, I would say he's, he's on with the first four steps.
00:25:26.780
We took them out of the public school system, geez, probably four or five years ago.
00:25:31.680
And my wife and I, we actually teach financial literacy for the high school kids in the, in
00:25:44.960
Um, on average, uh, Americans end up playing two X on their debt.
00:25:55.520
So we're all, we're all doubling the amount of debt that we have by the time you have it
00:26:00.060
paid off on average, which is just, yeah, just such a waste.
00:26:04.520
But it is, it's, it's a waste of, um, unless, unless the, the asset outpaces the, the, the
00:26:16.600
So if I spend a hundred thousand dollars on an investment, it's going to cost me $200,000
00:26:21.080
over 20 years, but I make 400,000 over 20 years.
00:26:32.440
Brian Reynolds, how to know whether a standard IRA or Roth IRA is right for us.
00:26:39.160
Is there a formula for saving for retirement, like a 10 X your annual income or something?
00:26:46.260
Well, with the, with the IRA, it's really just a matter of when you're taxed.
00:26:50.140
So the biggest question you have to ask is, am I going to be in a higher tax bracket
00:26:55.420
And you can't really know the answer to that question.
00:26:58.040
So generally, if you feel like you're going to be in a higher tax bracket later, it's
00:27:03.960
better to pay the taxes now, which would be a Roth IRA.
00:27:07.160
If you're in a higher tax bracket now than you are later, then it's better to deduct the
00:27:12.800
taxes and pay the taxes down the road, which would be more of your traditional IRA.
00:27:19.700
I know on the Roth IRA, there's restrictions of income and then how much you can invest per
00:27:33.420
I have a theory on that and I don't even know what's theory at this point or if it is the,
00:27:37.500
the United States government cannot invest in the, in the, in the market because that's
00:27:43.040
Like you can't take our tax dollars and invest in the market, but they figured out a really
00:27:51.100
So let's say I'm going to put in $5,000 this year into an IRA and the limits are probably
00:28:01.500
Like if you're married and if you do it through a company and things like that, but let's just
00:28:07.040
And let's say I'm in a 25%, let's use different numbers.
00:28:10.640
Let's say $10,000 and I'm in a 20% tax bracket.
00:28:15.940
So that means that I owe the government at the end of the year, $2,000 on that $10,000
00:28:25.080
Well, the government says, well, hold on, we're going to let you defer that.
00:28:29.580
And what we're going to do is we're going to let you keep all $10,000.
00:28:34.300
You're not going to pay the $2,000 taxes on it.
00:28:36.440
You put it into an IRA and you're going to let it sit there for 30 years or more or less,
00:28:42.840
Then when you pull that out, that $10,000, yes, that might've grown to $100,000 and now
00:28:50.840
I'm oversimplifying it, but now you're going to pay us 20% on $100,000 instead of $10,000.
00:28:57.340
So instead of owing us $2,000, you now owe us $20,000.
00:29:00.980
It's a very clever way for the government to participate in the stock market.
00:29:08.380
And they want it so badly that they tell you if you take it out early, not only,
00:29:12.840
only will you have to pay taxes, but you'll also have to pay us penalties for taking that
00:29:20.300
So they really, really want your money in there for a couple of reasons.
00:29:23.820
They want to spur the market, which I think makes sense that the market is growing, but
00:29:28.900
I don't think the government should be playing in that game.
00:29:30.980
And it's a clever way for them to turn $2,000 into $20,000 over the course of, uh, 30 years
00:29:44.880
I think the key thing, you know, coming, coming out of this, right.
00:29:48.160
When I look at the question for, for Brian is, you know, do your research.
00:29:53.020
Cause I know I misunderstood Roth IRAs for a while.
00:29:57.220
I was investing in them when actually I was in the wrong tax bracket and you know what
00:30:06.540
I generally recommend that if somebody's eligible eligible to, to participate in a Roth IRA and
00:30:15.580
If somebody's eligible to participate, I would say participate in that over a traditional
00:30:21.600
That's usually the recommendations that I would give when I was in financial advising.
00:30:26.000
And then the other question was, is there a percentage of retirement calculation or something
00:30:32.720
Yeah, it was, you know, is there a formula for savings for retirement, like a 10 X your
00:30:40.240
I mean, yes, we can come up with some of those formulas and I could give you a couple.
00:30:44.220
They're oversimplified and they don't take into consideration much.
00:30:48.000
So you really want to work with somebody who knows your situation and can put all the variables
00:30:56.320
Let's take 10, excuse me, 10 times your income.
00:31:03.440
Let's say you're making a hundred thousand dollars and your last year of employment and the formula
00:31:17.860
Now, if you want to replace your income, you're going to need, let's say, again, I don't have
00:31:26.800
my calculator in front of me, so I'm kind of slow on this, but let's say you want to replace
00:31:32.080
You're going to need to pull out a hundred thousand dollars out of that million dollars.
00:31:37.360
And if you got 0% interest, it will only last you about 10 years, right?
00:31:49.080
Well, there's social security and your house will be paid off.
00:31:51.460
So maybe you don't need a hundred thousand dollars.
00:31:53.560
Like there's, this is a variable I'm talking about.
00:31:56.520
If on the other hand, you do 20 times your income.
00:31:58.960
So you have $2 million and let's say you can get a nominal average rate of return of 5%,
00:32:04.920
which I think based on what the markets have done is fairly reasonable over that timeframe.
00:32:09.800
Well, now you can pull out 5% of 2 million, which is a hundred thousand dollars.
00:32:13.980
And all you're actually doing is pulling out interest.
00:32:20.760
It's a, it's, it's, it's the goose and it's laying golden eggs of a hundred thousand dollars
00:32:27.860
So I lean more towards 20 times your income is a better number.
00:32:32.960
But again, there's a lot of variables, your, your earnings potential for employees that shuts
00:32:40.120
If I stop working, I have income that continues currently at 44 years old, right?
00:32:47.860
There there's social security, there's assets, there's houses, there's businesses, there's
00:32:51.940
There's other things that need to be taken into consideration.
00:32:54.720
But I, I would say no less than 10 times, no less than, and 20 is a really good number.
00:33:08.040
Kevin Miller taking into consideration inflation.
00:33:11.820
When let's say you retire at 65, a hundred thousand dollars feels really good right now.
00:33:16.620
But in 20 years, you might need $250,000 to feel like a hundred.
00:33:24.760
That's not factored into that simplified calculation.
00:33:30.260
Like for me and you just think 20 years ago and what you could buy with the same amount
00:33:37.820
So who knows what it's going to be like in another 20 or 40 years?
00:33:42.040
Well, so there's a rule of 72 and I'm, I think I might butcher this, look this up while
00:33:47.260
And then fact check me on this, but the rule of 72 says how fast your money will double.
00:33:53.700
So what you do is you take the number of year, or excuse me, the interest rate and divide
00:34:00.420
So let's say, uh, six, let's take an inflation rate of 6%.
00:34:15.640
So what that means is that if you're getting, if there's a 6% inflation rate, a hundred thousand
00:34:26.200
If you're getting a 6% inflation rate in 12 years, you'll need 200,000 to maintain the same
00:34:36.940
standard of living as a hundred or put another way in 12 years at a 6% inflation rate, your
00:34:50.340
When you're starting to start to think about inflation and how quickly inflation will absolutely
00:35:01.180
Man, I'm, I'm, you're starting to make me depressed.
00:35:13.740
Well, I figured it would just make you worse, feel worse in another area.
00:35:16.580
And it'll prop you up in this area or something.
00:35:26.040
What are your thoughts on the 50, 30, 20 rule in today's economic landscape?
00:35:31.060
Do you believe it can work out for listeners trying to change their discipline around money?
00:35:40.020
So, you know, generally the 50, 30, 20 is how we divvy up our money on a, our budget on a
00:35:59.380
Again, we're using simplified rules to navigate complex, multifaceted variable situations.
00:36:13.720
If every person saved 20, saved and invested 20% of their income, we'd all be way better
00:36:23.680
But now we get a little tricky because what's a need?
00:36:32.060
But do you need, you know, people would say, well, my house, it costs $3,000 a month for
00:36:41.440
Did you really need the million dollar home or could you have done okay with the $750,000
00:36:49.820
You start to add these variables and it kind of starts to get a little wonky.
00:36:53.780
But what I would say is generally, I would flip the, I would flip the, the formula around.
00:37:01.820
I would say $20,000, $50,000, $30,000, save and invest first, then cover your needs, then
00:37:11.920
whatever's left over, you can do whatever the hell you want to do with it.
00:37:21.040
And I'd add another caveat, stay out of consumer debt.
00:37:26.140
That shouldn't be in needs or wants categories.
00:37:32.300
I can make the case for some education, not 10 years of schooling in gender theory studies
00:37:38.700
that you have your master's in that took you 10 years and now you're a quarter million
00:37:50.060
There's investments that make sense, but that's generally what I would say.
00:37:52.960
That's how it, that's what I, those are the tweaks I'd make to that formula.
00:37:57.840
Alan Atkins, graduating the police academy Friday and try to make sure that I can set
00:38:06.580
How do I set up my family for that success in what a lot of people call an underpaid
00:38:17.180
I would be really curious if his wife is going to work as well.
00:38:23.560
So with a income potential that you have, you're really going to need to be very, very
00:38:31.140
strategic and disciplined about the way that you save your money.
00:38:36.640
And you might go into that 20, 50, 30 rule, and you might follow that ruthlessly.
00:38:42.400
And if you can't do 20 now, maybe you do five or 10 right now, as far as savings and investments
00:38:49.160
And then when you free up any debt or you have a promotion or your wife gets a promotion
00:38:54.240
or a new job and makes more money, think about how we allocate those resources.
00:38:58.860
So if she makes $50,000 more because she goes to work or $80,000 or $100,000, okay, what
00:39:08.540
Make sure you get up to 20, then 50, then 30, and do that in the right order.
00:39:12.520
But I would definitely have, when it comes to this stuff, a money meeting with your spouse
00:39:20.580
That's something that you guys should just do regardless of the financial situation you're
00:39:27.000
Whether you're good at budgeting or she is, somebody should be in charge of the budget.
00:39:31.820
And that person, both people should have access to the accounts, but that's being reconciled
00:39:37.600
And then it's being discussed in that money meeting.
00:39:39.900
And that money meeting doesn't need to be a two-hour meeting.
00:39:42.500
It doesn't need to be everything a CFO might present to shareholders, but it's, hey, babe,
00:39:49.360
And she's like, well, you know, we're down to $10,000 in the account.
00:39:53.920
Um, any big expenses that we need to be aware of?
00:39:57.740
Well, you know, little Timmy next year is probably going to need some braces.
00:40:04.760
And you start getting some cost options on that.
00:40:09.140
Like that transmission on the car, I don't think it's going to last much longer.
00:40:13.740
I mean, I think if we're lucky, we have another six to 12 months.
00:40:19.640
Let's start thinking about that, planning for that.
00:40:21.700
And then that way, when you're tempted to take all of your kids to Hawaii for Christmas,
00:40:28.300
We're going to go to San Diego this year for Christmas.
00:40:32.560
And then you save the money for the transmission.
00:40:35.200
So you have to be really disciplined, but you also have to be forward thinking and think
00:40:41.300
about what expenses or income is coming up in the future.
00:40:43.960
That's going to change the way that you navigate your finances.
00:40:46.640
And I feel like if you do that, if you guys are both anticipatory about what will come
00:40:51.480
up, you get on the same page every single week and you follow that 20, 50, 30 rule we
00:40:57.520
discussed a minute ago, you'll be in really, really good shape.
00:41:01.500
Well, and that's the benefit of that rule, Ryan, right?
00:41:03.760
Is it's really setting the tone of living within your means.
00:41:08.940
I think that's where we all go wrong is, is most people that have financial hardship.
00:41:14.220
It's because we're not living within our means.
00:41:19.620
We're in debt because we want things now for around instant gratification.
00:41:24.280
It's really just not adjusting our lifestyle to match the income stream that we have.
00:41:33.600
And part of the problem and the solution for you is that you have to be a lot more ruthless
00:41:41.980
with how you spend your money than you did in the past.
00:41:44.400
You just do, you know, I, I think about homes and people complain about the prices of homes
00:41:50.220
and I do too, because inflation is a real thing.
00:41:52.300
We just talked about it, but 50 years ago, people weren't living in the types of homes
00:42:00.020
Now, the, the, the air conditioning, whether or not they had air conditioning is questionable.
00:42:06.080
They might've had one TV, but they didn't have four TVs.
00:42:10.800
They didn't have that big ass, you know, cube size refrigerator that climate controls everything
00:42:19.420
They didn't have the Netflix and the Amazon and the HBO plus and all this stuff computers
00:42:28.940
And not only the pocket computer, but then the monthly bill for the pocket computer for
00:42:37.480
So we, when people look at it, they, they look at these homes and they're like, Oh, it's
00:42:42.680
It's like, yeah, well it, the materials are better.
00:42:47.160
Um, it, it, there's more requirements about fireproofing your home, for example.
00:42:52.100
So we're not actually comparing apples to apples.
00:42:54.480
I mean, damn, you know, castles, Kings and castles 2000 years ago, live Kings.
00:43:01.420
The most, the richest people in the world lived in less lavish lifestyles than the average
00:43:11.980
A King would kill to be able to go to the refrigerator and pull out some leftovers from
00:43:20.720
So he didn't smell like a pig, but we have all that.
00:43:24.920
So you need to be very, very prudent about your spending and ask yourself, do I really
00:43:30.800
You know, one issue that I'm tempted in Kip is I've got a, and I've talked about this
00:43:35.060
I've got a 2015 GMC three quarter ton and I love it.
00:43:39.920
I've had it for eight or nine years at this point.
00:43:46.180
And I see those trucks everywhere and they're nice, brand new GMC three quarter ton, all
00:43:56.640
I'm like, Hmm, I think I'm ready for an upgrade.
00:44:01.540
And every day I say, you don't need an upgrade.
00:44:07.220
You got a few little stains in the, in the cab, you know, where the kids spilled fry
00:44:21.620
Now there's, there's a challenge because we can get back into the scarcity versus abundance
00:44:29.740
I don't need the best, the biggest, the brightest, the coolest.
00:44:33.720
And so I'm abundant with my trips and scarce with some household expenses that are unnecessary.
00:44:42.540
We, as you say that, Ryan, I'm like, well, what's abundance abundance is being grateful
00:44:48.100
Scarcity is keeping the same truck and then complaining about it and hating it and walking
00:44:53.040
around miserable because it's not good enough, right?
00:44:56.040
How much of abundance and scarcity is really just gratitude and appreciation versus complaining?
00:45:05.080
And you know, I do the little things on the truck.
00:45:06.820
Like I remember when I was tempted to get a new truck, I'm like, you know, I'm going
00:45:09.780
to get a new bed lining in it and I got it lined.
00:45:15.340
And I said, no, I just need some bars on the bottom.
00:45:21.700
Probably in 2026, I'm going to put some new wheels on it.
00:45:28.340
And I'd rather do that than spend 90 or a hundred grand on a new truck that I'm going
00:45:39.440
He kind of alludes to this, but primarily around our kids.
00:45:43.100
He says, scarcity, fear of failure, and instant gratification are constantly reinforced nowadays
00:45:49.960
Those narratives we learn in childhood often have big implications in how we approach money
00:45:57.860
What are you doing to help change those narratives for your kids?
00:46:03.980
One of the things that, this is just general advice, but one of the things that I'd often,
00:46:09.620
that I often do and suggest for other people is for you as the exemplar in your home to pride
00:46:19.720
Because if you take care of your things, they're going to last longer.
00:46:26.820
So if I go get the oil changed on the truck and get the tires rotated regularly, it's going to last longer.
00:46:34.960
If I make sure the house is clean and we treat our things with respect, then it's going to last longer.
00:46:43.580
And so you can, if you take care of your garage and you have all your tools in the right place
00:46:47.940
and it always looks good and orderly, you can find them.
00:46:50.220
So you don't need to go buy extra tools because you can't find that one socket set you were looking for.
00:46:56.040
So pride yourself on having these systems in place where you take care of your possessions
00:47:04.500
Because if you can teach them how powerful it is to take care of things,
00:47:09.140
they'll start to build this up where it's like, I don't want to replace this thing.
00:47:12.360
I like this thing and I'm going to take care of it.
00:47:20.800
So you should know basic plumbing and your kids should know basic plumbing.
00:47:25.260
You should know some basic electrical stuff for around the house.
00:47:30.640
You should know how to change the oil on your car.
00:47:35.860
And you should be a man who, if you don't know what they are, you can figure it out.
00:47:39.960
You know, there was this little stool in the shed, in my girlfriend's shed.
00:47:45.420
And she's like, you can just throw that stool away.
00:47:57.080
And there's this little metal bracket that goes in the hole where the leg.
00:48:06.820
It was because one of the screws, the hole was stripped.
00:48:09.660
And so I just unscrewed it, put it back on there, rotated it, screwed it back in and put the leg on.
00:48:20.940
But too many of us would just throw that away in any other situation.
00:48:25.660
And then we'd go out and we'd buy a new one for $20 or $30 because of inflation.
00:48:36.900
If you do that and you instill that in your children, you're going to have a much better time.
00:48:41.980
Just to add another thought for Zach around that narrative with your kids.
00:48:46.180
For me, this is all about instant gratification.
00:48:50.900
And so I look for those opportunities with my kids as much as possible to help them understand that the thing that was once like really exciting, are they still excited about it?
00:48:59.280
I remember my daughter, I think it was when she got a V, she saved up all her money.
00:49:06.500
They'll appreciate them more and they understand the effort in buying things.
00:49:10.320
So look for those opportunities for them to buy things.
00:49:12.460
But my daughter saved up all this money, bought this VR headset.
00:49:18.480
But I remember it's like, hey, Kika, you love that headset?
00:49:22.180
I'm like, are you as excited about it as you were when you first got it?
00:49:32.380
So when you're really excited about buying these clothes or buying this thing, remember, it's fleeting.
00:49:40.960
And eventually, it'll just be another shirt or another pair of pants or another toy that was once exciting and is no longer exciting.
00:49:49.520
So understand the human condition that we're often drawn to do things.
00:49:54.000
The other thing that I'd really suggest to Zach, and I was talking, you know, earlier I mentioned that financial literacy class that I helped teach.
00:50:02.280
You know, this was the main thing for these high schoolers.
00:50:04.520
I was like, you know, what's the number one thing that you guys want to buy right now, right?
00:50:08.480
And they named off some shoes that I don't even know of.
00:50:26.400
And I'm not saying it's wrong or bad or whatever.
00:50:29.700
Just understand that most things that we're purchasing, we're purchasing to look good.
00:50:36.840
You're purchasing things because everybody else is purchasing.
00:50:41.460
Like, we're like, oh, this is a kid conversation.
00:50:52.760
Just like you care about the neighborhood and the house and the other things.
00:50:55.840
So much of it is not about necessarily what you want.
00:51:04.660
That way we can put that in check and not just be a tumbleweed in the wind trying to appease
00:51:10.540
and get the approval and the accolades of men, right?
00:51:15.400
And let's check that mind or that way of thinking.
00:51:18.660
Well, it's also funny because when we have purchases that we want, we can justify it as
00:51:25.920
So I might say, for example, well, I need a new truck because it's safer.
00:51:32.440
It has more capacity in the bed and I'll get better fuel mileage than my old one.
00:51:39.160
All of that might be true, but does that make it a need over a want?
00:51:45.960
No, they're just good selling points for yourself.
00:51:48.580
And we're really good at telling ourselves what we need to hear to turn a want into a
00:51:54.780
We're emotional beings that use logic to justify our emotional decisions, right?
00:52:02.480
Like I remember I did that ride, that exact thing with Asia, right?
00:52:05.980
We're building the house and I'm like, I need a truck.
00:52:08.260
And I was like, I need to be able to get a truck for, you know, hauling all this.
00:52:12.740
But, you know, I come up with all these reasons and we're debating.
00:52:15.240
And then I went and then I got down to, I just want it.
00:52:20.240
And she, and then Asia's like, okay, makes sense.
00:52:32.860
And, but that's, but that's, and there's nothing wrong with that.
00:52:36.160
If you can do that and it's a more fair response to a purchasing decision, just be honest.
00:52:46.400
You know, there's one other thing I would tell Zach here is what does your family pride
00:52:50.820
take pride in or what, what characteristics do you really believe in?
00:52:54.660
And so, you know, one characteristic might be, well, we pride ourselves on having the
00:53:05.680
And maybe you build a family dynamic or culture around different values.
00:53:10.740
For example, resourcefulness, prudence, wisdom, discernment, yes, serving others.
00:53:20.240
Maybe you're, maybe you're a family who doesn't really care much about possessions because you're
00:53:25.480
And so your, your discretionary income is spent on creating fun experiences with your kids.
00:53:31.500
But you, you probably would do well to consider what your family stands for and what values
00:53:49.260
You wanted to inject any, any other thing that comes to mind, right?
00:53:52.980
When you think about giving these guys advice around finances.
00:53:56.040
I mean, I think we hit on a lot, you know, I, I, again, just to recap, I really liked
00:54:00.360
the formula idea in theory and practicality, have some room for flexibility.
00:54:08.500
I really liked the idea of saving 15 to 20% of your income first before anything else.
00:54:14.260
I love that we talked about how do we instill this stuff into our children?
00:54:17.500
Um, the other one that really stood out to me is making sure, and I haven't talked about
00:54:22.720
this for a while, but making sure that you're having a, uh, money meeting with your family.
00:54:27.380
And I would even include my kids in some of those discussions, not every discussion,
00:54:31.100
because the one, one thing you don't want to do is you don't want to parentify your child.
00:54:36.020
And that could happen if you bring your kid into every discussion.
00:54:40.280
Let's say you and your wife are really struggling financially.
00:54:42.800
You can let your children know, Hey guys, money's tight.
00:54:48.960
Daddy's doing this, putting in a few more hours at work.
00:54:55.400
So if we could keep that in mind, when we think about why we're not going out to eat
00:54:59.840
tonight or, you know, so you can include them in that.
00:55:02.560
But the minute you start making them worry about or making them feel like they're obligated
00:55:08.400
to help with some of this stuff, that could be a problem.
00:55:11.760
But I would definitely include them in the decision-making process, not, excuse me, not
00:55:15.280
decision-making process, include them in the process and let them see how healthy people
00:55:28.340
She was always willing to, there was details that she left out because those are her details,
00:55:32.920
but she was always really good about explaining these things to me, which is part of the reason
00:55:36.640
that I'm pretty good with money because of that.
00:55:46.420
A lot of you guys might be on the fence in regards to what 2026 looks like, what pivots
00:55:51.280
and adjustments you're going to be making going into the next year.
00:55:55.200
We would highly recommend that you join us in the Iron Council.
00:55:58.540
To learn more, go to orderofman.com slash Iron Council.
00:56:05.320
You establish a battle plan, goal setting for 90 days.
00:56:11.400
Most importantly, you're banding with like-minded men focused on becoming better versions of
00:56:20.780
So if you want to join us, orderofman.com slash Iron Council.
00:56:24.340
And of course, connect with Mr. Mickler on the socials at Ryan Mickler, both X and Instagram.
00:56:34.640
Are we at our limit of if you want to get orders in?
00:56:37.140
Uh, you can try, but it's hit or miss as to whether or not we'll be able to get those
00:56:42.760
So my youngest son and I are feeling all the orders as frantically as possible and we'll
00:56:47.660
try to get it to you, but no guarantees at this point.
00:56:50.160
You know, there is one thing I want to say about the Iron Council and I want to be really
00:56:53.540
forward about something that I probably haven't been as forward with in the past.
00:56:56.960
It's about a thousand dollars a year is what it costs.
00:57:00.700
And you know, there's so many organizations out there who are like, well, you know, join us
00:57:06.080
on this thing and on the call and then fill out all this email stuff.
00:57:09.600
And then I'll have a coach call you about how much it is.
00:57:12.060
And it's like, no, it's a thousand dollars a year, give or take, depending on which option
00:57:18.080
But let me ask you this, because we're talking about money and investing, this would be an
00:57:23.880
This would be part of that 20% because what's, what's the benefit?
00:57:29.480
What's the rate of return on losing 30 to 40 to 50 pounds in 2026?
00:57:36.080
What's the rate of return on being able to effectively understand and begin to communicate
00:57:44.640
What's the rate of return on learning how to be more assertive, communicating your needs,
00:57:50.480
desires, and wishes, and asserting yourself when you feel like you have something valuable
00:57:55.560
So you secure a promotion of 10 grand with your job in 2026.
00:58:00.800
What's the rate of return on learning how to properly communicate with your children
00:58:07.960
Like we talked about with those last questions.
00:58:15.080
And here's the other, here's the other thought.
00:58:21.440
What's the cost of not being able to clearly communicate with your wife and getting frustrated?
00:58:26.240
Well, the greatest cost could potentially be divorce and that's going to cost you half
00:58:32.900
What's the cost to your health and your financial wellbeing and your mental wellbeing of continuing
00:58:44.900
What's the cost of being involved in a business that you don't enjoy, your boss railroads you,
00:58:50.560
you don't get to share your ideas and concepts, and you feel like you're, to your point earlier,
00:58:57.740
Spend some time thinking about that and ask, is the cost greater than a thousand dollars?
00:59:01.500
And is the rate of return greater than a thousand dollars?
00:59:03.980
I would argue yes, with minimal effort, not none, but minimal.
00:59:17.360
I wish I would have got involved in coaching way earlier than I did because the rate of return
00:59:33.060
Got to think about what we're going to talk about for next week.
00:59:34.980
But until we are back on Friday, go out there, take action, and become the man you.
00:59:41.460
Thank you for listening to the Order of Man podcast.
00:59:44.440
You're ready to take charge of your life and be more of the man you were meant to be?
00:59:48.120
We invite you to join the order at orderofman.com.